CHAPTER XIX. THE BATTLE AT THE BRIDGE.
Once more the fugitives managed to go on for some little distance, withnothing out of the common run happening. Bumpus was thinking that theengine had commenced to act quite decently, but of course he did notdare mention this fact aloud. The recollection of what had followed whenGiraffe boasted was still fresh in his memory.
"There's a fork in the road ahead of us, Thad," announced the keen-eyedGiraffe. "Do we take the right or the left branch?"
"I'm a little dubious about that," said the pilot at the wheel.
"Why, what does your chart say?" asked Giraffe.
"As near as I can make out," he was told, "the roads come together againsome ways further on, perhaps as much as seven miles or so. The one thatleads toward the left seems to be shorter than the other byconsiderable."
"Then why should you hesitate about starting along that one?" askedAllan.
"Only because it heads so far toward the southwest, you see," explainedThad.
"Oh! I'm on now," exclaimed the tall scout. "You're a bit worried forfear we'll run smack into some of the fighting that seems to have beengoing on over that way--is that it, Thad?"
"Well, yes, Giraffe, but on the whole I think I'll make the try. If wesee things getting thick ahead of us we can turn around and come backagain at the worst. And if we do manage to get along without being heldup we'll save quite some time."
That was how they came to be moving along that road, and heading in adirection that opened up new hazards.
"We want to keep a good lookout whenever we strike a rise," the pilotwarned them. "Tell me if you happen to see anything that lookssuspicious, for it may be a hard job to get turned around, you know."
Each one of the others readily promised, though very likely the taskwould fall principally to Giraffe, as he had the best eyes for thispurpose.
They may have covered as much as three miles after passing the fork whenthey saw a hill ahead of them. Bumpus looked and groaned. He knew whatthat meant.
"More push coming, fellows!" commented Giraffe. "As for me, I won't besorry to get out and stretch my legs a bit, because they're feelingcramped."
"Hit it up for all the old tub can carry, Thad," begged Bumpus. "Thefurther she carries us before giving up the ghost the less hard workwe'll have to do. Go it, you shirker, do your level best! If you couldonly drag us all the way up I'd beg your pardon for ever having eventhought evil of you. Here we go!"
They started up the rise bravely enough, but speedily the engine beganto make signs as of distress.
"Get ready to jump, everybody!" called out Giraffe.
"Yes, that's easy for you to say," complained poor Bumpus, "but think ofme, won't you? How can I spring like a frog when she starts to gobackward down the hill again? I'll do my best to roll out; only somebodygrab hold, and don't let me get started rolling like a barrel after thecar!"
"Oh! no danger," Thad told them. "Just as soon as she stops I'll jam onthe brake and let her back off the road."
"We're two-thirds of the way to the top anyhow!" cried Giraffe,triumphantly.
He had hardly spoken when the engine gave a last expiring puff, and Thadimmediately turned the car into the little ditch alongside the road.
They had done this grand pushing act so often by this time that they hadit all reduced to a system. Two took hold on either side, and in thisway the car was urged up the balance of the rise. With but a couple ofstops, so as to catch their breath, the boys managed to reach the crownof the low hill.
"Worth all it took to get here, just to enjoy that grand view!" gaspedAllan.
Giraffe uttered a cry.
"Look down there to where the road crosses a river by a bridge!" heexclaimed.
"Why, there are lots of men in uniforms on the other side of the bridge,Belgian soldiers as sure as anything!" cried Allan.
"They've got cannon, too," added Bumpus, staring with distended eyes,"because you c'n see the glint in the sunlight. What d'ye suppose it allmeans, Thad?"
As usual he had to appeal to the patrol leader for an opinion. Bumpushad never fully learned that a scout should try to figure out things forhimself, and not be forever asking some one else for an explanation. Butthen it was so much easier doing things by proxy, and Bumpus, as everyone knew, hated to exert himself more than was absolutely necessary.
"That bridge must be an important one, I should say," Thad explained,"and the battery has had orders to guard it so that no German cavalrymencan cross."
"And perhaps sooner or later there will be a fierce old fight take placeright down there!" Giraffe was saying, half to himself, and with a touchof envy in his voice, as though he felt sorry that he could not be uponthat same hill so as to watch the battle below.
"Ought we to keep on and try to get across that bridge, Thad?" askedAllan.
"It's a question whether the Belgians would let us get close enough totell who we are. They might open on us as soon as we came in sight,"Bumpus remarked, from which it might easily be seen what he hoped Thadwould do.
"We're not going to have the chance to try and cross the bridge,"remarked Giraffe, "and if you want to know the reason why just lookalong the river road that joins this one down near the bridge."
No sooner had the others done this than loud and excited exclamationstold what a shock they had received.
"That's what all the dust meant I noticed rising over those trees," saidBumpus. "Why, there comes a whole army of soldiers, and say, they've gotfield guns along with them, too, because you can see the horses draggingthe same."
