Two Daring Young Patriots Part 18

"Why, you must know that the Uhlans are rounding up escaped English and French soldiers. Everyone knows that. They have been doing so for weeks past."

"Ah! Of course. And they will not let anyone leave the town to give the soldiers information of their coming?"

"No, Monsieur. They are making a special effort this time. They have caught one or two, but the rest seem to grow in numbers, and are getting more audacious owing to hunger. I have heard that they stopped and plundered two army wagons full of provisions only a week ago. It is this that has made the commandant at Marche determined to kill them all this time."

"Well, I think we will dress, in case they come here and want to search the house."

"You must not hide here, Monsieur, if that is what you want," replied the innkeeper quickly. "I could not have that, for if they found anyone in hiding they would burn the house down."

"What for?" asked Max in some astonishment.

"I know not, but they have done so. No doubt it is to make us all afraid of harbouring fugitives. But you are a Belgian, Monsieur? You speak like a Walloon."

"Aye; but I do not want to have aught to do with Uhlans if I can help it. They so often make mistakes, and then it is too late to explain. I think we will leave your house, Monsieur, and then you will run no risks."

Max called Dale, and they put together their very slender belongings and sallied out into the night. The innkeeper was certainly pleased to see them go, and gave them as much help in the shape of information as it was in his power to bestow. He told them, with a warning to them to be careful to avoid the locality, the general position of the fugitive soldiers and the villages in which cavalry patrols had lately taken up their positions.

"It seems to me, Dale," remarked Max, as they left the inn and crept along in the shadow of the houses towards the little bridge which spanned the Ourthe, "that in leaving Liege we have jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire. There we could hide in the lower quarters of the town and pa.s.s as Walloon workmen easily enough, but here we are strangers, and strangers are always objects of suspicion."

"Yes; we did not bargain for all this chasing around by German cavalry.

However, it will be good fun while it lasts, old man."

"Yes, but how long will it last? Here's the bridge. We can't cross it in this moonlight; we should be sure to be seen and challenged. We must get into the river and cross in the shadow of the bridge."

"What's the game, Max? Why cross at all? Why not cut straight away into the open country?"

"Wrong direction. The innkeeper was so careful that we should get away from the district on which the Uhlans were closing in that he told me exactly where it was. And that's where we are going, of course. We can't let these Germans make a grand sweep of English and French fugitive soldiers without at least giving them warning, can we, old man?"

"You beggar!" cried Dale, with a note of admiration in his voice. "No, of course not. Won't it be jolly if we find some English soldiers, and manage to pilot them away to a safe place?"

"Not bad. Now here we are; climb over this wall, and lower yourself into the bed of the river. Then creep along in the shadow of the wall until you reach the shadow of the bridge. Then we can cross, and shall stand a good chance of getting away. Most of the Germans are quartered on this side of the town."

Max and Dale were by this time experts in eluding observation, and had no great difficulty in getting out of the town without raising an alarm.

Once well away, they strode at a good pace straight across country towards the wooded region south-west of the town, where the fugitives were popularly supposed to be. They knew that by their action they would be placing themselves inside the zone about to be swept by converging bodies of Uhlans, and that all persons found there, who could not give a good account of themselves, would almost certainly be shot or speared out of hand. But they took no heed of that, for the thought that some members of the gallant little English army which had, they knew, from the gossip of the countryside, fought so splendidly against overwhelming odds might be caught unsuspecting, and probably killed, made them ready to face even greater risks than that. Besides, they had, in their many successful encounters with the Germans in Liege, gained a self-reliance and confidence in themselves that made them look upon the affair as one by no means certain to go against them.

An hour or two after daybreak Max and Dale had reached the woods in which the fugitives were said to be, and were slowly traversing them, keeping a sharp look-out on all sides. The trouble, they now realized, was how to get in touch with them. It was highly probable that they would keep out of sight, and avoid contact with everybody they were not forced to have dealings with in the way of purchasing or begging food.

Fortunately the difficulty was solved very suddenly and unexpectedly.

"'Alt!" came a hoa.r.s.e command just as they were about to enter a somewhat thick belt of timber well supplied with undergrowth.

Simultaneously a rifle protruded from the bushes right in front of them, and a wild, famished-looking face followed it.

Max and Dale stopped dead.

"What d'ye want poking about 'ere?" the man demanded in c.o.c.kney English in a surly tone. "I don't understand your lingo, but say something, or I'll let go."

The man had a fierce and reckless look, and fingered his rifle as though ready enough to keep his word. Hastily Max replied:

"It's all right; we're friends. Put down your gun, there's a good fellow."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "IT'S ALL RIGHT; WE'RE FRIENDS"]

"Huh! Friends--eh? Fust I've seen for many a long day. 'Ere, boys, 'ere's a Johnny wot speaks English says he's a friend--in this outlandish place."

In response to this summons, five other men pushed through the undergrowth and confronted Max and Dale. Four of them were English soldiers and one was a Scot--that much could be seen at a glance, although their uniforms were in such a state of muddiness and rags that little of the original colour or cut remained. Nine other soldiers, who were equally clearly Frenchmen, joined them, attracted by the sense that something was going on, although they did not understand the language.

These fifteen men apparently formed the whole of the band, so far as Max could see, and seemed on very good terms with one another. All the men wore side-arms, although only five or six rifles were to be seen among the lot.

A man wearing corporal's stripes pressed forward, shoved the c.o.c.kney soldier aside, and planted himself straight in front of Max with his hands on his hips.

"Who are you?" he demanded at once. "And what do you here?"

"We are two Englishmen--at least I'm half English--and we have come to warn you that the Uhlans are after you."

