V
About half an hour before Burton started from the aerodrome, CaptainBramarbas of the 19th Pomeranian infantry of the line laid down hisknife and fork with a grunt of satisfaction. He wiped his lips, tossedoff a glass of wine, and turning gleaming eyes upon LieutenantSchnauzzahn of the same regiment, who sat opposite, he ejaculated--
"Gott sei dank! These French swine have one virtue: they can cook."
"It is wonderful!" the lieutenant agreed. "Who would have thought thatan old French farmer would have had such resources? Cheap, too."
"Cheap indeed!" laughed the captain. "Between you and me, old Lumineauwill have difficulty in turning our paper into good German money afterthe war ... Ist es aber entsetzlich--the noise of those swine."
The door had just opened to admit an old woman servant bearing coffee.From the adjoining room--the spacious farm kitchen given up to thecaptain's men--came a guttural roar. A hundred Germans feeding like onemake a variety of unpleasant noises. It is not a mere coincidence,perhaps, that the Prussian loves a pig.
The officers took their cups of coffee, lit cigars, and lolled back intheir chairs. The door closed behind the servant, reducing the soundsto a muffled hum, not loud enough to disturb the comfort of gentlemen.It was a pleasant hour. The day's work was done; they were three orfour miles behind the firing line; the farm was a snug billet. They hadbeen working late; supper had taken the place of dinner: when they hadfinished their cigars they might go with a good German conscience tobed.
Presently there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," said the captain drowsily.
A sergeant entered, and stiffly saluted.
"What do you want? It is late. I gave you your orders."
"Herr Captain, I ask pardon for disturbing you, but----"
"Waste no time, Ascher. Say what you have to say quickly, confoundyou!"
"Say what you have to say quickly--confound you!"]
"It is important, Herr Captain. For some time I have been suspicious ofthe farmer, as the Herr Captain knows, though he does not condescend toshare my doubts. True, the farmer, though a Frenchman, is very obliging"(here the sergeant glanced for a moment at the remains on the table),"but I felt that his amiability was a mere blind, and I watched him."
"Ha! Now what did you see?" said the captain, sitting up. "If there istreachery----"
"Once or twice at night the farmer has gone out towards the wood yonder.I asked myself, why? There is no farm work at night. To-night Ifollowed him. It was difficult, Herr Captain, for he moved verycautiously, stopping and looking behind and around him."
"That itself is suspicious. Well?"
"He made his way beyond the wood, up the hill, and down into the hollowon the other side, and there, Herr Captain, he placed three small lampson the ground, so." He moved to the table, and arranged three bottlestriangularly. "He lit them."
"And you? You seized him, of course?"
"I thought of doing so, Herr Captain, and of demanding an explanation;but I felt it was a matter for the Herr Captain's discretion----"
"And you left him! Idiot! They were signals, of course. You ought tohave put them out, tied him up, and brought him to me in the morning.Now I lose an hour's sleep. Idiot!"
Captain Bramarbas was active enough now. He got up, buckled his beltand put on his helmet.
"Come, Schnauzzahn," he said, "we will see to this ourselves."
"Why not send a squad?" suggested the lieutenant.
"Ach! the swine are probably drunk. They are dull fools at the best.Come along! We'll slip out through the window, to avoid warning theservants."
The two officers and the sergeant climbed out of the window and hastenedtowards the hill. They had scarcely gone when the servant who hadwaited on them knocked at the door, and receiving no answer, hearing novoices, quickly opened it and looked in. She glanced from the vacantchairs to the open window.
"Eh, mon Dieu!" she muttered, and closing the door, hurried back to thekitchen.
The three Germans had covered about half the distance to the hill whenthe sound of heavy firing from the right broke upon their ears. Theystopped, and stood for a few moments watching the shells bursting inrapid succession in the neighbourhood of the trenches. The captainswore.
"It looks like an attack," he growled. "These cursed English! We mustmake haste in case we are called up in support. No sleep to-night,Schnauzzahn."
They hurried on, and in five minutes more were creeping up the lowincline. At the crest they halted and peered into the hollow. A figurewas bending over one of the lamps, which emitted a brighter light intothe mist.
"Go and capture him, Ascher," whispered the captain.
"Shall I bayonet him, Herr Captain?"
