THE UHLAN
"Come along with me," said du Chaillu, when they had left Madame de
Frenard in the station. "I'll see that you're put up for the rest of
the night, and to-morrow we'll make other arrangements."
"Thank you," said Paul, "but I think we'd better go back. A good many
things were saved, after all, when the house was burned. When so much
was destroyed I think we ought to try to safeguard what remains, for my
uncle's sake. And there is a place there where we can sleep very well,
thank you."
"H'm!" Du Chaillu looked more than doubtful. "But there is no telling
how soon the Germans will be there. Had you thought of that?"
"They won't hurt us, sir," said Paul.
"No, I suppose not. There's no reason for them to make war on boys or
any other non-combatants. One word of warning, though. If the Germans
do come before you can get away again, don't make any move against
them. All the fighting must be done by soldiers. The Germans consider
it is murder if a civilian fires on them, and they are in the right,
according to the rules of war. They are justified in making any
reprisals. So be careful yourselves, and warn all the men about your
place. Tell them the message is from me. General Leman has issued
orders that no civilians are to oppose the Germans or give them any
excuse for destroying undefended places."
"I understand, sir," said Paul. "Then we may go?"
"Yes. But be careful. We have seen aeroplanes of the Germans
already--one of our flyers chased one of their Taubes early in the
evening. They dropped bombs on Fort Boncelles."
"I never thought of that!" exclaimed Arthur, sharply. "Do you suppose
one of their aeroplanes could have dropped a bomb that would have set
our house afire?"
"It is possible," said du Chaillu, shortly. "They might not have
realized what they were doing. I hope they did not, if that is what
happened. It is not the sort of work for soldiers."
"It makes very little difference now," said Paul. "The house is
burned, so it doesn't matter, I suppose, how it came to catch fire. We
will go back, then, major."
"Very well. Report to me at headquarters here when you return,
although by that time I may be on duty in one of the forts. I cannot
tell; we of the staff are in one place one minute, and far away the
next. Good-night, again, and better luck, this time, than my wishes
brought you before."
"Good-night!" they echoed, and set out to find their carriage. But
before they reached it Paul stopped.
"I want to go to Henri Creusot's house," he said. "There is something
in the stable there we shall need. I suppose we can't wake him up, but
I shall get what I want, even if we cannot."
Arthur followed him willingly, although Paul volunteered no explanation
of what it was that he was after. And he remained on guard outside the
stable while Paul went in, to reappear presently with a large and
cumbrous burden--a sack bulging with the spoil of his little raid.
Then they went to the carriage, and soon they were driving back toward
the ruined house. When they reached it the dawn was beginning to break
in the east--toward Germany! It was a red, menacing dawn--the sort of
daybreak one might well have expected to see in such a time. About the
smouldering remains of the fine house the men employed about the place
were still grouped. It seemed all had decided that in some mysterious
fashion the Germans were responsible for the ruin that had been
wrought, and they were talking sullenly of what they meant to do to the
enemy.
Paul gave quick directions for housing and hiding the pictures and the
few fine pieces of furniture that had been saved. When all that he
ordered had been done there seemed a good chance that what the flames
had spared would be safe from further risk. Then he and Arthur went
over to look at the garage, which had not been touched by the fire.
"This is a piece of good luck, anyhow," said Paul, when he found the
little building untouched. "I think we'll live here as long as the
Germans will let us, Arthur, which probably won't be very long, even if
we pretend to be stupid. We can be mighty comfortable."
"Of course we can," said Arthur. "It will be like a picnic, or like
camping out, won't it?"
"I'm afraid it won't," said Paul. "But we'll make the best of it,
anyway. Come along to the house. I think the ruins are cool enough
for us to find out what I want to know."
He led the way and Arthur followed. But it was not to the house that
Paul went first. Instead, he led the way to a post that had carried
the telephone wire, and, finding the wire, began to follow it toward
the wing where it had entered the house.
"What on earth are you looking at that telephone wire for?" asked
Arthur, completely mystified. "It seems to me that that's the least
important thing there is left."
"I think it's going to be about the most important thing!" said Paul,
surprisingly. "Go get a shovel, will you? Or rather two, for we've
got some digging to do."
Arthur obeyed, as he always did, but he was thoroughly mystified. And
no light was shed upon the mystery when he returned, to find that Paul
had disconnected the wire in the ruins of the house and was dragging it
away from the post where it entered the grounds. But now Paul
explained.
"Do you remember that several of the crosses on those maps we found
were right over there?" he asked, pointing in a direction east of the
burned house.
"Y--es," said Arthur, with an effort to remember. "Oh, yes, I do, now!"
"Well, that means that there will be a battery there. Do you see how
it's screened? The woods hide it completely. It doesn't make any
difference to the Germans that they can't see their target--they've got
a fixed range, because they know just where the forts are, and they'll
get the range of anything else from their aeroplanes."
