Hal had hardly reached his place at the back of the wagon when Chester,
between yells to the mules, cried out:
"How far off are they now, Hal?"
Hal answered him as well as he could, and Chester renewed his lashing of
the mules and his yelling.
Once more Chester inquired the distance between pursued and pursuing,
but, before Hal could answer, two shots were fired from behind,
accompanied by a shouted command to halt. The bullets from the rifles
passed through the wagon between the two lads, but did no damage; and
almost instantly the Germans charged down on them. Three shots rang out
as they passed the wagon, but the boys were not touched.
The Germans passed on, and then, circling back, prepared for another
charge. Hal had fired at them several times, but, owing to the bumping of
the wagon, his shots had not found a mark. But, if the bumping of the
wagon had spoiled his aim, it had probably saved the lads' lives, for it
made accurate shooting by the Germans impossible.
Down came the Germans again, shooting as they passed by. And again the
boys were unharmed. Hal and Chester were now yelling at the top of their
voices--why, they never knew.
Hal, crawling to the back end of the wagon and, looking out, saw the
Germans ready to charge down on them again. One man, however, was jogging
along close behind the wagon, his revolver held in his hand.
As Hal looked out, the German stopped his horse and fired. Hal dodged
back sideways.
Pages:
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146