, more trying by far than any actual
fighting.

Then the storm broke!

In front of them rank after rank of gray-clad troops came in sight,
stretching back as far as the eye could see. The mist had wholly
vanished now and the boys could see their enemy. It seemed as though
the machine gunner had not exaggerated when he said that there were
millions. They were like the waves of the sea.

But the stout hearts of the American boys never quailed. Time and
again they had met these men or their fellows and driven them back at
the point of the bayonet. They had outfought and outgamed them. They
had sent them flying before them. They had seen their backs.

The blood of heroes and of patriots ran in the veins of the defenders.
Their ancestors had fought at Bunker Hill, at Palo Alto, at Gettysburg.
Above them floated the Stars and Stripes, an unstained flag, a glorious
flag, a flag that had never been smirched by defeat.

Their eyes blazed and their muscles stiffened.

Then like an avalanche the enemy struck!

CHAPTER XV

FURRY RESCUERS

The satisfaction that Tom felt at having in his pocket the confession
of Martel helped to make his imprisonment much more bearable in the
week that followed. His heart warmed at the thought of the delight
Frank would feel in clearing up the matter that had long laid heavy
upon his mother's mind.

For the conviction never left him that some time he was going to put
that confession in his friend's hand. He had escaped before from
German captivity, not once but twice. What he had done then he would
do again. And every minute of his waking hours found that active brain
of his working hard at the problem.

He confessed to himself that the solution would not be easy. The
guards were many and were changed frequently. The windows of the old
barracks where he slept were fortified with steel bars, and the open
camp where the prisoners were employed in outside work was surrounded
with wires through which a strong electric current ran. To touch them
would mean instant death, and they were so close together that it would
be impossible to squeeze through without touching.

He fell to studying the routine of the various conveyances that were
constantly arriving and departing. Some of them brought bales of
goods, others barrels. The latter were especially common. They were
in a part of the country that abounded in vineyards, and great
hogsheads of wine were being constantly