XI
THE ATTACK
Joseph and his father were both on the tow-path when at last Nettekedecided to move. As she set her ears forward and took the first step,Father De Smet heaved a sigh of relief.
"Now, why couldn't you have done that long ago, you addlepated oldfool," he said mildly to Netteke. "You have made no end of trouble forus, and gained nothing for yourself! Now I am afraid we shan't getbeyond the German lines before dark. We may even have to spend thenight in dangerous territory, and all because you're just as mulish as,as a mule," he finished helplessly.
Joseph laughed. "Can't you think of anything mulisher than a mule?" hesaid.
"There isn't a thing," answered his father.
"Well," answered Joseph, "there are a whole lot of other things besidebalky mules in this world that I wish had never been made. There arespiders, and rats, and Germans. They are all pests. I don't see whythey were ever born."
Father De Smet became serious at once.
"Son," he said sternly, "don't ever let me hear you say such a thingagain. There are spiders, and rats, and balky mules, and Germans, andit doesn't do a bit of good to waste words fussing because they arehere. The thing to do is to deal with them!"
Father De Smet was so much in earnest that he boomed these words out inquite a loud voice. Joseph seized his hand.
"Hush!" he whispered.
Father De Smet looked up. There, standing right in front of them in thetow-path, was a German soldier!
"Halt!" shouted the soldier.
But Netteke was now just as much bent upon going as she had been beforeupon standing still. She paid no attention whatever to the command, butwalked stolidly along the tow-path directly toward the soldier.
"Halt!" cried the soldier again.
But Netteke had had no military training, and she simply kept on. Inone more step she would have come down upon the soldier's toes, if hehad not moved aside just in time. He was very angry.
"Why didn't you stop your miserable old mule when I told you to?" hesaid to Father De Smet.
"It's a balky mule," replied Father De Smet mildly, "and veryobstinate."
"Indeed!" sneered the soldier; "then, I suppose you have named himAlbert after your pig-headed King!"
"No," answered Father De Smet, "I think too much of my King to name mymule after him."
"Oh, ho!" said the German; "then perhaps you have named him for theKaiser!"
Netteke had marched steadily along during this conversation, and theywere now past the soldier.
"No," Father De Smet called back, "I didn't name her after the Kaiser.I think too much of my mule!"
The soldier shook his fist after them. "I'll make you pay well for yourimpudence!" he shouted. "You and I will meet again!"
"Very likely," muttered Father De Smet under his breath. He was nowmore than ever anxious to get beyond the German lines before dark, butas the afternoon passed it became certain that they would not be ableto do it. The shadows grew longer and longer as Netteke plodded slowlyalong, and at last Mother De Smet called to her husband over theboatside.
"I think we shall have to stop soon and feed the mule or she will betoo tired to get us across the line at all. I believe we should savetime by stopping for supper. Besides, I want to send over there," shepointed to a farmhouse not a great distance from the river, "and getsome milk and eggs."
"Very well," said her husband; "we'll stop under that bunch of willows."
The bunch of willows beside the river which he pointed out proved to bea pleasant, sheltered spot, with grassy banks sloping down to thewater. A turn in the river enabled them to draw the "Old Woman" up intotheir shadows, and because the trees were green and the boat was green,the reflections in the water were also green, and for this reason theboat seemed very well hidden from view.
"I don't believe we shall be noticed here," said Father De Smet.
"It's hot on the boat. It would be nice to take the babies ashore whilewe eat," said Mother De Smet, running out the gangplank. "I believewe'll have supper on the grass. You hurry along and get the milk andeggs, and I'll cook some onions while you are gone."
Jan and Marie ran over the plank at once, and Mother De Smet soonfollowed with the babies. Then, while Marie watched them, she and Janbrought out the onions and a pan, and soon the air was heavy with thesmell of frying onions. Joseph and Jan slipped the bridle overNetteke's collar and allowed her to eat the rich green grass at theriver's edge. When Father De Smet returned, supper was nearly ready. Hesniffed appreciatively as he appeared under the trees.
"Smells good," he said as he held out the milk and eggs toward his wife.
"Sie haben recht!" (You are right!), said a loud voice right behind him!
Father De Smet was so startled that he dropped the eggs. He whirledabout, and there stood the German soldier who had told Netteke to halt.With him were six other men.
"Ha! I told you we should meet again!" shouted the soldier to Father DeSmet. "And it was certainly thoughtful of you to provide for ourentertainment. Comrades, fall to!"
The onions were still cooking over a little blaze of twigs aid dryleaves, but Mother De Smet was no longer tending them. The instant sheheard the gruff voice she had dropped her spoon, and, seizing a babyunder each arm, had fled up the gangplank on to the boat. Mariefollowed at top speed. Father De Smet faced the intruders.
"What do you want here?" he said.
"Some supper first," said the soldier gayly, helping himself to someonions and passing the pan to his friends. "Then, perhaps, a fewsupplies for our brave army. There is no hurry. After supper will do;but first we'll drink a health to the Kaiser, and since you are hosthere, you shall propose it!"
