VICTORY!
There came a savage exclamation of rage from the solitary driver of the
car, as it swerved violently and dangerously before he could stop it.
Then, still muttering, he was out of the car and at the task of jacking
it up. Evidently he was in a fearful hurry and it was easy to guess
that his errand was one of the most pressing importance, for, though he
kicked the horseshoes away, and so evidently understood what had caused
his mishap, and knew that it could not have been accidental, he wasted
no time in looking for whoever had caused it.
Instead he went to work with a will, ripping off the deflated tires and
attaching others. He worked fast and furiously, and with the skill of
one accustomed to the task.
"What are we to do now? Rush him?" whispered Arthur. "We can do it
while he is bending over like that, and the two of us ought to be able
to hold him down, too."
"We can't take any chances," Paul whispered back grimly. He showed
Arthur a horseshoe that he had retained. "He's a German officer and an
enemy, and we have a right to do anything we can to damage the enemy.
I'm going to hit him with this. If I do it right, he won't be able to
move for some time."
Arthur shuddered a little. The idea of actually attacking a man from
behind in such a way was unpleasant. But he realized that Paul, who
had a reputation for gentleness, could like the idea as little as he
did himself, and also that it was vitally necessary to secure
possession of the car, though even yet Paul's whole plan had not come
to him.
"All right!" he said. "Come on, then!"
"No; wait until he has finished! We might as well let him do the work,
and have the car ready.
"But he will do the tires on this side first! He will be on the other
side of the car afterward."
"No, he won't. He's got to come back to side when all the tires are on
because the jack is on this side. Don't you see?"
"Oh, yes. I didn't think."
They waited breathlessly while the German worked. There was something
oddly familiar about him, but his long, flowing overcoat prevented them
from seeing him very well. He wore a uniform cap, fortunately, instead
of a helmet, which would have given him a much better chance since it
would have been very difficult for Paul to do what he planned with a
helmet in the way.
Bad as the accident had been, the German worked so fast that in a very
few minutes he had all the tires on, and was pumping them up as fast as
possible. Then, when that was done, he came back, as Paul had seen
that he must, and stooped over to remove the jack that had lifted the
wheels from the ground. And that was the moment in which Paul struck.
"Stay behind!" he whispered, to Arthur. "I may need your help if
anything goes wrong."
Then with one leap he reached the German. He landed quietly, and,
though the German heard him and half turned, it was all over in a
second. Paul brought down his horseshoe on the officer's skull, and he
crumpled without a cry and fell in a silent heap in the roadside.
"Quick!" cried Paul. "Look under the seat! There ought to be drinking
water there."
Arthur found a vacuum bottle, and a big gallon bottle of mineral water.
This Paul broke, and, dipping a handkerchief in it, made a wet bandage
for the German's head. Then he dropped the vacuum bottle where the
officer must find it when he recovered consciousness. And now he did
something that surprised Arthur. He stripped off the officer's coat,
took his uniform jacket and his cap. These he himself donned, and,
though they were far too big for him, he cried out with satisfaction at
the fit of the cap.
"Now do you see?" he cried. "I bet we could go through the German
lines like this! Hello!"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, but this is that chap Poertner--one of the men we got away
from! He was taken into Liege as a prisoner. Don't you remember? He
must have got away or else the Germans must have taken the fort where
they were holding him! I'm afraid it's that!"
But there was no more time to be wasted. Paul leaped to the steering
wheel of the car.
"In with you, Arthur!" he cried. "Get down, so that you won't be seen.
Down low, on the floor!"
"Why?" asked Arthur, though he had obeyed before he asked the question.
"You haven't any uniform. You'd be spotted at once. If they see me in
this rig, they may mistake me for a German officer, you see. That's
why I took it. I was sorry to have to do it, but it's war, and all's
fair! Now we're off!"
On the word he turned the car around, and they were really off in
another moment, racing down the hill that the car had just climbed so
laboriously, to have its journey so ingloriously halted.
