CHAPTER XXIV

THROUGH THE LINES

"Great work!" cried Roger, as he and Jimmy, lighting the lamp again, made sure that the two Germans, as well as the American traitors, were unable to give further trouble.

"Yes, luck was with us all right," assented Jimmy. "But, oh boy, what a lot this amounts to!"

"You mean finding out about the smoke signals plot?"

"Yes, and all that it takes in. You wouldn't think there could be such skunks on earth as those Bixtons, would you?"

"I should say not!" agreed Roger. Though the traitors were gagged their ears were open, and if they had a spark of manhood left they must have squirmed.

"You can't blame the Germans so much," went on Jimmy. "They were working for their country, not against it, and they probably thought what they did was all right. But it was up to us to put 'em out of business."

"And I guess you did to the one you hit all right," said Roger. "Looks as if he was done for."

"Couldn't be helped," was Jimmy's grim reply. "It was the spies or us. How's your man?"

"Well, I hit him pretty hard."

This was evident. Spurred by the necessity for acting with vigor and promptness, the Khaki Boys had struck hard. Both the Germans were unconscious, and, as developed later, one was so badly hurt that he died.

"Well, what's the next move?" asked Roger, as they sat down and looked at one another. Their nerves were a bit unsteady, and no wonder. They had passed through a strenuous time in the last fifteen hours.

"We've either got to take these fellows somewhere to give them up to the army authorities, or get word to our boys that the scoundrels are here," Jimmy said. "There may be more of the signal corps men involved in this spy work, and it ought to be known. But I don't see how we can very well take all four to our lines, provided we can find the lines. This fellow," and he pointed to the badly injured spy, "can't walk."

"Why not leave these two here in the cave, tied as tightly as we can manage?" suggested Roger.

"What about the Bixtons?" Jimmy asked.

"I fancy if we march behind them with their own loaded rifles we can induce them to go ahead of us to our lines," remarked Roger. "Later on the Germans can be attended to. They won't be very likely to run away."

"Say, I guess you've got the right dope!" Jimmy exclaimed. "We'll do just that. But it's late now, and probably as dark as a pocket outside. We can't find our way to the American lines now. Better stay here in the cave until morning."

"That's the best thing to do," decided Roger. "If any more spies show up we'll be ready for 'em, though I'm sick of this kind of fighting."

"So'm I," agreed Jimmy.

They cut into strips some of the German civilians' own garments, and with these bound the two spies. There was no need to gag them, since all danger of any of the plotters giving premature warning was passed. Indeed there seemed to be no need of binding the badly wounded Hun, but Jimmy and Roger were taking no chances.

During this process, by the light of the lantern the Khaki Boys made sure of the identity of the Germans. They were the same men who had been seen in the dugout, and there was no question now but what the Bixtons had been the two soldiers seen.

Having the instincts of humanity, Roger and Jimmy made their prisoners as comfortable as the circumstances would allow. They took the gags from the mouths of the Bixton brothers and gave them water. But the traitors spoke no word. The lesser wounded German begged for a drink, and it was given to him. The other remained in a stupor, though the Khaki Boys washed the wound on his head and bound it up.

Then passed the long night.

In the morning, not very much refreshed, as may be imagined, by the weary, hungry hours spent in the cave, Jimmy and Roger ventured forth. They found the entrance by which the Bixtons and the spies had come in, and from this point, which was on a hill, they were afforded a good view of the surrounding country.

"There's smoke over there," said Jimmy, pointing to what, at first, seemed to be a fog.

"Yes," agreed his companion. "Maybe it's smoke of battle or some burning village. But it means there have been men there, and that's more than can be said of this vicinity. It's deserted."

This was true enough. Though there were evidences all about that fighting had gone on in the neighborhood, there was no sign of habitation near the cave, and no inhabitants.

"Let's start for that smoke," said Jimmy. "It's an even break that we meet our lines somewhere over that way. That's the logical place for them to be, considering the fighting of yesterday. Let's hike for there, and drive the Bixtons ahead of us."

"I'm with you!" cried Roger.

