“That was the grenade I was telling you fellows about a few minutes ago,” replied Frank. “I thought of it again just when I dropped to the ground. I figured that I might have a chance to smash their boat with it, so I got it out and had it ready in my hand.”
“Great stuff, Sheldon,” said the corporal warmly. “It did the work all right. It’s lucky we only had one boat to deal with. But now we’ve got to make tracks for the mouth of the tunnel.”
“And we can’t do it any too quick either,” said Tom, as the sound of a commotion rose behind them. “Those fellows round that fire have heard that explosion and they’ll be coming on the double quick to see what’s up.”
There was a growing din behind them that hastened their steps as they hurried along. Once, Billy going too near the edge nearly fell into the canal, from which he was saved by Tom’s quick grab of his arm. At intervals the corporal used his flashlight on the narrow road ahead of him but he did not dare to do it very often, for fear that the light might be seen by Huns who might be lying in wait at the tunnel’s mouth.
Soon they were conscious from the increasing freshness of the air that they were nearing the entrance. They slackened their steps a little, for the noise in the rear had died down. They did not interpret this as meaning that their adversaries had given up the chase, but thought it more likely that they had halted at the scene of the explosion to try to fathom its meaning.
“Now,” said the corporal, when they were within a few yards of the entrance, “I’m going to scout ahead and see whether that other boat is hanging about. If it isn’t we’ll have an easy time in swimming to the bank. If it is, we’ll have some fighting before we win out.”
He stole away like an Indian, but almost before the boys realized that he had gone he was back again.
“They’re out there all right,” he reported. “The boat is lying about twenty feet from the mouth. I couldn’t see it, but I located it from some low talking that was going on. There’s nothing to do but make a sudden dash, catch them unawares and get to the other side before they recover. Now here’s how I figure we may do it,” and he outlined his plan hurriedly while the young Army Boys listened intently.
“It sounds good,” said Frank. “And there’s another reason why we’ve got to do it anyway,” he added, as a sound of hurrying feet behind them told them that the Hun patrol had again taken up the pursuit.
They followed the corporal to the tunnel’s mouth. For an instant they stood there listening, until they had located the position of the boat.