Just as he feared, when Rob managed to turn around and look back, he found that Tubby had gone and done it again. Whether he had missed his footing, or something had given way under his additional weight, was a question that could not be decided.
Before Merritt, close in his rear, could thrust out a helping hand, poor Tubby had fallen. The river was all of thirty feet below, and just there the water looked unusually unpleasant, because it had considerable foam on the surface, there being a shallow rift above the wider stretch.
By the merest accident in the world, Tubby's clutching hands had succeeded in fastening upon a loose steel stay that hung downward for ten feet. It must have given the fat boy a considerable wrench when he gripped this, but he had clung with the tenacity of despair.
When Rob turned around, the first thing he saw was Merritt kneeling there on the violently agitated girder over which they were making their crossing. He was staring downward, and, of course, Rob instantly focused his gaze in the same quarter.
He had expected to see Tubby splashing about like a porpoise in the stream far down below; but, instead, was astonished to discover him clinging desperately to that loose piece of steel wreckage.
Tubby had his face turned up toward his chums. There was not a particle of the rosy color to be seen that as a rule dyed his ample face; in fact, he was as white as a ghost. A beseeching look was in his eyes. Tubby knew that swinging there he was in a serious predicament, from which there would be only one escape if he were left to his own devices. That would mean he must release his frantic clutch on the swaying steel rope, and drop down into the river, a possibility he shuddered to contemplate.
"Hey! get me up out of this, fellows, can't you?" he whined, for, after his recent gymnasticefforts, he no longer had sufficient breath to shout.
"Clasp your legs around the thing, can't you, Tubby?" said Rob, who saw that the strain on the other's arms must be tremendous, judging from the way he was hanging there.
The advice struck Tubby as well worth following; so he immediately began to work his short legs violently until he found that he could, as Rob suggested, twist them around his slender support.
When that had been accomplished it was much easier for him. He began to suck in some encouragement once more.
"But won't you try and get me up again, Rob?" he asked piteously. "I can't hang on here for very long, like a regular old pendulum to a clock. I'm not wound up for a seven-day-goer. And say, I'd hate to have to drop kerplunk into all that water down there. Think up some way to grab me out of this, won't you, Rob?"
"I'm trying to, Tubby. Keep still a bit, and let me think," he was told.
In one way, of course, it was a ridiculous sight,and that was why Rob winked his eye at Merritt when he thought he could detect a whimsical look on the other's face. Still, it was anything but a laughing matter to poor Tubby, who felt that he had a tremendous amount at stake. Every time he found himself compelled to let his horrified eyes turn downward that noisy stream seemed to be more and more formidable to him. He fairly hated it.
"Can't you climb up again, Tubby?" asked Merritt, who knew exactly what he would have quickly done had he found himself placed in the same predicament.
"I'd like to, the worst kind," the fat scout assured him, "but you know I'm feeling very queer and weak, so I don't believe I could do much that way, unless," he added quickly, "I had some assistance from above."
"And that's just what I'm going to try and give you, Tubby."
While Rob was saying this he had unbuttoned his coat. This he proceeded to take off, first making sure to transfer anything he had in the pockets, so that he might not suffer a loss.
"Now, by leaning down here, I think I can reach you with this coat," he proceeded to explain. "If I had a rope, it would be much easier, for with a loop I could make a sure thing of it. But half a loaf is better than no bread, they say."
"Of course it is, Rob," agreed Tubby, who was in no position to quarrel with any measures that were taken for his relief. "But what can I do with the coat when it comes down to me? I don't feel that cold, you know."
"I'm going to keep hold of one end, Tubby," Rob explained quietly, in a way to convince the imperiled scout that everything was working as arranged, and that he need not worry. "With just one hand you get a good grip of the end that's near you; then start in to try and climb, using your clasped legs the best you know how. And don't get discouraged if you only come up an inch or so at a time. When you're within reach Merritt will hang down and lend a hand, too."
All of which was undoubtedly very cheering to Tubby. This thing of having stanch comradesin times of distress was, he had always believed, one of the best parts of the scout brotherhood.
He immediately took a firm grip of the dangling coat-sleeve, and commenced to wriggle the best he knew how.
He immediately took a firm grip—and commenced to wriggle the best he knew how.—Page 247.He immediately took a firm grip—and commenced to wriggle the best he knew how.—Page 247.
"I'm making it, Rob; sure I am!" he presently announced. "That time I slid up as much as six inches. It was a bully hunch, that coat racket of yours. Keep her going, Rob, and I'll get there yet. Never give up—that's my motto, you know. I may get in lots of scrapes, but somehow I always do manage to crawl out, don't I?"
"Save your breath, Tubby, for your work; don't chatter so much," Rob told him.
Merritt was ready to do his part. He had clasped a leg about the girder to help hold him, and was leaning as far down as possible. Presently the grunting fat chum reached a place where he could be taken hold of, and so Merritt fastened a hand in his coat back of his neck.
"Here you come, Tubby," he said encouragingly.
"Don't let go with your hands or knees yet!" warned Rob; for, should Tubby be so foolish asto do this, the chances were that such a sudden weight might drag Merritt down, and both would take the plunge.
It required considerable effort to finally land Tubby on the horizontal girder, but in the end this was accomplished. Then all of them sat there to rest after their recent violent exertions.
"I don't see how I came to do it," Tubby finally remarked, as though he deemed it necessary that some sort of explanation were forthcoming. "I was moving along as nice as you please, when all of a sudden I felt myself going. I must have grabbed at the air, and happened to get a grip on that hanging steel rope. Well, it might have been a whole lot worse for me! I'm glad I didn't get soused in the river. And I'll never forget how nobly my chums came to the rescue."
"Oh! stow that sort of talk, Tubby," Merritt told him. "That's what we're here for. What's a scout wearing his khaki uniform for if it isn't to remind him what he owes to his chums? You'd do the same for us any old time."