There was no necessity of waiting for breakfast--there was no breakfast to be had. Jimmy and Roger donned their underwear, which had dried by this time, and then, again putting on the Bixton's uniforms, the two lads gave their orders.

"We're going to let you wear our uniforms," said Jimmy, "because they're still wet and, as it was your doing that made them so, it's up to you to stand the dampness."

The Bixtons said nothing. There was nothing they could say. Their bonds were loosed and, having seen that the Germans were still securely tied, Jimmy and Roger, taking their foes' guns, made the plotters march out of the cave.

"What are you going to do with us?" growled Aleck, as they were told to hike down the hill in the direction of the distant smoke.

"March you back to your company where you belong. They'll know what to do with you," said Jimmy.

"Look here!" begged Wilbur. "You've got us right, boys. We ain't going to crawl. But do you know what it means if we have to go back?"

"Yes, I know," said Jimmy soberly.

"Then turn us loose. Give us a chance, anyhow!"

"A chance to help kill some more of our boys?" cried Roger. "I guess not! You had your chance, and you didn't take it. You preferred to sell it to the Huns. Move along!" he cried.

The Bixtons saw that pleadings were useless, but later on they made one more attempt to free themselves. As they drew nearer the smoke it was seen that it came from a burning village, and a little later, as they entered the outskirts of the desolate and smoking town they saw signs which indicated that it had been recently occupied and deserted by Germans.

"They must be in retreat!" cried Jimmy. "Our boys can't be far away."

"You're right!" assented Roger. "If we go this way," and he pointed to the west, "we ought to come to our lines."

"You're wrong!" said Wilbur quickly. "Our lines lie over that way. I ought to know, for we came from there last night. Our lines are there," and he pointed to the east.

"You've got nerve--calling 'em 'our' lines!" declared Jimmy. "You don't belong to the American army any more."

"Do you suppose he can be right?" asked Roger in a low voice of his chum. "Maybe our lines are in that direction."

"It only needs their telling me to go east to make me go west!" exclaimed Jimmy. "Naturally they don't want to be taken back to the company they dishonored. They want to escape to the Germans they served. No, sir! We march west!"

And west they went.

It was about half an hour after this that Roger and Jimmy, driving the Bixtons before them, saw a group of American soldiers coming toward them over a shell-torn field.

"Home again!" cried Jimmy.

At the sight of Jimmy and Roger, with guns held in readiness, marching two other Americans soldiers ahead of them the party of Sammies, under the leadership of a sergeant, broke into a double quick, and soon reached the Khaki Boys.

"What's all this?" demanded the sergeant. "Who are you two with the guns, and what are these? Deserters?" he asked, pointing to the Bixtons.

"Worse than deserters! They're traitors!" said Jimmy. "And we left two German spies back in the cave. We've found out the secret of the smoke signals. We'd like to report to the officer commanding this sector, and deliver our prisoners."

"Smoke signals, eh?" exclaimed Sergeant Walton, who had charge of a party out in search of possibly forgotten wounded men. "That's queer. A squad of our boys, several squads, in fact, are out looking for two of the smoke signal machines which the signal corps reports missing since last night."

All eyes were turned toward the Bixtons. But they maintained their policy of silence.

"Come on, I'll take you to the K. O.," offered the sergeant.

This was done, and Roger and Jimmy soon turned over their prisoners and gave an account of the whole proceeding from the time they were knocked senseless until they attacked and caught the German spies. Then, after the boys had accurately described the location of the cave, a party was sent there to bring back the two Huns. The one had considerably improved, being but stunned, but the other never regained consciousness, and died that night.

But with the capture of the Bixtons and the finding of the papers which they had prepared to give the Germans in exchange for gold, the whole secret plot was exposed.

The two scoundrels had, more than once, sent up the smoke signals which enabled the Boches to locate hidden batteries or machine-gun emplacements. And to work their latest plot the brothers had taken into the woods one of the new smoke caldrons. They had sold their honor--and had brought death to many of their companions through greed for gold. It was during one of their secret conferences with the spies that the Khaki Boys had seen the Bixtons in the dugout. And only for their capture in the cave a grave disaster might have befallen the American army through the traitorous conduct of the Bixtons.

