Part 20 (1/2)

”Some fellows have all the luck,” remarked Billy, when they had rejoined their regiment two days later, and were telling him all about it. ”Now if that coin we flipped had only come down heads instead of tails----”

”Stop your grouching,” laughed Frank. ”You'll have all the fighting that's good for you by the time we've driven the boches over the Rhine.”

CHAPTER XVII

THE MINED BRIDGE

For several days the drive continued. At first it had been quite as successful for the Germans as they could have hoped. Their initial surprise had carried them a long way into French territory, and this had involved the capture of a considerable number of men and guns.

But they had fallen far short of their ambitious aims. They had not rolled up the Allied armies. They had not reached Paris. They had not captured the Channel ports.

The Allied armies had stretched like an elastic band, but had not broken. They knew now what the enemy's plans were and they were rapidly taking measures to check them.

The Germans had had a great advantage in being under a single command.

There was no clash of plans and opinions. If they wanted to transfer a part of their forces from one point to another they could do so.

With the Allies it had been different. There had been a French army, a British army, an Italian army, a Belgian army, a Russian army and latest of all an American army. They had tried to work together in harmony and in the main had done so. But the British naturally wanted above all to prevent the German armies from reaching the coast where they could threaten England. The French were especially anxious to prevent Paris being captured. Either side was reluctant to weaken its own army by sending reinforcements to the other.

But the German success in the first days of the drive changed all this.

The Allies got together and appointed General Foch as the supreme commander of all the Allied forces. He had done brilliant work in driving the Germans back from the Marne in the early days of the war, when they had approached close to Paris.

”Have you heard the news?” asked Frank of his chums the day after the appointment had been made.

”No,” said Bart.

”What is it?” asked Billy.

”We've got just one man that's going to boss the job of driving back the Huns,” answered Frank.

Bart gave a whoop of delight and Billy threw his hat in the air.

”Best news I've heard yet,” crowed Billy.

”That's as good as a battle lost for the Huns,” exclaimed Bart. ”The only wonder is that it wasn't done before. Who's the man they've chosen?”

”General Foch,” was the answer.

”Better and better,” p.r.o.nounced Bart. ”That man's a born fighter. He licked the Germans at the Marne, and he can do it again.”

”What I like about him,” commented Billy, ”is that he's a hard hitter.

He isn't satisfied to stand on the defensive. He likes to hand the other fellow a good one right at the start of the fight.”

”That's what,” agreed Frank. ”He hits out right from the shoulder. Of course he'll have to wait a little while yet until he sizes up his forces and sees what he has to fight with. But you can bet it won't be long before he has the boches on the run.”

In the days that followed, the advantage of the appointment became clear. The armies worked together as they never had before. The khaki of the British mingled with the cornflower blue of the French.

Reserves were sent where they were most needed, no matter what army they were drawn from. And, fighting side by side, each nation was filled with a generous rivalry and sought bravely to outdo the other in deeds of valor.

The old Thirty-seventh had been in the thick of the fighting and had covered itself with glory. It had taught the Germans that there were Americans in France, and that they were fighters to be dreaded.