UNDER THE BRIDGE.
Of course what Anthony told them caused the boys more or less concern.
They had no desire to fall into the hands of the Germans. While it could
not be said that they were against the invaders, the terrible stories
they had heard in Antwerp, even if only a small part were true, gave
them an unpleasant feeling toward the Kaiser's men.
That word Uhlan was dreaded by every Belgian or native of Northern
France. While it really stands for the cavalry arm of the German forces,
still, ever since the Franco-Prussian war of more than forty years ago,
it has possessed a terrible significance all its own. Humble peasants
shivered when they pronounced it, and no doubt many an unruly child was
threatened with the coming of the terrible Uhlans unless it mended its
ways.
"If that's the case, then," Merritt voiced the opinion of himself and
chums by saying hurriedly, "we want to get out of this. It's a case of
either run or hide with us."
"But where could we hide?" asked Tubby, looking all around him
helplessly. "Just now there isn't a single cottage in sight; and the
bare fields around don't offer much shelter, seems to me."
"There's a bridge just ahead of us," said Rob.
"And we might manage to get our mounts down underneath," added Merritt
instantly, grasping the idea that was in the patrol leader's mind. "The
bank slopes easy enough to allow of it."
"Eet could be done, Messieurs!" allowed the guide, who was even more
alarmed, it seemed, than Tubby himself, since the prospect of falling
into the hands of the dreaded Uhlan raiders began to assume greater
proportions, now that the peril no longer lay in the dim distance, but
was close at hand.
"Then let's hurry and see what it looks like under the bridge," advised
Rob.
Just as they figured, it proved easy enough to lead their horses down
the bank, which was covered with grass and growing weeds, for since the
war began all really unnecessary work on roads and railways had been
stopped. And those horses would have willingly gone anywhere if there
only seemed a prospect that they might rest a spell, for they seemed
tired all of the time.
"Listen to them shouting, will you?" Tubby complained as they were going
down amidst the bushes that promised to screen them from the party on
the other side of the little stream across which the massive bridge had
been built.
"I'm afraid they must have seen us," Merritt said, "and that will mean
they'll soon be across the bridge again to find out what we're doing,
and who we are. What's the program, Rob?"
"We must act as though our only object in coming down here was to water
our horses," replied the patrol leader; this idea having possibly come
into his mind as he noticed the way his mount put its ears forward, and
commenced to whinny--as horses invariably do when they scent water, and
are thirsty.
"Come on, here, what's ailing you, Dobbin?" demanded Tubby, jerking at
the reins when his animal displayed an inclination to hold back.
"He acts kind of queer, doesn't he?" Merritt said when, after
considerable fussing, Tubby managed to coax his horse to once more
advance, though the animal seemed to be snorting, and trembling. "If we
were on the cattle range right now I'd be half inclined to think he
smelled a rattler near by."
"My stars! I hope they don't have such pests over here in Belgium!"
exclaimed Tubby, beginning to himself show immediate signs of
nervousness.
"Not the least danger," declared Rob. "But, all the same, my horse seems
trying to hold back, just as yours did, Tubby."
"They're sure a cantankerous lot all through!" grumbled the fat scout,
looking carefully where he expected to plant his foot next; for, in
spite of Rob's assurance, he was not quite so certain that the
undergrowth beneath the bridge might not harbor some poisonous reptile
which might strike unexpectedly.
"They're still keeping up that shouting!" announced Merritt, listening.
"Which I take it is a queer thing for them to do. If they're German
raiders why don't they come across and interview us, I wonder? I thought
I saw uniforms among the bunch. How about that, Rob?"
"The sun was in my eyes, and I couldn't say for certain," acknowledged
the one spoken to, jerking at the bridle of his horse.
"One thing is sure," said Tubby, "the horses are not at all thirsty;
else there's some thing they don't like about this place down here."
All of them were really puzzled by the strange actions of their horses.
