“There is one incident connected with our trip through this part of Belgium, sir, that I would like to speak of, hoping it will convince you we are what we claim to be, only that and nothing more. Have I your permission to tell you about this adventure, sir?”
“Proceed,” the officer told him; “we are giving the horses a little rest, which they sorely need, so a short delay will do no harm.”
“We were coming along when we had an accident to the engine. While I was making the necessary repairs one of my friends made an astonishing discovery. We saw the figure of a man caught in the top of a tall tree. He was moving his arm to us as if he hoped to attract our attention in that way. When we hurried up to the tree we found, just as we expected, the wreck of an aeroplane there!”
Thad purposely paused at that thrilling point so as to let them grasp the full force of his assertion. He was not much surprised when the officer demanded:
“Could you tell from the build of the aeroplane what sort of a machine it may have been, boy?”
“Yes, for I had noticed them while over in Germany, sir,” replied Thad. “It was a Taube model. We climbed the tree at once, three of us, and after some hard work managed to get the aviator safely down. He told us how he had been scouting over the Belgian lines when both his machine and himself were struck by shots. He tried to sail slowly to the ground miles away from the fighting line, but by hard luck struck that tree, and became caught there, his machine falling to the earth.”
Again Thad stopped as though to get his breath, but it was really done for effect and to give the officer a chance to ask a question, which he immediately did.
“Then you claim that this man whom you aided was a German aviator, do you?”
“He had a bad wound in his arm,” proceeded the boy, promptly, “which we had no trouble in binding up, because you may know, sir, that scouts are taught how to treat all manner of wounds. I am sure he felt very grateful on account of what little we were able to do for him. We were only carrying out the principles of our scout organization. It did not matter to us whether he was German, Belgian or French, he was in need of assistance, and we gave it.”
The officer in command swept a look around at his comrades, and Thad saw that several of them nodded their heads as though they rather liked the way the boy in khaki had put forward his ideas concerning strict neutrality.
“Would you know the name of this German Taube operator if you heard it again, boy?” asked the commander.
“Oh! he left a note with us, which he signed with his name,” said Thad, smilingly; “you see he said it might be of assistance to us in case we came across any party of Uhlans on our travels. I supposed from that he must be pretty well known, although of course none of us had ever heard his name.”
“Was it that note you just took from under the lining of your hat?” asked the officer.
“Yes, sir, and here it is. You see, I felt that it might get us into trouble if Belgian eyes saw it, for they would not like to know we had saved the life of a German aviator who would have died in that tree, perhaps.”
The officer hastily took the piece of paper and read the few lines written thereon by the man of the wrecked Taube. Thad saw that it seemed to create something of a sensation among the Uhlans as it was passed from hand to hand, and from this he felt satisfied that the aviator must have been one of the leading airmen in the German flying corps.
Now the grim face of the Uhlan commander had relaxed. He even smiled on the Scouts.
“I am convinced that you are what you claim, my brave boys; so shake hands with me, one and all of you,” he said.
“Bully,” Giraffe was heard to mutter half under his breath, at this sudden change in front on the part of the stern Uhlan officer, evidently a soldier of more or less reputation.
Even Bumpus wanted to be able to say he had grasped the fist of a German cavalry officer raiding through Belgium, for he crowded forward, and was the last to be greeted in that friendly way.
“Let me give you back this slip of paper, boy,” said the commander to Thad. “You should be very proud of having saved the life of that brave man, for he is called the foremost aviator in our entire corps. If our commander, the Kaiser, ever learns of what you have done be assured that he will send you a personal letter of thanks.”
All this was very pleasant for the boys to hear. Bumpus was evidently still hugging a faint hope to his faithful heart that they might be allowed to pass on. He even managed to find his voice, and put his anticipation into words.
“And could we be allowed to keep on to Antwerp, sir?” he asked.
At that the officer frowned again. He seemed to consider for a moment, then shook his head slowly in the negative.
“You must turn back, and proceed to the Dutch border,” he told them. “It would be much better for you to try and reach Antwerp by way of Rotterdam and the sea. There nothing will delay you, while on land a thousand obstacles may arise to prevent the accomplishment of your plans. Besides, you must give us your word of honor as scouts that you will not come back this way again.”
