"Kamerad!"
"Was willst du, hund?"
Crack!
The "persuader stick" in the hand of the Yank swung with sharp impact against the head of the boche just under his helmet. The "Canadian-hund" hater dropped in his tracks.
CHAPTER V
"THE TURTLE" IS WOUNDED
The next instant Lieut. Tourtelle turned and scuttled away as fast as he could scuttle. Irving's first impulse was to follow him, but he checked it.
However, knowing well the pyramid fashion in which boche patrols work in No Man's Land, the boy governed his next actions with caution that took this into consideration. The man he had just put hors de combat may have been the "apex" of such a "pyramid," which is a very treacherous sort of trap. It is the game of the "apex" to retreat and induce a lone enemy scout to follow him if possible. A short distance on toward the boche trenches, perhaps twenty or thirty feet apart, the distance depending upon the darkness of the night, are two more Heinies, who close in behind like a pair of pincers as the intended victim passes the line of their positions. Still a little farther on are two other soldiers, the "cornerstones" of the "pyramid," who also close in upon the victim just as the attack is made. His capture is inevitable.
Irving did not purpose to be caught in any such trap; so he moved away twenty or thirty feet from the scene of his victorious exploit and waited and watched for developments.
They were not long coming. Apparently the Yank's suspicion of a "pyramid trick" was not in error. Apparently also the other component parts of the man-trap had heard the crack of Private Ellis's club on the head of the "apex" of the "pyramid," for they soon were gathered around the unconscious form of their comrade and muttering a torrent of "hund curses."