CHAPTER III
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
There was another awkward pause, which nobody seemed able to break.
"But Will went to town with you," Amy remarked at last.
"Yes, he went with us," Allen agreed reluctantly. "But after wereached the hotel, and were making our plans for enlisting, herefused to go with us, saying he had business of his own to attendto. What that business was none of us know, for we were getting readyto catch the train for here when he rejoined us. However," he addedloyally, "I'd bet my bottom dollar that Will has good reasons foreverything he does, and when he gets ready he'll tell us about them.In the meantime, how about some biscuits, Betty?"
"Yes, how about them?" added Roy, rousing to sudden life. "We've doneour duty--now we want the reward."
"Goodness, you haven't done anything," said Grace loftily, as theLittle Captain vanished within the house, followed by black-eyedMollie. "You just sit around and let all the others do the work andthen take the credit to yourself."
"That's all right if you can get away with it," grinned Allen."Besides," he added, with a humorous glance at Grace's languidfigure, "you don't look the soul of energy yourself this morning,Miss Ford."
"Looks are often deceitful," retorted Grace, languidly turning theheel of her sock. "If you had to knit all day long, every day in theweek, you'd find out what work is."
"Well, you don't _have_ to do it," returned Roy placidly.
"Yes," said gentle Amy, roused to sudden indignation. "That's all thecredit we get. Goodness knows, we're glad enough to do the work, butwe do like it to be appreciated."
Roy turned half way round, and regarded Amy's flying fingers and benthead soberly for a moment.
"I'm sorry," he said then, so gravely that she looked up in surprise,and even Grace stopped knitting. "I didn't mean that we fellows don'tappreciate what you girls are doing for us. We do--and there'll comea time when we'll appreciate it still more. When we're in thetrenches up to our knees in mud and water, when the wind finds thechinks in our clothing, and freezes us to the bone, when--"
"Oh, please don't!" cried Amy, clapping her hands to her ears. "Ican't even bear to think of those things."
"Yet those are some of the things we've got to think about," saidRoy, still with that unusual gravity. "It's because you girls havethought of those things, that you're giving your time and energy topreparing for them, and warding them off. Please don't ever againthink that we're ungrateful."
"We won't," said Amy softly, fighting back a sudden mistiness whichhad come before her eyes. "We'll just go on knitting ten times harderthan before."
"I think we're missing something," came Betty's voice from thedoorway, where she stood with her arm intertwined in Mollie's. "Thebiscuits are in the oven now, and we're going to talk to you whilethey're baking."
"Will it take long?" asked Roy, sniffing hungrily.
"I like that," said Betty, with a little grimace, as she flungherself upon the top step, pulling Mollie down beside her. "When Royhas to choose between biscuits and us--"
"We're not in it," finished Mollie with a merry laugh.
Roy looked pained.
"I never said that, did I?" he inquired. "I haven't had the painfulnecessity of making a choice yet."
"What were you talking about so earnestly when we came out?" queriedBetty. "Roy looked solemn, Grace looked surprised, Amy lookedexalted, and Allen was thoughtful, while Frank looked as though--well,as though he were seeing visions."
"All I have to do is turn my head to see visions," Frank returnedgallantly, suiting the action to the word. "Gee, I never saw a crowdof prettier girls."
"Hey, you're going to get an extra biscuit for that," put in Roy,raising himself on his elbow and looking alarmed. "Just becauseyou're a better flatterer than I am--"
"Oh, hush, hush," protested Betty, showing all her dimples--Allen waswatching, so we have his authority for it. "You boys can never get tothe point, unless we happen to be talking of something to eat. Allen,what were they talking about?"
Allen roused himself from the happy reverie into which Betty'sdimples had thrown him, and responded good-naturedly. Allen wasinvariably good-natured.
"We were talking about some of the things we may be up against, whenwe find ourselves in the trenches, face to face with the enemy," hesaid. "Also we were saying that these sweaters, and mufflers andsocks you are knitting, will come in mighty handy over there."
A shadow crossed Betty's bright face, and she leaned forward to pickup the discarded paper she had thrown upon the porch.
"'The enemy attacked in force our lines south of Cambrai,'" she read,with puckered brow. "'The enemy succeeded in gaining a foothold inour first line trenches, but were later driven back. The fighting onboth sides was sanguinary, and heavy losses were sustained!'"
