CHAPTER XII
“HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?”
The French peasants, who had been fired upon and had gained the protection of the slope, gathered about them.
“Beyond, also, the road is open to fire,” Gerry informed them in French; and he directed them to proceed in little groups and by the fields away from the road.
“Monsieur le Lieutenant is wounded,” an old man observed solicitously.
“Barely at all,” Gerry denied; but swayed as he said so.
“Your car must go by the road,” Gerry said to Ruth. “You go with them in the fields; I will take it on for a bit.”
He meant to relieve her for the run over the exposed stretch. He tried to step up to the driver’s seat; but his leg would not bear his weight and he fell backward and would have gone to the ground had Ruth not caught him.
“That’s simply a knee twist from being bent under my ship,” he asserted. “That shrap hardly scratched me,” he referred to the red spot on his side where her fingers were feeling.
“Help me lift Monsieur le Lieutenant,” Ruth bid the old peasant. Gerry tried again to climb alone; but his leg had quite given away. As they lifted, he pulled himself into the seat and took the wheel.
“You need both feet for the pedals,” Ruth reminded him, simply; and he moved over without further protest and let her drive. The car was a covered Ford truck and Gerry, gazing back, saw an old French woman, a child, and two men, who had been injured, lying upon the bedding over the floor. The car was coming to the section of road which the German gunner had registered and Gerry turned about and watched Ruth while she drove.