CHAPTER III
Major Resimont
"I vote we get off this main road with its wretched _pave_," exclaimedRollo prior to resuming their ride on the following day. "There's aroad shown on the map which ought to be a jolly sight better. At anyrate we'll miss most of the heavy traffic."
"Right-o," assented Kenneth; "anything so long as we can have aspeed-burst. I'm tired of crawling along at ten miles an hour."
The road, which turned out to be little better than a cart-track, led aconsiderable distance from the left bank of the Meuse, and with theexception of an occasional farm wagon laden with hay, very littletraffic was met with.
At the end of an hour's steady riding, the lads found themselves at thejunction of two forked roads, where, contrary to the usual custom,there was no signpost to indicate the direction. On either side was asteep bank.
"Now, which way?" asked Rollo. "Neither of the roads looksparticularly inviting."
"It's one of the sunken roads of Belgium, I suppose," said Kenneth."We'll climb up this bank. Perhaps we shall be able to see where weare. It will be awkward for our bikes if a motor-car comes tearingalong."
The incline was nearly fifteen feet in height and fairly steep. Whenthe lads reached the summit they found, to their surprise, that theywere on a slightly undulating grass field liberally guarded with barbedwire. About four hundred yards off was a rounded hillock. Even as thetwo looked they saw a huge cylindrical turret, from which projected themuzzle of a large gun, rise from the ground. For a few seconds thegiant weapon moved horizontally and vertically, as if seeking a target,then as swiftly as it had appeared it disappeared into the ground.
"I say, we've stumbled across one of the frontier forts," exclaimedKenneth. "Let's go a bit closer and have a look. I'd like to find outhow they work."
"Thanks, I'm not having any," objected Rollo. "There's too much barbedwire knocking about. Besides, there are our bikes."
"We needn't wriggle under the wire, this road on our right evidentlyleads to the fort. We'll get a bit closer; but hold on a minute, we'llsee if that gun pops up again."
They waited for at least five minutes, but without the expected result.As they turned to retrace their steps, they were confronted by a tallBelgian soldier wearing the blue uniform of the artillery.
"C'est defendu: marchez!" he ordered sternly.
"All right, monsieur," replied Kenneth. "We've lost our way. Which isthe Liege road?"
"You are foreigners," exclaimed the soldier, bringing his bayonet tothe "ready".
"Yes, English."
"You must come with me."
"We have motor-bicycles."
"No matter. They will be attended to. Forward!"
Realizing the uselessness of attempting to argue the point the ladsobeyed, the soldier following three paces in the rear with his rifleand bayonet at the slope.
After covering a distance of about a hundred yards between the edge ofthe barbed-wire entanglements and the dip formed by the sunken road,the arrested lads found themselves in the presence of a corporal and afile of men.
"You must be taken before the major. I am sorry, but these are myorders," declared the corporal civilly, after ascertaining that the twochums were English. "No doubt you will be permitted to go with butlittle delay."
"Will our motor-bicycles be all right?" asked Rollo anxiously. "Weleft them a little way down the lane."
"I will send a man to look after them," was the reply. "We must takeyou into Fort Loncine, and you must be blindfolded. These are myorders whenever we find strangers in the vicinity of the defences."
"Very well," replied Kenneth with as good a grace as he could command,at the same time producing his handkerchief.
Guided by soldiers, the two blindfolded youths were led into the fort.Kenneth kept count of the number of paces before crossing thedrawbridge; they totalled four hundred and eighty-five, which, allowingthirty inches for his long stride, meant that the glacis, or levelgrassy ground surrounding the fort, was a little over four hundredyards in breadth.
When the handkerchiefs were removed from their eyes the lads foundthemselves in a large vaulted room lighted by electricity. On threesides were several low-arched doorways, on the fourth a fairly broadgateway through which they had been brought. Although it wasimpossible to see straight into the open air, a distant glimpse ofdiffused daylight showed that this entrance communicated either withthe glacis or else an enclosed portion of the fort that was exposed tothe rays of the sun.
Seated on benches or lolling against the walls were quite a hundredsoldiers, yet the place was by no means crowded. Beyond looking withevident curiosity at the two lads under arrest, they took no furtherinterest in them.
Presently a sergeant approached and questioned the guards concerningtheir prisoners.
"English? Perhaps they are sent ... but, no; they are but youths.Bring them along. I will inform Major Resimont."
The sergeant knocked at one of the doors, and in reply to a muffled"Entrez!" he passed through. The lads noticed that the door was ofsteel, and required considerable effort on the part of thenon-commissioned officer to open it.
"Englishmen found in the vicinity of the fort, mon major," announcedthe sergeant, saluting and standing stiffly at attention.
"Let them enter. Ah, my young friends, this, then, is the manner inwhich you come to Liege?"
