ficer--a decent young fellow--try to keep his
men from shootin'. But he couldn't hold 'em in, so I hoisted Tom on my
back an' started for our trenches. Got there, too, you know, jest as a
machine-gun over to the right started spoutin'. It didn't matter my
droppin' Tom in the trench an' tumblin' after him. The boys buried him
decent while the sawbones was cuttin' what was left of my arm away, an'
puttin' me to sleep with dope. It was a fool trick, after all, 'though
God knows I'll never forget the look in Tom's eyes as he swallered that
swig o' cool water. That's all, folks. I'm out o' the game, an' I
s'pose the Gen'ral jus' pinned this thing on my coat so I wouldn't take
my discharge too much to heart."

That was Joe Langley. Do you wonder they forgot he was once a milk-man,
or that every resident of Dorfield swelled with pride at the very sight
of him? Just one of "our soldier boys," just one of the boys the
Liberty Girls were trying to assist.

"They're all alike," said Mary Louise. "I believe every American
soldier would be a Joe Langley if he had the chance."

Joe took a mighty interest in the Liberty Girls. He volunteered to
drill and make soldiers of them, and so well did he perform this task--
perhaps because they admired him and were proud of their drill-master--
that when the last big lot of selected draft men marched away, the
entire six companies of Liberty Girls marched with them to the train--
bands playing and banners flying--and it was conceded to be one of the
greatest days Dorfield had ever known, because everyone cheered until
hoarse.

CHAPTER XIV
THE PROFESSOR IS ANNOYED

Josie O'Gorman, after resigning from the Liberty Girls, became--so she
calmly stated--a "loafer." She wandered around the streets of Dorfield
in a seemingly aimless manner, shopped at the stores without buying,
visited the houses of all sorts of people, on all sorts of gossipy
errands, interviewed lawyers, bankers and others in an inconsequential
way that amused some and annoyed others, and conducted herself so
singularly that even Mary Louise was puzzled by her actions.

But Josie said to Mary Louise: "My, what a lot I'm learning! There's
nothing more interesting--or more startling--or, sometimes, more
repulsive--than human nature."

"Have you learned anything about the German spy plot?" questioned Mary
Louise eagerly.

"Not yet. My quest resembles a cart-wheel. I go all around the outer
rim first, and mark the spokes w