her, brought the fainting child almost within reach of her hand and
killed him. Then with the same weapon he made a savage thrust for her
heart, but could only reach close enough to inflict a deep wound. Then
making sure that she could not escape from the cellar, he rode away
after his troop. She became unconscious, and for days the two little
children must have lived on the vegetables stored about them. When she
regained consciousness she found strength to drag herself to the shelves
where the family provisions were stored. All that was not spoiled she
fed to the children, but they were without water save for the rainwater
that dripped down upon them. She felt herself growing steadily weaker
as the untended wound grew worse. The whole neighborhood seemed
abandoned, and their feeble cries brought no help. The children pined,
and suffering as they were from shock, soon gave way to the cold
dampness and insufficient food.
"Marie herself lived solely through her determination not to leave the
two helpless babies to their fate. She prayed that they might die
first, and she was glad to note their failing strength, so fearful was
she of leaving them alone to a horrible, lingering death.
"She herself grew so weak that much of the time she lay almost
unconscious with the little ones huddled against her. She commenced to
see visions. Pierre came and comforted her and promised that she should
soon be free to be with him. The little martyred son clasped her in his
loving little arms, assuring her that he no longer suffered. The old
mother and father sat beside her and told her to be brave and patient.
But with all her courage she felt that her end was near. She could not
endure much longer."
The French officer bowed his head.
"Then came deliverance," he said softly, "deliverance from all her pain
and anguish. She has been released. She is with Pierre!"
One of the officers stepped forward and tenderly covered the still
figure with his cloak. He took the younger child in his arms, but it
screamed and struggled while the other one fought off the friendly hands
stretched down to it. The French officer spoke to them pleadingly, but
they only stared stupidly at him.
"They are almost done for," said one of the officers. "We have got to
get them away from here and right away." He made another effort to take
the older child but the little fellow fought with the fury of a little
wildcat. One after another tried in vain to get hold of the terrified
little fellow, who grew more and more frightened.
Porky and Beany, standing modestly in the rear of the group, watched the
proceedings with growing uneasiness. Finally Porky stepped forwards,
saluting as he did so.
"Will you please let us try?" he asked, and taking a worried nod from
the Captain for answer, he sat down beside the dead mother, and for a
long time, as it seemed to the watching group, stared idly ahead,
without so much as a glance at the trembling children.
Then he turned, nodded as though he had just noticed them, and taking a
cake of chocolate from his pocket, bit off a piece and then broke off a
small corner for each child. It was only a taste, but as the delicious
morsel melted on their tongues, they crept to Porky like a couple of
starved kittens. He showed them the rest of the chocolate and hitched
off a few feet. Beany came after. The children followed, and Porky
broke off another small bit for each. Some one brought water from the
cars for them to drink and in fifteen minutes the thing was done. Porky
and Beany, each with a little skeleton in their arms, wandered well away
from the spot where unaccustomed hands were awkwardly digging a grave
for the dead young mother.
"This," said Porky, as the child in his arms sagged on his shoulder and
seemed to sleep, "this is the worst thing yet!"
"You bet!" said Beany dismally. "Say, did you see me cry back there? I
did!"
"Well, what of it?" demanded Porky. "Didn't everybody? I'd like to
know how they could help it!"
"I wasn't looking," said Beany. "Oh, gosh, they didn't have to do
things like this."
"Who, the Huns?" asked his brother. "Why, it's all like this and a
million times worse!"
"Well, I wish I was grown up," mourned Beany. "To think we can't do much
of anything! I want to get even! I want to look some of those fellows
in the face!"
"What's your idea? Want to tell him what you think?" Porky laughed
unpleasantly, as he shifted the weight of the child. "What's worrying
me now is what is going to be done with these poor little kids. Isn't
the one you have a pretty little thing? Even all the dirt and hunger
can't hide her looks. I suppose they will have to go into some asylum!"
"I don't see why," said Beany suddenly. "Do you remember Mom and Pop
said they wished if we brought them anything from across, it would be
something good and worth while? They didn't want German helmets and
junk like that. What do you suppose they would say to a couple of dandy
little kids like these?"
"For the love of the board of health!" said his brother solemnly. "It's
a great thought, sonny, but do you suppose Mom _wants_ to start in
bringing up another lot of children! You know if she ever started, she
would make a good job of it; you know how thorough she always is."
