Their coming caused a great sensation, and there was soon a dense crowd around them, for the uncanny circumstances of their return spread through the camp like wildfire. The reins were cut from the dead hands and the body lifted to the ground. Then after making a full report the boys went to their quarters. They were besieged with inquiries by curious comrades, but they shook them off as soon as possible. Their experience had been one that they were only too anxious to forget.
"I don't think I want any supper, after all," remarked Tom to his friends.
"Same here," responded Bart. "I don't feel as though I'd ever be hungry again."
"All I want to do is to get to sleep and forget it," said Billy. "That is, if I can get to sleep."
"You'll sleep all right," observed Frank, "but I wouldn't guarantee you against nightmare."
But harrowed as their nerves had been, they were too young and healthy to stand out against the sleep they needed, and when they woke the next morning both their spirits and their appetites were as good as usual. Life at the front was too full of work and rush for any one experience to leave its imprint long.
Their first inquiry after breakfast was for Rabig.
"How's Rabig getting along?" Frank asked of Fred Anderson.
"Oh, he's all right, I guess," answered Fred carelessly. "When the doctors came to examine him they found that the wound didn't amount to much. Said he'd be all right in a day or two."
"Is he under arrest?" asked Tom.