jerry hopkins was of two minds. he knew his orders as sentry required him to challenge any one trying to pass in or out of camp after hours without a pass. and it did not seem likely that these persons, whoever they were, would act so suspiciously if they had passes. in fact, one came from the direction of the barracks, and the other from the town, which lay about three miles from camp.
on the other hand, jerry knew that often some of the boys stayed in town beyond the legal hour, and tried to run past the guard without getting caught, for in the latter event it meant punishment for being out after taps.
the soldier boys were but human, and, naturally, they did not want to see their fellow soldiers get into trouble. so it was sometimes the custom not to look too closely when some of the late-stayers tried to run guard.
“if that’s all it is, i guess i can find something to do at the other end of my post,” thought jerry,[142] for he felt that, some day, he might want a similar favor.
but as he was debating with himself he heard ned approaching, and he waited.
“everything all right?” asked ned in a low voice.
“well, not exactly,” was the answer. “did you see anything suspicious?”
“suspicious? no.”
“take a look down in that hollow,” suggested jerry. as he pointed to indicate the place to ned, they both saw two figures in a crouching attitude on the ground. they were two men, one in the unmistakable uniform of a soldier, and the other a civilian. and they appeared to be in close conversation.
“what’s that?” asked ned in a low voice.
“that’s what we’ve got to find out,” returned jerry. “i was just wondering whether to challenge or not.”
“maybe we can find out who they are first,” suggested ned. “if it’s just a couple of boys out late.”
“that’s what i was going to do,” said jerry.
“but one seems to be a civilian, and he hasn’t any right around camp at this hour.”
“i’m going over and take a look.” jerry spoke now with decision.
[143]
“i’ll go with you,” offered ned. “it’s about midway of both our posts.”
jerry and ned wanted to do their duty, as they had been instructed by their officers, but, at the same time, if by a little avoidance of a strict rendering of the rules they could help out an indiscreet fellow soldier, they were tempted to do that. it all depended on what was taking place over there in the dark hollow.
of course there had been talk of enemy spies and of german activities, and a great deal of it had a basis in fact, or easily could have. and it was true that a german spy could do a great deal of damage around camp dixton if he tried. there were great store-houses that could be set on fire, there were barracks and stables that could be burned, and more than one fire that did occur during the early days may be set down as having been the work of an enemy alien. if such were the men meeting at midnight in the hollow, just off the posts of jerry and ned, they wanted to know it. even if one did wear uncle sam’s uniform, that was no reason for believing him true. there are traitors in all walks of life.
“what do you make ’em out to be?” asked ned in a whisper of his tall chum.
“i’m not sure. one seems to be a soldier, but the other isn’t. and the soldier, if he is that, came from the direction of our place.”
[144]
“going to yell for the corporal of the guard?”
“not yet a while. let’s see who they are.”
the thick grass muffling their footsteps, ned and jerry drew near to the place where they had last seen the figures. they were not in sight now, being crouched down in the dark shadows. but as the boys paused to listen, they heard the murmur of voices, and some one said:
“it’s a little soon to start anything yet. wait about a week and the place will be full. then the damage will be all the greater.”
“all right; just as you say,” came the response. “only my friends are getting impatient to have me do something.”
“oh, you’ll do it all right!” said the first speaker. “and now you’d better hop along. the sentries may be over this way any minute. i’ve got to sneak back. see you again in the usual way.”
then came a silence, and ned and jerry looked at one another in the darkness. they could just make out each other’s outlines.
“did you hear that?” whispered ned.
“sure i did. it was——”
“pug kennedy!” filled in ned.
“and if the other didn’t speak with a german accent i’ll never draw another ration.”
“just what i think. but what does it mean? why should pug kennedy be out after hours, running[145] the guard and meeting with men who may be enemy aliens?”
“can’t answer,” replied jerry. “but it’s up to us to find out. but let’s go easy. we don’t want to make fools of ourselves, and start a false alarm. wait until we see what happens.”
they did not have long to wait. a few seconds later they heard a shuffle in the grass, and a dim figure came toward them. it was that of a soldier, as ned and jerry could see. of the second person there was not a sign. but he might still be in the dark hollow, or he may have crawled off. at any rate it was jerry’s duty to challenge, and he did it.
“halt!” he cried, bringing his rifle to “port,” as the regulations called for. “who goes there?”
“friend,” was the answer, though the tone of the reply was anything but friendly. “that you, hopkins?” came the inquiry.
“yes. who are you?” jerry asked, though he knew full well.
“i’m kennedy. i’ve been out on a bit of a lark. can’t you look the other way a second until i slip past?”
it was not an unusual request, and it was one that was often complied with. yet jerry hesitated a moment. kennedy might be telling the truth, and the midnight meeting might be innocent enough. but it looked suspicious. and[146] jerry had reason to think that the fighter had come from the barracks only recently—not that he was just returning to them.
“go on. look the other way and i’ll slip past—that’s a sport!” begged pug kennedy, and his voice was more friendly now. “i’ll do as much for you some day.”
it was an appeal hard to resist, and jerry was on the point of complying, while ned was willing to agree to it, when some one was heard walking along from a point in back of the three young men.
“it’s the corporal!” hissed kennedy. “keep your mouths shut and i’ll do the rest.”
he suddenly seemed to melt away in the darkness, but he probably dropped down in the long grass. the approaching footsteps came nearer and a voice called:
“hopkins! slade! are you there?”
