Fighting in France | Page 2

parents had naturally been anxious
as to his safety and not hearing from him had instructed Earl to find his
missing brother at all hazards. This Earl had endeavored to do and after
many kinds of adventures had finally been successful. The lure of
further adventure however had attracted him and he too had enlisted.
Now all three boys were in the same company of the same regiment.
"Yes, sir," exclaimed Jacques, who spoke English with only the
slightest suspicion of an accent, "there will certainly be some real
fighting soon. It will seem good after all these months of quiet."
"I shouldn't describe them as especially quiet," laughed Earl grimly.
"I mean," explained Jacques, "that we have been in the trenches all the
time. Now we will have a chance to get out of them; perhaps for good."
"If we can break the German lines," suggested Leon.
"We will give them an awful bump anyway," laughed Jacques.
"And we'll lose half our men," added Leon soberly.
"We do not think of that," exclaimed Jacques proudly. "We are
assigned to the front line, the post of honor. We will lead the charge
and I think we are very lucky."
"The other regiments are jealous of us anyway," said Earl. "When does
the attack start?"
"To-morrow morning at nine-fifteen sharp."
"And we'll move into the first line trenches tonight I suppose."
"Exactly."
"That's it," exclaimed Leon. "Pierre Garemont told me not thirty
minutes ago that he had just been talking with Captain Le Blanc and

that was the information he received."
"I suppose everything is arranged," said Earl.
"You may be sure of that," said Jacques heartily. "Our officers are not
the kind to send us into a battle without doing everything that is
possible."
"Think of the artillery support we'll have," cried Leon enthusiastically.
"I don't see how they can stop us."
"How much will we have?" demanded Earl.
"Our guns will drop four shells every minute in every yard of German
trenches. Think of that."
"You mean," exclaimed Earl, "that in every space three feet long a shell
will explode every fifteen seconds?"
"I certainly do."
"It seems incredible," muttered Earl. "Why, there'll be nothing left of
them."
"That is just what we want," cried Jacques. "When we smash their
trenches to pieces then we can drive them out of our country and
France will be free once more."
"I suppose our batteries will all have the exact range," said Earl.
"You need not worry about that," smiled Jacques. "The exact location
of every German trench is marked to the inch on our officers' maps.
What do you think our aviators are for? Don't you know that they take
pictures of the enemy's fortifications from their machines and that all
the pictures are developed and enlarged? Oh, they'll have the range all
right. You'll see."
"Look!" cried Leon suddenly. "Here comes one of our aerial scouts
now."

Far away in the eastern sky a tiny speck appeared. It approached
rapidly and increased in size as it came nearer. At least four thousand
feet above the trenches the great mechanical bird flew and the three
young soldiers watched it in silent admiration.
Suddenly a puff of white smoke appeared below the aeroplane.
"The Germans are firing at it," cried Earl.
"And there goes one of their machines up after it," exclaimed Jacques
as another speck appeared against the horizon. It was lower than the
French machine but rose in great circles with amazing speed until it had
reached a point above its enemy. At this point it headed west and sped
in pursuit of the French aeroplane.
"One of those new fokkers," remarked Jacques quickly.
"The German machine, you mean?" queried Leon.
"Yes. They are very fast too."
"He'll never come over our line though," said Earl. "He'll turn back
soon."
"There goes another of our machines up to help," exclaimed Leon.
From the aviation field in the rear of their quarters came a great clatter
and noise. A moment later a big monoplane came into view and rising
rapidly higher and higher set out to the aid of its companion.
Meanwhile the first aviator, pursued by the German fokker, had
evidently determined to give battle. He dipped suddenly and shot
downward at incredible speed. All about him the bombs from the
high-angle guns of the enemy were exploding and it did not seem
possible that he could escape. The cheering of their comrades in the
trenches came faintly to the ears of the three watching boys.
"He'll be hit," cried Leon tensely.

"Wait," cautioned Jacques.
The aeroplane still raced towards the earth. Suddenly it began to rise
and up, up, it soared. Higher and higher it went, describing huge circles
in its flight. The little white clouds all about told with what