The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields Part 21

CHAPTER XX.

THE CAMP FIRES OF AN ARMY.

"Here, it's getting well along into the afternoon," remarked Tubby with a forlorn look on his face, "and I'm so knocked out that if you told me you meant to make a start for the little Belgian town right away I'd faint, sure I would."

"Don't think of doing it, then, Tubby," Rob told him, "because the rest of your chums are feeling in pretty much the same box themselves."

"We've had a terribly hard day of it, for a fact," agreed Merritt, as he looked around upon the scene, and shuddered in spite of his well known nerve.

"Then please tell me what's the program?" pleaded the fat scout. "That munch of black bread was good enough to keep a fellow from starving to death; but I certainly do hope there's a better prospect ahead of us for supper."

"Rob, you've got a scheme!" a.s.serted Merritt.

"What makes you think so?" asked the other, smiling languidly; for he was very nearly exhausted from the hard work he had done acting as an a.s.sistant field surgeon in the service of the Red Cross corps, doing temporary work in binding up wounds, and giving stimulants to those who were weak through loss of blood.

"Oh! I can tell it from the way you act," replied Merritt. "I haven't been your closest chum all this time without getting to know what different things mean. Now give us a pointer; what about getting some supper, and finding a place to sleep to-night?"

"Well, do you think you could stand for another night in the hay?"

demanded Rob.

"Just try me, that's all!" whimpered Tubby. "And, say, if you're thinking of going back to that village again, I only hope they'll be good to us, and feed us like they did this morning."

"That's what I had in mind," the patrol leader told them. "So the sooner we make a start that way the sooner we can rest up."

It was weary work tramping all the way back to the little village where they had first met the ambulances of the Red Cross corps, and joined hands with the workers. Rob would have liked to say good-by to the American nurse who had taken so much interest in their welfare. He knew, though, that it would be too much for Tubby to approach that terrible field hospital, where undoubtedly the nurses were still busily engaged helping the surgeons in their labors.

Whenever Tubby groaned and gave signs of dropping, they called a temporary halt and, in this way, made it as easy for the fat scout as possible.

Somehow the very thought of that sweet-scented hay appealed to Tubby very nearly as much as a good feed might; and that was saying a great deal.

"I don't wonder at hoboes liking haystacks when they're wandering around the country, if only they're as nice as that mow we struck," he told the others more than once. "Why, things couldn't be better. Now I understand what they mean when they say 'hitting the hay.' It means a sweet sleep.

But we're really getting there, ain't we, Rob?"

"We're right on top of the village now, Tubby," Merritt told him.

"Yes," added Rob, "there you can see the elevation we stood on when we watched the terrible battle. The village is here on our left. One more tug, and we'll arrive, so brace up, Tubby."

"Oh! I'm getting along quite decent, thank you, Rob. But I'll be glad when we're sitting on that bench under the shade of the tree."

As they entered the village they found that it was quite a different place from the time of their previous visit. Streams of wounded men had been brought in, and every other cottage was turned into a temporary hospital.

Of course the injured Belgians were given the first choice, as was perfectly natural; but Rob was pleased to see that after all these humble villagers had human traits in their make-up. Misery makes the whole world akin, and although they had no reason to love any German invader, the sight of stalwart young Teutons suffering agonies touched many a mother's heart; their own sons might any day be in need of the same attention from strangers, and they could not refuse to aid these wounded foes.

So into many a Belgian home a sorely stricken German was carried, to be cared for until the time came when he could be removed, either to his own lines, or to Antwerp.

The boys first of all sought that shady spot where the bench mentioned by Tubby offered an inviting seat. Here they sat down, and observed the many stirring sights that were taking place all around them.

"I've seen two men taken to the barn," remarked Merritt, half an hour later, "and so I reckon we'll have neighbors in our hay-mow to-night."

Tubby made a grimace, and then seemed to be ashamed of his selfishness.

