Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 46: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

28 | Adventure neither the man Nell had fought with nor the other dead man had on a belt. ~ “Where did you birds come from?” asked Nell. “We heard the scrap,” said the hard- boiled man in his rasping voice, ‘an’ we wasn’t agreeable you should hog it all your- self, so we come a-gallopin’.” \‘Well, let’s get down and see what this culvert looks like,” said Nell. “We may have to spend the night in it. Anyway, ‘we've got a gun to knock over a few with, if they try to get rough with us.” ~ THE culvert was more properly a SA bridge. There was a tiny stream gages in the bottom of the ditch, as they “AH” found by feeling around in the bottom of it to locate the dead Germans. Nell knew how he had killed his man now. He had held his head under water. ’ The arch of the culvert went under the em- bankment, into a hole of darkness. It was solidly built of granite blocks and with the railroad over it would stop anything. It was doubtful if a naval gun could cave it in. No wonder the Boche gunners had picked on it for a place to spend the night in. “The other end o’ this is in Germany,” spoke up some one. “That’s right,” agreed two or three. “Maybe them Boche’ll send a relief through or somethin’.”’ . “Well, where do you suppose it goes?’’ muttered Nell. “I can’t see anything at all. You’d think you could see the sky through the other end.” A light went up from the far side of the track, but though it lighted the field and the embankment and shone into the bottom of the ditch it did not illumine the darkness of the culvert. “There’s a bend in it, that’s what,” de- cided Nell. ‘“That’s why we can’t see through it. Maybe it doesn’t go through to the other side even.” “Captain,” rasped the hard-boiled man, “let’s me an’ you go see where it goes.” “Tl go you,” said Nell; “somebody give me a knife.” Unfortunately the hard-boiled man had the only trench knife in the crowd and' ‘he wanted it himself. Most of the men had left their rifles by the embankment or in the field. Nell had forgotten where he had left his, but one man still had his and tendered Nell the bayonet. \) ye after him. “T’ll go first,”’ said the hard-boiled man. “It was my plan in the first place. Now don’t ram that bayonet up my neck a mile if I stop quick.” “Don’t you guys monkey ‘with that gun while I’m gone either,” directed Nell. Then he and the hard-boiled man got down and began to crawl into the culvert. Inside there it was cold and damp and when a hobnail rapped a stone the sound rang tremendously. The arch was high enough to sit upright, but not to stand, and while two men could lie abreast in it, with room to spare, they could not crawl that way. So the hard-boiled man led, and Nell It was black as a pocket. They crawled and crawled, and suddenly Nell bumped something soft with his head. “Shhshsh!’ whispered the hard-boiled man in his ear, “‘have them lunkheads fol- lered us?” Nell looked back. The mouth of the cul- vert was perfectly discernable, a square of dark blue against a frame of deep black. Across the bottom of the square were knobs and projections. These were the heads of the men in the ditch, who were kneeling and staring down the culvert. Nell counted carefully. There were five hats there. “No,” he replied, “they’re all where we left ’em.”’ “Then we’re goin’ to have callers,” said the hard-boiled man. ‘‘Listen!”’ There was a scraping sound in the culvert, that became more clearly audible with every second. The sound could mean but one thing. Men were crawling from the other end of the culvert. “Get against the wall!’ whispered Nell shoving the other man to one side. If the Boche came around the turn, they would keep to the nearest wall, that is, turning to the left, they would instinctively stick close to that wall and Nell had a hunch that that was the way the bend turned. If he had guessed wrong, then it only meant that the contact would be head on. Nell tightened his muscles. He heard a man breathing. The man grunted and said something in his natural voice. He was crawling along the right wall and Nell let drive with the bayonet as hard as he could. The man yelled deafeningly. Nell sought and found the other’s mouth and clamped a hand over it. Then he shifted his grip to the other’s windpipe and tried to get back his bayonet, COMIGDIOOKSEEO