CHAPTER XV
OUT IN NO MAN'S LAND
At exactly ten o'clock a cautious little party of nine men went throughan embrasure in their own fire trench and set stealthy feet upon NoMan's Land. Besides Lieutenant Redmond and the two non-coms, Jimmy andSchnitzel, there were three veteran infantrymen and three from the509th Regiment. Lieutenant Redmond was also of the veteran contingent.
Safely on the ground, they passed through a lane purposely cut for exitin their own barbed wire. For a few feet they walked along, the officerin the center. The sending up of a German star shell caused the wholeparty to drop like a flash and hug the ground.
These star shells are used at night by both sides for the purposeof illuminating No Man's Land. They are fired from a tube somewhatresembling a pistol. When fired, they hang in the air for about twentyseconds, giving forth a radiant, silvery light, highly betraying to ascouting party.
Each member of the scouting party was armed with a bayonet and knife.Lieutenant Redmond was the only one of them to carry a pistol. Shouldthey encounter a German patrol or scouting party they would be obligedto engage in hand-to-hand combat with its members. Battles such as theymight have to engage in had to be fought out in the dark with noiselessweapons. The crack of a rifle or a pistol would immediately draw downupon the scouts the machine-gun fire from both sides, with the resultthat neither Boches nor Sammies would escape.
Following the ascent into the air of the star shell that had flattenedthe scouts to the ground, they separated, Lieutenant Redmond and twoinfantrymen crawling away together, the others in pairs. The pointin their own sector from which they had made exit was nearest to theGerman fire trench.
Jimmy found himself creeping slowly along over the rough, unevenground in company with one of the veteran Americans. On they went,side by side, scarcely breathing. Frequently they had to flattenthemselves to the ground on account of star shells. Numerous shellholes also afforded them considerable cover. They had to be speciallycareful, however, of these same holes. To drop suddenly into one ofthem, unawares, they were likely to make enough noise to attract theattention of some sharp-eared enemy scout or perhaps a Boche sentry.
Little by little the two wormed their way across No Man's Land untilat length they reached the Boche wire entanglements. Here the twoseparated, to travel in opposite directions along the wire, feelingevery inch of it to determine if it were open at any point. The patrolhad been divided so that each man had a certain section of enemy wireto account for.
His first feeling of nervousness vanished, Jimmy was beginning ratherto enjoy his nocturnal adventure. Strongly imbued with the spirit ofdaring, this hazardous expedition appealed to him immensely. His righthand grasping his bayonet, his left lightly investigated the wire as hemoved slowly along.
Instantly afterward his heart almost skipped a beat. His alert ears hadcaught the sound of voices, speaking in the guttural Boche tongue. Heknew that these voices proceeded from the enemy fire trench. He wishedhe could understand German.
Pausing briefly to listen, he again started on. Grasping the wire, hishand moved gingerly along it. He stifled a little gasp as the gropinghand suddenly dropped into space. Quick investigation revealed to himthat he had discovered the very thing he had been sent out to learn.He had come upon a clean severing of the wires for a distance of abouttwo feet.
Jimmy also discovered something else in the same moment. He landedsquarely upon a form lying flat on the ground. Involuntarily awhispered "Great Guns!" issued from his lips.
"Blazes!"
Jimmy's incautious utterance alone saved him from bayoneting his ownbunkie, Franz Schnitzel. Had Schnitzel not recognized him and whisperedhis name, Jimmy's bayonet would have done its deadly work.
In the darkness the two clung to each other without speaking. Each wastrembling at the narrowly averted tragedy. As they lay there, the soundof voices from the trench could be plainly heard.
A quick pressure of his arm by Schnitzel informed Jimmy that Schnitz,at least, could understand what was being voiced by the near-by enemy.Still holding to Jimmy's arm, Schnitzel began to edge along. ObedientlyJimmy followed him in the direction from which the German-American hadcome when the two bunkies had fallen over each other. A few feet andJimmy understood. They were descending into a shell hole directly belowthe barbed-wire entanglement.
Hardly had they reached it when a star shell went up and hung directlyover the spot they had just left. The shell crater was deep enough,however, to convince them that they could not have been seen from theenemy's fire trench.
