CAPTURED
Swiftly as falls a bird with a broken wing, down came the German
aëroplane. It was now within plain sight of the Americans stationed
in the woods, and, as it happened, a squad, of which our five Brothers
formed the major part, were nearer than anyone else.
"I can see their faces!" cried Bob. "They look worried all right!"
And well the Germans might, for they were being forced to land within
the enemy's lines.
"Guess their gasolene tank was shot to pieces," commented Roger. "The
plane doesn't seem to be damaged much."
And this, later, they learned was the case. A bullet had pierced the
petrol tank of the Boche craft, and the pilot and gunner had been
forced to land.
Down shot the craft, and, a moment later, it made a good landing in
a field. The machine ran along over the rough ground for a little
distance and then two figures, clad in regulation flying costumes,
were seen to leap out. They paused for a moment, trying to set fire to
their machine, so that it might not fall, comparatively undamaged as
it was, into the hands of the Americans. But this was not to be.
"Don't let them get away with that!" cried an officer, quickly. "Pick
off those two men, boys!"
Instantly rifles began to crack, and as the bullets sang about the
ears of the Huns they stopped their incendiary operations and began
to run. How they thought they could escape is inexplainable. They were
surrounded by Americans, and were some distance away from their own
lines.
"Come on, fellows!" cried Jimmy to his chums. "Don't let 'em get away.
We can head 'em off!"
"You said something!" yelled Bob. "Oh, boy! That was some fight!"
The battle in the air was over now, and though there had been a lull
in the contest in the immediate vicinity of our heroes, the firing was
going on in both wings of the American army.
Emerging from their shelter in the woods, so as to intercept at an
angle the fleeing Germans, Jimmy and his four Brothers ran hotfoot
over the open ground. Then the Huns saw the five lads coming, and
turned, as though to go in another direction.
"No you don't!" shouted Bob, as he sent a well-aimed bullet over
the head of the foremost German. He did not intend to hit the
fellow--merely to scare him. And it had that effect.
The man stopped suddenly, and raised his hands in the air.
"_Kamerad_!" he bellowed.
His companion was seen to be fumbling in his belt, as though trying
to get a hand grenade or lose his revolver. But the man who had
surrendered, realizing what would happen if any resistance were shown,
gave his companion a kick that sent him sprawling.
"_Kamerad_!" cried the kicker. And his companion, struggling to rise,
echoed:
"_Kamerad_!"
"You'd better surrender!" grimly observed Jimmy, as he and his chums
rushed up.
Quickly the Germans were disarmed, and then they were marched back,
ahead of their captors, to where stood the captain of the company of
which the five Brothers formed so active a part.
"Good work, Sergeant," complimented the captain, when Jimmy, as a
ranking non-com. over his companions, came back with the two German
aviators. "Good work! And you may have the pleasure of taking the
prisoners to the rear. We'll be held up here some time, I fancy.
Report to me when you return. And don't let those fellows get away!"
he added significantly.
"We'll take care of that, sir," said Jimmy grimly.
"Come on, you fellows! Hike!" ordered Roger to the captured airmen.
And a little later they were turned over to the proper authorities
in the rear. Some valuable plans and information concerning German
movements were found on the prisoners, and their capture was regarded
as important. Jimmy and his chums received commendation, and were
mentioned in the official reports of the day's grim doings.
"And now we'd better be getting back," suggested Jimmy, who was
in charge of the prisoner squad. "The fighting may start again any
minute, and we don't want to miss it."
"I should say not!" cried Bob. "Now that we can have a show for our
white agate there'll be some fun in it. But to have to crouch down in
a wood and let some one take pot shots at you from overhead isn't my
idea of a war at all."
They were marching along a camouflaged road when they saw an American
and a French machine coming down together on a level spot not far
away.
"Wonder if they're in trouble?" asked Roger.
"Doesn't seem so," answered Bob. "They seem to have the planes under
control. But let's go and see. Maybe we can help. They'll surely need
some attention after that fierce fighting."
The two machines, one a single seater and the other a double, came
to earth at the same time, and not far apart. And at the sight of
two aviators getting out of the American craft Jimmy gave a yell and
exclaimed:
"Well, if it isn't the Twinkle Twins! Good enough! What do you know
about that, fellows? The Twinkle Twins were among those who saved our
bacon this day!"
And it was, indeed, John and Gerald Twinkleton, otherwise known
as Jack and Jerry, or the Twinkle Twins, who had emerged from the
aëroplane.
"Well, of all good things! Look, Jerry!" dried Jack. "It's the five
Brothers!"
"Sure enough! Oh, say, what are you fellows doing here?" asked Jerry.
"Same as you were--disposing of some Boches," answered Jimmy. "Are you
hurt?"
"Not a scratch, though our plane was hit a lot," said Jack. "But we
ran out of gas, and had to come down here. Glad we did, too, or we'd
have missed seeing you. Cousin Emile is in the same boat as ourselves.
Here he comes! He'll be glad to see you."
And from the smaller plane there emerged an aviator whose very stride
across the field told what he was--a brave, intrepid man. Such was
Emile Voissard, cousin of the Twinkle Twins, and right well had he
earned the title, "Flying Terror of France."
