CHAPTER V--A CLOSE CALL
Remembering that they had crossed the Meuse the night before, Kennethsteered to the left until he sighted the river, then deflectedsouthward, and followed its course, keeping on the side of the leftbank.
There was no means of telling at what point he would cross the northernfrontier of Belgium. Ascending to a great height, in order to escapeshots from either Belgian or Dutch frontier guards, he soon discovered atown of some size extended on both banks of the river. This could onlybe Maestricht. Within twenty minutes of passing this he came in sightof a much more considerable town through which the river flowed spannedby several bridges.
"Better land now," shouted Granger, "or they'll be taking shots at usfrom the forts. This is Liege."
Almost before he had finished speaking the monoplane began to rock likea ship at sea, and Kenneth had to exert his utmost skill to preserve itsequilibrium. A shell had burst a few hundred yards below them. Someseconds later they heard the dull thunder of the gun's discharge.Clearly it was no longer safe to continue the southward course. Kennethswerved to the right, and making a steep vol plane, swooped into thecornfield of a farmhouse close by the high road.
The people of the farm, at the sight of the German uniforms, fledprecipitately for shelter. Already "the terror of the German name" hadbecome a by-word in the countryside.
"We are in hot water, I'm afraid," said Granger. "Strip off your coat;you're all right underneath."
Kenneth had hardly taken off his coat and helmet when there was a soundof galloping horses. A dozen Belgian mounted infantrymen dashed up theroad, leapt the low wall of the farm steading, and shouted to them tosurrender. Granger whipped out his pocket handkerchief and waved it inthe air. The Belgians dismounted, and part of them advanced, thelieutenant at their head with revolver pointed, the men covering thefugitives with their rifles.
"You are our prisoners," said the officer in bad German.
"Charmed, my dear sir," replied Granger in excellent French. "Contraryto appearances, we are not Germans, but Englishmen."
"Ah bah!" snorted the lieutenant. "You wear German uniforms."
"L'habit ne fait pas le moine," said Granger with a smile. "The fact isas I state it: we are Englishmen who have escaped from Cologne."
"The aeroplane is German," the officer persisted.
"We commandeered it, there being no English machine available. Unluckilywe have no papers on us to prove our nationality; they were taken fromus by the Germans who arrested us as spies."
"Bah!" said the lieutenant again. That two Englishmen arrested as spiesshould have been able to escape on a German monoplane laid too great astrain upon his imagination. "You are my prisoners. Hand over yourarms."
Granger at once gave up the revolver, and Kenneth allowed himself to besearched. The officer rummaged the aeroplane for plans and otherincriminating documents, then ordered two of his men to mount guard overit, and marched the prisoners through the farmyard to the road, underthe gratified glances of the farm people at their windows. Kennethcarried his policeman's uniform.
After walking about a mile, they came to a regiment encamped in a fieldbeside the road. The lieutenant led his prisoners to the commandingofficer, and explained the circumstances of their capture.
"You say you are English?" he said, scanning the two men.
"I assure you that is the truth," replied Granger. "We were botharrested as spies in Cologne, but by an ingenious stratagem of my friendhere we obtained possession of a German aeroplane, and are delighted tofind ourselves in Belgian territory, among a friendly people."
"You speak very good French."
"Which is not to our discredit, I hope," said Granger with a smile.
The Colonel was plainly even more incredulous than his subordinate. Aman who spoke such good French must be a German spy! He took up thereceiver of a field telephone. Ascertaining that an aide de camp was atthe other end of the wire he said:
"Two men, one in police, the other in military uniform, German, havelanded from a Taube monoplane west of Liers. They say they are English,but they are clearly German spies. I await orders."
The prisoners, who had heard all, watched his face grimly set as he heldthe receiver to his ear.
"It's extraordinary, the persistence of a fixed idea," said Granger in alow tone to Kenneth. "If he heard us speaking English I suppose hewould take it as a clinching proof that we are Germans! The uniforms,our salvation in Cologne, are here our damnation."
"They'll send us to the General, won't they? He won't be such an ass."
"We shall see."
