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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20327-8.txt b/20327-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6a9143 --- /dev/null +++ b/20327-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4825 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts on the Trail, by George Durston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Scouts on the Trail + +Author: George Durston + +Release Date: January 10, 2007 [EBook #20327] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Linda McKeown, Emmy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + +By GEORGE DURSTON + +[Illustration] + +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + +AKRON, OHIO + +Made in U. S. A. + + Copyright, MCMXXI + By + The Saalfield Publishing Co. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: They sent the message quickly, accurately.] + + + + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PLANS FOR THE HOLIDAYS + + +"Where are you going to spend the holidays, Frank?" + +The speaker was Henri Martin, a French boy of the new type that has +sprung up in France since games like football and tennis began to be +generally encouraged. He asked the question of his schoolmate, Frank +Barnes, son of a French mother and an American father. Frank's name was +really Francois; his mother had that much to do with his naming. But he +was a typical American boy, none the less, and there was a sharp +contrast between his sturdy frame and that of the slighter French boy +who had become his best chum in the school both were attending near +Paris, at St. Denis. + +"I don't really know, Harry," said Frank. "Not exactly, that is. My +Uncle Dick is coming over a little later, and I think we'll go to +Switzerland." His face clouded a little. "I--I haven't any real home to +go to, you know. My father and mother--" + +"I know--I know, mon vieux," said Henri, with the quick sympathy of his +race. "But until your uncle comes--what then, hein?" + +"Why, I'm to wait for him here, at the school," said Frank. "He's a very +busy man, you know, and it's hard for him to get away just any time he +wants to. He will get here, though, early in August, I think." + +"But that won't do at all, Frank!" exclaimed Harry, impulsively. Like +many French boys, he spoke English perfectly and with practically no +trace of an accent. "To spend a week or two weeks here in the school, +all alone! No--I tell you what! I've an idea!" + +"What is it?" asked Frank, a little amused at the horror with which his +friend heard of the notion of staying in school after the holidays had +begun. + +"Why, come home with me until your uncle comes!" said Harry. "That's +what you must do. I live not so far away--not so very far. At Amiens. +You have heard of it? Oh, we will have fine times, you and I. I am to +join the Boy Scouts Francais these holidays!" + +He called it Boy Scoots, and Frank roared. The word scout had been +retained, without translation, when the French adopted the Boy Scout +movement from England, just as words like rosbif, football, and le sport +had been adopted into the language. But all these words, or nearly all, +have been given a French pronunciation, which give them a strange sound +in Anglo-Saxon ears. + +"Excuse me, Harry," said Frank, in a moment. "I didn't mean to laugh, +but it does sound funny." + +"Of course it does, Frank," said Henri, generously. "I speak English, so +I can see that. But there's nothing funny about the thing, let me tell +you. We began by calling the Boy Scouts Eclaireurs Francais, but +General Baden-Powell didn't like it, so we made the change. Really, +we're a good deal like the English and American scouts. We have the same +oath--we call it serment, of course, and our manual is just a +translation of the English one." + +"I was going to join in America, too," said Frank. "But then I came over +here, and I didn't know there were scouts here. Do you wear the same +sort of uniforms?" + +"Yes--just like the English," said Harry. "You could join with me, +couldn't you? You're going to be here for a whole year more, aren't +you?" + +"Yes. My mother"--he gulped a little at the word--"wanted me to know all +about France, and never to forget that I had French blood in me, you +see. My French grandfather was killed by the Germans at Gravelotte--he +was a colonel of the line. And my mother, even though my father was an +American, was always devoted to France." + +"We are like that--we French," said Harry, simply. Into his eyes came +the look that even French boys have when they remember the days of 1870. +"The Germans--yes, they beat us then. We were not ready--we were badly +led. But our time will come--the time of La Revanche. Tell me, Frank, +you have seen the Place de la Concorde, in Paris?" + +"Yes. Why?" + +"Do you remember the statue of Strassburg? How it is always draped in +black--with mourning wreaths?" + +"Yes." + +"The day is coming when the black shall be stripped off! +Alsace-Lorraine--they are French at heart, those lost provinces of ours! +They shall be French again in name, too. Strassburg shall guard the +Rhine for us again--Metz shall be a French fortress once more. We shall +fight again--and next time we shall be ready! We shall win!" + +"I hope so--if war comes again," said Frank, soberly. "But--" + +"_If_ war comes?" said Harry, surprised. "Don't you know it must come? +France knows that--France makes ready. We shall not seek the war. But it +is not enough for us to desire peace. The Prussians are afraid of us. +They will never rest content while we are strong. They thought they had +crushed us forever in 1870--but France was too great for them to crush! +They made us pay a thousand million francs--they thought we should take +years and years to pay, and that meanwhile they would keep their +soldiers on our land, in our fortresses! But no! France paid, and +quickly. And ever since we have prepared for the time when they would +try to finish their work." + +"If war comes, I am for France," said Frank, still soberly. "But war is +a dreadful thing, Henri." + +"We know that--we in France," said Harry. "But there are things that are +worse than war, Frank. A peace that is without honor is among them. We +do not want to fight, but we are not afraid. When the time comes, as it +is sure to come, we shall be ready. But enough of that. There will be +no war this year or next. We have not settled about your coming home +with me. You will come?" + +"I'd love to," said Frank. "If the head master says I can, I will most +gladly. But will your people want me?" + +"My friends are their friends," said Harry. "My mother says always, +'Bring a friend with you, Henri.' Oh, there will be plenty for us to do, +too. We shall take long walks and play tennis and ride and shoot. Let us +settle it to-day. Come now to the office with me. We will ask the head +master." + +They went forthwith to speak to Monsieur Donnet, the head of the school, +who received them in his office. The school was a small one but it +numbered among its pupils several English and American boys, whose +parents wanted them for one reason or another to acquire a thorough +knowledge of French. He heard their request, which was put by Henri, +pleasantly. + +"Yes, that will be very well," he said. "I have been thinking of you, +Barnes. Your uncle has written to me that he will be here about the +tenth or fifteenth of August, and asked permission for you to stay here +until then. But--" + +They waited, while M. Donnet thought for a moment. + +"Yes, this will be much better," he said. "I--I have been a little +troubled about you, Barnes. If all were well, you might stay here very +well. But--" Again he paused. + +"These are strange times," he said. "Boys, have you read in the +newspapers of the trouble between Austria and Servia?" + +They looked startled. + +"A little, sir," said Frank. "There's always trouble, isn't there, in +those parts?" + +"Yes, but this may--who knows?--be different. I do not say there is more +danger than usual but I have heard things, from friends, that have made +me thoughtful. I am a colonel of the reserve!" + +Henri's eyes gleamed suddenly, as they had a few minutes before when he +had talked of how France was ready for what might be in store for her. + +"Do you mean that there may be war, sir?" he asked, leaning forward +eagerly. + +"No one knows," said the master. "But there are strange tales. +Aeroplanes that no one recognizes have flown above the border in the +Vosges. There are tales of fresh troops that the Germans are sending to +Metz, to Düsseldorf, to Neu Breisach." He struck his hand suddenly on +his desk. "But this I feel--that when war comes it will be like the +stroke of lightning from a clear sky! When there is much talk, there is +never war. When it comes it will be because the diplomats will not have +time, they and the men with money, the Rothschilds and the others, to +stop it. And if there should be trouble, not a man would be left in this +school. So, Barnes, I should be easier if you were with Martin. I +approve. That is well, boys." + +Both boys were excited as they left the office. + +"He talks as if he knew something, or felt something, that is still a +secret!" said Frank, excitedly. "I wonder--" + +"Of no use to wonder," said Henri. Really, he was calmer than his +companion. "What is to come must come. But you are coming home with me, +Frank. We know that much. And that is good--that is the best news we +could have, isn't it?" + +"It's certainly good news for me," said Frank, happily. "Oh, Harry, I +get so tired of living in school or in hotels all the time! It will seem +good to be in a home again, even if it isn't my own home!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TO THE COLORS + + +In those days late in July, France, less than almost any country in +Europe, certainly far less than either England or America, was able to +realize the possibilities of trouble. As a matter of fact, not for years +had the peace of Europe been so assured, apparently. President Poincare +of France had gone to visit the Czar of Russia, and the two rulers had +exchanged compliments. The alliance of France and Russia, they told one +another, made war impossible, or nearly so. The Emperor of Germany was +on a yachting cruise; even the old Austrian Kaiser, though required to +watch affairs because of the death of his heir, the Archduke Franz +Ferdinand, murdered by a Serb fanatic at Sarajeve, had left Vienna. + +Even when the storm cloud began to gather the French government did all +it could to suppress the news. The readiness of France was not in +question. France was always ready, as Henri Martin had said. Since the +grim and terrible lesson of 1870 she had made up her mind never again to +give the traditional enemy beyond the Rhine--and, alas, now on this side +of the Rhine as well!--a chance to catch her unprepared. + +What the government wanted was to prevent the possibility that an +excited populace, especially in Paris, might force its hand. If war came +it meant that Germany should provoke it--if possible, begin it. It was +willing to sacrifice some things for that. And this was because, in the +years of peace, France had won a great diplomatic victory, the fruits of +which the country must preserve. In 1870 France had had to face Germany +alone. She had counted upon help from Austria, now Germany's firm friend +and ally, but then still smarting under the blow of the defeat four +years before. She had hoped for help, perhaps, from Roumania and from +Russia. + +But all that Germany, by skillful trickery, had rendered vain. She had +made France seem to be the aggressor, and France had forfeited the +sympathy of England and of Austria as a result. Alone she had been no +match for Germany. And alone she would be as little a match for Germany +in 1914 as in 1870. But she had prepared herself. Now Russia, no matter +what the reason for war, would be with her. And, if France was attacked, +England was almost sure to join her. Everything would depend on that. +With the great English navy to bottle up the German fleet, to blockade +the German coasts, France felt that she was secure. And so the +government was resolved that nothing should happen to make possible the +loss of England's friendship; nothing that should give England even the +shadow of an excuse for remaining neutral. + +So what the newspapers printed of the threats that Austria was making +against Servia was carefully censored. There was nothing to show that +Austria was assuming a warlike attitude, and that Russia, the friend of +the little Slav countries in the Balkans, was getting ready to take the +part of Servia. There was nothing to show what the French government +and every newspaper editor in Paris knew must be a fact--that Austria +must have had assurance of German support, since she could not hope to +make a winning fight, unaided, against the huge might of Russia. + +That was why all over France life proceeded in the regular way, calm, +peaceful, without event. Some there were who knew that Europe was closer +to a general war than since the end of Napoleon's dream of conquest. But +the masses of the people did not know it. All over France the soldiers +were active; the new recruits, reporting for the beginning of their +three years of military service, were pouring into the depots, the +headquarters of the army corps, to be assigned to their regiments. But +that was something that happened every year. In a country where every +man, if he is not a cripple or diseased, has to be a soldier for three +years, the sight of a uniform, even of a long column of marching troops, +means nothing. + +And then, with the most startling abruptness, there came a change. +Nothing official, as yet. But suddenly the government allowed the real +news, or most of it, to be printed. Austria had made demands of Servia +that no country could meet! Russia had protested! Russia and Austria +were mobilizing! Germany had sent an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that +she stop massing her troops in Poland and on the borders of East +Prussia. + +"It means war," said Henri Martin to Frank. Gone was the exultation of +his voice. Frank had noticed that, since the first appearance of the +really ominous news, the excitability of his French schoolmates had +disappeared. They were quiet; far quieter than American boys would have +been in the same case, he thought. + +"But this is not France's quarrel," said Frank. "She cares nothing for +Servia." + +"Servia? Bah! No one cares for Servia--except Austria and Russia! Servia +is only an excuse. Austria wants to get some ports and Russia wants +them, too, or wants a friendly country to have them. But I will tell +you why it means war, Frank, my friend. It is because Guillaume, their +Kaiser, thinks it is the chance to crush France!" + +"Why now more than at any other time, Harry?" + +"Lieutenant Marcel told me what he thinks. It is that England is having +much trouble. In Ireland there is rebellion, almost, over the home rule. +The Germans think England will be afraid to fight, that she will have to +think of her own troubles. He does not know those English, that Kaiser! +They have their quarrels among themselves. But if anyone else +interferes--pouf! The quarrel is over--until the one who interferes is +beaten." + +"Yes, I believe that. We're like that in America, too. Why, right after +the Civil War, we nearly had to fight about Mexico. And the men in the +South, who had just been fighting the northern army, were all ready to +volunteer and fight for the country." + +"Well, that is one reason, then. And, for another, France is getting +stronger, and Russia too. For a few years after the war with the +Japanese, Russia was weak. But now she is getting strong again, and +Austria is getting weaker. If Germany and Austria can ever win it is +now--that is what the Kaiser believes. And why must France fight? Even +if she is not attacked she must help Russia because of the treaty." + +"But she didn't fight with Russia against Japan." + +"Because only one country was at war against her. If England had joined +Japan, we should have had to fight with Russia against her," Henri +explained. + +It was during the morning recess that they held this conversation. Now +the bell called them back to school. The class to which they went was +one that was being taught by M. Donnet himself, the head master. He was +at his place by his desk, and the boys had taken their seats. Suddenly, +just as the master was about to speak, a servant appeared with a +telegram in his hand. He took it to the master. M. Donnet tore it open +and read it, while a serious, grave look came into his eyes. Then he +stood up. + +"Mes enfants," he said, his whole manner somehow changed from the one +they knew, "I am called away from you." He stood very straight now; +Frank had no difficulty, as he had had before, in imagining the +schoolmaster as a soldier. "France needs me--our France. I go to +Luneville, to be prepared to receive the brave men who will fight under +my command if--" + +He stopped. + +"If war shall come!" he finished the interrupted sentence. "I leave you. +No man knows what the next few hours may bring forth. The order of +'mobilisation generale' has not yet been issued. Only superior officers +are called for as yet. Perhaps I may return. If not, I shall exhort all +of you who are sons of La Patrie to do your duty. You are too young to +fight, but you are none of you too young to be brave and loyal, to help +your parents, and your mothers if your fathers are needed by the +fatherland for active service. + +"You are not too young to show courage, no matter what may come. You are +not too young to keep alive the spirit of the sons of France--the spirit +that won at Austerlitz and Jena, that rose, like the phoenix from its +ashes, after Gravelotte and Sedan, when the foe believed that France lay +crushed for evermore! Perhaps you, like all who are French, may be +called upon to make sacrifices, sometimes to go hungry. But remember +always that it is not only those who face the foe on the battle line who +can serve the fatherland!" + +He drew himself up again. + +"Farewell, then, mes enfants!" he said. "I go to meet again those other +children I am to lead! Vive la France!" + +For a moment, as he moved to the door, there was silence. + +And it was Frank Barnes, only half French, who jumped to the top of a +desk and raised his voice in the most stirring of all patriotic +airs--the Marseillaise. + +With a will they joined him, English, American and French, for all were +there. Slowly, still singing, they followed the master from the +class-room, and gathered outside in the open air of the school yard. And +from other rooms, from all over the school, masters and boys poured out +to join them and to swell the chorus. Outside, in the street, a passing +battalion of the infantry of the line, made up of smiling young +soldiers, heard and took up the chorus, singing as they marched. + +There was no need of questions from those who heard the singing. In a +moment the discipline of the school went by the board. And, when the +song was done, they still remained together, waiting. In ten minutes, M. +Donnet appeared from the door of his own house. But now he was +transformed. He was in the uniform of his rank, his sword was by his +side; a servant carried his bags. He strode through the ranks of +cheering boys to the gate, saluting right and left as he did so. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CALL TO ARMS + + +"This does not yet mean war!" + +So M. Donnet had cried, in a final word of warning, meaning, if +possible, to do his part in the government's plan, still in force, of +restraining the passions of the French people. No. It did not mean war. +Not quite. But it meant that war was inevitable; that within a few +hours, at the most, mobilization would be ordered. This was on Saturday. +And that evening Germany declared war on Russia. Within an hour posters +were everywhere. The general mobilization had been ordered. + +The teachers in that school were young men. On the word they went. Each +knew what he had to do. Each had his little book of instructions. He +needed no orders. The mere fact that mobilization had been ordered was +all he needed to know. He knew already where he must report, where his +uniform and his equipment would be given to him, and which regiment he +was to join. He was a soldier by virtue of the three years, or the two, +he had spent already with the colors. He did not have to be drilled; all +that had been done. He knew how to shoot, how to live in camp, how to +march. If he was a cavalryman, he knew how to ride; if an artilleryman, +how to handle the big guns. + +And as with the teachers, so it was with the other men about the +school,--the gardeners, the servants, all of them. Within an hour of the +time when the order was issued, they were on their way and the school +was deserted, save for boys and one or two old men, who bewailed the +fact that they were too old to fight. In the streets St. Denis looked +like a deserted village. All the young men were going. + +Swiftly preparations were made to close the school. Madame Donnet, left +in charge when her husband went, called the boys together. + +"You must get home," she said. "Here you cannot stay. There will be no +way to care for you. And soon, too, the school will be used as a +hospital. So it was in 1870. I shall stay, and I shall prepare for what +is to come. M. Donnet telegraphed yesterday to all the parents, bidding +them be ready for what has come. I will give money for traveling +expenses. And in happier times we shall meet again." + +Save for the friendly offer Henri had already made, Frank Barnes might +well have been in a sorry plight. And, indeed, he offered now to let his +chum withdraw his invitation. + +"I have plenty of money, Harry," he said. "And if I go into Paris, to +the American ambassador, or the consul, he will see that I am all right +until my uncle comes. Your family won't want a guest now." + +But Harry wouldn't hear of this. + +"Now more than ever!" he said. "It will be different. True--not as we +had planned it before this came. But you shall come, and perhaps we +shall be able to do something for France with the Boy Scouts. We shall +see. But this much is certain--I think we shall not be able to go to +Amiens at once. Amiens is in the north--it is that way that the soldiers +must go, soldiers from Paris, from Tours, from Orleans, from all the +south. It is from the north that the Germans will come. Perhaps they +will try to come through Belgium. So, until the troops have finished +with the railways, we must wait. We will go to my aunt in Paris." + +And go they did to Madame Martin, Henri's aunt, who lived in a street +between the Champs Elysees and the Avenue de l'Alma, not far from the +famous arch of triumph that is the centre of Paris. At the station in +St. Denis, where they went from the school, they found activity enough +to make up, and more than make up, for the silence and stillness +everywhere else. The station was choked with soldiers, reservists +preparing to report on the next day, the first of actual mobilization. +Women were there, mothers, wives, sweethearts, to bid good-bye to these +young Frenchmen they might never see again because of war. + +And there was no room on the trains to Paris for any save soldiers. The +gates of the station were barred to all others, and Frank and Harry went +back to the school. + +"I know what we can do, of course," said Harry. "It isn't very far. +We'll leave our bags here at the school, and make packs of the things we +need. And then we'll ride in on our bicycles. We were stupid not to +think of that before." + +That plan they found it easy to put into execution. They had meant to +abandon their bicycles for the time being, at least, but now they +realized what a mistake it would have been to do that, since with every +normal activity cut off by the war, the machines were almost certain to +be their only means of getting from one place to another, in the +beginning at least. + +Mounted on their bicycles, they now found their progress easy. The roads +that led into Paris were crowded, to be sure. They passed countless +automobiles carrying refugees. Already the Americans were pouring out +of Paris in their frantic haste to reach the coast and so take boat to +England. On Saturday night automobiles were still allowed to leave +Paris. Next morning there would be a different story to tell. + +In Paris, when they began to enter the more crowded sections, they saw +the same scenes as had greeted them in St. Denis, only on a vastly +larger scale. Everywhere farewells were being said. Men in uniforms were +all about. Officers, as soon as they were seen, were hailed by the +drivers of taxicabs, who refused even to think of carrying a civilian +passenger if an officer wanted to get anywhere, or, if there were no +officers, a private soldier. The streets were crowded, however, and with +men. Here there were thousands, of course, not required to report at +once. + +"When mobilization is ordered," explained Henri, "each man in France has +a certain day on which he is to report at his depot. It may be the first +day, the third, the fifth, the tenth. If all came at once it would mean +too much confusion. As it is, everything is done quickly and in order." + +"It doesn't look it," was Frank's comment. + +"No," said his chum, with a laugh. "That's true. But it's so, just the +same. Every man you see knows just when he is to go, and when the time +comes, off he will go. Why, even in your America, now, all the Frenchmen +who have gone there are trying to get back. I know. They will be here as +soon as the ships can bring them. They will report to the consul +first--he will tell them what to do." + +They made slow progress through the crowded streets. Already, however, +there was a difference in the sort of crowding. There were fewer +taxicabs, very many fewer. And there were no motor omnibuses at all. + +"What has become of them?" asked Frank. "Aren't there men enough to run +them?" + +"Yes, and they are running them," said Henri, dryly. "But not in Paris. +They are on their way to the border, perhaps. Wherever they are, they +are carrying soldiers or supplies. The government has always the right +to take them all. Even at the time of the manoeuvres, some are taken, +though not all. It is the same with the automobiles. In a few days there +will be none left--the army will have them all. Officers need them to +get around quickly. Generals cannot ride now--it is too slow to use a +horse. You have heard of Leon Bollet?" + +"No. Who is he?" + +"He is a famous automobile driver in races. He has won the Grand Prix. +He will drive a general. He is a soldier, like all Frenchmen, and that +will be his task--to drive some great general wherever he wants to go." + +That was how the meaning of mobilization really came home to Frank, who +learned more from the things he missed that he was accustomed to seeing +than from new sights. In the boulevards, for instance, where as a rule +the little tables in front of the cafes would be crowded, all the tables +had vanished. That was a result of what was happening. Everything +brought the fact of war home to him. To him it was even more vivid +perhaps than to Henri, who had been brought up to know that some time +all this would come about, and saw little that he had not been sure, +some time, of seeing. + +The crowds delayed them. Sometimes they had to dismount from their +wheels and walk for a space, but in the end they came to their +destination. Madame Martin, Henri's aunt, greeted him with delight. + +"We were thinking of you, Henri!" she said. "Your uncle said to me only +to-night, when we heard of the mobilization: 'And what of Henri? He +cannot go home yet.' I knew you would come to us! And you have brought a +friend? That is very well." + +"Oh--an American!" she exclaimed, a moment later. "You have done well, +my nephew." + +"I'm half French," said Frank. Somehow he was beginning to feel very +proud of that. These last few hours, that had shown him how France +rallied in the face of a terrible and pressing danger had made it +easier for him to understand his mother's love of her own land. He was +still an American above all; that he would always be. But there was +French blood in his veins after all, and blood is something that is and +always must be thicker than water. + +So he had to explain himself, and when he spoke of the uncle who was to +come for him Madame Martin looked concerned. + +"I am glad that you are here," she said, simply. "It may be hard for him +to get here. But we can look after you until he comes. There is room +enough--and, ma foi, you shall have all that we have!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RECRUITS + + +August was drawing to its close. And still Henri and Frank were in +Paris. Henri's father and his uncle had gone to the front; Frank's Uncle +Dick, if he had tried to reach Paris or St. Denis, had not succeeded. Or +if he had, he had been unable to get word to Frank. War in all its +terrible reality was in full blast. Troops were passing through Paris +still, going to the front. But they were older men now, the last classes +of the reservists. Every night, too, the city was dark save for the +searchlights that played incessantly from the high buildings and from +the Eiffel Tower. For now there was a new menace. The Germans fought not +on land alone, but in the air. At any time a German might appear, +thousands of feet above the city, prepared to rain down death and +destruction from the clouds. + +Paris was quiet and resigned. Wounded men were coming back; hospitals, +from which floated the Red Cross flag, were everywhere. The hotels were +sheltering the wounded; churches, theatres, all sorts of buildings not +commonly so used were in the hands of the doctors and the nurses. There +were few newspapers; there was neither paper on which to print them, nor +men to run the great presses or write what they usually contained. All +were gone; all except the old and the children. Hundreds of thousands of +men were still in Paris, but they were the garrison of the city, the men +who would man the forts if the Germans came. + +And now, to get the news, Harry and Frank went to the places where the +bulletins were posted, becoming a part of the silent crowds that waited. +Every day they took their places in the crowds, to learn what they could +and carry the tale back to Madame Martin. She was too busy to stand +among the crowds herself; every day she was doing her part, helping in +the nursing, and helping, too, to relieve the distress among the poor. + +One day the two friends turned away. They had seen the last bulletin; +for some hours there would be no more news. + +"I'm afraid it's not going well, Harry," said Frank. + +"No," said Henri, almost with a sob in his voice. "It looks to me, too, +as if the Germans were winning!" + +"But many thought they would win, at first," said Frank. "It's not time +to be discouraged yet, Harry. At first we all believed the Belgians were +doing better than they could do--because they fought so well at Liege. +Now Namur has fallen. And the English--they are falling back." + +"Ah, well, that is so," said Henri, brightening a little. "We did not +expect to fight in Belgium, we French. Wait till they try to enter +France! We will stop them--at Lille, at Maubeuge, at Valenciennes!" + +"I hope so, Harry," said Frank, soberly. "But do you know what I think? +I believe we ought to go to your home at Amiens. I think you have been +waiting here on my account--because you thought my uncle was coming. +Well, I think he couldn't come. I am better off with you. And perhaps I +can help, too. I think you should go to your mother, if she is alone at +Amiens, because--" + +Henri turned on him fiercely. + +"Do you mean you think the Germans can get to Amiens?" he cried +furiously. "Never! Never! They will never come so far! They will be +stopped long before they get near it!" + +"I think so--and I hope so," said Frank. "But if my mother were there I +should want to be there, too. I've read a great deal about war and +battles lately, Harry, and I know that often an army has to retreat, not +just because it's beaten, but because it's necessary for battles that +are planned later on. The English and the French toward the coast are +retreating now--on the left of the allies. They are moving back toward +Amiens, and the Germans are following them." + +Henri continued to argue bitterly against the possibility that Frank +suggested, but his arguments grew weaker. And when he told his aunt +what Frank had said she sighed despairingly. + +"I, too, have been thinking that," she said. "These are terrible times +for our poor France. We shall win--everyone believes that. But we shall +suffer greatly first. I have talked with General Broche--you know him, +Henri. He is too old and weak to fight now, but he was active in 1870. +And he says--he says that the government may move soon, away from +Paris!" + +"Then they think--!" cried Henri, almost overcome. + +"They do not know--no one knows. But if there is to be another siege, it +is better that the government should be where the Germans cannot bottle +it up. I shall stay here, but I shall be safe. There are plenty to do +what I need. Go to Amiens, Henri. Your place is near your mother. If +there seems to be danger, beg her to come here, or even to go to her +friends, the Douays, in Nice. There at least all will be safe." + +Henri did not argue with his aunt. It was hard for him to realize the +truth, as it was for Frenchmen older than himself. But he admitted it +to Frank and even to himself, that night. And so the next morning they +started for Amiens. An officer, returning to the front after bringing +despatches to Paris, agreed to see that they reached the northern city +safely. Without him, indeed, they would have found it difficult, if not +impossible, to get aboard a train, for while other railways were open +those that led to the front were entirely in the hands of the military +authorities. + +But thanks to the friendly officer, a friend of the Martin family in +Paris, they reached Amiens quickly enough. On the way, more than once +they passed long trains carrying wounded, and, several times, other +trains on which were packed German prisoners. These, under close guard, +looked out sullenly from the windows. The sight delighted Henri. + +"That doesn't look much as if we were losing, does it?" he cried +happily. + +Amiens itself was a smaller Paris. In times of peace, Amiens is, like +many other French cities, a curious place, owing to the contrast +between its character as a busy, bustling, manufacturing town, and its +other character as a place where there are many renowned examples of +ancient art. But now it was quiet save for the ever present soldier. +Troops were passing through the streets; in the station several hundred +were entraining. + +"Do soldiers go from here, too?" asked Frank. + +"Yes. Amiens is the headquarters of the second army corps," explained +Harry. "All the reservists of that corps report here, no matter where +they live. When a regiment loses a lot of men, if it is in the second +corps, new men from here go forward to fill their places. There is no +sign of the Prussians, eh?" + +"No," said Frank. "I hope there never will be! But, tell me, would they +fight here? Are there fortifications?" + +"Not new ones--no," said Harry. He pointed to the old citadel crowning +one of the hills that commanded the town and the crooked, twisting +course of the Somme river. "There is the old citadel. That still +stands. But the ancient battlements have been dismantled. I believe that +in time of war, if the enemy got past the troops in the field, they +could come peacefully into Amiens. It is not a fortress, like Lille or +Maubeuge. Oh, look, there are some of the scouts! I see Monsieur Marron. +He is the directeur of the troop--the scoutmaster. Let us speak to him." + +They went over to a tall man in khaki, who was speaking to an officer in +the red and blue uniform of the French army. Henri saluted, and when the +officer went away, the scoutmaster turned to him with a smile. + +"Well--so you are here, Martin," he said. "Are you going to join? We +will waive formalities--we need all the scouts we can get." + +"Yes, sir, and I have brought a recruit. He is half French--the rest of +him is American. But he wants to join, too. May he?" + +"Certainly," said the scoutmaster. "Report to-night or in the morning. +Get your uniforms. Who is your recruit?" + +Frank was introduced, and the tall Frenchman shook hands with him. + +"You will be welcome," he said. "My boys are at work, you see. They are +serving as messengers. There has been plenty for us to do in these days, +too. Pray God there may not be more--and of a less pleasant sort." + +Frank observed the French scouts with interest. They were in khaki +uniforms, with wool stockings, and short trousers that stopped just +above the knee, and the soft campaign hats made famous by the pioneer +scouts in England. Indeed, they looked like the English and American +scouts in many respects. + +"One moment," said Marron, checked by a sudden thought. "You speak +French well?" He asked the question of Frank, who smiled. + +"Yes, sir," he said, in French. "My mother was French, you see." + +"That is very good," said the scoutmaster. "Never fear, I shall be able +to keep you busy as long as I am here. Soon, I hope, they will let me +go to the front, where I should be right now." + +"I thought you would have gone, sir," said Henri. + +"They wanted me to stay with my boys at the first," said Marron, with a +shrug of his shoulders. "But they can do their work alone now, and there +is no fear that they will not do it well." + +Then Frank and Henri went off, on their way to Henri's house. + +"So we have come to Amiens after all and we are to join the Boy Scouts, +just as we planned that day when I said there would be no war this +year!" + +"Yes--but it's different, isn't it, Henri?" + +"Yes, and we can be of some real use now." + +"I am glad that we are here, aren't you? When we get our uniforms and go +to work, I shall feel that we are really being used in the war. I--I'm +an American, of course, but I've hated the idea that I was so close to +this war and wasn't having anything to do with it." + +"And I--I have been wishing, Frank, that they might have waited until I +was old enough to fight for France!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FIRST DUTY + + +Morning brought awakening to the two friends with the sounding of +reveille from bugles, seemingly just outside their window. Together they +sprang from bed, raced to the window, wide open as it had been all +night, and looked out. Not far away, in a small park, one of those for +which the city of Amiens is famous, they saw an array of white tents +that they had not seen the night before when they had gone to bed. +Already the camp was stirring; even as they watched the soldiers were +all about. And early as it was, they saw a scout ride up on a bicycle, +speak to the sentry who challenged him, and wait. In a moment an officer +came out, the scout saluted, and his salute was returned as stiffly and +gravely as it had been given. Then the scout handed the officer a +letter, saluted again and, receiving permission, turned away and vaulted +on his wheel. + +Henri was vastly excited. + +"Come on!" he cried eagerly. "Let's get dressed, Frank. I see that we +should be out already." + +"Yes. It's time we were getting busy if the others are at work," said +Frank. "Where do you suppose those chaps came from?" + +"I don't know--that's exactly what's puzzling me," said Henri, his brow +knitted. "They don't look like reserve troops. I don't know exactly why, +either, but we can soon find out." + +They bathed and dressed hurriedly, and went down to find that Marie, the +cook who had been with the Martin family ever since Henri could +remember, was ready to give them their breakfast. In a time when many +families for reasons of economy were allowing their servants to go, +Henri's mother had kept all of hers. + +"Now, more than ever," she said, "they need the work and the wages. It +is a time for those who can possibly afford it to engage more servants, +rather than to discharge those they have already in their employ and +service." + +Madame Martin, who, like Henri's aunt in Paris, was busy all day long in +helping the wounded, doing voluntary duty in the Red Cross hospital to +which she had been assigned, was not yet up. She had greeted the two +boys on their arrival the previous evening, but had left the house +immediately after dinner, since it was her turn to do some night work. + +"She is wearing herself out," complained old Marie. "A fine lady like +her dressing the wounds of piou-pious, indeed!" + +Frank laughed. He knew by this time what piou-piou meant. It is the +endearing term of the French for the little red-trousered soldiers who +form the armies of the republic, just as the English call a soldier +Tommy Atkins. + +"It is for France," said Henri, gravely. "I shall perhaps be a piou-piou +myself before so very long, Marie." + +"You will be an officer, will you not?" exclaimed Marie. + +"It may be. I do not know," said Henri. "But the best and the greatest +men in France, those who govern us and write books and plays, and paint +pictures, and make fine statues, are in the ranks to-day. It is a +privilege even for my mother to nurse them." + +"All very well--but I won't have her getting all tired out," grumbled +Marie. "Your father told me himself, when he went off, to look after +her. And I'm going to do it." + +"Where did the soldiers who are in the park come from?" asked Henri, +changing the subject. + +"Who knows? They come, they stay a few hours or a day, then they go, and +others take their places! More soldiers have been in Amiens than I knew +were in the world! We had some English--strange, mad men, who wore +dresses to their knees and had music that sounded like a dozen cats +fighting at night on a back yard fence." + +Both the boys laughed at this description of the kilted Highlanders with +their bagpipes, but they exchanged meaning glances. Paris did not know +where the English troops were; barely knew that some had crossed the +channel, and had landed in France. How many had come no one knew except +those who would not tell. All that was announced was that England had +sent help to her ally, and that English troops were again, as on so many +occasions in the past, on French soil. But this time they came as +friends, not as the enemies that Marlborough and Wellington had led. + +"Well, we'll soon know, even if she can't tell us," said Henri. And as +soon as they had had their breakfast, they slipped around to the +kitchen. Henri and Frank both laughed, for they surprised half a dozen +blushing, awkward infantrymen, who were receiving hot coffee and +rolls--fare of a different sort from that afforded by the camp kitchens. + +"Welcome, welcome!" said Henri. "My father is with his regiment, or he +would speak, so I speak for him. Of what regiment are you, my friends?" + +One of them mentioned its number, and Henri exclaimed in his surprise. + +"But you are of the Nancy corps--the twentieth!" he cried. "You were +fighting in Lorraine! Were you not among those who captured Mulhouse?" + +"Yes." The soldier's face grew dark. "Ah, you are right! Of a truth we +captured Mulhouse! How the Uhlans ran! We beat them there, and we were +chasing them. Ah, the delight of that! There we were, in Alsace! The +lost province! For the first time in forty-four years it saw French +uniforms. For the first time since 1870 it was free from the Germans. +The people sang and cheered as we went into the villages. They brought +us food. The young women spread flowers before us. And then--we came +back. We were not beaten! We had orders to recross the border. And we +were put on trains and brought here. The shame of it!" + +"But you came?" + +"Soldiers must obey! But even our officers, I can tell you, did not like +it!" + +"Sometimes an army must retreat to fight better somewhere else," said +Henri in defense. + +"But here? At Amiens? There are no Prussians here!" + +"Perhaps they are not so far away. One hears--they were in Brussels a +week ago--they are pouring toward the border--perhaps they have passed +it. It may be that there is a battle to be fought here in France." + +"Oh, well, if there is a battle to be fought, that is different again. +That is what we want. In Alsace there were no battles. They ran as soon +as they saw our uniforms--the pigs of Prussians!" + +"Good luck to you, then! May you beat a thousand of them!" + +"We shall! Never fear! I will bring you a pretzel from Berlin when we +come back in exchange for your good rolls!" + +Laughing again, Frank and Henri went out. + +"That fellow is like the French soldiers I've read about," said Frank, +much interested. + +"Yes. He is the sort who fights well, but does not think. But, Frank, I +begin to think you were right. If they give up the fight in Alsace to +re-enforce the army here, the Germans must be winning." + +"Perhaps not. It may be only for the time." + +"Yet it looks serious. Listen! Can you hear the sound of guns?" + +Henri said that as a jest. But Frank listened--he took him seriously. + +"Not yet," he said. + +"Nor ever shall--from here!" exclaimed Henri. "I did not mean that! They +will be held on the border." + +Yet, even as he spoke, though he did not know it, the Germans, victors +at the great battle of Mons-Charleroi, were driving the left wing of the +allied army remorselessly, steadily back through the fertile fields of +Champagne, where bullets were tearing the laden grapevines to pieces. +The Uhlans were riding along the coast. Forced back by the defeat of the +left, the centre was yielding. It was well that they did not know then +what was in store; that they could not foresee the coming days when the +Germans seemed to be the sure victors. + +As they talked, Frank and Henri were making their way to the place where +M. Marron, the scoutmaster, had told them to report. He was there, +listening to reports and giving orders when they arrived. They had +provided themselves the night before with uniforms, and now they were +true scouts in appearance save that they did not wear the badge. They +waited until he was ready to speak to them. + +"You know the scout law?" he asked them, briefly. + +Together they recited it. + +"In war," he said, "rules may be forgotten. There are other tests, but +these I shall not impose. Recite after me the scout oath. It binds you +to be faithful, to be honorable. You are to obey the ten points of the +scout law. And now that war has come, you are to obey all orders from +officers of the army as you would those of your scoutmaster. If I +go--and that may be to-day--you will obey the leader of the third +patrol, to which you are assigned, as you would me. If things so come +about that you can get orders from no one you will still do all you can +for France." + +Then he repeated in French the scout oath, and they said it after him. + +"Now you are scouts," said Marron. He pinned badges on their sleeves. +"Wear this always. Remember that it typifies your honor." + +He raised three fingers in the scout salute; they returned it. + +"That is well," he said, then. "Now for your first duty, you will +accompany other scouts, to see how they perform their work. When you +have done that for a little while, you may be trusted with independent +commissions." + +All morning, first with other scouts, and then alone, they did errands +of one sort and another. After a brief rest for a hurried noonday meal, +M. Marron gave them new orders. + +"Here is a list of houses," he said. "Soon a train will arrive with +refugees from districts where the Germans are. You will take these +refugees around with you, in parties of twenty-five, with two scouts to +a party, until all are cared for. The owners of the houses on your list +have agreed to give these poor people food and shelter until they can +safely return to their homes. Treat them kindly and chivalrously. +Remember that though they may not have fought, they have suffered for +the fatherland! You understand?" + +They saluted, and were off. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TO THE FRONT + + +There was real news to be gleaned from these unfortunates who came into +the station at Amiens soon after the boys took their places there with +some of the other scouts of the troop. Women, children and old men--not +a young man was among them, of course--they poured from the freight cars +that in the main they occupied. And they were willing to talk; more than +willing, indeed. They told of how the Germans had come. First the Uhlans +riding through, stern and silent, willing to leave the inhabitants +alone, as a rule, if they themselves were let alone. Then the infantry, +rolling along in great grey masses. And with them came the spoiling of +the countryside. + +"They took everything--food, wine, everything our army had not had," +said one woman to Frank and Henri, as she walked through the streets +with them. Frank was carrying her baby for her. "They left us with +nothing! And then they burned all the houses in my street because, they +said, there must be clear space for their guns to fire!" + +It was a simple matter to distribute these poor refugees. The town of +Amiens had troubles of its own but it forgot them now, and set itself +doggedly to work the relief of the far more acute distress of those from +the countryside to the north and east. Always the stories of those who +had fled before the German hosts were the same. + +"The Germans haven't got an army!" cried Henri, bitterly. "It's a war +machine they send against us! They do not fight like men, but like +railroad trains!" + +They were learning more in this task of escorting the refugees than all +the bulletins had been able to tell them. No censors could close the +mouths of these poor people, and they were not only willing to +talk--they craved listeners. + +"It makes it easier to bear what we have suffered when we know that +others know what the Germans have done," said the woman with the baby. +"We women--we gave our husbands, and those who had sons gave their sons. +Now we have given all to France. Let the men win back enough for us to +live--that is all that we ask." + +They did not know the meaning of the military movements they had seen. +Indeed, they had not seen military movements in the strict sense of the +word. All they knew was that soldiers, first in one uniform, then in +another, had passed through their villages, first going north and east, +then south and west. They had heard firing, dim and in the distance at +first, but coming always nearer. Then the tide of battle had rolled by. +That was all they knew. + +But to boys who from the beginning of the war had followed every move on +the great chessboard of the struggle, these things meant knowledge for +which the editors of newspapers would have given fortunes. In Paris they +had had a great map, and every day they had shifted the tiny flags that +showed where the troops were. They had flags for each of the allies and +for the Austrians and Germans at first. Later they had become more +particular. They had worked out as well as they could the different +armies, even to the army corps, and had marked their flags accordingly. +And so this exact knowledge of where troops of particular commands had +been, made it possible for them, when there was time for them to go +home, to make changes in the positions of the little flags that dotted +their map. + +When they had finished doing that they looked at one another. + +"The French and the English are retreating," said Henri, soberly. "You +were right, Frank. They fought on the line of Mons to Charleroi in +Belgium, and then they began running away." + +"Not exactly that, either," said Frank. "Look here--look at the map, +Henri. There is Paris. There is a great army there under General +Gallieni. There are enormous fortifications. That is the great base. +There is this line with three fortresses--Rheims, La Fere, Laon, with +other forts between them. That backed the centre when the French army +retired from the border. But there is another army on the left of that +line--because, if the Germans get around the left, behind that line of +fortresses, they could be surrounded." + +"But they could be defended--" + +"Yes, as Bazaine defended Metz--until he was starved out," said Frank. +He was beginning to be excited. "I think I see what may happen, Harry. +The German right is moving out, always--far out, toward the sea. It +wants to get around our left, and cut it off. If it gets between our +left and Paris, there will be a disaster--another Sedan, perhaps. That +is why there is a retreat. It is necessary. We are not ready to fight +yet. But wait!" + +"Wait! Wait? Is that the thing for French soldiers to do? That is not +how Napoleon won his battles! He struck--and he struck first!" + +"Never until he was sure of victory." + +"But if they keep on retreating, they will be south of here! The Germans +can take Amiens, if they like!" exclaimed Harry in much alarm. + +"What of it? It will be sad for Amiens, but it will do the Germans no +good. Amiens has no strategic value. Less than Rheims or Laon--and we +know now that the Germans have them both, though that has not been in +the bulletins." + +"Then why are troops going south? The troops from here?" + +"We don't know where they are going, Henri. They start south but perhaps +they turn, and go to re-enforce the centre. Don't you suppose our +generals have their plans, too? You spoke of Napoleon. Don't you +remember the march to Moscow? How the Russians retreated, always, and +drew him on? And what happened then, when they were ready to fight?" + +Frank had awakened a memory terrible for any Frenchman. But there was no +more time for argument. The telephone rang out sharply and Henri went to +answer it. M. Marron was on the wire. When Henri returned his eyes were +shining. + +"We are wanted. Perhaps it is for real work," he said, happily. "He +wanted to know if we could both speak English--if I could, that is. None +of the other scouts can do that, he says, and so we are to report at +once. Oh, I wonder what can be wanted?" + +"Well, the best way to find out is to go and see," said Frank, +practically. + +M. Marron was ready for them when they reached him. He was no longer in +his khaki scoutmaster's garb, but in his uniform of captain of the line. + +"You are to report to Colonel Menier," he said, briefly. "I do not know +what service is required of you. I can only say to you, do your best. My +orders have come. I join my regiment to-day. From this moment the troop +of Boy Scouts of Amiens has no organization, until such time as it can +be restored. Each scout must act for himself, taking his orders whenever +it is possible from officers of the army. When he has no such orders he +must use his own best judgment. Before you report to Colonel Menier you +are to wait here--I intend to address all the scouts of the troop." + +They had not long to wait before the other scouts arrived. At the sight +of the scoutmaster in his uniform they cheered him heartily. + +"Scouts!" he said, speaking in French, when all were there. "I leave you +now, for the fatherland has called me to its service in ways different +from those to which I have been assigned so far. I leave you free to +your own devices. But you are free only in name. You are bound by your +scout oath, by your scout law. You are bound by those principles of +honor which the scouts teach and enforce. Never forget them! + +"While you are still boys, before it is time for France to call you to +the army, the enemy thunders at our gates. In our millions we have risen +to repel them, to drive the iron heel of the invader from France, France +the beautiful, the loved of all! It is for you, as for all who are +worthy of the name of Frenchmen, to help in that great work, to make +sacrifices, to do your part. + +"But your part gives you no right to fight. You are to bear no arms. +That does not mean you have no service to render to your native land; +that France does not ask anything of you. She asks much; she expects +much from the Boy Scouts. + +"It may be you can do most by quietly filling the place made vacant in +your home--made vacant by father or older brother gone to serve in the +ranks. It may be your privilege to aid in caring for the wounded as they +come back to their homes from the scene of conflict. It may be you will +find a place to help on the battlefields. But wherever you are, whatever +you do, remember that Scouts are ever faithful, ever loyal, ever true to +the trust reposed in them. + +"It is cowardly to shirk a duty. Perform your part in the struggle as +becomes true Scouts--as becomes men who have been born and reared in our +fair France. + +"Mark my word well. So, if I am spared to return to you, after the war, +I shall meet all of you again, and I shall be able to grasp the hand of +each one of you, and say: 'Well done! You have deserved well, you of +France and of the Boy Scouts Francais!'" + +His sword flashed from his scabbard, and he held it stiffly to the +salute. Then sheathing it, he turned and stamped from the room. He went +with a high head and a happy heart to the service of the land he +loved--as millions of Frenchmen had gone or would go. + +There was silence when he had gone. Quietly the scouts melted away to +the tasks they had in hand. The words of their departing leader had made +a great impression on them. Nor had his reminder of what they should and +should not do against the Germans been unnecessary. + +"I suppose he must be right," said Henri, a little wistfully. "I shall +obey. But I had hoped that I might have a shot at a few Germans! Frank, +I have practiced so often with my rifle! I have killed hawks and +rabbits--" + +"Let's find Colonel Menier," said Frank. "We can hurt the Germans far +more, I expect, by obeying orders than by killing a few. It is not the +killing of a few men that will settle this war, Henri! War is bad--war +is terrible. Let us not make it worse." + +Then they went to the barracks, inquiring, as they had been told to do, +for Colonel Menier. Soon they were brought to him, a busy, tired looking +officer of the staff. He eyed them keenly. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GLORY OF WAR + + +One glance at Henri seemed to satisfy him. The French boy, so typical of +his race, he was ready to take for granted. He asked just one question. + +"You speak English well? You can understand thoroughly?" + +"Yes, my colonel," answered Henri. + +Then the officer turned to Frank. + +"You are English--one of our allies?" he asked. + +"No, sir." And Frank had to explain, for the hundredth time since the +war began, as it seemed to him, his nationality and his mixed blood. He +threw up his head a little proudly now as he told of his French mother. + +"That is well enough," said the colonel. "You are neutral--in America. +But I think--ah, yes, I believe that you Americans remember Lafayette +and the help you had from Frenchmen once." + +"I am ready to do what I can for France, colonel," said Frank, simply. +"That is all I can say." + +"Or I, or any of us," said Colonel Menier. "Listen well, then. I shall +tell you things that no one else is to know. You, Martin, know the +country here? You can find your way about?" + +"Yes, my colonel." + +"I want you to take certain messages for me to the English headquarters. +Where it is to-day, I know. It is here--see, on the map?" + +They looked at the spot he indicated, and concealed their surprise. They +had supposed the English much nearer the border. + +"Where it may be to-morrow I cannot tell. But it is of the greatest +importance that the papers I give you be delivered at headquarters. It +is so important that we will not trust them to the telephone, to the +telegraph, to the field wireless. They are reports of the most +confidential nature, having to do with movements that will be of great +importance a few days from mow. You will not wear your uniforms of Boy +Scouts for the work in hand." + +Neither of them said anything. + +"That, you will understand, is because the uniforms would make you more +than ever conspicuous to the Germans. I do not think you will be +anywhere near the Uhlans. But in war one must not think; or, if one +does, one must think of all things that may happen. So you will wear +your ordinary clothes. You have one day, two days, three, if necessary, +to find the British headquarters. No more. These papers are written on +the thinnest of paper. It is so thin that the messages are contained in +these marbles that I give you--one to each of you." + +They took the marbles and still they made no comment. + +"If you are captured and searched, I believe you will have very little +to fear. It is not likely that a German officer, no matter how zealous +he may be, will be over-suspicious of a lot of marbles in a boy's +pocket. You will have a pocket full of them, and they will all look +alike. And if the Germans find you are only boys moved by the curiosity +of boys to see battlefields, they will not hurt you. I do not believe +they will even hold you. Probably they will not even take your marbles +away from you, thinking them harmless playthings, never once dreaming of +their secret. Only the officer at our headquarters who knows of your +coming will be able to distinguish one marble from another. How he will +do so, it is better that you should not know." + +"Someone then will know that we are coming, my colonel?" said Henri, a +smile brightening his face. + +"Evidently. When you reach the British lines, you will be challenged, +probably arrested and detained. Say to the soldier that he is to give a +word to his officer--Mezieres. That will insure your being taken to +headquarters. Everywhere, all through the field, the giving of that word +will mean that he who gives it is to be taken at once to the nearest +staff officer." + +"Mezieres. We will remember, my colonel," said Henri. "We will change +into our ordinary clothes and start at once. On our return we report to +you here?" + +Colonel Menier smiled sadly. + +"When you return there will be no French troops in Amiens, I fear," he +said. "Indeed, I know it. The time to stop and turn to fight is not yet. +We shall not play into the hands of the Germans by fighting on their +chosen ground. We shall wait until we are ready. This is not 1870 when +armies were thrown away rather than retreat to ground where the chances +of victory were even, at the worst. Remember that, if you think the +retreat is shameful. If, in 1870, the army of Chalons had retreated upon +Paris, instead of marching to the trap at Sedan, French history might +well be different." + +"Then Amiens is to be evacuated, my colonel?" + +"It is the order. When you have done your errand, return here or do +whatever the British staff may require of you. It will not be for long +that Amiens shall be deserted. We shall return. But whether I shall be +here then, I do not know. Farewell! Obey the orders I have given you, +and you will deserve well of France." + +They saluted then and went to make their preparations for the start. + +"Harry," said Frank, "if the Germans are coming to Amiens, your mother +must go. She should be where she will be safe." + +"You are right, Frank. We will try to persuade her to go. But will she +leave her task with the wounded?" + +"She can take it up elsewhere." + +But though they had expected to have difficulty in persuading her, they +found that Madame Martin was already making plans to go. + +"The wounded are to be taken to Tours in great numbers," she told them. +"They will need nurses there, and I shall go. Henri, will you and +Francois come with me?" + +"We cannot," said Henri. "There is work for us to do. You would want me +to do my share?" + +"Of course I do!" she said, her eyes filling with tears. "And so speaks +every mother in France to-day! Stay, then, and serve your land in +whatever way you can, for France needs even the boys now. Remember, +Henri, that somewhere your mother is serving too, and she expects her +son to do his whole duty. More, she _knows_ he will do it." And her face +glowed with pride in her son as she clasped his hand in her own. + +"I will remember," said Henri. + +Then they went to their room, laid away their newly acquired uniforms of +Boy Scouts, and, keeping not even their new badges of which they had +been so proud, especially Henri, dressed in their ordinary clothes. + +"Let's start on bicycles, anyhow," proposed Frank. "We may not be able +to stick to them, but we can save a lot of time on our way to Le Cateau. +That's where we shall go first, isn't it?" + +"Yes. We had better start for there. You're right about the bicycles, +too. Even if we lose them, that does not matter so much," said Harry. + +"And, Harry, we've got to pretend to be pretty stupid, if we are caught. +You mustn't act as if you knew too much. Don't let the Germans see how +you really feel about them. Pretend to be terribly frightened, even if +you're not," instructed Frank. + +"All right. I see what you mean. Come on, then. Let's be off!" + +Already, as they rode through the streets of Amiens, the signs of what +was to come were multiplying. Troops were marching out of the town, but +they were going south, away from the battle line, it seemed. And the +townspeople were not slow in taking the hint. They were gathering such +things as they could carry with them, and all those with anything of +real value, and with a place to take it, were preparing to get away +before the coming of the Germans. The refugees from Belgium had told +them lurid tales of the German treatment of captured places; they had no +mind to share the fate of their unhappy neighbors in the plucky little +country to the north. And so the exodus was beginning. + +Henri was very much depressed. + +"And this is war!" he said, sadly. "So far, except for the wounded, we +have seen only the suffering of women and children. Where is the glory +of war of which history tells? I want to see some fighting! I want to +know that we are really resisting the invaders of the fatherland." + +"You'll know it soon enough," said Frank, with a smile. "You are too +impatient, Harry. And you must remember this. While all this is going +on, Russia is advancing too. The Austrians have been well beaten all +along their front already. Soon it will be the turn of the Germans to +meet Russia. They cannot long devote all their energy to France and the +British." + +"That is so, Frank. But the Russians won't fight here." + +"Perhaps not. But it will be the same. For every army corps that Russia +sends into Prussia means that Germany can spare so many troops less for +the war on this side. Harry, do you know what I think? I think Germany +is beaten already!" + +"How can you say that, Frank? We know now that they have pushed us back +everywhere--that they are all over Belgium, and are marching on Paris, +just as they did the last time--" + +"No, not just as they did the last time, Harry. For then they marched on +Paris with the field armies of France beaten--one of them captured, the +other locked up in Metz. Now the armies of France are still in the +field. And I say that Germany is beaten because her one chance in this +war was to destroy France as she did in 1870--quickly. If she had done +that, she might have been able to turn back, away from France, and meet +Russia with her full strength." + +"Oh, I see what you mean. But I'll feel better when we turn and fight, +instead of running away from them." + +"So will I and everyone else, Harry. But the great thing for our side +now is to win delay. Every day is as important as a battle. Russia +moves slowly, but when she is fully in the field she will have as great +an army ready as France and Germany together." + +"Well, I hope you are right. Ah, now we are out of the town. We can go a +little faster. En avant!" + +In the fields women and young boys were working hard, getting in the +harvest that the men had abandoned. Never had a countryside looked more +peaceful, except that at every bridge they passed now was a sentry, +usually a man of the reserve, held back from the front for this sort of +duty, while the younger men were at the front to do the actual fighting. + +For a long time they were not challenged. The sentries looked at them +idly, but decided that they were not at all likely to be Prussian spies, +and let them pass. But when they came to the railroad line leading from +Amiens to Arras, which they had to cross, it was different. Their +crossing was at a culvert, where the road passed under the tracks. Here +there was not one sentry, but a post, under the command of a one-legged +veteran. + +To him they were forced to make explanations, which he received gravely, +studying Frank with particular attention. + +"So you carry despatches," he said. "You have a word, a countersign, +perhaps?" + +"Mezieres," said Henri, promptly. + +"Very well. Pass, then, but keep an eye open. There were Uhlans here +before daybreak." + +"Here?" + +"They are beginning to show now. We hear they were in Arras yesterday. +Some stayed with us. They sought to blow up the culvert here." + +Then they went on. And just after they had passed the post, they saw +what the crippled veteran had meant when he had said that some of the +Uhlans had stayed. They lay beside the road, in their greenish gray +uniforms. They were the first German soldiers either of the boys had +seen. And, in the field, two old peasants were digging a grave. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HANDS OF A CLOCK + + +The sight was a sobering one. There had been only half a dozen of the +Uhlans, and they knew from what they had heard and read that thousands, +scores of thousands probably, had already died in the war. But they +hadn't seen the others, and these men had lain by the roadside within a +few feet of them. For a time neither of the two scouts had much to say. + +"There's some real war for you, Henri," Frank said, finally. + +"Don't!" said the French scout with a shudder. "It must be, but it is +terrible. And only a few hours ago, I suppose, they were riding along as +well as you and I!" + +Then for a mile or more they rode along in silence. They made good time +for the roads were level. There were no interruptions to their progress +now. In the fields, as before, they could see the women and a few old +men about the work of the harvest, but in spite of that, there was an +air of desolation. Everything seemed to have stopped. And there was a +curious something that made itself felt. For a long time, though each of +them felt this, they made no comment on it. Finally Frank called a halt. + +"Listen, Harry," he said. "There's something curious. It's a noise, and +yet it isn't, exactly. It sounds a little like thunder or like the surf +when you are quite a little way inland--" + +They stopped together, listening. + +"I know!" said Henri, suddenly. "It's the guns we hear. The wind is +changing and that is why it is coming to us now. There is a battle. In +olden days we could see its smoke but now they fight without making +smoke. And the noise, too, seems to come from the direction in which we +are going." + +Once he had named the cause, there was no mystery about the sound. It +was less a sound, however, than a beating of the air. There were no +sharp reports; it was a steady, ceaseless murmur. But even so, there was +no mistaking it. For the first time they were within hearing distance of +a battle. + +"We will soon be on our way to Berlin, now," said Henri. "That must mean +that we have turned--that the great battle has begun." + +"It needn't mean that," said Frank. "It may be only artillery covering a +rear guard action. I wish you'd remember, Harry, that a retreat may mean +mighty hard fighting. Not a rout--a retreat. It isn't easy for an army +to move backward. But it's been done by a good many armies that won +later." + +"Well, come on! We're not getting any nearer to the English by stopping +here to talk." + +"No. We'll be off again. That noise is getting nearer, Harry. Or louder, +anyhow. Perhaps that only means that more guns are going into action." + +Somehow the nearness of the battle stimulated them. They found +themselves making better time, though they had certainly seemed to be +riding as fast as they could before. And all the time the sound of the +cannon in front of them grew louder, and the quality of the noise +gradually changed. Soon loud explosions began to be distinguishable amid +the general hum of battle, and, too, there was an overtone,--a sharper, +less steady noise. + +"Rifle fire, I think, too," said Frank. "It's lighter than the sound of +the cannon, but it seems to be just about as steady. And to think that +that's going on, all the way from here to the Swiss border nearly! +They're fighting here and near Verdun, and in the Vosges mountains." + +"Look over there," said Henri, suddenly. "Do you see? That looks like an +omnibus!" + +"It is--one of the sort they use in London!" said Frank, in surprise. + +The great, unwieldy vehicle came lumbering toward them. It rolled along +the road, raising a tremendous cloud of dust, and they could see that +behind it were many more. Just behind it, too, a man on a motorcycle +came suddenly into view. He was mounted on a high-powered machine, and +they could hear the roar of his motor as he came up to them. + +"Halte!" he cried, in a broken French. "Arretez vous!" + +They were off their machines in a moment, saluting, as he stopped his +motor and put one foot on the ground to steady his machine. He was +dressed in khaki, and both of them recognized his uniform as that of the +British forces. + +"We speak English," said Frank. + +"The deuce you do! That's good! Well, tell me how to get to Guise. We've +lost our blooming way, that's what we've done! And we've got supplies +for the troops." + +"You're going the wrong way--straight to Amiens," said Henri. "The road +to Guise is back four miles, at least. Can you turn your 'buses here? We +will guide you. We are going that way." + +"You are, are you?" said the English officer. He laughed, curtly. "I +doubt that, young fellow! I do, indeed! However, you can come along +with us as far as that. Then I'll wash my hands of you. But I can tell +you that if you go on much further, you'll get into some fighting that +isn't meant for boys!" + +They made no reply, for as they understood their errand, they were not +supposed to tell every officer they met what they were doing, but were +to answer questions only when it was plain that not to do so meant that +they would be prevented from reaching their destination. + +It was not the easiest of tasks to manage the reversing of the supply +train of omnibuses, but the officer in charge was efficient, and it was +managed. When the convoy had turned around, he rode up beside the boys. + +"Seen any signs of Germans?" he asked. + +"Only at a culvert a few miles back," said Frank. He described the fight +there as best he could, and the officer looked a little worried. + +"As far as that, eh?" he said. "We hadn't heard of their being in that +quarter at all. H'm!" + +Then he rode on ahead, to what had, until a few moments before, been the +rear of his train. + +"He's doing well enough, now that he knows his way," said Frank in an +undertone to Henri. "But I think he was in a bad way. I've got an idea +that the Germans are behind us. Do you know what I think? It's funny for +a supply train like this to be here without any escort of troops, isn't +it?" + +"Yes. I thought of that, too." + +"Well, I believe he was supposed to meet a guard, and missed it. Suppose +he'd run into the Germans?" + +"Yes, that would have been a nice mess! I suppose some English soldiers +would have gone hungry to-night!" + +The road was rising a little, enough for them to feel the added pull in +propelling their wheels. And now, at the crest of the little rise, they +saw that the officer had dismounted. He had unstrapped a box from his +machine and was setting it up. In a few minutes, as they reached him, +he had set up a tripod-like machine, not unlike a surveyor's +instrument, and was flashing a small mirror. + +"Hello!" he said. "Field heliograph kit. Ever see it before?" + +"No, sir, but I know about it," said Frank, while Henri looked on +admiringly. "I know the Morse code, too." + +"Do you? Good! Then watch those answering flashes. Check off the message +for me." + +Harry obeyed, having spotted in that moment the answer of a similar +instrument on a hill perhaps five miles away. He read off the Morse +signs carefully, and the officer nodded. + +"And that's all right," he said, with a sigh of relief. "They'll have an +escort here for us as quickly as it can ride over. I suppose you know I +signalled for that?" + +"Yes, sir." + +The officer was plainly puzzled by Frank and Henri. He could not quite +understand what they were doing in what was decidedly disputed ground. +But he had not the instinct that would have prompted a French, and more +especially, a German officer, to question them and, if he was not fully +satisfied, to put them under restraint. + +"All right. We'll be getting on," he said. "Ride along, now. I'm going +back. Don't get out of touch. And if I'm not around when we get to the +road where we are to turn off for Guise, stop them. They know you're +guiding us." + +He went off, with a great sputtering of his engine, and Frank and Harry +rode along quietly. But Frank felt a strange uneasiness. + +"I feel as if there was something wrong around here," he said. + +"What do you mean, Frank? Everything's quiet now. Even the firing is not +as heavy as it was." + +"I know, but just the same, that's how I feel. As if there was something +in the air. What's this--a village we're coming to?" + +"Yes, and the crossroads where the 'buses must turn, for Guise is just +beyond here, too." + +"Doesn't look much like war, does it?" said Frank. "Look at that church. +I suppose it's been there for centuries. But the clock looks new, +doesn't it?" + +"Yes, and it's stopped, too," said Henri, with a laugh. "I suppose they +are so excited about the war that they've forgotten to wind it +properly." + +"The time of day doesn't matter much just now," said Frank. "I think--" +He stopped short, staring as if fascinated at the clock. Then with a cry +to Henri to wait for him, he turned and pedalled furiously back in the +direction the officer had taken. + +"Who is the commander?" he called to the soldier driver of one of the +'buses. + +"Capting 'Ardy," replied the man. + +"Thanks," Frank called, and went on as fast as he could. He met Captain +Hardy coming toward him. Swiftly he told him what he had seen, and +Hardy, tugging at his revolver, sped on. Frank followed but was left far +behind, naturally, by the speed of the motorcycle. When he reached the +church he looked up at the clock again. Captain Hardy's motorcycle was +lying in the street, and Henri was staring at the church door greatly +puzzled. + +"What is the matter?" cried Henri. "The officer came back, jumped off +his machine and tore into the church as if his life depended on it. He +was pulling out his pistol, too. What--" + +The sharp bark of a revolver interrupted him. It spoke three times and +there was a cry from above. They looked up, to see the figure of a man +dropping from the opening of the clock. A moment later Captain Hardy +came down, reloading his revolver. + +"Good work, youngster!" he said. "Your eyes were sharp that time! If you +hadn't seen the hands of that clock moving we might have been caught in +a nice trap! Wait here--I'm going to make a barricade of the omnibuses." + +"What does he mean?" cried Henri, almost frantic with curiosity. + +"Why, I saw that the hands of the clock had moved! You said it had +stopped, and I looked up. Then the next time I looked, the hands had +moved around--two or three hours!" + +"But how--and why--if the clock had stopped?" + +"That's just it! That clock must be visible for some distance around, +Harry. Suppose a German was there? He could be signalling, couldn't he?" + +"Oh, a spy! I never thought of that! You mean he would tell other +Germans to come here--that there was work for them to do?" + +"Yes. I only hope Captain Hardy stopped him in time." + +But Hardy was taking no more chances than he could help. He had guessed +as quickly as Frank the probable reason for the strange antics of the +clock's face. And now he made his dispositions quickly. Counting the +armed drivers of each omnibus, and the extra man each carried, he had +less than thirty men. But he drew up several of the omnibuses in a +square formation in the central square of the village, and thus had an +improvised fort. When he had done that he called sharply to the two +boys. + +"Get along with you--get away from here!" he said. "If we're going to +have a fight it's no place for you. You've done us a mighty good turn--I +don't want you running into danger because of it." + +Even as he spoke a shot rang out. It was from the direction in which +they had come! + +"Just in time, too," he said, coolly. + +A soldier came up to report. + +"Uhlans, sir--a sight of them, too. Coming from the road we were taking. +I think we got one of them, sir. Toppled him off his horse, anyhow, +sir." + +"All right. Let them come," said Captain Hardy. "Go along now, boys. If +you see the cavalry sent to escort us, tell them to hurry! We'll try to +beat them off until we get help." + +He turned away, and Frank picked up his wheel. