The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields

CHAPTER XIX.

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.

CHAPTER XX.

THE CAMP FIRES OF AN ARMY

"Here, it's getting well along into the afternoon," remarked Tubby with a forlorn look on his face, "and I'm so knocked out that if you told me you meant to make a start for the little Belgian town right away I'd faint, sure I would."

"Don't think of doing it, then, Tubby," Rob told him, "because the rest of your chums are feeling in pretty much the same box themselves."

"We've had a terribly hard day of it, for a fact," agreed Merritt, as he looked around upon the scene, and shuddered in spite of his well known nerve.

"Then please tell me what's the program?" pleaded the fat scout. "That munch of black bread was good enough to keep a fellow from starving to death; but I certainly do hope there's a better prospect ahead of us for supper."

"Rob, you've got a scheme!" asserted Merritt.

"What makes you think so?" asked the other, smiling languidly; for he was very nearly exhausted from the hard work he had done acting as an assistant field surgeon in the service of the Red Cross corps, doing temporary work in binding up wounds, and giving stimulants to those who were weak through loss of blood.

"Oh! I can tell it from the way you act," replied Merritt. "I haven't been your closest chum all this time without getting to know what different things mean. Now give us a pointer; what about getting some supper, and finding a place to sleep to-night?"

"Well, do you think you could stand for another night in the hay?" demanded Rob.

"Just try me, that's all!" whimpered Tubby. "And, say, if you're thinking of going back to that village again, I only hope they'll be good to us, and feed us like they did this morning."

"That's what I had in mind," the patrol leader told them. "So the sooner we make a start that way the sooner we can rest up."

It was weary work tramping all the way back to the little village where they had first met the ambulances of the Red Cross corps, and joined hands with the workers. Rob would have liked to say good-by to the American nurse who had taken so much interest in their welfare. He knew, though, that it would be too much for Tubby to approach that terrible field hospital, where undoubtedly the nurses were still busily engaged helping the surgeons in their labors.

Whenever Tubby groaned and gave signs of dropping, they called a temporary halt and, in this way, made it as easy for the fat scout as possible.

Somehow the very thought of that sweet-scented hay appealed to Tubby very nearly as much as a good feed might; and that was saying a great deal.

"I don't wonder at hoboes liking haystacks when they're wandering around the country, if only they're as nice as that mow we struck," he told the others more than once. "Why, things couldn't be better. Now I understand what they mean when they say 'hitting the hay.' It means a sweet sleep. But we're really getting there, ain't we, Rob?"

"We're right on top of the village now, Tubby," Merritt told him.

"Yes," added Rob, "there you can see the elevation we stood on when we watched the terrible battle. The village is here on our left. One more tug, and we'll arrive, so brace up, Tubby."

"Oh! I'm getting along quite decent, thank you, Rob. But I'll be glad when we're sitting on that bench under the shade of the tree."

As they entered the village they found that it was quite a different place from the time of their previous visit. Streams of wounded men had been brought in, and every other cottage was turned into a temporary hospital.

Of course the injured Belgians were given the first choice, as was perfectly natural; but Rob was pleased to see that after all these humble villagers had human traits in their make-up. Misery makes the whole world akin, and although they had no reason to love any German invader, the sight of stalwart young Teutons suffering agonies touched many a mother's heart; their own sons might any day be in need of the same attention from strangers, and they could not refuse to aid these wounded foes.

So into many a Belgian home a sorely stricken German was carried, to be cared for until the time came when he could be removed, either to his own lines, or to Antwerp.

The boys first of all sought that shady spot where the bench mentioned by Tubby offered an inviting seat. Here they sat down, and observed the many stirring sights that were taking place all around them.

"I've seen two men taken to the barn," remarked Merritt, half an hour later, "and so I reckon we'll have neighbors in our hay-mow to-night."

Tubby made a grimace, and then seemed to be ashamed of his selfishness.

"Well, if we do have to play nurse," he observed with the air of a philosopher, "I suppose we can stand it. What are all our troubles, I'd like to know, compared to those these poor people are suffering?"

"That's right, Tubby," said Merritt, "and we'll manage to pick up plenty of sleep, I should think."

"It'll have to be in the early part of the night, then," Rob told them, "because we want to get out of this a couple of hours before daylight."

"You mean to start then for Sempst, do you?" asked Tubby, with a sigh.

"Yes, because it might turn out to be dangerous work walking in broad daylight, until we've managed to get around the Germans," Rob explained. "I've already picked up considerable information about the country, and the lay of the land. Between now and the time we turn in I hope to learn still more, so that I can take you on a road by starlight that will make a circuit around the German camps."

Apparently both his mates had the utmost confidence in Rob's ability to do this, for there was no word of protest raised. Merritt asked a few questions, and then they fell back upon their old occupation of watching the movements of the villagers, mostly women, as they bustled to and fro.

Pretty soon Rob sauntered over to the inn, and had a long talk with the old man who ran the public house. They could see him doing considerable pointing, and from this fact judged that Rob was keeping his word about picking up all the information possible.

When he came back it was getting near sundown; and of course the first thing Tubby asked was:

"Did he say we could have it, Rob?"

As both of the other scouts were so well acquainted with Tubby's weak points they did not need a dictionary in order to understand what was on his mind.

