CHAPTER XXVIII. TURNED BACK.
"Bully," Giraffe was heard to mutter half under his breath, at thissudden change in front on the part of the stern Uhlan officer, evidentlya soldier of more or less reputation.
Even Bumpus wanted to be able to say he had grasped the fist of a Germancavalry officer raiding through Belgium, for he crowded forward, and wasthe last to be greeted in that friendly way.
"Let me give you back this slip of paper, boy," said the commander toThad. "You should be very proud of having saved the life of that braveman, for he is called the foremost aviator in our entire corps. If ourcommander, the Kaiser, ever learns of what you have done be assured thathe will send you a personal letter of thanks."
All this was very pleasant for the boys to hear. Bumpus was evidentlystill hugging a faint hope to his faithful heart that they might beallowed to pass on. He even managed to find his voice, and put hisanticipation into words.
"And could we be allowed to keep on to Antwerp, sir?" he asked.
At that the officer frowned again. He seemed to consider for a moment,then shook his head slowly in the negative.
"You must turn back, and proceed to the Dutch border," he told them. "Itwould be much better for you to try and reach Antwerp by way ofRotterdam and the sea. There nothing will delay you, while on land athousand obstacles may arise to prevent the accomplishment of yourplans. Besides, you must give us your word of honor as scouts that youwill not come back this way again."
Thad felt as though a great load had been taken from his chest. Now thatthey were to be forced to promise Bumpus could not complain; and theywould be able to try the other plan. He was sorry now he had notinsisted on doing that at the time they trod Dutch soil; before now theywould have reached Rotterdam, and might even be sailing for the Schelde.
"We are ready to make you that promise, sir," he told the commander ofthe Uhlans, "in fact, we should have decided on that course long ago. Itwould have saved us a heap of trouble. Once across the border and onDutch soil we should not have crossed back again."
"I differ with you there, boy," said the other, smiling again; "for hadyou done so the German flying corps would perhaps have lost its mostbrilliant and daring exponent. Turn your car, therefore, and you canproceed ahead of us. First of all let me mark out the course I wish youto take."
With that he drew out a map of Belgium and Holland. Thad was interestedwhen he saw what a marvel of ingenuity that map was. It had evidentlybeen carefully prepared for the army to be used in case of just such aninvasion. Possibly there were other charts covering Great Britain,France, Russia, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark.
Thad saw that it was very minute. Not a railroad, station, crossing,canal, road, town, village, bridge, ford, fort or anything else ofconsequence but that it was plainly marked there. And the officer hadother maps too, for Thad glimpsed them when he was selecting this one.
He traced the route back to the Dutch border, and Thad, taking out hisown apology for a chart, made marks to indicate the course he was totake. Then after considerable work he managed to get the car turned,some of the troopers being ordered to dismount and lend a helping hand.After that they started, and before they had gone far the clatter ofhorses' hoofs from the rear announced that the entire squadron oftroopers must be coming after them.
"Gee! but I'm glad they're not meaning us any harm," remarked Giraffe,as he took one of his usual backward peeps by simply twisting that longneck of his around; "because they'd be able to overtake us in a jiffy,even if their nags are tired. It's a heap nicer to have thesehard-riding Uhlans for friends than enemies. And I also hope we don'trun afoul of that armored motor-car we saw, with those reckless Belgiansin the same. I do believe they'd charge the whole Uhlan squadron."
Thad himself echoed that wish. He had seen sights during that terriblebattle for the possession of the disputed bridge that would never fadefrom his memory; and he did not want to look on anything further thathad to do with bloodshed and misery, under the thin veneering of glory.
"We're coming to the side road he wants us to take, and which will leadto the Dutch border," Thad announced after a time.
A few minutes later and the car turned to the left, after which Thadshut down. Standing up they watched the troop gallop past, andfortunately the dust was blowing toward the opposite quarter so theirview was not hindered. The scouts had taken off their hats, and everytime they saw any one in that long column give them a salute theyanswered in kind as they had been taught by the rules of theorganization to which they belonged.
Finally the last Uhlan had ridden past, and only a slowly settling cloudof dust told where they had gone.
"We'll always remember this last incident as one of the pleasantepisodes of our dash through Belgium," remarked Thad, as they settleddown again in their places for another start.
"One thing sure, Thad," observed Giraffe, "that commander must haveplaced a lot of confidence in your simple word, because he wouldn't knownow whether we meant to keep on into Holland, or try again to push onafter he'd forbidden it."
"I guess he knows whatever a scout says he'll do he tries to perform,"ventured Bumpus, proudly.
"Seven miles isn't far, and with any sort of luck we ought to be overthe line by noon," remarked Allan.
"What's the plan of campaign, then, Thad?" inquired Bumpus.
"We'll try for a station on a railway," he was told. "Over in Hollandthey're not so apt to be given over wholly to the military forces, so westand a chance to get passage to Rotterdam. The very first time our cargoes back on us with the railroad close by it's good-bye to thismachine."