Thad felt as though a great load had been taken from his chest. Now that they were to be forced to promise Bumpus could not complain; and they would be able to try the other plan. He was sorry now he had not insisted on doing that at the time they trod Dutch soil; before now they would have reached Rotterdam, and might even be sailing for the Schelde.
“We are ready to make you that promise, sir,” he told the commander of the Uhlans, “in fact, we should have decided on that course long ago. It would have saved us a heap of trouble. Once across the border and on Dutch soil we should not have crossed back again.”
“I differ with you there, boy,” said the other, smiling again; “for had you done so the German flying corps would perhaps have lost its most brilliant and daring exponent. Turn your car, therefore, and you can proceed ahead of us. First of all let me mark out the course I wish you to take.”
With that he drew out a map of Belgium and Holland. Thad was interested when he saw what a marvel of ingenuity that map was. It had evidently been carefully prepared for the army to be used in case of just such an invasion. Possibly there were other charts covering Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark.
Thad saw that it was very minute. Not a railroad, station, crossing, canal, road, town, village, bridge, ford, fort or anything else of consequence but that it was plainly marked there. And the officer had other maps too, for Thad glimpsed them when he was selecting this one.
He traced the route back to the Dutch border, and Thad, taking out his own apology for a chart, made marks to indicate the course he was to take. Then after considerable work he managed to get the car turned, some of the troopers being ordered to dismount and lend a helping hand. After that they started, and before they had gone far the clatter of horses’ hoofs from the rear announced that the entire squadron of troopers must be coming after them.
“Gee! but I’m glad they’re not meaning us any harm,” remarked Giraffe, as he took one of his usual backward peeps by simply twisting that long neck of his around; “because they’d be able to overtake us in a jiffy, even if their nags are tired. It’s a heap nicer to have these hard-riding Uhlans for friends than enemies. And I also hope we don’t run afoul of that armored motor-car we saw, with those reckless Belgians in the same. I do believe they’d charge the whole Uhlan squadron.”
Thad himself echoed that wish. He had seen sights during that terrible battle for the possession of the disputed bridge that would never fade from his memory; and he did not want to look on anything further that had to do with bloodshed and misery, under the thin veneering of glory.
“We’re coming to the side road he wants us to take, and which will lead to the Dutch border,” Thad announced after a time.
A few minutes later and the car turned to the left, after which Thad shut down. Standing up they watched the troop gallop past, and fortunately the dust was blowing toward the opposite quarter so their view was not hindered. The scouts had taken off their hats, and every time they saw any one in that long column give them a salute they answered in kind as they had been taught by the rules of the organization to which they belonged.
Finally the last Uhlan had ridden past, and only a slowly settling cloud of dust told where they had gone.
“We’ll always remember this last incident as one of the pleasant episodes of our dash through Belgium,” remarked Thad, as they settled down again in their places for another start.
“One thing sure, Thad,” observed Giraffe, “that commander must have placed a lot of confidence in your simple word, because he wouldn’t know now whether we meant to keep on into Holland, or try again to push on after he’d forbidden it.”
“I guess he knows whatever a scout says he’ll do he tries to perform,” ventured Bumpus, proudly.
“Seven miles isn’t far, and with any sort of luck we ought to be over the line by noon,” remarked Allan.
“What’s the plan of campaign, then, Thad?” inquired Bumpus.
“We’ll try for a station on a railway,” he was told. “Over in Holland they’re not so apt to be given over wholly to the military forces, so we stand a chance to get passage to Rotterdam. The very first time our car goes back on us with the railroad close by it’s good-bye to this machine.”
“I really don’t think any of us will mourn much for the dinky trap,” Giraffe argued; “but then I suppose after a time when things get mellow in our minds well all take a lot of satisfaction in talking about this trip, and the old car will come in for its share of attention. Time heals many faults, you know.”
Now that the change in plans had really come about, they could feel a sort of satisfaction in reflecting that they had kept on to the very last. In fact, they had refused to give up until actually in the hands of the Uhlans, and compelled to promise on their honor as scouts that they would do as ordered.
“Oh! did you see that?” exclaimed Bumpus, starting them all to staring around in various directions; and then he condescended to go on, thus centering their attention to the one point—“it was ahead of us I saw it, boys.”
“Saw what, a boa constrictor from the menagerie?” demanded Giraffe, with the suspicion of a sneer in his voice.
