CHAPTER XXI AT JOFFRE’S HEADQUARTERS
It was worse than on the other occasion when, seated on those guncaissons with the French soldiers, they fled through a hurricane ofbursting shells. In connection with that never-to-be-forgotten episodetheir backs were turned toward the place from which the unseen Germangunners were bombarding the enemy lines; and consequently they had thecomforting feeling that every yard they went the danger kept growingconstantly less.
Now it was just the opposite, for a brief period, since the worst wasyet to come. It required a vast amount of nerve to carry them throughthis crisis. Thad had his teeth tightly clinched, and his eyes wereriveted straight on the road ahead. Nothing must be allowed to distracthis attention. It was of vital importance that he keep the track, andreach that bend which would offer them possible safety.
Shells might burst with an appalling roar, and smaller missiles whirrthrough the air; but so long as none of them were struck he meant tokeep everlastingly at his job of taking the car through the hurricane ofiron.
The others, however, were allowed a chance to turn their eyes from rightto left as they sped on. Consequently they saw some terrible things thatwere spared the driver. Here a tree was riven of its limbs as clean asthough struck by lightning, leaving the bare trunk standing there like atelegraph pole. In another quarter a dreadful half-muffled burst ofsound held their attention; and as they looked it was to see the wholesection of ground rise in the air, burst into fragments, and then settleback again in a cloud of dust.
Bumpus hardly breathed, he was so thrilled by all these astonishingthings that attested to the frightful power of the great shells hurledby the German military monster machines miles and miles away.
It seemed like a full hour to the stout boy before the reeling carfinally arrived at that envied turn in the road, and yet instead ofminutes seconds had hardly elapsed.
Thad knew there was serious danger of a spill if he attempted to makethat swing around the bend at the reckless pace he had struck. Thisnecessitated a holding up; and poor Bumpus, quick to notice thealteration in their speed, quivered with a new fear, really believingthat something must have happened to Thad, who was in danger ofcollapsing at the wheel.
Indeed, Bumpus involuntarily half raised both hands as though with theidea of catching the chauffeur, and sustaining him; for it chanced thathe was directly behind the other at the time.
Then the car hit the curve and commenced to swing around it. Bumpus wasjammed up against his seat-mate Giraffe, and came near crushing theelongated scout, such was his bulk.
But they had passed safely around the coveted turn, and were once morehurrying along the road, the speed increasing with a jolt as Thad againgave full power.
Now if they could manage to hold their good fortune for just anotherhalf minute they stood a chance of running out of the fire zone, wherethose dropping shells were plowing up the ground, and leaving gapingcraters here, there and everywhere, into each of which a good-sizedcabin could be hidden.
All of them began to live again, for during the worst of thebombardment, doubtless, they had simply existed, as Giraffe afterwardscandidly admitted, when speaking about the adventure.
It was soon only a horrible nightmare, a memory that would haunt them aslong as they lived. The shells still continued to fall, and the terrificcrashes kept making a strange martial music that rendered talking nextto impossible; but all this was now going on in their rear.
For some reason the Germans meant to make that particular section ofroad impassable. Perhaps they gave it much more prominence than itreally deserved, for the boys had discovered few signs of any movementof troops or supplies along its whole length.
Things began to brighten once they were beyond that turmoil andconfusion. Bumpus even had a little color creep back into his cheeks,though he still continued to quiver at times, and suck in his breathwith gasps. If Giraffe could read the signs aright, when he turned tolook at his chum several times, the movement of Bumpus’ lips told thathe was saying his favorite word, “Gee!” again and again. Well, it spokevolumes for the sense of awe that had filled his whole soul during thatperiod of stress and anxiety.
Now they could begin to take notice once more of what lay ahead. Ofcourse, each boy was ardently hoping they would have no more of thatsort of business to go through with. It was a bit too strenuous, evenThad was ready to admit. Scouts were not supposed to be the possessorsof iron nerve; and really that was what any one must have to passthrough such an experience.
A mile, two, three of them soon slipped away. The racket had partly dieddown by this time, possibly owing to the fact of their being furtheraway from the scene; and then again the German gunners may have believedtheir object accomplished, so that there was no further need of wastingshells in that quarter.
Giraffe soon discovered a French battery. Then he pointed out anotherpartly concealed under some sheltering branches of trees. They werefiring steadily, as if carrying out orders.
Further along he also located a host of men in the French blue advancingat the double-quick over open ground. The sight was inspiring to theboys, for they could easily understand that owing to a shift in thebattle the commander-in-chief must be transferring one of his armycorps, with the idea of striking the invaders in the flank and hurlingthem back in confusion. When those Frenchmen do move it is with arapidity that fairly dazzles their opponents; and their blows aredelivered with all the enthusiasm that formerly used to delight theobserving eye of the Great Napoleon himself.
