THE SPY
"What will they do to us, do you think?" asked Arthur. He was
trembling, but with excitement, not from fear.
"Nothing, unless they can prove that we have actually been working
against them," answered Paul. "And I don't see how they can."
"If those two who chased us when we ran off with their motorcycle saw
us, they'd be able to prove it," said Arthur.
"Yes, I hadn't thought of them. But they're prisoners fortunately. I
hope they'll be well looked after, too. It would be mighty awkward if
they turned up here suddenly. They know just how important were the
plans we got and these others don't know anything about that, at all.
I believe that our people knowing just where the German guns were
placed made a great deal of difference."
The coming of a soldier interrupted them. He told them that they were
to be examined at once.
"Then you will be shot," he said, showing his teeth. "As you deserve,"
he added, trying to look fierce.
But there was a twinkle in his eye that both Paul and Arthur saw. They
had been treated very well so far. They had seen nothing, as a matter
of fact, to make them think that the Germans were brutal. They made
war, and that is brutal in itself. The gentlest men, when they are
engaged in a campaign, must do things that they would never attempt of
their own free will.
The soldiers now led the way to a house that both boys knew well, for
it belonged to a friend of their uncle, whom they had often visited.
It was being used as headquarters now by a part of the German staff,
and was full of officers who looked at them curiously. They still wore
their Boy Scout uniforms. There had been no opportunity, as a matter
of fact, for them to change their clothes before the fire, and all the
other clothes they possessed had been destroyed, of course, at that
time.
"You were caught by our troops in territory occupied by us--within our
actual battle line, indeed," said a colonel who received them. "Did
you not receive warning that all civilians were to leave the zone in
which you were found?"
They could deny that truthfully, and did. Paul was rather glad, as the
matter had turned out, that his plan of pretending to be dumb had not
been tried. He knew that it would be very hard for Arthur to tell an
untruth, even by suggestion, excellent as was the excuse for doing so.
Arthur could understand, of course, that to deceive the enemy was
permissible, and, more than that, praiseworthy. It was a question
simply of whether he could hope to do so successfully.
"The thing to be done now is to get rid of you," said the colonel. He
frowned severely, but, as with the soldier who had brought them for
examination, there was a smile behind the frown. "I might have you
shot, but we should save ammunition. And I might send you back to
Germany, to be confined in a fortress, but that would mean that we
should have to feed you. If I let you go through the lines toward Huy,
will you promise not to come back?"
"Yes, sir," said Paul, heartily. He was amazed, by the prospect of
release, but he realized, of course, that while he and Arthur knew what
dangerous enemies they had already proved themselves, the colonel did
not.
And so, to their surprise and Paul's relief, they were soon being
escorted through the German lines, their direction being southwest, in
the general direction of Huy, the Belgian city nearest to Liege of the
border line of fortresses. Huy, though not as strong as either Liege
or Namur, was a link in the chain, having been designed chiefly to
supply a base for the centre of an army resisting the advance of an
invader, with its wings resting on the more powerful fortifications of
Liege and Namur.
Their escort was the same good-natured soldier who had taken them
before Colonel Schmidt, and he paid little attention to them. Perhaps
he thought that there was no need to watch them closely; perhaps he was
simply negligent. But, whatever the reason, Paul was able to discover
the composition of the force upon which they had stumbled with a good
deal of exactness. He learned to what regiment their escort belonged,
and he also saw numbers on helmets and other identifying marks that
supplied him with much other information. Neither he nor Arthur knew
the real meaning of what they saw, but both boys knew that if they
reached the Belgian lines they would find officers of the intelligence
department to whom such facts would be valuable in the extreme. It was
important, as both knew, for the Belgians and their allies to know
something of the German plan.
Paul, indeed, had spoken of that very point to Arthur after their
arrest.
"If we see what regiments are here, others can use what we tell them to
determine what army corps are being used in this attack, and perhaps
what the general plan is," he had said. "Then the French will know
where to mass their troops."
"Last stop!" said the soldier, finally. Some time before they had
passed a sentry and for nearly a mile they had seen only outposts. "I
must go back now. You are all right. We have passed the last of our
posts. The next soldiers you see will be Belgians, unless we have
cavalry in this direction. Perhaps this is a mistake. It might be
better if I shot you myself, to make sure--eh?"
"You needn't trouble," said Arthur, and the soldier roared with
laughter.
"All right, then, I won't!" he declared. "You are good boys. I am
glad they let you go. But what will you do? You live in Liege, don't
you? You can't get back there."
"We have friends in Brussels," said Paul. "I think we shall do very
well now, thank you."
"Good! Then I will go back, and you will go forward--so! Good-bye!"
