The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Allies At Verdun, by Clair W. Hayes

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Title: The Boy Allies At Verdun

Author: Clair W. Hayes

Release Date: July 25, 2004 [EBook #13020]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The Boy Allies At Verdun

OR

Saving France from the Enemy

By CLAIR W. HAYES

AUTHOR OF "The Boy Allies At Liege" "The Boy Allies On the Firing Line"
"The Boy Allies With the Cossacks" "The Boy Allies In the Trenches"
"The Boy Allies On the Somme"

1917

CHAPTER I

THE EVE OF VERDUN

On the twenty-second of February, 1916, an automobile sped northward
along the French battle line that for almost two years had held back the
armies of the German emperor, strive as they would to win their way
farther into the heart of France. For months the opposing forces had
battled to a draw from the North Sea to the boundary of Switzerland,
until now, as the day waned--it was almost six o'clock--the hands of time
drew closer and closer to the hour that was to mark the opening of the
most bitter and destructive battle of the war, up to this time.

It was the eve of the battle of Verdun.

The occupants of the automobile as it sped northward numbered three. In
the front seat, alone at the driver's wheel, a young man bent low. He was
garbed in the uniform of a British lieutenant of cavalry. Close
inspection would have revealed the fact that the young man was a youth of
some eighteen years, fair and good to look upon. As the machine sped
along he kept his eyes glued to the road ahead and did not once turn to
join in the conversation of the two occupants on the rear seat. Whether
he knew that there was a conversation in progress it is impossible to
say, but the rush of wind would have made the conversation
unintelligible, to say the least.

This youth on the front seat was Hal Paine, an American.

The two figures in the rear s