“it was worth all the trouble, jack,” admitted amos.
they could see far away beyond where the doomed belgian village undoubtedly lay. billows of smoke shrouded most objects, but at times the wind swept this aside, and at such moments they could obtain glimpses of the fighting.
in one place they saw solid masses rushing forward with the resistless power of might, to be met with a blast that cut terrible lanes in their closely packed ranks.
amos fairly held his breath as he stared. it seemed almost as though he might be indulging in a nightmare. then the powder smoke rolled like a curtain between, and the view was shut off.
shells were bursting everywhere, and jack[128] soon located the hamlet which they had so recently quitted.
“they’re at it hammer and tongs around the village, i’m afraid, amos,” he called out to his companion.
“have you found out where it’s located, jack?”
“yes, if you watch sharp when the smoke fog opens you can glimpse a few of the houses over that way,” and jack pointed as he said this.
“yes, i see it now. and how the shells seem to be raining down on that spot. i guess the german gunners have got the range to a fraction. how d’ye think they manage such things, jack?”
“they have the whole country plotted out to begin with, amos. and then, you see, they get tips by wireless right along.”
“wireless?” echoed amos.
“in a sense, yes. look up and you’ll see that there are a dozen aeroplanes swooping around like hawks, now fluttering over some particular spot, and dropping a colored signal paper. that[129] is to tell the gunners just how to fire so as to hit what they’re after. those birdmen have a regular code they use to talk with.”
“but surely all of them are not german taubes, jack? i can see some that look different in build.”
“those belong to the allies,” jack declared with conviction.
“but how is it they chase around, often close together, without interfering with each other?”
“i suppose that’s because they’re all too busy now sending information of great value to bother with their own little rivalry. though it may be they take an occasional crack at each other in passing.”
amos had conceived a sudden startling thought, and he watched the evolutions of the rising and falling aeroplanes with additional interest. it could easily be noticed, however, that the machines of the allies monopolized his attention.
“oh! i wonder if one of them could be my[130] brother frank,” jack heard him saying presently.
“it’s one chance in ten he’s working up there right before our eyes,” the western boy admitted.
after that amos could hardly tear his eyes from the darting aeroplanes. when he saw little puffs of white smoke breaking close to one of them and knew that this must be shrapnel shells sent from anti-air craft german guns, his heart seemed almost in his throat with sudden anxiety.
“oh! that would be too cruel!” he exclaimed. “if i came all the way over here to find my brother, only to see him shot down before my very eyes.”
“don’t think of it,” jack told him. “chances are those are british airmen, and frank may be far away from here.”
“oh! he’s been struck, and is falling!” exclaimed amos in sudden terror.
“his machine has been put out of commission, it seems, but the pilot aims to coast down[131] so he can land back of his own lines. and as sure as you live he’s doing it, too.”
they forgot everything else, because of their intense interest in the fate of the pilot of the stricken monoplane. a short time later amos broke out with half a cheer, such was the excitement he was laboring under.
“jack, he’s landed, don’t you think?”
“reckon he has,” agreed the other.
“and safe behind the british lines.”
“you’re right there, amos, because the place where he struck is some distance this side of the village. that brave fellow is all right, even if his machine was put out of commission.”
“but the others keep at work right along, jack.”
“they direct the gunfire of both sides, to a considerable extent, and it would be a hard thing to get along without aeroplanes nowadays. this war has shown how useful they can be. but look over yonder. i do believe those are the british reserves we saw, going into action.”
“oh! you’re right, jack, for i glimpsed the[132] highlanders deploying behind that stone wall. and i think that must be the canadian regiment charging with their bayonets.”
“it surely is, because i heard their yells when a shift came in the wind just then. oh! shucks! there that smoke has to settle down again and shut off our view when it was getting so thrilling.”
“to think that the same kind of fierce fighting is going on along miles of territory. do you think there’s a chance the germans may break through at this point, jack?”