He pointed to the pail of milk which Father De Smet still held.
"Now," he shouted, "lift your stein and say, 'Hoch der Kaiser.'"
Father De Smet looked them in the face and said not a word. MeanwhileJan and Joseph, to Mother De Smet's great alarm, had not followed her,on to the boat. Instead they had flown to Netteke, who was partlyhidden from the group by a bunch of young willows near the water'sedge, and with great speed and presence of mind had slipped her bridleover her head and gently started her up the tow-path.
"Oh," murmured Joseph, "suppose she should balk!" But Netteke had doneher balking for the day, and, having been refreshed by her luncheon ofgreen grass, she was ready to move on. The river had now quite acurrent, which helped them, and while the soldiers were still havingtheir joke with Father De Smet the boat moved quietly out of sight. Asshe felt it move, Mother De Smet lifted her head over the boat's railbehind which she and the children were hiding, and raised the end ofthe gangplank so that it would make no noise by scraping along theground. She was beside herself with anxiety. If she screamed or saidanything to the boys, the attention of the soldiers would immediatelybe directed toward them. Yet if they should by any miracle succeed ingetting away, there was her husband left alone to face seven enemies.She wrung her hands.
"Maybe they will stop to eat the onions," she groaned to herself. Sheheld to the gangplank and murmured prayers to all the saints she knew,while Jan and Joseph trotted briskly along the tow-path, and Netteke,assisted by the current, made better speed than she had at any timeduring the day.
Meanwhile his captors were busy with Father De Smet. "Come! Drink tothe Kaiser!" shouted the first soldier, "or we'll feed you to thefishes! We want our supper, and you delay us." Still Father De Smetsaid nothing. "We'll give you just until I count ten," said thesoldier, pointing his gun at him, "and if by that time you have notfound your tongue--"
But he did not finish the sentence. From an unexpected quarter a shotrang out. It struck the pail of milk and dashed it over the German andover Father De Smet too. Another shot followed, and the right arm ofthe soldier fell helpless to his side. One of his companions gave ahowl and fell to the ground. Still no one appeared at whom the Germanscould direct their fire. "Snipers!" shouted the soldiers, instantlylowering their guns, but before they could even fir
e in the directionof the unseen enemy, there was such a patter of bullets about them thatthey turned and fled.
Father De Smet fled, too. He leaped over the frying-pan and tore downthe river-bank after the boat. As he overtook it, Mother De Smet ranout the gang plank. "Boys!" shouted Father De Smet. "Get aboard! Getaboard!" Joseph and Jan instantly stopped the mule and, dropping thereins, raced up the gangplank, almost before the end of it restedsafely on the ground. Father De Smet snatched up the reins. On went theboat at Netteke's best speed, which seemed no better than a snail'space to the fleeing family. Sounds of the skirmish continued to reachtheir ears, even when they had gone some distance down the river, andit was not until twilight had deepened into dusk, and they were hiddenin its shadows, that they dared hope the danger was passed. It wasafter ten o'clock at night when the "Old Woman" at last approached thetwinkling lights of Antwerp, and they knew that, for the time being atleast, they were safe.
They wore now beyond the German lines in country still held by theBelgians. Here, in a suburb of the city, Father De Smet decided to dockfor the night. A distant clock struck eleven as the hungry but thankfulfamily gathered upon the deck of the "Old Woman" to eat a meager supperof bread and cheese with only the moon to light their repast. Not untilthey had finished did Father De Smet tell them all that had happened tohim during the few terrible moments when he was in the hands of theenemy.
"They overreached themselves," he said. "They meant to amuse themselvesby prolonging my misery, and they lingered just a bit too long." Heturned to Jan and Joseph. "You were brave boys! If you had not startedthe boat when you did, it is quite likely they might have got me, afterall, and the potatoes too. I am proud of you."
"But, Father," cried Joseph, "who could have fired those shots? Wedidn't see a soul."
"Neither did I," answered his father; "and neither did the Germans forthat matter. There was no one in sight."
"Oh," cried Mother De Smet, "it was as if the good God himselfintervened to save you!"
"As I figure it out," said Father De Smet, "we must have stopped verynear the trenches, and our own men must have seen the Germans attackus. My German friend had evidently been following us up, meaning to geteverything we had and me too. But the smell of the onions was too muchfor him! If he hadn't been greedy, he might have carried out his plan,but he wanted our potatoes and our supper too; and so he got neither!"he chuckled. "And neither did the Kaiser get a toast from me! Instead,he got a salute from the Belgians." He crossed himself reverently."Thank God for our soldiers," he said, and Mother De Smet, weepingsoftly, murmured a devout "Amen."
Little did Jan and Marie dream as they listened, that this blessingrested upon their own father, and that he had been one of the Belgiansoldiers, who, firing from the trenches, had delivered them from thehands of their enemies. Their father, hidden away, in the earth like afox, as little dreamed that he had helped to save his own children froma terrible fate.