For half an hour they lay there, scarcely making a movement, whileSchnitzel listened to the talk that went on in the trench. One of thevoices heard almost continually had a harsh, authoritative ring. Itgave Jimmy the impression that it must undoubtedly belong to a Germanofficer. He wished he could understand what the Boche was saying.
At last Jimmy felt Schnitzel's hand press over his body until itreached his head. An instant and Schnitzel's lips against his left earbreathed:
"Back to our lines quickly!"
Immediately the German-American began wriggling along, Jimmy following.
Presently they were out of the shell hole and had turned themselvestoward their own lines. Although the scouting party had started outtogether, the men had been ordered to return singly or in couples tothe American lines, using their own discretion as to the length of timethey remained out.
Now began the ticklish task of crawling safely back to their owntrenches. The nearer they came to the center of No Man's Land thegreater grew their danger. Jimmy knew that Schnitzel's desire to reachthe American trenches quickly meant that he had learned something ofdecided importance.
Coming to a shell hole a little over halfway across the danger land,Schnitzel pulled him into it. One side of this crater projected over,forming a little cave underneath it. Into this, as far back as he couldgo, Schnitzel piloted Jimmy.
"Listen," he breathed. "I've got to tell you this in case anythingshould happen to me before we get back. The Boches are going to tryanother raid at four o'clock. They're going to open fire at twoo'clock. One of their crack Prussian regiments has just come into thefire trench. No matter what our guns do, they're coming over, severalwaves of them. They're going to use extra batteries of their biggestguns to smash our defenses. They're after prisoners to torture. I heard'em brag what they're going to do to the dogs of Americans. Now I'mgoing to get out of here and beat it for our lines. Wait what you thinkto be ten minutes, and then follow me. One of us surely will get backwith the word. Good-bye, Blazes. If I don't see you again I'd like youto remember what I say now: 'You're the whitest guy I ever knew and Ilove you!'"
"You're the bravest old sport I ever knew, and I'm all there with thereciprocity stuff," Jimmy whispered tensely.
The two bunkies gripped each other's hands hard in the darkness. ThenSchnitzel began to crawl away and out of the crater.
Directly he had gone, Jimmy crouched in the little cave, his earsstraining to catch any sound that might proclaim disaster to hisbunkie. Save for the occasional hiss of an ascending star shell, hecould distinguish not even the faintest noise of a suspicious nature.
Waiting until he judged the ten minutes to have expired, he began hisown perilous exit from the shell crater. He knew that the cave itselflay toward the German trenches. Crawling out of it he must continuestraight ahead. The open side of the crater was toward the Americanlines. He could only hope that Schnitzel had also remembered this.
Climbing out of the hole, he decided upon a brave but reckless courseof action. Getting to his feet he started for his own trenches, runninglightly on his tiptoes. He knew that he was likely to crash headlonginto a shell crater, or that a star shell might suddenly outline hisupright running form with its silvery light. Still, he took a desperatechance on his fleetness of foot to reach his goal. Not for nothing hadhe won the hundred-yard dash at prep. school.
Luck was surely with him that night. He reached the American barbedwires without a
single mishap, was challenged by a sentry, and passedon safely into the fire trench.
The first man encountered in the dugout, where he had been ordered toreport on return, was Lieutenant Redmond, who had just returned, hisuniform covered with mud and a gash across one cheek.
"Has Corporal Schnitzel returned, sir?" was Jimmy's anxious question.
"No. You are the first man back besides myself and one of the men whowent with me. My other man, Drayton, was killed. We had a fight withtwo Boches. We killed both, but I lost a good man."
The lieutenant's voice was choked with anger. Drayton had been the bestman in his platoon.
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm glad you did up the Boches and got back safe. Ihaven't time to tell you the details of what happened to Schnitzel andme. The Boches are going to attack at two o'clock and come over atfour. A crack Prussian regiment is now in their trenches and----"
"Come with me to headquarters!"
With this explosive command the lieutenant dashed out of the dugout,Jimmy at his heels. As he followed the officer's hurrying feet throughthe trench, Jimmy's mind was not on the coming attack but on Schnitzel.Had their good-bye in the little cave been a final farewell? Had NoMan's Land really "got" Schnitz?