"I didn't," whispered the lieutenant. "Did you?"
"I thought I saw half a dozen men," said Joe.
"We'll wait, then, and see," said Lieutenant Mackinson.
In a moment another rocket went up, this time from the American-French side, and it clearly showed what Joe and Frank both had seen.
Six, perhaps seven or eight, men were crawling along, headed toward them.
"They are making for the same place," said Jerry.
"Exactly," replied the lieutenant. "It means that we have got to fight for it. We will have some advantage if we can beat them to the protection of the base of that hummock."
As rapidly as possible they started forward. Lying out flat, they would draw their feet upward and toward them, rising slightly and going forward upon their arms. This action, which put them ahead a few inches every time, they repeated times without number. But it was slow progress at best, and made slower by the interruptions of the rockets.
"We are almost there," Lieutenant Mackinson whispered, "but I think we have been discovered. Lie flat and don't make a move. By keeping my head in the position I have it I can watch that other group. If we have been seen it means a running fight to the mouth of that trench or cave."
Another rocket cut a glaring path across the sky. Again it was from the American-French side and illumined the black shadows strewn along the ground like little clumps of low-growing bushes.