MYSTERIOUS SIGNALS IN THE NIGHT.
Of course once Rob found himself away from that pungent smoke his sight
was gradually restored to him, though for quite a while his eyeballs
smarted more or less from the experience.
"What will we do now?" asked Tubby, who was very happy in the knowledge
that he had been allowed to have at least a hand, two of them, he
affirmed, in the saving of the little one.
"I did have an idea of staying here all night," returned Rob. "But,
since the inn has been destroyed, or will be utterly before the fire
dies down, of course that's out of the question."
"You remember we asked questions of the tavern-keeper," Merritt
remarked. "He told us there was another village about three miles
farther on along the road. We might make out to go there, and see if
they will put us up. If not, it's a haystack for ours, provided there
are any haystacks around."
"H'm! three miles or more, on that animated saw-buck, eh? I like that.
It just invigorates me, of course," they heard Tubby telling himself,
but his voice was anything but cheerful.
"Here comes the mother and the baby; she wants to thank you, Rob,"
Merritt told the patrol leader.
"Let's hurry and get out of this, then!" urged Rob, who, above all
things, seemed to dislike being made a hero of when he felt that he had
not done anything worth mentioning after all.
"No, you don't!" exclaimed Tubby, laying violent hands on his chum.
"It's only fair that you give the poor woman a chance to tell you how
grateful she is. As it stands to reason she speaks only Flemish, none of
us can make head or tail out of what she says, unless she mentions that
one word I know, which isn't likely."
But the woman could talk French, and she made it very evident to Rob
that her mother heart was full of gratitude to him for what he had done.
To the intense amusement of Tubby, she even kissed Rob again and again,
on either cheek, after the manner of the Belgians.
"Bully! That's the ticket! Give him another for his mother! I like to
see anyone appreciate a _real_ hero. And here's the innkeeper; mebbe
he'll want to add a few little caresses, too, Rob. Now, don't grieve his
heart by refusing. They all do it over here, I reckon."
The man who had owned the inn contented himself, however, by telling Rob
just how much he appreciated the gallant work of the American Boy Scout.
Rob would not soon forget that experience; and it must always bring a
warm feeling to his heart when thinking of how, with such a little
effort, he had made these two humble people supremely happy.
When he tried to make the man accept pay for their food, the other
utterly refused to listen to such a thing.
"It is the good wife and myself, young m'sieu, who are heavily in your
debt," he told Rob, with the simplicity of sincerity. "How, then, could
we ever forgive ourselves for taking money from one who has saved our
baby's life? It would cause the blush of shame to dye our cheeks. We
could never look our neighbors again in the face. It would not be
right."
Of course that ended it, although Rob would rather have settled for that
supper. Merritt tugged at his coat, understanding what it was all about.
"Don't insist, Rob," he told the other. "You mustn't try to take away
the satisfaction he feels in having done one little thing for you. Let
it go at that. He is not a poor man, I imagine, and has something laid
by. Now, hadn't we better be getting out of here?"
"Oh! by the way, where are our horses?" asked Tubby, suddenly.
That reminded them they had forgotten all about the animals. The horses
had been left tied to a rail at some little distance alongside the inn
when they went in to get supper. Rob had intended, in case they meant to
spend the night there, to have the three animals taken care of, and fed.
The hitching bar was entirely destitute of horses of any type when they
turned their eyes in that quarter.
"What if those awful Uhlans took our steeds away with them?" Tubby
suggested, with his usual blank look, and that woebegone shake of his
head.
"It seems unbelievable to me," Rob replied; "but I'll make some
inquiries. The inn-keeper may have had them taken to the stables back
yonder, though I remember noticing the animals at the time we were
peeping out of the window when the troopers were coming down the village
street. Wait for me, and I'll ask him."
"I surely hope you learn good news, Rob!" Tubby sighed, as he thought of
three long Belgian miles separating him from some sort of bed, where he
could secure the rest he needed so badly.
