Dave Porter's war honors

by Edward Stratemeyer

Dave, Roger, Phil, and Ben kept close together. Shadow was not in this contest, having not yet returned from the field hospital to which he had been sent after the accident when the big trees had come down.

When the call had been sent to the rear asking for reinforcements, word had also been sent up to the top of the little hill behind them asking if the battery there could not open on the advancing Germans. This battery now sent forth a lively fire; but it soon had to cease because the Germans were now so close to the Americans that firing on them would endanger our engineers.

“Give it to ’em hot, boys, but don’t expose yourselves until you have to!” called Captain Obray, and the remaining lieutenant repeated these words and then they were also repeated by the top sergeant, who had already taken poor Lieutenant Harney’s place.

Dave, partly screened by a rock and a bit of brushwood, was handling his rifle as accurately and rapidly as he could. In the beginning, as was to be expected, he had been excited and his hand had trembled a little. But now his nerves were steadying themselves, and he took deliberate aim at one of the Huns before he pulled the trigger. He saw the man go down, and then he immediately shot at a second and a third of the enemy.

Facing such a determined resistance, the Germans paused for a moment while still half-way to the line which separated them from the engineers. This pause worked great havoc, for it gave all the Americans a chance to continue their fire, which they did with deadly effect. But then, urged most strenuously by their officers, who in some cases did not hesitate to slap their men with their swords, the Germans came on once more, firing several more volleys and then dashing in with their bayonets. At such close quarters it became practically impossible to continue the contest with any degree of regularity. It was a case of every engineer for himself, and at odds of three or four to one.

The first fellow to come at Dave was a tall, burly individual who looked as if he might be a farmhand. He made a vicious jab at our hero, who sprang aside with a nimbleness acquired by long practice in the gymnasium and on the football field at Oak Hall. Then Dave made a lunge with his own bayonet, and had the satisfaction of catching the fellow in the thigh. The German pulled back and made another lunge, but this time Dave parried the stroke, and then caught the fellow through the shoulder. This caused the German to stagger back, and suddenly he dropped his gun and fell headlong on his side.

While this was going on, Roger and the other engineers were likewise having their hands full. Seven or eight Germans had appeared in a bunch and were jabbing right and left with their bayonets, yelling at the top of their lungs and making the most ferocious faces. One caught Phil through the arm, and another sent Roger to his knees.

This was a perilous position for the senator’s son, because before he could rise two of the Germans were on him, each with an upraised bayonet. But now Ben leaped in on one side, catching one of the Germans under the chin with his cold steel. Not wishing to have his throat pierced, the fellow jerked backward, pitching heavily over the rocks.

But the other German had already made another pass at Roger, and that young engineer would have caught it in the heart had he not made a quick movement to one side. Then the German, having missed his footing, fell forward and as he did so caught the senator’s son by the throat.

But now Dave was coming on. Why he had done so, he did not know, but he had turned his gun around in his hands so that the butt was in front of him. Using this with all force, he made a long leap forward, bringing the gun-butt down directly on the head of the German. There was a curious little crack, and the man fell away to one side, unconscious, if not entirely done for.