Rod drew up. A gate stood before him that was now in ruins, showing that the invaders had been there. They pushed their heavy machines past, and followed the lane leading over the knoll, to find a cottage in ruins, having been burned to the very ground.

It was a sad sight, and filled the boys with distress; but by this time they were naturally becoming a little hardened to such spectacles of warfare, and could view them without the same sensation of anger and disgust toward the aggressors that had filled their hearts at an earlier date.

For some reason or other the Germans had chosen to apply the torch to this isolated cottage. Perhaps some party had been keenly disappointed at finding it totally deserted, with not even a stray chicken left to satisfy their longing for a supper.

Rod gave one hasty glance around. Then he heaved a satisfied sigh, for he had been a little afraid lest he discover some evidence of foul work there. Such did not happen to be the case; the owner of the cottage instead of staying and arousing the pa.s.sions of the invaders by firing at them in secret, had wisely departed to unknown regions before their coming, taking warning in time.

So the trio of boys hastened to the well as soon as they could dispose of their wheels. It would do them no harm to idle away ten minutes here, and drink their fill of the sparkling liquid which doubtless lay in those shadowy depths.

Hanky Panky reached it first of all, Josh not appearing to be in a humor to force himself to the van. In fact Josh seemed to be amused at something, for he had one of those smirks on his face which marked it whenever he watched Hanky Panky's evidence of greed.

"I don't seem to be able to quite see down _all_ the way, Rod," the other was saying when his comrades joined him; "but I dropped a pebble in, and could plainly hear a good splash; so there's plenty of the stuff down there."

"I only hope it's all right," remarked Josh, shortly afterwards, when they had managed to draw up a dripping bucket of cold water.

That caused Hanky Panky to hesitate, for he had a gourd in his hand, and was about to dip in.

"Now what in the wide world do you mean by saying that, I'd like to know, Josh; you're always trying to drop a fly in the ointment, seems to me. What could there be wrong with this water?" he demanded, filling the gourd as he spoke.

"Oh! I don't know," drawled the other, wickedly, "but if it happened that some of those ugly-tempered Germans chose to drop a little poison in the well it'd be a tough thing for the French who drank later, and mebbe make 'em sick in the bargain."

Hanky Panky turned pale, and allowed the gourd to spill; whereupon Josh coolly took it out of his hand, dipped into the bucket, and commenced drinking.

"If it doesn't kill _me_, why then it's safe, you see. I'm always willing to be the tester for the crowd, you know. Tastes all right, though, and as cold as anything. Whew! Rod, you have a dip, since Hanky feels nervous about it, won't you?"

Rod thereupon laughed, accepted the rude drinking cup from the joker, filled it from the dripping bucket, and offered it to the third member of the group.

"Don't mind what he says, Hanky; you know Josh loves to have his little joke; and I believe he still feels that he owes you one on account of the trick you played on him this morning."

"Then you really don't believe they did poison it, Rod?" asked the other.

"That isn't the German way of doing things, as far as I know," Rod told him; at which a.s.surance Hanky Panky swallowed his fears, and drained the gourd.

"Might as well be hung for a whole sheep as a lamb!" he declared, once more dipping into the bucket; "but no matter if it's my last drink or not, I'm going to say this is as fine water as any I ever drank over in our own dear country. So here goes."

Rod in turn took a drink, and was ready to p.r.o.nounce it excellent.

Indeed, after their dusty ride of the morning nothing could have been one-half so refreshing as that draught of ice-cold water from the well with the old-fashioned sweep.

"If we're meaning to rest up a little bit," remarked Hanky Panky, shrewdly, "we might as well stay right here. Then just before we start off again it'll be another swig all around. I'd like to carry a canteen of that same water along with me, so I could wet my whistle as I rode."

"That would be your undoing, I'm afraid," laughed Rod, picturing the other uptilting the said canteen every few minutes, in spite of the wretched condition of the road and the necessity for cautious riding.

"I wonder whatever became of the people who lived here?" remarked Josh, presently, as he shifted his position for some reason or other, and sat with his face close to the curb of the well.

