WRAPPED IN MYSTERY
The Army Boys looked eagerly about them when they reached the
street, but could see no one. It was as though the earth had
opened and swallowed the men who had sought their lives.
They scattered and ran in every direction, searching all hallways
and side streets for blocks around, but nothing rewarded their
endeavors, and it was a bedraggled and exasperated quartette that
finally came together again to compare notes and report failure.
"Never saw anything like it in my life!" snorted Tom. "It's as
though we were all bewitched. Somebody's wished a jinx on us. Some
ghosts are putting up a job on us."
"There was nothing ghostly about that bullet that knocked the
flashlight out of my hand or those other bullets that came singing
over our heads while we were hugging the ground," said Frank
grimly. "If I don't get to the bottom of this, you can call me a
Chinaman."
"It gets my goat to think of those Heinies chuckling to themselves
because they put one over on us," gritted Billy between his teeth.
"They laugh best who laugh last," growled Bart. "They'll laugh on
the other side of their mouth when we lay hands on them."
"If we ever do," muttered pessimistic Tom. "But here comes our
relief," he continued, as the light of a lantern hanging on the
arm of the foremost man revealed a group coming toward them. "High
time, too! I got drenched to the skin while I was lying on the
ground in that alley."
"Of course we'll have to report the whole thing to the corporal,
shan't we?" inquired Bart.
"I suppose we shall," Frank acquiesced, though reluctantly.
"Personally, I'd like to keep the whole thing up my sleeve until
we've solved the mystery. But there's danger abroad to-night, and
it wouldn't be fair to the boys who are going to take our places
not to put them on their guard."
The corporal of the guard now had come so close that the light of
his lantern fell upon the group of Army Boys.
"You fellows are all here, I see," said the corporal, who was the
boys' old friend, Wilson. "What was that shooting going on here?
None of you hurt, I hope."
"Dripping wet but right as a trivet," Frank replied with a smile,
and then went on to make his report of the occurrences of the
night while the corporal listened with close attention.
"It's certainly strange," he commented when Frank had finished.
"It's one of many queer things that are happening lately. I'll
report the facts at headquarters and you may be called upon to
tell your story there. But now you are off duty, and you can light
out for the barracks."
They were only too glad to avail themselves of the permission, and
hurried off.
"I've got an idea!" exclaimed Frank, as they scurried along before
the gale.
"Frank's got an idea," chaffed Billy. "Hold on to it, old man, for
dear life." Frank made a playful pass at him which Billy ducked.
"I've been figuring the thing out," went on Frank, "and I've come
to the conclusion that those fellows wanted us to see them go into
that alley."
There was an exclamation of surprise from his comrades.
"Come again," said Billy. "I don't get you."
"Why should they want us to see them?" queried Bart. "They might
have known that we'd go in after them."
"Sure they did!" answered Frank. "That's just what they wanted.
They figured that they'd get us all in there in a bunch. They
guessed too that, not finding them, we'd flash a light. That would
make us a good target to their confederates who had come to the
mouth of the alley, and they thought they could mow us down with
one volley. In other words the alley was a trap."
"By ginger, I believe you're right!" exclaimed Bart "The shots
came just after the light was flashed. It was a slick trick. You
have to hand it to them."
"But that doesn't explain where the men disappeared to who went
into the alley first," remarked Billy.
"No," admitted Frank. "And it doesn't explain either where the men
who fired the shots vanished to. But there's an answer to
everything, and I'm going to try to find the answer to this. I'm
not going to drop it. Of course, I suppose the secret service men
will take the thing up, but I'm going to do a little investigating
on my own account. I have a hunch that when I take a look at that
alley by daylight, I'll tumble to something."
And while the four chums, after their narrow escape, are cudgeling
their brains to solve the mystery, it may be well for the sake of
those who have not read the preceding volumes of this series to
trace briefly their adventures before this story opens.
