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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields
+by Lieut. Howard Payson
+
+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 Belgian Battlefields
+
+Author: Lieut. Howard Payson
+
+Illustrator: Charles L. Wrenn
+
+Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29991]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Rose Acquavella and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced
+from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE BOY SCOUTS
+  ON
+  BELGIAN BATTLEFIELDS
+
+  BY
+  LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON
+
+
+  AUTHOR OF "THE MOTOR CYCLE SERIES," "THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE
+  EAGLE PATROL," "THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE RANGE," "THE BOY
+  SCOUTS AND THE ARMY AIRSHIP," "THE BOY SCOUTS' MOUNTAIN
+  CAMP," "THE BOY SCOUTS FOR UNCLE SAM,"
+  "THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE PANAMA CANAL,"
+  "THE BOY SCOUTS UNDER FIRE IN
+  MEXICO," ETC.
+
+
+  _ILLUSTRATED BY
+  CHARLES L. WRENN_
+
+  NEW YORK
+  HURST & COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+
+  Copyright, 1915,
+  BY
+  HURST & COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The long roll of rifle firing in volleys, and the faint
+cheers of charging men.--_Page 178._]
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER                                       PAGE
+
+      I. ANTWERP, ON THE SCHELDT                   5
+
+     II. THE AERIAL MAP-MAKER                     19
+
+    III. LEAVING FOR THE FRONT                    31
+
+     IV. THE DAY OF THE BOY SCOUT                 45
+
+      V. UNDER THE BRIDGE                         58
+
+     VI. GETTING NEAR THE WAR ZONE                68
+
+    VII. THE DESERTION OF ANTHONY                 80
+
+   VIII. WHEN THE UHLANS CAME                     92
+
+     IX. WITH FIRE AND SMOKE                     102
+
+      X. THE DUTY OF A SCOUT                     112
+
+     XI. MYSTERIOUS SIGNALS IN THE NIGHT         121
+
+    XII. THE MEETING BETWEEN THE LINES           131
+
+   XIII. CAUGHT IN THE ACT                       140
+
+    XIV. THE FIELD HOSPITAL                      149
+
+     XV. CHASING A JACK-O'-LANTERN               161
+
+    XVI. THE BATTLE FOR THE TRENCHES             180
+
+   XVII. THE BADGE OF COURAGE AND MERCY          190
+
+  XVIII. AFTER THE FIGHTING WAS OVER             200
+
+    XIX. AN IMPORTANT CLUE                       210
+
+     XX. THE CAMP FIRES OF AN ARMY               220
+
+    XXI. THE HANGING BRIDGE                      230
+
+   XXII. SCOUT TACTICS                           242
+
+  XXIII. THE FROG HUNTERS                        254
+
+   XXIV. THE ARMORED CAR                         266
+
+    XXV. TURNING THE TABLES                      278
+
+   XXVI. FOR HUMANITY'S SAKE                     290
+
+  XXVII. CONCLUSION                              302
+
+
+
+
+The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+ANTWERP, ON THE SCHELDT.
+
+
+"Oh! how glad I am that part of the trip is over, now we've crossed from
+England to Antwerp without being wrecked!"
+
+"You certainly did seem to have a bad time of it, Tubby, in the wash of
+the Channel!"
+
+"Bad time did you say, Rob? It was a great deal worse than anything we
+struck on the voyage between New York and Liverpool, let me tell you."
+
+"But now we want to forget all our troubles of the past, Tubby."
+
+"I know what you mean by that, Merritt; it's just the same as telling me
+the worst is yet to come."
+
+"Well, I'm a little afraid myself that's going to turn out a fact. Here
+we are, just landed in a strange country that is being overrun by an
+army of German invaders; and all of us are bound to push deeper and
+deeper into the mire."
+
+"Hey, Merritt, you give me a shiver when you say that, don't you know?"
+
+"I guess you must mean a quiver, Tubby; because whenever you laugh or
+tremble you make me think of a bowl full of jelly!"
+
+"Now you're making sport of me because I'm so pudgy and fat. Just as if
+I could help that; can I, Rob?"
+
+"To be sure you couldn't, Tubby; and we wouldn't want you to be anything
+but what you are--the best natured scout in the whole Eagle Patrol, and
+I'm safe in saying you're the only fellow in the Long Island town of
+Hampton who hasn't an enemy. Everybody takes a fancy to a jolly rolypoly
+like you, Tubby."
+
+"What would we do without you?" Merritt added, with real feeling in his
+voice.
+
+"Well, but it strikes me you tried mighty hard to induce me not to join
+you two on this wonderful trip abroad," complained the fat boy
+reproachfully.
+
+"There was a good reason for that, Tubby," defended Merritt quickly. "I
+could see that with all these Old World countries in a scrap, my job of
+finding that man who is wanted so badly by my grandfather might take me
+into the fighting zone. Now Rob, as the leader of the Eagle Patrol,
+volunteered to stand by me, and I gladly accepted his assistance. When
+you asked to go along I was afraid the hardships of the trip might be
+too much for one of your peculiar build. That's all, I give you my word
+for it, Tubby."
+
+"My 'peculiar build,' as you call it, Merritt," chuckled the other,
+considerably mollified by the explanation offered, "has gotten me into a
+peck of trouble, I admit. But you never saw me show the white feather,
+did you?"
+
+"Never, Tubby!" admitted the boy addressed, who was a rather thoughtful
+looking young chap, of athletic build, though possibly not quite the
+equal of Rob Blake, the leader of the scout patrol to which all of them
+belonged. "It was mighty good of you two to back me up when I'd decided
+to take the risk alone. But unless that precious paper can be recovered,
+my grandfather, you know, stands to lose what he says is an enormous
+amount of money."
+
+"He's got plenty in reserve, I understand, Merritt," observed Blake.
+"What a grand thing that turned out for your folks when Grandfather
+Merritt, who had cut your dad out of his will many years ago after he
+married against his wishes, repented of his cruelty, and paid you an
+unexpected visit to get acquainted. Little did you think, when you stood
+up for that old fellow who was being snowballed so unmercifully by a
+bunch of village boys, that it was your own grandfather."
+
+"Yes," added Tubby, "you know they say a good action is never thrown
+away. That's why I'm always watching for my opportunities. Some day I
+hope to win the admiration of a crank millionaire who should, of course,
+make me his heir."
+
+"Well, here we are landed in Antwerp, and with a lot of sights to gather
+in before we set out in the direction of Brussels to find your man.
+Every minute counts, so let's get busy, and begin to wander around."
+
+"That's right, Rob," said Merritt. "Suppose you lead the way."
+
+These boys, who were all dressed in the well-known khaki that
+distinguishes scouts in nearly every country of the world, had just
+landed from a steamer that reached Antwerp from the shores of England.
+
+They had managed to get themselves and few belongings conveyed to a fair
+hotel by means of a vehicle drawn by a broken-down horse; all of the
+best animals as well as such automobiles as were deemed worth taking
+having been commandeered by the Government for cavalry, field and
+artillery purposes.
+
+While Rob Blake and his two chums, Tubby Hopkins and Merritt Crawford,
+are thus starting out to secure their first view of the quaint Flanders
+city, we may take occasion to glance back and see who they are and what
+they have done.
+
+Those who have had the pleasure of reading previous volumes of this
+series need no further introduction to the trio; but for the benefit of
+any who are now making their acquaintance for the first time, a few
+paragraphs may not come in amiss.
+
+There were other patrols in the Hampton Troop, but as the Eagles had
+been first in the field, the members of this organization were looked
+upon as the pioneers of the scout movement in that part of Long Island.
+
+Rob filled the post of patrol leader, and had, on one occasion, even
+occupied the position of assistant scout-master, being fully qualified
+for the certificate he had received from Scout Headquarters in New York
+City.
+
+Merritt, the second in command, filled the position of corporal. Tubby
+thus far seemed content to remain just a scout, though he had, by dint
+of hard labor managed to climb into the first grade rank.
+
+Until recently, Merritt's folks had been in just ordinary circumstances.
+His father was said to be the best wheelwright in the eastern end of the
+island, and by constant labor kept his little family housed and
+clothed, and perhaps laid up a little for a rainy day.
+
+Merritt always knew there was some sort of a family skeleton around, and
+that he had a severe old grandfather somewhere far away; but beyond that
+he had never been able to probe.
+
+One day, near the end of the preceding winter, had come the singular
+little incident that wound up in a joyful reunion. Merritt, as one of
+his chums chanced to remark a little further back in this story, had
+come upon several village roughs engaged in battering a stranger in
+town, a little old gentleman who, carrying his grip and finding the
+hacks all away from the station, had evidently attempted to walk to the
+hotel.
+
+The cowardly assault aroused the indignation of Merritt, who was a manly
+boy at all times. He remonstrated with the assailants, and when they
+continued to pelt the old man, he proceeded to attack them. Whether he
+could have won out alone and unaided will always be an open question.
+Fortunately one of the town policemen chanced to come in sight, which
+event caused the three foes to vanish in hot haste.
+
+Then imagine the astonishment of Merritt when, after giving the old
+gentleman his name at the other's urgent request, he found himself being
+hugged by the stranger. He announced himself as Merritt's repentant
+grandfather who, unable to keep up his bitter feud longer, had sought
+the forgiveness of his son.
+
+Just what came up later to start these three boys across the water
+during vacation time, when the Old World was commencing to rock and
+heave in the throes of the most terrible war ever known, will be made
+clear as the story progresses.
+
+The first volume in the series, _The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol_,
+was necessarily confined to the activities of the young organization;
+but Rob and his mates met and overcame many difficulties that are well
+worth reading about.
+
+In the second volume, _The Boy Scouts on the Range_, were recounted a
+series of strange adventures that befell some of the Eagles during a
+visit to the Far Southwest, where they took part in the wild life of a
+cattle ranch.
+
+Through the pages of _The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship_ the reader
+will find that Rob and his comrades always bore themselves manfully, no
+matter the emergency; and that they scrupulously observed "scout law"
+under any and every occasion, as every true wearer of the khaki makes it
+a point to do.
+
+After this, followed an account of many remarkable happenings that
+befell the Eagles when under canvas. _The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp_ has
+deservedly been reckoned one of the very best scout books ever published
+for boys, and those who own a copy are likely to read it many times.
+
+Once more, chance allowed some of the leading characters in the Hampton
+Troop to come in touch with Government officers who were experimenting
+with a wonderfully designed submarine. It happened that Rob and his
+friends were enabled to assist Uncle Sam's agents in defeating the plans
+of foreign spies who tried to steal the design of the new invention. In
+the pages of _The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam_ are recorded the adventures
+that accompanied their service, as well as mention of the reward
+following their victory.
+
+It was a happy chance that allowed some of the boys to pay a visit to
+the then uncompleted Panama Canal. While in the Canal Zone they again
+demonstrated that they were always wide-awake and devoted to the service
+of their country. Much useful information will also be found between the
+covers of this volume, called _The Boy Scouts at the Panama Canal_.
+
+Once more, Rob and several of his close adherents were unexpectedly
+allowed to take a trip. Andy Bowles, the bugler of the troop, had an
+uncle who owned a cattle ranch down in Chihuahua, in Mexico. He was
+sick, and unable to go down himself to dispose of the stock before the
+fighting forces of rebels and Federals drove the herds away.
+Accordingly, he sent his nephew and several of his chums to seek General
+Villa, whom he had once befriended, and gain his assistance in selling
+the valuable stock. The wonderful things they saw, and the peculiar
+adventures that came their way, have all been described in the seventh
+volume, just preceding this, under the title of _The Boy Scouts Under
+Fire in Mexico_.
+
+That, telling briefly some of the remarkable things that happened in
+their career as Boy Scouts, will have to suffice to introduce Rob and
+his two chums to the reader.
+
+Starting out from their hotel, the three American boys were soon
+engrossed in their pursuit of seeing some of the strange sights for
+which this old Flemish city on the Scheldt has always been famous.
+
+While they gazed, and made many amusing comments, Rob could not help
+noticing that, in turn, they attracted considerable attention. He could
+give a good guess as to the reason of this.
+
+At that time, with the vast German army spreading out over most of
+Belgium, and also fighting its way to Paris, the good people of Antwerp
+were constantly worried over the possibility of an attack. They had many
+scares, though as yet the invaders, after taking Brussels, had not
+chosen to invest the big city near the sea. Later on, as we all know,
+the time came when their heavy artillery was turned on the forts of
+Antwerp, and before the terrible fire from those colossal German guns,
+steel domes that had been called invulnerable were easily battered to
+pulp.
+
+With the assault and fall of Antwerp we have nothing to do, at least at
+present; but possibly those Flemish people thought the Boy Scouts part
+of an English army coming to defend Antwerp.
+
+When Rob and his two chums landed from England, after crossing on a
+small steamer, they found the city choked with fugitives and Belgian
+soldiers.
+
+Pushing their way along the crowded sidewalks, the boys took in all the
+sights that were so new to their American eyes. Only Rob had a small
+smattering of French, while his companions could not speak a word of the
+language. All of them were utterly ignorant of Flemish, current in half
+the homes of Belgium.
+
+The way in which the natives made use of sturdy-looking dogs, harnessed
+in small carts, and trained to do their duty in order to earn their
+keep, was perhaps the most interesting thing that held their attention.
+
+"Why," remarked Merritt, "they use dogs for nearly everything. Dozens
+of milk peddlers have teams to drag their big brass cans around. Then
+there are the hucksters, like we have over in New York, only these
+fellows peddle from carts drawn by dogs. We saw one poor, four-footed
+wretch roped to a treadmill, and doing the family churning; so I guess
+Belgium must make the dog traffic pay right well."
+
+"And think of dogs drawing a quick-firing gun, which we saw in that
+street where the soldiers were getting ready to go to the front!"
+exclaimed Tubby. "I think that was the queerest sight ever."
+
+"I can plainly see," Rob told them, "that while we're over here we are
+bound to keep our eyes wide open all the time because there are so many
+things that strike us as being queer just because we've been used to
+other ways. These people would stare at many of the things we think are
+common."
+
+"What are you looking at now, Tubby?" asked Merritt, seeing that the
+boy, who had gained his name because after a fashion he resembled a tub
+of butter, was in the act of stretching his fat neck in order to see
+something that had attracted his attention.
+
+"Why, I was wondering what made all the people crook their necks like
+that, and look up in the air. Is there a German Zeppelin heaving in
+sight? I don't seem to glimpse any big dirigible up there; do you,
+fellows?"
+
+"What's that moving along away up near the clouds?" demanded Merritt.
+
+"It must be an aeroplane," said Tubby. "I just heard somebody say my
+name close by; but he pointed up at that flier. What could he have
+meant, Rob?"
+
+"I think I can tell you," replied the other scout. "German aeroplanes
+are called Taubes, and it sounded like your name. They say that is an
+aeroplane spy up there!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE AERIAL MAP-MAKER.
+
+
+"He's flying pretty high, let me tell you," said Tubby, straining his
+neck in an endeavor to watch the evolutions of the far-distant object
+sailing on the border of the cloud, and which looked so much like a
+great bird with outstretched wings.
+
+"And all the while he is using his powerful field-glass to watch things
+going on below," added Rob. "I wouldn't be surprised if those chaps make
+a rough map, as they go over a place, with the position of forts marked,
+and the disposition of troops. In this war they say aeroplanes and
+dirigibles are going to play great stunts."
+
+"Think of the nerve of that German aviator, sailing right over Antwerp
+in broad daylight!" Tubby declared. "It's a dare, all right, and I
+wonder if any of these Belgian fliers will take him up. I really think
+I'd like to see a little scrap up in the air. We didn't have a chance
+for anything of that sort since we were down in Mexico with Villa."
+
+"Well," returned Merritt, "you may see more of that kind of business
+over here than you want. These fliers don't go circling around just to
+spy on the enemy. In lots of cases they have another and more terrible
+mission."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated the fat scout uneasily, "now you're thinking of that
+visit paid by a Zeppelin to Antwerp a short time back when it dropped a
+bomb that smashed things to flinders. They say it was aimed at the
+king's palace. But you don't think now that fellow away up there in the
+clouds would bother dropping explosives on our heads, do you, Rob?"
+
+Tubby always appealed to the patrol leader when bothered about anything.
+To hear him talk you would imagine that he considered Rob Blake a
+walking encyclopedia, and capable of answering any kind of question.
+
+"No, he's flying too high for that," the other told him confidently.
+"You see, with the air currents, that we know something about ourselves,
+no one at that height could count on landing his explosive anywhere
+near the place he wanted it to go. Chances are that chap is only out on
+a spying trip. Aeroplane pilots are the scouts of the air these days,
+you understand. Nothing can be hidden from them."
+
+"I understand," ventured Merritt, as they continued to watch the
+circling of the lofty observer and map-maker, "that there can be no
+surprises in this war, because the enemy always knows all about the
+massing of troops long before an attack can be delivered. An eagle or a
+hawk, hovering over shallow water, can see every bit of bottom when the
+surface is still, and so he's able to pounce down on the fish he's
+selected for dinner. These wonderful air-pilots will bring information
+of every contemplated move on the part of the enemy."
+
+"Poor old Napoleon would be a back number in these days," Tubby sighed,
+"because you remember his strongest card was to divide the enemy, and
+then smash one army and then the other. They'd know all about his game
+in time to block it. The romance of war has gone glimmering, I'm
+afraid."
+
+"Listen to all that shouting," said Merritt.
+
+"Seems to be cheers, as well as these people can cheer, which is not
+like the good old United States way," Tubby commented.
+
+"You can see what it means," remarked Rob. "There goes a Belgian biplane
+up, to get after the bold German!"
+
+"My stars!" gasped Tubby. "Now we _will_ see a circus! Think of two
+rival pilots maneuvering up there among the clouds, and trying to knock
+each other out! Whew! But watch him boring up in spirals, would you?
+Does the German see him, do you think, and is he beginning to skip out?"
+
+"Nothing like that has happened yet, as far as I can see," admitted Rob.
+"There he starts around again, as if meaning to complete his map, no
+matter if a dozen Belgian or English airmen come up after him."
+
+"It'll be a fight, then, see if it doesn't!" Tubby affirmed.
+
+"There goes a second aeroplane, and this time a monoplane," Merritt
+told them, pointing as he spoke. "Unless I miss my guess, there's an
+English aviator in that machine. It doesn't carry the little Belgian
+flag the other does, you notice."
+
+"Two against one," muttered the deeply interested Tubby. "Better be
+making up your mind to turn tail and run, Mr. Deutschland. The odds are
+against you, and, if you should get tumbled out of your seat a mile
+high, I'd hate to be under you when you strike the ground."
+
+"They seem to be maneuvering for position," asserted Rob. "Yes, both are
+circling around now, and going still higher all the time. Before long
+the German will be hidden in that cloud bank, and that's what he's
+aiming to have happen."
+
+"I thought I saw something like a little puff of smoke just then!"
+declared Merritt, who had exceptionally good eyes, strong almost as
+those of an eagle.
+
+"Then they must be bombarding each other!" Tubby ventured to say,
+evidently greatly thrilled by the spectacle that could never have been
+dreamed of a few generations back.
+
+"It's likely they are using their automatics, and trying to disable each
+other," admitted Rob, "though, between us, Merritt, I don't believe the
+tiny puff of smoke could be seen away down here, unless you had a strong
+glass. Of course, when moving as fast as they do, the chance of making a
+shot tell is next door to nix."
+
+"Anyhow, they're chasing the German aeroplane off," Tubby declared.
+"That is the main object for the brave Belgians going up there."
+
+The boys had made up their minds while on the way across that as
+Americans they must obey the President's appeal and be strictly neutral,
+if it were possible. They had many good friends who were of German
+descent, while others had English ancestors and near relatives.
+
+The one country with which they sympathized deeply was Belgium. The
+stubborn and heroic way in which that seven millions of people had
+defied seventy millions, and the gallant manner in which their little
+army had tried to resist the invasion of their beloved country, had
+aroused the admiration of every one of the scouts.
+
+As they stood there on that afternoon, and watched, they finally saw
+the German Taube vanish in the clouds, with the leading Belgian
+aeroplane following suit. Whether the pursuer ever overtook the foreign
+air-scout or not, the boys never learned.
+
+"Well, that was a lively little tilt while it lasted," remarked Merritt
+as, the entertainment being over, the crowds again commenced sauntering
+back and forth, with everybody talking volubly about the spectacle in
+the heavens.
+
+Soldiers gave them a curious look in passing. Every stranger in Antwerp
+was under more or less suspicion in those days, for it was becoming
+known that the German secret service had for years maintained the most
+wonderful system of spying in France, England and Belgium ever dreamed
+of. Antwerp had thousands of Teuton residents before the war, some of
+them leading merchants who owned splendid country places six or seven
+miles outside the city, where solid cement tennis courts afterward came
+in very handy as foundations for the immense German siege guns.
+
+"We'll see plenty more things that will give us a thrill to beat that,"
+Rob observed, pushing through the bustling, chattering crowds.
+
+"Yes, and I'm afraid times may come when danger will hang over our
+heads," Merritt pursued, with a touch of regret in his voice. "Then
+you'll both be sorry you didn't let me go off on this wild goose chase,
+as it may turn out to be, by myself."
+
+"What do you take us for, I want to know?" demanded Rob. "Haven't we
+been through all sorts of tough times together in the past; and why
+shouldn't we stand by our chum when he needs our help? What's a scout
+good for if he is ready to desert a comrade when the sky grows dark?
+That's just the time to show his true colors."
+
+"You're taking the very words out of my mouth when you say that, Rob!"
+asserted Tubby valiantly. "No matter what happens, we're bound by the
+ties of old friendship. We'll sink or swim together, boys. And Merritt,
+please don't ever tell us again you're feeling sorry for letting us come
+along."
+
+"If that man is to be found, we're going to corner him!" declared Rob,
+with his lips taking on the firm lines that marked them whenever he was
+making up his mind to hammer away persistently, like Grant did before
+Richmond; "and when we go back to the other side, we hope to be carrying
+that precious old paper your grandfather let get out of his possession
+in such a queer way."
+
+"This seems like a pretty warm day to me, even for summer," observed
+Tubby irrelevantly.
+
+"Now, we can give a pretty good guess, Rob," ventured Merritt smilingly,
+"that Tubby has a sly meaning back of that remark."
+
+"Yes," added the patrol leader, "and the chances are three to one it has
+something to do with feeding."
+
+"You are champion guessers, both of you," Tubby informed them, without
+seeming to be in the least ashamed of the confession. "I'm consumed by a
+violent thirst right now; and I bet you the milk in that shiny brass can
+that those two tired dogs have been dragging all over Antwerp this
+afternoon will have a lump of ice in it. Anyway, I'm going to test it;
+come along and let me stand treat."
+
+Laughing at his earnestness, the others followed the fat scout across
+the street, where the old woman with her dog team was apparently
+resting, and observing the remarkably interesting sights around her.
+
+Just then there were loud cheers that attracted the attention of the
+three boys.
+
+"Something else coming along that's worth seeing," Merritt announced.
+"Better curb that fierce thirst of yours for a minute or two, Tubby,
+while we watch what's passing."
+
+"Oh! well, I guess the milk won't sour while we're waiting," admitted
+the fat boy with a sigh of resignation, as he wheeled so as to face the
+street.
+
+"What do you call that, I wonder?" remarked Merritt, as he looked. "It's
+got the wheels of an automobile; but say, notice how the body of the car
+has been built up with steel sides, will you? And as sure as you live
+there's a quick firing Maxim mounted behind that bullet shield."
+
+"Now I know what it is," Rob hastened to say.
+
+"Then tell us, please," urged Tubby helplessly.
+
+"They call them armored cars," said the patrol leader. "I've read about
+how some of these reckless Belgians have fitted up cars in this way.
+Nearly every day they start out to raid through the country, where they
+expect to run across detachments of Uhlans, or bicycle squads of the
+German advance. Then they dart down on them and do some terrible work;
+before the enemy can recover to smash them, they are off like a flash,
+and return to town with all sorts of trophies."
+
+"They must have just been coming in," ventured Merritt. "I saw one of
+the soldiers had a bandage around his head. Another was holding up two
+helmets which must have been worn by Uhlans. And listen how the crowds
+roar and cheer. They certainly do hate the Kaiser and his army in
+Antwerp."
+
+"Well, do you wonder?" Rob asked. "After some of their lovely towns have
+been burnt down, and thousands of houses destroyed, simply because these
+Belgians dared to stand up for their rights as a neutral nation!"
+
+"Well, how about that drink of milk, fellows?" Tubby wanted to know.
+
+"Suit yourself, Tubby," Rob told him. "If it tastes good to you, we
+might join you in a glass."
+
+"Huh! sort of 'trying it on the dog first,' eh?" Tubby retorted, and
+then turning toward the owner of the dog team and the milk cart, he made
+a gesture with his head, and held up three fingers.
+
+Evidently the old woman must have understood what he meant, though she
+looked a bit "peeved," as Tubby afterward expressed it, at being asked
+to do a retail business. There were a number of measures dangling from
+hooks around the top of the shining brass milk can, also several glass
+"schooners." Taking one of the latter the old Belgian milk vender was in
+the act of filling it from the contents of the can when something
+astonishing happened.
+
+Four soldiers who had been passing became excited, and pointed at the
+group; then they laid violent hands on the owner of the milk cart!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+LEAVING FOR THE FRONT.
+
+
+"What's this? What's this?" stammered Tubby, as the schooner of rich
+milk fell with a crash to the pavement when the soldiers began
+struggling with the woman vender, who was also the owner of the dog
+team.
+
+Of course a crowd collected immediately, as it always will in a city
+when there is the first sign of something doing. Antwerp was fairly
+seething with half suppressed excitement at that time, and anything of
+this kind was like putting a match to the powder magazine.
+
+"Well, I declare but she's a husky old woman, that's right!" Tubby was
+heard to say after his astonishment had in a measure abated, and he
+could catch his breath. "Why, it takes the whole four soldiers to subdue
+her. Shame! to hit a poor old woman like that; but my stars, don't she
+kick and try to land a blow on some of their noses."
+
+"Whew! what do you think!" exclaimed Rob just then, for he had been
+listening to some of the chattering on the part of the excited crowd
+near by. "It isn't an old woman, after all, but a man. That explains how
+he comes to fight as he does, and why the Belgians keep on treating him
+so roughly."
+
+"A man, and dressed up like a woman!" cried Tubby. "Well, if that isn't
+a queer stunt, I want to know. Is he trying to escape military duty, do
+you think, Rob? I remember they have conscription here in Belgium just
+like in Germany, Russia and France. Every young fellow has to serve the
+colors just so long."
+
+But Rob shook his head. By now the soldiers had apparently conquered the
+spirit of the man in woman's garments. His white Belgian cap had been
+torn off in the struggle, showing that his hair was short underneath. He
+was also bleeding from having come in contact with some hard object, but
+he now stood there as straight as any grenadier, and looked his captors
+contemptuously in the face.
+
+"They say he's a German spy!" Rob told his two chums. Tubby again held
+his breath, and stared as hard as he could at the prisoner.
+
+The crowd became fairly wild to get at the captive, and made all manner
+of violent threats as they surged around the little group. The milk can
+was upset, and the dogs liberated by some friendly hand ran wildly away,
+as though knowing that their temporary master had gotten himself in a
+serious scrape.
+
+The four determined Belgian soldiers guarding their prisoner against the
+fury of the mob began to work a way along the pavement, meaning, no
+doubt, to land their prize in the lock-up, where he would be safe until
+the firing squad was called on to complete the tragedy.
+
+Presently their signals brought another detachment of the guard to the
+spot, a way was speedily cleared through the dense masses of people, and
+that was the last the three scouts saw of the spy. They could guess his
+fate, but at the same time felt positive that he must have met it as a
+man.
+
+Somehow, the experience gave them a queer feeling. Here they had been
+rubbing up against some of the tragic happenings of the war, and after
+being in Antwerp only a few hours. No wonder they all felt convinced
+that the signs pointed to their having some lively times ahead.
+
+"And say, I didn't get my drink of milk, either, did I?" lamented Tubby,
+after things settled back into the old rut again, with that never-ending
+procession of citizens, refugees, soldiers, and even a sprinkling of
+venturesome foreign tourists passing by in both directions.
+
+"Oh! that doesn't cut much figure in the matter," Merritt told him,
+"because if you step off this main street into one of the side _gassens_
+you'll run across plenty of other milk-venders, who will not turn out to
+be something else."
+
+"I see one right now," announced the persistent Tubby, who did not like
+to give up anything on which he had set his heart. "And look at the name
+of the same, will you: _The Street of the Steen_. Now what does that
+stand for, Rob? Is it the same as the German word _stein_?"
+
+"Oh! no, you're away off there, Tubby," he was immediately told by the
+patrol leader, who had studied his guide book to some advantage. "This
+Steen used ages ago to be a terrible prison, where in the days of the
+Spanish Inquisition they tortured people in all sorts of ways. Just now
+it's a great museum; and if only we had time, which we don't expect, I'd
+like nothing better than to explore it."
+
+"You see," Merritt told them, "if only you would let me go on by myself,
+and try to find Steven Meredith, you might stay around here and have a
+fairly decent time, unless the Germans do really start to try and
+capture Antwerp, after all."
+
+"That'll do for you, Merritt," Rob informed him severely, "you forget
+that incident is closed."
+
+"Yes," added Tubby, trying to frown, but as usual making a sorry mess of
+it, for the lines of his chubby face refused to take on such an air,
+seeing that they were only adapted for smiling, "don't let us hear
+another wheeze from you, Merritt. But please come with me, and let's
+see if all the old milk-venders of Antwerp are German spies. I hope the
+milk isn't poisoned."
+
+"That isn't fair talk, Tubby, because you know the Germans would be away
+and above doing anything like that. They have their faults, but nobody
+calls them cowards. In fact, they seem to be too brave for their own
+good, because we hear how they are shot down like ripe grain, pushing
+along in masses straight into the jaws of death, and singing as they
+go."
+
+This time they were allowed to quaff their mugs of cool, fresh milk
+without any unpleasant incident to interrupt the ceremony. Tubby did eye
+the woman who owned the outfit rather suspiciously, and must have
+aroused her curiosity by the way he turned his head several times after
+they had walked off.
+
+For another hour the three American scouts tramped back and forth,
+seeing all they possibly could in so short a time. The quaint Flemish
+houses, with their many gables, and their red-tiled roofs, interested
+them greatly. In some of the streets the buildings even seemed to lean
+toward one another, and Tubby declared two men could almost shake hands
+by stretching from the upper windows.
+
+"Now we ought to see the burgomaster," said Rob, as the afternoon waned.
+"You know you are carrying a letter to him, Merritt, from your
+grandfather, who happens to be acquainted with him. And we count on
+getting a guide through his influence who will take us along the roads
+between here and Brussels."
+
+"Even if a guide is not to be found, because nearly all the men are
+enlisted in the army," Merritt replied, "we've made up our minds not to
+hold back. Fellows who have had as much experience in running the
+gauntlet as the scouts of the Eagle Patrol can point to, needn't worry
+about how they're going to get along."
+
+"Leave that to us," said Tubby, rather pompously; "and we'll land on our
+feet all right, just as a cat does if you drop it out of the
+second-story window."
+
+After considerable difficulty, the boys were admitted to an audience
+with the mayor or burgomaster of Antwerp in his official chambers.
+Fortunately, he spoke English, so they expected to meet with little
+difficulty in acquainting him with the nature of their mission to
+Belgium at a time when nearly all other Americans were only too well
+pleased to get away from the land of strife and warfare.
+
+The burgomaster looked surprised and even anxious when he heard that
+they desired an official paper from him, requesting all Belgians to
+assist them in their search for one Steven Meredith, who was believed to
+be located in a town not many miles to the west of the capital.
+
+"I would do much for my old friend, Monsieur Charles Crawford, for whom
+I have long entertained a sincere affection," he told Merritt, after he
+had read the letter presented to him, and questioned the boys at length,
+"but it is a most serious undertaking you have in view. I question the
+wisdom of my encouraging such a dangerous trip."
+
+Rob, seeing that the good burgomaster appeared to be hesitating, and as
+Tubby expressed it, "on the fence," started in to talk. Rob had a very
+persuasive way about him, as his chums knew from past experiences. They
+guessed how it would all turn out as soon as they saw how impressed the
+Belgian city official seemed to be with the arguments the boy brought
+forward.
+
+Of course, in the end, the burgomaster yielded, and wrote them out the
+passport they wanted so badly. This document would possibly permit them
+to go even beyond the lines where the Belgian army was intrenched,
+waiting to deal a blow at the enemy in case the Germans turned
+threateningly toward Antwerp.
+
+"I do this much against my will," he told them, as he was shaking each
+one by the hand upon their leaving. "But my old friend has written me so
+much that is clever about the faculty you boys have shown in taking care
+of yourselves, that I am in hopes you may get through safely. But I
+shall be sad indeed if anything overtakes you through my giving way to
+sentiment. I wish I could influence you to remain here in safety, and
+send out some messenger in your stead to bring this man to Antwerp."
+
+"We have made up our minds to accompany our friend, the grandson of the
+Charles Crawford you knew, sir," Rob told him, "and all we can promise
+is that we mean to be very careful. If the man you will send around to
+us as a guide does his duty faithfully, we hope to get along fairly
+well. And believe us, sir, we feel that you have advised and assisted us
+even more generously than Mr. Crawford expected of you. We thank you a
+thousand times. Good-bye."