"No; we must use him. We can shoot him later."
The sergeant crept silently upon the old farmer from the rear. It wasthe work of a few seconds to overpower him and cast him helpless on theground.
The two officers went forward. As they descended the slope they becameaware that the lights were less visible.
"They're intended as signals to an aeroplane," said Schnauzzahn,approaching them rapidly. "See! They are directed above."
"Villainous treachery! But our good German wits will defeat it.Listen! Do you hear an engine?"
"No," replied the lieutenant after a brief silence.
"Then we have still time. Ascher, move the lamps near the slope. We'llspoil his landing!"
The sergeant carried the lamps to the foot of the slope, and placed themclose together.
"Not so, idiot!" cried the captain, "arrange them as they were before.Don't you understand?"
Hardly had the lamps been rearranged in their triangular position whenthe whirring of an engine was heard through the thunder of the distantguns.
"Here he is!" said Bramarbas. "I hope he'll break his neck. If hedoesn't, you and I will seize him, Schnauzzahn; Ascher will guard thefarmer."
They waited. The aeroplane could be heard wheeling above. Thebombardment suddenly ceased.
"The English have changed their minds. They can't have done much harm inten minutes. So much the better!" said the captain. The searchlightsbegan to play. "Potztausend! I hope he won't be shot down. Much betterfor us to capture him. Can he see the lights through the mist?"
"No doubt he has seen them. The sound has stopped. He has shut off theengine."
"Bring the Frenchman over the crest, Ascher, and don't let him cry out."
Thus it happened that Burton, after his unlucky accident, found himselfin the grasp of Captain Bramarbas and Lieutenant Schnauzzahn of the 19thPomeranian infantry of the line.
The German officers were mightily pleased with themselves. They hadsupped well: French cooking and French wine predisposed them to rosyviews. Nothing more delightful could have crowned their day. A Frenchspy, an English aeroplane and an English airman--all in a single haul!The Iron Cross had often been awarded for much less. And, of course,there was something behind it all. An enemy aeroplane would not landthus in the German lines unless there was some important object to begained. The English, no doubt, were mad; but after all there was methodin their madness. The next move must be to discover the nature of thisEnglishman's scheme, and his means of communication with the farmer spy.Then compliments, promotion, and the Iron Cross!
Some such thoughts as these raced through the Germans' minds in themoment of exultation, when, for the first time, their hands laid hold ofEnglish flesh.
"Hand over your revolver," said the captain in German. "Do you speakGerman?"
"No," said Burton, making no resistance as Schnauzzahn relieved him ofthe weapon. He felt very wretched.
Captain Bramarbas was disappointed. Neither he nor his lieutenant spokeEnglish, and it did not occur to him for the moment that the Englishmanmight speak French.
"We'll march our prisoners down to the farm," he said to Schnauzzahn.
"Wait a moment.
They may have accomplices who will remove or destroythe aeroplane as soon as our backs are turned. That would be a pity."
"What then? If one of us stays to guard the machine, and there areaccomplices, he would have to meet an unknown number single-handed."
He stood pointing his revolver at Burton. They must find a way out ofthis quandary.
"Why not send Ascher to the farm to bring up some men?"
"Again, he might be sprung upon by the enemy. Of course, they wouldhave no chance in the end, but for the present, until we know more, wehad better remain all three together. Listen! Do you hear anything?"
"No."
"They may be lurking somewhere to take us unawares, though how theycould conceive such a scheme, so mad, so insolent---- Ach! I have it."
The captain had indeed at last made up his mind--and, as the sequelshowed, chosen the wrong course. It was, perhaps, no worse thananother, for it was chosen in ignorance of the circumstances; but hiscalculation sprang from a typically German misconception of thepsychology of an Englishman.
A sentry was always on duty at the door of the farm. A couple ofrevolver shots would give him the alarm, and in a few minutes thePomeranians, swine in their hours of ease, but good soldiersnevertheless, would rush to their captain's assistance.
Burton stood motionless. Schnauzzahn was a little to his left.Bramarbas faced him, holding the revolver. The captain suddenly firedoff two rapid shots, moving the revolver to the right so as to avoidhitting his prisoner.
