CHAPTER XVII.
THE BADGE OF COURAGE AND MERCY
"It seems like we were to be treated to about everything there is going in the way of up-to-date fighting!" said Tubby, who was having some difficulty in craning his fat neck, to look toward where the wonderful airship was still making enormous circles above the battle lines.
"Are you sure they are Belgian aëroplanes?" asked Merritt, who had been attentively observing the ascending fliers.
"They came up from behind the line of trenches," replied Rob, "and that makes it look as if they couldn't be German machines. Besides, the invaders all use a model that is called a Taube, which is different from these."
"But why d'ye suppose they didn't climb up before now, and tackle that monster Zeppelin, so as to put it out of business, or chase it off?" inquired Tubby.
"They had their reasons, I suppose," he was told by the patrol leader. "No matter what they may have been, we're not interested. It's enough for us to watch what's going to happen from now on."
"I'll be jiggered if the Zeppelin isn't going to have it out with them!" exclaimed Merritt. "Did you see that little puff of what looked like smoke? They've got some sort of gun aboard, and mean to try and riddle the aëroplanes with it!"
"Whew! talk to me about excitement, this has got everything I ever knew beaten by a mile!" admitted Tubby.
"You notice that both the monoplanes manage to keep pretty far away from the dirigible," Rob told them. "And see how they bore up in circles all the while, too, getting higher right along."
"What's the idea of that?" asked Merritt.
"For one thing it'll put them on equal terms with the Zeppelin so that they can send back shot for shot," explained the other. "But unless I miss my guess they mean to try a bigger scheme than that, if once they can get above the airship."
"You mean drop a bomb down on it, don't you, Rob?" Merritt asked.
"Yes. You know these Zeppelins are made in many sections. They say one could keep afloat even if a dozen of these were smashed. They're along similar lines as the watertight compartments of steamships. Some auto tires are made the same way too. But if a bomb was dropped on top of the gas bag, I reckon the explosion would play hob with the whole business."
They stood there and watched the strange duel in the heavens. The thrill of that occasion would never be forgotten by any one of the three scouts. And all the while the guns over beyond the low-lying hills were beating a terrible tattoo that was like the music of the orchestra when a play is being performed. That tragedy was there above them, the stage being the limitless expanse of the heavens.
The Zeppelin maneuvered again and again in order to get in touch with the wasp-like enemies that constantly darted out of reach. There was more or less firing going on, the boys could see, even though the distance and the growl of the German artillery prevented them from hearing any reports.
"There, I believe they've done it!" shouted Merritt suddenly.
"The Zeppelin is running away, that's sure!" echoed Tubby, "and one of the aëroplanes seems to be further up, too!"
"Something has happened, because the rear of the dirigible looks as if it had collapsed," Rob announced. "I wonder how they manage to steer, with the rudder useless. But they're coming down fast now, you notice!"
"And aiming so as to bring the monoplanes over the German lines," added Merritt. "If the little fellows know what's good for them, they'll keep a good distance off, because there are guns made that can shoot straight up for a mile, and send a shell or shrapnel to burst, and fetch an aviator every time."
While they watched, the disabled Zeppelin dropped out of sight back of the woods, and it was easily possible for the boys to hear the wild shouts of derision that ascended from the trenches where the Belgians lay concealed.
The two aëroplanes then started to have a little scout of their own, and doubtless those daring air pilots picked up more or less information that would prove of value to the defenders of the trenches.
"Is the battle over, do you think?" asked Tubby, when this exciting panorama in the upper air currents had come to an end.
"Some of the guns are still muttering," Rob told him, "but they seem to be further away. Perhaps the Germans are bombarding some fortified place off in the distance, or it may be an English army has shown up, and is giving battle to the Kaiser. You know the poor Belgians are hoping for that to happen right along."