+
+That night passed without anything unusual happening to disturb the
+three boys. Their hotel chanced to be situated in a quiet part of the
+seething city, so that they were not at all annoyed by patriotic
+outbursts. And boys as a rule have a happy faculty of losing their
+troubles in sleep.
+
+With the coming of that next morning all of them were early astir. After
+breakfast they went in search of mounts, having secured some hints from
+the proprietor of the hotel.
+
+Horses were certainly at a high premium just then in Flanders. Nearly
+every animal of any worth at all had been taken by the Belgian field
+forces for army use. If a few were by accident hidden, and escaped this
+search, they were apt to be discovered by the advancing Germans.
+
+"It would be of no use, anyway, getting hold of respectable nags," Rob
+explained, when he saw even Tubby gape at sight of the poor looking
+animals they had offered to them at exorbitant prices, "because we'd
+never have the least chance to get anywhere on their backs. No matter
+how many passes we had from burgomasters, or even King Albert himself,
+somebody would be sure to take them away from us."
+
+"I suppose half a loaf _is_ better than no bread at all," complained
+Merritt with vivid recollections of the fine mounts he and his chums had
+sported on several occasions, notably when on the cattle ranch, and
+following Mexican war trails.
+
+"But _such_ a loaf!" sighed Tubby, as he ran his hand over the bony back
+of the nearest quadruped, and wondered whether so weak looking a horse
+could long survive under his rather heavy weight.
+
+"They may turn out a heap better than they look," Rob told them.
+"Sometimes it's the bony horses that can hold the pace in a grueling
+journey. But, after all, it's a case of Hobson's choice with us; either
+these nags, or walk."
+
+"Whew! better close the bargain then, Merritt; that is, if you think you
+can afford the price," Tubby hastened to say, for as may be easily
+understood, he was not very much in love with protracted walks, not
+having been built for a sprinter.
+
+So Merritt bought four horses, and paid cash down for them, receiving a
+regular bill of sale from the dealer, to show they were his property.
+With them went old saddles and bridles, good enough for the purpose of
+the three scouts, but not of a type calculated to incite anyone to steal
+the same.
+
+All that remained to be looked after now was that promised guide. If the
+good burgomaster of Antwerp kept his promise, they expected to find a
+native waiting at the hotel when they got back after their foray into
+the limited horse market.
+
+And sure enough they found a swarthy Belgian there who said he had been
+engaged by the mayor to serve them. Merritt quickly made terms, for the
+guide, besides being able to converse in French and Flemish, could
+speak some English, and readily comprehended all that was said in that
+tongue; especially when the subject of a money contract came under
+consideration.
+
+"There's nothing to detain us any longer, boys," remarked Merritt. "We
+have made up a little pack apiece which we'd like to take along. We
+travel light on this trip, you know; all but Tubby, and that's something
+he always gets left on. The balance of our duffle the proprietor of the
+hotel has promised to keep safely until we show up to claim it again."
+
+"Small loss if we never see any of it again," Rob admitted. "At the same
+time we hope to come back this way after we've run that person down, and
+either recover the paper your grandfather wants, or learn that it's lost
+for good."
+
+"That is," corrected Tubby, "we expect to see Antwerp again if the
+Germans don't gobble us up."
+
+"I'd like to see them try it," remarked Merritt, with a significant look
+at the ample proportions of the fat chum. "They'd have their work cut
+out, as sure as you live, Tubby."
+
+"Now, don't get personal again, Merritt," cautioned the other, holding
+up a warning forefinger, "but as there are heaps and heaps of queer
+things I'd like to poke into around this town, I certainly hope to visit
+it again."
+
+Half an hour afterward, mounted on scrubby looking horses, which would
+have excited the derision of any respectable cowboy in the West, Rob and
+his two chums, accompanied by Anthony Wallenhout, the Belgian guide,
+passed out of the city, heading toward the east.
+
+Before they had gone a sixth of a mile they found themselves stopped by
+a patrol of soldiers, led by a young lieutenant, who, it happened, could
+speak English.
+
+"It is no use, messieurs," he told them, with a pleasant smile, but a
+determined shake of the head, "you must face the other way and go back.
+The enemy is in force in many places between Brussels and Antwerp, and
+severe fighting is going on wherever our brave army has thrown up
+entrenchments. Antwerp is the only safe place for any who speak English,
+these days."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE DAY OF THE BOY SCOUT.
+
+
+"Now, wouldn't that jar you!" muttered Tubby, sprawled on the back of
+his horse very much after the manner of a great toad. "Here we hardly
+get started on our wonderful trip over the battlefields of Belgium
+before we're held up, and told to fade away. Huh! talk to me about luck,
+we seem to have lost our grip."
+
+"Show him what you've got, Merritt," suggested Rob, who did not give up
+quite so easily, because of a sudden snag in the stream.
+
+"Oh! why, yes, how about that passport the burgomaster wrote out for us
+himself? It ought to do the trick!" exclaimed Tubby, his sad look
+disappearing like a flash, and an expectant one appearing in its stead.
+
+
+The officer scanned the paper which Merritt handed him.
+
+"At a time like this the burgomaster himself is under military orders,"
+he told the waiting boys, "and if it happened to be a matter of much
+importance I could not honor his request. It chances, however, that in
+this case there is nothing involved except your safety. And you seem to
+be willing to take the risk?"
+
+"Yes, because we have a very important piece of business to carry out,"
+Rob hastened to tell him, seeing which way the wind was blowing, and
+wishing to take advantage of the flood-tide. "It means a great deal to
+one of my friends if we can find a certain man. You will allow us to go
+on, then, I hope?"
+
+The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders in real French style as he handed
+the burgomaster's passport back.
+
+"Yes, if you are that rash, young messieurs," he said. "We, of the
+Belgian army, can admire pluck. You certainly have my best wishes."
+
+"Oh! thank you, lieutenant!" gushed Tubby, who was relieved to know
+that the enterprise was not fated to be condemned at the start.
+
+Perhaps the time might come ere long when the same Tubby would be
+secretly lamenting over the fact that it had been given a free swing.
+But coming events do not always cast their shadows before; and just at
+that moment none of the venturesome scouts could so much as guess what
+awaited them in the disturbed country beyond.
+
+They gave the obliging lieutenant a regular scout salute, which he
+returned in kind. The paper had informed him that Rob and his chums were
+members of the Boy Scout organization in America, so that the fact of
+their wearing khaki uniforms was easily understood.
+
+"I hope we have as good luck in skipping past every obstacle we run up
+against," Merritt was saying, as they moved along the road leading from
+Antwerp in the direction of the Belgian capital.
+
+"Oh! we mustn't expect to be always as fortunate as that," said Rob. "I
+believe in hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst. It's good
+policy all around."
+
+"Something like we read the Pilgrim Fathers used to do in the good old
+days when they used to ride to church with the wife back of them," Tubby
+explained, "and every man carrying his gun along. Their motto was 'trust
+in the Lord; but keep your powder dry!'"
+
+"That's the idea," agreed Rob. "And so far, in all our tramps and
+wanderings, we've managed to do our part fairly well."
+
+"Let's hope this venture turns out as good," Tubby added, with a side
+glance toward Merritt, for, of course, it concerned him more than either
+of the others whether success or failure resulted from their trip
+abroad.
+
+That was only a beginning, for they were soon held up again. This time
+it came about that the soldier in charge of the detachment could not
+speak a word of English, so the guide had to exercise his ability in the
+line of a translator.
+
+So well did he plead, and explain that they were all good friends of the
+burgomaster of Antwerp, that once again they were allowed to proceed.
+
+Rob could easily see, however, that considerable doubt had arisen in
+the mind of the officer as to whether he should permit three boys to
+head into such a disturbed country as that lying beyond.
+
+Like the lieutenant, he shrugged his shoulders, and dismissed the matter
+of responsibility from his mind. Indeed, there were too many other
+serious affairs to be considered just then to bother about a party of
+tourists fairly wild to say they had gazed upon actual battlefields;
+for, doubtless, he concluded this was the real reason why these
+venturesome boys elected to take chances in the war zone.
+
+So long as they were not spies in the service of the enemy it was all
+right; only he wanted to warn them that they were apt to meet with some
+roving detachment of Germans at almost any time, since they were
+overrunning most of the country, appearing suddenly at villages, and
+demanding food and wine, or surprising isolated stations poorly guarded,
+so as to hold some important bridge for the coming of a column.
+
+"Look what's coming whizzing along ahead there!" Tubby called out a
+short time after this encounter.
+
+There was a little cloud of dust, and they could see that it was caused
+by someone mounted on a bicycle, who was bending down over the
+handlebars and working his feet very rapidly.
+
+"Give him the road, fellows; he seems to be in a big hurry!" ordered
+Rob.
+
+A minute later and the bicyclist shot by them. As he did so he
+straightened up in the saddle, and to their surprise gave them a
+regulation scout salute. Then he went tearing down the road in that
+cloud of dust.
+
+"Did you see that?" cried Tubby. "Why, he was a Boy Scout as sure as
+anything! Now, what in the wide world was he in such a terrible hurry
+for? He acted like he might be late for his breakfast."
+
+"Just now the Boy Scouts in Belgium have a good many other things to
+bother them besides missing an occasional meal," explained Rob. "They
+have been taken over by the military authorities and are doing splendid
+work in heaps of ways."
+
+"Yes," added Merritt, as they rode on again, "I noticed a number of them
+while we were in Antwerp, and they seemed to be on the jump constantly.
+Every fellow had a badge on his left arm with the letters 'S. M.' on it.
+You remember, Rob, when you asked what they stood for, you were told the
+letters meant 'Service Militaire,' and showed that the boys were working
+for the Government."
+
+"What d'ye reckon they find to do?" asked Tubby, deeply interested.
+
+"They act as dispatch bearers," replied Rob, "ambulance orderlies, and
+aids to the police. They told me that in Brussels, now held by the
+Germans, some scouts daily herded the women who came for their regular
+ration issued by the Government, and kept order, too. Everybody takes
+them seriously. This is no time for play among the Boy Scouts of
+Belgium, when war has gripped their native land."
+
+"When we were over in England," Merritt related, "I made it a point to
+find out how all the scouts there were being made use of. It gave me a
+mighty proud feeling to know that I was authorized to wear the uniform
+of the Eagle Patrol; for there never was a time in the history of the
+world when boys were of as much use as now."
+
+"But there have been no battles on English soil, up to now, Merritt;
+tell me how the Boy Scouts of Great Britain could do things, then?"
+asked Tubby, who it seems could not have been bothering himself very
+much when his chums were making all these observations.
+
+Merritt took a slip of paper from his pocket. They were riding slowly at
+the time, indeed at all times, for the horses did not seem desirous of
+making any particular speed.
+
+"Here's an account I clipped from an English paper while we were in
+London," he told Tubby. "It tells a lot of things the scouts have taken
+to doing in order to assist; for, during the war, school duties have
+been mostly dropped."
+
+"Oh! what joy!" cried Tubby; "but go and read it out to us, Merritt."
+
+"Here's what the account says, then," Merritt told them, as he managed
+to read from the slip: "'Acting as guides to troops. Forwarding
+dispatches dropped from air craft. Coastguard work, such as watching
+estuaries, guiding vessels in unbuoyed channels, and showing lights to
+friendly vessels!'"
+
+"Whew!" remarked Tubby; "that sounds fine to me, Merritt. For once I
+almost wish I happened to be a Johnny Bull boy instead of an Uncle Sam.
+Is that all?"
+
+"It's only the beginning," he was told. "Listen to some more work a
+scout can do for his country over there. 'Collecting information as to
+available supplies and transports. Helping the families of men at the
+front. First aid; fitting up nursing stations, refuges, dispensaries,
+and kitchens in their own club rooms. Carrying on organized relief of
+the destitute. Guarding and patrolling bridges, culverts, telegraph
+lines, and water supplies. Serving as dispatch bearers, telegraph and
+mail delivery riders; and distributing millions of notices as to
+billeting, commandeering, safety precautions, and the like,' How's that
+strike you, Tubby?"
+
+"It certainly gives me a thrill," the fat boy replied, "and I envy the
+lucky Boy Scouts of Great Britain. I reckon they're doing things like
+that down in France. Yes, and in Germany too. Now people will see what
+it means to wear the khaki uniform. I'm prouder than ever because I have
+that right."
+
+"They say," remarked Rob, chiming in with what knowledge he had picked
+up, "that for once the boys are appreciated in these times. They have at
+last come into their own. A scout's uniform is regarded in England as a
+sign of competence and responsibility. It is treated with the same
+respect given to any other official garb."
+
+"This account goes on to say that the boys have developed a wonderful
+topographical knowledge," Merritt continued, full of the subject as any
+Boy Scout might well be. "They pack ambulances systematically with
+instruments and medical supplies, checking off their lists like
+experienced quartermasters. Others take charge of the delivery of camp
+outfits from the stores to the troops about to embark for the seat of
+war. The bicycle corps and mounted squads can care for their machines
+and horses, make high speed, and meet emergencies with decision and
+intelligence. The signal corps can use the telegraph key, semaphore,
+and flags almost as well as veterans, thanks to their training. They can
+repair telegraph lines and instruments, and have considerable knowledge
+of wireless."
+
+"Hurrah!" exclaimed Tubby. "This is sure the day of the Boy Scout. I
+never thought I'd ever live to see him climb to such a dazzling height.
+Of course, over in America, scouts have never been trained with any idea
+that they might be soldiers; for we don't have a chip on our shoulder
+all the time, and feel that we're spoiling for a fight."
+
+"All the same," said Rob, "the time may come when what we've learned
+will be of great use to our country. Besides, every boy is ten times
+better off for joining the organization."
+
+They had been riding in this fashion for an hour and more, often meeting
+parties of fugitives on the road, some of them bearing household
+treasures, leading a mooing cow, or driving a spavined old horse that
+was attached to a shaky wagon piled up with goods of value to the owners
+only.
+
+These sights at first struck the boys as pitiful. They would in time
+become so accustomed to them that such spectacles must be taken as a
+part of the war game; still, all of them were sure that in this case
+"familiarity would not breed contempt."
+
+Then at times it happened that houses were scarce, and a stretch of the
+road, from some reason or other, ahead appeared deserted. Often, in the
+distance, they heard strange sounds like far-away thunder. It thrilled
+them to imagine that possibly this was the roar of big guns; perhaps
+they were even drawing near to an actual battlefield!
+
+About this time the boys noticed that their guide was acting as though
+excited.
+
+"What's the matter, Anthony?" asked Rob, bent on knowing the worst.
+
+In his broken English the Belgian guide tried to tell them his fears.
+
+"Look you--over thisaways--you see men, horses--they run thisaway, they
+run thataway--some shake hands at us--I do not know, but it may be they
+will turn out to be Uhlan cavalrymen--bad men who ride far in advance of
+the army, to screen movements of troops. If they are Uhlans, we may not
+go ahead further!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+UNDER THE BRIDGE.
+
+
+Of course what Anthony told them caused the boys more or less concern.
+They had no desire to fall into the hands of the Germans. While it could
+not be said that they were against the invaders, the terrible stories
+they had heard in Antwerp, even if only a small part were true, gave
+them an unpleasant feeling toward the Kaiser's men.
+
+That word Uhlan was dreaded by every Belgian or native of Northern
+France. While it really stands for the cavalry arm of the German forces,
+still, ever since the Franco-Prussian war of more than forty years ago,
+it has possessed a terrible significance all its own. Humble peasants
+shivered when they pronounced it, and no doubt many an unruly child was
+threatened with the coming of the terrible Uhlans unless it mended its
+ways.
+
+"If that's the case, then," Merritt voiced the opinion of himself and
+chums by saying hurriedly, "we want to get out of this. It's a case of
+either run or hide with us."
+
+"But where could we hide?" asked Tubby, looking all around him
+helplessly. "Just now there isn't a single cottage in sight; and the
+bare fields around don't offer much shelter, seems to me."
+
+"There's a bridge just ahead of us," said Rob.
+
+"And we might manage to get our mounts down underneath," added Merritt
+instantly, grasping the idea that was in the patrol leader's mind. "The
+bank slopes easy enough to allow of it."
+
+"Eet could be done, Messieurs!" allowed the guide, who was even more
+alarmed, it seemed, than Tubby himself, since the prospect of falling
+into the hands of the dreaded Uhlan raiders began to assume greater
+proportions, now that the peril no longer lay in the dim distance, but
+was close at hand.
+
+"Then let's hurry and see what it looks like under the bridge," advised
+Rob.
+
+Just as they figured, it proved easy enough to lead their horses down
+the bank, which was covered with grass and growing weeds, for since the
+war began all really unnecessary work on roads and railways had been
+stopped. And those horses would have willingly gone anywhere if there
+only seemed a prospect that they might rest a spell, for they seemed
+tired all of the time.
+
+"Listen to them shouting, will you?" Tubby complained as they were going
+down amidst the bushes that promised to screen them from the party on
+the other side of the little stream across which the massive bridge had
+been built.
+
+"I'm afraid they must have seen us," Merritt said, "and that will mean
+they'll soon be across the bridge again to find out what we're doing,
+and who we are. What's the program, Rob?"
+
+"We must act as though our only object in coming down here was to water
+our horses," replied the patrol leader; this idea having possibly come
+into his mind as he noticed the way his mount put its ears forward, and
+commenced to whinny--as horses invariably do when they scent water, and
+are thirsty.
+
+"Come on, here, what's ailing you, Dobbin?" demanded Tubby, jerking at
+the reins when his animal displayed an inclination to hold back.
+
+"He acts kind of queer, doesn't he?" Merritt said when, after
+considerable fussing, Tubby managed to coax his horse to once more
+advance, though the animal seemed to be snorting, and trembling. "If we
+were on the cattle range right now I'd be half inclined to think he
+smelled a rattler near by."
+
+"My stars! I hope they don't have such pests over here in Belgium!"
+exclaimed Tubby, beginning to himself show immediate signs of
+nervousness.
+
+"Not the least danger," declared Rob. "But, all the same, my horse seems
+trying to hold back, just as yours did, Tubby."
+
+"They're sure a cantankerous lot all through!" grumbled the fat scout,
+looking carefully where he expected to plant his foot next; for, in
+spite of Rob's assurance, he was not quite so certain that the
+undergrowth beneath the bridge might not harbor some poisonous reptile
+which might strike unexpectedly.
+
+"They're still keeping up that shouting!" announced Merritt, listening.
+"Which I take it is a queer thing for them to do. If they're German
+raiders why don't they come across and interview us, I wonder? I thought
+I saw uniforms among the bunch. How about that, Rob?"
+
+"The sun was in my eyes, and I couldn't say for certain," acknowledged
+the one spoken to, jerking at the bridle of his horse.
+
+"One thing is sure," said Tubby, "the horses are not at all thirsty;
+else there's some thing they don't like about this place down here."
+
+All of them were really puzzled by the strange actions of their horses.
+It was no longer simply Tubby's mount that acted so contrary, but the
+other three also.
+
+"Guess my nag got cold feet about something; and it's catching as the
+measles," Tubby announced, as he shook his head in the manner of one who
+finds himself with too hard a nut to crack.
+
+"Well, that water looks cool and clear," said Merritt, "and I think I
+could enjoy a few swallows myself, if the horses won't."
+
+"Sure it ain't poisoned, are you, Merritt?" queried Tubby dubiously.
+
+"Oh! get that crazy notion out of your poor head, Tubby. Germans don't
+make war that way. They face the music, and stand up before the guns.
+What makes you look at me like that, Rob?" and Merritt as he asked this
+question stopped short, for he had been in the act of putting his threat
+into deeds, and getting down beside the stream to take a drink.
+
+"I smell it too, Rob!" exclaimed Tubby just then. "And, oh! let me tell
+you it's a rank odor. Isn't it in this country they make all that
+Limburger cheese; or over the border in Holland? Well, if you asked me
+I'd say it was something like that."
+
+"Smells more like burnt powder to me!" snapped Rob, showing visible
+signs of increasing excitement.
+
+With that he commenced looking hurriedly around. Perhaps a sudden
+tremendous suspicion may have flashed into his mind, and he was seeking
+to justify it by making some sort of discovery.
+
+The gully was of considerable width, as has been said before, though
+just at that time in the late summer the stream that flowed through it
+did not appear to be of any great depth, and could be easily forded.
+
+There were bushes and grass and weeds growing all about, besides stray
+stones that may have fallen there when the solid masonry of the really
+fine bridge had been constructed years before.
+
+Although he turned his eyes in this quarter and that, Rob failed to see
+anything that looked at all suspicious. Still that peculiar odor
+continued to strike his sense of smell, stronger than before, if
+anything.
+
+"Must be something burning, fellows!" announced Tubby, as he held a hand
+up so that he could close his nose with thumb and finger against the
+offensive odor.
+
+The guide had meanwhile thrown himself down at the brink of the stream
+and proceeded to drink his fill. Evidently he had no fear concerning the
+quality of the water. Typhoid germs were unknown to his lexicon; and so
+long as water looked fairly clear it suited him.
+
+He was getting on his feet again as Tubby made that last remark. His
+horse had been pulling more violently than ever at the rein, and the
+Belgian started to say something uncomplimentary to the animal in
+Flemish.
+
+Rob had stopped examining the shore upon which they were standing. He
+turned his gaze across the stream to the opposite bank, for his scout
+training told him that since the breeze came from that quarter he would
+be apt to learn the cause of the odor, so like burnt powder, if he
+followed it up.
+
+The others heard Rob give a half suppressed shout, as though he had made
+a sudden and startling discovery.
+
+"Oh! what is it?" cried Tubby, straining to keep his horse from trying
+to start up the ascent again.
+
+"Across the river, over there under the arch of the bridge, don't you
+see that little curl of blue-white rising?" exclaimed Rob. "Watch it and
+you'll find that it is creeping along over the ground. Come, we've got
+to get up out of this in a hurry! Turn your horses, and let them help
+to drag you up! Quick, everybody; not a second to lose, I tell you!"
+
+Tubby no longer tried to hold his horse back; on the contrary, he even
+urged the animal to climb the grade in frantic haste. He did not know
+what it all meant, but Rob acted as though there must be some terrible
+danger threatening them; and Tubby was no fool.
+
+With cries and shouts they urged the animals to ascend. Several times a
+horse would slip, and come near falling headlong backward; then it was
+the one who held the reins found it necessary to encourage the
+struggling beast with word and act, so that the horse might regain his
+footing.
+
+Tubby, chancing to glimpse Rob's face about the time they drew near the
+top was horrified to see how very white it seemed. Then more than ever
+did he realize that it must be something dreadful that had threatened
+them.
+
+"Rob, tell us what it was all about?" Tubby managed to gasp, when,
+having reached the road again, they were hurrying back as rapidly as
+they could go, the horses helping to drag them along.
+
+"Just this," Rob told him briefly. "They've fixed a mine there under the
+bridge, so as to blow it up; and we've had the narrowest escape of our
+lives!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+GETTING NEAR THE WAR ZONE.
+
+
+"Hold on to your horses, everybody!" called out Merritt, as he looked
+back toward the bridge from which they had now managed to press quite a
+little distance.
+
+Merritt somehow did not seem to be very much astonished at what Rob had
+said. It might be he himself had entertained suspicions along those same
+lines.
+
+They had heard that the determined Belgians were engaged in throwing all
+the obstacles possible in the way of an advance in force on the part of
+the invaders. If only cavalry were to be dealt with, the defenders of
+the soil had faith in their ability to take care of all that could be
+sent against them; but it was known to be a fact that the artillery arm
+was what the Germans meant to depend on more than anything else in this
+war for conquest.
+
+If bridges and culverts were destroyed in every direction before the
+enemy could take possession of the roads, it would be next to impossible
+to move the great siege guns until some sort of strong temporary
+structure had been built in place of the stone and steel fabrics that
+were blown up.
+
+And so, for days, there had been reports drifting in to Antwerp that
+certain bridges had been marked for destruction. Those who sallied forth
+in armored cars to speed over the country, and play havoc with their
+Maxim guns, found it necessary to revise their map of the district every
+night so as to conform to the new changes that had been wrought.
+
+It was hardly ten seconds after Merritt told them to keep a firm grip on
+the bridles of their horses that the boys on looking back saw the bridge
+suddenly rear itself in the air. Then came a terrifying boom that made
+the very ground under their feet quiver; and, in a moment later, in
+place of the fine bridge lay a horrible gap, from which smoke and dust
+was arising in sickening clouds.
+
+Tubby was as white as a sheet. The others could hear the big sigh with
+which he drew in a gulp of air.
+
+"I want to say right here," he started to remark solemnly, "that I'm
+thankful I've got such a cracking good nose for queer odors. Think what
+might have happened to us if I hadn't begun to sniff around, and made
+Rob take notice. All that pile of stuff would have buried us out of
+sight. And the horses knew, sure they did. That explains why they acted
+so funny all the while. But isn't it a shame to see how they had to
+smash that splendid bridge!"
+
+"Don't forget that this is war, Tubby," Merritt told him, "and to hinder
+the enemy from coming up, anything is allowable."
+
+"But that's going to block our going on, I take it," ventured Tubby,
+watching Anthony, who showed evidences of having been considerably
+excited by the explosion, though Tubby could not tell whether it was
+fear that influenced the man, or an overmastering desire to join the
+army, and engage in some of this obstructive work himself.
+
+"Oh! that doesn't follow," Rob assured him. "I noticed that the river
+was shallow just now; and I imagined I could see the old ford that used
+to answer before this bridge was ever thought of. We can get across
+without swimming. You forded the Rio Grande once upon a time, Tubby, and
+such a little bug stream as this shouldn't phase you a bit."
+
+"Oh! count on me going wherever the rest of you lead," retorted Tubby,
+with a blustering air, as though he did not want anyone to think him at
+all timid.
+
+"We might as well go back now," remarked Rob, "and see about getting
+over. If the mine has been exploded, there shouldn't be any danger; I
+want to try that ford."
+
+It was found that though the bridge was wrecked pretty badly, the
+greatest damage was to the span, and not so much to the anchorages or
+piers. In time another arch could be built--should peace ever come to
+this distracted land--when men would be able to once more "beat their
+swords into ploughshares," and start to rebuilding what had been
+destroyed.
+
+"Follow after me," Rob told them, as he started to urge his horse across
+where he could see the old ford had been.
+
+Little of the material from the wrecked bridge had been thrown to any
+distance, so the ford was not blocked. The horses still displayed more
+or less restlessness, as though they could not understand that, with
+such a smell of choking gases in the air, the danger was all over. The
+three boys, however, had had considerable experience in handling balky
+animals, and knew just how to urge them on.
+
+Once on the other side, they started up the bank. As they arrived at the
+road, having crossed the abyss, they saw a crowd of men hurrying toward
+the spot. They were partly Belgian soldiers, it turned out, along with
+some civilians, possibly men versed in explosives or strategy to be
+employed to delay the advance of the German artillery.
+
+Of course, they were very much excited at meeting the boys. The khaki
+uniforms seemed to soften their anger to some extent, but one who
+appeared to be in authority started to scold them for walking so
+blindly into a trap.
+
+Through the guide Rob hastened to explain how it came they had not
+suspected the truth. Then as questions began to follow, he also told who
+and what they were, even mentioning something concerning their
+self-imposed mission into the danger zone of the fighting.
+
+When the precious passport, written out by the good burgomaster, was
+shown, it had an additional soothing effect. The man in charge of the
+squad of destruction smiled and nodded as he perused the document,
+written in French.
+
+"He say burgomaster his uncle!" explained Antonio, after the other had
+handed the paper back, and made some remark.
+
+"Well, now, that's what I call fine. Tell him we're glad we got out from
+under that bridge in time," said Rob, "and also that we think he made a
+clean sweep of the job."
+
+This seemed to please the Belgian officer, for he insisted on shaking
+hands all around. Feeling that they were now free to proceed, the scouts
+resumed their journey along the road that led to Brussels; probably,
+wholly in the hands of the invaders further on toward the capital, since
+rumor had it that immense numbers of German troops were daily being
+moved toward Ghent.
+
+"All of which only goes to show how necessary it is to be constantly on
+the watch while you're in a country that's fighting for its life,"
+Merritt remarked to his companions as they lost sight of the ruined
+bridge.
+
+"If only we had eyes in the back of our heads, we might get along a heap
+better, I think," grumbled Tubby, as his horse awkwardly stumbled over
+some small object, and gave him a shock.
+
+"It was a close call, all right," acknowledged Merritt, "and has sobered
+our guide a whole lot, I notice. He listens to every far-off boom now,
+as though something might be drawing him. But the morning is wearing
+away, so I suggest that we stop at the very first village we come to,
+and see if we can beg, buy, or steal something to eat. I'm hungry as a
+bear."
+
+"Oh! bless you, Merritt, for those kind words!" called out Tubby. "I've
+felt a vacuum down around my belt line for two hours back. Whoa!
+there!" he added, as his horse stumbled again. "Want to break my neck,
+you animated skeleton? He knocks his hoofs together every third step he
+takes. No wonder they didn't grab him for the cavalry; he'd have fallen
+all over himself in the first charge."
+
+Coming to a little hamlet, the boys found a house where they could
+secure something in the way of a lunch. Even at this early stage in the
+war, however, prudent hotel keepers realized that times were going to be
+hard, and that it would be the part of wisdom to conceal all the stores
+possible against a rainy day, or the raids of such invaders who might be
+billeted upon the villagers.
+
+Here the boys remained between one and two hours, since the day was
+unusually hot, and their mounts were not in the best of condition for
+standing hard service.
+
+Some of the good people had left for safer quarters, which would mean
+Antwerp, of course,--deemed impossible of capture at that day on account
+of its wonderful defenses. A group gathered in front of the little
+hotel, and questioned Anthony as to who the three boys in the uniform of
+scouts might be, and of the nature of their mission that tempted them to
+invade a region being made desolate by war.
+
+Anthony himself knew very little on that score; but since it would not
+look well for him to admit this fact, it is possible he "drew the long
+bow" to some extent. He may even have told all sorts of fairy stories
+about the boys being English agents sent over to learn facts in
+connection with the movements of the German army, so that a strong force
+of the allies from across the Channel could be hastily dispatched to the
+scene, and chase the haughty Germans back across the Rhine.
+
+Some idea like this the boys found very prevalent all through their
+journey. The Belgians seemed to believe the English were getting a
+wonderful surprise ready with which to stagger the enemy. If they could
+have only known how an army had to be built up step by step in the great
+island country, they might have felt less confidence, and perhaps shown
+more discretion in attacking the invaders.
+
+Rob suspected something of this sort when he saw the way the villagers
+observed him and two chums, staring at them as though they were
+curiosities.
+
+"Makes you feel like some punkins, to have all these people watch every
+little thing you do, and get out of your way so quick when you go to
+make a move, don't it?" remarked Tubby, evidently tickled over the
+attention shown them.
+
+"I don't just like it, to tell you the truth," admitted Merritt.
+
+"Oh! you're too modest by half, Merritt!" jeered the fat scout.
+
+"It isn't that, Tubby," explained the other. "Rob here says he believes
+our guide is spreading the report that we're English messengers, sent
+ahead to pick up news about the Germans, so they can be smashed when the
+British army gets here."
+
+"Well, what of that?" demanded his friend. "It isn't so _very_ dreadful
+that I can see, to be mistaken for a Johnny Bull."
+
+"You'll change your tune, my boy," Rob told him, "if the Germans should
+come along and nab us. We'll soon see how you begin to roar out that
+you're a Yankee, as true-blue as they make them."
+
+"Oh! but they wouldn't know anything about that!" declared Tubby, though
+showing signs of increasing dismay at the same time.
+
+"You never can tell," he was told by Rob. "The ways of these smart
+Germans are past finding out. They've got spies everywhere. Right now
+there may be some secret sympathizer with the Fatherland in that bunch
+close by, taking in all that silly Anthony has been saying."
+
+"Gingersnaps and popguns!" gasped Tubby, "if that's really so I guess
+we'd better muzzle our guide in a hurry. Where's he gone to, do you
+think, Rob? It was all of half an hour ago that I saw him last, talking
+to the crowd."
+
+"I was wondering about that myself," said Merritt. "If we expect to be
+getting along about this time, we ought to look Anthony up."
+
+"You take a turn that way, and I'll step into the taproom of the inn, to
+see if he is there," remarked Rob, who had a slight frown on his face
+as he spoke, as if he might not be wholly satisfied with the way in
+which their guide was acting.
+
+Five minutes later Rob and Merritt joined Tubby at the same time.
+
+"Nothing doing in my section," remarked Merritt, "except that I'm afraid
+somebody has swiped one of our nags, for I could only count three horses
+hitched there."
+
+"Then, that settles it!" said Rob positively.
+
+"Settles what?" piped up Tubby.
+
+"Anthony has basely deserted us, and taken to the back road!" Rob told
+them. "I feared as much from what the little inn proprietor let out; but
+what you say clinches the thing. Our guide is a mile or more on the way
+back to Antwerp by now!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE DESERTION OF ANTHONY.
+
+
+"The miserable hound! Hanging would be too good for him!" exclaimed
+Merritt, who it appeared had not up to that instant suspected anything
+like the truth, and was therefore taken completely by surprise.
+
+"That all depends on what his motive may have been," said Rob
+reflectively.