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A GLIMPSE OF THE ENEMY + + +Other ears than theirs had heard that firing, too. As they rode along +they saw a cloud of dust before them, and soon men and horses emerged +from the dust. + +"Let's hide in the hedge along the road," said Frank. "Come on--they'll +never see us." + +"But they won't hurt us, Frank. They're English--our friends." + +"Probably they are. But how do we know? They may be more Germans." + +"Oh, I never thought of that! If they are--" + +"Yes, if they are, it's good-bye to Captain Hardy and his supplies. But +we can't help it. We've already done all we could for him." + +They watched the oncoming cavalry, but even at a little distance, what +with their speed and the dust, it was impossible to tell to which army +they belonged. They were either English or German; that was all that +could be certain. And that could be deduced from their khaki uniforms. +There were no colors to emerge, bright and vivid, from their dun mass; +no points of steel, on which the rays of the sun might shine and be +reflected. + +"If they were French we could tell," said Henri, proudly. "We could see +their red and blue uniforms and, if they were cuirassiers, their +breastplates!" + +"Yes. The French are far behind the times in that," said Frank, a little +impatiently. "Nowadays armies don't try to act as if they were on dress +parade. They wear uniforms that can't be seen any great distance away." + +"The French army fights in the uniform in which its famous victories +were won," said Henri. + +"And it gets killed in them, too," said Frank. "Gets killed when it +doesn't do any good. But that doesn't matter now. Ah, they're English! I +can see that now. We needn't tell them to hurry--they're going for all +they're worth now. They've heard the firing and are hastening." + +The English horsemen swept by. They were riding low in the saddle, +urging their horses on. Each man carried a carbine, ready to dismount at +any moment and give battle as seemed best. In five minutes they had +swept by. + +"Two troops," said Frank. "Well, that ought to be enough, though there's +no telling how many Uhlans there were. Ah, here come some more!" + +This time it was a battery of light artillery--four guns, going along +almost as quickly as the cavalry had done. + +"That ought to settle it," said Frank, with satisfaction. "Even if they +run into a brigade of Uhlans, the guns ought to do the trick. I don't +believe they had any guns or we'd have heard them by this time." + +"They're still fighting back there," said Henri, as they wheeled their +bicycles back to the road. "I can hear the firing." + +"Yes, and I think it must be a pretty lively skirmish, too," said Frank. +"Captain Hardy would keep them at it. Listen! The Uhlans must outnumber +them three or four to one. I hope the others get up in time." + +A few minutes gave assurance that they had. They heard the firing still +more loudly; then, a few minutes later, the heavier sound of the guns +chimed in. And then there was silence behind them. + +"Score one for our side," said Frank. "We know a little more than we did +before, too. I think it's a safe guess that the Germans aren't in this +direction. We can go along without worrying about them." + +As he said that they were coasting down a little hill, at the bottom of +which, Henri had said, another road crossed the one on which they were +riding just around a little turn in the road. And as they took that +turn, their feet off the pedals, they almost fell off their wheels in +astonishment. For the transverse road was gray-green with soldiers; +soldiers with spiked helmets, marching south! + +A moment later they did fall off their wheels, deliberately, and at a +common impulse, because it was the only way there was of stopping before +they were in the midst of the German infantry. There was just a chance +that they had not been seen and they took it, and fled to the hedge +again, leaving their bicycles behind. There was no time to bother about +such trifles now. The thing to do was to make good their escape, if they +could. + +"Whew!" said Frank, whistling. "That was a close shave, if you like! +Where on earth did they come from? And how is it they didn't see the +English cavalry?" + +"Perhaps they didn't care, if they did see them," said Henri, wide-eyed +with astonishment. "Look, Frank, there must be thousands of them! Where +can they be going?" + +"Where did they come from? That's more to the point!" said Frank, vastly +excited. "I know! They got the railway--that's what they did! They must +have come through Arras. Jove, though, they took a terrible risk, Harry! +Because, no matter how many of them there are, they can't even begin to +compare with the allies in numbers--not around here. But how can they be +here without being seen? What are our aeroplanes doing?" + +"I haven't seen one all day--not since we left Amiens, at least," said +Henri. "But I know where they are--flying over the enemy's lines, trying +to locate the guns exactly. That's what they try to do, you know. They +decide just where a masked battery is, and then our fellows can drop +their shells right among their guns. The gunners can't get the range +properly any other way. There isn't any powder smoke to help them any +more, you know. So I suppose that's where they are." + +"Then I tell you what I think happened. I think they cut the railroad, +or, rather, they didn't cut it. I bet they ran those fellows down there +through on trains--right through our army." + +"How could they do that?" + +"Easily--no, not easily. It wouldn't be easy at all. But it's possible. +They've caught a lot of our men, haven't they? Well, couldn't they use +their uniforms so that it would look as if it was a French or an English +train? Let me have your field glass. It's better than mine." + +They were sheltered now and safe from observation. They could, +nevertheless, see the German column strung out along the road. It seemed +to cover at least two or three miles of the road, and there was no way +of being sure that there were not more men. + +"I think they've got pretty nearly five thousand men," Frank decided +finally. "They're in light marching order, for Germans, too. No camp +kitchens--nothing. Only what the men themselves are carrying. They're +making a forced march to get to some particular place. Queer to use +infantry, though, but I suppose they couldn't get horses through with +whatever trick it was they played." + +"They're beginning to turn off," said Henri. "See, the head of the +column is slipping through that field over there. They must know this +country as well as I do or better. That's a short cut that will take +them to Hierville." + +"I don't believe they're going to Hierville or any other village now," +said Frank. "Tell me, are those woods I can see in front of them at all +thick?" + +"Yes, they're old, too. They've been preserved for a long time. That's +the oldest part of the old park of the Chateau d'Avriere. It was one of +the castles that wasn't destroyed in the revolution." + +"Well, they're going to take cover in those woods. This is all a part of +a mighty careful plan, Harry. I think they have turned a real trick. If +the French or the English knew that the Germans were in any such force +as this so far south and west as this they would be acting very +differently, I believe. Their aeroplanes have certainly failed them +here." + +"They're on the line of retreat, if we were beaten again in that battle +we've been hearing all afternoon." + +"I don't think it was a real battle at all, Harry. I think it was just +rear guard fighting. But I tell you what we've got to do. We've got to +get through and tell about these troops. Of course, they may know all +about them at headquarters, but it doesn't look so. We had better wait +here until we make fairly sure of what they're going to do and until +there isn't any more danger of our being seen, too. They'll have scouts +out all around them. We were mighty lucky to get through so long as we +have. But it's going to get dark pretty soon, and then we ought to be +safe." + +They lay in their improvised shelter. It took the Germans a long time to +pass, but at last the road below was free of them, and the last of them +slipped into the sheltering obscurity of the woods. + +"We ought to find out if they're staying there, or if they are still +moving on," said Frank. "It's risky, but I think we ought to take the +risk. You stay here, Henri. I'll try to get around, and come back." + +"Why should I stay here? If there's a risk, why shouldn't I take it +just as well as you?" + +"Because one of us has got to get through. If I'm caught, you'll still +be here and able to get through to headquarters with what we've found +out already. And the reason I'd better go is that I'm an American. If +they catch me they're not so likely to hold me." + +"But I don't think it's fair for you to take the risk. I ought to do +it," said Henri, stubbornly. + +"I don't care what you think," said Frank, "I'm going. Au revoir, +Harry!" + +"Wait a minute! How are you going to find out?" + +"I'll try to skirt the wood." + +"You needn't do that. Keep straight on the road we were taking, instead +of turning off at the foot of the hill. About half a mile beyond the +crossroads the road rises again, and you'll find a windmill. If you +climb to the top of that you can see beyond the woods, and you ought to +be able to tell if the Germans are moving out of the woods." + +"Splendid!" said Frank. He admired Henri's readiness, once he had made +up his mind that Frank was going alone, to help him with his greater +knowledge of the countryside. Some boys would have been sullen, and +would not have volunteered that information, he was sure. + +Before Frank started on his lonely errand, he carried Henri's bicycle +back of the hedge. Then he mounted his own, and coasted down the hill. +His object was to seem entirely indifferent, should some German scout or +straggler spy him, but plainly the Germans had decided to leave the road +uncovered. + +"I guess they decided it was better to risk being surprised than to give +themselves away," he said to himself. "Otherwise they'd have been pretty +sure to leave an outpost of some sort here because this road looks like +just the place for troop movements. It looks more and more as if they +had really managed to make a secret of this column." + +It did not take him long to find the windmill of which Henri had told +him. The place was deserted; there was no one to oppose his entry. And, +when he reached the top, he found that there was an excellent view of +the country for several miles, a much better one than they had had from +their shelter on the hillside above the Germans. + +He could see the woods into which the invading troops had disappeared, +looking dark and mysterious in the deepening twilight. There was no sign +of life about them; no smoke rose above the treetops. And no Germans +were beyond them. Then his guess had been right, he decided. They had +made for those woods to obtain shelter, and they relied upon the fact +that the allies did not know of their presence. It was a daring move; it +might well have been successful, save for the accident of the two boys +who had observed it. Indeed, even now there was a chance, and something +more than a chance, that the German object, whatever it was, might be +attained. Frank and Henri were a long way yet from having reached the +British headquarters. Unknown dangers and obstacles lay between them and +their destination. + +"With the German attack developing so quickly as this, we don't know +where we may not run into them," mused Frank, as he descended from the +windmill and mounted his wheel, preparing to start back to join Henri. +"They may be anywhere. I don't want to see them win, but they certainly +are wonderfully good fighters. They have good leaders, too." + +When he reached Henri he found that his French comrade was lighting the +lamp of his bicycle. With a laugh he blew out the flame. + +"But it's dark and we'll be arrested if we ride without a light," said +Henri, protestingly. + +"That law was made for peace, not for war," said Frank. "When we know as +little about where the Germans are as we do, I'm not going to take any +chances. We'll ride with lights out, thank you. Come on!" + +As they rode along in the growing dusk, close together, Frank told what +he had seen. + +"That was a good guess, then," said Henri. "But, Frank, how can they +know so well what to do? You would think that they had been brought up +in this country, those German officers!" + +"They might as well have been," said Frank. "I've heard stories of how +they prepare for war. They have maps that show every inch of land in +this part of France. They know the roads, the hills, even the fields and +the houses. They have officers with every regiment who know where +ditches are that they can use as trenches, and who have studied the land +so that they recognize places they have never seen, just from the maps +that they have studied until they know them by heart. And it isn't only +France that they know that way, but England, and some parts of Russia, +too. Why, I've even heard that they've studied parts of America, around +New York and Boston, almost as thoroughly." + +Henri cried out in anger. + +"That is how they have behaved!" he cried. "They have been planning, all +these years, then, to crush France!" + +"Oh, cheer up, Harry," said Frank. "I guess you'll find that your French +staff officers have returned the compliment. Unless I'm very much +mistaken, any one of them could tell you just as much about the country +in Alsace and Lorraine, and all through the Rhine Province, as the +Germans could of this section. It wasn't so in the last war. Then French +officers were losing their way in French territory. That was one reason +why the battle at the Speichern was lost--because French reinforcements +lost their way. But this time France got ready, too." + +"Shall we still make for Le Cateau?" + +"There's nothing else to do, until we find out that the staff has +changed its location." + +Riding along in a light that made men out of the shadows of trees and +regiments of the shocked corn in the fields was eerie work. But neither +of them was afraid. They were fired by a purpose to serve the cause in +which they had enlisted. And they were thrilled, too, by the knowledge +of the German force upon which they had spied, themselves unseen. + +And then all at once, out of a dark spot in the road, appeared a man, +holding a horse. + +"Halt!" he cried, in a guttural voice. + +They obeyed, perforce. And when they were close enough, they saw that he +was a German cavalryman, one of the dreaded Uhlans. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THROUGH THE LINES + + +For a moment Frank's heart sank, but suddenly, a hoarse laugh surprised +him and revived his spirits. It was the Uhlan. He was laughing at them. + +"Kinder!" he said, deep down in his throat. + +"Nothing so alarming in this," thought Frank, experiencing quick relief, +and awaiting the Uhlan's next words. + +"I have my way lost," he said, in a guttural English. "Kannst du +Englisch sprechen?" + +"I am an American," said Frank, at the same time nudging Henri, and +hoping that he would understand it as a signal to keep still. "Where do +you want to go?" + +"That matters not," said the German, cautiously. "Only tell me, which +way from here is Amiens?" + +They told him. + +"And where does the road to St. Quentin turn off from this one?" + +"It is the next turn, to your left," said Frank, truthfully. + +"Good! Then I will be going. Go home, kinder. You will get into trouble +if you stay hereabout." + +He vaulted upon his horse, and the next moment they heard hoofs +clattering along the hard road, and, looking after him, could see the +sparks as the iron clashed with the flint of the road's surface. + +"That was easy!" said Frank, with a gasp of relief. + +"He was alone," said Henri. + +"Carrying despatches, I expect," said Frank. "He wouldn't tell us where +he was going, naturally, but I bet he's looking for those other troops +we saw. Dangerous work, too. But I wonder where he came from. If there +are more Uhlans in front, we may get into trouble." + +"Suppose we hide the bicycles near here and go along through the +fields? Don't you think that will be better, Frank?" was Henri's +cautious suggestion. + +"Yes, I suppose it will, though it will be slower, too." + +"Of course. But if we are going to be stopped all the time along this +road, we'll really save time in the end by doing it." + +So they made a cache, as Frank told Henri it should be called, hiding +their wheels so that they would have a chance of recovering them if they +came back this way. They marked the spot not only by landmarks, but by +the stars, which were beginning to dot the sky now. + +"There may be fighting here," said Frank. "And if there is, this place +may look very different before we see it again. If there is a battle the +trees will go, and the fences, and all the houses for if they are not +burned deliberately, the shells will destroy them." + +"Look, Frank, what is that?" + +Henri had turned and was pointing now to the north. There a stream of +white light shot into the air, then dropped, and left only its +reflection. But in a moment others joined it, and the whole sky to the +north was brilliantly lighted. It was like a display of Northern Lights, +only nearer and even more brilliant. + +"Searchlights, of course," said Frank. "They can throw them on the +trenches--and they're good to guard against aeroplanes and dirigibles, +too. At night, you see, there'd be a chance for aeroplanes to fly very +low and do a lot of damage." + +"Can't they hear the engines from the ground?" + +"Not always. They have mufflers on a good many aeroplane motors now, so +that they don't make any more noise than a quiet automobile." + +"I didn't know that. Well, there's one good thing about the +searchlights. We know which way to go. Come on." + +"All right. The more I think of it, the better it is not to be on the +roads. Here in the fields we're a lot less likely to run into stray +parties. And I'd just about as soon meet Germans as allies. If they're +retreating and having trouble, they might hold us up as long as the +Germans would. They wouldn't believe we really had despatches." + +For a time they made good, steady progress. The roar of artillery fire +in front of them had been resumed, and now it filled the air, proving +that they were much closer to the battle. The great waves of sound beat +against their ears, making their heads swim at first, but gradually they +grew used to it, and could hear other and more trivial sounds--the +chirping of night insects and the occasional hooting of owls. + +"I don't hear the rifle fire," said Henri, after a time. "Only once in a +while, that is. Why is that, I wonder? Are the big guns drowning it?" + +"No. Because if that were the reason, we wouldn't hear it at all. I +think they don't do that at night. It's just a case of trying to find +the places where the enemy's troops are massed, and keeping up a steady +fire of shells to drive them out. Maybe the searchlights help. They've +been fighting all day, you know, and even soldiers have to have some +rest. They have to eat and sleep or they can't keep up the work." + +They crossed more than one road, but stuck to the fields, travelling in +a straight line as nearly as they could figure their course. When they +had decided to join the Boy Scouts, both had studied the stars, since a +knowledge of the heavens is one of the most important things about +scouting, and they found what they had learned very valuable now. Thus +they could keep their bearings, though owing to their desertion of the +roads, Henri confessed that he had very little idea of where they were. + +"Along the roads one has landmarks," he said. "I have gone all through +here, over and over again. My father used to drive this way very often +in our automobile." + +"Well, we can't go very far wrong," said Frank, cheerfully. "All we've +got to do is to follow the old German maxim, 'March on the cannon +thunder!' That was their one rule in 1870, you know and a very good +rule it proved too." + +So they went on. And they still seemed to be a long way from the seat of +the heavy artillery firing when a challenge halted them, as they were +about to cross a road. + +"'Alt! 'Oo goes there?" called a cockney voice sharply. + +"Friends," cried Frank, instantly. + +"'Alt, friends, while I 'as a look at you," said the sentry. + +"Call your officer, please. We are carrying despatches," said Frank. + +"I'll call 'im, all right. My word! You ain't nothin' but kiddies, you +ain't! 'Ere! Corporal of the guard! I sye! Corporal of the guard!" + +He raised his voice in the shout, and a minute or so later a corporal +appeared. + +"Came up to me, sir," said the sentry. "Said as 'ow they wanted me to +call the officer of the guard. Carryin' despatches, they sye they is." + +"All right," said the corporal, briskly. "Come with me, my lads. Step +smartly when you're told or you may be shot," in a genial voice. + +They followed him through a field that seemed deserted, then came to a +small cluster of tents, where they stopped. + +"Wait here," said the corporal. "I'll bring the lieutenant." + +They did not have long to wait before a young officer approached them. + +"My word!" he said, when he saw how young they were. "What are you +youngsters doing here?" + +"We're looking for headquarters, sir," said Frank. "We are carrying +despatches from Amiens." + +"All right! Give them to me, and I'll see that they're forwarded, my +lads," said the officer, with a grin. + +"We can't do that, sir," said Frank. "Our orders are to carry them to +headquarters--and to give the word Mezieres." + +"Ah, that's different, now," said the officer. "Corporal, give me two +men to take these despatch-bearers through the lines," came the order. + +The giving of the word had made a great change in his attitude. It was +plain that before that he had not taken them seriously, but had supposed +them to be playing some prank. Now, however, he looked at them +curiously. + +"Boy Scouts?" he suggested. + +"Yes, sir," said Frank. "Detailed to special duty, without uniforms." + +"I see! Jolly plucky of you, I call it. I say, you're not French, my +lad, are you? How did you get here? Well, never mind! Here's your +escort. Be off with you, now." + +Their troubles were over now. Within five minutes they were at +headquarters. There a weary staff officer received them. They saluted. + +"Very well," he said. "Give me your despatches." + +Each of them produced his handful of marbles from his pocket, and laid +them solemnly before the major. He stared, first at the marbles, then at +them. + +"What sort of a silly prank is this?" he roared. "Do you think we've +nothing better to do than to waste time in jokes? If you were men--" + +"We are obeying orders, sir," said Frank, quietly. "Those are the +despatches Colonel Menier at Amiens gave us to deliver. He said that +only one officer here would know what they meant, and how to get the +despatches." + +"O, I beg your pardon," said the major. He took down his telephone. "Ask +if despatches are expected from Amiens," he said, into the instrument. +"And find out who is in charge." + +"There is another matter, sir," said Frank. "We saw German troops as we +came here." + +"Uhlans. Yes, they're all around behind us. One squadron of them was cut +up when it attacked a convoy. There aren't many of them." + +"No, sir, I didn't mean Uhlans. There is a force of infantry--five +thousand men, we estimated--" + +"What?" thundered the major, springing to his feet, "You must be +dreaming! Where did you think you saw them? And where were they?" + +Frank explained. + +"It sounds incredible," said the major, frowning. "Come! I'll take you +to General Smith-Derrien. If that's true, it's highly important news. +Here, show me on this map just the place where you say you saw them." + +Frank and Henri pointed at once to the wood in which the German infantry +had vanished, then followed the major out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AN UNEXPECTED CHANCE + + +The first impression they had of General Smith-Derrien was of his +absolute calmness. The major had been excited when he heard the report +of the German infantry in the woods. But when they entered the room in +which sat the British general who was responsible for the retreat, as +they guessed, they saw a quiet-faced man with smiling eyes, who listened +attentively to the reports of the officers who were constantly hurrying +up to him, spoke a word or two in answer, and turned, imperturbably, to +the next comer. + +Their guide left them near the door. + +"Wait a minute here," he said. "I'll tell the General your story. But +he'll want to speak to you himself. He always does." + +Frank watched the British leader closely as he turned to the major, who +now went up to him. If the news moved him, he gave no sign of his +emotion. Instead he nodded quickly, once or twice; then he looked over +toward Frank and Henri. The major turned to them, beckoning, and they +went up. General Smith-Derrien was sitting at a table. Before him was an +ordnance map of the section covered by his operations. + +"Now tell me exactly what happened, as quickly as you can," he said. +"You saw these Germans--just where? Point it out on the map. Give me +your position and the road they took." + +Frank and Henri studied the map a moment. They traced their own course +from Amiens; soon they found the spot. The map was on a very large +scale, and it showed the hills and a great deal of detail. It was easy +to explain just where they had seen the Germans. + +"They went into the woods, you say," said the general. "But why did you +think they stayed there? Why shouldn't they have gone on?" + +"I went along the road to a spot where I could see beyond the woods, +sir," said Frank. "And there was no sign of them." + +"You did? That was excellent--regular scouting. Oh, I fancy I +understand! Boy Scouts, are you?" + +"Yes, sir," they echoed together. + +"Well, if your information is exact--and I have no reason to doubt it, +of course--you did a very fine piece of scouting, and I shall be glad to +see that you get the proper amount of credit for it, when the time +comes. Now your information is most valuable. But before I can act on +it, I must be absolutely certain that it is accurate. Will one of you +help one of my scouts to determine this?" + +"Let me go, sir," said Frank, quickly. "I was the one who saw the other +side of the woods--" + +"But I know the country best," protested Henri. "And--" + +"I think you'd better go," said the general to Frank. Perhaps he thought +Frank was English; in any case he selected him. "I don't think it will +be dangerous at all, or I shouldn't let you go. We haven't started using +boys in this war yet. Major, you will see to it that a start is made as +soon as possible!" turning to that officer. + +The major saluted. + +"Yes, sir, at once," he said. "The one who does not go can deliver the +despatches they brought from Amiens--a handful of marbles!" + +"Eh? What's that? Those are the despatches from Colonel Menier. I'll +take those!" + +Plainly, since he knew of them, he was the officer to whom they should +be delivered. So Frank and Henri, not without some misgivings, since the +major's annoyance at the sight of the marbles had rather depressed them, +handed over their marbles. General Smith-Derrien picked them up, weighed +them in his hand, and finally selected two, to the undisguised amazement +of his staff. But when he pressed a hidden spring, and each marble flew +back, showing that it was hollow, cries of admiration came from those +who were close by. + +"Very well. They are in good order," he said, after a glance at the thin +but tough paper. "I will send an answer by the scout who remains here." + +The major was already moving toward the door, and Frank, with a quick +grasp of Henri's hand and a salute for the general, followed him. He was +sorry for Henri's disappointment, but he had made up his mind when they +left Amiens that whenever possible, he himself would take any risks that +were to be run. No one would care greatly if anything happened to him, +since his parents were dead, and his only other close relative was his +uncle, of whom he had seen very little. But Henri's mother was alive, +and, moreover, she had troubles enough. Her husband was at the front, +and there was no telling whether or not he would ever return. + +"Come along, young 'un," said the major. His name, Frank learned, when a +passing officer spoke to him, was Cooper. "Know what you're going to +do?" + +"I'm to help a scout to determine the position of the Germans we saw," +said Frank. + +"Yes, but how? In an aeroplane, my lad! I envy you. They've never let me +go up in one of the blooming things yet--and just because I happen to +be assigned to a special job here with the staff. A lot of fun this war +is going to be for me! We've been at it pretty nearly a month, and I +haven't been under fire yet!" + +Frank found it hard to conceal his delight. He had always wanted to have +the experience of riding in an aeroplane, but never before had he seen +even a remote chance that it would be gratified. Now he was to have +fulfilled one of his most cherished ambitions--and in what a way! To fly +with one of the wonderful aviators of whom he had been hearing ever +since the war began, and over hostile territory. Risk! What if there +was? + +In his own room Major Cooper sent an orderly flying, and in a few +moments he returned, followed by a spare, tall man in a uniform +differing slightly from that of the regular troops. He wore a heavy +sweater, and on his head was a headgear resembling, Frank thought, that +worn by football players in America. + +"You sent for me, Major?" + +"Yes, Captain Greene. You'll have to make a flight to-night. This lad is +one of two Boy Scouts who have reported seeing German infantry in rather +considerable force south and west of our position here. He will show you +on the map just where he says they are lying up. The general wants to +verify this report or disprove it as quickly as possible. Your orders +are simply to make a reconnaissance and to run no avoidable risks. If it +is possible, ascertain the facts without betraying your own presence. I +have detailed you because you have a silent motor." + +"Very well, sir," said Captain Greene. "Now, then, my lad, sharp's the +word. Show me just where you say these Germans are." + +For the third time Frank pointed out the spot on the map, and the flyer +whistled. + +"Don't wonder you want to know where they are!" he said. "If that's so, +it's a pretty big sell for us flying chaps--eh, what? We rather fancied +there wasn't a chance for them to do anything that we didn't know all +about as soon as it was done." + +"Exactly," said the major, rather dryly. "Well, here's your chance to +make up for errors of omission. Get the facts, and get back as quickly +as you can." + +"All right. Double quick, young 'un. What's your name, eh? Might as well +be sociable!" + +Frank told him, and liked the tall aviator immensely. But there was no +more talk between them as he followed the captain to the outside. He had +all he could do to keep up with the Englishman's great strides without +trying to talk too. Greene led the way to a park-like enclosure, where, +under shaded electric lights that lit the ground fully but were so +screened that no betraying flashes showed from above, a dozen aeroplanes +stood, gaunt and ghostlike in the night. + +"See those lights?" said Greene. "If one of those German Johnnies in a +Taube came along he could make a lot of mess by dropping a couple of +bombs down here. An aeroplane's delicate enough as it is. A bomb will +put it out of business in no time. Here we are! Wait till I try the +motor and see to my tank. If you run out of petrol at five hundred feet +you can't always find a garage where they'll sell you more!" + +The tank was full, however. His mechanic had seen to that. And the +engine responded beautifully to the first test. + +"All right," said Greene. "In with you! Ever been up?" + +"No. This is my first trip," said Frank. + +"Easy enough, if you don't get scared. Keep perfectly still. No matter +what happens, don't touch me or anything except the grips for your hands +that you'll find there. She's apt to rock and kick like a broncho +sometimes but you can't fall out, because you'll be strapped in. +Remember, now, don't touch me and don't touch any levers or anything +else you see." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MONOPLANE + + +Looking down from above, as he was doing, it was hard for Frank to keep +his bearings at all. Naturally, everything looked very different. He had +been used to looking up at houses, and had had them in one plane. Now +everything was flat before him. In the day time the resemblance of the +country as he now saw it to a map might have helped him. But at night, +even on a clear night, things were blurred. Fences and roads ran +together confusedly. And this night was not clear. The day had been +fair, but now clouds were coming up. + +"We'll have some rain, hang it!" said Greene. "The firing seems to bring +it. At least that's what they say. Wonder if it's true? I suppose it +might." + +"I should think it might be a good thing," said Frank. "It'll make it +harder for them to see us, won't it! And that ought to help us." + +"Yes, but it'll make it a good deal harder for us to see what we're +after, too. Cuts both ways, you see. Still I don't mind as long as we +don't have fog or wind, and I think I'd rather have the wind. You know +where you're at with wind, anyway. In a fog--Lord! You've no idea what a +thing fog is until you've tried to make a landing in it." + +With the motor muffled down, they were able to talk easily. In the +earlier days of aeroplanes the motor made so much noise that anything +like a sustained conversation was impossible. But now the motor only +purred gently in their ears, just like that of a motor car. For military +purposes the silence thus obtained more than made up for the slight +sacrifice of power. The more old-fashioned 'planes, many of which were +still in use, advertised their presence to an enemy as soon as they came +at all near. But this new type, largely used by the British and the +French, as Frank knew, had to be seen before they were in any danger, +so silently do they wing their flight. + +"Talking about fog," Greene went on, talking as indifferent as if they +had been on solid ground, "I had a nasty experience just before Kaiser +Bill started this trouble. Went up at Sheerness, for an experimental +flight in this same 'plane. First time I'd had her out, and I didn't +know her very well. And one of those old-fashioned sea fogs came rolling +in when I was ten miles from anywhere. Never saw anything so sudden in +my life!" + +"How did you find your way, sir?" + +"I didn't! I just went up and up until I was above the fog and in the +sunlight. You can do that, you know. But that was a queer fog--rose a +whole lot. Anyway, when I got above it, it was precious cold. And the +sun didn't do me much good. I'd got lost, so far as my bearings below +were concerned, making spirals as I went up. What I hoped for was to +find out something when I was above the fog." + +"How was that? You mean that the fog would only spread over a certain +distance?" he asked. + +"That's it exactly. Only I didn't know that fog! So far as I could tell, +it spread over all England and Ireland, too, with some left over for +France! Only one thing for it, of course. I knew I'd get away from it if +I kept on flying. So I steered by the sun as well as I could, and kept +on until my petrol began to run short, and a cylinder began missing. And +then, just as I was wondering whose windows I'd break when I went down, +it began to thin out, and slipped away as quickly as it had come. And I +was right above the golf links on Wimbledon Common. I volplaned down, +and landed on a putting green, and an old colonel who'd been invalided +home from India said I'd done it on purpose, and he was going to have me +court-martialled!" + +Frank laughed heartily at the story. But at the same time, he suspected +Captain Greene's purpose in telling it. He thought the captain wanted to +keep his spirits up, and make him forget that he had never had a flight +before, and he admired and liked him more than ever in consequence, +even though, as he told himself, it wasn't necessary. + +"Hello! I think we're getting near your spot, young 'un," said Greene, +abruptly. He dipped down, and Frank peered down to see where they were. + +"Yes," he cried, in assent. "There's the hill we were coming down when +we saw them, just as we rounded that turn. That's the road they were +marching along, and there, over to our left, are the woods. I wonder if +they're still there." + +"We'll soon know," said Greene. "Now for a little climbing. I'm not +afraid of being hit, but orders are to find them without being seen, if +we can manage it. So we'll try the high spots for a bit." + +At once the monoplane began climbing, ascending in great spirals. Frank +was absorbed by the sensation. He found that he could see the ground +receding without feeling any qualms, and said so. + +"You're lucky," said Greene, briefly. "Made me feel queer first few +times I tried it, I can tell you. You're probably a born flyer--and the +chances are you'll never do much of it, I suppose! Always the way!" + +Frank, looking down, saw that they were moving away from the woods which +they were to reconnoitre, and mentioned it. + +"Got to," said Greene, briefly. "Then we'll fly back. We can't climb in +a straight line. When I went out for altitude once, I made twelve +thousand feet, and when I finished climbing I was nearly fifteen miles, +in a straight line, from where I started. Let's see. Got that flashlight +I gave you? Play it right on the board there till I tell you to stop." + +Frank obeyed, shooting the little spear of light on the various +instruments in front of the aviator. + +"All right. Hold it there. My barograph, you see. Gives me my height by +showing the change in atmospheric pressure. That's how we calculate +height. Not very exact, because all sorts of things vary the pressure. +But it's near enough. A thousand feet! That's good enough. I don't +believe they're looking for us. We don't usually scout behind our own +lines." + +Now he brought the monoplane around in a great sweep and flew straight +over the woods. But, though Frank looked down through powerful navy +night glasses, of the sort that are used for look-out duty at sea, he +could see nothing. + +"Clasp them around my head--so," said Greene. "See the trick? All right! +Now I'll have a look. There's another pair in my pocket--use those for +yourself." + +But if the Germans were there, they were concealing their presence with +a good deal of care and skill. + +"Have to go lower, then," decided Greene. "Get ready! We'll shoot the +chutes now." + +He pointed the monoplane straight down, cut out his motor, and glided +earthward in a glorious volplane, the most wonderful sensation that even +flight, with all its wonders, can afford. When the earth seemed about to +come up and hit them, though it was still actually a good five hundred +feet below, he caught the machine, righted it, and started the motor +again. Then he had to fly back until he was again directly over the +woods, and once more, while the monoplane moved very slowly, they peered +down. But still there was no sign. + +"Humph!" said Greene. "If they were supposed to be anything but Germans, +I'd say you'd told us a cock and bull story, young 'un! English troops, +or French, would show some sort of a light. Some fool would take a +chance to get a smoke. But these Germans! They're not men--they're +machines. They'll obey orders that officers wouldn't take the trouble to +give in any other army. We'll have to make sure. Up we go again!" + +Frank could not see how going up would make it possible for them to get +the information that coming down hadn't afforded. But he said nothing, +because he had come to feel by this time that when Captain Greene did a +thing he had a perfectly sound reason for his action. Nor was he wrong. +Once more they climbed in a high spiral curve until they were higher +than they had been before. For the first time, Frank now felt a peculiar +ringing in his ears. He mentioned it, and Greene laughed. + +"Pressure," he said. "You'll get used to it! Lord, sometimes I've felt +as if my head would burst when I started to climb. But it doesn't last +long. Feel in the seat there beside you, at your left. There ought to be +a big electric torch." + +"Here it is! I've got it, sir," said Frank, a moment later. + +"All right. Touch the button at the end. Let's see if it lights up +properly." + +It did, decidedly, for the result was a blinding glare. + +"Pretty powerful, isn't it?" said Greene. "It's used for signalling, you +see. Flash the light, and you can reproduce Morse perfectly. When you're +high up it can be seen a long way, too. Now hold it straight down and +flash it, then give a steady glare. Let us see if we cannot draw +anything." + +Frank obeyed, at the same time getting a glimpse of Greene's idea. He +held the torch pointing straight down, and saw the beam of light +shooting straight down. It was not powerful enough, of course, by the +time it reached the treetops, to illuminate them, and so make anything +below visible, but it was certainly strong enough to be observed from +below, he thought. But still there was no movement, and the uncanny +silence and darkness below persisted. + +"All right. There's still another chance," said Greene, patiently. He +drew a revolver from his pocket. + +"Flash your little light this way. Let me see if it's all right," he +said. + +Frank obeyed. + +"New fangled automatic--very powerful, and shoots a .44 bullet almost as +far as an old-fashioned rifle," explained Greene. "Very useful if one +runs into another 'plane unexpectedly--and the other fellow happens to +be a German." + +A moment later he opened fire, shooting straight downward. He could not +aim, of course, but it was not his object to hit anything. He emptied +one clip of cartridges, and before the last shot was fired the woods +below began to spit fire. At once the monoplane began racing. + +"Got 'em!" cried Greene, exultingly. "I thought that would do it! It +isn't human nature to be under fire without sending back a shot or +two--not even German human nature!" + +No bullets came near them, but there was no longer any possible doubt +that the Germans were below. The fusillade had settled that. Greene +slowed down. + +"Show your light quickly, then douse it at once," he cried. + +Frank flashed the light of the big torch for an instant. And at once the +monoplane shot forward. + +"See the point?" cried Greene. "They'll aim at where the light was. Only +we won't be obliging enough to be there! Well, this is a good night's +work, my lad! You were right, and if I'm not much mistaken, you'll get +your name in dispatches for this. The beggars! I'd like to know how they +got through without being spotted!" + +All the time the monoplane was racing away. But suddenly there was a +sharp crack behind them, and in an agony of concern Greene twisted +around in his seat. + +"Oh, Lord!" he groaned. "I crowed too soon! That's the petrol +tank--bullet hole! It'll leak out, and we can't stop the leak!" + +"If you went down right away, would it all get out before you reached +the ground?" + +"No, but they'll catch us if we go down here. Can't do that." + +"It's the only chance!" said Frank. "Isn't it?" + +"You're right. I'll take it. Good boy! You don't mind the risk?" + +"No!" said Frank. + +Then they were rushing down. It was a desperate venture. Greene pointed +for a field, but in the darkness the risk of capture by the Germans was +the least that they faced. + +Greene had cut out his engine; there was too much danger of an +explosion, with the leaking petrol, to allow the spark to continue. He +had to volplane down this time, not as a quick way of descending, but as +the only means of preventing a disastrous fall. Even in broad daylight +there is always risk in landing with a dead motor. Here, in the darkness +and with unknown country below, the risk was multiplied a hundred times. + +All that Greene knew with any certainty was that he was over country +broken up into fields. The fences were numerous, there were ditches, +too, and obstructions of all sorts. The larger ones he could see readily +enough, when he got close; it was the smaller ones that threatened the +real danger. + +But if the danger was great, Greene was a master of his craft. He +swooped downward. Then, when he was scarcely a hundred feet up, he +caught the machine with a fine show of skill and held it, for a moment, +on an even keel. + +"We'll chance it in the next field," he called. "Can't stay up any +further. Here goes!" + +Down, down, they went. Then they were down, bumping along. But the +element of luck that, despite all his skill, Greene had to have, favored +him. The field was smooth and the monoplane came to rest safely. In an +instant both were out, Greene first, since Frank, having to free himself +from his straps, was delayed. + +"Quick! The small flashlight!" called the flyer. "Here, give it to me! +If we're to save any essence we've got to be quick!" + +He took the light. But a quick look over the tank failed to show a +spurting stream of gasoline. + +"By Jove! Wonder if I could have been mistaken? Perhaps it was something +else they hit!" cried Greene. But then he groaned. As he unscrewed the +cap of the tank and peered in, he saw that it was bone dry. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A DANGEROUS ERRAND + + +For a moment Greene was speechless with despair. Fate had tricked him, +it seemed, after he had done his best--and a better best than most men +could even have attempted. Then he grinned. + +"We'll have to hoof it," he said. "A good twelve miles, too! If we were +champions at cross-country work it would take us the best part of two +hours. And it's so long since I've used my legs that I don't know how +long I'll be." + +"There's one chance," said Frank. "I remember that I saw a little inn on +the road the Germans took this afternoon. We're not so very far from +that now. These little inns along the roads in France all have petrol +for motorists who run short. If I went there I might get some." + +Greene shook his head doubtfully. + +"The government's taken all the essence it could find," he said, "I +don't believe they'd have any. And, besides, there's a good chance that +the Germans have men there." + +"Still it's a chance," said Frank. "Won't you let me try? If I can't get +it we shan't lose much time. And if I do, look at the difference it +would make." + +"That's true enough," said Greene. "All right, try it. I'll mend up the +hole, when I find it, and if you do get some essence, we can be off at +once. Good luck!" + +Frank was on his way already, slipping away in the direction whence they +had come. Luckily enough, he got his bearings by the windmill from which +he had observed the wood into which the Germans had gone. To make his +way to the road along which he and Henri had first seen the Germans +passing was an easy matter. But he was afraid of roads by this time, and +the more so because he knew that the Germans, having been aroused by the +attack from the sky, would be doubly on the alert. So he stuck to the +side of the road, religiously taking advantage of every bit of cover he +could find to escape the foe. + +"They knew they'd given themselves away just as soon as they fired at +us," he reasoned, thinking half aloud as he trudged along, which was a +habit of his. "And I don't believe they know they hit us at all. They do +know that they didn't bring us down at once. Anyhow, there's no reason +for them to be secret any more, and if they stay in that wood, they'll +throw out pickets now, because they'll think that as soon as we went +back and made our report troops would be sent to rout them out. It's up +to me to be mighty careful." + +That was good sound reasoning, too. From all he had learned since the +war began, he knew that the Germans were by no means foes to be +despised. They had been pretty generally victorious, but that was not +all. They had shown a capacity for being always ready, for thinking of +everything that might come up to block their plans. And he was sure, +therefore, that the German commander would not argue that the aeroplane +had got clean away just because the probabilities indicated that it +had. He was almost certain to beat the country within a reasonable area +for it, in the hope of finding it crippled and thus unable to carry the +news it had come to get. + +"I bet the Germans wouldn't have sent just one aeroplane," he reflected. +"They'd have sent two, so that if anything happened to one, the other +could have brought back the news." + +But though he was thinking hard, he didn't linger as he went. Soon he +came to the transverse road along which the Germans had gone, and turned +in the direction they had taken. It was beginning to rain a little now, +and it was very dark. He still stuck to the fields, though he was close +to the road, and he found nothing to bar his way to the inn. When he got +there, moreover, he found the place dark and deserted. Not a soul was in +sight, but there were evidences that spoke as eloquently as men or women +could have done. In the tap room furniture was smashed and broken and +shattered glass was about the floor. Plainly the Germans had stopped as +they went by. + +"Of course!" he said, to himself. "If there were people here they took +them along with them. They wouldn't be likely to leave any French +people, whose first idea would be to tell what they had seen! It's +certainly lucky that they didn't see us. We'd be with them now, I +guess." + +It was spooky work exploring the abandoned inn in the damp, dark night +and with the knowledge that German soldiers were probably no great +distance away. It was less than a quarter of a mile to the edge of the +wood that had assumed such an important aspect, and he expected at any +moment to hear the footsteps of intruders. None the less he went about +his task quietly and coolly. + +"If they had any essence, they'd hide it," he said to himself. "They'd +know that both armies would need it for automobiles and aeroplanes, and +they'd try to keep any they had left. So it won't be in any of the usual +places." + +For that reason he did not even leave the main building to make a search +in the stable that was used as a garage. Instead, he went into the +cellar. Here it was still plainer that the Germans had passed through. +His feet stepped into puddles of sticky dampness, and, using his +flashlight, he saw that it was wine. The heads of casks had been knocked +in; broken bottles, too, strewed the floor. + +This, however, had not been wanton destruction, he was sure. It had an +object, and that object had been to prevent the soldiers from getting +anything to drink. Troops on an errand requiring such extraordinary +secrecy as had been maintained in this case could not be allowed to +drink any liquor. That would have spoiled in all likelihood the +remarkable discipline of which Captain Greene had spoken. + +But, once more, it was not his business to think of what he saw, or to +speculate about it, but to find the petrol if any was to be found. And +he stumbled upon the hidden store quite suddenly, and quite literally, +too. In one corner of the cellar was what looked like a pile of kindling +wood. Harry kicked it indifferently in passing, and was almost thrown +when his feet encountered a resistance more solid than he had any reason +to expect. He looked down, and there, under the kindling, were two +ten-gallon cans of petrol! + +"I knew it must be there!" he cried to himself. He was down on his knees +in a moment, shaking the cans to make sure that they were full. One had +never been broached; the other was nearly half full. And this second can +was the one he took. That would be more than enough to get the monoplane +back to headquarters, and there was no reason for burdening himself with +too great a load. He picked up the can, and at the same moment his heart +leaped up into his throat, for overhead there came the sound of heavy +footsteps. For a moment he stood as if paralyzed, listening. + +The footsteps continued; guttural voices sounded,--the voices of +Germans. It was impossible to distinguish what they were saying; and it +made no difference, in any case. The only point that mattered was that +they were there; that they blocked the only means Frank had of getting +away with the precious petrol he had so luckily found. + +He was safe enough personally. Even if they were led to come down into +the cellar the chances were all in favor of his being able to conceal +himself. What he feared was that some use was to be made of the place, +and that the men whose voices he heard would stay there, thus preventing +him from getting out of the building and so getting the petrol to +Greene. It was more than possible, he thought, that the German +commander, knowing that the presence of his troops in the woods had been +discovered, would decide to use this place for headquarters. + +And what he could hear confirmed this idea. There was a continual +tramping overhead. Men came and went. That seemed to indicate that the +occupation was to be permanent. He racked his brains for some means of +escape. Windows there were none in the cellar. He found no trace of a +trap door, such as there would have been in almost any American cellar. +And then the saving thought came to him like a flash. He debated for a +moment, then decided that the risk was worth taking. First he took his +can of gasoline to the steps. Then he poured a little into a broken +bottle, and poured this, in turn, on the wood under which he had found +the cans. He dragged the full can of petrol to the other side of the +cellar. And then, very deliberately, he set a match to the gasoline +soaked wood and retreated to the steps. + +The fire he had started blazed up at once, owing to the petrol. And at +once a thick, acrid smoke filled the place. He was well up on the +stairs, and thus safe from being choked. But he was in danger should the +Germans come down, though even so, since the steps were wide, there was +a chance for him. But he did not expect them to come down. He thought +the smoke would drive them out, since as nearly as he could judge his +fire was directly under the room in which the most of the commotion +upstairs was taking place. + +It was not long before he heard coughing upstairs, the first sign that +the smoke was doing its work. By that time a brisk fire was burning. It +had run up the posts to the beams that formed the chief support of the +room above, and to his delight Frank saw that these burned far more +fiercely and quickly than he had hoped. Plainly the wood was old and +dry. + +Above, as the fire spread, louder cries succeeded the coughing. And then +came the crucial test by which his daring experiment had to stand or +fall. Some one opened the door at the head of the stairs. Now, if ever, +he was to be discovered! But as the door was opened the smoke was drawn +up, and the German who had come to it jumped back. + +"The whole place is burning! Get out!" he cried, in German. "There may +be explosive spirits still down there!" + +He slammed the door shut, and Frank heard running footsteps above. He +waited until there were no more, and then, almost overcome by the smoke, +slipped through the door. No one was left in the hallway into which he +came. The place was full of smoke. He did not venture to the front door +by which he had entered, but, still dragging his can of petrol, went to +the back. Going through the kitchen, he found another door, as he had +been sure he would and in a moment he was drinking in the cool, fresh +air. The rain that was beating down on him now was welcome. + +Just as he reached the open there was a sharp explosion behind him, and +he looked back, to see the windows on the ground floor glowing. That was +the other can of petrol, as he could guess readily enough. At once he +ducked, and, running low, got well to one side of the house. Then, just +as a great burst of flame lighted up the whole scene, he dropped to the +ground, and lay peering toward the road in front of the inn. + +A dozen officers and as many men, all in the German uniform, with the +spiked helmets that made them so unmistakable, were in the road, staring +at the burning house. And it was not until Frank saw how angry one of +the officers was that he realized what a useful idea his had really +been. Now detection of the Germans was certain. Investigation was almost +certain to be made of a fire in a building so far out of the range of +the German artillery as this. And so, even if neither he nor Captain +Greene got back in time, the torch he had lighted, meaning only to +secure his own escape, was likely to prove a death blow to the German +hopes of secrecy. + +Frank could not hear what the Germans were saying, but he had no +intention of getting closer in an attempt to do so. Instead, having +satisfied himself that there were no pickets behind the burning inn, he +began crawling cautiously to the rear. It was a difficult task, +especially so because of the petrol, which was no light burden. But he +managed to get well out of the lighted zone and then he decided that it +would be safe to straighten up and walk along. + +As he went along the burning building served him well. It gave him a +fixed landmark from which he could lay his course to the spot where he +had left the monoplane and Captain Greene. By looking back from time to +time he could correct his course, when he was crossing fields. And so +without the guidance of roads, and partly to make better time and partly +to avoid stray German pickets, he chose to stay away almost entirely +from the roads and go across country. + +From the fields in which they had descended to the inn the distance, as +nearly as he had been able to guess it, was about a mile. He shortened +this somewhat on the return trip. And he was within a quarter of a mile +of the meeting place when he became suddenly conscious of something that +was not just right. At first he was tempted to stop, but he overcame the +temptation. The thing that had warned him of a possible danger was a +trifling noise, yet one that was out of the ordinary. What the noise was +he could scarcely have told. Perhaps the breaking of a twig, perhaps the +slipping of a foot along a suddenly encountered patch of mud. At any +rate he was sure that he had been followed. + +He slowed down and now he could hear, or thought he could, the heavy +breathing of at least two men. He was not certain of this; he was +willing to admit to himself that he might be fancying it. + +"If they're after me, why don't they take me?" he wondered to himself. +But the explanation came to him almost as soon as he had asked himself +the question. Whoever was following him could reason from the sight of +the can of petrol he was carrying that he was going to some definite +place where that petrol was wanted. And it would require no great +stretch of the imagination for his trailers to decide that he must be +carrying fuel to the aeroplane that had worked such havoc with the +German plans. + +"They think I'll lead them to the 'plane," he thought. Half a dozen +plans for misleading them came to him. But none seemed practicable. +Frank was intensely dogged in his determination to accomplish anything +he had set out to do. The idea of giving up now, even to mislead his +pursuers and so save Captain Greene from capture, was repugnant to him. +He wanted to foil the men behind him--unless, as was possible, he only +imagined that they were behind him--and still do what he had set out to +do, which was in this instance to refill that empty petrol tank on the +monoplane. + +It was the purely accidental movement of putting his hand into his +pocket to dry it off that gave him the idea. It met the pocket +flashlight Captain Greene had given him, and at once he remembered a use +for it of which the aviator had told him. To follow the plan did not +mean that it would succeed, but it represented a chance, anyhow. And so +when he came to the fence which he remembered climbing on his way from +the monoplane, he stopped on the top rail, having pushed his can of +petrol through first. In the field now immediately in front of him, but +far away still, on the other side of the field, lay the monoplane. He +could not see it in the driving rain but he knew that it was there. + +There too would be Greene, waiting for him, and in all probability at +this moment straining his eyes watching for his return. On that +depended his chance of success in the plan that had come to him. On +that, and on Greene's presence of mind and quick-wittedness. + +So, still astride of the top rail, he began signalling with his pocket +flashlight. He spelled out his message in Morse code, using a long +pressure of the releasing switch for the dash and a short one for the +dot. Word by word he spelled out his message, telling that he suspected +that at least two Germans were trailing him. And at the end he signalled +a request that if he had understood, Greene should wait a half minute +and then imitate an owl's cry. He chose an owl because he had heard one +or two earlier in the night. And he added that if he got the signal he +would keep on heading for the monoplane. He suggested nothing to Greene; +the rest was decidedly up to the aviator. Frank had done his share. + +If there were Germans actually within sight of him, they did not attempt +to interfere with him while he was flashing his message. But he had +reckoned confidently that they would not. He was sure that he had not +betrayed the fact that he knew he was being followed, and they would +naturally suppose that this stop for signalling was part of a +pre-arranged plan. He now dropped to the ground, picked up his can and +took two or three quick steps. Then he stopped abruptly and was sure +that he heard a footstep behind him. He grinned to himself, and just +then the hoot of an owl sounded. Then he went on. + +"I'll make it easier for them," he said. "Perhaps they wouldn't like to +follow me right across the field!" + +So he skirted the fence and the hedge at the side, and went around three +sides of the field to reach the monoplane. And, as soon as it was in +sight, all his suspicions were verified, for from behind there came a +sharp exclamation in German, and he was told to stop, just as a heavy +hand gripped his shoulder. + +"Ja, we were right!" exclaimed one man in German. "There is their +aeroplane! Now for the other--" + +He never finished the sentence. Instead, he threw up his hands and +pitched forward, just as a revolver cracked sharply in the silent night. +With an oath the man who held Frank threw him aside, at the same moment +shooting in the direction of the flash of Greene's pistol. But the +Englishman's revolver spoke at the same moment, and he too fell. Frank's +ruse had saved the day! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES! + + +"Keep back!" called Greene sharply to Frank. + +His revolver still in his hand, he flashed the powerful light Frank had +used in the monoplane into the faces of the two Germans. They lay +groaning within a foot or two of one another. + +"No tricks!" said Greene, sharply. "I don't want to finish you, but I'll +shoot again if you make a move, except you can throw away your +revolvers." + +He spoke in German, and both of the wounded men obeyed. Frank was +immensely relieved. He had been afraid that they had been killed, and +the thought had sickened him. He realized fully that it would have been +in accordance with the idea of war had Greene killed them both; that it +would have been no more than his duty. And yet he was more than glad +that they were alive and, so far as he could judge at that moment, not +badly hurt or not dangerously wounded, at least. + +"Fill that tank with the petrol," said Greene to Frank, "but leave a +little in the can." + +Frank obeyed, wondering why the order was given. Then Greene pushed the +monoplane along the ground for some distance until it was in a favorable +position to take the air. + +"All right! Get in!" he said. "Strap yourself in. Know how the straps +go? Right! I'm going to make a bonfire. It'll bring someone to help +those poor chaps. I don't want them to have to lie here all night unless +they have to." + +He took the can which Frank had almost emptied and poured what gasoline +remained on the ground that had been protected from the rain by one wing +of the monoplane. Then he flung a match into the now highly inflammable +stubble, and a flame leaped up at once, lighting the monoplane and the +two wounded Germans. In a moment more he was in his place and the +monoplane was plunging along the ground. Then it took the air and rose +swiftly to a safe height. And then for the first time there was a +chance for explanations. + +"By Jove, how did you come to think of flashing that message to me?" +cried Greene. "That was an idea! I almost gave it all away by answering +before I realized what you were telling me. What was that fire I saw? +Looked to me like the very place you said you were going to." + +So Frank explained. + +"Oh, splendid--my word, splendid!" cried Greene. "I fancy we'll find +they've started this way already. Hullo--yes, by Jove, there come some +of our fellows now! See, over there to the right? Aeroplanes--gone to +spot those Johnnies. They didn't wait for us to come back!" + +He dropped to a bare hundred feet of elevation now and in a moment Frank +could see why. Below them a mass of cavalry was in motion. + +"There they go!" cried Greene. "Your beacon gave them the line. The +general must have decided that was confirmation enough." + +Now came a shouting from below, and Greene answered it by swooping down +to a landing in the field. An officer put his horse to the wall and rode +up beside them. + +"Captain Greene, by any chance?" he called, peering at them. + +"Yes, colonel," said Greene, saluting. "The Germans are in a clump of +woods on the Amiens road. In an angle of that road and the one from +LaFere, rather. I don't know the exact strength, but have reason to +believe about five thousand." + +"There's no doubt about their being there, though?" + +"None at all, sir. They shot a hole in my tank, and I had to wait to get +enough essence to come back. All mine leaked before I could make a +landing to plug the bullet hole. Did you start on the sight of that +burning house?" + +"Yes. The staff couldn't see why a house should be burning unless there +were Germans about. Very well. Report back to headquarters, captain. +They're waiting for you." + +"Very well, sir." + +"I thought so," he said to Frank, when they were in the air again. +"You'll hear more of this night's work before you've done, my boy. +There's a deal of gratitude due you. But I'd like to know what those +Dutchmen were up to!" + +Five minutes more saw them landed safely at headquarters, and it was +only a few moments before they were in the presence of General +Smith-Derrien. He listened to Greene's brief report in silence. + +"There is more to be told of what my passenger and observer did, sir," +he added, when he had sketched the essential facts. "I will make a +written report of that direct to you." + +"Do so," said the general. "You have done very well. Had it not been for +the information we have obtained in this way, the whole headquarters +staff might have been captured. The Germans evidently learned, through +spies, of the orders that had been issued for continuing the retirement, +and had slipped this force through to intercept the staff. I have been +able to turn the tables on them, however. They will have trouble, I +think, in escaping the forces sent against them." + +For some time heavy firing had been heard in the direction of the woods +where the Germans had lain. Now this died away. General Smith-Derrien +glanced significantly at a colonel of his staff and permitted himself +the luxury of a smile, a rare one for him in those days of the retreat. + +Just then the telephone on his table rang. The nearest officer answered, +listening attentively for a moment. + +"Colonel Mewbray using the field telephone, sir," he said to the +general. "It's been connected with our wires here. He reports that the +horse artillery completely surrounded the wood in which the Germans were +quartered, and shelled the woods for ten minutes. After that the Germans +ceased firing, and when we played searchlights a dozen white flags were +shown. The German commander, General von Garnst, surrendered to avoid a +further useless sacrifice of lives." + +The general nodded. + +"My compliments to Colonel Mewbray," he said. "Ask him to convey my +thanks to Brigadier-General Lannin. The German prisoners will be placed +on trains at once and sent to Paris, through Amiens. The staff will +prepare at once to take the new position as indicated in the order of +to-night. Orderly!" + +"Yes, sir!" said a private, stepping forward. + +"My motor is to be ready in five minutes." + +"Yes, sir." + +The orderly went to transmit the order. Then the general turned to Frank +and held out his hand. + +"I shall see to it that you and your companion Boy Scout are mentioned +in dispatches," he said. "I shall also see to it that your scoutmaster +is informed of your excellent work, and shall request him to give you +the highest possible promotion for distinguished services!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE RETREAT + + +Frank felt that he was dismissed, and a gentle pressure on his arm from +Captain Greene made him sure of it. The aviator went out with him, and +when they were outside he slapped him on the back. + +"Well, you've got a right to feel proud of yourself!" he said. "And the +general doesn't begin to know all you did. He will, though, as soon as +he gets my report. I'll write that directly because there's no telling +what will happen any time I go up. You've seen something of how it goes +in a monoplane." + +"I wonder what I'm to do now," said Frank. + +"Go away from here as quickly as you can," said Greene, with a laugh. "I +can tell you that much. That's what we've been doing ever since they +smashed us at Mons, in Belgium. You see those beggars creep out, trying +to get around us. The Frenchmen made a bad guess at the beginning, and +sent too many men to Alsace, and so this chap Von Kluck had enough men +to threaten to surround us. But his turn's coming!" + +"When?" asked Frank. + +"Ask me something easy! Before very long, though, I think. We'll be +south of Amiens by to-morrow. We've got to wait until we get enough +men. But there's a surprise coming to the Germans. If I told you any +more I'd be shot at daybreak for betraying military secrets. Good luck, +young 'un! Sorry you're not going to be with us in the flying corps!" + +"Good-bye," said Frank. + +Then he went to look for Henri, and found him in the same room in which +they had first been received by Major Cooper. Henri started up with a +cry of delight at seeing him and embraced him, in the French fashion, to +the huge amusement of the Englishmen present and Frank's own disgust and +embarrassment. But he tried to hide how he felt, for he knew that Henri +was only doing what he had been brought up to regard as the proper +thing, and he would not have hurt his chum's feelings for the world. + +"You two youngsters have got to get back to Amiens," said the major. +"For one thing because the Germans will be here as soon as we get out, +and for another because I want you to take some dispatches to the French +staff there. Can either of you drive a motor?" + +"I can," said Henri, proudly. + +"Really? All right. I'd rather not spare a man. You will take these +dispatches in the same containers in which they were brought, and +deliver them to Colonel Menier, if he is still in Amiens. If not, to +Major Fremille. You will also turn over the motor car to the French +authorities there. Shall you stay in Amiens after that, even if the +French leave, which they will?" + +"Yes, sir, unless there is something we can do elsewhere." + +"I rather think you'll be able to do more there than anywhere else, if +the Germans don't drive you out. But you'll hear of that from the +French officer you report to. By the way, when I spoke of the convoy +that resisted a Uhlan attack, you didn't tell me you'd had anything to +do with that. Why not?" + +"We didn't, sir," said Frank, surprised. "We got away just as the +fighting began." + +"Yes, and sorry to go, too, I'll wager! Captain Hardy reported that it +was your quickness and intelligence that saved him, and enabled him to +get help up in time to save the convoy. Something about the hands of a +clock you saw moving, eh?" + +"That was nothing, sir," said Frank. "I just happened to see that they'd +moved, when a minute before the clock had seemed to have stopped." + +"Maybe it was nothing, but we hadn't got on to it before. And if they've +been doing that at all steadily it accounts for the way they've been +able to drop shells on to what we supposed were concealed positions. +They shelled the house the staff was in two days ago. We're giving them +a good fight, but they beat us pretty badly when it comes to spying. If +we had a few more people with eyes as quick as yours, we'd be better +off. Come on, I'll take you out and see you started." + +As they reached the street they saw General Smith-Derrien climbing into +a great automobile that started off at once, moving south toward Paris. +What little they had seen of him had already made them conceive a great +admiration for the silent British commander, who only a few days later +was to be honored as the first brilliant figure of the war on the allied +side. It was for his very conduct of this retreat that Field Marshal +French, the British commander-in-chief, selected him for special mention +in his dispatches. + +They had to wait a few minutes while Major Cooper attended to the +details of getting a car for them. + +"Oh, Frank," said Henri, wistfully, "I wish I'd been the one to go! +Though I wouldn't have done so well, I'm sure of that." + +"Nonsense! You'd have done as well, and better," said Frank. + +"No! But think of what you have done for France, for what is done for +the English now is done for France as well. I am glad the English are +fighting with us now, instead of against us. I--" + +Major Cooper's return interrupted him. + +"Here's your car coming now," he said. "You'll have to take a long way +around. There are troops, or will be, on all the direct roads, and, +besides, bridges are being blown up fast. Take the road that leads to +Abbeville, over toward the sea. Use your own judgment about when you +turn south, but keep moving toward the west until you are very close to +Abbeville. After that you will have a fairly clear course. We haven't +any reason to think that the Germans are in that direction at all as +yet, though where they may be to-morrow no one knows. I needn't tell you +to keep your eyes open. But if you do run into Germans, don't try to get +away. There's very little chance of their finding the papers you carry, +and, if they do, it is not important enough for us to want you to run +any great risk. If you see them coming, hide at once. The motor doesn't +matter." + +Henri took the driver's seat and Frank sprang in beside him. And Henri, +feeling that he had been pushed a little into the background, started +the motor at once. He really could drive a car, having learned from his +father years before, and he soon showed, when he had made himself +familiar with the details of his machine, that he was to be trusted with +it. And so, with a blast of his horn, he made a quick turn and sent the +car roaring into the night. That was only to show off, however, for in a +moment he muffled his engine, and the car spun along almost in silence, +the motor purring evenly, as if to show that it was in perfect trim and +ready to give the car all the speed that was needed. + +The rain had stopped by this time, but the roads were still muddy and +greasy, and at first, too, there was a good deal of traffic. Guns and +men were moving, and, moreover, there was another danger. The German +guns had evidently moved up, and a shell fell near them once in a while, +but not so near as to bother them. + +After a few miles of travelling, however, they found the road freer, and +found also that the sound of the rear guard engagement that was covering +the British retreat was further off. Five miles saw them riding through +fields where twinkling lights showed the presence of troops, and they +were stopped by a French guard. The pass Major Cooper had given them got +them through, and the soldiers laughed and chatted while an officer was +examining it. These were fresh troops, hurriedly brought up to hold off +the Germans while the exhausted British retired to new positions, and +they were gay, light-hearted fellows. True, they had not yet been in +action, but to Frank it seemed that they were likely to be jovial after +they had heard bullets singing over their heads. + +"They don't seem to feel bad," said Henri. "And it is the same with the +English. They are retreating, and still they are cheerful." + +"You say that as if it was something remarkable!" said Frank, with a +laugh. "Of course they're cheerful. They've got faith in their leaders, +and they know, I suppose, that a retreat is often necessary. They'll +turn the tables before long." + +"It seems strange to be where it is so quiet," said Frank, when they had +finally passed beyond sound of the skirmishing on the extreme left of +the allied line, formed by the French force through which they had +passed. "I'm expecting to see Germans every time we make a turn." + +"So am I," said Henri. "And why shouldn't we? If they are trying to turn +the allied flank, we're as likely to see them in this direction as not." + +"Look here," said Frank, "you're perfectly right. We haven't got orders +to make particularly good time. Let's keep on right to Abbeville. That's +at the mouth of the Somme. Then we can turn toward Boulogne. If there +are Germans around here at all they'll be in that direction. We might +get some trace of their cavalry. Or we might do what we did before, +strike some of their infantry. I don't think we're so likely to do that, +though." + +"We'll try it, anyhow," said Henri. + +And so they turned toward St. Pol, instead of making the sharp turn at +right angles that would have brought them to Amiens. Here there were +traces, indeed, of a German invasion. Peasants, alarmed by the reports +of Uhlans seen at Arras and near Boulogne, were in full flight. + +"We needn't bother about that," said Frank. "Anything that these people +know the intelligence department has found out. No troops advancing at +all openly could get by the aeroplanes without being seen. And I think +the railroad in this direction has been watched. I saw a lot of +aeroplanes flying over this way this afternoon, and there would be more +from Boulogne. There are English warships there, I've heard, and their +naval flyers would cover this part of the country." + +Suddenly Henri slowed down the car. He kept one hand on the wheel, the +car moving slowly forward, but his gaze was fixed on the sky. Finally he +stopped the car altogether. + +"Look up there," he said, quietly, to Frank. "Do you see that light? +First I thought it was a star. But there aren't any other stars, and now +I'm sure it's moving. Do you see?" + +He pointed, and Frank's eyes followed his finger. + +"You're right," he said. "Hello! Now it's gone--no, there it is again! +See, it flashes and then disappears! It's some sort of a signal from the +air. Keep the car still." + +He tried to follow the flashes of the light, hoping to read the message +if it was in Morse code. But he soon found that it was not. And then +Henri cried out sharply. + +"If it's a signal, it's being answered from over there!" he said. "See, +there's a light waving there. It looks as if it might be from the roof +of a house. I--" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A DARING EXPLOIT + + +Frank leaped out. + +"Turn the car around first," he said. Henri obeyed. "Now try your +starter. Cut out the motor and then see if she starts quickly." + +Henri, mystified, obeyed. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Because when we want to start, we may have to do it in an awful hurry," +said Frank. He searched the road for a moment. "Run her back a few feet +to where that big tree is. It's darker there than anywhere else around +here. All right, that's far enough. We'll have to take the chance of +something coming along while we're gone and bumping into her but I don't +believe there's much risk of that. Now, come on! And quiet! We've got to +get up to that place without being seen." + +Cautiously they approached the house. No lights showed in any of its +windows; the place looked deserted. Indeed, all around it were traces +of hasty flight. It was a wayside inn, of a type common always in +France, commoner than ever since the spread of the craze for automobiles +and motor touring. Suddenly Frank stopped. + +"Wait a minute for me," he said. "I've got to go back to the car. I +ought to have thought of it before." + +"What do you want?" + +"Batteries. I saw a coil of wire in the car and I want that, too. And +there must be batteries. A car like this would carry everything needed +for small repairs, wouldn't it?" + +"Yes. I think you'll find them under my seat." + +Frank was back in less than five minutes. + +"All right," he said. "I don't know whether we'll have time to do what I +want or not, and whether I'll be able to do it, anyhow. But it's worth +trying. Now come on past the house. Easy! This is the hardest part of +it." + +They slipped by. However, Frank uttered a suppressed exclamation as soon +as they had done so. Before them, on the right of the road was a field +easily two or three times as large as the ordinary French field. As a +rule the land in France is split up into very small sections, closely +cultivated. But here was a cleared field as large as those commonly seen +in England or America, with no fences for perhaps a quarter of a mile in +any direction. Henri turned to look back at the inn. + +"They're still signalling from there--and look! There are two lights +now, instead of one, above!" + +These lights were still some distance away. Frank studied them. Then he +led the way into the field. + +"I thought so!" he said, with suppressed triumph in his voice. "Do you +see those barrels over there toward the inn? There's petrol in those--or +I'll eat my shirt!" + +"And if there is?" said Henri. "What then?" + +"Can't you guess? What do you suppose those lights mean?" + +"Aeroplanes?" + +"Never! They wouldn't flash that way. They'd have to be in a different +position entirely. No. Dirigibles!" + +"Zeppelins?" + +"Perhaps. Perhaps Parsevals or Schutte-Lanz airships. I think Parsevals, +for they need gasoline. And Zeppelins could fly from Brussels or Liege, +almost from Cologne--oh, I have it! That's why they need petrol!" + +"Why?" + +"They haven't flown over Belgium at all! They are from the sea!" + +"Oh--so that they could come secretly, and not be seen as they passed +over Belgium?" + +"Yes. If they flew over Belgium they would have to cross some territory +that the Germans do not hold, and word would go to Antwerp and from +there to the army here. Now quickly! They will be here soon. They are +coming nearer every minute." + +They went to the barrels as fast as they dared. There was nearly a score +of them, all close together. Each had a tap, and it was proof enough +that they contained petrol to open the tap of one. The smell identified +them beyond any doubt whatever. + +"Come on, and help me dig a hole," said Frank. He dropped to his knees, +and began scooping out the soft earth with his hands. Henri fell to with +a will, though he was sadly puzzled. But when the hole had been dug to a +depth of perhaps two feet, and Frank began to hollow out a trench toward +the barrels he began to understand. And as soon as he did, he worked as +hard as Frank himself, careless of torn finger nails and bleeding hands. +They carried the trench to the foot of one of the barrels, and Frank +turned the tap. The gasoline ran out into the trench, and flowed to the +hole. Frank ran back to the hole. + +"Stop it when I give the word," he said. "Now!" + +Then he was busy with the copper wire he had brought from the automobile +for several minutes. The wire had been carried either to repair cut +telegraph or telephone wires, or to serve as the conductor for a field +system of lighting. But whatever its original purpose had been, Frank +was thankful now that he had found it. He worked fast, and was satisfied +at last. + +"Now a little straw and a few twigs over the hole and the trench--and +the sooner they come, the better!" + +"Yes, the sooner, the better!" echoed Henri, tremendously excited, now +that he understood, even if rather vaguely, what Frank planned. "Vive la +France! A bas les Allemands!" + +As they went back toward the road Frank trailed the wire behind him in +two lengths. And when they reached the road, he dropped into the ditch, +and was busy for some minutes. + +"Now if it only works!" he said. "Perhaps it will; perhaps it won't. But +it can't do any harm. That's certain." + +"They're coming closer. I think I can see their shapes now--and there +are two of them," said Henri. "Do you see?" + +For a moment Frank could not. Henri's eyes were sharper than his. But +then he did make out vaguely two immense shapes that were coming through +the air. Soon, too, the faint hum of their powerful motors made itself +heard. + +"Zeppelins and big fellows, too," said Frank. "All the better!" + +He wondered if his plan would work, and if he would be able to carry it +out. If, in the final test, would he dare to do what he had tried to +arrange? Time enough to think of that when the moment for decision came. +And meanwhile there were a hundred things that might happen to ruin his +plan. There was nothing to do now but wait. But every moment of waiting +brought the climax nearer. The hum of the motors of the airships rose +louder on the quiet air, broken only by the faint and distant mutter of +the battle that was still being fought miles away. It sounded now like +the buzzing of a swarm of bees, magnified a thousand times. And then the +field was full of men, rushing from the inn. He wondered how they could +have been concealed there. But such wonder was idle, and he did not +think of it. Instead he watched keenly. First one monstrous aerial +battleship came to rest on the earth. At once the men in the field +surrounded her, seizing the ropes that were flung out, and made her +fast. + +There was a good deal of noise. Men were calling in German of course. +But soon order was restored, and the only voices were those giving +commands. Suddenly Frank's face lighted up. + +"Did you understand, Henri?" he said. "The men in the field are to be +the crews for the fighting. They have sailed here with only enough men +to steer them. And now all are ordered out, to stretch their legs!" + +"Yes, I heard that order," said Henri. + +"Now keep your eyes glued to them. What are they doing?" + +They listened and watched intently. + +"Just as I thought," said Frank. "See, they are going to fill the tanks. +There, they are attaching hose. And they have a pump--they surely must +have a pump, to send the petrol uphill!" + +Meanwhile the other airship had come down, on the other side of the +barrels, and there as nearly as they could judge, the same procedure was +carried out. + +"Watch, Henri! Are they pumping?" cried Frank. + +"Yes!" said Henri. "Now--now--now is your time, Francois!" + +Frank hesitated the fraction of a second. + +"If it meant killing them, I could not do it," he said, solemnly. "But +they are all out of the airships. Now!" + +On the word he closed the circuit he had made by connecting the loose +ends of the wire he had carried from his petrol filled hole to the two +batteries he had brought from the car. He had broken the circuit at the +other end, leaving the two wires separated by the fraction of an inch, +and cunningly held in place. The result was a spark--or would be, if he +had not erred. + +And he had made no mistake! For as he closed the circuit, he saw a +flash of flame at the spot where he and Henri had dug the hole into +which the petrol had flowed from the barrel they had opened. The spark +had fired the explosive gas that results when petrol is mixed with air. +The flame ran along the shallow trench, and, amid a chorus of shrieks +from the Germans who scattered in all directions, the fire reached the +barrel. In a moment there was a loud explosion. The flame flew to the +other barrels--the whole neighborhood of the barrels, owing to the +mixture of the petrol and the air, was then filled with an explosive and +inflammable gas. + +There was a great flash of flame, broken by a dozen sharp reports as one +barrel after another blew up. + +And still, though the Germans were flying in all directions, plainly +visible in the light of the blazing gasoline, the real success of +Frank's plan hung in the balance. But then what he had calculated +happened. The flame ran through the lines of hose. And a moment later +two great shafts of flame marked the spread of the fire to the helpless +monsters of the air. There was no chance to save them. Indeed, even the +Germans had no other thought than to save their own lives. Their raid, +whatever its ultimate object, was ruined and two vessels of the great +air fleet of the Kaiser were destroyed. + +For a moment after the final catastrophe the two scouts stayed, caught +by the wonder and the magnificence of the ruin they had wrought. But +then Frank cried out, + +"Come on! We haven't a moment to lose! They'll know that that was no +accident! Some came running this way. They'll find the wires! And then +they'll know. The wires will bring them here. Hurry!" + +They began running desperately toward the automobile. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE ESCAPE + + +Their one chance of escape, as they both realized fully, was to get back +to their automobile before the Germans recovered themselves sufficiently +to begin searching for those who had brought such swift and terrible +disaster upon their enterprise. And so they made no effort to move +quietly or secretly now. To do so would have meant delay and delay was +what they could not afford. The distance seemed far greater than when +they had first traversed it. It seemed that they would never pass the +house which the Germans had used as a base. But finally they reached it. +And as they did so a door burst open, and they saw a light within. + +A man, with the cap of a German officer, though otherwise he wore +civilian clothes, came rushing out, tugging at his pistol. He had heard +them running. By some bad chance, then, there had been a man--a +German--left in the inn! + +"Stop!" he cried, furiously. + +But they kept on running. He could not see them, dazzled as he was by +coming from the lighted house into the deep darkness of the road. But he +was in front of them, and they slowed up, instinctively, though they +still ran. And then they came into the light of the door. He started +back. + +"Kinder!" he cried. "Children!" + +It was the exclamation of the Uhlan who had stopped them in the +afternoon. But now it was uttered in a vastly different tone. The German +was beside himself with rage. Perhaps he had had some heavy share of +responsibility for the safety of the Zeppelins. But whether that were so +or not, he was plainly maddened by the sight of the boys. He could +scarcely have understood how completely they were responsible, but the +way they were running and the direction whence they came proved only too +clearly that they had had some hand in it. + +"Stop, Henri!" cried Frank, suddenly. "We can't get away. We surrender!" + +They stopped. Frank was obeying the order Major Cooper had given him. +Perhaps, had he been alone, he would have risked a further attempt to +escape. But there was no doubt that the German meant to shoot, and he +could not expose Henri to the risk. + +They stopped full in the path of light that came from the open door of +the inn. Behind them, in the road, voices were raised. It was plain that +their wires had been followed, and that others were in pursuit. And, +after all, Frank felt they could afford to grin at being made prisoners +now. They had accomplished a great feat. Even if they were caught, that +was to their credit. + +And then suddenly he gave a cry of horror. Henri was a little ahead of +him for he had not been able to stop as abruptly as Frank. And the +German officer, too furious, perhaps, to think of what he was doing, +raised his pistol and fired point-blank at the French boy! He fired--but +there came from his pistol not a sharp report, but only the dull click +as the hammer fell. Twice more he pulled the trigger. But something was +wrong. He had made a fatal error--his revolver was unloaded. + +But it was only by the luckiest of accidents that Henri was still alive. +Frank had seen the murderous attempt, and now rage mastered him for the +moment. + +"You coward!" he shrieked. He flung himself at the German officer, who +was trying frantically to get at his cartridges. So sudden was the +attack that he was taken utterly by surprise. Before he could defend +himself, Frank was wrenching his arm. A moment more, and the German +officer squealed like a frightened pig, for Frank had succeeded in +getting a hammer lock on him. He pulled at the revolver with his other +hand, and at last the German, to escape a broken arm, had to loosen his +grip. Even a weakling can cripple the strongest man if he once gets that +hold. And Frank, in his rage at the cowardly thing he had seen, was +almost a match for the full grown man in any case. + +As soon as he got the revolver he let go of the German's arm. But before +the officer could move, Frank had clubbed the pistol and struck him +sharply on the head. He went down like a log. + +"Run, Henri, run!" he cried. "They're coming up behind us! Run for the +car!" + +Behind them, indeed, the footsteps of running men were plainly to be +heard. A shot rang out, but both boys had turned instinctively to the +side of the road and were running low in the ditch beside the highway. +They could not be seen, and the firing ceased. It seemed that most of +the men were unarmed, or carried revolvers at the most. Had there been +rifles behind them, they would have had no chance. But as it was, they +reached their car and leaped in. Henri threw the switch of the electric +starter, the motor leaped into throbbing life, and they were off. + +Behind them more shots were fired, but the aim was wild. And they sped +away, at fifty miles an hour, pursued only by a few vain revolver +bullets, and by a chorus of shouts and yells of rage and execration. + +"The coward!" stormed Frank. He had never been so angry in his life. "He +might have killed you, Harry! And just because he was in a rage over +what had happened to the airships! He didn't even know that you'd had +anything to do with it--not positively! And we'd already surrendered." + +Henri laughed--and he meant the laugh. It was not affectation. He had +faced his danger in the true spirit of the Frenchman, who is as brave in +action as any man in the world. + +"Eh, well!" he said. "He did not shoot me, so what does it matter? That +was a fine crack on the head you gave him! He will remember us, I think, +next time he sees us." + +Frank shuddered a little. + +"I hope not!" he said. "Or, that if he does, he will be a prisoner +himself, and won't be able to try to get even." + +Frank remembered the look of sheer devilish rage in the eyes of the +German. It was not pleasant to think that they might meet again. + +"If it is to be, it will be," said Henri. "I bear him no grudge! He had +cause to be angry--ma foi, yes! The Kaiser will not say pretty things +when he hears of what we did to-night, Francois!" + +"No!" Frank laughed. "I wonder where those airships were meant to go? +Paris? They could have done terrible damage. Perhaps they were to attack +the army--to lie behind its course, knowing that our aeroplanes would be +scouting on the front. They might have made it harder than ever to +retreat in good order. But I think they would have gone to Paris. I +think that they would have been there before daylight." + +"And now--pouf!" said Henri. "What is left of them? Not so much as would +fill a barrel!" + +Once all danger of pursuit was past, Henri had slowed down the speed of +the car. Both scouts were thoroughly tired out by this time. They had +had a strenuous day, and a night that merited the description of +strenuous even more fully than the day. And now that danger seemed to +lie behind them, and a clear road to safety in front, their weariness +was realized fully for the first time. + +They could hardly have escaped the Germans, had any lain between +Abbeville and Amiens. But none were there, as it turned out. The road +was clear and open before them, and the car rolled along smoothly. + +"The firing seems to be moving now--moving to the southeast," said +Henri, once. + +"I think our left wing is being drawn in a little. That will tighten up +the line. But it gives the Germans still more chance to get around the +wing." + +"We can bring up French troops to meet them, Frank. There is the +garrison of Paris--nearly five hundred thousand men. They have not +struck a blow yet. But if the Germans come too near, they will be +brought up to the first line." + +"I believe that's what the French plan is, Harry!" said Frank. "Yes, why +not? To lead the Germans on and then take the risk of leaving Paris +defended only by its forts, and try a new flanking movement of their +own. Do you see? A new army, which could outflank the Germans while they +thought they were outflanking us!" + +The thought cheered them up wonderfully. It made it possible for them to +bear the sight of Amiens, left without a single soldier of the republic, +when they arrived. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY + + +The days that followed the return of Frank and Henri to Amiens were busy +but uneventful ones. They had found a few staff officers at the +abandoned headquarters, including Colonel Menier, to whom they had made +their report and turned over the automobile. He had thanked them +heartily, having heard already of their work. And when he was told of +the destruction of the Zeppelins he had embraced them both. + +"We had heard already of that," he said. "Only of the burning of the +ships, not of how it was done. You have done well for France, mes +braves! Wait! You shall not find France ungrateful. I go to Paris from +here, to make reports. I shall make one concerning you, to those in +authority. And--who knows?" + +He pinched their ears, that gesture loved of French soldiers since the +days of the great Napoleon, of whom his officers said that when he +pinched their ears he conferred an honor they valued more highly than +the cross of the Legion d'Honneur. + +After the departure of the last officers of the staff, Amiens took on a +new aspect. The thunder of guns, even the rolling of rifle fire, was +plainly to be heard now in the streets. In the distance--and not a great +distance, either--the smoke of a dozen burning villages was to be seen +to the north and east. It was so that the Germans marked their advance, +steady, relentless. Henri exclaimed in fury at the sight. + +"These barbarians of Germans!" he cried. "Burn and kill--and not +soldiers alone!" + +"It tears my heart-strings to see all this wanton destruction indulged +in by the foe," said Frank. "What then must be the feelings of the +French as they watch their villages being so ruthlessly burned! But some +day, somehow, Henri, our chance will come and the French will sweep back +into this territory, a victorious host. Not for long will it be in the +power of our foe!" + +Every day Amiens expected the incursion of the Germans, but day followed +day and still the enemy did not come. Frank and Henri stayed in the +Martin house alone. The servants had gone; Madame Martin had respected +their fears of the Prussians, and had made other arrangements for them. +So the two scouts camped out there, and Henri invited many of the other +scouts to share their quarters in relays. The house was open, too, to +any refugees who cared to use it, but by this time the country to the +north that was in danger of German raids had been swept clear, and +Amiens was no longer a gathering place. It was in itself too much +exposed. + +The smoke of burning villages rose now to the south, toward Paris. The +retreat was still on, it seemed. And while they waited patiently, since +there was nothing else to do, for the coming of the Germans, there was +much work for the Boy Scouts to do. It was routine work now, very +different from the exciting labors that had fallen to the share of +Frank and Henri on the day of their trip to Le Cateau. When Henri became +restless and impatient, as he sometimes did, Frank soothed him. + +"We are still serving France," he said. "There are no more soldiers in +Amiens. There are a few police, and those are old men, since the young +gendarmes have gone to join their regiments. But Monsieur le Maire knows +that he can call upon us." + +The military authorities, before completing the evacuation of Amiens, +had given strict orders that if the Germans came there was to be no +resistance. And in order to enforce this rule, the mayor detailed the +few remaining police and the Boy Scouts to make a house-to-house canvas, +warning the citizens, and collecting all firearms that might be found. +The scouts worked in pairs on this duty, and Frank and Henri always went +together. + +"In Belgium," one of them always explained, in making the demand that +the arms be given up, "Louvain and other towns were destroyed, so that +not one stone remained upon another. And always the Germans made the +excuse that shots had been fired on their men from the houses. Here in +Amiens we must save our cathedral and the other famous buildings. When +the Germans come it will not be for long; soon they will be in retreat +before the armies of France and England." + +Many gave up their guns reluctantly. But nearly all did give them up, +and whenever the scouts had reason to think that any were being +concealed, they made a special report on the house, and policemen +returned to make a search. + +And this wise planning had much to do with saving the town. The Germans +came at last. At first a single squadron of Uhlans, in command of a +young lieutenant, rode in. Frank and Henri saw them passing their house +and they mounted bicycles at once, and followed them. + +"They've nerve," admitted Henri, reluctantly. "See with what arrogance +they sit their horses! They might be riding into a German city instead +of one in which everyone who sees them hates them!" + +"Yes, they've nerve," agreed Frank. + +There could be no question of the fact. The little squadron of troopers, +almost swallowed up already in the crowd of curious ones who followed +the slow movement of the horses, rode on, seemingly deaf to the mutters +of execration that rose, especially from the women. Not a man turned his +face from the front even to scowl at the townspeople. They rode on, eyes +unswerving. Outside the Hotel de Ville they stopped. A bugler blew a +fanfare, and Monsieur le Maire, in his robes of office, appeared on the +steps. A great cheer from the people greeted him. He bowed gravely to +the Uhlan lieutenant, who saluted stiffly. + +"I demand the surrender of the town of Amiens, in the name of his +Majesty the Kaiser and of the German Empire," said the lieutenant, in +excellent French. "You, Monsieur le Maire, will consider yourself my +prisoner. You will be held responsible for the conduct of the +inhabitants. Any attack on German troops will be sternly punished. If +the inhabitants of Amiens behave in a peaceable and orderly fashion they +will not be harmed. Payment will be made for any private property +required by our forces. A brigade of infantry will march in this +afternoon. Quarters must be found for the troops, numbering nearly eight +thousand men. You will be informed later of the requisition the town +will be required to fill, in money and in supplies. For the present you +are required to clear this square, where my men will remain." + +The mayor bowed. + +"My orders are to make no resistance," he said. "I bow to the +inevitable, regretting that we are not permitted to defend ourselves to +the death. Amiens will keep its faith. No attack will be made, since +that would mean treachery. I will order the gendarmes and the Boy Scouts +to clear the square." + +Frank and Henri were of great assistance in doing this work, Frank +taking the lead, since no patrol leader happened to be in evidence. +They and the police soon drove the people back, and the Uhlans +dismounted. There, in the public square, used as a market place, they +proceeded to cook a meal, making a fire in the street. From the sides of +the square the people watched them sullenly. But there was no +demonstration, since both the police and the scouts had explained that +anything of the sort was likely to mean the execution of the mayor, who +was within the power of the enemy. + +As soon as the public curiosity to see the hated invaders had been +somewhat satisfied, the people were urged to go to their homes, and by +mid afternoon the streets were deserted. Then began the entrance of the +real force of occupation. At the head rode a general of brigade, a +sombre, stern-eyed man, accompanied by his staff. And behind him marched +thousands of green-gray German infantry keeping step with a marvelous +precision. These men had been fighting hard, but they looked fresh and +trim. And as they marched they sang, raising their deep voices in a +splendid, thrilling chorus. + +_Fly, Eagle, Fly_, they sang as they marched into town. And then they +gave way to the magnificent hymn of Martin Luther, the battle song of +the Protestant nations in the Thirty Years' War, the battle song of +Prussia ever since that time, _A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!_ + +Henri watched them as they marched by, tears in his eyes. Finally he +could suppress the thought no longer, and he turned to Frank with: + +"They have said that Germany has fine soldiers, but they are not like +our men! There's all the difference in the world between them--and that +difference will bring victory to our banners. Our men fight for right; +these men fight because they think it their duty." + +"Even though they are the foe, I hope there will be no shooting at them +here. If there is, they will show no mercy, I am sure of that," said +Frank. + +"Amiens has pledged its honor," replied Henri quietly. "They are safe +here. Will they harm Monsieur le Maire? Oh, do you think they will harm +him?" + +"No, I think not if there is no resistance offered. I wonder if any will +be quartered at your house, Henri?" + +"I hope not," said Henri, flushing. + +A change, as it turned out, was made in that plan. The general in +command of the brigade, who proclaimed himself within an hour of his +arrival as military governor of Amiens, decided to keep his men under +canvas. Tents sprang up like mushrooms in the parks and open spaces. +Amiens was required to furnish great quantities of foodstuffs--bread, +flour, wine, meat. But the troops were not quartered in the houses. And +by nightfall the town seemed to have settled down peacefully to the new +conditions. German aeroplanes were flying constantly overhead; officers +came in, and more troops. + +"Amiens is again the headquarters of an army corps," said Frank. He was +suffering almost as keenly as Henri, but he did not mean to let his chum +brood upon the disaster that had overtaken his home. And, after all, it +might have been worse. He thought of Louvain and other Belgian cities. + +That night Amiens was a German city. Trains passed through continually +now, bearing troops; some, returning, carried wounded, whose groans +resounded in the silence. And in the distance to the south, toward +Paris, the roar of guns seemed louder again. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +RECOGNITION! + + +Even the enemy, the hated Germans, found that the Boy Scouts were +useful. There was constant danger of an outbreak, and the Germans had no +desire to destroy Amiens. Had they been attacked from the houses, they +would have lost heavily; in house-to-house fighting civilians, battling +at close range, can inflict great damage on the best of regular troops. +Such an outbreak would have meant the killing and the wounding of +hundreds of German soldiers. The punishment would have been terrible, +indeed, but that would not have brought a single Prussian back to +life--a single Bavarian, rather, since these were Bavarian troops. + +The Boy Scouts served as intermediaries between the Germans and the +French civil authorities. They carried messages, and, at the order of +the mayor, they submitted themselves to the orders of the German staff +when it was necessary to explain a new decree to the citizens. They had +many other things to do, also. It was largely the scouts who saw to the +gathering of the supplies requisitioned by the Germans. The enemy had +been inexorable in this respect; they set a definite time limit for the +filling of every requisition they made, and it was well understood that +drastic measures would be taken were they not satisfied. + +Each day a new group of hostages was taken into the Hotel de Ville, now +occupied as headquarters by the German staff, rather than the buildings +formerly used by the Second Corps d'Armee of France. These hostages, it +was explained, would be shot at once if orders were not obeyed or if +Germans were attacked. There were many irksome rules. Every citizen was +required to salute a German officer whenever he saw him. Lights must be +out at a certain hour each night, and after that hour any citizen found +in the streets without a permit was liable to arrest and execution +without trial. They were under martial rule. + +But always the sound of heavy firing in the southeast continued. + +"I really believe the great battle is being fought at last, Henri!" said +Frank. "We have heard that firing now for three days. It comes from the +direction of the Marne. There is another thing. Since yesterday no troop +trains have gone south through Amiens." + +"But empty trains go through!" cried Henri. "And they come back, loaded +with German wounded! You are right, Francois! We have begun to drive the +Prussians back to the Rhine!" + +News they had none. All Amiens was cut off from the world. Whatever the +German invaders knew they kept strictly to themselves. It was only by +such inferences as they could draw from the sound of firing in the +direction of Paris and by the passage of trains through the city that +they were able to form any opinion at all. + +"I feel sure that there's a real battle going on," said Frank. "The +firing is too heavy and too continuous for a rear guard action. But as +to who is winning, we can't tell. Sometimes the firing seems to be a +little nearer again, but that might be because of the wind. And as for +the trains that are going through, that doesn't really mean anything. +They might have decided to send troops to the front by another railway. +They control the line through Rheims, too." + +But the morning after they had decided that there was no real way to +tell what was happening, something definite did come up. Nearly all the +troops in Amiens moved south. Only a few hundred remained, enough to +garrison the town and control the railway, since there seemed no danger +of an allied raid. But the fact that the other troops were being sent up +to the front indicated that the fighting was assuming a character far +more desperate than the Germans had expected. + +"They must be fighting on the line of the river Marne," said Frank. "You +see, during that long retreat, there was time to entrench there. And +open field entrenchments seem to be better than fortified places. Look +at how quickly Namur fell, when everyone thought it would hold the +Germans back for days." + +"The country there is difficult, too," said Henri. "My father said once +that it was there that the garrison of Paris should have fought first in +1870, instead of waiting inside the forts for the Prussians to come." + +"I think that everything favors us now, for the first time," said Frank. +"The Germans have been winning--they have made a wonderful dash through +Belgium and France. They must have got very close to Paris. I believe +the roar of guns is as easy to hear in Paris as here. And then, +suddenly, when they think they are to have it all their own way, their +enemy turns and faces them, and holds them. That much we may be sure of. +The battle has been raging now for four days at least, perhaps for five. +And the firing has certainly not gone further away. Even if we are not +gaining, it is a gain if the Germans cannot advance." + +They were glad now that they were busy. A few refugees from the south +were coming, driven back by the Germans. Perhaps they would rather have +tried to reach Paris, but the battle stopped that. And always there were +errands to be run, and messages to be carried. It went against the grain +to obey the orders of German officers, and to be obliged to salute these +officers whenever they were encountered, but it was necessary. And the +scouts of Amiens, when they knew what their duty was, did it, no matter +how unpleasant it might be. + +Now the troops who formed the garrison of Amiens changed almost daily. +Older men were now in the tents, and some young boys. + +"The last classes of their reserves must have been called out," said +Frank. "These are not first line troops that are up, but the ones who +are supposed to guard lines of communication and to garrison interior +fortresses." + +There were times when more officers than men seemed to be in the town. +Amiens seemed to be used as a point where shipments of supplies and of +ammunition for troops at the front were concentrated and diverted to the +various divisions at the front. This involved the presence of a great +number of officers of the commissariat department, who seemed to work +night and day. + +Men fight best on a full stomach, and the Germans understood this +thoroughly, and saw to it that their soldiers did not have to go into +battle hungry. Amiens also formed the headquarters of one branch of the +German flying corps. Here aviators in great numbers were present +constantly. Damaged monoplanes and biplanes were brought back for +repairs. And it was this fact that brought a startling experience to the +two scouts. For one day, as they rode on their bicycles on an errand +through the square before the Hotel de Ville, they were arrested by a +sudden fierce shout. An officer ran out toward them, his face distorted +with anger. And Frank, with a sinking heart, recognized him as the man +who had fired at Henri on the night they had burned the Zeppelins. + +"Arrest that boy!" he cried, pointing to Henri. "He is a spy! He is a +French, spy, I say!" + +For a moment Frank hesitated. Then he rode away, leaving Henri to his +fate. He looked back, to see two Germans holding his chum. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A DESPERATE GAME + + +Frank had sped away because he was afraid that the officer might +recognize him in a moment also. And yet it was not fear, in the sense +that he was fearful of what might happen to him, that led him seemingly +to abandon his comrade. It was the knowledge that were he too a +prisoner, there would be no hope for either of them. He knew how the +Germans must have regarded the destruction of the Zeppelins. It was a +blow that might prove, when the final accounting was made, to have cost +them the success of the invasion of France. And he had no illusions as +to the fate of those who might be proved to be responsible for that. + +Technically, they had not acted as spies when they had played the daring +trick that had resulted in such a disaster to the German cause. But they +had been non-combatants, civilians, and by the laws of war the civilian +who takes active measures of any sort against the enemy is liable to +death. The German army enforced this rule strictly and invariably. +Neither age nor sex was a reason for sparing one who had violated it. A +woman spy, a boy of fifteen who fired at Germans, would alike be made to +face a firing squad. + +No. If he and Henri were caught, and this officer, who had already shown +his venomous hate for them, was their accuser, they would never live to +see the German defeat for which they prayed. Frank hoped that Henri +would understand, that he would know that he had taken to flight because +it afforded the only chance of saving him. + +Frank had reasoned quickly. He had been sure that the next move of the +German officer would have been to denounce him also. But while the +German officer had had a good look at Henri on the night of the Zeppelin +disaster, he had not seen Frank. Frank had been in the shadow when the +officer had tried to murder Henri; he had taken the German by surprise, +and stunned him. And so there was no way in which the German could know +him again, unless he saw him with Henri and so leaped to the conclusion +that he must also have been with him on the night of disaster. + +By that process of reasoning Frank argued that he might remain free to +go about the town. The Germans had come to trust the Boy Scouts, +understanding that their honor was pledged when they gave their word, +even to an enemy. Some of the restrictions applying to the other +citizens of Amiens did not restrain them. They were allowed to be on the +streets after the hour of curfew, for one thing. And between the scouts +and a good many of the German privates and younger officers a relation +almost friendly had been established. Frank, for instance, was welcomed +at one Bavarian mess, which contained several soldiers who had studied +at English schools, and liked a chance to air their knowledge of the +English tongue. He hoped to gain some information in this way. + +Nor was he wrong. His friends had heard of the arrest of Henri, who, +like Frank, was popular with them. And it turned out that they had +little use for the officer who had caused the arrest. He was known as a +tyrant who had more than once during the campaign shot down his own men +for slight breaches of discipline. Frank learned that he had been +degraded for the destruction of the Zeppelins, for which he had been +held responsible. His superiors had scouted his story of two boys who +had burned the dirigibles, and had assumed that he had been careless. + +Therefore Frank found it easy to discover where Henri was confined. He +was to be tried by court-martial early in the morning, and for the night +he was in a room on the ground floor of the Hotel de Ville. + +"He's only a boy," said a Bavarian corporal. "No need to guard him +closely. Even if he escaped, where could he go? Our men are everywhere." + +Frank smiled to himself. He had made a discovery a day or two before +that had not escaped his mind. That afternoon he managed to make +certain preparations unobserved. And when night came he was ready to +hazard his own liberty, and his life, if that should prove to be +necessary, in an attempt to rescue Henri. He knew the room in which +Henri was confined. It was on the side of the Hotel de Ville that +overlooked the river. No sentries were posted there, and it was easy for +Frank to get to a spot directly underneath Henri's window. The other +bank of the river was well guarded, and that was why no sentries watched +the side on which was the town hall. It was argued, Frank supposed, that +anyone escaping must attempt to swim the river and that when they tried +to climb the other bank it would be easy to find them. + +In principle, too, that was a good idea. What it did not take into +account was the discovery that Frank had made--and kept to himself. + +It was just before midnight when he began a faint tapping at Henri's +window. He used a light bamboo cane, tipped with soft cloth, so that the +sound, audible to anyone in the room, would not carry more than a few +feet. And he tapped out his signal in the Morse code very slowly, +knowing that Henri would hear and understand. + +In a few moments there was the sound of the window opening very gently. +And then Henri slipped down beside him, taking the short drop by hanging +from the window with his hands. He seized Frank's hand. + +"I knew you would try to help me," he whispered. "But I had better go +back. We cannot escape. There are sentries on the other bank of the +Somme. They would catch us together, and you would be a prisoner, too." + +"Follow me," said Frank. "Take off your shoes. Drop quietly into the +water--make no sound of a splash. Swim after me. I shall show you +something you do not expect to see." + +Frank slipped into the water. Both boys were expert swimmers, and Frank, +leading the way, slipped along in the deep shadow, without a sound. +Henri swam after him. At last Frank stopped and whispered to Henri. + +"You see this buttress? Dive just beyond it, and swim under water for +ten feet. Put up your hands then, and rise. There will be room." + +At once he dived and disappeared, and Henri followed. When they came to +the surface they were in a dark, damp hole, that smelled of slime and +filth. But in a moment Henri felt steps, and then there was a faint +light that illuminated a vault full of water. And, to his wonder, he saw +a boat, covered, except at one end, with a dark cloth. + +"In with you!" whispered Frank. "Under the cloth, and lie still!" + +Frank followed when Henri had obeyed. And then the boat began to move in +a direction different from that by which they had entered the vault. + +"I am pushing it with my hands along the wall," explained Frank, still +in a whisper. "That will bring us to the opening--the smallest possible +that would allow the boat to pass into the stream. Then the current will +carry us down. I have a rudder, that will hold us in the shadow of the +left bank through all the turns. It is a chance--the only one we had. If +all goes well, we shall drift down below the city and be safe!" + +Soon they were caught in the current of the Somme. There followed a time +of terrible and desperate trial and terror. At every shout they heard +they thought they had been discovered. Never did they dare to raise +their heads to look out. Their chance was a double one, but of the +faintest, at best. Perhaps they would not be seen at all; perhaps, even +if the boat was seen, no sentry would consider it worth remark. + +For hours they drifted, unable to tell how far they had gone. Frank, +guessing their distance by the time it had taken a piece of wood to +float a certain distance during the afternoon, had hoped to be well +beyond the city when daylight came. But he had not been certain. + +Gradually a faint light crept through the dark, stifling cloth. The +temptation to raise it and look out was terrible. But they resisted, +speaking only occasionally in whispers. With every minute that passed +their chance for success grew greater. And yet at the last minute they +might be caught. + +At last there could be no doubt that the sun was up, and that there was +full daylight. And then, suddenly, there was a sharp tug at the boat. +With a groan Frank started up, and Henri too. + +And what they saw was an amazed French peasant, and all around the +smiling country below Amiens, which was far behind! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +VIVE LA FRANCE! + + +The peasant listened in amazement to the story that they told him. But +he was a real Frenchman, out of the army because of his age. + +"Come with me," he said. "You shall have the best there is in my +house--it is not much! Dry clothes, too. If you will wear a peasant's +blouse, there are the clothes my Jean left when he went to the war!" + +"We have clothes in the boat," said Frank. "Until we knew we were safe +we dared not change into them. But your food will be more than welcome!" + +So it proved, indeed. It was rough fare, but it seemed to both the best +that they had ever tasted. And while they ate, the peasant told them +what news he had. + +"We hear that the French and the English are winning now," he said. "A +gentleman came past my house in an automobile this morning, and said +that he had passed French troops ten miles away--cuirassiers riding this +way." + +"Hurrah!" cried Frank. "Henri, we must try to join them as quickly as +possible. When we explain they will let us go through to where we shall +be safe until we can go back to Amiens. Come on! Farewell!" This to the +peasant. "We shall never forget your good food and your welcome!" + +And with light hearts they set out, glad to walk, since it gave them a +chance to stretch the legs that had been cramped for so many hours in +the bottom of the boat. + +Plainly there had been a great change in the character of the battle +over night. The heavy thunder of the guns was greatly reduced in volume, +though they should still have been able to hear it. And it was +unmistakably coming from further north. It must be that the Germans were +retreating. But they walked for three hours before they knew for certain +that they were right. + +They did not meet the cuirassiers of whom they had heard. Instead a +cloud of dust that they saw for two miles before men emerged beneath it +turned out to be a column of French infantry. They were in their Boy +Scout uniforms, and the men who first saw them at the side of the road +cheered them. Soon a captain came up to them. + +"Eh bien, mes enfants!" he said. "What do you do here? Where do you come +from!" + +They told him Amiens, and he laughed. + +"And it is there, precisely, that we are going!" he laughed. "The +Germans are out by now and our men were in there an hour ago!" + +Frank and Henri cried out in delight at the news. + +"May we go with you?" asked Frank. "We would like to go back as soon as +possible." + +"As to that you must ask the colonel. He will decide--and, see, here he +comes now in his automobile! I will report to him that you are here." + +But there was no need, for the officer who sat in the car was Colonel +Menier himself, and at the sight of them he laughed aloud. + +"Ah, my brave ones!" he cried. "So you are here! Ride with me! Did the +Germans drive you from Amiens? I shall drive you back!" + +They obeyed that order with delight. They sprang to their places in the +car. + +"Now tell me everything!" said Colonel Menier. "How it is that you left +Amiens and how you came here?" + +He leaned over first, however, and spoke to his driver, and the car shot +forward, leaving the troops far behind. + +And then they began the story, each telling the part of it that he knew +best. At the story of how the German officer had recognized Henri and +caused his arrest, he clenched his hand angrily. + +"They make war even on boys!" he said, bitterly. "A brave enemy +recognizes the heroism of his foes. If I had been in that man's place I +should have forgotten my own defeat and praised those who had caused +it!" + +Then came the story of Frank's discovery of the hidden vault and the +boat, and of their voyage down the Somme and their lucky escape. + +"Milles tonnerres!" he cried. "A thousand million thunders! That was +well done! Through all the German sentries! Eh, well, I have a surprise +for you when you reach Amiens with me, I think. Mind, I make no +promises! Only wait!" + +Slow as had been their flight from Amiens, their return was swift. +Already they were in the outskirts. From every window hung the tricolor. +Everywhere the people were mad with delight. The Germans had gone. At +the sight of Colonel Menier's uniform women leaned from their windows, +shrieking their joy. + +In the town itself French troops were everywhere, marching through. Guns +thundered along, and there were English troops as well as French. Amiens +was in holiday mood. Straight through the cheering crowds the car sped +on. It drew up at last before the Hotel de Ville. Sentries stood at the +main door, but at the sight of Colonel Menier they saluted and gave him +free passage. + +Inside Colonel Menier spoke to a staff officer, who smiled and went into +a room at the side. In a moment he returned. + +"The general will receive you, my colonel," he said. + +"Good!" He turned to Frank and Henri. "You are to meet the greatest man +in France," he said. "Allons!" + +They followed him into the room. By the window stood a man, not tall, +but large rather than fat. He turned quiet eyes toward them. Colonel +Menier saluted. + +"Monsieur le General Joffre," he said. "I have the honor to present the +Boy Scouts of whom you have heard--they who served General Smith-Derrien +so well and who destroyed the Zeppelins near Abbeville." + +"These are the ones?" said the general. "In the name of France, I thank +you! And in the name of France, and by order of His Excellency the +President of the Republic, I hereby decorate you! For each, the cross of +the Legion of Honor! Which is Francois Barnes?" glancing from one to +the other. + +Frank stepped forward. General Joffre took the cross from his own breast +and pinned it to Frank's. Then he turned to another officer, and +received another cross from him. And this he affixed to Henri's breast. +For a moment they were overcome. And then together they cried: + +"_Vive la France!_" + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired. + +One instance each of LaFere and La Fere have been retained. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts on the Trail, by George Durston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 20327-8.txt or 20327-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/2/20327/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Scouts on the Trail + +Author: George Durston + +Release Date: January 10, 2007 [EBook #20327] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Linda McKeown, Emmy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><img src="images/fcover.jpg" width="270" height="400" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /></td> +<td align='left'><div class='bbox'> +<h1>THE BOY SCOUTS<br />ON THE TRAIL</h1> + +<h3><br /><br />By</h3> +<h2>GEORGE DURSTON</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 49px;"><br /><br /><br /> +<img src="images/emblem1.png" width="49" height="50" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br />THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY<br /> +AKRON, OHIO</div></div> + +<div class='center'><small>Made in U. S. A.</small></div></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<div class='center'> +Copyright, MCMXXI<br /> +By<br /> +The Saalfield Publishing Co.<br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 30px;"> +<img src="images/emblem2.png" width="30" height="25" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 293px;"> +<img src="images/frontispiece.png" width="293" height="400" alt="They sent the message quickly, accurately." title="They sent the message quickly, accurately." /> +<span class="caption">They sent the message quickly, accurately.</span> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><img src="images/spine.jpg" width="69" height="400" alt="Spine" title="Spine" /> +</td><td align='left'><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>CHAPTER XXI</b></a></td></tr> +</table></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BOY SCOUTS<br />ON THE TRAIL</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>PLANS FOR THE HOLIDAYS</h3> + + +<p>"Where are you going to spend the holidays, Frank?"</p> + +<p>The speaker was Henri Martin, a French boy of the new type that has +sprung up in France since games like football and tennis began to be +generally encouraged. He asked the question of his schoolmate, Frank +Barnes, son of a French mother and an American father. Frank's name was +really Francois; his mother had that much to do with his naming. But he +was a typical American boy, none the less, and there was a sharp +contrast between his sturdy frame and that of the slighter French boy +who had become his best chum in the school both were attending near +Paris, at St. Denis.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't really know, Harry," said Frank. "Not exactly, that is. My +Uncle Dick is coming over a little later, and I think we'll go to +Switzerland." His face clouded a little. "I—I haven't any real home to +go to, you know. My father and mother—"</p> + +<p>"I know—I know, mon vieux," said Henri, with the quick sympathy of his +race. "But until your uncle comes—what then, hein?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I'm to wait for him here, at the school," said Frank. "He's a very +busy man, you know, and it's hard for him to get away just any time he +wants to. He will get here, though, early in August, I think."</p> + +<p>"But that won't do at all, Frank!" exclaimed Harry, impulsively. Like +many French boys, he spoke English perfectly and with practically no +trace of an accent. "To spend a week or two weeks here in the school, +all alone! No—I tell you what! I've an idea!"</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Frank, a little amused at the horror with which his +friend heard of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> notion of staying in school after the holidays had +begun.</p> + +<p>"Why, come home with me until your uncle comes!" said Harry. "That's +what you must do. I live not so far away—not so very far. At Amiens. +You have heard of it? Oh, we will have fine times, you and I. I am to +join the Boy Scouts Francais these holidays!"</p> + +<p>He called it Boy Scoots, and Frank roared. The word scout had been +retained, without translation, when the French adopted the Boy Scout +movement from England, just as words like rosbif, football, and le sport +had been adopted into the language. But all these words, or nearly all, +have been given a French pronunciation, which give them a strange sound +in Anglo-Saxon ears.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Harry," said Frank, in a moment. "I didn't mean to laugh, +but it does sound funny."</p> + +<p>"Of course it does, Frank," said Henri, generously. "I speak English, so +I can see that. But there's nothing funny about the thing, let me tell +you. We began by calling the Boy Scouts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> Eclaireurs Francais, but +General Baden-Powell didn't like it, so we made the change. Really, +we're a good deal like the English and American scouts. We have the same +oath—we call it serment, of course, and our manual is just a +translation of the English one."</p> + +<p>"I was going to join in America, too," said Frank. "But then I came over +here, and I didn't know there were scouts here. Do you wear the same +sort of uniforms?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—just like the English," said Harry. "You could join with me, +couldn't you? You're going to be here for a whole year more, aren't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. My mother"—he gulped a little at the word—"wanted me to know all +about France, and never to forget that I had French blood in me, you +see. My French grandfather was killed by the Germans at Gravelotte—he +was a colonel of the line. And my mother, even though my father was an +American, was always devoted to France."</p> + +<p>"We are like that—we French," said Harry,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> simply. Into his eyes came +the look that even French boys have when they remember the days of 1870. +"The Germans—yes, they beat us then. We were not ready—we were badly +led. But our time will come—the time of La Revanche. Tell me, Frank, +you have seen the Place de la Concorde, in Paris?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Why?"</p> + +<p>"Do you remember the statue of Strassburg? How it is always draped in +black—with mourning wreaths?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"The day is coming when the black shall be stripped off! +Alsace-Lorraine—they are French at heart, those lost provinces of ours! +They shall be French again in name, too. Strassburg shall guard the +Rhine for us again—Metz shall be a French fortress once more. We shall +fight again—and next time we shall be ready! We shall win!"</p> + +<p>"I hope so—if war comes again," said Frank, soberly. "But—"</p> + +<p>"<i>If</i> war comes?" said Harry, surprised. "Don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> you know it must come? +France knows that—France makes ready. We shall not seek the war. But it +is not enough for us to desire peace. The Prussians are afraid of us. +They will never rest content while we are strong. They thought they had +crushed us forever in 1870—but France was too great for them to crush! +They made us pay a thousand million francs—they thought we should take +years and years to pay, and that meanwhile they would keep their +soldiers on our land, in our fortresses! But no! France paid, and +quickly. And ever since we have prepared for the time when they would +try to finish their work."</p> + +<p>"If war comes, I am for France," said Frank, still soberly. "But war is +a dreadful thing, Henri."</p> + +<p>"We know that—we in France," said Harry. "But there are things that are +worse than war, Frank. A peace that is without honor is among them. We +do not want to fight, but we are not afraid. When the time comes, as it +is sure to come, we shall be ready. But enough of that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> There will be +no war this year or next. We have not settled about your coming home +with me. You will come?"</p> + +<p>"I'd love to," said Frank. "If the head master says I can, I will most +gladly. But will your people want me?"</p> + +<p>"My friends are their friends," said Harry. "My mother says always, +'Bring a friend with you, Henri.' Oh, there will be plenty for us to do, +too. We shall take long walks and play tennis and ride and shoot. Let us +settle it to-day. Come now to the office with me. We will ask the head +master."</p> + +<p>They went forthwith to speak to Monsieur Donnet, the head of the school, +who received them in his office. The school was a small one but it +numbered among its pupils several English and American boys, whose +parents wanted them for one reason or another to acquire a thorough +knowledge of French. He heard their request, which was put by Henri, +pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that will be very well," he said. "I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> been thinking of you, +Barnes. Your uncle has written to me that he will be here about the +tenth or fifteenth of August, and asked permission for you to stay here +until then. But—"</p> + +<p>They waited, while M. Donnet thought for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, this will be much better," he said. "I—I have been a little +troubled about you, Barnes. If all were well, you might stay here very +well. But—" Again he paused.</p> + +<p>"These are strange times," he said. "Boys, have you read in the +newspapers of the trouble between Austria and Servia?"</p> + +<p>They looked startled.</p> + +<p>"A little, sir," said Frank. "There's always trouble, isn't there, in +those parts?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but this may—who knows?—be different. I do not say there is more +danger than usual but I have heard things, from friends, that have made +me thoughtful. I am a colonel of the reserve!"</p> + +<p>Henri's eyes gleamed suddenly, as they had a few minutes before when he +had talked of how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> France was ready for what might be in store for her.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that there may be war, sir?" he asked, leaning forward +eagerly.</p> + +<p>"No one knows," said the master. "But there are strange tales. +Aeroplanes that no one recognizes have flown above the border in the +Vosges. There are tales of fresh troops that the Germans are sending to +Metz, to Düsseldorf, to Neu Breisach." He struck his hand suddenly on +his desk. "But this I feel—that when war comes it will be like the +stroke of lightning from a clear sky! When there is much talk, there is +never war. When it comes it will be because the diplomats will not have +time, they and the men with money, the Rothschilds and the others, to +stop it. And if there should be trouble, not a man would be left in this +school. So, Barnes, I should be easier if you were with Martin. I +approve. That is well, boys."</p> + +<p>Both boys were excited as they left the office.</p> + +<p>"He talks as if he knew something, or felt some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>thing, that is still a +secret!" said Frank, excitedly. "I wonder—"</p> + +<p>"Of no use to wonder," said Henri. Really, he was calmer than his +companion. "What is to come must come. But you are coming home with me, +Frank. We know that much. And that is good—that is the best news we +could have, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It's certainly good news for me," said Frank, happily. "Oh, Harry, I +get so tired of living in school or in hotels all the time! It will seem +good to be in a home again, even if it isn't my own home!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>TO THE COLORS</h3> + + +<p>In those days late in July, France, less than almost any country in +Europe, certainly far less than either England or America, was able to +realize the possibilities of trouble. As a matter of fact, not for years +had the peace of Europe been so assured, apparently. President Poincare +of France had gone to visit the Czar of Russia, and the two rulers had +exchanged compliments. The alliance of France and Russia, they told one +another, made war impossible, or nearly so. The Emperor of Germany was +on a yachting cruise; even the old Austrian Kaiser, though required to +watch affairs because of the death of his heir, the Archduke Franz +Ferdinand, murdered by a Serb fanatic at Sarajeve, had left Vienna.</p> + +<p>Even when the storm cloud began to gather the French government did all +it could to suppress the news. The readiness of France was not in +ques<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>tion. France was always ready, as Henri Martin had said. Since the +grim and terrible lesson of 1870 she had made up her mind never again to +give the traditional enemy beyond the Rhine—and, alas, now on this side +of the Rhine as well!—a chance to catch her unprepared.</p> + +<p>What the government wanted was to prevent the possibility that an +excited populace, especially in Paris, might force its hand. If war came +it meant that Germany should provoke it—if possible, begin it. It was +willing to sacrifice some things for that. And this was because, in the +years of peace, France had won a great diplomatic victory, the fruits of +which the country must preserve. In 1870 France had had to face Germany +alone. She had counted upon help from Austria, now Germany's firm friend +and ally, but then still smarting under the blow of the defeat four +years before. She had hoped for help, perhaps, from Roumania and from +Russia.</p> + +<p>But all that Germany, by skillful trickery, had rendered vain. She had +made France seem to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> the aggressor, and France had forfeited the +sympathy of England and of Austria as a result. Alone she had been no +match for Germany. And alone she would be as little a match for Germany +in 1914 as in 1870. But she had prepared herself. Now Russia, no matter +what the reason for war, would be with her. And, if France was attacked, +England was almost sure to join her. Everything would depend on that. +With the great English navy to bottle up the German fleet, to blockade +the German coasts, France felt that she was secure. And so the +government was resolved that nothing should happen to make possible the +loss of England's friendship; nothing that should give England even the +shadow of an excuse for remaining neutral.</p> + +<p>So what the newspapers printed of the threats that Austria was making +against Servia was carefully censored. There was nothing to show that +Austria was assuming a warlike attitude, and that Russia, the friend of +the little Slav countries in the Balkans, was getting ready to take the +part of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Servia. There was nothing to show what the French government +and every newspaper editor in Paris knew must be a fact—that Austria +must have had assurance of German support, since she could not hope to +make a winning fight, unaided, against the huge might of Russia.</p> + +<p>That was why all over France life proceeded in the regular way, calm, +peaceful, without event. Some there were who knew that Europe was closer +to a general war than since the end of Napoleon's dream of conquest. But +the masses of the people did not know it. All over France the soldiers +were active; the new recruits, reporting for the beginning of their +three years of military service, were pouring into the depots, the +headquarters of the army corps, to be assigned to their regiments. But +that was something that happened every year. In a country where every +man, if he is not a cripple or diseased, has to be a soldier for three +years, the sight of a uniform, even of a long column of marching troops, +means nothing.</p> + +<p>And then, with the most startling abruptness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> there came a change. +Nothing official, as yet. But suddenly the government allowed the real +news, or most of it, to be printed. Austria had made demands of Servia +that no country could meet! Russia had protested! Russia and Austria +were mobilizing! Germany had sent an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that +she stop massing her troops in Poland and on the borders of East +Prussia.</p> + +<p>"It means war," said Henri Martin to Frank. Gone was the exultation of +his voice. Frank had noticed that, since the first appearance of the +really ominous news, the excitability of his French schoolmates had +disappeared. They were quiet; far quieter than American boys would have +been in the same case, he thought.</p> + +<p>"But this is not France's quarrel," said Frank. "She cares nothing for +Servia."</p> + +<p>"Servia? Bah! No one cares for Servia—except Austria and Russia! Servia +is only an excuse. Austria wants to get some ports and Russia wants +them, too, or wants a friendly country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> to have them. But I will tell +you why it means war, Frank, my friend. It is because Guillaume, their +Kaiser, thinks it is the chance to crush France!"</p> + +<p>"Why now more than at any other time, Harry?"</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Marcel told me what he thinks. It is that England is having +much trouble. In Ireland there is rebellion, almost, over the home rule. +The Germans think England will be afraid to fight, that she will have to +think of her own troubles. He does not know those English, that Kaiser! +They have their quarrels among themselves. But if anyone else +interferes—pouf! The quarrel is over—until the one who interferes is +beaten."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I believe that. We're like that in America, too. Why, right after +the Civil War, we nearly had to fight about Mexico. And the men in the +South, who had just been fighting the northern army, were all ready to +volunteer and fight for the country."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is one reason, then. And, for an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>other, France is getting +stronger, and Russia too. For a few years after the war with the +Japanese, Russia was weak. But now she is getting strong again, and +Austria is getting weaker. If Germany and Austria can ever win it is +now—that is what the Kaiser believes. And why must France fight? Even +if she is not attacked she must help Russia because of the treaty."</p> + +<p>"But she didn't fight with Russia against Japan."</p> + +<p>"Because only one country was at war against her. If England had joined +Japan, we should have had to fight with Russia against her," Henri +explained.</p> + +<p>It was during the morning recess that they held this conversation. Now +the bell called them back to school. The class to which they went was +one that was being taught by M. Donnet himself, the head master. He was +at his place by his desk, and the boys had taken their seats. Suddenly, +just as the master was about to speak, a servant appeared with a +telegram in his hand. He took it to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> master. M. Donnet tore it open +and read it, while a serious, grave look came into his eyes. Then he +stood up.</p> + +<p>"Mes enfants," he said, his whole manner somehow changed from the one +they knew, "I am called away from you." He stood very straight now; +Frank had no difficulty, as he had had before, in imagining the +schoolmaster as a soldier. "France needs me—our France. I go to +Luneville, to be prepared to receive the brave men who will fight under +my command if—"</p> + +<p>He stopped.</p> + +<p>"If war shall come!" he finished the interrupted sentence. "I leave you. +No man knows what the next few hours may bring forth. The order of +'mobilisation generale' has not yet been issued. Only superior officers +are called for as yet. Perhaps I may return. If not, I shall exhort all +of you who are sons of La Patrie to do your duty. You are too young to +fight, but you are none of you too young to be brave and loyal, to help +your parents, and your mothers if your fathers are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> needed by the +fatherland for active service.</p> + +<p>"You are not too young to show courage, no matter what may come. You are +not too young to keep alive the spirit of the sons of France—the spirit +that won at Austerlitz and Jena, that rose, like the phoenix from its +ashes, after Gravelotte and Sedan, when the foe believed that France lay +crushed for evermore! Perhaps you, like all who are French, may be +called upon to make sacrifices, sometimes to go hungry. But remember +always that it is not only those who face the foe on the battle line who +can serve the fatherland!"</p> + +<p>He drew himself up again.</p> + +<p>"Farewell, then, mes enfants!" he said. "I go to meet again those other +children I am to lead! Vive la France!"</p> + +<p>For a moment, as he moved to the door, there was silence.</p> + +<p>And it was Frank Barnes, only half French, who jumped to the top of a +desk and raised his voice in the most stirring of all patriotic +airs—the Marseillaise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>With a will they joined him, English, American and French, for all were +there. Slowly, still singing, they followed the master from the +class-room, and gathered outside in the open air of the school yard. And +from other rooms, from all over the school, masters and boys poured out +to join them and to swell the chorus. Outside, in the street, a passing +battalion of the infantry of the line, made up of smiling young +soldiers, heard and took up the chorus, singing as they marched.</p> + +<p>There was no need of questions from those who heard the singing. In a +moment the discipline of the school went by the board. And, when the +song was done, they still remained together, waiting. In ten minutes, M. +Donnet appeared from the door of his own house. But now he was +transformed. He was in the uniform of his rank, his sword was by his +side; a servant carried his bags. He strode through the ranks of +cheering boys to the gate, saluting right and left as he did so.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE CALL TO ARMS</h3> + + +<p>"This does not yet mean war!"</p> + +<p>So M. Donnet had cried, in a final word of warning, meaning, if +possible, to do his part in the government's plan, still in force, of +restraining the passions of the French people. No. It did not mean war. +Not quite. But it meant that war was inevitable; that within a few +hours, at the most, mobilization would be ordered. This was on Saturday. +And that evening Germany declared war on Russia. Within an hour posters +were everywhere. The general mobilization had been ordered.</p> + +<p>The teachers in that school were young men. On the word they went. Each +knew what he had to do. Each had his little book of instructions. He +needed no orders. The mere fact that mobilization had been ordered was +all he needed to know. He knew already where he must report,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> where his +uniform and his equipment would be given to him, and which regiment he +was to join. He was a soldier by virtue of the three years, or the two, +he had spent already with the colors. He did not have to be drilled; all +that had been done. He knew how to shoot, how to live in camp, how to +march. If he was a cavalryman, he knew how to ride; if an artilleryman, +how to handle the big guns.</p> + +<p>And as with the teachers, so it was with the other men about the +school,—the gardeners, the servants, all of them. Within an hour of the +time when the order was issued, they were on their way and the school +was deserted, save for boys and one or two old men, who bewailed the +fact that they were too old to fight. In the streets St. Denis looked +like a deserted village. All the young men were going.</p> + +<p>Swiftly preparations were made to close the school. Madame Donnet, left +in charge when her husband went, called the boys together.</p> + +<p>"You must get home," she said. "Here you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> cannot stay. There will be no +way to care for you. And soon, too, the school will be used as a +hospital. So it was in 1870. I shall stay, and I shall prepare for what +is to come. M. Donnet telegraphed yesterday to all the parents, bidding +them be ready for what has come. I will give money for traveling +expenses. And in happier times we shall meet again."</p> + +<p>Save for the friendly offer Henri had already made, Frank Barnes might +well have been in a sorry plight. And, indeed, he offered now to let his +chum withdraw his invitation.</p> + +<p>"I have plenty of money, Harry," he said. "And if I go into Paris, to +the American ambassador, or the consul, he will see that I am all right +until my uncle comes. Your family won't want a guest now."</p> + +<p>But Harry wouldn't hear of this.</p> + +<p>"Now more than ever!" he said. "It will be different. True—not as we +had planned it before this came. But you shall come, and perhaps we +shall be able to do something for France with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> Boy Scouts. We shall +see. But this much is certain—I think we shall not be able to go to +Amiens at once. Amiens is in the north—it is that way that the soldiers +must go, soldiers from Paris, from Tours, from Orleans, from all the +south. It is from the north that the Germans will come. Perhaps they +will try to come through Belgium. So, until the troops have finished +with the railways, we must wait. We will go to my aunt in Paris."</p> + +<p>And go they did to Madame Martin, Henri's aunt, who lived in a street +between the Champs Elysees and the Avenue de l'Alma, not far from the +famous arch of triumph that is the centre of Paris. At the station in +St. Denis, where they went from the school, they found activity enough +to make up, and more than make up, for the silence and stillness +everywhere else. The station was choked with soldiers, reservists +preparing to report on the next day, the first of actual mobilization. +Women were there, mothers, wives, sweethearts, to bid good-bye to these +young French<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>men they might never see again because of war.</p> + +<p>And there was no room on the trains to Paris for any save soldiers. The +gates of the station were barred to all others, and Frank and Harry went +back to the school.</p> + +<p>"I know what we can do, of course," said Harry. "It isn't very far. +We'll leave our bags here at the school, and make packs of the things we +need. And then we'll ride in on our bicycles. We were stupid not to +think of that before."</p> + +<p>That plan they found it easy to put into execution. They had meant to +abandon their bicycles for the time being, at least, but now they +realized what a mistake it would have been to do that, since with every +normal activity cut off by the war, the machines were almost certain to +be their only means of getting from one place to another, in the +beginning at least.</p> + +<p>Mounted on their bicycles, they now found their progress easy. The roads +that led into Paris were crowded, to be sure. They passed countless +automobiles carrying refugees. Already the Ameri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>cans were pouring out +of Paris in their frantic haste to reach the coast and so take boat to +England. On Saturday night automobiles were still allowed to leave +Paris. Next morning there would be a different story to tell.</p> + +<p>In Paris, when they began to enter the more crowded sections, they saw +the same scenes as had greeted them in St. Denis, only on a vastly +larger scale. Everywhere farewells were being said. Men in uniforms were +all about. Officers, as soon as they were seen, were hailed by the +drivers of taxicabs, who refused even to think of carrying a civilian +passenger if an officer wanted to get anywhere, or, if there were no +officers, a private soldier. The streets were crowded, however, and with +men. Here there were thousands, of course, not required to report at +once.</p> + +<p>"When mobilization is ordered," explained Henri, "each man in France has +a certain day on which he is to report at his depot. It may be the first +day, the third, the fifth, the tenth. If all came at once it would mean +too much confusion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> As it is, everything is done quickly and in order."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't look it," was Frank's comment.</p> + +<p>"No," said his chum, with a laugh. "That's true. But it's so, just the +same. Every man you see knows just when he is to go, and when the time +comes, off he will go. Why, even in your America, now, all the Frenchmen +who have gone there are trying to get back. I know. They will be here as +soon as the ships can bring them. They will report to the consul +first—he will tell them what to do."</p> + +<p>They made slow progress through the crowded streets. Already, however, +there was a difference in the sort of crowding. There were fewer +taxicabs, very many fewer. And there were no motor omnibuses at all.</p> + +<p>"What has become of them?" asked Frank. "Aren't there men enough to run +them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and they are running them," said Henri, dryly. "But not in Paris. +They are on their way to the border, perhaps. Wherever they are, they +are carrying soldiers or supplies. The govern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>ment has always the right +to take them all. Even at the time of the manoeuvres, some are taken, +though not all. It is the same with the automobiles. In a few days there +will be none left—the army will have them all. Officers need them to +get around quickly. Generals cannot ride now—it is too slow to use a +horse. You have heard of Leon Bollet?"</p> + +<p>"No. Who is he?"</p> + +<p>"He is a famous automobile driver in races. He has won the Grand Prix. +He will drive a general. He is a soldier, like all Frenchmen, and that +will be his task—to drive some great general wherever he wants to go."</p> + +<p>That was how the meaning of mobilization really came home to Frank, who +learned more from the things he missed that he was accustomed to seeing +than from new sights. In the boulevards, for instance, where as a rule +the little tables in front of the cafes would be crowded, all the tables +had vanished. That was a result of what was happening. Everything +brought the fact of war<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> home to him. To him it was even more vivid +perhaps than to Henri, who had been brought up to know that some time +all this would come about, and saw little that he had not been sure, +some time, of seeing.</p> + +<p>The crowds delayed them. Sometimes they had to dismount from their +wheels and walk for a space, but in the end they came to their +destination. Madame Martin, Henri's aunt, greeted him with delight.</p> + +<p>"We were thinking of you, Henri!" she said. "Your uncle said to me only +to-night, when we heard of the mobilization: 'And what of Henri? He +cannot go home yet.' I knew you would come to us! And you have brought a +friend? That is very well."</p> + +<p>"Oh—an American!" she exclaimed, a moment later. "You have done well, +my nephew."</p> + +<p>"I'm half French," said Frank. Somehow he was beginning to feel very +proud of that. These last few hours, that had shown him how France +rallied in the face of a terrible and pressing danger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> had made it +easier for him to understand his mother's love of her own land. He was +still an American above all; that he would always be. But there was +French blood in his veins after all, and blood is something that is and +always must be thicker than water.</p> + +<p>So he had to explain himself, and when he spoke of the uncle who was to +come for him Madame Martin looked concerned.</p> + +<p>"I am glad that you are here," she said, simply. "It may be hard for him +to get here. But we can look after you until he comes. There is room +enough—and, ma foi, you shall have all that we have!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>THE RECRUITS</h3> + + +<p>August was drawing to its close. And still Henri and Frank were in +Paris. Henri's father and his uncle had gone to the front; Frank's Uncle +Dick, if he had tried to reach Paris or St. Denis, had not succeeded. Or +if he had, he had been unable to get word to Frank. War in all its +terrible reality was in full blast. Troops were passing through Paris +still, going to the front. But they were older men now, the last classes +of the reservists. Every night, too, the city was dark save for the +searchlights that played incessantly from the high buildings and from +the Eiffel Tower. For now there was a new menace. The Germans fought not +on land alone, but in the air. At any time a German might appear, +thousands of feet above the city, prepared to rain down death and +destruction from the clouds.</p> + +<p>Paris was quiet and resigned. Wounded men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> were coming back; hospitals, +from which floated the Red Cross flag, were everywhere. The hotels were +sheltering the wounded; churches, theatres, all sorts of buildings not +commonly so used were in the hands of the doctors and the nurses. There +were few newspapers; there was neither paper on which to print them, nor +men to run the great presses or write what they usually contained. All +were gone; all except the old and the children. Hundreds of thousands of +men were still in Paris, but they were the garrison of the city, the men +who would man the forts if the Germans came.</p> + +<p>And now, to get the news, Harry and Frank went to the places where the +bulletins were posted, becoming a part of the silent crowds that waited. +Every day they took their places in the crowds, to learn what they could +and carry the tale back to Madame Martin. She was too busy to stand +among the crowds herself; every day she was doing her part, helping in +the nursing, and helping, too, to relieve the distress among the poor.</p> + +<p>One day the two friends turned away. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> had seen the last bulletin; +for some hours there would be no more news.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's not going well, Harry," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"No," said Henri, almost with a sob in his voice. "It looks to me, too, +as if the Germans were winning!"