Big Five Motorcycle Boys on the Battle Line; Or, With the Allies in France

  THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE

  Or

  With the Allies in France

  by

  RALPH MARLOW

  Author of

  "The Big Five Motorcycle Boys Under Fire," "The Big Five MotorcycleBoys at the Front," "The Big Five Motorcycle Boys' Swift Road Chase,""The Big Five Motorcycle Boys in Tennessee Wilds," "The Big FiveMotorcycle Boys Through by Wireless," "The Big Five Motorcycle Boys onFlorida Trails."

  A. L. Burt CompanyNew York.

  Copyright, 1916By A. L. Burt Company

  THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE

  THERE WAS A SUDDEN SPITEFUL CRACK FROM THE REAR, ANDJOSH DUCKED HIS HEAD INVOLUNTARILY. The Big Five Motorcycle Boys onthe Battle Line. Page 35.]

  THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE.

  CHAPTER I.

  ON THE STREETS OF ANTWERP.

  "Good-bye, Elmer, and you, too, Rooster!"

  "It's too bad we have to hurry home, and break up the Big FiveMotorcycle Boys' combination, just when we've been having such royalgood times over in the country of the Great War!"

  "But there was nothing else to do, Elmer, when you got that cablemessage telling you to take the first steamer home, as your mother wasabout to undergo an operation, and wanted to see you first."

  "And Rooster here chose to go along with you, because he's got such atender chicken heart he just hates to see all the misery and sufferingthese poor Belgians are enduring."

  "There's the last call to go ashore. Come along, Josh, and you too,Hanky Panky. Boys, to be honest with you I more than half wish I wasgoing along. Home would look mighty fine to me just now."

  "Oh! shucks! you'll soon get over that feeling, Rod," said the lanky boycalled Josh, taking the alarm at once, for he seemed perfectly contentedto stay where he was; "just wait till we're spinning along on our bullymachines down through Ostend, Dunkirk, and Calais to Boulogne, where wemay take a steamer to the U. S. if we can find berths."

  "Be sure to keep a regular daily log of your happenings, Josh, so we canlook it over when you get back home," begged the boy who went by thestrange nick-name of "Rooster," doubtless because he crowed so much overhis accomplishments.

  "Good-bye, and good luck!" called out Elmer, waving his hand again.

  "Remember us to everybody in Garland, particularly all the prettygirls!" shouted Hanky Panky, after the last exchange of handshakes, whenwith his two chums, Rod and Josh, he hurried down the gang-plank to thedock.

  The steamer for London was leaving its Antwerp pier, and all seemedexcitement. Many people were already fleeing madly from Belgium, nowpartly overrun by the vast invading army of the German Kaiser. At anyday Antwerp was likely to be bombarded by the tremendous forty-twocentimetre guns that had reduced the steel-domed forts at Liege andNamur, and allowed the conquering hosts entrance to Brussels.

  While the trio on the dock continued to frantically return the salutesof their two chums as long as they could distinguish their figures onthe hurricane deck of the staunch steamer bound down the Scheldt, a fewbrief explanations might not come in amiss. Possibly some of those whostart to read this book may not have had the pleasure of meeting Rod andhis four friends in previous volumes of this series.

  The boys who wore the khaki lived in the enterprising town of Garlandacross the water in the States. How they came by the fine motorcyclesthey owned would be too long a story to narrate here, and those who arecurious about the circumstances must be referred to earlier stories forthe details.

  They called their organization the Big Five because they planned tocarry out numerous enterprises that might have daunted less courageousspirits. Rod Bradley was really the leader, though Elmer Overton, theSouthern boy, often proved himself a good second.

  Then there were Henry Jucklin, known to all his mates as "Hanky Panky"because of his skill as a magician; Josh Whitcomb, with a bit of theYankee in his composition; and Christopher Boggs, otherwise "Rooster."

  They had covered many thousands of miles with those wonderful steelsteeds, and met with some surprising adventures up to the time when anopportunity arose allowing them to go abroad. A wealthy old gentleman oftheir town, who knew their calibre well, had given them an importanterrand to carry out, and stood responsible for their expenses to theother side of the Atlantic.

