“Well, they took me along with you only a short distance behind, and you never knew I was trailing along. I walked back behind with a couple of boches and jollied them along the best I could. I guess I succeeded pretty well, judging from results.
“It seems that this squad were part of a regular crew that made trips with prisoners back behind the lines and took part in the fighting while waiting for a bunch of prisoners large enough for a trip. At least, that’s what I gathered from their conversation. You know I learned to talk German pretty well while living with a German family in Pennsylvania, and I made good use of it with these fellows. Camouflaging my boasts with all the modesty I could put into words, I told ’em all about my accomplishments. I guess I hit ’em about right when I told ’em I could cook as well as any Pennsylvania-Dutch grandmother, and they set me to work on a mess truck right away. That’s why you didn’t see me during the trip, Phil. But I picked you out in the line.”
“I don’t admire your cooking very much,” his friend commented with a smile. “Is that what you call Pennsylvania-Dutch cooking?”
Tim grinned ruefully.
“’Tisn’t my fault,” he said. “Those parsimonious Prussians stood over me and told me how much oil I could burn to warm a barrel o’ stew. And if the first match didn’t light the burner, you folks ’u’d have to eat your meal cold, they said. Oh, they’ve got everything down to an efficiency and conservation basis for winning the war, they have.”
“How did you get away from them?” Phil asked.
“Just walked away,” Tim replied in a matter-of-fact manner. “It was really funny. I guess they were all interested in that wine cellar that one o’ them discovered, but I didn’t know it at the time. Anyway, they seemed to lose all interest in me, and several times I found myself all alone. I was so astonished that I didn’t have sense to cut stick until I concluded that I was an everlasting fool if I didn’t, and I don’t believe they know I’m gone yet.”
“They’ll know about the time they’ve sobered up,” Phil returned with a prophetic grin. “And by the time the whole truth of developments dawns on them, there’ll be something doing, believe me.”
CHAPTER XXX
AN AUDACIOUS SCHEME
As soon as the dusk of evening was sufficient to obscure objects of any considerable size at a distance of a hundred yards, several scouting and foraging parties were sent out with instructions to report back in about two hours. The foraging parties were directed to gather in whatever vegetables and fruit they were able to discover in the darkness, and the scouts were instructed to travel due west for several miles and determine if the way were clear for a general advance toward the battle area.