AN IMPORTANT CLUE.
"There was one thing I meant to mention to you, Merritt," said Rob, as
they once more started to zigzag across the field where so many windrows
of fallen Germans lay, just as they had dropped when making that daring
charge.
It was perhaps a little strange how the boys could come to converse as
they did while surrounded by such gruesome sights; but after several
hours' familiarity with such scenes these begin to lose some of their
harrowing features. And while Rob and his chum were still shocked by
frequent sights, they did not feel the same weakness that had, in the
beginning, almost overpowered them.
"Then, tell it now," urged Merritt.
"It was about Anthony," continued the other.
"Well, as we know only one Anthony just now," pursued Merritt, "I reckon
you must be referring to our late guide, the same who gave us the slip
like a coward. What about Anthony, Rob?"
"I guessed right about him," replied the patrol leader. "It was not fear
that tempted him to leave us in the lurch, but a craze to get in action.
I think Anthony, while too old a man to be on the active list of the
Belgian army, must have been a reservist."
"Yes, he told me so," said Tubby, coming up and catching what was being
said by his chums.
"Well," Rob continued, "apparently he knew where to go to get a suit,
for there he was as big as life, and he even had the audacity to wave
his hand at me, and grin."
"Where was this, Rob?" demanded Merritt, surprised, as well he might be.
"Where but sitting on one of those ammunition caissons that went
whirling past us into action. Anthony must have been with the artillery
corps. He felt the longing come over him when he thought of the enemies
of his country--those raiding Uhlans. So what did he do but take French
leave on his horse, and get to where this battery was waiting for
orders to proceed to the front."
"Oh! well, if you're dead sure it was Anthony," Merritt observed, as if
mollified by the information, "of course we'll have to forgive him. I
was only mad because I thought the fellow'd gone and gotten cold feet,
after taking our advance pay, too. If he's that kind of a patriot, I've
got no quarrel with Anthony."
"And perhaps he even had a share in mowing down some of these Germans
who had invaded his country," suggested Tubby. "Anthony seemed to be
pretty bitter against the Kaiser and his people for trying to cross
Belgium in order to strike France in the back, as he called it. Whee!
I'm tired; but I didn't give up, did I, fellows? You never thought Tubby
would be able to come through with what he has, and I know it."
"You deserve a medal, Tubby; and we were just saying what a change
there's been in you," Rob told him, causing a wan smile to flit across
the wearied face of the fat scout.
"Yes," added Merritt readily, "to see the tender way you handled that
German, hardly more than a boy himself, and who may never live to see
his people again, anyone would have thought you had it in you to be a
surgeon. Tubby, if I were you I'd pay more attention to such things. I
honestly believe there's a streak of it in your blood."
"Well," Tubby remarked complacently, "we've had eminent doctors in our
family; and my folks always said they hoped I'd take a fancy that way;
but when I found how weak I was every time I saw a little blood, I gave
up the idea. Now I've had my baptism on the battlefield, so mebbe I
_will_ change my mind. Even a soft-hearted fellow might make a good
doctor, if he couldn't be a surgeon."
"Listen, there's someone calling to us!" exclaimed Merritt.
"And in German, too," added Rob. "Look all around, and see if you can
find him. He must have recovered his senses after we passed by before."
"There's something moving under that pile of bodies," remarked Tubby
with a shudder; "yes, and now you can see a hand waving to us. Oh!
let's hurry and get the poor fellow out!"
The others were just as willing, and soon they had dragged a man out
from the weight that had almost smothered him.
"He's pretty badly hurt, I reckon," remarked Rob, as he immediately
stooped down over the Bavarian soldier, "but not fatally, I think. We'll
do what we can for him here, and the next time men come along with a
stretcher, we'll send him over to the field hospital."
The wounded German soldier had listened to them speaking.
"Are you American boys, then?" he asked, in excellent English.
"Well, now, he must have guessed that when you said you 'reckoned,'
Rob," declared Merritt, "but how comes it you talk English, my friend?"
"Oh! I'm from Hoboken," said the man, smiling in spite of the terrible
pain he must have been enduring.
