CHAPTER XXI.
THE HAUNTED WELL.
The boys did not attempt to do much of this sort of talking as theymoved along the road. Many reasons united to make conversation aweariness to the flesh when carried on under the prevailing conditions.
In the first place they had to keep a certain distance apart, whichwould in itself necessitate shouting. Then the rumble of cannon wasgrowing steadily heavier the further they advanced, deadening most othersounds pretty much all the time. Last of all there were those gaps inthe road, springing up most unexpectedly, where enemy shells had struckin the endeavor to destroy as many of the pursuing French troops aspossible.
Both armies had traversed the region through which Rod and his friendswere making their tedious way. It can well be understood that the marksof their late progress abounded on all sides.
Even where no particular action had occurred a thousand reminders of thehuman flood of men that had so lately passed through were to bediscovered on every side. Often Hanky Panky's heart seemed to feel achill hand rest upon it as he marked the inevitable evidences of "man'sinhumanity to man." Cottages were burned or ruined in some way or other;once beautiful gardens trampled out of all recognition; outbuildingstorn down to make campfires for the marching hosts--in fact the landlooked as though a hurricane might have recently swept across it,leaving scars that it would take a long time indeed to heal.
Here, there, and everywhere they could see groups of the forlorninhabitants wandering about. Some stood and stared at the ruins of theirrecent homes; others guarded the little they had saved; while still morewere on the roadside looking toward the region of the north, from whencecame all those portentous rumblings and angry roarings.
Hanky Panky, however, was astonished to discover very few solemn facesamong the peasants of the Marne country. At first this amazed him, butpresently he figured out what it meant.
They had in many cases lost the accumulated savings of years, even theirhumble homes; but in spite of this they could take off their caps andshout in almost savage glee as the three Motorcycle Boys rode past.
Why, to be sure, the Great Day had come, of which they had some of themdreamed full forty years and more; when the German legions, like aplague of locusts, had once more descended upon devoted Paris, only tobe brought to a standstill by the glorious army of the republic. Andeven now those furious guns told how Von Kluck, who had made suchwonderful boasts of what he meant to do, was in full retreat borderingon a panic.
That was why temporary sufferings were all forgotten. For France thesehonest sons and daughters would make much greater sacrifices, and thinklittle of it. So Hanky Panky felt ready to take off his hat to every oneof them who gave the three riders a cheer or a salute in passing by.
Few animals save dogs and cats could be seen. Evidently the Germans hadtried to make a clean sweep of the forty miles and more they coveredlike a vast fan, in falling back to the prepared positions along theAisne. Those horses or cows that had been saved from the generalslaughter or seizure must have been artfully secreted somewhere, so thatthey escaped the keen search. As for chickens, not a solitary rooster'scrow had the boys heard since early dawn; for fowls of every descriptionare first looked after by the soldier marching through a hostilecountry.
Long caravans of supplies were crawling over other roads, all headingfor the front and coming from the direction of Paris. No wonder thatevery thoroughfare must be crowded with vehicles of transportation, whena million Frenchmen in arms had to be fed daily, not to mention theenormous quantities of ammunition that must be expended between therising and the setting of every sun.
The more Rod saw of this the greater grew his admiration for the geniusof the men whose brains had to command all these thousands of detailslooking to the provisioning of such a vast host. It was an experiencethe educational value of which could never be fully estimated; and oftenwould the boy ponder over the problems that must have confronted thosewho were responsible for the solution of them.
They had numerous little adventures by the way, though as a rule thesewere in the line of narrow escapes from nasty spills, on account of rutsin the road. Rod frequently gave warning when he reached an especiallybad stretch of ground, for he was well aware of the failings of his twochums--Josh with his impetuous ways, and Hanky Panky rather apt to becareless as well as clumsy.
One thing in particular Rod noticed, and this was that as they proceededthe sounds ahead of them kept on growing louder. Evidently then theywere coming up on that part of the Marne country where the lastrearguard action was being fiercely contested.