“they may in small detachments while all the confusion is on, but not in great force,” jack replied. “all these things have been anticipated and prepared for. a battle is like a game of chess, with every move having a meaning of its own. the general who can best guess the plan of the enemy, and lay his own to trip him up, is the one who’s bound to win.”
it continued to be fascinating work to watch the stirring events that were transpiring. that tower on the top of the wrecked country house[133] proved a splendid lookout for the two deeply interested boys.
jack in particular was making it a point to impress all the features of the action upon his memory. later on at the first available chance he meant to incorporate what he had witnessed in a stirring letter that might thrill the hearts of all those in the home land who read it, even as his own pulses were quickened just then.
when the smoke pall chose to lift again after quite an interval, amos gave a cry of mingled surprise and chagrin.
“why, jack, see, they’re gone!”
“you mean the highlanders who were behind that stone wall, don’t you, amos?”
“yes, not a man of them is left. and, jack, i don’t seem to see any stretched out on the ground. do you think they had to retreat so soon?”
“hardly that,” the other assured him. “those scots are the most stubborn fellows going. they don’t like to give up anything they’ve once had possession of. of course i couldn’t say for certain,[134] but the chances are they’ve charged out to meet the oncoming germans face to face.”
“and they may be bayoneting each other in that awful fog of smoke further on,” amos continued. “oh! it’s terrible, terrible! i never thought war was so cruel. i always pictured it as glorious, with the heroes coming home to be crowned as victors. i’ll never think of it again as i used to. general sherman was right when he called it what he did.”
so the changes took place rapidly. it was as though they were looking through a kaleidoscope. every puff of air raised the curtain of smoke in some new section and allowed the absorbed spectators a chance to look upon phases of the battle they had as yet failed to see.
to think, that all through that long day, while the rival armies dug new trenches confronting each other, this terrible butchery must continue, was something to chill the heart.
“why,” burst out amos at length, after they had been a long time in the tower, “you could almost believe the end of the world had come,[135] with all this noise and fire. they say it won’t be a flood next time but fire that is going to destroy everything. for one, jack, i’m beginning to get enough of this.”
“we’ll stay only a little while longer, amos. fact is, we’ll never run across such a splendid chance as this to watch a big battle. it is teuton against anglo-saxon now, the first time they’ve been up against each other for centuries really. and this war will tell which is going to be the world leaders.”
“if the kaiser wins we’ll all have to brush up on our german, and that’s what i don’t like much,” amos complained.
“if that was the worst of it there’d be little reason for complaining,” jack told him. “i suppose german is as fine a language as the next, once you get your tongue adapted to it.”
“i can see a smudge of smoke where we think the village lies, jack, and it’s black smoke, too. do you think the place has been set afire so as to drive the british snipers out?”
“i wouldn’t be much surprised, amos.”
[136]
“and those poor, poor peasants, the helpless women and children, what will become of them?” exclaimed amos.
“don’t ask me,” said jack, with a shiver. “those who snatched up what they could get of their possessions and trekked out along the road leading to the south were wise, after all.”
“yes,” continued his chum, “they may suffer from the cold, but as they get further down into france they’ll have kind friends raised up for them on every hand. i wonder will the burgomaster live through it all, brave old chap that he was to decide to stay and share the fate of those who chose to hide in the cellars.”
“and little jacques,” added the other boy, “what will happen to him with all those shells bursting, and the british and germans fighting hand to hand in the streets of the village? i’m afraid the poor little fellow won’t be able to trap his hated prussian as easy as he expected.”
jack turned to observe some feature of the wonderful panorama disclosed when rifts occurred in the eddying smoke curtain. it all[137] seemed to have a decided fascination for him, so that he would surely regret leaving that eyrie presently, in order to please his cousin.
even as he looked, almost holding his breath with eagerness, there came a strange whining sound in the air. something hurtled past not fifty feet overhead. then came a terrible crash that almost knocked both of the boys down, and caused amos to cling desperately to the railing of the cupola lookout.
“that was a shell, jack!” he gasped, when he could catch his breath.
“it certainly was,” declared the other. “the germans are using this tower as a range finder, and we had a narrow escape that time.”
