CHAPTER VIII--A FIGHT IN THE MILL
Kenneth returned more quickly than he had gone. He was consumed with afeverish impatience to assure himself of Pariset's safety. Pariset hadbeen very confident; but it was at least within the bounds ofpossibility that, if discovered by the Germans, he might be overpoweredbefore he had time to fire a warning shot.
When he reached the trap-door he tapped lightly on it. It was raised atonce.
"Good!" whispered Pariset. "Is it done?"
"Yes, the wire is cut."
"Capital! You have only been twenty minutes."
"Has anything happened?"
"A minute or two ago there was a ring at the bell, and I heard someonego to the door. I was afraid that some friend of these fellows haddiscovered the lancers and come to give warning; but it can't be that,because all is quiet."
"Still, he may be a friend, and that will mean that we have six men todeal with instead of five."
"It doesn't matter, now the wire is cut. We had better creep out again,go round by the field, cross the bridge, and join the lancers in anattack on the house."
"Suppose the lancers haven't come!"
"We have to reckon with that possibility, of course; but it's notprobable. I'll just reconnoitre again; then we'll get back. If thelancers have not arrived, we must get the assistance of some stoutfellows from the farm. I'm determined that these Germans shall notescape."
"Let me go," said Kenneth. "You don't know German; I do; and I mightoverhear something worth making a note of."
"That's a good notion. We may get on the track of other operations oftheirs. Take off your boots; I'll tie them to mine."
A minute later Kenneth tiptoed in his stocking feet along the darkpassage. Through the closed door of the kitchen on the left came thesounds of some one moving about. On the other side he heard the voicesof the men in the dining-room, the door of which was ajar. Grasping hisrevolver, he bent his ear towards the opening. At the first words hecaught he started. The voice was only too familiar to him. It was thevoice of Kurt Hellwig.
Was he there before, Kenneth wondered, or was he the newcomer whose ringPariset had heard? In a few seconds the point was cleared up.
"Yes," Hellwig was saying, "I had intended to give you the word bywireless myself. But the chief wanted me to come through and see thatall was ready. The wire is fixed?"
"I guarantee that," was his friend's reply. "You don't want to go alongthe tunnel yourself?"
"No, I'll take your word for it. I'm very tired; thought I should neverget through. Our friend Spiegel was caught in Liege before my eyes, andtaken away to be shot. The soldiers could hardly save him fromlynching, the mob was so furious."
"The Belgians are going to be troublesome, then?" said another voice.
"It appears so. We opened the attack on the forts yesterday, and thefools had the audacity to reply. They did some damage, too, worse luck.Von Emmich is attacking again to-day in full force, and with his numbershe'll sweep the idiots away. There'll not be a man left. The ordersare to spare nothing and nobody."
"When are we likely to get the word?" asked his friend.
"Probably not at all. If our men are already in Liege, as I expect isthe case, we shall leave the bridge intact: the railway will be useful.It is only to be blown up in case of a check, to prevent the Belgiansfrom being reinforced from France. But that's not at all likely."
"I suppose it is true that England has declared war?"
Hellwig's ironical laugh made Kenneth's blood boil.
"Yes, it's true," he said. "It's the chance we've been waiting for foryears. They've next to no army; they're never ready; and within a weekthere'll be a rebellion in Ireland which will keep the whole of theirforces busy. Within a month we shall have France under our heel; thenwe'll turn back and crush the Russians, who've no organization. Thenwith the Channel ports in our possession the rest will be easy. By thistime next year the Kaiser will be dictating peace in London."
"Well, you ought to know the English; you've lived among them. How theygot their empire I can't understand.... Then we shall be leaving heresoon? It's quite time."
"What do you mean?"
"It may be all right, but thinking it over I can't help feeling a littlesuspicious. The beer delivered to-day was brought by two clerks. Theysaid the draymen had been called up, and they were doing duty in theirplace. It didn't occur to me till they were driving off that theclerks, well-set-up young fellows, were likely to have been called upbefore the draymen. The man who usually comes is a big fat fellow whocouldn't march a mile without collapsing. But nothing has happened, soI suppose I was suspicious for nothing."
"They didn't come into the house?"
"No; the fellow who brought the cask into the lobby didn't seem at allcurious. Ah!"
He was interrupted by the ticking of an instrument on a table at the farend of the room. There was silence for a moment as he read the message.
