Rod, too, seemed to be of the same opinion.
“I think they must be getting ready to make a mad effort to rush the ford,” he went on to say; “you notice that their guns are silent just now; but that’s done so they can burst out with a more terrible bombardment than ever, under cover of which the attack will be started.”
“But why all this row over just one contemptible little ford?” asked Hanky Panky innocently.
Josh snorted at hearing this.
“Why, can’t you see what it means to both sides to control a crossing where the artillery can get over without building a bridge?” he demanded. “To hold up the French here the Germans would be willing to sacrifice thousands of their best men, because it would save their big guns now on the way north. There, it’s coming, I do believe.”
None of them heard the last words spoken by Josh, and for a very good reason. Every gun the French had within a mile of the ford began to bellow in concert, and the ground shook under the concussion. Across on the other side they could see the shells bursting everywhere. It seemed as though they sought out each place where they suspected hostile batteries or columns of troops might lie in hiding, thus fairly raking the entire vicinity.
This was “preparing the ground for the seed,” as army men would put it. When this fierce “spraying” was well under way no doubt the order that had been awaited so long and impatiently by the concealed French soldiers was to be given; when they would start toward the bank of the river and strike into the shallow water, breasting their way across if possible.
The three boys fairly held their breath with awe, knowing what was coming next. Hanky Panky crouched there shivering like one who had the “shakes,” yet wholly unable to drag his horrified eyes away from the grim spectacle of war that was passing before him. Josh, on the other hand, had arisen to his feet, knowing that there was little or no chance of his being noticed and fired at, unless indeed some German gunner conceived the idea that they were a group of French officers observing the progress of the battle from an eminence.
This dreadful “spraying” with fire had gone on for some little time now when Rod saw signs that told him the expected event was coming. He could not have made his chums hear, no matter how he shouted, and so he contented himself with clutching each of them, Hanky Panky by the arm and Josh by the calf of his leg. They knew what he meant by this action, too, even though not a word was uttered.
The violent gunfire was being kept up, but from several points there suddenly burst into view living streams of French soldiers racing madly for the ford, and every man apparently wild to be the first to attempt the deadly crossing.