Belgians to the Front

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER XI

  THE SPY

  "What will they do to us, do you think?" asked Arthur. He wastrembling, but with excitement, not from fear.

  "Nothing, unless they can prove that we have actually been workingagainst them," answered Paul. "And I don't see how they can."

  "If those two who chased us when we ran off with their motorcycle sawus, they'd be able to prove it," said Arthur.

  "Yes, I hadn't thought of them. But they're prisoners fortunately. Ihope they'll be well looked after, too. It would be mighty awkward ifthey turned up here suddenly. They know just how important were theplans we got and these others don't know anything about that, at all.I believe that our people knowing just where the German guns wereplaced made a great deal of difference."

  The coming of a soldier interrupted them. He told them that they wereto be examined at once.

  "Then you will be shot," he said, showing his teeth. "As you deserve,"he added, trying to look fierce.

  But there was a twinkle in his eye that both Paul and Arthur saw. Theyhad been treated very well so far. They had seen nothing, as a matterof fact, to make them think that the Germans were brutal. They madewar, and that is brutal in itself. The gentlest men, when they areengaged in a campaign, must do things that they would never attempt oftheir own free will.

  The soldiers now led the way to a house that both boys knew well, forit belonged to a friend of their uncle, whom they had often visited.It was being used as headquarters now by a part of the German staff,and was full of officers who looked at them curiously. They still woretheir Boy Scout uniforms. There had been no opportunity, as a matterof fact, for them to change their clothes before the fire, and all theother clothes they possessed had been destroyed, of course, at thattime.

  "You were caught by our troops in territory occupied by us--within ouractual battle line, indeed," said a colonel who received them. "Didyou not receive warning that all civilians were to leave the zone inwhich you were found?"

  They could deny that truthfully, and did. Paul was rather glad, as thematter had turned out, that his plan of pretending to be dumb had notbeen tried. He knew that it would be very hard for Arthur to tell anuntruth, even by suggestion, excellent as was the excuse for doing so.Arthur could understand, of course, that to deceive the enemy waspermissible, and, more than that, praiseworthy. It was a questionsimply of whether he could hope to do so successfully.

  "The thing to be done now is to get rid of you," said the colonel. Hefrowned severely, but, as with the soldier who had brought them forexamination, there was a smile behind the frown. "I might have youshot, but we should save ammunition. And I might send you back toGermany, to be confined in a fortress, but that would mean that weshould have to feed you. If I let you go through the lines toward Huy,will you promise not to come back?"

  "Yes, sir," said Paul, heartily. He was amazed, by the prospect ofrelease, but he realized, of course, that while he and Arthur knew whatdangerous enemies they had already proved themselves, the colonel didnot.

  And so, to their surprise and Paul's relief, they were soon beingescorted through the German lines, their direction being southwest, inthe general direction of Huy, the Belgian city nearest to Liege of theborder line of fortresses. Huy, though not as strong as either Liegeor Namur, was a link in the chain, having been designed chiefly tosupply a base for the centre of an army resisting the advance of aninvader, with its wings resting on the more powerful fortifications ofLiege and Namur.

  Their escort was the same good-natured soldier who had taken thembefore Colonel Schmidt, and he paid little attention to them. Perhapshe thought that there was no need to watch them closely; perhaps he wassimply negligent. But, whatever the reason, Paul was able to discoverthe composition of the force upon which they had stumbled with a gooddeal of exactness. He learned to what regiment their escort belonged,and he also saw numbers on helmets and other identifying marks thatsupplied him with much other information. Neither he nor Arthur knewthe real meaning of what they saw, but both boys knew that if theyreached the Belgian lines they would find officers of the intelligencedepartment to whom such facts would be valuable in the extreme. It wasimportant, as both knew, for the Belgians and their allies to knowsomething of the German plan.

  Paul, indeed, had spoken of that very point to Arthur after theirarrest.

  "If we see what regiments are here, others can use what we tell them todetermine what army corps are being used in this attack, and perhapswhat the general plan is," he had said. "Then the French will knowwhere to mass their troops."

  "Last stop!" said the soldier, finally. Some time before they hadpassed a sentry and for nearly a mile they had seen only outposts. "Imust go back now. You are all right. We have passed the last of ourposts. The next soldiers you see will be Belgians, unless we havecavalry in this direction. Perhaps this is a mistake. It might bebetter if I shot you myself, to make sure--eh?"

  "You needn't trouble," said Arthur, and the soldier roared withlaughter.

  "All right, then, I won't!" he declared. "You are good boys. I amglad they let you go. But what will you do? You live in Liege, don'tyou? You can't get back there."

  "We have friends in Brussels," said Paul. "I think we shall do verywell now, thank you."

  "Good! Then I will go back, and you will go forward--so! Good-bye!"