For they had planned, by sending up more smoke signals from another machine which they had taken to the woods, to disclose the location of a great battery of new, big naval guns, designed to smash the German lines.

The successful attack of Roger and Jimmy came at just the right time. The plot was foiled and the plotters caught. And, to end an unpleasant subject, it might be said here that the Bixtons were tried by court martial shortly afterward, found guilty, and executed, as was the remaining German spy.

"Well, that's over," said Roger, a week after their strenuous time in the cave and on the day of the traitors' execution. "It was tough, but it had to be done. And now I hope they'll let us get back to our old Five Hundred and Ninth."

"I'm with you there!" cried Jimmy. "I want to see Bob and Iggy. I don't suppose there's any news of Franz yet."

"Maybe not, but I hope there is," sighed Roger.

In due time they were sent back to their command, bearing with them the highest praise from the army authorities for their success in frustrating the smoke plot. And something more substantial than thanks was to follow.

"Iggy! Old scout Iggy!" cried Roger and Jimmy, as they greeted the Polish lad in a dugout where they found him, not far from the front lines now occupied by the Five Hundred and Ninth. "How are you, Iggy, and where's Bob?"

Ignace Pulinski rubbed his eyes, and shook his head.

"How can I dream when I awake am?" he said. "Py jolly, it seems real like!"

"What's real like, you old chunk?" demanded Roger.

"Seeing you and Jimmy Blazes," was the answer. "Of a dream I know it iss! Yet I am not asleep! Of a queerness it is!"

"Of course it isn't a dream! We're as real as yourself!" laughed Jimmy. "Come out of the gas and tell us where Bob is!"

It took some little time to convince Iggy that it was not all a dream, but when he had shaken hands with them and they had clapped him most heartily on the back, he exclaimed:

"Oh, of such gladness am I! If only Bob was here now--and Franz, too, then would be the five Brudders ag'in!"

"What! isn't Bob here?" cried Jimmy.

Iggy shook his head.

"I see him not when we a big fight had," he explained. "Dot was after you two go away. First we was of a five, den it was of a fourness we was. You go and it was of a twoness--Bob and me. And den of Bob, he go away some place I know not. I am of a oneness, and what you call--er--by myselfness----"

"You mean lonesomeness," suggested Roger.

"Him it is!" cried Iggy. "I was such a lonesomeness, but now I am of a gladness. Only if we could find Bob and Franz!"

"It would be great!" sighed Jimmy. "Well, we'll keep on hoping."

They spent the rest of that day exchanging experiences--Roger, Jimmy and Iggy. Toward the close of the afternoon the three Brothers were ordered to the front lines. It was rumored that a big attack impended, though whether it would be made by the Americans or the Germans was not certain.

And shortly after Roger, Jimmy, and Iggy had taken their places in the traverse, with No Man's Land in front of them, the whole section of the line near them was thrown into a panic by the discharge of a rifle. It was but a single shot, and so quickly was a whistle command shrilled forth that there was to be no more firing, that there was no general fusillade, such as often follows a case of this kind. Even the Germans did not fire in a panic, as sometimes happened. Perhaps the reason for that was because of the distance of the two lines of trenches at this point, the wire entanglements being half a mile apart.

"Wonder what that means?" asked Roger, as he and his two chums got down off the firing step, it being evident that there was to be no engagement for the present.

"A couple of Germans caught out in No Man's Land," was the answer of a messenger who came through the trench just then. "Guess they'll wish they'd stayed at home."

"Germans!" exclaimed Jimmy. "They truly had nerve to come out in the open."

He and his chums were discussing the strange incident when a messenger hurried up.

"Sergeants Blaise and Barlow and Corporal Pulinski ordered to report to the captain," was the crisp message.

In surprise Roger, Jimmy, and Iggy looked at one another.

"Wonder if this has anything to do with the capture of the two Germans," said Roger.