"And do you notice the gray uniforms they are wearing?" Giraffedemanded. "That shows who they are--the Kaiser's men, as sure asanything. Now there's going to be the dickens to pay. The river must bedeep, and I reckon that same bridge is the only one around this section.The Germans are bent on crossing over, and the Belgians just as set thatthey shan't do the same. Thad, you won't think of quitting this splendidview-place and losing the one chance we may ever have to see a realup-to-date battle?"
Thad did not answer immediately. He had a boy's curiosity as well asGiraffe, and felt that it would be something to say they had actuallywitnessed a fierce fight between the rivals for Belgian soil, thedefenders and the invaders.
"Yes, we will stay a while," he finally said; "but first let's get thecar turned around, and make sure it will work when called on. We mayhave to leave here in a big hurry, you understand."
These little matters having been duly attended to they were in aposition to observe all that was transpiring below. It was just like agrand panorama, or something that had been staged for a moving pictureshow.
The German battery was advancing on a gallop now, as though the fact hadbeen discovered that the bridge was guarded by the Belgians. Men couldbe seen using the whip on the steaming horses, already galloping wildly.The rumble of the wheels on the road came distinctly to the ears of theinterested boys standing on the rise, and really not more than a mile orso from the scene.
"There, the troops are coming on the double-quick, too!" announcedGiraffe. "You can't see the end of them yet, and I should think theremust be thousands of soldiers in that bunch. It's going to be a hot oldaffair, believe me. Mebbe the Germans may carry the bridge, and againthey might get more than they bargained for right there."
Evidences of considerable excitement could be seen among the defendersof the river bridge. Men ran this way and that; perhaps ammunition wasbeing placed handy, so that the guns could be quickly served, becausetime was a factor that would undoubtedly enter into the result. A delayof a few seconds was apt to count heavily for either side when fightingit out at such close quarters.
Of course all of the scouts were keenly interested. While neither Thadnor Allan felt just the same eagerness that Giraffe displayed, at thesame time they knew such an opportunity to see a wonderful and terriblespectacle would not be apt to come their way again in a hurry, and sothey were satisfied to stay.
As for Bumpus, he was shivering, not with eagerness, but in anticipationof awful sights he expected to witness, once those guns startedbusiness. The florid look had left his round face, and it was now almostpallid, with his blue eyes round and expectant.
Amidst clouds of dust and more or less racket the German battery camedashing along. It broke through into a field as though all this had beenfigured out beforehand in the wonderful systematic way these Teutonfighters did nearly everything they undertook.
There the horses were detached from the guns and caissons and hurriedaway to a place of security. Already a loud crash announced that theBelgians were beginning hostilities, not meaning to wait until that hostof grim gray-clad infantry reached the abutment of the bridge.
The four boys watched and saw a shell burst close to one of the Germanbatteries. It did not seem to do any damage, nor did the gunners showthe least sign of any flinching, but went steadily about their work ofloading.
Other shots began to roar out until there was a constant crash in theair almost deafening, and white powder smoke rose in billows, throughwhich the watchers on the hilltop could actually discover flashes offlame when another gun was discharged.
The battle for the bridge was now on in earnest. Hurrying figures couldbe seen in every direction. The Germans were evidently not fullysatisfied with their first position for down came the horses again, andbeing attached to the guns the latter were whisked further up the risewhere they could get a better chance to shell the chosen position of theBelgian battery.
It seemed to get more and more exciting every second. None of the boyssaid a single word; they were too intensely interested in looking; andbesides, the riot of noise was now at its height, so that they wouldhave had to shout in order to have made themselves heard, even close athand.
Doubtless there had already been many casualties on both sides, with allthat furious bombardment at close range; but the smoke hid much of thisfrom the eyes of the spectators. Thad was of the opinion the Germanscould not have known of the Belgian battery at the bridge; he believedthat had they been aware of it in all probability their battery wouldhave taken up its stand on the crown of the hill where the four scoutsstood, from which point they could have made it too warm for theBelgians to remain there below.
All at once Thad realized that the infantry columns had been hurryingalong the road and scattering through the fields near by. He caughtglimpses of their number and was amazed when he saw they must be in thethousands. Other batteries also began to show up back along the road.This was not a sporadic dash on the part of a mere detachment of theGerman force, but an advance of the main army, bent on getting aroundthe stumbling block at Liege.
And to himself Thad was saying:
"They mean to take that bridge, no matter how many lives it costs them,for it is an important link in their general plans."
Giraffe was calling out something. It chanced that there was a littlelull in the roar of guns, and they could hear what he was saying.
It seemed to give the finishing thrill to the situation, as though thegrand climax had been reached.
"Look! Oh, see what they're meaning to do, fellows!" was what Giraffecried at the top of his shrill voice. "The order's been given to chargethe bridge, and as sure as you live there they go with a rush!"
And Bumpus hurriedly put his hands before his eyes, though possiblypeeping through between his fingers, impelled by some dreadfulfascination.