"I really don't think any of us will mourn much for the dinky trap,"Giraffe argued; "but then I suppose after a time when things get mellowin our minds well all take a lot of satisfaction in talking about thistrip, and the old car will come in for its share of attention. Timeheals many faults, you know."
Now that the change in plans had really come about, they could feel asort of satisfaction in reflecting that they had kept on to the verylast. In fact, they had refused to give up until actually in the handsof the Uhlans, and compelled to promise on their honor as scouts thatthey would do as ordered.
"Oh! did you see that?" exclaimed Bumpus, starting them all to staringaround in various directions; and then he condescended to go on, thuscentering their attention to the one point--"it was ahead of us I sawit, boys."
"Saw what, a boa constrictor from the menagerie?" demanded Giraffe, withthe suspicion of a sneer in his voice.
"It was a _man_," said Bumpus, severely, "if you want to know, and hedodged into the bushes there as quick as a flash when we came around thebend."
"Oh! he did, eh?" continued Giraffe; "and now mebbe you could tell uswhat sort of a man it was, Bumpus, white or black, tall or short,soldier or just a plain ordinary citizen. Speak up, Bumpus, we'rewaiting."
"He looked to me about like our friend the Kaiser!" said the fat scout,with a trace of a smile on his rosy face; "and there's where he dodgedinto the brush, too!"
Thad stopped the car.
"Nothing more likely than that it was the very man," he remarked. "Ishould think he might have gotten this far along the way to the Dutchborder by now," and then raising his voice the patrol leader called:"Hello! Kaiser, don't you want to buy a dog? Show yourself, Bob; youought to know your friends!"
At that a lanky figure bobbed up and there was an inarticulate cry,after which the circus fugitive hurried to join them.
"Why, this _is_ a surprise, I must say, and a pleasant one in thebargain," he declared, fairly bubbling over with delight as he shookfirst Thad's hand and then that of each scout in rotation; "I neverdreamed I'd see you boys again on this side of the water. What made youchange your minds?"
"A stout officer in the uniform of a Uhlan colonel," laughed Thad. "Thefact is we ran smack into a squadron of Uhlans, and they made us promiseto cross over to Holland; so, as scouts always keep their solemn wordwe're bo
und that way right now. And there's room enough for you to crowdin, if you think we can make faster time than afoot."
The tattooed man did not wait for a second invitation, and easilysqueezed in with the two boys in the rear. There was not much room tospare, owing to the fact of Bumpus being so very corpulent; but thenKaiser was as thin as he was long, so that he occupied very littlespace. Giraffe said he "wedged" himself in, which was about the truth.
He was greatly interested in hearing of the adventure that had befallenThad and his three chums since they separated from him that morning. Forthe first time he learned how they had saved that German Taube man fromthe treetop, afterwards binding up his wound.
"It does beat all creation," declared the circus fugitive, "how you boysmanage to go around doing good to others. I owe you a big debt just asthat aviator does, and I warrant you there are many others, only you'retoo modest to mention the fact."
"Oh! that's all in the game!" said Giraffe, making out to look upon suchthings with a feeling bordering on contempt, although being human hemust have liked to hear his praises sung.
"To tell the truth," ventured Thad, "we are the ones who feel underobligations, because we get much more benefit out of these happeningsthan the other fellow. Everybody does who believes in the old sayingthat it's more blessed to give than to receive. Besides, we are onlyobeying the rules of the organization that we're proud to say we belongto."
As they went on their way the man who had traveled to the uttermostcorners of the world entertained them with still further storiesconnected with his strange experiences. Thus they hardly noticed thelapse of time, and when Thad told them they had passed the seventh milethe eagle eye of Giraffe began to get busy with the task of locating theguard station that would mark the border line.
A short time afterwards he pointed it out to them, and they discoveredone of the same white posts that had marked the division of territory atthe time they were chased by the German cavalrymen, and found refugeover the line with the soldiers of Queen Wilhelmina.
Of course they were stopped, but at this early stage in the war theDutch guard along the border had no orders to keep any one out ofHolland. Questions were put to them by an officer who was summoned bythe privates. These of course Thad could answer truthfully, and besides,the manly bearing of the lads must have had an influence in determiningthe officer to admit the party.
He did look rather doubtfully at the circus freak, but having been toldjust who Kaiser was, and seen something of his wonderful adornment, hedid not think himself justified in turning him back.
So it came the four scouts left Belgium territory again. They had beenthrough some pretty warm experiences since first striking the soil ofthe buffer state, many of which would never be forgotten.
Somehow all of them seemed to breathe easily after they had startedalong the road that would take them to the nearest railroad town. Thadknew it had all been a mistake, their trying to break past thestruggling armed hosts, and that they would have shown wisdom had theycome this way in the beginning.
At the same time he did not feel very sorry. They had been given awonderful experience, and would certainly never forget some of thethings that had happened to them. Particularly would they have reason toremember that terrible battle for the bridge head, when the German hostsfought their way through a storm of shot, only to see the bridge blownup with dynamite before they could secure it.