"But just think what is over there!" continued Tubby, with a shudder as he pointed a chubby finger toward the scene of the late charge and repulse. "Why, I can see hundreds of men lying around, just like the corn when they go to cutting so it can be stacked. Ugh! it's awful to think of all those poor Germans!"
"They're not all Germans, either," corrected Merritt; "because I saw one place where the Belgians rushed out of their trenches, and fought hand to hand. Lots of them must have been knocked over, too. They just couldn't hold back, I guess, with the fighting spirit in them."
"And this is what's going on all through Belgium, Northern France, and over along the border of Russia," said Rob, powerfully impressed with the tragic scene he had looked upon.
"Here's another battery coming along the road, too late to get in the fight!" they heard Tubby saying.
"That's where you're barking up the wrong tree, Tubby," Merritt assured him, "because what's coming now is just the opposite of a battery. One cuts down the ranks of the enemy, this one helps to bind up their wounds, and carry them off the battlefield! In action the fighting men become like fiends; but I guess you could call these angels of mercy!"
"Why, sure enough, I can see the Red Cross on the wagon!" cried Tubby, evidently pleased by the discovery. "Then that must be an ambulance, and they're going on the battlefield to help the poor wounded fellows! Oh! how much I admire them right now. I wish I was worth a continental as a surgeon, and I'd like to volunteer to help take care of some of the wounded."
"There are three more ambulances, and they seem to have several nurses aboard each one," Rob observed, as the procession advanced closer to where they were located.
"There's a man driving, and I reckon now that may be the surgeon," Merritt was saying, as though deeply interested. "How about this, Rob? I thought nurses only worked in the hospitals back of the lines; but these seem heading right for the battlefield."
"As a rule they let men bring in the wounded," said Rob. "But sometimes a nurse is allowed to go about trying to help the poor fellows as best she can until such time as a stretcher can reach them. Most of them are parched with thirst, and what they ask for first of all is a drink of water."
"I might do that much, anyway," Tubby was heard to mutter to himself, "if only I thought I could stand the terrible sights. You know, seeing blood always used to make me feel faint-like. But then a scout ought to overcome that weakness."
Possibly it may have been something in what Tubby said that gave Merritt his brilliant idea, for he immediately whirled upon the patrol leader, and exclaimed:
"Rob, why couldn't we ask them to take us along, and let us do what we can to help? As scouts we know something about taking care of wounds, you remember. Why, didn't that officer compliment us on the way we looked after his men, and the German spy they'd captured? Rob, see if we could do it, won't you? It might be a terrible experience for us; but I feel like I'd be better satisfied if I could lend a helping hand here."
The first of the three army ambulances had by this time come close to the boys. Attracted by their khaki uniforms, and possibly their bright eager faces, the man who was driving held up his team. A woman of middle-age, garbed as a nurse, jumped to the ground, and approached the boys. They saw that undoubtedly she must be the one in charge of the Red Cross detachment.
At sight of the little American flag which Tubby wore on the lapel of his coat her eyes glistened.
"That is a glorious sight to my eyes in this foreign land," she told them, "for I, too, am American-born. My profession is that of a trained nurse. A wealthy patient I brought abroad died in Antwerp; and as the war had broken out I determined to offer my services to the Government, so that I was immediately given a position of trust and responsibility. We are short-handed with men, you can see. I happen to know what Boy Scouts over in America have to learn about taking care of wounded persons. It is a terrible thing to ask, but this is a case of necessity. Would you be willing to help us out; and do you think you could stand the awful sights and sounds of the battlefield?"
Rob and Merritt exchanged glances; while their flushed faces told the nurse what their answer would be, even before they spoke a single word.
"We were just wondering whether you would let us join you," Rob said quickly, "for we want to do something to help those poor fellows over there. Yes, if you can make room for us aboard your ambulance we'll gladly go along."
Poor Tubby had lost all his color. He was as white as a ghost; but with tightly shut teeth he pushed up, to allow the nurse to fasten a bit of muslin, stamped with a vivid red cross, upon his left arm, and then he climbed into the ambulance.