"Oh! they must have lit out long before the Germans arrived," Hanky said, confidently; "I hope now you don't believe they were actually killed, and buried somewhere around here, do you, Josh? You are the worst hand to imagine terrible things I ever knew."

"I didn't say anything like that, did I?" demanded Josh; "but it must have been on your mind. Listen! what was that?"

"I didn't hear anything," said Hanky Panky, looking worried all the same; "what did it sound like, Josh?"

Instead of answering, Josh held his hand up to indicate that if the other stopped talking he too might catch the sound. And as they listened what seemed to be a long-drawn groan came up from the depths of the well from which they had just been drinking!

CHAPTER XXII.

AT THE FORD OF THE RIVER MARNE.

"Oh! did you hear that?" exclaimed Hanky Panky, all excitement; "it was a sure-enough moan. Rod, Josh, there's been some poor fellow down there all this while; and we never dreamed of it when we pulled that bucket of water up!"

Saying this Hanky Panky leaned far over the edge of the well curb, and attempted to see into the murky depths. Rod cast a quick look in the direction of Josh, who gave him a sly wink, but kept a straight face.

"I can't see anything, for a fact," complained Hanky Panky in great distress; "but it was a groan, I'm sure--there it goes again, and worse than before. Oh! Rod, do you believe some poor chap tried to hide in the well when he saw all those awful Germans coming, and hasn't been strong enough to climb up again since?"

"Why, that might be possible, of course," replied Rod, "though just how he could stay down there this long is more than I can understand."

"What do you say, Josh?" demanded the sympathetic one.

"Oh! me?" remarked Josh, with a shrug of his shoulders, and not even offering to change his position; "if you asked me straight off the handle now I'd say that it might be only the wind sighing through the trees, or something like that. Don't stand to reason that anybody could be down there in that well."

When Hanky Panky met with opposition he always became more positive; possibly the sly Josh knew this full well, and allowed the fact to govern his actions.

"But we all heard the groans, didn't we?" demanded Hanky Panky; "and I guess I know one when it hits my ears. There certainly is some one down there. Listen to that, will you; isn't it just fierce the way he keeps going on, though?"

Indeed, the sounds had once more commenced to well up from the dark depths, and in a most agonizing fashion too. Even Rod felt a thrill, although he could give a pretty good guess concerning the nature of the poor unfortunate who was the contributing cause for those dismal groans.

"No use talking, fellows!" declared Hanky Panky presently, after they had listened again to the suggestive sounds that seemed to spell human misery; "I just can't stand this any longer. Something's got to be done, that's what. I've a good notion to slip down the rope myself, and find out what it means."

"But that'd be going a whole lot, just to satisfy your curiosity, wouldn't it?" asked Josh, cunningly, for he knew that he was taking just the course to further aggravate the other's intention to act.

"Well, you don't seem to care much what happens to a poor chap who's made a fool of himself, and got caught down in a well; but I do,"

a.s.serted Hanky Panky, proudly. "I don't think I could ever sleep decent again if I had the nerve to ride away from here, and never even try to get him out."

He deliberately started to remove his coat, showing that his mind was made up. Rod looked at Josh, but received in turn a pleading glance, as though the other begged to be let alone, and turn his trick. The chance to "get one" on Hanky Panky was too good to be lost, Josh evidently believed.

So those amazing groans continued to well up out of the depths, increasing in pathos if anything as they proceeded.

"Take care not to slip, Hanky," advised Rod, "or we'll have the job of drying a chum out before we can go on our way."

"And say, that well water's awful cold in the bargain," remarked Josh, carelessly; "keep a tight hold on the rope. We'll look after this end, and when you say the word pull you out."

Accordingly the determined one started to lower himself into the haunted well, showing a most commendable spirit, Rod thought. It was really too bad to allow the joking Josh to play this trick on so gallant a fellow; but possibly there would be no harm done in the end, and at least it served to break the terrible monotony of seeing sad sights on the road through the devastated country.

Presently the shaking of the rope ceased, and the voice of the explorer came up from the depths.

"This is certainly a queer deal I'm getting," he said, complainingly.