A few minutes passed. Then the look of blank expectancy on theColonel's face gave way to a look of satisfaction. He laid down thereceiver.
"Shoot them!" he said laconically, turning to the lieutenant.
Granger smiled at Kenneth, whose cheeks had gone red with indignationrather than pale from fear.
"What rot!" said the boy.
"I said I should die in my boots," remarked Granger. "My fate has beenhanging over me these ten years. But there's a chance for you. Why nottell them about the bridge?"
"They'd only think I was funking, and wouldn't believe me. I won't doit."
They were led away towards a clump of trees on the outskirts of thecamp. The lieutenant was selecting his firing party. A crowd oftroopers, some in uniform, others in their shirt sleeves, came flockingaround. One or two officers moved more leisurely towards the scene.Suddenly one of these started, and hurried forward with an exclamationof surprise.
"Mon Dieu, it's you, Ken!" he cried, seizing Kenneth's hand.
"Hullo, Remi," said Kenneth, his face lighting up. "Just tell yourcolonel I'm not a German, will you?"
"Of course I will. And your friend?"
"As English as I am. This is my pal, Remi Pariset," he said to Granger.
"I am delighted to meet you," said Granger, bowing, "even though ouracquaintance should prove of the shortest."
Pariset, asking his fellow lieutenant to delay, ran to the Colonel, andreturned immediately with him.
"I beg a thousand pardons, gentlemen," said the Colonel. "I amdesolated at the injustice I have unwittingly done you. Pray accept myapologies."
"Not at all, Colonel," said Granger. "Appearances were against us. Youwere quite justified in your suspicions; it was our misfortune that wecouldn't change our dress on the way.... I've had many a close shave,"he added in an undertone to Kenneth, "but was never quite so near myquietus."
"I was feeling rather rummy," Kenneth confessed: "a queer feeling, notexactly fear; a sort of emptiness."
When the troopers learnt the truth, they broke into cries of "Vivent lesAnglais! Vive l'Angleterre!" and the prisoners found themselves theidols of the camp. They were invited to join the officers at lunch, andate with good appetites, having had no food but rye bread and beer sincethe previous midday. The officers drank their health with hilarity whenGranger had related the trick by means of which they had escaped fromCologne, and Kenneth was toasted with embarrassing fervour.
"The bridge! That will be a clincher," whispered Granger in his ear.
Kenneth's French was not so good as his German, but he managed, eventhough haltingly, to convey to his interested auditors the gist of thescheme he had overheard. The officers were much concerned. None ofthem was able to identify the place from the bare description which wasall that Kenneth could give them. The bridge was clearly not in theline of the Germans' probable advance; its destruction could only bemeant to assist them. But the clues, slight though they were, must befollowed up, and the Colonel declared that he would communicate withheadquarters about the matter.
After lunch he took Kenneth aside.
"I gather that you have not known your companion long?" he said.
"That is true," replied Kenneth. "I met him for the first timeyesterday."
"You will pardon me, I am sure. Lieutenant Pariset's voucher for you issufficient; but in such times a
s these I should not be doing my duty ifI allowed Mr. Granger to be at large without enquiry. Will you explainthat to him, and ask him to give me a reference to a British authority?"
"Certainly. I am sure you will find things all right."
"The dear man!" laughed Granger when Kenneth told him this. "He needn'thave been so careful of my feelings as to ask you to break it to me.I've no doubt I can satisfy him."
He mentioned the name of an official high in the British Foreign Office.
"A telegram to that address will bring me a character," he said."Meanwhile I am out of work, and a sort of prisoner on parole. I amsorry, because I fear it means that we shall be separated for a time.You, I suppose, will want to be up and doing."
"Yes. I've talked things over with Pariset, and he wants me to go withhim in his aeroplane in search of that bridge. But we'll meet againbefore long. I'm jolly glad we came across each other."
They shook hands cordially and parted.