CHAPTER XVIII.
AFTER THE FIGHTING WAS OVER
The horses had been urged on at considerable speed, in order to arrive upon the scene of action, for the animals began to show evidences of exhaustion long before they reached a position back of the Belgian trenches. That may have been one of the reasons why they were halted temporarily, at the time the head nurse talked with the three Boy Scouts.
As they approached the battle line Rob and his friends became intensely interested. They saw the heads of the defenders of the trenches thrust up to observe their coming, and heard the hearty ringing cheers with which the Red Cross nurses were greeted.
Men sprang out to assist them, so that apparently it would be no hard task to find plenty of recruits to handle the stretchers upon which the wounded could be carried to the hastily constructed field hospital in the rear, where the surgeons would soon be busily employed.
Tubby was still looking very white, but he had made up his mind that he would go through with this wonderful experience even if he fainted dead away. All that was stubborn in his nature had come to the surface; and Rob, after noticing this, made up his mind Tubby was going to take a long step forward before another sun had set.
Now they were on the other side of the trenches. There was considerable bustle. Nurses commenced to spread out over the field, on which some men lay groaning and others very still.
The assistants with the stretchers, upon whose arms had been fastened badges bearing the sacred red cross, began to carry off such of the wounded as they found needed urgent attention.
"Come on, boys, let's see where we can help out!" said Rob, trying to appear perfectly cool and collected, but at the same time knowing that his knees were inclined to knock together, so that he could not blame poor Tubby for feeling as he did.
They started out. At first all of them stuck together, for the sights they soon saw filled them with a sense of horror, as well as compassion.
Never were Boy Scouts placed in a position where they had more reason to be thankful for what little knowledge of surgery they had attained.
The American nurse may have felt considerable doubt as to whether she had done a wise thing in affording these boys a chance to assist the Red Cross upon the battlefield. Rob saw that she hovered near them, as though keeping an eye on what they did.
It was a dreadful experience for those boys, to be thus brought in close contact with the dead and the dying; they could never forget what they saw there that day.
Even Tubby braced up when he found that he could be useful in helping the others. He had secured a bucket of water, and when he heard some poor fellow cry out, or saw him make frantic gestures, it was his business to hurry over and supply his wants. No matter what uniform the wounded man wore, it did not make a bit of difference; since the Red Cross recognizes neither friend nor foe, but treats all alike.
It is possible to get accustomed to almost anything in this world. Not one of those boys would have imagined a short time before this that they could find courage and nerve enough to walk in the midst of such carnage; and yet they were actually doing it now.
As Rob and Merritt finished binding up the leg of a poor fellow who would soon have bled to death but for their coming, the nurse who had meanwhile come up behind them commended their work.
"It was excellently done, I want you to know," she told them, "and I can plainly see that I need have no further fears concerning your ability to be of much assistance here. Do all you can, my brave boys, but remember not to go too far. You are not accustomed to such sights, and it may affect you in the end."
She hurried away to take up her own labors, leaving the boys with a proud sense of having done their duty as genuine scouts should, trying to be of use to others in sore need.
For an hour, yes two of them, they continued to work there, while the stretcher bearers and the ambulances bore the victims of the late conflict back in apparently an unending procession. Those poor fellows who had no further need of attention were of course allowed to remain just as they had fallen; and by degrees the wounded were weeded out, to be taken care of back of the desperately defended lines, where the Red Cross floated from the canvas field hospital.
Tubby had about reached the end of his endurance. They could see that he was certainly getting very wabbly on his feet, for often he stumbled as he moved around with his bucket and dipper, seeking a stray wounded soldier who might have been overlooked, so as to supply water to quench his raging thirst.
