THE FIELD HOSPITAL.
"Do we get into our saddles again now, Rod?" asked Josh, as a halt was
called.
The other glanced around. So far as he could see there did not seem to
be any reason for delaying their departure further. Certainly any
persons who may have been in ambush on the hillside could not have
managed to get further along the road so as to waylay them.
"Yes, you start the ball rolling, Josh; and Hanky will follow. I'll keep
our new friend engaged until you get going, when I'll start after you
both."
"Then you expect to leave Oscar here, do you, Rod?" questioned Josh.
"Oh! he'll find assistance, if his sore feet get to hurting him
dreadfully again," replied the leader, whimsically. "But I'd advise him
to sit down by the roadside, and not attempt to bother me any. He knows
how well his gun is loaded; and I think I could hit that top button of
his coat, even when on the move, the first clip!"
Oscar, as they would still have to call him for want of a better name,
shrugged his shoulders at hearing this declaration.
"Believe me, young M'sieu, I do not mean to give you the chance. I know
when I have enough. Things have not gone to my liking at all. And this
is a very comfortable seat, I assure you."
He sat down and folded his hands while Josh started off, Hanky Panky
speedily following him, and calling back:
"Don't trust him too far, Rod, please; really, I hardly like the look of
his eye."
"That's all right," laughed Rod, unconcernedly, "Oscar can't help his
looks; but he knows enough to sit tight sometimes, and this is one of
them."
Rod moved his machine far enough away from the seated man to prevent any
possibility of the other playing him any treacherous trick. Then he got
himself ready to mount.
Even as he started off, holding the weapon still in his right hand so as
to be in a position to use it on Oscar, he had a glimpse of the fellow
tumbling backward; and at the same instant his voice rang out in loud
shouts. Perhaps he was calling to his comrades, hoping to hasten their
arrival so that they might yet cut off the flight of the last boy, who
evidently had on his person the paper they were after.
So Rod passed down the road, with the late prisoner still whooping it up
in the rear. Taking a fleeting look behind him, Rod could see that Oscar
had now managed to scramble to his feet, doubtless deeming the danger
point passed. He was wildly accentuating his extravagant gestures by
renewed shouting; and Rod even imagined he could catch some movement
further back, as though those who were being summoned might be hurrying
to the spot.
Well, let them come. He and his two comrades could afford to laugh,
because the game had turned so nicely in their favor after all. And then
they were ahead one bulky revolver in the bargain.
Rod was at first tempted to toss this weapon away, but on second
thoughts concluded to retain it for the present. That wily schemer Jules
Baggott might have yet another ambuscade prepared for them a little
further on, and such a tool was apt to come in handy in case of a
surprise.
Although no mention has been made of the fact, because other stirring
events continued to face the boys, they knew that they must be steadily
drawing nearer the scene of warfare, because the roaring of big guns
became more and more insistent with every mile they covered.
It would not surprise Rod in the least should they come in sight of some
spirited action at almost any time now. Realizing that it was his duty
to be in the van at such a critical juncture, so as to occupy a position
to decide on their course of action, he gave the signal so well known to
the others, and which meant that they were to hold up.
They were several miles away from the spot where Oscar had been left in
the lurch, so no danger hung over their heads from that source. Rod soon
explained just why he had called the temporary halt; and then once more
the journey was resumed, this time in their regular order, with Hanky
Panky bringing up the rear.
Rod knew they must be drawing near the bank of the Marne, which river
flowing from the east empties into the Seine. He had been given to
understand that it was along the banks of this river that the vast
German host had retreated after their bold plan for taking Paris had
been frustrated, and their flanks were threatened by the Allied forces.
Looking ahead when there came a more than usually fierce outburst of
cannonading, he believed he could see where the battle was progressing,
though the distance was still too great to make out which side manned
the guns that were being fired. It was just then that in turning a bend
of the road he suddenly came upon a most interesting sight, though at
the same time it struck his soul with a feeling akin to awe, and sent a
shiver through his frame.
