A Lively Bit of the Front Part 30

Noiselessly the two Tommies lowered themselves into the water and swam with long steady strokes to the opposite bank. Creeping on all-fours across the tow-path, they vanished in the tall gra.s.s beyond.

"Jolly good sorts," declared Peter. "Come on, Malcolm; it's time we went to roost."

It was indeed. The daylight was rapidly increasing in strength. The mist was rolling away under the influence of a faint easterly breeze. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of the lock-keeper's cottage c.o.c.ks were crowing l.u.s.tily.

Malcolm backed into the coal-screened lean-to shelter; his brother followed, and, having deposited his bulky carca.s.s in the hollow, began to pile lumps of coal over the entrance.

"Thank goodness they didn't whitewash the coal!" he remarked.

"Why whitewash?" asked his brother curiously.

"To stop thefts," was the reply. "I wondered what the idea was when I saw whitewashed stacks of coal in various railway sidings in England, so I enquired. A thief couldn't disturb the heap without leaving a tell-tale black gap in the whitened level of the stack.

How about grub? I'm feeling hungry."

"And so am I," admitted Malcolm. "We're rationed on a four-days basis, aren't we?" The meal consisted of a Plasmon biscuit, a small bar of chocolate, and a slice of potato bread. The brothers ate in silence, their ears strained to catch the first sound of the returning bargees.

"We ought to have provided ourselves with water," whispered Peter.

"We never bargained for being cooped up here, otherwise I would have brought a tin."

"I'm not thirsty," said Malcolm, "but isn't it cold?"

"Rather!" admitted Peter with conviction. "It's early morning yet, and the coal has lost its heat by radiation. Before midday we'll be hot enough, I fancy, with the sun pouring down upon our black roof.

Hist! Footsteps!"

The sounds of heavily-shod feet crunching on the dew-soddened gravel drew nearer and nearer. Then voices could be distinguished. "Women!"

whispered Malcolm.

The New Zealanders listened intently. The sound of footsteps ceased, although the voluble conversation continued. Then the thudding foot-falls drew nearer, while the unmistakable sound of a coil of rope being thrown upon the deck of one of the other barges was heard.

The clamour drew closer. Supposedly the string of barges was "manned" by women, the diminishing group halting at each barge to prolong the conversation before the crews boarded their respective boats, until, by the clatter almost overhead, the fugitives knew that the last barge had received its complement--two, perhaps three, buxom and stolid German women.

Malcolm could hear the padlock to the cabin hatch being unlocked.

Pails clattered, water sluiced along the diminutive after deck.

Despite the dirty nature of the cargo, the crew were making determined efforts to keep the deck and Cuddy clean. Wood crackled in the cabin stove, smoke wafted for'ard, wisps eddying into the fugitives' hiding-place. Then came the appetizing odour of frying sausages.

An hour pa.s.sed; still no indication that the barges were starting on their daily journey. Two boats, however, pa.s.sed, proceeding in the opposite direction, each drawn by a horse. Malcolm could hear the lap of the water against the bows. That was a fairly sure indication, taking into consideration the direction of the wind, that the barges were going eastwards. With a following wind the ripples would be absent, or, at least, hardly perceptible.

As each barge pa.s.sed there was a lively exchange of greetings between their crews and those of the stationary boats; but, in spite of the fact that the Carrs had picked up several German words during their period of captivity, the hidden listeners were unable to understand the conversation, beyond the knowledge that it referred largely to the air raid of the previous night.

Then a steam-propelled craft came up, fussily and noisily. Abreast of the foremost barge she reversed engines and manoeuvred until a heavy b.u.mp, followed by the groaning of rope fenders between the two craft, announced that the tug--for such was her role--as alongside.

"I hope they won't want to take in coal," thought Malcolm.

Moments of suspense followed, but there was no attempt on the part of the men comprising the tug's crew to remove any portion of the barge's cargo. Judging by the sounds, they were preparing to take the string of barges in tow, for Malcolm could hear a heavy hawser being dragged along the barge's waterways and made fast to the towing-bitts a few feet from the bows.

The engine-room telegraph-bell clanged. With the water hissing under her stern the tug forged ahead. Then, with a jerk, as the hawser took up the strain, the barge began to glide through the water. Then another jerk announced that barge No. 2 had started; another and another, until the c.u.mbersome flotilla was in motion.

Already, cramped in their close quarters, the New Zealanders were beginning to feel the effects of the heat, as Peter had predicted.

Overhead the hot sun poured pitilessly down upon the absorbent coal.

The air in the confined s.p.a.ce was hot and stuffy. Their throats burned with a torturing thirst--and the day was not more than seven hours old.

At irregular intervals the barges had to be pa.s.sed through locks, and since the locks admitted only two boats at a time, and the hawser had to be cast off before the gate opened and secured again when the lower level was reached, progress was tediously slow.

Bridges, too, caused delays, for, in spite of vigorous blasts of the tug's fog-horn, the persons in charge displayed no great activity in manning the winches by which the obstructions were swung.

