MEETING COUSIN EMILE
"Where, where?"
Seated with his back to the door, Bob's gleeful announcement brought
Jimmy also to his feet. By this time Bob had deserted his bunkies and
was making straight for two young men in the uniform of the U. S.
Aviation Corps, who were advancing to meet him.
"Well, well, _well_! If it isn't old Bob and Blazes!"
The blue-eyed, broadly-smiling youth who uttered this jubilant
recognition, now had Bob's hand in a firm grip, and was shaking it
vigorously. Standing beside him, his brother, an exact counterpart of
himself, was engaged in greeting Jimmy with equal cordiality.
"Let me in on this," commanded a laughing voice, as Roger joined the
delighted quartet. "I believe I've seen the famous Twinkle Twins before
to-day."
"You'd better believe it," retorted Jack Twinkleton. "How are you,
Rodge? You're looking all to the mustard."
"Put her there! How's the good old scout?"
Jerry Twinkleton now claimed Roger's attention.
"Oh, we're simply fine. You can't lose us. It isn't being done, don't
you know, with this gang."
Roger's face glowed with friendliness as he greeted the illustrious
twins. They were truly a welcome sight.
"How long have you been over, and where do you go from here?" were
Jimmy's quick questions. "We've been keeping an eye out and an ear open
ever since we landed in France. Thought we'd see you or, maybe, hear
news of you."
"You're the great little scribes, you are," declared Bob. "We haven't
had a line from you since just before we left Sterling."
"When was that?" promptly asked Jack.
"Oh, early in February. You fellows wrote that you were expecting most
any day to go across."
"Well, we went; right after that," grinned Jack. "We've written you
gazabos three letters since then, and never got even a post card in
return. We've abused you to each other for fair. Slackers; that's our
pet name for you."
"Yes, that's it," immediately chimed in Jerry, always his twin
brother's faithful repeater.
"We never got 'em." Bob shook a disgusted head. "We didn't get half of
our mail at Camp Marvin. I suppose it's chasing us around yet. We'll
get it some day if we live long enough."
"We wrote you fellows a couple of letters, too," informed Jimmy,
frowning.
"Then we've got something coming to us, too," was Jack's cheerful
retort. "Now let's flop and have a chewing-bee. Come on over to our
table. We've a fine surprise for you. We want you to meet----"
"Cousin Emile," supplied Bob. "I spotted him right away. We have a
couple of fellows with us. They belong to the gang. One of 'em is Iggy.
You remember? We told you about him. The other is a new pal of ours.
We're the five Brothers now. Oh, maybe we haven't a bag of beans to
spill!"
"Get your two Buddies and bring 'em over to that table," directed Jack,
pointing to an alcove table, larger than the others. "I'll steer Emile
to it, by the time you round up your strays."
With this he and his brother turned and bolted for their table, at
which the famous aviator had already seated himself. An amused smile
touched his firm mouth, as he watched his lively cousins and their
friends.
"Now listen to the howl Iggins'll put up," laughed Jimmy, as the three
Brothers returned to their table. "This time he can't fade away and
disappear, the way he did when the Twinkle Twins came to see us at
Sterling."
"I can no go," was the prompt refusal Jimmy met with.
Half rising from his chair, Ignace showed signs of making a quick
retreat from the café.
"I can no go," mimicked Jimmy. "You're going, you old clam, if I have
to lead you along by the ear."
Noting signs of refusal on the German-American's face, he next warned:
"Don't you get panicky, either, Schnitz!"
"If you two mules go to balking, we'll turn you out to shift for
yourselves," threatened Bob. "Cousin Emile won't eat you. He's careful
about what he eats."
Bob's last flippant assertion caused Ignace to snicker. It also brought
a faint smile to Schnitzel's somber face.
"All right. I'll be good," he assented, and obligingly got to his feet.
"If Iggy doesn't want to be a good fellow, just let him sit here all by
his lonesome while we have a good time," suggested Roger slyly. "We'll
tell the Twinkles and Cousin Emile that he's very particular about whom
he meets."
Roger winked at Bob, as he made this innocent suggestion.
"No!" Ignace fairly bounced from his chair.
"You say so, you ver' mean! I go by you. So is it."
"Oh, just as you please," teased Roger.
"I please!"
With the expression of a martyr on the way to execution, Ignace
followed in the wake of his bunkies, as they toured the length of the
room to the alcove.
Already there, and seated on either side of their illustrious cousin,
the Twinkle Twins rose to do the honors.
Each one of the five Brothers experienced a thrill of excitement, as,
in turn, he shook hands with the great aviator. They saw a rather tall,
thin-faced man of perhaps thirty, with bright, dark eyes, and very
black hair. They admired his strong chin and close-lipped, pleasant
mouth. Neither could they fail to note his litheness of movement, as he
rose from his chair when the Khaki Boys were introduced to him by his
cousin Jack.
"Have you been long in France?" he questioned courteously, as the party
took seats at the round table.
"Only a few weeks, sir." Jimmy became spokesman. "We are in training at
R----. We hope to go to the front soon."
"You are eager for a taste of the fighting, I suppose." The aviator
smiled. "That seems to be the prevailing spirit among the American
soldiers. We of France admire it."
"France has set us an example, sir, that we glory in following. The
whole world knows what France has done in this war."
Jimmy's face lighted into glowing enthusiasm.
"I thank you, in the name of my country."
The aviator's hand lightly touched his forehead in salute.
Instantly seven hands went up in prompt return of the salute.
