CHAPTER XVIII.
THE COMING OF THE ZOUAVES.
"Why don't you give them a shot, Rod?" Hanky Panky was heard callingjust then, for apparently things had reached a crisis, and he expectedseeing one of the raiders come pushing through the opening the nextthing.
Rod was only holding back so as to keep his fire to the last extremity.The boy was pale, and his teeth were set, but there was a blaze in hiseyes that boded no good for the first Uhlan who ventured to try toenter.
Although the Motorcycle Boys in the start decided not to take sides ifsuch a thing could be avoided, they had found it impossible to controltheir feelings in the matter. The cause of the Allies seemed to becloser to American ideals than the militarist methods of the Kaiser'smen; and by degrees Rod and his chums had come to sympathize with theFrench and Belgians until finally ready to openly declare that they werefor them heart and soul.
Rod hated the thought of shedding blood, even though his own life, aswell as those of his chums, seemed in deadly danger. Only as a very lastresort was Rod willing to use that weapon which had come into hispossession so strangely; and in his mind he had already determined toonly wound, if such a choice seemed possible.
The Uhlans without were exultant over the success they had alreadyattained. To continue their work and presently smash the door completelyin, they drew back the ladder which they were using as a battering ram.
Rod saw his chance to look out through the vent. What he saw was not ofa reassuring nature. There were five stout men in the uniform of thereckless rough riders belonging to the German army; and they wereswinging that heavy ladder in a way that showed what delight theyexperienced in just such work of destruction.
Rod did not class them as different from the soldiers of any armyraiding through the enemy's country. In fact he was not bothering hishead just then making comparisons, for he had enough to do in figuringhow he might further delay the crisis so as to give the coming zouaves alittle more time in which to arrive.
"I guess it's got to be done!" the boy was muttering to himself as hepeeped through that narrow slit of an opening and saw that the pack hadabout reached the end of their swing, so that the forward rush was aboutto begin.
It was easy enough to pick out the man who seemed to be the head andbrains of the bunch. He was of course in the van, and by his actions aswell as by his loudly shouted exclamations exerted a most importantinfluence on the others. In fact he served as the pilot of the littlegroup; when he gave the word they surged forward with whoops, meaningthis time to finish smashing that objectionable door.
Why the Uhlans did not attempt to force an entrance through the rear ofthe house, which was absolutely undefended, Rod never could tell.Perhaps they were of the "one-idea" class of men, who, having made uptheir minds to do a thing in a certain way, could not deviate from theplan they had laid out.
Rod saw his chance to break up that next assault if only his aim weretrue. He thrust his weapon forward, finding plenty of room for hispurpose. While he did not claim to be much of a shot with such a clumsyweapon as he now held, at the same time the boy knew considerable aboutfirearms in general, and that counted for a whole lot.
Besides, the distance was ridiculously scant, and really Rod would havebeen deeply mortified had he missed his aim under the circumstances.
He meant to wound the leader by shooting him in the leg, and with thatintention in view aimed low when pulling the trigger. The five Uhlanshad actually started on the run at the time, so that they might strikethe tottering door a tremendous blow, and complete matters with one fellswoop, which would give them entrance to the house.
Josh, who was peeping over Rod's shoulder, gave a howl of delight whenthrough the little puff of smoke that followed the feeble crack of therevolver he saw the big leader suddenly crumple up, and, falling in aheap, bring every one of his companions down in a struggling mass.
"A great shot, Rod, a magnificent hit!" was the burden of his shout;"pinked the whole five at a clip! Splendid work, let me tell you, Rod!However did you manage to do it?"
Apparently, Josh had allowed his enthusiasm to run away with his betterjudgment, for he imagined that in some mysterious manner the missilefrom Rod's weapon had split in sections, and scattered like a load ofbird shot, bringing down victims by the wholesale.
However that might be, Josh speedily realized his error, for a number ofthe soldiers were already struggling to their feet. Only one remained onthe ground, and he was hugging his left leg as though in sudden anguish,a fact that sent a qualm of regret through Rod's heart.
He hoped they would draw off now, and give up the attempt for a littletime at least. True, there were five more charges in his gun, and onlyfour of the Uhlans, so that it seemed as though he might be equal to thetask of holding them in check, but one victim was enough to satisfy him.
"They're going to try it again, Rod!" cried Josh, shrilly.
He was trembling violently with the excitement, and his face had takenon the look of one wrought up to the fighting pitch. To tell the truth,Josh had but a single regret just then, which was that he did notpossess the mate of the weapon his chum gripped in his hand.
"And I'd never have bothered just peppering 'em in their legs, either,"he afterwards affirmed, when talking matters over with Hanky Panky;"they were meaning to get us, and if the shoe happened to be on theother foot who would be to blame?"
When Rod saw that the four men once more picked up the heavy ladder andstarted to swing it forward he realized that it was up to him to tryagain. By gradually reducing the number of their foes he must in the endcheck their drive.