"How could that be?" asked Iggy.

"Maybe there's some connection between them and the two spies we found in the cave," suggested Jimmy.

"Maybe," agreed Roger. "Well, we'll go see what's wanted, anyhow."

The messenger escorted them to a dugout where the captain of their company was stationed. He smiled as he saw the three, and then it dawned on the Khaki Boys that the matter could not be very serious.

"I sent for you to see if you could identify these two prisoners caught wearing German uniforms between our lines and the enemy's just now," said the captain. "They claim to know you."

He indicated two ragged, dirty youths in the characteristic uniform of the Kaiser's soldiers. They stood with their backs to Roger, Jimmy, and Iggy.

"Claim to know us!" exclaimed Jimmy. "I don't see how that can be."

"You don't!" cried one of the "Germans," as he wheeled about.

"Going back on us, are you?" yelled the other.

For an instant Roger, Jimmy, and Iggy stood with dropped jaws and widely opened eyes. And then, simultaneously, there burst from the trio the shout:

"Bob! Franz!"

A moment later the five reunited Brothers were clasped in each others' arms--yes, they fairly hugged one another, straining breast to breast, and they were not ashamed of the tears in their eyes.

"Do you recognize the prisoners?" asked the captain, with a laugh.

"Do we! Say, Captain, how soon before we're going to fight?" cried Jimmy.

"Oh, I guess I can let you have a few hours off to celebrate," came the answer. "Is that what you wanted me to say?"

"That's it, sir!" answered Jimmy with a snappy salute, in which the other Khaki Boys joined.

"And now for a talk!" cried Bob, as they marched back to a dugout behind the front lines.

As the readers are well acquainted with all that happened to Roger and Jimmy, details of the story they told to Bob and Franz need not be gone into. Similarly, they are acquainted with what happened to Franz and Bob up to the point when they, with their comrades in the liberation plot, escaped from the German prison camp, wearing Hun uniforms.

"And we have had one whale of a time since then!" said Bob, in telling the story of their journey back to the American lines.

He and Franz had suffered unimaginable hardships. They separated from the others, as it seemed safest not to travel in a large party. What happened to their fellow prisoners Bob and Franz did not hear until long afterward. Some reached safety, but many were recaptured or were killed.

Bob and Franz traveled mostly at night, and the knowledge Schnitzel had of German saved them more than once. Eventually, when almost ready to give up, they reached a place where the 509th and brigaded regiments opposed a strong German division.

And then, more by good luck than anything else, Bob and Franz, still wearing the ragged German uniforms, found a gap in the Hun lines and got through it to No Man's Land. Then they headed for the American trenches.

As they were in uniform, it was seen at once that they were not spies, though one over-zealous Sammie fired on them. At first the Americans thought they were about to receive two German deserters, as frequently happened. But once in custody Bob and Franz disclosed their identity, and, learning that Roger, Jimmy, and Iggy were in the neighborhood, asked that they be sent for.

The rest has already been told.

* * * * *

"Every man ready!"

"Every man ready, sir!"

This was the report that went up and down the trenches. The five Brothers, reunited after such stirring experiences, heard it as they stood together ready to leap up on the firing step and go over the top.

Behind them big cannon waited but a signal to the gunners to belch forth flame and destruction. Every one was on the alert.

It was a day following a tremendous battle, when the German lines had been smashed, torn apart and thrown into confusion, and when the fleeing Huns, driven from their stronghold by the masterful work of Foch and Pershing with the other Allied commanders, were endeavoring to save themselves from disaster.

"A little bit more of this, and we'll finish the job," remarked Jimmy, as he looked at his wrist watch.

"What time is it?" asked Bob.

"Nearly eleven. Why?"

"Well, I heard a rumor that the Germans had asked for a cessation of hostilities, to begin about noon, in order to get ready to sign an armistice."

"Don't you believe it!" exclaimed Franz. "The Huns won't know they're beaten until we grind their faces down in the mud! Listen to that! Talk about ceasing hostilities!"