Meanwhile Lieutenant Pariset had been in consultation with the commanderof the Belgian Flying Corps. It had been decided that Pariset,accompanied by Kenneth, should make a reconnaissance in his aeroplanealong the railway lines with a view to discover the bridge that wasthreatened. The German monoplane, though faster than his own, wasdiscarded: it would certainly have been fired upon as it crossed theBelgian lines. There was no clue as to the direction in which thebridge lay, whether north, east, south or west of Liege. But it seemedcertain that the Germans would not wish to blow up any bridges on theeast. They would rather preserve them, in order to facilitate theiradvance. It was more probable that the bridge in question was on asection of the railway by which reinforcements, either French orBelgian, might be despatched to Liege. It was therefore decided toscout to the west and south.
Early in the afternoon Pariset and Kenneth started, working towardsBrussels by way of Tirlemont and Louvain. Kenneth had been providedwith field-glasses, through which he closely scanned every bridge andculvert, while Pariset piloted the machine. Flying low, they were ableto examine the line thoroughly. All that Kenneth had to guide him wasthe knowledge that the bridge was near a mill. There was a tunnelbetween them. It was therefore pretty clear that the bridge and themill could not be far apart.
They flew over the main line as far as Brussels without discovering anybridge that fulfilled the conditions. Then they retraced their courseand scouted along the branch lines running south from Louvain, Tirlemontand Landen respectively. Within a few hours they had examined the wholetriangular district that had Brussels, Liege, and Namur at its angles.At Namur they descended for a short rest, then set off again, to trytheir luck on the lines running from the French frontier.
Both felt somewhat discouraged. To trace the many hundreds of miles ofrailway that crossed the country between the Meuse and the Sommepromised to be work for a week. Indeed, it was getting dark by the timethey had run through the coal-mining and manufacturing district betweenMons and Valenciennes. Alighting at the latter place, they heard thatgreat numbers of German troops had already crossed the Belgian frontier,and the forts of Liege were being attacked. There was much excitementin the town, and Pariset had some difficulty in getting petrol toreplenish his tanks.
Next morning they set off early along the line running eastward throughMaubeuge to Charleroi. It seemed unlikely that they would find the spotthey sought in the midst of a manufacturing district, but if they wereto succeed, nothing must be left untried.
Towards ten o'clock they were crossing a stream to the south-east ofCharleroi when Kenneth suddenly gave a shout. He had noticed on thestream a water-mill, between which and a larger river, apparently theSambre, the railway crossed the stream on a brick bridge of four arches.The mill was at least two hundred yards from the bridge, a distance thatseemed too great to have been tunnelled; but it was the first spot hehad seen that in any way conformed to the particulars he had overheard,and it appeared worth while to examine the place more closely.
The importance of the bridge was obvious. Its destruction wouldseriously delay the transport of any French troops that might be sentnorthwards to support Namur or Liege, and correspondingly assist theGermans in an attempt to take either of those towns by a coup de main.
At Kenneth's shout Pariset turned his head, understood that somediscovery had been made, and nodded. He did not at once prepare toalight. If Germans were in possession of the mill they would notice thesudden cessation of the noise of the propeller, which they must haveheard, and might take warning from the descent of the aeroplane in theirneighbourhood. Luckily he had been flying low, so that the course ofthe machine could not be followed for any considerable distance. Havingrun out of sight beyond a wood, he selected an open field for hisdescent, and alighted a few hundred yards from a farmhouse.
"Have you found it?" asked Pariset eagerly.
"I saw a mill and a railway bridge," replied Kenneth; "but we were goingtoo fast for me to be sure it's the right place."
"Well, we shall have to find that out. We'll get the farmer to help usrun the machine into his yard, and then reconnoitre."
The farmer and a group of his men were already hurrying towards them. Ina few words Pariset enlisted their help. The aeroplane was run into theyard, and placed behind a row of ricks that concealed it from theoutside.
"We should like some bread and cheese and beer," Pariset said to thefarmer. "May we come in?"
"Surely, monsieur," was the reply. "Come in and welcome. Ah! these areterrible times. I don't know how long I shall have a roof over my head.But they say the English are coming to help us. Is that true?"
"Quite true. My friend here is an Englishman."
"Thank God! Oh! les braves Anglais! All will be well now. Come in,messieurs; you shall have the best I can give you."