Part 8

It was a strange group that gave the password a half hour later and advanced to the General's tent. The tent, hidden from observation by blankets and thick masses of boughs, was brightly lighted. General Pershing seemed to scorn sleep. Surrounded by his staff and a group of officers from the lines below, he sat puzzling over the reports they had made. Information was steadily leaking across. Every move they made was reported correctly. Only that very night as soon as it was definitely decided that no attack would be made, the flares from the enemy's lines almost ceased and their guns were silenced, as though they were glad to be assured of a few hours of peace. The positions of the American guns, no matter how cleverly camouflaged, were speedily discovered and gun fire trained on them.

The thing had assumed a very serious look. Losses were piling up. The General listened in worried and puzzled silence.

It was at this moment that the flap of the tent was suddenly opened, and two Germans, their hands tightly bound, stumbled blinkingly into the light. Behind them stood the two boys. There was a moment of surprised silence broken by the older prisoner, as he accustomed his eyes to the light. He glanced about the group, then his eyes rested curiously on his captors.

A look of fury and amazement crossed his face.

"Kinder, kleine kinder!" he muttered scornfully.

The other man was silent.

General Pershing gave a sigh.

"Those twins again!" he said. The boys saluted. "Where shall we leave these, sir?" said Porky respectfully. "We left another back there." He waved into space. _Back there_ might have been anywhere on the continent, as far as his direction showed. "It's sort of a queer place, sir, and we would like some one to see it, because we can't tell what it's all for, and we don't know that we could make the other fellow tell. He speaks English."

Rapidly the General gave the necessary orders. The two men were led off a short distance and placed under close guard. An escort, with a couple of captains and an expert electrician, was named for the boys, and without a question from the General, who knew how to bide his time, the little party filed out of the tent and went back down the trail.

When they were out of hearing, the General laughed and spoke.

"I often wonder," he said, "how those two boys pass the time in their own home. I don't mind trying to run an army, but running those twins is a bigger task than I like to tackle. I am glad they don't know just how glad I will be to hear the story they will tell us when they get the job finished. Three prisoners, and they want an escort of officers and an electrician! Well, they are on the trail of something, I'll be bound! I would like to question those prisoners but I won't spoil the boys' innocent pleasure in what they are doing. But I must say that I want one of you to keep an eye on them every second now until we return to headquarters. They are to be shipped home from there with a special passport, and I will be able to sleep better."

"They came with General Bright, did they not?" asked a Captain.

"Yes, and when he was called to Paris, I foolishly offered to let them stay at headquarters. I thought they would play around and kill time until Bright came back. That's what I get for overlooking their records. Things are bound to happen wherever they go."

"All boys are like that more or less, but this is a lively pair," said the Captain. "They seem to want to know everything. They are studying all my books on the French and English guns now, and I heard one of them say the other day that he had some good ideas on airplanes."

"I hope he takes them home then," said the General. "They are good youngsters, and I'll be glad to get a receipt from their parents for them. They are perfectly obedient, and strict as any old regular about discipline, but no matter _what_ good care we try to take of them, they are always getting into tight places."

"Their coming over here seems a strange thing," said one of the officers. "Sort of irregular."

"There is a reason," said the General. "They don't know it themselves. They were sent across because it seemed a good thing to have a boy's point of view for the boys over there of things over here. When I say they were sent, I do not mean that their expenses were paid. The Potters are amply able to spend money, but it was a good and patriotic thing for them to risk the lives of a fine pair like Porky and Beany. I don't even know their real names. Not that it matters. They would make themselves felt if they were called Percy and Willie. They are that sort."

Talk drifted to other things and time passed until a stir and footsteps outside made it evident that the expedition had returned. The door flap opened and the party filed in, the remaining prisoner in their midst.

The General glanced at him, then bent a steady, steely look on the man's face.

"You!" he said. "A German prisoner, you--"

The man's face lighted.

He stood erect and made an effort to salute with his bound hands.

"Yes, sir," he said in a low tone. "If I'm to be shot, sir, won't you let me tell you how it all happened?"

The General glanced at his wrist watch.

"It is three o'clock," he said. He nodded toward the sergeant. "Take this man in charge. To-morrow at seven o'clock bring him to my tent and I will talk with him."

He turned away and did not glance again at the prisoner as he was led away.

"He knew you," said a Captain.

"He worked for me four years on my apple ranch in Oregon. The foreman wrote me that he and seven others had left suddenly soon after the beginning of the war. I think we will get some very interesting information out of that young man. In the meantime," he turned to the two boys standing as stiffly at attention as their fagged out bodies would permit, "in the meantime, boys, can you tell your little story in half an hour? It is very late, and we have a hard day before us to-morrow."

