Came a cry of rage from inside the trench as the Germans saw their prey about to escape. Two men dropped on their knees and sighted their rifles carefully.
But before they could fire Hal had accounted for one and Chester for the other.
Again a howl of rage went up from the German trench.
"Kill them! Kill them!" screamed the German colonel. "What a lot of dunderheads! Can’t you shoot?"
He seized a revolver from a young officer close by and dashed forward himself.
Hal, in the act of tumbling from the embankment, smiled slightly and faced the colonel, unmindful of all other dangers.
"So you’re the man responsible for those blows a moment ago, eh?" he muttered. "Well, you’ll never do it again. Take that!"
The German colonel staggered in his onward rush, reeled crazily, threw up his arms, casting his revolver a dozen paces away, then fell to the ground.
"So much for you," Hal muttered. "You won’t bully another American, I’ll bet on that."
"Come on," said Chester, who had stuck close to his chum all the time. "It’s too warm here. Let’s move."
He rolled rather than leaped to the ground on the outside of the trench. Hal did likewise.
Both lads were slightly bruised by this method of descent, but they were not injured seriously. They scrambled to their feet.
"Now, let’s see you run!" shouted Hal to Chester.
Bullets flew thick and fast after the two lads as they clashed for the shelter of the American lines beyond. Fortunately, however, none touched them.
The Germans, it appeared, were so bewildered by the suddenness of Chester’s appearance, single-handed attack and the flight of the two chums that followed, that they forgot all about their searchlights, which would have made it possible for them to have picked off fugitives at will; or else they had no searchlights in that section of the field.
Zig-zagging from right to left, the lads ran at top speed. For a time bullets whistled unpleasantly close, but soon they became few and far between.
Hal slowed down. Chester followed his example.
"Whew!" said Chester. "Pretty close, but we’re safe enough now, I guess."
"By George! I hope so," declared Hal. "But there is just one job that I would have liked to complete before getting away from there."