“It was aman,” said Bumpus, severely, “if you want to know, and he dodged into the bushes there as quick as a flash when we came around the bend.”
“Oh! he did, eh?” continued Giraffe; “and now mebbe you could tell us what sort of a man it was, Bumpus, white or black, tall or short, soldier or just a plain ordinary citizen. Speak up, Bumpus, we’re waiting.”
“He looked to me about like our friend the Kaiser!” said the fat scout, with a trace of a smile on his rosy face; “and there’s where he dodged into the brush, too!”
Thad stopped the car.
“Nothing more likely than that it was the very man,” he remarked. “I should think he might have gotten this far along the way to the Dutch border by now,” and then raising his voice the patrol leader called: “Hello! Kaiser, don’t you want to buy a dog? Show yourself, Bob; you ought to know your friends!”
At that a lanky figure bobbed up and there was an inarticulate cry, after which the circus fugitive hurried to join them.
“Why, thisisa surprise, I must say, and a pleasant one in the bargain,” he declared, fairly bubbling over with delight as he shook first Thad’s hand and then that of each scout in rotation; “I never dreamed I’d see you boys again on this side of the water. What made you change your minds?”
“A stout officer in the uniform of a Uhlan colonel,” laughed Thad. “The fact is we ran smack into a squadron of Uhlans, and they made us promise to cross over to Holland; so, as scouts always keep their solemn word we’re bound that way right now. And there’s room enough for you to crowd in, if you think we can make faster time than afoot.”
The tattooed man did not wait for a second invitation, and easily squeezed in with the two boys in the rear. There was not much room to spare, owing to the fact of Bumpus being so very corpulent; but then Kaiser was as thin as he was long, so that he occupied very little space. Giraffe said he “wedged” himself in, which was about the truth.
He was greatly interested in hearing of the adventure that had befallen Thad and his three chums since they separated from him that morning. For the first time he learned how they had saved that German Taube man from the treetop, afterwards binding up his wound.
“It does beat all creation,” declared the circus fugitive, “how you boys manage to go around doing good to others. I owe you a big debt just as that aviator does, and I warrant you there are many others, only you’re too modest to mention the fact.”
“Oh! that’s all in the game!” said Giraffe, making out to look upon such things with a feeling bordering on contempt, although being human he must have liked to hear his praises sung.
“To tell the truth,” ventured Thad, “we are the ones who feel under obligations, because we get much more benefit out of these happenings than the other fellow. Everybody does who believes in the old saying that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. Besides, we are only obeying the rules of the organization that we’re proud to say we belong to.”
As they went on their way the man who had traveled to the uttermost corners of the world entertained them with still further stories connected with his strange experiences. Thus they hardly noticed the lapse of time, and when Thad told them they had passed the seventh mile the eagle eye of Giraffe began to get busy with the task of locating the guard station that would mark the border line.
A short time afterwards he pointed it out to them, and they discovered one of the same white posts that had marked the division of territory at the time they were chased by the German cavalrymen, and found refuge over the line with the soldiers of Queen Wilhelmina.
Of course they were stopped, but at this early stage in the war the Dutch guard along the border had no orders to keep any one out of Holland. Questions were put to them by an officer who was summoned by the privates. These of course Thad could answer truthfully, and besides, the manly bearing of the lads must have had an influence in determining the officer to admit the party.
He did look rather doubtfully at the circus freak, but having been told just who Kaiser was, and seen something of his wonderful adornment, he did not think himself justified in turning him back.
So it came the four scouts left Belgium territory again. They had been through some pretty warm experiences since first striking the soil of the buffer state, many of which would never be forgotten.
Somehow all of them seemed to breathe easily after they had started along the road that would take them to the nearest railroad town. Thad knew it had all been a mistake, their trying to break past the struggling armed hosts, and that they would have shown wisdom had they come this way in the beginning.
At the same time he did not feel very sorry. They had been given a wonderful experience, and would certainly never forget some of the things that had happened to them. Particularly would they have reason to remember that terrible battle for the bridge head, when the German hosts fought their way through a storm of shot, only to see the bridge blown up with dynamite before they could secure it.