"It won't take that long," said Porky. "We just went down a little ways, inside our own lines, General, so you wouldn't worry, and Beany, he hears things just like a cat, and there was a little hill, with these men inside, and I climbed on top and talked to them through the trap door, and Beany made believe he was a squad."

"And Porky had two of 'em tie up that Fritz fellow," interrupted Beany, "and made 'em come out the door, and we just made 'em think the squad was guarding the hill, and we brought 'em up here, and they came too easy. And we didn't try to carry arms, General, we just had a couple of monkey wrenches, and say, Porky, I've lost mine! That chauffeur will murder me!"

"A few details missing, however," said the General. "However, that will do for to-night. In the morning, if you like, you may be present when I see the prisoner. Good-night!"

*CHAPTER XIII*

*THE PRISONER'S STORY*

Some three minutes later (so the boys thought), some one shook them awake. It was morning.

"Six o'clock!" said their tormentor, prodding them viciously. It was the driver of their car. "Say, did youse have my monkey wrench!" he demanded of both boys.

"Sure!" said Porky quickly. "Here it is!" He handed out his wrench, while Beany tried to pretend to sleep again. The chauffeur looked it over.

"Naw, that ain't me wrench," he declared. "Same size and shape but it ain't me wrench!"

"Why not?" asked Porky. "One of us took your wrench last night, and if this is the same size and shape, why isn't it the same wrench?"

"Because it ain't," said the man. "That ain't got the same feel as my wrench. You can't wish off any strange wrench on this guy! I gotta have me own wrench! If General Pershing is goin' to let youse kids go stealin' wrenches, I'll--I'll--well, you'll _see_ what I'll do, discipline ner no discipline!" He glared at the boys and at the unoffending wrench.

Beany sadly allowed himself to wake up.

"I had your old wrench," he said, "and I guess I lost it. I will buy you a new one if I can't find it."

"You find it!" said the man. "I don't want no new one! I know the feel of me own tools, and no others need apply!"

He went off grumbling, and the boys, now wide awake, watched him.

"I told you how it would be," groaned Beany. "He'll never let up on me. Wonder where I could have dropped it. In No-Man's-Land probably, where it would be as easy to find as a needle in a haystack, and where we can't go anyhow, now it's light. Look there! Oh praise be, I believe he has found it himself!"

It was so. The man suddenly pounced on an object lying on the ground, took it up, examined it with a tenderer care than would usually be bestowed on a tool, and with a scornful look turned and waved it at the watching boys. "Got it!" he called.

"Good!" said Beany affably.

"No thanks to you!" called the chauffeur. He stalked away.

"I would never let myself get so wrapped up in a little thing like that," said Beany. He threw himself back on his bed.

"Don't do that," said Porky. "We are going to the General's tent at seven, you know, to hear what the Fritz person is going to say for himself. I bet he tells the truth anyhow. If the General fixes his gimlet eye on him once, he will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"I would in his place," said Beany. "It wouldn't seem just healthy to lie to the General." He commenced the simple process of dressing as practiced by soldiers in the field. It consisted of very brief bathing in a couple of teacups of water in a collapsible, and usually collapsing washpan, made of canvas waterproofed, and after that the simple drawing on of breeches, canvas puttees and shirt. A soldier sleeps in his underwear, but sleeping in his outer garments is very strictly forbidden, no matter how cold the weather may be.

The boys reached the General's tent at ten minutes to seven, and although they knew that the great man had been up for a couple of hours, they sat quietly outside until their watches told off the very tick of the expected hour. Then, just as they saw the guard bringing up the prisoner, they tapped on the tent flap, and at a word of summons entered.

The General, looking as though he had never stirred since the night before, sat in his accustomed place at the head of the table, over which a number of papers were strewn. He bade the boys good morning and nodded them to seats. In another moment the prisoner entered.

For a few moments the General took no notice of the man, keeping his eyes on his papers, while the fellow shifted uneasily from one foot to the other.

Then General Pershing looked up.

"Prisoner," he said, "it is not customary to accord a prisoner of war the sort of interview I am about to give you, but the circumstances alter this case. I want the truth, and the whole truth."

Porky and Beany nudged each other slyly.

"I want some of the information that it is in your power to give me, and I want it straight. You know you are in my power. There is always a firing squad for men like you. But I want you to unravel this puzzle. I want you to commence when you left the ranch--yes, even before that."

The prisoner spoke eagerly. "I _will_ tell you the truth, sir. I am glad to be here, no matter what you do to me. And I swear to tell you the truth." He held up his right hand, and the boys saw it tremble. They commenced to believe him. It was evident that the General did, for he nodded and the man plunged into his story.

It held the boys breathless.