Presently Rob came back, and, when Tubby saw him shake his head in the
negative, he gave a dull sort of a groan.
"Bottom knocked out of everything, is it, Rob?" he asked, in a dazed
sort of way.
"Well, nobody could give me any hope," was the reply. "Of course, the
landlord was too excited over the burning of his house to notice just
what the Uhlans did as they rode away, but one man told us he saw the
troopers take our horses trailing behind them."
"Then that settles it," said Merritt; "though I'll never understand what
they could want with those bony and tired nags, unless it was to make
bologna sausages out of. We're in for a little hike that will stretch
our legs."
"Yes, I guess it will," echoed Tubby, in a way that was hardly cheerful.
"And yours can stand a good deal of stretching, Tubby, you know," added
Merritt.
"There's no use crying over spilt milk," said Rob, in his usual cheery
fashion. "I more than half expected that we'd lose our mounts, sooner or
later."
"So did I," agreed Merritt. "Only I thought perhaps they'd die on our
hands from over-exertion. I never dreamed that rough riders like the
German cavalrymen would want to be caught leading such ragtag animals
along."
"Well, shall we make a move?" asked Rob.
There being no word against it, even from Tubby, who knew when duty
called, the three scouts took their last look at the still burning
houses, and then strode forth on the road leading toward the east.
The night promised to be unusually clear, for one thing. This pleased
Rob, for, as they would have no moon to light them on their way, even
the stars were welcome.
Three miles, under ordinary conditions, would have been reckoned almost
nothing to scouts accustomed to taking lengthy hikes over hills and
along valleys. It was a different matter, however, when passing through
a war-distracted country, where hostile armies were encamped, so that at
any minute they were apt to be greeted with a stern command, either in
German or in French or Flemish, to stand and give the countersign, with
the warning that to attempt flight would be at the peril of their lives.
Naturally the nerves of the boys were continually on edge. Tubby, in
particular, kept his eyes roving from side to side, then into the
uncertain distance ahead; and even at times turning to ascertain
whether they were being pursued by some soft-footed enemies who thought
to take them by surprise.
In this way more than a mile was passed over. When Rob announced that he
believed they must be all of halfway to the other village, Tubby
expressed fervent thanks.
"I'm still able to put one foot in front of the other," he remarked in a
hushed voice, for Rob had cautioned them against speaking aloud, as it
might draw unwelcome attention to the little party.
"Wait up a minute, please," whispered Merritt, and there was that about
his mysterious manner that gave Tubby another bad shock.
"What's the matter, now, Merritt?" he asked softly but solicitously.
"Hope you haven't got a stone bruise on your heel. Did you hear anything
suspicious? Are we going to be held up by a patrol? Oh! dear, why don't
you hurry and tell us the worst?"
"What do you make of that flickering light over there, Rob?" asked
Merritt. "It seems to be in an open field, as near as I can understand.
Just watch how it keeps on jumping up and down, then sideways."
"Why, it caught my eye just about the time you spoke, Merritt," came the
reply from the patrol leader. "It must either be the work of some crazy
person, or else a way of signaling by lantern."
"Say, I honestly believe you've struck the truth that shot, Rob," broke
in Tubby, who had, of course, immediately turned toward the spot
indicated. "See the way he swings the light around and makes all manner
of figures in the air with the same. Why, that was the letter N, as sure
as you live. And there goes E, followed by W and S. What does that spell
but NEWS? Hey! we're on the track of a discovery!"
"Will you keep still, Tubby, and let's see if he begins again?" said
Merritt eagerly.
"That must have been the last word of his message," remarked Rob
quickly, "but chances are he'll repeat it. Stand ready to spell it out
as well as we can. Three scouts accustomed to reading the Myers code of
fire signaling ought to---- There, that was C; and after that O, A, S,
T--which means COAST."
Slowly, and somewhat laboriously, the boys spelled the message, letter
for letter, their previous training proving of the greatest help; and
this was the result:
"_Coast clear--safe landing here--important news!_"