CHAPTER XIX.
AN IMPORTANT CLUE.
"There was one thing I meant to mention to you, Merritt," said Rob, asthey once more started to zigzag across the field where so many windrowsof fallen Germans lay, just as they had dropped when making that daringcharge.
It was perhaps a little strange how the boys could come to converse asthey did while surrounded by such gruesome sights; but after severalhours' familiarity with such scenes these begin to lose some of theirharrowing features. And while Rob and his chum were still shocked byfrequent sights, they did not feel the same weakness that had, in thebeginning, 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 reckonyou must be referring to our late guide, the same who gave us the sliplike a coward. What about Anthony, Rob?"
"I guessed right about him," replied the patrol leader. "It was not fearthat 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 theBelgian army, must have been a reservist."
"Yes, he told me so," said Tubby, coming up and catching what was beingsaid 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 wavehis 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 wentwhirling past us into action. Anthony must have been with the artillerycorps. He felt the longing come over him when he thought of the enemiesof his country--those raiding Uhlans. So what did he do but take Frenchleave on his horse, and get to where this battery was waiting fororders to proceed to the front."
"Oh! well, if you're dead sure it was Anthony," Merritt observed, as ifmollified by the information, "of course we'll have to forgive him. Iwas 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'vegot no quarrel with Anthony."
"And perhaps he even had a share in mowing down some of these Germanswho had invaded his country," suggested Tubby. "Anthony seemed to bepretty bitter against the Kaiser and his people for trying to crossBelgium 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 Tubbywould 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 changethere's been in you," Rob told him, causing a wan smile to flit acrossthe wearied face of the fat scout.
"Yes," added Merritt readily, "to see the tender way you handled thatGerman, hardly more than a boy himself, and who may never live to seehis people again, anyone would have thought you had it in you to be asurgeon. Tubby, if I were you I'd pay more attention to such things. Ihonestly believe there's a streak of it in your blood."
"Well," Tubby remarked complacently, "we've had eminent doctors in ourfamily; 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 gaveup 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 gooddoctor, 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 canfind him. He must have recovered his senses after we passed by before."
"There's something moving under that pile of bodies," remarked Tubbywith 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 outfrom the weight that had almost smothered him.
"He's pretty badly hurt, I reckon," remarked Rob, as he immediatelystooped down over the Bavarian soldier, "but not fatally, I think. We'lldo what we can for him here, and the next time men come along with astretcher, 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 terriblepain 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 hadproper attention.
"Do you mean Hoboken, New Jersey?" he asked, in surprise.
"Sure. I have lived there for many years now, and have a large brewinginterest. 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 nativeland, and they soon found a place for me in the ranks. But now if I everget over this I think I will have had enough of fighting, and expect toreturn to my wife and children in Hoboken. But what are you doing hereon this terrible field? It is not the place for boys."
"We are Boy Scouts," Tubby informed him proudly. "By accident we werewhere we could watch the battle being fought. Then along came the RedCross ambulances, and the nurses. They asked us to assist, and as scoutsall learn something about first aid, why we thought we'd help out. Iguess you're about our last case, Herr Krauss."
Meanwhile Rob and Merritt busied themselves. The way they went abouttemporarily relieving his suffering, as well as stopping the loss ofblood, quite won the admiration of the Hoboken patriot, even as it haddone in the case of numerous other wounded men whom the boys attendedpreviously.
It chanced that once again the boys became immersed in their ownaffairs, which were beginning to weigh heavily on their minds.
"I was making inquiries of one of the men with the stretchers," Rob toldhis comrades, "and he assured me that this little place by the name ofSempst 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 getaround without being gobbled by the Germans, we might strike in thereto-morrow, and see if Steven Meredith is still at his post. The agentsent word to my grandfather that he had accepted a position there incharge of some manufacturing plant owned by a German firm in Brussels. Ithink myself there may have been some truth in that story about hisbeing in the pay of the German Government, both over in America andhere!"
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 oncemet a Steven Meredith, who pretended to be an American citizen, but whoI knew was an agent of the German Government. It may be the same man. Ientertained him, together with the German consul in New York City, at myhome in Hoboken. Do you happen to know any peculiarity about his looksor manner that would identify him?"
"The man we are trying to find was tall," said Merritt quickly, "and hasa slight cast in his left eye. He talks with something of a twang, asthough 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 methat you will not think it your duty to betray him to the enemy, and Iwill tell you still more of him."
Merritt and Rob exchanged significant looks.
"We have no fight against either Germany or the Allies," Merrittobserved, "for Americans are neutral, and there would be no need of ourbetraying him, even if we had the chance. So we can easily give you thatpromise. 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 StevenMeredith. Now, what can you tell us about him?"
"Only this," replied the wounded Hoboken brewer. "You have perhaps savedmy life, and I feel I am under heavy obligations fo
r the favor. It isworth something to my wife and family that I should live to see Hobokenagain. The man you are looking for is in the suburbs of Brussels. Youspoke 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. "Heremembered me, though he put his finger on his lips, and looked aroundhim as though he were suspicious. He is, as you said, in charge of amanufacturing plant, or appears to be, though he may have been sentthere 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 yourkindness."
As two soldiers wearing the Red Cross on their sleeves came along justthen with a stretcher, the boys beckoned to them, and had Philip Krausscarried off to the field hospital. They did not see him again afterthat. If, however, they should ever reach home again, they determinedsome day to look the Hoboken man up, and learn of his furtheradventures.