CHAPTER XIXTHE LONE STRAGGLER
The Army Boyswere getting ready for supper, and Frank noted with some amusement that under one pretext or another Tom and Billy took occasion to go frequently to the window and look out.
“Is he there yet?” he finally asked of Tom.
“Who?” asked Tom innocently.
“That deadly rival of yours,” chaffed Frank.
Tom flushed a little.
“Quit your kidding,” he replied. “Yes, he is there. I’ve half a mind to go out and ask him why’s he hanging around.”
“I guess that would be assuming a little too much,” laughed Frank; and as the summons to supper came just then the matter was dropped.
“I hope you enjoyed your holiday today,” remarked Mrs. Edsall, when they were seated at the table.
“Very much,” Frank answered. “Luxemburg is a charming city. We only wish we were going to be in it longer.”
“It is a nice place,” said Mrs. Edsall. “But we shall be glad to leave it just the same.”
“Are you going to leave it?” asked Billy in some surprise.
“Yes,” replied his hostess. “We are going back to Coblenz. My father’s property was seized there by the Germans when we left, and we are anxious to go back to reclaim it, now that the city is going to be under American control.”
Tom and Billy did not attempt to disguise their pleasure at the news, but Frank, although he politely expressed himself to the same effect, was not without a certain uneasiness. All his doubts of the night before came back to him.
Was business the real reason why the family were returning? Or was it because their sympathies and affections called them back to German soil? It was certain that the old man, whatever he may have been when he left Coblenz four years before, was now in no shape to carry on business. Still, of course, the family would naturally want to get back their property, even if only to sell it and afterward go to America.
He stole a glance at the old man. The latter had brightened visibly when Coblenz had been mentioned, but he soon relapsed into his usual silence broken only by muttered references to “the cellar.”
Frank made up his mind that he would speakto his chums again about the matter. But after supper, the party adjourned to the living room, where the girls played and sang to them, and Billy and Tom were in such high spirits when the boys finally went up to their rooms that Frank concluded not to dampen their pleasure by bringing the matter up.
The next morning they took their leave, with many thanks for the hospitality that had been extended to them and expressions of hope that they would see them again in Coblenz. Billy and Tom laid especial stress on this latter point and Helen and Alice did not seem at all averse to the prospect.
The regiment started off again on its long “hike,” refreshed and rested after its two days’ stay in Luxemburg. Their journey soon brought them to the Moselle river with its quaint villages and picturesque castles and they pursued their way along its banks for many miles. They were not yet on German soil, though they were rapidly approaching it.
In every place they entered, they were received as deliverers. The people turned out in force to greet them with acclamations. And they all had American flags ready to wave in honor of the Americans. Many were not just sure how the flags ought to be made, and there were often as many stripes as there were stars. In some placesthe people had no cloth, as almost every scrap of it had been carried away by the Germans, but they used paper instead, and although the results were not always artistic and in fact were sometimes laughable, none of the boys laughed, for they knew how deep the emotion was that prompted the demonstrations.
One day when they were taking their noonday rest of two hours, the boys saw Dick Lever coming toward them. They fell upon him with delight.
“Well, Dick, old man, is it really you?” asked Frank, after they had pounded and mauled him to their hearts’ content.
“Nobody else,” grinned Dick, as he released himself. “What kind of a rough house do you call this anyway?”
“How does it feel not to bring down your daily German?” laughed Billy.
“It sure is monotonous for a fact,” said Dick, a little regretfully. “I find myself looking around every once in a while to see if one of them is bearing down on me. But there’s no such luck. I’ll get rusty after a while from lack of practice.”
“You may have another hack at them, if they refuse to sign the peace treaty,” suggested Tom.
“Swell chance,” returned Dick. “We’ve taken all the fight out of those fellows. They haven’t a bit left. Have you heard about the way theysurrendered their fleet? Some of the finest battleships in the world, and they gave them up like so many lambs. Think of an American navy giving up that way without one last desperate fight. But Heinie isn’t built that way.”
“How does it seem up there in the air to watch the American army marching toward the Rhine?” asked Tom.
“Bully,” replied Dick. “I always felt certain I’d see them going in that direction but I didn’t dare to hope it would be so soon. From up there I can see not only our boys but the Huns as well going back to explain how it happened that they were making tracks for Berlin instead of toward Paris, and I tell you the sight makes me feel mighty good.
“One funny thing I noticed yesterday,” he went on. “Our whole army had passed on, or I thought they had, when I saw a man marching along about three miles behind them. He was all alone, but he was marching as stiff and straight as though his captain was looking at him. Then every once in a while he would stop and go through the whole manual of arms. Then up would go his gun again and he’d march on.
“It struck me as strange and I watched him for a while. He went through that performance a half dozen times. I got out my glasses for a better look and saw that he was ragged andlooked down at the heel. I had half a mind to go down and see what it all meant, but just then I got a signal from the flight commander and had to go forward. But it sure struck me as queer.”
“Some straggler that had been left behind and was trying to catch up with his regiment, I suppose,” suggested Billy.
“But that doesn’t explain why he went through the drill movements,” replied Dick.
Frank had been listening, carelessly at first but with growing interest. Now he leaned forward and asked earnestly:
“Did you see the man’s face, Dick?”
“No, I was almost directly above him and he didn’t look up.”
“Dick,” went on Frank with growing excitement, “do me a favor. Keep a sharp watch for that man and if you catch sight of him swoop right down and get in touch with him.”
“Sure,” answered Dick curiously, “but why?”
“Because,” replied Frank, and his voice was tense, “it may be Bart!”