ght to cut the ground out from under his,
Jack's, feet, by planning a bold raid on the chateau, spurred on to such
a rash deed by his ardent desire to impress Nellie Leroy.
Tom began to stretch himself.
"Feeling some tired after such a rushing day's business," he told them,
in a vein of apology. "And I think, mates, I'll turn in after I've
munched a cake or two and had a drink of lemonade. Join me in a glass,
will you, Jack, Harry? I feel like treating to-night, I'm so perfectly
satisfied with the way things are going."
The other two exchanged looks and chuckles, which, however, Tom
pretended not to notice; for he had made up his mind not to be disturbed
any longer because of his comrades' jokes concerning his warm friendship
for Harry's sister. What boy among the tens of thousands of Americans in
that sector but would be pleased to have such a delightful "sister" with
whom to hold occasional interesting chats when opportunity arose?
They accepted the invitation, however, for really it was rather warm in
the Red Triangle dugout, mostly underground, just as the fleeing Hun
officers had left it when compelled to run. Somehow those enterprising
Y. M. C. A. workers managed to keep constantly on hand a supply of
certain articles deemed necessary to the comfort of the fighting men;
and lemons stood near the first in this preferred list.
When coming in on a hot day from hard work in the trenches, or after
creeping through tangled undergrowth where not a breath of breeze
stirred, with their nerves strained every second of the time, nothing
could revive the flagging energies more quickly than a lemonade mixed by
the dextrous fingers of a clever girl in khaki, a sunny smile on her
face, and a love for everything connected with America in her warm
heart.
Those huts erected by the Red Triangle corps, what oceans of comfort
they brought to the boys over there! Sometimes they were large and
commodious, possessing almost every conceivable means for gratifying the
normal appetite of a healthy-minded but tired and homesick soldier boy.
Then again it might be, as in the present instance, that circumstances
prevented any display, and the restoration bivouac had to be opened
under rather discouraging conditions, while the supplies also ran low,
for it was not easy to get them so far up along the line.
But the main thing was that there could be found the cheerful,
never-failing services of those who gave every minute of their
|