CHAPTER XI
A FRIEND IN NEED
"Help! Help!"
A voice, strangely familiar to Hal and Chester, floated into theAmerican trenches from the darkness of No Man's Land beyond.
"Hello," said Captain O'Neil, "somebody left out there, eh? Well, Iguess he'll have to make the best of it for the night. Fritz is in anugly humor this evening. No use stirring him up. We're prettycomfortable here for a change."
"Seems pretty tough to leave him out there though, sir," Chesterventured.
"So it does. Still when he came into this war he must have known itwasn't a game of tiddlewinks. He'll have to take his chances same as therest of us. Anyhow, he's probably in a shell hole and should be safeenough. But I thought all our men returned safely after the raid."
"I thought so, too, sir," said Hal. "There wasn't a man reportedmissing."
"Probably a straggler from another brigade, sir," said Chester.
"Most likely," rejoined Captain O'Neil. "We'll see what can be done forhim in the morning."
He strode away.
It was two days after Hal and Chester had delivered General Lawrence'sdespatches to General Pershing. Contrary to their expectations, they hadnot been ordered to return again to General Lawrence's command, but hadbeen returned to their own division, which at that time chanced to beguarding front-line trenches in the Soissons region only a shortdistance south of the Marne. Arrived, they had reported at once toCaptain O'Neil and had been assigned new quarters.
To-night they were keeping watch. Early in the evening they hadaccompanied a party of troops in a raid on a certain point in one of theGerman trenches. Several prisoners had been made and the Americans hadnot lost a man. It was no wonder, then, that they should be surprised atthe voice which called from No Man's Land.
The voice came again:
"Help! Help!"
"By Jove, Hal!" said Chester, "there is something familiar about thatvoice. Wonder who it can be?"
Hal shrugged his shoulders, a habit occasioned by long association withFrench troops.
"Don't know," was his reply; "but I'll admit I seem to have heard itbefore. We'll see when daylight comes."
At that moment a private by the name of McHugh began to sing.
"Where do we go from here, boys, where do we go from here?" were thewords of the song that broke the uncanny stillness of the trenches. Itwas the song that had come into fame after the American troops reachedthe battlefields of France--the song to which American regiments marchedinto battle.
Other voices took up the song.
Came a hail in broken English from the German trenches scarce a hundredyards away.
"Hey there, Yanks!"
Instantly the singing in the American trenches came to a stop.
"What do you want, Fritz?" Hal called back.
"Don't make so much noise, all you fellows, and let the boy sing."
The boy, Chester took it, was McHugh. He could not have been more thantwenty.
"He has a grand voice," the German continued. "If he will sing us a songwe will let the man in the shell hole oud there go back."
At the same time the voice from No Man's Land cried a third time:
"Help! Help!"
Chester took counsel with Hal.
"Well," he said, "shall we take Fritz at his word?"
It should be explained here that incidents such as this were notuncommon in the trenches where friend and foe were so close together.More than once British and American soldiers had shared their tobaccoand other luxuries with the less fortunate Germans. Sometimes,conversations like this were carried on for hours at a time.
"Trouble is," Hal answered Chester, "you can't trust them. It's likelyto be a ruse to get the man into the open so they can take a shot athim."
"And it may be they're acting in good faith this time."
"Oh, it may be, of course." Hal turned to the private. "What do you say,McHugh, will you sing for Fritz?"
"Well," said McHugh, "I didn't enlist to come over here and entertainthe Boche, but if it'll do that chap out there any good, why count mein."
"Very good," said Hal. He raised his voice. "Still there, Fritz?"
"Yah! What have you decided?"
"He'll sing for you. But we'll hold you to your word."
"Good," said the German. "Let him stand up on the top of the trench sowe can see."
"Oh, no you don't, Fritz," Hal shouted back. "We're on to your tricks."
"But it is no trick," the German protested. "We give our words."
"Your word is not always to be trusted, Fritz."
"But me," said the voice. "I am Hans Loeder, who sang on the Americanstage. I give the word of an artist."
