Dave Porter's war honors

“They must be getting ready for an advance, or else they are trying to hold back the advance of our own men.” Such was the thought of the young lieutenant as the German battery continued to pound away with unusual vigor.

The bombing soon covered a distance of many miles, showing that a move of some sort was either taking place or was contemplated.

“Maybe if there is a real battle it will give me a chance to get through the lines,” Dave reasoned, and his heart gave a bound of hope. If he could only get through quickly and reach headquarters, perhaps the maps and documents he had confiscated from the enemy might prove of great value to the Americans.

Climbing a tree, our hero surveyed the situation as well as the semi-darkness permitted. He could see numerous flashes of fire from the great German guns along a line which stretched out as far as his eye could reach.

The young lieutenant knew he would be running a tremendous risk to attempt to pass through that line, and yet he felt he must undertake to do this if he was to escape at all. He descended from the tree, and with great caution moved slowly through the brushwood, making sure of every step that was in front of him. Once or twice he thought he was coming upon a German guard, but these alarms proved false, and he continued on his way with as great caution as before.

As he advanced he presently made out the forms of a small body of men moving across a corner of a field in the direction of a patch of timber much mutilated by artillery fire. Even at that distance and in such a dim light, he felt sure that the moving men were Germans.

“It’s a night raid of some sort,” he reasoned. “Maybe they are going over to see if they can’t get hold of some Americans and make them prisoners. Probably they want some information and that is the only way they can get it.”

Hardly knowing why he was doing it, Dave followed the Germans until he saw them disappear among the trees of the wood. Then he came to a hole, and just as some star shells flamed forth, lighting up the scene, he dropped down into this.

For several seconds the light in the hole was quite distinct, and during that time our hero made a discovery that shocked him. A German lay in the hole, holding his rifle in his hands as if ready to use the weapon instantly.

With a quick leap Dave sprang for this man, taking him completely by surprise. The fellow struggled to rise, but the young lieutenant held him down, and at the same time made a quick grab for the gun, tearing it from the German’s grasp.

“Kamerad! Kamerad!” yelled the German, when Dave turned the weapon around and pointed it at his head. “Kamerad!” he repeated, and at the same time both of his hands went high into the air.

“Quiet!” ordered Dave in German, and the fellow understood and kept still. Then our hero made the man turn around in the hole and, watching him carefully, deprived the fellow of his ammunition.

With the gun and the bayonet ready for use, our hero felt somewhat relieved. If attacked, he would now have a chance to defend himself.

With the dying out of the star shells the darkness again settled over that vicinity. Dave ordered the man to move out of the shell-hole, and then told him to march on, keeping his hands up as before. The fellow walked with a slight limp, showing that he had either been wounded or had hurt himself.

Knowing that the body of Germans he had seen must still be in the wood, Dave gave that vicinity a wide berth, moving somewhat to the southward. This presently brought him to another small strip of wood.

And then the unexpected happened.

As if by magic fully a dozen Germans leaped up from where they had been concealed. All pointed their guns at him, but not a shot was fired, for, as he had surmised, several detachments were out in an endeavor to obtain prisoners from whom they expected to elicit much-needed information.

The young lieutenant’s fighting blood was up. He had no desire to go back to a German prison, and the instant the enemy showed themselves, he began to blaze away with his rifle, running at top speed for the shelter of the wood as he did so. He had the satisfaction of seeing one of the Germans go down, and a second quickly followed. Then came the discharge of several of the enemy’s firearms, and Dave felt a hot flash of pain through his right side.

“I’m shot! They’ve got me!” was the thought that flashed through his mind, and yet he did not stop, but continued to run and to use his gun. After him, but at a distance, came the Germans, determined to make him a prisoner or shoot him down.

“Stop!” came the sudden cry from in front of our hero, and he saw several soldiers rise up from the brushwood, all leveling their rifles at him. “Hands up!”

“Are you Americans?” questioned Dave quickly, for the darkness was too intense for him to distinguish what they were.

“You bet!” was the laconic response. “Who are you?”

Dave told them, advancing as he did so. And then he added quickly: “There are about a dozen or fifteen German soldiers after me—some kind of raiding party.”

“That’s the party we are after,” was the quick reply, from a captain who was commanding the Americans. “Boys, are you ready to round them up?”

“We sure are!” was the ready response.

“Can you show us just where those fellows are?” questioned the captain of Dave.