  Coming leisurely down the Rhine country they had been suddenly caught bythe war tide; and as it was in Antwerp that Rod expected to meet theparty he sought they had to strike out boldly for that far-distant city.

  Strange happenings had marked their course through the war-strickencountry of Belgium. Indeed, several times it looked very much as thoughthey would never attain their goal, but might be sent back as prisonersof war to Germany.

  Of course, their sympathies were mainly with the Allies, andparticularly after they had seen with their own eyes how the poorBelgians, fighting heroically to defend their native land, were beingcowed by the seemingly limitless legions of the Kaiser.

  But in the end they reached Antwerp, and had about decided to make a rundown the coast to Boulogne, where they might take a steamer home, whenthat fatal cable message upset their plans.

  Elmer and Rooster would not hear of the others accompanying them home.Josh, too, was really wild to see more of the great war. So finally Rod,finding that Hanky Panky seemed of the same mind, consented to stay overfor a week or two longer.

  Now that their two chums had left them the boys wandered about the cityon the Scheldt and tried to amuse themselves as best they could. Butthey soon found that ordinary sights no longer availed to satisfy them.

  "You see, the war fills the air wherever you go," explained Josh, toaccount for this seeming lack of interest. "What does anybody want to gosnooping into things that had to do with battles of centuries ago, whenthe biggest war the world ever knew is raging right now through NorthernFrance and Belgium?"

  "Yes, with Great Britain dragged in, and perhaps Italy and othercountries to follow, not even excepting our own land," added Rod,seriously.

  "Why," spoke up Hanky Panky, excitedly, "everywhere you look you seesigns of the war game right here in Antwerp. Soldiers are marchingthrough the streets to the cheers of the people. Artillery is dashingthis way and that. Armored cars can be seen starting out to harry theenemy with their Maxims. And hardly an hour of the day but half a dozenBritish or Belgian aeroplanes soar above us, doing all kinds of stuntscalculated to make your hair stand on end."

  "It's the greatest thing that ever happened, barring none," declared thedelighted Josh, looking as though he could almost hug himself, such washis joy; "and let me tell you we're the lucky boys to be on the spotwhen history is being made so fast."

  "The party I'm to see for Mr. Amos Tucker," remarked Rod, "will be inthe city to-night. I'll get that out of my system; and once I send thedocuments by registered post I'm free for anything that crops up."

  "Hurrah! then we'll have a chance to climb aboard our wheels again, andstrike out for France!" said Josh. "Here's hoping we may run across acorner of the big fight that's taking place north of Paris. I'd be ahappy fellow if I could actually see those brave Frenchmen, backed up bythe British troops, meet the boastful Germans who believe they can cleanup the whole world."

  Rod shrugged his shoulders, and made a wry face.

  "We've already seen something of a battle from a distance, you remember,Josh," he told the other, "and all of us decided that it was simply_terrible_. For my part, while I'd like to see the French in actionI'm not going out of my way to take chances. The way they fil
l the airwith deadly missiles from quick-firers and with bursting shrapnel givesyou a cold feeling."

  "Rod," said Hanky Panky, who somehow had not been taking part in thistalk, "do turn and watch that poor little woman over there. She's in apeck of trouble, I reckon, by the way she acts, first looking at a papershe's been reading, and then wiping her eyes with her apron."

  "You mean the one with the dog team, and the tall, brass-mounted milkcans, don't you, Hanky Panky?" asked Josh quickly. "I saw her a whileago, and heard her speak to the little child in wooden sabots that istagging at her heels. It was pure French she used, and I'd wager acookey she isn't a Belgian at all. There are lots of people fromnorthern France in Antwerp, you know."

  "Well, she's having a hard time of it, some way or other," added HankyPanky. "You can see her hug and kiss the little girl, and then read herletter again. Now she looks around as if wondering where she can find afriend. Say, Rod, you can speak French right well; what's to hinder ourfinding out what the matter is? Everybody in Antwerp is too excitedabout the war to bother over a little thing like a poor French woman'stroubles."

  Thus appealed to Rod laughed good-naturedly, and then led the waystraight toward the spot where the owner of the dog team stood.Evidently she was on her rounds delivering fresh milk, when overtaken bybad news.