"Just try me, that's all," declared the grateful Tubby; and then, changing his tune, he went onto say: "Here we are, out in the middle of the span, and it's just as hard to go back as it is to move forward. So when you're ready, Rob, start off again. I'll try not to slip any more. The next time you might see my finish."
"I'm sure it would see mine," remarked Merritt, rubbing the arm he had used in order to tug at Tubby's great weight.
Luckily nothing more happened, and they were able to reach the opposite shore in safety. Tubby sank down and panted, as soon as he crawled off the end of that fragment of the steel bridge.
"Thank goodness that job is over with!" he exclaimed fervently, "and all I hope is that we don't have to come back this way."
"Oh! you're getting to be an expert tight-rope walker by now, Tubby," Merritt said encouragingly. "A little more practice, and you could apply for a job with Barnum & Bailey's circus."
"Thank you, Merritt, but I have loftier aims than that calling," said Tubby disdainfully.
"Well, let's be getting on," suggested Rob. "We've spent enough time here already."
"Thank goodness I don't have to tramp alongsoaked to the skin," Tubby was heard to tell himself, with gratitude.
The road skirted the river bank on the side they were now on for some little distance at least. Rob continued to keep a watchful eye around as they progressed. He knew there was always a chance that they might meet some detachment of troops hurrying along; though the fact of the bridge being down must be known to the Germans, and would deter them from trying to make use of this road until a temporary structure could be thrown across the river by their engineers.
Most of the inhabitants had fled from that part of the country. Some may have drifted into Brussels before the capital fell into the hands of the invaders, when August was two-thirds gone; and they had remained there ever since. Others had fled in the direction of Ghent and Antwerp, in the hope that these cities might hold out against the German army.
Several times they saw old men at work in the fields, trying to save a part of their farm crops, though without horses they could do little. Every beast of burden had been drafted for one or theother army; what the Belgians missed the Germans had certainly commandeered to take the place of horses lost in the numerous fierce engagements thus far fought.
On consulting his little chart Rob soon found that it would be necessary for them to abandon this good road, and take to a smaller one that branched off from it, winding in through the trees, and past farms that had been thrifty before this blight fell on the land.
"Here's a wood ahead of us that looks as if it covered considerable territory, and you don't often see such a bunch of timber in Belgium," Merritt announced presently.
"Because, with seven million inhabitants to such a small area," added Rob, "it's always been necessary that they employ what is called intensive farming. That is, they get as much out of the soil as possible, even to several crops off of the same patch of ground during the year."
"Belgium is a busy manufacturing country, too, or has been up to now," Merritt continued, which information he may have remembered from his training at school, or else found in someguide-book purchased in New York City before their steamer sailed for England.
"I wonder what we'll strike on the other side of this wood?" Tubby questioned, always speculating on things to come; and possibly hoping then and there they might run across a hospitable farmer who would kindly offer to provide them with some sort of breakfast.
"That's yet to be seen," Merritt told him. "Here's where there seems to be a sort of swampy patch, with water and bogs. Listen to the frogs croaking, will you? And I can see more than a few whoppers, too. Chances are this is a frog farm that supplies the big hotels in Brussels and Antwerp. You know the French are keen on frogs' legs, and pay fancy prices for them by the pound."
"I've eaten them more than once," Rob informed them, "and I never had spring chicken that was more toothsome and tender."
Whereupon Tubby cast a wistful eye toward the border of the frogpond, where the big greenbacks could be seen, sitting partly in the water, and calling to one another socially.
The boys kept walking on, and finally came to where the trees began to get more scanty. About this time Rob made a discovery that was not at all pleasing.
"Hold up, fellows," he said in a hoarse whisper that thrilled Tubby in particular, "our road is blocked. There's a whole German army corps camped ahead of us; and it's either go back, or else hide here in the woods till they take a notion to break camp and clear out. Let's drop down in the brush and talk it over."
"That settles me, I guess!" said Tubby sadly, as he followed Rob into the shelter of the brush nearby, from which haven of refuge they might watch to see what chances there were of the big camp, a mile and more away, being broken up.
"I know what you're thinking about, Tubby," Merritt told him; "that none of us has had any breakfast, and the outlook for dinner is about as tough as it could be."
"Yes," admitted the fat scout, "I feel just like kicking myself, because I didn't think of doing it when I had the chance."
"Doing what?" asked Merritt.
"Getting that good-natured old fellow at the inn to put us up some lunch," was the explanation Tubby offered. "I guess he'd have done it, too, because he thought we deserved being taken care of, after hearing what the wounded Belgiansoldiers had to tell about us. Oh! it's a shame how all my great thoughts come afterward. What's the use of locking the stable door when the horse has been stolen?"
"Well, cheer up," said Rob, who, of course, had overheard what was being said; "it may not be a case of starving."
"See here, you don't happen to have a lot of stuff hidden away on your person, do you, Rob?" gasped Tubby hopefully; and, as the other shook his head, he continued in a mournful tone, "I thought that would be too good to be true. But please tell us what you mean by saying it mightn't be so very serious. Mebbe you know of a henroost nearby, where we might find a tough old Dominick fowl that had been overlooked by the raider squads from the camp?"
"If I did I'd tell you, Tubby; but wait a bit, while we watch the camp. If nothing happens inside of two hours, I've got a sort of scheme to propose to you both, and I hope it'll meet with your approbation."
"Two hours! Two long, weary hours! Gee!" And, as Tubby said this, he proceeded to takein some of the slack of his waistband, possibly meaning to show Rob how terribly he had fallen away of late.
They could see that myriads of men were moving about on the level stretch of country where the invaders were encamped. Fires were going, and doubtless those excellent camp ovens, of which so much had been written, were being used to bake fresh bread for the day. Those Germans omitted nothing that would provide for the comfort of the enlisted men.
"It looks as though they meant to stay there all day," remarked Rob, when they had been observing these things for at least a full hour.
"Oh! Rob!" protested Tubby helplessly, as though the information gave him a severe pain.