Frank Sheldon, a vigorous, clean-cut, young fellow, was a resident
of Camport, a thriving and prosperous town of about twenty-five
thousand people. His father had died a few years before the war
broke out, and Frank lived in a little cottage with his mother, of
whom for some years he was the sole support. She was of French
birth, and by the death of her father had recently come into
possession of a considerable estate in France. There had been some
legal complications regarding the settlement of the property, and
she had intended to go to France to look after her interests when
the outbreak of the war made this impossible.
Frank was employed in the wholesale hardware house of Moore and
Thomas, and his prospects for the future were very bright when the
United States entered the World War. Frank was above everything
else a hundred-per-cent American, and if he had consulted only his
own wishes would have enlisted at once. But his mother's
dependence upon him made him hesitate. An episode occurred,
however, that decided him, when he was forced to knock down a
burly German who had insulted the American flag. There was no
further opposition by his mother, and he joined the Thirty-seventh
Regiment, a Camport regiment with a glorious record in the Civil
War, and one which had recently seen service on the Mexican
border.
Billy Waldon, a close friend of Frank, was already a member, and
Bart Raymond, Frank's special chum and a fellow employee, joined
also. Another friend, Tom Bradford, tried to join, but was
rejected on account of his teeth. He was afterward accepted in the
draft, however, so that the four chums, to their great joy, found
themselves together in the same regiment.
There was one man in the Moore and Thomas firm who was a bitter
and malignant anti-American from the start. His name was Nick
Rabig, and he was foreman of one of the departments. He was born
in America, but his parents were German. Rabig and Frank Sheldon
were at sword's points most of the time because of the former's
bullying disposition, and after Rabig had been caught in the draft
and forced into the ranks of the old Thirty-seventh he got from
Frank the thorough thrashing which had been for a long time coming
to him.
What experiences the Army Boys went through in the training camps,
how narrowly they escaped a submarine attack on the way to Europe,
what exciting adventures they met with on their first contact with
the enemy, are described in the first volume of the series
entitled: "Army Boys in France; Or, From Training Camp to
Trenches."
After they had once reached the scene of action the adventures of
the Army Boys multiplied rapidly. Trench warfare was soon
outgrown, and open fighting in the field became the order of the
day. At one time when the American troops were advancing, the boys
became separated from their comrades and were compelled to leap
from a broken bridge into a stream, and when they attempted to
swim to the other side found themselves in the enemy's hands. For
a time a German prison camp with all its horrors loomed up before
them, but from this they were saved by a friend of theirs, Dick
Lever, who swooped down in his airplane, scattered the enemy
guards, and carried his friends back in safety to their own lines.
Frank had the good luck to hear encouraging news about his
mother's property from a French colonel whose life he had saved
under a rain of fire when the officer, Colonel Pavet, was lying
wounded on the battlefield.
Soon, from raw recruits the boys had been developed into skillful
soldiers, as is shown in the second volume of the series,
entitled: "Army Boys in the French Trenches; Or, Hand to Hand
Fights with the Enemy."
The Spring of 1918 had now arrived, and the Germans were preparing
for the last desperate drive, on the success of which their
fortunes depended. If they could once break through the Allied
lines and seize Paris or the Channel ports they would have come
near to winning the war, or at any rate, would have greatly
delayed the Allies' final victory. The Americans were brought to
the front to check the thrust of the Crown Prince's army toward
Paris, and the old Thirty-seventh found itself in the very van of
the fighting. Tom was captured, and had a series of thrilling
experiences before he was able to escape and rejoin his comrades.
Nick Rabig came out in his true colors, and his guilt as a traitor
was discovered by Tom, while hiding in the woods. How the boys
were brought again and again within arm's length of death in the
terrific fighting is told in the third volume of the series,
entitled: "Army Boys On the Firing Line; Or, Holding Back the
German Drive."
On July eighteenth, Marshal Foch struck like a thunderbolt and
hurled the foe back in a headlong retreat. Again and again the
Germans tried to rally, but the Allies were fired with the
certainty of victory and would not be denied.
