CHAPTER VI
COLONEL PAVET RETURNS
But when the morning came, there was no chance to make the intended visit, for the regiment was shifting its position in preparation for an attack on the enemy lines. Orders were flying thick and fast, orderlies were riding from one division to another, and it was evident that a great battle was impending. Artillery was being brought up from the rear, for the army had gone ahead so fast on the preceding day that they had outdistanced their guns. Tanks, too, were massing in great numbers on the front.
As one of the great monsters was lumbering by where the boys were stationed, something went wrong with the machinery and the driver stepped out to adjust it. An exclamation of delight broke from the Army Boys, as they recognized the bronzed face of their old friend, Will Stone.
His pleasure at the meeting was just as great, and his face was beaming as he came over to them with outstretched hands.
“What good wind blew you up this way?” asked Frank, after the first greetings were over.
“Been ordered up here to help you fellows clean out the Argonne forest,” answered Stone with a grin. “Some job, too, if all I hear about the place is true.”
“It’s a big job, sure enough,” admitted Frank.
“Oh, well, we’ve turned the trick whenever we tackled the Huns so far, and I guess we’re not going to fall down on this,” said Billy.
“Where’s Bart?” asked Stone, as he glanced about him. “I hope nothing’s happened to him.”
“Nothing fatal, we hope,” responded Frank soberly. “He hit his head against a stump, in a charge we were making yesterday morning, and cut it badly. They took him off to the hospital and we were figuring on going over today and seeing how he was getting along. But I’m afraid we can’t get off if we’re going to attack.”