Dave Porter's war honors

The following week was such a busy one for Dave that Lieutenant Gebauer and Nat Poole were practically forgotten. The engineers were moved somewhat to the north of the position they had occupied, and were there set to work at their usual task of building roads and bridges.

“One thing is certain,” said Dave, one day when he and the others had knocked off for dinner. “Whatever ground our soldiers have taken they have managed to keep.”

“Oh, we don’t know how to retreat,” returned Phil, with a grin.

“I understand some new troops are coming to the front here,” said Roger, who had just returned from the other end of the roadway they were constructing. “I met a corporal I know slightly, and he was telling me about them.” And he mentioned the number of the regiment.

“Why, Roger, that’s the command to which Nat Poole belongs!” cried Dave.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes; I took particular notice. And Gebauer belongs, too. In fact, he is a lieutenant of Nat’s company.”

“Well, I’m mighty sorry to hear that they are coming anywhere near us,” was Phil’s comment, and he looked thoughtfully at our hero as he spoke.

“I am sorry, too, in one way,” answered Dave promptly. “As soon as Nat Poole shows himself there is bound to be some sort of trouble.”

“And what about that Lieutenant Gebauer?” questioned Roger. “I know well enough you’ve got it in for him, Dave.”

“If Dave has, it’s because Gebauer deserves it,” remarked Phil.

“Oh, if he doesn’t bother me I won’t bother him,” answered our hero. “Just the same, if I get a chance I’m going to let him know I am aware of how he acted in Crumville, and that I don’t give him any credit for causing Jessie trouble.”

The weather now was all that could be desired, and the work of building roads and bridges progressed rapidly. On some of the bridge work there was considerable planning to be done, and Dave had to spend a good many hours over some blueprints. But he had the satisfaction of accomplishing what he had set out to do, and received some warm praise from Captain Obray.

“I knew it was in you, Porter,” said the captain heartily. “You are certainly a natural-born civil engineer. I predict after this war is over that you’ll make quite a hit with the Mentor Construction Company or some other big concern.”

During those days Dave sent several letters home and received one communication, this time from Caspar Potts. The old professor wrote in a very trembling hand, and the communication consisted of less than a dozen lines. But brief as it was, it went straight to our hero’s heart.

“Dear old man!” he murmured, after he had read the letter several times. “If ever there was a good old soul in this world, that soul is Caspar Potts.” And he closed his eyes for a moment as a vision passed through his mind of the white-haired and trembling professor sitting in the Wadsworth library, adjusting his gold-rimmed spectacles to pore over one of his precious volumes.

The new troops to come to that vicinity arrived three days later while the engineers were hard at work. The company to which Nat Poole and Lieutenant Gebauer belonged were located in one of the second-line trenches, and immediately proceeded to make themselves as much at home as possible. Most of the soldiers took all the inconveniences good-naturedly, but the son of the money lender of Crumville did his usual share of grumbling.

“It’s a rotten place to stay in,” was Nat’s comment. “I don’t see why they can’t have the engineers fix up some really good quarters for us fellows.”

He was speaking to Gebauer at the time. Although Gebauer was a commissioned officer and Nat was only a private, the two, for some unknown reason, were very friendly. They had many tastes in common, and always acted chummy when no one else was present.

“Well, don’t blame me, Nat,” replied the lieutenant, bringing out his cigarette-case and supplying himself. “Have a cigarette. Maybe that will help you forget your troubles,” and he gave a sickly grin.

“I wonder how much longer this war is going to last.”

“That remains to be found out. Personally, I think the Germans are going to give us the fight of our lives,” continued Gebauer, in a somewhat lower voice.

“Don’t you think we can lick ’em?” demanded Nat.

Lieutenant Gebauer shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not doing any thinking along those lines. I’m simply obeying orders. I guess we both know what we think of this war, anyhow,” and closing one eye he looked at Nat suggestively.

“We sure do! It was a howling shame to drag us over here, three thousand miles from home, to fight,” grumbled the money lender’s son.

“Sh-sh! Don’t talk so loud, Nat,” murmured the lieutenant warningly. “If anybody heard you, you’d get into hot water.”

“I don’t care! It’s true, isn’t it?”

“Every word. I’d rather be back home right now than here. I think I could make a barrel of money out of our business in spite of the war. And what am I getting out of this? A measly lieutenant’s pay!”

“Humph! you get a pile more than I do as a common soldier.” Nat looked at his companion slyly. “I guess you’d like it first rate to be back in Crumville again with Jessie Wadsworth, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, I don’t know. That would depend on how she treated me.”

