The Boy Scouts on the Trail Part 18

"No!" Frank laughed. "I wonder where those airships were meant to go?

Paris? They could have done terrible damage. Perhaps they were to attack the army--to lie behind its course, knowing that our aeroplanes would be scouting on the front. They might have made it harder than ever to retreat in good order. But I think they would have gone to Paris. I think that they would have been there before daylight."

"And now--pouf!" said Henri. "What is left of them? Not so much as would fill a barrel!"

Once all danger of pursuit was past, Henri had slowed down the speed of the car. Both scouts were thoroughly tired out by this time. They had had a strenuous day, and a night that merited the description of strenuous even more fully than the day. And now that danger seemed to lie behind them, and a clear road to safety in front, their weariness was realized fully for the first time.

They could hardly have escaped the Germans, had any lain between Abbeville and Amiens. But none were there, as it turned out. The road was clear and open before them, and the car rolled along smoothly.

"The firing seems to be moving now--moving to the southeast," said Henri, once.

"I think our left wing is being drawn in a little. That will tighten up the line. But it gives the Germans still more chance to get around the wing."

"We can bring up French troops to meet them, Frank. There is the garrison of Paris--nearly five hundred thousand men. They have not struck a blow yet. But if the Germans come too near, they will be brought up to the first line."

"I believe that's what the French plan is, Harry!" said Frank. "Yes, why not? To lead the Germans on and then take the risk of leaving Paris defended only by its forts, and try a new flanking movement of their own. Do you see? A new army, which could outflank the Germans while they thought they were outflanking us!"

The thought cheered them up wonderfully. It made it possible for them to bear the sight of Amiens, left without a single soldier of the republic, when they arrived.

CHAPTER XVIII

IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY

The days that followed the return of Frank and Henri to Amiens were busy but uneventful ones. They had found a few staff officers at the abandoned headquarters, including Colonel Menier, to whom they had made their report and turned over the automobile. He had thanked them heartily, having heard already of their work. And when he was told of the destruction of the Zeppelins he had embraced them both.

"We had heard already of that," he said. "Only of the burning of the ships, not of how it was done. You have done well for France, mes braves! Wait! You shall not find France ungrateful. I go to Paris from here, to make reports. I shall make one concerning you, to those in authority. And--who knows?"

He pinched their ears, that gesture loved of French soldiers since the days of the great Napoleon, of whom his officers said that when he pinched their ears he conferred an honor they valued more highly than the cross of the Legion d'Honneur.

After the departure of the last officers of the staff, Amiens took on a new aspect. The thunder of guns, even the rolling of rifle fire, was plainly to be heard now in the streets. In the distance--and not a great distance, either--the smoke of a dozen burning villages was to be seen to the north and east. It was so that the Germans marked their advance, steady, relentless. Henri exclaimed in fury at the sight.

"These barbarians of Germans!" he cried. "Burn and kill--and not soldiers alone!"

"It tears my heart-strings to see all this wanton destruction indulged in by the foe," said Frank. "What then must be the feelings of the French as they watch their villages being so ruthlessly burned! But some day, somehow, Henri, our chance will come and the French will sweep back into this territory, a victorious host. Not for long will it be in the power of our foe!"

Every day Amiens expected the incursion of the Germans, but day followed day and still the enemy did not come. Frank and Henri stayed in the Martin house alone. The servants had gone; Madame Martin had respected their fears of the Prussians, and had made other arrangements for them.

So the two scouts camped out there, and Henri invited many of the other scouts to share their quarters in relays. The house was open, too, to any refugees who cared to use it, but by this time the country to the north that was in danger of German raids had been swept clear, and Amiens was no longer a gathering place. It was in itself too much exposed.

The smoke of burning villages rose now to the south, toward Paris. The retreat was still on, it seemed. And while they waited patiently, since there was nothing else to do, for the coming of the Germans, there was much work for the Boy Scouts to do. It was routine work now, very different from the exciting labors that had fallen to the share of Frank and Henri on the day of their trip to Le Cateau. When Henri became restless and impatient, as he sometimes did, Frank soothed him.

"We are still serving France," he said. "There are no more soldiers in Amiens. There are a few police, and those are old men, since the young gendarmes have gone to join their regiments. But Monsieur le Maire knows that he can call upon us."

The military authorities, before completing the evacuation of Amiens, had given strict orders that if the Germans came there was to be no resistance. And in order to enforce this rule, the mayor detailed the few remaining police and the Boy Scouts to make a house-to-house canvas, warning the citizens, and collecting all firearms that might be found.

The scouts worked in pairs on this duty, and Frank and Henri always went together.

"In Belgium," one of them always explained, in making the demand that the arms be given up, "Louvain and other towns were destroyed, so that not one stone remained upon another. And always the Germans made the excuse that shots had been fired on their men from the houses. Here in Amiens we must save our cathedral and the other famous buildings. When the Germans come it will not be for long; soon they will be in retreat before the armies of France and England."