Rob was already busily engaged stanching the bleeding from his wounds,
which seemed to be numerous, though not apt to prove fatal, if they had
proper attention.
"Do you mean Hoboken, New Jersey?" he asked, in surprise.
"Sure. I have lived there for many years now, and have a large brewing
interest. Krauss is my name, Philip Krauss. I went across from Munich,
in Bavaria, and was on a visit to my old home when the war came about.
Although I have long been an American citizen I still love my native
land, and they soon found a place for me in the ranks. But now if I ever
get over this I think I will have had enough of fighting, and expect to
return to my wife and children in Hoboken. But what are you doing here
on this terrible field? It is not the place for boys."
"We are Boy Scouts," Tubby informed him proudly. "By accident we were
where we could watch the battle being fought. Then along came the Red
Cross ambulances, and the nurses. They asked us to assist, and as scouts
all learn something about first aid, why we thought we'd help out. I
guess you're about our last case, Herr Krauss."
Meanwhile Rob and Merritt busied themselves. The way they went about
temporarily relieving his suffering, as well as stopping the loss of
blood, quite won the admiration of the Hoboken patriot, even as it had
done in the case of numerous other wounded men whom the boys attended
previously.
It chanced that once again the boys became immersed in their own
affairs, which were beginning to weigh heavily on their minds.
"I was making inquiries of one of the men with the stretchers," Rob told
his comrades, "and he assured me that this little place by the name of
Sempst is only a matter of six miles or so from where we are right now."
"Then," said Merritt, brightening up, "if only we stand a chance to get
around without being gobbled by the Germans, we might strike in there
to-morrow, and see if Steven Meredith is still at his post. The agent
sent word to my grandfather that he had accepted a position there in
charge of some manufacturing plant owned by a German firm in Brussels. I
think myself there may have been some truth in that story about his
being in the pay of the German Government, both over in America and
here!"
The wounded man was listening eagerly to what they said.
"Excuse me," he now broke in. "But that is not a common name; and I once
met a Steven Meredith, who pretended to be an American citizen, but who
I knew was an agent of the German Government. It may be the same man. I
entertained him, together with the German consul in New York City, at my
home in Hoboken. Do you happen to know any peculiarity about his looks
or manner that would identify him?"
"The man we are trying to find was tall," said Merritt quickly, "and has
a slight cast in his left eye. He talks with something of a twang, as
though he might be a Down-East Yankee."
"It must be the same!" declared Philip Krauss, as though convinced.
"That accent, I believe, was cleverly assumed for a purpose. Promise me
that you will not think it your duty to betray him to the enemy, and I
will tell you still more of him."
Merritt and Rob exchanged significant looks.
"We have no fight against either Germany or the Allies," Merritt
observed, "for Americans are neutral, and there would be no need of our
betraying him, even if we had the chance. So we can easily give you that
promise. He has something in his possession that belongs to my family;
and we have come a long way to get it; that is all we want of Steven
Meredith. Now, what can you tell us about him?"
"Only this," replied the wounded Hoboken brewer. "You have perhaps saved
my life, and I feel I am under heavy obligations for the favor. It is
worth something to my wife and family that I should live to see Hoboken
again. The man you are looking for is in the suburbs of Brussels. You
spoke of Sempst. He was there two days ago when my troop passed through.
That may ease your minds, my brave boys."
"Would you mind telling us how you know this?" asked Rob.
"I saw him, and talked with him," came the convincing response. "He
remembered me, though he put his finger on his lips, and looked around
him as though he were suspicious. He is, as you said, in charge of a
manufacturing plant, or appears to be, though he may have been sent
there to spy upon the people, and learn valuable facts for the service.
But I am glad to be able to do even a little in return for your
kindness."
As two soldiers wearing the Red Cross on their sleeves came along just
then with a stretcher, the boys beckoned to them, and had Philip Krauss
carried off to the field hospital. They did not see him again after
that. If, however, they should ever reach home again, they determined
some day to look the Hoboken man up, and learn of his further
adventures.