CHAPTER XIV.
THE FIELD HOSPITAL.
"We are friends, three American boys only!"
Very often Rob had practiced his French so as to get this explanationcorrect. If his accent happened to be altogether wrong, what he saidcould be understood, and that was the main thing.
Apparently, what he had called out must have surprised the Belgianofficer in charge of the detachment, for he could be heard exchangingcomments with someone else. Then he spoke aloud again.
"Advance, and hold up your hands above your heads!" he ordered.
Rob understood the words, but of course his chums could not; so thefirst thing he did was to elevate both hands as high as he could, andsay to them:
"Do the same as I am, both of you. The officer has ordered it. And thencome on over to where they are waiting for us!"
In this manner they drew near the spot where the others stood. Everyonewas staring very hard, for to see three boys dressed in khaki, andtalking unmistakable English among themselves, was indeed a considerablesurprise.
The one who held the lantern proved to be a lieutenant. He was a man ofmiddle age, and as the newcomers drew near he held up his light in orderthe better to examine their make-up. What he saw must have created agood impression, for the frown began to leave his face.
"It is fortunate that I speak English," he started in to say, greatly tothe delight as well as the surprise of Rob, "so you shall tell me how itcomes we find you here on this particular night, and so close to a spotwhere a suspicious transaction was going on which we had the pleasure ofnipping in the bud."
Apparently the lieutenant was not wholly satisfied. He could not tellbut that these smart looking boys might have some connection with thegame he and his detachment had blocked in the capture of the two spies.
So Rob hastened to explain as briefly as he could.
"We have come to Belgium on some very important business that hasnothing whatever to do with the war. There is a man we must see, and ithappens that he was last reported in a town near Brussels. We know whatgreat risks we run in trying to pass between the lines of the hostilearmies; but we hope to keep out of the hands of the Germans; and as forthe Belgians, we are carrying with us a letter that has up to now alwayspassed us."
This was the signal for Merritt to produce the passport written for themby the obliging burgomaster of Antwerp. The lieutenant received thepaper gravely. He was evidently puzzled to know how much of Rob'sstrange story to believe; for it seemed remarkable that three boysshould take such a dangerous mission upon their shoulders.
When he had read the short recommendation through, and saw the signatureat the bottom, the officer uttered an exclamation of satisfaction.
"You could not have chosen a better sponsor than the worthy burgomasterof Antwerp," he said warmly. "I have met him more than once, and he isheld in high respect throughout the land, as is Burgomaster Max ofBrussels. Let me return your paper safely. It is worth keeping."
"And you will allow us to go on when we choose, then?" asked Merritteagerly.
"There is no occasion for your detention," he was informed, "but if Isought your best welfare I should order that you turn back, and give upthis foolish mission, for there is hardly one chance in ten that you canescape capture at the hands of the enemy, since they are everywhere. Butyou know best, and I shall not interfere. It must be a serious motivethat brings you into this wretched country?"
"It means a great lot to my family that I find this man, StevenMeredith," Merritt told him, possibly with a faint hope that thelieutenant might recognize the name, and admit that he knew the person.
Rob had noticed several things. For one, that the taller prisoner wascertainly badly wounded, since he stood on one leg, and had his teethtightly clinched as if to keep from betraying any weakness that might bedeemed unmanly.
One of the Belgians also carried a bandage, roughly fastened, possiblyby a clumsy comrade, around his arm. It showed traces of blood, and Robcould guess that a speeding bullet fired by the spies at bay probablyhad caused the wound.
"I notice that a couple of men here have been wounded," he ventured tosay to the lieutenant, "and, as you must know, Boy Scouts are taughtsomething of field surgery. Would you mind if I and my friend herelooked at them? We might stop the flow of blood, anyway, and perhapsmake the men a bit easier."
The Belgian officer hesitated for a brief time. He looked at Rob, andseemed to be considering. Then he nodded his head.
"As we have to stay here until my superior officer and a largerdetachment come along in answer to the signals we are about to make, itcould do no harm. Yes, I have heard that Boy Scouts are supposed to knowsomething of surgery, although I myself have never seen them practiceit. You may proceed. Albert!"
He beckoned to the private who had his arm bound up. The man upon beingtold to show his injury hardly knew what was about to happen. He couldnot believe that mere boys would know what a surgeon was supposed to do.
That man evidently had the surprise of his life when Rob, assisted byMerritt, washed the wound by the aid of some water obtained from acanteen, and then neatly bound the arm up, using some strips from alittle roll of linen which Rob took from his pocket.
The officer watched the whole operation with considerable interest.
"That was neatly done," he commented, after the man had stepped back towhere a comrade was holding his gun for him. "As you expressed a wish toattend to the prisoner, I give you full permission to do so. Though,after all, it will make but little difference with him, since his doomis sealed."