The airman's life is punctuated by swift decisions, depends on theperfect co-ordination of act with thought. Burton's mind worked quickerthan lightning. Before the German had time to cover him again, he shotout his right arm, rigid as a rod of metal, struck up the captain'swrist with a sharp jerk that sent the revolver flying, and a fraction ofa second later dealt him with the left fist a fierce upper cut beneaththe jaw, and lifted him into the bushes.
A bullet scorched Burton's cheek as he spun round to deal withSchnauzzahn. Another stung his left shoulder. But he hurled himselfupon the agitated lieutenant, and with a sledge-hammer blow sent him tojoin his captain.
There was now only the sergeant to dispose of. That worthy stood overthe prostrate farmer some little distance away, and though he had heardthe thudding blow and the crash as each of his superiors fell, he hadnot clearly seen what had happened. Burton was dashing towards him whena Verey light illumined the scene. And then the sergeant was transfixedwith amazement and terror, for on one side of him he saw the figure of aBritish airman, on the other, sprinting up towards the lip of thehollow, a score of silent forms in the well-known khaki. Ordinarily, nodoubt, he was a brave man, but at such a moment as this valour melted indiscretion. He flung up his hands.
HANDS UP!]
The German officers meanwhile had picked themselves up. They weresurrounded and seized. The light had died away.
"Quick!" said Hedley. "I hear the Huns rushing out of the farm.Where's Lumineau?"
The farmer had risen, and came to him.
"Get away to the cave," said Burton. "I'll be after you in a second:must fire the machine."
He rushed to the aeroplane, poured some petrol out and applied a match,and as the flame shot up into the air, dashed after the Rutlands andtheir three prisoners, who, under the guidance of the farmer, weredisappearing into the wood. Five minutes later, when the Pomeraniansarrived on the scene, their amazed eyes beheld only a blazing aeroplane;not a man was in sight.
Arriving at the cave, the panting Englishmen threw themselves down; somelaughed silently; the spectacle of three gagged Germans was verypleasing.
"What brought you up so opportunely?" asked Burton. "Not the shots?There wasn't time."
"No. Old Jacqueline warned us. She missed the officers, saw the openwindow, and guessed that they had got on the track of Lumineau. Trust aFrenchwoman's wits! But I say, what's your news?"
"It couldn't be better. The Brigadier, as it happened, had ordered anattack on the German trenches for to-night. When your C.O. explainedthe circumstances, he was quite keen to fit his arrangements to ourscheme."
"That bombardment wasn't bluff, then?"
"He timed it to give me cover, and broke off to delude the Huns. Theattack is fixed for two o'clock, when they'll have given up expectingit."
"That leaves us plenty of time to get to the trenches. It'll beticklish work, getting through. I'll tell old Lumineau: we depend onhis guidance. If he declines the job we shall be horribly handicapped."
He took the farmer apart, and held a quiet conversation with him. Theold man readily agreed to guide the party to the vicinity of the thirdline of trenches.
"But you'll come with us all the way?" said Hedley. "The farm won't besafe for you after this. You'll be shot."
Lumineau shrugged and smiled.
"Perhaps not, monsieur," he said. "The Bosches did not see us; they willonly be puzzled. I will go now back to the farm; do you see myamazement when they tell me their officers have disappeared? I willlead a search--not in this direction, par exemple!--and I will come backin good time to lead you. A bas les Bosches."
VI
Some few days later, Lieutenant Hedley was dispensing hospitality to afew friends in a neat little officers' estaminet in a village behind thelines. Among his guests were Captain Adams and other officers of theRutlands' supporting battery, and Burton of the Flying Corps.
"It took us about forty minutes to smash that battery you spotted,Burton," said Adams, with an air of pride.
"Better than pig-killing," returned Burton solemnly.
"Oh, we cut up a few pigs too."
"How do you know?" asked Hedley.
"Well, you see, in the first place," Adams was beginning earnestly, whenLaurence Cay interrupted him.
"We haven't time for firstly, secondly, thirdly, old man. We want tohear about Hedley and his missing platoon. By George! it must have beencreepy work."
