CHAPTER XIII Lying Low

THE next ten minutes were almost a non-breathing experience for twelve good men and true; they had decided that their safety lay in at least keeping most woefully quiet. A little while after the ordeal had passed, Herbert and Donald were telling each other what had been in their thoughts during those tense moments when the heavy footfalls were drawing nearer. Herbert had imagined one of his men suddenly sneezing and Don had wished for the chance to turn a good old American skunk loose to scent up the place; this would have surely kept the German officers at a safe distance.

But there proved to be no fear of the one, nor need of the other doubtful procedure; the khaki squad was as silent as death and the two ascending German officers no more suspected their presence in the spot than they would have a herd of elephants. And so they came quite to the edge of the spruces, sat down on a boulder and conversed in low tones for about ten minutes; then got up again and as slowly went back to their camp. Twelve breathing sets of apparatus were in easier working order when it was reported that the Germans had gone.

Jennings was heard then to roll over on his improvised couch of moss-lined rock and remark, decidedly sotto voce:

“Don’t know’s I’m so durned glad they didn’t ketch on to us. They’d ’a’ been two more dead Huns right sudden. I could ’a’ got ’em both by myself before they could ’a’ hollered ’donner vetter!’ and I would ’a’ done it, too, soon’s I seen their eyes a stickin’ out when they ketched sight of us.”

“Sho! You’d been so scared you’d forgot you had a gun,” Gill bantered his fellow scout and buddy.

“Well, then, I’d ’a’ reached over an’ grabbed ’em an’ fetched ’em in here an’ held ’em so’s you could ’a’ bit their ears.”

“Quietly there, men, for the love of Uncle Sam! Levity is usually admirable, but this is an exception,” Herbert cautioned, hearing the subdued laughter that went around.

“It might be a case of being tickled ’most to death,” Don remarked.

“We might vary the monotony of this existence by having a bite to eat all round,” Herbert ordered. “Rations, boys, but limited to half that you want. Hard, I know, but perhaps necessary. After ’while we may need full stomachs to fight on. Literally that, down back of these rocks.”

“If them Jerries is ever goin’ to get me, I’d heap ruther they’d have me satisfied than hungry,” Jennings remarked.

“I reckon I could eat about a whole Heinie right now! I always was partial to pork,” Gill declared.

Again the time dragged on; to relieve it in part the men went through silent pantomime. Two fellows, on their hands and knees, butting at each other like rams gave Gill the idea of imitating a dog digging out a field mouse, and four chaps, who were wont to sing together when silence was not so golden, sat in a row and went through the motions of various musical selections, as dirges, ballads and ragtime, granting several encores in answer to a perfectly silent handclapping.

Through all these trying hours there had been men constantly at both peep-holes, all taking turns. The Germans at the bottom of the hill had simply done little or nothing all day, except to hang around, eating occasionally, cleaning their weapons, some few writing, others sleeping or lolling on the ground. Only once was there a break in this monotony, when a group of officers, probably high in command, came through the little valley. Then every Hun got to his feet, with heels together, and saluted for dear life; but unlike the democratic Americans and Frenchmen, the officers did not appear as though aware of the presence of the common soldiers or under officers.

And then once more the shadows grew long and the darkness came slowly down, with the far distant sounds of occasional firing more distinct and a chill breeze coming up that caused both friend and foe to seek some covering for the night. The little squad in the rocky hollow on the hillside again resorted to dry leaves and spruce boughs, both under and over. The watch was detailed to include every man, three acting at a time, and if there was the least suggestion of snoring or of talking in sleep the offender was to find himself awakened instantly, with a hand placed firmly over his mouth. And one such instance did occur; it was Don who toward morning began to mumble and then suddenly cry out:

“Go get him! He’s the m-m-m——” The rest of this utterance came through the corporal’s fingers; after which the boy chose to remain awake for the remaining hour before dawn.

Jennings had been gone since about eleven o’clock, in the effort to find an unguarded spot where the squad might sneak through under cover of the darkness. About midnight a single shot was heard not far away, followed by another ten minutes later. It was becoming gray in the east and, all being awake and the scout’s continued absence being noted, Herbert remarked:

“I hope they haven’t got him. He might have stumbled into a picket, but I can hardly think it of Jennings; he isn’t that careless. Let us hope——” Even while the lieutenant spoke there was a slight stir among the spruces above them, on the up side of the hill, and when they all turned that way, some expecting the enemy and having their guns in hand, the grinning face of the Pennsylvania mountaineer peered at them.

“They ain’t no way, Lieutenant. Them Jerries is got the hull ground clear acrosst took up with gun nests an’ some trenches. They’re in there as thick as hair on a yaller dog; there’s one or two mangy spots, but they’re watchin’ them close. Got to stay here, I reckon, a while more an’ then some. Me fer sleepin’ a little now, if you don’t object, Lieutenant.”

“Go to it!” Herb said, laughing, as ever softly. “We’re awfully glad to see you; thought you might have had bad luck. Did you hear those shots soon after you left?”

“Rather did.” Jennings grinned again. “But he missed me and when they come into the brush to look they most stepped on me. Second time I reckon they thought they heard me again an’ jes’ fired random-like, an’ I sneaked out. There was four Heinies together settin’ still on a log, like buzzards waitin’ fer a ol’ cow to croak, or somethin’.”