It was no longer simply Tubby's mount that acted so contrary, but the
other three also.
"Guess my nag got cold feet about something; and it's catching as the
measles," Tubby announced, as he shook his head in the manner of one who
finds himself with too hard a nut to crack.
"Well, that water looks cool and clear," said Merritt, "and I think I
could enjoy a few swallows myself, if the horses won't."
"Sure it ain't poisoned, are you, Merritt?" queried Tubby dubiously.
"Oh! get that crazy notion out of your poor head, Tubby. Germans don't
make war that way. They face the music, and stand up before the guns.
What makes you look at me like that, Rob?" and Merritt as he asked this
question stopped short, for he had been in the act of putting his threat
into deeds, and getting down beside the stream to take a drink.
"I smell it too, Rob!" exclaimed Tubby just then. "And, oh! let me tell
you it's a rank odor. Isn't it in this country they make all that
Limburger cheese; or over the border in Holland? Well, if you asked me
I'd say it was something like that."
"Smells more like burnt powder to me!" snapped Rob, showing visible
signs of increasing excitement.
With that he commenced looking hurriedly around. Perhaps a sudden
tremendous suspicion may have flashed into his mind, and he was seeking
to justify it by making some sort of discovery.
The gully was of considerable width, as has been said before, though
just at that time in the late summer the stream that flowed through it
did not appear to be of any great depth, and could be easily forded.
There were bushes and grass and weeds growing all about, besides stray
stones that may have fallen there when the solid masonry of the really
fine bridge had been constructed years before.
Although he turned his eyes in this quarter and that, Rob failed to see
anything that looked at all suspicious. Still that peculiar odor
continued to strike his sense of smell, stronger than before, if
anything.
"Must be something burning, fellows!" announced Tubby, as he held a hand
up so that he could close his nose with thumb and finger against the
offensive odor.
The guide had meanwhile thrown himself down at the brink of the stream
and proceeded to drink his fill. Evidently he had no fear concerning the
quality of the water. Typhoid germs were unknown to his lexicon; and so
long as water looked fairly clear it suited him.
He was getting on his feet again as Tubby made that last remark. His
horse had been pulling more violently than ever at the rein, and the
Belgian started to say something uncomplimentary to the animal in
Flemish.
Rob had stopped examining the shore upon which they were standing. He
turned his gaze across the stream to the opposite bank, for his scout
training told him that since the breeze came from that quarter he would
be apt to learn the cause of the odor, so like burnt powder, if he
followed it up.
The others heard Rob give a half suppressed shout, as though he had made
a sudden and startling discovery.
"Oh! what is it?" cried Tubby, straining to keep his horse from trying
to start up the ascent again.
"Across the river, over there under the arch of the bridge, don't you
see that little curl of blue-white rising?" exclaimed Rob. "Watch it and
you'll find that it is creeping along over the ground. Come, we've got
to get up out of this in a hurry! Turn your horses, and let them help
to drag you up! Quick, everybody; not a second to lose, I tell you!"
Tubby no longer tried to hold his horse back; on the contrary, he even
urged the animal to climb the grade in frantic haste. He did not know
what it all meant, but Rob acted as though there must be some terrible
danger threatening them; and Tubby was no fool.
With cries and shouts they urged the animals to ascend. Several times a
horse would slip, and come near falling headlong backward; then it was
the one who held the reins found it necessary to encourage the
struggling beast with word and act, so that the horse might regain his
footing.
Tubby, chancing to glimpse Rob's face about the time they drew near the
top was horrified to see how very white it seemed. Then more than ever
did he realize that it must be something dreadful that had threatened
them.
"Rob, tell us what it was all about?" Tubby managed to gasp, when,
having reached the road again, they were hurrying back as rapidly as
they could go, the horses helping to drag them along.
"Just this," Rob told him briefly. "They've fixed a mine there under the
bridge, so as to blow it up; and we've had the narrowest escape of our
lives!"