on the strength of being able
to shrug his shoulders and say, _Oui_, _oui_, he got along famously.

He had managed to wriggle into military service without the customary
delays, and in the capacity of messenger he had ridden a motorcycle
between various headquarters and the front until he had been caught by
the Germans in a raid while he was engaged in giving an imitation of
Charlie Chaplin in the French trenches. He spoke of General Haig as
"Haigy;" of General Byng as "Bing Bang;" and his French was a circus all
by itself. According to his account, he had been a prime favorite with
all the high dignitaries of the war, and he attributed this to the fact
that he was not afraid of them. In short, it was the same old flippant,
boastful, R-rolling Archibald Archer who had won many a laugh from sober
Tom Slade. And here he was again as large as life--larger, in fact.

It was a long time before they got down to the subject of the engine,
but when they did they discussed it for the greater part of the night,
for, of course, they bunked together.

"First I thought it was the triphammer," said Archer; "then I thought it
was the mixing valve; then I thought it was bronchitis on account of the
noise it made, and after that I decided it was German measles. Blamed
if I know what's the matter with it. It's got the pip, I guess. I was
going to file a nick in the make-and-break business but they're too foxy
to give me a file. Now I wish I had a hammer and I'd knock the whole
blamed business to smithereens."

"Have a heart," laughed Tom. "And keep still, I want to go asleep. We'll
look at it in the morning."

"Did I tell you how we made a hand grenade full of old tomatoes near
Rheims?"

"No, but I want to go to sleep now," said Tom.

"It landed plunk on a German officer's bun; Charlie Waite saw it from
his plane."

"Good night," laughed Tom.

CHAPTER XXVI

HE HAS AN IDEA WHICH SUGGESTS ANOTHER

In the morning, after grub line-up, they lost no time in going to the
pump. Here, at least, was something to occupy Tom's mind and afford
Archer fresh material for banter.

"D'I tell you how I was kiddin' the niggerr we had in the life
boat--when it was leakin'?"

"No," said Tom, ready for anything.

"Told him to bore anotherr hole so the waterr could get out again. Did I
tell you 'bout----"

"Here we are, let's take a look at the engine," said Tom.

It was one of those one-cylinder kickers, about two horse power, and