+
+"Why, it's plain he got cold feet after that little experience at the
+bridge this morning!" Merritt hastened to declare. "I thought he was a
+man of more nerve than that. I hope all Belgians are not made of the
+same kind of stuff."
+
+"Hold on a minute, Merritt," Rob cautioned him, "you are jumping to
+conclusions now without being sure of your ground. I've been watching
+Anthony from time to time and I've noticed that whenever he happened to
+speak of the gallant doings of his people on the battlefields his face
+would beam with pride, and what I took to be a touch of envy."
+
+"Oh!" said Tubby, grasping the idea, "then, Rob, you think our guide
+shook us just because he couldn't hold back any longer. He thought he
+ought to be on the firing line along with the rest, and get in a crack
+at the invaders of his country. Is that the stuff, Rob?"
+
+"I'm thinking that way," Rob informed him gravely, "but we've got no
+time to look Anthony up. Whether he's gone to join the Belgian army or
+turned back to the city of Antwerp isn't going to cut any figure in our
+calculations."
+
+"That's about the size of it, Rob," agreed Merritt, beginning to show
+signs of returning confidence, when the patrol leader spoke with such
+vim.
+
+"What we've got to do is to figure out whether we want to call the whole
+thing off just because we haven't a guide to do the talking business for
+us and turn back to the city, or set our teeth together and push on."
+
+Tubby and Merritt exchanged looks.
+
+The latter even half opened his mouth as if to indignantly protest
+against giving up the most cherished plan of his life for a little snag,
+such as the desertion of Anthony proved. Then he suddenly closed his
+lips firmly. He had remembered an important fact, which was that after
+all he should not be the one to make such a suggestion. Let one of these
+good chums, who were his side partners, express an opinion first of all.
+That was why Merritt remained silent.
+
+"Oh! we just can't quit at the first puff!" remonstrated Tubby. "Fellows
+who have been through all we have shouldn't be built that way. Think of
+the battles we've been up against on the diamond and the gridiron; and
+did anybody ever hear us complain, or show a yellow streak? Well, I
+guess not! Tell him how you feel about it, Rob!"
+
+"Just as you do, Tubby," responded the scout leader heartily. "I wasn't
+counting any too much on Anthony's services, come to speak of it.
+Nine-tenths of what we expected to accomplish would have to come from
+our own hard work. If you put it up to me to decide, I say every time,
+go ahead!"
+
+Merritt looked almost joyous. Though he was not a demonstrative fellow
+as a rule, he could not help reaching out and squeezing a hand of each
+of his faithful chums. Indeed, no one ever knew more reliable allies
+than Merritt possessed in Rob and Tubby, who were ready to go through
+fire and water with him, if necessary.
+
+"It may all turn out for the best," Tubby continued, with fine optimism,
+such as these chubby fellows nearly always show since life looks rosy to
+them. "And it's going to save you a little money in the bargain, too,
+Merritt. I must brush up my French and Flemish from now on. Already I
+can say as many as six words of the first, and I think I know how to
+almost pronounce one in Flemish."
+
+"No trouble to tell what that one is," remarked Rob, laughing.
+
+"It stands for grub!" added Merritt.
+
+"Now, I consider it strange how you should guess so easily," Tubby shot
+back at them reproachfully. "I suppose I'll have to acknowledge the
+corn. We've got to eat to live, and so I thought I ought to know the
+right word that would produce results quickest. Don't blame me, boys; I
+was thinking of you as well as myself."
+
+"Well, shall we get out of here?" asked Rob. "I don't altogether like
+the way we are being stared at by some of the people of the village.
+They say in Antwerp that there's a hidden sympathizer of the Germans in
+every city, town and hamlet through the whole of Belgium always trying
+to send information of value to the enemy."
+
+"Huh! don't know just what to believe, and what to brand as big yarns,"
+protested Tubby. "Since we've landed here I've heard stories that would
+make poor old Baron Munchausen hide his head in shame as a has-been. If
+one-tenth of the same turned out to be true, these Germans are the most
+remarkable people that ever lived for getting ready for a war against
+the whole world forty years ahead of the date. I'm beginning to use my
+own horse-sense, and figure things out."
+
+Ten minutes later they turned their backs on the little hamlet where a
+fair meal had been procured, and which had also witnessed their first
+real misfortune in the base desertion of Anthony.
+
+In many cases they found the roads occupied with throngs of fugitives.
+These poor peasants were flocking, in a general way, toward Antwerp,
+though possibly a few of them meant to cross the line into the
+Netherlands, where they hoped to be safe from the German armies of
+invasion that were gradually progressing further and further toward the
+coast.
+
+A thousand-and-one sights greeted the eyes of the three scouts. More
+than a few times they stopped for some purpose or other that did their
+hearts credit. Once it was a limping boy whose condition excited the
+pity of Rob. He did not hesitate to put to some use the practical
+knowledge of surgery that he had picked up in company with all the other
+members of the Eagle Patrol.
+
+Another time they saw a wretched woman trying to mend the wheel of a
+miserable old handcart, upon which she had some humble belongings, and
+three small children. That was more than the boys could stand. They
+stopped their horses, and giving the lines of their mounts into the
+keeping of Tubby, Rob and Merritt busied themselves with fixing up the
+disabled wheel.
+
+Although they had next to no tools with which to work, their skill
+proved sufficient to surmount the difficulty. Inside of twenty minutes
+the woman was able to trudge along again. She thanked them volubly in
+Flemish, which they did not understand. Tubby listened eagerly, but
+owned up that it was beyond the range of his extremely limited
+vocabulary, consisting, as that did, of but one word.
+
+"Well, that look on her face paid us for all our trouble," Rob remarked
+contentedly, as he once more remounted, and led the way along the
+highway.
+
+"It's something fierce where all these forlorn people come from," said
+Tubby.
+
+"To me the greatest puzzle is where they're all going," Merritt added.
+
+"If you should ask them," Rob advanced as his opinion, "nine out of ten
+couldn't begin to tell you. Some have had their houses burned over their
+heads; others I expect have seen their homes destroyed by bursting
+shells, where they happened to lie near the place where an artillery
+duel was going on. So they've just started on the road, hoping to reach
+_somewhere_ the fighting won't follow."
+
+"It's a terrible sight," sighed Tubby. "I'll never forget it as long as
+I live. Every minute I'm telling myself we ought to be the happiest
+people going over in America, to know that we needn't get mixed up in
+all this butcher business."
+
+Slowly the afternoon wore away. The three chums did not make very rapid
+progress, and for many reasons. In the first place their horses objected
+to putting forth any unusual exertion, and seemed to consider that they
+were doing their full duty by merely working their four weary legs in a
+machine-like fashion.
+
+Then, again, the roads were cluttered in places with squads of the
+peasant population fleeing from the battle lines. Three times did the
+scouts come upon detachments of Belgian soldiers stationed behind
+temporary intrenchments, where they expected to harass the advance
+forces of the Germans whenever they appeared.
+
+From these men they received many curious stares. Of course the soldiers
+could not understand why three boys in khaki, who were undoubtedly not
+Belgian scouts, should be heading so boldly toward the scene of carnage,
+when everybody else was fleeing madly the other way.
+
+They were halted and questioned. At first Rob felt a qualm of anxiety,
+lest the fact that they no longer had an interpreter in their company to
+explain things might get them into trouble. That fear soon vanished,
+however. In every instance it was found that some man could either talk
+fair English, or else what little French the patrol leader was able to
+muster explained matters in a satisfactory manner.
+
+The probability was that the message given them by the burgomaster of
+Antwerp was much more potent than anything else. The worthy official was
+a well known and highly respected man; and among these commands there
+were always those who knew him personally, so that his "passport," while
+hardly worth the paper upon which it was written, officially, acted
+magically with the Belgian officers.
+
+As the afternoon sun began to draw near the western horizon they
+continued to be on the lookout for some haven of refuge. Another night
+was coming; they must not only have food but lodging, if this latter
+could possibly be obtained.
+
+"Of course," explained Rob, as they walked their sorry looking horses
+on, "while we'd like to find some sort of respectable beds to-night, if
+the worst comes, we can always make shift with a haystack. It wouldn't
+be the first time we've curled up in the hay and snatched a few winks of
+sleep."
+
+"I should say not," Tubby assured him. "Only I do hope we manage to
+strike a dinner-call somehow or other. I can do without a bed, but I
+must have eats or I'll collapse utterly, like a balloon with the gas let
+out."
+
+"Please don't think of it, Tubby," Merritt implored him. "We promise to
+do everything in our power to find the grub. Brace up! We're coming to a
+village; and I think I can see an inn the first thing."
+
+It proved to be as Merritt had said, and better still, the man who kept
+the modest little tavern assured Rob in fair English that he would be
+proud to serve the honored guests; also that he had once spent a year in
+the Birmingham machine shops himself.
+
+"Just like all the rest, he takes us for Johnny Bulls," complained
+Tubby.
+
+"Well, that's partly your fault," Rob told him.
+
+"Just because I'm so well filled out, I suppose you mean, Rob? Well, if
+they keep on thinking that, I guess I'll have to get busy and cultivate
+a real cockney accent. 'Beg pawdon; thank _you_; my word!' You see I've
+got a few of their favorite jabs spotted."
+
+As before, they found themselves the object of more attention than any
+of them enjoyed. People kept peeping in through the open door of the
+room where the three strange young chaps in khaki were enjoying their
+really excellent supper.
+
+"Don't mind them," advised Rob, when he saw that Tubby was posing, as if
+conscious of being in the lime-light. "Let's finish our supper, and then
+we can sit outside on the porch as the sun goes down, and talk over our
+plans for to-morrow."
+
+"Yes," added Merritt quickly, "because to-morrow may take us so far on
+our journey that we'll either find our man, or meet with some bitter
+disappointment, something I hate to think about."
+
+"Don't do it, then," advised Rob. "We must believe everything is bound
+to come out right, and that you'll not only run across Steven Meredith,
+but that the paper will be found under the lining of the cover to his
+field-glass case, where he's been carrying it all this while, without
+knowing it."
+
+"One thing sure," said Merritt grimly, "if he's left that post and gone
+anywhere else, I'll follow him, hit or miss, if it takes me to the
+battle front."
+
+"Listen!" exclaimed Tubby. "What's that man shouting, Rob?"
+
+"As near as I can make out," replied Rob quickly, "he says the Uhlans
+are entering at one end of the town."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+WHEN THE UHLANS CAME.
+
+
+When Rob Blake made this startling explanation of the loud cries from
+without, his two companions started up from the table in dismay. They
+could easily understand that the coming of the German cavalrymen just
+then threatened them with unpleasant consequences.
+
+If they were mistaken for English boys they might expect not only rough
+treatment, but possibly find themselves railroaded into Germany, with
+one of those terrible dungeons in a Rhine fortress as their destination.
+
+Perhaps even Tubby began to deplore the fact that he chanced to be
+wearing a Boy Scout khaki suit, and a campaign hat besides; with the
+leggings that scouts in the States have adopted instead of the woolen
+stockings used by other branches of the organization abroad.
+
+If pride must have a fall, Tubby began to experience the first twinges
+of regret at that moment as he scrambled to his feet, and waited to hear
+what Rob or Merritt would say.
+
+"It may be only a false alarm," Merritt suggested. "These poor people
+have been seeing imaginary regiments of Uhlans ever since war was
+declared."
+
+"But they're making oodles of noise, anyhow!" Tubby protested.
+
+"We can soon find out if it's so," said Rob, hurrying over to one of the
+windows, which were partly screened with flimsy curtains, through which
+any person from the inside could look out, but which would prevent
+scrutiny from the village street, except when the lamps were lighted
+later.
+
+They quickly saw that their worst fears were realized. Down the street
+at least fifty horsemen were riding. The fact that they carried lances
+and wore the customary spiked helmets of the German troopers told Rob as
+well as words could have done that at last they were gazing on the
+far-famed Uhlans.
+
+They were not at all the fierce-appearing warriors the boys may have
+pictured them, having the Russian Cossacks in mind at the time. Indeed,
+a number seemed to be laughing heartily, doubtless on account of the
+evident terror their presence had apparently inspired in the breasts of
+the villagers. And some of them were rosy-cheeked young fellows, who,
+shorn of their military accouterments, would have struck the scouts as
+good-natured German youths.
+
+Others, however, were more grim and haughty, as though they thought it
+their duty to impress these stubborn Belgians with a due sense of their
+importance as factors to be dealt with.
+
+It was a thrilling sight to see those hard-riding soldiers of the Kaiser
+coming along the village street, with people staring at them from open
+doors and windows, yet none daring to utter a word of protest. Fear was
+written largely on nearly every face, though doubtless there were also
+those who viewed the coming of the hated Uhlans with illy suppressed
+rage. Perhaps they had lost some dear one during the battles that had
+already been fought around Liege and other places; or in the destruction
+of Louvain.
+
+"Rob, don't you see they're heading right this way?" whispered Tubby
+suddenly, after they had watched the stirring picture for a minute or
+so.
+
+"Yes, that's a fact," replied Rob. "Let's hope they mean to only ride
+through the village, and leave by the other side."
+
+"Gee! I hope now they won't fall in love with our horses, and run them
+off!" ventured Tubby, excited by his fears in that respect; for Tubby
+did not like to walk any more than he could possibly help.
+
+"Not much danger in that line," scoffed Merritt. "But look at that
+officer in front of the column--he's pointing right this way, you
+notice, Rob, and is saying something to another rider close behind him."
+
+"Oh! can he have seen us?" wailed Tubby, no doubt having very positive
+visions of prison life before him just then, with solitary confinement
+on a diet of bread and water, which was the worst punishment he could
+imagine.
+
+"That's impossible," Rob instantly assured him. "The chances are he's
+discovered this inn, and is telling the other officer they may be able
+to secure something to eat, and a bottle of wine here. Their men can
+pick up supper through the place, making the poor people furnish the
+meal, or have their houses knocked about their ears."
+
+"But if they come in here do we want to stay and be arrested for English
+spies?" asked Merritt; whereat Tubby's lips could be seen to move,
+although no words came forth, while he anxiously waited for Rob to
+decide.
+
+The other had already made up his mind.
+
+"That would be foolish on our part," he told Merritt, "and unnecessary
+in the bargain. They may only stop for five minutes to drink wine, and
+then go on again, because they know they're in the enemy's country here.
+We must find a place to hide till they leave. Come along with me,
+fellows."
+
+Now it happened that Rob had never forgotten one of the things all
+scouts are enjoined to impress upon their minds; which is to observe the
+most minute detail wherever they happen to be. In the woods this faculty
+for observation had often served the patrol leader a good turn, and the
+same thing happened now.
+
+While sitting there and enjoying the warm supper which the keeper of the
+village inn had spread before them, Rob had taken note of his
+surroundings. Thus he knew just where the stairs leading to the upper
+_etage_ or floor of the inn was located; and also that it could not be
+easily seen from the door leading to the street.
+
+He led Tubby and Merritt over to the stairs.
+
+"We'll slip up here," he told them, for a quick glance around had
+assured Rob that no one was watching them.
+
+Most of those who had been around the tavern hurried outside at the
+first sign of alarm, and were now gaping at the coming troop. The
+proprietor, guessing that his establishment would be the first object of
+attention on the part of the invading enemy, was wildly striving to
+conceal certain valuables he possessed under a board in the floor,
+where, perhaps, he also kept his choicest wines.
+
+Once the scouts had climbed aloft they managed to gain a sort of garret
+where broken furniture and hair-covered trunks seemed to be stored.
+
+"This will answer us as well as any other place," Rob told them, as he
+closed the door, and managed to push a heavy trunk against it.
+
+"And there are two little peephole windows, too, for all the world like
+eye-glasses, but big enough for us to see through," Tubby remarked,
+groping his way among the collection of riffraff with which the garret
+was encumbered, until he found himself able to kneel and look through
+the dusty glass of a window.
+
+"They're spreading all over the place," he immediately announced, "and
+making the village people get supper ready for them. Chances are, too,
+they won't whack up a red cent for all they eat and drink. Whee! so this
+is war, is it? Well, all I can say is it's a mighty mean game."
+
+"Some of them have come into the inn," ventured Merritt. "I can hear
+heavy voices below us, German voices, too. You know sound travels up
+walls like everything. And there's a heap of bustle going on below, as
+if the landlord, his wife and everybody else might be on the jump to
+wait on the Uhlan guests."
+
+"Can you blame them?" said Tubby, "when like as not if they said no
+they'd find a torch put to their house? Rob, you don't think they'll
+come up here, do you?"
+
+"Oh! hardly, unless they take to ransacking the house for valuables, or
+more wine. They must know time is too valuable for that, because there
+are Belgian forces all around this place who might drop in on them. No,
+they'll get a hurried bite and then be off again."
+
+For some little time they continued to listen to the confused sounds
+that came to their ears. Considerable shouting from the street testified
+to the fact that some of the soldiers might be acting, as Tubby
+expressed it, "rough-house"; and although the light outside was
+commencing to grow rather dim, looking through the window they saw
+several instances where a soldier struck some half grown boy who may
+have acted in a sullen fashion, or declined to do what he was told.
+
+All at once there was a shot!
+
+This was followed by a great outcry, in which loud German voices could
+be heard giving orders. A scrambling downstairs announced that the
+officers who had been eating at the inn were hurriedly rejoining their
+command.
+
+"Are the Belgian troops coming, Rob?" asked Tubby, finding it impossible
+to see what was going on, because he had been unable to open his window,
+as the others had done.
+
+"No, it must have been some desperate villager sniping from a house,"
+replied Rob; and a minute later he continued hastily: "Yes, they're
+carrying a Uhlan to his horse, and threatening the people with guns and
+lances."
+
+"Oh! I hope now they don't start in to shooting the poor things down!"
+cried the sympathetic Tubby, wringing his hands, though hardly conscious
+of what he was doing.
+
+"They've rushed into the house next to this," Merritt now exclaimed,
+"and seem to be searching it, which tells me the party who fired, man or
+boy, must have been concealed there!"
+
+"Gee! that's getting pretty near home!" muttered Tubby.
+
+"Rob, did you see that puff of smoke coming out of the house then?"
+Merritt presently demanded, almost bursting with the excitement.
+
+"Yes, I'm sorry to say I do see it," replied the leader of the Eagle
+Patrol, as he continued to look downward. "They've set fire to the
+building; and what bothers me most of all is the wind coming straight
+this way. I'm afraid it means the inn will take fire too, and like as
+not be burned to the ground!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+WITH FIRE AND SMOKE.
+
+
+"Gingersnaps and popguns! then we're in for a warm time of it!" Tubby
+burst out.
+
+"Let's hope they manage to get the fire out; or that it doesn't spread
+to the inn," Merritt soothed him, after the manner of one who wished to
+throw oil on troubled waters.
+
+"If only the Germans would pull out right away we could get down from
+here in good time," continued Tubby hopefully. "Look again, fellows, and
+see if they show any signs of skipping."
+
+"They seem to be galloping all over the village, as far as I can see,
+and threatening to shoot if anybody dares take a crack at them," Rob
+announced, after making a hurried survey.
+
+"Oh! my stars!" groaned Tubby, "little did I ever dream that I'd stand a
+chance of being cooked before I'd been in Belgium two days. I always
+said I liked cold weather best, and now I know it. Baked or stewed or
+even broiled doesn't suit my taste."
+
+"The fire next door is beginning to rage fiercely," remarked Rob. "The
+people are just standing on, and sullenly watching it burn. They don't
+seem to dare to offer to help save a single thing, because they might be
+shot down."
+
+"That house is doomed!" asserted Merritt, gloomily.
+
+"Better keep back more," cautioned Rob. "The light grows stronger all
+the while, you notice, and we might be seen up here by some Uhlan, who'd
+think it fine sport to send a shot if only to frighten us. I thought I
+saw one man glance up. If he happened to see that we wore khaki and had
+on these military looking hats he'd pass the word along that there were
+Belgian soldiers hiding in the inn."
+
+"Please don't start a riot," begged Tubby. "It's sure bad enough as it
+stands without that happening. If we had wings now we might sail away.
+What wouldn't I give for an aeroplane to come along at this minute, and
+pick me up? Rob, has our house taken fire yet?"
+
+At first Rob did not see fit to answer, upon which the suspicious Tubby
+pressed him to declare the truth.
+
+"No matter how bad it is," he said soberly, "we should know the worst,
+instead of pulling the wool over our own eyes, and believing
+everything's lovely. How about it, Rob?"
+
+"I'm afraid it's a bad job, Tubby."
+
+"You mean we're on fire, do you?" questioned the other, with a hurried
+intake of his breath, as his heart possibly beat tumultuously with new
+apprehension.
+
+"Yes, it's caught the end of the inn, and with that breeze blowing there
+isn't a chance for this house to be saved," Rob continued. "I'm sorry
+for the poor man who owns it; but then he'll be no worse off than tens
+of thousands of other Belgian sufferers."
+
+"But think of us, will you?" the fat scout urged. "We're neutrals only,
+and it's a shame to make us stand for that foolish shot some sniping boy
+may have fired. Hadn't we better make our way downstairs, Rob, and
+throw ourselves on the mercy of the Uhlans?"
+
+"I'm in favor of sticking it out just as long as we can," said Merritt
+desperately; for only too well did he know that once they fell into the
+hands of the Germans, all chances of carrying out his well laid plans
+would be lost.
+
+"Oh! so am I, when it comes to that," affirmed Tubby; "and I hope that
+neither of you think I'd be the one to scream before I'm hurt. But I do
+smell smoke, and that looks bad, as the plight of Bluebeard's wife."
+
+There could be no questioning that what Tubby said was so, for little
+spirals of penetrating smoke had commenced to come under the door, so
+that they could already feel their eyes begin to smart.
+
+Rob went back to the open window to watch. He knew that the thing
+calculated to help them most of all would be the flitting of the Uhlan
+troop. If the raiders would only gallop away from town there would be an
+opportunity for the three Boy Scouts to make their way from the garret
+of the doomed inn.
+
+"Are they showing any signs of going yet?" asked Tubby, rubbing one
+hand continually over the other; and then he burst out into a half
+hysterical fit of laughter as he went on to add: "D'ye know, when I said
+that it made me think of Bluebeard, don't you remember where the wife
+was waiting to be called down to lose her head, and expected her
+brothers to come to the rescue, she had her sister watching out of the
+window for a cloud of dust on the road? And all the while she keeps on
+asking: 'Sister Ann, Sister Ann, do you see anyone coming?'"
+
+"I guess you're not as badly rattled as you make out, Tubby," suggested
+Merritt, "when you can joke like that with the house on fire. In this
+case you're wanting to know whether there's anybody going. Well, they're
+here yet, I'm sorry to tell you."
+
+"But I think they are getting together to ride away," Rob added.
+
+"Did they shoot down many of the poor villagers on account of that
+sniper?" asked the fat scout anxiously.
+
+"No, I couldn't see anything like that," Rob hastened to assure him.
+"There was some firing, but it looked to me as if it might be done for
+effect, just like cowpunchers ride into town, yelling, and shooting
+their guns in the air. But at the same time I think they must have got
+the person who did the sniping."
+
+"Yes, I heard several shots that seemed to come from inside that next
+house," Merritt admitted. "It'll certainly be his funeral pyre. The
+house is all aflame, and burning fiercely."
+
+"Poor chap! he must have been crazy to fire on Uhlans when they were in
+such force," Tubby declared. "They never refuse a dare, I've heard said.
+And believe me, I don't ever want to test them. I hope they hear the
+call soon now. That fire must be getting pretty close to us by this
+time, boys!"
+
+Rob opened the door of the garret a trifle, after having pushed back the
+heavy trunk. Immediately a cloud of smoke entered, at which poor Tubby
+fell back in dismay.
+
+"Oh! we're goners, I'm afraid!" he moaned, making his way through the
+pall in the direction of the one small window that was open, so that he
+might secure a breath of fresh air.
+
+"If we can keep the smoke out a little while longer it's going to be all
+right," Rob informed them. "The Uhlans are all in the saddle, and seem
+to be only waiting for the order to leave. I can hear the captain in
+charge of the troop telling the villagers something or other, and he is
+speaking in French, too; so I reckon it must be a warning that if a
+single shot is fired as they ride away, they will turn back and not
+leave one stone unturned in the place."
+
+"That seems to be the usual Uhlan way, I've heard," muttered Tubby, glad
+he could say anything; for at the time he was desperately clutching his
+nose with thumb and fingers, as though in hopes of keeping the pungent
+smoke from entering his lungs.
+
+He had apparently gotten beyond the seeing stage, for both his eyes were
+kept tightly closed. At the same time Tubby was listening eagerly for
+good tidings. He knew that his chums were constantly on the lookout.
+
+"There they go off!" he heard Rob say presently, when the situation had
+almost become unbearable.
+
+The sound of many hoofs coming to their ears, even above the roaring of
+the fire, affirmed this statement. Tubby acted as though he wanted to
+cheer, and then reconsidered his intention, through fear that the sound
+might be heard by the Uhlans, and work them harm.
+
+"Now, let's get out of here," said Rob briskly. "Take hold of my coat,
+Tubby. Merritt, bring up the rear. We'll find a room just below this
+where we can drop out of a window easily, if the stairs are ablaze, as
+I'm afraid may be the case."
+
+Passing down from the garret in this fashion, through dense billows of
+smoke that struck terror to the soul of Tubby, they presently found
+themselves in one of the ordinary rooms, used perhaps for stray guests.
+
+Looking from the window Rob saw that it would be easy for him and
+Merritt to drop down on the turf below. Tubby must be taken care of
+first, and so Rob snatched a sheet off a bed, and twisted it into the
+shape of a rope.
+
+This he forced Tubby to take hold of, and then climb over the window
+sill.
+
+"Keep a fast grip, and we'll lower you!" Rob told the fat scout, who had
+full confidence in his comrades since they had never failed him.
+
+After all, it was an easy thing to let him down, because the distance
+was short. As for themselves, the other two boys scorned to make use of
+such means. Clambering out of the window, when Tubby reported himself
+safe below, they hung down as far as they were able, and then just let
+go. There was a little jar as they struck solid ground, and it was all
+over.
+
+"Beautifully done, fellows," Tubby was saying, as he dug his fat
+knuckles into his still smarting eyes. "We'd pass muster for fire
+laddies, I tell you. After all, it takes scouts to know what ought to be
+done. But I think some of these people must have gone out of their minds
+to whoop it up so. What's that poor woman shouting now, Rob? Can you
+make it out? And look how they're holding her back, would you? It must
+be the wife of the inn keeper; the loss of her home has unsettled her
+reason, I'm afraid, poor thing!"
+
+But Rob, who had been listening, knew better, as he immediately proved.
+
+"It's a whole lot worse than that, I'm afraid," he told the others. "She
+keeps calling out for her baby; and I think the child's been left in the
+burning building!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE DUTY OF A SCOUT.
+
+
+Tubby was dreadfully shocked when he heard the news.
+
+"The poor thing!" he cried, "to be forgotten in all the row, and left to
+be smothered by the smoke, perhaps burned up in the bargain. Oh! Rob, I
+hope you're mistaken!"
+
+"I wish I could believe so myself, Tubby, but if you look you can see
+them all staring up there at that window next to the one we jumped from.
+Some even point at it, and you notice more than a few of the women are
+crying like everything."
+
+"But my stars! why doesn't somebody run up and get the child out, if
+that's so?" Tubby demanded,--forgetting that his eyes still
+smarted,--because this discovery, and the distress of the parents
+overwhelmed him.
+
+"Because the lower floor is all afire, and the stairs can't be used,"
+Merritt told him.
+
+"If only we'd known about the child before we came out, we might have
+saved it," Tubby wailed. "If I could climb like some fellows I know, who
+can even go up a greased pole in the contests, I'd be for making my way
+up there right now. Hey! what are you going to do, Rob, Merritt? Let me
+help any way I can. Stand on my back if you want to; it's broad enough
+to do for a foundation! The poor little thing! We mustn't let it be
+burned if we can help it!"
+
+Neither Rob nor Merritt had waited to give Tubby any answer when he made
+that really generous offer. They knew there would be no need of his back
+as a means for elevating one of them to the sill of the upper window. In
+fact, Rob had made a sudden discovery that must have been the main
+reason for his speedy actions.
+
+"The tree is close to the house, Merritt!" he was saying as he sprang
+forward.
+
+"Better still, Rob, one limb grows right alongside the window!" the
+other scout added, keeping in touch with the patrol leader.
+
+They were quickly on the spot, Rob starting up the trunk of the tree at
+once.
+
+"Don't follow me," he told his chum, as he climbed upward. "If I find
+the child I may want to drop it down to you. Get busy underneath,
+Merritt!"
+
+"All right, Rob; I understand!" came the answer.
+
+Tubby had also heard what was said. He came puffing forward, as though
+he did not mean to be left out entirely of the rescue.
+
+"Let me help you, Merritt," he was saying, between his pants from his
+recent exertions.
+
+"Sure I will, if there's any chance, Tubby."
+
+"Can Rob reach that window from the limb?" the fat scout asked
+anxiously, as he tried to look straight upward, a task that was always a
+trying one with Tubby because of the odd shape of his chubby neck.
+
+"He's about there now, you notice. There's something of a little ledge
+underneath and he's going to make it all right."
+
+"There! He's clinging outside and starting to throw a leg over," Tubby
+exclaimed in evident rapture. "And if there is a child inside that room,
+our chum will find it. If it was me now, I'd be so blind with the smoke
+I'd have to just grope my way around, and p'raps get lost in the
+shuffle."
+
+"But what's that you've got in your hand, Tubby?" pursued Merritt,
+becoming aware for the first time that the other was holding on to some
+white object.
+
+"This? Why, what but that fine sheet you used to lower me with," he was
+told.
+
+"I remember that Rob dropped it down after you landed," said Merritt,
+"but I never thought you'd want to take it along with you, Tubby."
+
+"Oh! shucks! don't you see, I picked it up when I started over after
+you," the stout boy tried to explain.
+
+"But why should you do that?" persisted Merritt, who was looking eagerly
+aloft just then, and possibly not fully paying heed to what he was
+saying.
+
+"Why, you know how firemen stand and hold a blanket for people to jump
+into?" explained Tubby; "I thought that if it came to the worst, Rob
+might drop the baby into this sheet, which both of us could hold
+stretched out!"
+
+"Well, you _are_ a daisy, after all, Tubby!" cried Merritt, in sincere
+admiration. "That's as clever a scheme as anyone could think up. Here,
+give us a grip of an end, and we'll get ready for business!"
+
+Quickly they clutched the four corners of the sheet. Fortunately, it
+appeared to be a fairly new bed-covering, and might be trusted to bear a
+certain weight without tearing.
+
+Having reached the point where nothing more could be done in order to
+assist Rob, the other two scouts had to stand there and wait, as the
+precious seconds crept by, each seeming like an age to their anxious
+hearts.
+
+Meanwhile, what of Rob, who had, without the least hesitation, risked
+his life in order to save the child forgotten in the excitement of the
+Uhlans' coming, and the strange events that had so soon followed?
+
+When he reached that window, he found it closed, but, on his pressing
+against the sash, it had swung inward, allowing him free access to the
+room.
+
+It was rather an appalling prospect that confronted Rob. The smoke
+seemed to be thick, and he could not see three feet away. For all he
+knew the fire that was raging in the lower part of the inn might by this
+time have eaten partly through the floor boards, so that, if he put his
+weight on them, he stood a chance of being precipitated into the midst
+of the flames.
+
+Rob never hesitated a second. He had taken all these matters into
+consideration when making up his mind as to what he meant to attempt.
+More than this, he did not believe anything partaking of such a disaster
+threatened him in case he entered that apartment.
+
+The most he feared was that he might be unable to discover where the
+child lay, for it was manifestly impossible to use one's eyes to any
+advantage, with all that veil of smoke interfering.
+
+Over the window-sill he climbed, just as the two boys below witnessed.
+And, no sooner did Rob find himself in the room, than he started to
+cross it. He expected to find a bed somewhere, and toward this purpose
+he at once set himself.
+
+He could hear the crackling of the flames below. Besides this, there
+came to him with painful distinctness the wails of the poor woman who
+was being restrained from trying to rush into the burning inn.
+
+Rob was listening for something more. He had strong hopes that he might
+catch another sound, perhaps feeble, but enough to guide him to where
+the imperiled one lay in the bed or on the floor.
+
+Groping as he advanced, and at the same time feeling with his feet, in
+case the object he sought should prove to be on the floor, Rob passed
+away from the vicinity of the open window. The smoke was pouring from
+the aperture now, as though it were in the nature of a funnel. This
+turned out to be of considerable help to the boy, for the draught served
+to thin the smoke that had filled the room to suffocation.
+
+Now he had reached the farther wall, and, turning sharply to one side,
+started to comb this, every second expecting to come upon a bed of some
+sort.
+
+It was about this time that Rob thought he heard a low, gasping cry just
+ahead of him. Though unable to use his eyes with any measure of success
+in locating the source of the sound, he was encouraged, and persisted in
+pushing forward. In this way he found himself bending over a cot.
+
+His groping hand came in contact with something warm--something that
+moved ever so slightly at his touch. It was the forgotten child. Rob
+found that it was a mere baby, possibly not much more than a year old.
+
+The smoke had not yet choked the little thing, though a short time
+longer would have certainly finished it.
