"One moment," interposed the lieutenant. "Perhaps you will like to take these with you."
He stooped and lifted a pile of trench bags, and the boys saw the boxes of moving picture films.
"Ours?" cried Joe.
"None else," answered the Frenchman. "I trust you will find them all right."
"Not a seal broken!" reported Charlie, who had quickly examined the cases. "This is great!"
Together, hardly able to believe their good luck, they made their way out of the log-protected room—once a German bomb-proof dugout. As they emerged into the trenches, carrying the films, the boys saw American soldiers.
"The Stars and Stripes!" cried Charlie, as he noted the United States flag. "Now we're all right!"
"Whew! We did make some advance!" added Blake, as they saw how the battle lines of the French and Americans had been extended since they had crawled into No Man's Land the night before.
The boys learned later that the airship raid was the forerunner of a big offensive that had been carried out when they were held prisoners and in the tunnel. The Germans had been driven back with heavy loss, and one of their ammunition dumps, or storage places, had been blown up, which had caused the collapse of the tunnel.
That the moving picture boys were welcomed by the soldiers, among whom they had many friends, goes without saying. And the recovery of the films was a matter for congratulation, for they were considered very valuable to the army.