WITH FIRE AND SMOKE.
"Gingersnaps and popguns! then we're in for a warm time of it!" Tubby
burst out.
"Let's hope they manage to get the fire out; or that it doesn't spread
to the inn," Merritt soothed him, after the manner of one who wished to
throw oil on troubled waters.
"If only the Germans would pull out right away we could get down from
here in good time," continued Tubby hopefully. "Look again, fellows, and
see if they show any signs of skipping."
"They seem to be galloping all over the village, as far as I can see,
and threatening to shoot if anybody dares take a crack at them," Rob
announced, after making a hurried survey.
"Oh! my stars!" groaned Tubby, "little did I ever dream that I'd stand a
chance of being cooked before I'd been in Belgium two days. I always
said I liked cold weather best, and now I know it. Baked or stewed or
even broiled doesn't suit my taste."
"The fire next door is beginning to rage fiercely," remarked Rob. "The
people are just standing on, and sullenly watching it burn. They don't
seem to dare to offer to help save a single thing, because they might be
shot down."
"That house is doomed!" asserted Merritt, gloomily.
"Better keep back more," cautioned Rob. "The light grows stronger all
the while, you notice, and we might be seen up here by some Uhlan, who'd
think it fine sport to send a shot if only to frighten us. I thought I
saw one man glance up. If he happened to see that we wore khaki and had
on these military looking hats he'd pass the word along that there were
Belgian soldiers hiding in the inn."
"Please don't start a riot," begged Tubby. "It's sure bad enough as it
stands without that happening. If we had wings now we might sail away.
What wouldn't I give for an aeroplane to come along at this minute, and
pick me up? Rob, has our house taken fire yet?"
At first Rob did not see fit to answer, upon which the suspicious Tubby
pressed him to declare the truth.
"No matter how bad it is," he said soberly, "we should know the worst,
instead of pulling the wool over our own eyes, and believing
everything's lovely. How about it, Rob?"
"I'm afraid it's a bad job, Tubby."
"You mean we're on fire, do you?" questioned the other, with a hurried
intake of his breath, as his heart possibly beat tumultuously with new
apprehension.
"Yes, it's caught the end of the inn, and with that breeze blowing there
isn't a chance for this house to be saved," Rob continued. "I'm sorry
for the poor man who owns it; but then he'll be no worse off than tens
of thousands of other Belgian sufferers."
"But think of us, will you?" the fat scout urged. "We're neutrals only,
and it's a shame to make us stand for that foolish shot some sniping boy
may have fired. Hadn't we better make our way downstairs, Rob, and
throw ourselves on the mercy of the Uhlans?"
"I'm in favor of sticking it out just as long as we can," said Merritt
desperately; for only too well did he know that once they fell into the
hands of the Germans, all chances of carrying out his well laid plans
would be lost.
"Oh! so am I, when it comes to that," affirmed Tubby; "and I hope that
neither of you think I'd be the one to scream before I'm hurt. But I do
smell smoke, and that looks bad, as the plight of Bluebeard's wife."
There could be no questioning that what Tubby said was so, for little
spirals of penetrating smoke had commenced to come under the door, so
that they could already feel their eyes begin to smart.
Rob went back to the open window to watch. He knew that the thing
calculated to help them most of all would be the flitting of the Uhlan
troop. If the raiders would only gallop away from town there would be an
opportunity for the three Boy Scouts to make their way from the garret
of the doomed inn.
"Are they showing any signs of going yet?" asked Tubby, rubbing one
hand continually over the other; and then he burst out into a half
hysterical fit of laughter as he went on to add: "D'ye know, when I said
that it made me think of Bluebeard, don't you remember where the wife
was waiting to be called down to lose her head, and expected her
brothers to come to the rescue, she had her sister watching out of the
window for a cloud of dust on the road? And all the while she keeps on
asking: 'Sister Ann, Sister Ann, do you see anyone coming?'"
"I guess you're not as badly rattled as you make out, Tubby," suggested
Merritt, "when you can joke like that with the house on fire. In this
case you're wanting to know whether there's anybody going. Well, they're
here yet, I'm sorry to tell you."