"It's a wonderful little car. They must use a lot of these for
dispatch bearers," said Paul. "Arthur, isn't it lucky that Marcel
showed us all about how to run different sorts of cars? I hope he's
all right. I bet he enlisted too, if Uncle Henri joined the army when
he went to Brussels."
"It runs so smoothly and it's ever so much faster than the fastest
horse, of course," said Arthur. "I suppose all the armies must be
using automobiles for this sort of work. Where are you going, Paul?"
"I'm going to make a great big circuit, if we're not stopped before we
really get started," said Paul. "On foot we never could have got ahead
of the Germans in that sweeping flank movement of theirs. But now,
when we can make sixty miles an hour, I should think we ought to be
able to do it. I think the worst time will be right along here in the
first ten miles or so. All I'm hoping is that we don't run into the
people who know where Poertner was going in this car. I think we can
get by anyone else. But there's no telling where he did start from.
Perhaps from Huy."
"Huy? But we were there this morning--and our troops were there, too!"
exclaimed Arthur, plainly puzzled.
"That doesn't mean that they're there now. Huy couldn't have held out
for more than a few hours against a real attack. And we had very few
troops there. Our concentration seems to be further north."
They swept through Hannay at a terrific pace, but not so fast as to
prevent them from seeing that the wine shop was still open and that it
was full of Raymond's men. Paul sounded a blast on the siren of his
car, the peculiar siren that indicated its military character, and
laughed at the rush of people to the door of the shop. Then they were
out in the open road again.
And now Paul's knowledge of the geography of the country stood him in
good stead. Twinkling camp fires showed that they were running toward
a country that was literally swarming with Germans. Now more than
ever, it was plain that from all around Liege a great advance movement
was being pushed. Despite the battle that was still raging behind
them, these troops seemed to be in camp, a plain proof that the Germans
must still have troops enough and to spare behind them, though here
were fresh divisions that would not be engaged at all.
In the southwest the lights of Huy, could be seen, but they gave no
clue as to which army held the town. Only the fires that dotted the
ground, clustered about Huy in a great semicircle, seemed to indicate
that perhaps the Germans had not yet entered the town. They were west
of it, however, though only a few, toward Namur, and Paul muttered
angrily to himself as he saw that well west of Huy the fires stretched
in a solid line between that place and the fortress of Namur.
"We won't be able to reach Namur, I'm afraid," he said. "We might get
through, but I believe that our best chance is to swing right around
Huy, staying well inside the line of the fires, and slip past it, just
to the west. There is a bridge there, too. I don't believe we could
cross the Meuse anywhere else between Huy and Namur."
Twice they passed roadside patrols of Germans, but Paul's appearance
was deceptive, and the soldiers simply sprang to attention as the
flying car swept by, standing with their hands raised in salute. Paul
knew that at any moment he might run into a patrol less easily
satisfied, but that was a chance that had to be taken.
Now he was picking his way carefully, having reduced his speed a
little. Twice he boldly left the road and drove the car across the
soft ground of fields, for he had to follow a semicircle, and the road,
had he stuck to it, would have brought him right up to one of the camps
each time. But at last he was heading north and west again, and he
heaved a sigh of great relief.
He had to sacrifice speed now for a time to certainty. To have taken a
false turn would have spelled disaster, and, though he knew the map of
the country well enough, he had never traveled these roads himself.
But soon all danger seemed to be over. They were coming nearer to the
sounds of the battle again. These had died away for a time, and the
fight had seemed to be over. But whichever side had been losing had
brought up reenforcements, and as the first faint streaks of light in
the east that foretold the dawn began to spread in the sky the din was
louder than ever.
"Where are you trying to go?" asked Arthur.
"To Eghezee," said Paul. "That is a fair sized town and we ought to
find a telephone exchange still working there, with wires into Brussels
that haven't been cut. There is its smoke--do you see it right ahead?"
