The Boy Scouts on War Trails in Belgium; Or, Caught Between Hostile Armies

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE UHLAN HOLD-UP. “Not if I was in my right senses,” came the prompt reply. “To tell you the truth the first tattooing I had was given to me against my will when I was held a prisoner among some wild men in Borneo. They thought my white skin was a good background to display the art of their boss tattooer. Later on the crazy idea came to me to have it continued, and then join some show. I think with what little money I’ve got saved over in Philadelphia I’ll buy a farm and settle down, if only I’m lucky enough to get out of this war-cursed country alive.” Later on the fugitive circus freak did let the boys look him over, and all of them united in declaring that he certainly was a wonderful exhibition of the art of tattooing in bright colors. Giraffe mentally decided, however, that he would never allow another anchor, or any other design for that matter, to be placed upon his arms. This awful example had effectually cured his leaning in that direction. The man sat there for fully two hours and entertained his young hosts with amazing stories connected with his adventurous past. Whether they were all true or not might always be open to suspicion, but then none of the scouts doubted that he had been through a maze of exploits, equal to anything they had ever read in those books so dear to the heart of youth, “Robinson Crusoe,” “Swiss Family Robinson,” “Gulliver’s Travels,” “Sindbad the Sailor” and “The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment.” Later on they disposed of themselves the best way they could, and managed to secure more or less sleep while the night lasted. Nothing occurred to disturb them. If there were various sounds heard during the time that the moon rode high in the heavens they were not of a character to cause any alarm. So morning found them, and breakfast was prepared in much the same fashion as supper had been on the preceding evening. Bob Kaiser was loud in his protestations of gratitude as he shook the hand of each scout at parting. He told them he would never forget what they had done for him; and from that time forth he meant to say a good word for scouts wherever he went. When the four lads saw him last, as they moved off along the road, he was waving farewell in answer to their salute, before turning his face toward the north. Upon the whole they were very glad such an opportunity to extend a helping hand had come to them. It must always please a genuine scout to be of assistance to any one in distress; and the fact that the party had been a fellow American added to the satisfaction they felt. The man had told them he had friends at Amsterdam who would look out for him if only he could get there; and with a reasonable amount of good luck he surely ought to be able to cover the seven miles, more or less, between their camping place and the border, during the day ahead of him. In fact, Thad almost envied him his resolution to head that way. It seemed the shortest route to safety in those strenuous days when the whole of Belgium was ablaze with excitement, hostile armies battling for supremacy, and every one suspicious of all strangers. “To-day will decide the question for us,” Allan was saying, an hour or so after they had started that morning; “if we manage to pull through up to night time without any more backsets, we can consider it settled that we’re going to make Antwerp by this route.” No one disagreed with him. Even Bumpus was figuring what thirty miles “as the crow flies” might mean, when they had to follow varying trails and roads, subject to the whims of any military commands they chanced to meet. “Something coming ahead there!” announced the ever-watchful Giraffe. On looking the others could see that a cloud of dust was rising in the direction they were heading. This of course indicated the passage of some considerable number of men or horses along the road. “Another battery coming from Antwerp and hurrying to the front by this route,” speculated Allan, and indeed that seemed the most probable explanation of the disturbance. “There, I heard what sounded like the clatter of horses’ hoofs then,” announced Giraffe, with his hand cupped at his ear to imitate the rabbit, which a kindly Nature has so constructed as to be able to throw its ears forward and catch the slightest sound that otherwise would be inaudible. Thad listened, and as he did so his eyebrows went up as though a suspicion might be passing through his mind that Allan’s speculation was altogether wrong. He too heard the clatter of hoofs now, for they were coming more heavily. To him it seemed as though there were many hundreds of them, and that they pounded the road more like a squadron of cavalry on the gallop. Thad drew the car to one side of the road, and then stopped his engine. Until the mystery had been solved there was no use trying to proceed further. Perhaps this spot was to mark the high-water line of their advance on Antwerp. “There, I can see them beginning to show up now!” cried Giraffe. Moving figures came into view, constantly augmented until there must have been scores amidst the rising dust. No sooner had Thad noticed the fact that they were gray-coated, and that they carried what seemed to be lances, with small pennons fluttering at the ends, than he knew what it meant. Giraffe voiced what all of them understood by that