"Well, they believe in drilling right up to the minute they go into battle," was what Merritt remarked; "for there you can see a whole regiment of them marching in review past the commander, with others following behind."
"It's a wonderful sight," admitted Rob. "I never saw soldiers keep step, and seem to be such parts of a machine like that. You'd think theywere moved by some network of wires, like a big automatic engine."
"Oh! look what funny steps that first line is practicing!" cried Tubby. "Why, they must be only boys, and just playing soldiers. See how they lift their feet, and go along like a high-stepper of a horse. Ain't that the limit, now?"
"I tell you what that must be," said Rob, quickly. "I've read about what they call the 'goose-step.' It's a flinging up of each leg, as the step is taken, bending the knee, instead of keeping it stiff, like most soldiers on parade do."
"The silly nonsense!" laughed Tubby. "What would I look like trying that fancy step? I thought the Kaiser had more sense than that."
"Hold on. Don't condemn a thing before you know what it's meant for," said Rob. "There's an object, and a mighty good one, about that step, even if it does make most people smile when they see it for the first time."
"Then let's hear what it is, please, Rob."
"As far as I know about it, the object is to strengthen the muscles of the leg, and give those that are tired from a set position a rest. Don'tyou see how that sort of a movement relieves the leg? Try it a few times, and you'll believe me."
"Have you ever seen the goose-step before, Rob?" asked Merritt.
"Only once, in a moving-picture play of the German maneuvers," he was told. "It struck me then as ridiculous; but I knew those German military men had long heads, and would not start a thing like that in a parade without something big back of it. So, when I got home I tried it a few times, and then I saw what a splendid relief that throwing forward of the foot was. There goes another line doing it."
They continued to crouch—there was small possibility of any one discovering them—and watched all that was going on in the busy camp beyond.
Not once did any of the soldiers wander away. It was plainly evident that they were being given no liberties. Rob only hoped that the order would come for this corps to get on the move, and head to the southwest; for he did not doubt but they were meaning to go to Ghent, or to some other place toward the coast.
Several times Tubby was observed to crane his neck and look up toward the heavens anxiously. The others did not need to be told what those signs indicated. They knew very well that the fat chum had not become suddenly interested in astronomy, or expected an eclipse of the sun to happen. He was merely noting how far along his morning journey the sky king had traveled, because he could not forget how Rob had set a time limit on their remaining there.
Two hours he had mentioned as the sum total of their stay; when that boundary had been reached Rob was going to make some sort of pleasing proposition. Tubby hoped it would have to do with the procuring of a certain nourishment, of which all of them certainly stood in great need.
At last Rob gave signs of making a move.
"Now, if you fellows will come back along the road a little ways with me," he announced with a smile, "I've got something to propose. I only hope you fall in with my views, for then there's a chance that we'll have something to eat."
"Oh! you can count on me agreeing with you,Rob!" said Tubby cheerfully. "No matter whether it's fur, fin, or feather, I think I could do justice to nearly anything that grows."
"As it happens, it's something that doesn't fly or walk that I have in my mind," Rob declared rather mysteriously. "The fact is, it hops!"
"Now you have got me worse balled up than ever," protested Tubby, his brow wrinkled with his endeavor to guess the answer.
"I think I know," volunteered Merritt, grinning amicably.
"What does he mean, then? Please hurry and tell me," pleaded Tubby.
"Frogs, isn't it, Rob?" demanded the other.
"Oh! gingersnaps and popguns! Do I have to come down to choosing between eating jumpers and starving to death?" complained the fat boy, looking distressed.
"Well, wait till you get your first taste, that's all," Rob told him. "If you don't say it beats anything you ever took between your teeth, I'm mistaken, and that's all there is about it. Why, they're reckoned one of the fanciest dishes in all the high-class clubs in America, along with diamond-back terrapin, canvas-back duck, and such things. The only thing I'm afraid about is that after you get your first taste you'll want to hog the whole supply."
"But how shall we catch the frogs, and then cook them?" asked Merritt.
"The first ought to be easy," replied Rob, "seeing how plentiful they are, and how big and tame. I see a dandy piece of wood that would make a good bow with a piece of stout cord I've got in my pocket. Merritt, get some of those straight little canes, growing on the edge of the water. We can make them do for arrows, and, even without feathers, I think I can hit a big frog with one at ten paces away. It'll be fun as well as a profitable business. Frog-hunters, get busy now."
"Here's a long pole, Rob. Shall I take it and steal up close enough to whack a few of the jumpers on the head?" asked Tubby, now entering into the spirit of the game.
Being given permission, and warned not to make too big a noise, lest he frighten all the frogs into jumping, he set about his task. Afterseveral failures he finally brought one monstrous greenback frog to where the others were still working.
"I'll show you how to cut off the saddle, and skin the hind legs," said Rob.
Tubby did not altogether like this job. The slimy feeling of the frog rather went against his stomach. Still, after the large hind legs had been duly skinned, they presented so much the appearance of the white meat of a spring chicken that Tubby felt encouraged enough to set forth again.
He had four victims by the time Rob and Merritt pronounced the bow and arrow part of the business in readiness for work.
They kept at it steadily for an hour and more. Rob found considerable excitement and profit in his archery. His arrows could not be wholly depended on, for they were not properly balanced; but the distance was so short that he made numerous fatal shots.
Merritt, too, had secured another long pole, and joined Tubby in his share of the frog hunt. It was exciting enough, and with more or lessdelicious little thrills connected with it. No doubt the frogs must have enjoyed it immensely; but then, no one bothered asking what they thought of such tactics. A boy's hungermustbe allayed, and, if there were only frogs handy, why so much the worse for the "hoppers."
"Whew! Don't you think we've got enough, Rob?" asked Tubby, unable to stand it any longer.
"What's the score?" asked the archer, as he tossed still another great big victim toward the spot where the fat scout had been counting the pile.
"Twenty-one, all told," replied Tubby. "That would mean seven for each. But how in the world can we cook them? I hope now you don't mean to tackle them raw? I love raw oysters, but I'd draw the line at frogs. I'm no cannibal."