+
+Rob had no sooner clutched it in his arms than he tried to set himself
+right for the window by means of which he had reached the room. In this
+he was assisted by the light that came through the opening, and which
+served as his guide. By the time he reached it, he could no longer see a
+single thing, and, when he leaned out of the window, his first thought
+was to shout:
+
+"Merritt, are you down below? I can't see a thing! The smoke has blinded
+me!"
+
+To his great satisfaction there came an immediate response, and never
+had words from the lips of his chum sounded sweeter than they did then.
+
+"Yes, we're both here, Rob. Let the child drop straight down! We'll take
+good care of it!"
+
+"But you might miss it," objected Rob, still unable to see a thing.
+
+"We can't! We've got a sheet spread out to catch it in!" Merritt sent
+back. "You're all right just there! Let go! Leave the rest to us!"
+
+So Rob did as he was told. Accustomed to giving orders himself, he at
+the same time could obey when the necessity arose. Perhaps it was with
+considerable fear that he allowed the child to leave his grip; but the
+joyful shout arising from his chums below assured him that all was well.
+
+Then he heard a feminine shriek, and judged that the frantic mother had
+darted to where the boys were standing, to clasp her rescued offspring
+to her breast.
+
+Rob crawled over the ledge. He could not see how to make that friendly
+limb again, but then there was no need of going to all that trouble. He
+had dropped in safety before, and felt able to do the same again; so
+down he came like a plummet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+MYSTERIOUS SIGNALS IN THE NIGHT.
+
+
+Of course once Rob found himself away from that pungent smoke his sight
+was gradually restored to him, though for quite a while his eyeballs
+smarted more or less from the experience.
+
+"What will we do now?" asked Tubby, who was very happy in the knowledge
+that he had been allowed to have at least a hand, two of them, he
+affirmed, in the saving of the little one.
+
+"I did have an idea of staying here all night," returned Rob. "But,
+since the inn has been destroyed, or will be utterly before the fire
+dies down, of course that's out of the question."
+
+"You remember we asked questions of the tavern-keeper," Merritt
+remarked. "He told us there was another village about three miles
+farther on along the road. We might make out to go there, and see if
+they will put us up. If not, it's a haystack for ours, provided there
+are any haystacks around."
+
+"H'm! three miles or more, on that animated saw-buck, eh? I like that.
+It just invigorates me, of course," they heard Tubby telling himself,
+but his voice was anything but cheerful.
+
+"Here comes the mother and the baby; she wants to thank you, Rob,"
+Merritt told the patrol leader.
+
+"Let's hurry and get out of this, then!" urged Rob, who, above all
+things, seemed to dislike being made a hero of when he felt that he had
+not done anything worth mentioning after all.
+
+"No, you don't!" exclaimed Tubby, laying violent hands on his chum.
+"It's only fair that you give the poor woman a chance to tell you how
+grateful she is. As it stands to reason she speaks only Flemish, none of
+us can make head or tail out of what she says, unless she mentions that
+one word I know, which isn't likely."
+
+But the woman could talk French, and she made it very evident to Rob
+that her mother heart was full of gratitude to him for what he had done.
+To the intense amusement of Tubby, she even kissed Rob again and again,
+on either cheek, after the manner of the Belgians.
+
+"Bully! That's the ticket! Give him another for his mother! I like to
+see anyone appreciate a _real_ hero. And here's the innkeeper; mebbe
+he'll want to add a few little caresses, too, Rob. Now, don't grieve his
+heart by refusing. They all do it over here, I reckon."
+
+The man who had owned the inn contented himself, however, by telling Rob
+just how much he appreciated the gallant work of the American Boy Scout.
+Rob would not soon forget that experience; and it must always bring a
+warm feeling to his heart when thinking of how, with such a little
+effort, he had made these two humble people supremely happy.
+
+When he tried to make the man accept pay for their food, the other
+utterly refused to listen to such a thing.
+
+"It is the good wife and myself, young m'sieu, who are heavily in your
+debt," he told Rob, with the simplicity of sincerity. "How, then, could
+we ever forgive ourselves for taking money from one who has saved our
+baby's life? It would cause the blush of shame to dye our cheeks. We
+could never look our neighbors again in the face. It would not be
+right."
+
+Of course that ended it, although Rob would rather have settled for that
+supper. Merritt tugged at his coat, understanding what it was all about.
+
+"Don't insist, Rob," he told the other. "You mustn't try to take away
+the satisfaction he feels in having done one little thing for you. Let
+it go at that. He is not a poor man, I imagine, and has something laid
+by. Now, hadn't we better be getting out of here?"
+
+"Oh! by the way, where are our horses?" asked Tubby, suddenly.
+
+That reminded them they had forgotten all about the animals. The horses
+had been left tied to a rail at some little distance alongside the inn
+when they went in to get supper. Rob had intended, in case they meant to
+spend the night there, to have the three animals taken care of, and fed.
+
+The hitching bar was entirely destitute of horses of any type when they
+turned their eyes in that quarter.
+
+"What if those awful Uhlans took our steeds away with them?" Tubby
+suggested, with his usual blank look, and that woebegone shake of his
+head.
+
+"It seems unbelievable to me," Rob replied; "but I'll make some
+inquiries. The inn-keeper may have had them taken to the stables back
+yonder, though I remember noticing the animals at the time we were
+peeping out of the window when the troopers were coming down the village
+street. Wait for me, and I'll ask him."
+
+"I surely hope you learn good news, Rob!" Tubby sighed, as he thought of
+three long Belgian miles separating him from some sort of bed, where he
+could secure the rest he needed so badly.
+
+Presently Rob came back, and, when Tubby saw him shake his head in the
+negative, he gave a dull sort of a groan.
+
+"Bottom knocked out of everything, is it, Rob?" he asked, in a dazed
+sort of way.
+
+"Well, nobody could give me any hope," was the reply. "Of course, the
+landlord was too excited over the burning of his house to notice just
+what the Uhlans did as they rode away, but one man told us he saw the
+troopers take our horses trailing behind them."
+
+"Then that settles it," said Merritt; "though I'll never understand what
+they could want with those bony and tired nags, unless it was to make
+bologna sausages out of. We're in for a little hike that will stretch
+our legs."
+
+"Yes, I guess it will," echoed Tubby, in a way that was hardly cheerful.
+
+"And yours can stand a good deal of stretching, Tubby, you know," added
+Merritt.
+
+"There's no use crying over spilt milk," said Rob, in his usual cheery
+fashion. "I more than half expected that we'd lose our mounts, sooner or
+later."
+
+"So did I," agreed Merritt. "Only I thought perhaps they'd die on our
+hands from over-exertion. I never dreamed that rough riders like the
+German cavalrymen would want to be caught leading such ragtag animals
+along."
+
+"Well, shall we make a move?" asked Rob.
+
+There being no word against it, even from Tubby, who knew when duty
+called, the three scouts took their last look at the still burning
+houses, and then strode forth on the road leading toward the east.
+
+The night promised to be unusually clear, for one thing. This pleased
+Rob, for, as they would have no moon to light them on their way, even
+the stars were welcome.
+
+Three miles, under ordinary conditions, would have been reckoned almost
+nothing to scouts accustomed to taking lengthy hikes over hills and
+along valleys. It was a different matter, however, when passing through
+a war-distracted country, where hostile armies were encamped, so that at
+any minute they were apt to be greeted with a stern command, either in
+German or in French or Flemish, to stand and give the countersign, with
+the warning that to attempt flight would be at the peril of their lives.
+
+Naturally the nerves of the boys were continually on edge. Tubby, in
+particular, kept his eyes roving from side to side, then into the
+uncertain distance ahead; and even at times turning to ascertain
+whether they were being pursued by some soft-footed enemies who thought
+to take them by surprise.
+
+In this way more than a mile was passed over. When Rob announced that he
+believed they must be all of halfway to the other village, Tubby
+expressed fervent thanks.
+
+"I'm still able to put one foot in front of the other," he remarked in a
+hushed voice, for Rob had cautioned them against speaking aloud, as it
+might draw unwelcome attention to the little party.
+
+"Wait up a minute, please," whispered Merritt, and there was that about
+his mysterious manner that gave Tubby another bad shock.
+
+"What's the matter, now, Merritt?" he asked softly but solicitously.
+"Hope you haven't got a stone bruise on your heel. Did you hear anything
+suspicious? Are we going to be held up by a patrol? Oh! dear, why don't
+you hurry and tell us the worst?"
+
+"What do you make of that flickering light over there, Rob?" asked
+Merritt. "It seems to be in an open field, as near as I can understand.
+Just watch how it keeps on jumping up and down, then sideways."
+
+"Why, it caught my eye just about the time you spoke, Merritt," came the
+reply from the patrol leader. "It must either be the work of some crazy
+person, or else a way of signaling by lantern."
+
+"Say, I honestly believe you've struck the truth that shot, Rob," broke
+in Tubby, who had, of course, immediately turned toward the spot
+indicated. "See the way he swings the light around and makes all manner
+of figures in the air with the same. Why, that was the letter N, as sure
+as you live. And there goes E, followed by W and S. What does that spell
+but NEWS? Hey! we're on the track of a discovery!"
+
+"Will you keep still, Tubby, and let's see if he begins again?" said
+Merritt eagerly.
+
+"That must have been the last word of his message," remarked Rob
+quickly, "but chances are he'll repeat it. Stand ready to spell it out
+as well as we can. Three scouts accustomed to reading the Myers code of
+fire signaling ought to---- There, that was C; and after that O, A, S,
+T--which means COAST."
+
+Slowly, and somewhat laboriously, the boys spelled the message, letter
+for letter, their previous training proving of the greatest help; and
+this was the result:
+
+"_Coast clear--safe landing here--important news!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE MEETING BETWEEN THE LINES.
+
+
+"Good for us! We're the ones to read a message! But say, was that in
+German, or French, or English, I want to know?" and Tubby seized his
+chums each by an arm, as he asked this question in a husky whisper.
+
+"When you come to making dots and dashes in the Morse code, or what
+answers for the same with the heliograph, or a torch, or signal flags, I
+guess all languages are the same!" Merritt told him, more to keep Tubby
+quiet than for any other reason.
+
+"The question is, who could that message have been for?" Rob was
+muttering.
+
+"There, he starts in again," said Tubby. "He's a most persistent sort of
+chap, I take it, and means that the other fellow will get that message,
+sooner or later. What 'coast is clear'? Why, we're miles and miles away
+from the sea-shore now, ain't we? And what under the sun does he mean
+by 'safe landing'? Where's the boat going to come from, somebody tell me
+quick?"
+
+"I think I know," Rob had just managed to say in reply, when all of them
+were suddenly startled to hear a queer, rattling sound from behind that
+kept swiftly drawing nearer and nearer, until presently Tubby, in sheer
+alarm, dropped flat to the ground.
+
+As he lay sprawled out on his back, judge of his astonishment when he
+saw some object, that was like an immense bird, pass over not fifty feet
+above him. It was heading directly for the spot where the light of the
+lantern glowed in that open field.
+
+The shuttle sound abruptly ceased.
+
+"He's shut off his engine," remarked Rob, apparently intensely
+interested.
+
+"Yes, because he means to alight in the field," added Merritt.
+
+Tubby suddenly comprehended what it must apparently mean. He hastened to
+scramble to his feet again, and no sooner had he accomplished this than
+he was, of course, busily engaged with his questions.
+
+"Was that an aeroplane, Rob?"
+
+"It certainly was," he was informed.
+
+"Then that signal was for the pilot; that was what it meant by 'safe
+landing here' and 'coast clear!' Oh! I begin to see it all now. The
+'important news' he mentioned in his message must be something a spy has
+gathered, and which he wants this air-pilot to carry back to the German
+lines for him? Am I on the right track, Rob?"
+
+"Yes; that's about what it all means, Tubby."
+
+"Then that machine must have been one of the Taube aeroplanes they told
+us about?"
+
+"We expect it is," replied the obliging Rob.
+
+"It must have landed by now, then, hasn't it?"
+
+"As we can hear nothing moving, that's about the way things stand,"
+replied the patrol leader.
+
+"Please shut up, Tubby, so we can listen," Merritt suggested, not
+unkindly, but with the authority that his position as second in command
+of the Eagle Patrol allowed him to display.
+
+Tubby thereupon collapsed; that is, he simply mumbled to himself, while
+staring as hard as he could toward the spot where they could see that
+feeble little glow, made by the signaling lantern.
+
+Rob was considerably interested in the adventure. It appealed to him in
+a way that was almost irresistible. He could understand that this might
+be only one of many methods taken by the astute Germans to get valuable
+information to the Staff Headquarters, which were at that time supposed
+to be located in the captured Belgian capital of Brussels.
+
+Some spy, who had the run of the Belgian lines, would gather up certain
+information which he believed might be appreciated. Then, at a given
+time, when darkness covered the land, he was to be waiting for a daring
+aviator, who would take such risks as always accompany night traveling
+and landing with an aeroplane.
+
+If the man aloft failed to receive the signal agreed on, he would hover
+around up to a certain hour, and then go back to Brussels. But, if the
+coast was clear, and the secret agent gave him assurance to that effect,
+he could dart down, and take charge of the precious documents or maps
+showing the positions of various hostile forces, or else some new
+arrangement on the part of the defenses of Antwerp.
+
+"I'd like to be able to just crawl up closer, and see what goes on,"
+Merritt remarked, after they had stood there for a little while,
+listening and watching, yet seeing only that small light in the open
+space under the stars.
+
+"Would it be safe?" asked Tubby cautiously; though, no doubt, if his
+chums decided on the venture, he would be found remaining at their side.
+
+As often happened, here again Rob had to show his leadership, and curb
+his chum's impetuosity. Merritt was apt to do things sometimes on the
+impulse of the moment which were really unwise.
+
+The prospect of stealing along, like Indians on the warpath, and
+gradually drawing closer to the spot where the pilot of the air-craft
+and the spy were in consultation, was very inviting. Rob, however, took
+a grip on himself, and decided that it would be most unwise of them to
+accept such an unnecessary risk.
+
+"It's really none of our business, Merritt," he said. "First of all----"
+
+"Of course not, but----"
+
+"And, if they discovered us, you know what it would mean?" Rob continued
+gravely.
+
+"I suppose they would fire on us," admitted Merritt.
+
+"They certainly would, because they could only believe that we were
+enemies," continued the other, who, once he had started in to convince
+an impulsive comrade, believed in delivering sledge-hammer blows in
+succession, "and we're not aching to be filled with lead just yet."
+
+"But," urged Merritt, "we might move along the road just a little bit
+farther; that would take us closer to the place. I'd like to be able to
+see that Taube machine fly over our heads again."
+
+"Well, there's no objection to doing that, only we must keep mighty
+quiet. And, Tubby, mind your feet!" said Rob.
+
+Tubby did not bother making any reply, for none seemed necessary. He
+knew well enough that, as a rule, he was inclined to be clumsy, and
+could stumble, if given even half a chance. But, on the open road, and
+with the starlight to help out, he could not believe there was any
+danger.
+
+So he sniffed disdainfully, and braced himself to move as softly as a
+cat; for it is wonderful how light on their feet most fat people can be,
+when they try their best.
+
+Of course they could not see a thing, but then, imagination often helps
+out, and by this means they could picture the daring air-pilot, having
+successfully landed, in consultation with the secret agent.
+
+When he had delivered what news he had picked up, perhaps verbally as
+well as through some written process, the spy would most likely assist
+the flier to get his Taube under way again, after which he could return
+to take up his risky profession amidst the Belgian forces.
+
+Once Tubby did come near falling, as his toe caught in a projecting
+stone, which, of course, had been invisible. He managed to clutch hold
+of Merritt, who was on his left, and in this way avoided a tumble that
+might have caused more or less noise, even if it did not result in any
+damage to his nose.
+
+Then Rob came to a stop. The others understood that he must have decided
+they were as near the place where the lantern glowed in the field as
+they could get without clambering over the stone barrier. This wall
+fence came up to Tubby's chin, so that he had to stand on his tiptoes to
+see over it.
+
+"Has he sailed away yet, Rob?" asked Tubby, in his hushed voice, which
+sounded as though he might be using the soft pedal on his vocal organ.
+
+"We would have heard the clatter of his motor if he had," returned Rob.
+"So far it hasn't been found possible to deaden the rattle of the
+propeller. And, on a still night like this, you could get that some ways
+off. No, they're talking business yet, I reckon."
+
+"Gee whiz! but they must have a lot to say," muttered Tubby.
+
+"After they separate we'd better lie low a while," suggested Rob.
+
+"What for?" demanded Tubby, bound to understand everything, even if he
+had to swamp his mates with questions.
+
+"The spy, or spies, for there may be more than one of them, might just
+happen to cross this way, so as to get to the road; and, if they saw
+three shadowy figures moving along, the first thing they'd be apt to
+think was that we were enemies who had been listening."
+
+"Oh! now I see!" Tubby admitted. "And, since we don't want to be made
+targets for them to practice at, we'll be wise to do what you say, Rob."
+
+"Please, please, let up on all that talk, Tubby!" implored Merritt.
+
+"Oh! I will, if it bothers you any," the fat boy answered; "but I think
+it queer a fellow can't ask a few little innocent questions once in a
+while, without being sat down on so hard. Now, I know a boy who made
+himself a real nuisance with his everlasting wanting-to-know, but I only
+speak up when there's absolute nec----"
+
+Tubby stopped short there. It was not that the annoyed Merritt clasped a
+hand over his mouth, thus shutting off his supply of breath, for no such
+thought entered the mind of the corporal of the Eagle Patrol; but just
+then a horrible din, in which shots, mingled with wild shouts, broke out
+in the field nearby.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CAUGHT IN THE ACT.
+
+
+What had happened was no mystery to Rob and Merritt, though possibly
+Tubby, not quite so apt to jump to conclusions, remained a little
+bewildered at what was going on.
+
+It seemed that the Belgians must have suspected something wrong, and
+possibly followed the bearer of the lantern when he went into the open
+field to flash his signals toward the sky.
+
+The three scouts from across the ocean were not the only watchers who
+had read that message. Yes, and the coast had not been as clear as the
+signal man believed, since even then enemies must have been creeping
+toward him, though utterly unseen in the darkness.
+
+The rapid discharge of guns, and the loud outcries of men engaged in
+desperate warfare, thrilled the boys. They could not see a single
+figure, but the spiteful flashing of firearms, as they were discharged,
+told them that the fight was not all one-sided, and that the Germans
+must be resisting capture with their usual valor.
+
+All at once they heard another sound.
+
+"It's the motor--the aeroplane man has managed to get going!" exclaimed
+Rob, instantly comprehending what that meant.
+
+In order to rise, after starting his machine, it was necessary for the
+aviator to first skim along the field for a little distance, and
+gradually gain an impetus which, at the proper instant, results in a
+slow ascent.
+
+Of course he was taking all sorts of desperate chances in making this
+blind venture; but his life was at stake, if caught. Besides, he
+undoubtedly must have examined the nature of that level stretch of
+ground before, and selected it as a landing place on account of its good
+qualities.
+
+"He's heading this way, Rob!" exclaimed Tubby, almost in a panic.
+
+"If he butts into this wall it'll spell his finish!" added Merritt.
+
+"No danger of that," said Rob. "He knows every foot of ground around
+here. But duck down, everybody. They will fire a volley after him, and
+we might get in line of the bullets."
+
+Tubby dropped flat, forgetting that the high stone wall was as good a
+breastwork as any one could want.
+
+Just as Rob had anticipated, there was a series of explosions, and they
+could even hear the patter of bullets striking the piled-up stones
+composing the wall.
+
+This was enough to tell them that the fleeing aviator had headed
+straight toward the spot where they were crouching. And, as the rattle
+of his machine grew louder, they realized that he was approaching them
+with considerable speed.
+
+Then, with an additional clatter, the Taube passed over the wall,
+clearing its top by not more than ten feet.
+
+"Keep down!" exclaimed Rob, feeling Merritt beginning to make a move,
+and afraid lest he should stand upright in order to better follow the
+progress of the aeroplane.
+
+It was well he spoke when he did, for another burst of firing came. The
+soldiers were sending random volleys after the fleeing airman, in hopes
+of injuring his machinery or wounding the aviator himself.
+
+"That was sure a great getaway!" bubbled Tubby, still seated there on
+the ground.
+
+"But I rather think they winged him," added Merritt, possibly with a
+note of regret in his voice.
+
+It was not that he felt any particular sympathy for the German cause;
+but, boy-like, he could admire grit and daring, no matter under what
+flag it might be found. That bold flight of the Taube operator in the
+face of the flying missiles was quite enough to arouse the spirit of any
+one with red blood in his veins.
+
+"What makes you say that?" asked Tubby, not meaning to remain in
+ignorance when he possessed a ready tongue.
+
+"I was pretty sure the machine wabbled as it passed over," said Merritt.
+
+"My opinion, too," Rob chimed in. "It seemed to me he was trying his
+best to get it to mount, but it balked. That could only mean something
+had gone wrong with the machinery, or else a wing had been fractured."
+
+"Huh! you talk just like the machine might be a baseball pitcher,"
+commented Tubby. "But, if that's the case, the chances are he'll drop to
+the ground right away, or else smash up against some tree."
+
+"Just what may happen to him," agreed Merritt.
+
+"You'll notice that the sound of motor and propeller has suddenly died
+out," suggested Rob, "which I take it looks pretty rough for the
+man-bird."
+
+"Oh! that would be too bad, now!" Tubby whimpered, as he imagined he
+could see the bold pilot of the crippled flier dashed to the ground
+amidst the wreckage of his machine.
+
+"Well, the shooting seems to be over!" remarked Merritt.
+
+"I wonder what happened to the spy?" Rob observed, as he stared over the
+top of the stone wall toward the spot where the late confusion had taken
+place.
+
+They could still see that little glow, proving that the lantern had not
+been kicked over in all the riot when the creeping Belgians had pounced
+on the enemy.
+
+"Would it be wise for us to head over there now, Rob?"
+
+Plainly Merritt was curious to know what had happened, and his manner of
+putting this question to the patrol leader showed that he would never be
+satisfied unless they made some sort of attempt to solve the mystery.
+
+This time he found Rob more agreeable. Conditions had changed
+considerably since the leader had put his foot down upon any suggestion
+that they thrust themselves into the game. The Belgians were their
+friends, and they could not believe any danger was to be feared from
+that source.
+
+"We might walk over that way," Rob admitted slowly; "that is, if Tubby
+can get over this wall."
+
+"If not, he could wait for us here," suggested Merritt, with a chuckle.
+
+"I see myself waiting all alone on the other side of the wall, while you
+two step forward and find out all there is going on. I can climb walls,
+all right, if somebody only gives me a little boost. Try me, and see,
+Rob. That's a good fellow!"
+
+Of course Rob was ready to lend the desired assistance; and as Tubby
+secured a hold on a large stone that crowned the wall, he was able to
+hunch himself up, puffing and grunting at a great rate.
+
+It was easy enough to get down, if one did not care how he fell; but
+Tubby proved fortunate in finding toe places where he could secure a
+hold, and in some fashion managed to "dismount."
+
+He pattered after his two chums, who were already moving toward the
+middle of the big field.
+
+Rob, always noticing things as he went along, found that the field was
+very level, and he could understand how the place must have been
+selected for a rendezvous since it offered such exceptional facilities
+for an aeroplane to land and start up again.
+
+Perhaps this had been a regular nightly affair, and all sorts of
+valuable information may have been carried to the German Headquarters
+by means of this novel air route.
+
+As the three boys gradually drew nearer the place where the lantern
+could still be seen, they discovered that it was now being held in the
+hand of some person who wore a uniform.
+
+"Belgians, all right!" muttered Rob, after noting that the garb was not
+like the khaki-colored clothes of the British troops, nor yet the blue
+and red of the French soldiers.
+
+There seemed to be more than a dozen of the men, showing that they had
+come in force. Whether they had discovered the spy by accident or
+followed him to the place of meeting, Rob, of course, could only guess;
+nor did it matter to him.
+
+"I can see the prisoner!" whispered Merritt.
+
+"Yes, and there seem to be two of them," added Rob, noting that the men
+were being held by several soldiers, and it was as though the officer in
+command might be questioning them closely, for a voice could be heard
+speaking in French.
+
+"They've been up against hard knocks, it looks like," Tubby mentioned,
+eager to let his chums know he was close at their heels, and able to
+see a few things for himself.
+
+Indeed, the men did have the appearance of having been through the mill.
+Their hats were missing, so that their hair hung about their faces,
+which looked as if they had been brought in contact with a pile-driver,
+for there was blood, also contusions and bruises visible.
+
+"And one of them stands as if he hadn't any use for his left leg, which
+means most likely he's got a bullet through it," Rob continued.
+
+He spoke aloud, and for a reason. It were better that the soldiers in
+the field learned of their advance by some such method as this. If, on
+the other hand, the trio of scouts were detected advancing in any sort
+of suspicious manner they might be unfortunate enough to evoke a volley.
+Excited men sometimes shoot first and ask questions afterward.
+
+A harsh voice suddenly demanded in French to know who they were, and
+what they had to say for themselves; adding that unless they replied
+instantly the order to cut them down would be given.
+
+[Illustration: "Advance, and hold up your hands above your heads!" he
+ordered.--_Page 149._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE FIELD HOSPITAL.
+
+
+"We are friends, three American boys only!"
+
+Very often Rob had practiced his French so as to get this explanation
+correct. If his accent happened to be altogether wrong, what he said
+could be understood, and that was the main thing.
+
+Apparently, what he had called out must have surprised the Belgian
+officer in charge of the detachment, for he could be heard exchanging
+comments with someone else. Then he spoke aloud again.
+
+"Advance, and hold up your hands above your heads!" he ordered.
+
+Rob understood the words, but of course his chums could not; so the
+first thing he did was to elevate both hands as high as he could, and
+say to them:
+
+"Do the same as I am, both of you. The officer has ordered it. And then
+come on over to where they are waiting for us!"
+
+In this manner they drew near the spot where the others stood. Everyone
+was staring very hard, for to see three boys dressed in khaki, and
+talking unmistakable English among themselves, was indeed a considerable
+surprise.
+
+The one who held the lantern proved to be a lieutenant. He was a man of
+middle age, and as the newcomers drew near he held up his light in order
+the better to examine their make-up. What he saw must have created a
+good impression, for the frown began to leave his face.
+
+"It is fortunate that I speak English," he started in to say, greatly to
+the delight as well as the surprise of Rob, "so you shall tell me how it
+comes we find you here on this particular night, and so close to a spot
+where a suspicious transaction was going on which we had the pleasure of
+nipping in the bud."
+
+Apparently the lieutenant was not wholly satisfied. He could not tell
+but that these smart looking boys might have some connection with the
+game he and his detachment had blocked in the capture of the two spies.
+
+So Rob hastened to explain as briefly as he could.
+
+"We have come to Belgium on some very important business that has
+nothing whatever to do with the war. There is a man we must see, and it
+happens that he was last reported in a town near Brussels. We know what
+great risks we run in trying to pass between the lines of the hostile
+armies; but we hope to keep out of the hands of the Germans; and as for
+the Belgians, we are carrying with us a letter that has up to now always
+passed us."
+
+This was the signal for Merritt to produce the passport written for them
+by the obliging burgomaster of Antwerp. The lieutenant received the
+paper gravely. He was evidently puzzled to know how much of Rob's
+strange story to believe; for it seemed remarkable that three boys
+should take such a dangerous mission upon their shoulders.
+
+When he had read the short recommendation through, and saw the signature
+at the bottom, the officer uttered an exclamation of satisfaction.
+
+"You could not have chosen a better sponsor than the worthy burgomaster
+of Antwerp," he said warmly. "I have met him more than once, and he is
+held in high respect throughout the land, as is Burgomaster Max of
+Brussels. Let me return your paper safely. It is worth keeping."
+
+"And you will allow us to go on when we choose, then?" asked Merritt
+eagerly.
+
+"There is no occasion for your detention," he was informed, "but if I
+sought your best welfare I should order that you turn back, and give up
+this foolish mission, for there is hardly one chance in ten that you can
+escape capture at the hands of the enemy, since they are everywhere. But
+you know best, and I shall not interfere. It must be a serious motive
+that brings you into this wretched country?"
+
+"It means a great lot to my family that I find this man, Steven
+Meredith," Merritt told him, possibly with a faint hope that the
+lieutenant might recognize the name, and admit that he knew the person.
+
+Rob had noticed several things. For one, that the taller prisoner was
+certainly badly wounded, since he stood on one leg, and had his teeth
+tightly clinched as if to keep from betraying any weakness that might be
+deemed unmanly.
+
+One of the Belgians also carried a bandage, roughly fastened, possibly
+by a clumsy comrade, around his arm. It showed traces of blood, and Rob
+could guess that a speeding bullet fired by the spies at bay probably
+had caused the wound.
+
+"I notice that a couple of men here have been wounded," he ventured to
+say to the lieutenant, "and, as you must know, Boy Scouts are taught
+something of field surgery. Would you mind if I and my friend here
+looked at them? We might stop the flow of blood, anyway, and perhaps
+make the men a bit easier."
+
+The Belgian officer hesitated for a brief time. He looked at Rob, and
+seemed to be considering. Then he nodded his head.
+
+"As we have to stay here until my superior officer and a larger
+detachment come along in answer to the signals we are about to make, it
+could do no harm. Yes, I have heard that Boy Scouts are supposed to know
+something of surgery, although I myself have never seen them practice
+it. You may proceed. Albert!"
+
+He beckoned to the private who had his arm bound up. The man upon being
+told to show his injury hardly knew what was about to happen. He could
+not believe that mere boys would know what a surgeon was supposed to do.
+
+That man evidently had the surprise of his life when Rob, assisted by
+Merritt, washed the wound by the aid of some water obtained from a
+canteen, and then neatly bound the arm up, using some strips from a
+little roll of linen which Rob took from his pocket.
+
+The officer watched the whole operation with considerable interest.
+
+"That was neatly done," he commented, after the man had stepped back to
+where a comrade was holding his gun for him. "As you expressed a wish to
+attend to the prisoner, I give you full permission to do so. Though,
+after all, it will make but little difference with him, since his doom
+is sealed."
+
+The tall German said never a word, but allowed the boys to do as they
+willed with him. He realized the desperate condition in which his
+boldness had placed him and was evidently determined, if convicted of
+being a spy, to die game.
+
+His injury turned out to be much more serious than that of the Belgian
+soldier, for the bullet had made a bad puncture, and he had already lost
+much blood.
+
+Tubby turned his head away at first, as though he could not bear to see
+the wound, but evidently realizing that a display of such timidity was
+hardly in keeping with what they wished these men to believe of Boy
+Scouts, he finally forced himself to offer to assist his chums in their
+gruesome work.
+
+It took all of ten minutes to wash and dress that wound with the few
+things at their command the best they were able to. During all that time
+the spy did not say a word, nor did he groan even when Rob knew he must
+be hurting him more or less, although that could not be avoided.
+
+And the officer had commenced to ask questions. It seemed to surprise
+him that even in far-away America there, too, the boys had organized
+themselves into patrols and learned all these valuable lessons
+calculated to make them better citizens when they came to take their
+places in business, on the firing line, or among the professions.
+
+"Then the scouts over in your country are also taught to be ready for
+any emergency, the same as the boys are in Belgium?" he asked Rob, as he
+watched the latter's nimble fingers, with considerable dexterity into
+the bargain, draw the bandage tightly into place.
+
+"Oh! yes," replied the boy, only too pleased to say a good word for the
+thousands upon thousands of comrades in khaki whom he represented. "You
+see, most of us camp out a good deal, and all sorts of accidents happen.
+I've known a boy to cut himself so badly with an ax when he was chopping
+wood that he would have bled to death long before they could get him to
+a doctor, but it was easy for his mates to stop the flow of blood, and
+do the right thing."
+
+"It is grand, this teaching boys to be able to save human life,"
+declared the middle-aged officer, who perhaps had sons of his own in the
+army, "and yet it never came to me before that even in America they were
+practicing these noble avocations. I have seen them in England, yes, in
+France also, but in America--it is superb to think of it. And there are
+other ways in which boys in camp could be injured, you are telling me?"
+
+He had become so deeply interested that Rob only too willingly proceeded
+to explain at greater length.
+
+"Why, sometimes a boy is taken with a cramp when in swimming, and of
+course he is saved by those who know just how to get him without being
+pulled down themselves."
+
+"And," continued the Belgian lieutenant, "if the poor fellow should be
+nearly gone, what then? I myself once had a narrow escape that way, and
+to this day it gives me a cold feeling every time I remember it."
+
+"Oh! every scout, even when he's a tenderfoot, is supposed to learn how
+to resuscitate a comrade who has swallowed lots of water, and come near
+drowning. Unless he was pulled out too late, he will be brought back
+every time. Then there are the bites from poisonous snakes and insects
+that may happen; we are taught how best to counteract the effect of
+poison, so as to save the victim."
+
+"I am delighted to know all this," the officer told them. "It has been
+quite a pleasure to have met you, although under peculiar conditions, I
+admit. And the more I see of you, young messieurs, the more I am
+convinced that you can look out for yourselves. At first I considered it
+was a shame that three tender boys were allowed to travel over this
+dangerous country. I no longer feel that way. If anybody should know how
+to take care of themselves, I surely believe you know, and are equal to
+do it. I am proud to shake hands with you, and wish you all a successful
+journey."