The sun looked down from a cloudless September sky, and it was very hot for the advanced season of the year. Far off in the distance those never-ceasing German guns still kept up their muttering as they sent shells into some fortified place. The battle in this particular field was apparently not going to be renewed; for already some of the Belgian batteries were being taken away, to face a new quarter where, according to their air scouts, the enemy meant to next try a forward movement.
Terrible though the experience may have been to all the boys, none of them had any regrets. The grateful looks and words they had received repaid them tenfold for all the nerve-racking ordeals through which they had gone.
"I think it's queer, though," Merritt was saying to Rob, as they walked around in search of any wretched victim whom they might assist, "that not a single German has been out on the battlefield to render first aid. I don't understand it at all. They've got as fine surgeons as any in the world, and the Red Cross works with their armies the same as with all the rest."
"I was bothering my head about that, too, since you mention it," Rob announced.
"What did you make up your mind was the cause of it?" continued Merritt, who had considerable respect for the opinions and decisions of the Eagle Patrol leader.
"It means either one of two things," he was told. "It may be the settled policy of the Germans in their rush to push through Belgium and Northern France to leave their wounded to be taken care of by the enemy, whenever the battle has gone against them; or else a quick change of front compels them to abandon the field."
"Still," argued Merritt, who secretly was much in favor of the Allies, "you'd think there would be some parties out with stretchers, looking up their wounded. I never will understand it."
"Well, they must have a good reason for acting that way," Rob told him. "You know the Germans are great sticklers for sacrificing everything to the good of the cause of the Fatherland. If necessary even the wounded must be temporarily neglected until the end aimed at is attained. You remember what we heard in Antwerp about those three British cruisers that were just torpedoed in the North Sea by German submarines?"
"I can see what you mean, Rob. One was struck, and began to sink. The other two hurried up to render assistance, and while their engines were still they were hit by torpedoes and went down. If, instead of trying to help their distressed comrades in the English way, they had let them look out for themselves, and first of all smashed the conning towers of the submarines, they would have saved themselves. I guess in war times the German style counts best, though it seems cruel to me."
"I think we had better pull out of this before long," remarked Rob.
"Well, if you asked me I'd say I've had enough to last the rest of my life," Merritt told his chum. "If ever I had any idea I'd like to be a soldier I give you my word that's gone glimmering now. What I've looked on this day has cured me."
"I was thinking more of poor Tubby than either of us," the patrol leader remarked. "You can see he's pretty near the end of his rope. Twice now I've seen him trip and fall flat, over some of the war material that's scattered around so thick. And he could hardly get on his feet again, he's that played out."
"But, Rob, Tubby has certainly shown up splendidly in this terrible trial!"
"He's done a heap more than we have," Rob asserted, "because he always has been a timid sort of chap with regard to seeing blood when any of us got hurt. I remember how ghastly white Tubby grew that time one of the scouts in the Owl Patrol cut his foot with the ax. I thought for a while we'd have two patients on our hands. He had to sit down so as to get over it."
"Yes, and see what he's stood to-day," said Merritt. "Many a boy who boasts of having lots of nerve would have shrunk from doing what he has. Tubby's all right, and that's a fact. But it's high noon, and I warrant you he's feeling mighty hungry."
"He would, under ordinary conditions," said Rob, "but just now I don't believe any of us could eat a mouthful. I know the very thought of it makes me feel queer."
"That's because we're not used to such sights and sounds," Merritt explained. "I expect to wake up many a night with a groan and a shiver, dreaming I'm on a battlefield again, after those awful Maxims have been doing their murderous work."
"Well, we might take one last turn around," suggested Rob, "and if we fail to find any more wounded men, we'll call it a day's work, and quit."
"For one thing, I'm glad I don't mean to follow this up as a profession," his comrade continued. "I think I've had enough experience of fighting to last me a lifetime, and yet, on second thought, if it should happen again that they needed what little help I could give, why I'd have to pitch in."
CHAPTER XIX.