"Well, let's find a place deeper in the woods, where we can make a fire out of selected dry wood that will make so little smoke it can't be noticed. That's an old Indian trick, you know. Hunters used to practice it away back in the time of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. When theywere in a hostile country they had to be mighty careful about making a smoke. I've tried it before, and believe I can pick out the right kind of fuel to use."
While the others were finishing the not very pleasant work of skinning the numerous frog saddles, Rob busied himself with making the fire in a secluded neck of the woods. In the midst of jutting stones he soon had a blaze going. It could not be seen twenty feet away, on account of the obstructions; and, as the proper kind of wood had been selected, there was no smoke to mention.
The boys would have given something for their well-remembered frying pan, just at that time, and some pieces of salt pork with which to sweeten the dainty morsels which were to constitute their luncheon. They were true scouts, however, and could make the best of a bad bargain.
"All hunters do not have skillets when they're in the woods," said Rob, as he took a long splinter he had prepared, thrust it into one of the saddles, and then, poking the other end into the ground close to the fire, allowed the meat to getthe benefit of the heat. "We must do what we can in this old-fashioned way. The best sauce, after all, is hunger; and, from the look on Tubby's face, I reckon he's fairly wild to set his teeth in the first of the feast."
Pretty soon it was a lively scene, with all those forks having to be attended to. A tempting odor also began to rise up that made Tubby's mouth fairly water. He heaved many a sigh, as he waited for Rob to tell him that the first of his allotment was sufficiently browned to be devoured.
"Now, let's begin," said Rob finally. "Only look out not to burn your lips. And, Tubby, take my word for it, you're going to get the treat of your life!"
"Honest, Rob, I never knew what I was missing when I said toasted frogs' legs would do for Frenchmen, but none for Merritt Crawford," and, while making this abject confession, the speaker allowed a look of sublime content to possess his features, such as would remove any lingering doubt concerning his sincerity.
"How about you, Tubby?" asked the master of ceremonies.
Tubby had been savagely tearing at his first helping. His eyes were glued on the various sticks under his charge, at the ends of which the rear portions of as many frogs were dangling, and turning a delicious brown under the influence of the heat.
Then Tubby was seen to heave a sigh.
"To think that there are onlysixmore apiece!" he said in a most solemn tone. But the otherslaughed softly, because they knew any loud merriment, under such peculiar conditions, was hardly safe.
"That settles one thing," remarked Rob. "There's going to be a marked reduction in the profits of this particular frog-raiser this season, if Tubby has to stay here long."
Tubby was already commencing on his second batch. He could not waste time in talking when his appetite had been excited to a feverish pitch by the first bite of tender and succulent meat.
"Only thing I kick about," he presently mumbled, throwing away the slender bones which he had picked clean, "is that they go so quick. Why, you hardly get started before you're at the end."
"That's the way with nearly all good things," Merritt informed him. "Just as soon as they become so numerous that you can have all you want, somehow it seems as if the craving leaves you."
"Yes, I guess that's about it," admitted Tubby, talking only because the next batch of provender was not quite ready for disposal. "Anyhow, I'veseen my mother just dote on a horrible little cucumber that dad brought home in January, paying about twenty cents for the same, and, when we have bushels of splendid ones in our own garden, why, nobody cares to eat them."
The little feast continued until everybody had cleaned up their mess. Tubby was disconsolate because the supply was so limited and the demand so great.
"How foolish we were not to double our catch," he said several times, "for there wouldn't have been any trouble about doing the same. One thing I've settled in my mind, I want to tell you."
"Well, go on, then, and explain," urged Merritt.
"I'll have one next summer, see if I don't," asserted Tubby.
"What—a feast of frogs' legs?" chuckled the other scout.
"Me? Only one show at the same? Well, when I like a thing, I rave over it. I want it every day. I mean to have a frog hatchery, and a pond where I can raise 'em by the million!"
"Listen to him, will you, Rob?" exclaimed Merritt, pretending to be horrified. "If ever there was a case where eyes were bigger than a stomach, it's right here. Millions of them, Tubby wants now; seven is only a flea-bite to him."
"Oh! shucks! don't make me out a hog!" remonstrated Tubby. "I didn't mean I expected to devour the whole lot. Why, can't you see there's good money in raising frogs? I'm going to get the figures, and find out just what the ratio of increase might reach. And my folks have got a dandy marsh on the old farm back near Huntington that we own. Rob, I thank you for opening my eyes to this grand opportunity. I expect it will be the turning point of my life yet."
They were used to hearing Tubby talk like this. He often became inspired with ambition, but, as time went on, the spirit died out, and something new took its place.
"You're letting the little fire die out, I notice, Rob," Merritt observed.
"Why, yes; we have no further use for it," he was told, "and there's always a small chance that some soldier would be sent this way on anerrand, when he might get a whiff of the smoke, and take a notion to investigate. For one I'm not hankering to be sent a prisoner of war to some detention camp on the Rhine."
"And I'd feel pretty bad if my mission over here turned out a fizzle," said Merritt, "because my heart is set on getting that paper for Grandfather Crawford."
"I'm going to propose," Tubby projected, as though he could not tear his thoughts away from the one fascinating subject as long as the taste of his remarkable feast was still on his lips, "that we put in a couple of hours' more work getting a supply of these bouncing big frogs. If the Germans stay right there the rest of the day we want to lay in some provisions; and our choice is limited, you know, to this one thing."
"Of course we could do that," Rob informed him, "in case it was absolutely necessary; but I've got a hunch that there's going to be a movement of that army before sundown. If that happens, we can get away from here, and find some one to cook us a meal."
"Then you must have noticed signs that toldthey were beginning to get ready to go?" suggested Merritt.
"Which was just what I did," replied Rob. "I can hear certain sounds that tell me they have received the order they were expecting, and are breaking camp."