“That finishes it with me,” remarked Thad, when the car came to a sudden stop, on account of the treacherous motor breaking down again. “Get ready to leave the old trap in the ditch, boys. We’ll give some other simpletons a chance to tinker with the machine. I’m done with it, once and for all.”
“Well, you gave us all plain warning in good time, Thad,” spoke up Giraffe, not in the least depressed with this change of plans, because his impatient spirit could not brook these irritating delays.
Even Bumpus did not show any considerable amount of chagrin, and the reason was quickly made manifest when he broke out with:
“I really believe we must be close on to that railroad town they called Valkenswaard; because as sure as anything I heard the sound of a train moving along just then. Yes, there it goes again, with the motor puffing like hot cakes. Thad, tell me if I’m right about that.”
“Just what you are, Bumpus,” replied the patrol leader. “I heard it myself, which was one reason I said what I did. We’ve been heading nearly due east for some little time now, and were due to strike the line of steel before long.”
“The plan then is to step out lively, and get to this Dutch town,” suggested Allan. “I suppose then we’ll take the very first chance we can strike to start for Rotterdam by way of—for goodness’ sake, let me see that chart of yours again, Thad; because these terrible Dutch names twist my tongue so—here it is, Hertogenbosch, which seems to be about the biggest railway center in all Holland.”
“How far away is Rotterdam, Thad?” asked Bumpus.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly, Bumpus,” answered the scout leader; “but on a guess I’d say not more than a hundred miles. The Netherlands isn’t a very big country, you remember, and yet one of the most wonderful places in the world. We’ll see some strange sights as we go along.”
“I hope we make the trip by daylight, then,” said Giraffe, who was more or less fond of seeing new scenes.
They made sure to leave nothing behind that they cared to keep.
“Good-bye, little old trap,” said Giraffe, making a mock bow toward the abandoned car; “you played your part all right in the circus, and we’ll often think of you, with tears in our eyes. All the same we’re glad to be able to say our necks haven’t been broken while we navigated the roads of Germany, Belgium and Holland in your care.”
Inside of half an hour they actually arrived at the town on the railway. Here they managed to get something to eat while waiting for a train to come along. It was by the greatest luck in the world that they found themselves on the road shortly after noon, because the service between Belgium and Holland was already sadly disorganized on account of what was going on across the border.
When they arrived at the town of Hertogenbosch they found that they would have to wait an hour before they could make a fresh start for Rotterdam. Here Kaiser the tattooed man said good-bye to his young friends, since he was headed for Amsterdam, and their routes ran in different directions.
“I’ve got your home address, boys,” he said after squeezing their hands for the third and last time, “and I’m going to drop in and see you some time or other, if I get out of this country alive. You’ve been good friends to me, and I’ll never forget it. I’m a firm admirer of Boy Scouts from this time on, and will preach the gospel of humanity wherever I go, just as you’ve paid it out to me. Good-bye, all!”
They were really sorry to part with Bob Kaiser, for if ever there lived an entertaining and good-hearted eccentric fellow he “filled the bill,” as Giraffe said.
During that long afternoon they continued to pass through a most interesting country, with many glimpses of watery sections, where the dikes kept the sea from flooding the rich land which the industrious Dutch had wrested from the grip of Mother Ocean.
It seemed as though every rod of it must be under cultivation, and the boys understood after that journey what was really meant by “intensive farming.” Flowers without number were included in the various crops, for Holland is the home of the greatest nursery of bulbs in the whole world, her rich soil being just suited to their growth.
Evening was drawing on apace when they neared the great city of Rotterdam and sniffed the salty scent of the sea that lay beyond. It acted like a tonic upon the four lads. Even Bumpus was noticed to take numerous whiffs of the invigorating atmosphere, although he had been very seasick on the voyage across the Atlantic.
They managed to get located at a small but neatly kept hotel, where they could stay while looking about, and making inquiries concerning the possibilities of getting to Antwerp by water.
Never in all their lives had they seen such wonderful cleanliness. The women and children with their queer head-dresses, and snow-white garments were a never ceasing source of wonder to the boys, especially Bumpus, who often chuckled when he pointed out roly-poly boys who put even his own generous proportions into the shade, so to speak.