“The War Cross for you, old scout!” Don said. “And say, boys, if the Heinies down there don’t show any more curiosity about their surroundings than they did yesterday, we’ll likely pull through another day all right.”

“Pull through is right,” remarked the corporal. “It is a pull.”

“If I was the boss of this outfit,” Gill said, with an apologetic grin at Herbert, “I’d just get up and slip down yonder and take them fellers prisoner and march ’em into our lines. Nerve is what counts; if they saw us coming from up out of the earth, they’d all throw up their hands and holler ‘kamerad’!”

“I’m afraid not, Gill; we won’t risk it, anyway,” said Herbert. “The inside of a Hun prison camp wouldn’t look good to any of us and unless we wanted to commit suicide on the spot, they’d get us. Twelve men against a good many thousand makes the odds too great; eh, boys?”

The remarks in reply to Herbert’s were characteristic:

“Stayin’ here is bad enough, but ketchin’ Hun cooties is worse!”

“Me fer layin’ low some more.”

“I’d like to see the good little old United States again if I can.”

“This place looks good enough to me just now, though it might have hot and cold water, real sheets on the beds and a kitchen.”

“If we’ve got to stay here long enough and the Jerries down there wouldn’t object to the noise, we might accommodate you and build a hotel.”

“Reminds me of the Connecticut Yankee they tell about who got wrecked on nothing but a sand bar in the ocean and in two years he had a prosperous seaport going, with two factories and a railroad. Who’s a liar?”

Again the hours took upon themselves snail-like speed and life among those rocks became well-nigh unendurable. Imagine, then, the feeling of relief when the present watchers of the squad beheld the German company in the valley, under sharp orders, pick up their accoutrements and move on toward the south again, out of sight and hearing, to occupy, no doubt, a new and better position. True, the present risk was not lifted; messengers from or to the front might pass, or Hun units at any time approach, though it was not likely that the woods this far back of the occupied defenses were picketed.

“We can take a gamble far enough,” Lieutenant Whitcomb declared, “to get out and build up our defenses; pile more rocks all around. Get at it, men, and make them heavy enough to stop machine gun bullets.”

Four of the squad were sent on either side to do picket duty and to keep an especially sharp watch. It was one of these pickets, through thoughtlessness while meaning to do his duty fully, that, as Don expressed it, “spilled the beans.” Farnham went into a large patch of bushes not quite head high, intending to use it as a screened place of observation just as a Boche one-man airplane passed, flying low and so far to one side that Farnham knew he could not be seen by the pilot. Suddenly there was the sound as of breaking camp again; another unit over the ridge was moving on and Farnham craned his neck, exposing also his shoulders in order to see ahead. At that moment the airplane swerved and before the Yank thought to duck down he was seen.

Then the Boche made an error. Had he passed on and signaled to the nearest contingent, they could have sneaked up, surrounded and captured the American, but with the usual show of hate dominating, the flier wheeled again and sent a stream of incendiary bullets into the bushes. For a wonder the Yank was untouched; he quickly crawled on hands and knees back toward camp and the birdman, unable to see him longer, headed straight for the nearest Hun signal station. When Farnham reached the squad the pickets were immediately called in, once again the crowd lying low. It was now only a question of time when they must defend themselves against terrible odds.

“Here they come and on the run, some of them!” announced the corporal, with his eye to the peep-hole. Every man gripped his gun, feeling the moment had arrived for him to do or die. Still a little longer it was to be postponed. Intent upon reaching the patch of bushes on the hilltop where the airman had signaled that the American was seen, the half dozen Boches hastened on, two going directly past the rock basin and never once turning to look it over. Several of the Yanks, though lying prone, could see for a moment the helmets of these searchers who believed they were on the track of a lone spy, or a lost picket. They disappeared up the hill and Farnham, who had been responsible for this scare, but had received not one word of censure from his commanding officers, ejaculated fervently:

“Thank the good Lord they didn’t see us!”

But the relief was short-lived. There being no sign of the spy on the ridge top, the searchers spread out and two of them came back down the hill and were again about to pass on. And then the possibility of a good hiding place beneath the dark spruces may have occurred to one of them, though it can never be known what he thought. With a guttural exclamation he turned and saw far more than he had expected, but he didn’t exist long enough to make even a mental note thereof. As he tumbled in a heap the other Hun started to run and he, too, joined his late companion in the unknown. With admirable coolness the Americans had met the situation and only one shot for each of these foemen had been used; the ammunition must not be wasted. Farnham’s gun was warm and he was minus two cartridges.

“Get out there and drag those poor chaps under cover, two of you, Kelly and Wilson!” Herbert ordered. “Make short work of it!”

But they could not make that gruesome task short enough. Attracted by the shots, the four remaining searchers had turned that way and one began shooting at Kelly. Lieutenant Whitcomb leveled his rifle at the tree where only the head and arms of the Hun showed, at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards; then no more shots came from behind that tree. Getting an inkling of the situation, though unable to estimate the number of men among the rocks, the other Huns retreated and carried the news to their commander. In twenty minutes thereafter the surrounded squad was facing all that they had known must come to them.