"A good deal of it was literally creeping," said Hedley. "Old FarmerLumineau led us through woods and orchards for miles--a roundabout way,of course. It was ghastly, trudging along in the dark, trying to makeno noise, afraid to whisper, stopping to listen, starting at the leastsound. We got at last to a little copse just behind the farthermostline of trenches, and there Lumineau left us. We were on thorns, I cantell you. It seemed that the attack would never begin. We couldn'thear any Huns anywhere near us, but caught a note of a cornet now andthen from some billet on our left rear. I looked at my trench map----"
"In the dark?" asked Adams.
"No, you juggins! in the light of my electric torch, screened by the menstooping over me. I got a pretty good idea of our whereabouts, andtalked over a plan of action with my sergeant--a capital fellow--andBurton. I nearly yelled in sheer excitement when I heard the row as ourchaps started bombing the first trenches. We heard the Huns then, too;rifles, machine-guns, whizz-bangs: it was an inferno. We crept out intothe communication trench I had spotted, and had nearly got to the secondline when we heard a crowd of Huns racing across from our right. Wewaited a bit, went on again, and came smack into a traverse. It waspitch dark, but we had no sooner scrambled over than a star-shell burstright overhead. We flung ourselves down, dashed on when the light died,and--well, I hardly know what happened next. All I know is that somehowor other we discovered that we were pressing on the rear of a lot ofHuns who were being forced back by our fellows in front, and there was agood chance of our being scuppered by our own bombs. I passed alongword to give a yell, and the men shouted like fiends let loose. Thatwas enough for the Huns. Rutlands in front of them, Rutlands behindthem! 'Kamerad! Kamerad!' they bawled when I called to them tosurrender; and to make a long story short, we scooped the lot and gotsafe through with a few trifling casualties."
"What beats me," said Adams, "is how Burton managed to deal with threearmed Germans single-handed. How was it, Burton?"
Now Burton was never very ready to tal
k about himself. He flicked theash off his cigarette, and hesitatingly answered--
"Just a bit of luck, Adams."
"Yes, but what?"
"There were only two really."
"Hedley said there were three."
"So there were," said Hedley, "but there was only one upright when Iarrived on the scene."
"What about the others, then? Come, Burton!"
"They weren't far away. The fact is, I knocked 'em down, if you musthave it."
"Both at once? Right, left--that way?"
"No, one after the other. You see, the captain gave me an opening, andI took it, that's all."
The company were not satisfied with this far from lucid explanation, andpressed Burton with questions until the details were dragged out of him.He had to endure a flood of congratulations, until a diversion byCaptain Adams, who had been meditating a tit-for-tat for Burton's"chipping" on the occasion of his visit to the battery, brought welcomerelief.
"Well," said the captain, slowly unfolding a copy of the _Times_,"Burton has been gassing a good deal, but what does it all amount to?The official account won't shock his modesty. Listen! 'Last night wecaptured certain elements of the enemy's first and second lines oftrenches in the neighbourhood of ----, and are now consolidating ourgains!'"
THE END
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
* * * * * * * *
HERBERT STRANG'S STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR
A HERO OF LIEGE (Belgium).FIGHTING WITH FRENCH (Flanders).FRANK FORESTER (Gallipoli).BURTON OF THE FLYING CORPS.THROUGH THE ENEMY'S LINES (Asia Minor).
HISTORICAL STORIES
WITH DRAKE ON THE SPANISH MAIN (Elizabeth).HUMPHREY BOLD (William III and Anne).THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY ROCHESTER (Anne).ROB THE RANGER (Wolfe In Canada).ONE OF CLIVE'S HEROES (Clive in India).BOYS OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (Peninsular War).BARCLAY OF THE GUIDES (Indian Mutiny).KOBO (Russo-Japanese War).BROWN OF MOUKDEN (Russo-Japanese War).
ROMANCES
JACK HARDY: A Story of One Hundred Years Ago.PALM-TREE ISLAND (Adventure in the Pacific).SETTLERS AND SCOUTS (East Africa).THE ADVENTURES OF DICK TREVANION (Smugglers).THE AIR SCOUT: A Story of National Defence.THE AIR PATROL: A Story of the North-West Frontier.TOM BURNABY (the Congo Forest).SULTAN JIM (German Aggression in Central Africa).A GENTLEMAN AT ARMS (the Times of Elizabeth)SAMBA (the Congo Free State).THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN (Central Asian Mysteries).
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