"Ah, my American friends!" exclaimed Voissard, as he came over,
acknowledging the greetings he received. "I am glad to see you again.
It is good--_très bien_!" and he smiled.
"Well, say, it was good to see you and the other Frenchmen go at those
Huns!" exclaimed Bob. "If we had known the Twinkle Twins were up there
among the Americans we'd have been worse scared than we were, when we
saw the Germans getting the best of it."
"Ah, it is nothing. _Voila_! What would you have?" and Voissard
shrugged his shoulders. "They are but beasts and they fight as the
beasts--they run, too, as the beasts! _n'est ce pas_?"
"Well, two of 'em tried to run, but we landed 'em!" exclaimed Roger,
with a laugh. "We just took 'em to the rear. Their petrol tank was
shot full of holes."
"Was it a machine with a sort of double iron cross on it?" asked Jack.
"That was it," said Roger.
"That's the one we couldn't seem to get," went on Jack. "She was a bit
too speedy for us. But it seems we got her after all."
"Or Jimmy and his bunch did", commented Jerry.
"Oh, well, it's all the same as long as they were 'got'!" and Jack
clapped Jimmy on the back.
"You are keeping up your good work, I see," commented Voissard.
"France shall soon be free of the mark of the beast!"
"Well, you're doing your share, sir!" commented Roger.
"It is nothing! If I could only do a thousand times as much!" and the
man who had earned such an enviable rating shook his head. "There are
so many of the Huns! So many! But we shall never give up! Never!" and
he drew himself up determinedly.
"But, my friends, we must not linger here," he went on. "The battle
will soon start again, and the fortunes of war may turn against us. We
should go and telephone for petrol, that we may take our machines back
behind the lines, to safety."
"Yes, we'll have to do that," declared one of the Twinkle Twins. "See
you again, boys!" and with waves of their hands they set off to find
the nearest telephone, that they might send word of their plight to
their hangars.
"Well, good luck!" called Jimmy and his chums to the brave Frenchman
and his no less brave cousins.
"That was some coincidence--that the Twinkles and their cousin Emile
should be fighting for us and we not know it," commented Roger, as the
five Khaki Boys trudged back. "I should say so," agreed Bob. "Say, we'd
better hurry!" he went on. "Sounds as if they were starting the game
once more!"
The noise of the big and little guns was beginning again, and hardly
had our heroes reached their command in the woods than the order came
to go forward.
With yells of savage delight it was received, and then there came a
desperate dash that carried Jimmy and his friends, as well as those
with him, well up toward the German lines.
Fierce and bloody was the fighting, and there was death in it, too,
for many. But ever did the Americans press on, slowly but steadily
driving back the Germans. On all sides great guns roared, and ears
were nearly split with the riot of sound.
When night came it found our five Brothers occupying some of the
trenches so long held by the Huns, who had been driven out. It was the
start of the movement that was to clean the Boches from France.
Tired, weary, blood-stained, dirty, hungry and thirsty--that was the
condition of all the fighters. And yet they would be ready to do it
all over again the next day, after a little rest and food. And food
they had, though not of the best.
"Sergeant Barlow and Corporal Dalton take listening post number
seven," the sergeant-major ordered two of the Brothers, after what
passed for supper. "Be on the alert. The Germans will very likely try
a counter-attack."
Bob and Roger prepared for their dismal night trick. Franz and Iggy
were sent to another part of the line, and Jimmy was on duty in the
dugout, assisting the telephone operator.
The night settled down. It was comparatively quiet now in the
trenches, in front of which barbed-wire entanglements had been hastily
put up. The Germans had done the same, and between the stretches of
wire another No Man's Land had been established.
Worn and weary, Roger and Bob waited for what they feared might
happen. But as the hours passed, and there was no sign nor movement
from the German lines, they began to think there would be no fighting.
Suddenly, however, the blackness of the night was broken by the red
glare of a rocket.
"What's that?" cried Bob.
"Signal of some sort," replied Roger. "Guess we'd better get on our
feet. The attack may be coming."
"Shall we go back and report this?"
"No, they must have seen it as soon as we did. We're only to report if
we see any of the enemy approaching this post."
They waited. Another rocket--a green one this time--soared aloft. And
then with a suddenness that was startling, a terrific firing broke out
from the German lines. "Here it comes--the counter-attack!" cried Bob.
As he spoke he and his companion saw a dark, massed body moving toward
them.
"Come on!" cried Bob. "We've got to report this!"
But before they had time to run back more than a few paces they were
surrounded by an attacking party of Germans. On either side of Bob
and Roger there was fierce fighting now going on. The two lads who had
been on duty in the listening post felt themselves caught and their
rifles wrested away before they had a chance to use them, and then
they were dragged over toward the German trenches.
"What's it all mean?" gasped Bob.
"We're captured!" said Roger. "Keep still! Don't give any information
no matter what they do! Keep still!"
"I will!" said Bob grimly.
One of the Germans dragging him along cried out an insulting epithet
and struck Bob across the mouth.
And then the captives were dragged away in the darkness.