THE HAUNTED WELL.
The boys did not attempt to do much of this sort of talking as they
moved along the road. Many reasons united to make conversation a
weariness to the flesh when carried on under the prevailing conditions.
In the first place they had to keep a certain distance apart, which
would in itself necessitate shouting. Then the rumble of cannon was
growing steadily heavier the further they advanced, deadening most other
sounds pretty much all the time. Last of all there were those gaps in
the road, springing up most unexpectedly, where enemy shells had struck
in the endeavor to destroy as many of the pursuing French troops as
possible.
Both armies had traversed the region through which Rod and his friends
were making their tedious way. It can well be understood that the marks
of their late progress abounded on all sides.
Even where no particular action had occurred a thousand reminders of the
human flood of men that had so lately passed through were to be
discovered on every side. Often Hanky Panky's heart seemed to feel a
chill hand rest upon it as he marked the inevitable evidences of "man's
inhumanity to man." Cottages were burned or ruined in some way or other;
once beautiful gardens trampled out of all recognition; outbuildings
torn down to make campfires for the marching hosts--in fact the land
looked 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 forlorn
inhabitants wandering about. Some stood and stared at the ruins of their
recent homes; others guarded the little they had saved; while still more
were on the roadside looking toward the region of the north, from whence
came all those portentous rumblings and angry roarings.
Hanky Panky, however, was astonished to discover very few solemn faces
among the peasants of the Marne country. At first this amazed him, but
presently he figured out what it meant.
They had in many cases lost the accumulated savings of years, even their
humble homes; but in spite of this they could take off their caps and
shout 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 them
dreamed full forty years and more; when the German legions, like a
plague of locusts, had once more descended upon devoted Paris, only to
be brought to a standstill by the glorious army of the republic. And
even now those furious guns told how Von Kluck, who had made such
wonderful boasts of what he meant to do, was in full retreat bordering
on a panic.
That was why temporary sufferings were all forgotten. For France these
honest sons and daughters would make much greater sacrifices, and think
little of it. So Hanky Panky felt ready to take off his hat to every one
of 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 had
tried to make a clean sweep of the forty miles and more they covered
like a vast fan, in falling back to the prepared positions along the
Aisne. Those horses or cows that had been saved from the general
slaughter or seizure must have been artfully secreted somewhere, so that
they escaped the keen search. As for chickens, not a solitary rooster's
crow had the boys heard since early dawn; for fowls of every description
are first looked after by the soldier marching through a hostile
country.
Long caravans of supplies were crawling over other roads, all heading
for the front and coming from the direction of Paris. No wonder that
every thoroughfare must be crowded with vehicles of transportation, when
a million Frenchmen in arms had to be fed daily, not to mention the
enormous quantities of ammunition that must be expended between the
rising and the setting of every sun.
The more Rod saw of this the greater grew his admiration for the genius
of the men whose brains had to command all these thousands of details
looking to the provisioning of such a vast host. It was an experience
the educational value of which could never be fully estimated; and often
would the boy ponder over the problems that must have confronted those
who were responsible for the solution of them.
They had numerous little adventures by the way, though as a rule these
were in the line of narrow escapes from nasty spills, on account of ruts
in the road. Rod frequently gave warning when he reached an especially
bad stretch of ground, for he was well aware of the failings of his two
chums--Josh with his impetuous ways, and Hanky Panky rather apt to be
careless as well as clumsy.
One thing in particular Rod noticed, and this was that as they proceeded
the sounds ahead of them kept on growing louder. Evidently then they
were coming up on that part of the Marne country where the last
rearguard action was being fiercely contested.
Von Kluck and his proud army must be continually finding themselves
pushed further and further away from the beautiful city in which they
had fully expected to be encamped ere this; though they grimly contested
every mile they gave up, bound to sacrifice as few of their heavy guns
as possible.
Another thing staggered the boys when they came to think of it. During
the Civil War in their own country some of the greatest battles then
known to history were fought, and the numbers on both sides did not
really amount to more than two hundred thousand men. Here there were
more than as many million grappling in deadly earnest, supplied with the
most wonderful of modern death-dealing weapons, with engineers highly
educated along the lines of utilizing these engines of wholesale
destruction.
No wonder then the dead and wounded were as the leaves of the forest
when the wind of late October tears them from their hold upon the
branches and scatters them in windrows behind the logs and stumps and in
fence corners.
Rod had some reason to believe that if they were allowed to proceed
forward on this particular day they would presently reach the regiment
in which Andre, sought so earnestly in the interest of his family, had
an humble part. He was determined that should fortune favor them and the
object of their search be accomplished he would listen no longer to the
pleadings of Josh, but strike for Paris, so as to get away from this
war-blasted country as quickly as possible.
It was beginning to pall upon Rod. After all he was only a boy, and had
never been accustomed to such terrible sights as of late were being
continually thrust before him. Nature has its limits, and Rod believed
he 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; "and
for one I'm longing to wake up again, and find myself wandering by the
peaceful waters of the river bordering Garland in the far-distant
States. And here's hoping that this may turn out to be our very last day
in the track of the battling armies."