"Well, if we do have to play nurse," he observed with the air of a philosopher, "I suppose we can stand it. What are all our troubles, I'd like to know, compared to those these poor people are suffering?"

"That's right, Tubby," said Merritt, "and we'll manage to pick up plenty of sleep, I should think."

"It'll have to be in the early part of the night, then," Rob told them, "because we want to get out of this a couple of hours before daylight."

"You mean to start then for Sempst, do you?" asked Tubby, with a sigh.

"Yes, because it might turn out to be dangerous work walking in broad daylight, until we've managed to get around the Germans," Rob explained.

"I've already picked up considerable information about the country, and the lay of the land. Between now and the time we turn in I hope to learn still more, so that I can take you on a road by starlight that will make a circuit around the German camps."

Apparently both his mates had the utmost confidence in Rob's ability to do this, for there was no word of protest raised. Merritt asked a few questions, and then they fell back upon their old occupation of watching the movements of the villagers, mostly women, as they bustled to and fro.

Pretty soon Rob sauntered over to the inn, and had a long talk with the old man who ran the public house. They could see him doing considerable pointing, and from this fact judged that Rob was keeping his word about picking up all the information possible.

When he came back it was getting near sundown; and of course the first thing Tubby asked was:

"Did he say we could have it, Rob?"

As both of the other scouts were so well acquainted with Tubby's weak points they did not need a dictionary in order to understand what was on his mind.

"I'm glad to tell you, Tubby," replied the other, "that the innkeeper says we deserve the best supper he can get ready. It seems that they've been talking about us here. Some of the nurses must have told how we worked on the battlefield; or it may be the wounded soldiers mentioned the fact that we did something to help them bear up till the stretchers arrived. No matter what happened, the innkeeper thinks a heap of us all, and we'll not go to our hay shake-downs hungry this night!"

"Hurray!" cried Tubby joyfully, "he's certainly a good fellow, Rob, I tell you; and I'm never going to forget him. The man who keeps my body and soul together has my eternal grat.i.tude."

Later on they were called in, and found that a substantial meal had been prepared for them. Tubby was fairly ravenous, and his chums found it necessary to warn him not to founder.

"Remember, we've got to be up and doing by three in the morning at the latest," Rob observed, "and if you make yourself sick the whole plan will be knocked galley-west. We might have to leave you behind, after all."

That last threat brought Tubby to his senses.

"Why, you see," he explained, as he pushed himself away from the table and its temptations, "I was trying to fix it so that in case we had to go without our breakfast to-morrow I'd be in shape to stand it."

"Sometimes," mused Merritt, "I think you're trying to fix it so that you could do without eating for a week."

When they made their way outside again it was to find that night had fallen. In the western sky a young moon looked down pityingly on the field which had so lately been marked by the desperate charge of the German hosts, only to fail in their effort to break through the Belgian intrenchments with their barbed wire defenses.

"Look, over there are hundreds of little fires flickering!" exclaimed Tubby.

"Those are the camp fires of the Germans," Rob told him. "I want to fix them in my mind, because we will have to make a wide detour, so as to avoid running across any patrol on the outskirts of their camp. I hope by the time daylight comes we can be far enough around to get off without being seen. The worst thing is this khaki uniform business. If only we had on ordinary clothes we might be taken for Belgian boys. But, as it is, they'll think we're soldiers, or at the least Belgian scouts, and they treat them as if they were regular enlisted men."

Shortly afterward they again sought the barn. The lantern once more hung on its accustomed hook, and by its friendly gleam Rob and his two chums were enabled to find the place where on the preceding night they had slept so well. The wounded men happened to be removed from them by some little distance. They could be heard occasionally groaning, or talking in low tones; but, as the boys were too tired to remain awake long, they soon lost all consciousness of what was pa.s.sing around them.

Perhaps the crowing of a rooster nearby may have told Rob that it was in the neighborhood of three o'clock, for he aroused his chums close to that time.