“We must be getting near Headquarters by now, don’t you think, Thad?”shouted Giraffe presently; for the car was making so much noise,together with other things near and far, that of course it was difficultto talk.
“I expect so,” the other simply replied, not even turning his head whilespeaking, lest he lose his grip on the middle of the road; andconsidering the speed at which they were going just then such a thingmight spell disaster.
Indeed, there were also other signs to indicate this fact. The regionwas very retired, but twice now they had seen a whizzing motorcyclepassing along; and somehow they guessed that the man crouching in thesaddle must be carrying important orders for some part of the line nearby.
Another thing had caught that keen eye of Giraffe, which he hastened tomake known to his comrades.
“Hey! notice the telephone wire alongside the road, will you?” heyelled; “it’s a military line to boot, I can tell that by the way it’sstrung. The French Signal Corps has put it up on the run. Yes, and yousee, General Joffre from his Headquarters can even give his orders tosome of the nearest corps commanders, at the same time learning how thebattle is going along their front! Wow! what wouldn’t I give to be ableto break in and hear what was being said right now!”
“Don’t you dream of trying it, Giraffe!” shrilled Bumpus, galvanizedinto a sudden state of horror at the very idea; “why, they’d burn youalive if you dared interfere with such a thing as that.”
“Oh! don’t worry, old fellow,” Giraffe immediately assured him; “Ihaven’t _quite_ lost my head yet. I’m not such a fool as I look!”
“Well, that’s a comfort,” Bumpus told him; and really the tall scoutnever wholly knew whether that was said in satire or not.
At any minute now Thad expected to be halted by a vidette post, for ofcourse the immediate vicinity of Headquarters would be heavily guardedto secure the safety of the commanding genius to whom the French armiesmust look for guidance.
“Slow up a bit, Thad,” suddenly cried Giraffe, poking the driver in theback.
“What did you see?” demanded Bumpus, at once alarmed.
“There are men waiting for us at that point ahead where the treesoverhang the road; because I glimpsed the glint of gun-barrels in thesun. And we don’t want to be asked to explain who we are after they’vemade sieves out of us.”
So the car’s pace was cut down to a point where they could stopinstantly if the order came. Nor were t
hey kept in suspense long, for asthey drew near the spot indicated by “Old Eagle Eye” three soldierssuddenly appeared in view and made peremptory motions with the guns theycarried.
Thad came to a stand beside them. He instantly recognized that one ofthe men in blue was a sergeant, from the marks on his sleeves, and tohim the young driver spoke.
“We have come with important dispatches for General Joffre; they must bedelivered into his hands immediately!”
The man, a grizzled veteran, apparently could not speak English. He wasobserving the quartette of scouts in evident bewilderment. Their fadedkhaki uniforms no doubt puzzled him greatly; though doubtless in hismind they were immediately associated with General French’s Britisharmy, some members of which he may have seen.
But there was one thing he did understand, and that was the mention ofthe name of “Joffre.” Accompanied by those commanding gestures, and thatserious expression on the face of the determined-looking young fellow itstood for something highly important.
He spoke a few words to one of the privates who immediately hurriedaway. Thad realized that this probably meant some one would be summonedwho could speak the language, and learn what they wanted.
A minute, two of them passed. The boys moved restlessly. It seemed asthough too much precious time might be slipping by. After the grand rushthat had carried them safely through so many perils, to be held up likethis at the very last was annoying, to say the least of it.
But the agony ended finally. They discovered a couple of hasteningfigures, one of which could be recognized as the private who had goneaway; while the other seemed to be an officer of some rank.
“Who are you young fellows, and what do you want here, where no one isallowed to come?” the latter demanded, half angrily as he came up.
Thad guessed that the French officer must believe them to be newspapercorrespondents, rashly thrusting themselves into dangerous places in aneager desire for fresh news to send over to London, or American papers.
He had it all mapped out, and meant to explain in as few words aspossible so as to save time.
“We are American boys, M’sieu,” he started in with, “who by accidentwere caught between the lines in this battle. We found a chance toassist the Red Cross Corps at a field hospital. One of our number evendrove an ambulance all the way to Paris with a load of wounded. Therewas an American surgeon who did wonders for your brave men. One wasbrought in terribly battered. It turned out that he had been on amotorcycle bearing important messages for General Joffre when he raninto a van, and had his machine crushed. He may die from his hurts; butthe thing that grieved him most was the fact that his dispatches werebeing held up. There did not seem to be any one else to intrust themwith, and so the American surgeon handed them over to us. We have comethrough shot and shell to deliver the same to General Joffre; andplease, M’sieu, get them in his hands in a hurry!”