</p> + +<p>"But many thought they would win, at first," said Frank. "It's not time +to be discouraged yet, Harry. At first we all believed the Belgians were +doing better than they could do—because they fought so well at Liege. +Now Namur has fallen. And the English—they are falling back."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, that is so," said Henri, brightening a little. "We did not +expect to fight in Belgium, we French. Wait till they try to enter +France! We will stop them—at Lille, at Maubeuge, at Valenciennes!"</p> + +<p>"I hope so, Harry," said Frank, soberly. "But do you know what I think? +I believe we ought to go to your home at Amiens. I think you have been +waiting here on my account—because you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> thought my uncle was coming. +Well, I think he couldn't come. I am better off with you. And perhaps I +can help, too. I think you should go to your mother, if she is alone at +Amiens, because—"</p> + +<p>Henri turned on him fiercely.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean you think the Germans can get to Amiens?" he cried +furiously. "Never! Never! They will never come so far! They will be +stopped long before they get near it!"</p> + +<p>"I think so—and I hope so," said Frank. "But if my mother were there I +should want to be there, too. I've read a great deal about war and +battles lately, Harry, and I know that often an army has to retreat, not +just because it's beaten, but because it's necessary for battles that +are planned later on. The English and the French toward the coast are +retreating now—on the left of the allies. They are moving back toward +Amiens, and the Germans are following them."</p> + +<p>Henri continued to argue bitterly against the possibility that Frank +suggested, but his arguments grew weaker. And when he told his aunt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +what Frank had said she sighed despairingly.</p> + +<p>"I, too, have been thinking that," she said. "These are terrible times +for our poor France. We shall win—everyone believes that. But we shall +suffer greatly first. I have talked with General Broche—you know him, +Henri. He is too old and weak to fight now, but he was active in 1870. +And he says—he says that the government may move soon, away from +Paris!"</p> + +<p>"Then they think—!" cried Henri, almost overcome.</p> + +<p>"They do not know—no one knows. But if there is to be another siege, it +is better that the government should be where the Germans cannot bottle +it up. I shall stay here, but I shall be safe. There are plenty to do +what I need. Go to Amiens, Henri. Your place is near your mother. If +there seems to be danger, beg her to come here, or even to go to her +friends, the Douays, in Nice. There at least all will be safe."</p> + +<p>Henri did not argue with his aunt. It was hard for him to realize the +truth, as it was for French<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>men older than himself. But he admitted it +to Frank and even to himself, that night. And so the next morning they +started for Amiens. An officer, returning to the front after bringing +despatches to Paris, agreed to see that they reached the northern city +safely. Without him, indeed, they would have found it difficult, if not +impossible, to get aboard a train, for while other railways were open +those that led to the front were entirely in the hands of the military +authorities.</p> + +<p>But thanks to the friendly officer, a friend of the Martin family in +Paris, they reached Amiens quickly enough. On the way, more than once +they passed long trains carrying wounded, and, several times, other +trains on which were packed German prisoners. These, under close guard, +looked out sullenly from the windows. The sight delighted Henri.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't look much as if we were losing, does it?" he cried +happily.</p> + +<p>Amiens itself was a smaller Paris. In times of peace, Amiens is, like +many other French cities,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> a curious place, owing to the contrast +between its character as a busy, bustling, manufacturing town, and its +other character as a place where there are many renowned examples of +ancient art. But now it was quiet save for the ever present soldier. +Troops were passing through the streets; in the station several hundred +were entraining.</p> + +<p>"Do soldiers go from here, too?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Amiens is the headquarters of the second army corps," explained +Harry. "All the reservists of that corps report here, no matter where +they live. When a regiment loses a lot of men, if it is in the second +corps, new men from here go forward to fill their places. There is no +sign of the Prussians, eh?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Frank. "I hope there never will be! But, tell me, would they +fight here? Are there fortifications?"</p> + +<p>"Not new ones—no," said Harry. He pointed to the old citadel crowning +one of the hills that commanded the town and the crooked, twisting +course of the Somme river. "There is the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> citadel. That still +stands. But the ancient battlements have been dismantled. I believe that +in time of war, if the enemy got past the troops in the field, they +could come peacefully into Amiens. It is not a fortress, like Lille or +Maubeuge. Oh, look, there are some of the scouts! I see Monsieur Marron. +He is the directeur of the troop—the scoutmaster. Let us speak to him."</p> + +<p>They went over to a tall man in khaki, who was speaking to an officer in +the red and blue uniform of the French army. Henri saluted, and when the +officer went away, the scoutmaster turned to him with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Well—so you are here, Martin," he said. "Are you going to join? We +will waive formalities—we need all the scouts we can get."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, and I have brought a recruit. He is half French—the rest of +him is American. But he wants to join, too. May he?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said the scoutmaster. "Report to-night or in the morning. +Get your uniforms. Who is your recruit?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>Frank was introduced, and the tall Frenchman shook hands with him.</p> + +<p>"You will be welcome," he said. "My boys are at work, you see. They are +serving as messengers. There has been plenty for us to do in these days, +too. Pray God there may not be more—and of a less pleasant sort."</p> + +<p>Frank observed the French scouts with interest. They were in khaki +uniforms, with wool stockings, and short trousers that stopped just +above the knee, and the soft campaign hats made famous by the pioneer +scouts in England. Indeed, they looked like the English and American +scouts in many respects.</p> + +<p>"One moment," said Marron, checked by a sudden thought. "You speak +French well?" He asked the question of Frank, who smiled.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he said, in French. "My mother was French, you see."</p> + +<p>"That is very good," said the scoutmaster. "Never fear, I shall be able +to keep you busy as long as I am here. Soon, I hope, they will let me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +go to the front, where I should be right now."</p> + +<p>"I thought you would have gone, sir," said Henri.</p> + +<p>"They wanted me to stay with my boys at the first," said Marron, with a +shrug of his shoulders. "But they can do their work alone now, and there +is no fear that they will not do it well."</p> + +<p>Then Frank and Henri went off, on their way to Henri's house.</p> + +<p>"So we have come to Amiens after all and we are to join the Boy Scouts, +just as we planned that day when I said there would be no war this +year!"</p> + +<p>"Yes—but it's different, isn't it, Henri?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and we can be of some real use now."</p> + +<p>"I am glad that we are here, aren't you? When we get our uniforms and go +to work, I shall feel that we are really being used in the war. I—I'm +an American, of course, but I've hated the idea that I was so close to +this war and wasn't having anything to do with it."</p> + +<p>"And I—I have been wishing, Frank, that they might have waited until I +was old enough to fight for France!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST DUTY</h3> + + +<p>Morning brought awakening to the two friends with the sounding of +reveille from bugles, seemingly just outside their window. Together they +sprang from bed, raced to the window, wide open as it had been all +night, and looked out. Not far away, in a small park, one of those for +which the city of Amiens is famous, they saw an array of white tents +that they had not seen the night before when they had gone to bed. +Already the camp was stirring; even as they watched the soldiers were +all about. And early as it was, they saw a scout ride up on a bicycle, +speak to the sentry who challenged him, and wait. In a moment an officer +came out, the scout saluted, and his salute was returned as stiffly and +gravely as it had been given. Then the scout handed the officer a +letter, saluted again and, receiving permission, turned away and vaulted +on his wheel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<p>Henri was vastly excited.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" he cried eagerly. "Let's get dressed, Frank. I see that we +should be out already."</p> + +<p>"Yes. It's time we were getting busy if the others are at work," said +Frank. "Where do you suppose those chaps came from?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know—that's exactly what's puzzling me," said Henri, his brow +knitted. "They don't look like reserve troops. I don't know exactly why, +either, but we can soon find out."</p> + +<p>They bathed and dressed hurriedly, and went down to find that Marie, the +cook who had been with the Martin family ever since Henri could +remember, was ready to give them their breakfast. In a time when many +families for reasons of economy were allowing their servants to go, +Henri's mother had kept all of hers.</p> + +<p>"Now, more than ever," she said, "they need the work and the wages. It +is a time for those who can possibly afford it to engage more servants, +rather than to discharge those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> they have already in their employ and +service."</p> + +<p>Madame Martin, who, like Henri's aunt in Paris, was busy all day long in +helping the wounded, doing voluntary duty in the Red Cross hospital to +which she had been assigned, was not yet up. She had greeted the two +boys on their arrival the previous evening, but had left the house +immediately after dinner, since it was her turn to do some night work.</p> + +<p>"She is wearing herself out," complained old Marie. "A fine lady like +her dressing the wounds of piou-pious, indeed!"</p> + +<p>Frank laughed. He knew by this time what piou-piou meant. It is the +endearing term of the French for the little red-trousered soldiers who +form the armies of the republic, just as the English call a soldier +Tommy Atkins.</p> + +<p>"It is for France," said Henri, gravely. "I shall perhaps be a piou-piou +myself before so very long, Marie."</p> + +<p>"You will be an officer, will you not?" exclaimed Marie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It may be. I do not know," said Henri. "But the best and the greatest +men in France, those who govern us and write books and plays, and paint +pictures, and make fine statues, are in the ranks to-day. It is a +privilege even for my mother to nurse them."</p> + +<p>"All very well—but I won't have her getting all tired out," grumbled +Marie. "Your father told me himself, when he went off, to look after +her. And I'm going to do it."</p> + +<p>"Where did the soldiers who are in the park come from?" asked Henri, +changing the subject.</p> + +<p>"Who knows? They come, they stay a few hours or a day, then they go, and +others take their places! More soldiers have been in Amiens than I knew +were in the world! We had some English—strange, mad men, who wore +dresses to their knees and had music that sounded like a dozen cats +fighting at night on a back yard fence."</p> + +<p>Both the boys laughed at this description of the kilted Highlanders with +their bagpipes, but they exchanged meaning glances. Paris did not know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +where the English troops were; barely knew that some had crossed the +channel, and had landed in France. How many had come no one knew except +those who would not tell. All that was announced was that England had +sent help to her ally, and that English troops were again, as on so many +occasions in the past, on French soil. But this time they came as +friends, not as the enemies that Marlborough and Wellington had led.</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll soon know, even if she can't tell us," said Henri. And as +soon as they had had their breakfast, they slipped around to the +kitchen. Henri and Frank both laughed, for they surprised half a dozen +blushing, awkward infantrymen, who were receiving hot coffee and +rolls—fare of a different sort from that afforded by the camp kitchens.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, welcome!" said Henri. "My father is with his regiment, or he +would speak, so I speak for him. Of what regiment are you, my friends?"</p> + +<p>One of them mentioned its number, and Henri exclaimed in his surprise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But you are of the Nancy corps—the twentieth!" he cried. "You were +fighting in Lorraine! Were you not among those who captured Mulhouse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." The soldier's face grew dark. "Ah, you are right! Of a truth we +captured Mulhouse! How the Uhlans ran! We beat them there, and we were +chasing them. Ah, the delight of that! There we were, in Alsace! The +lost province! For the first time in forty-four years it saw French +uniforms. For the first time since 1870 it was free from the Germans. +The people sang and cheered as we went into the villages. They brought +us food. The young women spread flowers before us. And then—we came +back. We were not beaten! We had orders to recross the border. And we +were put on trains and brought here. The shame of it!"</p> + +<p>"But you came?"</p> + +<p>"Soldiers must obey! But even our officers, I can tell you, did not like +it!"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes an army must retreat to fight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> better somewhere else," said +Henri in defense.</p> + +<p>"But here? At Amiens? There are no Prussians here!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they are not so far away. One hears—they were in Brussels a +week ago—they are pouring toward the border—perhaps they have passed +it. It may be that there is a battle to be fought here in France."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, if there is a battle to be fought, that is different again. +That is what we want. In Alsace there were no battles. They ran as soon +as they saw our uniforms—the pigs of Prussians!"</p> + +<p>"Good luck to you, then! May you beat a thousand of them!"</p> + +<p>"We shall! Never fear! I will bring you a pretzel from Berlin when we +come back in exchange for your good rolls!"</p> + +<p>Laughing again, Frank and Henri went out.</p> + +<p>"That fellow is like the French soldiers I've read about," said Frank, +much interested.</p> + +<p>"Yes. He is the sort who fights well, but does not think. But, Frank, I +begin to think you were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> right. If they give up the fight in Alsace to +re-enforce the army here, the Germans must be winning."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not. It may be only for the time."</p> + +<p>"Yet it looks serious. Listen! Can you hear the sound of guns?"</p> + +<p>Henri said that as a jest. But Frank listened—he took him seriously.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," he said.</p> + +<p>"Nor ever shall—from here!" exclaimed Henri. "I did not mean that! They +will be held on the border."</p> + +<p>Yet, even as he spoke, though he did not know it, the Germans, victors +at the great battle of Mons-Charleroi, were driving the left wing of the +allied army remorselessly, steadily back through the fertile fields of +Champagne, where bullets were tearing the laden grapevines to pieces. +The Uhlans were riding along the coast. Forced back by the defeat of the +left, the centre was yielding. It was well that they did not know then +what was in store; that they could not foresee the coming days<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> when the +Germans seemed to be the sure victors.</p> + +<p>As they talked, Frank and Henri were making their way to the place where +M. Marron, the scoutmaster, had told them to report. He was there, +listening to reports and giving orders when they arrived. They had +provided themselves the night before with uniforms, and now they were +true scouts in appearance save that they did not wear the badge. They +waited until he was ready to speak to them.</p> + +<p>"You know the scout law?" he asked them, briefly.</p> + +<p>Together they recited it.</p> + +<p>"In war," he said, "rules may be forgotten. There are other tests, but +these I shall not impose. Recite after me the scout oath. It binds you +to be faithful, to be honorable. You are to obey the ten points of the +scout law. And now that war has come, you are to obey all orders from +officers of the army as you would those of your scoutmaster. If I +go—and that may be to-day—you will obey the leader of the third +patrol, to which you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> assigned, as you would me. If things so come +about that you can get orders from no one you will still do all you can +for France."</p> + +<p>Then he repeated in French the scout oath, and they said it after him.</p> + +<p>"Now you are scouts," said Marron. He pinned badges on their sleeves. +"Wear this always. Remember that it typifies your honor."</p> + +<p>He raised three fingers in the scout salute; they returned it.</p> + +<p>"That is well," he said, then. "Now for your first duty, you will +accompany other scouts, to see how they perform their work. When you +have done that for a little while, you may be trusted with independent +commissions."</p> + +<p>All morning, first with other scouts, and then alone, they did errands +of one sort and another. After a brief rest for a hurried noonday meal, +M. Marron gave them new orders.</p> + +<p>"Here is a list of houses," he said. "Soon a train will arrive with +refugees from districts where the Germans are. You will take these +refu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>gees around with you, in parties of twenty-five, with two scouts to +a party, until all are cared for. The owners of the houses on your list +have agreed to give these poor people food and shelter until they can +safely return to their homes. Treat them kindly and chivalrously. +Remember that though they may not have fought, they have suffered for +the fatherland! You understand?"</p> + +<p>They saluted, and were off.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>TO THE FRONT</h3> + + +<p>There was real news to be gleaned from these unfortunates who came into +the station at Amiens soon after the boys took their places there with +some of the other scouts of the troop. Women, children and old men—not +a young man was among them, of course—they poured from the freight cars +that in the main they occupied. And they were willing to talk; more than +willing, indeed. They told of how the Germans had come. First the Uhlans +riding through, stern and silent, willing to leave the inhabitants +alone, as a rule, if they themselves were let alone. Then the infantry, +rolling along in great grey masses. And with them came the spoiling of +the countryside.</p> + +<p>"They took everything—food, wine, everything our army had not had," +said one woman to Frank and Henri, as she walked through the streets +with them. Frank was carrying her baby for her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> "They left us with +nothing! And then they burned all the houses in my street because, they +said, there must be clear space for their guns to fire!"</p> + +<p>It was a simple matter to distribute these poor refugees. The town of +Amiens had troubles of its own but it forgot them now, and set itself +doggedly to work the relief of the far more acute distress of those from +the countryside to the north and east. Always the stories of those who +had fled before the German hosts were the same.</p> + +<p>"The Germans haven't got an army!" cried Henri, bitterly. "It's a war +machine they send against us! They do not fight like men, but like +railroad trains!"</p> + +<p>They were learning more in this task of escorting the refugees than all +the bulletins had been able to tell them. No censors could close the +mouths of these poor people, and they were not only willing to +talk—they craved listeners.</p> + +<p>"It makes it easier to bear what we have suffered when we know that +others know what the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Germans have done," said the woman with the baby. +"We women—we gave our husbands, and those who had sons gave their sons. +Now we have given all to France. Let the men win back enough for us to +live—that is all that we ask."</p> + +<p>They did not know the meaning of the military movements they had seen. +Indeed, they had not seen military movements in the strict sense of the +word. All they knew was that soldiers, first in one uniform, then in +another, had passed through their villages, first going north and east, +then south and west. They had heard firing, dim and in the distance at +first, but coming always nearer. Then the tide of battle had rolled by. +That was all they knew.</p> + +<p>But to boys who from the beginning of the war had followed every move on +the great chessboard of the struggle, these things meant knowledge for +which the editors of newspapers would have given fortunes. In Paris they +had had a great map, and every day they had shifted the tiny flags that +showed where the troops were. They had flags for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> each of the allies and +for the Austrians and Germans at first. Later they had become more +particular. They had worked out as well as they could the different +armies, even to the army corps, and had marked their flags accordingly. +And so this exact knowledge of where troops of particular commands had +been, made it possible for them, when there was time for them to go +home, to make changes in the positions of the little flags that dotted +their map.</p> + +<p>When they had finished doing that they looked at one another.</p> + +<p>"The French and the English are retreating," said Henri, soberly. "You +were right, Frank. They fought on the line of Mons to Charleroi in +Belgium, and then they began running away."</p> + +<p>"Not exactly that, either," said Frank. "Look here—look at the map, +Henri. There is Paris. There is a great army there under General +Gallieni. There are enormous fortifications. That is the great base. +There is this line with three fortresses—Rheims, La Fere, Laon, with +other forts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> between them. That backed the centre when the French army +retired from the border. But there is another army on the left of that +line—because, if the Germans get around the left, behind that line of +fortresses, they could be surrounded."</p> + +<p>"But they could be defended—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, as Bazaine defended Metz—until he was starved out," said Frank. +He was beginning to be excited. "I think I see what may happen, Harry. +The German right is moving out, always—far out, toward the sea. It +wants to get around our left, and cut it off. If it gets between our +left and Paris, there will be a disaster—another Sedan, perhaps. That +is why there is a retreat. It is necessary. We are not ready to fight +yet. But wait!"</p> + +<p>"Wait! Wait? Is that the thing for French soldiers to do? That is not +how Napoleon won his battles! He struck—and he struck first!"</p> + +<p>"Never until he was sure of victory."</p> + +<p>"But if they keep on retreating, they will be south of here! The Germans +can take Amiens,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> if they like!" exclaimed Harry in much alarm.</p> + +<p>"What of it? It will be sad for Amiens, but it will do the Germans no +good. Amiens has no strategic value. Less than Rheims or Laon—and we +know now that the Germans have them both, though that has not been in +the bulletins."</p> + +<p>"Then why are troops going south? The troops from here?"</p> + +<p>"We don't know where they are going, Henri. They start south but perhaps +they turn, and go to re-enforce the centre. Don't you suppose our +generals have their plans, too? You spoke of Napoleon. Don't you +remember the march to Moscow? How the Russians retreated, always, and +drew him on? And what happened then, when they were ready to fight?"</p> + +<p>Frank had awakened a memory terrible for any Frenchman. But there was no +more time for argument. The telephone rang out sharply and Henri went to +answer it. M. Marron was on the wire. When Henri returned his eyes were +shining.</p> + +<p>"We are wanted. Perhaps it is for real work,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> he said, happily. "He +wanted to know if we could both speak English—if I could, that is. None +of the other scouts can do that, he says, and so we are to report at +once. Oh, I wonder what can be wanted?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the best way to find out is to go and see," said Frank, +practically.</p> + +<p>M. Marron was ready for them when they reached him. He was no longer in +his khaki scoutmaster's garb, but in his uniform of captain of the line.</p> + +<p>"You are to report to Colonel Menier," he said, briefly. "I do not know +what service is required of you. I can only say to you, do your best. My +orders have come. I join my regiment to-day. From this moment the troop +of Boy Scouts of Amiens has no organization, until such time as it can +be restored. Each scout must act for himself, taking his orders whenever +it is possible from officers of the army. When he has no such orders he +must use his own best judgment. Before you report to Colonel Menier you +are to wait here—I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> intend to address all the scouts of the troop."</p> + +<p>They had not long to wait before the other scouts arrived. At the sight +of the scoutmaster in his uniform they cheered him heartily.</p> + +<p>"Scouts!" he said, speaking in French, when all were there. "I leave you +now, for the fatherland has called me to its service in ways different +from those to which I have been assigned so far. I leave you free to +your own devices. But you are free only in name. You are bound by your +scout oath, by your scout law. You are bound by those principles of +honor which the scouts teach and enforce. Never forget them!</p> + +<p>"While you are still boys, before it is time for France to call you to +the army, the enemy thunders at our gates. In our millions we have risen +to repel them, to drive the iron heel of the invader from France, France +the beautiful, the loved of all! It is for you, as for all who are +worthy of the name of Frenchmen, to help in that great work, to make +sacrifices, to do your part.</p> + +<p>"But your part gives you no right to fight. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> are to bear no arms. +That does not mean you have no service to render to your native land; +that France does not ask anything of you. She asks much; she expects +much from the Boy Scouts.</p> + +<p>"It may be you can do most by quietly filling the place made vacant in +your home—made vacant by father or older brother gone to serve in the +ranks. It may be your privilege to aid in caring for the wounded as they +come back to their homes from the scene of conflict. It may be you will +find a place to help on the battlefields. But wherever you are, whatever +you do, remember that Scouts are ever faithful, ever loyal, ever true to +the trust reposed in them.</p> + +<p>"It is cowardly to shirk a duty. Perform your part in the struggle as +becomes true Scouts—as becomes men who have been born and reared in our +fair France.</p> + +<p>"Mark my word well. So, if I am spared to return to you, after the war, +I shall meet all of you again, and I shall be able to grasp the hand of +each one of you, and say: 'Well done! You have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> deserved well, you of +France and of the Boy Scouts Francais!'"</p> + +<p>His sword flashed from his scabbard, and he held it stiffly to the +salute. Then sheathing it, he turned and stamped from the room. He went +with a high head and a happy heart to the service of the land he +loved—as millions of Frenchmen had gone or would go.</p> + +<p>There was silence when he had gone. Quietly the scouts melted away to +the tasks they had in hand. The words of their departing leader had made +a great impression on them. Nor had his reminder of what they should and +should not do against the Germans been unnecessary.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he must be right," said Henri, a little wistfully. "I shall +obey. But I had hoped that I might have a shot at a few Germans! Frank, +I have practiced so often with my rifle! I have killed hawks and +rabbits—"</p> + +<p>"Let's find Colonel Menier," said Frank. "We can hurt the Germans far +more, I expect, by obeying orders than by killing a few. It is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> the +killing of a few men that will settle this war, Henri! War is bad—war +is terrible. Let us not make it worse."</p> + +<p>Then they went to the barracks, inquiring, as they had been told to do, +for Colonel Menier. Soon they were brought to him, a busy, tired looking +officer of the staff. He eyed them keenly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE GLORY OF WAR</h3> + + +<p>One glance at Henri seemed to satisfy him. The French boy, so typical of +his race, he was ready to take for granted. He asked just one question.</p> + +<p>"You speak English well? You can understand thoroughly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my colonel," answered Henri.</p> + +<p>Then the officer turned to Frank.</p> + +<p>"You are English—one of our allies?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No, sir." And Frank had to explain, for the hundredth time since the +war began, as it seemed to him, his nationality and his mixed blood. He +threw up his head a little proudly now as he told of his French mother.</p> + +<p>"That is well enough," said the colonel. "You are neutral—in America. +But I think—ah, yes, I believe that you Americans remember Lafayette +and the help you had from Frenchmen once."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am ready to do what I can for France, colonel," said Frank, simply. +"That is all I can say."</p> + +<p>"Or I, or any of us," said Colonel Menier. "Listen well, then. I shall +tell you things that no one else is to know. You, Martin, know the +country here? You can find your way about?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my colonel."</p> + +<p>"I want you to take certain messages for me to the English headquarters. +Where it is to-day, I know. It is here—see, on the map?"</p> + +<p>They looked at the spot he indicated, and concealed their surprise. They +had supposed the English much nearer the border.</p> + +<p>"Where it may be to-morrow I cannot tell. But it is of the greatest +importance that the papers I give you be delivered at headquarters. It +is so important that we will not trust them to the telephone, to the +telegraph, to the field wireless. They are reports of the most +confidential nature, having to do with movements that will be of great +importance a few days from mow. You will not wear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> your uniforms of Boy +Scouts for the work in hand."</p> + +<p>Neither of them said anything.</p> + +<p>"That, you will understand, is because the uniforms would make you more +than ever conspicuous to the Germans. I do not think you will be +anywhere near the Uhlans. But in war one must not think; or, if one +does, one must think of all things that may happen. So you will wear +your ordinary clothes. You have one day, two days, three, if necessary, +to find the British headquarters. No more. These papers are written on +the thinnest of paper. It is so thin that the messages are contained in +these marbles that I give you—one to each of you."</p> + +<p>They took the marbles and still they made no comment.</p> + +<p>"If you are captured and searched, I believe you will have very little +to fear. It is not likely that a German officer, no matter how zealous +he may be, will be over-suspicious of a lot of marbles in a boy's +pocket. You will have a pocket full of them, and they will all look +alike.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> And if the Germans find you are only boys moved by the curiosity +of boys to see battlefields, they will not hurt you. I do not believe +they will even hold you. Probably they will not even take your marbles +away from you, thinking them harmless playthings, never once dreaming of +their secret. Only the officer at our headquarters who knows of your +coming will be able to distinguish one marble from another. How he will +do so, it is better that you should not know."</p> + +<p>"Someone then will know that we are coming, my colonel?" said Henri, a +smile brightening his face.</p> + +<p>"Evidently. When you reach the British lines, you will be challenged, +probably arrested and detained. Say to the soldier that he is to give a +word to his officer—Mezieres. That will insure your being taken to +headquarters. Everywhere, all through the field, the giving of that word +will mean that he who gives it is to be taken at once to the nearest +staff officer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mezieres. We will remember, my colonel," said Henri. "We will change +into our ordinary clothes and start at once. On our return we report to +you here?"</p> + +<p>Colonel Menier smiled sadly.</p> + +<p>"When you return there will be no French troops in Amiens, I fear," he +said. "Indeed, I know it. The time to stop and turn to fight is not yet. +We shall not play into the hands of the Germans by fighting on their +chosen ground. We shall wait until we are ready. This is not 1870 when +armies were thrown away rather than retreat to ground where the chances +of victory were even, at the worst. Remember that, if you think the +retreat is shameful. If, in 1870, the army of Chalons had retreated upon +Paris, instead of marching to the trap at Sedan, French history might +well be different."</p> + +<p>"Then Amiens is to be evacuated, my colonel?"</p> + +<p>"It is the order. When you have done your errand, return here or do +whatever the British staff may require of you. It will not be for long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +that Amiens shall be deserted. We shall return. But whether I shall be +here then, I do not know. Farewell! Obey the orders I have given you, +and you will deserve well of France."</p> + +<p>They saluted then and went to make their preparations for the start.</p> + +<p>"Harry," said Frank, "if the Germans are coming to Amiens, your mother +must go. She should be where she will be safe."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Frank. We will try to persuade her to go. But will she +leave her task with the wounded?"</p> + +<p>"She can take it up elsewhere."</p> + +<p>But though they had expected to have difficulty in persuading her, they +found that Madame Martin was already making plans to go.</p> + +<p>"The wounded are to be taken to Tours in great numbers," she told them. +"They will need nurses there, and I shall go. Henri, will you and +Francois come with me?"</p> + +<p>"We cannot," said Henri. "There is work for us to do. You would want me +to do my share?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course I do!" she said, her eyes filling with tears. "And so speaks +every mother in France to-day! Stay, then, and serve your land in +whatever way you can, for France needs even the boys now. Remember, +Henri, that somewhere your mother is serving too, and she expects her +son to do his whole duty. More, she <i>knows</i> he will do it." And her face +glowed with pride in her son as she clasped his hand in her own.</p> + +<p>"I will remember," said Henri.</p> + +<p>Then they went to their room, laid away their newly acquired uniforms of +Boy Scouts, and, keeping not even their new badges of which they had +been so proud, especially Henri, dressed in their ordinary clothes.</p> + +<p>"Let's start on bicycles, anyhow," proposed Frank. "We may not be able +to stick to them, but we can save a lot of time on our way to Le Cateau. +That's where we shall go first, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. We had better start for there. You're right about the bicycles, +too. Even if we lose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> them, that does not matter so much," said Harry.</p> + +<p>"And, Harry, we've got to pretend to be pretty stupid, if we are caught. +You mustn't act as if you knew too much. Don't let the Germans see how +you really feel about them. Pretend to be terribly frightened, even if +you're not," instructed Frank.</p> + +<p>"All right. I see what you mean. Come on, then. Let's be off!"</p> + +<p>Already, as they rode through the streets of Amiens, the signs of what +was to come were multiplying. Troops were marching out of the town, but +they were going south, away from the battle line, it seemed. And the +townspeople were not slow in taking the hint. They were gathering such +things as they could carry with them, and all those with anything of +real value, and with a place to take it, were preparing to get away +before the coming of the Germans. The refugees from Belgium had told +them lurid tales of the German treatment of captured places; they had no +mind to share the fate of their unhappy neigh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>bors in the plucky little +country to the north. And so the exodus was beginning.</p> + +<p>Henri was very much depressed.</p> + +<p>"And this is war!" he said, sadly. "So far, except for the wounded, we +have seen only the suffering of women and children. Where is the glory +of war of which history tells? I want to see some fighting! I want to +know that we are really resisting the invaders of the fatherland."</p> + +<p>"You'll know it soon enough," said Frank, with a smile. "You are too +impatient, Harry. And you must remember this. While all this is going +on, Russia is advancing too. The Austrians have been well beaten all +along their front already. Soon it will be the turn of the Germans to +meet Russia. They cannot long devote all their energy to France and the +British."</p> + +<p>"That is so, Frank. But the Russians won't fight here."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not. But it will be the same. For every army corps that Russia +sends into Prussia means that Germany can spare so many troops<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> less for +the war on this side. Harry, do you know what I think? I think Germany +is beaten already!"</p> + +<p>"How can you say that, Frank? We know now that they have pushed us back +everywhere—that they are all over Belgium, and are marching on Paris, +just as they did the last time—"</p> + +<p>"No, not just as they did the last time, Harry. For then they marched on +Paris with the field armies of France beaten—one of them captured, the +other locked up in Metz. Now the armies of France are still in the +field. And I say that Germany is beaten because her one chance in this +war was to destroy France as she did in 1870—quickly. If she had done +that, she might have been able to turn back, away from France, and meet +Russia with her full strength."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see what you mean. But I'll feel better when we turn and fight, +instead of running away from them."</p> + +<p>"So will I and everyone else, Harry. But the great thing for our side +now is to win delay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> Every day is as important as a battle. Russia +moves slowly, but when she is fully in the field she will have as great +an army ready as France and Germany together."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope you are right. Ah, now we are out of the town. We can go a +little faster. En avant!"</p> + +<p>In the fields women and young boys were working hard, getting in the +harvest that the men had abandoned. Never had a countryside looked more +peaceful, except that at every bridge they passed now was a sentry, +usually a man of the reserve, held back from the front for this sort of +duty, while the younger men were at the front to do the actual fighting.</p> + +<p>For a long time they were not challenged. The sentries looked at them +idly, but decided that they were not at all likely to be Prussian spies, +and let them pass. But when they came to the railroad line leading from +Amiens to Arras, which they had to cross, it was different. Their +crossing was at a culvert, where the road passed under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> tracks. Here +there was not one sentry, but a post, under the command of a one-legged +veteran.</p> + +<p>To him they were forced to make explanations, which he received gravely, +studying Frank with particular attention.</p> + +<p>"So you carry despatches," he said. "You have a word, a countersign, +perhaps?"</p> + +<p>"Mezieres," said Henri, promptly.</p> + +<p>"Very well. Pass, then, but keep an eye open. There were Uhlans here +before daybreak."</p> + +<p>"Here?"</p> + +<p>"They are beginning to show now. We hear they were in Arras yesterday. +Some stayed with us. They sought to blow up the culvert here."</p> + +<p>Then they went on. And just after they had passed the post, they saw +what the crippled veteran had meant when he had said that some of the +Uhlans had stayed. They lay beside the road, in their greenish gray +uniforms. They were the first German soldiers either of the boys had +seen. And, in the field, two old peasants were digging a grave.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE HANDS OF A CLOCK</h3> + + +<p>The sight was a sobering one. There had been only half a dozen of the +Uhlans, and they knew from what they had heard and read that thousands, +scores of thousands probably, had already died in the war. But they +hadn't seen the others, and these men had lain by the roadside within a +few feet of them. For a time neither of the two scouts had much to say.</p> + +<p>"There's some real war for you, Henri," Frank said, finally.</p> + +<p>"Don't!" said the French scout with a shudder. "It must be, but it is +terrible. And only a few hours ago, I suppose, they were riding along as +well as you and I!"</p> + +<p>Then for a mile or more they rode along in silence. They made good time +for the roads were level. There were no interruptions to their progress +now. In the fields, as before, they could see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> the women and a few old +men about the work of the harvest, but in spite of that, there was an +air of desolation. Everything seemed to have stopped. And there was a +curious something that made itself felt. For a long time, though each of +them felt this, they made no comment on it. Finally Frank called a halt.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Harry," he said. "There's something curious. It's a noise, and +yet it isn't, exactly. It sounds a little like thunder or like the surf +when you are quite a little way inland—"</p> + +<p>They stopped together, listening.</p> + +<p>"I know!" said Henri, suddenly. "It's the guns we hear. The wind is +changing and that is why it is coming to us now. There is a battle. In +olden days we could see its smoke but now they fight without making +smoke. And the noise, too, seems to come from the direction in which we +are going."</p> + +<p>Once he had named the cause, there was no mystery about the sound. It +was less a sound, however, than a beating of the air. There were no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +sharp reports; it was a steady, ceaseless murmur. But even so, there was +no mistaking it. For the first time they were within hearing distance of +a battle.</p> + +<p>"We will soon be on our way to Berlin, now," said Henri. "That must mean +that we have turned—that the great battle has begun."</p> + +<p>"It needn't mean that," said Frank. "It may be only artillery covering a +rear guard action. I wish you'd remember, Harry, that a retreat may mean +mighty hard fighting. Not a rout—a retreat. It isn't easy for an army +to move backward. But it's been done by a good many armies that won +later."</p> + +<p>"Well, come on! We're not getting any nearer to the English by stopping +here to talk."</p> + +<p>"No. We'll be off again. That noise is getting nearer, Harry. Or louder, +anyhow. Perhaps that only means that more guns are going into action."</p> + +<p>Somehow the nearness of the battle stimulated them. They found +themselves making better time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> though they had certainly seemed to be +riding as fast as they could before. And all the time the sound of the +cannon in front of them grew louder, and the quality of the noise +gradually changed. Soon loud explosions began to be distinguishable amid +the general hum of battle, and, too, there was an overtone,—a sharper, +less steady noise.</p> + +<p>"Rifle fire, I think, too," said Frank. "It's lighter than the sound of +the cannon, but it seems to be just about as steady. And to think that +that's going on, all the way from here to the Swiss border nearly! +They're fighting here and near Verdun, and in the Vosges mountains."</p> + +<p>"Look over there," said Henri, suddenly. "Do you see? That looks like an +omnibus!"</p> + +<p>"It is—one of the sort they use in London!" said Frank, in surprise.</p> + +<p>The great, unwieldy vehicle came lumbering toward them. It rolled along +the road, raising a tremendous cloud of dust, and they could see that +behind it were many more. Just behind it, too, a man on a motorcycle +came suddenly into view.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> He was mounted on a high-powered machine, and +they could hear the roar of his motor as he came up to them.</p> + +<p>"Halte!" he cried, in a broken French. "Arretez vous!"</p> + +<p>They were off their machines in a moment, saluting, as he stopped his +motor and put one foot on the ground to steady his machine. He was +dressed in khaki, and both of them recognized his uniform as that of the +British forces.</p> + +<p>"We speak English," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"The deuce you do! That's good! Well, tell me how to get to Guise. We've +lost our blooming way, that's what we've done! And we've got supplies +for the troops."</p> + +<p>"You're going the wrong way—straight to Amiens," said Henri. "The road +to Guise is back four miles, at least. Can you turn your 'buses here? We +will guide you. We are going that way."</p> + +<p>"You are, are you?" said the English officer. He laughed, curtly. "I +doubt that, young fellow!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> I do, indeed! However, you can come along +with us as far as that. Then I'll wash my hands of you. But I can tell +you that if you go on much further, you'll get into some fighting that +isn't meant for boys!"</p> + +<p>They made no reply, for as they understood their errand, they were not +supposed to tell every officer they met what they were doing, but were +to answer questions only when it was plain that not to do so meant that +they would be prevented from reaching their destination.</p> + +<p>It was not the easiest of tasks to manage the reversing of the supply +train of omnibuses, but the officer in charge was efficient, and it was +managed. When the convoy had turned around, he rode up beside the boys.</p> + +<p>"Seen any signs of Germans?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Only at a culvert a few miles back," said Frank. He described the fight +there as best he could, and the officer looked a little worried.</p> + +<p>"As far as that, eh?" he said. "We hadn't heard of their being in that +quarter at all. H'm!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then he rode on ahead, to what had, until a few moments before, been the +rear of his train.</p> + +<p>"He's doing well enough, now that he knows his way," said Frank in an +undertone to Henri. "But I think he was in a bad way. I've got an idea +that the Germans are behind us. Do you know what I think? It's funny for +a supply train like this to be here without any escort of troops, isn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I thought of that, too."</p> + +<p>"Well, I believe he was supposed to meet a guard, and missed it. Suppose +he'd run into the Germans?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that would have been a nice mess! I suppose some English soldiers +would have gone hungry to-night!"</p> + +<p>The road was rising a little, enough for them to feel the added pull in +propelling their wheels. And now, at the crest of the little rise, they +saw that the officer had dismounted. He had unstrapped a box from his +machine and was setting it up. In a few minutes, as they reached him, +he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> had set up a tripod-like machine, not unlike a surveyor's +instrument, and was flashing a small mirror.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" he said. "Field heliograph kit. Ever see it before?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, but I know about it," said Frank, while Henri looked on +admiringly. "I know the Morse code, too."</p> + +<p>"Do you? Good! Then watch those answering flashes. Check off the message +for me."</p> + +<p>Harry obeyed, having spotted in that moment the answer of a similar +instrument on a hill perhaps five miles away. He read off the Morse +signs carefully, and the officer nodded.</p> + +<p>"And that's all right," he said, with a sigh of relief. "They'll have an +escort here for us as quickly as it can ride over. I suppose you know I +signalled for that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>The officer was plainly puzzled by Frank and Henri. He could not quite +understand what they were doing in what was decidedly disputed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> ground. +But he had not the instinct that would have prompted a French, and more +especially, a German officer, to question them and, if he was not fully +satisfied, to put them under restraint.</p> + +<p>"All right. We'll be getting on," he said. "Ride along, now. I'm going +back. Don't get out of touch. And if I'm not around when we get to the +road where we are to turn off for Guise, stop them. They know you're +guiding us."</p> + +<p>He went off, with a great sputtering of his engine, and Frank and Harry +rode along quietly. But Frank felt a strange uneasiness.</p> + +<p>"I feel as if there was something wrong around here," he said.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Frank? Everything's quiet now. Even the firing is not +as heavy as it was."</p> + +<p>"I know, but just the same, that's how I feel. As if there was something +in the air. What's this—a village we're coming to?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and the crossroads where the 'buses must turn, for Guise is just +beyond here, too."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Doesn't look much like war, does it?" said Frank. "Look at that church. +I suppose it's been there for centuries. But the clock looks new, +doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and it's stopped, too," said Henri, with a laugh. "I suppose they +are so excited about the war that they've forgotten to wind it +properly."</p> + +<p>"The time of day doesn't matter much just now," said Frank. "I think—" +He stopped short, staring as if fascinated at the clock. Then with a cry +to Henri to wait for him, he turned and pedalled furiously back in the +direction the officer had taken.</p> + +<p>"Who is the commander?" he called to the soldier driver of one of the +'buses.</p> + +<p>"Capting 'Ardy," replied the man.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," Frank called, and went on as fast as he could. He met Captain +Hardy coming toward him. Swiftly he told him what he had seen, and +Hardy, tugging at his revolver, sped on. Frank followed but was left far +behind, naturally, by the speed of the motorcycle. When he reached the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +church he looked up at the clock again. Captain Hardy's motorcycle was +lying in the street, and Henri was staring at the church door greatly +puzzled.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" cried Henri. "The officer came back, jumped off +his machine and tore into the church as if his life depended on it. He +was pulling out his pistol, too. What—"</p> + +<p>The sharp bark of a revolver interrupted him. It spoke three times and +there was a cry from above. They looked up, to see the figure of a man +dropping from the opening of the clock. A moment later Captain Hardy +came down, reloading his revolver.</p> + +<p>"Good work, youngster!" he said. "Your eyes were sharp that time! If you +hadn't seen the hands of that clock moving we might have been caught in +a nice trap! Wait here—I'm going to make a barricade of the omnibuses."</p> + +<p>"What does he mean?" cried Henri, almost frantic with curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Why, I saw that the hands of the clock had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> moved! You said it had +stopped, and I looked up. Then the next time I looked, the hands had +moved around—two or three hours!"</p> + +<p>"But how—and why—if the clock had stopped?"</p> + +<p>"That's just it! That clock must be visible for some distance around, +Harry. Suppose a German was there? He could be signalling, couldn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a spy! I never thought of that! You mean he would tell other +Germans to come here—that there was work for them to do?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I only hope Captain Hardy stopped him in time."</p> + +<p>But Hardy was taking no more chances than he could help. He had guessed +as quickly as Frank the probable reason for the strange antics of the +clock's face. And now he made his dispositions quickly. Counting the +armed drivers of each omnibus, and the extra man each carried, he had +less than thirty men. But he drew up several of the omnibuses in a +square formation in the central<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> square of the village, and thus had an +improvised fort. When he had done that he called sharply to the two +boys.</p> + +<p>"Get along with you—get away from here!" he said. "If we're going to +have a fight it's no place for you. You've done us a mighty good turn—I +don't want you running into danger because of it."</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke a shot rang out. It was from the direction in which +they had come!</p> + +<p>"Just in time, too," he said, coolly.</p> + +<p>A soldier came up to report.</p> + +<p>"Uhlans, sir—a sight of them, too. Coming from the road we were taking. +I think we got one of them, sir. Toppled him off his horse, anyhow, +sir."</p> + +<p>"All right. Let them come," said Captain Hardy. "Go along now, boys. If +you see the cavalry sent to escort us, tell them to hurry! We'll try to +beat them off until we get help."</p> + +<p>He turned away, and Frank picked up his wheel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A GLIMPSE OF THE ENEMY</h3> + + +<p>Other ears than theirs had heard that firing, too. As they rode along +they saw a cloud of dust before them, and soon men and horses emerged +from the dust.</p> + +<p>"Let's hide in the hedge along the road," said Frank. "Come on—they'll +never see us."</p> + +<p>"But they won't hurt us, Frank. They're English—our friends."</p> + +<p>"Probably they are. But how do we know? They may be more Germans."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I never thought of that! If they are—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if they are, it's good-bye to Captain Hardy and his supplies. But +we can't help it. We've already done all we could for him."</p> + +<p>They watched the oncoming cavalry, but even at a little distance, what +with their speed and the dust, it was impossible to tell to which army +they belonged. They were either English or German;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> that was all that +could be certain. And that could be deduced from their khaki uniforms. +There were no colors to emerge, bright and vivid, from their dun mass; +no points of steel, on which the rays of the sun might shine and be +reflected.</p> + +<p>"If they were French we could tell," said Henri, proudly. "We could see +their red and blue uniforms and, if they were cuirassiers, their +breastplates!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. The French are far behind the times in that," said Frank, a little +impatiently. "Nowadays armies don't try to act as if they were on dress +parade. They wear uniforms that can't be seen any great distance away."</p> + +<p>"The French army fights in the uniform in which its famous victories +were won," said Henri.</p> + +<p>"And it gets killed in them, too," said Frank. "Gets killed when it +doesn't do any good. But that doesn't matter now. Ah, they're English! I +can see that now. We needn't tell them to hurry—they're going for all +they're worth now.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> They've heard the firing and are hastening."</p> + +<p>The English horsemen swept by. They were riding low in the saddle, +urging their horses on. Each man carried a carbine, ready to dismount at +any moment and give battle as seemed best. In five minutes they had +swept by.</p> + +<p>"Two troops," said Frank. "Well, that ought to be enough, though there's +no telling how many Uhlans there were. Ah, here come some more!"</p> + +<p>This time it was a battery of light artillery—four guns, going along +almost as quickly as the cavalry had done.</p> + +<p>"That ought to settle it," said Frank, with satisfaction. "Even if they +run into a brigade of Uhlans, the guns ought to do the trick. I don't +believe they had any guns or we'd have heard them by this time."</p> + +<p>"They're still fighting back there," said Henri, as they wheeled their +bicycles back to the road. "I can hear the firing."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I think it must be a pretty lively skirmish, too," said Frank. +"Captain Hardy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> would keep them at it. Listen! The Uhlans must outnumber +them three or four to one. I hope the others get up in time."</p> + +<p>A few minutes gave assurance that they had. They heard the firing still +more loudly; then, a few minutes later, the heavier sound of the guns +chimed in. And then there was silence behind them.</p> + +<p>"Score one for our side," said Frank. "We know a little more than we did +before, too. I think it's a safe guess that the Germans aren't in this +direction. We can go along without worrying about them."</p> + +<p>As he said that they were coasting down a little hill, at the bottom of +which, Henri had said, another road crossed the one on which they were +riding just around a little turn in the road. And as they took that +turn, their feet off the pedals, they almost fell off their wheels in +astonishment. For the transverse road was gray-green with soldiers; +soldiers with spiked helmets, marching south!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<p>A moment later they did fall off their wheels, deliberately, and at a +common impulse, because it was the only way there was of stopping before +they were in the midst of the German infantry. There was just a chance +that they had not been seen and they took it, and fled to the hedge +again, leaving their bicycles behind. There was no time to bother about +such trifles now. The thing to do was to make good their escape, if they +could.</p> + +<p>"Whew!" said Frank, whistling. "That was a close shave, if you like! +Where on earth did they come from? And how is it they didn't see the +English cavalry?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they didn't care, if they did see them," said Henri, wide-eyed +with astonishment. "Look, Frank, there must be thousands of them! Where +can they be going?"</p> + +<p>"Where did they come from? That's more to the point!" said Frank, vastly +excited. "I know! They got the railway—that's what they did! They must +have come through Arras. Jove, though, they took a terrible risk, Harry! +Because,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> no matter how many of them there are, they can't even begin to +compare with the allies in numbers—not around here. But how can they be +here without being seen? What are our aeroplanes doing?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen one all day—not since we left Amiens, at least," said +Henri. "But I know where they are—flying over the enemy's lines, trying +to locate the guns exactly. That's what they try to do, you know. They +decide just where a masked battery is, and then our fellows can drop +their shells right among their guns. The gunners can't get the range +properly any other way. There isn't any powder smoke to help them any +more, you know. So I suppose that's where they are."</p> + +<p>"Then I tell you what I think happened. I think they cut the railroad, +or, rather, they didn't cut it. I bet they ran those fellows down there +through on trains—right through our army."</p> + +<p>"How could they do that?"</p> + +<p>"Easily—no, not easily. It wouldn't be easy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> at all. But it's possible. +They've caught a lot of our men, haven't they? Well, couldn't they use +their uniforms so that it would look as if it was a French or an English +train? Let me have your field glass. It's better than mine."</p> + +<p>They were sheltered now and safe from observation. They could, +nevertheless, see the German column strung out along the road. It seemed +to cover at least two or three miles of the road, and there was no way +of being sure that there were not more men.</p> + +<p>"I think they've got pretty nearly five thousand men," Frank decided +finally. "They're in light marching order, for Germans, too. No camp +kitchens—nothing. Only what the men themselves are carrying. They're +making a forced march to get to some particular place. Queer to use +infantry, though, but I suppose they couldn't get horses through with +whatever trick it was they played."</p> + +<p>"They're beginning to turn off," said Henri. "See, the head of the +column is slipping through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> that field over there. They must know this +country as well as I do or better. That's a short cut that will take +them to Hierville."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe they're going to Hierville or any other village now," +said Frank. "Tell me, are those woods I can see in front of them at all +thick?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they're old, too. They've been preserved for a long time. That's +the oldest part of the old park of the Chateau d'Avriere. It was one of +the castles that wasn't destroyed in the revolution."</p> + +<p>"Well, they're going to take cover in those woods. This is all a part of +a mighty careful plan, Harry. I think they have turned a real trick. If +the French or the English knew that the Germans were in any such force +as this so far south and west as this they would be acting very +differently, I believe. Their aeroplanes have certainly failed them +here."</p> + +<p>"They're on the line of retreat, if we were beaten again in that battle +we've been hearing all afternoon."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't think it was a real battle at all, Harry. I think it was just +rear guard fighting. But I tell you what we've got to do. We've got to +get through and tell about these troops. Of course, they may know all +about them at headquarters, but it doesn't look so. We had better wait +here until we make fairly sure of what they're going to do and until +there isn't any more danger of our being seen, too. They'll have scouts +out all around them. We were mighty lucky to get through so long as we +have. But it's going to get dark pretty soon, and then we ought to be +safe."</p> + +<p>They lay in their improvised shelter. It took the Germans a long time to +pass, but at last the road below was free of them, and the last of them +slipped into the sheltering obscurity of the woods.</p> + +<p>"We ought to find out if they're staying there, or if they are still +moving on," said Frank. "It's risky, but I think we ought to take the +risk. You stay here, Henri. I'll try to get around, and come back."</p> + +<p>"Why should I stay here? If there's a risk,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> why shouldn't I take it +just as well as you?"</p> + +<p>"Because one of us has got to get through. If I'm caught, you'll still +be here and able to get through to headquarters with what we've found +out already. And the reason I'd better go is that I'm an American. If +they catch me they're not so likely to hold me."</p> + +<p>"But I don't think it's fair for you to take the risk. I ought to do +it," said Henri, stubbornly.</p> + +<p>"I don't care what you think," said Frank, "I'm going. Au revoir, +Harry!"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute! How are you going to find out?"</p> + +<p>"I'll try to skirt the wood."</p> + +<p>"You needn't do that. Keep straight on the road we were taking, instead +of turning off at the foot of the hill. About half a mile beyond the +crossroads the road rises again, and you'll find a windmill. If you +climb to the top of that you can see beyond the woods, and you ought to +be able to tell if the Germans are moving out of the woods."</p> + +<p>"Splendid!" said Frank. He admired Henri's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> readiness, once he had made +up his mind that Frank was going alone, to help him with his greater +knowledge of the countryside. Some boys would have been sullen, and +would not have volunteered that information, he was sure.</p> + +<p>Before Frank started on his lonely errand, he carried Henri's bicycle +back of the hedge. Then he mounted his own, and coasted down the hill. +His object was to seem entirely indifferent, should some German scout or +straggler spy him, but plainly the Germans had decided to leave the road +uncovered.</p> + +<p>"I guess they decided it was better to risk being surprised than to give +themselves away," he said to himself. "Otherwise they'd have been pretty +sure to leave an outpost of some sort here because this road looks like +just the place for troop movements. It looks more and more as if they +had really managed to make a secret of this column."</p> + +<p>It did not take him long to find the windmill of which Henri had told +him. The place was deserted; there was no one to oppose his entry. And,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +when he reached the top, he found that there was an excellent view of +the country for several miles, a much better one than they had had from +their shelter on the hillside above the Germans.</p> + +<p>He could see the woods into which the invading troops had disappeared, +looking dark and mysterious in the deepening twilight. There was no sign +of life about them; no smoke rose above the treetops. And no Germans +were beyond them. Then his guess had been right, he decided. They had +made for those woods to obtain shelter, and they relied upon the fact +that the allies did not know of their presence. It was a daring move; it +might well have been successful, save for the accident of the two boys +who had observed it. Indeed, even now there was a chance, and something +more than a chance, that the German object, whatever it was, might be +attained. Frank and Henri were a long way yet from having reached the +British headquarters. Unknown dangers and obstacles lay between them and +their destination.</p> + +<p>"With the German attack developing so quickly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> as this, we don't know +where we may not run into them," mused Frank, as he descended from the +windmill and mounted his wheel, preparing to start back to join Henri. +"They may be anywhere. I don't want to see them win, but they certainly +are wonderfully good fighters. They have good leaders, too."</p> + +<p>When he reached Henri he found that his French comrade was lighting the +lamp of his bicycle. With a laugh he blew out the flame.</p> + +<p>"But it's dark and we'll be arrested if we ride without a light," said +Henri, protestingly.</p> + +<p>"That law was made for peace, not for war," said Frank. "When we know as +little about where the Germans are as we do, I'm not going to take any +chances. We'll ride with lights out, thank you. Come on!"</p> + +<p>As they rode along in the growing dusk, close together, Frank told what +he had seen.</p> + +<p>"That was a good guess, then," said Henri. "But, Frank, how can they +know so well what to do? You would think that they had been brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> up +in this country, those German officers!"</p> + +<p>"They might as well have been," said Frank. "I've heard stories of how +they prepare for war. They have maps that show every inch of land in +this part of France. They know the roads, the hills, even the fields and +the houses. They have officers with every regiment who know where +ditches are that they can use as trenches, and who have studied the land +so that they recognize places they have never seen, just from the maps +that they have studied until they know them by heart. And it isn't only +France that they know that way, but England, and some parts of Russia, +too. Why, I've even heard that they've studied parts of America, around +New York and Boston, almost as thoroughly."</p> + +<p>Henri cried out in anger.</p> + +<p>"That is how they have behaved!" he cried. "They have been planning, all +these years, then, to crush France!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, cheer up, Harry," said Frank. "I guess you'll find that your French +staff officers have re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>turned the compliment. Unless I'm very much +mistaken, any one of them could tell you just as much about the country +in Alsace and Lorraine, and all through the Rhine Province, as the +Germans could of this section. It wasn't so in the last war. Then French +officers were losing their way in French territory. That was one reason +why the battle at the Speichern was lost—because French reinforcements +lost their way. But this time France got ready, too."</p> + +<p>"Shall we still make for Le Cateau?"</p> + +<p>"There's nothing else to do, until we find out that the staff has +changed its location."</p> + +<p>Riding along in a light that made men out of the shadows of trees and +regiments of the shocked corn in the fields was eerie work. But neither +of them was afraid. They were fired by a purpose to serve the cause in +which they had enlisted. And they were thrilled, too, by the knowledge +of the German force upon which they had spied, themselves unseen.</p> + +<p>And then all at once, out of a dark spot in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> the road, appeared a man, +holding a horse.</p> + +<p>"Halt!" he cried, in a guttural voice.</p> + +<p>They obeyed, perforce. And when they were close enough, they saw that he +was a German cavalryman, one of the dreaded Uhlans.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THROUGH THE LINES</h3> + + +<p>For a moment Frank's heart sank, but suddenly, a hoarse laugh surprised +him and revived his spirits. It was the Uhlan. He was laughing at them.</p> + +<p>"Kinder!" he said, deep down in his throat.</p> + +<p>"Nothing so alarming in this," thought Frank, experiencing quick relief, +and awaiting the Uhlan's next words.</p> + +<p>"I have my way lost," he said, in a guttural English. "Kannst du +Englisch sprechen?"</p> + +<p>"I am an American," said Frank, at the same time nudging Henri, and +hoping that he would understand it as a signal to keep still. "Where do +you want to go?"</p> + +<p>"That matters not," said the German, cautiously. "Only tell me, which +way from here is Amiens?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>They told him.</p> + +<p>"And where does the road to St. Quentin turn off from this one?"</p> + +<p>"It is the next turn, to your left," said Frank, truthfully.</p> + +<p>"Good! Then I will be going. Go home, kinder. You will get into trouble +if you stay hereabout."</p> + +<p>He vaulted upon his horse, and the next moment they heard hoofs +clattering along the hard road, and, looking after him, could see the +sparks as the iron clashed with the flint of the road's surface.</p> + +<p>"That was easy!" said Frank, with a gasp of relief.</p> + +<p>"He was alone," said Henri.</p> + +<p>"Carrying despatches, I expect," said Frank. "He wouldn't tell us where +he was going, naturally, but I bet he's looking for those other troops +we saw. Dangerous work, too. But I wonder where he came from. If there +are more Uhlans in front, we may get into trouble."</p> + +<p>"Suppose we hide the bicycles near here and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> go along through the +fields? Don't you think that will be better, Frank?" was Henri's +cautious suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose it will, though it will be slower, too."</p> + +<p>"Of course. But if we are going to be stopped all the time along this +road, we'll really save time in the end by doing it."</p> + +<p>So they made a cache, as Frank told Henri it should be called, hiding +their wheels so that they would have a chance of recovering them if they +came back this way. They marked the spot not only by landmarks, but by +the stars, which were beginning to dot the sky now.</p> + +<p>"There may be fighting here," said Frank. "And if there is, this place +may look very different before we see it again. If there is a battle the +trees will go, and the fences, and all the houses for if they are not +burned deliberately, the shells will destroy them."</p> + +<p>"Look, Frank, what is that?"</p> + +<p>Henri had turned and was pointing now to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> north. There a stream of +white light shot into the air, then dropped, and left only its +reflection. But in a moment others joined it, and the whole sky to the +north was brilliantly lighted. It was like a display of Northern Lights, +only nearer and even more brilliant.</p> + +<p>"Searchlights, of course," said Frank. "They can throw them on the +trenches—and they're good to guard against aeroplanes and dirigibles, +too. At night, you see, there'd be a chance for aeroplanes to fly very +low and do a lot of damage."</p> + +<p>"Can't they hear the engines from the ground?"</p> + +<p>"Not always. They have mufflers on a good many aeroplane motors now, so +that they don't make any more noise than a quiet automobile."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that. Well, there's one good thing about the +searchlights. We know which way to go. Come on."</p> + +<p>"All right. The more I think of it, the better it is not to be on the +roads. Here in the fields we're<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> a lot less likely to run into stray +parties. And I'd just about as soon meet Germans as allies. If they're +retreating and having trouble, they might hold us up as long as the +Germans would. They wouldn't believe we really had despatches."</p> + +<p>For a time they made good, steady progress. The roar of artillery fire +in front of them had been resumed, and now it filled the air, proving +that they were much closer to the battle. The great waves of sound beat +against their ears, making their heads swim at first, but gradually they +grew used to it, and could hear other and more trivial sounds—the +chirping of night insects and the occasional hooting of owls.</p> + +<p>"I don't hear the rifle fire," said Henri, after a time. "Only once in a +while, that is. Why is that, I wonder? Are the big guns drowning it?"</p> + +<p>"No. Because if that were the reason, we wouldn't hear it at all. I +think they don't do that at night. It's just a case of trying to find +the places where the enemy's troops are massed, and keeping up a steady +fire of shells to drive them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> out. Maybe the searchlights help. They've +been fighting all day, you know, and even soldiers have to have some +rest. They have to eat and sleep or they can't keep up the work."</p> + +<p>They crossed more than one road, but stuck to the fields, travelling in +a straight line as nearly as they could figure their course. When they +had decided to join the Boy Scouts, both had studied the stars, since a +knowledge of the heavens is one of the most important things about +scouting, and they found what they had learned very valuable now. Thus +they could keep their bearings, though owing to their desertion of the +roads, Henri confessed that he had very little idea of where they were.</p> + +<p>"Along the roads one has landmarks," he said. "I have gone all through +here, over and over again. My father used to drive this way very often +in our automobile."</p> + +<p>"Well, we can't go very far wrong," said Frank, cheerfully. "All we've +got to do is to follow the old German maxim, 'March on the cannon +thunder!' That was their one rule in 1870, you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> know and a very good +rule it proved too."</p> + +<p>So they went on. And they still seemed to be a long way from the seat of +the heavy artillery firing when a challenge halted them, as they were +about to cross a road.</p> + +<p>"'Alt! 'Oo goes there?" called a cockney voice sharply.</p> + +<p>"Friends," cried Frank, instantly.</p> + +<p>"'Alt, friends, while I 'as a look at you," said the sentry.</p> + +<p>"Call your officer, please. We are carrying despatches," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"I'll call 'im, all right. My word! You ain't nothin' but kiddies, you +ain't! 'Ere! Corporal of the guard! I sye! Corporal of the guard!"</p> + +<p>He raised his voice in the shout, and a minute or so later a corporal +appeared.</p> + +<p>"Came up to me, sir," said the sentry. "Said as 'ow they wanted me to +call the officer of the guard. Carryin' despatches, they sye they is."</p> + +<p>"All right," said the corporal, briskly. "Come with me, my lads. Step +smartly when you're<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> told or you may be shot," in a genial voice.</p> + +<p>They followed him through a field that seemed deserted, then came to a +small cluster of tents, where they stopped.</p> + +<p>"Wait here," said the corporal. "I'll bring the lieutenant."</p> + +<p>They did not have long to wait before a young officer approached them.</p> + +<p>"My word!" he said, when he saw how young they were. "What are you +youngsters doing here?"</p> + +<p>"We're looking for headquarters, sir," said Frank. "We are carrying +despatches from Amiens."</p> + +<p>"All right! Give them to me, and I'll see that they're forwarded, my +lads," said the officer, with a grin.</p> + +<p>"We can't do that, sir," said Frank. "Our orders are to carry them to +headquarters—and to give the word Mezieres."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's different, now," said the officer. "Corporal, give me two +men to take these des<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>patch-bearers through the lines," came the order.</p> + +<p>The giving of the word had made a great change in his attitude. It was +plain that before that he had not taken them seriously, but had supposed +them to be playing some prank. Now, however, he looked at them +curiously.</p> + +<p>"Boy Scouts?" he suggested.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Frank. "Detailed to special duty, without uniforms."</p> + +<p>"I see! Jolly plucky of you, I call it. I say, you're not French, my +lad, are you? How did you get here? Well, never mind! Here's your +escort. Be off with you, now."</p> + +<p>Their troubles were over now. Within five minutes they were at +headquarters. There a weary staff officer received them. They saluted.</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said. "Give me your despatches."</p> + +<p>Each of them produced his handful of marbles from his pocket, and laid +them solemnly before the major. He stared, first at the marbles, then at +them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What sort of a silly prank is this?" he roared. "Do you think we've +nothing better to do than to waste time in jokes? If you were men—"</p> + +<p>"We are obeying orders, sir," said Frank, quietly. "Those are the +despatches Colonel Menier at Amiens gave us to deliver. He said that +only one officer here would know what they meant, and how to get the +despatches."</p> + +<p>"O, I beg your pardon," said the major. He took down his telephone. "Ask +if despatches are expected from Amiens," he said, into the instrument. +"And find out who is in charge."