  When Rod addressed her in her native tongue she looked up appealingly.Evidently she must have liked the appearance of the three frank-lookingAmerican boys, for she quickly commenced to talk volubly, all the whileshrugging her shoulders, and emphasizing her words with gestures andface expressions.

  The other boys could see that she was comparatively young, and not badlooking. As for the child, they were greatly smitten with her pinkcheeks and big black eyes, as well as the coy glances the little thinggave them.

  Presently Rod was seen to be reading a letter she handed him, and whichshe may have taken from the mail while on her milk route. Again Rodconversed with her, greatly to the mystification of his comrades, whothought he would never stop.

  Finally Rod turned toward them.

  "For goodness' sake tell us what it all means, Rod!" urged Hanky Panky.

  "Yes; has her landlord threatened to turn her out unless she can pay therent, and ought we put up our spare cash to help settle the bill?"demanded Josh.

  "Oh! it's a thousand times more serious than that," said Rod, whichremark, of course, aroused the curiosity of his chums more than ever.

  "Get some speed on then, Rod, and give us the gist of the business,"said Hanky Panky appealingly; "of course there's a heap of trouble inthe old city just now, but when a case pokes right out in front of youit's hard to pass by. If we could help the little French woman and herpretty child, why, we ought to wake up and do something."

  "Wait till you hear how the thing stands before you get so rash," warnedRod, who knew only too well the hasty ways of his two chums. "Thislittle woman's name is Jeanne D'Aubrey. Her husband is a Frenchreservist named Andre. He was called to the colors as soon as the warbroke out, leaving her here in Antwerp with her little daughter, and aliving to make from her few cows."

  "But what was the paper you read, Rod?" asked impatient Josh.

  "I'm coming to that," the other told him; "it is a very important lettershe has just received from a law firm in Paris, informing herself andhusband that an old uncle, Jasper, has died some time since, leaving hisestate to Andre on condition that he sign a certain document within agiven time. It now lacks just three weeks of the limit, and unless hissignature is properly placed there, and witnessed by three reliablepeople, the property will go to another nephew, one Jules Baggott byname, who has long hoped to inherit it."

  "Great Scott! that is tough, I should say!" ejaculated Josh.

  "And her husband away at the French war front, perhaps shot long beforenow in the bargain," muttered Hanky Panky soberly; "because we've heardthat there's been bloody fighting all along the line between the Frenchborder and in front of Paris, where General Von Kluck's German army isalready pressing."

  "You can't wonder then that the poor little woman is overcome with theterrible trouble that has fallen on her," explained Rod. "Once thatdocument is properly signed and she would be fixed for life, no matterwhat happened to her soldier husband. But she hardly knows what to do.It is utterly out of the question for her to try and find him; and shedoesn't know any person reliable enough in Antwerp to trust them withthe precious papers. You see, this other cousin, Jules, is here in town,for she has even had him call upon her lately; and she now believes heknows of his uncle's will, so that he might try to keep the messengerfrom ever meeting Andre!"

  Rod paused just there. Perhaps he knew his auditors so well that hereally anticipated what the effect would be upon both Josh and HankyPanky. The pair looked at the French woman, who was observing them withsuch an eager, hungry expression on her face. She wrung her handspiteously just then, as though she saw the one chance to gain a littlefortune for herself and child slipping away for lack of a brave championwho would undertake the task of finding her Andre.

  That was the finishing stroke. Josh had been hesitating, wonderingwhether he ought to make a suggestion that, springing from his generousheart, was already trembling on his lips.

  "Rod!" he exclaimed, with boyish animation.

  "Yes, what is it, Josh?" asked the other, encouragingly, for just thenthe child had shot him a roguish, pathetic glance that went straight tohis heart.

  "Why, I was going to say we've managed to carry out a lot of thingsbefore now that looked as hopeless as searching for a needle in ahaystack. Rod, we might stand a chance of finding this same Andre, ifyou thought it was up to us to deliver the goods!"

  Hanky Panky uttered a snort as he expressed his opinion.

  "I move we undertake the mission," he remarked eagerly; "I'd never sleepdecent again if we left this poor little woman in the lurch after she'dtold us her story. Rod, shut your eyes and make it unanimous! TheMotorcycle Boys in the saddle again!"