time when he ejaculated: “Why, they’re German lancers, don’t you see, boys; the Uhlans we’ve heard so much about, the Rough Riders of the Kaiser, and raiding the country to cut off communications between the Belgian army and Brussels. Whew! now we’re in the soup!” CHAPTER XXVII. THE UHLAN HOLD-UP. Bumpus was heard to give a big sigh. “I can see our finish, boys,” he remarked, calmly, as though he had resigned himself to the inevitable. “I’m ready to cry quits, and hold up my hands. Holland looks pretty good to me just now.” “Let’s wait and see what happens,” said Thad, though he secretly rejoiced to hear Bumpus admit this, for the fat scout had more at stake than the rest of them, in that his sick mother was waiting and watching in the city of the Schelde. The Uhlans came swiftly along. If they noticed the old car drawn to one side of the road, out of the way, they gave no evidence of the fact until the leaders had arrived almost abreast of the spot. Then a bugle sounded, and the whole squadron halted, causing the dust to mount up more furiously than ever. A score of troopers gathered around the car, most of them officers, Thad could see, although the dust covered them so completely that it concealed the insignia of their rank to some extent. “Giraffe, it’s your turn,” said Thad to the lanky scout; “air what German you know, and tell them we’re American Boy Scouts; also ask if one of them can converse with me in English.” “There is no need to ask that, because most of us are familiar with your tongue,” said the stout officer who seemed to be in chief command, much to the satisfaction of the scouts. “But we must take that assertion of yours with a grain of allowance. We even suspect that you are English boys, bent on getting through our lines with valuable information for the enemy, which we cannot allow, you understand.” Thad was not surprised. He realized that at such a time every one who spoke the English language must come under the ban with the Teuton race. Already he had discovered that this stout man was inclined to be a martinet, and possibly ruthless in dealing with those whom he had reason to suspect. “I assure you, sir,” he hastened to say, respectfully but firmly, “that we are every one of us native-born Americans. We were making a cruise down the Rhine and when we arrived at Cologne news that war had broken out gave us a shock. One of my comrades here has a sick mother in Antwerp, under the care of a specialist. That is why we are trying to make our way there.” “Where did you get this car?” asked the officer, sternly. “In Cologne, or rather near there, buying it from a man we met. I have the bill of sale here. It is a terrible car, and has broken down with us many times. That is why we were allowed to keep it.” “But if, as you say, you were in Germany when the Kaiser’s troops crossed over into Belgium, how happens it you are here? They would not let you come by way of Aachen, where the glorious army crossed the border?” Thad, of course, did not mean to tell how they had been hotly chased by German troopers, and just managed to elude them by reaching the Dutch guards in time. He fancied that such an account would hardly be likely to influence this stern looking Uhlan leader in their favor. “We figured that there would be all sorts of difficulties in trying to cross at that point, sir,” the boy explained, simply; “and so we arranged to pass over into Holland where it is very narrow, and from there reach Belgium. That is what we have done.” “Yet you have been allowed to proceed this far in peace, it seems?” observed the Prussian, as though he considered this a very significant fact. “Oh! we have had all sorts of troubles besides our poor car breaking down,” Thad continued. “Yesterday from a hilltop we witnessed the fight for a bridge that was defended by a Belgian battery. The Germans charged bravely, and would have carried the bridge, but it had been mined, and was blown up just as they reached it.” The Uhlan officers exchanged glances. Thad was of the impression that possibly they may have been having a tragic little experience themselves in connection with the ingenuity shown by the Belgians in setting traps at bridge-heads. He remembered how he and his chums had been told by those Belgian soldiers that they had fixed it so the bridge they guarded would fall as soon as troopers started to swing across it, carrying some of them down in the ruins. He heard them talking among themselves in German. Giraffe was listening eagerly to what he could catch, and when he found a chance he whispered to Thad what he was able to make of it. “They say a breathing spell for the men will do no harm, and you can see their horses are sweating something fierce, Thad. But somehow all you’ve said doesn’t seem to have convinced that head officer. He must hate everything English like the mischief, for some reason or other. He’s telling them that perhaps we’re cunning spies after all, smart Britishers playing a game, and pretending to be neutral Americans. I’ll keep on listening and see what they mean to do, Thad.” Meanwhile, now that most of the dust had settled, Thad found a chance to glance along the line, and notice what a sturdy, well-set lot those Uhlan raiders were. As a rule they seemed to be fair-haired young chaps, with clear eyes and ruddy cheeks. Thad was more than a little surprised. Like many others, he had imagined that all Uhlans, having such a reputation for daring