</p> + +<p>"There is another matter, sir," said Frank. "We saw German troops as we +came here."</p> + +<p>"Uhlans. Yes, they're all around behind us. One squadron of them was cut +up when it attacked a convoy. There aren't many of them."</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I didn't mean Uhlans. There is a force of infantry—five +thousand men, we estimated—"</p> + +<p>"What?" thundered the major, springing to his feet, "You must be +dreaming! Where did you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> think you saw them? And where were they?"</p> + +<p>Frank explained.</p> + +<p>"It sounds incredible," said the major, frowning. "Come! I'll take you +to General Smith-Derrien. If that's true, it's highly important news. +Here, show me on this map just the place where you say you saw them."</p> + +<p>Frank and Henri pointed at once to the wood in which the German infantry +had vanished, then followed the major out of the room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>AN UNEXPECTED CHANCE</h3> + + +<p>The first impression they had of General Smith-Derrien was of his +absolute calmness. The major had been excited when he heard the report +of the German infantry in the woods. But when they entered the room in +which sat the British general who was responsible for the retreat, as +they guessed, they saw a quiet-faced man with smiling eyes, who listened +attentively to the reports of the officers who were constantly hurrying +up to him, spoke a word or two in answer, and turned, imperturbably, to +the next comer.</p> + +<p>Their guide left them near the door.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute here," he said. "I'll tell the General your story. But +he'll want to speak to you himself. He always does."</p> + +<p>Frank watched the British leader closely as he turned to the major, who +now went up to him. If the news moved him, he gave no sign<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> of his +emotion. Instead he nodded quickly, once or twice; then he looked over +toward Frank and Henri. The major turned to them, beckoning, and they +went up. General Smith-Derrien was sitting at a table. Before him was an +ordnance map of the section covered by his operations.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me exactly what happened, as quickly as you can," he said. +"You saw these Germans—just where? Point it out on the map. Give me +your position and the road they took."</p> + +<p>Frank and Henri studied the map a moment. They traced their own course +from Amiens; soon they found the spot. The map was on a very large +scale, and it showed the hills and a great deal of detail. It was easy +to explain just where they had seen the Germans.</p> + +<p>"They went into the woods, you say," said the general. "But why did you +think they stayed there? Why shouldn't they have gone on?"</p> + +<p>"I went along the road to a spot where I could see beyond the woods, +sir," said Frank. "And there was no sign of them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You did? That was excellent—regular scouting. Oh, I fancy I +understand! Boy Scouts, are you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," they echoed together.</p> + +<p>"Well, if your information is exact—and I have no reason to doubt it, +of course—you did a very fine piece of scouting, and I shall be glad to +see that you get the proper amount of credit for it, when the time +comes. Now your information is most valuable. But before I can act on +it, I must be absolutely certain that it is accurate. Will one of you +help one of my scouts to determine this?"</p> + +<p>"Let me go, sir," said Frank, quickly. "I was the one who saw the other +side of the woods—"</p> + +<p>"But I know the country best," protested Henri. "And—"</p> + +<p>"I think you'd better go," said the general to Frank. Perhaps he thought +Frank was English; in any case he selected him. "I don't think it will +be dangerous at all, or I shouldn't let you go. We haven't started using +boys in this war yet. Major, you will see to it that a start is made as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +soon as possible!" turning to that officer.</p> + +<p>The major saluted.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, at once," he said. "The one who does not go can deliver the +despatches they brought from Amiens—a handful of marbles!"</p> + +<p>"Eh? What's that? Those are the despatches from Colonel Menier. I'll +take those!"</p> + +<p>Plainly, since he knew of them, he was the officer to whom they should +be delivered. So Frank and Henri, not without some misgivings, since the +major's annoyance at the sight of the marbles had rather depressed them, +handed over their marbles. General Smith-Derrien picked them up, weighed +them in his hand, and finally selected two, to the undisguised amazement +of his staff. But when he pressed a hidden spring, and each marble flew +back, showing that it was hollow, cries of admiration came from those +who were close by.</p> + +<p>"Very well. They are in good order," he said, after a glance at the thin +but tough paper. "I will send an answer by the scout who remains here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>The major was already moving toward the door, and Frank, with a quick +grasp of Henri's hand and a salute for the general, followed him. He was +sorry for Henri's disappointment, but he had made up his mind when they +left Amiens that whenever possible, he himself would take any risks that +were to be run. No one would care greatly if anything happened to him, +since his parents were dead, and his only other close relative was his +uncle, of whom he had seen very little. But Henri's mother was alive, +and, moreover, she had troubles enough. Her husband was at the front, +and there was no telling whether or not he would ever return.</p> + +<p>"Come along, young 'un," said the major. His name, Frank learned, when a +passing officer spoke to him, was Cooper. "Know what you're going to +do?"</p> + +<p>"I'm to help a scout to determine the position of the Germans we saw," +said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but how? In an aeroplane, my lad! I envy you. They've never let me +go up in one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> the blooming things yet—and just because I happen to +be assigned to a special job here with the staff. A lot of fun this war +is going to be for me! We've been at it pretty nearly a month, and I +haven't been under fire yet!"</p> + +<p>Frank found it hard to conceal his delight. He had always wanted to have +the experience of riding in an aeroplane, but never before had he seen +even a remote chance that it would be gratified. Now he was to have +fulfilled one of his most cherished ambitions—and in what a way! To fly +with one of the wonderful aviators of whom he had been hearing ever +since the war began, and over hostile territory. Risk! What if there +was?</p> + +<p>In his own room Major Cooper sent an orderly flying, and in a few +moments he returned, followed by a spare, tall man in a uniform +differing slightly from that of the regular troops. He wore a heavy +sweater, and on his head was a headgear resembling, Frank thought, that +worn by football players in America.</p> + +<p>"You sent for me, Major?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, Captain Greene. You'll have to make a flight to-night. This lad is +one of two Boy Scouts who have reported seeing German infantry in rather +considerable force south and west of our position here. He will show you +on the map just where he says they are lying up. The general wants to +verify this report or disprove it as quickly as possible. Your orders +are simply to make a reconnaissance and to run no avoidable risks. If it +is possible, ascertain the facts without betraying your own presence. I +have detailed you because you have a silent motor."</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir," said Captain Greene. "Now, then, my lad, sharp's the +word. Show me just where you say these Germans are."</p> + +<p>For the third time Frank pointed out the spot on the map, and the flyer +whistled.</p> + +<p>"Don't wonder you want to know where they are!" he said. "If that's so, +it's a pretty big sell for us flying chaps—eh, what? We rather fancied +there wasn't a chance for them to do anything that we didn't know all +about as soon as it was done."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Exactly," said the major, rather dryly. "Well, here's your chance to +make up for errors of omission. Get the facts, and get back as quickly +as you can."</p> + +<p>"All right. Double quick, young 'un. What's your name, eh? Might as well +be sociable!"</p> + +<p>Frank told him, and liked the tall aviator immensely. But there was no +more talk between them as he followed the captain to the outside. He had +all he could do to keep up with the Englishman's great strides without +trying to talk too. Greene led the way to a park-like enclosure, where, +under shaded electric lights that lit the ground fully but were so +screened that no betraying flashes showed from above, a dozen aeroplanes +stood, gaunt and ghostlike in the night.</p> + +<p>"See those lights?" said Greene. "If one of those German Johnnies in a +Taube came along he could make a lot of mess by dropping a couple of +bombs down here. An aeroplane's delicate enough as it is. A bomb will +put it out of business in no time. Here we are! Wait till I try the +motor and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> see to my tank. If you run out of petrol at five hundred feet +you can't always find a garage where they'll sell you more!"</p> + +<p>The tank was full, however. His mechanic had seen to that. And the +engine responded beautifully to the first test.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Greene. "In with you! Ever been up?"</p> + +<p>"No. This is my first trip," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Easy enough, if you don't get scared. Keep perfectly still. No matter +what happens, don't touch me or anything except the grips for your hands +that you'll find there. She's apt to rock and kick like a broncho +sometimes but you can't fall out, because you'll be strapped in. +Remember, now, don't touch me and don't touch any levers or anything +else you see."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>THE MONOPLANE</h3> + + +<p>Looking down from above, as he was doing, it was hard for Frank to keep +his bearings at all. Naturally, everything looked very different. He had +been used to looking up at houses, and had had them in one plane. Now +everything was flat before him. In the day time the resemblance of the +country as he now saw it to a map might have helped him. But at night, +even on a clear night, things were blurred. Fences and roads ran +together confusedly. And this night was not clear. The day had been +fair, but now clouds were coming up.</p> + +<p>"We'll have some rain, hang it!" said Greene. "The firing seems to bring +it. At least that's what they say. Wonder if it's true? I suppose it +might."</p> + +<p>"I should think it might be a good thing," said Frank. "It'll make it +harder for them to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> us, won't it! And that ought to help us."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it'll make it a good deal harder for us to see what we're +after, too. Cuts both ways, you see. Still I don't mind as long as we +don't have fog or wind, and I think I'd rather have the wind. You know +where you're at with wind, anyway. In a fog—Lord! You've no idea what a +thing fog is until you've tried to make a landing in it."</p> + +<p>With the motor muffled down, they were able to talk easily. In the +earlier days of aeroplanes the motor made so much noise that anything +like a sustained conversation was impossible. But now the motor only +purred gently in their ears, just like that of a motor car. For military +purposes the silence thus obtained more than made up for the slight +sacrifice of power. The more old-fashioned 'planes, many of which were +still in use, advertised their presence to an enemy as soon as they came +at all near. But this new type, largely used by the British and the +French, as Frank knew, had to be seen before they were in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> any danger, +so silently do they wing their flight.</p> + +<p>"Talking about fog," Greene went on, talking as indifferent as if they +had been on solid ground, "I had a nasty experience just before Kaiser +Bill started this trouble. Went up at Sheerness, for an experimental +flight in this same 'plane. First time I'd had her out, and I didn't +know her very well. And one of those old-fashioned sea fogs came rolling +in when I was ten miles from anywhere. Never saw anything so sudden in +my life!"</p> + +<p>"How did you find your way, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't! I just went up and up until I was above the fog and in the +sunlight. You can do that, you know. But that was a queer fog—rose a +whole lot. Anyway, when I got above it, it was precious cold. And the +sun didn't do me much good. I'd got lost, so far as my bearings below +were concerned, making spirals as I went up. What I hoped for was to +find out something when I was above the fog."</p> + +<p>"How was that? You mean that the fog would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> only spread over a certain +distance?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"That's it exactly. Only I didn't know that fog! So far as I could tell, +it spread over all England and Ireland, too, with some left over for +France! Only one thing for it, of course. I knew I'd get away from it if +I kept on flying. So I steered by the sun as well as I could, and kept +on until my petrol began to run short, and a cylinder began missing. And +then, just as I was wondering whose windows I'd break when I went down, +it began to thin out, and slipped away as quickly as it had come. And I +was right above the golf links on Wimbledon Common. I volplaned down, +and landed on a putting green, and an old colonel who'd been invalided +home from India said I'd done it on purpose, and he was going to have me +court-martialled!"</p> + +<p>Frank laughed heartily at the story. But at the same time, he suspected +Captain Greene's purpose in telling it. He thought the captain wanted to +keep his spirits up, and make him forget that he had never had a flight +before, and he admired<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> and liked him more than ever in consequence, +even though, as he told himself, it wasn't necessary.</p> + +<p>"Hello! I think we're getting near your spot, young 'un," said Greene, +abruptly. He dipped down, and Frank peered down to see where they were.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he cried, in assent. "There's the hill we were coming down when +we saw them, just as we rounded that turn. That's the road they were +marching along, and there, over to our left, are the woods. I wonder if +they're still there."</p> + +<p>"We'll soon know," said Greene. "Now for a little climbing. I'm not +afraid of being hit, but orders are to find them without being seen, if +we can manage it. So we'll try the high spots for a bit."</p> + +<p>At once the monoplane began climbing, ascending in great spirals. Frank +was absorbed by the sensation. He found that he could see the ground +receding without feeling any qualms, and said so.</p> + +<p>"You're lucky," said Greene, briefly. "Made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> me feel queer first few +times I tried it, I can tell you. You're probably a born flyer—and the +chances are you'll never do much of it, I suppose! Always the way!"</p> + +<p>Frank, looking down, saw that they were moving away from the woods which +they were to reconnoitre, and mentioned it.</p> + +<p>"Got to," said Greene, briefly. "Then we'll fly back. We can't climb in +a straight line. When I went out for altitude once, I made twelve +thousand feet, and when I finished climbing I was nearly fifteen miles, +in a straight line, from where I started. Let's see. Got that flashlight +I gave you? Play it right on the board there till I tell you to stop."</p> + +<p>Frank obeyed, shooting the little spear of light on the various +instruments in front of the aviator.</p> + +<p>"All right. Hold it there. My barograph, you see. Gives me my height by +showing the change in atmospheric pressure. That's how we calculate +height. Not very exact, because all sorts of things vary the pressure. +But it's near enough. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> thousand feet! That's good enough. I don't +believe they're looking for us. We don't usually scout behind our own +lines."</p> + +<p>Now he brought the monoplane around in a great sweep and flew straight +over the woods. But, though Frank looked down through powerful navy +night glasses, of the sort that are used for look-out duty at sea, he +could see nothing.</p> + +<p>"Clasp them around my head—so," said Greene. "See the trick? All right! +Now I'll have a look. There's another pair in my pocket—use those for +yourself."</p> + +<p>But if the Germans were there, they were concealing their presence with +a good deal of care and skill.</p> + +<p>"Have to go lower, then," decided Greene. "Get ready! We'll shoot the +chutes now."</p> + +<p>He pointed the monoplane straight down, cut out his motor, and glided +earthward in a glorious volplane, the most wonderful sensation that even +flight, with all its wonders, can afford. When the earth seemed about to +come up and hit them,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> though it was still actually a good five hundred +feet below, he caught the machine, righted it, and started the motor +again. Then he had to fly back until he was again directly over the +woods, and once more, while the monoplane moved very slowly, they peered +down. But still there was no sign.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said Greene. "If they were supposed to be anything but Germans, +I'd say you'd told us a cock and bull story, young 'un! English troops, +or French, would show some sort of a light. Some fool would take a +chance to get a smoke. But these Germans! They're not men—they're +machines. They'll obey orders that officers wouldn't take the trouble to +give in any other army. We'll have to make sure. Up we go again!"</p> + +<p>Frank could not see how going up would make it possible for them to get +the information that coming down hadn't afforded. But he said nothing, +because he had come to feel by this time that when Captain Greene did a +thing he had a per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>fectly sound reason for his action. Nor was he wrong. +Once more they climbed in a high spiral curve until they were higher +than they had been before. For the first time, Frank now felt a peculiar +ringing in his ears. He mentioned it, and Greene laughed.</p> + +<p>"Pressure," he said. "You'll get used to it! Lord, sometimes I've felt +as if my head would burst when I started to climb. But it doesn't last +long. Feel in the seat there beside you, at your left. There ought to be +a big electric torch."</p> + +<p>"Here it is! I've got it, sir," said Frank, a moment later.</p> + +<p>"All right. Touch the button at the end. Let's see if it lights up +properly."</p> + +<p>It did, decidedly, for the result was a blinding glare.</p> + +<p>"Pretty powerful, isn't it?" said Greene. "It's used for signalling, you +see. Flash the light, and you can reproduce Morse perfectly. When you're +high up it can be seen a long way, too. Now hold it straight down and +flash it, then give a steady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> glare. Let us see if we cannot draw +anything."</p> + +<p>Frank obeyed, at the same time getting a glimpse of Greene's idea. He +held the torch pointing straight down, and saw the beam of light +shooting straight down. It was not powerful enough, of course, by the +time it reached the treetops, to illuminate them, and so make anything +below visible, but it was certainly strong enough to be observed from +below, he thought. But still there was no movement, and the uncanny +silence and darkness below persisted.</p> + +<p>"All right. There's still another chance," said Greene, patiently. He +drew a revolver from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"Flash your little light this way. Let me see if it's all right," he +said.</p> + +<p>Frank obeyed.</p> + +<p>"New fangled automatic—very powerful, and shoots a .44 bullet almost as +far as an old-fashioned rifle," explained Greene. "Very useful if one +runs into another 'plane unexpectedly—and the other fellow happens to +be a German."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>A moment later he opened fire, shooting straight downward. He could not +aim, of course, but it was not his object to hit anything. He emptied +one clip of cartridges, and before the last shot was fired the woods +below began to spit fire. At once the monoplane began racing.</p> + +<p>"Got 'em!" cried Greene, exultingly. "I thought that would do it! It +isn't human nature to be under fire without sending back a shot or +two—not even German human nature!"</p> + +<p>No bullets came near them, but there was no longer any possible doubt +that the Germans were below. The fusillade had settled that. Greene +slowed down.</p> + +<p>"Show your light quickly, then douse it at once," he cried.</p> + +<p>Frank flashed the light of the big torch for an instant. And at once the +monoplane shot forward.</p> + +<p>"See the point?" cried Greene. "They'll aim at where the light was. Only +we won't be obliging enough to be there! Well, this is a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> night's +work, my lad! You were right, and if I'm not much mistaken, you'll get +your name in dispatches for this. The beggars! I'd like to know how they +got through without being spotted!"</p> + +<p>All the time the monoplane was racing away. But suddenly there was a +sharp crack behind them, and in an agony of concern Greene twisted +around in his seat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lord!" he groaned. "I crowed too soon! That's the petrol +tank—bullet hole! It'll leak out, and we can't stop the leak!"</p> + +<p>"If you went down right away, would it all get out before you reached +the ground?"</p> + +<p>"No, but they'll catch us if we go down here. Can't do that."</p> + +<p>"It's the only chance!" said Frank. "Isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"You're right. I'll take it. Good boy! You don't mind the risk?"</p> + +<p>"No!" said Frank.</p> + +<p>Then they were rushing down. It was a desperate venture. Greene pointed +for a field, but in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> the darkness the risk of capture by the Germans was +the least that they faced.</p> + +<p>Greene had cut out his engine; there was too much danger of an +explosion, with the leaking petrol, to allow the spark to continue. He +had to volplane down this time, not as a quick way of descending, but as +the only means of preventing a disastrous fall. Even in broad daylight +there is always risk in landing with a dead motor. Here, in the darkness +and with unknown country below, the risk was multiplied a hundred times.</p> + +<p>All that Greene knew with any certainty was that he was over country +broken up into fields. The fences were numerous, there were ditches, +too, and obstructions of all sorts. The larger ones he could see readily +enough, when he got close; it was the smaller ones that threatened the +real danger.</p> + +<p>But if the danger was great, Greene was a master of his craft. He +swooped downward. Then, when he was scarcely a hundred feet up, he +caught the machine with a fine show of skill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> and held it, for a moment, +on an even keel.</p> + +<p>"We'll chance it in the next field," he called. "Can't stay up any +further. Here goes!"</p> + +<p>Down, down, they went. Then they were down, bumping along. But the +element of luck that, despite all his skill, Greene had to have, favored +him. The field was smooth and the monoplane came to rest safely. In an +instant both were out, Greene first, since Frank, having to free himself +from his straps, was delayed.</p> + +<p>"Quick! The small flashlight!" called the flyer. "Here, give it to me! +If we're to save any essence we've got to be quick!"</p> + +<p>He took the light. But a quick look over the tank failed to show a +spurting stream of gasoline.</p> + +<p>"By Jove! Wonder if I could have been mistaken? Perhaps it was something +else they hit!" cried Greene. But then he groaned. As he unscrewed the +cap of the tank and peered in, he saw that it was bone dry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>A DANGEROUS ERRAND</h3> + + +<p>For a moment Greene was speechless with despair. Fate had tricked him, +it seemed, after he had done his best—and a better best than most men +could even have attempted. Then he grinned.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to hoof it," he said. "A good twelve miles, too! If we were +champions at cross-country work it would take us the best part of two +hours. And it's so long since I've used my legs that I don't know how +long I'll be."</p> + +<p>"There's one chance," said Frank. "I remember that I saw a little inn on +the road the Germans took this afternoon. We're not so very far from +that now. These little inns along the roads in France all have petrol +for motorists who run short. If I went there I might get some."</p> + +<p>Greene shook his head doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"The government's taken all the essence it could find," he said, "I +don't believe they'd have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> any. And, besides, there's a good chance that +the Germans have men there."</p> + +<p>"Still it's a chance," said Frank. "Won't you let me try? If I can't get +it we shan't lose much time. And if I do, look at the difference it +would make."</p> + +<p>"That's true enough," said Greene. "All right, try it. I'll mend up the +hole, when I find it, and if you do get some essence, we can be off at +once. Good luck!"</p> + +<p>Frank was on his way already, slipping away in the direction whence they +had come. Luckily enough, he got his bearings by the windmill from which +he had observed the wood into which the Germans had gone. To make his +way to the road along which he and Henri had first seen the Germans +passing was an easy matter. But he was afraid of roads by this time, and +the more so because he knew that the Germans, having been aroused by the +attack from the sky, would be doubly on the alert. So he stuck to the +side of the road, religiously taking advantage of every bit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> of cover he +could find to escape the foe.</p> + +<p>"They knew they'd given themselves away just as soon as they fired at +us," he reasoned, thinking half aloud as he trudged along, which was a +habit of his. "And I don't believe they know they hit us at all. They do +know that they didn't bring us down at once. Anyhow, there's no reason +for them to be secret any more, and if they stay in that wood, they'll +throw out pickets now, because they'll think that as soon as we went +back and made our report troops would be sent to rout them out. It's up +to me to be mighty careful."</p> + +<p>That was good sound reasoning, too. From all he had learned since the +war began, he knew that the Germans were by no means foes to be +despised. They had been pretty generally victorious, but that was not +all. They had shown a capacity for being always ready, for thinking of +everything that might come up to block their plans. And he was sure, +therefore, that the German commander would not argue that the aeroplane +had got clean away just because the proba<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>bilities indicated that it +had. He was almost certain to beat the country within a reasonable area +for it, in the hope of finding it crippled and thus unable to carry the +news it had come to get.</p> + +<p>"I bet the Germans wouldn't have sent just one aeroplane," he reflected. +"They'd have sent two, so that if anything happened to one, the other +could have brought back the news."</p> + +<p>But though he was thinking hard, he didn't linger as he went. Soon he +came to the transverse road along which the Germans had gone, and turned +in the direction they had taken. It was beginning to rain a little now, +and it was very dark. He still stuck to the fields, though he was close +to the road, and he found nothing to bar his way to the inn. When he got +there, moreover, he found the place dark and deserted. Not a soul was in +sight, but there were evidences that spoke as eloquently as men or women +could have done. In the tap room furniture was smashed and broken and +shattered glass was about the floor. Plainly the Germans had stopped as +they went by.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course!" he said, to himself. "If there were people here they took +them along with them. They wouldn't be likely to leave any French +people, whose first idea would be to tell what they had seen! It's +certainly lucky that they didn't see us. We'd be with them now, I +guess."</p> + +<p>It was spooky work exploring the abandoned inn in the damp, dark night +and with the knowledge that German soldiers were probably no great +distance away. It was less than a quarter of a mile to the edge of the +wood that had assumed such an important aspect, and he expected at any +moment to hear the footsteps of intruders. None the less he went about +his task quietly and coolly.</p> + +<p>"If they had any essence, they'd hide it," he said to himself. "They'd +know that both armies would need it for automobiles and aeroplanes, and +they'd try to keep any they had left. So it won't be in any of the usual +places."</p> + +<p>For that reason he did not even leave the main building to make a search +in the stable that was used as a garage. Instead, he went into the +cel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>lar. Here it was still plainer that the Germans had passed through. +His feet stepped into puddles of sticky dampness, and, using his +flashlight, he saw that it was wine. The heads of casks had been knocked +in; broken bottles, too, strewed the floor.</p> + +<p>This, however, had not been wanton destruction, he was sure. It had an +object, and that object had been to prevent the soldiers from getting +anything to drink. Troops on an errand requiring such extraordinary +secrecy as had been maintained in this case could not be allowed to +drink any liquor. That would have spoiled in all likelihood the +remarkable discipline of which Captain Greene had spoken.</p> + +<p>But, once more, it was not his business to think of what he saw, or to +speculate about it, but to find the petrol if any was to be found. And +he stumbled upon the hidden store quite suddenly, and quite literally, +too. In one corner of the cellar was what looked like a pile of kindling +wood. Harry kicked it indifferently in passing, and was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> almost thrown +when his feet encountered a resistance more solid than he had any reason +to expect. He looked down, and there, under the kindling, were two +ten-gallon cans of petrol!</p> + +<p>"I knew it must be there!" he cried to himself. He was down on his knees +in a moment, shaking the cans to make sure that they were full. One had +never been broached; the other was nearly half full. And this second can +was the one he took. That would be more than enough to get the monoplane +back to headquarters, and there was no reason for burdening himself with +too great a load. He picked up the can, and at the same moment his heart +leaped up into his throat, for overhead there came the sound of heavy +footsteps. For a moment he stood as if paralyzed, listening.</p> + +<p>The footsteps continued; guttural voices sounded,—the voices of +Germans. It was impossible to distinguish what they were saying; and it +made no difference, in any case. The only point that mattered was that +they were there; that they blocked the only means Frank had of getting +away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> with the precious petrol he had so luckily found.</p> + +<p>He was safe enough personally. Even if they were led to come down into +the cellar the chances were all in favor of his being able to conceal +himself. What he feared was that some use was to be made of the place, +and that the men whose voices he heard would stay there, thus preventing +him from getting out of the building and so getting the petrol to +Greene. It was more than possible, he thought, that the German +commander, knowing that the presence of his troops in the woods had been +discovered, would decide to use this place for headquarters.</p> + +<p>And what he could hear confirmed this idea. There was a continual +tramping overhead. Men came and went. That seemed to indicate that the +occupation was to be permanent. He racked his brains for some means of +escape. Windows there were none in the cellar. He found no trace of a +trap door, such as there would have been in almost any American cellar. +And then the saving thought came to him like a flash. He debated for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> a +moment, then decided that the risk was worth taking. First he took his +can of gasoline to the steps. Then he poured a little into a broken +bottle, and poured this, in turn, on the wood under which he had found +the cans. He dragged the full can of petrol to the other side of the +cellar. And then, very deliberately, he set a match to the gasoline +soaked wood and retreated to the steps.</p> + +<p>The fire he had started blazed up at once, owing to the petrol. And at +once a thick, acrid smoke filled the place. He was well up on the +stairs, and thus safe from being choked. But he was in danger should the +Germans come down, though even so, since the steps were wide, there was +a chance for him. But he did not expect them to come down. He thought +the smoke would drive them out, since as nearly as he could judge his +fire was directly under the room in which the most of the commotion +upstairs was taking place.</p> + +<p>It was not long before he heard coughing upstairs, the first sign that +the smoke was doing its work. By that time a brisk fire was burning. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +had run up the posts to the beams that formed the chief support of the +room above, and to his delight Frank saw that these burned far more +fiercely and quickly than he had hoped. Plainly the wood was old and +dry.</p> + +<p>Above, as the fire spread, louder cries succeeded the coughing. And then +came the crucial test by which his daring experiment had to stand or +fall. Some one opened the door at the head of the stairs. Now, if ever, +he was to be discovered! But as the door was opened the smoke was drawn +up, and the German who had come to it jumped back.</p> + +<p>"The whole place is burning! Get out!" he cried, in German. "There may +be explosive spirits still down there!"</p> + +<p>He slammed the door shut, and Frank heard running footsteps above. He +waited until there were no more, and then, almost overcome by the smoke, +slipped through the door. No one was left in the hallway into which he +came. The place was full of smoke. He did not venture to the front door +by which he had entered, but, still dragging<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> his can of petrol, went to +the back. Going through the kitchen, he found another door, as he had +been sure he would and in a moment he was drinking in the cool, fresh +air. The rain that was beating down on him now was welcome.</p> + +<p>Just as he reached the open there was a sharp explosion behind him, and +he looked back, to see the windows on the ground floor glowing. That was +the other can of petrol, as he could guess readily enough. At once he +ducked, and, running low, got well to one side of the house. Then, just +as a great burst of flame lighted up the whole scene, he dropped to the +ground, and lay peering toward the road in front of the inn.</p> + +<p>A dozen officers and as many men, all in the German uniform, with the +spiked helmets that made them so unmistakable, were in the road, staring +at the burning house. And it was not until Frank saw how angry one of +the officers was that he realized what a useful idea his had really +been. Now detection of the Germans was certain. Investigation was almost +certain to be made of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> fire in a building so far out of the range of +the German artillery as this. And so, even if neither he nor Captain +Greene got back in time, the torch he had lighted, meaning only to +secure his own escape, was likely to prove a death blow to the German +hopes of secrecy.</p> + +<p>Frank could not hear what the Germans were saying, but he had no +intention of getting closer in an attempt to do so. Instead, having +satisfied himself that there were no pickets behind the burning inn, he +began crawling cautiously to the rear. It was a difficult task, +especially so because of the petrol, which was no light burden. But he +managed to get well out of the lighted zone and then he decided that it +would be safe to straighten up and walk along.</p> + +<p>As he went along the burning building served him well. It gave him a +fixed landmark from which he could lay his course to the spot where he +had left the monoplane and Captain Greene. By looking back from time to +time he could correct his course, when he was crossing fields. And so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +without the guidance of roads, and partly to make better time and partly +to avoid stray German pickets, he chose to stay away almost entirely +from the roads and go across country.</p> + +<p>From the fields in which they had descended to the inn the distance, as +nearly as he had been able to guess it, was about a mile. He shortened +this somewhat on the return trip. And he was within a quarter of a mile +of the meeting place when he became suddenly conscious of something that +was not just right. At first he was tempted to stop, but he overcame the +temptation. The thing that had warned him of a possible danger was a +trifling noise, yet one that was out of the ordinary. What the noise was +he could scarcely have told. Perhaps the breaking of a twig, perhaps the +slipping of a foot along a suddenly encountered patch of mud. At any +rate he was sure that he had been followed.</p> + +<p>He slowed down and now he could hear, or thought he could, the heavy +breathing of at least two men. He was not certain of this; he was +wil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>ling to admit to himself that he might be fancying it.</p> + +<p>"If they're after me, why don't they take me?" he wondered to himself. +But the explanation came to him almost as soon as he had asked himself +the question. Whoever was following him could reason from the sight of +the can of petrol he was carrying that he was going to some definite +place where that petrol was wanted. And it would require no great +stretch of the imagination for his trailers to decide that he must be +carrying fuel to the aeroplane that had worked such havoc with the +German plans.</p> + +<p>"They think I'll lead them to the 'plane," he thought. Half a dozen +plans for misleading them came to him. But none seemed practicable. +Frank was intensely dogged in his determination to accomplish anything +he had set out to do. The idea of giving up now, even to mislead his +pursuers and so save Captain Greene from capture, was repugnant to him. +He wanted to foil the men behind him—unless, as was possible, he only +im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>agined that they were behind him—and still do what he had set out to +do, which was in this instance to refill that empty petrol tank on the +monoplane.</p> + +<p>It was the purely accidental movement of putting his hand into his +pocket to dry it off that gave him the idea. It met the pocket +flashlight Captain Greene had given him, and at once he remembered a use +for it of which the aviator had told him. To follow the plan did not +mean that it would succeed, but it represented a chance, anyhow. And so +when he came to the fence which he remembered climbing on his way from +the monoplane, he stopped on the top rail, having pushed his can of +petrol through first. In the field now immediately in front of him, but +far away still, on the other side of the field, lay the monoplane. He +could not see it in the driving rain but he knew that it was there.</p> + +<p>There too would be Greene, waiting for him, and in all probability at +this moment straining his eyes watching for his return. On that +de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>pended his chance of success in the plan that had come to him. On +that, and on Greene's presence of mind and quick-wittedness.</p> + +<p>So, still astride of the top rail, he began signalling with his pocket +flashlight. He spelled out his message in Morse code, using a long +pressure of the releasing switch for the dash and a short one for the +dot. Word by word he spelled out his message, telling that he suspected +that at least two Germans were trailing him. And at the end he signalled +a request that if he had understood, Greene should wait a half minute +and then imitate an owl's cry. He chose an owl because he had heard one +or two earlier in the night. And he added that if he got the signal he +would keep on heading for the monoplane. He suggested nothing to Greene; +the rest was decidedly up to the aviator. Frank had done his share.</p> + +<p>If there were Germans actually within sight of him, they did not attempt +to interfere with him while he was flashing his message. But he had +reckoned confidently that they would not. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> was sure that he had not +betrayed the fact that he knew he was being followed, and they would +naturally suppose that this stop for signalling was part of a +pre-arranged plan. He now dropped to the ground, picked up his can and +took two or three quick steps. Then he stopped abruptly and was sure +that he heard a footstep behind him. He grinned to himself, and just +then the hoot of an owl sounded. Then he went on.</p> + +<p>"I'll make it easier for them," he said. "Perhaps they wouldn't like to +follow me right across the field!"</p> + +<p>So he skirted the fence and the hedge at the side, and went around three +sides of the field to reach the monoplane. And, as soon as it was in +sight, all his suspicions were verified, for from behind there came a +sharp exclamation in German, and he was told to stop, just as a heavy +hand gripped his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Ja, we were right!" exclaimed one man in German. "There is their +aeroplane! Now for the other—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>He never finished the sentence. Instead, he threw up his hands and +pitched forward, just as a revolver cracked sharply in the silent night. +With an oath the man who held Frank threw him aside, at the same moment +shooting in the direction of the flash of Greene's pistol. But the +Englishman's revolver spoke at the same moment, and he too fell. Frank's +ruse had saved the day!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES!</h3> + + +<p>"Keep back!" called Greene sharply to Frank.</p> + +<p>His revolver still in his hand, he flashed the powerful light Frank had +used in the monoplane into the faces of the two Germans. They lay +groaning within a foot or two of one another.</p> + +<p>"No tricks!" said Greene, sharply. "I don't want to finish you, but I'll +shoot again if you make a move, except you can throw away your +revolvers."</p> + +<p>He spoke in German, and both of the wounded men obeyed. Frank was +immensely relieved. He had been afraid that they had been killed, and +the thought had sickened him. He realized fully that it would have been +in accordance with the idea of war had Greene killed them both; that it +would have been no more than his duty. And yet he was more than glad +that they were alive and, so far as he could judge at that moment, not +badly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> hurt or not dangerously wounded, at least.</p> + +<p>"Fill that tank with the petrol," said Greene to Frank, "but leave a +little in the can."</p> + +<p>Frank obeyed, wondering why the order was given. Then Greene pushed the +monoplane along the ground for some distance until it was in a favorable +position to take the air.</p> + +<p>"All right! Get in!" he said. "Strap yourself in. Know how the straps +go? Right! I'm going to make a bonfire. It'll bring someone to help +those poor chaps. I don't want them to have to lie here all night unless +they have to."</p> + +<p>He took the can which Frank had almost emptied and poured what gasoline +remained on the ground that had been protected from the rain by one wing +of the monoplane. Then he flung a match into the now highly inflammable +stubble, and a flame leaped up at once, lighting the monoplane and the +two wounded Germans. In a moment more he was in his place and the +monoplane was plunging along the ground. Then it took the air and rose +swiftly to a safe height. And then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> for the first time there was a +chance for explanations.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, how did you come to think of flashing that message to me?" +cried Greene. "That was an idea! I almost gave it all away by answering +before I realized what you were telling me. What was that fire I saw? +Looked to me like the very place you said you were going to."</p> + +<p>So Frank explained.</p> + +<p>"Oh, splendid—my word, splendid!" cried Greene. "I fancy we'll find +they've started this way already. Hullo—yes, by Jove, there come some +of our fellows now! See, over there to the right? Aeroplanes—gone to +spot those Johnnies. They didn't wait for us to come back!"</p> + +<p>He dropped to a bare hundred feet of elevation now and in a moment Frank +could see why. Below them a mass of cavalry was in motion.</p> + +<p>"There they go!" cried Greene. "Your beacon gave them the line. The +general must have decided that was confirmation enough."</p> + +<p>Now came a shouting from below, and Greene<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> answered it by swooping down +to a landing in the field. An officer put his horse to the wall and rode +up beside them.</p> + +<p>"Captain Greene, by any chance?" he called, peering at them.</p> + +<p>"Yes, colonel," said Greene, saluting. "The Germans are in a clump of +woods on the Amiens road. In an angle of that road and the one from +LaFere, rather. I don't know the exact strength, but have reason to +believe about five thousand."</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt about their being there, though?"</p> + +<p>"None at all, sir. They shot a hole in my tank, and I had to wait to get +enough essence to come back. All mine leaked before I could make a +landing to plug the bullet hole. Did you start on the sight of that +burning house?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. The staff couldn't see why a house should be burning unless there +were Germans about. Very well. Report back to headquarters, captain. +They're waiting for you."</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought so," he said to Frank, when they were in the air again. +"You'll hear more of this night's work before you've done, my boy. +There's a deal of gratitude due you. But I'd like to know what those +Dutchmen were up to!"</p> + +<p>Five minutes more saw them landed safely at headquarters, and it was +only a few moments before they were in the presence of General +Smith-Derrien. He listened to Greene's brief report in silence.</p> + +<p>"There is more to be told of what my passenger and observer did, sir," +he added, when he had sketched the essential facts. "I will make a +written report of that direct to you."</p> + +<p>"Do so," said the general. "You have done very well. Had it not been for +the information we have obtained in this way, the whole headquarters +staff might have been captured. The Germans evidently learned, through +spies, of the orders that had been issued for continuing the retirement, +and had slipped this force through to intercept the staff. I have been +able to turn the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> tables on them, however. They will have trouble, I +think, in escaping the forces sent against them."</p> + +<p>For some time heavy firing had been heard in the direction of the woods +where the Germans had lain. Now this died away. General Smith-Derrien +glanced significantly at a colonel of his staff and permitted himself +the luxury of a smile, a rare one for him in those days of the retreat.</p> + +<p>Just then the telephone on his table rang. The nearest officer answered, +listening attentively for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Colonel Mewbray using the field telephone, sir," he said to the +general. "It's been connected with our wires here. He reports that the +horse artillery completely surrounded the wood in which the Germans were +quartered, and shelled the woods for ten minutes. After that the Germans +ceased firing, and when we played searchlights a dozen white flags were +shown. The German commander, General von Garnst, surrendered to avoid a +further useless sacrifice of lives."</p> + +<p>The general nodded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My compliments to Colonel Mewbray," he said. "Ask him to convey my +thanks to Brigadier-General Lannin. The German prisoners will be placed +on trains at once and sent to Paris, through Amiens. The staff will +prepare at once to take the new position as indicated in the order of +to-night. Orderly!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir!" said a private, stepping forward.</p> + +<p>"My motor is to be ready in five minutes."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>The orderly went to transmit the order. Then the general turned to Frank +and held out his hand.</p> + +<p>"I shall see to it that you and your companion Boy Scout are mentioned +in dispatches," he said. "I shall also see to it that your scoutmaster +is informed of your excellent work, and shall request him to give you +the highest possible promotion for distinguished services!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE RETREAT</h3> + + +<p>Frank felt that he was dismissed, and a gentle pressure on his arm from +Captain Greene made him sure of it. The aviator went out with him, and +when they were outside he slapped him on the back.</p> + +<p>"Well, you've got a right to feel proud of yourself!" he said. "And the +general doesn't begin to know all you did. He will, though, as soon as +he gets my report. I'll write that directly because there's no telling +what will happen any time I go up. You've seen something of how it goes +in a monoplane."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what I'm to do now," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Go away from here as quickly as you can," said Greene, with a laugh. "I +can tell you that much. That's what we've been doing ever since they +smashed us at Mons, in Belgium. You see those beggars creep out, trying +to get around us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> The Frenchmen made a bad guess at the beginning, and +sent too many men to Alsace, and so this chap Von Kluck had enough men +to threaten to surround us. But his turn's coming!"</p> + +<p>"When?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"Ask me something easy! Before very long, though, I think. We'll be +south of Amiens by to-morrow. We've got to wait until we get enough men. +But there's a surprise coming to the Germans. If I told you any more I'd +be shot at daybreak for betraying military secrets. Good luck, young +'un! Sorry you're not going to be with us in the flying corps!"</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," said Frank.</p> + +<p>Then he went to look for Henri, and found him in the same room in which +they had first been received by Major Cooper. Henri started up with a +cry of delight at seeing him and embraced him, in the French fashion, to +the huge amusement of the Englishmen present and Frank's own disgust and +embarrassment. But he tried to hide how he felt, for he knew that Henri +was only doing what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> he had been brought up to regard as the proper +thing, and he would not have hurt his chum's feelings for the world.</p> + +<p>"You two youngsters have got to get back to Amiens," said the major. +"For one thing because the Germans will be here as soon as we get out, +and for another because I want you to take some dispatches to the French +staff there. Can either of you drive a motor?"</p> + +<p>"I can," said Henri, proudly.</p> + +<p>"Really? All right. I'd rather not spare a man. You will take these +dispatches in the same containers in which they were brought, and +deliver them to Colonel Menier, if he is still in Amiens. If not, to +Major Fremille. You will also turn over the motor car to the French +authorities there. Shall you stay in Amiens after that, even if the +French leave, which they will?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, unless there is something we can do elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"I rather think you'll be able to do more there than anywhere else, if +the Germans don't drive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> you out. But you'll hear of that from the +French officer you report to. By the way, when I spoke of the convoy +that resisted a Uhlan attack, you didn't tell me you'd had anything to +do with that. Why not?"</p> + +<p>"We didn't, sir," said Frank, surprised. "We got away just as the +fighting began."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and sorry to go, too, I'll wager! Captain Hardy reported that it +was your quickness and intelligence that saved him, and enabled him to +get help up in time to save the convoy. Something about the hands of a +clock you saw moving, eh?"</p> + +<p>"That was nothing, sir," said Frank. "I just happened to see that they'd +moved, when a minute before the clock had seemed to have stopped."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it was nothing, but we hadn't got on to it before. And if they've +been doing that at all steadily it accounts for the way they've been +able to drop shells on to what we supposed were concealed positions. +They shelled the house the staff was in two days ago. We're giving them +a good fight, but they beat us pretty badly when it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> comes to spying. If +we had a few more people with eyes as quick as yours, we'd be better +off. Come on, I'll take you out and see you started."</p> + +<p>As they reached the street they saw General Smith-Derrien climbing into +a great automobile that started off at once, moving south toward Paris. +What little they had seen of him had already made them conceive a great +admiration for the silent British commander, who only a few days later +was to be honored as the first brilliant figure of the war on the allied +side. It was for his very conduct of this retreat that Field Marshal +French, the British commander-in-chief, selected him for special mention +in his dispatches.</p> + +<p>They had to wait a few minutes while Major Cooper attended to the +details of getting a car for them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Frank," said Henri, wistfully, "I wish I'd been the one to go! +Though I wouldn't have done so well, I'm sure of that."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! You'd have done as well, and better," said Frank.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No! But think of what you have done for France, for what is done for +the English now is done for France as well. I am glad the English are +fighting with us now, instead of against us. I—"</p> + +<p>Major Cooper's return interrupted him.</p> + +<p>"Here's your car coming now," he said. "You'll have to take a long way +around. There are troops, or will be, on all the direct roads, and, +besides, bridges are being blown up fast. Take the road that leads to +Abbeville, over toward the sea. Use your own judgment about when you +turn south, but keep moving toward the west until you are very close to +Abbeville. After that you will have a fairly clear course. We haven't +any reason to think that the Germans are in that direction at all as +yet, though where they may be to-morrow no one knows. I needn't tell you +to keep your eyes open. But if you do run into Germans, don't try to get +away. There's very little chance of their finding the papers you carry, +and, if they do, it is not important enough for us to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> want you to run +any great risk. If you see them coming, hide at once. The motor doesn't +matter."</p> + +<p>Henri took the driver's seat and Frank sprang in beside him. And Henri, +feeling that he had been pushed a little into the background, started +the motor at once. He really could drive a car, having learned from his +father years before, and he soon showed, when he had made himself +familiar with the details of his machine, that he was to be trusted with +it. And so, with a blast of his horn, he made a quick turn and sent the +car roaring into the night. That was only to show off, however, for in a +moment he muffled his engine, and the car spun along almost in silence, +the motor purring evenly, as if to show that it was in perfect trim and +ready to give the car all the speed that was needed.</p> + +<p>The rain had stopped by this time, but the roads were still muddy and +greasy, and at first, too, there was a good deal of traffic. Guns and +men were moving, and, moreover, there was another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> danger. The German +guns had evidently moved up, and a shell fell near them once in a while, +but not so near as to bother them.</p> + +<p>After a few miles of travelling, however, they found the road freer, and +found also that the sound of the rear guard engagement that was covering +the British retreat was further off. Five miles saw them riding through +fields where twinkling lights showed the presence of troops, and they +were stopped by a French guard. The pass Major Cooper had given them got +them through, and the soldiers laughed and chatted while an officer was +examining it. These were fresh troops, hurriedly brought up to hold off +the Germans while the exhausted British retired to new positions, and +they were gay, light-hearted fellows. True, they had not yet been in +action, but to Frank it seemed that they were likely to be jovial after +they had heard bullets singing over their heads.</p> + +<p>"They don't seem to feel bad," said Henri. "And it is the same with the +English. They are retreating, and still they are cheerful."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You say that as if it was something remarkable!" said Frank, with a +laugh. "Of course they're cheerful. They've got faith in their leaders, +and they know, I suppose, that a retreat is often necessary. They'll +turn the tables before long."</p> + +<p>"It seems strange to be where it is so quiet," said Frank, when they had +finally passed beyond sound of the skirmishing on the extreme left of +the allied line, formed by the French force through which they had +passed. "I'm expecting to see Germans every time we make a turn."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Henri. "And why shouldn't we? If they are trying to turn +the allied flank, we're as likely to see them in this direction as not."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Frank, "you're perfectly right. We haven't got orders +to make particularly good time. Let's keep on right to Abbeville. That's +at the mouth of the Somme. Then we can turn toward Boulogne. If there +are Germans around here at all they'll be in that direction. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> might +get some trace of their cavalry. Or we might do what we did before, +strike some of their infantry. I don't think we're so likely to do that, +though."</p> + +<p>"We'll try it, anyhow," said Henri.</p> + +<p>And so they turned toward St. Pol, instead of making the sharp turn at +right angles that would have brought them to Amiens. Here there were +traces, indeed, of a German invasion. Peasants, alarmed by the reports +of Uhlans seen at Arras and near Boulogne, were in full flight.</p> + +<p>"We needn't bother about that," said Frank. "Anything that these people +know the intelligence department has found out. No troops advancing at +all openly could get by the aeroplanes without being seen. And I think +the railroad in this direction has been watched. I saw a lot of +aeroplanes flying over this way this afternoon, and there would be more +from Boulogne. There are English warships there, I've heard, and their +naval flyers would cover this part of the country."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> + +<p>Suddenly Henri slowed down the car. He kept one hand on the wheel, the +car moving slowly forward, but his gaze was fixed on the sky. Finally he +stopped the car altogether.</p> + +<p>"Look up there," he said, quietly, to Frank. "Do you see that light? +First I thought it was a star. But there aren't any other stars, and now +I'm sure it's moving. Do you see?"</p> + +<p>He pointed, and Frank's eyes followed his finger.</p> + +<p>"You're right," he said. "Hello! Now it's gone—no, there it is again! +See, it flashes and then disappears! It's some sort of a signal from the +air. Keep the car still."</p> + +<p>He tried to follow the flashes of the light, hoping to read the message +if it was in Morse code. But he soon found that it was not. And then +Henri cried out sharply.</p> + +<p>"If it's a signal, it's being answered from over there!" he said. "See, +there's a light waving there. It looks as if it might be from the roof +of a house. I—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>A DARING EXPLOIT</h3> + + +<p>Frank leaped out.</p> + +<p>"Turn the car around first," he said. Henri obeyed. "Now try your +starter. Cut out the motor and then see if she starts quickly."</p> + +<p>Henri, mystified, obeyed.</p> + +<p>"Why?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Because when we want to start, we may have to do it in an awful hurry," +said Frank. He searched the road for a moment. "Run her back a few feet +to where that big tree is. It's darker there than anywhere else around +here. All right, that's far enough. We'll have to take the chance of +something coming along while we're gone and bumping into her but I don't +believe there's much risk of that. Now, come on! And quiet! We've got to +get up to that place without being seen."</p> + +<p>Cautiously they approached the house. No lights showed in any of its +windows; the place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> looked deserted. Indeed, all around it were traces +of hasty flight. It was a wayside inn, of a type common always in +France, commoner than ever since the spread of the craze for automobiles +and motor touring. Suddenly Frank stopped.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute for me," he said. "I've got to go back to the car. I +ought to have thought of it before."</p> + +<p>"What do you want?"</p> + +<p>"Batteries. I saw a coil of wire in the car and I want that, too. And +there must be batteries. A car like this would carry everything needed +for small repairs, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I think you'll find them under my seat."</p> + +<p>Frank was back in less than five minutes.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said. "I don't know whether we'll have time to do what I +want or not, and whether I'll be able to do it, anyhow. But it's worth +trying. Now come on past the house. Easy! This is the hardest part of +it."</p> + +<p>They slipped by. However, Frank uttered a suppressed exclamation as soon +as they had done<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> so. Before them, on the right of the road was a field +easily two or three times as large as the ordinary French field. As a +rule the land in France is split up into very small sections, closely +cultivated. But here was a cleared field as large as those commonly seen +in England or America, with no fences for perhaps a quarter of a mile in +any direction. Henri turned to look back at the inn.</p> + +<p>"They're still signalling from there—and look! There are two lights +now, instead of one, above!"</p> + +<p>These lights were still some distance away. Frank studied them. Then he +led the way into the field.</p> + +<p>"I thought so!" he said, with suppressed triumph in his voice. "Do you +see those barrels over there toward the inn? There's petrol in those—or +I'll eat my shirt!"</p> + +<p>"And if there is?" said Henri. "What then?"</p> + +<p>"Can't you guess? What do you suppose those lights mean?"</p> + +<p>"Aeroplanes?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Never! They wouldn't flash that way. They'd have to be in a different +position entirely. No. Dirigibles!"</p> + +<p>"Zeppelins?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. Perhaps Parsevals or Schutte-Lanz airships. I think Parsevals, +for they need gasoline. And Zeppelins could fly from Brussels or Liege, +almost from Cologne—oh, I have it! That's why they need petrol!"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"They haven't flown over Belgium at all! They are from the sea!"</p> + +<p>"Oh—so that they could come secretly, and not be seen as they passed +over Belgium?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. If they flew over Belgium they would have to cross some territory +that the Germans do not hold, and word would go to Antwerp and from +there to the army here. Now quickly! They will be here soon. They are +coming nearer every minute."</p> + +<p>They went to the barrels as fast as they dared. There was nearly a score +of them, all close to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>gether. Each had a tap, and it was proof enough +that they contained petrol to open the tap of one. The smell identified +them beyond any doubt whatever.</p> + +<p>"Come on, and help me dig a hole," said Frank. He dropped to his knees, +and began scooping out the soft earth with his hands. Henri fell to with +a will, though he was sadly puzzled. But when the hole had been dug to a +depth of perhaps two feet, and Frank began to hollow out a trench toward +the barrels he began to understand. And as soon as he did, he worked as +hard as Frank himself, careless of torn finger nails and bleeding hands. +They carried the trench to the foot of one of the barrels, and Frank +turned the tap. The gasoline ran out into the trench, and flowed to the +hole. Frank ran back to the hole.</p> + +<p>"Stop it when I give the word," he said. "Now!"</p> + +<p>Then he was busy with the copper wire he had brought from the automobile +for several minutes. The wire had been carried either to repair cut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +telegraph or telephone wires, or to serve as the conductor for a field +system of lighting. But whatever its original purpose had been, Frank +was thankful now that he had found it. He worked fast, and was satisfied +at last.</p> + +<p>"Now a little straw and a few twigs over the hole and the trench—and +the sooner they come, the better!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the sooner, the better!" echoed Henri, tremendously excited, now +that he understood, even if rather vaguely, what Frank planned. "Vive la +France! A bas les Allemands!"</p> + +<p>As they went back toward the road Frank trailed the wire behind him in +two lengths. And when they reached the road, he dropped into the ditch, +and was busy for some minutes.</p> + +<p>"Now if it only works!" he said. "Perhaps it will; perhaps it won't. But +it can't do any harm. That's certain."</p> + +<p>"They're coming closer. I think I can see their shapes now—and there +are two of them," said Henri. "Do you see?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p>For a moment Frank could not. Henri's eyes were sharper than his. But +then he did make out vaguely two immense shapes that were coming through +the air. Soon, too, the faint hum of their powerful motors made itself +heard.</p> + +<p>"Zeppelins and big fellows, too," said Frank. "All the better!"</p> + +<p>He wondered if his plan would work, and if he would be able to carry it +out. If, in the final test, would he dare to do what he had tried to +arrange? Time enough to think of that when the moment for decision came. +And meanwhile there were a hundred things that might happen to ruin his +plan. There was nothing to do now but wait. But every moment of waiting +brought the climax nearer. The hum of the motors of the airships rose +louder on the quiet air, broken only by the faint and distant mutter of +the battle that was still being fought miles away. It sounded now like +the buzzing of a swarm of bees, magnified a thousand times. And then the +field was full of men, rushing from the inn. He wondered how they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> could +have been concealed there. But such wonder was idle, and he did not +think of it. Instead he watched keenly. First one monstrous aerial +battleship came to rest on the earth. At once the men in the field +surrounded her, seizing the ropes that were flung out, and made her +fast.</p> + +<p>There was a good deal of noise. Men were calling in German of course. +But soon order was restored, and the only voices were those giving +commands. Suddenly Frank's face lighted up.</p> + +<p>"Did you understand, Henri?" he said. "The men in the field are to be +the crews for the fighting. They have sailed here with only enough men +to steer them. And now all are ordered out, to stretch their legs!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I heard that order," said Henri.</p> + +<p>"Now keep your eyes glued to them. What are they doing?"</p> + +<p>They listened and watched intently.</p> + +<p>"Just as I thought," said Frank. "See, they are going to fill the tanks. +There, they are attaching hose. And they have a pump—they surely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> must +have a pump, to send the petrol uphill!"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the other airship had come down, on the other side of the +barrels, and there as nearly as they could judge, the same procedure was +carried out.</p> + +<p>"Watch, Henri! Are they pumping?" cried Frank.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" said Henri. "Now—now—now is your time, Francois!"</p> + +<p>Frank hesitated the fraction of a second.</p> + +<p>"If it meant killing them, I could not do it," he said, solemnly. "But +they are all out of the airships. Now!"</p> + +<p>On the word he closed the circuit he had made by connecting the loose +ends of the wire he had carried from his petrol filled hole to the two +batteries he had brought from the car. He had broken the circuit at the +other end, leaving the two wires separated by the fraction of an inch, +and cunningly held in place. The result was a spark—or would be, if he +had not erred.</p> + +<p>And he had made no mistake! For as he closed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> the circuit, he saw a +flash of flame at the spot where he and Henri had dug the hole into +which the petrol had flowed from the barrel they had opened. The spark +had fired the explosive gas that results when petrol is mixed with air. +The flame ran along the shallow trench, and, amid a chorus of shrieks +from the Germans who scattered in all directions, the fire reached the +barrel. In a moment there was a loud explosion. The flame flew to the +other barrels—the whole neighborhood of the barrels, owing to the +mixture of the petrol and the air, was then filled with an explosive and +inflammable gas.</p> + +<p>There was a great flash of flame, broken by a dozen sharp reports as one +barrel after another blew up.</p> + +<p>And still, though the Germans were flying in all directions, plainly +visible in the light of the blazing gasoline, the real success of +Frank's plan hung in the balance. But then what he had calculated +happened. The flame ran through the lines of hose. And a moment later +two great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> shafts of flame marked the spread of the fire to the helpless +monsters of the air. There was no chance to save them. Indeed, even the +Germans had no other thought than to save their own lives. Their raid, +whatever its ultimate object, was ruined and two vessels of the great +air fleet of the Kaiser were destroyed.</p> + +<p>For a moment after the final catastrophe the two scouts stayed, caught +by the wonder and the magnificence of the ruin they had wrought. But +then Frank cried out,</p> + +<p>"Come on! We haven't a moment to lose! They'll know that that was no +accident! Some came running this way. They'll find the wires! And then +they'll know. The wires will bring them here. Hurry!"</p> + +<p>They began running desperately toward the automobile.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>THE ESCAPE</h3> + + +<p>Their one chance of escape, as they both realized fully, was to get back +to their automobile before the Germans recovered themselves sufficiently +to begin searching for those who had brought such swift and terrible +disaster upon their enterprise. And so they made no effort to move +quietly or secretly now. To do so would have meant delay and delay was +what they could not afford. The distance seemed far greater than when +they had first traversed it. It seemed that they would never pass the +house which the Germans had used as a base. But finally they reached it. +And as they did so a door burst open, and they saw a light within.</p> + +<p>A man, with the cap of a German officer, though otherwise he wore +civilian clothes, came rushing out, tugging at his pistol. He had heard +them running. By some bad chance, then, there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> had been a man—a +German—left in the inn!</p> + +<p>"Stop!" he cried, furiously.</p> + +<p>But they kept on running. He could not see them, dazzled as he was by +coming from the lighted house into the deep darkness of the road. But he +was in front of them, and they slowed up, instinctively, though they +still ran. And then they came into the light of the door. He started +back.</p> + +<p>"Kinder!" he cried. "Children!"</p> + +<p>It was the exclamation of the Uhlan who had stopped them in the +afternoon. But now it was uttered in a vastly different tone. The German +was beside himself with rage. Perhaps he had had some heavy share of +responsibility for the safety of the Zeppelins. But whether that were so +or not, he was plainly maddened by the sight of the boys. He could +scarcely have understood how completely they were responsible, but the +way they were running and the direction whence they came proved only too +clearly that they had had some hand in it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Stop, Henri!" cried Frank, suddenly. "We can't get away. We surrender!"</p> + +<p>They stopped. Frank was obeying the order Major Cooper had given him. +Perhaps, had he been alone, he would have risked a further attempt to +escape. But there was no doubt that the German meant to shoot, and he +could not expose Henri to the risk.</p> + +<p>They stopped full in the path of light that came from the open door of +the inn. Behind them, in the road, voices were raised. It was plain that +their wires had been followed, and that others were in pursuit. And, +after all, Frank felt they could afford to grin at being made prisoners +now. They had accomplished a great feat. Even if they were caught, that +was to their credit.</p> + +<p>And then suddenly he gave a cry of horror. Henri was a little ahead of +him for he had not been able to stop as abruptly as Frank. And the +German officer, too furious, perhaps, to think of what he was doing, +raised his pistol and fired point-blank at the French boy! He fired—but +there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> came from his pistol not a sharp report, but only the dull click +as the hammer fell. Twice more he pulled the trigger. But something was +wrong. He had made a fatal error—his revolver was unloaded.</p> + +<p>But it was only by the luckiest of accidents that Henri was still alive. +Frank had seen the murderous attempt, and now rage mastered him for the +moment.</p> + +<p>"You coward!" he shrieked. He flung himself at the German officer, who +was trying frantically to get at his cartridges. So sudden was the +attack that he was taken utterly by surprise. Before he could defend +himself, Frank was wrenching his arm. A moment more, and the German +officer squealed like a frightened pig, for Frank had succeeded in +getting a hammer lock on him. He pulled at the revolver with his other +hand, and at last the German, to escape a broken arm, had to loosen his +grip. Even a weakling can cripple the strongest man if he once gets that +hold. And Frank, in his rage at the cowardly thing he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> seen, was +almost a match for the full grown man in any case.</p> + +<p>As soon as he got the revolver he let go of the German's arm. But before +the officer could move, Frank had clubbed the pistol and struck him +sharply on the head. He went down like a log.</p> + +<p>"Run, Henri, run!" he cried. "They're coming up behind us! Run for the +car!"</p> + +<p>Behind them, indeed, the footsteps of running men were plainly to be +heard. A shot rang out, but both boys had turned instinctively to the +side of the road and were running low in the ditch beside the highway. +They could not be seen, and the firing ceased. It seemed that most of +the men were unarmed, or carried revolvers at the most. Had there been +rifles behind them, they would have had no chance. But as it was, they +reached their car and leaped in. Henri threw the switch of the electric +starter, the motor leaped into throbbing life, and they were off.</p> + +<p>Behind them more shots were fired, but the aim was wild. And they sped +away, at fifty miles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> an hour, pursued only by a few vain revolver +bullets, and by a chorus of shouts and yells of rage and execration.</p> + +<p>"The coward!" stormed Frank. He had never been so angry in his life. "He +might have killed you, Harry! And just because he was in a rage over +what had happened to the airships! He didn't even know that you'd had +anything to do with it—not positively! And we'd already surrendered."</p> + +<p>Henri laughed—and he meant the laugh. It was not affectation. He had +faced his danger in the true spirit of the Frenchman, who is as brave in +action as any man in the world.</p> + +<p>"Eh, well!" he said. "He did not shoot me, so what does it matter? That +was a fine crack on the head you gave him! He will remember us, I think, +next time he sees us."</p> + +<p>Frank shuddered a little.</p> + +<p>"I hope not!" he said. "Or, that if he does, he will be a prisoner +himself, and won't be able to try to get even."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>Frank remembered the look of sheer devilish rage in the eyes of the +German. It was not pleasant to think that they might meet again.</p> + +<p>"If it is to be, it will be," said Henri. "I bear him no grudge! He had +cause to be angry—ma foi, yes! The Kaiser will not say pretty things +when he hears of what we did to-night, Francois!"</p> + +<p>"No!" Frank laughed. "I wonder where those airships were meant to go? +Paris? They could have done terrible damage. Perhaps they were to attack +the army—to lie behind its course, knowing that our aeroplanes would be +scouting on the front. They might have made it harder than ever to +retreat in good order. But I think they would have gone to Paris. I +think that they would have been there before daylight."</p> + +<p>"And now—pouf!" said Henri. "What is left of them? Not so much as would +fill a barrel!"</p> + +<p>Once all danger of pursuit was past, Henri had slowed down the speed of +the car. Both scouts were thoroughly tired out by this time. They had +had a strenuous day, and a night that merited the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> description of +strenuous even more fully than the day. And now that danger seemed to +lie behind them, and a clear road to safety in front, their weariness +was realized fully for the first time.</p> + +<p>They could hardly have escaped the Germans, had any lain between +Abbeville and Amiens. But none were there, as it turned out. The road +was clear and open before them, and the car rolled along smoothly.</p> + +<p>"The firing seems to be moving now—moving to the southeast," said +Henri, once.</p> + +<p>"I think our left wing is being drawn in a little. That will tighten up +the line. But it gives the Germans still more chance to get around the +wing."</p> + +<p>"We can bring up French troops to meet them, Frank. There is the +garrison of Paris—nearly five hundred thousand men. They have not +struck a blow yet. But if the Germans come too near, they will be +brought up to the first line."</p> + +<p>"I believe that's what the French plan is, Harry!" said Frank. "Yes, why +not? To lead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> the Germans on and then take the risk of leaving Paris +defended only by its forts, and try a new flanking movement of their +own. Do you see? A new army, which could outflank the Germans while they +thought they were outflanking us!"