CHAPTER XVI
FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED
It seemed to Jimmy Blaise that he must have stayed a very long time inNo Man's Land. In reality he had been away from his own lines hardlymore than two hours. It had been only a little after midnight when hereturned with the important communications intrusted to him by thestill absent Franz Schnitzel.
The information Schnitzel had gleaned set headquarters in an orderlyflurry of industrious preparation to beat Fritz at his own game. Thewires of the communication trenches hummed continually with messages tothe American batteries behind the lines. By one o'clock every man ofthe front-line trench units was "standing to" on the fire step ready togive the Boches a warm reception.
In darkness and in discreet silence the work of preparation went on.Every possible precaution was taken to spring upon the Fritzies thesurprise they trustingly expected to launch at the Sammies.
With the exception of Schnitzel the remainder of the scouting partyhad all returned by a little before one o'clock. They reported thefinding of lanes cut in the enemy's wire entanglements, but that wasall. Stellar honors had fallen to Schnitzel, whose knowledge of theGerman language had enabled him to obtain such valuable information.Schnitzel, however, did not appear to claim them. His mantle hadpartially dropped upon Jimmy's shoulders.
Jimmy had been roundly commended at headquarters for his work thatnight. Ordering him to be brief, the commanding officer had requestedhim to give an account of his scouting in No Man's Land. In telling hisstory, Jimmy gave Schnitzel full credit, explaining that he had beenmerely the German-American's messenger.
He left headquarters with a heavy heart. The fact that Schnitz had notreported there proved him to be still absent. Jimmy was fairly surethat the American batteries would open fire before long, thus stealinga march upon the enemy. The Boches would then get busy. What ifSchnitzel were lying wounded upon No Man's Land? He would then be underthe fire of both sides. And he had been the one to warn his own side ofthe purposed bombardment! It was too horrible to contemplate!
Back in his own place in the fire trench, Schnitzel's fate continuedto haunt the heart-sick sergeant. Perhaps Schnitz was already dead.Perhaps he had gone down in hand-to-hand conflict directly after he andJimmy had parted. Again, he might now be a prisoner. That would be evenworse than death. As a German-American the Boches would wreak a ghastlyvengeance upon Schnitzel.
Shuddering, Jimmy felt that he would prefer his bunkie to be deadrather than the prisoner of such inhuman fiends.
If only he could talk to someone. Bob was not far away. He might justas well be a thousand miles off. In that dark hour of waiting not aword more could be even whispered that was not actually necessary.Jimmy did not know that the rest of the scouting party had returned.He judged it to be at least one o'clock. The German bombardment was tobegin at two. He wondered how soon the American batteries would open up.
At precisely half-past one the intense quiet of the night was shatteredby the terrific roar of American batteries concentrated on the Bochetrenches. A blinding red glare lighted up the sky at the rear of theSammies' trenches. Over their heads shells screamed their devastatingway across No Man's Land. Above the terrible din came the sighing moanof shells from the big guns. The American batteries were at it inearnest. With one accord the Sammies leaped to the fire step and peeredover the top of the parapet. It was too glorious a display of fireworksto miss. The Fritzies were getting a real "strafing" and the Khaki Boysproposed to see all that there was to be seen.
Undoubtedly the Fritzies were amazed to discover that their trap hadbeen neatly sprung on them. Very soon, however, their own guns beganto send over shells, causing the fire-step audience to get down intothe trenches again. Boche shells began to hit the American fire trench,shattering portions of its parapet and dealing out death to the menbehind it. The fight was on in earnest.
One shell landed just behind a parados, killing five men and causingthe dirt to spout upward like a fountain. Another ripped away a sectionof parapet, wiping out half a dozen brave fellows.
Yet for every one shell the enemy sent over, the Sammy batteries hadfive with which to meet it. So heavy and concentrated was the fire ofthe American guns that it seemed as though the German front-line trenchmust soon be utterly demolished by it.
In the glaring light made by exploding shells, enemy forms could beplainly seen through the gaps rent in their parapet.
American machine guns, trained on these gaps, sent forth a raking fireof bullets. Though the Sammies were having a hard enough time of it,the Boches were faring far worse.
For two hours the bombardment continued unceasingly on both sides.Toward daylight the German batteries put up a heavy barrage fire,which indicated that they intended to come over despite the frightfulcasualties they must have clicked.
The night had seen many Sammies fall to rise no more, and in theAmerican fire trench the stretcher-bearers were constantly traveling upand down, bearing away the wounded.
The dead had to lie in the trench. Not until later would the rushedfirst-aid men have time to take them away.
Still the fire step was lined with intrepid Khaki Boys, who proposed tosell their lives dearly when at close grip with their hated antagonists.
Just at daybreak the German barrage fire suddenly lifted. Downthe American line the order was passed to be ready. It was anever-to-be-forgotten moment for the Khaki Boys when they heard the manat the periscope shout:
"The Boches are coming over!"
Mounted on the fire step, rifles ready, the Khaki Boys saw wave uponwave of grayish-green-clad figures leaving their trenches to chargeacross No Man's Land, shooting from the hip as they trotted doggedlyforward, driven like cattle by their officers. A German officer neverleads his men.
Before they had traversed a dozen yards of No Man's Land an advancedAmerican battery opened fire on that moving gray mass. Other Americanbatteries began to speak and Sammy machine guns and rifles mowed themdown with a merciless hail of bullets.
Completely demoralized by the wholesale slaughter of their comradesmany of the Boches threw down their guns and ran for the Americantrenches to give themselves up. They could never have lived to get backto their own trenches. They had started across to take prisoners. Nowthey were glad to become prisoners.
Thus ended the Boche raid which, thanks to Franz Schnitzel, had beenso effectively checked. The raid having failed utterly, the Germanguns suddenly slackened their fire. Gradually the American batteriesceased. Soon quiet settled down upon that scene of carnage; a stillnessthat was almost uncanny after the terrible racket that had made nighthideous.
Details of Sammies herded their prisoners together and marched them offthrough the American trenches. What might have been a dreadful defeatto Uncle Sam's Boys had turned into a glorious victory. And all becauseof one man, who, perhaps, was long since beyond knowledge of the greatservice he had rendered his country.