Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

16 Adventure without their quieting presence, might drive him into a frenzy of fright. And he, a sergeant of cavalry, did not even know. how to handle a grenade, and was not to be trusted with one, lest he do injury to his comrades. Then he saw the gun. THE Boche were just ahead of - them in a shallow trench. The gun was on the parapet and the - men that were serving it were ly- ing listening. The gun was aimed directly at them. He could even look down the muzzle. The gun was huge and round, a large cyl- inder, with a tiny horn projecting from the muzzle, and a plug, with a little chain hang- ing from it. The gunner sat on the tripod, his body invisible, but his boots and gray clad legs stuck around the side. There was a hole in one of his trouser knees. Beside the gun a man knelt, looking into the fog with an anxious expression. There was another man on the opposite side of the ‘gun, just his head visible, his nose in the air like a dog’s, smelling the wind. The gun- ners knew that attempts were being made to surround them, and they hesitated to fire lest they shoot in the wrong direction, and thus disclose their position. Nell held his breath until his ears roared. It seemed that those Germans must be able to see him, why, he could see their buttons, even, and the breast of the man’s coat rising and falling as he breathed. kneeling man pointed, his arm darting out like a striking snake. The gun swung to the left and the bullets began to climb up the belt and disappear in the breach, like a moving staircase. Spa- gett’s arm snapped up and back, but Nell did not see the grenade go. Spagett must have only signaled, for there was no explo- sion. An unseen German gave a sharp cry that was drowned in a thunderclap of noise. White smoke boiled from the trench and with a shout, the squad rushed forward. Nell, not knowing the tactics of silencing machine-guns, was not ready for the rush and. so was a little slower than the rest. When he arrived at the gun there was noth- ing to be seen but a tangled heap of bodies, the machine-gun still pointing to the left into the woods, and little spirals of smoke curling up from the shattered ground. “Jump in the trench,” said Meade. 949) “Keep low till the other one gets goin’! Suddenly the ~ Some men rushed in from the woods and jumped down. They were the men of the right of the company. “Did they get many of yuh?” adied Meade. “Two,” said the newcomers. us an’ we couldn’t duck.”’ “Well we fixed ’em,”’ said the corporal. “Get under now, this ain’t the gun we was after; there’s another one round here some- wheres. Lay low till it starts. Where’s the rest o’ the outfit?” The men in the trench listened. They could hear men moving through the woods, the faint crash of grenades, and machine- guns firing on the left. “Tt’s time we was gettin’ on,” said the corporal of the second squad. ‘We don’t want to get left.” “T tell you there’s another gun around here,” said Corporal Meade, ‘‘and I don’t crave to go on and leave it.” ‘Well, let’s buscar round a bit then.” “T know a better way,” said Meade. Here he nodded his head wisely and winked. “Gonna turn the gun on ’em?”’ suggested Spagett. “Nope, there’s too many of our guys runnin’ round in this fog.” “Come on,” said the other soaparal, “there ain’t no more guns, let’s get on.” ‘We can wait here ten minutes,” said Meade, “‘or more, an’ then catch up with the platoon. They won’t go so awful fast I don’t think. Well, now, let’s wait here and not say a word and see what happens in five minutes. Let’s you an’ me skip rocks.” - The men of the fourth squad grinned. This sort of thing was evidently a common enough thing to them. They sat on the parapet or strained their eyes into the fog. The men of the other squad stayed in the trench, their rifles ready, listening. ‘The two corporals began to throw stones ahead of them into the woods. Nell watched with intense curios- ity. He knew that some deep-laid plan was afoot, but what it was he did not know. The stones were thrown a few feet beyond the trench, then a little farther, and then still farther into the woods. It occurred to Nell that the sound of them striking the ground was sifilar to the little sounds men would make if they were moving very cau- tiously through the woods. ‘“They seen COMIGDIOOKSEEO