+
+Which operation he proceeded to immediately put into execution; though
+Tubby, having had one previous experience with a hearty Belgian
+hand-grip, was mighty careful just how he allowed the other to take hold
+of his plump digits.
+
+Rob was quite satisfied now that they had done the right thing in coming
+forward and joining the party. At least it had been the means of easing
+the pain of those who were wounded, and stopping the flow of blood
+sensibly.
+
+The German had actually broken his silence to thank the boys when they
+finished their work. It was evident, however, that he was not caring
+very much what happened to him, since he knew the probable penalty for
+allowing himself to be captured in the act of delivering important plans
+of fortifications--death.
+
+None of the boys so much as mentioned the fact that they believed the
+Taube machine might have been injured, and even fallen a short distance
+away. If the Belgians did not see fit to investigate conditions, it was
+no part of the scouts' business to put them on the track. The dashing
+aviator deserved to get away, Rob thought, and it would hardly be fair
+for outsiders, who had really no interest in the matter, to betray him
+to his enemies.
+
+So they left the soldiers still waiting for their comrades to come along
+with a superior officer in charge. The lieutenant had taken quite a
+sudden fancy for Rob and his two chums; but then that was not strange,
+Tubby told himself, since the patrol leader always had a knack of making
+friends wherever he went.
+
+They soon arrived at the stone wall, and to Tubby's satisfaction found a
+break where they could actually pass to the road without once more
+climbing the barrier.
+
+The last they saw of the field was when the lighted lantern was being
+waved in a way that looked as though the lieutenant might be signaling
+to others. In the opposite quarter only darkness was to be seen. Rob
+wondered what had become of the operator of the Taube aeroplane; whether
+he had indeed come crashing to the earth, or managed to sail away to
+safety. But they were never fated to know.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+CHASING A JACK-O'-LANTERN.
+
+
+"I wish you could tell me we were nearly at that old village, Rob. Seems
+to me we've been trudging along for hours, and I own up to feeling just
+a little bit tired."
+
+Tubby had a beseeching way about him that was hard to resist; and so Rob
+really felt sorry that he could give him no joyful news.
+
+"I would like to be able to tell in the worst way, Tubby," he told him,
+"but you see we're making this turn only on hearsay. None of us knows a
+single thing about it. There must be some sort of a place ahead of us,
+because several times I've heard dogs barking, and I even thought I
+could hear people calling."
+
+"It's all right, Tubby," chimed in Merritt, "because there's a light,
+yes,--two, three of the same kind. We'll soon be there, and I hope we'll
+find some sort of a bunk, even if we have to drop in the hay."
+
+"That's what I say," the fat scout declared energetically, bracing up,
+now that it seemed the haven might be in sight. "I could sleep standing
+up, I believe, if only you braced me on the sides."
+
+"I believe you," remarked Merritt; and Tubby hardly knew whether he
+ought to demand an explanation of that insinuation or not; he finally
+concluded to change the subject.
+
+They soon found they had arrived at another of those frequent little
+Belgian hamlets where, in the past, thrift had held sway, but which were
+rapidly becoming demoralized under the pressure of the war fever. Most
+of the men were serving the colors, of course, those remaining being the
+very aged or crippled, the women, and always the flocks of children.
+
+"Seems to me they're carrying on kind of queer here, as if something
+might be going on," Merritt hazarded while they were approaching the
+border of the place.
+
+"Gingersnaps and popguns!" exclaimed Tubby, "I hope there isn't a bunch
+of those terrible Uhlans in town, smashing things, and threatening to
+burn every house unless the wine and the ransom money are brought out!"
+
+"Let's go slow till we can make sure about that," suggested Rob.
+
+Their recent unpleasant experience was so fresh in their minds that they
+did not care to have it duplicated. The next time they might not be so
+fortunate about escaping from a burning inn, or avoiding capture at the
+hands of raiding Uhlans.
+
+"I don't seem to glimpse any cavalrymen around, do you, Rob?" Merritt
+questioned, as they hovered on the outskirts of the place, ready to melt
+away in the darkness should any peril arise.
+
+"No, and it's safe for us to push on," the patrol leader announced.
+
+"But there are a raft of people around," ventured the cautious Tubby,
+who had been closely observing each and every soul, as though he
+suspected that crafty Uhlans might be hidden under peasants' garb, or
+in the clothes of the stout Belgian dames.
+
+"Well, a lot of them are fugitives, the same as those we've been seeing
+on the roads all day long," Rob explained. "Some of them have been
+burned out of house and home; but in the main they're people who have
+believed all these awful fairy stories about the terrible Germans, and
+think that if they stay they'll be eaten up."
+
+"This place must have escaped a visit from the Germans so far," Merritt
+suggested, "and they are coming to believe it's a lucky town, which
+would account for so many stopping here in their rush to get away."
+
+"That's bad!" muttered Tubby.
+
+"Why is it?" demanded Merritt.
+
+"All the spare beds will be taken, you see," explained the other
+dejectedly, "and those who come late, like we are doing, must sit up all
+night, or else sleep in the dog kennel or the pigsty or the barn. Well,
+I said before and I mean it, if I can have some hay under me to keep my
+bones from the floor, I won't complain, or make a single kick. I'm
+easily satisfied, you all know."
+
+"That must be the village inn, over yonder, Rob," Merritt remarked,
+pointing as he spoke. "Judging from the crowd in front we've got a poor
+show to get beds for to-night."
+
+"Everybody stares at us as if they thought we might be some kind of wild
+animal," Tubby complained.
+
+"Well, I can see that they've had some sort of circus here lately
+because the showbills are still posted on the fences," Merritt observed
+with a chuckle, "and can you blame them for thinking that the side shows
+have bust up, with the freaks hiking all through the country, unable to
+ride on the railroads, which are all taken over by the Government to
+haul cannon, horses and soldiers? I'll pass for the Living Skeleton,
+while you could stand for the Fat Boy, Tubby!"
+
+Tubby was so used to having his friends joke at him on account of his
+chubby build that as a rule he let such reminders pass by without
+showing any ill feeling. In this instance he hardly noticed what Merritt
+was saying, because so many other events were happening around them.
+
+Being satisfied at last that they were in no apparent danger from
+concealed Uhlans, Tubby felt his spirits rise once more.
+
+At the inn Rob entered into a brief conversation with the proprietor. As
+this worthy knew very little French, and Rob next to nothing of Flemish,
+the "confab," as Tubby called it, had to be conducted mostly through a
+series of shrugs and gestures.
+
+"What luck, Rob?" asked Tubby, when the other chum turned to them again.
+
+"He's cram full of sleepers to-night, and couldn't give us even a cot,"
+explained Rob. "When I said we'd put up with the hay, he gave me to
+understand we could pick out any place found unoccupied."
+
+"Gee whiz! 'unoccupied,' you said, didn't you, Rob?" cried Tubby
+hastily. "Now, does that mean the place is apt to be _swarming_ with
+these peasant women and children, and shall we have to listen to babies
+bawling all night long, not to speak of roosters crowing, dogs barking,
+horses neighing, pigs grunting and cows mooing?"
+
+"'Beggars should never be choosers,' they say," Merritt warned him.
+
+"And, after all, let's hope it won't be quite so bad as all that," said
+Rob.
+
+They sought the stable. It was in the rear of the inn, and a rather
+decent looking structure in the bargain.
+
+"Why, this isn't half bad," admitted Tubby, as they entered and found
+that the kind proprietor of the house had hung up a lighted lantern, by
+means of which it was possible for the boys to see the stack of hay.
+
+"It smells like a sweet new crop," Rob remarked, glad to find something
+to commend when surrounded by such dismal prospects.
+
+"And so far as I can see we're the only barn guests," Tubby announced
+jubilantly as he started to burrow in the hay.
+
+He had hardly made much progress before he came backing out in a hurry.
+
+"There's a great big dog sleeping in there!" he declared excitedly.
+
+"What makes you think so?" asked Rob, who could hardly believe it
+possible.
+
+"I tell you he tried to bite me," urged Tubby, holding up one finger of
+his right hand, and on which a tiny speck of blood was visible.
+
+"Shucks! you only stuck it on a thorn, that's all!" protested the
+unbelieving Merritt, "and I'll prove it by crawling in the same hole."
+
+"Look out, now!" warned Tubby, anxious, and yet with some eagerness, for
+he hoped to have his words proved in a fashion even Merritt could not
+doubt.
+
+Immediately there was more or less excitement in the hay; and then came
+the unmistakable scolding of a setting hen. Merritt backed out,
+laughing.
+
+"There's your ferocious bulldog!" he told Tubby; "but we'll leave old
+Biddy to her eggs, and try another place. Plenty of room in this hotel
+without chucking the other guests out of their nests."
+
+After a while they made themselves comfortable. Tubby, before turning
+in, had prowled around a little. He told the others that as a true scout
+he was only taking an inventory of his surroundings, so that if there
+should happen to come a sudden midnight alarm he at least would know
+what to do in order to lead the way out of the barn by a rear exit.
+
+"Smart boy, Tubby," Merritt told him, when he heard him say this; and it
+always pleased the fat scout to receive a word of praise, possibly
+because the occasions when he deserved any were few and far between.
+
+They lay in the sweet hay, and talked in low tones. No one else seemed
+to be pushed so hard for a place to sleep as to come to the barn, for
+which all of the chums professed to be very grateful.
+
+In the course of the conversation, which had more or less bearing on
+their strange mission abroad, the subject of the precious paper came to
+the front. Perhaps it was Merritt himself who mentioned it, because the
+matter was frequently in his thoughts, and he seemed to be growing more
+and more anxious, the nearer they drew to the place where he anticipated
+finding Steven Meredith.
+
+"You've never really told us who this man is, Merritt, and how he comes
+to be wandering around the world with a paper belonging to your
+grandfather hidden away under the lining of the case containing his
+field-glasses," Rob remarked while Tubby, who had just been yawning, sat
+up and seemed to be wide awake again.
+
+"That's a fact, Merritt," he chimed in. "If you don't object, why, we'd
+like to be told."
+
+"The fact of the matter is," replied Merritt, "I don't know a great deal
+more than you do, come to think of it. Grandfather Crawford comes from
+old Scotch stock, so he's a canny sort of an old gentleman. No use of my
+telling you about the way he treated my father when he was a young man
+and married against the wishes of his parents, because that you already
+know. It's about the paper, also of Steven Meredith you're curious to
+hear?"
+
+"Yes, go along, please," begged Tubby.
+
+"The paper is a little scrap, he told me, on which are marked certain
+directions as how to find a certain rich gold mine out in our Southwest
+country. Grandfather has one-half his paper, and the other half is
+lodged in the cover of that field-glass case--if the man is still
+carrying it with him."
+
+"That gets more and more queer, I must say," grumbled Tubby, looking as
+though he could not untangle the knot that was presented to him.
+
+"Yes, if anybody had told it to me," admitted Merritt, "I'd have made up
+my mind right away he was trying to pull the wool over my eyes with a
+silly yarn. And yet there was Grandfather Crawford just as sober as you
+ever saw anyone, and vouching for every word of it as true."
+
+"Well, how on earth did the half of the map or the directions happen to
+get in that field-glass case, without Steven Meredith, who carries the
+same, knowing a thing about it?" asked Rob.
+
+"This deposit was discovered by an old miner who never worked it, but
+had samples of wonderfully rich ore, which he showed my grandfather at
+the time he was rescued by my relative from being tortured by a couple
+of halfbreeds who wanted to get the miner's secret. He gave grandfather
+the half of the map, and directions he had on his person, and told him
+where he would find the other half."
+
+"Now it's beginning to look understandable," Tubby admitted. "The old
+miner did that so if anybody got hold of him they wouldn't be able to
+locate the secret mine--wasn't that it, Merritt?"
+
+"Just what he had in mind," the other told him, "and of course the
+injuries received in the fight carried the miner off eventually, leaving
+my grandfather as his sole heir, if he could only lay hands on the other
+half of that valuable little paper, for neither portion alone made any
+sense.
+
+"Gee! this is getting real interesting--if true!" ventured Tubby.
+
+"Oh! it's a straight yarn, never fear," retorted Merritt without any
+trace of ill feeling, however, for no one ever could quarrel with Tubby.
+"And just about here is where this man Steven Meredith, as he calls
+himself, breaks into the story. The old miner had told my grandfather
+that for security he kept the other half of the chart, and the
+directions how to find the treasure, hidden in the lining of the case
+holding a pair of field-glasses that he had carried for years, as they
+were of a special make and considered extra fine."
+
+"And when your esteemed relative came to make a hunt for the said
+glasses," remarked Tubby, anxious to show that he was following the
+narrative closely, "why of course he found that Steve had got away with
+them--is that the stuff, Merritt?"
+
+"Great head, Tubby," chuckled the other, as if amused at this unexpected
+smartness on the part of the stout boy. "You've said it, after a
+fashion; for that was what really happened. The glasses were supposed,
+along with other things owned by the old miner, to be in the charge of
+an old and invalid sister in a small town. To that place my grandfather
+went, armed with a paper which would give him possession of the traps of
+the dead man, including the case with the glasses. And that was where he
+came up against a staggering disappointment.
+
+"It seemed that this sister of the miner was a little queer in her head.
+When a visitor chanced to examine the glasses, and offered her a pretty
+fine sum for them, she, not knowing how her brother valued them because
+of their association with his prospecting life, thought it a good
+chance to dispose of some useless property.
+
+"And so the wonderful half of the chart was gone. My grandfather took
+enough interest in the matter to learn that a man by the name of Steven
+Meredith possessed the glasses. He even started a search for him,
+thinking that he might be able to buy the glasses back, so as to satisfy
+his mind about the worth of the chart.
+
+"Later on he learned that some valuable ore had been struck in the
+region where the secret mine of the dead prospector was said to be
+located. This kept making him take more and more interest in the finding
+of Steven and the lost paper. He became absorbed in the hunt, and in the
+end had three men on the track.
+
+"They traced Meredith across the ocean. All sorts of strange rumors came
+back as to what he really was. Once it was even said that he was
+secretly in the pay of the German Government. Anyway, he went to Berlin,
+and was known to meet with certain men high up in the Secret Service
+there.
+
+"Just a little while ago my grandfather received positive word from one
+of his agents that Steven Meredith was stationed in a Belgian town,
+though what his business there could be was a mystery. This little town
+was an obscure one near Brussels, where he could keep in the background.
+Its name is Sempst; and that's where we are headed now."
+
+"But just explain one queer thing, won't you, please, Merritt?" asked
+Tubby.
+
+"I know what you're going to say," replied the other. "Of course you're
+wondering why my relative didn't wire his agent about the glasses, and
+offer him a good sum to get them, with the case. Well, the fact is he
+didn't have as much faith in his agents as all that."
+
+"You mean that if the man knew he valued the article so much he would
+begin to smell a rat, and perhaps examine the lining of the case
+himself, after he had managed to steal or buy the glasses?" suggested
+Rob.
+
+"That's what he had in mind," Merritt continued. "So he hardly knew what
+to do, or whom to trust, until I asked him to send me, and let me have
+you along. They didn't like the idea of us boys starting over here when
+things were so upset; but grandfather believes Boy Scouts can do almost
+anything. So it came about. And in a nutshell that's the strange story."
+
+"Gee! you'd think it a page from the _Arabian Nights_," Tubby declared.
+"But queer things can happen to-day just as much as ever. I only hope
+that if we do manage to rake in that old field-glass case, and the paper
+is still nestling underneath the lining, it doesn't turn out to be a
+pipe dream--something that old miner just hatched up to make himself
+feel he was as rich as a Vanderbilt."
+
+"We'll have to chance that," said Rob. "Our part of the business will be
+done when we carry the case back to Merritt's grandfather. It's up to
+him for the rest. But don't you think we'd better try and get to sleep,
+for it's growing late?"
+
+They determined that this was a wise suggestion, and shortly afterward
+not only Tubby and Merritt, but Rob as well had lost all realization of
+trouble and stress in sound slumber.
+
+The night passed, and with the coming of dawn the boys were astir.
+Nothing had apparently happened during the night to disturb them.
+
+In the morning hens were beginning to cackle, and cows to low, as the
+boys awoke and crawled from the hay. A few minutes later, at a nearby
+pump, they washed the last bit of drowsiness from their eyes; after
+which they began to think, from the pleasant odors in the air, that it
+was nearly time for breakfast.
+
+"I dreamed about that grand paper hunt you told us about, Merritt,"
+Tubby announced, as with his chums he sauntered over to the inn to see
+what chance there was for getting something to eat. "And talk to me
+about your will-o'-the-wisps, or what they call jack-o'-lanterns, such
+as flit around graveyards or damp places nights, that certainly did beat
+the record. Lots of times I was just stretching out my hand to grab it
+when I'd hear a laugh, and Steve, he'd snatch the old field-glass case
+away. I woke up still on the trail, and as set as ever to win out."
+
+"Let's hope that will prove to be the case with us," ventured Rob
+cheerily.
+
+They found that they were to be given breakfast; and as all of the boys
+had a ferocious appetite they soon did justice to the meal set before
+them.
+
+It was while they were finishing that they suddenly became aware of the
+fact that something along the line of a battle had broken out not a
+great ways off. The first intimation they had of this was the
+deep-throated sound of a heavy gun. It made them jump; and the entire
+village seemed to become aroused at once, as people began to run this
+way and that, chattering like magpies, some of their faces turning white
+with apprehension of what was to come.
+
+They had heard of the fate of Louvain, and dreaded the hour when the
+German army should come sweeping with irresistible force across that
+section of the country.
+
+Quick on the heels of that opening gun came other sounds--the long roll
+of rifle firing in volleys, and the faint cheers of charging men. The
+boys even fancied they could hear amidst all the confusion the loud
+singing that was said to mark the advance of the German legions as they
+went into battle chanting the "Watch on the Rhine." Rob could well
+believe it, for he knew singing was to the Teuton mind what the bagpipes
+meant to Scotch Highlanders, or cheers to American boys in khaki.
+
+It was evident that the gallant little Belgian army, determined to
+resist to the uttermost the passage of the Germans across their
+territory in the direction of Antwerp and Ghent, had again given battle
+to overwhelming numbers.
+
+Of course the boys had rushed out of the inn and immediately sought the
+best position from which they could see something of what was going on.
+Many of the villagers were clustered there, gazing with deepest concern
+at the section where the smoke of battle was beginning to spread like a
+pall over the country.
+
+"Oh! what is that up there, and heading this way?" Tubby suddenly
+exclaimed.
+
+No sooner had Rob turned his gaze aloft than he was able to give the
+desired information.
+
+"That is one of the famous German Zeppelins, hovering over the
+battlefield," he told Tubby.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE BATTLE FOR THE TRENCHES.
+
+
+By this time everyone was gazing in mixed wonder and awe at the strange
+dirigible balloon, speeding in great circles far up toward the clouds.
+
+Rob and his comrades had read more or less about these monster airships
+which the German Count had invented, and which were expected to play a
+prominent part in this world war. They had even hoped that before they
+left Belgium they might be given an opportunity to see one of the fleet
+monsters, which were said to be able to carry dozens of men, as well as
+tons of explosives, incredible distances.
+
+In Antwerp there had been considerable talk concerning the possibility
+of these Zeppelins making a concerted attack on the city, and forcing
+its surrender. All manner of fearful stories were going the rounds, and
+many timid people had even left the city on the Scheldt for the more
+hospitable shores of England, just on account of the threatening peril
+from the clouds.
+
+"So, that's a real Zeppelin, is it?" Tubby remarked, as they stood there
+with their eyes riveted on the flittering monster of the air.
+
+"No question about it," Merritt told him, "because the poor Belgians
+don't own such an expensive airship, though they have some aeroplanes, I
+was told."
+
+"But what do you reckon they're doing up there?" asked Tubby, still
+seeking to increase his limited stock of knowledge.
+
+"Why," Rob replied, "don't you see there's a battle going on below, and
+from that height men with glasses can see every little thing that's
+happening. They are able to tell how the Belgian forces are intrenched;
+and by means of signals let their gunners know where to drop shells so
+as to do the most harm."
+
+"Whee! what won't they do next in modern, up-to-date fighting?"
+exclaimed Tubby.
+
+"There have been lots of remarkable surprises sprung in this war
+already," Merritt observed thoughtfully, "but I'm thinking the worst is
+yet to come. There never was such a war before in the history of the
+world, and it's to be hoped this one ends in a peace that will last
+forever."
+
+"Yes," added Rob, greatly impressed by what he was seeing, "war's going
+to cost so much after this that the nations will have to fix up some
+other way to settle their differences. About that Zeppelin, Tubby; don't
+you see how they might be able to drop a few bombs on the enemy's
+trenches; or where the Belgians have fixed barbed-wire entanglements to
+stop the rush of the charging German troops? Just to think that here we
+are really watching a battle that isn't like one of the sham rights they
+have every summer at home. It's hard to believe, boys!"
+
+They were all agreed as to this, and every little while one of them
+might be detected actually rubbing his eyes, as though suspecting he
+were asleep and all this were but a feverish dream.
+
+The cannonading grew more and more furious as the morning advanced. Huge
+billows of smoke covered sections of the country, some of it not more
+than a mile away from the village where Rob and his chums had stopped.
+
+"And just to think," said Tubby, with a touch of sorrow in his voice.
+"While all this sounds like a Fourth of July celebration to us, safe as
+we are, it spells lots of terrible wounds for the poor fellows who are
+in the fight. Why, with all those big shells bursting, and the shrapnel
+too, that you spoke about, Rob, right now I reckon there are just
+hundreds of them wanting to be attended to."
+
+"That's true enough, Tubby, the more the pity," replied Rob.
+
+"What's this coming up behind us?" called out Merritt, as loud cheers,
+together with the rattle of wheels and the pounding of many horses'
+hoofs, were heard on the road they had used on the previous night.
+
+"Oh! they're going to bombard the village; and now we'll get it!" gasped
+Tubby.
+
+"It looks like a battery coming from the direction of Antwerp, and
+hurrying to get in action!" Rob ventured to say, as he discovered that
+those who were seated on the horses and on the gun caissons wore the
+Belgian uniforms.
+
+"Just what it is, Rob," added Merritt excitedly. "They hear the sound of
+the guns ahead, and are crazy to get there. Look at them whip the
+horses, would you! And how the animals run! They smell the smoke of
+burnt powder, and it's fairly set them all wild!"
+
+It was indeed a stirring sight to see that battery come tearing along
+straight through the little village, and heading directly toward the
+place where the flashing and roaring of battle seemed fiercest.
+
+The men were all keyed up to a pitch of excitement that made them forget
+they were about to face danger and death. They shouted as they swept
+past, and the poor villagers, filled with a momentary enthusiasm, sent
+back answering cries.
+
+Such enthusiasm is always contagious. Why, even peace-loving Tubby
+seemed to be infected with some of it. His eyes glowed, and his breath
+came in short puffs, as he watched the guns and caissons go whirling
+along until men, horses and all had vanished down the road in a cloud
+of dust.
+
+"Some of those brave fellows will never come back again, I'm afraid,"
+said Tubby sadly.
+
+"It begins to look as if the artillery arm was going to be everything in
+this war," Rob remarked, as though the sight of those bursting shells
+impressed him.
+
+"But what do you suppose all that bombardment means?" Merritt asked.
+
+"I can only give a guess," the patrol leader replied. "From all I've
+read I get the idea that before the Germans order a charge of their
+infantry they pour in a heavy bombardment from every big gun they can
+get in line. That makes it so hot in the trenches that the enemy has to
+keep under cover. Then the infantry manages to get a good start before
+they are fired on."
+
+"Nothing new about that, I guess," replied Merritt. "It was done in the
+battle of Gettysburg, where Lee used more than a hundred cannon to
+bombard, before starting to carry Little Round-top and Cemetery Hill by
+assault. I was just reading about it a few weeks ago in a magazine
+article at home. But if those are their tactics, Rob, we ought to be
+seeing some movement of troops pretty soon."
+
+"Yes," the patrol leader admitted, "the gun fire is slackening right
+now; and if we had glasses I expect we could see the infantry starting
+forward. Those up in the Zeppelin can watch every move that takes
+place."
+
+"All the same I'd rather take my chances down here," Tubby announced.
+
+"What's that moving away over there, Rob?" demanded Merritt. "Seems like
+a gray looking snake creeping out from the shelter of the woods. I
+declare if I don't believe it is a mass of men charging straight at the
+Belgian trenches!"
+
+"The Germans all wear a sort of grayish green uniform, you know," Tubby
+declared, "which is so like the dirt that lots of times you can't tell
+the soldiers from the earth half a mile away."
+
+"Look sharp, fellows," said Rob, "because that is where they're going to
+shoot their bolt. What we see is a battalion of infantry charging. Now
+watch how they begin to gather momentum. Yes, and when the gun fire
+lets up we'll hear the voices of thousands of men singing as they rush
+forward, ready to die for the Fatherland."
+
+They stood there with trembling limbs, and continued to watch what was
+developing right before their eyes. It seemed as though that gray mass
+would never cease coming into view. The whole open space was covered
+with lines upon lines of soldiers all pushing in one direction, and that
+where the intrenchments of the Belgians must lie.
+
+"Oh! look! look! they're opening on them with quick-fire guns, and all
+sorts of things!" Tubby exclaimed, in absolute horror. "Why, I can see
+lanes cut in the lines of the Germans; but they always close up, and
+keep right on! Isn't it terrible?"
+
+"It is sublime!" said Rob; and that tribute to the unflinching bravery
+of the German advance was about the limit of a boy's vocabulary.
+
+"But the plucky little Belgians won't yield an inch of ground, you see!"
+cried Merritt. "They keep pouring in that terrible fire, and mowing the
+Germans down, just like they were cutting wheat on a Minnesota farm."
+
+"How will it all end, I wonder?" said Rob, fascinated, more than he
+would have believed possible, by the panorama that was being unfolded
+before his eyes.
+
+"If the ammunition of the Belgian batteries and Maxims holds out,"
+ventured Merritt, "there won't be any German army left in this part of
+the country. Their best troops are said to be down in France now,
+fighting the Allies; but if these are only second or third class
+reserves, I wonder what the really top-notch ones can do in a battle."
+
+"They're weakening, let me tell you!" Rob startled the others by saying.
+"Watch and you'll see that they don't advance as fast as before. Perhaps
+the general in charge has found that the trenches can't be taken by a
+direct charge. They're going to fall back, and let the artillery start
+in again! The first part of the terrible battle is over, for there the
+Germans begin to scatter, and run, to get out of range of the Maxims!"
+
+"And the plucky Belgians have won again!" Merritt declared as though
+almost tempted to join in the cries of satisfaction that were beginning
+to rise from those of the villagers who were clustered close by,
+intensely interested spectators of the thrilling spectacle just enacted.
+
+"And there's that old Zeppelin still swinging around up in the sky,"
+remarked Tubby. "For all the information they were able to signal down,
+the Germans couldn't take the Belgian trenches. When they got the wire
+entanglements they were blocked."
+
+"But unless I miss my guess," exclaimed Merritt, "the Zeppelin will have
+to get on the run pretty quick or it'll find there's a little war
+brewing in the sky, because I can see a couple of aeroplanes rising from
+back of the Belgian lines!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE BADGE OF COURAGE AND MERCY.
+
+
+"It seems like we were to be treated to about everything there is going
+in the way of up-to-date fighting!" said Tubby, who was having some
+difficulty in craning his fat neck, to look toward where the wonderful
+airship was still making enormous circles above the battle lines.
+
+"Are you sure they are Belgian aeroplanes?" asked Merritt, who had been
+attentively observing the ascending fliers.
+
+"They came up from behind the line of trenches," replied Rob, "and that
+makes it look as if they couldn't be German machines. Besides, the
+invaders all use a model that is called a Taube, which is different from
+these."
+
+"But why d'ye suppose they didn't climb up before now, and tackle that
+monster Zeppelin, so as to put it out of business, or chase it off?"
+inquired Tubby.
+
+"They had their reasons, I suppose," he was told by the patrol leader.
+"No matter what they may have been, we're not interested. It's enough
+for us to watch what's going to happen from now on."
+
+"I'll be jiggered if the Zeppelin isn't going to have it out with them!"
+exclaimed Merritt. "Did you see that little puff of what looked like
+smoke? They've got some sort of gun aboard, and mean to try and riddle
+the aeroplanes with it!"
+
+"Whew! talk to me about excitement, this has got everything I ever knew
+beaten by a mile!" admitted Tubby.
+
+"You notice that both the monoplanes manage to keep pretty far away from
+the dirigible," Rob told them. "And see how they bore up in circles all
+the while, too, getting higher right along."
+
+"What's the idea of that?" asked Merritt.
+
+"For one thing it'll put them on equal terms with the Zeppelin so that
+they can send back shot for shot," explained the other. "But unless I
+miss my guess they mean to try a bigger scheme than that, if once they
+can get above the airship."
+
+"You mean drop a bomb down on it, don't you, Rob?" Merritt asked.
+
+"Yes. You know these Zeppelins are made in many sections. They say one
+could keep afloat even if a dozen of these were smashed. They're along
+similar lines as the watertight compartments of steamships. Some auto
+tires are made the same way too. But if a bomb was dropped on top of the
+gas bag, I reckon the explosion would play hob with the whole business."
+
+They stood there and watched the strange duel in the heavens. The thrill
+of that occasion would never be forgotten by any one of the three
+scouts. And all the while the guns over beyond the low-lying hills were
+beating a terrible tattoo that was like the music of the orchestra when
+a play is being performed. That tragedy was there above them, the stage
+being the limitless expanse of the heavens.
+
+The Zeppelin maneuvered again and again in order to get in touch with
+the wasp-like enemies that constantly darted out of reach. There was
+more or less firing going on, the boys could see, even though the
+distance and the growl of the German artillery prevented them from
+hearing any reports.
+
+"There, I believe they've done it!" shouted Merritt suddenly.
+
+"The Zeppelin is running away, that's sure!" echoed Tubby, "and one of
+the aeroplanes seems to be further up, too!"
+
+"Something has happened, because the rear of the dirigible looks as if
+it had collapsed," Rob announced. "I wonder how they manage to steer,
+with the rudder useless. But they're coming down fast now, you notice!"
+
+"And aiming so as to bring the monoplanes over the German lines," added
+Merritt. "If the little fellows know what's good for them, they'll keep
+a good distance off, because there are guns made that can shoot straight
+up for a mile, and send a shell or shrapnel to burst, and fetch an
+aviator every time."
+
+While they watched, the disabled Zeppelin dropped out of sight back of
+the woods, and it was easily possible for the boys to hear the wild
+shouts of derision that ascended from the trenches where the Belgians
+lay concealed.
+
+The two aeroplanes then started to have a little scout of their own, and
+doubtless those daring air pilots picked up more or less information
+that would prove of value to the defenders of the trenches.
+
+"Is the battle over, do you think?" asked Tubby, when this exciting
+panorama in the upper air currents had come to an end.
+
+"Some of the guns are still muttering," Rob told him, "but they seem to
+be further away. Perhaps the Germans are bombarding some fortified place
+off in the distance, or it may be an English army has shown up, and is
+giving battle to the Kaiser. You know the poor Belgians are hoping for
+that to happen right along."
+
+"But just think what is over there!" continued Tubby, with a shudder as
+he pointed a chubby finger toward the scene of the late charge and
+repulse. "Why, I can see hundreds of men lying around, just like the
+corn when they go to cutting so it can be stacked. Ugh! it's awful to
+think of all those poor Germans!"
+
+"They're not all Germans, either," corrected Merritt; "because I saw one
+place where the Belgians rushed out of their trenches, and fought hand
+to hand. Lots of them must have been knocked over, too. They just
+couldn't hold back, I guess, with the fighting spirit in them."
+
+"And this is what's going on all through Belgium, Northern France, and
+over along the border of Russia," said Rob, powerfully impressed with
+the tragic scene he had looked upon.
+
+"Here's another battery coming along the road, too late to get in the
+fight!" they heard Tubby saying.
+
+"That's where you're barking up the wrong tree, Tubby," Merritt assured
+him, "because what's coming now is just the opposite of a battery. One
+cuts down the ranks of the enemy, this one helps to bind up their
+wounds, and carry them off the battlefield! In action the fighting men
+become like fiends; but I guess you could call these angels of mercy!"
+
+"Why, sure enough, I can see the Red Cross on the wagon!" cried Tubby,
+evidently pleased by the discovery. "Then that must be an ambulance,
+and they're going on the battlefield to help the poor wounded fellows!
+Oh! how much I admire them right now. I wish I was worth a continental
+as a surgeon, and I'd like to volunteer to help take care of some of the
+wounded."
+
+"There are three more ambulances, and they seem to have several nurses
+aboard each one," Rob observed, as the procession advanced closer to
+where they were located.
+
+"There's a man driving, and I reckon now that may be the surgeon,"
+Merritt was saying, as though deeply interested. "How about this, Rob? I
+thought nurses only worked in the hospitals back of the lines; but these
+seem heading right for the battlefield."
+
+"As a rule they let men bring in the wounded," said Rob. "But sometimes
+a nurse is allowed to go about trying to help the poor fellows as best
+she can until such time as a stretcher can reach them. Most of them are
+parched with thirst, and what they ask for first of all is a drink of
+water."