“I can! They were after me just a minute ago. They must be lying low in yonder brushwood. If you had a few hand-grenades you could get every one of them.”

“We’d rather surround them and take them as prisoners,” returned the captain. “I think I’ve got just the men here to do it.”

He had about thirty-five men with him, all of whom had volunteered for the night expedition. He quickly explained what was wanted, and then the men spread out, one party going to the right and the other to the left of where the Germans had last been seen.

“Can’t I go along, Captain?” questioned Dave eagerly. “I had one prisoner a few minutes ago, but those fellows stole him away from me.”

“Of course you can go if you want to, Lieutenant,” was the captain’s reply. “I reckon you are spoiling for a fight just as we are,” he continued. He was a Southern military man and well known for his daring.

The Americans advanced quickly but with caution, and before they knew it the Germans found themselves cut off in the rear. They put up a short and stiff fight, in which one of their men was killed and three were wounded, and then they surrendered.

In this contest Dave distinguished himself by bringing down one of the enemy and also in recapturing the German who had a little while before gotten away from him.

All of the prisoners were rounded up, disarmed, and made to march toward the American lines. While this was being done Dave staggered over to the side of the American captain.

“I’ve been wounded in the side, Captain,” he said. “I don’t believe it’s very serious, but at the same time I am feeling rather weak. I have important maps and documents with me which I stole from the German headquarters. I wish to get these to our headquarters just as quickly as possible. Will you help me to do it?”

“I certainly will, Lieutenant,” was the ready response. “Do you want me to send some of the men to headquarters with the documents or do you want to go yourself? If you would rather go yourself, I’ll send a couple of men to assist you.”

“I think I’d rather go myself,” answered Dave, with a faint grin. “But I’ll have to fix up my wound first.”

With a first-aid kit the slight wound in Dave’s side was taken care of temporarily, and then, in company with two of the soldiers, the young lieutenant tramped off in the direction of the American field headquarters. He had previously learned that the engineering unit to which he was attached was located several miles away.

Fortunately the distance to headquarters was not great, and the young lieutenant and those with him arrived there at midnight. Dave was about all in, yet he managed to make his report and deliver the maps and documents he had taken from the German headquarters.

“This is certainly fine work, Lieutenant Porter,” said one of the commanding officers, who was in charge. “Very fine work indeed! These maps and documents may prove of great importance.”

“I hope so, sir. That is why I took them,” answered the young lieutenant in an unsteady voice. Then, of a sudden, all seemed to grow black before his eyes and he staggered and would have fallen had not some of those around supported him.

“This strain has been too much for you, Lieutenant,” said another of the officers kindly. “I think we had better turn you over to one of our doctors immediately.” And this was done, and Dave was given the best of medical attention. Then he was fed and put to bed, and in a short while was in sound slumber. This was in one of the dugouts, where he was safe from the bombardment, which still continued.

Early on the following morning another advance was made by the Americans. This was due in part to the maps and documents which Dave had brought in and which proved the weakness of the Germans at one point on the line. This point was carried a few hours later by our troops; and then followed a general advance which continued almost uninterruptedly for three days.

“We’ve got ’em on the run!” was the cry of the Americans, and it proved true. The Germans were practically beaten, although they were still holding out as well as they possibly could, hoping in the meantime that their rulers might make some satisfactory terms with those who opposed them.

It was a rather pale and weak Lieutenant Porter who entered the camp of the engineers just as the fierce three days’ fighting had come to an end. He had already sent in word over a field telephone that he was alive and was coming, so that his chums were not as much surprised as they would otherwise have been. Yet they hailed his advent with great joy.

“It’s the best news yet, Dave!” cried Roger, grabbing him around the waist. “The very best yet!”

“You can’t imagine how bad we felt when we thought the Germans had killed you,” put in Phil.

“We went on all sorts of hunts for you,” added Ben. “But, of course, we didn’t find you, and we couldn’t imagine what had become of you.”

“I suppose you don’t know yet how I happened to be missing,” said our hero. “It’s a long story, but I’ll tell it to you just as soon as I’ve rested.”

“We know something of the truth,” answered Roger, and a stern look crossed his face. “We know who assaulted you and rolled you down into the abandoned mine.”

“You do!” exclaimed Dave, in surprise. “That’s more than I know! Who did it?”

“Max Gebauer and Nat Poole.”