been over?" Joe asked of Tom Rawle.

"Got here two weeks ago," the big fellow answered. "But I haven't had
any real service yet. I was assigned once to Cambrai, but before I
reached there a big drive was under way, the Germans were being pushed
back, and the detachment to which I had been assigned was so far forward
that my orders were changed and I was sent back here."

"Did you get within sound of the big guns?" asked Slim excitedly.

"I should say so," answered Tom Rawle. "And so will you within a few
hours. Isn't that so, Hoskins?"

"Yes," answered Frank, "and when you do you'll get a new idea of the
fighting qualities of the French and Americans, going shoulder to
shoulder against the Boches."

"Hoskins knows," explained Rawle, "for he got nearer than I did."

"Only for a short time," Frank corrected modestly, "but they called it
my 'baptism of fire.' I was out one night with an advance party. We were
nearly ambushed, and had to beat a quick retreat."

"Well, tell them all about it," demanded Tom Rawle, impatient at Frank's
unwillingness to talk much about himself.

"Oh, they fired on us from a distance of about a hundred yards," the
other lad admitted, "and it was a surprise party for fair, I can tell
you. When bullets begin singing around your head for the first time, and
especially when they come without any warning from the enemy, or any
expectation on your part, it does give you rather a peculiar sort of
feeling.

"They got one of the fellows in our party with a bullet in the arm, then
we all dropped on our stomachs and wriggled our way back into our own
lines without any further damage. But we did some rapid wriggling, you
can bet. There wasn't any time wasted by any of us, and inasmuch as we
were apparently outnumbered, we did not fire back, for fear of giving
them an exact range of our whereabouts.

"After that I was sent back along the rear lines on an inspection trip
which brought me all the way to this point, where I was held for the
formation of this unit."

"Say, that must be thrilling--to be a member of an advance party like
that," said Jerry, his enthusiasm as fiery as his hair. "I wonder if
we'll get any work like that?"

"You sure will," responded Rawle, "and plenty of it. You needn't worry
on that score."

At that moment Lieutenant Mackinson arrived to inquire if all their
preparations had been made, and if they were ready to board the special.

"All ready," they answered, and the