So he coolly picked out the next victim. As before, it had to be one ofthose in front, so as to bring confusion to the charge, as the rest werebound to trip over him should he fall.
All this while there arose from different quarters loud outcries andshouts of laughter from the spoilers, filled with the mad desire toinflict a reign of terror and frightfulness upon the natives. Shots werealso heard at intervals, women screamed, children shrieked, dogs barked,and taken in all it was a combination of sounds never to be forgotten bythose who happened to be in the little French village.
Well, Rod was just as successful with that second shot of his as he hadbeen on the former occasion. With the report of his weapon he could seethe man start, and give every evidence of being hard hit. He managed tokeep from falling, however, being sustained by his grip on the ladder,as well as the impetus of his companions' advance.
It might have altered things somewhat had Rod been given an opportunityto discharge a third shot, this time selecting the other fellow in thevan; but before he could really grasp the immensity of this idea it wastoo late.
The heavy ladder struck the already weakened door, and such was theforce with which it was hurled forward that it tore the latter from itshinges and sent it to the floor, the end of the ladder projectingseveral feet into the room.
Rod, seeing what was about to happen, had swept his two comrades back sothat none of them chanced to be struck by the falling door. There wasnow a wide gap, and the three uninjured Uhlans might easily rush throughthis. They would find, however, that the resistance of the inmates didnot end with the breaking in of the door; for there was Rod holdinghimself in readiness to shoot again, Josh with his upraised poker, HankyPanky also in line with a club, and the old man who had secured therevered gun that had hung on the wall since '71, waiting for this day,had its sword bayonet adjusted so as to pin the first German who daredventure across that threshold.
Fortunately there was no necessity for further action on the part of thevaliant defenders of the village home, for just at that moment therearose a series of the wildest shouts Rod had ever heard. They wereshouting in unison, those zouaves, as they spread through the villagelooking for Uhlans to spit upon their hungry bayonets. Hanky Panky intimes past had more than once ventured to make fun of certain phraseswhich he had heard spoken in French; but he was now ready to confessthat there was no language on the face of
the earth to be compared withthe French as falling from the bearded lips of men who wore those baggyred trousers of the famous zouaves.
"They've come, Rod, they've really got here!" he cried, in a paroxysm ofdelight.
Josh too was equally satisfied, though he should always deeply regretthat it had not fallen to his lot to strike _one_ blow for thecause, and that all the honors had gone to Rod.
Rod, seeing that none of the Uhlans seemed disposed to renew the attack,managed to look out; and the others were speedily at his side.
The danger, in so far as it related to the inmates of the villagehouses, was past; but evidently it had only begun for the Uhlans. Theyhad mounted their already tired horses in hot haste, that is, all thosecapable of doing so, and were trying to get out of the village, turningand firing back at the French with reckless abandon as they wentgalloping away.
Rod saw one man trying to help another mount a prancing horse. He hadhis arm about the wounded man and seemed to ignore his own danger in thedesire to fetch his comrade safely away.
"That's the fellow you pinked the first time!" cried Josh,understandingly.
Rod had already guessed as much. He hoped deep down in his heart thatthe Uhlan would manage to regain his saddle and ride to safety, for theboy did not want to feel that through any act of his the raider might befinally brought down.
Half a minute later and the two were galloping off. Once the injured mansat in his saddle he seemed capable of taking care of himself, thoughunless his wound were attended to shortly he must become too weak fromloss of blood to continue on his way, and would find it necessary toallow himself to be taken prisoner by the French in order to save hislife.
All around the active zouaves were running madly, and shouting in theirwild excitement. The Uhlans had not attempted to make any sort of astand, for they realized they were vastly outnumbered, and that it was"safety first" with them.
From the crackling of guns that continued for some time Rod felt assuredthat all of the raiders who had so boldly entered the French villagecould not have gone out of it again. Some there must be caught in atrap, for it seemed that the first of the zouaves arriving had startedto encircle the place, with the idea of cutting off the retreat of thepillagers when they took the alarm.
Josh first of all insisted in shaking hands with each of his chums, andthen with the three valiant old men who had shown such grit. Rod, morepractical, knew that there was other work to be done.
"Here, we must find buckets, and put out that fire before it gets toobig a headway!" he told both of his companions, upon which theybestirred themselves; and some of the zouaves coming to theirassistance, they presently had the flames completely smothered.
Things began to assume a settled appearance in the village as the sunsank low in the west, seen through the breaks in the clouds. There waswailing in a few of the houses over the destruction that had beenwrought during the temporary occupation of the place by the enemy.Luckily, however, no one of the inhabitants had been killed, or evenseriously injured. Two buildings were burned, several dogs shot becausethey had dared bark at the invaders, a few slight wounds received; buton the whole every one felt that they had good reason for congratulatingthemselves on the fact that things were no worse. Other French villagesdid not fare so well when overrun by the invaders.