As all of them were anxious to learn whether this glorious possibility could be really true or not, they once more made their way back to the spot where their former vigil had taken place.
"Why, the whole army is in motion, seems like!" ejaculated Tubby.
"And a wonderful sight it is, at that," added Merritt. "They can say what they please about these German soldiers—and the Belgians feel they've got a right to call them all sorts of hard names, as barbarians and the like; but there never was such remarkable discipline in the history of the world. The huge army is like one vast machine. Men count only as necessary cogs. When one goes another takes its place, and the engine grinds on."
They crouched there and watched every operation from a safe distance. It seemed as thoughthere was a never-ending procession of gray-coated figures, most of them with the spiked helmets on their heads, marching away in columns toward the southwest. Then came batteries of quick-firing guns, and heavier field pieces. The clattering of accouterments, the neighing of horses, and the hoarse singing of various regiments—all these things came floating on the breeze to the ears of the three lads, as they lay there in the afternoon sunshine and watched.
"They seem particularly fond of certain tunes," remarked Tubby, "and I know one is the German national air, 'The Watch on the Rhine,' because we've sung it many a time in the school at Hampton. What's that other they roar out, Rob?"
"I think it's a popular patriotic German air, calledDeutschland ueber Alles, which means, of course, 'Germany Over All'," Rob obligingly replied.
"Oh! well, every country's sons believe they ought to have the first place in the sun; and I reckon we Americans have done a heap of boasting that way," Merritt remarked, which seemed to be about what Tubby thought, too.
So they lay there until the camp was entirely deserted. Never would those three scouts forget the spectacle to which they had been treated that day.
It was now along toward the middle of the afternoon. Far off in the distance somewhere, an action was certainly going on, for the grumble of heavy cannonading came almost constantly to their ears.
"Chances are," said Rob, as they prepared to vacate their refuge and once more push onward, "there's a fierce battle in progress, and this corps has received orders to get on the firing line. That would account for the way the troops were singing. Their business is to fight, and most of them are only happy when they can smell burnt powder, hear the crash of bursting shrapnel, and the heavy boom of big shells."
"We've seen one battle," observed Tubby with a shudder, "and for myself I'm not hankering after a second experience."
"I suppose in time we'd get used to such terrible things," Rob pursued in a reflective way, "for even the fellow who nearly swoons away in his first fight, they say, becomes a regular fire-eater after a while; but, so far as I'm concerned, I'll be a happy boy when I see good old peaceful Long Island again, with its sandy beaches, and the familiar things we love."
"We all will, Rob," remarked Tubby fervently, a yearning expression coming over his rosy face, as in imagination he again saw the home folks, and sat down to a table that fairly groaned with the good things he doted on.
"Yes, after I've carried out my mission I'll be just as glad to start back as either of you fellows," Merritt assured them.
The last of the Germans had disappeared from view when the boys started out. Rob was looking a bit serious, and the other noticed that he kept turning his eyes off toward the right, for it was in that direction the great host had gone.
"You don't expect they will turn back and give us trouble, do you, Rob?" asked Merritt, noticing this frequent look.
"No; it isn't that," he was told, "but I'm wondering what a certain movement that I happened to notice could mean."
"Tell us about it, won't you, Rob?" Tubby implored. "It can't be that we have to take the same road that army marched away along, because we're heading in just the other quarter."
Before Rob could commence with his explanation they heard the sound of what appeared to be an automobile behind them. At the time they chanced to be at the foot of a slight elevation, which rose for perhaps twenty feet in a gradual ascent.
"Gingersnaps and popguns! Look what's bearing down on us, will you?" gasped Tubby.
"It's an armored automobile, as sure as anything!" added Merritt, "just like that car we saw in Antwerp, you know. Yes, I can see the muzzle of the deadly Maxim gun that's back of that metal shield. Rob, it's heading straight at us. What if they take us for Germans, and open fire?"
"Oh! for goodness' sake, let's wave a white flag to keep them from mowing us down likewheat!" exclaimed Tubby, commencing to fumble in his pocket.
"Hold up your hands to show that we have no arms!" ordered Rob, abruptly. "They are Belgians, and perhaps the same daring fellows we saw come into Antwerp with all sorts of spoils to show they had made a raid, and shot down their regular allotment of the enemy. Yes, wave the white bag, if you want, Tubby; we don't mean to take any chances."
"It's a hard thing to be shot down, and then have some one say they're sorry, and that they didn't know the gun was loaded," remarked Merritt.
The armored car slowed down as it approached. Those vigilant Belgians aboard were doubtless observing the three figures in khaki closely. Already they must have discovered that they were Boy Scouts. Possibly they more than half expected to find they were Belgian scouts, for such boys were being used as dispatch bearers all over the war zone.
"We are friends!" called out Rob, "American boys, who belong to the scouts over in our country, you understand? We have nothing to do with the war. Do any of you speak English? I can talk in French a little, if it's necessary."
"If you keep on the road ... you will fall into an ambush."—Page 277."If you keep on the road ... you will fall into an ambush."—Page 277.
The three Belgian soldiers laughed at that. Plainly they had been at a loss to place these three lads.
"I happen to be able to talk English very good," one of them called out, as the car stopped, "and we are glad to meet you. Americans are good friends of ours."
"Listen," said Rob impressively, "if you keep on the road you expect to take, so as to follow the German army corps, you will fall into an ambush inside of three minutes."
When Rob made this astonishing statement his two chums suddenly realized that this must be the matter he had been on the point of explaining to them when the armored car from Antwerp came tearing along the road in their rear like a modern war chariot.
The leader of the three Belgian soldiers, and who seemed to be a captain, looked incredulous. He repeated what Rob had said to his backers, in Flemish; and they, too, observed the scout with wondering eyes.
"This is a strange thing you are telling me, boy," remarked the captain. "How is it you know there is an ambuscade laid to catch us napping?"
