CHAPTER XI
GALLANT WORK
The water had a chill in it that struck to Frank's marrow, but thereaction soon came and he proceeded swiftly, making as little noise aspossible, and keeping body and head low in the water. He was apowerful swimmer, and the distance was as nothing to him. But thegreatest caution had to be exercised lest he be discovered by a sentrywhose shot would alarm his comrades and put an end to the projectedraid.
But fortune favored him and he soon reached the boat, which seemed tobe large enough, with some crowding, to carry the American party. Itswung with its stern toward the shore, to which it was held by a ropethat was passed about a cleat.
Frank clung for a moment to the bow and listened intently. He couldhear no breathing nor any other sound that indicated that any one wason board. The Germans had evidently not dreamed of any such exploit asthat on which Frank was bent.
But that a watch was kept on the shore was evident, for Frank couldhear the measured step of a sentinel some distance away. The stepsreceded as he listened, and he gathered that the patrol was an extendedone. Now was his time, while the sentry was at the further limit ofhis beat.
Swiftly he climbed on board, slipped the rope from its cleat, and witha push of an oar against the bank sent the boat some distance out intothe stream. He did not dare to row for he feared that the oars gratingin the rowlocks might betray him. But he made a paddle of one of theoars, dipping it in alternately on opposite sides of the bow, paddlefashion, and before long reached his party, by whom he was receivedwith intense though subdued jubilation.
In whispers Frank explained to Wilson what he had observed and actionwas agreed on accordingly. The party, ten in all, bestowed themselvesas best as they might in their narrow quarters and the boat started onits perilous expedition.
A paddle was employed as before, and the journey was necessarily slow,for the boat sank in the water almost to the gunwales. But theyreached the other side at last, and Frank, slipping into the water,waded to the bank, where he fastened the boat securely.
Whether they would ever step into that boat again was known to none ofthe party that slipped like shadows up the grassy bank. They wereoutnumbered two to one, or more, and their success depended mainly onsurprise. The slightest slip in their plans would bring the expeditionto grief.
They lay flat on the bank and listened. There was no sound except thetread of the sentry's feet coming nearer. It was unlikely that theabsence of the boat had been discovered. Still, it might have been,and the dead silence might portend an ambush by the enemy.
This was a chance, however, that they had to take. But the first thingto do was to dispose of the sentry.
The path along which he seemed to be coming was bordered with a smalland uncared-for hedge.
In a hurried whisper Wilson gave his commands.
"You, Sheldon and Raymond, creep ahead and lie on opposite sides of theledge. When the sentry comes along, close on him at the same time.Keep him from making a noise if you can. The one thing is to be quick."
Frank and Bart glided along and took up positions opposite each other.
"You grab his gun, Bart, and I'll make for his throat," whispered Frank.
The sentry came on unsuspectingly. Lithe as panthers the boys leapedupon him, Bart grasping the gun, while Frank's sinewy hands fastened onhis throat.
There was a muffled exclamation and a short sharp struggle. Then thesentry lay on the ground unconscious, while Frank and Bart hastilyimprovised a gag, and bound the man's hands and feet.
"Good work," commended the corporal, as Frank and Bart rejoined theircomrades. "That was the most ticklish part. The rest ought to beeasy."
But he was mistaken, for just then the door of a dugout in a smalltrench opened, and two men came out with lanterns. It was evidentlythe corporal of the guard who had come out with a private to relievethe sentry.
There was an exclamation of surprise and alarm, and as the light of thelanterns revealed the group of dark figures at the head of the trench,the men started to leap back into the dugout. But a rifle cracked andone of them fell. The other, however, got inside and slammed andbarred the door.
"Rush them, men!" shouted the corporal, and charged, at their head,toward the dugout.
Two or three of them launched themselves against the door, but it held.
"Splinter it with your gun butts!" yelled the corporal, and a series ofheavy blows thundered against the barrier.
Some of the planks started to give, but before the door had completelyyielded, it was thrown open from within and the Germans rushed out,firing as they came.
They were met by a return volley, and two of them fell. But the otherscharged fiercely, and in an instant the two forces were engaged in aterrible hand-to-hand battle.
In the narrow confines of the trench there was no chance for shootingafter the first volley. It was a matter of fists and knives and inthis the Germans proved, as they had many times before, that they wereno match for the sinewy young Americans who with a yell went at themlike wild-cats.
Sullenly they retreated and their leader held up his hands and shouted"_Kamerad!_"
His followers did the same. The fight was over. None of the Americanshad been killed though one was slightly and another severely wounded.Three of the Germans would never fight again and two others stoodsupported by their comrades.
Two of the Americans stood at the door of the dugout and searched theGermans for arms as they came through. Others stood at the head of thetrench and herded the prisoners together for transportation to theother side.
The German corporal looked about him as he and his men stood guarded byAmericans with loaded rifles, and his chagrin was evident as herealized that he had been captured by so small a force.
"Are these all the men you have?" he asked in passable English ofWilson.
"They were enough, weren't they?" answered Wilson with a grin thatreflected itself on the faces of his comrades.
"_Donnerwetter!_" growled the German. "You would never have taken usif we had known!"
"We don't tell all we know," answered Wilson with a grin.
The prisoners were ferried across in groups of half a dozen at a time,but not before Billy had had the satisfaction of gathering up theinsulting placards that had aroused his ire and tearing them up beforethe Germans' faces.
"Feel better now?" laughed Frank.
"Lots," replied Billy. "I couldn't exactly make them swallow them, butthey must have felt almost as bad to see so much German Kultur going towaste."
The party was greeted with exuberant delight on their return, andreceived the special thanks of the captain.
"It was a big risk," he smiled, "but risks have a way of going throughwhen they are carried out by the boys I'm lucky enough to command."
"You forget, Captain," smiled the lieutenant who stood nearby, "thatthere are no American soldiers in France."
"That's so," laughed the captain. "The U-boats stopped us from comingover, didn't they?"