Boy Scouts on the Trail Page 7

  CHAPTER VII

  THE GLORY OF WAR

  One glance at Henri seemed to satisfy him. The French boy, so typical ofhis race, he was ready to take for granted. He asked just one question.

  "You speak English well? You can understand thoroughly?"

  "Yes, my colonel," answered Henri.

  Then the officer turned to Frank.

  "You are English--one of our allies?" he asked.

  "No, sir." And Frank had to explain, for the hundredth time since thewar began, as it seemed to him, his nationality and his mixed blood. Hethrew up his head a little proudly now as he told of his French mother.

  "That is well enough," said the colonel. "You are neutral--in America.But I think--ah, yes, I believe that you Americans remember Lafayetteand the help you had from Frenchmen once."

  "I am ready to do what I can for France, colonel," said Frank, simply."That is all I can say."

  "Or I, or any of us," said Colonel Menier. "Listen well, then. I shalltell you things that no one else is to know. You, Martin, know thecountry here? You can find your way about?"

  "Yes, my colonel."

  "I want you to take certain messages for me to the English headquarters.Where it is to-day, I know. It is here--see, on the map?"

  They looked at the spot he indicated, and concealed their surprise. Theyhad supposed the English much nearer the border.

  "Where it may be to-morrow I cannot tell. But it is of the greatestimportance that the papers I give you be delivered at headquarters. Itis so important that we will not trust them to the telephone, to thetelegraph, to the field wireless. They are reports of the mostconfidential nature, having to do with movements that will be of greatimportance a few days from mow. You will not wear your uniforms of BoyScouts for the work in hand."

  Neither of them said anything.

  "That, you will understand, is because the uniforms would make you morethan ever conspicuous to the Germans. I do not think you will beanywhere near the Uhlans. But in war one must not think; or, if onedoes, one must think of all things that may happen. So you will wearyour ordinary clothes. You have one day, two days, three, if necessary,to find the British headquarters. No more. These papers are written onthe thinnest of paper. It is so thin that the messages are contained inthese marbles that I give you--one to each of you."

  They took the marbles and still they made no comment.

  "If you are captured and searched, I believe you will have very littleto fear. It is not likely that a German officer, no matter how zealoushe may be, will be over-suspicious of a lot of marbles in a boy'spocket. You will have a pocket full of them, and they will all lookalike. And if the Germans find you are only boys moved by the curiosityof boys to see battlefields, they will not hurt you. I do not believethey will even hold you. Probably they will not even take your marblesaway from you, thinking them harmless playthings, never once dreaming oftheir secret. Only the officer at our headquarters who knows of yourcoming will be able to distinguish one marble from another. How he willdo so, it is better that you should not know."

  "Someone then will know that we are coming, my colonel?" said Henri, asmile brightening his face.

  "Evidently. When you reach the British lines, you will be challenged,probably arrested and detained. Say to the soldier that he is to give aword to his officer--Mezieres. That will insure your being taken toheadquarters. Everywhere, all through the field, the giving of that wordwill mean that he who gives it is to be taken at once to the neareststaff officer."

  "Mezieres. We will remember, my colonel," said Henri. "We will changeinto our ordinary clothes and start at once. On our return we report toyou here?"

  Colonel Menier smiled sadly.

  "When you return there will be no French troops in Amiens, I fear," hesaid. "Indeed, I know it. The time to stop and turn to fight is not yet.We shall not play into the hands of the Germans by fighting on theirchosen ground. We shall wait until we are ready. This is not 1870 whenarmies were thrown away rather than retreat to ground where the chancesof victory were even, at the worst. Remember that, if you think theretreat is shameful. If, in 1870, the army of Chalons had retreated uponParis, instead of marching to the trap at Sedan, French history mightwell be different."

  "Then Amiens is to be evacuated, my colonel?"

  "It is the order. When you have done your errand, return here or dowhatever the British staff may require of you. It will not be for longthat Amiens shall be deserted. We shall return. But whether I shall behere then, I do not know. Farewell! Obey the orders I have given you,and you will deserve well of France."

  They saluted then and went to make their preparations for the start.

  "Harry," said Frank, "if the Germans are coming to Amiens, your mothermust go. She should be where she will be safe."

  "You are right, Frank. We will try to persuade her to go. But will sheleave her task with the wounded?"

  "She can take it up elsewhere."

  But though they had expected to have difficulty in persuading her, theyfound that Madame Martin was already making plans to go.

  "The wounded are to be taken to Tours in great numbers," she told them."They will need nurses there, and I shall go. Henri, will you andFrancois come with me?"

  "We cannot," said Henri. "There is work for us to do. You would want meto do my share?"