"There were eight of us working for you, General, before America went into this war. Eight men of German ancestry or birth. Most of them were naturalized, but one night a man came to my house and commanded me to meet him in a certain place. He was a German officer and of course I was curious to know what he wanted. When I arrived at the meeting place I found the others there. The officer, showing credentials of his rank that we could not doubt, told us that we were wanted as interpreters. Just that, General. He explained that Germany was obliged to use all the men within her borders as fighting men, and as they were most anxious to have no misunderstanding with America, they were picking a German born, or German bred man here and there as they could without rousing suspicion. They were taking them from the farms rather than from the cities. He said that several hundred would be needed. He assured us that education was not necessary. It sounded very plausible, General, and the salary we were promised was magnificent. We all bit, General, and he took us away that very night in a couple of automobiles."

"The foreman told me," said the General, "that you went away in the middle of the busy season without giving warning."

"Yes, we did, General. I am sorry, and I was sorry then, but the pay--it was a _great_ temptation. We have been punished since. We went down through Mexico and took ship. There were five hundred men on board who were all going over to be 'interpreters.' And we never guessed, poor fools, that ship after ship was bearing each a like load. We never suspicioned the outcome. When we reached German soil, we were scattered, two going one place, two another, and instead of having any interpreting to do, we were outfitted as soldiers and attached to different regiments. Men kept coming day after day. I dare not say how many thousands of Germans have been taken out of the United States in this way. We were virtually prisoners. Of course to the most of us it did not matter much. After all Germany was our fatherland before America adopted us. As long as we were fighting the French and English and the Russians, we did not care.

"But then, when we were already very tired, came the news that President Wilson had declared war.

"General, it is not yet believed in Germany. All of them, the highest officers, even the Emperor, on occasion, all have addressed the troops and have explained that war was declared solely for political purposes and that no troops were to be sent over sea.

"They know now, do they not?" asked the General.

"Very few of them, General. They think that the English have adopted the American uniform as a blind."

"What did you think, Fritz?" asked the General.

"I saw them fight, and I knew," said Fritz simply. "I know them; I know how they fight. I told the others so. And when they came across the plain I wanted to hurrah. I suppose I will be shot as a German prisoner, but I could not help it. All my mistake was in the beginning. I would have deserted if I could have done so. Why, General, if those fellows over there behind the German lines knew the truth, a third of them would walk right over here. They are lied to again and again."

"How is the army faring as regards food!" asked the General.

"There is not enough to feed a third of the men. All Germany is dying slowly of substitutes. Substitutes for bread, for meat, for tea, for sugar, for coffee, for milk. At first the army was fed well, at the expense of the civilians. Now all suffer together, and no man in the world works well or fights well on an empty and aching stomach." He groaned.

"What were you doing ont there in that hillock?" asked the General.

"We were well behind the German lines a few days ago," said Fritz, "but whether they retired purposely or not, I cannot say. Since then, however, we have been kept there to communicate with the airplanes. It was possible to signal them by means of electric flashes down on the floor of our hiding place, through the open trap doors on top. Peter was in command. He took and sent the messages, and repeatedly he crept out in the night. I was never allowed to do anything, but if the Allies took the plain, and those ridges beyond it, Peter said we would all go out in American uniforms and learn what we could. We were expected to discover things too cleverly hidden from the airplanes."

"This is interesting at least, Fritz," said the General. "It would be still more interesting to know just how true it is that the German army in general does not know that we are seriously in the war. There are two millions of us here now, Fritz, and more coming."

"Two millions!" echoed the astounded prisoner. "Two millions! When they learn that, the war is over. But how will they ever learn it? Your airplanes scattered leaflets along the front several times. Not where I was stationed, but I heard the order that any man who saw another stoop to pick up one of those leaflets, any man who was caught reading one was to be shot dead by the nearest soldier, who would receive the cross for doing it. I tell you, sir, they are doing _everything_ they can to keep the army from learning that you are in the fight."

"I wonder how true all this is," mused the General.

Porky and Beany watched him narrowly. They were sure he had some plan, but it was clear that he wanted the prisoner to speak first.

"It is _all_ true," said Fritz. "General, won't you let me earn my life, set me free for two hours--only that? And I will prove it to you."

"You will disappear just as you did from the ranch, I suppose," grated the General in a harsh voice. "Why should I give you any chance?"

"I don't deserve it," said the prisoner, "except that if my plan fails, I will certainly be shot by the Germans."

"What do you propose?" asked the General.

"Two, perhaps three hours of freedom!" begged Fritz. "And if I can reach the German lines alive, I will return with twenty prisoners to prove to you that every man who is told that the Americans are here and are promised that they will not be shot, will follow me across."

"They are having a skirmish now," said the General, listening, "and a thunder storm is coming beside." He was lost in thought. "Fritz, make good!" he said. "I release you. You are but one man, no loss to us, but you have told me a story of what amounts to kidnapping. I would like to know if this is true. Just one thing. Prove it to me by bringing twenty men back; but while you are there _set the word free that the Americans have arrived_. Two millions, remember, perhaps three." He smiled. "And do not attempt to go or come until nightfall. I will remain here until midnight to-night. You are under guard until dark. You may go." He rapped sharply on the table, the guards entered and removed the prisoner.