“This is the land where you really belong, Bumpus,” Giraffe told him; “here you could pass unnoticed, if only you dressed like these other boys do. Just imagine our Bumpus with a pair of those wide trousers on, and wooden shoes to finish him off, would you? I’ve got half a mind to buy an outfit for you, Bumpus, while we have the chance. You’d make a great hit with the pretty girls of Cranford when you came out and set the style for the rest of the fellows.”
“Squander your money if you feel like it, Giraffe,” Bumpus good-naturedly told him; “but getting me to wear such a clown outfit will be another thing. One boy c’n lead a horse to water, but the whole Cranford Troop can’t make him drink against his will, remember.”
They had a peaceful night of it, although at first they feared the many noises welling up from the water front where the shipping was so dense would annoy them. It must have been they were all pretty tired, and that of late they had failed to enjoy their customary sound sleep, for to tell the truth none of them seemed to know a thing from the time they retired until Thad, arousing, found it was already broad daylight.
Immediately after breakfast they started out. Bumpus was becoming distressed once more on account of his not having heard from his mother for such a long time. He was exceedingly fond of her, and felt sure she must be enduring great mental agony on account of the uncertainty concerning her boy, marooned up in the Rhine country by this sudden breaking out of the great war.
At first they did not meet with any luck. Vessels were starting out that day, a number of them, but for America and England. Those destined to cross the Atlantic had every stateroom engaged, for thousands of sight-seers had already taken the alarm, and were flocking to the Dutch ports to get passage home.
It was about the middle of the morning when Thad struck a clue which seemed to give more or less hope. Eagerly following the trail they finally learned that a small steamer expected to leave Rotterdam for Antwerp an hour after noon that same day. There might not be another for forty-eight hours, and so it became necessary for the scouts to immediately engage passage, and then hurry back to settle their score at the hotel, as well as carry their personal belongings aboard.
Being something of hustlers they managed to accomplish all this in record time, having learned that they could get dinner on board the boat.
And once comfortably settled they could await the sailing of the boat with a conviction that their troubles were in all probability over.
“Just to think,” said Giraffe, after they had started down the river to the sea, lying some twenty miles or so away, “if we could have continued our voyage in that little boat of ours through the rest of Germany and then into Holland we’d have brought up here, sooner or later.”
“Why, is this really the mouth of the Rhine?” asked Bumpus, wonderingly; “I had an idea Rotterdam was situated on the Meuse River.”
“It’s all a regular mix-up, however you try to see it,” responded Giraffe, who had been studying the chart, and wished to exploit his knowledge; “there seem to be no end to the outlets of those two rivers when they get to the delta region of the Netherlands, and you can call them either the Rhine or the Meuse as you please. It’s all salt water down here, anyhow, and these are really arms of the North Sea reaching far up into the Low Countries.”
It was a very interesting trip down the river, at any rate. They had glimpses of forts which Holland had erected in order to defend her cities against any foreign foe; though the boys considered that her greatest possible danger lay in the west, where Germany had an envious eye on this valuable territory that seemed to properly be a part of her expanding empire.
Finally about the middle of the afternoon they came in sight of the sea, though its heaving had been manifest for some time previously. All of the scouts viewed the apparently boundless expanse of salt water with delight; Bumpus however was heard to express a fervent hope that he would not have to pass through another attack of sea sickness. When about an hour before the setting of the sun they saw heavy smoke along the horizon, and presently could make out a long line of what appeared to be misty-colored battleships headednorth, it gave them a decided thrill.
“They must be a part of the great British fleet, on the way to seek battle with the Kaiser’s warships!” was the consensus of opinion; and having lately witnessed the ferocity that marks a battle the boys could easily picture the stirring scene if ever a decisive conflict did take place between the rival fleets of the North Sea.
With the good boat forging on toward the mouth of the Schelde River, up which it would pass to the docks at Antwerp, it seemed as though the troubles of Thad Brewster and his three fellow scouts might be over for the present. They fully anticipated being in the Belgian city by morning, and possibly taking passage for London before another night, with Mrs. Hawtree in their care.
Here we may well leave them, confident that no matter what may arise to throw obstacles in their way, these energetic and resourceful lads can be depended on to overcome all trials, and reach the haven for which they are heading. At some no far distant day we can hope to once more follow their fortunes in new fields of scout endeavor; but until that time comes we must ring down the curtain and say good-bye.
THE END
BY HERBERT CARTER
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