  "Of course I do!" she said, her eyes filling with tears. "And so speaksevery mother in France to-day! Stay, then, and serve your land inwhatever way you can, for France needs even the boys now. Remember,Henri, that somewhere your mother is serving too, and she expects herson to do his whole duty. More, she _knows_ he will do it." And her faceglowed with pride in her son as she clasped his hand in her own.

  "I will remember," said Henri.

  Then they went to their room, laid away their newly acquired uniforms ofBoy Scouts, and, keeping not even their new badges of which they hadbeen so proud, especially Henri, dressed in their ordinary clothes.

  "Let's start on bicycles, anyhow," proposed Frank. "We may not be ableto stick to them, but we can save a lot of time on our way to Le Cateau.That's where we shall go first, isn't it?"

  "Yes. We had better start for there. You're right about the bicycles,too. Even if we lose them, that does not matter so much," said Harry.

  "And, Harry, we've got to pretend to be pretty stupid, if we are caught.You mustn't act as if you knew too much. Don't let the Germans see howyou really feel about them. Pretend to be terribly frightened, even ifyou're not," instructed Frank.

  "All right. I see what you mean. Come on, then. Let's be off!"

  Already, as they rode through the streets of Amiens, the signs of whatwas to come were multiplying. Troops were marching out of the town, butthey were going south, away from the battle line, it seemed. And thetownspeople were not slow in taking the hint. They were gathering suchthings as they could carry with them, and all those with anything ofreal value, and with a place to take it, were preparing to get awaybefore the coming of the Germans. The refugees from Belgium had toldthem lurid tales of the German treatment of captured places; they had nomind to share the fate of their unhappy neighbors in the plucky littlecountry to the north. And so the exodus was beginning.

  Henri was very much depressed.

  "And this is war!" he said, sadly. "So far, except for the wounded, wehave seen only the suffering of women and children. Where is the gloryof war of which history tells? I want to see some fighting! I want toknow that we are really resisting the invaders of the fatherland."

  "You'll know it soon enough," said Frank, with a smile. "You are tooimpatient, Harry. And you must remember this. While all this is goingon, Russia is advancing too. The Austrians have been well beaten allalong their front already. Soon it will be the turn of the Germans tomeet Russia. They cannot long devote all their energy to France and theBritish."

  "That is so, Frank. But the Russians won't fight here."

  "Perhaps not. But it will be the same. For every army corps that Russiasends into Prussia
means that Germany can spare so many troops less forthe war on this side. Harry, do you know what I think? I think Germanyis beaten already!"

  "How can you say that, Frank? We know now that they have pushed us backeverywhere--that they are all over Belgium, and are marching on Paris,just as they did the last time--"

  "No, not just as they did the last time, Harry. For then they marched onParis with the field armies of France beaten--one of them captured, theother locked up in Metz. Now the armies of France are still in thefield. And I say that Germany is beaten because her one chance in thiswar was to destroy France as she did in 1870--quickly. If she had donethat, she might have been able to turn back, away from France, and meetRussia with her full strength."

  "Oh, I see what you mean. But I'll feel better when we turn and fight,instead of running away from them."

  "So will I and everyone else, Harry. But the great thing for our sidenow is to win delay. Every day is as important as a battle. Russiamoves slowly, but when she is fully in the field she will have as greatan army ready as France and Germany together."

  "Well, I hope you are right. Ah, now we are out of the town. We can go alittle faster. En avant!"

  In the fields women and young boys were working hard, getting in theharvest that the men had abandoned. Never had a countryside looked morepeaceful, except that at every bridge they passed now was a sentry,usually a man of the reserve, held back from the front for this sort ofduty, while the younger men were at the front to do the actual fighting.

  For a long time they were not challenged. The sentries looked at themidly, but decided that they were not at all likely to be Prussian spies,and let them pass. But when they came to the railroad line leading fromAmiens to Arras, which they had to cross, it was different. Theircrossing was at a culvert, where the road passed under the tracks. Herethere was not one sentry, but a post, under the command of a one-leggedveteran.

  To him they were forced to make explanations, which he received gravely,studying Frank with particular attention.

  "So you carry despatches," he said. "You have a word, a countersign,perhaps?"

  "Mezieres," said Henri, promptly.

  "Very well. Pass, then, but keep an eye open. There were Uhlans herebefore daybreak."

  "Here?"

  "They are beginning to show now. We hear they were in Arras yesterday.Some stayed with us. They sought to blow up the culvert here."

  Then they went on. And just after they had passed the post, they sawwhat the crippled veteran had meant when he had said that some of theUhlans had stayed. They lay beside the road, in their greenish grayuniforms. They were the first German soldiers either of the boys hadseen. And, in the field, two old peasants were digging a grave.