“Let’s go and accuse him and get the stuff away!” suggested Ned. “Maybe he hasn’t eaten it all yet.”
“Not much chance but what he has,” commented Jerry. “It wouldn’t last long with him and his crowd. Still I’m in favor of letting him know we’re on to his game. Let’s go and have it out with him.”
But this was not to be. Just as the three chums were about to go from their part of the trench to 195 that where Noddy Nixon was stationed, the signal sounded for Ned, Bob, and Jerry to take their places on official duty.
“Too late!” exclaimed Bob. “We can’t reach him now, and he’ll eat it all up.”
“The pig!” muttered Ned.
And they had to let the matter rest there. They could not ask to be relieved from trench sentry work to go and get back, possibly, doughnuts and chocolate stolen by Noddy Nixon. It was too trivial a matter from a military standpoint, though to Ned, Bob, and Jerry, forced to be on duty during the long, wet, dreary night, it meant a great deal.
But it was another of the fortunes of war, and it had to be borne.
However, it was not as bad as it might have been, for during the night a relief party came along with hot chocolate, and this was grateful to the lads in the trenches.
“But I’ll have it out with Noddy to-day!” declared Bob as he and his chums went off duty in the morning. “I’ll turn him upside down; that’s what I’ll do!”
But again his plans went astray, for orders came from headquarters, shifting many of the regiments, and the three friends found themselves on the move, without a chance to see Noddy.