"Yes, she is thorough, all right!" grinned Mom's son. "Look at us!"
"She did the best she could with us, anyhow," retorted Mom's other son
solemnly, "and I think, no, I _know_ she would be tickled to death to do
something as real and important as taking these two little chaps to
bring up. And we could help support them if we had to, later."
"That's silly," said Porky. "You know Dad has made a lot of money. And
he could afford to bring up six of them if he wanted to."
"Well, all _he_ ever wants is what Mom wants," said Beany.
"I guess that's so too," said Porky, "but perhaps some of those officers
will have some other plans for them."
He looked down at the child on his arm. Already he felt a tenderness
for the starved, sickly little creature who had trusted him.
"One apiece," he said, looking at Beany.
"One's a girl, though," said Beany.
Porky wanted to be fair.
"That's so," he said. "Well, we can draw straws to see which has to
take her."
"Straws nothing!" said Beany. "She came to me, so she is mine. Darned
if I know what to do with a girl, though! Can't teach her to play ball
or marbles, and besides that she can't be a Boy Scout."
"Well, she can be a girl one. You know they have 'em, and if she can't
play ball she can learn to swim and dive and ride and shoot, and it will
be pretty handy to have her round the house when it comes to buttons and
things. Mother must get tired sewing for three of us."
"Wonder how long it takes 'em to grow up to button size," said Beany,
studying the tiny bundle in his arms.
"Don't know," said Porky. He looked anxiously at his brother. His
generosity in accepting the care of the little girl worried him. He had
to watch Beany, who was always more than generous and self-sacrificing.
"Why can't we both have both kids?" he asked. "I don't want you to be
stung with a girl all the time. It isn't fair."
"Stuck with a girl!" said Beany. "Why, Porky, I _like_ it! I never
could see why when any one has a baby, everybody says, 'Gee, it's a boy!
Isn't that bully!' or else 'Huh, it's a girl, too bad!' I never could
see it. Course when they get _our_ size they mostly are silly pills,
but if _I_ have a hand in bringing up _this_ girl, why, you just watch
her, that's all! I bet when she's fifteen she won't look cross-eyed at
a boy. I bet she knocks their blocks off! She is going to have some
sense!"
"Looks as though you mean to make a scrapper of her," laughed Porky.
"No, she has got to grow up just as much like Mom as she can."
"Well, Mom likes boys all right," was Porky's reminder.
"Yes, but I bet when she was young she never googled at 'em or passed
notes or accidentally sat down in the same seat with them or any of
that. She isn't that kind. You can _see_ she isn't." And Beany, whose
wavy hair and clear blue eyes had already caused him to suffer, nodded
his head vigorously.
"Go ahead!" said Porky, "I think it's great having an assortment, only I
didn't want you to feel as though you had the worst end of the bargain."
"Not a bit of it!" said Beany. "Not a bit, and I'll lend you my girl to
look at or play with whenever you want."
"Much obliged," said Porky, "but I can't help thinking it might be a
good plan to break the news to somebody."
"Your kidlet is asleep, so he won't notice. Suppose you go back there
and see what they are doing."
"I can see from here," said Porky with a slight shudder. "They are sort
of boarding up a place to put the youngster's mother. They have no way
of getting a casket or even a box for her."
"It will be fixed all right," said Beany. "The Captain does everything
all right. He will fix it just as well as ever he can. I'd like to go
over and see just what they are doing."
"Better not; you might wake the baby, and we don't want her to see her
mother again."
"Well, anyhow, one thing is settled. The pair is ours," said Porky with
a sigh.
"They are ours if we can have them," said his brother.
"You watch me!" said Porky grimly.
*CHAPTER X*
*DECIDING DESTINIES*
Tired of carrying the children about, the two boys sat down on a bench
beside what had once been a large barn. The destructive fire started by
the invaders had apparently been checked by a heavy rainfall as the half
burned structures and charred timbers testified. There was still a
chance to rebuild and save enough from the wreckage to enable the owners
to start their lives afresh. But alas, of those owners but two were
left--the two tiny, terrified, war-racked creatures in the arms of the
two Boy Scouts. While their little charges slept, the boys continued
their talk in a low tone. Their arms, unaccustomed to such burdens, were
tired and stiff by the time one of the officers left the distant group
and approached them.
