"Can't imagine, unless he's been killed or captured. If he was within our lines some one would have heard of it. Or perhaps they wouldn't either, in all this excitement. It may take two or three days to locate him, if he's alive." "And if he isn't--or is a prisoner?" suggested Bob. "Then good-bye to our thousand dollars," sighed Jimmy. "I'm thinking of poor Iggy, too," said Bob, after a pause. "Do you think he has any chance!" "Well, he didn't appear to be badly wounded. But if his spine is broken he'll never fight again, and may not live very long. That's a fierce state of affairs. How he escaped being killed outright is a wonder to me. You ought to have seen him after Roger and I dug him out," and in a whisper, for loud talking was forbidden, he related the scene in the shell hole. He had scarcely finished his narration when Bob peered out from their improvised shelter and seemed to be looking at something intently--that is, as intently as he could in the rainy darkness. "What is it?" asked Jimmy cautiously. "I don't know," was the answer. "But someone, or something, is crawling this way. Look right straight ahead. See it moving?" CHAPTER VI GOOD STEWS For a moment Jimmy could see nothing. Possibly this was because he strained his eyes too much, but of course he was looking out into a darkness so black that it seemed to swallow up everything. And there was rain, too, a misty, drizzling rain, which alone would have hampered vision. Then Jimmy closed his strained orbs, and when he opened them again his vision was nearer normal. "Do you see it yet?" whispered Bob. "Squint along my finger." Jimmy did so. "You have pretty good eyes to see anything in this blackness," he was saying when he suddenly became aware of something moving out there among the holes caused by the American shells. It was more, he said afterward, as though part of the darkness itself moved rather than that he actually saw something. But it was enough to direct his attention to what Bob pointed out. "It _is_ something," was Jimmy's cautious declaration. "And coming this way!" There was a movement on the part of Bob, and his chum knew he was getting his rifle in readiness. Jimmy followed this example. They were on the alert. "Don't fire until you challenge," cautioned Jimmy. "It might be one of our fellows, you know." "One of our fellows--out there? How could it be!" "Might have advanced too far, been wounded and have waited for darkness to crawl back to our lines. Wait a second more until we see what he's up to." "It's a man, sure!" Bob whispered, "and he's crawling toward us on his stomach." "Let's do the same ourselves and crawl out to meet him," suggested Jimmy. "If he has a grenade, or a bomb, and tries to throw it, we may forestall him." "Our orders were to stay here," decided Bob, and he was a great stickler for obeying orders to the letter. Perhaps even his small newspaper experience was responsible for this.