"Good-bye!" they echoed.
He drew himself up, stiffly, saluted, and then, laughing, broke into
the famous German goose step, used as a mark of respect to superior
officers, for a few paces. In a few moments he was gone.
"I don't believe he wanted to come into Belgium and fight against us,"
said Arthur. "He was splendid to us, wasn't he? And the colonel was
kind, too. It made me feel--oh, I don't know--"
"As if we were being sneaky? I know just what you mean. I felt like
that, too. But I told myself that we couldn't think of whether we
liked a few Germans who were good to us--that they weren't just people,
they were part of the enemy."
"Yes. That's what I thought of, too. But it was hard just the same,
Paul. I did feel like a sneak. But I suppose we are doing what is
right."
"I wish there was some way of getting the news of what we've learned
to-night into Liege," said Paul, frowning. "I don't see just what it
all means, but I'm quite sure it's important. I tell you what--I
believe they're sending even more troops into Belgium than anyone
thought they would. That soldier was from a regiment that is stationed
with the army corps that has its headquarters in Koenigsburg, near the
Russian border. It seems to me they are going to leave fewer troops
there than anyone expected. Perhaps the staff knows that, but then
perhaps it doesn't."
"If we get to Huy they can send word from there," said Arthur. "They
must have wireless working, even if the Germans have cut all the wires."
"That's so! I hadn't thought. I don't know just where we are, though,
do you?"
"Not exactly. They tried to keep us from finding out, I think. But I
watched the stars whenever I could, and I think if we turn to the right
here and keep on northeast, we'll come to the river road from Liege to
Huy. Then we shouldn't have any trouble at all, so far as I can see."
Paul looked up at the stars himself, studied the lay of the land for a
moment, and then nodded in agreement.
"Yes," he said. "That's what we'll have to do. Come on, then. We'll
cut across the fields. I'd rather do that than take chances on finding
a path or a road. It can't be so very far, do you think so?"
"No. Listen, Paul! What's that?"
The exclamation was prompted by a sudden roar in the direction as
nearly as they could guess of Fort Boncelles. At the same time the
great searchlights that were steadily sweeping earth and air from the
forts around Liege seemed to focus on one spot--the spot, they soon
determined, from which the renewed sound of heavy firing came.
"That must be the attack on Fort Boncelles that we were afraid of,"
said Paul.
"Well, they were ready for it, Paul. You don't think it can succeed,
do you?"
"I think we ought to know pretty soon. No, I don't see how a fortified
position can be carried by an infantry attack when its garrison is
entirely prepared, unless the force is so overwhelming that the
attacking force can lose an awful lot of men--more men than the Germans
have altogether, if we saw all, or even nearly all, of them."
They stayed where they were for a few minutes, listening to the firing.
For the first time the note of real hand-to-hand fighting came into the
battle din. They could hear the crashing volleys of rifle fire, and
the explosive crackling of machine guns coming into play for the first
time. That was confirmation enough of their guess that a regular
assault on the line of forts was in progress.
"You see that just shows how important it is for them to capture Liege
quickly, Arthur," said Paul. "They know perfectly well that when they
bring up a few more army corps and their big guns they can batter the
forts to pieces and just overwhelm our garrison."
"But they want to have the path clear for the extra army corps. That's
what you mean, isn't it, Paul?"
"Exactly. They want the way through and around Liege clear, so that
the great army, when it's all ready, can sweep straight on and strike
the French before they're ready for them. They don't want to bother
with us at all. So they're willing to lose all those men just to save
a few days."
"But why are a few days so tremendously important to them?"
"They've got to strike before France is ready, because they can't use
their whole army against France. They must keep a great many corps to
use against Russia, or else Russian soldiers will get to Berlin before
the Germans get to Paris. And their chance is to do it in the first
few days of the war. France takes nearly a week longer than Germany to
mobilize, and Russia almost a month longer than either France or
Germany. You see what we will do at Liege and Namur is to hold up the
Germans long enough to make up for their being able to mobilize more
quickly."
The firing was dying away now; the heavy guns resumed their work, and
the lighter machine guns were silent.
"I think they've repulsed the attack all right," said Paul. "That's
why the fire has slackened. Come on! We really haven't so much time
to lose."
So they struck off from the road, crossing into a field full of grain.
"It seems a shame to trample down this grain, but it's got mighty
little chance of being harvested this season anyhow," said Arthur.
"Yes. The German army will advance this way probably, and, even if it
didn't, I don't believe there would be men enough to garner the crop."
Suddenly Arthur stumbled. He had walked against a man who was lying
amid the grain. Now the man started up with a cry. And they both
recognized Ridder--the man who had dropped the all-important plans!