"Why don't you lay the poor little cubs down somewhere?" he asked,
looking round vainly for a fit place.
"No place to put 'em, sir," said Porky, "and every time we start to move
them, they clutch us and start to scream. As long as we sort of keep
'em hugged up tight, they sleep."
"It's awful--awful!" said the officer. "I wish I knew what to do with
them now. There's not an asylum of any sort, not a place fit to leave
them within miles and miles, and what's to become of them _I_ don't
know. Every orphan asylum in France is crowded."
"Oh, that's all right," said Porky. "We don't intend they shall go to
any asylum. Our mother has adopted them."
"Your what?" asked the captain after a prolonged stare.
"Our mother," repeated Porky.
"Your mother has _WHAT_?" said the captain. "Just repeat it all."
"Our mother has adopted them," said Porky patiently and distinctly. The
captain pushed back his cap and stared.
"Where is your mother?" he asked.
"Home," said Porky.
"New York state," added Beany. "She wanted something to remember the
war by, so we are going to take her these. She didn't want any German
helmets or anything of that sort. She said she didn't want ever to be
reminded of helmets, so we will take her these instead."
"But, good heavens!" said the officer. "You ought not do anything like
that! She would have to bring them up."
"That's all right, too," said Porky. "Mom has had experience. She has
had us, and one of these is a girl. Girls ought to be easier than
boys."
"No, she won't mind and, anyhow, we are going to do all the hard work
ourselves. Teaching them swimming and baseball and all that."
"The girl will like that," said the officer dryly.
"Course she will!" said Beany, looking proudly down at the future
baseballess.
"It's like this," said Porky. "Our people always trust us, and we know
it will be all right. I do hope you can fix it for us, Captain."
"It would be a wonderful thing for those poor little orphans," mused the
Captain. "But how would you get them home?"
"That's easy," said Porky. "Our time is up pretty soon. You see we
were only allowed a limited stay. That was the agreement when we came,
and we can take the kids over with us. Won't you _please_ get General
Pershing to fix it up for us? There will be some woman on board to tell
us what they ought to eat, and when to put 'em to bed and all that."
"It would be a wonderful thing," said the Captain again. "If you are
sure about your mother. It's a good deal to wish off on her."
"Feel in my left pocket," said Porky. "Feel that letter? Now take it
out and read it. It's all right. She wouldn't mind, and I'm proud of
mother's letters."
The Captain drew out the letter which was much thumbed and soiled, and
read:
"_My own dear boys_:
"It was good to hear from you both again after the long time between
letters. A whole month, in which we received not so much as a post
card. But something told me that you were safe and well, so I did not
worry. You know, dears, I am not the worrying kind when it comes to
that. Your dad, who boasts continually that he never worries over
_any_thing, does all the fussing for the whole family, but as long as he
doesn't know it, and we never tell him, why, I suppose it is all right.
"I wrote you a long letter yesterday, telling you all the news of the
neighborhood, and this is only a note to acknowledge your letter at once
because in my letter I said that we had not heard in a long time.
"Well, dears, it will not be very many weeks now before we will hope to
see our boys again. I am counting the very days. I wonder what
souvenir of the war you will bring me. It will be something I will love
to have, I know, and not a horrid helmet or anything of that sort. Of
course the thing I would like best you can't possibly bring me, and that
is a house full of those poor pitiful little Belgian refugees. When I
think of our big house, this splendid home we have built since you went
away, when I think that soon it will be finished, and we will be in it,
just we four, I can scarcely bear it. So _many_ little children
homeless!
"Well, some day, boys, we must manage to do something for some of those
suffering little ones. I know of no other way in which to thank God for
our two boys and our many, many blessings. Your father is prospering
more and more in his business, and we both feel that we must all four
unite in doing for those less fortunate than we.
"However, I know I can't hope for a couple of Belgians just at present.
After the war, we will go and collect a few!
"Take care of yourselves always for the sake of the two who love you so
well.
"Your always loving
"MOTHER."
"Well, I declare!" said the Captain as he finished the clearly written
page.
"Doesn't that about fix it?" asked Porky triumphantly. "Of course these
are French, but I guess she won't mind that. They couldn't be worse off
in the way of parents or more destitute, no matter _what_ they were."