It was the sound of heavy artillery on the American side, and the sound came nearer, like rolling thunder over the distant hills.

"Guess we're going in all right," said Jimmy, and there was a grim look on his face. "Fellows, we've had some hard fighting these last few days. A little bit more of it, and we may finish up. But----Oh, well, what's the use talking? If we live through it, we live--that's all. I wonder----"

His words were smothered in a terrific burst of fire from the guns back of them.

"Laying down a barrage!" shrilled Bob in Roger's ear. "Here's where we go over the top!"

Tensely they stood waiting for the order. It never came.

Suddenly, as if by magic, the terrific noise ceased. Where a moment before there had been a crashing as if of whole worlds smashing into collision in vast space, now there was a quietness that was startling.

"Cease firing!"

The order came just as the hands on Jimmy's watch pointed to eleven o'clock.

What did it mean? And then, faintly at first, but gathering momentum like a mighty wind, the word went up and down the trenches.

"_The armistice is signed!_"

"That means the war is practically over," said Bob.

"Maybe not," returned Jimmy. "There may still be much for us to do."

And that he was right will be learned by reading the next volume of this series, to be called, "The Khaki Boys Along the Rhine; or, Winning the Honors of War."

THE END

* * * * *

THE KHAKI BOYS SERIES

BY CAPT. GORDON BATES

_All who love the experiences and adventures of our American boys, fighting for the freedom of democracy in the world, will be delighted with these vivid and true-to-life stories of the camp and field in the great war._

THE KHAKI BOYS AT CAMP STERLING _or Training for the Big Fight in France_

Two zealous young patriots volunteer and begin their military training. On the train going to camp they meet two rookies with whom they become chums. Together they get into a baffling camp mystery that develops into an extraordinary spy-plot. They defeat the enemies of their country and incidentally help one another to promotion both in friendship and service.

THE KHAKI BOYS ON THE WAY _or Doing Their Bit on Sea and Land_

Our soldier boys having completed their training at Camp Sterling are transferred to a Southern cantonment from which they are finally sent aboard a troop-ship for France. On the trip their ship is sunk by a U-boat and their adventures are realistic descriptions of the tragedies of the sea.

THE KHAKI BOYS AT THE FRONT _or Shoulder to Shoulder in the Trenches_

The Khaki Boys reach France, and, after some intensive training in sound of the battle front, are sent into the trenches. In the raids across No-Man's land, they have numerous tragic adventures that show what great work is being performed by our soldiers. It shows what makes heroes.

_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York

* * * * *

THE BASEBALL JOE SERIES

BY LESTER CHADWICK

BASEBALL JOE OF THE SILVER STARS _or The Rivals of Riverside_

Joe is an everyday country boy who loves to play baseball and particularly to pitch.

BASEBALL JOE ON THE SCHOOL NINE _or Pitching for the Blue Banner_

Joe's great ambition was to go to boarding school and play on the school team.

BASEBALL JOE AT YALE _or Pitching for the College Championship_

Joe goes to Yale University. In his second year he becomes a varsity pitcher and pitches in several big games.

BASEBALL JOE IN THE CENTRAL LEAGUE _or Making Good as a Professional Pitcher_

In this volume the scene of action is shifted from Yale college to a baseball league of our central states.

BASEBALL JOE IN THE BIG LEAGUE _or A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggles_

From the Central League Joe is drafted into the St. Louis Nationals. A corking baseball story all fans will enjoy.

BASEBALL JOE ON THE GIANTS _or Making Good as a Twirler in the Metropolis_

How Joe was traded to the Giants and became their mainstay in the box makes an interesting baseball story.

BASEBALL JOE IN THE WORLD SERIES _or Pitching for the Championship_

The rivalry was of course of the keenest, and what Joe did to win the series is told in a manner to thrill the most jaded reader.

BASEBALL JOE AROUND THE WORLD _or Pitching on a Grand Tour_

The Giants and the All-Americans tour the world, playing in many foreign countries.

_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York

End of Project Gutenberg's The Khaki Boys Fighting to Win, by Gordon Bates