+
+"I might do that much, anyway," Tubby was heard to mutter to himself,
+"if only I thought I could stand the terrible sights. You know, seeing
+blood always used to make me feel faint-like. But then a scout ought to
+overcome that weakness."
+
+Possibly it may have been something in what Tubby said that gave Merritt
+his brilliant idea, for he immediately whirled upon the patrol leader,
+and exclaimed:
+
+"Rob, why couldn't we ask them to take us along, and let us do what we
+can to help? As scouts we know something about taking care of wounds,
+you remember. Why, didn't that officer compliment us on the way we
+looked after his men, and the German spy they'd captured? Rob, see if we
+could do it, won't you? It might be a terrible experience for us; but I
+feel like I'd be better satisfied if I could lend a helping hand here."
+
+The first of the three army ambulances had by this time come close to
+the boys. Attracted by their khaki uniforms, and possibly their bright
+eager faces, the man who was driving held up his team. A woman of
+middle-age, garbed as a nurse, jumped to the ground, and approached the
+boys. They saw that undoubtedly she must be the one in charge of the Red
+Cross detachment.
+
+At sight of the little American flag which Tubby wore on the lapel of
+his coat her eyes glistened.
+
+"That is a glorious sight to my eyes in this foreign land," she told
+them, "for I, too, am American-born. My profession is that of a trained
+nurse. A wealthy patient I brought abroad died in Antwerp; and as the
+war had broken out I determined to offer my services to the Government,
+so that I was immediately given a position of trust and responsibility.
+We are short-handed with men, you can see. I happen to know what Boy
+Scouts over in America have to learn about taking care of wounded
+persons. It is a terrible thing to ask, but this is a case of necessity.
+Would you be willing to help us out; and do you think you could stand
+the awful sights and sounds of the battlefield?"
+
+Rob and Merritt exchanged glances; while their flushed faces told the
+nurse what their answer would be, even before they spoke a single word.
+
+"We were just wondering whether you would let us join you," Rob said
+quickly, "for we want to do something to help those poor fellows over
+there. Yes, if you can make room for us aboard your ambulance we'll
+gladly go along."
+
+Poor Tubby had lost all his color. He was as white as a ghost; but with
+tightly shut teeth he pushed up, to allow the nurse to fasten a bit of
+muslin, stamped with a vivid red cross, upon his left arm, and then he
+climbed into the ambulance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+AFTER THE FIGHTING WAS OVER.
+
+
+The horses had been urged on at considerable speed, in order to arrive
+upon the scene of action, for the animals began to show evidences of
+exhaustion long before they reached a position back of the Belgian
+trenches. That may have been one of the reasons why they were halted
+temporarily, at the time the head nurse talked with the three Boy
+Scouts.
+
+As they approached the battle line Rob and his friends became intensely
+interested. They saw the heads of the defenders of the trenches thrust
+up to observe their coming, and heard the hearty ringing cheers with
+which the Red Cross nurses were greeted.
+
+Men sprang out to assist them, so that apparently it would be no hard
+task to find plenty of recruits to handle the stretchers upon which the
+wounded could be carried to the hastily constructed field hospital in
+the rear, where the surgeons would soon be busily employed.
+
+Tubby was still looking very white, but he had made up his mind that he
+would go through with this wonderful experience even if he fainted dead
+away. All that was stubborn in his nature had come to the surface; and
+Rob, after noticing this, made up his mind Tubby was going to take a
+long step forward before another sun had set.
+
+Now they were on the other side of the trenches. There was considerable
+bustle. Nurses commenced to spread out over the field, on which some men
+lay groaning and others very still.
+
+The assistants with the stretchers, upon whose arms had been fastened
+badges bearing the sacred red cross, began to carry off such of the
+wounded as they found needed urgent attention.
+
+"Come on, boys, let's see where we can help out!" said Rob, trying to
+appear perfectly cool and collected, but at the same time knowing that
+his knees were inclined to knock together, so that he could not blame
+poor Tubby for feeling as he did.
+
+They started out. At first all of them stuck together, for the sights
+they soon saw filled them with a sense of horror, as well as compassion.
+
+Never were Boy Scouts placed in a position where they had more reason to
+be thankful for what little knowledge of surgery they had attained.
+
+The American nurse may have felt considerable doubt as to whether she
+had done a wise thing in affording these boys a chance to assist the Red
+Cross upon the battlefield. Rob saw that she hovered near them, as
+though keeping an eye on what they did.
+
+It was a dreadful experience for those boys, to be thus brought in close
+contact with the dead and the dying; they could never forget what they
+saw there that day.
+
+Even Tubby braced up when he found that he could be useful in helping
+the others. He had secured a bucket of water, and when he heard some
+poor fellow cry out, or saw him make frantic gestures, it was his
+business to hurry over and supply his wants. No matter what uniform the
+wounded man wore, it did not make a bit of difference; since the Red
+Cross recognizes neither friend nor foe, but treats all alike.
+
+It is possible to get accustomed to almost anything in this world. Not
+one of those boys would have imagined a short time before this that they
+could find courage and nerve enough to walk in the midst of such
+carnage; and yet they were actually doing it now.
+
+As Rob and Merritt finished binding up the leg of a poor fellow who
+would soon have bled to death but for their coming, the nurse who had
+meanwhile come up behind them commended their work.
+
+"It was excellently done, I want you to know," she told them, "and I can
+plainly see that I need have no further fears concerning your ability to
+be of much assistance here. Do all you can, my brave boys, but remember
+not to go too far. You are not accustomed to such sights, and it may
+affect you in the end."
+
+She hurried away to take up her own labors, leaving the boys with a
+proud sense of having done their duty as genuine scouts should, trying
+to be of use to others in sore need.
+
+For an hour, yes two of them, they continued to work there, while the
+stretcher bearers and the ambulances bore the victims of the late
+conflict back in apparently an unending procession. Those poor fellows
+who had no further need of attention were of course allowed to remain
+just as they had fallen; and by degrees the wounded were weeded out, to
+be taken care of back of the desperately defended lines, where the Red
+Cross floated from the canvas field hospital.
+
+Tubby had about reached the end of his endurance. They could see that he
+was certainly getting very wabbly on his feet, for often he stumbled as
+he moved around with his bucket and dipper, seeking a stray wounded
+soldier who might have been overlooked, so as to supply water to quench
+his raging thirst.
+
+The sun looked down from a cloudless September sky, and it was very hot
+for the advanced season of the year. Far off in the distance those
+never-ceasing German guns still kept up their muttering as they sent
+shells into some fortified place. The battle in this particular field
+was apparently not going to be renewed; for already some of the Belgian
+batteries were being taken away, to face a new quarter where, according
+to their air scouts, the enemy meant to next try a forward movement.
+
+Terrible though the experience may have been to all the boys, none of
+them had any regrets. The grateful looks and words they had received
+repaid them tenfold for all the nerve-racking ordeals through which they
+had gone.
+
+"I think it's queer, though," Merritt was saying to Rob, as they walked
+around in search of any wretched victim whom they might assist, "that
+not a single German has been out on the battlefield to render first aid.
+I don't understand it at all. They've got as fine surgeons as any in the
+world, and the Red Cross works with their armies the same as with all
+the rest."
+
+"I was bothering my head about that, too, since you mention it," Rob
+announced.
+
+"What did you make up your mind was the cause of it?" continued Merritt,
+who had considerable respect for the opinions and decisions of the Eagle
+Patrol leader.
+
+"It means either one of two things," he was told. "It may be the
+settled policy of the Germans in their rush to push through Belgium and
+Northern France to leave their wounded to be taken care of by the enemy,
+whenever the battle has gone against them; or else a quick change of
+front compels them to abandon the field."
+
+"Still," argued Merritt, who secretly was much in favor of the Allies,
+"you'd think there would be some parties out with stretchers, looking up
+their wounded. I never will understand it."
+
+"Well, they must have a good reason for acting that way," Rob told him.
+"You know the Germans are great sticklers for sacrificing everything to
+the good of the cause of the Fatherland. If necessary even the wounded
+must be temporarily neglected until the end aimed at is attained. You
+remember what we heard in Antwerp about those three British cruisers
+that were just torpedoed in the North Sea by German submarines?"
+
+"I can see what you mean, Rob. One was struck, and began to sink. The
+other two hurried up to render assistance, and while their engines were
+still they were hit by torpedoes and went down. If, instead of trying
+to help their distressed comrades in the English way, they had let them
+look out for themselves, and first of all smashed the conning towers of
+the submarines, they would have saved themselves. I guess in war times
+the German style counts best, though it seems cruel to me."
+
+"I think we had better pull out of this before long," remarked Rob.
+
+"Well, if you asked me I'd say I've had enough to last the rest of my
+life," Merritt told his chum. "If ever I had any idea I'd like to be a
+soldier I give you my word that's gone glimmering now. What I've looked
+on this day has cured me."
+
+"I was thinking more of poor Tubby than either of us," the patrol leader
+remarked. "You can see he's pretty near the end of his rope. Twice now
+I've seen him trip and fall flat, over some of the war material that's
+scattered around so thick. And he could hardly get on his feet again,
+he's that played out."
+
+"But, Rob, Tubby has certainly shown up splendidly in this terrible
+trial!"
+
+"He's done a heap more than we have," Rob asserted, "because he always
+has been a timid sort of chap with regard to seeing blood when any of us
+got hurt. I remember how ghastly white Tubby grew that time one of the
+scouts in the Owl Patrol cut his foot with the ax. I thought for a while
+we'd have two patients on our hands. He had to sit down so as to get
+over it."
+
+"Yes, and see what he's stood to-day," said Merritt. "Many a boy who
+boasts of having lots of nerve would have shrunk from doing what he has.
+Tubby's all right, and that's a fact. But it's high noon, and I warrant
+you he's feeling mighty hungry."
+
+"He would, under ordinary conditions," said Rob, "but just now I don't
+believe any of us could eat a mouthful. I know the very thought of it
+makes me feel queer."
+
+"That's because we're not used to such sights and sounds," Merritt
+explained. "I expect to wake up many a night with a groan and a shiver,
+dreaming I'm on a battlefield again, after those awful Maxims have been
+doing their murderous work."
+
+"Well, we might take one last turn around," suggested Rob, "and if we
+fail to find any more wounded men, we'll call it a day's work, and
+quit."
+
+"For one thing, I'm glad I don't mean to follow this up as a
+profession," his comrade continued. "I think I've had enough experience
+of fighting to last me a lifetime, and yet, on second thought, if it
+should happen again that they needed what little help I could give, why
+I'd have to pitch in."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+AN IMPORTANT CLUE.
+
+
+"There was one thing I meant to mention to you, Merritt," said Rob, as
+they once more started to zigzag across the field where so many windrows
+of fallen Germans lay, just as they had dropped when making that daring
+charge.
+
+It was perhaps a little strange how the boys could come to converse as
+they did while surrounded by such gruesome sights; but after several
+hours' familiarity with such scenes these begin to lose some of their
+harrowing features. And while Rob and his chum were still shocked by
+frequent sights, they did not feel the same weakness that had, in the
+beginning, almost overpowered them.
+
+"Then, tell it now," urged Merritt.
+
+"It was about Anthony," continued the other.
+
+"Well, as we know only one Anthony just now," pursued Merritt, "I reckon
+you must be referring to our late guide, the same who gave us the slip
+like a coward. What about Anthony, Rob?"
+
+"I guessed right about him," replied the patrol leader. "It was not fear
+that tempted him to leave us in the lurch, but a craze to get in action.
+I think Anthony, while too old a man to be on the active list of the
+Belgian army, must have been a reservist."
+
+"Yes, he told me so," said Tubby, coming up and catching what was being
+said by his chums.
+
+"Well," Rob continued, "apparently he knew where to go to get a suit,
+for there he was as big as life, and he even had the audacity to wave
+his hand at me, and grin."
+
+"Where was this, Rob?" demanded Merritt, surprised, as well he might be.
+
+"Where but sitting on one of those ammunition caissons that went
+whirling past us into action. Anthony must have been with the artillery
+corps. He felt the longing come over him when he thought of the enemies
+of his country--those raiding Uhlans. So what did he do but take French
+leave on his horse, and get to where this battery was waiting for
+orders to proceed to the front."
+
+"Oh! well, if you're dead sure it was Anthony," Merritt observed, as if
+mollified by the information, "of course we'll have to forgive him. I
+was only mad because I thought the fellow'd gone and gotten cold feet,
+after taking our advance pay, too. If he's that kind of a patriot, I've
+got no quarrel with Anthony."
+
+"And perhaps he even had a share in mowing down some of these Germans
+who had invaded his country," suggested Tubby. "Anthony seemed to be
+pretty bitter against the Kaiser and his people for trying to cross
+Belgium in order to strike France in the back, as he called it. Whee!
+I'm tired; but I didn't give up, did I, fellows? You never thought Tubby
+would be able to come through with what he has, and I know it."
+
+"You deserve a medal, Tubby; and we were just saying what a change
+there's been in you," Rob told him, causing a wan smile to flit across
+the wearied face of the fat scout.
+
+"Yes," added Merritt readily, "to see the tender way you handled that
+German, hardly more than a boy himself, and who may never live to see
+his people again, anyone would have thought you had it in you to be a
+surgeon. Tubby, if I were you I'd pay more attention to such things. I
+honestly believe there's a streak of it in your blood."
+
+"Well," Tubby remarked complacently, "we've had eminent doctors in our
+family; and my folks always said they hoped I'd take a fancy that way;
+but when I found how weak I was every time I saw a little blood, I gave
+up the idea. Now I've had my baptism on the battlefield, so mebbe I
+_will_ change my mind. Even a soft-hearted fellow might make a good
+doctor, if he couldn't be a surgeon."
+
+"Listen, there's someone calling to us!" exclaimed Merritt.
+
+"And in German, too," added Rob. "Look all around, and see if you can
+find him. He must have recovered his senses after we passed by before."
+
+"There's something moving under that pile of bodies," remarked Tubby
+with a shudder; "yes, and now you can see a hand waving to us. Oh!
+let's hurry and get the poor fellow out!"
+
+The others were just as willing, and soon they had dragged a man out
+from the weight that had almost smothered him.
+
+"He's pretty badly hurt, I reckon," remarked Rob, as he immediately
+stooped down over the Bavarian soldier, "but not fatally, I think. We'll
+do what we can for him here, and the next time men come along with a
+stretcher, we'll send him over to the field hospital."
+
+The wounded German soldier had listened to them speaking.
+
+"Are you American boys, then?" he asked, in excellent English.
+
+"Well, now, he must have guessed that when you said you 'reckoned,'
+Rob," declared Merritt, "but how comes it you talk English, my friend?"
+
+"Oh! I'm from Hoboken," said the man, smiling in spite of the terrible
+pain he must have been enduring.
+
+Rob was already busily engaged stanching the bleeding from his wounds,
+which seemed to be numerous, though not apt to prove fatal, if they had
+proper attention.
+
+"Do you mean Hoboken, New Jersey?" he asked, in surprise.
+
+"Sure. I have lived there for many years now, and have a large brewing
+interest. Krauss is my name, Philip Krauss. I went across from Munich,
+in Bavaria, and was on a visit to my old home when the war came about.
+Although I have long been an American citizen I still love my native
+land, and they soon found a place for me in the ranks. But now if I ever
+get over this I think I will have had enough of fighting, and expect to
+return to my wife and children in Hoboken. But what are you doing here
+on this terrible field? It is not the place for boys."
+
+"We are Boy Scouts," Tubby informed him proudly. "By accident we were
+where we could watch the battle being fought. Then along came the Red
+Cross ambulances, and the nurses. They asked us to assist, and as scouts
+all learn something about first aid, why we thought we'd help out. I
+guess you're about our last case, Herr Krauss."
+
+Meanwhile Rob and Merritt busied themselves. The way they went about
+temporarily relieving his suffering, as well as stopping the loss of
+blood, quite won the admiration of the Hoboken patriot, even as it had
+done in the case of numerous other wounded men whom the boys attended
+previously.
+
+It chanced that once again the boys became immersed in their own
+affairs, which were beginning to weigh heavily on their minds.
+
+"I was making inquiries of one of the men with the stretchers," Rob told
+his comrades, "and he assured me that this little place by the name of
+Sempst is only a matter of six miles or so from where we are right now."
+
+"Then," said Merritt, brightening up, "if only we stand a chance to get
+around without being gobbled by the Germans, we might strike in there
+to-morrow, and see if Steven Meredith is still at his post. The agent
+sent word to my grandfather that he had accepted a position there in
+charge of some manufacturing plant owned by a German firm in Brussels. I
+think myself there may have been some truth in that story about his
+being in the pay of the German Government, both over in America and
+here!"
+
+The wounded man was listening eagerly to what they said.
+
+"Excuse me," he now broke in. "But that is not a common name; and I once
+met a Steven Meredith, who pretended to be an American citizen, but who
+I knew was an agent of the German Government. It may be the same man. I
+entertained him, together with the German consul in New York City, at my
+home in Hoboken. Do you happen to know any peculiarity about his looks
+or manner that would identify him?"
+
+"The man we are trying to find was tall," said Merritt quickly, "and has
+a slight cast in his left eye. He talks with something of a twang, as
+though he might be a Down-East Yankee."
+
+"It must be the same!" declared Philip Krauss, as though convinced.
+"That accent, I believe, was cleverly assumed for a purpose. Promise me
+that you will not think it your duty to betray him to the enemy, and I
+will tell you still more of him."
+
+Merritt and Rob exchanged significant looks.
+
+"We have no fight against either Germany or the Allies," Merritt
+observed, "for Americans are neutral, and there would be no need of our
+betraying him, even if we had the chance. So we can easily give you that
+promise. He has something in his possession that belongs to my family;
+and we have come a long way to get it; that is all we want of Steven
+Meredith. Now, what can you tell us about him?"
+
+"Only this," replied the wounded Hoboken brewer. "You have perhaps saved
+my life, and I feel I am under heavy obligations for the favor. It is
+worth something to my wife and family that I should live to see Hoboken
+again. The man you are looking for is in the suburbs of Brussels. You
+spoke of Sempst. He was there two days ago when my troop passed through.
+That may ease your minds, my brave boys."
+
+"Would you mind telling us how you know this?" asked Rob.
+
+"I saw him, and talked with him," came the convincing response. "He
+remembered me, though he put his finger on his lips, and looked around
+him as though he were suspicious. He is, as you said, in charge of a
+manufacturing plant, or appears to be, though he may have been sent
+there to spy upon the people, and learn valuable facts for the service.
+But I am glad to be able to do even a little in return for your
+kindness."
+
+As two soldiers wearing the Red Cross on their sleeves came along just
+then with a stretcher, the boys beckoned to them, and had Philip Krauss
+carried off to the field hospital. They did not see him again after
+that. If, however, they should ever reach home again, they determined
+some day to look the Hoboken man up, and learn of his further
+adventures.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE CAMP FIRES OF AN ARMY.
+
+
+"Here, it's getting well along into the afternoon," remarked Tubby with
+a forlorn look on his face, "and I'm so knocked out that if you told me
+you meant to make a start for the little Belgian town right away I'd
+faint, sure I would."
+
+"Don't think of doing it, then, Tubby," Rob told him, "because the rest
+of your chums are feeling in pretty much the same box themselves."
+
+"We've had a terribly hard day of it, for a fact," agreed Merritt, as he
+looked around upon the scene, and shuddered in spite of his well known
+nerve.
+
+"Then please tell me what's the program?" pleaded the fat scout. "That
+munch of black bread was good enough to keep a fellow from starving to
+death; but I certainly do hope there's a better prospect ahead of us for
+supper."
+
+"Rob, you've got a scheme!" asserted Merritt.
+
+"What makes you think so?" asked the other, smiling languidly; for he
+was very nearly exhausted from the hard work he had done acting as an
+assistant field surgeon in the service of the Red Cross corps, doing
+temporary work in binding up wounds, and giving stimulants to those who
+were weak through loss of blood.
+
+"Oh! I can tell it from the way you act," replied Merritt. "I haven't
+been your closest chum all this time without getting to know what
+different things mean. Now give us a pointer; what about getting some
+supper, and finding a place to sleep to-night?"
+
+"Well, do you think you could stand for another night in the hay?"
+demanded Rob.
+
+"Just try me, that's all!" whimpered Tubby. "And, say, if you're
+thinking of going back to that village again, I only hope they'll be
+good to us, and feed us like they did this morning."
+
+"That's what I had in mind," the patrol leader told them. "So the sooner
+we make a start that way the sooner we can rest up."
+
+It was weary work tramping all the way back to the little village where
+they had first met the ambulances of the Red Cross corps, and joined
+hands with the workers. Rob would have liked to say good-by to the
+American nurse who had taken so much interest in their welfare. He knew,
+though, that it would be too much for Tubby to approach that terrible
+field hospital, where undoubtedly the nurses were still busily engaged
+helping the surgeons in their labors.
+
+Whenever Tubby groaned and gave signs of dropping, they called a
+temporary halt and, in this way, made it as easy for the fat scout as
+possible.
+
+Somehow the very thought of that sweet-scented hay appealed to Tubby
+very nearly as much as a good feed might; and that was saying a great
+deal.
+
+"I don't wonder at hoboes liking haystacks when they're wandering around
+the country, if only they're as nice as that mow we struck," he told the
+others more than once. "Why, things couldn't be better. Now I understand
+what they mean when they say 'hitting the hay.' It means a sweet sleep.
+But we're really getting there, ain't we, Rob?"
+
+"We're right on top of the village now, Tubby," Merritt told him.
+
+"Yes," added Rob, "there you can see the elevation we stood on when we
+watched the terrible battle. The village is here on our left. One more
+tug, and we'll arrive, so brace up, Tubby."
+
+"Oh! I'm getting along quite decent, thank you, Rob. But I'll be glad
+when we're sitting on that bench under the shade of the tree."
+
+As they entered the village they found that it was quite a different
+place from the time of their previous visit. Streams of wounded men had
+been brought in, and every other cottage was turned into a temporary
+hospital.
+
+Of course the injured Belgians were given the first choice, as was
+perfectly natural; but Rob was pleased to see that after all these
+humble villagers had human traits in their make-up. Misery makes the
+whole world akin, and although they had no reason to love any German
+invader, the sight of stalwart young Teutons suffering agonies touched
+many a mother's heart; their own sons might any day be in need of the
+same attention from strangers, and they could not refuse to aid these
+wounded foes.
+
+So into many a Belgian home a sorely stricken German was carried, to be
+cared for until the time came when he could be removed, either to his
+own lines, or to Antwerp.
+
+The boys first of all sought that shady spot where the bench mentioned
+by Tubby offered an inviting seat. Here they sat down, and observed the
+many stirring sights that were taking place all around them.
+
+"I've seen two men taken to the barn," remarked Merritt, half an hour
+later, "and so I reckon we'll have neighbors in our hay-mow to-night."
+
+Tubby made a grimace, and then seemed to be ashamed of his selfishness.
+
+"Well, if we do have to play nurse," he observed with the air of a
+philosopher, "I suppose we can stand it. What are all our troubles, I'd
+like to know, compared to those these poor people are suffering?"
+
+"That's right, Tubby," said Merritt, "and we'll manage to pick up
+plenty of sleep, I should think."
+
+"It'll have to be in the early part of the night, then," Rob told them,
+"because we want to get out of this a couple of hours before daylight."
+
+"You mean to start then for Sempst, do you?" asked Tubby, with a sigh.
+
+"Yes, because it might turn out to be dangerous work walking in broad
+daylight, until we've managed to get around the Germans," Rob explained.
+"I've already picked up considerable information about the country, and
+the lay of the land. Between now and the time we turn in I hope to learn
+still more, so that I can take you on a road by starlight that will make
+a circuit around the German camps."
+
+Apparently both his mates had the utmost confidence in Rob's ability to
+do this, for there was no word of protest raised. Merritt asked a few
+questions, and then they fell back upon their old occupation of watching
+the movements of the villagers, mostly women, as they bustled to and
+fro.
+
+Pretty soon Rob sauntered over to the inn, and had a long talk with the
+old man who ran the public house. They could see him doing considerable
+pointing, and from this fact judged that Rob was keeping his word about
+picking up all the information possible.
+
+When he came back it was getting near sundown; and of course the first
+thing Tubby asked was:
+
+"Did he say we could have it, Rob?"
+
+As both of the other scouts were so well acquainted with Tubby's weak
+points they did not need a dictionary in order to understand what was on
+his mind.
+
+"I'm glad to tell you, Tubby," replied the other, "that the innkeeper
+says we deserve the best supper he can get ready. It seems that they've
+been talking about us here. Some of the nurses must have told how we
+worked on the battlefield; or it may be the wounded soldiers mentioned
+the fact that we did something to help them bear up till the stretchers
+arrived. No matter what happened, the innkeeper thinks a heap of us all,
+and we'll not go to our hay shake-downs hungry this night!"
+
+"Hurray!" cried Tubby joyfully, "he's certainly a good fellow, Rob, I
+tell you; and I'm never going to forget him. The man who keeps my body
+and soul together has my eternal gratitude."
+
+Later on they were called in, and found that a substantial meal had been
+prepared for them. Tubby was fairly ravenous, and his chums found it
+necessary to warn him not to founder.
+
+"Remember, we've got to be up and doing by three in the morning at the
+latest," Rob observed, "and if you make yourself sick the whole plan
+will be knocked galley-west. We might have to leave you behind, after
+all."
+
+That last threat brought Tubby to his senses.
+
+"Why, you see," he explained, as he pushed himself away from the table
+and its temptations, "I was trying to fix it so that in case we had to
+go without our breakfast to-morrow I'd be in shape to stand it."
+
+"Sometimes," mused Merritt, "I think you're trying to fix it so that you
+could do without eating for a week."
+
+When they made their way outside again it was to find that night had
+fallen. In the western sky a young moon looked down pityingly on the
+field which had so lately been marked by the desperate charge of the
+German hosts, only to fail in their effort to break through the Belgian
+intrenchments with their barbed wire defenses.
+
+"Look, over there are hundreds of little fires flickering!" exclaimed
+Tubby.
+
+"Those are the camp fires of the Germans," Rob told him. "I want to fix
+them in my mind, because we will have to make a wide detour, so as to
+avoid running across any patrol on the outskirts of their camp. I hope
+by the time daylight comes we can be far enough around to get off
+without being seen. The worst thing is this khaki uniform business. If
+only we had on ordinary clothes we might be taken for Belgian boys. But,
+as it is, they'll think we're soldiers, or at the least Belgian scouts,
+and they treat them as if they were regular enlisted men."
+
+Shortly afterward they again sought the barn. The lantern once more hung
+on its accustomed hook, and by its friendly gleam Rob and his two chums
+were enabled to find the place where on the preceding night they had
+slept so well. The wounded men happened to be removed from them by some
+little distance. They could be heard occasionally groaning, or talking
+in low tones; but, as the boys were too tired to remain awake long, they
+soon lost all consciousness of what was passing around them.
+
+Perhaps the crowing of a rooster nearby may have told Rob that it was in
+the neighborhood of three o'clock, for he aroused his chums close to
+that time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE HANGING BRIDGE.
+
+
+"Do we have to get out at this terribly early hour?" asked Tubby, as he
+dug his knuckles into his eyes, still heavy with sleep.
+
+"Yes," said Rob. "I've taken a look at the stars, and it must be
+half-past two, or near it. You know I've made it a practice to be able
+to tell the hour of night in that way, and can hit it every time. Come,
+get a move on you, Tubby, unless you'd prefer staying here in the hay
+and waiting till we come back."
+
+"Well, you don't shake me that way if I know it," muttered Tubby,
+hastening to crawl out of his snug nest.
+
+The night air was rather chilly, when once they found themselves
+outside. All of them were glad to button up their coats.
+
+Looking in the direction where the myriad of fires had been burning
+earlier in the night and seeming like innumerable giant fireflies which
+they were accustomed to seeing summer evenings at home, they found that
+most of them had died out.
+
+"I expected that would happen," said Rob, when Merritt called his
+attention to the altered conditions in the camp of the Germans, "and
+it's lucky I made my plans without depending on seeing those fires
+again. I've got other landmarks to go by."
+
+"I expected you'd have," said Merritt, filled with the utmost confidence
+in the leader of the Eagle Patrol, which faith was founded on a long
+list of past performances worth remembering.
+
+As there was nothing to hinder them, they made an immediate start. Tubby
+was observed to cast a last longing look back toward the humble village
+inn. No doubt he was deploring the necessity that compelled them to
+leave such hospitable quarters without waiting for breakfast-time to
+come along.
+
+It was not exactly dark, once their eyes became accustomed to
+conditions. The stars shone brilliantly in the clear heavens overhead,
+and in open country it is possible to steer one's way fairly well by
+starlight.
+
+For some time the boys went on. Tubby, of course, often stumbled, for it
+would not have been Tubby otherwise; but, as he had not so far actually
+spread himself face downward on the road, he thought he was doing very
+well.
+
+Merritt could see how Rob had laid out their course, by the assistance
+of the friendly innkeeper, who had been told of their desire to reach
+the little place called Sempst. He had really drawn Rob a rude but
+correct chart of the roads covering the territory between, and informed
+him as to what his best plan of campaign would be.
+
+A number of times they had slight scares. Once a dog ran out from a yard
+and commenced barking wildly at them, even threatening to nip Tubby in
+the leg. It was only natural for the threatened one to shout angrily and
+kick desperately at the offending canine. By great good luck he managed
+to land the toe of his shoe against the vicious animal's nose, as a
+loud howl announced.
+
+"There, that serves you right, for bothering me, you silly thing!"
+grumbled Tubby.
+
+The others knew he must be very proud of that shot, and would often
+refer to it when complaints were made afterward to the effect that he
+was "slow." Any one who could manage to get his foot in contact with a
+snapping dog must not be reckoned out of the running.
+
+Just what they would do should they finally reach the small town where
+Steven Meredith was supposed to be in charge of a large German
+manufacturing plant, they had not as yet determined. It was Rob's plan
+to secure possession of that field-glass case by hook or crook, for, if
+it proved impossible to obtain by fair means, then he meant to try
+strategy.
+
+For this purpose he had even bought an empty case while in Antwerp which
+had been carried through all their adventures. It was a new one, for, in
+making up his plans, Rob may have had in mind the old Arabian story of
+the magical lamp, and how the cunning schemer managed to get possession
+of it by going around and offering housewives to exchange new lamps for
+old ones.
+
+He meant to exchange with Steven, and give him a brand new case for his
+worn one, should the opportunity arise for such a transfer.
+
+"And once we get our hands on that bit of paper," he had told the
+others, "we'll shake the dust of this country off our shoes in the
+biggest hurry ever."
+
+It must have been fully an hour after they left the stable of the
+village inn when Rob imparted some information to his chums that caused
+Tubby, at least, more or less apprehension.
+
+"It's about time we were coming to it now," Rob started to say.
+
+"What, already?" remarked Tubby, evidently delighted, for, of course, he
+foolishly thought it must be the little town they were heading for that
+Rob meant.
+
+The other quickly undeceived him.
+
+"Oh! we're a long, long way off from Sempst yet, Tubby," he said. "I was
+referring to a bridge the inn-keeper told me about, that's all."
+
+"What's there about a bridge to worry us, I'd like to know?" muttered
+the fat scout suspiciously, feeling terribly depressed, because he had
+been so like a drowning man grasping at a straw.
+
+"Unless it happens to be guarded by the Germans," suggested Merritt
+softly, "and then we'd have a dickens of a time getting across."
+
+"The trouble about this particular bridge isn't so much that it's apt to
+be guarded," Rob went on to inform them, "but the inn-keeper was afraid
+we'd find it gone!"
+
+"Blown up, do you mean, Rob?" Tubby demanded.
+
+"It's been reported that way," he was informed. "Fact is, there doesn't
+seem to be much doubt about it. From all accounts, the Belgians
+destroyed it, as they have done many other costly bridges, so as to
+impede the advance of the German heavy guns. It takes lots of time and
+trouble to rebuild a bridge and make it strong enough to let a monster
+siege gun rumble over."
+
+"But, Rob, shall we have to swim across, or is there a sort of ford
+handy that we might use?" Merritt inquired.
+
+"I certainly hope we don't have to swim, anyway," Tubby declared, "for,
+if there's one thing I hate to do, it's to get soaking wet. It's so
+uncomfortable afterward, and especially when you can't change your
+clothes. But, of course, if it's got to be done, we'll all have to just
+grin and bear it."
+
+"It may not be necessary in this case," added Rob, no doubt purposely
+delaying his information, because he liked to hear Tubby drumming up his
+courage in this way.
+
+"Then mebbe you've gone and got some wings hidden away, which we can use
+to fly across?" suggested Tubby quickly, "or it might be an aeroplane is
+kept handy so's to ferry folks over dry-shod."
+
+"Neither of your guesses hits the mark, Tubby," he was informed. "The
+inn-keeper said one man told him that, while the bridge was wrecked, a
+few of the steel beams still hung in place, so that any one who was
+fairly spry might manage to make his way over from one side to the
+other. A number had done it, including the man who told him."
+
+"If others can, we ought to be able to make it," Merritt said stoutly.
+
+"Yes, I suppose that's so," admitted Tubby ruefully, "but then you
+mustn't forget that they had daylight to help out. That makes a heap of
+difference. I never did have the eyes of a cat so's to see in the dark."
+
+"It's getting on toward the first peep of dawn," Rob told him; "and I
+expect there'll be some light for us when we reach the bridge."
