The Belgians to the Front Part 19

Arthur shuddered a little. The idea of actually attacking a man from behind in such a way was unpleasant. But he realized that Paul, who had a reputation for gentleness, could like the idea as little as he did himself, and also that it was vitally necessary to secure possession of the car, though even yet Paul's whole plan had not come to him.

"All right!" he said. "Come on, then!"

"No; wait until he has finished! We might as well let him do the work, and have the car ready.

"But he will do the tires on this side first! He will be on the other side of the car afterward."

"No, he won't. He's got to come back to side when all the tires are on because the jack is on this side. Don't you see?"

"Oh, yes. I didn't think."

They waited breathlessly while the German worked. There was something oddly familiar about him, but his long, flowing overcoat prevented them from seeing him very well. He wore a uniform cap, fortunately, instead of a helmet, which would have given him a much better chance since it would have been very difficult for Paul to do what he planned with a helmet in the way.

Bad as the accident had been, the German worked so fast that in a very few minutes he had all the tires on, and was pumping them up as fast as possible. Then, when that was done, he came back, as Paul had seen that he must, and stooped over to remove the jack that had lifted the wheels from the ground. And that was the moment in which Paul struck.

"Stay behind!" he whispered, to Arthur. "I may need your help if anything goes wrong."

Then with one leap he reached the German. He landed quietly, and, though the German heard him and half turned, it was all over in a second. Paul brought down his horseshoe on the officer's skull, and he crumpled without a cry and fell in a silent heap in the roadside.

"Quick!" cried Paul. "Look under the seat! There ought to be drinking water there."

Arthur found a vacuum bottle, and a big gallon bottle of mineral water.

This Paul broke, and, dipping a handkerchief in it, made a wet bandage for the German's head. Then he dropped the vacuum bottle where the officer must find it when he recovered consciousness. And now he did something that surprised Arthur. He stripped off the officer's coat, took his uniform jacket and his cap. These he himself donned, and, though they were far too big for him, he cried out with satisfaction at the fit of the cap.

"Now do you see?" he cried. "I bet we could go through the German lines like this! h.e.l.lo!"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but this is that chap Poertner--one of the men we got away from! He was taken into Liege as a prisoner. Don't you remember? He must have got away or else the Germans must have taken the fort where they were holding him! I'm afraid it's that!"

But there was no more time to be wasted. Paul leaped to the steering wheel of the car.

"In with you, Arthur!" he cried. "Get down, so that you won't be seen.

Down low, on the floor!"

"Why?" asked Arthur, though he had obeyed before he asked the question.

"You haven't any uniform. You'd be spotted at once. If they see me in this rig, they may mistake me for a German officer, you see. That's why I took it. I was sorry to have to do it, but it's war, and all's fair! Now we're off!"

On the word he turned the car around, and they were really off in another moment, racing down the hill that the car had just climbed so laboriously, to have its journey so ingloriously halted.

"It's a wonderful little car. They must use a lot of these for dispatch bearers," said Paul. "Arthur, isn't it lucky that Marcel showed us all about how to run different sorts of cars? I hope he's all right. I bet he enlisted too, if Uncle Henri joined the army when he went to Brussels."

"It runs so smoothly and it's ever so much faster than the fastest horse, of course," said Arthur. "I suppose all the armies must be using automobiles for this sort of work. Where are you going, Paul?"

"I'm going to make a great big circuit, if we're not stopped before we really get started," said Paul. "On foot we never could have got ahead of the Germans in that sweeping flank movement of theirs. But now, when we can make sixty miles an hour, I should think we ought to be able to do it. I think the worst time will be right along here in the first ten miles or so. All I'm hoping is that we don't run into the people who know where Poertner was going in this car. I think we can get by anyone else. But there's no telling where he did start from.

Perhaps from Huy."

"Huy? But we were there this morning--and our troops were there, too!"

exclaimed Arthur, plainly puzzled.

"That doesn't mean that they're there now. Huy couldn't have held out for more than a few hours against a real attack. And we had very few troops there. Our concentration seems to be further north."

They swept through Hannay at a terrific pace, but not so fast as to prevent them from seeing that the wine shop was still open and that it was full of Raymond's men. Paul sounded a blast on the siren of his car, the peculiar siren that indicated its military character, and laughed at the rush of people to the door of the shop. Then they were out in the open road again.