Von Kluck and his proud army must be continually finding themselvespushed further and further away from the beautiful city in which theyhad fully expected to be encamped ere this; though they grimly contestedevery mile they gave up, bound to sacrifice as few of their heavy gunsas possible.
Another thing staggered the boys when they came to think of it. Duringthe Civil War in their own country some of the greatest battles thenknown to history were fought, and the numbers on both sides did notreally amount to more than two hundred thousand men. Here there weremore than as many million grappling in deadly earnest, supplied with themost wonderful of modern death-dealing weapons, with engineers highlyeducated along the lines of utilizing these engines of wholesaledestruction.
No wonder then the dead and wounded were as the leaves of the forestwhen the wind of late October tears them from their hold upon thebranches and scatters them in windrows behind the logs and stumps and infence corners.
Rod had some reason to believe that if they were allowed to proceedforward on this particular day they would presently reach the regimentin which Andre, sought so earnestly in the interest of his family, hadan humble part. He was determined that should fortune favor them and theobject of their search be accomplished he would listen no longer to thepleadings of Josh, but strike for Paris, so as to get away from thiswar-blasted country as quickly as possible.
It was beginning to pall upon Rod. After all he was only a boy, and hadnever been accustomed to such terrible sights as of late were beingcontinually thrust before him. Nature has its limits, and Rod believedhe was now very close to the end of his endurance.
"As it is, what we've run across will haunt us the rest of our lives,"he was telling himself as he led the way along the difficult road; "andfor one I'm longing to wake up again, and find myself wandering by thepeaceful waters of the river bordering Garland in the far-distantStates. And here's hoping that this may turn out to be our very last dayin the track of the battling armies."
The dust was thick in places, partly on account of the season of theyear, and then again because of the unwonted use to which thatparticular thoroughfare had been put of late. When several hundredthousand feet have tramped along in almost endless procession, and theninnumerable vehicles of every known description, not to mention heavyartillery, some of it drawn by traction engines, some by horses, passingback and forth, it can easily be understood that the best of roads mustbe well nigh wrecked.
Hanky Panky had coughed a number of times, as though his throat wasbeginning to clog up with all this dust, and he found himself in dangerof choking. When no attention was paid at first to these plain symptomshe coughed louder than ever, and with such evident distress that Rodguessed what he wanted.
"All right, Hanky," he shouted back, "wait till we come to a well, or aspring of some sort, and we'll drop off to wash it down."
After that Hanky Panky quieted considerably, his main object having beenaccomplished. As he rode along the boy kept watching ahead, hoping thatit would not be long before they sighted some oasis in the desert wherea sparkling rill ran, or the thrice welcome sweep of an old-fashionedwell told of water to be had for the trouble of raising the same.
"I see one, Rod!" he presently called at the top of his voice, which wasquite husky from the accumulation of dust; "there's a well in that placewe're coming to, and I hope you keep your word, because I'm nearlyperishing for a drink."
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sp; "Same here," said Josh, thinking to relieve the other's mind, becausethat would make two in favor of a stop, and majority always ruled withthe Motorcycle Boys.
It happened just then that the road was next to deserted, though againjust the reverse might be the case. The well sweep could no longer beseen, but Hanky Panky had marked the spot in his mind, and was not to becheated because a knoll hid the well from the road, so it was onlyvisible in that one quarter.
Rod drew up. A gate stood before him that was now in ruins, showing thatthe invaders had been there. They pushed their heavy machines past, andfollowed the lane leading over the knoll, to find a cottage in ruins,having been burned to the very ground.
It was a sad sight, and filled the boys with distress; but by this timethey were naturally becoming a little hardened to such spectacles ofwarfare, and could view them without the same sensation of anger anddisgust toward the aggressors that had filled their hearts at an earlierdate.
For some reason or other the Germans had chosen to apply the torch tothis isolated cottage. Perhaps some party had been keenly disappointedat finding it totally deserted, with not even a stray chicken left tosatisfy their longing for a supper.