+
+"We can wait till she comes along, then," Tubby continued, as though
+even that assurance gave him more or less satisfaction.
+
+From the formation of the country Rob judged they must soon arrive at
+the place of the bridge. He had already made the discovery that there
+was a stream on one side of them, which the road would have to cross
+before long.
+
+"I think I see where it lies," Merritt announced a few minutes after
+they had stopped talking.
+
+"Yes," admitted the leader, when he had followed the course of Merritt's
+outstretched finger as well as was possible in the semi-darkness, "that
+must be the anchorage of the bridge. We'll soon know what we're going
+to be up against."
+
+"Well, all I hope is we don't have to swim, that's what!" Tubby
+muttered.
+
+Rob, as they continued to advance, kept a careful lookout. He wondered
+whether any sort of patrol could have been stationed at the ruined
+bridge by one or the other of the hostile armies. It might make
+considerable difference with them in their intended crossing; and would
+turn out very awkward if, when they were in the middle of the span, they
+discovered they were being made targets by some reckless marksmen on the
+further shore.
+
+Presently they drew up alongside the spot. As Rob had hinted the night
+was really at an end, and in the east the first peep of coming dawn
+could be seen in the brightening sky.
+
+"It's a wreck, all right!" said Merritt, as they stood there, straining
+their eyes to try and follow the outlines of the torn steel girders that
+seemed to have been twisted into all manner of queer shapes by the force
+of the explosion.
+
+"Gingersnaps and popguns!" ejaculated Tubby helplessly, "and do you
+really expect to crawl over that swinging thing? I've read about some
+awful hanging bridges in the mountains of South America and Africa, but
+I bet you they couldn't hold a candle alongside this mussed-up affair.
+Whee! you'd have to blindfold me, I'm afraid, boys, if you expected me
+to creep out there on that dizzy girder."
+
+"We'll wait a bit till the light gets stronger," Rob counseled, knowing
+full well that when it came to it Tubby would summon the necessary
+resolution to cross over, especially if his comrades showed the way.
+
+A quarter of an hour elapsed. By that time they could see across fairly
+well.
+
+"First of all," Rob summed up, "there doesn't seem to be anybody over
+there to bother us, that I can notice."
+
+"And the way across isn't so bad, that I can see," announced Merritt,
+principally to help buoy up the sinking heart of poor Tubby. "Why, all
+of us have done stunts worse than that. You know we have, Tubby, many a
+time."
+
+"Well," Tubby answered him weakly, "just as you say, boys. I'm in your
+hands. I promise to do the best I can to get over; but, if I _should_
+slip, please get me out of the river as soon as you can. You know I'm
+not a cracking good hand at swimming."
+
+Of course they promised, and cheered him up by every means possible; but
+it was with many doubts that in the end Tubby consented to start forth
+on the trip.
+
+Rob led the way, and after him came the fat chum, with Merritt bringing
+up the rear. There was a method in this arrangement, for, while the
+pilot could test each girder, so as to pronounce it secure, the rear
+guard was able to keep an eye on luckless Tubby, and even give him an
+occasional word of advice.
+
+Now that the morning had arrived they could see better with each passing
+minute; and Rob soon declared there was no necessity for any further
+delay.
+
+It was always a principle with him to grapple with a difficulty, and
+carry out his plans, without letting anything like dismay seize hold of
+his heart.
+
+Accordingly Rob now made a start.
+
+"Why, this is dead easy," was the way he sung out, after he had passed
+along the swaying girder for a little distance. "All you have to make
+sure of is that your grip is sound. Then keep hunching along, foot by
+foot. And don't look down any more than you can help, because it might
+make you dizzy."
+
+Tubby shut his teeth hard, and began to follow after the pilot. He made
+good progress until he had about reached the middle of the rocking span.
+Then Rob was really alarmed to hear a sudden loud cry, and feel his
+slender hold shaken violently.
+
+Something had certainly happened to unfortunate Tubby!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+SCOUT TACTICS.
+
+
+Just as he feared, when Rob managed to turn around and look back, he
+found that Tubby had gone and done it again. Whether he had missed his
+footing, or something had given way under his additional weight, was a
+question that could not be decided.
+
+Before Merritt, close in his rear, could thrust out a helping hand, poor
+Tubby had fallen. The river was all of thirty feet below, and just there
+the water looked unusually unpleasant, because it had considerable foam
+on the surface, there being a shallow rift above the wider stretch.
+
+By the merest accident in the world, Tubby's clutching hands had
+succeeded in fastening upon a loose steel stay that hung downward for
+ten feet. It must have given the fat boy a considerable wrench when he
+gripped this, but he had clung with the tenacity of despair.
+
+When Rob turned around, the first thing he saw was Merritt kneeling
+there on the violently agitated girder over which they were making their
+crossing. He was staring downward, and, of course, Rob instantly focused
+his gaze in the same quarter.
+
+He had expected to see Tubby splashing about like a porpoise in the
+stream far down below; but, instead, was astonished to discover him
+clinging desperately to that loose piece of steel wreckage.
+
+Tubby had his face turned up toward his chums. There was not a particle
+of the rosy color to be seen that as a rule dyed his ample face; in
+fact, he was as white as a ghost. A beseeching look was in his eyes.
+Tubby knew that swinging there he was in a serious predicament, from
+which there would be only one escape if he were left to his own devices.
+That would mean he must release his frantic clutch on the swaying steel
+rope, and drop down into the river, a possibility he shuddered to
+contemplate.
+
+"Hey! get me up out of this, fellows, can't you?" he whined, for, after
+his recent gymnastic efforts, he no longer had sufficient breath to
+shout.
+
+"Clasp your legs around the thing, can't you, Tubby?" said Rob, who saw
+that the strain on the other's arms must be tremendous, judging from the
+way he was hanging there.
+
+The advice struck Tubby as well worth following; so he immediately began
+to work his short legs violently until he found that he could, as Rob
+suggested, twist them around his slender support.
+
+When that had been accomplished it was much easier for him. He began to
+suck in some encouragement once more.
+
+"But won't you try and get me up again, Rob?" he asked piteously. "I
+can't hang on here for very long, like a regular old pendulum to a
+clock. I'm not wound up for a seven-day-goer. And say, I'd hate to have
+to drop kerplunk into all that water down there. Think up some way to
+grab me out of this, won't you, Rob?"
+
+"I'm trying to, Tubby. Keep still a bit, and let me think," he was told.
+
+In one way, of course, it was a ridiculous sight, and that was why Rob
+winked his eye at Merritt when he thought he could detect a whimsical
+look on the other's face. Still, it was anything but a laughing matter
+to poor Tubby, who felt that he had a tremendous amount at stake. Every
+time he found himself compelled to let his horrified eyes turn downward
+that noisy stream seemed to be more and more formidable to him. He
+fairly hated it.
+
+"Can't you climb up again, Tubby?" asked Merritt, who knew exactly what
+he would have quickly done had he found himself placed in the same
+predicament.
+
+"I'd like to, the worst kind," the fat scout assured him, "but you know
+I'm feeling very queer and weak, so I don't believe I could do much that
+way, unless," he added quickly, "I had some assistance from above."
+
+"And that's just what I'm going to try and give you, Tubby."
+
+While Rob was saying this he had unbuttoned his coat. This he proceeded
+to take off, first making sure to transfer anything he had in the
+pockets, so that he might not suffer a loss.
+
+"Now, by leaning down here, I think I can reach you with this coat," he
+proceeded to explain. "If I had a rope, it would be much easier, for
+with a loop I could make a sure thing of it. But half a loaf is better
+than no bread, they say."
+
+"Of course it is, Rob," agreed Tubby, who was in no position to quarrel
+with any measures that were taken for his relief. "But what can I do
+with the coat when it comes down to me? I don't feel that cold, you
+know."
+
+"I'm going to keep hold of one end, Tubby," Rob explained quietly, in a
+way to convince the imperiled scout that everything was working as
+arranged, and that he need not worry. "With just one hand you get a good
+grip of the end that's near you; then start in to try and climb, using
+your clasped legs the best you know how. And don't get discouraged if
+you only come up an inch or so at a time. When you're within reach
+Merritt will hang down and lend a hand, too."
+
+All of which was undoubtedly very cheering to Tubby. This thing of
+having stanch comrades in times of distress was, he had always
+believed, one of the best parts of the scout brotherhood.
+
+[Illustration: He immediately took a firm grip--and commenced to wriggle
+the best he knew how.--_Page 247._]
+
+He immediately took a firm grip of the dangling coat-sleeve, and
+commenced to wriggle the best he knew how.
+
+"I'm making it, Rob; sure I am!" he presently announced. "That time I
+slid up as much as six inches. It was a bully hunch, that coat racket of
+yours. Keep her going, Rob, and I'll get there yet. Never give
+up--that's my motto, you know. I may get in lots of scrapes, but somehow
+I always do manage to crawl out, don't I?"
+
+"Save your breath, Tubby, for your work; don't chatter so much," Rob
+told him.
+
+Merritt was ready to do his part. He had clasped a leg about the girder
+to help hold him, and was leaning as far down as possible. Presently the
+grunting fat chum reached a place where he could be taken hold of, and
+so Merritt fastened a hand in his coat back of his neck.
+
+"Here you come, Tubby," he said encouragingly.
+
+"Don't let go with your hands or knees yet!" warned Rob; for, should
+Tubby be so foolish as to do this, the chances were that such a sudden
+weight might drag Merritt down, and both would take the plunge.
+
+It required considerable effort to finally land Tubby on the horizontal
+girder, but in the end this was accomplished. Then all of them sat there
+to rest after their recent violent exertions.
+
+"I don't see how I came to do it," Tubby finally remarked, as though he
+deemed it necessary that some sort of explanation were forthcoming. "I
+was moving along as nice as you please, when all of a sudden I felt
+myself going. I must have grabbed at the air, and happened to get a grip
+on that hanging steel rope. Well, it might have been a whole lot worse
+for me! I'm glad I didn't get soused in the river. And I'll never forget
+how nobly my chums came to the rescue."
+
+"Oh! stow that sort of talk, Tubby," Merritt told him. "That's what
+we're here for. What's a scout wearing his khaki uniform for if it isn't
+to remind him what he owes to his chums? You'd do the same for us any
+old time."
+
+"Just try me, that's all," declared the grateful Tubby; and then,
+changing his tune, he went on to say: "Here we are, out in the middle
+of the span, and it's just as hard to go back as it is to move forward.
+So when you're ready, Rob, start off again. I'll try not to slip any
+more. The next time you might see my finish."
+
+"I'm sure it would see mine," remarked Merritt, rubbing the arm he had
+used in order to tug at Tubby's great weight.
+
+Luckily nothing more happened, and they were able to reach the opposite
+shore in safety. Tubby sank down and panted, as soon as he crawled off
+the end of that fragment of the steel bridge.
+
+"Thank goodness that job is over with!" he exclaimed fervently, "and all
+I hope is that we don't have to come back this way."
+
+"Oh! you're getting to be an expert tight-rope walker by now, Tubby,"
+Merritt said encouragingly. "A little more practice, and you could apply
+for a job with Barnum & Bailey's circus."
+
+"Thank you, Merritt, but I have loftier aims than that calling," said
+Tubby disdainfully.
+
+"Well, let's be getting on," suggested Rob. "We've spent enough time
+here already."
+
+"Thank goodness I don't have to tramp along soaked to the skin," Tubby
+was heard to tell himself, with gratitude.
+
+The road skirted the river bank on the side they were now on for some
+little distance at least. Rob continued to keep a watchful eye around as
+they progressed. He knew there was always a chance that they might meet
+some detachment of troops hurrying along; though the fact of the bridge
+being down must be known to the Germans, and would deter them from
+trying to make use of this road until a temporary structure could be
+thrown across the river by their engineers.
+
+Most of the inhabitants had fled from that part of the country. Some may
+have drifted into Brussels before the capital fell into the hands of the
+invaders, when August was two-thirds gone; and they had remained there
+ever since. Others had fled in the direction of Ghent and Antwerp, in
+the hope that these cities might hold out against the German army.
+
+Several times they saw old men at work in the fields, trying to save a
+part of their farm crops, though without horses they could do little.
+Every beast of burden had been drafted for one or the other army; what
+the Belgians missed the Germans had certainly commandeered to take the
+place of horses lost in the numerous fierce engagements thus far fought.
+
+On consulting his little chart Rob soon found that it would be necessary
+for them to abandon this good road, and take to a smaller one that
+branched off from it, winding in through the trees, and past farms that
+had been thrifty before this blight fell on the land.
+
+"Here's a wood ahead of us that looks as if it covered considerable
+territory, and you don't often see such a bunch of timber in Belgium,"
+Merritt announced presently.
+
+"Because, with seven million inhabitants to such a small area," added
+Rob, "it's always been necessary that they employ what is called
+intensive farming. That is, they get as much out of the soil as
+possible, even to several crops off of the same patch of ground during
+the year."
+
+"Belgium is a busy manufacturing country, too, or has been up to now,"
+Merritt continued, which information he may have remembered from his
+training at school, or else found in some guide-book purchased in New
+York City before their steamer sailed for England.
+
+"I wonder what we'll strike on the other side of this wood?" Tubby
+questioned, always speculating on things to come; and possibly hoping
+then and there they might run across a hospitable farmer who would
+kindly offer to provide them with some sort of breakfast.
+
+"That's yet to be seen," Merritt told him. "Here's where there seems to
+be a sort of swampy patch, with water and bogs. Listen to the frogs
+croaking, will you? And I can see more than a few whoppers, too. Chances
+are this is a frog farm that supplies the big hotels in Brussels and
+Antwerp. You know the French are keen on frogs' legs, and pay fancy
+prices for them by the pound."
+
+"I've eaten them more than once," Rob informed them, "and I never had
+spring chicken that was more toothsome and tender."
+
+Whereupon Tubby cast a wistful eye toward the border of the frogpond,
+where the big greenbacks could be seen, sitting partly in the water, and
+calling to one another socially.
+
+The boys kept walking on, and finally came to where the trees began to
+get more scanty. About this time Rob made a discovery that was not at
+all pleasing.
+
+"Hold up, fellows," he said in a hoarse whisper that thrilled Tubby in
+particular, "our road is blocked. There's a whole German army corps
+camped ahead of us; and it's either go back, or else hide here in the
+woods till they take a notion to break camp and clear out. Let's drop
+down in the brush and talk it over."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE FROG HUNTERS.
+
+
+"That settles me, I guess!" said Tubby sadly, as he followed Rob into
+the shelter of the brush nearby, from which haven of refuge they might
+watch to see what chances there were of the big camp, a mile and more
+away, being broken up.
+
+"I know what you're thinking about, Tubby," Merritt told him; "that none
+of us has had any breakfast, and the outlook for dinner is about as
+tough as it could be."
+
+"Yes," admitted the fat scout, "I feel just like kicking myself, because
+I didn't think of doing it when I had the chance."
+
+"Doing what?" asked Merritt.
+
+"Getting that good-natured old fellow at the inn to put us up some
+lunch," was the explanation Tubby offered. "I guess he'd have done it,
+too, because he thought we deserved being taken care of, after hearing
+what the wounded Belgian soldiers had to tell about us. Oh! it's a
+shame how all my great thoughts come afterward. What's the use of
+locking the stable door when the horse has been stolen?"
+
+"Well, cheer up," said Rob, who, of course, had overheard what was being
+said; "it may not be a case of starving."
+
+"See here, you don't happen to have a lot of stuff hidden away on your
+person, do you, Rob?" gasped Tubby hopefully; and, as the other shook
+his head, he continued in a mournful tone, "I thought that would be too
+good to be true. But please tell us what you mean by saying it mightn't
+be so very serious. Mebbe you know of a henroost nearby, where we might
+find a tough old Dominick fowl that had been overlooked by the raider
+squads from the camp?"
+
+"If I did I'd tell you, Tubby; but wait a bit, while we watch the camp.
+If nothing happens inside of two hours, I've got a sort of scheme to
+propose to you both, and I hope it'll meet with your approbation."
+
+"Two hours! Two long, weary hours! Gee!" And, as Tubby said this, he
+proceeded to take in some of the slack of his waistband, possibly
+meaning to show Rob how terribly he had fallen away of late.
+
+They could see that myriads of men were moving about on the level
+stretch of country where the invaders were encamped. Fires were going,
+and doubtless those excellent camp ovens, of which so much had been
+written, were being used to bake fresh bread for the day. Those Germans
+omitted nothing that would provide for the comfort of the enlisted men.
+
+"It looks as though they meant to stay there all day," remarked Rob,
+when they had been observing these things for at least a full hour.
+
+"Oh! Rob!" protested Tubby helplessly, as though the information gave
+him a severe pain.
+
+"Well, they believe in drilling right up to the minute they go into
+battle," was what Merritt remarked; "for there you can see a whole
+regiment of them marching in review past the commander, with others
+following behind."
+
+"It's a wonderful sight," admitted Rob. "I never saw soldiers keep step,
+and seem to be such parts of a machine like that. You'd think they were
+moved by some network of wires, like a big automatic engine."
+
+"Oh! look what funny steps that first line is practicing!" cried Tubby.
+"Why, they must be only boys, and just playing soldiers. See how they
+lift their feet, and go along like a high-stepper of a horse. Ain't that
+the limit, now?"
+
+"I tell you what that must be," said Rob, quickly. "I've read about what
+they call the 'goose-step.' It's a flinging up of each leg, as the step
+is taken, bending the knee, instead of keeping it stiff, like most
+soldiers on parade do."
+
+"The silly nonsense!" laughed Tubby. "What would I look like trying that
+fancy step? I thought the Kaiser had more sense than that."
+
+"Hold on. Don't condemn a thing before you know what it's meant for,"
+said Rob. "There's an object, and a mighty good one, about that step,
+even if it does make most people smile when they see it for the first
+time."
+
+"Then let's hear what it is, please, Rob."
+
+"As far as I know about it, the object is to strengthen the muscles of
+the leg, and give those that are tired from a set position a rest. Don't
+you see how that sort of a movement relieves the leg? Try it a few
+times, and you'll believe me."
+
+"Have you ever seen the goose-step before, Rob?" asked Merritt.
+
+"Only once, in a moving-picture play of the German maneuvers," he was
+told. "It struck me then as ridiculous; but I knew those German military
+men had long heads, and would not start a thing like that in a parade
+without something big back of it. So, when I got home I tried it a few
+times, and then I saw what a splendid relief that throwing forward of
+the foot was. There goes another line doing it."
+
+They continued to crouch--there was small possibility of any one
+discovering them--and watched all that was going on in the busy camp
+beyond.
+
+Not once did any of the soldiers wander away. It was plainly evident
+that they were being given no liberties. Rob only hoped that the order
+would come for this corps to get on the move, and head to the southwest;
+for he did not doubt but they were meaning to go to Ghent, or to some
+other place toward the coast.
+
+Several times Tubby was observed to crane his neck and look up toward
+the heavens anxiously. The others did not need to be told what those
+signs indicated. They knew very well that the fat chum had not become
+suddenly interested in astronomy, or expected an eclipse of the sun to
+happen. He was merely noting how far along his morning journey the sky
+king had traveled, because he could not forget how Rob had set a time
+limit on their remaining there.
+
+Two hours he had mentioned as the sum total of their stay; when that
+boundary had been reached Rob was going to make some sort of pleasing
+proposition. Tubby hoped it would have to do with the procuring of a
+certain nourishment, of which all of them certainly stood in great need.
+
+At last Rob gave signs of making a move.
+
+"Now, if you fellows will come back along the road a little ways with
+me," he announced with a smile, "I've got something to propose. I only
+hope you fall in with my views, for then there's a chance that we'll
+have something to eat."
+
+"Oh! you can count on me agreeing with you, Rob!" said Tubby
+cheerfully. "No matter whether it's fur, fin, or feather, I think I
+could do justice to nearly anything that grows."
+
+"As it happens, it's something that doesn't fly or walk that I have in
+my mind," Rob declared rather mysteriously. "The fact is, it hops!"
+
+"Now you have got me worse balled up than ever," protested Tubby, his
+brow wrinkled with his endeavor to guess the answer.
+
+"I think I know," volunteered Merritt, grinning amicably.
+
+"What does he mean, then? Please hurry and tell me," pleaded Tubby.
+
+"Frogs, isn't it, Rob?" demanded the other.
+
+"Oh! gingersnaps and popguns! Do I have to come down to choosing between
+eating jumpers and starving to death?" complained the fat boy, looking
+distressed.
+
+"Well, wait till you get your first taste, that's all," Rob told him.
+"If you don't say it beats anything you ever took between your teeth,
+I'm mistaken, and that's all there is about it. Why, they're reckoned
+one of the fanciest dishes in all the high-class clubs in America, along
+with diamond-back terrapin, canvas-back duck, and such things. The only
+thing I'm afraid about is that after you get your first taste you'll
+want to hog the whole supply."
+
+"But how shall we catch the frogs, and then cook them?" asked Merritt.
+
+"The first ought to be easy," replied Rob, "seeing how plentiful they
+are, and how big and tame. I see a dandy piece of wood that would make a
+good bow with a piece of stout cord I've got in my pocket. Merritt, get
+some of those straight little canes, growing on the edge of the water.
+We can make them do for arrows, and, even without feathers, I think I
+can hit a big frog with one at ten paces away. It'll be fun as well as a
+profitable business. Frog-hunters, get busy now."
+
+"Here's a long pole, Rob. Shall I take it and steal up close enough to
+whack a few of the jumpers on the head?" asked Tubby, now entering into
+the spirit of the game.
+
+Being given permission, and warned not to make too big a noise, lest he
+frighten all the frogs into jumping, he set about his task. After
+several failures he finally brought one monstrous greenback frog to
+where the others were still working.
+
+"I'll show you how to cut off the saddle, and skin the hind legs," said
+Rob.
+
+Tubby did not altogether like this job. The slimy feeling of the frog
+rather went against his stomach. Still, after the large hind legs had
+been duly skinned, they presented so much the appearance of the white
+meat of a spring chicken that Tubby felt encouraged enough to set forth
+again.
+
+He had four victims by the time Rob and Merritt pronounced the bow and
+arrow part of the business in readiness for work.
+
+They kept at it steadily for an hour and more. Rob found considerable
+excitement and profit in his archery. His arrows could not be wholly
+depended on, for they were not properly balanced; but the distance was
+so short that he made numerous fatal shots.
+
+Merritt, too, had secured another long pole, and joined Tubby in his
+share of the frog hunt. It was exciting enough, and with more or less
+delicious little thrills connected with it. No doubt the frogs must
+have enjoyed it immensely; but then, no one bothered asking what they
+thought of such tactics. A boy's hunger _must_ be allayed, and, if there
+were only frogs handy, why so much the worse for the "hoppers."
+
+"Whew! Don't you think we've got enough, Rob?" asked Tubby, unable to
+stand it any longer.
+
+"What's the score?" asked the archer, as he tossed still another great
+big victim toward the spot where the fat scout had been counting the
+pile.
+
+"Twenty-one, all told," replied Tubby. "That would mean seven for each.
+But how in the world can we cook them? I hope now you don't mean to
+tackle them raw? I love raw oysters, but I'd draw the line at frogs. I'm
+no cannibal."
+
+"Well, let's find a place deeper in the woods, where we can make a fire
+out of selected dry wood that will make so little smoke it can't be
+noticed. That's an old Indian trick, you know. Hunters used to practice
+it away back in the time of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. When they
+were in a hostile country they had to be mighty careful about making a
+smoke. I've tried it before, and believe I can pick out the right kind
+of fuel to use."
+
+While the others were finishing the not very pleasant work of skinning
+the numerous frog saddles, Rob busied himself with making the fire in a
+secluded neck of the woods. In the midst of jutting stones he soon had a
+blaze going. It could not be seen twenty feet away, on account of the
+obstructions; and, as the proper kind of wood had been selected, there
+was no smoke to mention.
+
+The boys would have given something for their well-remembered frying
+pan, just at that time, and some pieces of salt pork with which to
+sweeten the dainty morsels which were to constitute their luncheon. They
+were true scouts, however, and could make the best of a bad bargain.
+
+"All hunters do not have skillets when they're in the woods," said Rob,
+as he took a long splinter he had prepared, thrust it into one of the
+saddles, and then, poking the other end into the ground close to the
+fire, allowed the meat to get the benefit of the heat. "We must do what
+we can in this old-fashioned way. The best sauce, after all, is hunger;
+and, from the look on Tubby's face, I reckon he's fairly wild to set his
+teeth in the first of the feast."
+
+Pretty soon it was a lively scene, with all those forks having to be
+attended to. A tempting odor also began to rise up that made Tubby's
+mouth fairly water. He heaved many a sigh, as he waited for Rob to tell
+him that the first of his allotment was sufficiently browned to be
+devoured.
+
+"Now, let's begin," said Rob finally. "Only look out not to burn your
+lips. And, Tubby, take my word for it, you're going to get the treat of
+your life!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE ARMORED CAR.
+
+
+"Honest, Rob, I never knew what I was missing when I said toasted frogs'
+legs would do for Frenchmen, but none for Merritt Crawford," and, while
+making this abject confession, the speaker allowed a look of sublime
+content to possess his features, such as would remove any lingering
+doubt concerning his sincerity.
+
+"How about you, Tubby?" asked the master of ceremonies.
+
+Tubby had been savagely tearing at his first helping. His eyes were
+glued on the various sticks under his charge, at the ends of which the
+rear portions of as many frogs were dangling, and turning a delicious
+brown under the influence of the heat.
+
+Then Tubby was seen to heave a sigh.
+
+"To think that there are only _six_ more apiece!" he said in a most
+solemn tone. But the others laughed softly, because they knew any loud
+merriment, under such peculiar conditions, was hardly safe.
+
+"That settles one thing," remarked Rob. "There's going to be a marked
+reduction in the profits of this particular frog-raiser this season, if
+Tubby has to stay here long."
+
+Tubby was already commencing on his second batch. He could not waste
+time in talking when his appetite had been excited to a feverish pitch
+by the first bite of tender and succulent meat.
+
+"Only thing I kick about," he presently mumbled, throwing away the
+slender bones which he had picked clean, "is that they go so quick. Why,
+you hardly get started before you're at the end."
+
+"That's the way with nearly all good things," Merritt informed him.
+"Just as soon as they become so numerous that you can have all you want,
+somehow it seems as if the craving leaves you."
+
+"Yes, I guess that's about it," admitted Tubby, talking only because the
+next batch of provender was not quite ready for disposal. "Anyhow, I've
+seen my mother just dote on a horrible little cucumber that dad brought
+home in January, paying about twenty cents for the same, and, when we
+have bushels of splendid ones in our own garden, why, nobody cares to
+eat them."
+
+The little feast continued until everybody had cleaned up their mess.
+Tubby was disconsolate because the supply was so limited and the demand
+so great.
+
+"How foolish we were not to double our catch," he said several times,
+"for there wouldn't have been any trouble about doing the same. One
+thing I've settled in my mind, I want to tell you."
+
+"Well, go on, then, and explain," urged Merritt.
+
+"I'll have one next summer, see if I don't," asserted Tubby.
+
+"What--a feast of frogs' legs?" chuckled the other scout.
+
+"Me? Only one show at the same? Well, when I like a thing, I rave over
+it. I want it every day. I mean to have a frog hatchery, and a pond
+where I can raise 'em by the million!"
+
+"Listen to him, will you, Rob?" exclaimed Merritt, pretending to be
+horrified. "If ever there was a case where eyes were bigger than a
+stomach, it's right here. Millions of them, Tubby wants now; seven is
+only a flea-bite to him."
+
+"Oh! shucks! don't make me out a hog!" remonstrated Tubby. "I didn't
+mean I expected to devour the whole lot. Why, can't you see there's good
+money in raising frogs? I'm going to get the figures, and find out just
+what the ratio of increase might reach. And my folks have got a dandy
+marsh on the old farm back near Huntington that we own. Rob, I thank you
+for opening my eyes to this grand opportunity. I expect it will be the
+turning point of my life yet."
+
+They were used to hearing Tubby talk like this. He often became inspired
+with ambition, but, as time went on, the spirit died out, and something
+new took its place.
+
+"You're letting the little fire die out, I notice, Rob," Merritt
+observed.
+
+"Why, yes; we have no further use for it," he was told, "and there's
+always a small chance that some soldier would be sent this way on an
+errand, when he might get a whiff of the smoke, and take a notion to
+investigate. For one I'm not hankering to be sent a prisoner of war to
+some detention camp on the Rhine."
+
+"And I'd feel pretty bad if my mission over here turned out a fizzle,"
+said Merritt, "because my heart is set on getting that paper for
+Grandfather Crawford."
+
+"I'm going to propose," Tubby projected, as though he could not tear his
+thoughts away from the one fascinating subject as long as the taste of
+his remarkable feast was still on his lips, "that we put in a couple of
+hours' more work getting a supply of these bouncing big frogs. If the
+Germans stay right there the rest of the day we want to lay in some
+provisions; and our choice is limited, you know, to this one thing."
+
+"Of course we could do that," Rob informed him, "in case it was
+absolutely necessary; but I've got a hunch that there's going to be a
+movement of that army before sundown. If that happens, we can get away
+from here, and find some one to cook us a meal."
+
+"Then you must have noticed signs that told they were beginning to get
+ready to go?" suggested Merritt.
+
+"Which was just what I did," replied Rob. "I can hear certain sounds
+that tell me they have received the order they were expecting, and are
+breaking camp."
+
+As all of them were anxious to learn whether this glorious possibility
+could be really true or not, they once more made their way back to the
+spot where their former vigil had taken place.
+
+"Why, the whole army is in motion, seems like!" ejaculated Tubby.
+
+"And a wonderful sight it is, at that," added Merritt. "They can say
+what they please about these German soldiers--and the Belgians feel
+they've got a right to call them all sorts of hard names, as barbarians
+and the like; but there never was such remarkable discipline in the
+history of the world. The huge army is like one vast machine. Men count
+only as necessary cogs. When one goes another takes its place, and the
+engine grinds on."
+
+They crouched there and watched every operation from a safe distance. It
+seemed as though there was a never-ending procession of gray-coated
+figures, most of them with the spiked helmets on their heads, marching
+away in columns toward the southwest. Then came batteries of
+quick-firing guns, and heavier field pieces. The clattering of
+accouterments, the neighing of horses, and the hoarse singing of various
+regiments--all these things came floating on the breeze to the ears of
+the three lads, as they lay there in the afternoon sunshine and watched.
+
+"They seem particularly fond of certain tunes," remarked Tubby, "and I
+know one is the German national air, 'The Watch on the Rhine,' because
+we've sung it many a time in the school at Hampton. What's that other
+they roar out, Rob?"
+
+"I think it's a popular patriotic German air, called _Deutschland ueber
+Alles_, which means, of course, 'Germany Over All'," Rob obligingly
+replied.
+
+"Oh! well, every country's sons believe they ought to have the first
+place in the sun; and I reckon we Americans have done a heap of
+boasting that way," Merritt remarked, which seemed to be about what
+Tubby thought, too.
+
+So they lay there until the camp was entirely deserted. Never would
+those three scouts forget the spectacle to which they had been treated
+that day.
+
+It was now along toward the middle of the afternoon. Far off in the
+distance somewhere, an action was certainly going on, for the grumble of
+heavy cannonading came almost constantly to their ears.
+
+"Chances are," said Rob, as they prepared to vacate their refuge and
+once more push onward, "there's a fierce battle in progress, and this
+corps has received orders to get on the firing line. That would account
+for the way the troops were singing. Their business is to fight, and
+most of them are only happy when they can smell burnt powder, hear the
+crash of bursting shrapnel, and the heavy boom of big shells."
+
+"We've seen one battle," observed Tubby with a shudder, "and for myself
+I'm not hankering after a second experience."
+
+"I suppose in time we'd get used to such terrible things," Rob pursued
+in a reflective way, "for even the fellow who nearly swoons away in his
+first fight, they say, becomes a regular fire-eater after a while; but,
+so far as I'm concerned, I'll be a happy boy when I see good old
+peaceful Long Island again, with its sandy beaches, and the familiar
+things we love."
+
+"We all will, Rob," remarked Tubby fervently, a yearning expression
+coming over his rosy face, as in imagination he again saw the home
+folks, and sat down to a table that fairly groaned with the good things
+he doted on.
+
+"Yes, after I've carried out my mission I'll be just as glad to start
+back as either of you fellows," Merritt assured them.
+
+The last of the Germans had disappeared from view when the boys started
+out. Rob was looking a bit serious, and the other noticed that he kept
+turning his eyes off toward the right, for it was in that direction the
+great host had gone.
+
+"You don't expect they will turn back and give us trouble, do you, Rob?"
+asked Merritt, noticing this frequent look.
+
+"No; it isn't that," he was told, "but I'm wondering what a certain
+movement that I happened to notice could mean."
+
+"Tell us about it, won't you, Rob?" Tubby implored. "It can't be that we
+have to take the same road that army marched away along, because we're
+heading in just the other quarter."
+
+Before Rob could commence with his explanation they heard the sound of
+what appeared to be an automobile behind them. At the time they chanced
+to be at the foot of a slight elevation, which rose for perhaps twenty
+feet in a gradual ascent.
+
+"Gingersnaps and popguns! Look what's bearing down on us, will you?"