The dust was thick in places, partly on account of the season of the
year, and then again because of the unwonted use to which that
particular thoroughfare had been put of late. When several hundred
thousand feet have tramped along in almost endless procession, and then
innumerable vehicles of every known description, not to mention heavy
artillery, some of it drawn by traction engines, some by horses, passing
back and forth, it can easily be understood that the best of roads must
be well nigh wrecked.
Hanky Panky had coughed a number of times, as though his throat was
beginning to clog up with all this dust, and he found himself in danger
of choking. When no attention was paid at first to these plain symptoms
he coughed louder than ever, and with such evident distress that Rod
guessed what he wanted.
"All right, Hanky," he shouted back, "wait till we come to a well, or a
spring of some sort, and we'll drop off to wash it down."
After that Hanky Panky quieted considerably, his main object having been
accomplished. As he rode along the boy kept watching ahead, hoping that
it would not be long before they sighted some oasis in the desert where
a sparkling rill ran, or the thrice welcome sweep of an old-fashioned
well 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 was
quite husky from the accumulation of dust; "there's a well in that place
we're coming to, and I hope you keep your word, because I'm nearly
perishing for a drink."
"Same here," said Josh, thinking to relieve the other's mind, because
that would make two in favor of a stop, and majority always ruled with
the Motorcycle Boys.
It happened just then that the road was next to deserted, though again
just the reverse might be the case. The well sweep could no longer be
seen, but Hanky Panky had marked the spot in his mind, and was not to be
cheated because a knoll hid the well from the road, so it was only
visible in that one quarter.
Rod drew up. A gate stood before him that was now in ruins, showing that
the invaders had been there. They pushed their heavy machines past, and
followed 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 time
they were naturally becoming a little hardened to such spectacles of
warfare, and could view them without the same sensation of anger and
disgust toward the aggressors that had filled their hearts at an earlier
date.
For some reason or other the Germans had chosen to apply the torch to
this isolated cottage. Perhaps some party had been keenly disappointed
at finding it totally deserted, with not even a stray chicken left to
satisfy their longing for a supper.
Rod gave one hasty glance around. Then he heaved a satisfied sigh, for
he had been a little afraid lest he discover some evidence of foul work
there. Such did not happen to be the case; the owner of the cottage
instead of staying and arousing the passions of the invaders by firing
at them in secret, had wisely departed to unknown regions before their
coming, taking warning in time.
So the trio of boys hastened to the well as soon as they could dispose
of 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 in
those shadowy depths.
Hanky Panky reached it first of all, Josh not appearing to be in a humor
to force himself to the van. In fact Josh seemed to be amused at
something, for he had one of those smirks on his face which marked it
whenever he watched Hanky Panky's evidence of greed.
"I don't seem to be able to quite see down _all_ the way, Rod," the
other was saying when his comrades joined him; "but I dropped a pebble
in, and could plainly hear a good splash; so there's plenty of the stuff
down there."
"I only hope it's all right," remarked Josh, shortly afterwards, when
they 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, and
was about to dip in.
"Now what in the wide world do you mean by saying that, I'd like to
know, Josh; you're always trying to drop a fly in the ointment, seems to
me. What could there be wrong with this water?" he demanded, filling the
gourd as he spoke.
"Oh! I don't know," drawled the other, wickedly, "but if it happened
that some of those ugly-tempered Germans chose to drop a little poison
in the well it'd be a tough thing for the French who drank later, and
mebbe make 'em sick in the bargain."
Hanky Panky turned pale, and allowed the gourd to spill; whereupon Josh
coolly took it out of his hand, dipped into the bucket, and commenced
drinking.
"If it doesn't kill _me_, why then it's safe, you see. I'm always
willing 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 Hanky
feels 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 member
of the group.
"Don't mind what he says, Hanky; you know Josh loves to have his little
joke; and I believe he still feels that he owes you one on account of
the trick you played on him this morning."
"Then you really don't believe they did poison it, Rod?" asked the
other.
"That isn't the German way of doing things, as far as I know," Rod told
him; at which assurance Hanky Panky swallowed his fears, and drained the
gourd.
"Might as well be hung for a whole sheep as a lamb!" he declared, once
more dipping into the bucket; "but no matter if it's my last drink or
not, I'm going to say this is as fine water as any I ever drank over in
our 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 been
one-half so refreshing as that draught of ice-cold water from the well
with 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 start
off again it'll be another swig all around. I'd like to carry a canteen
of 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 the
other uptilting the said canteen every few minutes, in spite of the
wretched 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 sat
with his face close to the curb of the well.
"Oh! they must have lit out long before the Germans arrived," Hanky
said, confidently; "I hope now you don't believe they were actually
killed, and buried somewhere around here, do you, Josh? You are the
worst hand to imagine terrible things I ever knew."
"I didn't say anything like that, did I?" demanded Josh; "but it must
have been on your mind. Listen! what was that?"
"I didn't hear anything," said Hanky Panky, looking worried all the
same; "what did it sound like, Josh?"
Instead of answering, Josh held his hand up to indicate that if the
other stopped talking he too might catch the sound. And as they listened
what seemed to be a long-drawn groan came up from the depths of the well
from which they had just been drinking!