The General began to smoke.

"What do you think, boys? Will he come back?"

"Yes, sir," said both boys together.

"Why?" asked the General.

"Why, he was telling the truth!" said Porky,

"They don't look like that other times," said Beany. "He was straight, all right."

"He will have to prove it," said the General grimly. "Men who leave a job without warning, no matter what the needs of the situation, do not fill me with confidence."

"I guess he is sorry now, anyway," said tender-hearted Beany.

"We will hope so," said the General. "Porky, you may typewrite these letters for me, and you, Beany, may check up these lists. If you can do this properly, it will release a man for other duty."

For two hours the two boys were too busy to know what went on in the tent. When the task was done the General dismissed them with strict orders that they were not to go more than thirty feet in any direction from his tent.

When the Germans had occupied that side of the valley, they had also used the hill as a temporary headquarters. Porky and Beany, like a pair of very restless and inquisitive hounds, went over the ground inch by inch. They could not help feeling that something good must be waiting for them within their screen of trees. The fighting miles away went on all day, and the time dragged for the boys until about three in the afternoon.

And then Porky found it--a tiny piece of wire sticking out of the ground under a root of the big tree under which they were sitting, feeling like a couple of prisoners themselves. They had never been on such close bounds before, and they didn't like it.

Porky started to pull the wire, when Beany fell on him with a yell.

"A bomb!" he cried, flinging Porky on his back.

"My word! You have scared me to death anyhow," said Porky.

Together they dug around the wire and followed it down and down until they almost gave up. At last, however, they had their reward, a square black tin box which they carried carefully to the General's tent.

Even then the greatest care was taken in opening it, for fear of an infernal machine of some sort. It opened easily, however, and without harm and disclosed a mass of papers. So many that the German officer who had been in charge of them, fearing capture, had evidently buried them, thinking that with the turn of battle he could easily reclaim them from the earth.

Among the papers were several cypher keys, and one of them was found to fit the papers found by Beany in the oak table in the dungeon at the chateau back at headquarters.

Even the General was delighted, as a little study disclosed the most important plans of the coming campaign and a scheme for the expected drive, which now could be met point for point.

It was dusk before the General and his staff finished with an examination of the papers, fitting the new keys to the papers already in their possession.

Porky allowed himself to crow. "Guess we are sort of little old Handy-to-have-around!" he chortled. "Guess we get to go all the way with _this_ distinguished mob!"

"Looks so," said Beany, "but you never can tell."

_And they couldn't_.

*CHAPTER XIV*

*ORDERS ARE ORDERS*

Night fell dark and stormy. As soon as it was dusk Fritz begged to be released and, receiving the General's permission, slipped away.

"I doubt if he comes back," said the General, "but it will spread the news at least. No, it is too much to expect that a man will persuade a couple of men, to say nothing of twenty, to give themselves into the hands of an enemy they have been taught to believe is ruthless, but if he does, we will know that the conditions in the German army are worse than we dream."

Time dragged away. The boys, still believing in Fritz, sat at the head of the only trail, watching. They almost wore their watches out looking at them, and trying them to see if they were wound. Time seemed to stand still and yet, somehow, ten o'clock came, and eleven and a quarter past. At half past the drivers prepared the cars for their silent night journey to the next sector. The tents were down, all but the screen of blankets behind which, with a closely shaded light, the General sat.

Ten minutes and the boys looked once more at the illuminated dials, and sighed.

"I'd have bet on that duck, if I was a betting man," said Porky sadly. "I bet he _meant_ to come."

"Hark!" said Beany, listening.

Porky listened too. He could always hear what Beany heard, if Beany called his attention to it. A soft tramp of feet could be heard. The boys leaped to their feet. Tramp, tramp, scuffle, scuffle, up the hill in the darkness!

"They are coming!" gasped Beany.

They were.

A flash of lightning preceding the storm that had hung off all day split the sky, and in its momentary glare the boys saw a small squad of American soldiers come out into the little clearing. The boys stood aside as they passed. Another squad brought up the rear, and between them--yes, between them marched, or rather staggered, a dismal company of twenty haggard skeletons headed by Fritz!

He had kept his word. The men were evidently frightened badly and Fritz kept talking to them as they advanced. The General came out of his shelter and surveyed them by the light of his flash.

"Here they are, sir," said Fritz. "Ask them what you like."

The General spoke to the weary men and they replied rapidly in harsh, hoarse voices. Porky and Beany stood in an agony of curiosity, wishing that they had studied German instead of Latin in high school.