"Mother will be in her glory," Beany cut in. "I hope they don't get fat
before we get them home."
"I should say not! The thinner, the better as far as mother is
concerned. She snaked a private right out of the camp hospital last
summer and took him home. He had had pneumonia and looked like a sick
sparrow. Mother fed him and nursed him and he gained seventeen pounds
in three weeks."
"Well, it does beat all!" said the Captain. "Of course, you understand
there may be some reason that will make it impossible for you to take
these children out of the country."
"All I can say is, there hadn't _better_ be," said Porky, thrusting out
his square jaw. "Think I want to give up my kid after it came to me and
I lugged it around for an hour?"
"And do you suppose I want anybody but mother and me to bring up this
girl?" said Beany, awkwardly hugging the sleeping mite in his arms
closer.
"Besides," said Porky, "what about mother! It's up to us to bring her
what she likes best, and you read that letter. What she wants is
_orphans_, and she's _got_ to _have_ 'em if we _steal_ 'em! So long as
we are around, mother has got to have what she wants."
"I should think that nearly settled it," said the officer. He laughed
but there was a queer gleam in his eyes that looked suspiciously like
tears. "I am going to report this to the General now," he said. "Of
course we cannot take the children with us, and some way must be found
of sending them back to headquarters. I don't see just how it is to be
done, as it would be a pity to make you go back with them when this trip
is only beginning and be a wonderful thing for you."
"No, we hate to lose the trip," said Porky wistfully. "I don't suppose
two other Boy Scouts in the whole world ever had such a chance and we
sort of earned it."
"Stay here," said the Captain, "and I will be back presently."
He walked away, and the two boys, holding the two children, sat quietly
on the old bench planning in low tones for the future.
"This girl is going to be a peach," said Beany proudly. "See the way
her hair crinkles up? She is rank dirty, but you wait till mother gets
her cleaned up."
"My word!" said Porky. "She's got to be washed before _that_! Why,
they have to have a bath right off as soon as we get hold of a nurse or
some woman who understands enough about kids to do it."
"Yes, it's an awful job," said Beany. "All the soap gets in their eyes
and nose, and there's the mischief to pay. And I want an expert to wash
this kid. It makes their eyes red to get soap in 'em, and I don't want
hers spoiled."
"Wonder what their names are," said Porky.
"Oh, they are named all right. I suppose we didn't get 'em soon enough
to attend to that, but we can call 'em what we like. Don't you know how
it is with a registered dog? Don't you remember the two collies Skippy
Fields has, one named Knocklayde King Ben and the other Nut Brown
Maiden, and Skippy's folks called 'em Benny and Nutty. I bet they each
have about thirteen names apiece, but while I'm bringing her up, this
girl's going to be called Peggy."
"And this is Bill," said Porky without the least hesitation. "Bill.
Just _Bill_ so you can yell at him good and easy."
They went on planning while behind them, over the soft, uneven ground
the staff approached unheard and stood watching the little group.
Presently, still unheard and unnoticed by the boys, they turned away.
"And there are those," said General Pershing solemnly, "who do not
believe that a special Providence watches over children! The boys
_shall_ take those two orphans home to that good mother of theirs, if it
takes an Act of Congress. You say," he continued, talking to the French
officer in his own musical tongue, "you say that poor woman said that
all her people were gone?"
"All dead, all lost in this war," answered the Frenchman.
"Well, if this was only in a movie show," said the great General, "we
would presently see a car headed for the rear, coming around that bend
ahead, and we would be able to--well, I declare," he exclaimed, as one
of the officers laughed and pointed. "That's positively _too_ much!" as
the group laughed with him.
A large car _was_ coming along around the bend, it _was_ headed for the
rear, and in the tonneau sat a couple of nurses in their snug caps and
dark capes!
The General himself halted it, and in a few words explained the
situation. A couple of the officers, accompanied by the nurses, went
over to the boys and at once the children, still sleeping the heavy
sleep of exhaustion, were transferred to arms more accustomed to holding
them, and carried back to the car. Almost before they realized it, the
car was off and Porky turned to the General, saluting.
"Out with it, young man," said the kindly General, smiling down into the
eager and troubled face.
"We will get 'em back, won't we, sir?" he asked. "They can't work some
game on us, so we will lose 'em?"