"I will gladly explain," the Eagle Patrol leader hastened to say. "You see, we want to get to Sempst, and, as we helped the Red Cross on thebattlefield yesterday, we were detained. Then we found that there was a German army camped right in our way. It moved off toward the front only an hour ago, and we have been hiding most of the day. But, while we were watching the troops depart, I was surprised to see a single gun taken into a patch of scrub on a little elevation that commands the road. It is pointed this way, and you can never notice it there unless you have been posted. Now I can guess what they are hiding for; they expect that you may be along, and mean to rid the German army of your stinging them so often!"
Tubby's mouth was wide open. He stared at Rob as though he hardly knew whether he were awake or asleep. Even Merritt seemed thrilled by what he had heard.
As for the Belgian captain, it was an incredulous look that gripped his features.
"I do not know what to believe, boy," he said, looking earnestly at Rob.
"The best way is to prove it," that worthy told him immediately.
"It would at least be convincing," the pilot of the armored car declared.
"Suppose, then," continued the scout, "you leave your car here at the foot of this little rise. They couldn't see us with that hump between. Go up the hill, and look along the road. You needn't let them see you, of course; but I notice that you've got a pair of field-glasses along. Follow the road with those until you come to a little break in the stone wall that lies around a patch of field on the right. It is this knoll I spoke of, crowned with brush. Watch that brush closely for a minute; perhaps you will see the sun glint from the gun; or else one of the hidden German gunners may move ever so slightly. That will tell the story, captain."
The pilot of the armored car jumped out.
"I will do as you say, at least it can be no harm," he remarked hastily.
After speaking in Flemish to his companions, he started up the rise, carrying the field-glasses and a revolver along with him. Watching, they saw him get down and crawl the last yard or so;and then evidently he found a way to level his glasses in the quarter under suspicion.
Five minutes later and he backed off, coming quickly down the little declivity. The first thing he did was to grip Rob's hand and squeeze it fiercely.
"I have to thank you for my life, and the lives of my brave comrades as well!" he said with fervor.
"Then you found that what I told you was exactly so?" Rob asked.
"Yes, there is an ambuscade," replied the soldier. "They must have suspected that we would chase after the army so as to pick up stragglers, because that is our favorite game these terrible days; anything to sting the snake that is crawling across our beloved country and leaving death and destruction behind."
"You will not go ahead after learning what is waiting there, I suppose, Captain?" Rob continued.
"Certainly not, my boy, because they have the range plotted out, and, when we reached a certain spot, one shot would blow the car and thethree of us to pieces. Our play is to go around another way. But why have you done this for us, when you say, as Americans, you must be neutral?"
"I hardly know," replied Rob. "Up to lately we have not felt like favoring either side, because we have many good German friends at home. But what we have seen and heard here in Belgium is beginning to turn us to the side of the Allies. You see, I could not watch you rush right to your death, knowing what I did. Perhaps, if the tables had been turned I might have warned a German pilot to turn around before it was too late."
"Well, you have done us a great favor, and we thank you," said the Belgian soldier, with considerable feeling; after which he conversed with his two comrades for a minute or so, no doubt explaining what had awaited them close by; and that only for the timely warning of the Americans they would have been launched into eternity.
Then the car was turned around, and away the three dashing Belgians sped. The last the boys saw of them was when they waved theirhands back ere vanishing around a curve in the road.
"Well," said Tubby, "that was a splendid thing you did, Rob. And to think you noticed the Germans laying that cute little ambush there! It shows what training will do for a fellow, doesn't it?"
"It is only what every scout is supposed to do," replied Rob, thinking to impress a lesson on Tubby's mind. "Observe every little thing that happens, and draw your own conclusions from it. When I saw that gun going up into the field, I wondered what they meant by that. Then I saw they were laying a trap. I couldn't believe it was intended for us, and so I was puzzled, because we didn't expect to use that road at all."
"And when the armored car came whizzing along you knew the Germans meant to get the Belgians who had been doing so much damage day after day, as we'd heard; that was it, eh, Rob?" and Merritt nodded his head sagely, as though things were all as plain as anything to him now.
"Huh!" snorted Tubby, "after Columbus hadcracked the end of the egg and stood it up, didn't those Spanish courtiers all say that was as easy as pie? Course we can see things after they've happened. But you and me, Merritt, had better be digging the scales off our eyes, so we can discover things for ourselves next time."
Merritt did not answer back. Truth to tell he realized that he merited a rebuke for his lack of observation. It might pass with an ordinary boy, but was inexcusable in a scout who had been trained to constantly use his faculties for observation wherever he went.
"Our road will take us past that place where they are hiding, won't it, Rob?" he presently said. "Suppose, now, they guessed that we must have turned the armored car back, and lost them their victims, wouldn't they be likely to take it out on us, thinking we might be Belgian Boy Scouts?"
"I had that in my mind, Merritt," admitted Rob, "and for that reason I reckon we ought to leave the road right here. We can make a wide detour, and strike it further along, where the danger will be past."
All of them were of the same mind. They didnot fancy taking any chance of having that concealed six-pounder discharged point-blank at them. Mistakes are hard to rectify after a fatal volley has been fired. The best way is to avoid running any chances.
They found a way to leave the road and take to the fields, skirting fences, and in every way possible managing to keep out of sight of the German gunners who were lying concealed in that scrub on the little elevation.
It was while they were pushing on some distance away that without the least warning they caught a strange pulsating rattling sound from the rear. All of them came to a stop, and wondering looks were quickly changed to those of concern.
"Rob," exclaimed Merritt, "it comes from near where that gun lies hidden back of the bushes; and that's the rattle of a Maxim, as sure as you live. Those Belgians have turned the tables on the Germans; they've managed to sneak around back of them, and must be pouring in a terrible fire that will mow down every gunner in that bunch of brush!"
Rob was a little white in the face, as he continued to listen to the significant discharge. He had seen what mischief one of those Maxim guns could do at fairly close quarters, for they had witnessed them at work during the battle of the preceding day.
"I feel bad about it in one way," he said, "because in saving the lives of those three Belgians we have been the means of turning the trap on those who set it. But I never dreamed they would try to surprise the men in ambush."