She flung the paper from her, and regarded her friends with flamingeyes, and both little fists clenched close at her sides.
"It doesn't seem as though it _could_ be real!" she cried. "Menkilling each other off by the hundreds and all for--what? Oh, it'scruel, cruel!"
"Of course it's cruel," said Allen grimly. "But so were the Hunscruel, centuries ago. The German people have simply never advancedbeyond that state. They're still in the first stages ofcivilization."
"Yes, and the worst part of this kind of warfare," said Frank, hiseyes fixed thoughtfully upon the horizon, "is that each man in thearmy is simply a unit in a great machine. In the old days, when theyhad cavalry charges and hand-to-hand fighting there was some romance,some adventure, some chance for personal bravery."
"Well, of course there is still some chance for daring," remarkedAllen, "especially in the aviation branch of the service."
"In the army too," added Roy. "Soldiers are being decorated every dayfor some special act of bravery."
"I know all that," replied Frank. "But there's nothing particularlyspectacular about it."
"And yet," said Betty thoughtfully, "I should think that kind offighting would take more courage than the other. To stand day afterday in those horrible trenches waiting for orders. And then when theydo finally make a charge, nothing much seems to be gained by it."
"Yes, the waiting must be the hardest part," agreed Allen. "We met anEnglishman in town," he added, smiling at the recollection, "and hewas a mighty interesting chap."
"You said it," agreed Frank heartily. "He's been through some of theheaviest fighting, and to hear him tell some of his experiences isbetter than a dozen lectures. I wish we could have brought him alongso you girls could have heard him."
"I don't," Roy interjected. "He was too good-looking."
"All the more reason why you should have brought him," yawned Grace."It would be a treat to have around something good to look at."
"Whew," whistled Frank. "That was a bad one, Gracie. We know we'renot Adonises--"
"I'm glad you know something," Grace was beginning, when once moreBetty interrupted her.
"Oh dear!" she said, "if you don't hurry, the biscuits will be done,and we won't have heard anything about the nice Englishman. And I'mvery much interested."
"Oh, you are, are you?" said Allen, sitting up. "I begin to think wemade a mistake in mentioning that Englishman. I think we must havedreamed him, fellows."
"Oh, he was real enough," put in Frank. "But I shouldn't wonder if hedreamt some of those adventures. They sounded too good to be true."
"Perhaps you've heard that old saying," Grace remarked, with herusual languor, "that truth is stranger than fiction?"
"Oh, hurry," begged Betty. "The biscuits are almost done; I can smellthem."
"So can I," said Roy, with another longing sniff. "Don't let 'emburn, will you, Betty?"
"I will, if somebody doesn't satisfy my curiosity, right away,"threatened the Little Captain, her lips set threateningly. "Now, willyou be good?"
"Gee, Allen, did you hear that?" Roy's expression was pathetic."Hurry it up, will you?"
"Well," began Allen with aggravating deliberati
on, "he was a tall,lean, rangy fellow with sandy hair and twinkling eyes. Seems he hadbeen wounded several times, and the last shot had cost him his rightarm."
"Oh," cried Mollie, her eyes like two saucers. "How did that happen?"
"Bomb exploding close to him shot it all to pieces," explained Allencryptically. "Of course it had to be amputated, permanently disablinghim. That's why he was sent across to America--to stimulaterecruiting."
"As if we needed any stimulating," said Mollie indignantly. "Youdon't have to stand behind our boys with a gun to make them go."
"Of course not," agreed Allen. "Just the same, it's almost impossiblefor us over here, with the broad Atlantic separating us from thescene of conflict, actually to realize what we're up against. That'swhy it's good to have a fellow like this Englishman, who has reallybeen right in the thick of it, relate his own experiences. While hewas talking you could almost hear the thunder of cannon and thebursting of shells. I tell you, we fellows felt like shouldering ourguns, and marching over right away."
"Oh, it's wonderful to be a man these days," sighed Mollie. "You canget right in the thick of it, while all we can do is stay home androot for you."
"Well, that's a lot," said Frank soberly. "Just to feel that yougirls are backing us up, and that there's somebody who cares whetherwe give a good account of ourselves or not, makes all the differencein the world."
"But that's not all we can do," cried Betty, her eyes shining withthe light of resolution. "There's real work enough to keep us busyall day long. Girls, I've got a plan!"
"What?" they cried, leaning forward eagerly.
"I'm going to join the Red Cross!"