“You two didn’t get along very well during the last few days of your stay, did you?”

“Oh, we got along well enough. But I’ve got to be going now. There is a whole lot I’ve got to do,” continued the lieutenant hastily, and then walked away.

“I’ll bet you got the cold shoulder somehow,” murmured Nat, gazing after the retreating officer. “Just the same, I’m sorry you didn’t get in with Jessie, and put a spoke in Dave Porter’s wheel.”

Two days later one of the working units of the fighting engineers was sent back to do some work on one of the trenches, part of which had caved in, blocking up the entrance to a dugout. Dave was in command of the men, and, as it happened, the dugout which had suffered was the one in which Gebauer and a number of other officers were quartered. Gebauer was in very ill humor, for his cot and some of his extra clothing had been covered with a shower of dirt and stones.

“That was a fine way to build a dugout,” he grumbled in Dave’s hearing. “If I couldn’t do better than that as an engineer, I’d resign,” and he looked directly at our hero.

“These trenches and dugouts were not made by our unit,” returned Dave. “Just the same, I consider they were built as well as circumstances permitted. These are only temporary quarters, as you know. And such an accident as this is liable to happen any time. We’ll cut down some saplings and limbs and shore this up, and fix some of the stonework, and then it will be as good as ever, or better.”

“Humph! maybe it will be,” grumbled Gebauer, and turned his back on the engineers.

This was the beginning of new trouble with not only Gebauer, but Nat Poole also. Both of these unworthies showed plainly that they did not like Dave or his chums at all, and they did everything they possibly could to annoy our hero. Of course, as a private, Nat was somewhat at a disadvantage, but Gebauer invariably tried to show his authority, especially when the higher officers were absent. He attempted to dictate to Dave, and this brought on a very animated discussion.

“See here, Lieutenant Gebauer,” said the young engineer finally, “you tend to your business and I’ll tend to mine. I know what my duty here is, and you have no authority to interfere with it.”

“Oh, you don’t have to ride a high horse, Porter,” growled Gebauer.

“I am not riding a high horse. If I were doing that, I would probably tell you a few things that you would hate to hear.”

“What about?” demanded the other hotly. They had walked down one of the trenches and were out of hearing of the others.

“Well, if you must know, about the way you made a fool of yourself in Crumville. I have had the particulars of how you acted, and I must say you played the part of anything but a gentleman.”

“Do you mean to insult me?”

“I am not going to try to do that, Gebauer. It would probably be too much of a job.”

“Say, I guess you don’t know who you are talking to!”

“I do know. And if you think you can intimidate me, you are mistaken.”

“My, but you are getting on your high horse!” sneered Gebauer. “I must say you are showing your poorhouse training.”

“What’s that?” and now a sudden flash of fire came into Dave’s eyes and he caught the other lieutenant by the arm.

“You let go of me, Porter!” and Gebauer shrank back in sudden alarm.

“I won’t let any one talk to me like that,” said Dave, firmly.

At that moment came an unexpected interruption. There was a call from above the trench, and several officers appeared, including the major of the command to which Gebauer belonged. Those below at once saluted, and there the sudden quarrel came to just as rapid a termination. But Gebauer glared bitterly at our hero as the latter took his departure.

This meeting upset Dave for the rest of the day—so much so that he could hardly attend to his duties. Phil and Roger, as well as Ben, noticed this, and during their time off in the evening he told his chums of what had occurred.

“Gee, Dave, it’s a wonder you didn’t smash him in the face when he talked to you like that!” cried Ben.

“I felt like doing it, Ben; and it was all I could do to control myself,” returned our hero. “But you know what the regulations are about fighting, especially here at the front.”

“Just the same, this Gebauer ought to be taught a lesson,” was Phil’s comment.

“I don’t see why they made such a fellow as that a lieutenant,” came from Roger. “It’s a shame, with so many good men around!”

“I don’t think Gebauer will get much higher in the army,” said Dave. “If he treats the men under him as he has treated us, sooner or later they will all hate him.”

“Do you know, he looks to me as if he might be sort of pro-German,” remarked Ben thoughtfully.

“Well, one thing is sure—” began Dave, when a sudden alarm broke out which ended the talk right then and there.

The alarm was followed by a sudden burst of artillery, which soon increased in intensity, while the night was lit up by the flare of rockets and “flaming onions,” as they were called.

“I wonder what that means!” cried Shadow, as he came running up to the others.

“I think it means some sort of a fight,” answered Dave. “But whether we are going to attack or the Germans, remains to be seen.”