Under Foch's Command: A Tale of the Americans in France

by F. S. Brereton

"Aye, stop her!" Nobby grinned. "Ain't we all aware o' that? Clever, Jim—eh?"

"And to stop her," said Jim, unperturbed by Nobby's sudden explosion, or by his sarcasm, "ain't such a difficult task, I should reckon. Bill's done his bit; you boys wait here while I do my share; I'm going to uncouple the chains right here in front of us."

That, too, was no easy matter. Indeed it was one full of danger, as Jim himself appreciated when he gained the end of the truck, and, standing upon the foot-rest and clinging to the handles, endeavoured to manipulate the couplings. The truck in front wobbled and swayed horribly; that upon which he rested jerked to and fro, threatening to throw him from his hold, and the couplings were drawn tight—so tight that there was no possibility of unhooking them—while the buffers were parted by an inch or more of space. And so the position continued for a long ten minutes—those coupling chains in strongest tension, the buffers separated, no power that he could exert, nor indeed that a hundred men could exert, being able to unhook them.

And then came the sudden scream of the vacuum brakes, the buffers tapped gently together, and at once the ends of the two trucks between which he clung drew closer together. They were on a decline, and the driver of the engine had applied his brakes all along the train to keep her in control and steady the trucks as they ran downwards. As for the couplings, taut a moment before, they swung loosely now, so that Jim, bending over, picked up the link hooked upon the coupling in front and threw it off with an ease which surprised him. That link provided the only means of attaching them to the forward part of the train, and when, perhaps a minute later, the long line of trucks had gained the level again, and steam was given to the engine, of a sudden the truck in front leapt away from him, sped away, rushed off at uncommon speed, leaving Jim clambering there with only space in front of him.

It was a very hot and dishevelled Jim who clambered back into the compartment, and it was a very dishevelled and excited party that stood at the open doorway as the speed of this latter half of the train slowly diminished. Then anxiety took possession of them, for far away in the distance they heard the shrill whistle of the locomotive—the locomotive which had dragged the train from which they were now parted.

"Driver's discovered it—sure! Yep. Awkward! That means that he'll stop the blamed train, and perhaps come back to us—what's that, eh?"

"Conductor right behind has wakened up and made the same sort of discovery," said Bill; "reckons the train has broken in half—as it has—eh? There go the hand-brakes. Couldn't ask for anything better. Boys, make ready!"

From outside the car came the scream and scrape of brakes, while the landscape, which had been flashing past them, now glided by at respectable speed, which encouraged the prisoners immensely. They crowded to the door, waited till Bill gave the order, and then, as the car slowed down to quite reasonable speed, that made a leap to the ground quite practicable, they dropped off one by one—some fifteen of them—and presently, gathering together, moved off along the track. But first of all, as the last man left the car he had been careful to close the doorway.

"You never know," said Bill, as he warned them. "Perhaps they'll think that putting the brakes on down that decline somehow unhooked the coupling. If they saw the door open they'd realize at once that a trick had been played on them. Let 'em talk about the breaking in two of the train and wonder how it happened, and get to work to hook the two trucks together again. Perhaps they won't suspect that we've got out, for there won't be anything to tell 'em. Now, boys, here we all are! About turn! Quick march! This trek ought to take us, with a little more luck, into the lines of the Allies."