Arthur raised his head to look. And he saw something else. To the
right of the town, which was still two miles away, there was a moving
mass of grey.
"There come the Germans, too!" he groaned. "And they're nearer than we
are!"
Paul's answer was to urge the car to still greater speed. Arthur was
right. Heavy masses of Germans--Paul guessed there was a full division
of twenty thousand men--were advancing toward the town. They were
still some distance away, but they were moving fairly fast.
"It's the railway they're after, that line runs between Namur and
Tirlemont," said Paul. "Well, we've got to risk it now. Perhaps they
will catch us, but if we have any luck we'll get our messages through."
They came into a town that was almost wholly deserted, as it seemed.
The Germans had given warning of their coming, and the people had fled.
But in the building that was used by the telephone system there were
still signs of life. The door was open, and when, having left the car
outside, they burst into the room that contained the big switchboard,
they found a girl sitting there calmly, waiting for the calls that did
not come.
"Can you get Tirlemont?" cried Paul. "We must talk to the office of
the headquarters staff there. Say that we have come from Liege and
have a message from Major du Chaillu."
The girl stared at them incredulously for a moment. She had had the
pluck to stick to her post when she knew the Germans were coming, and
now she went to work without argument.
"If the wires are not cut!" she said. She manipulated the plugs and
then, after a brief delay, pointed to an instrument.
"A message from Major du Chaillu!" said a voice in Paul's ear.
"Impossible--he is here!"
"Thank Heaven!" cried Paul. "Call him to the telephone!"
In another moment he was telling what they had learned. He gave the
information concerning the great extent of the German strength first,
and was rewarded by a cry of astonishment. And then he told of their
situation; of how, having captured the car and fled through the whole
German army, they were now almost certain to be captured.
"With that coat--and the automobile!" cried du Chaillu. "My boy, I am
afraid they would shoot you! How far away are they?"
"Very near."
"Eh? Oh, I have it! Listen!"
Paul's face lighted up as he heard the plan.
"Yes--yes!" he cried. "I think we can! I think there will be time for
that!"
There was a click. The wire had been cut somewhere between him and
Tirlemont! But he did not care; he had done all that was needful. And
now, shouting to Arthur to follow, he dashed from the building.
"Don't delay a second!" he cried. "Come! Major du Chaillu says a
train, with an engine and one car, was held here to bring money from
the banks so that the Germans would not get it! He is having a
telegram sent to bid it wait! The station is a quarter of a mile away!"
Madly they ran through the deserted streets. Even as they ran past a
wide street that entered the one in which they were, they saw the head
of a German column coming down toward them. Never had they run so fast
before, but even so, it seemed that they would never reach the station!
But at last they were there; they dashed in--to see the train going out!
"The telegram must have come too late!" said Paul. "Well, perhaps they
will not know what we have done. It may not be so bad--"
"Look!" cried Arthur. The train had slowed down. Now it had stopped,
just by a signal tower. From the engine a man dropped, looked back,
and then began beckoning them on. They ran wildly toward him, and in a
moment they were being pulled on board the train.
"The operator in the signal tower heard the message coming in just as
we were starting," said the conductor. "He set the signal against us
and told us of the message! What good luck for you! Now, if the
Germans haven't cut the line, you are safe!"
And safe they were. The light train carried them to Tirlemont, and
there they met not only Major du Chaillu, but their uncle, now Colonel
de Frenard.
"We have informed the French staff of your news. It has changed the
whole plan of campaign," said du Chaillu. "Namur will be abandoned;
the real defence will be made on the border. Thanks to you the French
have escaped the trap that was being baited for them. And I have
special orders concerning you."
"What are they?" asked Paul.
"You are to be sent to Brussels immediately. And there you are to be
received by King Albert who has heard of your part in the defence of
Liege, for which all the world has praised Belgium and her brave sons!"