A large car _was_ coming along around the bend, it _was_ headed for the rear, and in the tonneau sat a couple of nurses in their snug caps and dark capes! The General himself halted it, and in a few words explained the situation. A couple of the officers, accompanied by the nurses, went over to the boys and at once the children, still sleeping the heavy sleep of exhaustion, were transferred to arms more accustomed to holding them, and carried back to the car. Almost before they realized it, the car was off and Porky turned to the General, saluting. “Out with it, young man,” said the kindly General, smiling down into the eager and troubled face. “We will get ’em back, won’t we, sir?” he asked. “They can’t work some game on us, so we will lose ’em!” “We lost a pup that way once,” said Beany dolefully, also coming to salute. “Well, you won’t lose your orphans,” the General promised. “I wish I could see your mother’s face when your little party appears.” “Why, we will write you what she says if you will let us, sir,” Porky volunteered. “She will be crazy over Bill and Peggy,” added Beany, looking fondly after the car vanishing with their new possessions. “Beel ant Pekky!” groaned the Frenchman. “Wee, Mussoo, we have named them already,” said Porky proudly. “We know they have some other names, kind of names, they were registered under, but that kid has to have _something_ easy to yell at him when he makes a home run, and Beany picked on Peggy right off.” “That about settles it,” laughed the General. “We must be off if we reach our first sector by nightfall.” CHAPTER V WHISPERS IN THE NIGHT It was nine o’clock when they reached the first post of observation in their journey, an outpost on the top of a densely wooded hill where they were to remain as long as the General wished to stay. It was a splendid post of observation. A vast battle-torn valley stretched below them for miles and miles. From their vantage point they could see it brilliantly lighted at short intervals by the flares of the enemy. The flares lit the trenches--black, ragged gashes running along the earth--and beyond, where the awful desolation of No-Man’s-Land stretched, peopled only with its dead. Seen with field glasses, the plain drew near and they could see the torn surface and the tumbled groups here and there. A great battle had been fought and both sides were resting. Rest was absolutely necessary. The Allies had advanced three miles, pushing back a foe that stubbornly contested every step of the way. The Germans had brought vast numbers of reserves into action but even then the whirlwind tactics and savage rushes of their oversea foe had driven them back rod by rod.