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

vity had been more trying th

scarcity of labor, Tom had been taxed to even a greater degree than usual.

old that he must keep on by lantern light until

n a change of guards had brought him under the control of a

he sight of other working parties a hundred yards away. Here the German had seated himself comfortably

me came to report with his prisoner at quarters. He had placed the clock in the light of the lantern and kept looking

heavy. He stood it against the tree, but wi

d against the clock and it fell over on its face. The guard thunder

d brought it crashing down on the German's head. Th

atch for the young American. Tom had soon choked him into unconsciousne

ecurely. The lantern had gone out with the blow and he di

ce, but now was of no further use to him. But a second

ght him how the hands of a clock could find for him the cardinal points. Mo

now was. Afterwards he could figure out how to regain his own lines. By ten o'clock at latest his attack

hiding. The gun would count for nothing among the innumerable foes that surrounded him. It was heavy and c

that the guard had been munching and tucked them in his po

, Tom had a pretty good idea of the lay of the land. He knew that the country was rolling, with here and there a range of hills that rose almos

ed cause, prisoners in almost as great a degree as he himself had been, and he might find among them aid and comfo

sent at least he was free. Free! The word had never appealed to him so strongly before. He drew in

dy was full of bruises, but in the joy of his recovered freedom, he scarcely felt the pain. On he went and

tor might be warned to be on the lookout for him. But it was wholly unlikely that this would be done. On the eve of the great drive, the authorities were too busy to expend their ener

much at rest as it could be under the circumstances, Tom threw himsel

did not know where he was and lay trying to get his thoughts in order. Then it

prise and perhaps his displeasure at the sight of the intruder. A chipmunk slipped along a grassy ridge and vanished in the undergrowth. Birds sa

the booming of a distant gun. But it seemed far off and though other guns so

nd its way through the sedge grass. Tom welcomed it with a

eeper than his waist, but its coolness was like balm to Tom's bruised and heated

ts of food that he had carried away with him the night before. It was a meager breakfast and he could have

ad of feet and the clank of weapons. He looked through the bushes and saw a squad of sol

ermans going along in loose marching order. They might have been a

than fifty feet away another squad of Germans came into view. They apparently belonged to t

refreshing, and after a brief conference between the lieutenant in command and a sergeant, the order was

his heartbreaking struggle, his wild flight through the woods? Was he to get just a tantalizing glimps

commenced his breakfast. There was still a chance. The men were tired and wo

hicket. He lay as close to the ground as possible. What

me distance apart. At times the Germans' eyes rested carel

, and Tom drew an immense sigh of relief.

hing order and the lieutenant li

rom the center of the thicket,

m was carrying wa