"Now let's drop the form and ceremony act," proposed Jack Twinkleton.
"I'll salute you, Emile, when I have to, but I'll be blamed if I will
when I can get out of it. I've a great deal of respect for you up in
the air, and some when we're down on the ground. Don't forget that,
will you?"
"I will endeavor to remember." The Frenchman showed white teeth in an
indulgent smile. "It will be, perhaps, a trifle difficult," he slyly
added.
"Ha, ha! Emile's onto you, Jack!" rejoiced Jerry.
"You're my twin," flashed back his brother, with the wide, jovial grin
that so characterized the Twinkle Twins.
"I'm sorry, but it can't be helped," retaliated Jack, duplicating
Jerry's grin. "Now let's side-track these playful little compliments
and get down to business. I'm crazy to know what you fellows have been
doing since you left Sterling. You tell your tale and then we'll tell
ours. Wait a minute till I shoo this waiter away. We don't want to
order yet. We want to talk."
"We were down south at Marvin for a while, then one day we started out
on a hike with a big detachment of Sammies, and we never went back any
more," began Bob, when Jack had temporarily banished the waiter from
their vicinity. "First thing we knew we were piling into a train and
after we rode awhile in that we got tired of it, and switched off to a
transport for a change. It was the _Columbia_, and I guess----"
"The _Columbia_!" exclaimed three voices in unison.
"Yes, I guess we _do_ know what happened to the _Columbia_," emphasized
Jack. "And you fellows were in that mix-up and came out O. K.! Well,
what do you think of that?"
"How'd you get away from her, and what happened to you?" was Jerry's
excited question.
"Three of us were taken off her by a destroyer. Bob got into a
lifeboat, and another destroyer picked up that crew. I was the only one
who got wet. I had a swim in the nice cold water, and a trawler took me
in when I got tired," ended Jimmy whimsically.
"That's the way he tells it," sniffed Bob. "Now let Bobby speak his
piece."
Whereupon Bob launched forth into a vivid account of Jimmy's adventures
on that terrible night, to which the Twinkle Twins and Cousin Emile
listened with ever-deepening interest.
Quite naturally Bob was obliged to go further back than the torpedoing
of the Columbia in order to explain the events that had led up to the
murderous attack made upon Jimmy by the German wireless operator.
Inevitably, too, he made a hero of his bunkie, regardless of the
warning signals that the irate Blazes flashed at him from two resentful
gray eyes.
"Some little hero!" was Jack's verdict, his deep blue eyes resting
admiringly on Jimmy, who was looking embarrassed and a trifle sulky.
"Oh, I'm not so much," he muttered.
"Always he say!" broke in a solemn voice.
Temporarily bereft of speech in the presence of the Twinkle Twins and
their distinguished relative, Iggy rallied to the cause of his beloved
Brother.
"So is it Jimmy think," continued Ignace stolidly, now bound to be
heard. "He have the much do, ver' good, ver' brave."
"I agree with you." The aviator bent a kindly glance on Ignace that
caused him suddenly to realize that this wonderful "fly man" had "the
kind heart." In consequence, he forgot his awe of the great Voissard
and beamed genially upon him.
"Just to be even with _you_, Ignace So Pulinski, I'm going to tell
what _you_ did," announced Jimmy.
"No-a!" Ignace raised a protesting hand.
Nevertheless, Jimmy recounted the incident relating to his Polish
bunkie's firm faith in the destroyer, which immediately raised a laugh.
"Now you even, you don' say no more nothin'," decreed Iggy, very red in
the face.
"All right, I won't," promised Jimmy. "I haven't anything more to say,
anyway, except that we all got together again in Ireland. We went to
England to a rest camp and from there to France. Now let's hear what
happened to the Twinkle Twins since we saw 'em last."
"Just a minute and we'll tell you," nodded Jack. "Did you ever hear
whether the body of this bridge fellow was recovered? A good many of
the bodies of those poor Sammies were washed ashore."
"This fellow isn't dead." Jimmy's eyes grew briefly troubled. "Bob
forgot to say in his wonderful story that I saw him afterward in
Belfast. We were on the train just getting ready to pull out of
Belfast. I was watching the crowd on the station platform from the
window. I saw him, sure as guns. He saw me and he recognized me. He
gave me one awful look and beat it through the crowd."
"Quite remarkable!" Voissard's dark eyes were fixed reflectively on
Jimmy. "Describe the appearance of this man. I may be able to place
him. The Prefect of Police, here in Paris, is my personal friend.
Through him I have learned much regarding criminals. I have seen
photographs of many Germans badly wanted by the Allied powers, either
for particularly serious crimes, or because they are known to be spies
of unusual cleverness and daring."
"This Charles Black, as he called himself, is no common criminal,"
began Jimmy, then continued with a detailed description of the "tiger
man."
The aviator listened attentively, a slight frown contracting his dark
brows.
"I cannot place him," he said when Jimmy had finished. "My friend, the
Prefect, may be able to do so. I intend to remain in Paris for a day or
two. I expect to dine with him to-morrow evening. I will make inquiry
of him. In case I should learn anything of interest I will communicate
it to you either in person or by letter. It is possible that I may soon
visit your camp at R----."
"I wish you would sir," Jimmy responded with a fervor that conveyed his
utter delight of the prospect.
"_Merci._" The one simple word was spoken as only a Frenchman can say,
"Thank you."
Their eyes meeting levelly, boy and man each realized that he had found
a friend.