see how badly Ned was hurt. He saw that his chum was pale, and noted blood on his hands, but Ned smiled in a reassuring way. Then, for the first time, Jerry noticed that Bob was not with them. "Where's Chunky?" he demanded. "Who?" asked the lieutenant. "I thought we only left Black, Jones, and Porter behind. Is there another missing?" "Bob Baker, sir," answered Jerry. "But he was with us when we got back within our own wire. I was talking to him." "Send out a searching party!" ordered the captain. "It is possible he was hit and didn't say anything about it, or a stray bullet may have found him after he reached our lines. Send out and see!" CHAPTER XIII "JUST LIKE HIM!" Jerry and Ned both confessed, afterward, that the sinking feeling, which seemed to carry their hearts away down into their muddy shoes, was greater at the knowledge that Bob was missing than it had been when they set out in the darkness to raid the Germans across the desolate stretch of No Man's Land. It was all so unexpected. He had gone through the baptism of fire with them--he had helped capture the Huns--and had been, seemingly, all right on the return trip. And then, on the very threshold of his own army home, so to speak, he had disappeared. "Did any one see him fall or hear of his being hit?" asked the lieutenant, as he prepared to lead out a searching party. Ned and Jerry, of course, and by rights, would be members of it. "No, he was right near me, Sir, and he said particularly, when I asked him, that he was only scratched," declared Jerry. "I made sure Ned was the worst hurt." "How much are you hurt?" asked the captain, turning to Jerry's chum. "Oh, it's only a scratch, Sir," was the quick answer. "I can't feel it now." Ned did not speak the exact truth, but he did not want to be kept back from the search. "Very well," said the captain. "You may go, but don't go too far. Much as we would like to find Baker we must not take too many chances and endanger this whole post. Be as quick as you can." With their hearts torn between a desire for vengeance and apprehension, Ned and
Prev.
Back
Top