Adventure Magazine Cover — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Fresh Yank 3 the Bays, what? Well, you had best be jog- ging back to them. We’ve come from Puits du Roi and haven’t seen a sign of a German. You’d best be jogging, sergeant, or you'll be getting yourself cut off and what-not.” The officer raised his hand, sang a com- mand and he and his patrol clopped away. The sergeant gazed calmly at the Yank. “‘There’s summat as you don’t often see,” said he. ‘‘A man as can piace a glass without pullin’ his face all to whichways. An’ I would be no end obliged if you wouldn’t howl so. You’re not at ’ome on your prairies a-chasin’ of the wild Indians now, you know. An’ the next time you're a-doin’ picket duty, don’t come down till you see what army an advancin’ patrol belongs to. Now let me speak to Neddy Clyne. ’E it was ’oo come down from his tree first.” It appeared that Neddy was the man who had glimmered away on the tall horse. The three men sheathed their swords and waited restlessly for the reappearance of Neddy, who seemed to have encountered trouble in getting his horse under control. The sergeant inhaled his lip through a place in his jaw where there was no tooth, and having tugged at his mustaches a few times, squared his shoulders, gathered his reins and rode his horse in a small circle in the road. The three troopers strained their eyes toward the woods where Neddy had disappeared and the horses champed their bits and tossed their heads in the air. ““Vank,” said the sergeant, “‘ ’e give me the name of the town where the regiment’s to billet tonight. ’E give it to me on this paper ’ere. Read it, will you, my eyes are full of dust. The Yank took the paper and read: Cross the Oise at Verberie, proceed through Fay Farm and Nery to. Roquemont, and rejoin. “Who is he to be telling us where to rejoin?” “Ts patrol is from the Cherubims,”’ said the sergeant, ‘‘and ’e was just doin’ us a friendly turn. ’E says as ’ow we'd better be joggin’ and ’e means we are gettin’ ready for another action. What in——’s a-keepin’ Neddy?”’ “He’s coming now,” said the Yank. “Look at the horses’ ears.” The horses’ heads and ears were all turned toward the woods. The three men picked up their bridles and prepared to go, but though they waited some time and the horses began to crop the grass, Neddy did not appear. The third trooper, a lean, pimply-faced man, with a sagging neck, in which his Adam’s apple hung like a stone in a hand- kerchief, mopped his brow with the back of his hand and complained of the dust. “T shouldn’t wonder if ’e ’ad ’urt ’iself,’’ remarked the sergeant. He looked up the_road, whence the other patrol had come and then down the highway to where they were passing from sight around a bend. ““’E said as ’ow there’s no one in those woods. Let’s go see if we see any sign of the boy.” | The sergeant’s horse jumped across the ditch as the spurs touched him, and the other two men followed. The Yank loos- ened his sword and kept his hand on the pommel, ready to reach back and draw it. The dust rose from the grass, the August sun beat down upon their backs, and the sweat poured from their brows, but the patrol kept on and reined up as they came into the shadows under the trees. The marks of hoofs, where Neddy’s runaway had torn up the ground, could be plainly seen. “Take interval of about ten yards,” directed the sergeant, ‘‘an’ then we won’t miss ’im if ’e’s been unhorsed.” They had not gone ten yards before there was the crash of the lean man’s horse shying and bolting and his startled cry— ‘There he is!” - = THE sergeant and the Yank went & . . to that spot immediately. Neddy “= lay on his face, a red wound in his back, and the broken half of a lance across him to show how it had been done. The sergeant dismounted and turned him over. Then he covered the body’s face with his cap and mounted again. The lean man came galloping back and looked down at his former comrade with tight lips. The sergeant looked about at the silent forest and his face darkened. “T wisht I ’ad the ‘ere as done that!” he muttered. ‘They must ’ave been lurkin’ ’ere all the while, a-watchin’ us on the road. An’ so when Neddy comes in among em they does ’im in, and then runs!” “‘They’re gone now, for sure,’”’ said the Yank, “or the horses would show us.” The horses moved about restlessly, snort- ing at the smell of blood, but their ears kept Go NOOK 1 @)