The Belgians to the Front Part 16

In Hannay, as the battalion marched in, past the remains of the barricade, at which most of the men looked with a tolerant smile, the street was again deserted. Major Kellner rode straight up to the mairie, and Paul and Arthur could see that he was holding a conference with the maire. The battalion was halted and during this conference stood at ease. Then quick orders came back; never from the officers, but always, Paul noticed, from the non-commissioned officers, to whom the captains and lieutenants gave the commands.

Then the battalion split up. One company broke ranks and immediately swarmed through the village, looking curiously at everything, while the other marched on, pa.s.sing out of sight before long in a cloud of dust.

Major Kellner remained with the company that stayed behind, and Paul and Arthur, who were at liberty, seemingly, to wander about the village as they pleased, saw him looking for quarters in disgust. After a time he settled upon the house of the local doctor, and there he and the officers were soon at home. Meanwhile the men scattered themselves in the different houses of the place, two to each house, as a rule, though sometimes there were more.

"Why are they staying here, I wonder?" said Arthur.

"I don't know," said Paul, with a shrug of his shoulders. "But I suppose there will be fighting all along here if the Germans advance on Brussels. It's all done on orders from the staff headquarters, you see. If I knew what sort of a force was operating here, perhaps I could tell you. I think Liege is being attacked by one army corps--that's about forty-five thousand men, in three divisions. These men may be part of a division that is operating independently, or they may be getting their orders from the headquarters of a whole army."

"What do you mean by army? The whole German army?"

"No. You know roughly how they will divide their forces, don't you?

An army has a certain work to do. It may be of almost any size--two hundred, three hundred, even five or six hundred thousand men. That is, from five to fifteen army corps. It has its own commanding general, who is responsible to the general staff. One plan that I've heard talked about as likely to be used by the Germans is to have two armies coming through Belgium, one through Luxembourg, one through Lorraine and one from the Rhine Valley. Then they would have one army in East Prussia and another in Silesia to fight against the Russians."

"I see. Paul, aren't you hungry? I am."

"So am I, now that you remind me of it! Let's see if we can't buy something to eat. I think we can, if the Germans haven't taken everything."

But now, as they went about trying to find someone to sell them food, they found that Arthur's fear as to the opinion the villagers had of them was justified by the facts. At first they met only excuses.

"I have had to give up all I can spare for the Prussians," they were told.

But finally, when they went to the shop of Raymond the butcher, hoping to buy some meat and cook it for themselves, they got plain speech.

"Go to your Prussian friends if you want food!" said Raymond, eyeing them angrily. "You will get none from any good Belgian in Hannay, I can tell you!"

"The Prussians are not our friends! They forced us to come back with them because they had forbidden everyone to travel in the direction we had taken," said Paul.

"Tell that to the gatepost!" said Raymond. "Be off with you! You fooled our people this morning, but now they know the truth."

And so Paul and Arthur faced the prospect of going hungry. They might have appealed to Major Kellner, who had shown himself inclined to be friendly toward them, apparently because his boy was, like them, a Boy Scout. But that neither of them would do.

"I'd rather go without than ask the Germans for anything!" said Arthur.

"So would I!" agreed Paul. "But I would like to get away from here."

That, however, proved to be impossible. Sentries were posted all about the village, and new notices had been added to those the Uhlans had posted earlier in the day, forbidding anyone to leave Hannay until permission was given by the officer in command of the German troops.

"I could laugh if it weren't so unpleasant!" declared Paul. "These poor people, whose village would be in ruins now except for us, think we have betrayed them! And the Germans would send us home as prisoners, if we were lucky, if they even guessed that it was because of us that they were kept from taking Liege in their first attack!"

"The only one who gave us so much as a friendly look was the wife of Raymond, the butcher," said Arthur, thoughtfully.

"Did you see that? So did I! I think perhaps he has got his courage back and has frightened her--but she was on our side this morning, too.

Perhaps if we could see her alone, a little later, she would sell us some food. I tell you what we will do. We will watch to see if he does not go out, and then if the coast is clear, we will try her again."

"Yes. Paul, I shall never let them send a beggar away who asks for food if we ever get home! I know now how they must feel."