"Yes, I see that."
"Well, I think this battery is likely to turn out to be the most
important one on this side. I think that they will depend on it to
silence Boncelles and Embourg. We haven't many aeroplanes and it's
going to be mighty hard for our people in the forts to tell what the
effect of their shell fire is, and to correct the range, especially if
the Germans use comparatively light guns that they can move about, as I
think they will. Now do you see?"
"Not quite--"
"Suppose we stay here in the garage? There's a chance that they may
let us, isn't there? Well, if they do, we can see whatever goes on,
with a little care. And if we have a buried telephone wire leading to
Boncelles we can report just what happens when a shell is fired, and
they can correct their aim. That's why I want to dig a trench for that
wire from some distance outside the grounds here, and run it under the
garage--into the pit, you know."
"Oh, now I see! You mean we would stay here and pretend not to have
any idea of what's going on, while we were really sending information
to the forts?"
"Yes. Now the first thing we've got to do is to tap that wire and tell
them in Liege what we are doing, so that they can give us direct
connection with Boncelles. Then we'll try to hide the wire, so that
the Germans won't find it."
Now the mysterious errand Paul had had in Liege was explained. He had
brought with him all he thought he could use of a lot of wire and
telephone instruments that one of their fellow scouts had used in
setting up a miniature telephone exchange of his own, with wires
connecting his house with that of some of his chums.
"We'd better dig the trench and bury the wire first because we've got
to be very careful in filling it up again, so that no one will notice
what's been done," said Paul. "That's the most important part. You
see, if we were caught at this we'd be treated as spies--and that's
what we'll really be."
"Isn't there a chance that they won't really come as far as this?"
asked Arthur.
"Yes, there is and a very good chance, too, I think. Really, if they
do come up to this point, I believe we won't have much chance. But the
grounds here will be well within the range of the guns from the forts,
and I don't think they'll do any infantry work until they've tried to
beat down our forts with their big guns. Not from this side, anyway.
If they try to take Liege by storm they're more likely to attack
between Liers and Pontisse, or between the Meuse and Barchon. The
country's more open there. Here, you see, the Ourthe runs between
Boncelles and Embourg, and the two forts command all the approaches.
So I think there's a good chance for us. But we have got to take
precautions, of course, because they are almost sure to throw out their
scouts as far as this in the beginning, even if they recall them after
the guns start firing."
Neither of the scouts thought of being tired after that. Arthur began
the work of digging out the shallow trench in which they meant to bury
the wire, while Paul tapped the main wire and explained to an officer
at headquarters in Liege what they planned. It took him some time to
overcome the doubts of this officer, but finally it was arranged that
his wire should be connected with Fort Boncelles direct, and he talked
to that important link in the chain of defending forts for some time,
making final arrangements.
"No matter what happens, of course," he said, "you mustn't call us,
because if we're quiet for any length of time, it may mean that the
Germans are around us. We will watch the firing, after it begins, and
tell you whatever we can find out."
Then he returned to help Arthur, and they worked until it was broad
daylight. By that time they had the wire well hidden, so that it was
entirely invisible. It came out under the garage, and the instrument
at its end was well concealed in the pit under the place where the big
car stood when repairs were to be made.
"Well, that's done!" Paul exclaimed at last, with a deep sigh of
satisfaction. "Are you tired, Arthur?"
"I wasn't just a minute ago," said Arthur, rubbing his eyes. "But now
I'm so sleepy that I feel as if I could go off standing up!"
"Well, there's no reason why we shouldn't get some sleep now. I'm like
you. As long as we still had something to do I didn't feel tired. But
now,--"
A great yawn interrupted him. They surveyed their work with blinking
eyes, then they crept up to the little room above the garage, and in
less than a minute were sound asleep.
It was broad daylight when they went asleep; when they awoke dusk had
fallen. Paul woke first, and he went to the window and looked out.
Everything, seemingly, was just as it had been when they had last
looked out. The scene was one of profound peace. From the window he
could not see the burned house, a patch of blackened ruin in the fair
landscape. The fading light played on the leaves just as it had a
thousand times before; shadows lay along the little mossy patches, the
corners of the lawns that he knew so well.
"Wake up, Arthur!" he said, turning to his chum.
He had to shake Arthur before he could arouse him.
"It isn't time to get up yet--it's still dark, Paul," protested Arthur,
sleepily. But then he began to recover his wits, and he dragged
himself up, and went with Paul to the window. For a few moments they
were quiet, listening.
"Perhaps they're not coming--perhaps it's all a false alarm. I don't
hear any guns."
"Look!" said Paul, gripping him suddenly by the shoulder. He pointed
to the road. Against the sky stood a horse, on its back a silent rider
with a spiked helmet, in his hand a long lance. A German Uhlan!