As soon as the wild men saw the screen coming toward them, they let fly a shower of arrows, but they either stuck fast in the screen or flew harmlessly over the soldier’s heads.
“Great Guns!” cried the Old Soldier when the little party had pushed the screen quite a ways toward the wild men’s fort. “We forgot to bring along the picks and shovels.”
“I’ll get ’em, Captain,” said the Dunce, saluting the Old Soldier and hardly waiting for the officer’s permission, the Dunce ran for the trench which they had just left, as fast as his legs would carry him.
The Dunce grabbed up three picks and with the help of the Chinaman who volunteered to go along, the two brave Teenie Weenies ran for the screen amid the flying arrows which whizzed all about them.
All day long the men worked hard, pulling the screen along as they dug back toward the Teenie Weenie trench, and at night, six other soldiers took up the work where the rest left off. Several days of hard labor finished the work and not one Teenie Weenie had been shot, thanks to the Old Soldier’s screen.
Chapter Twenty
THE DUNCE LOOKS FOR EXCITEMENT
From the new trenches the Teenie Weenies could see the wild men’s fort plainly. The little soldiers had to be very careful, however, for every time they showed themselves the wild men would let fly a shower of arrows. The soldiers thought it great fun to put their hats on sticks and push them out in sight of the wild men. At first this brought a tremendous number of arrows, but finally the wild men caught onto the trick and only an occasional arrow would fly at the exposed hat.