Boy Scouts with Joffre; Or, In the Trenches in Belgium

by G. Harvey Ralphson

"He didn't have time!" declared Jack.

"By the way, Jimmie," suggested Ned to the lad who was near the instruments, "why need we grope around here with only searchlights. We have lots of current, suppose you turn on the lights for us."

"Right-O!" assented Jimmie, reaching for the switch.

No illumination resulted. Again the switch was turned.

"He's cut a wire somewhere!" declared the lad. "Maybe he had a pair of pliers and just nipped off what he could reach."

"Try to start the engine, Harry," requested Ned. "Maybe he cut the wires leading to that as well as the lamp circuit. It would not surprise me to find that he had done so. It would be just like him!"

For the first time the engine failed to respond to Harry's touch on the levers. There was no current. The wires had been severed.

"Harry, you are familiar with the lay out of this little wagon," Jimmie suggested. "Suppose you overhaul the wiring and repair it."

For nearly an hour Harry, whose experience about automobiles had been very extensive, labored, with the assistance of his chums, to repair the damage done by their enemy. Nearly every electric wire in the equipment had been severed, apparently with the aid of powerful pliers.