Many gave up their guns reluctantly. But nearly all did give them up, and whenever the scouts had reason to think that any were being concealed, they made a special report on the house, and policemen returned to make a search.

And this wise planning had much to do with saving the town. The Germans came at last. At first a single squadron of Uhlans, in command of a young lieutenant, rode in. Frank and Henri saw them pa.s.sing their house and they mounted bicycles at once, and followed them.

"They've nerve," admitted Henri, reluctantly. "See with what arrogance they sit their horses! They might be riding into a German city instead of one in which everyone who sees them hates them!"

"Yes, they've nerve," agreed Frank.

There could be no question of the fact. The little squadron of troopers, almost swallowed up already in the crowd of curious ones who followed the slow movement of the horses, rode on, seemingly deaf to the mutters of execration that rose, especially from the women. Not a man turned his face from the front even to scowl at the townspeople. They rode on, eyes unswerving. Outside the Hotel de Ville they stopped. A bugler blew a fanfare, and Monsieur le Maire, in his robes of office, appeared on the steps. A great cheer from the people greeted him. He bowed gravely to the Uhlan lieutenant, who saluted stiffly.

"I demand the surrender of the town of Amiens, in the name of his Majesty the Kaiser and of the German Empire," said the lieutenant, in excellent French. "You, Monsieur le Maire, will consider yourself my prisoner. You will be held responsible for the conduct of the inhabitants. Any attack on German troops will be sternly punished. If the inhabitants of Amiens behave in a peaceable and orderly fashion they will not be harmed. Payment will be made for any private property required by our forces. A brigade of infantry will march in this afternoon. Quarters must be found for the troops, numbering nearly eight thousand men. You will be informed later of the requisition the town will be required to fill, in money and in supplies. For the present you are required to clear this square, where my men will remain."

The mayor bowed.

"My orders are to make no resistance," he said. "I bow to the inevitable, regretting that we are not permitted to defend ourselves to the death. Amiens will keep its faith. No attack will be made, since that would mean treachery. I will order the gendarmes and the Boy Scouts to clear the square."

Frank and Henri were of great a.s.sistance in doing this work, Frank taking the lead, since no patrol leader happened to be in evidence.

They and the police soon drove the people back, and the Uhlans dismounted. There, in the public square, used as a market place, they proceeded to cook a meal, making a fire in the street. From the sides of the square the people watched them sullenly. But there was no demonstration, since both the police and the scouts had explained that anything of the sort was likely to mean the execution of the mayor, who was within the power of the enemy.

As soon as the public curiosity to see the hated invaders had been somewhat satisfied, the people were urged to go to their homes, and by mid afternoon the streets were deserted. Then began the entrance of the real force of occupation. At the head rode a general of brigade, a sombre, stern-eyed man, accompanied by his staff. And behind him marched thousands of green-gray German infantry keeping step with a marvelous precision. These men had been fighting hard, but they looked fresh and trim. And as they marched they sang, raising their deep voices in a splendid, thrilling chorus.

_Fly, Eagle, Fly_, they sang as they marched into town. And then they gave way to the magnificent hymn of Martin Luther, the battle song of the Protestant nations in the Thirty Years' War, the battle song of Prussia ever since that time, _A Mighty Fortress Is Our G.o.d!_

Henri watched them as they marched by, tears in his eyes. Finally he could suppress the thought no longer, and he turned to Frank with:

"They have said that Germany has fine soldiers, but they are not like our men! There's all the difference in the world between them--and that difference will bring victory to our banners. Our men fight for right; these men fight because they think it their duty."

"Even though they are the foe, I hope there will be no shooting at them here. If there is, they will show no mercy, I am sure of that," said Frank.

"Amiens has pledged its honor," replied Henri quietly. "They are safe here. Will they harm Monsieur le Maire? Oh, do you think they will harm him?"

"No, I think not if there is no resistance offered. I wonder if any will be quartered at your house, Henri?"

"I hope not," said Henri, flushing.

A change, as it turned out, was made in that plan. The general in command of the brigade, who proclaimed himself within an hour of his arrival as military governor of Amiens, decided to keep his men under canvas. Tents sprang up like mushrooms in the parks and open s.p.a.ces.

Amiens was required to furnish great quant.i.ties of foodstuffs--bread, flour, wine, meat. But the troops were not quartered in the houses. And by nightfall the town seemed to have settled down peacefully to the new conditions. German aeroplanes were flying constantly overhead; officers came in, and more troops.

"Amiens is again the headquarters of an army corps," said Frank. He was suffering almost as keenly as Henri, but he did not mean to let his chum brood upon the disaster that had overtaken his home. And, after all, it might have been worse. He thought of Louvain and other Belgian cities.

That night Amiens was a German city. Trains pa.s.sed through continually now, bearing troops; some, returning, carried wounded, whose groans resounded in the silence. And in the distance to the south, toward Paris, the roar of guns seemed louder again.

CHAPTER XIX

RECOGNITION!