Fighting in France Part 6

"Don't run into a trap," shouted Jacques, but Pierre gave no heed to him. His one idea was to come up with his foes and he forgot everything else. He led the others by at least five yards, followed by Jacques, Earl, Jean, and Leon in the order named.

Thus far they had seen no fresh signs of the Germans but there had been no branches to this pa.s.sage as yet, and consequently they were convinced that they were upon the right track.

Suddenly a man stepped out of a niche in the wall directly in front of Pierre. He held his rifle out in front of him and before the racing Frenchman could check himself he had run full upon the long keen bayonet. Clear through him it went and down went Pierre.

Close behind him, however, was Jacques, and before the German could do any more execution he gave him the same treatment that Pierre had received. Without a sound he sank to the ground and lay limply stretched out upon the prostrate body of Pierre.

"Is Pierre dead?" gasped Earl.

"He is," said Jacques simply.

"Too bad," murmured Earl.

"That's part of the game," said Jacques in a matter-of-fact tone. "We can do no more for him. Let's move on."

France had lost a brave soldier in this simple peasant. He had given his life for his country and no man, peasant or king, can do more than that. He loved France and he died for her gladly. He did not like war and he had had no quarrel with anyone. When his country was in peril, however, he had but one thought and that was to do all he could for her. He had done his best and served her well. There were thousands more just like him and it was impossible to mourn over any one of them long. Consequently his four comrades soon left him to attend to the business in hand.

"The fellow that killed him won't do any damage again anyway," remarked Earl. "You fixed him all right, Jacques."

"Come," urged Jacques shortly.

"Go slowly from now on," urged Leon. This advice was followed and the little squad moved forward again. They had no desire that Pierre's fate should overtake them.

A few moments later they came to a spot where several pa.s.sages all seemed to meet. It was like the hub of a wheel, only there were not so many pa.s.sages as there are spokes in most wheels.

"Now what?" exclaimed Earl when they had reached this spot.

"Where did they go?" demanded Leon. "We'd better not stand here any longer though. Some one will take a shot at us if we're not careful."

"Right you are," agreed Jacques heartily. "Let's follow this pa.s.sage and see where it leads us." He plunged into one of the dimly lighted aisles and proceeded cautiously along it, closely followed by his three companions.

They had gone but a short distance when the pa.s.sage suddenly opened up into the main trench and the four soldiers found themselves in the daylight again. Over their heads the bullets whistled and the projectiles screamed but none of them fell in that particular trench.

The French charge had carried far beyond this spot and the Germans were interested in that, while the French guns were still busy hammering the opposing trenches to pieces.

"Look," cried Earl. "There are the Germans we were chasing."

A squad of French soldiers pa.s.sed with five German prisoners, one of them easily recognizable as the tall Prussian they had seen only a short time before. The man in charge of the squad halted the little band and a most interesting event took place.

All the b.u.t.tons were cut off the prisoners' trousers; suspenders and belts were cut in two and the laces were slashed from their shoes. A moment later the five Germans slopped away, their hands in their pockets to keep their trousers from falling off and shuffling their feet to keep their shoes on. One Frenchman accompanied them to direct rather than guard them. They were harmless enough now.

"That's certainly a funny sight," laughed Leon. "Those Germans couldn't run away or do any damage now to save their lives."

"A great way to send prisoners back to the lines," said Jacques.

The three boys and Jean now joined the other men in the squad and together the eleven soldiers started across the battlefield. All of them were of the same regiment but from different companies. Far ahead they could see the curtain of fire and behind it the advancing line of French troops.

"That's where we belong," cried Jacques eagerly.

"Here come reinforcements!" shouted Earl, and from their own lines they could see a fresh battalion of infantry pouring out of the trenches and starting across that field of death.

Corpses lay on every side, French and German together. The ground was covered with the dead and wounded, some of the latter desperately in need of attention. They had to be left for the Red Cross, however.

The soldiers had their orders and they were to advance.

"Shall we wait and go forward with the reinforcements?" asked one of the men in the squad which the four soldiers had encountered.

"I should say not," cried Jacques. "Our regiment is ahead there and that's where we ought to be."

With a shout he dashed forward and close at his heels followed his ten comrades all eager to be in the fray once more.

CHAPTER VI

UNDER FIRE

Ahead of them was a small wooded ridge and towards this they made their way. The field was littered with corpses and it was necessary to exercise great care to prevent stepping on the dead bodies.

A few moments later the eleven soldiers reached the ridge and there came up with their battalion; at least what was left of it, for it had suffered heavily during the charge. The three boys were very glad indeed to rejoin their company and were soon in their accustomed places.

"We're pretty well protected here," remarked Earl when they were in the abandoned German trench under the shelter of the ridge.

"Yes," agreed Jacques. "Those scrubby little pine trees hide us from the sight of the German observation posts. Their artillery won't bother us much here."

"We don't want it to," said Leon grimly. "It has done enough of that already."

"And it will do a whole lot more," added Jacques.

As he finished speaking the order to advance came and once more the troops moved on. They followed the zig-zag course of the German trench they occupied. It was filled with dead soldiers for it was through this trench that the Germans had tried to rush reinforcements when the attack started. The French guns, however, had had the range and inflicted cruel losses on their opponents.

"This trench leads right over the top of the ridge," remarked Jacques.

"Wait until we get there and we'll catch it."

"Not if we stay in the trench," objected Leon.

"But I don't think we will."

"Do you know for sure?"

"No, I don't, but I imagine we'll have a chance in the open again."

His guess proved to be correct. Arriving at the summit of the hill the battalion halted. The men were formed in sections about fifty yards apart.

"What's the idea?" asked Earl.

"When we leave the trench each section will charge in Indian file,"

answered Jacques. "Instead of being abreast we'll be one behind another. In that way we'll offer a much smaller target."

"True enough," exclaimed Earl. "That's a great scheme."