Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

A Sergeant. of Cavalry i5 as-it continued into a steady roar, then ; stopped. There was a crying in the mist, like hurt children. “Tt ain’t us,’’ muttered Spagett, “it’s over on the left. When they shoot at us you can hear the bullets tickin’ on the trees and the none of our guys ain’t hollered for first aid.” Blam! Babablam! “There goes the grenades,” called the cor- poral over his shoulder. ‘‘Ready now!” There was a short blast of the whistle and the men got to their feet. Most of them were hooking their suspender straps into their belts again, and some had thrown _ away pack, blankets and all. Such a one was Goodrich, and the corporal took him severely to task. “You'll be —— good and hungry to- night with no rations,” said he, “and belly- achin’ because the guys that lugged their packs all day won’t give you none o’ theirs.”’ “T ain’t got no appetite,” said Goodrich, “my boil keeps me too amused. I ain’t got no mind for nothin’ but i. Anyways there'll be plenty to eat for them that can eat it by night—huh? Whathe ——!” _ “Here!’’ shouted the officer. ‘‘Don’t shoot! Don’t a man fire! They didn’t fire at us! Here, —— you, let them alone!”’ He ran forward and Nell’s astonished eye saw him seize a man by the scruff of the neck and haul him back bodily. Then, as people sometimes blink their eyes to make sure the vision, Nell rubbed his eyes to be sure he really saw what he thought he did. Yes, the vision still persisted. There ‘was a group of men, clad in gray uniforms that made them hard to see in the fog, standing with their hands in the air. There seemed to be a lot of them, but Nell could not count how many. He tried several times, but each time lost track. There were almost a dozen anyway. They stood, grinning foolishly, not sure - that they would not be butchered out of hand. The men seemed half inclined to put them to the bayonet, but the officer had said, “No!” and after all, these jerries had surrendered without firing, so that it was hardly fair to kill them. | jw As he went by, Nell saw the pit and the reels of ammunition, and the tripod. The gun was lying in the bottom of the pit, not even mounted, so that it would be plain to the advancing Americans that this particu- lar gun crew meant them no harm. “They’re licked,” said Curran. won’t have no trouble with ’em now.’ “This ain’t no kind of a fight, anyway,” remarked Spagett. ‘“‘Where’s our barrage?” “Off in the woods about a mile, like it al- ways is,’ said Curran. “They can’t make me mad. The farther away it is, the less chance o’ them dizzy artillerymen droppin’ it on us.” , : : A machine-gun buzzed under their feet like a rattler. They dived to earth and Nell thought every one must be hit. The gun chattered steadily, then stopped, spat again, then silence. The gunners were waiting for the men to start forward again. Nell flattened himself. He was not afraid, but quite excited, and eager to see more of this affair, hence he hated to think he might be hit at this early stage. Now what? The men lay face down. He could see a pair of hob-nailed soles that belonged to Spagett, and the hills and val- leys of a form that must be Goodrich, al- though his face was hidden behind a bush. None of them moved a muscle. At intervals the gun scolded. Nell finally began to think he could tell where it was. It was off to the right, about opposite the first squad, perhaps. Just as he came to this conclusion, he felt a hand on his ankle. - “Fourth squad, on your way,” said the. sergeant’s voice. “Take ’em along, Meade. It is over to the right a little ways.” Nell felt a thrill such as he remembered when he was a recruit and was getting his first instruction in jumping a horse. “You next,” the corporal had said, and away the horse had taken Nell, to what he did not know, except that he knew it was going to be very unpleasant, not to say disagreeable. So the squad went forward and Nell with them. He saw Spagett making ready a round ball-like thing that he knew very well was a grenade. On the other side of him crawled Curran, his brass vase strapped where his blankets had been, in the same manner that a mountain-gun is strapped to the jug-head that carries it. | These two, thought Nell, were always near him, these two and Goodrich. By accident or design? Undoubtedly design. They had surrounded him with old, tried campaigners, as a green colt is put in a set of fours with three veteran troop horses, in order that he may take pattern by their calm and steady bearing whenever some- thing new and strange startles him, which, COMIGDOOKSEEO