  "Good-bye!" they echoed.

  He drew himself up, stiffly, saluted, and then, laughing, broke intothe famous German goose step, used as a mark of respect to superiorofficers, for a few paces. In a few moments he was gone.

  "I don't believe he wanted to come into Belgium and fight against us,"said Arthur. "He was splendid to us, wasn't he? And the colonel waskind, too. It made me feel--oh, I don't know--"

  "As if we were being sneaky? I know just what you mean. I felt likethat, too. But I told myself that we couldn't think of whether weliked a few Germans who were good to us--that they weren't just people,they were part of the enemy."

  "Yes. That's what I thought of, too. But it was hard just the same,Paul. I did feel like a sneak. But I suppose we are doing what isright."

  "I wish there was some way of getting the news of what we've learnedto-night into Liege," said Paul, frowning. "I don't see just what itall means, but I'm quite sure it's important. I tell you what--Ibelieve they're sending even more troops into Belgium than anyonethought they would. That soldier was from a regiment that is stationedwith the army corps that has its headquarters in Koenigsburg, near theRussian border. It seems to me they are going to leave fewer troopsthere than anyone expected. Perhaps the staff knows that, but thenperhaps it doesn't."

  "If we get to Huy they can send word from there," said Arthur. "Theymust have wireless working, even if the Germans have cut all the wires."

  "That's so! I hadn't thought. I don't know just where we are, though,do you?"

  "Not exactly. They tried to keep us from finding out, I think. But Iwatched the stars whenever I could, and I think if we turn to the righthere and keep on northeast, we'll come to the river road from Liege toHuy. Then we shouldn't have any trouble at all, so far as I can see."

  Paul looked up at the stars himself, studied the lay of the land for amoment, and then nodded in agreement.

  "Yes," he said. "That's what we'll have to do. Come on, then. We'llcut across the fields. I'd rather do that than take chances on findinga path or a road. It can't be so very far, do you think so?"

  "No. Listen, Paul! What's that?"

  The exclamation was prompted by a sudden roar in the direction asnearly as they could guess of Fort Boncelles. At the same time thegreat searchlights that were steadily sweeping earth and air from theforts around Liege seemed to focus on one spot--the spot, they soondetermined, from which the renewed sound of heavy firing came.

  "That must be the attack on Fort Boncelles that we were afraid of,"said Paul.

  "Well, they were ready for it, Paul. You don't think it can succe
ed,do you?"

  "I think we ought to know pretty soon. No, I don't see how a fortifiedposition can be carried by an infantry attack when its garrison isentirely prepared, unless the force is so overwhelming that theattacking force can lose an awful lot of men--more men than the Germanshave altogether, if we saw all, or even nearly all, of them."

  They stayed where they were for a few minutes, listening to the firing.For the first time the note of real hand-to-hand fighting came into thebattle din. They could hear the crashing volleys of rifle fire, andthe explosive crackling of machine guns coming into play for the firsttime. That was confirmation enough of their guess that a regularassault on the line of forts was in progress.

  "You see that just shows how important it is for them to capture Liegequickly, Arthur," said Paul. "They know perfectly well that when theybring up a few more army corps and their big guns they can batter theforts to pieces and just overwhelm our garrison."

  "But they want to have the path clear for the extra army corps. That'swhat you mean, isn't it, Paul?"

  "Exactly. They want the way through and around Liege clear, so thatthe great army, when it's all ready, can sweep straight on and strikethe French before they're ready for them. They don't want to botherwith us at all. So they're willing to lose all those men just to savea few days."

  "But why are a few days so tremendously important to them?"

  "They've got to strike before France is ready, because they can't usetheir whole army against France. They must keep a great many corps touse against Russia, or else Russian soldiers will get to Berlin beforethe Germans get to Paris. And their chance is to do it in the firstfew days of the war. France takes nearly a week longer than Germany tomobilize, and Russia almost a month longer than either France orGermany. You see what we will do at Liege and Namur is to hold up theGermans long enough to make up for their being able to mobilize morequickly."

  The firing was dying away now; the heavy guns resumed their work, andthe lighter machine guns were silent.

  "I think they've repulsed the attack all right," said Paul. "That'swhy the fire has slackened. Come on! We really haven't so much timeto lose."

  So they struck off from the road, crossing into a field full of grain.

  "It seems a shame to trample down this grain, but it's got mightylittle chance of being harvested this season anyhow," said Arthur.

  "Yes. The German army will advance this way probably, and, even if itdidn't, I don't believe there would be men enough to garner the crop."

  Suddenly Arthur stumbled. He had walked against a man who was lyingamid the grain. Now the man started up with a cry. And they bothrecognized Ridder--the man who had dropped the all-important plans!