AN IMPORTANT CLUE
"There was one thing I meant to mention to you, Merritt," said Rob, as they once more started to zigzag across the field where so many windrows of fallen Germans lay, just as they had dropped when making that daring charge.
It was perhaps a little strange how the boys could come to converse as they did while surrounded by such gruesome sights; but after several hours' familiarity with such scenes these begin to lose some of their harrowing features. And while Rob and his chum were still shocked by frequent sights, they did not feel the same weakness that had, in the beginning, almost overpowered them.
"Then, tell it now," urged Merritt.
"It was about Anthony," continued the other.
"Well, as we know only one Anthony just now," pursued Merritt, "I reckon you must be referring to our late guide, the same who gave us the slip like a coward. What about Anthony, Rob?"
"I guessed right about him," replied the patrol leader. "It was not fear that tempted him to leave us in the lurch, but a craze to get in action. I think Anthony, while too old a man to be on the active list of the Belgian army, must have been a reservist."
"Yes, he told me so," said Tubby, coming up and catching what was being said by his chums.
"Well," Rob continued, "apparently he knew where to go to get a suit, for there he was as big as life, and he even had the audacity to wave his hand at me, and grin."
"Where was this, Rob?" demanded Merritt, surprised, as well he might be.
"Where but sitting on one of those ammunition caissons that went whirling past us into action. Anthony must have been with the artillery corps. He felt the longing come over him when he thought of the enemies of his country – those raiding Uhlans. So what did he do but take French leave on his horse, and get to where this battery was waiting for orders to proceed to the front."
"Oh! well, if you're dead sure it was Anthony," Merritt observed, as if mollified by the information, "of course we'll have to forgive him. I was only mad because I thought the fellow'd gone and gotten cold feet, after taking our advance pay, too. If he's that kind of a patriot, I've got no quarrel with Anthony."
"And perhaps he even had a share in mowing down some of these Germans who had invaded his country," suggested Tubby. "Anthony seemed to be pretty bitter against the Kaiser and his people for trying to cross Belgium in order to strike France in the back, as he called it. Whee! I'm tired; but I didn't give up, did I, fellows? You never thought Tubby would be able to come through with what he has, and I know it."
"You deserve a medal, Tubby; and we were just saying what a change there's been in you," Rob told him, causing a wan smile to flit across the wearied face of the fat scout.
"Yes," added Merritt readily, "to see the tender way you handled that German, hardly more than a boy himself, and who may never live to see his people again, anyone would have thought you had it in you to be a surgeon. Tubby, if I were you I'd pay more attention to such things. I honestly believe there's a streak of it in your blood."
"Well," Tubby remarked complacently, "we've had eminent doctors in our family; and my folks always said they hoped I'd take a fancy that way; but when I found how weak I was every time I saw a little blood, I gave up the idea. Now I've had my baptism on the battlefield, so mebbe I will change my mind. Even a soft-hearted fellow might make a good doctor, if he couldn't be a surgeon."
"Listen, there's someone calling to us!" exclaimed Merritt.
"And in German, too," added Rob. "Look all around, and see if you can find him. He must have recovered his senses after we passed by before."
"There's something moving under that pile of bodies," remarked Tubby with a shudder; "yes, and now you can see a hand waving to us. Oh! let's hurry and get the poor fellow out!"
The others were just as willing, and soon they had dragged a man out from the weight that had almost smothered him.
"He's pretty badly hurt, I reckon," remarked Rob, as he immediately stooped down over the Bavarian soldier, "but not fatally, I think. We'll do what we can for him here, and the next time men come along with a stretcher, we'll send him over to the field hospital."
The wounded German soldier had listened to them speaking.
"Are you American boys, then?" he asked, in excellent English.
"Well, now, he must have guessed that when you said you 'reckoned,' Rob," declared Merritt, "but how comes it you talk English, my friend?"
"Oh! I'm from Hoboken," said the man, smiling in spite of the terrible pain he must have been enduring.