Early in the afternoon the flotilla approached a large town. The hum of industrialism was plainly audible to the two fugitives. The barges were constantly b.u.mping into craft either tied up to the quays or proceeding in the opposite direction. There were swarms of mischievous boys on the banks, whose sole amus.e.m.e.nt seemed to be throwing stones at the irate bargees, until one of the women grew so furious that she leapt upon the coal that screened the New Zealanders' retreat, and picking up fragments hurled them at her tormentors.

It was another period of great anxiety. The barrel-staves creaked under the weight of the bulky German woman. Some of the lumps began to shift, while particles of coal dust, filtering through the interstices, floated in the already-stifling air, causing intense irritation to the fugitives' eyes and throats.

With feelings of profound relief the New Zealanders heard the woman striding back to her place beside the long tiller, while the next moment the already-gloomy dug-out was plunged into profound darkness.

The barge was entering a tunnel--one of several by which the ca.n.a.l was led underneath the town. Malcolm welcomed this new phase of the voyage in inland waters. The air was comparatively cool, a pleasing relief from the hot sunshine in the open; but before long the disadvantages of the tunnel made themselves apparent.

The din was terrific. The sound of the grunting and groaning of the tug's noisy engine was magnified tenfold, echoing and re-echoing along the domed expanse, while clouds of sulphurous smoke permeated everything. Yet, the while, there was the comforting thought that, unless the general direction of the ca.n.a.l had changed, every revolution of the tug's propellers was bearing the fugitives nearer the frontier and freedom.

On emerging from the tunnel the string of barges stopped alongside a wharf. The tug, its mission accomplished, cast off and steamed away.

Malcolm felt anxious. Was this basin in the heart of a populous town to be the journey's end for the flotilla? If so, the brothers were in a very tight corner indeed.

Peter, too, was sharing in Malcolm's unspoken thoughts. More so when an unmistakably military command was issued at a few feet distant.

Peering through a gap in the barrier of lumps of coal the New Zealanders saw a corporal and three men armed with rifles standing on the wharf, with a crowd of interested spectators lounging in the background. Did it mean that the Huns had a suspicion that some of the escaped prisoners from Duren Camp had found a refuge on one of the barges?

Another order, and the soldiers stepped on board. The metal b.u.t.ts of the rifles clattered on the planks, and a spirited conversation ensued between the corporal--occasionally aided by his men--and the three women comprising the barge's crew.

During the conversation a lean and decrepit horse, led by a boy of about ten or eleven years of age, arrived at the wharf. In a leisurely manner one of the crew went forward and threw a rope, the end of which was fastened to the animal's traces. Most of this the New Zealanders could not see; while presently they heard the wretched beast's hoofs slipping on the cobbles as the barge slowly gathered way.

Although the soldiers remained on board, the Carrs' fears were not fully confirmed. The barge was about to enter another tunnel that happened to pa.s.s directly under a large and important munitions factory. With characteristic caution and forethought the Huns left nothing undone to safeguard their proceedings; hence, in the case of barges using the subterranean waterway, a corporal's guard was placed upon each during the journey through the tunnel.

Contrary to the New Zealanders' expectations, the barge, beyond stopping to land the guard, did not tie up for the night within the limits of the town; but, maintaining a two-miles-an-hour pace, held on until the lengthening shadows announced the close of another day.

Having made all secure, the women bargees left the boat. The sound of the led horse's hoofs grew fainter and fainter, until silence reigned supreme.

"How about it?" whispered Malcolm. "My throat is like a chunk of hot lava. If I don't get a drink of water I'll go dilly!"

"Wait till it's dark," suggested the cautious Peter. "If we remove the coal from the mouth of our hiding-place, and someone drifts past, there'll be trouble."

Peering through a narrow gap between the large lumps of coal, Peter made the discovery that the tow-path against which the barge lay was clear, and apparently right out in the country and free from the presence of buildings. The fact puzzled him. Why on two consecutive nights the barge should choose a berth far from a town or village required a lot of explanation. He could only suggest that the women manning the boat took care to avoid Populous districts, so that they could go ash.o.r.e without exposing the cargo to the predatory activities of the war-tried inhabitants.

"Time!" whispered Peter at length.

Deftly the brothers set to work to remove the barrier, although once a large ma.s.s of coal slid noisily against the wooden bulkhead. When the opening was sufficiently enlarged, Malcolm crept cautiously out into the open, only to throw himself flat on his face.

The ca.n.a.l bank visible from the New Zealanders' shelter was deserted, but on the opposite side of the waterway was a large three-storied, red-tiled house. At one of the open windows sat two men smoking long, bent-stemmed pipes. From their elevated situation they could command the whole of the exposed surface of the barge's cargo. The wonder was that the sight of Malcolm's head and shoulders emerging from the hole had escaped their notice.

Quick to perceive that something was amiss, Peter forbore to question his brother. In deep suspense Malcolm lay with his face flattened against the coal, scarce daring to move a muscle, and fervently expressing a wish that the night would speedily grow darker than it was.

A quarter of an hour pa.s.sed. Judging by the persistence with which the two smokers stuck to their seats by the open window, Malcolm felt certain that they had a special interest in the barge and its contents.