"But I think they are getting together to ride away," Rob added.
"Did they shoot down many of the poor villagers on account of that
sniper?" asked the fat scout anxiously.
"No, I couldn't see anything like that," Rob hastened to assure him.
"There was some firing, but it looked to me as if it might be done for
effect, just like cowpunchers ride into town, yelling, and shooting
their guns in the air. But at the same time I think they must have got
the person who did the sniping."
"Yes, I heard several shots that seemed to come from inside that next
house," Merritt admitted. "It'll certainly be his funeral pyre. The
house is all aflame, and burning fiercely."
"Poor chap! he must have been crazy to fire on Uhlans when they were in
such force," Tubby declared. "They never refuse a dare, I've heard said.
And believe me, I don't ever want to test them. I hope they hear the
call soon now. That fire must be getting pretty close to us by this
time, boys!"
Rob opened the door of the garret a trifle, after having pushed back the
heavy trunk. Immediately a cloud of smoke entered, at which poor Tubby
fell back in dismay.
"Oh! we're goners, I'm afraid!" he moaned, making his way through the
pall in the direction of the one small window that was open, so that he
might secure a breath of fresh air.
"If we can keep the smoke out a little while longer it's going to be all
right," Rob informed them. "The Uhlans are all in the saddle, and seem
to be only waiting for the order to leave. I can hear the captain in
charge of the troop telling the villagers something or other, and he is
speaking in French, too; so I reckon it must be a warning that if a
single shot is fired as they ride away, they will turn back and not
leave one stone unturned in the place."
"That seems to be the usual Uhlan way, I've heard," muttered Tubby, glad
he could say anything; for at the time he was desperately clutching his
nose with thumb and fingers, as though in hopes of keeping the pungent
smoke from entering his lungs.
He had apparently gotten beyond the seeing stage, for both his eyes were
kept tightly closed. At the same time Tubby was listening eagerly for
good tidings. He knew that his chums were constantly on the lookout.
"There they go off!" he heard Rob say presently, when the situation had
almost become unbearable.
The sound of many hoofs coming to their ears, even above the roaring of
the fire, affirmed this statement. Tubby acted as though he wanted to
cheer, and then reconsidered his intention, through fear that the sound
might be heard by the Uhlans, and work them harm.
"Now, let's get out of here," said Rob briskly. "Take hold of my coat,
Tubby. Merritt, bring up the rear. We'll find a room just below this
where we can drop out of a window easily, if the stairs are ablaze, as
I'm afraid may be the case."
Passing down from the garret in this fashion, through dense billows of
smoke that struck terror to the soul of Tubby, they presently found
themselves in one of the ordinary rooms, used perhaps for stray guests.
Looking from the window Rob saw that it would be easy for him and
Merritt to drop down on the turf below. Tubby must be taken care of
first, and so Rob snatched a sheet off a bed, and twisted it into the
shape of a rope.
This he forced Tubby to take hold of, and then climb over the window
sill.
"Keep a fast grip, and we'll lower you!" Rob told the fat scout, who had
full confidence in his comrades since they had never failed him.
After all, it was an easy thing to let him down, because the distance
was short. As for themselves, the other two boys scorned to make use of
such means. Clambering out of the window, when Tubby reported himself
safe below, they hung down as far as they were able, and then just let
go. There was a little jar as they struck solid ground, and it was all
over.
"Beautifully done, fellows," Tubby was saying, as he dug his fat
knuckles into his still smarting eyes. "We'd pass muster for fire
laddies, I tell you. After all, it takes scouts to know what ought to be
done. But I think some of these people must have gone out of their minds
to whoop it up so. What's that poor woman shouting now, Rob? Can you
make it out? And look how they're holding her back, would you? It must
be the wife of the inn keeper; the loss of her home has unsettled her
reason, I'm afraid, poor thing!"
But Rob, who had been listening, knew better, as he immediately proved.
"It's a whole lot worse than that, I'm afraid," he told the others. "She
keeps calling out for her baby; and I think the child's been left in the
burning building!"