Army Boys on the Firing Line; or, Holding Back the German Drive

om the American front line his keen, gray eyes search

mrade, Bart Raymond, running his finger along the edge

who stood at Frank's left. "The last time they tried to rush us they went

there are plenty of them ready to take their places, and the Kaiser's willing to fight t

ome minutes had passed in grim waiting. "I don't see any Hein

nk. "I saw the flash of bayonets in that fr

down our spines when we were green at the war game?" grinned Bart.

k 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 b

ut 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

strange position where he has to think quickly without an officer to he

rained on him, and he knows that if he flinches he'll be shot. He's got a chance if he goes ahead and no chance at all if he doesn't. And you remember at the battle of the S

ay that what he needed was a brake instead of a spu

ddenly. "Here they come! Now will you bo

rp word of command came down the

, marching shoulder to shoulder as stiffly and precisely as though th

, now redoubled in volume, and a protecting barrage was

on that has made American gunnery the envy of the world, and great gaps were torn in the dense masses of the

n that all the men were clad in brand-new

vance," murmured Bart. "They must

will brace up Fritz, and that we'll think it's al

when we get through with them," muttered Billy, as

ough for shrouds,"

e so many left that it was evident it would come to a hand-to-hand fight. The enemy cannon had torn big rents in th

the deep bass of the heavier field guns. A moment more, and from the rifles of the Am

he German ranks and the American c

Boys, the light of battle in their eyes, and f

the enemy had been largely spent by their march over that field o

y outnumbered the Americans by two or three to one, and little by little, by sheer weight, they pressed their opponents back. A

ng against odds, and the battle line swayed back and forth, first

and again the butts of their rifles as the occasion demanded. There was a red mist before their eyes a

was broken up into groups, and the gaps grew wider and wider as their men were pushed back further

n right flank, which was but thinly held because for the time being the bulk of the forces were engaged in pressing the advantage gain

s that commanded the space over which the new enemy forces were bearing down on the thre

ders. Another minute and the gun

lly and Tom!" shouted Frank,

eams of bullets cut the front ranks of the attacking force to ribbons. Volley after volle

the flank was strengthened beyond the power of the enemy to break. Frank's quick thought and instan

t, when in a momentary lull he c

spiration from his forehead. "If you fellows hadn't been ri

esuming their positions in the ranks the young soldiers plunged

d they were retreating. But they went back stubbornly, giving ground only inc

ttle tore them apart, Tom and Billy were lost sight of by Bart and

t caused Frank to turn his e

?" he queri

ough. Look out, Frank!" he yelled, his voice rising almost to a scream. Fran

as caught up in a mass of combatants and

g out his foot tripped him as he plunged past. He went

deftly caught the blade upon his own, and the next

t. The latter reeled and fell. Frank strove to pull out his weapon, but it stuck fast, and just then a pair of

d grappled with his opponent and they swayed back and forth, each putti

truggle had brought them to the edge of a deep shell crater. A