"That's nothing new, lad. The Uhlans have been after us these three weeks past, but they haven't caught us yet."

"Aye, but it's a special beat this time," replied Max, and Dale emphasized his words. "They've brought in a lot more men, and are determined to make an end of you. There is a tale going about that you have looted two wagons full of stores, and it is that, they say, that has so upset the Germans."

There was a burst of laughter from the English soldiers at the mention of the wagons, and the Frenchmen joined in as soon as one of the others demonstrated by signs eked out by one or two words what the laughter was about.

"I dare say," remarked the Corporal, grinning. "I dare say it did upset them a bit. We got enough food to last us a week, four German rifles, two hundred rounds of ammunition, and had the best bonfire since Guy Fawkes Day. And I fancy we shall upset them worse than that before we've done, lad, if only we can get hold of some more food. We're starving, and that's the long and short of it."

His comrades murmured a.s.sent, and certainly they all, including the Frenchmen, looked wolfish enough. Max and Dale had a little food with them, and this they promptly brought out and handed round. It provided about two mouthfuls for each of the band, but was accepted and disposed of with eager alacrity.

"Can't you purchase food from the peasants?" asked Max in some surprise.

"We did while our money lasted, though it was risky enough. Now we have to beg it of the people, and what with that and the fear they are in from the Germans if they give us any help, we fare badly. If you can get us a good square meal apiece we shall be more grateful to you than we are for warning us against the Uhlans. We don't fear them half as much as we do starvation."

"We have money and will get you food, but not here. You must get ready for a forced march of a dozen miles across the railway between Recogne and Bastogne. The Uhlans are a.s.sembling all round the loop made by the railway and the Ourthe."

The corporal--his name was Shaw--consulted with his comrades for a moment or two, and then replied:

"All right, lad. You seem straight enough, and we will make tracks as you suggest. If you speak French, tell these Frenchies here what's afoot, and ask them if they're game for another spree. We are not going to cross a railway without leaving a memento or two of our visit, I can tell you."

Max in a few words explained the situation to the Frenchmen. Though they hailed from all parts of France, he had no difficulty in making himself understood, and they eagerly fell in with the plan already agreed upon by their English comrades. This accomplished, Max and Dale put themselves at the head of the band, more in virtue of their knowledge of the language of the country than of their powers as guides, and in single file and very cautiously they set out.

Max was agreeably surprised at the way the men moved, taking advantage of every bit of cover afforded by the trees and undergrowth, and, when in the open, of every fold in the ground. They had clearly made good use of the weeks they had spent in eluding pursuit, and had become in their way very fair backwoodsmen. This accomplishment was worth any amount of fighting power at that moment, and increased threefold their chances of escape from the armed circle closing in upon them.

During the march, Max and Dale, at every opportunity, increased their knowledge of the men with whom they had now practically thrown in their lot. The British soldiers had been stragglers from the army which had been pushed up to Mons, and had subsequently retreated before the overwhelming odds hurled against it at the express command of the German Emperor. The object had been annihilation rather than defeat, in order, no doubt, to fill the people of Britain with discouragement and make them reluctant to venture another force on the Continent. Everyone knows how the Emperor's legions failed in their intention, and at what a heavy cost, and there is no need to dilate upon it here. Corporal Shaw had been wounded and left behind during the retreat. He had managed to drag himself to the house of a Belgian peasant woman, who had nursed him quickly back to health. Then he had said farewell and made for the Belgian coast at Ostend. He had been constantly headed off, and at last found himself in the Ardennes with several comrades picked up here and there on the way.

Their stories were much like his. Some had been wounded, and others had dropped behind in the retreat totally exhausted, or so sore of foot that they were unable to move another step. The Frenchmen had been picked up for the most part in one body. They had been engaged in a running fight with some German infantry, and the British soldiers, drawn irresistibly to the spot by the sound of firing, had joined in the little battle with good effect, enabling their French comrades to get away with only the loss of two of their number. These had fallen wounded, and it was a.s.serted in the most positive manner that the German soldiers had been seen to smash them to death with the b.u.t.t-ends of their rifles the moment they came upon them. Such an episode as this did not improve the feelings of either the British or French soldiers towards their German foes, and went far to explain to Max and Dale the keenness and zest of the men for yet other encounters, notwithstanding that their foes now had all the points of the play so strongly in their favour.

In their turn Max and Dale told the story of their fight against the Germans; how they had waged an industrial, but equally open, war upon them, and had inflicted damage that had had a high moral as well as material effect. The story was not without its effect even upon men who understood most the warfare of bullet and bayonet, and Max and his friend were viewed with an increased respect as men of action as well as interpreters and guides.

One thing struck Max forcibly in the little band of which he had to all intents and purposes now become a member, and that was the fine spirit of discipline and camaraderie among them. Corporal Shaw was the only non-commissioned officer present, and the French soldiers accepted his lead as unhesitatingly as their British comrades. All food obtained was rationed out equally, and turns were taken with the carrying of the half-dozen rifles.

In spite of the careful and rapid way in which the retreat from the dangerous neighbourhood of the former haunts of the band was carried out, it seemed that they were not to escape unscathed. In crossing a road, little more than a track, about four miles from the railway, they must have been seen by a German soldier, himself unseen, on the look-out, for they heard a loud shout of warning, and almost immediately after the tramping of horses' hoofs as though a body of cavalrymen were hastily mounting.

"Guns to the rear!" ordered Corporal Shaw curtly, and the six men carrying rifles, three British and three French, dropped to the rear of the little party and spread out in open order on either side of the line of retreat.

"If they're cavalry hadn't we better retreat through the most broken country we can find?" enquired Max suggestively.