Army Boys on the Firing Line

Army Boys on the Firing Line, by
Homer Randall

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Homer Randall
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Title: Army Boys on the Firing Line or, Holding Back the German
Drive
Author: Homer Randall

Release Date: June 3, 2007 [eBook #21671]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BOYS ON THE FIRING LINE***
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ARMY BOYS ON THE FIRING LINE
Or
Holding Back the German Drive
by
HOMER RANDALL
Author of "Army Boys in France," "Army Boys in the French
Trenches," etc.

[Frontispiece: "America!" answered Frank, and hurled his revolver full
in the sentry's face.]

The World Syndicate Publishing Co. Cleveland, O. ------ New York, N.
Y.
Copyright, 1919, by George Sully & Company

ARMY BOYS ON THE FIRING LINE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I

FIGHTING AGAINST ODDS II A PERILOUS JOURNEY III
AMONG THE MISSING IV CAPTURED OR DEAD? V NICK
RABIG TURNS UP VI THE COMING DRIVE VII IN THE HANDS
OF THE HUNS VIII FRYING-PAN TO FIRE IX THE CONFESSION
X A MIDNIGHT SWIM XI GALLANT WORK XII THE DRUGGED
DETACHMENT XIII A DEEPENING MYSTERY XIV THE STORM
OF WAR XV FURRY RESCUERS XVI CLOSING THE GAP XVII
THE MINED BRIDGE XVIII A DESPERATE VENTURE XIX THE
JAWS OF DEATH XX A TRAITOR UNMASKED XXI CROSSING
THE LINE XXII A JOYOUS REUNION XXIII CUTTING THEIR
WAY OUT XXIV WOUNDS AND TORTURE XXV DRIVEN
BACK

ARMY BOYS ON THE FIRING LINE
CHAPTER I
FIGHTING AGAINST ODDS
"The Huns are coming!" exclaimed Frank Sheldon, as from the
American front line his keen, gray eyes searched a broad belt of
woodland three hundred yards away.
"Bad habit they have," drawled his special chum and comrade, Bart
Raymond, running his finger along the edge of his bayonet. "We'll have
to try to cure them of it."
"I think they're getting over it to some extent," remarked Tom Bradford,
who stood at Frank's left. "The last time they tried to rush us they went
back in a bigger hurry than they came. What we did to them was a
shame!"
"They certainly left a lot of dead men hanging on our wires," put in
Billy Waldon. "But there are plenty of them ready to take their places,
and the Kaiser's willing to fight to the last man, though you notice he
keeps his own precious skin out of the line of fire."

"I think Frank's getting us on a string," chaffed Tom, when some
minutes had passed in grim waiting. "I don't see any Heinies. Trot out
your Huns, Frank, and let's have a look at them."
"You'll see them soon enough," retorted Frank. "I saw the flash of
bayonets in that fringe of woods and I'm sure they're massing."
"Do you remember that little thrilly feeling that used to go up and down
our spines when we were green at the war game?" grinned Bart. "I feel
it now to some extent, but nothing to what I did at first."
"That's because we've tackled the boches and taken their measure,"
commented Frank. "We know now that man for man when conditions
are equal we can lick them. The world had been so fed up with stories
about Prussian discipline that it seemed as though the Germans must be
supermen. But a bullet or a bayonet can get them just like any one else,
and when it comes to close quarters, the American eagle can pick the
pin feathers out of any Prussian bird."
"It isn't but what they're brave enough," remarked Bart. "When they're
fighting in heavy masses they're a tough proposition. But they've got to
feel somebody else's shoulder against theirs to be at their best. Turn a
hundred of them loose in a ten-acre lot against the same number of
Americans, where each man had to pick out his own opponent, and see
what would happen to them."
"They wouldn't be in it," agreed Tom with conviction. "Put a Heinie in
a strange position where he has to think quickly without an officer to
help him, and he's up in the air. Take his map away from him and he's
lost."
"Even when you talk of his mass fighting being so good, perhaps you're
giving him too much credit," said Billy grudgingly. "He goes into battle
with his officer's revolver trained on him, and he