“here, sir,” was the answer, and jerry and ned saw the corporal of the guard standing near them.
“anything the matter?” he asked.
“well, i thought i saw some one over here,” answered jerry, “and i came to look. but i don’t see anything now.”
there was a very good reason for this. jerry had his eyes tightly shut!
“false alarm, was it?” asked the corporal with a laugh. “well, that often happens. but it’s[147] best to be on the alert. there are some of the boys out, and we want to catch them as examples. if you see anything more give a call.”
“yes, sir.”
jerry and ned turned away to go back on post when something happened. it was a yell of pain, and came from a point not far from where the corporal had been talking to the two sentries.
“what’s that?” exclaimed ned.
“some one hurt,” answered jerry. “i wonder——”
he did not have time to complete his surmise, for the corporal called:
“guard! over this way! i’ve caught him!”
there was a sound of a struggle, and then a light flashed. ned and jerry, hurrying over, saw the corporal holding pug kennedy, and flashing a pocket electric light into the bully’s face.
ned and jerry, hurrying over saw the corporal holding pug kennedy.
“you were right—there was some one here,” said the corporal. “i stepped on his hand in the dark and he yelled. otherwise i might not have seen him. sorry, kennedy, but it’s your own fault,” went on the non-commissioned officer. “take him to the guardhouse,” he ordered ned and jerry, and there was no choice for them but to obey.
“i’ll get even with you for this!” growled pug kennedy, as he marched along. “i’ll fix you!”
[148]
“we didn’t do anything,” said jerry in a low voice. “we were going to keep still.”
“yes you were! you gave me away—that’s what you did. you called the corporal and peached on me! i’ll fix you for this!”
it was useless to protest, and jerry and ned did not. kennedy, muttering and growling, was turned over to the keeper of the guardhouse, and locked up for the rest of the night. he would be given a hearing in the morning.
“how much shall we tell?” asked ned of jerry, when they were relieved, and, with bob, went to turn in.
“better not say anything until we’re asked,” was jerry’s opinion. “let the corporal do the talking. after all he found him, we didn’t.”
“but about the meeting in the dark, and the talk we heard?”
“well, if i was sure what it meant i’d speak of it. but we may only get laughed at for imagining things if we speak of it. and we haven’t much to go on. let the corporal do the talking.”
this they did, with the result that pug kennedy was punished for being out after taps and trying to run the guard, no very serious offense, but one which carried with it an extra round of police work—cleaning up around camp—and pug was more or less the laughing butt of his comrades.
“it’s all your fault!” he declared to ned and[149] jerry. “you wait! i’ll get square with you!”
but as several days passed, and the “scrapper,” as he was called, made no effort to carry out his threat, ned and jerry rather forgot about it. as for the midnight meeting, it seemed to have been nothing more than an attempt on the part of pug kennedy to be friendly with some civilian he had met in town.
“though what they were talking about i can’t guess,” said jerry.
“same here,” agreed ned.
the days in camp were spent in drill. it was drill, drill, drill from morning until night.
most of the drills were for the purpose of getting the new soldiers in good physical shape, fit to stand the hard work that would come later. to the three motor boys it was much the same sort of thing they had gone through when training for football. there were the preliminary steps, the slow movements, followed by speeding-up practice and then hard driving.
in the course of a few weeks they learned how to march in unison, how to go through certain parts of the rifle drill without making it look too ragged, and finally, one day, orders were issued for bayonet drill.
“this is beginning to look like real war, now,” said ned in delight, as he and his chums got their guns and bayonets ready for the work.
[150]
“what is it to be, trench or with the bags?” asked bob.
“bags,” answered jerry, who had been reading the orders. “the trench work comes later.”
there are several kinds of bayonet drill and exercise, and among them are trench and bag work. in the former, which is only used after the youths have become somewhat familiar with the weapon, there are two lines of soldiers. one is down in a trench, and they are “attacked” by another line standing above them, the theory being that the party outside the trench is the attacking one.
bag bayonet work is something on the same scale as tackling the dummy in football practice. on a wooden framework a number of canvas bags, filled with sawdust, shavings, hay or other soft material, are suspended. on each bag, which swings freely by two ropes, are painted two white dots. these, in a measure, correspond to the scarlet heart on the buffer of a fencer.
standing in a row before the swinging bags, with leveled bayonets, the young soldiers endeavor to stab through the object as near the white spots as possible. this is to train their eyes.
ned, bob, and jerry, with their comrades, were marched to the practice ground, and then, after some preliminary instruction and illustrative work by men proficient in the drill, the lads were allowed to do it themselves.
[151]
“it looks easy, but it’s hard,” declared bob, when he had made several wild lunges, to the no small danger of the man next him.
“take it easy, chunky,” advised jerry. “you’ve got more than a week to stay here. go slow.”
pug kennedy, who was stationed next to ned, had done better than any of the others. perhaps his proficiency with his fists stood him in good stead. however that may have been, he won commendation from the officer in charge.
“now for a general attack!” came the orders, after a while. “i want to see how you’d act if you were told to go over the top and smash a crowd of germans! lively now!”
the boys went at it with a will, one or two fairly ripping the bags from their fastenings.
suddenly there was a cry of pain, and jerry saw ned stagger in the line, and drop his rifle. then ned fell, and on the back of his olive shirt there appeared a crimson stain. ned had been stabbed by a bayonet.