The sounds died out, and silence followed; though the far-away grumble of the conflict could be heard from time to time.
"They've launched their bolt," said Merritt, "and either skipped out again, or else the German battery has been placed out of commission. We didn't hear the six-pounder go off, so they had no chance to fire back."
They continued their walk in silence. All of them had been much sobered by these thrilling and momentous events that were continually happening around them. Much of the customary jolly humor that, as a rule, characterized theirintercourse with one another had been, by degrees, crushed by the tragedies that they had seen happening everywhere among the poor Belgians and amid the stricken soldiers whom they had so nobly assisted on the field of battle.
Striking the little road again at some distance beyond, they continued to follow it, under the belief that they could not now be very far away from the town they were aiming to reach.
Before they entirely lost sight of the late encampment of the German army, the boys discovered that a number of peasants from the surrounding country had come on the scene, and appeared to be hunting for anything of value which might have been purposely or by accident left behind.
"The poor things know they're going to have the hardest winter ever," said Tubby, with considerable feeling in his voice, "and they're trying to find something to help out. Like as not some of them even came from Louvain, where they lost everything they had in the wide world when the place was burned to the ground. It's just awful, that's what it is. America looks likethe only place left where there's a chance of keeping the peace."
As they went along Rob was keeping track of their course. He gave Merritt his reasons for believing they would reach Sempst before sunset after all, unless something entirely unexpected happened to delay them again.
"Just now we're in great luck," he finished. "So far as we can see the Germans have cleared out of this particular section completely. They may be back again to-morrow; you never can tell what they'll do. But the main line of railroad is where they are mostly moving, because in that way they can get their supplies of men, guns, ammunition and food, and also take back the wounded. Some of their dead are buried, but in the main they prefer to cremate them, which is the modern way to prevent disease following battles."
Merritt did not make any remark, for he was becoming more and more anxious the closer they drew to the town where he expected to have that question of the success or failure of his mission settled.
Rob knew how strained his nerves must be. He could feel for his chum, and it was only natural for him to want to buoy up Merritt's sinking hopes.
"Don't get downcast, old fellow," he told him. "You've stuck it out through thick and thin so far. Whether you find this Steven Meredith in Sempst or not, you're bound to meet up with him somewhere, sooner or later, you know."
Merritt gritted his teeth, and the old look of resolution came across his face, which the others knew full well.
"Thank you for saying that, Rob," he observed steadily. "You know that once my mind is made up I'm a poor one to cry quits. I'll follow that man to China, or the headwaters of the Amazon, if necessary, but I'll never give up as long as I can put one foot in front of the other."
"And," said Tubby vehemently, "here are two loyal comrades who mean to stick to you, Merritt, to the very end."
"I think we're coming to Sempst," said Rob.
It was nearly half an hour after Merritt had so firmly announced his intention of staying in the game, no matter if he should meet with a bitter disappointment in the town, which had been the loadstone for their advance through the heart of war-stricken Belgium.
"Then Brussels can't be very far away, over there," said Tubby. "Gee! I only wish we could find some scarecrows about now, and get a change of clothes."
"What makes you say that?" asked Rob. "I thought you were so proud of your suit of khaki that nothing could tempt you to give it up."
"Oh! I didn't mean I'd really want to discard this bully suit," Tubby hastened to explain. "Only if we could manage to conceal the scout uniform under something more common, why, you see theGermans might take us for Belgian boys, and in that case wouldn't molest us."
"I understand what he's getting at, Rob," Merritt chuckled, "Tubby has said a number of times that the one thing he was sorry about was that we couldn't have a run through Brussels. Seems like he got a great notion he wanted to visit there, as he'd read a lot about the wonderful city. But you'll have to let that longing sleep until the next time you come abroad, Tubby."
"Unless we happen to find we've got business in Brussels," observed the other cunningly. "Then mebbe we might decide we'd find a way to go in. 'Course I mean if they told us here in Sempst that Mr. Steven Meredith, who seems to be a pretty smart secret agent of the German Government, had changed his residence to Brussels, so as to be in touch with army headquarters and the General Staff. How about that, Merritt?"
"We won't cross rivers before we come to them," Rob hastened to remark, not wishing the other to fully commit himself to any course. "After coming so far with the intention to findour man here in this little town, it seems silly to get cold feet when we're right on the spot, and before we know anything that's against our having the best of success."
"Oh! you're right, Rob," agreed Tubby. "You remember the old motto we used to write in our copybooks at school long ago—'sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' Guess that's from the Good Book, too; but it applies to our case, all the same. We'll wait till we see what is going to happen here in Sempst. Anyway, they haven't burned this little place down, because I don't see anything that looks like ruins."
Indeed, it seemed as though the peasants living close to Brussels had been induced by the Germans to continue their regular field work, under promise of purchasing for fair prices all the green stuff they could fetch into the capital. They, mostly women, old decrepit men, and children, for even the smallest could be given some task that would help out, were working in the fields.
"I wonder if any of them could understand my French," Rob was saying. "Of course itwouldn't be likely they could talk English. I've got a good notion to try it on the first one we meet on the road ahead."
"Do it, Rob," urged Tubby. "Merritt and I will stand by to catch him if he starts to faint."
"Oh! I hope my French isn't quite that bad," exclaimed Rob. "I've been polishing it up considerable, you know, while on the steamer, and after we landed in Belgium; and, with what I know, and by pointing and shrugging my shoulders, I generally manage to make people understand. Of course, I don't know how it would be with a clodhopper who didn't happen to be as intelligent as I'd want. But here's a chance, and I'm going to make the attempt."
"It won't kill, even if it doesn't cure," said Merritt; "and, Rob, if you can get him to understand what you're saying, be sure and ask if that chemical factory, where we understood Steven had been given his responsible berth, has shut down, or if it is still in operation."
"I'll do that, Merritt," the other promised.