Frank and his comrades were wherever the fighting was thickest,
and did their full share in driving the Germans back to the Rhine.
An event which for a time put Frank under a cloud, because it
looked as though he were involved in the robbery of a paymaster's
clerk, ended in showing that Nick Rabig was the real culprit. This
completely vindicated Frank, as will be seen in the fourth volume
of the series entitled: "Army Boys In the Big Drive; Or, Smashing
Forward to Victory."
That victory was now in sight. The German cause was doomed. One
great victory remained to be gained, the clearing of the Argonne
forest, wild, tangled, meshed with thousands of miles of barbed
wire, crowded with machine gun nests and swept with a hurricane of
shot and shell. But nothing could stop America's boys now that
their blood was up, and they did much in helping to win here the
final and greatest battle of the war. All the Army Boys, fighting
like tigers, came through unharmed, except Bart, who was wounded
and afterward wandered away from the hospital while temporarily
insane.
The armistice was signed and the Army Boys assigned to the Army of
Occupation with headquarters at Coblenz. At Luxemburg while on the
march they came across an American family who for business reasons
had lived for a time in Coblenz. How they took the head of the
family for a German spy, how they marched as conquerors into
Germany, how Frank was cheered by learning that his mother's
property was sure to come to her, how Bart was found and restored
to his right mind, how by the aid of the suspected spy who turned
out to be a patriotic American they thwarted a desperate German
plot to blow up the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine--all
these and other thrilling adventures are described in the fifth
volume of the series, entitled: "Army Boys Marching Into Germany;
Or, Over the Rhine With the Stars and Stripes".
Since the Army Boys had served as night patrol, they were exempt
from getting up when reveille sounded the next morning, and the
sun was some hours high when they found themselves together again
in their favorite spot in front of the great fortress of
Ehrenbreitstein, which formed the principal barracks for the
American troops in the occupied zone.
"Well, Mister Detective," said Billy, with a grin, as he slapped
Frank on the back, "have you figured out any dope about the
fellows who came so near to bumping us off last night?"
"Can't say that I have yet," laughed Frank. "Fact is, I was so
dog-tired when I hit the hay last night that I went to sleep the
minute my head touched the pillow. And so far this morning I've
been so busy packing away grub that I haven't had time to think of
anything else. But if I can get leave I'm going over to Coblenz
today and take a look at that alley."
"Here comes the corp," remarked Bart, as he saw Wilson
approaching. "I wonder whether he found out anything further about
last night's rumpus."
"Nothing at all," answered the corporal, who heard the last words.
"Everything was quiet for the rest of the night. I stationed two
of the men close to the alley with special directions to watch it,
but nothing at all happened that was out of the ordinary."
"It's hardly likely that there would," answered Frank. "They
wouldn't be likely to try the same game twice in the same night."
"Perhaps they had some special grudge against one or all of you
fellows," suggested the corporal. "Have any of you made any
special enemies in the town that you know of?"
"I don't think so," replied Frank. "How about it, boys?"
"Not guilty," laughed Billy.
"We've yanked in a few trouble makers from time to time," said Tom
thoughtfully, "but we weren't any rougher with them than we had to
be."
"I'll tell you!" broke in Bart, as a thought struck him. "It was
our bunch that discovered the plot to blow up Ehrenbreitstein and
got the tip to our people just in time. Perhaps that's made some
of these crazy Huns wild to throw the hooks into us."
"By Jove!" exclaimed Frank, "I never thought of that. I shouldn't
wonder if you were more than half right, Bart."
"It may be so," agreed Wilson meditatively. "They certainly were
sore when that plot was knocked on the head. They had sworn that
no foreign flag should ever float over the greatest fortress in
all Germany."
"They swore falsely then," cried Billy jubilantly, as he pointed
to the Stars and Stripes floating in the breeze.
Instinctively they took off their caps, as they gazed lovingly
upon Old Glory.