The two scouts were in no danger of starvation, of course, and they were plucky enough, as they had certainly proved, to be able to endure a little discomfort if it were necessary. But they suffered the more from their hunger because there was nothing for them to do. Until the Germans revoked the order that kept them from leaving Hannay, they could not make a move toward giving the proper authorities the information they possessed. And so they tried to be patient while they watched for Raymond to go out in the dusk that was now beginning to fall.

They saw him several times, when men came to his shop and went in to talk to him. And at last, when it was almost dark, he emerged, looking stealthily about him as he came into the street, perhaps for German soldiers. There were none near by. All save the sentries were gathered together about a great fire that they had built, and were singing while the busy camp cooks prepared their supper for them. This was the first time that Paul and Arthur had heard German troops singing. They were to learn, before long, that that was their usual custom when they were off duty.

Now, as soon as the butcher was well out of sight--he had gone, they noticed, in the direction of the barricade he had caused to be built--the scouts went quickly to his place and went in. There was one light placed by the door, but at first they could not see his wife.

Then they heard the sound of someone sobbing, and called. It was the woman who had helped them in the morning.

"Oh!" she said, chokingly. "It is you! I hoped you would come--poor boys! Here is a parcel of bread and meat I hid for you. Oh, I am in such trouble!"

"Why? What is the matter?" asked Paul.

She trembled and for a moment seemed afraid to say more. Then she gathered her courage.

"It is Raymond," she said. "He has concealed some guns! He and some of the others mean to fire on the German officers!"

"But that is madness!" said Paul. "What good does he think that will do?"

"He says that the men, without their officers, will be terrified and will run away. He says it is an easy thing to do, since they think all our men are afraid of them."

"It ought to be stopped for their own sake, and for the sake of Hannay," said Arthur. "I thought Paul was wrong at first, but I can see now that he was not."

"Do you know their plans? Tell me all you know," said Paul quickly, in a tone of command.

"You will not--betray them to the Germans?"

"I am a Belgian," said Paul. "I shall try to save them and all in Hannay from the ruin that such a thing would mean. You may trust me."

"Then the guns are hidden in the cellar of Marcel's wine shop. They plan to get into the cellar from the back of the house, where there is a concealed door. Very late one of them is to raise an alarm--how I do not know. They expect the German officers to run out of the doctor's house, and then they will shoot them down. It will not be before midnight."

"Then there should be time enough to stop it," said Paul, with decision. "Thank you for your bread and meat, madame. Perhaps we shall repay you by saving your home and your husband's life. Come on, Arthur."

"What will you do, Paul?" asked Arthur, when they were alone.

"I don't know yet, Arthur. I want to see this wine shop. Then perhaps we can make up a plan together. It would be easy to tell the Germans, but they would burn the wine shop. And I do not want to tell them if there is another way."

CHAPTER XVI

THE WINE SHOP

In the wine shop, when they came to it, they found none of the men of Hannay. The German soldiers, off duty for a little while, had taken possession of the place, and the sound of their singing, which could be heard as soon as one came within a hundred yards of the place, showed that they were happy. The two scouts looked in as they pa.s.sed the window. They saw the invaders there, looking less like soldiers than they had imagined German troops ever could look. A few of the men were resting their feet, having taken off their heavy hobnailed boots, and were sitting in their woolen socks. Some were playing cards; nearly all were smoking.

"It's safe enough," said Paul. "If we can find that back entrance, I think we can get into the cellar. The worst of it is that they may have a guard there."

It was Arthur who found the entrance to the cellar. He led the way down the stone steps, and they found themselves in a whitewashed vault, scrupulously clean, as are practically all Belgian houses from garret to cellar. There was a lantern, too, shedding a dim but most welcome light on the place, with its rows of casks and hogsheads.

"That's a piece of luck, that lantern," said Paul. "Only it shows something we'll have to look out for--that we may have a visitor any moment. Look over there, Arthur. There's a little s.p.a.ce behind that row of barrels. If anyone comes we can hide there."

But Arthur had another idea. Before Paul could stop him, he sprang lightly up the stairs that led to the room above, whence the sound of the German soldiers came very plainly. He fumbled for a moment at the door before he returned.