Accordingly, when the peasant, smoking his big pipe, came along in his wooden shoes, Robstopped him. He wanted to impress the fellow favorably, so as to increase the prospect for a favorable answer; and so Rob made sure to have one of his famous smiles on his bright face when he began to air his French.
The other boys stood there watching the "circus," as Tubby called it. They saw, however, that Rob, many times at a loss for words in order to express his meaning, must have managed to make the peasant understand him.
Again and again each of them pointed toward the town so near at hand. Possibly Rob may have been explaining just who he and his chums were, and also how they had come all the way from Antwerp with the one hope of finding a certain person in this little suburb.
"He's picking up some kind of news, seems like," Merritt told Tubby, as the dialogue progressed under so many difficulties, expressive movements of the shoulders, and waving hands taking the place of words that failed.
"What makes you think so?" demanded the fat scout.
"Look at Rob's face, and you can tell that he'sfeeling more or less satisfied with the way things are going on," replied Merritt.
"Gosh! that's so," muttered Tubby. "Seems you're getting a move on, too, with observing things. I'll have to hurry and do something myself, if I don't want to find that I'm no first-class scout, after all, but only a dub."
Finally Rob was seen to press a coin in the calloused palm of the peasant, who took off his cap and bowed several times, as though grateful, and then he continued on his way along the road.
"What luck?" asked Tubby immediately; while Merritt, more deeply interested than any of them, silently waited to listen.
"Oh! he gave me quite some information," replied Rob; "and, so far as I can see, it looks good for us. I didn't learn anything about Steven Meredith, because the farm laborer probably never heard of such a person; but he did tell me that the chemical works have been kept going full blast ever since the Germans occupied Brussels."
"That must be because certain things are made there that they can use in their war game, eh, Rob?" Merritt conjectured, and the other nodded.
"No question about it," he said, "though the peasant couldn't say why certain things were done, only that they did happen. But, if the factory is running wide open, there seems to be a chance that we may find Steven still on deck, and keeping his finger on the pulse."
"I'm only afraid that if he really is what we think, a secret agent of the government," Merritt suggested uneasily, "that he may have been transferred to some other point where his smartness would be apt to count, perhaps away down in France, so that he could send up valuable information about the making of artillery, or how the conscription of the Nineteen-Fifteen boy recruits is coming on."
"Still, to find the works open, and doing business right along, looks like a piece of good luck to me," said Tubby.
"It is," added Rob positively. "We agreed long ago that we'd consider it such, if we learned there had been no shutdown. We hoped it would be that way, for we already knew that German capital had been back of the chemical works. I wouldn't be much surprised if it was learned thatsomewhere about the place, unknown to most people, these clever Germans had long ago built a heavy concrete floor, to be used in their business; but which would make the best kind of foundation for one of those big siege guns they used to knock down the Liège and Namur forts."
When Rob said this he did not dream how closely he was hitting the truth. It had not been discovered at that time how secret preparations along such lines had been made by the Germans, year after year, in close proximity to many of the leading cities in Belgium, France, and even over in England.
"Well, now for moving on, and entering the town," Merritt remarked, with a look on his face that told how he was summoning all his resolution so as not to appear too heartbroken should they meet with bitter disappointment.
"I hope we don't run across any German soldiers here," said Tubby.
"We want to keep on the constant watch for them," Rob gave warning. "If they saw us, they might think it their duty to have us arrested atonce, and detained until our story could be investigated."
"And that would spell ruin for all our plans, wouldn't it?" Merritt asked, not as cheerfully as he might, because he had been fearful all along that something like this might come to pass just when he had discovered the object of his long search, and before he could proceed to relieve Steven Meredith of the old case in which he carried those splendid field-glasses.
They were now among the outer houses of the town. So far as they could see, Sempst did not differ to any degree from various other Belgian towns they had seen. It consisted of numerous small houses, a few more pretentious dwellings, possibly of Brussels business men, and some factories.
From only one of these stacks was smoke seen coming, and, having picked up a pointer, it was easy for the scouts to decide that this must be the German-owned chemical works with which Steven Meredith had been connected, between his foreign trips.
When thus entering the town that was so closeto Brussels, where the Germans were in full charge, it was the policy of the three scouts to draw as little attention to themselves as possible. While thus far they had not chanced to notice any German soldiers, still there was always a possibility that some of them were around.
Besides, Rob figured that if a German-owned chemical factory had been in operation here for years, very naturally there would be many natives of the Rhine country employed there, and living in the town. If the German government were really back of this Belgian works, as seemed possible, they would want to have mostly reliable men on guard, who, in case of sudden emergency, could throw off their workmen's garb and show themselves in their true colors, as regularly enlisted soldiers, serving their superiors while plying their regular trade.
When, therefore, the boys heard loud outcries, after entering the town, and made the distressing discovery that there was a runaway approaching them, the first thought Rob had was that they must keep out of the way, and not interfere, lestby so doing they attract attention toward themselves.
With this discreet plan of action rapidly forming in his mind, Rob was even in the act of hastily drawing both his chums back behind a wall until all the excitement had subsided, when he made a discovery that brought his scheme to a halt.
It was, after all, only a pony that had been seized with an attack of blind staggers, and was now dashing frantically away, with a little basket-cart dragging back and forth at his heels; but in that cart Rob saw was a frightened child.
In that moment, Rob struggled with a grave question. To show themselves before a crowd such as would likely gather, was full of danger, not only to themselves, but for their mission as well. At the same time there was a something within his soul that refused to avoid the responsibility by shutting his eyes.
He could not do it. He knew that child was in deadly peril, for, small as the pony might be, just then he was acting like a little demon. Ifhe allowed the runaway to go by, and something dreadful happened, how could he ever reconcile his action with his vows as a true-blue scout?
So Rob's mind was made up.
"Merritt, we must save that poor little child, come what will!" he exclaimed; and that loyal comrade, forgetting all else for humanity's sake, instantly cried:
"We will, Rob! Hurry and get on one side, while I look out for the other!"