VIVE LA FRANCE!
The peasant listened in amazement to the story that they told him. But
he was a real Frenchman, out of the army because of his age.
"Come with me," he said. "You shall have the best there is in my
house--it is not much! Dry clothes, too. If you will wear a peasant's
blouse, there are the clothes my Jean left when he went to the war!"
"We have clothes in the boat," said Frank. "Until we knew we were safe
we dared not change into them. But your food will be more than welcome!"
So it proved, indeed. It was rough fare, but it seemed to both the best
that they had ever tasted. And while they ate, the peasant told them
what news he had.
"We hear that the French and the English are winning now," he said. "A
gentleman came past my house in an automobile this morning, and said
that he had passed French troops ten miles away--cuirassiers riding this
way."
"Hurrah!" cried Frank. "Henri, we must try to join them as quickly as
possible. When we explain they will let us go through to where we shall
be safe until we can go back to Amiens. Come on! Farewell!" This to the
peasant. "We shall never forget your good food and your welcome!"
And with light hearts they set out, glad to walk, since it gave them a
chance to stretch the legs that had been cramped for so many hours in
the bottom of the boat.
Plainly there had been a great change in the character of the battle
over night. The heavy thunder of the guns was greatly reduced in volume,
though they should still have been able to hear it. And it was
unmistakably coming from further north. It must be that the Germans were
retreating. But they walked for three hours before they knew for certain
that they were right.
They did not meet the cuirassiers of whom they had heard. Instead a
cloud of dust that they saw for two miles before men emerged beneath it
turned out to be a column of French infantry. They were in their Boy
Scout uniforms, and the men who first saw them at the side of the road
cheered them. Soon a captain came up to them.
"Eh bien, mes enfants!" he said. "What do you do here? Where do you come
from!"
They told him Amiens, and he laughed.
"And it is there, precisely, that we are going!" he laughed. "The
Germans are out by now and our men were in there an hour ago!"
Frank and Henri cried out in delight at the news.
"May we go with you?" asked Frank. "We would like to go back as soon as
possible."
"As to that you must ask the colonel. He will decide--and, see, here he
comes now in his automobile! I will report to him that you are here."
But there was no need, for the officer who sat in the car was Colonel
Menier himself, and at the sight of them he laughed aloud.
"Ah, my brave ones!" he cried. "So you are here! Ride with me! Did the
Germans drive you from Amiens? I shall drive you back!"
They obeyed that order with delight. They sprang to their places in the
car.
"Now tell me everything!" said Colonel Menier. "How it is that you left
Amiens and how you came here?"
He leaned over first, however, and spoke to his driver, and the car shot
forward, leaving the troops far behind.
And then they began the story, each telling the part of it that he knew
best. At the story of how the German officer had recognized Henri and
caused his arrest, he clenched his hand angrily.
"They make war even on boys!" he said, bitterly. "A brave enemy
recognizes the heroism of his foes. If I had been in that man's place I
should have forgotten my own defeat and praised those who had caused
it!"
Then came the story of Frank's discovery of the hidden vault and the
boat, and of their voyage down the Somme and their lucky escape.
"Milles tonnerres!" he cried. "A thousand million thunders! That was
well done! Through all the German sentries! Eh, well, I have a surprise
for you when you reach Amiens with me, I think. Mind, I make no
promises! Only wait!"
Slow as had been their flight from Amiens, their return was swift.
Already they were in the outskirts. From every window hung the tricolor.
Everywhere the people were mad with delight. The Germans had gone. At
the sight of Colonel Menier's uniform women leaned from their windows,
shrieking their joy.
In the town itself French troops were everywhere, marching through. Guns
thundered along, and there were English troops as well as French. Amiens
was in holiday mood. Straight through the cheering crowds the car sped
on. It drew up at last before the Hotel de Ville. Sentries stood at the
main door, but at the sight of Colonel Menier they saluted and gave him
free passage.
Inside Colonel Menier spoke to a staff officer, who smiled and went into
a room at the side. In a moment he returned.
"The general will receive you, my colonel," he said.
"Good!" He turned to Frank and Henri. "You are to meet the greatest man
in France," he said. "Allons!"
They followed him into the room. By the window stood a man, not tall,
but large rather than fat. He turned quiet eyes toward them. Colonel
Menier saluted.
"Monsieur le General Joffre," he said. "I have the honor to present the
Boy Scouts of whom you have heard--they who served General Smith-Derrien
so well and who destroyed the Zeppelins near Abbeville."
"These are the ones?" said the general. "In the name of France, I thank
you! And in the name of France, and by order of His Excellency the
President of the Republic, I hereby decorate you! For each, the cross of
the Legion of Honor! Which is Francois Barnes?" glancing from one to
the other.
Frank stepped forward. General Joffre took the cross from his own breast
and pinned it to Frank's. Then he turned to another officer, and
received another cross from him. And this he affixed to Henri's breast.
For a moment they were overcome. And then together they cried:
"_Vive la France!_"
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired.
One instance each of LaFere and La Fere have been retained.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts on the Trail, by George Durston