The Boy Allies at Verdun Part 43

He suited the action to the word. Chester and Stubbs followed his example.

For long moments, it seemed to them, they waited for the sound of the blast that would shake the country. Each was anxious, for there was no telling what the result of the explosion might be. Stubbs squirmed uneasily as he burrowed in the ground, while Chester and Hal were by no means easy in their minds.

So long did they wait that it seemed to Chester something must have gone wrong. Perhaps the fuse had gone out. Perhaps another German guard had discovered it in time and pinched out the fire. There were many possibilities, and the lad considered them all as he lay prostrate on the ground.

He was about to raise his head and ask Hal a question, when, suddenly, the blast came.

There was, at first, a long grumbling roar, which, it seemed, would never end. Gradually the roar increased until it reached such proportions as to be beyond all description; it was a roar the like of which neither of the three figures who lay there had ever heard before--probably never would hear again.

Louder and louder it grew and then ended in a final blast that was louder than many thousand times the loudest peal of thunder--louder than the simultaneous firing of thousands of guns.

Then it became suddenly quiet--so quiet that Hal, Chester and Stubbs, who had now leaped to their feet, felt a queer sensation hovering all about them; so quiet that it was, for the moment, impossible to hear.

Then something descended not five yards from where the three stood with a terrible roar. Instinctively, all fell to the ground again, crowding themselves into the smallest possible s.p.a.ce.

For the rain of debris had begun. And for several minutes it continued.

Pieces of guns, of rocks and of all objects imaginable fell upon all sides of the three; but, fortunately, none struck them. Then the rain of debris ceased.

In the great German camp all was hideous confusion. Thousands of lives had been snuffed out by the force of the t.i.tanic blast; thousands of others had perished in the rain of steel and iron and rock that followed.

It was the greatest catastrophe that had befallen the Germans for many a long day. The effect of the explosion was appalling.

Hal's first thought after the rain of steel and iron had ceased was for the aeroplane. If it had been smashed they were, indeed, in a serious situation. If it had gone through the storm safely they were comparatively safe.

Together the three friends rushed toward the machine. Quickly they rolled it out into the open. Hal examined the engine and steering apparatus carefully.

"All right, Hal?" asked Chester, anxiously.

Hal shook his head.

"Something wrong with the engine."

"Can you fix it?"

"I haven't been able to determine just what's wrong yet."

Hal worked rapidly; and at last he gave an exclamation of satisfaction.

"Find it?" asked Chester.

"Yes; I'll have it fixed in a quarter of an hour."

"If we're not away from here in five minutes we're likely to be dead,"

said Stubbs, plaintively.

"Don't croak, Stubbs," said Chester. "We've done a good day's work and you should be proud to have a hand in it."

"Should I?" said Stubbs. "Well, all right, if you say so; but I would be a whole lot more proud if I could get back and tell somebody about it."

"A man deserves no particular credit for doing his duty," said Chester, quietly.

"Maybe not," agreed Stubbs. "But I haven't done mine yet."

"Why--"

"My duty," said Stubbs, "is to get back to some place where I can send an account of this feat to the New York _Gazette_. Believe me, it will be some scoop."

"Scoop?"

"Yes. I mean no other paper will have the facts as I have them."

"All right, Stubbs," said Chester. "I hope you get your scoop."

"I'm going to get it," said Stubbs, excitedly, "if I have to walk over the body of the Kaiser himself to do it."

"That's the way to talk," said Chester. "Confidence is the greatest a.s.set in the world."

"It's not confidence," said Stubbs. "I've just got to do it. Why, if my boss knew I had something like this in my hands and I didn't get it to him I'd lose my job."

Chester made no reply to this; instead, he bent over Hal who was still tinkering with the engine of the aeroplane.

"How are you making it?" he asked.

"I don't seem to be able to fix it," returned Hal. "Say! you two fellows walk away a bit and keep an eye open for possible enemies. We don't want to be caught off our guard here."

Chester and Stubbs did as Hal directed, though the latter mumbled to himself as he took his position some distance away.

"That's the trouble with these contraptions," he said. "Always out of whack. If a man had a good horse now--"

He broke off and continued to mumble something unintelligible to himself.

"I've found it," cried Hal now, from the aeroplane. "I was working on the wrong part. I'll have it fixed in a jiffy."

Chester made no reply, but Stubbs brightened up wonderfully.

"That's the talk!" he cried. "Fix her up, Hal, and get a move on."

Hal smiled to himself as he tinkered with the engine.

Hal was deep in his work when his attention was attracted by a sudden cry of alarm from Stubbs.

"Germans!" cried the little man, and without stopping to look again, he dashed toward Hal.

At almost the same moment Chester saw a force of the enemy advancing toward him. He, too, uttered a cry of alarm and dashed toward the place where Hal still bent over the aeroplane.

Stubbs danced up and down and chanted excitedly:

"Hurry up, Hal! Hurry up! Here they come!"

"Shut up, Stubbs!" exclaimed Hal, straining all his energies to fix the break in the plane. "I'll have it in a minute."