"By Jove, sir!" ejaculated McHugh at this juncture. "I know him well. InChicago I once took lessons from him."
"So?" exclaimed Hal in surprise. "Then maybe you would wish to talk tohim. But remember he is a German, after all, and be careful."
"Hello there, professor!" called McHugh. "Don't you remember me?"
"Vat?" came the reply. "Can it be my old pupil Daniel McHugh?"
"The same, professor," McHugh shouted back.
"No wonder I recognize the voice," came the response. "Did I not sayalways that you had talent? And now you will sing for us, eh?"
"Sure," said McHugh. "I'll take your word, professor."
Without further words, the young soldier sprang to the top of thetrench.
"Well," said Hal, "if you're going up, so am I."
He sprang up also, and Chester followed suit. A moment later fully ahundred American heads appeared over the top of the trenches. Beyond, inthe darkness, German heads also bobbed up.
"Now professor," said McHugh, "what shall it be?"
"Someding lively," was the reply. "Someding to make us forget why we arehere."
"The Darktown Colored Ball," suggested McHugh.
"Yah!" came the cry from the German lines. "Dat is id. Someding with theswing."
So McHugh sang. And when he concluded, a hail of applause came from theenemy lines. The American troops also applauded and cheered. Two morepopular songs McHugh sang and then, when the applause had died down, hecalled out:
"That's all for to-night, professor. More some other time."
"Good," was the shouted reply. "Now I keep my word. Tell your friend oudthere he may return without fear."
"Come on in, you out there," cried one of the Yankee soldiers.
"Oh, no," the man in the shell hole shouted back. "They just want to getme out there for a little target practice."
"Rats!" shouted McHugh. "Crawl out of there and come in like a man.We're here to protect you if we have to."
"You haven't done much of a job of it so far," said the voice from NoMan's Land.
A German voice broke in.
"You can have but ten minutes," it said. "After that you must take yourchances."
"Fair enough, Fritz," called an American. "Hey! You in the shell hole,come on in here."
"It's safer here," was the reply.
Again a German voice interrupted.
"If the Yank is afraid," it said, "we will allow two of your number togo and get him."
Half a dozen men would have leaped from the trench had Hal not stayedthem.
"You stay here and cover us," he said. "Lieutenant Crawford and I willgo. At the first sign of treachery, fire without hesitation."
"Very well, sir," said Private McHugh.
Hal and Chester leaped down and advanced into the darkness of No Man'sLand.
"No use coming after me now," cried the voice in the shell hole. "I knowwhen I'm well off. I don't want to be shot in the back."
Hal started.
"Great Scott, Chester!" he cried. "Haven't you recognized that voiceyet?"
"No," returned Chester in some surprise. "Have you?"
"Rather," said Hal dryly. "It's Stubbs."
Chester clapped a hand on his leg.
/> "By all that's wonderful!" he exclaimed. "Now why couldn't I place thatvoice?"
The lads increased their pace and at length they came to the shellcrater where the lone American had taken shelter from the German fire.
"Come on out of there," said Hal, disguising his voice.
"Not much," said the man inside.
"Don't be a fool, man," said Chester angrily. "We've only a few moments'grace. Hurry, now!"
"Say," came the voice from the darkness, "why are you fellows bent ongetting me killed? I haven't done anything to you."
"We'll have to hurry, Hal," said Chester. "Let's go down and get him."
The two lads leaped into the shell crater and laid rough hands upon theoccupant, who squirmed and struggled in vain.
"Let me go," he cried angrily, and struck out right and left.
"Listen, Stubbs," said Hal. "If you don't come out of here right nowI'll have to tap you over the head with my revolver."
The struggles of the man in the shell hole ceased. He almost moaned.
"Hal!" he gasped, and muttered to himself. "Anthony, you certainly areout of luck. Something always happens. And I suppose Chester is here,too, eh?"
"Right," said Chester.
"Poor Stubbs," said the occupant of the hole. "You're a dead man!"