The tall German said never a word, but allowed the boys to do as theywilled with him. He realized the desperate condition in which hisboldness had placed him and was evidently determined, if convicted ofbeing a spy, to die game.
His injury turned out to be much more serious than that of the Belgiansoldier, for the bullet had made a bad puncture, and he had already lostmuch blood.
Tubby turned his head away at first, as though he could not bear to seethe wound, but evidently realizing that a display of such timidity washardly in keeping with what they wished these men to believe of BoyScouts, he finally forced himself to offer to assist his chums in theirgruesome work.
It took all of ten minutes to wash and dress that wound with the fewthings at their command the best they were able to. During all that timethe spy did not say a word, nor did he groan even when Rob knew he mustbe hurting him more or less, although that could not be avoided.
And the officer had commenced to ask questions. It seemed to surprisehim that even in far-away America there, too, the boys had organizedthemselves into patrols and learned all these valuable lessonscalculated to make them better citizens when they came to take theirplaces in business, on the firing line, or among the professions.
"Then the scouts over in your country are also taught to be ready forany emergency, the same as the boys are in Belgium?" he asked Rob, as hewatched the latter's nimble fingers, with considerable dexterity intothe bargain, draw the bandage tightly into place.
"Oh! yes," replied the boy, only too pleased to say a good word for thethousands upon thousands of comrades in khaki whom he represented. "Yousee, most of us camp out a good deal, and all sorts of accidents happen.I've known a boy to cut himself so badly with an ax when he was choppingwood that he would have bled to death long before they could get him toa doctor, but it was easy for his mates to stop the flow of blood, anddo the right thing."
"It is grand, this teaching boys to be able to save human life,"declared the middle-aged officer, who perhaps had sons of his own in thearmy, "and yet it never came to me before that even in America they werepracticing these noble avocations. I have seen them in England, yes, inFrance also, but in America--it is superb to think of it. And there areother ways in which boys in camp could be injured, you are telling me?"
He had become so deeply interested that Rob only too willingly proceededto explain at greater length.
"Why, sometimes a boy is taken with a cra
mp when in swimming, and ofcourse he is saved by those who know just how to get him without beingpulled down themselves."
"And," continued the Belgian lieutenant, "if the poor fellow should benearly gone, what then? I myself once had a narrow escape that way, andto this day it gives me a cold feeling every time I remember it."
"Oh! every scout, even when he's a tenderfoot, is supposed to learn howto resuscitate a comrade who has swallowed lots of water, and come neardrowning. Unless he was pulled out too late, he will be brought backevery time. Then there are the bites from poisonous snakes and insectsthat may happen; we are taught how best to counteract the effect ofpoison, so as to save the victim."
"I am delighted to know all this," the officer told them. "It has beenquite a pleasure to have met you, although under peculiar conditions, Iadmit. And the more I see of you, young messieurs, the more I amconvinced that you can look out for yourselves. At first I considered itwas a shame that three tender boys were allowed to travel over thisdangerous country. I no longer feel that way. If anybody should know howto take care of themselves, I surely believe you know, and are equal todo it. I am proud to shake hands with you, and wish you all a successfuljourney."
Which operation he proceeded to immediately put into execution; thoughTubby, having had one previous experience with a hearty Belgianhand-grip, was mighty careful just how he allowed the other to take holdof his plump digits.
Rob was quite satisfied now that they had done the right thing in comingforward and joining the party. At least it had been the means of easingthe pain of those who were wounded, and stopping the flow of bloodsensibly.
The German had actually broken his silence to thank the boys when theyfinished their work. It was evident, however, that he was not caringvery much what happened to him, since he knew the probable penalty forallowing himself to be captured in the act of delivering important plansof fortifications--death.
None of the boys so much as mentioned the fact that they believed theTaube machine might have been injured, and even fallen a short distanceaway. If the Belgians did not see fit to investigate conditions, it wasno part of the scouts' business to put them on the track. The dashingaviator deserved to get away, Rob thought, and it would hardly be fairfor outsiders, who had really no interest in the matter, to betray himto his enemies.
So they left the soldiers still waiting for their comrades to come alongwith a superior officer in charge. The lieutenant had taken quite asudden fancy for Rob and his two chums; but then that was not strange,Tubby told himself, since the patrol leader always had a knack of makingfriends wherever he went.
They soon arrived at the stone wall, and to Tubby's satisfaction found abreak where they could actually pass to the road without once moreclimbing the barrier.
The last they saw of the field was when the lighted lantern was beingwaved in a way that looked as though the lieutenant might be signalingto others. In the opposite quarter only darkness was to be seen. Robwondered what had become of the operator of the Taube aeroplane; whetherhe had indeed come crashing to the earth, or managed to sail away tosafety. But they were never fated to know.