Evidently a field hospital had been established in a spot where it was
out of range of the German guns beyond. He saw numerous shelters of
canvas, with busy surgeons and attendants, both men and women nurses.
Along the roads, and across the level fields were hurrying ambulances
and vans of every description, each bearing its load of wounded picked
up along the front.
Rod threw up his hand. It was the signal that he was about to stop, and
wanted to let his chums know so that they might be prepared to follow
suit.
A few seconds later and they were at his side, gaping at the strange
picture now spread before them. Josh was going to have his dearest wish
realized, for they had undoubtedly now reached the battle line, and
could see some of the desperate charges and counter-charges attempted on
both sides.
The Germans had evidently turned at bay in their great retreat, and were
seeking to hold back the pursuit of the furious French, whose ardor was
apt to carry them to desperate attempts to break that solid line of
green-gray.
Hanky Panky was almost holding his breath. He did not possess the same
disposition that Josh had, and all this dreadful suffering was apt to
fill him with horror. Still, he had a boy's ordinary share of curiosity,
and might even be morbid enough to run so as to see an injured man in a
railway accident, even if he came near fainting immediately afterwards.
"It's a French field hospital, isn't it, Rod?" asked Josh.
"There's no mistaking the tri-color flag that waves near the one with
the Red Cross," replied the other, without the least hesitation.
"Oh! what a pity we lost our field glasses," continued Josh,
disconsolately. "We could never have such a splendid chance again to
watch the play of a real battle like that going on over there; and it's
a bit too far for the naked eye to get the full benefit of it all. I'd
give everything I own for binoculars right now. Rod, don't you think we
might push on a little nearer the firing line?"
Rod shook his head in the negative.
"The chances are we'd be rounded up in a hurry, and forced to turn
back," he told the eager comrade. "As it is I'm surprised we've been
able to get as close as we have right now. It's a part of our luck, I
guess. But I was thinking that if we chose to go over to the field
hospital perhaps after we'd made friends with some of the doctors and
attendants, helped a little it might be, we'd find a chance to borrow a
pair of binoculars from some one."
"Bully for you, Rod; that sounds good to me!" exclaimed Josh; while
Hanky Panky gave a little gasp, and was heard to say almost helplessly:
"Oh! my stars, do we have to run smack into that hospital business, when
often the sight of blood gives me the creeps, and makes my knees
wobble?"
"You can squat down right here, and stay if you want to, Hanky Panky,"
volunteered Josh; whereat the other seemed to make a swift mental
calculation, after which he shut his teeth firmly together, and went on
to say resolutely:
"I'm game if you both are; besides, something might happen to me here,
if that miserable Jules and his crowd came along the road back of us.
Yes, I'll go," but it could easily be seen that Hanky Panky was not
taking any great pleasure in the outlook.
They could use their machines for a short distance along the road; then
it became necessary for them to dismount, break down a fence, and
trundle the motorcycles across a field to where the temporary hospital
had been established, in touch with the battle lines.
Motor vehicles were coming and going at speedy intervals. Rod noticed
that they all used another road, which evidently must be the direct
course to Paris, where the wounded heroes were being hurried after their
injuries had received first care; because that is usually all a field
hospital is intended to accomplish, staunching the flow of blood, and in
other ways holding the spark of life until operations can be attempted
further removed from the scene of action.
Every one inside the limits of the place seemed to be desperately busy.
Men were rushing this way and that with stretchers, carrying wounded
soldiers back and forth. Vehicles were coming and going, and these
seemed of all descriptions, from the customary ambulance to big lorries
run with a motor; and all of them bore the sign of the Red Cross on
their sides, in order to protect them as much as possible from the fire
of the enemy.
It was in this manner therefore that the three Motorcycle Boys found
themselves entering a new phase of their extraordinary adventures, and
one that would doubtless never be forgotten, even when they found
themselves once again safe in their distant homes.