They were silent for a while, when the unbelievable happened. It was so amazing, so stunning, that both boys at first could not believe that they heard aright. They heard a sound like a windlass or crank turning, a few clods tumbled down on them, and a voice once more whispered hoarsely three words:
“Gee, it’s hot!”
“Gee, it’s hot!” said the German voice and the simple words seemed to the astounded boys to ring across the valley! On the contrary, they were spoken in a low whisper.
Another voice replied. “He won’t like it if you speak English, you know.”
“I can’t help it,” said the first speaker. “We are two to one anyhow, and I am tired of talking that lingo. I’m a good German all right, but I wasn’t brought up to speak German and it comes hard. And this is the hottest place I ever did get in. I don’t like it. Do you know what will happen about to-morrow? I’ll tell you. We will find ourselves miles behind the Allies’ lines, and then what do you propose to do, Peter?”
“Bosh!” said the man called Peter. “You think because a handful of Americans are here that the tide has turned. Be careful what you think. I tell you no. What can a few hundred of these fellows do against the perfect, trained millions of the Fatherland?”
“You don’t know them,” said Fritz.
“Yes, I do,” said the man Peter. “Now let me tell you. For years I was in England; sent there to study those foolish bull-headed people and to create all the unrest I could. It was so easy. I saw these Americans there, crazy, loud-mouthed, boasting, always boasting. They talked fight, they told wild tales about the bad men of their west, always boasting. So I tried them. I am a big man, Fritz, and strong; I was not afraid of a little fight, me, myself. I tried them. I slurred their government, sneered at their president, laughed at their institutions. What think you? They laughed. They laughed! Quite as if I said the most kindly things. I said, ‘What I say is true, is it not?’ and they said, ‘Perhaps, but it is so funny!’ That is what they said, ‘so funny!’ They should have slain me where I stood.”
“They don’t care what you say or what the rest of the world says,” whispered Fritz. “They are too big. Their country is too big. When they fight.... Wait until you have seen them fight! They fight with grunts and gasps and bared teeth. They do not need trenches, they will go over the top with a shout. You will see, friend Peter. They are back there in the darkness now. I feel them!”
“A few of them, only a few,” said Peter. “This little castle of sod and stone is getting on your nerves, my friend. Look you! Do you think the Highest would deceive us? Never, never! There is nothing to this talk of the Americans coming over here. To be sure, they have declared war, but what of it? They are no good. They have no army. All their boasted possessions, all their harbors, all their wealth, yet they have no army. No army! That shows how inefficient they are. Never fear, my Fritz. Not a hundred thousand will reach this soil. I have it from our commanding officer himself.”