Rod gave one hasty glance around. Then he heaved a satisfied sigh, forhe had been a little afraid lest he discover some evidence of foul workthere. Such did not happen to be the case; the owner of the cottageinstead of staying and arousing the passions of the invaders by firingat them in secret, had wisely departed to unknown regions before theircoming, taking warning in time.
So the trio of boys hastened to the well as soon as they could disposeof their wheels. It would do them no harm to idle away ten minutes here,and drink their fill of the sparkling liquid which doubtless lay inthose shadowy depths.
Hanky Panky reached it first of all, Josh not appearing to be in a humorto force himself to the van. In fact Josh seemed to be amused atsomething, for he had one of those smirks on his face which marked itwhenever he watched Hanky Panky's evidence of greed.
"I don't seem to be able to quite see down _all_ the way, Rod," theother was saying when his comrades joined him; "but I dropped a pebblein, and could plainly hear a good splash; so there's plenty of the stuffdown there."
"I only hope it's all right," remarked Josh, shortly afterwards, whenthey had managed to draw up a dripping bucket of cold water.
That caused Hanky Panky to hesitate, for he had a gourd in his hand, andwas about to dip in.
"Now what in the wide world do you mean by saying that, I'd like toknow, Josh; you're always trying to drop a fly in the ointment, seems tome. What could there be wrong with this water?" he demanded, filling thegourd as he spoke.
"Oh! I don't know," drawled the other, wickedly, "but if it happenedthat some of those ugly-tempered Germans chose to drop a little poisonin the well it'd be a tough thing for the French who drank later, andmebbe make 'em sick in the bargain."
Hanky Panky turned pale, and allowed the gourd to spill; whereupon Joshcoolly took it out of his hand, dipped into the bucket, and commenceddrinking.
"If it doesn't kill _me_, why then it's safe, you see. I'm alwayswilling to be the tester for the crowd, you know. Tastes all right,though, and as cold as anything. Whew! Rod, you have a dip, since Hankyfeels nervous about it, won't you?"
Rod thereupon laughed, accepted the rude drinking cup from the joker,filled it from the dripping bucket, and offered it to the third memberof the group.
"Don't mind what he says, Hanky; you know Josh loves to have his littlejoke; and I believe he still feels that he owes you one on account ofthe trick you played on him this morning."
"Then you really don't believe they did poison it, Rod?" asked theother.
"That isn't the German way of doing things, as far as I know," Rod toldhim; at which assurance Hanky Panky swallowed his fears, and drained thegourd.
"Might as well be hung for a whole sheep as a lamb!" he declared, oncemore dipping into the bucket; "but no matter if it's my last drink ornot, I'm going to say this is as fine water as any I ever drank over inour own dear country. So here goes."
Rod in turn took a drink, and was ready to pronounce it excellent.Indeed, after their dusty ride of the morning nothing could have beenone-half so refreshing as that draught of ice-cold water from the wellwith the old-fashioned sweep.
"If we're meaning to rest up a little bit," remarked Hanky Panky,shrewdly, "we might as well stay right here. Then just before we startoff again it'll be another swig all around. I'd like to carry a canteenof that same water along with me, so I could wet my whistle as I rode."
"That would be your undoing, I'm afraid," laughed Rod, picturing theother uptilting the said canteen every few minutes, in spite of thewretched condition of the road and the necessity for cautious riding.
"I wonder whatever became of the people who lived here?" remarked Josh,presently, as he shifted his position for some reason or other, and satwith his face close to the curb of the well.
"Oh! they must have lit out long before the Germans arrived," Hankysaid, confidently; "I hope now you don't believe they were actuallykilled, and buried somewhere around here, do you, Josh? You are theworst hand to imagine terrible things I ever knew."
"I didn't say anything like that, did I?" demanded Josh; "but it musthave been on your mind. Listen! what was that?"
"I didn't hear anything," said Hanky Panky, looking worried all thesame; "what did it sound like, Josh?"
Instead of answering, Josh held his hand up to indicate that if theother stopped talking he too might catch the sound. And as they listenedwhat seemed to be a long-drawn groan came up from the depths of the wellfrom which they had just been drinking!