And now Paul's knowledge of the geography of the country stood him in good stead. Twinkling camp fires showed that they were running toward a country that was literally swarming with Germans. Now more than ever, it was plain that from all around Liege a great advance movement was being pushed. Despite the battle that was still raging behind them, these troops seemed to be in camp, a plain proof that the Germans must still have troops enough and to spare behind them, though here were fresh divisions that would not be engaged at all.

In the southwest the lights of Huy, could be seen, but they gave no clue as to which army held the town. Only the fires that dotted the ground, cl.u.s.tered about Huy in a great semicircle, seemed to indicate that perhaps the Germans had not yet entered the town. They were west of it, however, though only a few, toward Namur, and Paul muttered angrily to himself as he saw that well west of Huy the fires stretched in a solid line between that place and the fortress of Namur.

"We won't be able to reach Namur, I'm afraid," he said. "We might get through, but I believe that our best chance is to swing right around Huy, staying well inside the line of the fires, and slip past it, just to the west. There is a bridge there, too. I don't believe we could cross the Meuse anywhere else between Huy and Namur."

Twice they pa.s.sed roadside patrols of Germans, but Paul's appearance was deceptive, and the soldiers simply sprang to attention as the flying car swept by, standing with their hands raised in salute. Paul knew that at any moment he might run into a patrol less easily satisfied, but that was a chance that had to be taken.

Now he was picking his way carefully, having reduced his speed a little. Twice he boldly left the road and drove the car across the soft ground of fields, for he had to follow a semicircle, and the road, had he stuck to it, would have brought him right up to one of the camps each time. But at last he was heading north and west again, and he heaved a sigh of great relief.

He had to sacrifice speed now for a time to certainty. To have taken a false turn would have spelled disaster, and, though he knew the map of the country well enough, he had never traveled these roads himself.

But soon all danger seemed to be over. They were coming nearer to the sounds of the battle again. These had died away for a time, and the fight had seemed to be over. But whichever side had been losing had brought up reenforcements, and as the first faint streaks of light in the east that foretold the dawn began to spread in the sky the din was louder than ever.

"Where are you trying to go?" asked Arthur.

"To Eghezee," said Paul. "That is a fair sized town and we ought to find a telephone exchange still working there, with wires into Brussels that haven't been cut. There is its smoke--do you see it right ahead?"

Arthur raised his head to look. And he saw something else. To the right of the town, which was still two miles away, there was a moving ma.s.s of grey.

"There come the Germans, too!" he groaned. "And they're nearer than we are!"

Paul's answer was to urge the car to still greater speed. Arthur was right. Heavy ma.s.ses of Germans--Paul guessed there was a full division of twenty thousand men--were advancing toward the town. They were still some distance away, but they were moving fairly fast.

"It's the railway they're after, that line runs between Namur and Tirlemont," said Paul. "Well, we've got to risk it now. Perhaps they will catch us, but if we have any luck we'll get our messages through."

They came into a town that was almost wholly deserted, as it seemed.

The Germans had given warning of their coming, and the people had fled.

But in the building that was used by the telephone system there were still signs of life. The door was open, and when, having left the car outside, they burst into the room that contained the big switchboard, they found a girl sitting there calmly, waiting for the calls that did not come.

"Can you get Tirlemont?" cried Paul. "We must talk to the office of the headquarters staff there. Say that we have come from Liege and have a message from Major du Chaillu."

The girl stared at them incredulously for a moment. She had had the pluck to stick to her post when she knew the Germans were coming, and now she went to work without argument.

"If the wires are not cut!" she said. She manipulated the plugs and then, after a brief delay, pointed to an instrument.

"A message from Major du Chaillu!" said a voice in Paul's ear.

"Impossible--he is here!"

"Thank Heaven!" cried Paul. "Call him to the telephone!"

In another moment he was telling what they had learned. He gave the information concerning the great extent of the German strength first, and was rewarded by a cry of astonishment. And then he told of their situation; of how, having captured the car and fled through the whole German army, they were now almost certain to be captured.

"With that coat--and the automobile!" cried du Chaillu. "My boy, I am afraid they would shoot you! How far away are they?"