The Khaki Boys over the Top; Or, Doing and Daring for Uncle SamChase, Josephine
History
The Khaki Boys over the Top; Or, Doing and Daring for Uncle Sam
Chase, Josephine
World War, 1914-1918 -- Juvenile fiction
"Well, I guess you may see the sergeant now," said the orderly. "Only
don't talk to him too much. He doesn't like to dwell on what happened
to him. They must have treated him worse than they would a beast!"
"It's awful!" declared Jimmy. "But they'll be made to pay for it! No,
I won't tax him with any talk of the past. I just want to see if he
knows me and remembers a certain matter."
"Oh, he'll know you all right," returned the orderly. "As a matter of
fact, he has been asking for you."
"That's a good sign!" thought Jimmy.
Sergeant Maxwell held out a wan hand to his friend. "I can't begin to
thank you for what you and the other boys did for me," he said, weakly.
"If you hadn't discovered me in that lonely hut I wouldn't be alive now."
"Oh, maybe someone else would have found you," said Jimmy, cheerfully.
"But we're glad we did."
"I've been wishing you'd come in," went on the sick sergeant. "There's
something that's been worrying me. It's about that five thousand
francs you gave me to keep for you."
"Well, don't worry about it," and Jimmy tried to keep his voice up to
the cheerful mark. "Have you got it?"
"No," said the sergeant, "I haven't. But--"
He paused to take a drink of water, and Jimmy's feelings went down to
about the zero position.
"But I know where it is," added the sergeant.
"I suppose the Germans took it off you."
"Indeed they didn't!" was the rather vigorous answer. "I didn't have
it on me. It's back in the dugout!"
"The dugout!" cried Jimmy, his spirits once more soaring.
"Yes, the one where I was quartered when you gave it to me. I knew we
were in for some hard fighting, so before I went out on listening post
I hid the franc notes in an old tin can and stuck it up under the roof
beams. It's right under where a picture of President Wilson is tacked
up. And if the dugout isn't destroyed the money is there yet."
"Well, the dugout can't be destroyed, for there haven't been any
Germans there in some time," said Jimmy. "And I do hope you're right
about the money being there. Not so much for my sake," he added
quickly, "but because I promised to whack up with my bunkies, and I
want to keep my word."
"Well, you send a message there and see if I'm not right," concluded
Maxwell, and then, being rather weak, he was ordered by the nurse to
take a rest.
Elated, but hardly believing the good news, Jimmy received permission
not only to send a message, but to go back in a motor truck to the
place where the headquarters of the 509th Infantry had been just
before the big advance.
Jimmy did not get back to his chums until late that night, for his
leave covered him up to midnight, and he was not on duty. He found
Iggy, Franz, Bob and Roger in a Y.M.C.A. hut, writing letters, and
from the labor Iggy was undergoing, his tongue sticking out and
following every movement of his pen, it was evident that the Polish
lad was not finding English correspondence any easier as the war
progressed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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