"I'm glad to tell you, Tubby," replied the other, "that the innkeeper says we deserve the best supper he can get ready. It seems that they've been talking about us here. Some of the nurses must have told how we worked on the battlefield; or it may be the wounded soldiers mentioned the fact that we did something to help them bear up till the stretchers arrived. No matter what happened, the innkeeper thinks a heap of us all, and we'll not go to our hay shake-downs hungry this night!"

"Hurray!" cried Tubby joyfully, "he's certainly a good fellow, Rob, I tell you; and I'm never going to forget him. The man who keeps my body and soul together has my eternal gratitude."

Later on they were called in, and found that a substantial meal had been prepared for them. Tubby was fairly ravenous, and his chums found it necessary to warn him not to founder.

"Remember, we've got to be up and doing by three in the morning at the latest," Rob observed, "and if you make yourself sick the whole plan will be knocked galley-west. We might have to leave you behind, after all."

That last threat brought Tubby to his senses.

"Why, you see," he explained, as he pushed himself away from the table and its temptations, "I was trying to fix it so that in case we had to go without our breakfast to-morrow I'd be in shape to stand it."

"Sometimes," mused Merritt, "I think you're trying to fix it so that you could do without eating for a week."

When they made their way outside again it was to find that night had fallen. In the western sky a young moon looked down pityingly on the field which had so lately been marked by the desperate charge of the German hosts, only to fail in their effort to break through the Belgian intrenchments with their barbed wire defenses.

"Look, over there are hundreds of little fires flickering!" exclaimed Tubby.

"Those are the camp fires of the Germans," Rob told him. "I want to fix them in my mind, because we will have to make a wide detour, so as to avoid running across any patrol on the outskirts of their camp. I hope by the time daylight comes we can be far enough around to get off without being seen. The worst thing is this khaki uniform business. If only we had on ordinary clothes we might be taken for Belgian boys. But, as it is, they'll think we're soldiers, or at the least Belgian scouts, and they treat them as if they were regular enlisted men."

Shortly afterward they again sought the barn. The lantern once more hung on its accustomed hook, and by its friendly gleam Rob and his two chums were enabled to find the place where on the preceding night they had slept so well. The wounded men happened to be removed from them by some little distance. They could be heard occasionally groaning, or talking in low tones; but, as the boys were too tired to remain awake long, they soon lost all consciousness of what was passing around them.

Perhaps the crowing of a rooster nearby may have told Rob that it was in the neighborhood of three o'clock, for he aroused his chums close to that time.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE HANGING BRIDGE

"Do we have to get out at this terribly early hour?" asked Tubby, as he dug his knuckles into his eyes, still heavy with sleep.

"Yes," said Rob. "I've taken a look at the stars, and it must be half-past two, or near it. You know I've made it a practice to be able to tell the hour of night in that way, and can hit it every time. Come, get a move on you, Tubby, unless you'd prefer staying here in the hay and waiting till we come back."

"Well, you don't shake me that way if I know it," muttered Tubby, hastening to crawl out of his snug nest.

The night air was rather chilly, when once they found themselves outside. All of them were glad to button up their coats.

Looking in the direction where the myriad of fires had been burning earlier in the night and seeming like innumerable giant fireflies which they were accustomed to seeing summer evenings at home, they found that most of them had died out.

"I expected that would happen," said Rob, when Merritt called his attention to the altered conditions in the camp of the Germans, "and it's lucky I made my plans without depending on seeing those fires again. I've got other landmarks to go by."

"I expected you'd have," said Merritt, filled with the utmost confidence in the leader of the Eagle Patrol, which faith was founded on a long list of past performances worth remembering.

As there was nothing to hinder them, they made an immediate start. Tubby was observed to cast a last longing look back toward the humble village inn. No doubt he was deploring the necessity that compelled them to leave such hospitable quarters without waiting for breakfast-time to come along.

It was not exactly dark, once their eyes became accustomed to conditions. The stars shone brilliantly in the clear heavens overhead, and in open country it is possible to steer one's way fairly well by starlight.

For some time the boys went on. Tubby, of course, often stumbled, for it would not have been Tubby otherwise; but, as he had not so far actually spread himself face downward on the road, he thought he was doing very well.

Merritt could see how Rob had laid out their course, by the assistance of the friendly innkeeper, who had been told of their desire to reach the little place called Sempst. He had really drawn Rob a rude but correct chart of the roads covering the territory between, and informed him as to what his best plan of campaign would be.

A number of times they had slight scares. Once a dog ran out from a yard and commenced barking wildly at them, even threatening to nip Tubby in the leg. It was only natural for the threatened one to shout angrily and kick desperately at the offending canine. By great good luck he managed to land the toe of his shoe against the vicious animal's nose, as a loud howl announced.

"There, that serves you right, for bothering me, you silly thing!" grumbled Tubby.

The others knew he must be very proud of that shot, and would often refer to it when complaints were made afterward to the effect that he was "slow." Any one who could manage to get his foot in contact with a snapping dog must not be reckoned out of the running.

Just what they would do should they finally reach the small town where Steven Meredith was supposed to be in charge of a large German manufacturing plant, they had not as yet determined. It was Rob's plan to secure possession of that field-glass case by hook or crook, for, if it proved impossible to obtain by fair means, then he meant to try strategy.