The two chums could well express astonishment, for their questioner wasnone other than the officer who in Namur had advised them to abandontheir proposed visit to the Birmingham of Belgium.
"Well, what have you to say?" proceeded the major.
"We lost our way and scrambled on to the bank to see where we were. Wehappened to catch sight of one of the guns, with disappearingmountings, and we were curious to see what happened," replied Kenneth.
"Your curiosity might lead you into trouble," said the Belgian officergravely. "How am I to know that you are not German spies?"
Kenneth bridled indignantly.
"We give you our word that we are not."
"Your word will hardly do, monsieur, at a time like this. Can youproduce proofs? Have you anyone in the district who can identify you?"
The lads produced their permits.
"This will hardly do," continued the major as he scanned Kenneth'sdocument. "These are only too easy to obtain. Ha! Your name isBarrington?" he asked, turning to the owner of that patronymic.
"Yes, sir," replied Rollo. "My father is a retired colonel in theBritish army."
"His Christian name?"
Rollo told him.
"Then I know your father; not intimately, perhaps, yet I am acquaintedwith him. I met him at your great manoeuvres at Aldershot, to which Iwas sent as attache in 1904. But, tell me, why are you both so anxiousto go to Liege?"
"My sister is at a boarding-school near Vise," replied Kenneth. "Iwant to see her, as she is not returning home for the holidays."
"She is at the institution of Madame de la Barre?"
"Yes, sir; how did you know that?" asked Kenneth eagerly.
"I have the pleasure of Mademoiselle Everest's acquaintance," repliedthe major with a deep bow. "In fact, she is a great friend of mydaughter, Yvonne. You are free to depart, messieurs, but perhaps youwill do me a favour. Convey my compliments to Madame de la Barre, andsay that it is advisable that she should remove her school from Vise assoon as possible. Should you find it inconvenient to take your sisterto England, please inform her that she may find a temporary home withYvonne at my house in the Rue de la Tribune in Brussels."
"That we will gladly do, and let you know the result."
Major Resimont smiled.
"My duty prevents me from being my own messenger," he said. "I was onthe point of sending one of my men with a letter, but you will,according to your English proverb, kill two birds with one stone.To-night, if you wish to see me, I hope to be at the Cafe Royal, in theRue Breidel at Liege, from eight till eleven. Will you, before youdepart,
honour me by taking a glass of wine?"
"What do you think of the situation, sir?" asked Rollo.
Major Resimont shook his head.
"Serious," he said solemnly. "At any moment these pigs of Prussiansmay cross the frontier. Only one thing will hold them back: the fearof your English fleet. You are fortunate, you English, in having thesea around your country, yet I think you do not give sufficient thoughttowards the significance of the fact."
"But Great Britain has not declared war on Germany."
"No, not yet, but perhaps soon. Your country would do incalculableservice to France and Belgium simply by holding the sea; yet inaddition she has generously pledged herself to send almost the whole ofher army to Belgium if the Germans attack us. Then the rest will be aquestion of time. We in Liege will do our utmost to keep the invadersat bay until your brave army arrives. Then, with the French, to saynothing of the Russians on the east, Germany will be assailed andconquered, and the vile spectre of Teutonic militarism will be for everlaid low."
The Belgian major spoke with conviction. His earnestness in the hopeof British aid was intense.
"And we are ready," continued the major. "Already the bridges acrossthe Meuse are mined; our armoured forts will defy the heaviest of theGerman artillery. We will keep the Germans at bay for a month if needbe. Meanwhile you two messieurs journey through Belgium as calmly asif you were on an English country road. You English are brave, but youare enigmas. But take this and show it if you are challenged," and hewrote out a pass on an official form.
The major accompanied his involuntary guests as far as the edge of theglacis. This time they were not blindfolded; yet there was very littleto be seen, except to the practised eye of a trained man. There weremountings for quick-firing guns, and just discernible above the turfthe rounded tops of the steel cupolas. Beyond that the fort lookednothing more than an earthworked enclosure.
Somewhat to the lads' astonishment they found their motor-cycles placedon a trolley. The Belgian soldiers, not understanding the action ofthe exhaust lever, had been unable to wheel the heavy mounts; and sincetheir orders had to be obeyed, they had first resorted to the toilsometask of carrying the mounts. This, owing to the heat of the day andthe thickness of their clothing, was eventually abandoned, and atrolley procured.
"You have a clear road," announced Major Resimont. "When you re-enterthe lane, keep to the left; that will bring you speedily upon thehighway. Au revoir, messieurs!"
Somewhat to the wonderment of the Belgian soldiers, who could notunderstand how the unwieldy machines could be moved by manual power,the lads took a running start. Both engines fired easily, and soon thetourists were speeding along through the outskirts of the city of Liege.