Rob was already busily engaged stanching the bleeding from his wounds, which seemed to be numerous, though not apt to prove fatal, if they had proper attention.
"Do you mean Hoboken, New Jersey?" he asked, in surprise.
"Sure. I have lived there for many years now, and have a large brewing interest. Krauss is my name, Philip Krauss. I went across from Munich, in Bavaria, and was on a visit to my old home when the war came about. Although I have long been an American citizen I still love my native land, and they soon found a place for me in the ranks. But now if I ever get over this I think I will have had enough of fighting, and expect to return to my wife and children in Hoboken. But what are you doing here on this terrible field? It is not the place for boys."
"We are Boy Scouts," Tubby informed him proudly. "By accident we were where we could watch the battle being fought. Then along came the Red Cross ambulances, and the nurses. They asked us to assist, and as scouts all learn something about first aid, why we thought we'd help out. I guess you're about our last case, Herr Krauss."
Meanwhile Rob and Merritt busied themselves. The way they went about temporarily relieving his suffering, as well as stopping the loss of blood, quite won the admiration of the Hoboken patriot, even as it had done in the case of numerous other wounded men whom the boys attended previously.
It chanced that once again the boys became immersed in their own affairs, which were beginning to weigh heavily on their minds.
"I was making inquiries of one of the men with the stretchers," Rob told his comrades, "and he assured me that this little place by the name of Sempst is only a matter of six miles or so from where we are right now."
"Then," said Merritt, brightening up, "if only we stand a chance to get around without being gobbled by the Germans, we might strike in there to-morrow, and see if Steven Meredith is still at his post. The agent sent word to my grandfather that he had accepted a position there in charge of some manufacturing plant owned by a German firm in Brussels. I think myself there may have been some truth in that story about his being in the pay of the German Government, both over in America and here!"
The wounded man was listening eagerly to what they said.
"Excuse me," he now broke in. "But that is not a common name; and I once met a Steven Meredith, who pretended to be an American citizen, but who I knew was an agent of the German Government. It may be the same man. I entertained him, together with the German consul in New York City, at my home in Hoboken. Do you happen to know any peculiarity about his looks or manner that would identify him?"
"The man we are trying to find was tall," said Merritt quickly, "and has a slight cast in his left eye. He talks with something of a twang, as though he might be a Down-East Yankee."
"It must be the same!" declared Philip Krauss, as though convinced. "That accent, I believe, was cleverly assumed for a purpose. Promise me that you will not think it your duty to betray him to the enemy, and I will tell you still more of him."
Merritt and Rob exchanged significant looks.
"We have no fight against either Germany or the Allies," Merritt observed, "for Americans are neutral, and there would be no need of our betraying him, even if we had the chance. So we can easily give you that promise. He has something in his possession that belongs to my family; and we have come a long way to get it; that is all we want of Steven Meredith. Now, what can you tell us about him?"
"Only this," replied the wounded Hoboken brewer. "You have perhaps saved my life, and I feel I am under heavy obligations for the favor. It is worth something to my wife and family that I should live to see Hoboken again. The man you are looking for is in the suburbs of Brussels. You spoke of Sempst. He was there two days ago when my troop passed through. That may ease your minds, my brave boys."
"Would you mind telling us how you know this?" asked Rob.
"I saw him, and talked with him," came the convincing response. "He remembered me, though he put his finger on his lips, and looked around him as though he were suspicious. He is, as you said, in charge of a manufacturing plant, or appears to be, though he may have been sent there to spy upon the people, and learn valuable facts for the service. But I am glad to be able to do even a little in return for your kindness."
As two soldiers wearing the Red Cross on their sleeves came along just then with a stretcher, the boys beckoned to them, and had Philip Krauss carried off to the field hospital. They did not see him again after that. If, however, they should ever reach home again, they determined some day to look the Hoboken man up, and learn of his further adventures.