"The bridge is to be blown up," said the man, returning. "At last!"
"Give me a few minutes to finish my meal," said Hellwig. "I've hadnothing to eat for twelve hours. A quarter of an hour, say; that won'tmake any difference. I wish your cook would hurry up."
Kenneth turned to go back, anticipating a possible visit to the kitchen.At the same moment the kitchen door opened, and an old woman bearing atray came into the passage. The light from the lamp behind her fell onan unfamiliar figure at the door of the dining-room--a bootless man witha revolver in his hand. The woman screamed; the tray fell from herhand, and a pool of soup spread over the floor. There was an outcry inthe dining-room; the man nearest the door flung it fully open, to findthe muzzle of a revolver within a few inches of his head.
In the moment allowed him for thought, Kenneth had realised that hecould not escape if he dashed past the old woman with armed men at hisback. With an inward tremor he made up his mind to the bold course.
"Hands up!" he cried, as the startled man recoiled.
The German instantly flung up his hands. But his companions realisedthe position. One of them sprang across the room to an electric push inthe wall. Another, covered by the man who had flinched, whipped out hisrevolver, and took a snapshot at Kenneth. But a slight movement of theman between them brought him in the line of fire, and he fell with abullet through his head.
It was no time for half measures. Kenneth covered his assailant, fired,and brought him down. Through the shrieks of the old woman in thepassage there came to his ears a shout of encouragement, and immediatelyafter he had fired his shot Pariset rushed up to the doorway, reachingover Kenneth's shoulder to point his revolver. At the sight of this thethree remaining men dashed to the open window and leapt out; the last ofthem, pausing to close the window, was winged by Pariset's flying shot.Kenneth and his friend sprang across the room, threw the window open,and jumped into the yard. But the brief delay at the window had giventhe fugitives time to make their escape in the darkness. They were notto be seen.
"The lancers will get them!" Kenneth panted.
"If they've come!" replied Pariset.
He blew his whistle. There was no response. They dashed across theyard, wondering how the Germans could have escaped, for there was nooutlet on this side of the house, and the wall was high and spiked. Butafter a minute or two they discovered a gap in the base of the wall,large enough to admit a man crawling. On the outside it was concealedby long grass and weeds. Wriggling through this they sprinted along bythe wall to the road. And then they heard the distant galloping of atroop of horsemen. Pariset blew his whistle again, and in a few secondsa half squadron of Belgian lancers reined up.
"Three men have escaped," cried Pariset. "Round them up!"
The horsemen galloped off, some along the road, some along the grassybank of the stream, the rest into the field beyond the hedge.
"A pity they were late," said Pariset, walking slowly with Kenneth backto the house. "When I heard your shot I expected that
they'd force thedoor and rush in."
"I hope they will catch the Germans," said Kenneth. "One of them--itwas the last comer, the man whose ring at the bell you heard--wasHellwig. I shall be particularly disgusted if he gets off."
"What led to the row? You weren't rash enough to attack them?"
"No; but I wasn't so careful as I ought to have been, I'm afraid. Yousee, hearing no knives and forks going, I thought they had finishedtheir meal, and everything was cleared away, and didn't expect anydanger from the kitchen. As soon as I knew there was somethingpreparing for Hellwig I backed, straight into the old woman with a tray.It was all up then, of course."
"You've had a lucky escape. But we have saved the bridge."
"One of the fellows dashed to an electric push," said Kenneth, smiling."I was too busy to notice how he looked when the explosion he expecteddidn't happen, but I've no doubt it was the surprise of his life."
"We'll have a look round. I'll give the old woman a soothingexplanation, and borrow a lamp."
Their investigation added little to their knowledge. The luggage of thespies contained no papers bearing on espionage. But the wirelessinstallation, carried up inside the chimney, was very powerful. Theelectrical apparatus for firing the mine was in perfect order.
"There is nothing amateurish about it," said Pariset. "This is spyingreduced to a science."
It was some time before the lancers returned. They brought with themthe man who had been wounded as he sprang through the window. Theothers had got away. The man who had fired at Kenneth was dead; hiscomrade, to whom he owed his death, Kenneth had wounded.
After consultation with the captain of lancers, it was decided to leavea dozen men to occupy the mill, pending the receipt of instructions fromheadquarters. Kenneth and Pariset begged a lodging for the night fromthe old miller, who was delighted at the success of their scheme, andlavishly hospitable.