"Not a scratch!"
"Well, take a hand and come along out. This is no place for us; and you have some tall explaining to do to the General!"
"We have to take the Lieutenant with us," said the boy in the crater.
"What Lieutenant?" demanded the other.
"Lieutenant Bogardus. The General sent me after him. That's why I am here."
"What ails him?" demanded the boy on the ledge.
"All shot up," said the other. "Darned if I know how badly. He is unconscious but was alive the last time I felt of him."
The boy on top turned cautiously around and slid, feet first, into the slippery, oozy pit. He followed to the side of the unconscious man, and as the next flare illumined the sky he ran a hand delicately over the tattered body. He shook his head.
"Not much hope, I should say," he whispered.
"It doesn't matter," declared the other; "we have got to get him back to our lines."