The Boy Scouts on War Trails in Belgium; Or, Caught Between Hostile Armies

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Boy Scouts on War Trails in Belgium, by Herbert Carter
Caught Between Hostile Armies
By HERBERT CARTER
AUTHOR OF “The Boy Scouts First Campfire,” “The Boy Scouts in the Blue Ridge,” “The Boy Scouts on the Trail,” “The Boy Scouts in the Maine Woods,” “The Boy Scouts Through the Big Timber,” “The Boy Scouts in the Rockies,” “The Boy Scouts Along the Susquehanna.” Etc.,
Copyright, 1916 By A. L. Burt Company
“It strikes me Allan’s a pretty long time coming with those letters, Thad.”
“Oh! perhaps he’s struck some exciting news worth picking up; you know he’s a correspondent for a newspaper at home in the good old United States, and must always be on the lookout for happenings. Have a little more patience, Bumpus.”
“But you see I didn’t sleep ten winks last night, Thad. After our lovely quiet trip down the Rhine by boat from Mainz this place seemed just as noisy as any boiler factory.”
“No wonder, Bumpus, with trains pouring in from the east and north, every one loaded down with German first-line troops, field artillery, cavalry horses, aeroplane supplies, and all sorts of war toggery.”
“Yes, but, Giraffe, I took notice that you slept like a top through it all, just as if we were camping again in the Maine woods, or down in that Louisiana swamp where we had such a roaring good time.”
The boy who answered to the peculiar nick-name of “Giraffe” laughed when the stout, auburn-haired member of the trio, known as Bumpus Hawtree, made this assertion.
“Oh! I’ve got it down to a fine point, Bumpus,” he remarked with a touch of boyish pride in his voice; “I’ve found out how to make mind win over matter. When I lay me down to sleep I just tell myself to forget all troubles; and after counting a hundred sheep jumping over a fence I lose myself the finest way you ever saw. Try it yourself, Bumpus, and see how it works.”