+gasped Tubby.
+
+"It's an armored automobile, as sure as anything!" added Merritt, "just
+like that car we saw in Antwerp, you know. Yes, I can see the muzzle of
+the deadly Maxim gun that's back of that metal shield. Rob, it's heading
+straight at us. What if they take us for Germans, and open fire?"
+
+"Oh! for goodness' sake, let's wave a white flag to keep them from
+mowing us down like wheat!" exclaimed Tubby, commencing to fumble in
+his pocket.
+
+"Hold up your hands to show that we have no arms!" ordered Rob,
+abruptly. "They are Belgians, and perhaps the same daring fellows we saw
+come into Antwerp with all sorts of spoils to show they had made a raid,
+and shot down their regular allotment of the enemy. Yes, wave the white
+bag, if you want, Tubby; we don't mean to take any chances."
+
+"It's a hard thing to be shot down, and then have some one say they're
+sorry, and that they didn't know the gun was loaded," remarked Merritt.
+
+The armored car slowed down as it approached. Those vigilant Belgians
+aboard were doubtless observing the three figures in khaki closely.
+Already they must have discovered that they were Boy Scouts. Possibly
+they more than half expected to find they were Belgian scouts, for such
+boys were being used as dispatch bearers all over the war zone.
+
+"We are friends!" called out Rob, "American boys, who belong to the
+scouts over in our country, you understand? We have nothing to do
+with the war. Do any of you speak English? I can talk in French a
+little, if it's necessary."
+
+[Illustration: "If you keep on the road ... you will fall into an
+ambush."--_Page 277._]
+
+The three Belgian soldiers laughed at that. Plainly they had been at a
+loss to place these three lads.
+
+"I happen to be able to talk English very good," one of them called out,
+as the car stopped, "and we are glad to meet you. Americans are good
+friends of ours."
+
+"Listen," said Rob impressively, "if you keep on the road you expect to
+take, so as to follow the German army corps, you will fall into an
+ambush inside of three minutes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+TURNING THE TABLES.
+
+
+When Rob made this astonishing statement his two chums suddenly realized
+that this must be the matter he had been on the point of explaining to
+them when the armored car from Antwerp came tearing along the road in
+their rear like a modern war chariot.
+
+The leader of the three Belgian soldiers, and who seemed to be a
+captain, looked incredulous. He repeated what Rob had said to his
+backers, in Flemish; and they, too, observed the scout with wondering
+eyes.
+
+"This is a strange thing you are telling me, boy," remarked the captain.
+"How is it you know there is an ambuscade laid to catch us napping?"
+
+"I will gladly explain," the Eagle Patrol leader hastened to say. "You
+see, we want to get to Sempst, and, as we helped the Red Cross on the
+battlefield yesterday, we were detained. Then we found that there was a
+German army camped right in our way. It moved off toward the front only
+an hour ago, and we have been hiding most of the day. But, while we were
+watching the troops depart, I was surprised to see a single gun taken
+into a patch of scrub on a little elevation that commands the road. It
+is pointed this way, and you can never notice it there unless you have
+been posted. Now I can guess what they are hiding for; they expect that
+you may be along, and mean to rid the German army of your stinging them
+so often!"
+
+Tubby's mouth was wide open. He stared at Rob as though he hardly knew
+whether he were awake or asleep. Even Merritt seemed thrilled by what he
+had heard.
+
+As for the Belgian captain, it was an incredulous look that gripped his
+features.
+
+"I do not know what to believe, boy," he said, looking earnestly at Rob.
+
+"The best way is to prove it," that worthy told him immediately.
+
+"It would at least be convincing," the pilot of the armored car
+declared.
+
+"Suppose, then," continued the scout, "you leave your car here at the
+foot of this little rise. They couldn't see us with that hump between.
+Go up the hill, and look along the road. You needn't let them see you,
+of course; but I notice that you've got a pair of field-glasses along.
+Follow the road with those until you come to a little break in the stone
+wall that lies around a patch of field on the right. It is this knoll I
+spoke of, crowned with brush. Watch that brush closely for a minute;
+perhaps you will see the sun glint from the gun; or else one of the
+hidden German gunners may move ever so slightly. That will tell the
+story, captain."
+
+The pilot of the armored car jumped out.
+
+"I will do as you say, at least it can be no harm," he remarked hastily.
+
+After speaking in Flemish to his companions, he started up the rise,
+carrying the field-glasses and a revolver along with him. Watching, they
+saw him get down and crawl the last yard or so; and then evidently he
+found a way to level his glasses in the quarter under suspicion.
+
+Five minutes later and he backed off, coming quickly down the little
+declivity. The first thing he did was to grip Rob's hand and squeeze it
+fiercely.
+
+"I have to thank you for my life, and the lives of my brave comrades as
+well!" he said with fervor.
+
+"Then you found that what I told you was exactly so?" Rob asked.
+
+"Yes, there is an ambuscade," replied the soldier. "They must have
+suspected that we would chase after the army so as to pick up
+stragglers, because that is our favorite game these terrible days;
+anything to sting the snake that is crawling across our beloved country
+and leaving death and destruction behind."
+
+"You will not go ahead after learning what is waiting there, I suppose,
+Captain?" Rob continued.
+
+"Certainly not, my boy, because they have the range plotted out, and,
+when we reached a certain spot, one shot would blow the car and the
+three of us to pieces. Our play is to go around another way. But why
+have you done this for us, when you say, as Americans, you must be
+neutral?"
+
+"I hardly know," replied Rob. "Up to lately we have not felt like
+favoring either side, because we have many good German friends at home.
+But what we have seen and heard here in Belgium is beginning to turn us
+to the side of the Allies. You see, I could not watch you rush right to
+your death, knowing what I did. Perhaps, if the tables had been turned I
+might have warned a German pilot to turn around before it was too late."
+
+"Well, you have done us a great favor, and we thank you," said the
+Belgian soldier, with considerable feeling; after which he conversed
+with his two comrades for a minute or so, no doubt explaining what had
+awaited them close by; and that only for the timely warning of the
+Americans they would have been launched into eternity.
+
+Then the car was turned around, and away the three dashing Belgians
+sped. The last the boys saw of them was when they waved their hands
+back ere vanishing around a curve in the road.
+
+"Well," said Tubby, "that was a splendid thing you did, Rob. And to
+think you noticed the Germans laying that cute little ambush there! It
+shows what training will do for a fellow, doesn't it?"
+
+"It is only what every scout is supposed to do," replied Rob, thinking
+to impress a lesson on Tubby's mind. "Observe every little thing that
+happens, and draw your own conclusions from it. When I saw that gun
+going up into the field, I wondered what they meant by that. Then I saw
+they were laying a trap. I couldn't believe it was intended for us, and
+so I was puzzled, because we didn't expect to use that road at all."
+
+"And when the armored car came whizzing along you knew the Germans meant
+to get the Belgians who had been doing so much damage day after day, as
+we'd heard; that was it, eh, Rob?" and Merritt nodded his head sagely,
+as though things were all as plain as anything to him now.
+
+"Huh!" snorted Tubby, "after Columbus had cracked the end of the egg
+and stood it up, didn't those Spanish courtiers all say that was as easy
+as pie? Course we can see things after they've happened. But you and me,
+Merritt, had better be digging the scales off our eyes, so we can
+discover things for ourselves next time."
+
+Merritt did not answer back. Truth to tell he realized that he merited a
+rebuke for his lack of observation. It might pass with an ordinary boy,
+but was inexcusable in a scout who had been trained to constantly use
+his faculties for observation wherever he went.
+
+"Our road will take us past that place where they are hiding, won't it,
+Rob?" he presently said. "Suppose, now, they guessed that we must have
+turned the armored car back, and lost them their victims, wouldn't they
+be likely to take it out on us, thinking we might be Belgian Boy
+Scouts?"
+
+"I had that in my mind, Merritt," admitted Rob, "and for that reason I
+reckon we ought to leave the road right here. We can make a wide detour,
+and strike it further along, where the danger will be past."
+
+All of them were of the same mind. They did not fancy taking any chance
+of having that concealed six-pounder discharged point-blank at them.
+Mistakes are hard to rectify after a fatal volley has been fired. The
+best way is to avoid running any chances.
+
+They found a way to leave the road and take to the fields, skirting
+fences, and in every way possible managing to keep out of sight of the
+German gunners who were lying concealed in that scrub on the little
+elevation.
+
+It was while they were pushing on some distance away that without the
+least warning they caught a strange pulsating rattling sound from the
+rear. All of them came to a stop, and wondering looks were quickly
+changed to those of concern.
+
+"Rob," exclaimed Merritt, "it comes from near where that gun lies hidden
+back of the bushes; and that's the rattle of a Maxim, as sure as you
+live. Those Belgians have turned the tables on the Germans; they've
+managed to sneak around back of them, and must be pouring in a terrible
+fire that will mow down every gunner in that bunch of brush!"
+
+Rob was a little white in the face, as he continued to listen to the
+significant discharge. He had seen what mischief one of those Maxim guns
+could do at fairly close quarters, for they had witnessed them at work
+during the battle of the preceding day.
+
+"I feel bad about it in one way," he said, "because in saving the lives
+of those three Belgians we have been the means of turning the trap on
+those who set it. But I never dreamed they would try to surprise the men
+in ambush."
+
+The sounds died out, and silence followed; though the far-away grumble
+of the conflict could be heard from time to time.
+
+"They've launched their bolt," said Merritt, "and either skipped out
+again, or else the German battery has been placed out of commission. We
+didn't hear the six-pounder go off, so they had no chance to fire back."
+
+They continued their walk in silence. All of them had been much sobered
+by these thrilling and momentous events that were continually happening
+around them. Much of the customary jolly humor that, as a rule,
+characterized their intercourse with one another had been, by degrees,
+crushed by the tragedies that they had seen happening everywhere among
+the poor Belgians and amid the stricken soldiers whom they had so nobly
+assisted on the field of battle.
+
+Striking the little road again at some distance beyond, they continued
+to follow it, under the belief that they could not now be very far away
+from the town they were aiming to reach.
+
+Before they entirely lost sight of the late encampment of the German
+army, the boys discovered that a number of peasants from the surrounding
+country had come on the scene, and appeared to be hunting for anything
+of value which might have been purposely or by accident left behind.
+
+"The poor things know they're going to have the hardest winter ever,"
+said Tubby, with considerable feeling in his voice, "and they're trying
+to find something to help out. Like as not some of them even came from
+Louvain, where they lost everything they had in the wide world when the
+place was burned to the ground. It's just awful, that's what it is.
+America looks like the only place left where there's a chance of
+keeping the peace."
+
+As they went along Rob was keeping track of their course. He gave
+Merritt his reasons for believing they would reach Sempst before sunset
+after all, unless something entirely unexpected happened to delay them
+again.
+
+"Just now we're in great luck," he finished. "So far as we can see the
+Germans have cleared out of this particular section completely. They may
+be back again to-morrow; you never can tell what they'll do. But the
+main line of railroad is where they are mostly moving, because in that
+way they can get their supplies of men, guns, ammunition and food, and
+also take back the wounded. Some of their dead are buried, but in the
+main they prefer to cremate them, which is the modern way to prevent
+disease following battles."
+
+Merritt did not make any remark, for he was becoming more and more
+anxious the closer they drew to the town where he expected to have that
+question of the success or failure of his mission settled.
+
+Rob knew how strained his nerves must be. He could feel for his chum,
+and it was only natural for him to want to buoy up Merritt's sinking
+hopes.
+
+"Don't get downcast, old fellow," he told him. "You've stuck it out
+through thick and thin so far. Whether you find this Steven Meredith in
+Sempst or not, you're bound to meet up with him somewhere, sooner or
+later, you know."
+
+Merritt gritted his teeth, and the old look of resolution came across
+his face, which the others knew full well.
+
+"Thank you for saying that, Rob," he observed steadily. "You know that
+once my mind is made up I'm a poor one to cry quits. I'll follow that
+man to China, or the headwaters of the Amazon, if necessary, but I'll
+never give up as long as I can put one foot in front of the other."
+
+"And," said Tubby vehemently, "here are two loyal comrades who mean to
+stick to you, Merritt, to the very end."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+FOR HUMANITY'S SAKE.
+
+
+"I think we're coming to Sempst," said Rob.
+
+It was nearly half an hour after Merritt had so firmly announced his
+intention of staying in the game, no matter if he should meet with a
+bitter disappointment in the town, which had been the loadstone for
+their advance through the heart of war-stricken Belgium.
+
+"Then Brussels can't be very far away, over there," said Tubby. "Gee! I
+only wish we could find some scarecrows about now, and get a change of
+clothes."
+
+"What makes you say that?" asked Rob. "I thought you were so proud of
+your suit of khaki that nothing could tempt you to give it up."
+
+"Oh! I didn't mean I'd really want to discard this bully suit," Tubby
+hastened to explain. "Only if we could manage to conceal the scout
+uniform under something more common, why, you see the Germans might
+take us for Belgian boys, and in that case wouldn't molest us."
+
+"I understand what he's getting at, Rob," Merritt chuckled, "Tubby has
+said a number of times that the one thing he was sorry about was that we
+couldn't have a run through Brussels. Seems like he got a great notion
+he wanted to visit there, as he'd read a lot about the wonderful city.
+But you'll have to let that longing sleep until the next time you come
+abroad, Tubby."
+
+"Unless we happen to find we've got business in Brussels," observed the
+other cunningly. "Then mebbe we might decide we'd find a way to go in.
+'Course I mean if they told us here in Sempst that Mr. Steven Meredith,
+who seems to be a pretty smart secret agent of the German Government,
+had changed his residence to Brussels, so as to be in touch with army
+headquarters and the General Staff. How about that, Merritt?"
+
+"We won't cross rivers before we come to them," Rob hastened to remark,
+not wishing the other to fully commit himself to any course. "After
+coming so far with the intention to find our man here in this little
+town, it seems silly to get cold feet when we're right on the spot, and
+before we know anything that's against our having the best of success."
+
+"Oh! you're right, Rob," agreed Tubby. "You remember the old motto we
+used to write in our copybooks at school long ago--'sufficient unto the
+day is the evil thereof.' Guess that's from the Good Book, too; but it
+applies to our case, all the same. We'll wait till we see what is going
+to happen here in Sempst. Anyway, they haven't burned this little place
+down, because I don't see anything that looks like ruins."
+
+Indeed, it seemed as though the peasants living close to Brussels had
+been induced by the Germans to continue their regular field work, under
+promise of purchasing for fair prices all the green stuff they could
+fetch into the capital. They, mostly women, old decrepit men, and
+children, for even the smallest could be given some task that would help
+out, were working in the fields.
+
+"I wonder if any of them could understand my French," Rob was saying.
+"Of course it wouldn't be likely they could talk English. I've got a
+good notion to try it on the first one we meet on the road ahead."
+
+"Do it, Rob," urged Tubby. "Merritt and I will stand by to catch him if
+he starts to faint."
+
+"Oh! I hope my French isn't quite that bad," exclaimed Rob. "I've been
+polishing it up considerable, you know, while on the steamer, and after
+we landed in Belgium; and, with what I know, and by pointing and
+shrugging my shoulders, I generally manage to make people understand. Of
+course, I don't know how it would be with a clodhopper who didn't happen
+to be as intelligent as I'd want. But here's a chance, and I'm going to
+make the attempt."
+
+"It won't kill, even if it doesn't cure," said Merritt; "and, Rob, if
+you can get him to understand what you're saying, be sure and ask if
+that chemical factory, where we understood Steven had been given his
+responsible berth, has shut down, or if it is still in operation."
+
+"I'll do that, Merritt," the other promised.
+
+Accordingly, when the peasant, smoking his big pipe, came along in his
+wooden shoes, Rob stopped him. He wanted to impress the fellow
+favorably, so as to increase the prospect for a favorable answer; and so
+Rob made sure to have one of his famous smiles on his bright face when
+he began to air his French.
+
+The other boys stood there watching the "circus," as Tubby called it.
+They saw, however, that Rob, many times at a loss for words in order to
+express his meaning, must have managed to make the peasant understand
+him.
+
+Again and again each of them pointed toward the town so near at hand.
+Possibly Rob may have been explaining just who he and his chums were,
+and also how they had come all the way from Antwerp with the one hope of
+finding a certain person in this little suburb.
+
+"He's picking up some kind of news, seems like," Merritt told Tubby, as
+the dialogue progressed under so many difficulties, expressive movements
+of the shoulders, and waving hands taking the place of words that
+failed.
+
+"What makes you think so?" demanded the fat scout.
+
+"Look at Rob's face, and you can tell that he's feeling more or less
+satisfied with the way things are going on," replied Merritt.
+
+"Gosh! that's so," muttered Tubby. "Seems you're getting a move on, too,
+with observing things. I'll have to hurry and do something myself, if I
+don't want to find that I'm no first-class scout, after all, but only a
+dub."
+
+Finally Rob was seen to press a coin in the calloused palm of the
+peasant, who took off his cap and bowed several times, as though
+grateful, and then he continued on his way along the road.
+
+"What luck?" asked Tubby immediately; while Merritt, more deeply
+interested than any of them, silently waited to listen.
+
+"Oh! he gave me quite some information," replied Rob; "and, so far as I
+can see, it looks good for us. I didn't learn anything about Steven
+Meredith, because the farm laborer probably never heard of such a
+person; but he did tell me that the chemical works have been kept going
+full blast ever since the Germans occupied Brussels."
+
+"That must be because certain things are made there that they can use in
+their war game, eh, Rob?" Merritt conjectured, and the other nodded.
+
+"No question about it," he said, "though the peasant couldn't say why
+certain things were done, only that they did happen. But, if the factory
+is running wide open, there seems to be a chance that we may find Steven
+still on deck, and keeping his finger on the pulse."
+
+"I'm only afraid that if he really is what we think, a secret agent of
+the government," Merritt suggested uneasily, "that he may have been
+transferred to some other point where his smartness would be apt to
+count, perhaps away down in France, so that he could send up valuable
+information about the making of artillery, or how the conscription of
+the Nineteen-Fifteen boy recruits is coming on."
+
+"Still, to find the works open, and doing business right along, looks
+like a piece of good luck to me," said Tubby.
+
+"It is," added Rob positively. "We agreed long ago that we'd consider it
+such, if we learned there had been no shutdown. We hoped it would be
+that way, for we already knew that German capital had been back of the
+chemical works. I wouldn't be much surprised if it was learned that
+somewhere about the place, unknown to most people, these clever Germans
+had long ago built a heavy concrete floor, to be used in their business;
+but which would make the best kind of foundation for one of those big
+siege guns they used to knock down the Liege and Namur forts."
+
+When Rob said this he did not dream how closely he was hitting the
+truth. It had not been discovered at that time how secret preparations
+along such lines had been made by the Germans, year after year, in close
+proximity to many of the leading cities in Belgium, France, and even
+over in England.
+
+"Well, now for moving on, and entering the town," Merritt remarked, with
+a look on his face that told how he was summoning all his resolution so
+as not to appear too heartbroken should they meet with bitter
+disappointment.
+
+"I hope we don't run across any German soldiers here," said Tubby.
+
+"We want to keep on the constant watch for them," Rob gave warning. "If
+they saw us, they might think it their duty to have us arrested at
+once, and detained until our story could be investigated."
+
+"And that would spell ruin for all our plans, wouldn't it?" Merritt
+asked, not as cheerfully as he might, because he had been fearful all
+along that something like this might come to pass just when he had
+discovered the object of his long search, and before he could proceed to
+relieve Steven Meredith of the old case in which he carried those
+splendid field-glasses.
+
+They were now among the outer houses of the town. So far as they could
+see, Sempst did not differ to any degree from various other Belgian
+towns they had seen. It consisted of numerous small houses, a few more
+pretentious dwellings, possibly of Brussels business men, and some
+factories.
+
+From only one of these stacks was smoke seen coming, and, having picked
+up a pointer, it was easy for the scouts to decide that this must be the
+German-owned chemical works with which Steven Meredith had been
+connected, between his foreign trips.
+
+When thus entering the town that was so close to Brussels, where the
+Germans were in full charge, it was the policy of the three scouts to
+draw as little attention to themselves as possible. While thus far they
+had not chanced to notice any German soldiers, still there was always a
+possibility that some of them were around.
+
+Besides, Rob figured that if a German-owned chemical factory had been in
+operation here for years, very naturally there would be many natives of
+the Rhine country employed there, and living in the town. If the German
+government were really back of this Belgian works, as seemed possible,
+they would want to have mostly reliable men on guard, who, in case of
+sudden emergency, could throw off their workmen's garb and show
+themselves in their true colors, as regularly enlisted soldiers, serving
+their superiors while plying their regular trade.
+
+When, therefore, the boys heard loud outcries, after entering the town,
+and made the distressing discovery that there was a runaway approaching
+them, the first thought Rob had was that they must keep out of the way,
+and not interfere, lest by so doing they attract attention toward
+themselves.
+
+With this discreet plan of action rapidly forming in his mind, Rob was
+even in the act of hastily drawing both his chums back behind a wall
+until all the excitement had subsided, when he made a discovery that
+brought his scheme to a halt.
+
+It was, after all, only a pony that had been seized with an attack of
+blind staggers, and was now dashing frantically away, with a little
+basket-cart dragging back and forth at his heels; but in that cart Rob
+saw was a frightened child.
+
+In that moment, Rob struggled with a grave question. To show themselves
+before a crowd such as would likely gather, was full of danger, not only
+to themselves, but for their mission as well. At the same time there was
+a something within his soul that refused to avoid the responsibility by
+shutting his eyes.
+
+He could not do it. He knew that child was in deadly peril, for, small
+as the pony might be, just then he was acting like a little demon. If
+he allowed the runaway to go by, and something dreadful happened, how
+could he ever reconcile his action with his vows as a true-blue scout?
+
+So Rob's mind was made up.
+
+"Merritt, we must save that poor little child, come what will!" he
+exclaimed; and that loyal comrade, forgetting all else for humanity's
+sake, instantly cried:
+
+"We will, Rob! Hurry and get on one side, while I look out for the
+other!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+"Where do I come in? Won't you let me help?" bawled Tubby, hurrying
+after his two chums as fast as his fat legs would carry him.
+
+Neither of the others paid the slightest attention to him. Just then
+Tubby was about as useless as a fifth wheel to a wagon. He was so clumsy
+that if he attempted to take a hand in the rescue work the chances were
+Rob and Merritt would have to spend a portion of their time in saving
+him.
+
+They ran out into the middle of the road. The crazy little pony was
+already close up, and there was no time to be lost.
+
+"Now!" shouted Rob. "Nab him, and throw him if you can!"
+
+Both scouts fastened upon the bridle close to the bit. Every ounce of
+muscle the boys possessed was brought to bear, supplemented by all the
+shrewdness they had acquired upon the football field, in tackling and
+throwing the runner who held the coveted pigskin oval.
+
+There was something of a struggle, and then down went the frantic pony.
+
+"Hey! let me sit on him; I'll keep him quiet!" called Tubby, as he came
+panting up to the spot; and once he had deposited his extra weight upon
+the little beast, it had no other course open but to succumb to
+circumstances and lie quiet.
+
+Rob turned to see what had become of the child. There was a stout,
+red-faced man, coming on the run as fast as he could hurry. Undoubtedly
+it was his child. While he was in a store, the pony probably had been
+taken with a sudden seizure of what Rob called "blind staggers," which
+sometimes causes horses to dash madly away as though possessed of an
+evil spirit, and even to destroy themselves against any barrier that
+arises in their path.
+
+The child, though crying with fright, was apparently unhurt. Some one
+had taken her from the basket-cart, and should the pony have broken
+loose again, it could not have imperiled the little one.
+
+In another minute, the red-faced man was hugging his child, and covering
+her face with kisses. The people must have told him who had saved his
+darling, for he came up to Rob and Merritt. (The pony had now become
+quite calm, though Tubby continued to occupy his seat, for, as he
+afterwards said, "he knew a good thing when he found it; and he was
+_awful_ tired.")
+
+The big stout man, evidently a German, from his appearance and language,
+began to pour out his thanks; but Rob shook his head as he remarked:
+
+"None of us can speak German, sir. We are American boys, you see; I can
+understand a little French, but that is all."
+
+The man's face lighted up. He immediately seized Rob by the hand and
+commenced to kiss him on the cheeks; but the boys had learned that this
+was the common method of warm salutation abroad, even among men, though
+they had never seen it done across the water.
+
+"I am glad you are American and not English!" the other went on to cry.
+"I would be sorry, indeed, if I owed the life of my little Frieda to an
+English boy. But an American, it is quite different. Ach! what would I
+not do to show you how grateful I am for your brave act? Tell me, can I
+not do something to prove that in Germany we look upon your country as
+our friends? My name it is Herr Frederick Haskins, I am the principal
+owner of the chemical works over yonder. Let me be your host while in
+Sempst you stay. It would give me much pleasure, I assure you."
+
+Rob stared at Merritt, and the latter almost held his breath. Was there
+ever such great luck as this? They had saved a child from danger, and
+made a warm friend of her father, who had turned out to be the
+proprietor of the very factory where Steven Meredith had an interest
+outside of his occupation as a secret agent of the Kaiser.
+
+"Rob, ask him!" whispered Merritt, too overcome himself to find words in
+which to give utterance to what was weighing so heavily on his mind.
+
+So the patrol leader, mastering his inclination to feel just as "shaky"
+as Corporal Crawford, turned again toward the red-faced German chemist.
+
+"We might accept your kind offer of entertainment for to-night, Herr
+Haskins," he said, as though they took the man's sincerity for its face
+value, "because we will have to put up somewhere, though to-morrow it
+may be we shall want to start back toward Antwerp again. You said that
+you were the proprietor of the chemical company in town. Are those the
+works where the smoke is coming out of the stacks?"
+
+The man nodded. He held his little girl in his arm, as though he could
+not bear to let her be away from him again. A look of what seemed to be
+pride crept over his face; it meant something that his was the only
+factory that had been kept running, simply because his foreign hands did
+not have to go when the call to the Belgian colors came.
+
+"It is because I have the confidence of the German government that I am
+allowed to continue my works," he said in a low tone, as though not
+wishing others to hear what he was saying.
+
+"It is very strange," continued Rob, bound to learn the worst
+immediately, now that such a golden opportunity had come along, "but it
+was to see a man connected with your business that we came all the way
+from Antwerp. His name is Mr. Steven Meredith, who was over in America
+not so many months ago."
+
+It was apparent that they were going to meet with a keen disappointment;
+Rob knew this the second he saw the shade of regret pass over the
+rubicund face of Herr Haskins.
+
+"Ah! that is really too bad," the stout man exclaimed; "for you are just
+one week too late!"
+
+"Has he left Sempst, then?" asked Merritt sturdily.
+
+"Just seven days ago he shook hands with me, and said I could look for
+him when I saw him again. That might be in a month, and it might be six,
+even Steven could not say. He simply had to obey his orders from his
+superiors. His interest in the works is not the only thing he follows,
+you understand."
+
+"No," said Rob, mysteriously, looking carefully around, as though he
+wanted to make sure he was not overheard, "of course we know his other
+business. The General Staff has ordered him again on duty somewhere. It
+is too bad, because my friend here wishes to see Herr Meredith very
+much, indeed."
+
+"I am sorry," remarked the stout man, in a hesitating way, and Rob knew
+that if he hoped to get any information from this source at all now was
+the time to strike--while the iron was hot.
+
+"You say you are grateful, sir," he hurriedly whispered, "because we
+happened to save your little girl's life, or at least kept her from
+being badly injured. We would call the debt canceled if you could tell
+us where we can find Herr Meredith. If he is in France, tell us where."
+
+The man did not immediately reply. His face was a study. He was
+undoubtedly being torn between gratitude and devotion to the interests
+of his emperor, whom he would have died to serve, no doubt.
+
+"If I could only be sure it was right for me to give you that
+information," Rob heard him mutter, and he hastened to follow up his
+attack.
+
+"I give you my word of honor, Herr Haskins," he said earnestly and
+convincingly, "that none of us has the slightest intention to betray
+Steven Meredith to his enemies. If you write down the information we
+need, we solemnly promise you not to use it to his injury. My friend
+only wants to get a small thing Herr Meredith has with him, although he
+himself does not know it is in his possession, for it was all a mistake
+about his taking it. He will be only too glad to give it to us, and we
+shall trouble him no more. Won't you take our word of honor, sir?"
+
+The big man looked down at his child, and that must have decided him.
+
+"Come home with me, and spend the night," he said in a hospitable way.
+"We will entertain you the best we can under the peculiar conditions
+existing here. If you care to, you can tell me all about yourselves; and
+I promise you that before you go to sleep this night I will place in
+your possession an address in Northern France where you will likely find
+my partner, _under another name_. But you must swear to me that under
+no conditions will you imperil his position there. Is it a bargain, my
+boys?"
+
+Rob looked at Merritt. The latter, although terribly disappointed, was
+still game. He gave not the slightest sign of submitting to the decrees
+of a cruel Fate.
+
+"We will accept your hospitality, Herr Haskins," he said quietly, "and
+also take from you that address under the promise you ask. Steven
+Meredith has no reason to fear that we will betray him. We are
+Americans, and our President has asked that every one, old and young,
+remain strictly neutral while this war is going on."
+
+"We bound up the wounds of three times as many Germans after the battle
+as we did Belgians," Rob added, while Tubby was heard to mutter under
+his breath:
+
+"Which was because there were ten times as many Germans hurt as there
+were of the brave little Belgian army."
+
+They accompanied Herr Haskins to his fine home, where they were
+splendidly entertained that night. Tubby ate so much dinner that he was
+incapable of joining in the conversation that immediately followed,
+though that fact was of minor importance, because, as a rule, he only
+made himself a nuisance when there was any serious discussion on hand.
+
+At least, if they had to be disappointed in not finding the man they had
+come so far to deal with, they could deem themselves lucky in meeting
+Herr Haskins under conditions that placed him heavily in their debt;
+otherwise they might never have discovered in what direction Steven
+Meredith had gone when his superiors in the German Secret Service
+ordered him on duty again.
+
+As it was, when the boys on the following morning once more headed in
+the direction of Antwerp, armed with a letter from Herr Haskins that
+would be of considerable service should they be held up by any German
+patrol, Merritt also had a small bit of paper secreted inside the lining
+of his coat, on which simply an address was written.
+
+As they journeyed they had plenty of opportunities to lay out their new
+program and build fresh castles in the air concerning the success which
+they meant to attain if it lay in mortal power.
+
+Whether they were as fortunate in the new fields that now stretched
+before them as they had been in avoiding pitfalls between the battle
+lines in Belgium, you will find recorded in the next volume of this
+series, under the title of "The Boy Scouts with the Allies in France."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+BOY SCOUT SERIES
+
+BY
+
+LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON
+
+  MODERN BOY SCOUT STORIES FOR BOYS
+  Cloth Bound,   Price 50c per volume.
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE RANGE.
+
+Connected with the dwellings of the vanished race of cliff-dwellers was
+a mystery. Who so fit to solve it as a band of adventurous Boy Scouts?
+The solving of the secret and the routing of a bold band of cattle
+thieves involved Rob Blake and his chums, including "Tubby" Hopkins, in
+grave difficulties.
+
+There are few boys who have not read of the weird snake dance and other
+tribal rites of Moquis. In this volume, the habits of these fast
+vanishing Indians are explained in interesting detail. Few boys' books
+hold more thrilling chapters than those concerning Rob's captivity among
+the Moquis.
+
+Through the fascinating pages of the narrative also stalks, like a grim
+figure of impending tragedy, the shaggy form of Silver Tip, the giant
+grizzly. In modern juvenile writing, there is little to be found as
+gripping as the scene in which Rob and Silver Tip meet face to face. The
+boy is weaponless and,--but it would not be fair to divulge the
+termination of the battle. A book which all Boy Scouts should secure and
+place upon their shelves to be read and re-read.
+
+Sold by Booksellers Everywhere.
+
+HURST & CO., PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+BOY SCOUT SERIES
+
+BY
+
+LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON
+
+  MODERN BOY SCOUT STORIES FOR BOYS
+  Cloth Bound   Price, 50c per volume.
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL.
+
+A fascinating narrative of the doings of some bright boys who become
+part of the great Boy Scout movement. The first of a series dealing with
+this organization, which has caught on like wild fire among healthy boys
+of all ages and in all parts of the country.
+
+While in no sense a text-book, the volume deals, amid its exciting
+adventures, with the practical side of Scouting. To Rob Blake and his
+companions in the Eagle Patrol, surprising, and sometimes perilous
+things happen constantly. But the lads, who are, after all, typical of
+most young Americans of their type, are resourceful enough to overcome
+every one of their dangers and difficulties.
+
+How they discover the whereabouts of little Joe, the "kid" of the
+patrol, by means of smoke telegraphy and track his abductors to their
+disgrace; how they assist the passengers of a stranded steamer and foil
+a plot to harm and perhaps kill an aged sea-captain, one must read the
+book to learn. A swift-moving narrative of convincing interest and
+breathless incident.
+
+Sold by Booksellers Everywhere.
+
+HURST & CO., PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Obvious mistakes have been corrected, but other discrepancies
+have not been changed. Inconsistent hyphenation has been retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields
+by Lieut. Howard Payson
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 29991.txt or 29991.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/9/29991/
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Rose Acquavella and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced
+from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
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