"We lost a pup that way once," said Beany dolefully, also coming to
salute.
"Well, you won't lose your orphans," the General promised. "I wish I
could see your mother's face when your little party appears."
"Why, we will write you what she says if you will let us, sir," Porky
volunteered.
"She will be crazy over Bill and Peggy," added Beany, looking fondly
after the car vanishing with their new possessions.
"Beel ant Pekky!" groaned the Frenchman.
"Wee, Mussoo, we have named them already," said Porky proudly. "We know
they have some other names, kind of names, they were registered under,
but that kid has to have _something_ easy to yell at him when he makes a
home run, and Beany picked on Peggy right off."
"That about settles it," laughed the General. "We must be off if we
reach our first sector by nightfall."
*CHAPTER XI*
*WHISPERS IN THE NIGHT*
It was nine o'clock when they reached the first post of observation in
their journey, an outpost on the top of a densely wooded hill where they
were to remain as long as the General wished to stay. It was a splendid
post of observation. A vast battle-torn valley stretched below them for
miles and miles. From their vantage point they could see it brilliantly
lighted at short intervals by the flares of the enemy. The flares lit
the trenches--black, ragged gashes running along the earth--and beyond,
where the awful desolation of No-Man's-Land stretched, peopled only with
its dead. Seen with field glasses, the plain drew near and they could
see the torn surface and the tumbled groups here and there. A great
battle had been fought and both sides were resting. Rest was absolutely
necessary. The Allies had advanced three miles, pushing back a foe that
stubbornly contested every step of the way. The Germans had brought
vast numbers of reserves into action but even then the whirlwind tactics
and savage rushes of their oversea foe had driven them back rod by rod.
Porky and Beany looked on and trembled with excitement. There ahead,
hidden in the darkness, were the Huns. There were the barbarians who
had shown a civilized world how men can slip back into worse than
savagery. Wasted lands, ruined homes, orphaned and mutilated little
children, butchered old people. All the unspeakable horrors of war
trooped through the boys' minds, a hideous train of ghosts, as they
looked across the valley. Ahead lay the heartless and ruthless killers,
wolves that had come to worry and tear the sheep, but behind in the
darkness, the boys knew with a thrill, every possible mode of
transportation was swiftly bringing up the reserve American troops,
thousands and thousands of them; men in their prime and beardless boys
grim, determined, yet light-hearted, ready to fight as only Americans
can fight. Men from the farms, farms in the east where fifty
well-tilled acres was a fine homestead; farmers from that great and
spacious west where a man called miles of land his own. Professional
men, clerks, divinity students, adventurers, all welded by this great
need into a common likeness. Eager for life, yet fearlessly ready to die
if need be, a mighty army was on its way, was drawing nearer and nearer
to the tired troops below. Overhead an adventurous plane or two hummed
in the darkness.
"And we can't help!" said Porky mournfully. "Not a thing we can do, not
a thing!"
"Oh, well, we are doing all we can," said Beany. "I don't just see what
_more_ we can do. We can't help our age."
"No, but if we are not told just _where_ to stay, and _where_ to go, I
mean to take a little stroll around to-night," said Porky.
The boys went over to the General, who stood looking across the valley
and saluted. He looked, and gravely returned the salute.
"Good-night, boys," he said.
"Good-night, sir," said the boys, and then as an afterthought, "May we
walk around a bit, sir?"
The General was busy studying the vast field below him as the flashes of
light revealed it.
"Yes, if you don't get lost," he said absently, "and be on hand at eight
to-morrow morning. I may be ready to go on then."
"Yes, sir," said both boys cheerfully. What luck! The General
certainly didn't know what he was getting himself into.
"The whole night to ourselves, and no bounds, and only we mustn't get
lost!" chuckled Porky.
"Peach pie!" murmured Beany. "Let's be off! Where will we go first?"
"Down there," said Porky, waving a hand widely over the valley.
"That's where I thought. But we can't get into any scrape on account of
the General. You know he wasn't thinking about us at all when he spoke,
and, besides, there would be an awful fuss if we got into any trouble.
It would be good-by to our little trip. We would be sent back quicker
than they sent Bill and Peggy."
"Who wants to get into any scrape?" said Porky. "All I want to do is to
see--to see--well, to see just what I _can_ do."