</p> + +<p>The thought cheered them up wonderfully. It made it possible for them to +bear the sight of Amiens, left without a single soldier of the republic, +when they arrived.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY</h3> + + +<p>The days that followed the return of Frank and Henri to Amiens were busy +but uneventful ones. They had found a few staff officers at the +abandoned headquarters, including Colonel Menier, to whom they had made +their report and turned over the automobile. He had thanked them +heartily, having heard already of their work. And when he was told of +the destruction of the Zeppelins he had embraced them both.</p> + +<p>"We had heard already of that," he said. "Only of the burning of the +ships, not of how it was done. You have done well for France, mes +braves! Wait! You shall not find France ungrateful. I go to Paris from +here, to make reports. I shall make one concerning you, to those in +authority. And—who knows?"</p> + +<p>He pinched their ears, that gesture loved of French soldiers since the +days of the great Na<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>poleon, of whom his officers said that when he +pinched their ears he conferred an honor they valued more highly than +the cross of the Legion d'Honneur.</p> + +<p>After the departure of the last officers of the staff, Amiens took on a +new aspect. The thunder of guns, even the rolling of rifle fire, was +plainly to be heard now in the streets. In the distance—and not a great +distance, either—the smoke of a dozen burning villages was to be seen +to the north and east. It was so that the Germans marked their advance, +steady, relentless. Henri exclaimed in fury at the sight.</p> + +<p>"These barbarians of Germans!" he cried. "Burn and kill—and not +soldiers alone!"</p> + +<p>"It tears my heart-strings to see all this wanton destruction indulged +in by the foe," said Frank. "What then must be the feelings of the +French as they watch their villages being so ruthlessly burned! But some +day, somehow, Henri, our chance will come and the French will sweep back +into this territory, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> victorious host. Not for long will it be in the +power of our foe!"</p> + +<p>Every day Amiens expected the incursion of the Germans, but day followed +day and still the enemy did not come. Frank and Henri stayed in the +Martin house alone. The servants had gone; Madame Martin had respected +their fears of the Prussians, and had made other arrangements for them. +So the two scouts camped out there, and Henri invited many of the other +scouts to share their quarters in relays. The house was open, too, to +any refugees who cared to use it, but by this time the country to the +north that was in danger of German raids had been swept clear, and +Amiens was no longer a gathering place. It was in itself too much +exposed.</p> + +<p>The smoke of burning villages rose now to the south, toward Paris. The +retreat was still on, it seemed. And while they waited patiently, since +there was nothing else to do, for the coming of the Germans, there was +much work for the Boy Scouts to do. It was routine work now, very +different<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> from the exciting labors that had fallen to the share of +Frank and Henri on the day of their trip to Le Cateau. When Henri became +restless and impatient, as he sometimes did, Frank soothed him.</p> + +<p>"We are still serving France," he said. "There are no more soldiers in +Amiens. There are a few police, and those are old men, since the young +gendarmes have gone to join their regiments. But Monsieur le Maire knows +that he can call upon us."</p> + +<p>The military authorities, before completing the evacuation of Amiens, +had given strict orders that if the Germans came there was to be no +resistance. And in order to enforce this rule, the mayor detailed the +few remaining police and the Boy Scouts to make a house-to-house canvas, +warning the citizens, and collecting all firearms that might be found. +The scouts worked in pairs on this duty, and Frank and Henri always went +together.</p> + +<p>"In Belgium," one of them always explained, in making the demand that +the arms be given up,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> "Louvain and other towns were destroyed, so that +not one stone remained upon another. And always the Germans made the +excuse that shots had been fired on their men from the houses. Here in +Amiens we must save our cathedral and the other famous buildings. When +the Germans come it will not be for long; soon they will be in retreat +before the armies of France and England."</p> + +<p>Many gave up their guns reluctantly. But nearly all did give them up, +and whenever the scouts had reason to think that any were being +concealed, they made a special report on the house, and policemen +returned to make a search.</p> + +<p>And this wise planning had much to do with saving the town. The Germans +came at last. At first a single squadron of Uhlans, in command of a +young lieutenant, rode in. Frank and Henri saw them passing their house +and they mounted bicycles at once, and followed them.</p> + +<p>"They've nerve," admitted Henri, reluctantly. "See with what arrogance +they sit their horses! They might be riding into a German city in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>stead +of one in which everyone who sees them hates them!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they've nerve," agreed Frank.</p> + +<p>There could be no question of the fact. The little squadron of troopers, +almost swallowed up already in the crowd of curious ones who followed +the slow movement of the horses, rode on, seemingly deaf to the mutters +of execration that rose, especially from the women. Not a man turned his +face from the front even to scowl at the townspeople. They rode on, eyes +unswerving. Outside the Hotel de Ville they stopped. A bugler blew a +fanfare, and Monsieur le Maire, in his robes of office, appeared on the +steps. A great cheer from the people greeted him. He bowed gravely to +the Uhlan lieutenant, who saluted stiffly.</p> + +<p>"I demand the surrender of the town of Amiens, in the name of his +Majesty the Kaiser and of the German Empire," said the lieutenant, in +excellent French. "You, Monsieur le Maire, will consider yourself my +prisoner. You will be held responsible for the conduct of the +inhabitants. Any at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>tack on German troops will be sternly punished. If +the inhabitants of Amiens behave in a peaceable and orderly fashion they +will not be harmed. Payment will be made for any private property +required by our forces. A brigade of infantry will march in this +afternoon. Quarters must be found for the troops, numbering nearly eight +thousand men. You will be informed later of the requisition the town +will be required to fill, in money and in supplies. For the present you +are required to clear this square, where my men will remain."</p> + +<p>The mayor bowed.</p> + +<p>"My orders are to make no resistance," he said. "I bow to the +inevitable, regretting that we are not permitted to defend ourselves to +the death. Amiens will keep its faith. No attack will be made, since +that would mean treachery. I will order the gendarmes and the Boy Scouts +to clear the square."</p> + +<p>Frank and Henri were of great assistance in doing this work, Frank +taking the lead, since<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> no patrol leader happened to be in evidence. +They and the police soon drove the people back, and the Uhlans +dismounted. There, in the public square, used as a market place, they +proceeded to cook a meal, making a fire in the street. From the sides of +the square the people watched them sullenly. But there was no +demonstration, since both the police and the scouts had explained that +anything of the sort was likely to mean the execution of the mayor, who +was within the power of the enemy.</p> + +<p>As soon as the public curiosity to see the hated invaders had been +somewhat satisfied, the people were urged to go to their homes, and by +mid afternoon the streets were deserted. Then began the entrance of the +real force of occupation. At the head rode a general of brigade, a +sombre, stern-eyed man, accompanied by his staff. And behind him marched +thousands of green-gray German infantry keeping step with a marvelous +precision. These men had been fighting hard, but they looked fresh and +trim. And as they marched they sang,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> raising their deep voices in a +splendid, thrilling chorus.</p> + +<p><i>Fly, Eagle, Fly</i>, they sang as they marched into town. And then they +gave way to the magnificent hymn of Martin Luther, the battle song of +the Protestant nations in the Thirty Years' War, the battle song of +Prussia ever since that time, <i>A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!</i></p> + +<p>Henri watched them as they marched by, tears in his eyes. Finally he +could suppress the thought no longer, and he turned to Frank with:</p> + +<p>"They have said that Germany has fine soldiers, but they are not like +our men! There's all the difference in the world between them—and that +difference will bring victory to our banners. Our men fight for right; +these men fight because they think it their duty."</p> + +<p>"Even though they are the foe, I hope there will be no shooting at them +here. If there is, they will show no mercy, I am sure of that," said +Frank.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Amiens has pledged its honor," replied Henri quietly. "They are safe +here. Will they harm Monsieur le Maire? Oh, do you think they will harm +him?"</p> + +<p>"No, I think not if there is no resistance offered. I wonder if any will +be quartered at your house, Henri?"</p> + +<p>"I hope not," said Henri, flushing.</p> + +<p>A change, as it turned out, was made in that plan. The general in +command of the brigade, who proclaimed himself within an hour of his +arrival as military governor of Amiens, decided to keep his men under +canvas. Tents sprang up like mushrooms in the parks and open spaces. +Amiens was required to furnish great quantities of foodstuffs—bread, +flour, wine, meat. But the troops were not quartered in the houses. And +by nightfall the town seemed to have settled down peacefully to the new +conditions. German aeroplanes were flying constantly overhead; officers +came in, and more troops.</p> + +<p>"Amiens is again the headquarters of an army<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> corps," said Frank. He was +suffering almost as keenly as Henri, but he did not mean to let his chum +brood upon the disaster that had overtaken his home. And, after all, it +might have been worse. He thought of Louvain and other Belgian cities.</p> + +<p>That night Amiens was a German city. Trains passed through continually +now, bearing troops; some, returning, carried wounded, whose groans +resounded in the silence. And in the distance to the south, toward +Paris, the roar of guns seemed louder again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>RECOGNITION!</h3> + + +<p>Even the enemy, the hated Germans, found that the Boy Scouts were +useful. There was constant danger of an outbreak, and the Germans had no +desire to destroy Amiens. Had they been attacked from the houses, they +would have lost heavily; in house-to-house fighting civilians, battling +at close range, can inflict great damage on the best of regular troops. +Such an outbreak would have meant the killing and the wounding of +hundreds of German soldiers. The punishment would have been terrible, +indeed, but that would not have brought a single Prussian back to +life—a single Bavarian, rather, since these were Bavarian troops.</p> + +<p>The Boy Scouts served as intermediaries between the Germans and the +French civil authorities. They carried messages, and, at the order of +the mayor, they submitted themselves to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> orders of the German staff +when it was necessary to explain a new decree to the citizens. They had +many other things to do, also. It was largely the scouts who saw to the +gathering of the supplies requisitioned by the Germans. The enemy had +been inexorable in this respect; they set a definite time limit for the +filling of every requisition they made, and it was well understood that +drastic measures would be taken were they not satisfied.</p> + +<p>Each day a new group of hostages was taken into the Hotel de Ville, now +occupied as headquarters by the German staff, rather than the buildings +formerly used by the Second Corps d'Armee of France. These hostages, it +was explained, would be shot at once if orders were not obeyed or if +Germans were attacked. There were many irksome rules. Every citizen was +required to salute a German officer whenever he saw him. Lights must be +out at a certain hour each night, and after that hour any citizen found +in the streets without a permit was liable to arrest and execu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>tion +without trial. They were under martial rule.</p> + +<p>But always the sound of heavy firing in the southeast continued.</p> + +<p>"I really believe the great battle is being fought at last, Henri!" said +Frank. "We have heard that firing now for three days. It comes from the +direction of the Marne. There is another thing. Since yesterday no troop +trains have gone south through Amiens."</p> + +<p>"But empty trains go through!" cried Henri. "And they come back, loaded +with German wounded! You are right, Francois! We have begun to drive the +Prussians back to the Rhine!"</p> + +<p>News they had none. All Amiens was cut off from the world. Whatever the +German invaders knew they kept strictly to themselves. It was only by +such inferences as they could draw from the sound of firing in the +direction of Paris and by the passage of trains through the city that +they were able to form any opinion at all.</p> + +<p>"I feel sure that there's a real battle going on," said Frank. "The +firing is too heavy and too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> continuous for a rear guard action. But as +to who is winning, we can't tell. Sometimes the firing seems to be a +little nearer again, but that might be because of the wind. And as for +the trains that are going through, that doesn't really mean anything. +They might have decided to send troops to the front by another railway. +They control the line through Rheims, too."</p> + +<p>But the morning after they had decided that there was no real way to +tell what was happening, something definite did come up. Nearly all the +troops in Amiens moved south. Only a few hundred remained, enough to +garrison the town and control the railway, since there seemed no danger +of an allied raid. But the fact that the other troops were being sent up +to the front indicated that the fighting was assuming a character far +more desperate than the Germans had expected.</p> + +<p>"They must be fighting on the line of the river Marne," said Frank. "You +see, during that long retreat, there was time to entrench there. And +open field entrenchments seem to be better than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> fortified places. Look +at how quickly Namur fell, when everyone thought it would hold the +Germans back for days."</p> + +<p>"The country there is difficult, too," said Henri. "My father said once +that it was there that the garrison of Paris should have fought first in +1870, instead of waiting inside the forts for the Prussians to come."</p> + +<p>"I think that everything favors us now, for the first time," said Frank. +"The Germans have been winning—they have made a wonderful dash through +Belgium and France. They must have got very close to Paris. I believe +the roar of guns is as easy to hear in Paris as here. And then, +suddenly, when they think they are to have it all their own way, their +enemy turns and faces them, and holds them. That much we may be sure of. +The battle has been raging now for four days at least, perhaps for five. +And the firing has certainly not gone further away. Even if we are not +gaining, it is a gain if the Germans cannot advance."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> + +<p>They were glad now that they were busy. A few refugees from the south +were coming, driven back by the Germans. Perhaps they would rather have +tried to reach Paris, but the battle stopped that. And always there were +errands to be run, and messages to be carried. It went against the grain +to obey the orders of German officers, and to be obliged to salute these +officers whenever they were encountered, but it was necessary. And the +scouts of Amiens, when they knew what their duty was, did it, no matter +how unpleasant it might be.</p> + +<p>Now the troops who formed the garrison of Amiens changed almost daily. +Older men were now in the tents, and some young boys.</p> + +<p>"The last classes of their reserves must have been called out," said +Frank. "These are not first line troops that are up, but the ones who +are supposed to guard lines of communication and to garrison interior +fortresses."</p> + +<p>There were times when more officers than men seemed to be in the town. +Amiens seemed to be used as a point where shipments of supplies and of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +ammunition for troops at the front were concentrated and diverted to the +various divisions at the front. This involved the presence of a great +number of officers of the commissariat department, who seemed to work +night and day.</p> + +<p>Men fight best on a full stomach, and the Germans understood this +thoroughly, and saw to it that their soldiers did not have to go into +battle hungry. Amiens also formed the headquarters of one branch of the +German flying corps. Here aviators in great numbers were present +constantly. Damaged monoplanes and biplanes were brought back for +repairs. And it was this fact that brought a startling experience to the +two scouts. For one day, as they rode on their bicycles on an errand +through the square before the Hotel de Ville, they were arrested by a +sudden fierce shout. An officer ran out toward them, his face distorted +with anger. And Frank, with a sinking heart, recognized him as the man +who had fired at Henri on the night they had burned the Zeppelins.</p> + +<p>"Arrest that boy!" he cried, pointing to Henri.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> "He is a spy! He is a +French, spy, I say!"</p> + +<p>For a moment Frank hesitated. Then he rode away, leaving Henri to his +fate. He looked back, to see two Germans holding his chum.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>A DESPERATE GAME</h3> + + +<p>Frank had sped away because he was afraid that the officer might +recognize him in a moment also. And yet it was not fear, in the sense +that he was fearful of what might happen to him, that led him seemingly +to abandon his comrade. It was the knowledge that were he too a +prisoner, there would be no hope for either of them. He knew how the +Germans must have regarded the destruction of the Zeppelins. It was a +blow that might prove, when the final accounting was made, to have cost +them the success of the invasion of France. And he had no illusions as +to the fate of those who might be proved to be responsible for that.</p> + +<p>Technically, they had not acted as spies when they had played the daring +trick that had resulted in such a disaster to the German cause. But they +had been non-combatants, civilians, and by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> laws of war the civilian +who takes active measures of any sort against the enemy is liable to +death. The German army enforced this rule strictly and invariably. +Neither age nor sex was a reason for sparing one who had violated it. A +woman spy, a boy of fifteen who fired at Germans, would alike be made to +face a firing squad.</p> + +<p>No. If he and Henri were caught, and this officer, who had already shown +his venomous hate for them, was their accuser, they would never live to +see the German defeat for which they prayed. Frank hoped that Henri +would understand, that he would know that he had taken to flight because +it afforded the only chance of saving him.</p> + +<p>Frank had reasoned quickly. He had been sure that the next move of the +German officer would have been to denounce him also. But while the +German officer had had a good look at Henri on the night of the Zeppelin +disaster, he had not seen Frank. Frank had been in the shadow when the +officer had tried to murder Henri; he had taken the German by surprise, +and stunned him. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> so there was no way in which the German could know +him again, unless he saw him with Henri and so leaped to the conclusion +that he must also have been with him on the night of disaster.</p> + +<p>By that process of reasoning Frank argued that he might remain free to +go about the town. The Germans had come to trust the Boy Scouts, +understanding that their honor was pledged when they gave their word, +even to an enemy. Some of the restrictions applying to the other +citizens of Amiens did not restrain them. They were allowed to be on the +streets after the hour of curfew, for one thing. And between the scouts +and a good many of the German privates and younger officers a relation +almost friendly had been established. Frank, for instance, was welcomed +at one Bavarian mess, which contained several soldiers who had studied +at English schools, and liked a chance to air their knowledge of the +English tongue. He hoped to gain some information in this way.</p> + +<p>Nor was he wrong. His friends had heard of the arrest of Henri, who, +like Frank, was popular with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> them. And it turned out that they had +little use for the officer who had caused the arrest. He was known as a +tyrant who had more than once during the campaign shot down his own men +for slight breaches of discipline. Frank learned that he had been +degraded for the destruction of the Zeppelins, for which he had been +held responsible. His superiors had scouted his story of two boys who +had burned the dirigibles, and had assumed that he had been careless.</p> + +<p>Therefore Frank found it easy to discover where Henri was confined. He +was to be tried by court-martial early in the morning, and for the night +he was in a room on the ground floor of the Hotel de Ville.</p> + +<p>"He's only a boy," said a Bavarian corporal. "No need to guard him +closely. Even if he escaped, where could he go? Our men are everywhere."</p> + +<p>Frank smiled to himself. He had made a discovery a day or two before +that had not escaped his mind. That afternoon he managed to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +certain preparations unobserved. And when night came he was ready to +hazard his own liberty, and his life, if that should prove to be +necessary, in an attempt to rescue Henri. He knew the room in which +Henri was confined. It was on the side of the Hotel de Ville that +overlooked the river. No sentries were posted there, and it was easy for +Frank to get to a spot directly underneath Henri's window. The other +bank of the river was well guarded, and that was why no sentries watched +the side on which was the town hall. It was argued, Frank supposed, that +anyone escaping must attempt to swim the river and that when they tried +to climb the other bank it would be easy to find them.</p> + +<p>In principle, too, that was a good idea. What it did not take into +account was the discovery that Frank had made—and kept to himself.</p> + +<p>It was just before midnight when he began a faint tapping at Henri's +window. He used a light bamboo cane, tipped with soft cloth, so that the +sound, audible to anyone in the room, would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> carry more than a few +feet. And he tapped out his signal in the Morse code very slowly, +knowing that Henri would hear and understand.</p> + +<p>In a few moments there was the sound of the window opening very gently. +And then Henri slipped down beside him, taking the short drop by hanging +from the window with his hands. He seized Frank's hand.</p> + +<p>"I knew you would try to help me," he whispered. "But I had better go +back. We cannot escape. There are sentries on the other bank of the +Somme. They would catch us together, and you would be a prisoner, too."</p> + +<p>"Follow me," said Frank. "Take off your shoes. Drop quietly into the +water—make no sound of a splash. Swim after me. I shall show you +something you do not expect to see."</p> + +<p>Frank slipped into the water. Both boys were expert swimmers, and Frank, +leading the way, slipped along in the deep shadow, without a sound. +Henri swam after him. At last Frank stopped and whispered to Henri.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You see this buttress? Dive just beyond it, and swim under water for +ten feet. Put up your hands then, and rise. There will be room."</p> + +<p>At once he dived and disappeared, and Henri followed. When they came to +the surface they were in a dark, damp hole, that smelled of slime and +filth. But in a moment Henri felt steps, and then there was a faint +light that illuminated a vault full of water. And, to his wonder, he saw +a boat, covered, except at one end, with a dark cloth.</p> + +<p>"In with you!" whispered Frank. "Under the cloth, and lie still!"</p> + +<p>Frank followed when Henri had obeyed. And then the boat began to move in +a direction different from that by which they had entered the vault.</p> + +<p>"I am pushing it with my hands along the wall," explained Frank, still +in a whisper. "That will bring us to the opening—the smallest possible +that would allow the boat to pass into the stream. Then the current will +carry us down. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> have a rudder, that will hold us in the shadow of the +left bank through all the turns. It is a chance—the only one we had. If +all goes well, we shall drift down below the city and be safe!"</p> + +<p>Soon they were caught in the current of the Somme. There followed a time +of terrible and desperate trial and terror. At every shout they heard +they thought they had been discovered. Never did they dare to raise +their heads to look out. Their chance was a double one, but of the +faintest, at best. Perhaps they would not be seen at all; perhaps, even +if the boat was seen, no sentry would consider it worth remark.</p> + +<p>For hours they drifted, unable to tell how far they had gone. Frank, +guessing their distance by the time it had taken a piece of wood to +float a certain distance during the afternoon, had hoped to be well +beyond the city when daylight came. But he had not been certain.</p> + +<p>Gradually a faint light crept through the dark, stifling cloth. The +temptation to raise it and look out was terrible. But they resisted, +speaking only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> occasionally in whispers. With every minute that passed +their chance for success grew greater. And yet at the last minute they +might be caught.</p> + +<p>At last there could be no doubt that the sun was up, and that there was +full daylight. And then, suddenly, there was a sharp tug at the boat. +With a groan Frank started up, and Henri too.</p> + +<p>And what they saw was an amazed French peasant, and all around the +smiling country below Amiens, which was far behind!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>VIVE LA FRANCE!</h3> + + +<p>The peasant listened in amazement to the story that they told him. But +he was a real Frenchman, out of the army because of his age.</p> + +<p>"Come with me," he said. "You shall have the best there is in my +house—it is not much! Dry clothes, too. If you will wear a peasant's +blouse, there are the clothes my Jean left when he went to the war!"</p> + +<p>"We have clothes in the boat," said Frank. "Until we knew we were safe +we dared not change into them. But your food will be more than welcome!"</p> + +<p>So it proved, indeed. It was rough fare, but it seemed to both the best +that they had ever tasted. And while they ate, the peasant told them +what news he had.</p> + +<p>"We hear that the French and the English are winning now," he said. "A +gentleman came past<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> my house in an automobile this morning, and said +that he had passed French troops ten miles away—cuirassiers riding this +way."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" cried Frank. "Henri, we must try to join them as quickly as +possible. When we explain they will let us go through to where we shall +be safe until we can go back to Amiens. Come on! Farewell!" This to the +peasant. "We shall never forget your good food and your welcome!"</p> + +<p>And with light hearts they set out, glad to walk, since it gave them a +chance to stretch the legs that had been cramped for so many hours in +the bottom of the boat.</p> + +<p>Plainly there had been a great change in the character of the battle +over night. The heavy thunder of the guns was greatly reduced in volume, +though they should still have been able to hear it. And it was +unmistakably coming from further north. It must be that the Germans were +retreating. But they walked for three hours before they knew for certain +that they were right.</p> + +<p>They did not meet the cuirassiers of whom they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> had heard. Instead a +cloud of dust that they saw for two miles before men emerged beneath it +turned out to be a column of French infantry. They were in their Boy +Scout uniforms, and the men who first saw them at the side of the road +cheered them. Soon a captain came up to them.</p> + +<p>"Eh bien, mes enfants!" he said. "What do you do here? Where do you come +from!"</p> + +<p>They told him Amiens, and he laughed.</p> + +<p>"And it is there, precisely, that we are going!" he laughed. "The +Germans are out by now and our men were in there an hour ago!"</p> + +<p>Frank and Henri cried out in delight at the news.</p> + +<p>"May we go with you?" asked Frank. "We would like to go back as soon as +possible."</p> + +<p>"As to that you must ask the colonel. He will decide—and, see, here he +comes now in his automobile! I will report to him that you are here."</p> + +<p>But there was no need, for the officer who sat in the car was Colonel +Menier himself, and at the sight of them he laughed aloud.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, my brave ones!" he cried. "So you are here! Ride with me! Did the +Germans drive you from Amiens? I shall drive you back!"</p> + +<p>They obeyed that order with delight. They sprang to their places in the +car.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me everything!" said Colonel Menier. "How it is that you left +Amiens and how you came here?"</p> + +<p>He leaned over first, however, and spoke to his driver, and the car shot +forward, leaving the troops far behind.</p> + +<p>And then they began the story, each telling the part of it that he knew +best. At the story of how the German officer had recognized Henri and +caused his arrest, he clenched his hand angrily.</p> + +<p>"They make war even on boys!" he said, bitterly. "A brave enemy +recognizes the heroism of his foes. If I had been in that man's place I +should have forgotten my own defeat and praised those who had caused +it!"</p> + +<p>Then came the story of Frank's discovery of the hidden vault and the +boat, and of their voyage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> down the Somme and their lucky escape.</p> + +<p>"Milles tonnerres!" he cried. "A thousand million thunders! That was +well done! Through all the German sentries! Eh, well, I have a surprise +for you when you reach Amiens with me, I think. Mind, I make no +promises! Only wait!"</p> + +<p>Slow as had been their flight from Amiens, their return was swift. +Already they were in the outskirts. From every window hung the tricolor. +Everywhere the people were mad with delight. The Germans had gone. At +the sight of Colonel Menier's uniform women leaned from their windows, +shrieking their joy.</p> + +<p>In the town itself French troops were everywhere, marching through. Guns +thundered along, and there were English troops as well as French. Amiens +was in holiday mood. Straight through the cheering crowds the car sped +on. It drew up at last before the Hotel de Ville. Sentries stood at the +main door, but at the sight of Colonel Menier they saluted and gave him +free passage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<p>Inside Colonel Menier spoke to a staff officer, who smiled and went into +a room at the side. In a moment he returned.</p> + +<p>"The general will receive you, my colonel," he said.</p> + +<p>"Good!" He turned to Frank and Henri. "You are to meet the greatest man +in France," he said. "Allons!"</p> + +<p>They followed him into the room. By the window stood a man, not tall, +but large rather than fat. He turned quiet eyes toward them. Colonel +Menier saluted.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur le General Joffre," he said. "I have the honor to present the +Boy Scouts of whom you have heard—they who served General Smith-Derrien +so well and who destroyed the Zeppelins near Abbeville."</p> + +<p>"These are the ones?" said the general. "In the name of France, I thank +you! And in the name of France, and by order of His Excellency the +President of the Republic, I hereby decorate you! For each, the cross of +the Legion of Honor!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> Which is Francois Barnes?" glancing from one to +the other.</p> + +<p>Frank stepped forward. General Joffre took the cross from his own breast +and pinned it to Frank's. Then he turned to another officer, and +received another cross from him. And this he affixed to Henri's breast. +For a moment they were overcome. And then together they cried:</p> + +<p>"<i>Vive la France!</i>"</p> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<div class='tnote'> +<h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> + +<p>Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired.</p> + +<p>One instance each of LaFere and La Fere have been retained.</p> + +<p>A table of contents was generated for this html version.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts on the Trail, by George Durston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 20327-h.htm or 20327-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/2/20327/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Scouts on the Trail + +Author: George Durston + +Release Date: January 10, 2007 [EBook #20327] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Linda McKeown, Emmy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + +By GEORGE DURSTON + +[Illustration] + +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + +AKRON, OHIO + +Made in U. S. A. + + Copyright, MCMXXI + By + The Saalfield Publishing Co. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: They sent the message quickly, accurately.] + + + + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PLANS FOR THE HOLIDAYS + + +"Where are you going to spend the holidays, Frank?" + +The speaker was Henri Martin, a French boy of the new type that has +sprung up in France since games like football and tennis began to be +generally encouraged. He asked the question of his schoolmate, Frank +Barnes, son of a French mother and an American father. Frank's name was +really Francois; his mother had that much to do with his naming. But he +was a typical American boy, none the less, and there was a sharp +contrast between his sturdy frame and that of the slighter French boy +who had become his best chum in the school both were attending near +Paris, at St. Denis. + +"I don't really know, Harry," said Frank. "Not exactly, that is. My +Uncle Dick is coming over a little later, and I think we'll go to +Switzerland." His face clouded a little. "I--I haven't any real home to +go to, you know. My father and mother--" + +"I know--I know, mon vieux," said Henri, with the quick sympathy of his +race. "But until your uncle comes--what then, hein?" + +"Why, I'm to wait for him here, at the school," said Frank. "He's a very +busy man, you know, and it's hard for him to get away just any time he +wants to. He will get here, though, early in August, I think." + +"But that won't do at all, Frank!" exclaimed Harry, impulsively. Like +many French boys, he spoke English perfectly and with practically no +trace of an accent. "To spend a week or two weeks here in the school, +all alone! No--I tell you what! I've an idea!" + +"What is it?" asked Frank, a little amused at the horror with which his +friend heard of the notion of staying in school after the holidays had +begun. + +"Why, come home with me until your uncle comes!" said Harry. "That's +what you must do. I live not so far away--not so very far. At Amiens. +You have heard of it? Oh, we will have fine times, you and I. I am to +join the Boy Scouts Francais these holidays!" + +He called it Boy Scoots, and Frank roared. The word scout had been +retained, without translation, when the French adopted the Boy Scout +movement from England, just as words like rosbif, football, and le sport +had been adopted into the language. But all these words, or nearly all, +have been given a French pronunciation, which give them a strange sound +in Anglo-Saxon ears. + +"Excuse me, Harry," said Frank, in a moment. "I didn't mean to laugh, +but it does sound funny." + +"Of course it does, Frank," said Henri, generously. "I speak English, so +I can see that. But there's nothing funny about the thing, let me tell +you. We began by calling the Boy Scouts Eclaireurs Francais, but +General Baden-Powell didn't like it, so we made the change. Really, +we're a good deal like the English and American scouts. We have the same +oath--we call it serment, of course, and our manual is just a +translation of the English one." + +"I was going to join in America, too," said Frank. "But then I came over +here, and I didn't know there were scouts here. Do you wear the same +sort of uniforms?" + +"Yes--just like the English," said Harry. "You could join with me, +couldn't you? You're going to be here for a whole year more, aren't +you?" + +"Yes. My mother"--he gulped a little at the word--"wanted me to know all +about France, and never to forget that I had French blood in me, you +see. My French grandfather was killed by the Germans at Gravelotte--he +was a colonel of the line. And my mother, even though my father was an +American, was always devoted to France." + +"We are like that--we French," said Harry, simply. Into his eyes came +the look that even French boys have when they remember the days of 1870. +"The Germans--yes, they beat us then. We were not ready--we were badly +led. But our time will come--the time of La Revanche. Tell me, Frank, +you have seen the Place de la Concorde, in Paris?" + +"Yes. Why?" + +"Do you remember the statue of Strassburg? How it is always draped in +black--with mourning wreaths?" + +"Yes." + +"The day is coming when the black shall be stripped off! +Alsace-Lorraine--they are French at heart, those lost provinces of ours! +They shall be French again in name, too. Strassburg shall guard the +Rhine for us again--Metz shall be a French fortress once more. We shall +fight again--and next time we shall be ready! We shall win!" + +"I hope so--if war comes again," said Frank, soberly. "But--" + +"_If_ war comes?" said Harry, surprised. "Don't you know it must come? +France knows that--France makes ready. We shall not seek the war. But it +is not enough for us to desire peace. The Prussians are afraid of us. +They will never rest content while we are strong. They thought they had +crushed us forever in 1870--but France was too great for them to crush! +They made us pay a thousand million francs--they thought we should take +years and years to pay, and that meanwhile they would keep their +soldiers on our land, in our fortresses! But no! France paid, and +quickly. And ever since we have prepared for the time when they would +try to finish their work." + +"If war comes, I am for France," said Frank, still soberly. "But war is +a dreadful thing, Henri." + +"We know that--we in France," said Harry. "But there are things that are +worse than war, Frank. A peace that is without honor is among them. We +do not want to fight, but we are not afraid. When the time comes, as it +is sure to come, we shall be ready. But enough of that. There will be +no war this year or next. We have not settled about your coming home +with me. You will come?" + +"I'd love to," said Frank. "If the head master says I can, I will most +gladly. But will your people want me?" + +"My friends are their friends," said Harry. "My mother says always, +'Bring a friend with you, Henri.' Oh, there will be plenty for us to do, +too. We shall take long walks and play tennis and ride and shoot. Let us +settle it to-day. Come now to the office with me. We will ask the head +master." + +They went forthwith to speak to Monsieur Donnet, the head of the school, +who received them in his office. The school was a small one but it +numbered among its pupils several English and American boys, whose +parents wanted them for one reason or another to acquire a thorough +knowledge of French. He heard their request, which was put by Henri, +pleasantly. + +"Yes, that will be very well," he said. "I have been thinking of you, +Barnes. Your uncle has written to me that he will be here about the +tenth or fifteenth of August, and asked permission for you to stay here +until then. But--" + +They waited, while M. Donnet thought for a moment. + +"Yes, this will be much better," he said. "I--I have been a little +troubled about you, Barnes. If all were well, you might stay here very +well. But--" Again he paused. + +"These are strange times," he said. "Boys, have you read in the +newspapers of the trouble between Austria and Servia?" + +They looked startled. + +"A little, sir," said Frank. "There's always trouble, isn't there, in +those parts?" + +"Yes, but this may--who knows?--be different. I do not say there is more +danger than usual but I have heard things, from friends, that have made +me thoughtful. I am a colonel of the reserve!" + +Henri's eyes gleamed suddenly, as they had a few minutes before when he +had talked of how France was ready for what might be in store for her. + +"Do you mean that there may be war, sir?" he asked, leaning forward +eagerly. + +"No one knows," said the master. "But there are strange tales. +Aeroplanes that no one recognizes have flown above the border in the +Vosges. There are tales of fresh troops that the Germans are sending to +Metz, to Duesseldorf, to Neu Breisach." He struck his hand suddenly on +his desk. "But this I feel--that when war comes it will be like the +stroke of lightning from a clear sky! When there is much talk, there is +never war. When it comes it will be because the diplomats will not have +time, they and the men with money, the Rothschilds and the others, to +stop it. And if there should be trouble, not a man would be left in this +school. So, Barnes, I should be easier if you were with Martin. I +approve. That is well, boys." + +Both boys were excited as they left the office. + +"He talks as if he knew something, or felt something, that is still a +secret!" said Frank, excitedly. "I wonder--" + +"Of no use to wonder," said Henri. Really, he was calmer than his +companion. "What is to come must come. But you are coming home with me, +Frank. We know that much. And that is good--that is the best news we +could have, isn't it?" + +"It's certainly good news for me," said Frank, happily. "Oh, Harry, I +get so tired of living in school or in hotels all the time! It will seem +good to be in a home again, even if it isn't my own home!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TO THE COLORS + + +In those days late in July, France, less than almost any country in +Europe, certainly far less than either England or America, was able to +realize the possibilities of trouble. As a matter of fact, not for years +had the peace of Europe been so assured, apparently. President Poincare +of France had gone to visit the Czar of Russia, and the two rulers had +exchanged compliments. The alliance of France and Russia, they told one +another, made war impossible, or nearly so. The Emperor of Germany was +on a yachting cruise; even the old Austrian Kaiser, though required to +watch affairs because of the death of his heir, the Archduke Franz +Ferdinand, murdered by a Serb fanatic at Sarajeve, had left Vienna. + +Even when the storm cloud began to gather the French government did all +it could to suppress the news. The readiness of France was not in +question. France was always ready, as Henri Martin had said. Since the +grim and terrible lesson of 1870 she had made up her mind never again to +give the traditional enemy beyond the Rhine--and, alas, now on this side +of the Rhine as well!--a chance to catch her unprepared. + +What the government wanted was to prevent the possibility that an +excited populace, especially in Paris, might force its hand. If war came +it meant that Germany should provoke it--if possible, begin it. It was +willing to sacrifice some things for that. And this was because, in the +years of peace, France had won a great diplomatic victory, the fruits of +which the country must preserve. In 1870 France had had to face Germany +alone. She had counted upon help from Austria, now Germany's firm friend +and ally, but then still smarting under the blow of the defeat four +years before. She had hoped for help, perhaps, from Roumania and from +Russia. + +But all that Germany, by skillful trickery, had rendered vain. She had +made France seem to be the aggressor, and France had forfeited the +sympathy of England and of Austria as a result. Alone she had been no +match for Germany. And alone she would be as little a match for Germany +in 1914 as in 1870. But she had prepared herself. Now Russia, no matter +what the reason for war, would be with her. And, if France was attacked, +England was almost sure to join her. Everything would depend on that. +With the great English navy to bottle up the German fleet, to blockade +the German coasts, France felt that she was secure. And so the +government was resolved that nothing should happen to make possible the +loss of England's friendship; nothing that should give England even the +shadow of an excuse for remaining neutral. + +So what the newspapers printed of the threats that Austria was making +against Servia was carefully censored. There was nothing to show that +Austria was assuming a warlike attitude, and that Russia, the friend of +the little Slav countries in the Balkans, was getting ready to take the +part of Servia. There was nothing to show what the French government +and every newspaper editor in Paris knew must be a fact--that Austria +must have had assurance of German support, since she could not hope to +make a winning fight, unaided, against the huge might of Russia. + +That was why all over France life proceeded in the regular way, calm, +peaceful, without event. Some there were who knew that Europe was closer +to a general war than since the end of Napoleon's dream of conquest. But +the masses of the people did not know it. All over France the soldiers +were active; the new recruits, reporting for the beginning of their +three years of military service, were pouring into the depots, the +headquarters of the army corps, to be assigned to their regiments. But +that was something that happened every year. In a country where every +man, if he is not a cripple or diseased, has to be a soldier for three +years, the sight of a uniform, even of a long column of marching troops, +means nothing. + +And then, with the most startling abruptness, there came a change. +Nothing official, as yet. But suddenly the government allowed the real +news, or most of it, to be printed. Austria had made demands of Servia +that no country could meet! Russia had protested! Russia and Austria +were mobilizing! Germany had sent an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that +she stop massing her troops in Poland and on the borders of East +Prussia. + +"It means war," said Henri Martin to Frank. Gone was the exultation of +his voice. Frank had noticed that, since the first appearance of the +really ominous news, the excitability of his French schoolmates had +disappeared. They were quiet; far quieter than American boys would have +been in the same case, he thought. + +"But this is not France's quarrel," said Frank. "She cares nothing for +Servia." + +"Servia? Bah! No one cares for Servia--except Austria and Russia! Servia +is only an excuse. Austria wants to get some ports and Russia wants +them, too, or wants a friendly country to have them. But I will tell +you why it means war, Frank, my friend. It is because Guillaume, their +Kaiser, thinks it is the chance to crush France!" + +"Why now more than at any other time, Harry?" + +"Lieutenant Marcel told me what he thinks. It is that England is having +much trouble. In Ireland there is rebellion, almost, over the home rule. +The Germans think England will be afraid to fight, that she will have to +think of her own troubles. He does not know those English, that Kaiser! +They have their quarrels among themselves. But if anyone else +interferes--pouf! The quarrel is over--until the one who interferes is +beaten." + +"Yes, I believe that. We're like that in America, too. Why, right after +the Civil War, we nearly had to fight about Mexico. And the men in the +South, who had just been fighting the northern army, were all ready to +volunteer and fight for the country." + +"Well, that is one reason, then. And, for another, France is getting +stronger, and Russia too. For a few years after the war with the +Japanese, Russia was weak. But now she is getting strong again, and +Austria is getting weaker. If Germany and Austria can ever win it is +now--that is what the Kaiser believes. And why must France fight? Even +if she is not attacked she must help Russia because of the treaty." + +"But she didn't fight with Russia against Japan." + +"Because only one country was at war against her. If England had joined +Japan, we should have had to fight with Russia against her," Henri +explained. + +It was during the morning recess that they held this conversation. Now +the bell called them back to school. The class to which they went was +one that was being taught by M. Donnet himself, the head master. He was +at his place by his desk, and the boys had taken their seats. Suddenly, +just as the master was about to speak, a servant appeared with a +telegram in his hand. He took it to the master. M. Donnet tore it open +and read it, while a serious, grave look came into his eyes. Then he +stood up. + +"Mes enfants," he said, his whole manner somehow changed from the one +they knew, "I am called away from you." He stood very straight now; +Frank had no difficulty, as he had had before, in imagining the +schoolmaster as a soldier. "France needs me--our France. I go to +Luneville, to be prepared to receive the brave men who will fight under +my command if--" + +He stopped. + +"If war shall come!" he finished the interrupted sentence. "I leave you. +No man knows what the next few hours may bring forth. The order of +'mobilisation generale' has not yet been issued. Only superior officers +are called for as yet. Perhaps I may return. If not, I shall exhort all +of you who are sons of La Patrie to do your duty. You are too young to +fight, but you are none of you too young to be brave and loyal, to help +your parents, and your mothers if your fathers are needed by the +fatherland for active service. + +"You are not too young to show courage, no matter what may come. You are +not too young to keep alive the spirit of the sons of France--the spirit +that won at Austerlitz and Jena, that rose, like the phoenix from its +ashes, after Gravelotte and Sedan, when the foe believed that France lay +crushed for evermore! Perhaps you, like all who are French, may be +called upon to make sacrifices, sometimes to go hungry. But remember +always that it is not only those who face the foe on the battle line who +can serve the fatherland!" + +He drew himself up again. + +"Farewell, then, mes enfants!" he said. "I go to meet again those other +children I am to lead! Vive la France!" + +For a moment, as he moved to the door, there was silence. + +And it was Frank Barnes, only half French, who jumped to the top of a +desk and raised his voice in the most stirring of all patriotic +airs--the Marseillaise. + +With a will they joined him, English, American and French, for all were +there. Slowly, still singing, they followed the master from the +class-room, and gathered outside in the open air of the school yard. And +from other rooms, from all over the school, masters and boys poured out +to join them and to swell the chorus. Outside, in the street, a passing +battalion of the infantry of the line, made up of smiling young +soldiers, heard and took up the chorus, singing as they marched. + +There was no need of questions from those who heard the singing. In a +moment the discipline of the school went by the board. And, when the +song was done, they still remained together, waiting. In ten minutes, M. +Donnet appeared from the door of his own house. But now he was +transformed. He was in the uniform of his rank, his sword was by his +side; a servant carried his bags. He strode through the ranks of +cheering boys to the gate, saluting right and left as he did so. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CALL TO ARMS + + +"This does not yet mean war!" + +So M. Donnet had cried, in a final word of warning, meaning, if +possible, to do his part in the government's plan, still in force, of +restraining the passions of the French people. No. It did not mean war. +Not quite. But it meant that war was inevitable; that within a few +hours, at the most, mobilization would be ordered. This was on Saturday. +And that evening Germany declared war on Russia. Within an hour posters +were everywhere. The general mobilization had been ordered. + +The teachers in that school were young men. On the word they went. Each +knew what he had to do. Each had his little book of instructions. He +needed no orders. The mere fact that mobilization had been ordered was +all he needed to know. He knew already where he must report, where his +uniform and his equipment would be given to him, and which regiment he +was to join. He was a soldier by virtue of the three years, or the two, +he had spent already with the colors. He did not have to be drilled; all +that had been done. He knew how to shoot, how to live in camp, how to +march. If he was a cavalryman, he knew how to ride; if an artilleryman, +how to handle the big guns. + +And as with the teachers, so it was with the other men about the +school,--the gardeners, the servants, all of them. Within an hour of the +time when the order was issued, they were on their way and the school +was deserted, save for boys and one or two old men, who bewailed the +fact that they were too old to fight. In the streets St. Denis looked +like a deserted village. All the young men were going. + +Swiftly preparations were made to close the school. Madame Donnet, left +in charge when her husband went, called the boys together. + +"You must get home," she said. "Here you cannot stay. There will be no +way to care for you. And soon, too, the school will be used as a +hospital. So it was in 1870. I shall stay, and I shall prepare for what +is to come. M. Donnet telegraphed yesterday to all the parents, bidding +them be ready for what has come. I will give money for traveling +expenses. And in happier times we shall meet again." + +Save for the friendly offer Henri had already made, Frank Barnes might +well have been in a sorry plight. And, indeed, he offered now to let his +chum withdraw his invitation. + +"I have plenty of money, Harry," he said. "And if I go into Paris, to +the American ambassador, or the consul, he will see that I am all right +until my uncle comes. Your family won't want a guest now." + +But Harry wouldn't hear of this. + +"Now more than ever!" he said. "It will be different. True--not as we +had planned it before this came. But you shall come, and perhaps we +shall be able to do something for France with the Boy Scouts. We shall +see. But this much is certain--I think we shall not be able to go to +Amiens at once. Amiens is in the north--it is that way that the soldiers +must go, soldiers from Paris, from Tours, from Orleans, from all the +south. It is from the north that the Germans will come. Perhaps they +will try to come through Belgium. So, until the troops have finished +with the railways, we must wait. We will go to my aunt in Paris." + +And go they did to Madame Martin, Henri's aunt, who lived in a street +between the Champs Elysees and the Avenue de l'Alma, not far from the +famous arch of triumph that is the centre of Paris. At the station in +St. Denis, where they went from the school, they found activity enough +to make up, and more than make up, for the silence and stillness +everywhere else. The station was choked with soldiers, reservists +preparing to report on the next day, the first of actual mobilization. +Women were there, mothers, wives, sweethearts, to bid good-bye to these +young Frenchmen they might never see again because of war. + +And there was no room on the trains to Paris for any save soldiers. The +gates of the station were barred to all others, and Frank and Harry went +back to the school. + +"I know what we can do, of course," said Harry. "It isn't very far. +We'll leave our bags here at the school, and make packs of the things we +need. And then we'll ride in on our bicycles. We were stupid not to +think of that before." + +That plan they found it easy to put into execution. They had meant to +abandon their bicycles for the time being, at least, but now they +realized what a mistake it would have been to do that, since with every +normal activity cut off by the war, the machines were almost certain to +be their only means of getting from one place to another, in the +beginning at least. + +Mounted on their bicycles, they now found their progress easy. The roads +that led into Paris were crowded, to be sure. They passed countless +automobiles carrying refugees. Already the Americans were pouring out +of Paris in their frantic haste to reach the coast and so take boat to +England. On Saturday night automobiles were still allowed to leave +Paris. Next morning there would be a different story to tell. + +In Paris, when they began to enter the more crowded sections, they saw +the same scenes as had greeted them in St. Denis, only on a vastly +larger scale. Everywhere farewells were being said. Men in uniforms were +all about. Officers, as soon as they were seen, were hailed by the +drivers of taxicabs, who refused even to think of carrying a civilian +passenger if an officer wanted to get anywhere, or, if there were no +officers, a private soldier. The streets were crowded, however, and with +men. Here there were thousands, of course, not required to report at +once. + +"When mobilization is ordered," explained Henri, "each man in France has +a certain day on which he is to report at his depot. It may be the first +day, the third, the fifth, the tenth. If all came at once it would mean +too much confusion. As it is, everything is done quickly and in order." + +"It doesn't look it," was Frank's comment. + +"No," said his chum, with a laugh. "That's true. But it's so, just the +same. Every man you see knows just when he is to go, and when the time +comes, off he will go. Why, even in your America, now, all the Frenchmen +who have gone there are trying to get back. I know. They will be here as +soon as the ships can bring them. They will report to the consul +first--he will tell them what to do." + +They made slow progress through the crowded streets. Already, however, +there was a difference in the sort of crowding. There were fewer +taxicabs, very many fewer. And there were no motor omnibuses at all. + +"What has become of them?" asked Frank. "Aren't there men enough to run +them?" + +"Yes, and they are running them," said Henri, dryly. "But not in Paris. +They are on their way to the border, perhaps. Wherever they are, they +are carrying soldiers or supplies. The government has always the right +to take them all. Even at the time of the manoeuvres, some are taken, +though not all. It is the same with the automobiles. In a few days there +will be none left--the army will have them all. Officers need them to +get around quickly. Generals cannot ride now--it is too slow to use a +horse. You have heard of Leon Bollet?" + +"No. Who is he?" + +"He is a famous automobile driver in races. He has won the Grand Prix. +He will drive a general. He is a soldier, like all Frenchmen, and that +will be his task--to drive some great general wherever he wants to go." + +That was how the meaning of mobilization really came home to Frank, who +learned more from the things he missed that he was accustomed to seeing +than from new sights. In the boulevards, for instance, where as a rule +the little tables in front of the cafes would be crowded, all the tables +had vanished. That was a result of what was happening. Everything +brought the fact of war home to him. To him it was even more vivid +perhaps than to Henri, who had been brought up to know that some time +all this would come about, and saw little that he had not been sure, +some time, of seeing. + +The crowds delayed them. Sometimes they had to dismount from their +wheels and walk for a space, but in the end they came to their +destination. Madame Martin, Henri's aunt, greeted him with delight. + +"We were thinking of you, Henri!" she said. "Your uncle said to me only +to-night, when we heard of the mobilization: 'And what of Henri? He +cannot go home yet.' I knew you would come to us! And you have brought a +friend? That is very well." + +"Oh--an American!" she exclaimed, a moment later. "You have done well, +my nephew." + +"I'm half French," said Frank. Somehow he was beginning to feel very +proud of that. These last few hours, that had shown him how France +rallied in the face of a terrible and pressing danger had made it +easier for him to understand his mother's love of her own land. He was +still an American above all; that he would always be. But there was +French blood in his veins after all, and blood is something that is and +always must be thicker than water. + +So he had to explain himself, and when he spoke of the uncle who was to +come for him Madame Martin looked concerned. + +"I am glad that you are here," she said, simply. "It may be hard for him +to get here. But we can look after you until he comes. There is room +enough--and, ma foi, you shall have all that we have!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RECRUITS + + +August was drawing to its close. And still Henri and Frank were in +Paris. Henri's father and his uncle had gone to the front; Frank's Uncle +Dick, if he had tried to reach Paris or St. Denis, had not succeeded. Or +if he had, he had been unable to get word to Frank. War in all its +terrible reality was in full blast. Troops were passing through Paris +still, going to the front. But they were older men now, the last classes +of the reservists. Every night, too, the city was dark save for the +searchlights that played incessantly from the high buildings and from +the Eiffel Tower. For now there was a new menace. The Germans fought not +on land alone, but in the air. At any time a German might appear, +thousands of feet above the city, prepared to rain down death and +destruction from the clouds. + +Paris was quiet and resigned. Wounded men were coming back; hospitals, +from which floated the Red Cross flag, were everywhere. The hotels were +sheltering the wounded; churches, theatres, all sorts of buildings not +commonly so used were in the hands of the doctors and the nurses. There +were few newspapers; there was neither paper on which to print them, nor +men to run the great presses or write what they usually contained. All +were gone; all except the old and the children. Hundreds of thousands of +men were still in Paris, but they were the garrison of the city, the men +who would man the forts if the Germans came. + +And now, to get the news, Harry and Frank went to the places where the +bulletins were posted, becoming a part of the silent crowds that waited. +Every day they took their places in the crowds, to learn what they could +and carry the tale back to Madame Martin. She was too busy to stand +among the crowds herself; every day she was doing her part, helping in +the nursing, and helping, too, to relieve the distress among the poor. + +One day the two friends turned away. They had seen the last bulletin; +for some hours there would be no more news. + +"I'm afraid it's not going well, Harry," said Frank. + +"No," said Henri, almost with a sob in his voice. "It looks to me, too, +as if the Germans were winning!" + +"But many thought they would win, at first," said Frank. "It's not time +to be discouraged yet, Harry. At first we all believed the Belgians were +doing better than they could do--because they fought so well at Liege. +Now Namur has fallen. And the English--they are falling back." + +"Ah, well, that is so," said Henri, brightening a little. "We did not +expect to fight in Belgium, we French. Wait till they try to enter +France! We will stop them--at Lille, at Maubeuge, at Valenciennes!" + +"I hope so, Harry," said Frank, soberly. "But do you know what I think? +I believe we ought to go to your home at Amiens. I think you have been +waiting here on my account--because you thought my uncle was coming. +Well, I think he couldn't come. I am better off with you. And perhaps I +can help, too. I think you should go to your mother, if she is alone at +Amiens, because--" + +Henri turned on him fiercely. + +"Do you mean you think the Germans can get to Amiens?" he cried +furiously. "Never! Never! They will never come so far! They will be +stopped long before they get near it!" + +"I think so--and I hope so," said Frank. "But if my mother were there I +should want to be there, too. I've read a great deal about war and +battles lately, Harry, and I know that often an army has to retreat, not +just because it's beaten, but because it's necessary for battles that +are planned later on. The English and the French toward the coast are +retreating now--on the left of the allies. They are moving back toward +Amiens, and the Germans are following them." + +Henri continued to argue bitterly against the possibility that Frank +suggested, but his arguments grew weaker. And when he told his aunt +what Frank had said she sighed despairingly. + +"I, too, have been thinking that," she said. "These are terrible times +for our poor France. We shall win--everyone believes that. But we shall +suffer greatly first. I have talked with General Broche--you know him, +Henri. He is too old and weak to fight now, but he was active in 1870. +And he says--he says that the government may move soon, away from +Paris!" + +"Then they think--!" cried Henri, almost overcome. + +"They do not know--no one knows. But if there is to be another siege, it +is better that the government should be where the Germans cannot bottle +it up. I shall stay here, but I shall be safe. There are plenty to do +what I need. Go to Amiens, Henri. Your place is near your mother. If +there seems to be danger, beg her to come here, or even to go to her +friends, the Douays, in Nice. There at least all will be safe." + +Henri did not argue with his aunt. It was hard for him to realize the +truth, as it was for Frenchmen older than himself. But he admitted it +to Frank and even to himself, that night. And so the next morning they +started for Amiens. An officer, returning to the front after bringing +despatches to Paris, agreed to see that they reached the northern city +safely. Without him, indeed, they would have found it difficult, if not +impossible, to get aboard a train, for while other railways were open +those that led to the front were entirely in the hands of the military +authorities. + +But thanks to the friendly officer, a friend of the Martin family in +Paris, they reached Amiens quickly enough. On the way, more than once +they passed long trains carrying wounded, and, several times, other +trains on which were packed German prisoners. These, under close guard, +looked out sullenly from the windows. The sight delighted Henri. + +"That doesn't look much as if we were losing, does it?" he cried +happily. + +Amiens itself was a smaller Paris. In times of peace, Amiens is, like +many other French cities, a curious place, owing to the contrast +between its character as a busy, bustling, manufacturing town, and its +other character as a place where there are many renowned examples of +ancient art. But now it was quiet save for the ever present soldier. +Troops were passing through the streets; in the station several hundred +were entraining. + +"Do soldiers go from here, too?" asked Frank. + +"Yes. Amiens is the headquarters of the second army corps," explained +Harry. "All the reservists of that corps report here, no matter where +they live. When a regiment loses a lot of men, if it is in the second +corps, new men from here go forward to fill their places. There is no +sign of the Prussians, eh?" + +"No," said Frank. "I hope there never will be! But, tell me, would they +fight here? Are there fortifications?" + +"Not new ones--no," said Harry. He pointed to the old citadel crowning +one of the hills that commanded the town and the crooked, twisting +course of the Somme river. "There is the old citadel. That still +stands. But the ancient battlements have been dismantled. I believe that +in time of war, if the enemy got past the troops in the field, they +could come peacefully into Amiens. It is not a fortress, like Lille or +Maubeuge. Oh, look, there are some of the scouts! I see Monsieur Marron. +He is the directeur of the troop--the scoutmaster. Let us speak to him." + +They went over to a tall man in khaki, who was speaking to an officer in +the red and blue uniform of the French army. Henri saluted, and when the +officer went away, the scoutmaster turned to him with a smile. + +"Well--so you are here, Martin," he said. "Are you going to join? We +will waive formalities--we need all the scouts we can get." + +"Yes, sir, and I have brought a recruit. He is half French--the rest of +him is American. But he wants to join, too. May he?" + +"Certainly," said the scoutmaster. "Report to-night or in the morning. +Get your uniforms. Who is your recruit?" + +Frank was introduced, and the tall Frenchman shook hands with him. + +"You will be welcome," he said. "My boys are at work, you see. They are +serving as messengers. There has been plenty for us to do in these days, +too. Pray God there may not be more--and of a less pleasant sort." + +Frank observed the French scouts with interest. They were in khaki +uniforms, with wool stockings, and short trousers that stopped just +above the knee, and the soft campaign hats made famous by the pioneer +scouts in England. Indeed, they looked like the English and American +scouts in many respects. + +"One moment," said Marron, checked by a sudden thought. "You speak +French well?" He asked the question of Frank, who smiled. + +"Yes, sir," he said, in French. "My mother was French, you see." + +"That is very good," said the scoutmaster. "Never fear, I shall be able +to keep you busy as long as I am here. Soon, I hope, they will let me +go to the front, where I should be right now." + +"I thought you would have gone, sir," said Henri. + +"They wanted me to stay with my boys at the first," said Marron, with a +shrug of his shoulders. "But they can do their work alone now, and there +is no fear that they will not do it well." + +Then Frank and Henri went off, on their way to Henri's house. + +"So we have come to Amiens after all and we are to join the Boy Scouts, +just as we planned that day when I said there would be no war this +year!" + +"Yes--but it's different, isn't it, Henri?" + +"Yes, and we can be of some real use now." + +"I am glad that we are here, aren't you? When we get our uniforms and go +to work, I shall feel that we are really being used in the war. I--I'm +an American, of course, but I've hated the idea that I was so close to +this war and wasn't having anything to do with it." + +"And I--I have been wishing, Frank, that they might have waited until I +was old enough to fight for France!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FIRST DUTY + + +Morning brought awakening to the two friends with the sounding of +reveille from bugles, seemingly just outside their window. Together they +sprang from bed, raced to the window, wide open as it had been all +night, and looked out. Not far away, in a small park, one of those for +which the city of Amiens is famous, they saw an array of white tents +that they had not seen the night before when they had gone to bed. +Already the camp was stirring; even as they watched the soldiers were +all about. And early as it was, they saw a scout ride up on a bicycle, +speak to the sentry who challenged him, and wait. In a moment an officer +came out, the scout saluted, and his salute was returned as stiffly and +gravely as it had been given. Then the scout handed the officer a +letter, saluted again and, receiving permission, turned away and vaulted +on his wheel. + +Henri was vastly excited. + +"Come on!" he cried eagerly. "Let's get dressed, Frank. I see that we +should be out already." + +"Yes. It's time we were getting busy if the others are at work," said +Frank. "Where do you suppose those chaps came from?" + +"I don't know--that's exactly what's puzzling me," said Henri, his brow +knitted. "They don't look like reserve troops. I don't know exactly why, +either, but we can soon find out." + +They bathed and dressed hurriedly, and went down to find that Marie, the +cook who had been with the Martin family ever since Henri could +remember, was ready to give them their breakfast. In a time when many +families for reasons of economy were allowing their servants to go, +Henri's mother had kept all of hers. + +"Now, more than ever," she said, "they need the work and the wages. It +is a time for those who can possibly afford it to engage more servants, +rather than to discharge those they have already in their employ and +service." + +Madame Martin, who, like Henri's aunt in Paris, was busy all day long in +helping the wounded, doing voluntary duty in the Red Cross hospital to +which she had been assigned, was not yet up. She had greeted the two +boys on their arrival the previous evening, but had left the house +immediately after dinner, since it was her turn to do some night work. + +"She is wearing herself out," complained old Marie. "A fine lady like +her dressing the wounds of piou-pious, indeed!" + +Frank laughed. He knew by this time what piou-piou meant. It is the +endearing term of the French for the little red-trousered soldiers who +form the armies of the republic, just as the English call a soldier +Tommy Atkins. + +"It is for France," said Henri, gravely. "I shall perhaps be a piou-piou +myself before so very long, Marie." + +"You will be an officer, will you not?" exclaimed Marie. + +"It may be. I do not know," said Henri. "But the best and the greatest +men in France, those who govern us and write books and plays, and paint +pictures, and make fine statues, are in the ranks to-day. It is a +privilege even for my mother to nurse them." + +"All very well--but I won't have her getting all tired out," grumbled +Marie. "Your father told me himself, when he went off, to look after +her. And I'm going to do it." + +"Where did the soldiers who are in the park come from?" asked Henri, +changing the subject. + +"Who knows? They come, they stay a few hours or a day, then they go, and +others take their places! More soldiers have been in Amiens than I knew +were in the world! We had some English--strange, mad men, who wore +dresses to their knees and had music that sounded like a dozen cats +fighting at night on a back yard fence." + +Both the boys laughed at this description of the kilted Highlanders with +their bagpipes, but they exchanged meaning glances. Paris did not know +where the English troops were; barely knew that some had crossed the +channel, and had landed in France. How many had come no one knew except +those who would not tell. All that was announced was that England had +sent help to her ally, and that English troops were again, as on so many +occasions in the past, on French soil. But this time they came as +friends, not as the enemies that Marlborough and Wellington had led. + +"Well, we'll soon know, even if she can't tell us," said Henri. And as +soon as they had had their breakfast, they slipped around to the +kitchen. Henri and Frank both laughed, for they surprised half a dozen +blushing, awkward infantrymen, who were receiving hot coffee and +rolls--fare of a different sort from that afforded by the camp kitchens. + +"Welcome, welcome!" said Henri. "My father is with his regiment, or he +would speak, so I speak for him. Of what regiment are you, my friends?" + +One of them mentioned its number, and Henri exclaimed in his surprise. + +"But you are of the Nancy corps--the twentieth!" he cried. "You were +fighting in Lorraine! Were you not among those who captured Mulhouse?" + +"Yes." The soldier's face grew dark. "Ah, you are right! Of a truth we +captured Mulhouse! How the Uhlans ran! We beat them there, and we were +chasing them. Ah, the delight of that! There we were, in Alsace! The +lost province! For the first time in forty-four years it saw French +uniforms. For the first time since 1870 it was free from the Germans. +The people sang and cheered as we went into the villages. They brought +us food. The young women spread flowers before us. And then--we came +back. We were not beaten! We had orders to recross the border. And we +were put on trains and brought here. The shame of it!" + +"But you came?" + +"Soldiers must obey! But even our officers, I can tell you, did not like +it!" + +"Sometimes an army must retreat to fight better somewhere else," said +Henri in defense. + +"But here? At Amiens? There are no Prussians here!" + +"Perhaps they are not so far away. One hears--they were in Brussels a +week ago--they are pouring toward the border--perhaps they have passed +it. It may be that there is a battle to be fought here in France." + +"Oh, well, if there is a battle to be fought, that is different again. +That is what we want. In Alsace there were no battles. They ran as soon +as they saw our uniforms--the pigs of Prussians!" + +"Good luck to you, then! May you beat a thousand of them!" + +"We shall! Never fear! I will bring you a pretzel from Berlin when we +come back in exchange for your good rolls!" + +Laughing again, Frank and Henri went out. + +"That fellow is like the French soldiers I've read about," said Frank, +much interested. + +"Yes. He is the sort who fights well, but does not think. But, Frank, I +begin to think you were right. If they give up the fight in Alsace to +re-enforce the army here, the Germans must be winning." + +"Perhaps not. It may be only for the time." + +"Yet it looks serious. Listen! Can you hear the sound of guns?" + +Henri said that as a jest. But Frank listened--he took him seriously. + +"Not yet," he said. + +"Nor ever shall--from here!" exclaimed Henri. "I did not mean that! They +will be held on the border." + +Yet, even as he spoke, though he did not know it, the Germans, victors +at the great battle of Mons-Charleroi, were driving the left wing of the +allied army remorselessly, steadily back through the fertile fields of +Champagne, where bullets were tearing the laden grapevines to pieces. +The Uhlans were riding along the coast. Forced back by the defeat of the +left, the centre was yielding. It was well that they did not know then +what was in store; that they could not foresee the coming days when the +Germans seemed to be the sure victors. + +As they talked, Frank and Henri were making their way to the place where +M. Marron, the scoutmaster, had told them to report. He was there, +listening to reports and giving orders when they arrived. They had +provided themselves the night before with uniforms, and now they were +true scouts in appearance save that they did not wear the badge. They +waited until he was ready to speak to them. + +"You know the scout law?" he asked them, briefly. + +Together they recited it. + +"In war," he said, "rules may be forgotten. There are other tests, but +these I shall not impose. Recite after me the scout oath. It binds you +to be faithful, to be honorable. You are to obey the ten points of the +scout law. And now that war has come, you are to obey all orders from +officers of the army as you would those of your scoutmaster. If I +go--and that may be to-day--you will obey the leader of the third +patrol, to which you are assigned, as you would me. If things so come +about that you can get orders from no one you will still do all you can +for France." + +Then he repeated in French the scout oath, and they said it after him. + +"Now you are scouts," said Marron. He pinned badges on their sleeves. +"Wear this always. Remember that it typifies your honor." + +He raised three fingers in the scout salute; they returned it. + +"That is well," he said, then. "Now for your first duty, you will +accompany other scouts, to see how they perform their work. When you +have done that for a little while, you may be trusted with independent +commissions." + +All morning, first with other scouts, and then alone, they did errands +of one sort and another. After a brief rest for a hurried noonday meal, +M. Marron gave them new orders. + +"Here is a list of houses," he said. "Soon a train will arrive with +refugees from districts where the Germans are. You will take these +refugees around with you, in parties of twenty-five, with two scouts to +a party, until all are cared for. The owners of the houses on your list +have agreed to give these poor people food and shelter until they can +safely return to their homes. Treat them kindly and chivalrously. +Remember that though they may not have fought, they have suffered for +the fatherland! You understand?" + +They saluted, and were off. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TO THE FRONT + + +There was real news to be gleaned from these unfortunates who came into +the station at Amiens soon after the boys took their places there with +some of the other scouts of the troop. Women, children and old men--not +a young man was among them, of course--they poured from the freight cars +that in the main they occupied. And they were willing to talk; more than +willing, indeed. They told of how the Germans had come. First the Uhlans +riding through, stern and silent, willing to leave the inhabitants +alone, as a rule, if they themselves were let alone. Then the infantry, +rolling along in great grey masses. And with them came the spoiling of +the countryside. + +"They took everything--food, wine, everything our army had not had," +said one woman to Frank and Henri, as she walked through the streets +with them. Frank was carrying her baby for her. "They left us with +nothing! And then they burned all the houses in my street because, they +said, there must be clear space for their guns to fire!" + +It was a simple matter to distribute these poor refugees. The town of +Amiens had troubles of its own but it forgot them now, and set itself +doggedly to work the relief of the far more acute distress of those from +the countryside to the north and east. Always the stories of those who +had fled before the German hosts were the same. + +"The Germans haven't got an army!" cried Henri, bitterly. "It's a war +machine they send against us! They do not fight like men, but like +railroad trains!" + +They were learning more in this task of escorting the refugees than all +the bulletins had been able to tell them. No censors could close the +mouths of these poor people, and they were not only willing to +talk--they craved listeners. + +"It makes it easier to bear what we have suffered when we know that +others know what the Germans have done," said the woman with the baby. +"We women--we gave our husbands, and those who had sons gave their sons. +Now we have given all to France. Let the men win back enough for us to +live--that is all that we ask." + +They did not know the meaning of the military movements they had seen. +Indeed, they had not seen military movements in the strict sense of the +word. All they knew was that soldiers, first in one uniform, then in +another, had passed through their villages, first going north and east, +then south and west. They had heard firing, dim and in the distance at +first, but coming always nearer. Then the tide of battle had rolled by. +That was all they knew. + +But to boys who from the beginning of the war had followed every move on +the great chessboard of the struggle, these things meant knowledge for +which the editors of newspapers would have given fortunes. In Paris they +had had a great map, and every day they had shifted the tiny flags that +showed where the troops were. They had flags for each of the allies and +for the Austrians and Germans at first. Later they had become more +particular. They had worked out as well as they could the different +armies, even to the army corps, and had marked their flags accordingly. +And so this exact knowledge of where troops of particular commands had +been, made it possible for them, when there was time for them to go +home, to make changes in the positions of the little flags that dotted +their map. + +When they had finished doing that they looked at one another. + +"The French and the English are retreating," said Henri, soberly. "You +were right, Frank. They fought on the line of Mons to Charleroi in +Belgium, and then they began running away." + +"Not exactly that, either," said Frank. "Look here--look at the map, +Henri. There is Paris. There is a great army there under General +Gallieni. There are enormous fortifications. That is the great base. +There is this line with three fortresses--Rheims, La Fere, Laon, with +other forts between them. That backed the centre when the French army +retired from the border. But there is another army on the left of that +line--because, if the Germans get around the left, behind that line of +fortresses, they could be surrounded." + +"But they could be defended--" + +"Yes, as Bazaine defended Metz--until he was starved out," said Frank. +He was beginning to be excited. "I think I see what may happen, Harry. +The German right is moving out, always--far out, toward the sea. It +wants to get around our left, and cut it off. If it gets between our +left and Paris, there will be a disaster--another Sedan, perhaps. That +is why there is a retreat. It is necessary. We are not ready to fight +yet. But wait!" + +"Wait! Wait? Is that the thing for French soldiers to do? That is not +how Napoleon won his battles! He struck--and he struck first!" + +"Never until he was sure of victory." + +"But if they keep on retreating, they will be south of here! The Germans +can take Amiens, if they like!" exclaimed Harry in much alarm. + +"What of it? It will be sad for Amiens, but it will do the Germans no +good. Amiens has no strategic value. Less than Rheims or Laon--and we +know now that the Germans have them both, though that has not been in +the bulletins." + +"Then why are troops going south? The troops from here?" + +"We don't know where they are going, Henri. They start south but perhaps +they turn, and go to re-enforce the centre. Don't you suppose our +generals have their plans, too? You spoke of Napoleon. Don't you +remember the march to Moscow? How the Russians retreated, always, and +drew him on? And what happened then, when they were ready to fight?" + +Frank had awakened a memory terrible for any Frenchman. But there was no +more time for argument. The telephone rang out sharply and Henri went to +answer it. M. Marron was on the wire. When Henri returned his eyes were +shining. + +"We are wanted. Perhaps it is for real work," he said, happily. "He +wanted to know if we could both speak English--if I could, that is. None +of the other scouts can do that, he says, and so we are to report at +once. Oh, I wonder what can be wanted?" + +"Well, the best way to find out is to go and see," said Frank, +practically. + +M. Marron was ready for them when they reached him. He was no longer in +his khaki scoutmaster's garb, but in his uniform of captain of the line. + +"You are to report to Colonel Menier," he said, briefly. "I do not know +what service is required of you. I can only say to you, do your best. My +orders have come. I join my regiment to-day. From this moment the troop +of Boy Scouts of Amiens has no organization, until such time as it can +be restored. Each scout must act for himself, taking his orders whenever +it is possible from officers of the army. When he has no such orders he +must use his own best judgment. Before you report to Colonel Menier you +are to wait here--I intend to address all the scouts of the troop." + +They had not long to wait before the other scouts arrived. At the sight +of the scoutmaster in his uniform they cheered him heartily. + +"Scouts!" he said, speaking in French, when all were there. "I leave you +now, for the fatherland has called me to its service in ways different +from those to which I have been assigned so far. I leave you free to +your own devices. But you are free only in name. You are bound by your +scout oath, by your scout law. You are bound by those principles of +honor which the scouts teach and enforce. Never forget them! + +"While you are still boys, before it is time for France to call you to +the army, the enemy thunders at our gates. In our millions we have risen +to repel them, to drive the iron heel of the invader from France, France +the beautiful, the loved of all! It is for you, as for all who are +worthy of the name of Frenchmen, to help in that great work, to make +sacrifices, to do your part. + +"But your part gives you no right to fight. You are to bear no arms. +That does not mean you have no service to render to your native land; +that France does not ask anything of you. She asks much; she expects +much from the Boy Scouts. + +"It may be you can do most by quietly filling the place made vacant in +your home--made vacant by father or older brother gone to serve in the +ranks. It may be your privilege to aid in caring for the wounded as they +come back to their homes from the scene of conflict. It may be you will +find a place to help on the battlefields. But wherever you are, whatever +you do, remember that Scouts are ever faithful, ever loyal, ever true to +the trust reposed in them. + +"It is cowardly to shirk a duty. Perform your part in the struggle as +becomes true Scouts--as becomes men who have been born and reared in our +fair France. + +"Mark my word well. So, if I am spared to return to you, after the war, +I shall meet all of you again, and I shall be able to grasp the hand of +each one of you, and say: 'Well done! You have deserved well, you of +France and of the Boy Scouts Francais!'" + +His sword flashed from his scabbard, and he held it stiffly to the +salute. Then sheathing it, he turned and stamped from the room. He went +with a high head and a happy heart to the service of the land he +loved--as millions of Frenchmen had gone or would go. + +There was silence when he had gone. Quietly the scouts melted away to +the tasks they had in hand. The words of their departing leader had made +a great impression on them. Nor had his reminder of what they should and +should not do against the Germans been unnecessary. + +"I suppose he must be right," said Henri, a little wistfully. "I shall +obey. But I had hoped that I might have a shot at a few Germans! Frank, +I have practiced so often with my rifle! I have killed hawks and +rabbits--" + +"Let's find Colonel Menier," said Frank. "We can hurt the Germans far +more, I expect, by obeying orders than by killing a few. It is not the +killing of a few men that will settle this war, Henri! War is bad--war +is terrible. Let us not make it worse." + +Then they went to the barracks, inquiring, as they had been told to do, +for Colonel Menier. Soon they were brought to him, a busy, tired looking +officer of the staff. He eyed them keenly. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GLORY OF WAR + + +One glance at Henri seemed to satisfy him. The French boy, so typical of +his race, he was ready to take for granted. He asked just one question. + +"You speak English well? You can understand thoroughly?" + +"Yes, my colonel," answered Henri. + +Then the officer turned to Frank. + +"You are English--one of our allies?" he asked. + +"No, sir." And Frank had to explain, for the hundredth time since the +war began, as it seemed to him, his nationality and his mixed blood. He +threw up his head a little proudly now as he told of his French mother. + +"That is well enough," said the colonel. "You are neutral--in America. +But I think--ah, yes, I believe that you Americans remember Lafayette +and the help you had from Frenchmen once." + +"I am ready to do what I can for France, colonel," said Frank, simply. +"That is all I can say." + +"Or I, or any of us," said Colonel Menier. "Listen well, then. I shall +tell you things that no one else is to know. You, Martin, know the +country here? You can find your way about?" + +"Yes, my colonel." + +"I want you to take certain messages for me to the English headquarters. +Where it is to-day, I know. It is here--see, on the map?" + +They looked at the spot he indicated, and concealed their surprise. They +had supposed the English much nearer the border. + +"Where it may be to-morrow I cannot tell. But it is of the greatest +importance that the papers I give you be delivered at headquarters. It +is so important that we will not trust them to the telephone, to the +telegraph, to the field wireless. They are reports of the most +confidential nature, having to do with movements that will be of great +importance a few days from mow. You will not wear your uniforms of Boy +Scouts for the work in hand." + +Neither of them said anything. + +"That, you will understand, is because the uniforms would make you more +than ever conspicuous to the Germans. I do not think you will be +anywhere near the Uhlans. But in war one must not think; or, if one +does, one must think of all things that may happen. So you will wear +your ordinary clothes. You have one day, two days, three, if necessary, +to find the British headquarters. No more. These papers are written on +the thinnest of paper. It is so thin that the messages are contained in +these marbles that I give you--one to each of you." + +They took the marbles and still they made no comment. + +"If you are captured and searched, I believe you will have very little +to fear. It is not likely that a German officer, no matter how zealous +he may be, will be over-suspicious of a lot of marbles in a boy's +pocket. You will have a pocket full of them, and they will all look +alike. And if the Germans find you are only boys moved by the curiosity +of boys to see battlefields, they will not hurt you. I do not believe +they will even hold you. Probably they will not even take your marbles +away from you, thinking them harmless playthings, never once dreaming of +their secret. Only the officer at our headquarters who knows of your +coming will be able to distinguish one marble from another. How he will +do so, it is better that you should not know." + +"Someone then will know that we are coming, my colonel?" said Henri, a +smile brightening his face. + +"Evidently. When you reach the British lines, you will be challenged, +probably arrested and detained. Say to the soldier that he is to give a +word to his officer--Mezieres. That will insure your being taken to +headquarters. Everywhere, all through the field, the giving of that word +will mean that he who gives it is to be taken at once to the nearest +staff officer." + +"Mezieres. We will remember, my colonel," said Henri. "We will change +into our ordinary clothes and start at once. On our return we report to +you here?" + +Colonel Menier smiled sadly. + +"When you return there will be no French troops in Amiens, I fear," he +said. "Indeed, I know it. The time to stop and turn to fight is not yet. +We shall not play into the hands of the Germans by fighting on their +chosen ground. We shall wait until we are ready. This is not 1870 when +armies were thrown away rather than retreat to ground where the chances +of victory were even, at the worst. Remember that, if you think the +retreat is shameful. If, in 1870, the army of Chalons had retreated upon +Paris, instead of marching to the trap at Sedan, French history might +well be different." + +"Then Amiens is to be evacuated, my colonel?" + +"It is the order. When you have done your errand, return here or do +whatever the British staff may require of you. It will not be for long +that Amiens shall be deserted. We shall return. But whether I shall be +here then, I do not know. Farewell! Obey the orders I have given you, +and you will deserve well of France." + +They saluted then and went to make their preparations for the start. + +"Harry," said Frank, "if the Germans are coming to Amiens, your mother +must go. She should be where she will be safe." + +"You are right, Frank. We will try to persuade her to go. But will she +leave her task with the wounded?" + +"She can take it up elsewhere." + +But though they had expected to have difficulty in persuading her, they +found that Madame Martin was already making plans to go. + +"The wounded are to be taken to Tours in great numbers," she told them. +"They will need nurses there, and I shall go. Henri, will you and +Francois come with me?" + +"We cannot," said Henri. "There is work for us to do. You would want me +to do my share?" + +"Of course I do!" she said, her eyes filling with tears. "And so speaks +every mother in France to-day! Stay, then, and serve your land in +whatever way you can, for France needs even the boys now. Remember, +Henri, that somewhere your mother is serving too, and she expects her +son to do his whole duty. More, she _knows_ he will do it." And her face +glowed with pride in her son as she clasped his hand in her own. + +"I will remember," said Henri. + +Then they went to their room, laid away their newly acquired uniforms of +Boy Scouts, and, keeping not even their new badges of which they had +been so proud, especially Henri, dressed in their ordinary clothes. + +"Let's start on bicycles, anyhow," proposed Frank. "We may not be able +to stick to them, but we can save a lot of time on our way to Le Cateau. +That's where we shall go first, isn't it?" + +"Yes. We had better start for there. You're right about the bicycles, +too. Even if we lose them, that does not matter so much," said Harry. + +"And, Harry, we've got to pretend to be pretty stupid, if we are caught. +You mustn't act as if you knew too much. Don't let the Germans see how +you really feel about them. Pretend to be terribly frightened, even if +you're not," instructed Frank. + +"All right. I see what you mean. Come on, then. Let's be off!" + +Already, as they rode through the streets of Amiens, the signs of what +was to come were multiplying. Troops were marching out of the town, but +they were going south, away from the battle line, it seemed. And the +townspeople were not slow in taking the hint. They were gathering such +things as they could carry with them, and all those with anything of +real value, and with a place to take it, were preparing to get away +before the coming of the Germans. The refugees from Belgium had told +them lurid tales of the German treatment of captured places; they had no +mind to share the fate of their unhappy neighbors in the plucky little +country to the north. And so the exodus was beginning. + +Henri was very much depressed. + +"And this is war!" he said, sadly. "So far, except for the wounded, we +have seen only the suffering of women and children. Where is the glory +of war of which history tells? I want to see some fighting! I want to +know that we are really resisting the invaders of the fatherland." + +"You'll know it soon enough," said Frank, with a smile. "You are too +impatient, Harry. And you must remember this. While all this is going +on, Russia is advancing too. The Austrians have been well beaten all +along their front already. Soon it will be the turn of the Germans to +meet Russia. They cannot long devote all their energy to France and the +British." + +"That is so, Frank. But the Russians won't fight here." + +"Perhaps not. But it will be the same. For every army corps that Russia +sends into Prussia means that Germany can spare so many troops less for +the war on this side. Harry, do you know what I think? I think Germany +is beaten already!" + +"How can you say that, Frank? We know now that they have pushed us back +everywhere--that they are all over Belgium, and are marching on Paris, +just as they did the last time--" + +"No, not just as they did the last time, Harry. For then they marched on +Paris with the field armies of France beaten--one of them captured, the +other locked up in Metz. Now the armies of France are still in the +field. And I say that Germany is beaten because her one chance in this +war was to destroy France as she did in 1870--quickly. If she had done +that, she might have been able to turn back, away from France, and meet +Russia with her full strength." + +"Oh, I see what you mean. But I'll feel better when we turn and fight, +instead of running away from them." + +"So will I and everyone else, Harry. But the great thing for our side +now is to win delay. Every day is as important as a battle. Russia +moves slowly, but when she is fully in the field she will have as great +an army ready as France and Germany together." + +"Well, I hope you are right. Ah, now we are out of the town. We can go a +little faster. En avant!" + +In the fields women and young boys were working hard, getting in the +harvest that the men had abandoned. Never had a countryside looked more +peaceful, except that at every bridge they passed now was a sentry, +usually a man of the reserve, held back from the front for this sort of +duty, while the younger men were at the front to do the actual fighting. + +For a long time they were not challenged. The sentries looked at them +idly, but decided that they were not at all likely to be Prussian spies, +and let them pass. But when they came to the railroad line leading from +Amiens to Arras, which they had to cross, it was different. Their +crossing was at a culvert, where the road passed under the tracks. Here +there was not one sentry, but a post, under the command of a one-legged +veteran. + +To him they were forced to make explanations, which he received gravely, +studying Frank with particular attention. + +"So you carry despatches," he said. "You have a word, a countersign, +perhaps?" + +"Mezieres," said Henri, promptly. + +"Very well. Pass, then, but keep an eye open. There were Uhlans here +before daybreak." + +"Here?" + +"They are beginning to show now. We hear they were in Arras yesterday. +Some stayed with us. They sought to blow up the culvert here." + +Then they went on. And just after they had passed the post, they saw +what the crippled veteran had meant when he had said that some of the +Uhlans had stayed. They lay beside the road, in their greenish gray +uniforms. They were the first German soldiers either of the boys had +seen. And, in the field, two old peasants were digging a grave. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HANDS OF A CLOCK + + +The sight was a sobering one. There had been only half a dozen of the +Uhlans, and they knew from what they had heard and read that thousands, +scores of thousands probably, had already died in the war. But they +hadn't seen the others, and these men had lain by the roadside within a +few feet of them. For a time neither of the two scouts had much to say. + +"There's some real war for you, Henri," Frank said, finally. + +"Don't!" said the French scout with a shudder. "It must be, but it is +terrible. And only a few hours ago, I suppose, they were riding along as +well as you and I!" + +Then for a mile or more they rode along in silence. They made good time +for the roads were level. There were no interruptions to their progress +now. In the fields, as before, they could see the women and a few old +men about the work of the harvest, but in spite of that, there was an +air of desolation. Everything seemed to have stopped. And there was a +curious something that made itself felt. For a long time, though each of +them felt this, they made no comment on it. Finally Frank called a halt. + +"Listen, Harry," he said. "There's something curious. It's a noise, and +yet it isn't, exactly. It sounds a little like thunder or like the surf +when you are quite a little way inland--" + +They stopped together, listening. + +"I know!" said Henri, suddenly. "It's the guns we hear. The wind is +changing and that is why it is coming to us now. There is a battle. In +olden days we could see its smoke but now they fight without making +smoke. And the noise, too, seems to come from the direction in which we +are going." + +Once he had named the cause, there was no mystery about the sound. It +was less a sound, however, than a beating of the air. There were no +sharp reports; it was a steady, ceaseless murmur. But even so, there was +no mistaking it. For the first time they were within hearing distance of +a battle. + +"We will soon be on our way to Berlin, now," said Henri. "That must mean +that we have turned--that the great battle has begun." + +"It needn't mean that," said Frank. "It may be only artillery covering a +rear guard action. I wish you'd remember, Harry, that a retreat may mean +mighty hard fighting. Not a rout--a retreat. It isn't easy for an army +to move backward. But it's been done by a good many armies that won +later." + +"Well, come on! We're not getting any nearer to the English by stopping +here to talk." + +"No. We'll be off again. That noise is getting nearer, Harry. Or louder, +anyhow. Perhaps that only means that more guns are going into action." + +Somehow the nearness of the battle stimulated them. They found +themselves making better time, though they had certainly seemed to be +riding as fast as they could before. And all the time the sound of the +cannon in front of them grew louder, and the quality of the noise +gradually changed. Soon loud explosions began to be distinguishable amid +the general hum of battle, and, too, there was an overtone,--a sharper, +less steady noise. + +"Rifle fire, I think, too," said Frank. "It's lighter than the sound of +the cannon, but it seems to be just about as steady. And to think that +that's going on, all the way from here to the Swiss border nearly! +They're fighting here and near Verdun, and in the Vosges mountains." + +"Look over there," said Henri, suddenly. "Do you see? That looks like an +omnibus!" + +"It is--one of the sort they use in London!" said Frank, in surprise. + +The great, unwieldy vehicle came lumbering toward them. It rolled along +the road, raising a tremendous cloud of dust, and they could see that +behind it were many more. Just behind it, too, a man on a motorcycle +came suddenly into view. He was mounted on a high-powered machine, and +they could hear the roar of his motor as he came up to them. + +"Halte!" he cried, in a broken French. "Arretez vous!" + +They were off their machines in a moment, saluting, as he stopped his +motor and put one foot on the ground to steady his machine. He was +dressed in khaki, and both of them recognized his uniform as that of the +British forces. + +"We speak English," said Frank. + +"The deuce you do! That's good! Well, tell me how to get to Guise. We've +lost our blooming way, that's what we've done! And we've got supplies +for the troops." + +"You're going the wrong way--straight to Amiens," said Henri. "The road +to Guise is back four miles, at least. Can you turn your 'buses here? We +will guide you. We are going that way." + +"You are, are you?" said the English officer. He laughed, curtly. "I +doubt that, young fellow! I do, indeed! However, you can come along +with us as far as that. Then I'll wash my hands of you. But I can tell +you that if you go on much further, you'll get into some fighting that +isn't meant for boys!" + +They made no reply, for as they understood their errand, they were not +supposed to tell every officer they met what they were doing, but were +to answer questions only when it was plain that not to do so meant that +they would be prevented from reaching their destination. + +It was not the easiest of tasks to manage the reversing of the supply +train of omnibuses, but the officer in charge was efficient, and it was +managed. When the convoy had turned around, he rode up beside the boys. + +"Seen any signs of Germans?" he asked. + +"Only at a culvert a few miles back," said Frank. He described the fight +there as best he could, and the officer looked a little worried. + +"As far as that, eh?" he said. "We hadn't heard of their being in that +quarter at all. H'm!" + +Then he rode on ahead, to what had, until a few moments before, been the +rear of his train. + +"He's doing well enough, now that he knows his way," said Frank in an +undertone to Henri. "But I think he was in a bad way. I've got an idea +that the Germans are behind us. Do you know what I think? It's funny for +a supply train like this to be here without any escort of troops, isn't +it?" + +"Yes. I thought of that, too." + +"Well, I believe he was supposed to meet a guard, and missed it. Suppose +he'd run into the Germans?" + +"Yes, that would have been a nice mess! I suppose some English soldiers +would have gone hungry to-night!" + +The road was rising a little, enough for them to feel the added pull in +propelling their wheels. And now, at the crest of the little rise, they +saw that the officer had dismounted. He had unstrapped a box from his +machine and was setting it up. In a few minutes, as they reached him, +he had set up a tripod-like machine, not unlike a surveyor's +instrument, and was flashing a small mirror. + +"Hello!" he said. "Field heliograph kit. Ever see it before?" + +"No, sir, but I know about it," said Frank, while Henri looked on +admiringly. "I know the Morse code, too." + +"Do you? Good! Then watch those answering flashes. Check off the message +for me." + +Harry obeyed, having spotted in that moment the answer of a similar +instrument on a hill perhaps five miles away. He read off the Morse +signs carefully, and the officer nodded. + +"And that's all right," he said, with a sigh of relief. "They'll have an +escort here for us as quickly as it can ride over. I suppose you know I +signalled for that?" + +"Yes, sir." + +The officer was plainly puzzled by Frank and Henri. He could not quite +understand what they were doing in what was decidedly disputed ground. +But he had not the instinct that would have prompted a French, and more +especially, a German officer, to question them and, if he was not fully +satisfied, to put them under restraint. + +"All right. We'll be getting on," he said. "Ride along, now. I'm going +back. Don't get out of touch. And if I'm not around when we get to the +road where we are to turn off for Guise, stop them. They know you're +guiding us." + +He went off, with a great sputtering of his engine, and Frank and Harry +rode along quietly. But Frank felt a strange uneasiness. + +"I feel as if there was something wrong around here," he said. + +"What do you mean, Frank? Everything's quiet now. Even the firing is not +as heavy as it was." + +"I know, but just the same, that's how I feel. As if there was something +in the air. What's this--a village we're coming to?" + +"Yes, and the crossroads where the 'buses must turn, for Guise is just +beyond here, too." + +"Doesn't look much like war, does it?" said Frank. "Look at that church. +I suppose it's been there for centuries. But the clock looks new, +doesn't it?" + +"Yes, and it's stopped, too," said Henri, with a laugh. "I suppose they +are so excited about the war that they've forgotten to wind it +properly." + +"The time of day doesn't matter much just now," said Frank. "I think--" +He stopped short, staring as if fascinated at the clock. Then with a cry +to Henri to wait for him, he turned and pedalled furiously back in the +direction the officer had taken. + +"Who is the commander?" he called to the soldier driver of one of the +'buses. + +"Capting 'Ardy," replied the man. + +"Thanks," Frank called, and went on as fast as he could. He met Captain +Hardy coming toward him. Swiftly he told him what he had seen, and +Hardy, tugging at his revolver, sped on. Frank followed but was left far +behind, naturally, by the speed of the motorcycle. When he reached the +church he looked up at the clock again. Captain Hardy's motorcycle was +lying in the street, and Henri was staring at the church door greatly +puzzled. + +"What is the matter?" cried Henri. "The officer came back, jumped off +his machine and tore into the church as if his life depended on it. He +was pulling out his pistol, too. What--" + +The sharp bark of a revolver interrupted him. It spoke three times and +there was a cry from above. They looked up, to see the figure of a man +dropping from the opening of the clock. A moment later Captain Hardy +came down, reloading his revolver. + +"Good work, youngster!" he said. "Your eyes were sharp that time! If you +hadn't seen the hands of that clock moving we might have been caught in +a nice trap! Wait here--I'm going to make a barricade of the omnibuses." + +"What does he mean?" cried Henri, almost frantic with curiosity. + +"Why, I saw that the hands of the clock had moved! You said it had +stopped, and I looked up. Then the next time I looked, the hands had +moved around--two or three hours!" + +"But how--and why--if the clock had stopped?" + +"That's just it! That clock must be visible for some distance around, +Harry. Suppose a German was there? He could be signalling, couldn't he?" + +"Oh, a spy! I never thought of that! You mean he would tell other +Germans to come here--that there was work for them to do?" + +"Yes. I only hope Captain Hardy stopped him in time." + +But Hardy was taking no more chances than he could help. He had guessed +as quickly as Frank the probable reason for the strange antics of the +clock's face. And now he made his dispositions quickly. Counting the +armed drivers of each omnibus, and the extra man each carried, he had +less than thirty men. But he drew up several of the omnibuses in a +square formation in the central square of the village, and thus had an +improvised fort. When he had done that he called sharply to the two +boys. + +"Get along with you--get away from here!" he said. "If we're going to +have a fight it's no place for you. You've done us a mighty good turn--I +don't want you running into danger because of it." + +Even as he spoke a shot rang out. It was from the direction in which +they had come! + +"Just in time, too," he said, coolly. + +A soldier came up to report. + +"Uhlans, sir--a sight of them, too. Coming from the road we were taking. +I think we got one of them, sir. Toppled him off his horse, anyhow, +sir." + +"All right. Let them come," said Captain Hardy. "Go along now, boys. If +you see the cavalry sent to escort us, tell them to hurry! We'll try to +beat them off until we get help." + +He turned away, and Frank picked up his wheel. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A GLIMPSE OF THE ENEMY + + +Other ears than theirs had heard that firing, too. As they rode along +they saw a cloud of dust before them, and soon men and horses emerged +from the dust. + +"Let's hide in the hedge along the road," said Frank. "Come on--they'll +never see us." + +"But they won't hurt us, Frank. They're English--our friends." + +"Probably they are. But how do we know? They may be more Germans." + +"Oh, I never thought of that! If they are--" + +"Yes, if they are, it's good-bye to Captain Hardy and his supplies. But +we can't help it. We've already done all we could for him." + +They watched the oncoming cavalry, but even at a little distance, what +with their speed and the dust, it was impossible to tell to which army +they belonged. They were either English or German; that was all that +could be certain. And that could be deduced from their khaki uniforms. +There were no colors to emerge, bright and vivid, from their dun mass; +no points of steel, on which the rays of the sun might shine and be +reflected. + +"If they were French we could tell," said Henri, proudly. "We could see +their red and blue uniforms and, if they were cuirassiers, their +breastplates!" + +"Yes. The French are far behind the times in that," said Frank, a little +impatiently. "Nowadays armies don't try to act as if they were on dress +parade. They wear uniforms that can't be seen any great distance away." + +"The French army fights in the uniform in which its famous victories +were won," said Henri. + +"And it gets killed in them, too," said Frank. "Gets killed when it +doesn't do any good. But that doesn't matter now. Ah, they're English! I +can see that now. We needn't tell them to hurry--they're going for all +they're worth now. They've heard the firing and are hastening." + +The English horsemen swept by. They were riding low in the saddle, +urging their horses on. Each man carried a carbine, ready to dismount at +any moment and give battle as seemed best. In five minutes they had +swept by. + +"Two troops," said Frank. "Well, that ought to be enough, though there's +no telling how many Uhlans there were. Ah, here come some more!" + +This time it was a battery of light artillery--four guns, going along +almost as quickly as the cavalry had done. + +"That ought to settle it," said Frank, with satisfaction. "Even if they +run into a brigade of Uhlans, the guns ought to do the trick. I don't +believe they had any guns or we'd have heard them by this time." + +"They're still fighting back there," said Henri, as they wheeled their +bicycles back to the road. "I can hear the firing." + +"Yes, and I think it must be a pretty lively skirmish, too," said Frank. +"Captain Hardy would keep them at it. Listen! The Uhlans must outnumber +them three or four to one. I hope the others get up in time." + +A few minutes gave assurance that they had. They heard the firing still +more loudly; then, a few minutes later, the heavier sound of the guns +chimed in. And then there was silence behind them. + +"Score one for our side," said Frank. "We know a little more than we did +before, too. I think it's a safe guess that the Germans aren't in this +direction. We can go along without worrying about them." + +As he said that they were coasting down a little hill, at the bottom of +which, Henri had said, another road crossed the one on which they were +riding just around a little turn in the road. And as they took that +turn, their feet off the pedals, they almost fell off their wheels in +astonishment. For the transverse road was gray-green with soldiers; +soldiers with spiked helmets, marching south! + +A moment later they did fall off their wheels, deliberately, and at a +common impulse, because it was the only way there was of stopping before +they were in the midst of the German infantry. There was just a chance +that they had not been seen and they took it, and fled to the hedge +again, leaving their bicycles behind. There was no time to bother about +such trifles now. The thing to do was to make good their escape, if they +could. + +"Whew!" said Frank, whistling. "That was a close shave, if you like! +Where on earth did they come from? And how is it they didn't see the +English cavalry?" + +"Perhaps they didn't care, if they did see them," said Henri, wide-eyed +with astonishment. "Look, Frank, there must be thousands of them! Where +can they be going?" + +"Where did they come from? That's more to the point!" said Frank, vastly +excited. "I know! They got the railway--that's what they did! They must +have come through Arras. Jove, though, they took a terrible risk, Harry! +Because, no matter how many of them there are, they can't even begin to +compare with the allies in numbers--not around here. But how can they be +here without being seen? What are our aeroplanes doing?" + +"I haven't seen one all day--not since we left Amiens, at least," said +Henri. "But I know where they are--flying over the enemy's lines, trying +to locate the guns exactly. That's what they try to do, you know. They +decide just where a masked battery is, and then our fellows can drop +their shells right among their guns. The gunners can't get the range +properly any other way. There isn't any powder smoke to help them any +more, you know. So I suppose that's where they are." + +"Then I tell you what I think happened. I think they cut the railroad, +or, rather, they didn't cut it. I bet they ran those fellows down there +through on trains--right through our army." + +"How could they do that?" + +"Easily--no, not easily. It wouldn't be easy at all. But it's possible. +They've caught a lot of our men, haven't they? Well, couldn't they use +their uniforms so that it would look as if it was a French or an English +train? Let me have your field glass. It's better than mine." + +They were sheltered now and safe from observation. They could, +nevertheless, see the German column strung out along the road. It seemed +to cover at least two or three miles of the road, and there was no way +of being sure that there were not more men. + +"I think they've got pretty nearly five thousand men," Frank decided +finally. "They're in light marching order, for Germans, too. No camp +kitchens--nothing. Only what the men themselves are carrying. They're +making a forced march to get to some particular place. Queer to use +infantry, though, but I suppose they couldn't get horses through with +whatever trick it was they played." + +"They're beginning to turn off," said Henri. "See, the head of the +column is slipping through that field over there. They must know this +country as well as I do or better. That's a short cut that will take +them to Hierville." + +"I don't believe they're going to Hierville or any other village now," +said Frank. "Tell me, are those woods I can see in front of them at all +thick?" + +"Yes, they're old, too. They've been preserved for a long time. That's +the oldest part of the old park of the Chateau d'Avriere. It was one of +the castles that wasn't destroyed in the revolution." + +"Well, they're going to take cover in those woods. This is all a part of +a mighty careful plan, Harry. I think they have turned a real trick. If +the French or the English knew that the Germans were in any such force +as this so far south and west as this they would be acting very +differently, I believe. Their aeroplanes have certainly failed them +here." + +"They're on the line of retreat, if we were beaten again in that battle +we've been hearing all afternoon." + +"I don't think it was a real battle at all, Harry. I think it was just +rear guard fighting. But I tell you what we've got to do. We've got to +get through and tell about these troops. Of course, they may know all +about them at headquarters, but it doesn't look so. We had better wait +here until we make fairly sure of what they're going to do and until +there isn't any more danger of our being seen, too. They'll have scouts +out all around them. We were mighty lucky to get through so long as we +have. But it's going to get dark pretty soon, and then we ought to be +safe." + +They lay in their improvised shelter. It took the Germans a long time to +pass, but at last the road below was free of them, and the last of them +slipped into the sheltering obscurity of the woods. + +"We ought to find out if they're staying there, or if they are still +moving on," said Frank. "It's risky, but I think we ought to take the +risk. You stay here, Henri. I'll try to get around, and come back." + +"Why should I stay here? If there's a risk, why shouldn't I take it +just as well as you?" + +"Because one of us has got to get through. If I'm caught, you'll still +be here and able to get through to headquarters with what we've found +out already. And the reason I'd better go is that I'm an American. If +they catch me they're not so likely to hold me." + +"But I don't think it's fair for you to take the risk. I ought to do +it," said Henri, stubbornly. + +"I don't care what you think," said Frank, "I'm going. Au revoir, +Harry!" + +"Wait a minute! How are you going to find out?" + +"I'll try to skirt the wood." + +"You needn't do that. Keep straight on the road we were taking, instead +of turning off at the foot of the hill. About half a mile beyond the +crossroads the road rises again, and you'll find a windmill. If you +climb to the top of that you can see beyond the woods, and you ought to +be able to tell if the Germans are moving out of the woods." + +"Splendid!" said Frank. He admired Henri's readiness, once he had made +up his mind that Frank was going alone, to help him with his greater +knowledge of the countryside. Some boys would have been sullen, and +would not have volunteered that information, he was sure. + +Before Frank started on his lonely errand, he carried Henri's bicycle +back of the hedge. Then he mounted his own, and coasted down the hill. +His object was to seem entirely indifferent, should some German scout or +straggler spy him, but plainly the Germans had decided to leave the road +uncovered. + +"I guess they decided it was better to risk being surprised than to give +themselves away," he said to himself. "Otherwise they'd have been pretty +sure to leave an outpost of some sort here because this road looks like +just the place for troop movements. It looks more and more as if they +had really managed to make a secret of this column." + +It did not take him long to find the windmill of which Henri had told +him. The place was deserted; there was no one to oppose his entry. And, +when he reached the top, he found that there was an excellent view of +the country for several miles, a much better one than they had had from +their shelter on the hillside above the Germans. + +He could see the woods into which the invading troops had disappeared, +looking dark and mysterious in the deepening twilight. There was no sign +of life about them; no smoke rose above the treetops. And no Germans +were beyond them. Then his guess had been right, he decided. They had +made for those woods to obtain shelter, and they relied upon the fact +that the allies did not know of their presence. It was a daring move; it +might well have been successful, save for the accident of the two boys +who had observed it. Indeed, even now there was a chance, and something +more than a chance, that the German object, whatever it was, might be +attained. Frank and Henri were a long way yet from having reached the +British headquarters. Unknown dangers and obstacles lay between them and +their destination. + +"With the German attack developing so quickly as this, we don't know +where we may not run into them," mused Frank, as he descended from the +windmill and mounted his wheel, preparing to start back to join Henri. +"They may be anywhere. I don't want to see them win, but they certainly +are wonderfully good fighters. They have good leaders, too." + +When he reached Henri he found that his French comrade was lighting the +lamp of his bicycle. With a laugh he blew out the flame. + +"But it's dark and we'll be arrested if we ride without a light," said +Henri, protestingly. + +"That law was made for peace, not for war," said Frank. "When we know as +little about where the Germans are as we do, I'm not going to take any +chances. We'll ride with lights out, thank you. Come on!" + +As they rode along in the growing dusk, close together, Frank told what +he had seen. + +"That was a good guess, then," said Henri. "But, Frank, how can they +know so well what to do? You would think that they had been brought up +in this country, those German officers!" + +"They might as well have been," said Frank. "I've heard stories of how +they prepare for war. They have maps that show every inch of land in +this part of France. They know the roads, the hills, even the fields and +the houses. They have officers with every regiment who know where +ditches are that they can use as trenches, and who have studied the land +so that they recognize places they have never seen, just from the maps +that they have studied until they know them by heart. And it isn't only +France that they know that way, but England, and some parts of Russia, +too. Why, I've even heard that they've studied parts of America, around +New York and Boston, almost as thoroughly." + +Henri cried out in anger. + +"That is how they have behaved!" he cried. "They have been planning, all +these years, then, to crush France!" + +"Oh, cheer up, Harry," said Frank. "I guess you'll find that your French +staff officers have returned the compliment. Unless I'm very much +mistaken, any one of them could tell you just as much about the country +in Alsace and Lorraine, and all through the Rhine Province, as the +Germans could of this section. It wasn't so in the last war. Then French +officers were losing their way in French territory. That was one reason +why the battle at the Speichern was lost--because French reinforcements +lost their way. But this time France got ready, too." + +"Shall we still make for Le Cateau?" + +"There's nothing else to do, until we find out that the staff has +changed its location." + +Riding along in a light that made men out of the shadows of trees and +regiments of the shocked corn in the fields was eerie work. But neither +of them was afraid. They were fired by a purpose to serve the cause in +which they had enlisted. And they were thrilled, too, by the knowledge +of the German force upon which they had spied, themselves unseen. + +And then all at once, out of a dark spot in the road, appeared a man, +holding a horse. + +"Halt!" he cried, in a guttural voice. + +They obeyed, perforce. And when they were close enough, they saw that he +was a German cavalryman, one of the dreaded Uhlans. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THROUGH THE LINES + + +For a moment Frank's heart sank, but suddenly, a hoarse laugh surprised +him and revived his spirits. It was the Uhlan. He was laughing at them. + +"Kinder!" he said, deep down in his throat. + +"Nothing so alarming in this," thought Frank, experiencing quick relief, +and awaiting the Uhlan's next words. + +"I have my way lost," he said, in a guttural English. "Kannst du +Englisch sprechen?" + +"I am an American," said Frank, at the same time nudging Henri, and +hoping that he would understand it as a signal to keep still. "Where do +you want to go?" + +"That matters not," said the German, cautiously. "Only tell me, which +way from here is Amiens?" + +They told him. + +"And where does the road to St. Quentin turn off from this one?" + +"It is the next turn, to your left," said Frank, truthfully. + +"Good! Then I will be going. Go home, kinder. You will get into trouble +if you stay hereabout." + +He vaulted upon his horse, and the next moment they heard hoofs +clattering along the hard road, and, looking after him, could see the +sparks as the iron clashed with the flint of the road's surface. + +"That was easy!" said Frank, with a gasp of relief. + +"He was alone," said Henri. + +"Carrying despatches, I expect," said Frank. "He wouldn't tell us where +he was going, naturally, but I bet he's looking for those other troops +we saw. Dangerous work, too. But I wonder where he came from. If there +are more Uhlans in front, we may get into trouble." + +"Suppose we hide the bicycles near here and go along through the +fields? Don't you think that will be better, Frank?" was Henri's +cautious suggestion. + +"Yes, I suppose it will, though it will be slower, too." + +"Of course. But if we are going to be stopped all the time along this +road, we'll really save time in the end by doing it." + +So they made a cache, as Frank told Henri it should be called, hiding +their wheels so that they would have a chance of recovering them if they +came back this way. They marked the spot not only by landmarks, but by +the stars, which were beginning to dot the sky now. + +"There may be fighting here," said Frank. "And if there is, this place +may look very different before we see it again. If there is a battle the +trees will go, and the fences, and all the houses for if they are not +burned deliberately, the shells will destroy them." + +"Look, Frank, what is that?" + +Henri had turned and was pointing now to the north. There a stream of +white light shot into the air, then dropped, and left only its +reflection. But in a moment others joined it, and the whole sky to the +north was brilliantly lighted. It was like a display of Northern Lights, +only nearer and even more brilliant. + +"Searchlights, of course," said Frank. "They can throw them on the +trenches--and they're good to guard against aeroplanes and dirigibles, +too. At night, you see, there'd be a chance for aeroplanes to fly very +low and do a lot of damage." + +"Can't they hear the engines from the ground?" + +"Not always. They have mufflers on a good many aeroplane motors now, so +that they don't make any more noise than a quiet automobile." + +"I didn't know that. Well, there's one good thing about the +searchlights. We know which way to go. Come on." + +"All right. The more I think of it, the better it is not to be on the +roads. Here in the fields we're a lot less likely to run into stray +parties. And I'd just about as soon meet Germans as allies. If they're +retreating and having trouble, they might hold us up as long as the +Germans would. They wouldn't believe we really had despatches." + +For a time they made good, steady progress. The roar of artillery fire +in front of them had been resumed, and now it filled the air, proving +that they were much closer to the battle. The great waves of sound beat +against their ears, making their heads swim at first, but gradually they +grew used to it, and could hear other and more trivial sounds--the +chirping of night insects and the occasional hooting of owls. + +"I don't hear the rifle fire," said Henri, after a time. "Only once in a +while, that is. Why is that, I wonder? Are the big guns drowning it?" + +"No. Because if that were the reason, we wouldn't hear it at all. I +think they don't do that at night. It's just a case of trying to find +the places where the enemy's troops are massed, and keeping up a steady +fire of shells to drive them out. Maybe the searchlights help. They've +been fighting all day, you know, and even soldiers have to have some +rest. They have to eat and sleep or they can't keep up the work." + +They crossed more than one road, but stuck to the fields, travelling in +a straight line as nearly as they could figure their course. When they +had decided to join the Boy Scouts, both had studied the stars, since a +knowledge of the heavens is one of the most important things about +scouting, and they found what they had learned very valuable now. Thus +they could keep their bearings, though owing to their desertion of the +roads, Henri confessed that he had very little idea of where they were. + +"Along the roads one has landmarks," he said. "I have gone all through +here, over and over again. My father used to drive this way very often +in our automobile." + +"Well, we can't go very far wrong," said Frank, cheerfully. "All we've +got to do is to follow the old German maxim, 'March on the cannon +thunder!' That was their one rule in 1870, you know and a very good +rule it proved too." + +So they went on. And they still seemed to be a long way from the seat of +the heavy artillery firing when a challenge halted them, as they were +about to cross a road. + +"'Alt! 'Oo goes there?" called a cockney voice sharply. + +"Friends," cried Frank, instantly. + +"'Alt, friends, while I 'as a look at you," said the sentry. + +"Call your officer, please. We are carrying despatches," said Frank. + +"I'll call 'im, all right. My word! You ain't nothin' but kiddies, you +ain't! 'Ere! Corporal of the guard! I sye! Corporal of the guard!" + +He raised his voice in the shout, and a minute or so later a corporal +appeared. + +"Came up to me, sir," said the sentry. "Said as 'ow they wanted me to +call the officer of the guard. Carryin' despatches, they sye they is." + +"All right," said the corporal, briskly. "Come with me, my lads. Step +smartly when you're told or you may be shot," in a genial voice. + +They followed him through a field that seemed deserted, then came to a +small cluster of tents, where they stopped. + +"Wait here," said the corporal. "I'll bring the lieutenant." + +They did not have long to wait before a young officer approached them. + +"My word!" he said, when he saw how young they were. "What are you +youngsters doing here?" + +"We're looking for headquarters, sir," said Frank. "We are carrying +despatches from Amiens." + +"All right! Give them to me, and I'll see that they're forwarded, my +lads," said the officer, with a grin. + +"We can't do that, sir," said Frank. "Our orders are to carry them to +headquarters--and to give the word Mezieres." + +"Ah, that's different, now," said the officer. "Corporal, give me two +men to take these despatch-bearers through the lines," came the order. + +The giving of the word had made a great change in his attitude. It was +plain that before that he had not taken them seriously, but had supposed +them to be playing some prank. Now, however, he looked at them +curiously. + +"Boy Scouts?" he suggested. + +"Yes, sir," said Frank. "Detailed to special duty, without uniforms." + +"I see! Jolly plucky of you, I call it. I say, you're not French, my +lad, are you? How did you get here? Well, never mind! Here's your +escort. Be off with you, now." + +Their troubles were over now. Within five minutes they were at +headquarters. There a weary staff officer received them. They saluted. + +"Very well," he said. "Give me your despatches." + +Each of them produced his handful of marbles from his pocket, and laid +them solemnly before the major. He stared, first at the marbles, then at +them. + +"What sort of a silly prank is this?" he roared. "Do you think we've +nothing better to do than to waste time in jokes? If you were men--" + +"We are obeying orders, sir," said Frank, quietly. "Those are the +despatches Colonel Menier at Amiens gave us to deliver. He said that +only one officer here would know what they meant, and how to get the +despatches." + +"O, I beg your pardon," said the major. He took down his telephone. "Ask +if despatches are expected from Amiens," he said, into the instrument. +"And find out who is in charge." + +"There is another matter, sir," said Frank. "We saw German troops as we +came here." + +"Uhlans. Yes, they're all around behind us. One squadron of them was cut +up when it attacked a convoy. There aren't many of them." + +"No, sir, I didn't mean Uhlans. There is a force of infantry--five +thousand men, we estimated--" + +"What?" thundered the major, springing to his feet, "You must be +dreaming! Where did you think you saw them? And where were they?" + +Frank explained. + +"It sounds incredible," said the major, frowning. "Come! I'll take you +to General Smith-Derrien. If that's true, it's highly important news. +Here, show me on this map just the place where you say you saw them." + +Frank and Henri pointed at once to the wood in which the German infantry +had vanished, then followed the major out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AN UNEXPECTED CHANCE + + +The first impression they had of General Smith-Derrien was of his +absolute calmness. The major had been excited when he heard the report +of the German infantry in the woods. But when they entered the room in +which sat the British general who was responsible for the retreat, as +they guessed, they saw a quiet-faced man with smiling eyes, who listened +attentively to the reports of the officers who were constantly hurrying +up to him, spoke a word or two in answer, and turned, imperturbably, to +the next comer. + +Their guide left them near the door. + +"Wait a minute here," he said. "I'll tell the General your story. But +he'll want to speak to you himself. He always does." + +Frank watched the British leader closely as he turned to the major, who +now went up to him. If the news moved him, he gave no sign of his +emotion. Instead he nodded quickly, once or twice; then he looked over +toward Frank and Henri. The major turned to them, beckoning, and they +went up. General Smith-Derrien was sitting at a table. Before him was an +ordnance map of the section covered by his operations. + +"Now tell me exactly what happened, as quickly as you can," he said. +"You saw these Germans--just where? Point it out on the map. Give me +your position and the road they took." + +Frank and Henri studied the map a moment. They traced their own course +from Amiens; soon they found the spot. The map was on a very large +scale, and it showed the hills and a great deal of detail. It was easy +to explain just where they had seen the Germans. + +"They went into the woods, you say," said the general. "But why did you +think they stayed there? Why shouldn't they have gone on?" + +"I went along the road to a spot where I could see beyond the woods, +sir," said Frank. "And there was no sign of them." + +"You did? That was excellent--regular scouting. Oh, I fancy I +understand! Boy Scouts, are you?" + +"Yes, sir," they echoed together. + +"Well, if your information is exact--and I have no reason to doubt it, +of course--you did a very fine piece of scouting, and I shall be glad to +see that you get the proper amount of credit for it, when the time +comes. Now your information is most valuable. But before I can act on +it, I must be absolutely certain that it is accurate. Will one of you +help one of my scouts to determine this?" + +"Let me go, sir," said Frank, quickly. "I was the one who saw the other +side of the woods--" + +"But I know the country best," protested Henri. "And--" + +"I think you'd better go," said the general to Frank. Perhaps he thought +Frank was English; in any case he selected him. "I don't think it will +be dangerous at all, or I shouldn't let you go. We haven't started using +boys in this war yet. Major, you will see to it that a start is made as +soon as possible!" turning to that officer. + +The major saluted. + +"Yes, sir, at once," he said. "The one who does not go can deliver the +despatches they brought from Amiens--a handful of marbles!" + +"Eh? What's that? Those are the despatches from Colonel Menier. I'll +take those!" + +Plainly, since he knew of them, he was the officer to whom they should +be delivered. So Frank and Henri, not without some misgivings, since the +major's annoyance at the sight of the marbles had rather depressed them, +handed over their marbles. General Smith-Derrien picked them up, weighed +them in his hand, and finally selected two, to the undisguised amazement +of his staff. But when he pressed a hidden spring, and each marble flew +back, showing that it was hollow, cries of admiration came from those +who were close by. + +"Very well. They are in good order," he said, after a glance at the thin +but tough paper. "I will send an answer by the scout who remains here." + +The major was already moving toward the door, and Frank, with a quick +grasp of Henri's hand and a salute for the general, followed him. He was +sorry for Henri's disappointment, but he had made up his mind when they +left Amiens that whenever possible, he himself would take any risks that +were to be run. No one would care greatly if anything happened to him, +since his parents were dead, and his only other close relative was his +uncle, of whom he had seen very little. But Henri's mother was alive, +and, moreover, she had troubles enough. Her husband was at the front, +and there was no telling whether or not he would ever return. + +"Come along, young 'un," said the major. His name, Frank learned, when a +passing officer spoke to him, was Cooper. "Know what you're going to +do?" + +"I'm to help a scout to determine the position of the Germans we saw," +said Frank. + +"Yes, but how? In an aeroplane, my lad! I envy you. They've never let me +go up in one of the blooming things yet--and just because I happen to +be assigned to a special job here with the staff. A lot of fun this war +is going to be for me! We've been at it pretty nearly a month, and I +haven't been under fire yet!" + +Frank found it hard to conceal his delight. He had always wanted to have +the experience of riding in an aeroplane, but never before had he seen +even a remote chance that it would be gratified. Now he was to have +fulfilled one of his most cherished ambitions--and in what a way! To fly +with one of the wonderful aviators of whom he had been hearing ever +since the war began, and over hostile territory. Risk! What if there +was? + +In his own room Major Cooper sent an orderly flying, and in a few +moments he returned, followed by a spare, tall man in a uniform +differing slightly from that of the regular troops. He wore a heavy +sweater, and on his head was a headgear resembling, Frank thought, that +worn by football players in America. + +"You sent for me, Major?" + +"Yes, Captain Greene. You'll have to make a flight to-night. This lad is +one of two Boy Scouts who have reported seeing German infantry in rather +considerable force south and west of our position here. He will show you +on the map just where he says they are lying up. The general wants to +verify this report or disprove it as quickly as possible. Your orders +are simply to make a reconnaissance and to run no avoidable risks. If it +is possible, ascertain the facts without betraying your own presence. I +have detailed you because you have a silent motor." + +"Very well, sir," said Captain Greene. "Now, then, my lad, sharp's the +word. Show me just where you say these Germans are." + +For the third time Frank pointed out the spot on the map, and the flyer +whistled. + +"Don't wonder you want to know where they are!" he said. "If that's so, +it's a pretty big sell for us flying chaps--eh, what? We rather fancied +there wasn't a chance for them to do anything that we didn't know all +about as soon as it was done." + +"Exactly," said the major, rather dryly. "Well, here's your chance to +make up for errors of omission. Get the facts, and get back as quickly +as you can." + +"All right. Double quick, young 'un. What's your name, eh? Might as well +be sociable!" + +Frank told him, and liked the tall aviator immensely. But there was no +more talk between them as he followed the captain to the outside. He had +all he could do to keep up with the Englishman's great strides without +trying to talk too. Greene led the way to a park-like enclosure, where, +under shaded electric lights that lit the ground fully but were so +screened that no betraying flashes showed from above, a dozen aeroplanes +stood, gaunt and ghostlike in the night. + +"See those lights?" said Greene. "If one of those German Johnnies in a +Taube came along he could make a lot of mess by dropping a couple of +bombs down here. An aeroplane's delicate enough as it is. A bomb will +put it out of business in no time. Here we are! Wait till I try the +motor and see to my tank. If you run out of petrol at five hundred feet +you can't always find a garage where they'll sell you more!" + +The tank was full, however. His mechanic had seen to that. And the +engine responded beautifully to the first test. + +"All right," said Greene. "In with you! Ever been up?" + +"No. This is my first trip," said Frank. + +"Easy enough, if you don't get scared. Keep perfectly still. No matter +what happens, don't touch me or anything except the grips for your hands +that you'll find there. She's apt to rock and kick like a broncho +sometimes but you can't fall out, because you'll be strapped in. +Remember, now, don't touch me and don't touch any levers or anything +else you see." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MONOPLANE + + +Looking down from above, as he was doing, it was hard for Frank to keep +his bearings at all. Naturally, everything looked very different. He had +been used to looking up at houses, and had had them in one plane. Now +everything was flat before him. In the day time the resemblance of the +country as he now saw it to a map might have helped him. But at night, +even on a clear night, things were blurred. Fences and roads ran +together confusedly. And this night was not clear. The day had been +fair, but now clouds were coming up. + +"We'll have some rain, hang it!" said Greene. "The firing seems to bring +it. At least that's what they say. Wonder if it's true? I suppose it +might." + +"I should think it might be a good thing," said Frank. "It'll make it +harder for them to see us, won't it! And that ought to help us." + +"Yes, but it'll make it a good deal harder for us to see what we're +after, too. Cuts both ways, you see. Still I don't mind as long as we +don't have fog or wind, and I think I'd rather have the wind. You know +where you're at with wind, anyway. In a fog--Lord! You've no idea what a +thing fog is until you've tried to make a landing in it." + +With the motor muffled down, they were able to talk easily. In the +earlier days of aeroplanes the motor made so much noise that anything +like a sustained conversation was impossible. But now the motor only +purred gently in their ears, just like that of a motor car. For military +purposes the silence thus obtained more than made up for the slight +sacrifice of power. The more old-fashioned 'planes, many of which were +still in use, advertised their presence to an enemy as soon as they came +at all near. But this new type, largely used by the British and the +French, as Frank knew, had to be seen before they were in any danger, +so silently do they wing their flight. + +"Talking about fog," Greene went on, talking as indifferent as if they +had been on solid ground, "I had a nasty experience just before Kaiser +Bill started this trouble. Went up at Sheerness, for an experimental +flight in this same 'plane. First time I'd had her out, and I didn't +know her very well. And one of those old-fashioned sea fogs came rolling +in when I was ten miles from anywhere. Never saw anything so sudden in +my life!" + +"How did you find your way, sir?" + +"I didn't! I just went up and up until I was above the fog and in the +sunlight. You can do that, you know. But that was a queer fog--rose a +whole lot. Anyway, when I got above it, it was precious cold. And the +sun didn't do me much good. I'd got lost, so far as my bearings below +were concerned, making spirals as I went up. What I hoped for was to +find out something when I was above the fog." + +"How was that? You mean that the fog would only spread over a certain +distance?" he asked. + +"That's it exactly. Only I didn't know that fog! So far as I could tell, +it spread over all England and Ireland, too, with some left over for +France! Only one thing for it, of course. I knew I'd get away from it if +I kept on flying. So I steered by the sun as well as I could, and kept +on until my petrol began to run short, and a cylinder began missing. And +then, just as I was wondering whose windows I'd break when I went down, +it began to thin out, and slipped away as quickly as it had come. And I +was right above the golf links on Wimbledon Common. I volplaned down, +and landed on a putting green, and an old colonel who'd been invalided +home from India said I'd done it on purpose, and he was going to have me +court-martialled!" + +Frank laughed heartily at the story. But at the same time, he suspected +Captain Greene's purpose in telling it. He thought the captain wanted to +keep his spirits up, and make him forget that he had never had a flight +before, and he admired and liked him more than ever in consequence, +even though, as he told himself, it wasn't necessary. + +"Hello! I think we're getting near your spot, young 'un," said Greene, +abruptly. He dipped down, and Frank peered down to see where they were. + +"Yes," he cried, in assent. "There's the hill we were coming down when +we saw them, just as we rounded that turn. That's the road they were +marching along, and there, over to our left, are the woods. I wonder if +they're still there." + +"We'll soon know," said Greene. "Now for a little climbing. I'm not +afraid of being hit, but orders are to find them without being seen, if +we can manage it. So we'll try the high spots for a bit." + +At once the monoplane began climbing, ascending in great spirals. Frank +was absorbed by the sensation. He found that he could see the ground +receding without feeling any qualms, and said so. + +"You're lucky," said Greene, briefly. "Made me feel queer first few +times I tried it, I can tell you. You're probably a born flyer--and the +chances are you'll never do much of it, I suppose! Always the way!" + +Frank, looking down, saw that they were moving away from the woods which +they were to reconnoitre, and mentioned it. + +"Got to," said Greene, briefly. "Then we'll fly back. We can't climb in +a straight line. When I went out for altitude once, I made twelve +thousand feet, and when I finished climbing I was nearly fifteen miles, +in a straight line, from where I started. Let's see. Got that flashlight +I gave you? Play it right on the board there till I tell you to stop." + +Frank obeyed, shooting the little spear of light on the various +instruments in front of the aviator. + +"All right. Hold it there. My barograph, you see. Gives me my height by +showing the change in atmospheric pressure. That's how we calculate +height. Not very exact, because all sorts of things vary the pressure. +But it's near enough. A thousand feet! That's good enough. I don't +believe they're looking for us. We don't usually scout behind our own +lines." + +Now he brought the monoplane around in a great sweep and flew straight +over the woods. But, though Frank looked down through powerful navy +night glasses, of the sort that are used for look-out duty at sea, he +could see nothing. + +"Clasp them around my head--so," said Greene. "See the trick? All right! +Now I'll have a look. There's another pair in my pocket--use those for +yourself." + +But if the Germans were there, they were concealing their presence with +a good deal of care and skill. + +"Have to go lower, then," decided Greene. "Get ready! We'll shoot the +chutes now." + +He pointed the monoplane straight down, cut out his motor, and glided +earthward in a glorious volplane, the most wonderful sensation that even +flight, with all its wonders, can afford. When the earth seemed about to +come up and hit them, though it was still actually a good five hundred +feet below, he caught the machine, righted it, and started the motor +again. Then he had to fly back until he was again directly over the +woods, and once more, while the monoplane moved very slowly, they peered +down. But still there was no sign. + +"Humph!" said Greene. "If they were supposed to be anything but Germans, +I'd say you'd told us a cock and bull story, young 'un! English troops, +or French, would show some sort of a light. Some fool would take a +chance to get a smoke. But these Germans! They're not men--they're +machines. They'll obey orders that officers wouldn't take the trouble to +give in any other army. We'll have to make sure. Up we go again!" + +Frank could not see how going up would make it possible for them to get +the information that coming down hadn't afforded. But he said nothing, +because he had come to feel by this time that when Captain Greene did a +thing he had a perfectly sound reason for his action. Nor was he wrong. +Once more they climbed in a high spiral curve until they were higher +than they had been before. For the first time, Frank now felt a peculiar +ringing in his ears. He mentioned it, and Greene laughed. + +"Pressure," he said. "You'll get used to it! Lord, sometimes I've felt +as if my head would burst when I started to climb. But it doesn't last +long. Feel in the seat there beside you, at your left. There ought to be +a big electric torch." + +"Here it is! I've got it, sir," said Frank, a moment later. + +"All right. Touch the button at the end. Let's see if it lights up +properly." + +It did, decidedly, for the result was a blinding glare. + +"Pretty powerful, isn't it?" said Greene. "It's used for signalling, you +see. Flash the light, and you can reproduce Morse perfectly. When you're +high up it can be seen a long way, too. Now hold it straight down and +flash it, then give a steady glare. Let us see if we cannot draw +anything." + +Frank obeyed, at the same time getting a glimpse of Greene's idea. He +held the torch pointing straight down, and saw the beam of light +shooting straight down. It was not powerful enough, of course, by the +time it reached the treetops, to illuminate them, and so make anything +below visible, but it was certainly strong enough to be observed from +below, he thought. But still there was no movement, and the uncanny +silence and darkness below persisted. + +"All right. There's still another chance," said Greene, patiently. He +drew a revolver from his pocket. + +"Flash your little light this way. Let me see if it's all right," he +said. + +Frank obeyed. + +"New fangled automatic--very powerful, and shoots a .44 bullet almost as +far as an old-fashioned rifle," explained Greene. "Very useful if one +runs into another 'plane unexpectedly--and the other fellow happens to +be a German." + +A moment later he opened fire, shooting straight downward. He could not +aim, of course, but it was not his object to hit anything. He emptied +one clip of cartridges, and before the last shot was fired the woods +below began to spit fire. At once the monoplane began racing. + +"Got 'em!" cried Greene, exultingly. "I thought that would do it! It +isn't human nature to be under fire without sending back a shot or +two--not even German human nature!" + +No bullets came near them, but there was no longer any possible doubt +that the Germans were below. The fusillade had settled that. Greene +slowed down. + +"Show your light quickly, then douse it at once," he cried. + +Frank flashed the light of the big torch for an instant. And at once the +monoplane shot forward. + +"See the point?" cried Greene. "They'll aim at where the light was. Only +we won't be obliging enough to be there! Well, this is a good night's +work, my lad! You were right, and if I'm not much mistaken, you'll get +your name in dispatches for this. The beggars! I'd like to know how they +got through without being spotted!" + +All the time the monoplane was racing away. But suddenly there was a +sharp crack behind them, and in an agony of concern Greene twisted +around in his seat. + +"Oh, Lord!" he groaned. "I crowed too soon! That's the petrol +tank--bullet hole! It'll leak out, and we can't stop the leak!" + +"If you went down right away, would it all get out before you reached +the ground?" + +"No, but they'll catch us if we go down here. Can't do that." + +"It's the only chance!" said Frank. "Isn't it?" + +"You're right. I'll take it. Good boy! You don't mind the risk?" + +"No!" said Frank. + +Then they were rushing down. It was a desperate venture. Greene pointed +for a field, but in the darkness the risk of capture by the Germans was +the least that they faced. + +Greene had cut out his engine; there was too much danger of an +explosion, with the leaking petrol, to allow the spark to continue. He +had to volplane down this time, not as a quick way of descending, but as +the only means of preventing a disastrous fall. Even in broad daylight +there is always risk in landing with a dead motor. Here, in the darkness +and with unknown country below, the risk was multiplied a hundred times. + +All that Greene knew with any certainty was that he was over country +broken up into fields. The fences were numerous, there were ditches, +too, and obstructions of all sorts. The larger ones he could see readily +enough, when he got close; it was the smaller ones that threatened the +real danger. + +But if the danger was great, Greene was a master of his craft. He +swooped downward. Then, when he was scarcely a hundred feet up, he +caught the machine with a fine show of skill and held it, for a moment, +on an even keel. + +"We'll chance it in the next field," he called. "Can't stay up any +further. Here goes!" + +Down, down, they went. Then they were down, bumping along. But the +element of luck that, despite all his skill, Greene had to have, favored +him. The field was smooth and the monoplane came to rest safely. In an +instant both were out, Greene first, since Frank, having to free himself +from his straps, was delayed. + +"Quick! The small flashlight!" called the flyer. "Here, give it to me! +If we're to save any essence we've got to be quick!" + +He took the light. But a quick look over the tank failed to show a +spurting stream of gasoline. + +"By Jove! Wonder if I could have been mistaken? Perhaps it was something +else they hit!" cried Greene. But then he groaned. As he unscrewed the +cap of the tank and peered in, he saw that it was bone dry. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A DANGEROUS ERRAND + + +For a moment Greene was speechless with despair. Fate had tricked him, +it seemed, after he had done his best--and a better best than most men +could even have attempted. Then he grinned. + +"We'll have to hoof it," he said. "A good twelve miles, too! If we were +champions at cross-country work it would take us the best part of two +hours. And it's so long since I've used my legs that I don't know how +long I'll be." + +"There's one chance," said Frank. "I remember that I saw a little inn on +the road the Germans took this afternoon. We're not so very far from +that now. These little inns along the roads in France all have petrol +for motorists who run short. If I went there I might get some." + +Greene shook his head doubtfully. + +"The government's taken all the essence it could find," he said, "I +don't believe they'd have any. And, besides, there's a good chance that +the Germans have men there." + +"Still it's a chance," said Frank. "Won't you let me try? If I can't get +it we shan't lose much time. And if I do, look at the difference it +would make." + +"That's true enough," said Greene. "All right, try it. I'll mend up the +hole, when I find it, and if you do get some essence, we can be off at +once. Good luck!" + +Frank was on his way already, slipping away in the direction whence they +had come. Luckily enough, he got his bearings by the windmill from which +he had observed the wood into which the Germans had gone. To make his +way to the road along which he and Henri had first seen the Germans +passing was an easy matter. But he was afraid of roads by this time, and +the more so because he knew that the Germans, having been aroused by the +attack from the sky, would be doubly on the alert. So he stuck to the +side of the road, religiously taking advantage of every bit of cover he +could find to escape the foe. + +"They knew they'd given themselves away just as soon as they fired at +us," he reasoned, thinking half aloud as he trudged along, which was a +habit of his. "And I don't believe they know they hit us at all. They do +know that they didn't bring us down at once. Anyhow, there's no reason +for them to be secret any more, and if they stay in that wood, they'll +throw out pickets now, because they'll think that as soon as we went +back and made our report troops would be sent to rout them out. It's up +to me to be mighty careful." + +That was good sound reasoning, too. From all he had learned since the +war began, he knew that the Germans were by no means foes to be +despised. They had been pretty generally victorious, but that was not +all. They had shown a capacity for being always ready, for thinking of +everything that might come up to block their plans. And he was sure, +therefore, that the German commander would not argue that the aeroplane +had got clean away just because the probabilities indicated that it +had. He was almost certain to beat the country within a reasonable area +for it, in the hope of finding it crippled and thus unable to carry the +news it had come to get. + +"I bet the Germans wouldn't have sent just one aeroplane," he reflected. +"They'd have sent two, so that if anything happened to one, the other +could have brought back the news." + +But though he was thinking hard, he didn't linger as he went. Soon he +came to the transverse road along which the Germans had gone, and turned +in the direction they had taken. It was beginning to rain a little now, +and it was very dark. He still stuck to the fields, though he was close +to the road, and he found nothing to bar his way to the inn. When he got +there, moreover, he found the place dark and deserted. Not a soul was in +sight, but there were evidences that spoke as eloquently as men or women +could have done. In the tap room furniture was smashed and broken and +shattered glass was about the floor. Plainly the Germans had stopped as +they went by. + +"Of course!" he said, to himself. "If there were people here they took +them along with them. They wouldn't be likely to leave any French +people, whose first idea would be to tell what they had seen! It's +certainly lucky that they didn't see us. We'd be with them now, I +guess." + +It was spooky work exploring the abandoned inn in the damp, dark night +and with the knowledge that German soldiers were probably no great +distance away. It was less than a quarter of a mile to the edge of the +wood that had assumed such an important aspect, and he expected at any +moment to hear the footsteps of intruders. None the less he went about +his task quietly and coolly. + +"If they had any essence, they'd hide it," he said to himself. "They'd +know that both armies would need it for automobiles and aeroplanes, and +they'd try to keep any they had left. So it won't be in any of the usual +places." + +For that reason he did not even leave the main building to make a search +in the stable that was used as a garage. Instead, he went into the +cellar. Here it was still plainer that the Germans had passed through. +His feet stepped into puddles of sticky dampness, and, using his +flashlight, he saw that it was wine. The heads of casks had been knocked +in; broken bottles, too, strewed the floor. + +This, however, had not been wanton destruction, he was sure. It had an +object, and that object had been to prevent the soldiers from getting +anything to drink. Troops on an errand requiring such extraordinary +secrecy as had been maintained in this case could not be allowed to +drink any liquor. That would have spoiled in all likelihood the +remarkable discipline of which Captain Greene had spoken. + +But, once more, it was not his business to think of what he saw, or to +speculate about it, but to find the petrol if any was to be found. And +he stumbled upon the hidden store quite suddenly, and quite literally, +too. In one corner of the cellar was what looked like a pile of kindling +wood. Harry kicked it indifferently in passing, and was almost thrown +when his feet encountered a resistance more solid than he had any reason +to expect. He looked down, and there, under the kindling, were two +ten-gallon cans of petrol! + +"I knew it must be there!" he cried to himself. He was down on his knees +in a moment, shaking the cans to make sure that they were full. One had +never been broached; the other was nearly half full. And this second can +was the one he took. That would be more than enough to get the monoplane +back to headquarters, and there was no reason for burdening himself with +too great a load. He picked up the can, and at the same moment his heart +leaped up into his throat, for overhead there came the sound of heavy +footsteps. For a moment he stood as if paralyzed, listening. + +The footsteps continued; guttural voices sounded,--the voices of +Germans. It was impossible to distinguish what they were saying; and it +made no difference, in any case. The only point that mattered was that +they were there; that they blocked the only means Frank had of getting +away with the precious petrol he had so luckily found. + +He was safe enough personally. Even if they were led to come down into +the cellar the chances were all in favor of his being able to conceal +himself. What he feared was that some use was to be made of the place, +and that the men whose voices he heard would stay there, thus preventing +him from getting out of the building and so getting the petrol to +Greene. It was more than possible, he thought, that the German +commander, knowing that the presence of his troops in the woods had been +discovered, would decide to use this place for headquarters. + +And what he could hear confirmed this idea. There was a continual +tramping overhead. Men came and went. That seemed to indicate that the +occupation was to be permanent. He racked his brains for some means of +escape. Windows there were none in the cellar. He found no trace of a +trap door, such as there would have been in almost any American cellar. +And then the saving thought came to him like a flash. He debated for a +moment, then decided that the risk was worth taking. First he took his +can of gasoline to the steps. Then he poured a little into a broken +bottle, and poured this, in turn, on the wood under which he had found +the cans. He dragged the full can of petrol to the other side of the +cellar. And then, very deliberately, he set a match to the gasoline +soaked wood and retreated to the steps. + +The fire he had started blazed up at once, owing to the petrol. And at +once a thick, acrid smoke filled the place. He was well up on the +stairs, and thus safe from being choked. But he was in danger should the +Germans come down, though even so, since the steps were wide, there was +a chance for him. But he did not expect them to come down. He thought +the smoke would drive them out, since as nearly as he could judge his +fire was directly under the room in which the most of the commotion +upstairs was taking place. + +It was not long before he heard coughing upstairs, the first sign that +the smoke was doing its work. By that time a brisk fire was burning. It +had run up the posts to the beams that formed the chief support of the +room above, and to his delight Frank saw that these burned far more +fiercely and quickly than he had hoped. Plainly the wood was old and +dry. + +Above, as the fire spread, louder cries succeeded the coughing. And then +came the crucial test by which his daring experiment had to stand or +fall. Some one opened the door at the head of the stairs. Now, if ever, +he was to be discovered! But as the door was opened the smoke was drawn +up, and the German who had come to it jumped back. + +"The whole place is burning! Get out!" he cried, in German. "There may +be explosive spirits still down there!" + +He slammed the door shut, and Frank heard running footsteps above. He +waited until there were no more, and then, almost overcome by the smoke, +slipped through the door. No one was left in the hallway into which he +came. The place was full of smoke. He did not venture to the front door +by which he had entered, but, still dragging his can of petrol, went to +the back. Going through the kitchen, he found another door, as he had +been sure he would and in a moment he was drinking in the cool, fresh +air. The rain that was beating down on him now was welcome. + +Just as he reached the open there was a sharp explosion behind him, and +he looked back, to see the windows on the ground floor glowing. That was +the other can of petrol, as he could guess readily enough. At once he +ducked, and, running low, got well to one side of the house. Then, just +as a great burst of flame lighted up the whole scene, he dropped to the +ground, and lay peering toward the road in front of the inn. + +A dozen officers and as many men, all in the German uniform, with the +spiked helmets that made them so unmistakable, were in the road, staring +at the burning house. And it was not until Frank saw how angry one of +the officers was that he realized what a useful idea his had really +been. Now detection of the Germans was certain. Investigation was almost +certain to be made of a fire in a building so far out of the range of +the German artillery as this. And so, even if neither he nor Captain +Greene got back in time, the torch he had lighted, meaning only to +secure his own escape, was likely to prove a death blow to the German +hopes of secrecy. + +Frank could not hear what the Germans were saying, but he had no +intention of getting closer in an attempt to do so. Instead, having +satisfied himself that there were no pickets behind the burning inn, he +began crawling cautiously to the rear. It was a difficult task, +especially so because of the petrol, which was no light burden. But he +managed to get well out of the lighted zone and then he decided that it +would be safe to straighten up and walk along. + +As he went along the burning building served him well. It gave him a +fixed landmark from which he could lay his course to the spot where he +had left the monoplane and Captain Greene. By looking back from time to +time he could correct his course, when he was crossing fields. And so +without the guidance of roads, and partly to make better time and partly +to avoid stray German pickets, he chose to stay away almost entirely +from the roads and go across country. + +From the fields in which they had descended to the inn the distance, as +nearly as he had been able to guess it, was about a mile. He shortened +this somewhat on the return trip. And he was within a quarter of a mile +of the meeting place when he became suddenly conscious of something that +was not just right. At first he was tempted to stop, but he overcame the +temptation. The thing that had warned him of a possible danger was a +trifling noise, yet one that was out of the ordinary. What the noise was +he could scarcely have told. Perhaps the breaking of a twig, perhaps the +slipping of a foot along a suddenly encountered patch of mud. At any +rate he was sure that he had been followed. + +He slowed down and now he could hear, or thought he could, the heavy +breathing of at least two men. He was not certain of this; he was +willing to admit to himself that he might be fancying it. + +"If they're after me, why don't they take me?" he wondered to himself. +But the explanation came to him almost as soon as he had asked himself +the question. Whoever was following him could reason from the sight of +the can of petrol he was carrying that he was going to some definite +place where that petrol was wanted. And it would require no great +stretch of the imagination for his trailers to decide that he must be +carrying fuel to the aeroplane that had worked such havoc with the +German plans. + +"They think I'll lead them to the 'plane," he thought. Half a dozen +plans for misleading them came to him. But none seemed practicable. +Frank was intensely dogged in his determination to accomplish anything +he had set out to do. The idea of giving up now, even to mislead his +pursuers and so save Captain Greene from capture, was repugnant to him. +He wanted to foil the men behind him--unless, as was possible, he only +imagined that they were behind him--and still do what he had set out to +do, which was in this instance to refill that empty petrol tank on the +monoplane. + +It was the purely accidental movement of putting his hand into his +pocket to dry it off that gave him the idea. It met the pocket +flashlight Captain Greene had given him, and at once he remembered a use +for it of which the aviator had told him. To follow the plan did not +mean that it would succeed, but it represented a chance, anyhow. And so +when he came to the fence which he remembered climbing on his way from +the monoplane, he stopped on the top rail, having pushed his can of +petrol through first. In the field now immediately in front of him, but +far away still, on the other side of the field, lay the monoplane. He +could not see it in the driving rain but he knew that it was there. + +There too would be Greene, waiting for him, and in all probability at +this moment straining his eyes watching for his return. On that +depended his chance of success in the plan that had come to him. On +that, and on Greene's presence of mind and quick-wittedness. + +So, still astride of the top rail, he began signalling with his pocket +flashlight. He spelled out his message in Morse code, using a long +pressure of the releasing switch for the dash and a short one for the +dot. Word by word he spelled out his message, telling that he suspected +that at least two Germans were trailing him. And at the end he signalled +a request that if he had understood, Greene should wait a half minute +and then imitate an owl's cry. He chose an owl because he had heard one +or two earlier in the night. And he added that if he got the signal he +would keep on heading for the monoplane. He suggested nothing to Greene; +the rest was decidedly up to the aviator. Frank had done his share. + +If there were Germans actually within sight of him, they did not attempt +to interfere with him while he was flashing his message. But he had +reckoned confidently that they would not. He was sure that he had not +betrayed the fact that he knew he was being followed, and they would +naturally suppose that this stop for signalling was part of a +pre-arranged plan. He now dropped to the ground, picked up his can and +took two or three quick steps. Then he stopped abruptly and was sure +that he heard a footstep behind him. He grinned to himself, and just +then the hoot of an owl sounded. Then he went on. + +"I'll make it easier for them," he said. "Perhaps they wouldn't like to +follow me right across the field!" + +So he skirted the fence and the hedge at the side, and went around three +sides of the field to reach the monoplane. And, as soon as it was in +sight, all his suspicions were verified, for from behind there came a +sharp exclamation in German, and he was told to stop, just as a heavy +hand gripped his shoulder. + +"Ja, we were right!" exclaimed one man in German. "There is their +aeroplane! Now for the other--" + +He never finished the sentence. Instead, he threw up his hands and +pitched forward, just as a revolver cracked sharply in the silent night. +With an oath the man who held Frank threw him aside, at the same moment +shooting in the direction of the flash of Greene's pistol. But the +Englishman's revolver spoke at the same moment, and he too fell. Frank's +ruse had saved the day! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES! + + +"Keep back!" called Greene sharply to Frank. + +His revolver still in his hand, he flashed the powerful light Frank had +used in the monoplane into the faces of the two Germans. They lay +groaning within a foot or two of one another. + +"No tricks!" said Greene, sharply. "I don't want to finish you, but I'll +shoot again if you make a move, except you can throw away your +revolvers." + +He spoke in German, and both of the wounded men obeyed. Frank was +immensely relieved. He had been afraid that they had been killed, and +the thought had sickened him. He realized fully that it would have been +in accordance with the idea of war had Greene killed them both; that it +would have been no more than his duty. And yet he was more than glad +that they were alive and, so far as he could judge at that moment, not +badly hurt or not dangerously wounded, at least. + +"Fill that tank with the petrol," said Greene to Frank, "but leave a +little in the can." + +Frank obeyed, wondering why the order was given. Then Greene pushed the +monoplane along the ground for some distance until it was in a favorable +position to take the air. + +"All right! Get in!" he said. "Strap yourself in. Know how the straps +go? Right! I'm going to make a bonfire. It'll bring someone to help +those poor chaps. I don't want them to have to lie here all night unless +they have to." + +He took the can which Frank had almost emptied and poured what gasoline +remained on the ground that had been protected from the rain by one wing +of the monoplane. Then he flung a match into the now highly inflammable +stubble, and a flame leaped up at once, lighting the monoplane and the +two wounded Germans. In a moment more he was in his place and the +monoplane was plunging along the ground. Then it took the air and rose +swiftly to a safe height. And then for the first time there was a +chance for explanations. + +"By Jove, how did you come to think of flashing that message to me?" +cried Greene. "That was an idea! I almost gave it all away by answering +before I realized what you were telling me. What was that fire I saw? +Looked to me like the very place you said you were going to." + +So Frank explained. + +"Oh, splendid--my word, splendid!" cried Greene. "I fancy we'll find +they've started this way already. Hullo--yes, by Jove, there come some +of our fellows now! See, over there to the right? Aeroplanes--gone to +spot those Johnnies. They didn't wait for us to come back!" + +He dropped to a bare hundred feet of elevation now and in a moment Frank +could see why. Below them a mass of cavalry was in motion. + +"There they go!" cried Greene. "Your beacon gave them the line. The +general must have decided that was confirmation enough." + +Now came a shouting from below, and Greene answered it by swooping down +to a landing in the field. An officer put his horse to the wall and rode +up beside them. + +"Captain Greene, by any chance?" he called, peering at them. + +"Yes, colonel," said Greene, saluting. "The Germans are in a clump of +woods on the Amiens road. In an angle of that road and the one from +LaFere, rather. I don't know the exact strength, but have reason to +believe about five thousand." + +"There's no doubt about their being there, though?" + +"None at all, sir. They shot a hole in my tank, and I had to wait to get +enough essence to come back. All mine leaked before I could make a +landing to plug the bullet hole. Did you start on the sight of that +burning house?" + +"Yes. The staff couldn't see why a house should be burning unless there +were Germans about. Very well. Report back to headquarters, captain. +They're waiting for you." + +"Very well, sir." + +"I thought so," he said to Frank, when they were in the air again. +"You'll hear more of this night's work before you've done, my boy. +There's a deal of gratitude due you. But I'd like to know what those +Dutchmen were up to!" + +Five minutes more saw them landed safely at headquarters, and it was +only a few moments before they were in the presence of General +Smith-Derrien. He listened to Greene's brief report in silence. + +"There is more to be told of what my passenger and observer did, sir," +he added, when he had sketched the essential facts. "I will make a +written report of that direct to you." + +"Do so," said the general. "You have done very well. Had it not been for +the information we have obtained in this way, the whole headquarters +staff might have been captured. The Germans evidently learned, through +spies, of the orders that had been issued for continuing the retirement, +and had slipped this force through to intercept the staff. I have been +able to turn the tables on them, however. They will have trouble, I +think, in escaping the forces sent against them." + +For some time heavy firing had been heard in the direction of the woods +where the Germans had lain. Now this died away. General Smith-Derrien +glanced significantly at a colonel of his staff and permitted himself +the luxury of a smile, a rare one for him in those days of the retreat. + +Just then the telephone on his table rang. The nearest officer answered, +listening attentively for a moment. + +"Colonel Mewbray using the field telephone, sir," he said to the +general. "It's been connected with our wires here. He reports that the +horse artillery completely surrounded the wood in which the Germans were +quartered, and shelled the woods for ten minutes. After that the Germans +ceased firing, and when we played searchlights a dozen white flags were +shown. The German commander, General von Garnst, surrendered to avoid a +further useless sacrifice of lives." + +The general nodded. + +"My compliments to Colonel Mewbray," he said. "Ask him to convey my +thanks to Brigadier-General Lannin. The German prisoners will be placed +on trains at once and sent to Paris, through Amiens. The staff will +prepare at once to take the new position as indicated in the order of +to-night. Orderly!" + +"Yes, sir!" said a private, stepping forward. + +"My motor is to be ready in five minutes." + +"Yes, sir." + +The orderly went to transmit the order. Then the general turned to Frank +and held out his hand. + +"I shall see to it that you and your companion Boy Scout are mentioned +in dispatches," he said. "I shall also see to it that your scoutmaster +is informed of your excellent work, and shall request him to give you +the highest possible promotion for distinguished services!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE RETREAT + + +Frank felt that he was dismissed, and a gentle pressure on his arm from +Captain Greene made him sure of it. The aviator went out with him, and +when they were outside he slapped him on the back. + +"Well, you've got a right to feel proud of yourself!" he said. "And the +general doesn't begin to know all you did. He will, though, as soon as +he gets my report. I'll write that directly because there's no telling +what will happen any time I go up. You've seen something of how it goes +in a monoplane." + +"I wonder what I'm to do now," said Frank. + +"Go away from here as quickly as you can," said Greene, with a laugh. "I +can tell you that much. That's what we've been doing ever since they +smashed us at Mons, in Belgium. You see those beggars creep out, trying +to get around us. The Frenchmen made a bad guess at the beginning, and +sent too many men to Alsace, and so this chap Von Kluck had enough men +to threaten to surround us. But his turn's coming!" + +"When?" asked Frank. + +"Ask me something easy! Before very long, though, I think. We'll be +south of Amiens by to-morrow. We've got to wait until we get enough +men. But there's a surprise coming to the Germans. If I told you any +more I'd be shot at daybreak for betraying military secrets. Good luck, +young 'un! Sorry you're not going to be with us in the flying corps!" + +"Good-bye," said Frank. + +Then he went to look for Henri, and found him in the same room in which +they had first been received by Major Cooper. Henri started up with a +cry of delight at seeing him and embraced him, in the French fashion, to +the huge amusement of the Englishmen present and Frank's own disgust and +embarrassment. But he tried to hide how he felt, for he knew that Henri +was only doing what he had been brought up to regard as the proper +thing, and he would not have hurt his chum's feelings for the world. + +"You two youngsters have got to get back to Amiens," said the major. +"For one thing because the Germans will be here as soon as we get out, +and for another because I want you to take some dispatches to the French +staff there. Can either of you drive a motor?" + +"I can," said Henri, proudly. + +"Really? All right. I'd rather not spare a man. You will take these +dispatches in the same containers in which they were brought, and +deliver them to Colonel Menier, if he is still in Amiens. If not, to +Major Fremille. You will also turn over the motor car to the French +authorities there. Shall you stay in Amiens after that, even if the +French leave, which they will?" + +"Yes, sir, unless there is something we can do elsewhere." + +"I rather think you'll be able to do more there than anywhere else, if +the Germans don't drive you out. But you'll hear of that from the +French officer you report to. By the way, when I spoke of the convoy +that resisted a Uhlan attack, you didn't tell me you'd had anything to +do with that. Why not?" + +"We didn't, sir," said Frank, surprised. "We got away just as the +fighting began." + +"Yes, and sorry to go, too, I'll wager! Captain Hardy reported that it +was your quickness and intelligence that saved him, and enabled him to +get help up in time to save the convoy. Something about the hands of a +clock you saw moving, eh?" + +"That was nothing, sir," said Frank. "I just happened to see that they'd +moved, when a minute before the clock had seemed to have stopped." + +"Maybe it was nothing, but we hadn't got on to it before. And if they've +been doing that at all steadily it accounts for the way they've been +able to drop shells on to what we supposed were concealed positions. +They shelled the house the staff was in two days ago. We're giving them +a good fight, but they beat us pretty badly when it comes to spying. If +we had a few more people with eyes as quick as yours, we'd be better +off. Come on, I'll take you out and see you started." + +As they reached the street they saw General Smith-Derrien climbing into +a great automobile that started off at once, moving south toward Paris. +What little they had seen of him had already made them conceive a great +admiration for the silent British commander, who only a few days later +was to be honored as the first brilliant figure of the war on the allied +side. It was for his very conduct of this retreat that Field Marshal +French, the British commander-in-chief, selected him for special mention +in his dispatches. + +They had to wait a few minutes while Major Cooper attended to the +details of getting a car for them. + +"Oh, Frank," said Henri, wistfully, "I wish I'd been the one to go! +Though I wouldn't have done so well, I'm sure of that." + +"Nonsense! You'd have done as well, and better," said Frank. + +"No! But think of what you have done for France, for what is done for +the English now is done for France as well. I am glad the English are +fighting with us now, instead of against us. I--" + +Major Cooper's return interrupted him. + +"Here's your car coming now," he said. "You'll have to take a long way +around. There are troops, or will be, on all the direct roads, and, +besides, bridges are being blown up fast. Take the road that leads to +Abbeville, over toward the sea. Use your own judgment about when you +turn south, but keep moving toward the west until you are very close to +Abbeville. After that you will have a fairly clear course. We haven't +any reason to think that the Germans are in that direction at all as +yet, though where they may be to-morrow no one knows. I needn't tell you +to keep your eyes open. But if you do run into Germans, don't try to get +away. There's very little chance of their finding the papers you carry, +and, if they do, it is not important enough for us to want you to run +any great risk. If you see them coming, hide at once. The motor doesn't +matter." + +Henri took the driver's seat and Frank sprang in beside him. And Henri, +feeling that he had been pushed a little into the background, started +the motor at once. He really could drive a car, having learned from his +father years before, and he soon showed, when he had made himself +familiar with the details of his machine, that he was to be trusted with +it. And so, with a blast of his horn, he made a quick turn and sent the +car roaring into the night. That was only to show off, however, for in a +moment he muffled his engine, and the car spun along almost in silence, +the motor purring evenly, as if to show that it was in perfect trim and +ready to give the car all the speed that was needed. + +The rain had stopped by this time, but the roads were still muddy and +greasy, and at first, too, there was a good deal of traffic. Guns and +men were moving, and, moreover, there was another danger. The German +guns had evidently moved up, and a shell fell near them once in a while, +but not so near as to bother them. + +After a few miles of travelling, however, they found the road freer, and +found also that the sound of the rear guard engagement that was covering +the British retreat was further off. Five miles saw them riding through +fields where twinkling lights showed the presence of troops, and they +were stopped by a French guard. The pass Major Cooper had given them got +them through, and the soldiers laughed and chatted while an officer was +examining it. These were fresh troops, hurriedly brought up to hold off +the Germans while the exhausted British retired to new positions, and +they were gay, light-hearted fellows. True, they had not yet been in +action, but to Frank it seemed that they were likely to be jovial after +they had heard bullets singing over their heads. + +"They don't seem to feel bad," said Henri. "And it is the same with the +English. They are retreating, and still they are cheerful." + +"You say that as if it was something remarkable!" said Frank, with a +laugh. "Of course they're cheerful. They've got faith in their leaders, +and they know, I suppose, that a retreat is often necessary. They'll +turn the tables before long." + +"It seems strange to be where it is so quiet," said Frank, when they had +finally passed beyond sound of the skirmishing on the extreme left of +the allied line, formed by the French force through which they had +passed. "I'm expecting to see Germans every time we make a turn." + +"So am I," said Henri. "And why shouldn't we? If they are trying to turn +the allied flank, we're as likely to see them in this direction as not." + +"Look here," said Frank, "you're perfectly right. We haven't got orders +to make particularly good time. Let's keep on right to Abbeville. That's +at the mouth of the Somme. Then we can turn toward Boulogne. If there +are Germans around here at all they'll be in that direction. We might +get some trace of their cavalry. Or we might do what we did before, +strike some of their infantry. I don't think we're so likely to do that, +though." + +"We'll try it, anyhow," said Henri. + +And so they turned toward St. Pol, instead of making the sharp turn at +right angles that would have brought them to Amiens. Here there were +traces, indeed, of a German invasion. Peasants, alarmed by the reports +of Uhlans seen at Arras and near Boulogne, were in full flight. + +"We needn't bother about that," said Frank. "Anything that these people +know the intelligence department has found out. No troops advancing at +all openly could get by the aeroplanes without being seen. And I think +the railroad in this direction has been watched. I saw a lot of +aeroplanes flying over this way this afternoon, and there would be more +from Boulogne. There are English warships there, I've heard, and their +naval flyers would cover this part of the country." + +Suddenly Henri slowed down the car. He kept one hand on the wheel, the +car moving slowly forward, but his gaze was fixed on the sky. Finally he +stopped the car altogether. + +"Look up there," he said, quietly, to Frank. "Do you see that light? +First I thought it was a star. But there aren't any other stars, and now +I'm sure it's moving. Do you see?" + +He pointed, and Frank's eyes followed his finger. + +"You're right," he said. "Hello! Now it's gone--no, there it is again! +See, it flashes and then disappears! It's some sort of a signal from the +air. Keep the car still." + +He tried to follow the flashes of the light, hoping to read the message +if it was in Morse code. But he soon found that it was not. And then +Henri cried out sharply. + +"If it's a signal, it's being answered from over there!" he said. "See, +there's a light waving there. It looks as if it might be from the roof +of a house. I--" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A DARING EXPLOIT + + +Frank leaped out. + +"Turn the car around first," he said. Henri obeyed. "Now try your +starter. Cut out the motor and then see if she starts quickly." + +Henri, mystified, obeyed. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Because when we want to start, we may have to do it in an awful hurry," +said Frank. He searched the road for a moment. "Run her back a few feet +to where that big tree is. It's darker there than anywhere else around +here. All right, that's far enough. We'll have to take the chance of +something coming along while we're gone and bumping into her but I don't +believe there's much risk of that. Now, come on! And quiet! We've got to +get up to that place without being seen." + +Cautiously they approached the house. No lights showed in any of its +windows; the place looked deserted. Indeed, all around it were traces +of hasty flight. It was a wayside inn, of a type common always in +France, commoner than ever since the spread of the craze for automobiles +and motor touring. Suddenly Frank stopped. + +"Wait a minute for me," he said. "I've got to go back to the car. I +ought to have thought of it before." + +"What do you want?" + +"Batteries. I saw a coil of wire in the car and I want that, too. And +there must be batteries. A car like this would carry everything needed +for small repairs, wouldn't it?" + +"Yes. I think you'll find them under my seat." + +Frank was back in less than five minutes. + +"All right," he said. "I don't know whether we'll have time to do what I +want or not, and whether I'll be able to do it, anyhow. But it's worth +trying. Now come on past the house. Easy! This is the hardest part of +it." + +They slipped by. However, Frank uttered a suppressed exclamation as soon +as they had done so. Before them, on the right of the road was a field +easily two or three times as large as the ordinary French field. As a +rule the land in France is split up into very small sections, closely +cultivated. But here was a cleared field as large as those commonly seen +in England or America, with no fences for perhaps a quarter of a mile in +any direction. Henri turned to look back at the inn. + +"They're still signalling from there--and look! There are two lights +now, instead of one, above!" + +These lights were still some distance away. Frank studied them. Then he +led the way into the field. + +"I thought so!" he said, with suppressed triumph in his voice. "Do you +see those barrels over there toward the inn? There's petrol in those--or +I'll eat my shirt!" + +"And if there is?" said Henri. "What then?" + +"Can't you guess? What do you suppose those lights mean?" + +"Aeroplanes?" + +"Never! They wouldn't flash that way. They'd have to be in a different +position entirely. No. Dirigibles!" + +"Zeppelins?" + +"Perhaps. Perhaps Parsevals or Schutte-Lanz airships. I think Parsevals, +for they need gasoline. And Zeppelins could fly from Brussels or Liege, +almost from Cologne--oh, I have it! That's why they need petrol!" + +"Why?" + +"They haven't flown over Belgium at all! They are from the sea!" + +"Oh--so that they could come secretly, and not be seen as they passed +over Belgium?" + +"Yes. If they flew over Belgium they would have to cross some territory +that the Germans do not hold, and word would go to Antwerp and from +there to the army here. Now quickly! They will be here soon. They are +coming nearer every minute." + +They went to the barrels as fast as they dared. There was nearly a score +of them, all close together. Each had a tap, and it was proof enough +that they contained petrol to open the tap of one. The smell identified +them beyond any doubt whatever. + +"Come on, and help me dig a hole," said Frank. He dropped to his knees, +and began scooping out the soft earth with his hands. Henri fell to with +a will, though he was sadly puzzled. But when the hole had been dug to a +depth of perhaps two feet, and Frank began to hollow out a trench toward +the barrels he began to understand. And as soon as he did, he worked as +hard as Frank himself, careless of torn finger nails and bleeding hands. +They carried the trench to the foot of one of the barrels, and Frank +turned the tap. The gasoline ran out into the trench, and flowed to the +hole. Frank ran back to the hole. + +"Stop it when I give the word," he said. "Now!" + +Then he was busy with the copper wire he had brought from the automobile +for several minutes. The wire had been carried either to repair cut +telegraph or telephone wires, or to serve as the conductor for a field +system of lighting. But whatever its original purpose had been, Frank +was thankful now that he had found it. He worked fast, and was satisfied +at last. + +"Now a little straw and a few twigs over the hole and the trench--and +the sooner they come, the better!" + +"Yes, the sooner, the better!" echoed Henri, tremendously excited, now +that he understood, even if rather vaguely, what Frank planned. "Vive la +France! A bas les Allemands!" + +As they went back toward the road Frank trailed the wire behind him in +two lengths. And when they reached the road, he dropped into the ditch, +and was busy for some minutes. + +"Now if it only works!" he said. "Perhaps it will; perhaps it won't. But +it can't do any harm. That's certain." + +"They're coming closer. I think I can see their shapes now--and there +are two of them," said Henri. "Do you see?" + +For a moment Frank could not. Henri's eyes were sharper than his. But +then he did make out vaguely two immense shapes that were coming through +the air. Soon, too, the faint hum of their powerful motors made itself +heard. + +"Zeppelins and big fellows, too," said Frank. "All the better!" + +He wondered if his plan would work, and if he would be able to carry it +out. If, in the final test, would he dare to do what he had tried to +arrange? Time enough to think of that when the moment for decision came. +And meanwhile there were a hundred things that might happen to ruin his +plan. There was nothing to do now but wait. But every moment of waiting +brought the climax nearer. The hum of the motors of the airships rose +louder on the quiet air, broken only by the faint and distant mutter of +the battle that was still being fought miles away. It sounded now like +the buzzing of a swarm of bees, magnified a thousand times. And then the +field was full of men, rushing from the inn. He wondered how they could +have been concealed there. But such wonder was idle, and he did not +think of it. Instead he watched keenly. First one monstrous aerial +battleship came to rest on the earth. At once the men in the field +surrounded her, seizing the ropes that were flung out, and made her +fast. + +There was a good deal of noise. Men were calling in German of course. +But soon order was restored, and the only voices were those giving +commands. Suddenly Frank's face lighted up. + +"Did you understand, Henri?" he said. "The men in the field are to be +the crews for the fighting. They have sailed here with only enough men +to steer them. And now all are ordered out, to stretch their legs!" + +"Yes, I heard that order," said Henri. + +"Now keep your eyes glued to them. What are they doing?" + +They listened and watched intently. + +"Just as I thought," said Frank. "See, they are going to fill the tanks. +There, they are attaching hose. And they have a pump--they surely must +have a pump, to send the petrol uphill!" + +Meanwhile the other airship had come down, on the other side of the +barrels, and there as nearly as they could judge, the same procedure was +carried out. + +"Watch, Henri! Are they pumping?" cried Frank. + +"Yes!" said Henri. "Now--now--now is your time, Francois!" + +Frank hesitated the fraction of a second. + +"If it meant killing them, I could not do it," he said, solemnly. "But +they are all out of the airships. Now!" + +On the word he closed the circuit he had made by connecting the loose +ends of the wire he had carried from his petrol filled hole to the two +batteries he had brought from the car. He had broken the circuit at the +other end, leaving the two wires separated by the fraction of an inch, +and cunningly held in place. The result was a spark--or would be, if he +had not erred. + +And he had made no mistake! For as he closed the circuit, he saw a +flash of flame at the spot where he and Henri had dug the hole into +which the petrol had flowed from the barrel they had opened. The spark +had fired the explosive gas that results when petrol is mixed with air. +The flame ran along the shallow trench, and, amid a chorus of shrieks +from the Germans who scattered in all directions, the fire reached the +barrel. In a moment there was a loud explosion. The flame flew to the +other barrels--the whole neighborhood of the barrels, owing to the +mixture of the petrol and the air, was then filled with an explosive and +inflammable gas. + +There was a great flash of flame, broken by a dozen sharp reports as one +barrel after another blew up. + +And still, though the Germans were flying in all directions, plainly +visible in the light of the blazing gasoline, the real success of +Frank's plan hung in the balance. But then what he had calculated +happened. The flame ran through the lines of hose. And a moment later +two great shafts of flame marked the spread of the fire to the helpless +monsters of the air. There was no chance to save them. Indeed, even the +Germans had no other thought than to save their own lives. Their raid, +whatever its ultimate object, was ruined and two vessels of the great +air fleet of the Kaiser were destroyed. + +For a moment after the final catastrophe the two scouts stayed, caught +by the wonder and the magnificence of the ruin they had wrought. But +then Frank cried out, + +"Come on! We haven't a moment to lose! They'll know that that was no +accident! Some came running this way. They'll find the wires! And then +they'll know. The wires will bring them here. Hurry!" + +They began running desperately toward the automobile. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE ESCAPE + + +Their one chance of escape, as they both realized fully, was to get back +to their automobile before the Germans recovered themselves sufficiently +to begin searching for those who had brought such swift and terrible +disaster upon their enterprise. And so they made no effort to move +quietly or secretly now. To do so would have meant delay and delay was +what they could not afford. The distance seemed far greater than when +they had first traversed it. It seemed that they would never pass the +house which the Germans had used as a base. But finally they reached it. +And as they did so a door burst open, and they saw a light within. + +A man, with the cap of a German officer, though otherwise he wore +civilian clothes, came rushing out, tugging at his pistol. He had heard +them running. By some bad chance, then, there had been a man--a +German--left in the inn! + +"Stop!" he cried, furiously. + +But they kept on running. He could not see them, dazzled as he was by +coming from the lighted house into the deep darkness of the road. But he +was in front of them, and they slowed up, instinctively, though they +still ran. And then they came into the light of the door. He started +back. + +"Kinder!" he cried. "Children!" + +It was the exclamation of the Uhlan who had stopped them in the +afternoon. But now it was uttered in a vastly different tone. The German +was beside himself with rage. Perhaps he had had some heavy share of +responsibility for the safety of the Zeppelins. But whether that were so +or not, he was plainly maddened by the sight of the boys. He could +scarcely have understood how completely they were responsible, but the +way they were running and the direction whence they came proved only too +clearly that they had had some hand in it. + +"Stop, Henri!" cried Frank, suddenly. "We can't get away. We surrender!" + +They stopped. Frank was obeying the order Major Cooper had given him. +Perhaps, had he been alone, he would have risked a further attempt to +escape. But there was no doubt that the German meant to shoot, and he +could not expose Henri to the risk. + +They stopped full in the path of light that came from the open door of +the inn. Behind them, in the road, voices were raised. It was plain that +their wires had been followed, and that others were in pursuit. And, +after all, Frank felt they could afford to grin at being made prisoners +now. They had accomplished a great feat. Even if they were caught, that +was to their credit. + +And then suddenly he gave a cry of horror. Henri was a little ahead of +him for he had not been able to stop as abruptly as Frank. And the +German officer, too furious, perhaps, to think of what he was doing, +raised his pistol and fired point-blank at the French boy! He fired--but +there came from his pistol not a sharp report, but only the dull click +as the hammer fell. Twice more he pulled the trigger. But something was +wrong. He had made a fatal error--his revolver was unloaded. + +But it was only by the luckiest of accidents that Henri was still alive. +Frank had seen the murderous attempt, and now rage mastered him for the +moment. + +"You coward!" he shrieked. He flung himself at the German officer, who +was trying frantically to get at his cartridges. So sudden was the +attack that he was taken utterly by surprise. Before he could defend +himself, Frank was wrenching his arm. A moment more, and the German +officer squealed like a frightened pig, for Frank had succeeded in +getting a hammer lock on him. He pulled at the revolver with his other +hand, and at last the German, to escape a broken arm, had to loosen his +grip. Even a weakling can cripple the strongest man if he once gets that +hold. And Frank, in his rage at the cowardly thing he had seen, was +almost a match for the full grown man in any case. + +As soon as he got the revolver he let go of the German's arm. But before +the officer could move, Frank had clubbed the pistol and struck him +sharply on the head. He went down like a log. + +"Run, Henri, run!" he cried. "They're coming up behind us! Run for the +car!" + +Behind them, indeed, the footsteps of running men were plainly to be +heard. A shot rang out, but both boys had turned instinctively to the +side of the road and were running low in the ditch beside the highway. +They could not be seen, and the firing ceased. It seemed that most of +the men were unarmed, or carried revolvers at the most. Had there been +rifles behind them, they would have had no chance. But as it was, they +reached their car and leaped in. Henri threw the switch of the electric +starter, the motor leaped into throbbing life, and they were off. + +Behind them more shots were fired, but the aim was wild. And they sped +away, at fifty miles an hour, pursued only by a few vain revolver +bullets, and by a chorus of shouts and yells of rage and execration. + +"The coward!" stormed Frank. He had never been so angry in his life. "He +might have killed you, Harry! And just because he was in a rage over +what had happened to the airships! He didn't even know that you'd had +anything to do with it--not positively! And we'd already surrendered." + +Henri laughed--and he meant the laugh. It was not affectation. He had +faced his danger in the true spirit of the Frenchman, who is as brave in +action as any man in the world. + +"Eh, well!" he said. "He did not shoot me, so what does it matter? That +was a fine crack on the head you gave him! He will remember us, I think, +next time he sees us." + +Frank shuddered a little. + +"I hope not!" he said. "Or, that if he does, he will be a prisoner +himself, and won't be able to try to get even." + +Frank remembered the look of sheer devilish rage in the eyes of the +German. It was not pleasant to think that they might meet again. + +"If it is to be, it will be," said Henri. "I bear him no grudge! He had +cause to be angry--ma foi, yes! The Kaiser will not say pretty things +when he hears of what we did to-night, Francois!" + +"No!" Frank laughed. "I wonder where those airships were meant to go? +Paris? They could have done terrible damage. Perhaps they were to attack +the army--to lie behind its course, knowing that our aeroplanes would be +scouting on the front. They might have made it harder than ever to +retreat in good order. But I think they would have gone to Paris. I +think that they would have been there before daylight." + +"And now--pouf!" said Henri. "What is left of them? Not so much as would +fill a barrel!" + +Once all danger of pursuit was past, Henri had slowed down the speed of +the car. Both scouts were thoroughly tired out by this time. They had +had a strenuous day, and a night that merited the description of +strenuous even more fully than the day. And now that danger seemed to +lie behind them, and a clear road to safety in front, their weariness +was realized fully for the first time. + +They could hardly have escaped the Germans, had any lain between +Abbeville and Amiens. But none were there, as it turned out. The road +was clear and open before them, and the car rolled along smoothly. + +"The firing seems to be moving now--moving to the southeast," said +Henri, once. + +"I think our left wing is being drawn in a little. That will tighten up +the line. But it gives the Germans still more chance to get around the +wing." + +"We can bring up French troops to meet them, Frank. There is the +garrison of Paris--nearly five hundred thousand men. They have not +struck a blow yet. But if the Germans come too near, they will be +brought up to the first line." + +"I believe that's what the French plan is, Harry!" said Frank. "Yes, why +not? To lead the Germans on and then take the risk of leaving Paris +defended only by its forts, and try a new flanking movement of their +own. Do you see? A new army, which could outflank the Germans while they +thought they were outflanking us!" + +The thought cheered them up wonderfully. It made it possible for them to +bear the sight of Amiens, left without a single soldier of the republic, +when they arrived. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY + + +The days that followed the return of Frank and Henri to Amiens were busy +but uneventful ones. They had found a few staff officers at the +abandoned headquarters, including Colonel Menier, to whom they had made +their report and turned over the automobile. He had thanked them +heartily, having heard already of their work. And when he was told of +the destruction of the Zeppelins he had embraced them both. + +"We had heard already of that," he said. "Only of the burning of the +ships, not of how it was done. You have done well for France, mes +braves! Wait! You shall not find France ungrateful. I go to Paris from +here, to make reports. I shall make one concerning you, to those in +authority. And--who knows?" + +He pinched their ears, that gesture loved of French soldiers since the +days of the great Napoleon, of whom his officers said that when he +pinched their ears he conferred an honor they valued more highly than +the cross of the Legion d'Honneur. + +After the departure of the last officers of the staff, Amiens took on a +new aspect. The thunder of guns, even the rolling of rifle fire, was +plainly to be heard now in the streets. In the distance--and not a great +distance, either--the smoke of a dozen burning villages was to be seen +to the north and east. It was so that the Germans marked their advance, +steady, relentless. Henri exclaimed in fury at the sight. + +"These barbarians of Germans!" he cried. "Burn and kill--and not +soldiers alone!" + +"It tears my heart-strings to see all this wanton destruction indulged +in by the foe," said Frank. "What then must be the feelings of the +French as they watch their villages being so ruthlessly burned! But some +day, somehow, Henri, our chance will come and the French will sweep back +into this territory, a victorious host. Not for long will it be in the +power of our foe!" + +Every day Amiens expected the incursion of the Germans, but day followed +day and still the enemy did not come. Frank and Henri stayed in the +Martin house alone. The servants had gone; Madame Martin had respected +their fears of the Prussians, and had made other arrangements for them. +So the two scouts camped out there, and Henri invited many of the other +scouts to share their quarters in relays. The house was open, too, to +any refugees who cared to use it, but by this time the country to the +north that was in danger of German raids had been swept clear, and +Amiens was no longer a gathering place. It was in itself too much +exposed. + +The smoke of burning villages rose now to the south, toward Paris. The +retreat was still on, it seemed. And while they waited patiently, since +there was nothing else to do, for the coming of the Germans, there was +much work for the Boy Scouts to do. It was routine work now, very +different from the exciting labors that had fallen to the share of +Frank and Henri on the day of their trip to Le Cateau. When Henri became +restless and impatient, as he sometimes did, Frank soothed him. + +"We are still serving France," he said. "There are no more soldiers in +Amiens. There are a few police, and those are old men, since the young +gendarmes have gone to join their regiments. But Monsieur le Maire knows +that he can call upon us." + +The military authorities, before completing the evacuation of Amiens, +had given strict orders that if the Germans came there was to be no +resistance. And in order to enforce this rule, the mayor detailed the +few remaining police and the Boy Scouts to make a house-to-house canvas, +warning the citizens, and collecting all firearms that might be found. +The scouts worked in pairs on this duty, and Frank and Henri always went +together. + +"In Belgium," one of them always explained, in making the demand that +the arms be given up, "Louvain and other towns were destroyed, so that +not one stone remained upon another. And always the Germans made the +excuse that shots had been fired on their men from the houses. Here in +Amiens we must save our cathedral and the other famous buildings. When +the Germans come it will not be for long; soon they will be in retreat +before the armies of France and England." + +Many gave up their guns reluctantly. But nearly all did give them up, +and whenever the scouts had reason to think that any were being +concealed, they made a special report on the house, and policemen +returned to make a search. + +And this wise planning had much to do with saving the town. The Germans +came at last. At first a single squadron of Uhlans, in command of a +young lieutenant, rode in. Frank and Henri saw them passing their house +and they mounted bicycles at once, and followed them. + +"They've nerve," admitted Henri, reluctantly. "See with what arrogance +they sit their horses! They might be riding into a German city instead +of one in which everyone who sees them hates them!" + +"Yes, they've nerve," agreed Frank. + +There could be no question of the fact. The little squadron of troopers, +almost swallowed up already in the crowd of curious ones who followed +the slow movement of the horses, rode on, seemingly deaf to the mutters +of execration that rose, especially from the women. Not a man turned his +face from the front even to scowl at the townspeople. They rode on, eyes +unswerving. Outside the Hotel de Ville they stopped. A bugler blew a +fanfare, and Monsieur le Maire, in his robes of office, appeared on the +steps. A great cheer from the people greeted him. He bowed gravely to +the Uhlan lieutenant, who saluted stiffly. + +"I demand the surrender of the town of Amiens, in the name of his +Majesty the Kaiser and of the German Empire," said the lieutenant, in +excellent French. "You, Monsieur le Maire, will consider yourself my +prisoner. You will be held responsible for the conduct of the +inhabitants. Any attack on German troops will be sternly punished. If +the inhabitants of Amiens behave in a peaceable and orderly fashion they +will not be harmed. Payment will be made for any private property +required by our forces. A brigade of infantry will march in this +afternoon. Quarters must be found for the troops, numbering nearly eight +thousand men. You will be informed later of the requisition the town +will be required to fill, in money and in supplies. For the present you +are required to clear this square, where my men will remain." + +The mayor bowed. + +"My orders are to make no resistance," he said. "I bow to the +inevitable, regretting that we are not permitted to defend ourselves to +the death. Amiens will keep its faith. No attack will be made, since +that would mean treachery. I will order the gendarmes and the Boy Scouts +to clear the square." + +Frank and Henri were of great assistance in doing this work, Frank +taking the lead, since no patrol leader happened to be in evidence. +They and the police soon drove the people back, and the Uhlans +dismounted. There, in the public square, used as a market place, they +proceeded to cook a meal, making a fire in the street. From the sides of +the square the people watched them sullenly. But there was no +demonstration, since both the police and the scouts had explained that +anything of the sort was likely to mean the execution of the mayor, who +was within the power of the enemy. + +As soon as the public curiosity to see the hated invaders had been +somewhat satisfied, the people were urged to go to their homes, and by +mid afternoon the streets were deserted. Then began the entrance of the +real force of occupation. At the head rode a general of brigade, a +sombre, stern-eyed man, accompanied by his staff. And behind him marched +thousands of green-gray German infantry keeping step with a marvelous +precision. These men had been fighting hard, but they looked fresh and +trim. And as they marched they sang, raising their deep voices in a +splendid, thrilling chorus. + +_Fly, Eagle, Fly_, they sang as they marched into town. And then they +gave way to the magnificent hymn of Martin Luther, the battle song of +the Protestant nations in the Thirty Years' War, the battle song of +Prussia ever since that time, _A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!_ + +Henri watched them as they marched by, tears in his eyes. Finally he +could suppress the thought no longer, and he turned to Frank with: + +"They have said that Germany has fine soldiers, but they are not like +our men! There's all the difference in the world between them--and that +difference will bring victory to our banners. Our men fight for right; +these men fight because they think it their duty." + +"Even though they are the foe, I hope there will be no shooting at them +here. If there is, they will show no mercy, I am sure of that," said +Frank. + +"Amiens has pledged its honor," replied Henri quietly. "They are safe +here. Will they harm Monsieur le Maire? Oh, do you think they will harm +him?" + +"No, I think not if there is no resistance offered. I wonder if any will +be quartered at your house, Henri?" + +"I hope not," said Henri, flushing. + +A change, as it turned out, was made in that plan. The general in +command of the brigade, who proclaimed himself within an hour of his +arrival as military governor of Amiens, decided to keep his men under +canvas. Tents sprang up like mushrooms in the parks and open spaces. +Amiens was required to furnish great quantities of foodstuffs--bread, +flour, wine, meat. But the troops were not quartered in the houses. And +by nightfall the town seemed to have settled down peacefully to the new +conditions. German aeroplanes were flying constantly overhead; officers +came in, and more troops. + +"Amiens is again the headquarters of an army corps," said Frank. He was +suffering almost as keenly as Henri, but he did not mean to let his chum +brood upon the disaster that had overtaken his home. And, after all, it +might have been worse. He thought of Louvain and other Belgian cities. + +That night Amiens was a German city. Trains passed through continually +now, bearing troops; some, returning, carried wounded, whose groans +resounded in the silence. And in the distance to the south, toward +Paris, the roar of guns seemed louder again. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +RECOGNITION! + + +Even the enemy, the hated Germans, found that the Boy Scouts were +useful. There was constant danger of an outbreak, and the Germans had no +desire to destroy Amiens. Had they been attacked from the houses, they +would have lost heavily; in house-to-house fighting civilians, battling +at close range, can inflict great damage on the best of regular troops. +Such an outbreak would have meant the killing and the wounding of +hundreds of German soldiers. The punishment would have been terrible, +indeed, but that would not have brought a single Prussian back to +life--a single Bavarian, rather, since these were Bavarian troops. + +The Boy Scouts served as intermediaries between the Germans and the +French civil authorities. They carried messages, and, at the order of +the mayor, they submitted themselves to the orders of the German staff +when it was necessary to explain a new decree to the citizens. They had +many other things to do, also. It was largely the scouts who saw to the +gathering of the supplies requisitioned by the Germans. The enemy had +been inexorable in this respect; they set a definite time limit for the +filling of every requisition they made, and it was well understood that +drastic measures would be taken were they not satisfied. + +Each day a new group of hostages was taken into the Hotel de Ville, now +occupied as headquarters by the German staff, rather than the buildings +formerly used by the Second Corps d'Armee of France. These hostages, it +was explained, would be shot at once if orders were not obeyed or if +Germans were attacked. There were many irksome rules. Every citizen was +required to salute a German officer whenever he saw him. Lights must be +out at a certain hour each night, and after that hour any citizen found +in the streets without a permit was liable to arrest and execution +without trial. They were under martial rule. + +But always the sound of heavy firing in the southeast continued. + +"I really believe the great battle is being fought at last, Henri!" said +Frank. "We have heard that firing now for three days. It comes from the +direction of the Marne. There is another thing. Since yesterday no troop +trains have gone south through Amiens." + +"But empty trains go through!" cried Henri. "And they come back, loaded +with German wounded! You are right, Francois! We have begun to drive the +Prussians back to the Rhine!" + +News they had none. All Amiens was cut off from the world. Whatever the +German invaders knew they kept strictly to themselves. It was only by +such inferences as they could draw from the sound of firing in the +direction of Paris and by the passage of trains through the city that +they were able to form any opinion at all. + +"I feel sure that there's a real battle going on," said Frank. "The +firing is too heavy and too continuous for a rear guard action. But as +to who is winning, we can't tell. Sometimes the firing seems to be a +little nearer again, but that might be because of the wind. And as for +the trains that are going through, that doesn't really mean anything. +They might have decided to send troops to the front by another railway. +They control the line through Rheims, too." + +But the morning after they had decided that there was no real way to +tell what was happening, something definite did come up. Nearly all the +troops in Amiens moved south. Only a few hundred remained, enough to +garrison the town and control the railway, since there seemed no danger +of an allied raid. But the fact that the other troops were being sent up +to the front indicated that the fighting was assuming a character far +more desperate than the Germans had expected. + +"They must be fighting on the line of the river Marne," said Frank. "You +see, during that long retreat, there was time to entrench there. And +open field entrenchments seem to be better than fortified places. Look +at how quickly Namur fell, when everyone thought it would hold the +Germans back for days." + +"The country there is difficult, too," said Henri. "My father said once +that it was there that the garrison of Paris should have fought first in +1870, instead of waiting inside the forts for the Prussians to come." + +"I think that everything favors us now, for the first time," said Frank. +"The Germans have been winning--they have made a wonderful dash through +Belgium and France. They must have got very close to Paris. I believe +the roar of guns is as easy to hear in Paris as here. And then, +suddenly, when they think they are to have it all their own way, their +enemy turns and faces them, and holds them. That much we may be sure of. +The battle has been raging now for four days at least, perhaps for five. +And the firing has certainly not gone further away. Even if we are not +gaining, it is a gain if the Germans cannot advance." + +They were glad now that they were busy. A few refugees from the south +were coming, driven back by the Germans. Perhaps they would rather have +tried to reach Paris, but the battle stopped that. And always there were +errands to be run, and messages to be carried. It went against the grain +to obey the orders of German officers, and to be obliged to salute these +officers whenever they were encountered, but it was necessary. And the +scouts of Amiens, when they knew what their duty was, did it, no matter +how unpleasant it might be. + +Now the troops who formed the garrison of Amiens changed almost daily. +Older men were now in the tents, and some young boys. + +"The last classes of their reserves must have been called out," said +Frank. "These are not first line troops that are up, but the ones who +are supposed to guard lines of communication and to garrison interior +fortresses." + +There were times when more officers than men seemed to be in the town. +Amiens seemed to be used as a point where shipments of supplies and of +ammunition for troops at the front were concentrated and diverted to the +various divisions at the front. This involved the presence of a great +number of officers of the commissariat department, who seemed to work +night and day. + +Men fight best on a full stomach, and the Germans understood this +thoroughly, and saw to it that their soldiers did not have to go into +battle hungry. Amiens also formed the headquarters of one branch of the +German flying corps. Here aviators in great numbers were present +constantly. Damaged monoplanes and biplanes were brought back for +repairs. And it was this fact that brought a startling experience to the +two scouts. For one day, as they rode on their bicycles on an errand +through the square before the Hotel de Ville, they were arrested by a +sudden fierce shout. An officer ran out toward them, his face distorted +with anger. And Frank, with a sinking heart, recognized him as the man +who had fired at Henri on the night they had burned the Zeppelins. + +"Arrest that boy!" he cried, pointing to Henri. "He is a spy! He is a +French, spy, I say!" + +For a moment Frank hesitated. Then he rode away, leaving Henri to his +fate. He looked back, to see two Germans holding his chum. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A DESPERATE GAME + + +Frank had sped away because he was afraid that the officer might +recognize him in a moment also. And yet it was not fear, in the sense +that he was fearful of what might happen to him, that led him seemingly +to abandon his comrade. It was the knowledge that were he too a +prisoner, there would be no hope for either of them. He knew how the +Germans must have regarded the destruction of the Zeppelins. It was a +blow that might prove, when the final accounting was made, to have cost +them the success of the invasion of France. And he had no illusions as +to the fate of those who might be proved to be responsible for that. + +Technically, they had not acted as spies when they had played the daring +trick that had resulted in such a disaster to the German cause. But they +had been non-combatants, civilians, and by the laws of war the civilian +who takes active measures of any sort against the enemy is liable to +death. The German army enforced this rule strictly and invariably. +Neither age nor sex was a reason for sparing one who had violated it. A +woman spy, a boy of fifteen who fired at Germans, would alike be made to +face a firing squad. + +No. If he and Henri were caught, and this officer, who had already shown +his venomous hate for them, was their accuser, they would never live to +see the German defeat for which they prayed. Frank hoped that Henri +would understand, that he would know that he had taken to flight because +it afforded the only chance of saving him. + +Frank had reasoned quickly. He had been sure that the next move of the +German officer would have been to denounce him also. But while the +German officer had had a good look at Henri on the night of the Zeppelin +disaster, he had not seen Frank. Frank had been in the shadow when the +officer had tried to murder Henri; he had taken the German by surprise, +and stunned him. And so there was no way in which the German could know +him again, unless he saw him with Henri and so leaped to the conclusion +that he must also have been with him on the night of disaster. + +By that process of reasoning Frank argued that he might remain free to +go about the town. The Germans had come to trust the Boy Scouts, +understanding that their honor was pledged when they gave their word, +even to an enemy. Some of the restrictions applying to the other +citizens of Amiens did not restrain them. They were allowed to be on the +streets after the hour of curfew, for one thing. And between the scouts +and a good many of the German privates and younger officers a relation +almost friendly had been established. Frank, for instance, was welcomed +at one Bavarian mess, which contained several soldiers who had studied +at English schools, and liked a chance to air their knowledge of the +English tongue. He hoped to gain some information in this way. + +Nor was he wrong. His friends had heard of the arrest of Henri, who, +like Frank, was popular with them. And it turned out that they had +little use for the officer who had caused the arrest. He was known as a +tyrant who had more than once during the campaign shot down his own men +for slight breaches of discipline. Frank learned that he had been +degraded for the destruction of the Zeppelins, for which he had been +held responsible. His superiors had scouted his story of two boys who +had burned the dirigibles, and had assumed that he had been careless. + +Therefore Frank found it easy to discover where Henri was confined. He +was to be tried by court-martial early in the morning, and for the night +he was in a room on the ground floor of the Hotel de Ville. + +"He's only a boy," said a Bavarian corporal. "No need to guard him +closely. Even if he escaped, where could he go? Our men are everywhere." + +Frank smiled to himself. He had made a discovery a day or two before +that had not escaped his mind. That afternoon he managed to make +certain preparations unobserved. And when night came he was ready to +hazard his own liberty, and his life, if that should prove to be +necessary, in an attempt to rescue Henri. He knew the room in which +Henri was confined. It was on the side of the Hotel de Ville that +overlooked the river. No sentries were posted there, and it was easy for +Frank to get to a spot directly underneath Henri's window. The other +bank of the river was well guarded, and that was why no sentries watched +the side on which was the town hall. It was argued, Frank supposed, that +anyone escaping must attempt to swim the river and that when they tried +to climb the other bank it would be easy to find them. + +In principle, too, that was a good idea. What it did not take into +account was the discovery that Frank had made--and kept to himself. + +It was just before midnight when he began a faint tapping at Henri's +window. He used a light bamboo cane, tipped with soft cloth, so that the +sound, audible to anyone in the room, would not carry more than a few +feet. And he tapped out his signal in the Morse code very slowly, +knowing that Henri would hear and understand. + +In a few moments there was the sound of the window opening very gently. +And then Henri slipped down beside him, taking the short drop by hanging +from the window with his hands. He seized Frank's hand. + +"I knew you would try to help me," he whispered. "But I had better go +back. We cannot escape. There are sentries on the other bank of the +Somme. They would catch us together, and you would be a prisoner, too." + +"Follow me," said Frank. "Take off your shoes. Drop quietly into the +water--make no sound of a splash. Swim after me. I shall show you +something you do not expect to see." + +Frank slipped into the water. Both boys were expert swimmers, and Frank, +leading the way, slipped along in the deep shadow, without a sound. +Henri swam after him. At last Frank stopped and whispered to Henri. + +"You see this buttress? Dive just beyond it, and swim under water for +ten feet. Put up your hands then, and rise. There will be room." + +At once he dived and disappeared, and Henri followed. When they came to +the surface they were in a dark, damp hole, that smelled of slime and +filth. But in a moment Henri felt steps, and then there was a faint +light that illuminated a vault full of water. And, to his wonder, he saw +a boat, covered, except at one end, with a dark cloth. + +"In with you!" whispered Frank. "Under the cloth, and lie still!" + +Frank followed when Henri had obeyed. And then the boat began to move in +a direction different from that by which they had entered the vault. + +"I am pushing it with my hands along the wall," explained Frank, still +in a whisper. "That will bring us to the opening--the smallest possible +that would allow the boat to pass into the stream. Then the current will +carry us down. I have a rudder, that will hold us in the shadow of the +left bank through all the turns. It is a chance--the only one we had. If +all goes well, we shall drift down below the city and be safe!" + +Soon they were caught in the current of the Somme. There followed a time +of terrible and desperate trial and terror. At every shout they heard +they thought they had been discovered. Never did they dare to raise +their heads to look out. Their chance was a double one, but of the +faintest, at best. Perhaps they would not be seen at all; perhaps, even +if the boat was seen, no sentry would consider it worth remark. + +For hours they drifted, unable to tell how far they had gone. Frank, +guessing their distance by the time it had taken a piece of wood to +float a certain distance during the afternoon, had hoped to be well +beyond the city when daylight came. But he had not been certain. + +Gradually a faint light crept through the dark, stifling cloth. The +temptation to raise it and look out was terrible. But they resisted, +speaking only occasionally in whispers. With every minute that passed +their chance for success grew greater. And yet at the last minute they +might be caught. + +At last there could be no doubt that the sun was up, and that there was +full daylight. And then, suddenly, there was a sharp tug at the boat. +With a groan Frank started up, and Henri too. + +And what they saw was an amazed French peasant, and all around the +smiling country below Amiens, which was far behind! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +VIVE LA FRANCE! + + +The peasant listened in amazement to the story that they told him. But +he was a real Frenchman, out of the army because of his age. + +"Come with me," he said. "You shall have the best there is in my +house--it is not much! Dry clothes, too. If you will wear a peasant's +blouse, there are the clothes my Jean left when he went to the war!" + +"We have clothes in the boat," said Frank. "Until we knew we were safe +we dared not change into them. But your food will be more than welcome!" + +So it proved, indeed. It was rough fare, but it seemed to both the best +that they had ever tasted. And while they ate, the peasant told them +what news he had. + +"We hear that the French and the English are winning now," he said. "A +gentleman came past my house in an automobile this morning, and said +that he had passed French troops ten miles away--cuirassiers riding this +way." + +"Hurrah!" cried Frank. "Henri, we must try to join them as quickly as +possible. When we explain they will let us go through to where we shall +be safe until we can go back to Amiens. Come on! Farewell!" This to the +peasant. "We shall never forget your good food and your welcome!" + +And with light hearts they set out, glad to walk, since it gave them a +chance to stretch the legs that had been cramped for so many hours in +the bottom of the boat. + +Plainly there had been a great change in the character of the battle +over night. The heavy thunder of the guns was greatly reduced in volume, +though they should still have been able to hear it. And it was +unmistakably coming from further north. It must be that the Germans were +retreating. But they walked for three hours before they knew for certain +that they were right. + +They did not meet the cuirassiers of whom they had heard. Instead a +cloud of dust that they saw for two miles before men emerged beneath it +turned out to be a column of French infantry. They were in their Boy +Scout uniforms, and the men who first saw them at the side of the road +cheered them. Soon a captain came up to them. + +"Eh bien, mes enfants!" he said. "What do you do here? Where do you come +from!" + +They told him Amiens, and he laughed. + +"And it is there, precisely, that we are going!" he laughed. "The +Germans are out by now and our men were in there an hour ago!" + +Frank and Henri cried out in delight at the news. + +"May we go with you?" asked Frank. "We would like to go back as soon as +possible." + +"As to that you must ask the colonel. He will decide--and, see, here he +comes now in his automobile! I will report to him that you are here." + +But there was no need, for the officer who sat in the car was Colonel +Menier himself, and at the sight of them he laughed aloud. + +"Ah, my brave ones!" he cried. "So you are here! Ride with me! Did the +Germans drive you from Amiens? I shall drive you back!" + +They obeyed that order with delight. They sprang to their places in the +car. + +"Now tell me everything!" said Colonel Menier. "How it is that you left +Amiens and how you came here?" + +He leaned over first, however, and spoke to his driver, and the car shot +forward, leaving the troops far behind. + +And then they began the story, each telling the part of it that he knew +best. At the story of how the German officer had recognized Henri and +caused his arrest, he clenched his hand angrily. + +"They make war even on boys!" he said, bitterly. "A brave enemy +recognizes the heroism of his foes. If I had been in that man's place I +should have forgotten my own defeat and praised those who had caused +it!" + +Then came the story of Frank's discovery of the hidden vault and the +boat, and of their voyage down the Somme and their lucky escape. + +"Milles tonnerres!" he cried. "A thousand million thunders! That was +well done! Through all the German sentries! Eh, well, I have a surprise +for you when you reach Amiens with me, I think. Mind, I make no +promises! Only wait!" + +Slow as had been their flight from Amiens, their return was swift. +Already they were in the outskirts. From every window hung the tricolor. +Everywhere the people were mad with delight. The Germans had gone. At +the sight of Colonel Menier's uniform women leaned from their windows, +shrieking their joy. + +In the town itself French troops were everywhere, marching through. Guns +thundered along, and there were English troops as well as French. Amiens +was in holiday mood. Straight through the cheering crowds the car sped +on. It drew up at last before the Hotel de Ville. Sentries stood at the +main door, but at the sight of Colonel Menier they saluted and gave him +free passage. + +Inside Colonel Menier spoke to a staff officer, who smiled and went into +a room at the side. In a moment he returned. + +"The general will receive you, my colonel," he said. + +"Good!" He turned to Frank and Henri. "You are to meet the greatest man +in France," he said. "Allons!" + +They followed him into the room. By the window stood a man, not tall, +but large rather than fat. He turned quiet eyes toward them. Colonel +Menier saluted. + +"Monsieur le General Joffre," he said. "I have the honor to present the +Boy Scouts of whom you have heard--they who served General Smith-Derrien +so well and who destroyed the Zeppelins near Abbeville." + +"These are the ones?" said the general. "In the name of France, I thank +you! And in the name of France, and by order of His Excellency the +President of the Republic, I hereby decorate you! For each, the cross of +the Legion of Honor! Which is Francois Barnes?" glancing from one to +the other. + +Frank stepped forward. General Joffre took the cross from his own breast +and pinned it to Frank's. Then he turned to another officer, and +received another cross from him. And this he affixed to Henri's breast. +For a moment they were overcome. And then together they cried: + +"_Vive la France!_" + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired. + +One instance each of LaFere and La Fere have been retained. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts on the Trail, by George Durston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 20327.txt or 20327.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/2/20327/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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