and recklessness, must be grim-looking men, after the type of the Russian Cossacks. These fellows were not at all what he had pictured them. They sat their saddles like men who were born to ride hard. And the horses were a picked lot, capable of standing great fatigue, Thad also noticed. After all he believed he would always be glad he had come in contact with these Uhlans; for he had wanted to see them at close quarters; and on that other occasion the moonlight did not allow of much scrutiny. Presently the chief officer turned again to the boy in the car. “Show me your passports!” he commanded, and if anything his voice and manner were sterner than before. Thad was only too glad of the opportunity to do so. He also gave up the several letters so that the other could glance them over, which he proceeded to do. All that time the look of suspicion did not leave his set face. Every now and then he would eye the boys keenly. “He just keeps on thinking we’re sailing under false colors, Thad,” muttered Giraffe, who had also observed the actions of the Uhlan commander. “Take out what letters the rest of you have had from home since coming over,” said Thad, hoping that this would convince the other, and bring about their release; for should they be arrested as spies, and treated harshly, he considered that would be the hardest blow of all. Even when he had carelessly glanced at these the face of the officer still wore that same frown, as though he could not get rid of his suspicion that they were really English boys, and all this might only be a cleverly arranged scheme to hide their identity. Thad was almost ready to give up in despair. He felt that he had about reached the end of his rope, and could do nothing more. Just how these hard riders could hold them prisoners, and make them accompany them he could not guess, unless they happened to have four empty saddles among them. And it would be difficult to imagine Bumpus going at headlong speed across country, keeping pace with such mad riders as these Uhlans. Then all at once Thad remembered something. It was not that a verbal plea would do any good, for he suspected the more he talked the stronger would this martinet be inclined to hold them under the ban of his displeasure. The brief note written by the aviator whom they had aided—might not that be of benefit to their cause? It will be remembered that Thad had taken pains to conceal this under the lining of his campaign hat, lest some Belgian eye read what the Taube birdman had written over his signature, and charge them with being German spies. Taking off his hat he fumbled under the lining, and quickly produced the paper, a bit crumpled, and lacking freshness, but with the penciled writing plainly legible, which was all Thad cared about. When he looked up he saw that many eyes had been following his motions, as if the Uhlans had had their curiosity aroused. “There is one incident connected with our trip through this part of Belgium, sir, that I would like to speak of, hoping it will convince you we are what we claim to be, only that and nothing more. Have I your permission to tell you about this adventure, sir?” “Proceed,” the officer told him; “we are giving the horses a little rest, which they sorely need, so a short delay will do no harm.” “We were coming along when we had an accident to the engine. While I was making the necessary repairs one of my friends made an astonishing discovery. We saw the figure of a man caught in the top of a tall tree. He was moving his arm to us as if he hoped to attract our attention in that way. When we hurried up to the tree we found, just as we expected, the wreck of an aeroplane there!” Thad purposely paused at that thrilling point so as to let them grasp the full force of his assertion. He was not much surprised when the officer demanded: “Could you tell from the build of the aeroplane what sort of a machine it may have been, boy?” “Yes, for I had noticed them while over in Germany, sir,” replied Thad. “It was a Taube model. We climbed the tree at once, three of us, and after some hard work managed to get the aviator safely down. He told us how he had been scouting over the Belgian lines when both his machine and himself were struck by shots. He tried to sail slowly to the ground miles away from the fighting line, but by hard luck struck that tree, and became caught there, his machine falling to the earth.” Again Thad stopped as though to get his breath, but it was really done for effect and to give the officer a chance to ask a question, which he immediately did. “Then you claim that this man whom you aided was a German aviator, do you?” “He had a bad wound in his arm,” proceeded the boy, promptly, “which we had no trouble in binding up, because you may know, sir, that scouts are taught how to treat all manner of wounds. I am sure he felt very grateful on account of what little we were able to do for him. We were only carrying out the principles of our scout organization. It did not matter to us whether he was German, Belgian or French, he was in need of assistance, and we gave it.” The officer in command swept a look around at his comrades, and Thad saw that several of them nodded their heads as though they rather liked the way the boy in khaki had put forward his ideas concerning strict neutrality. “Would you know the name of this German Taube operator if you heard it again, boy?” asked the commander. “Oh! he left a note with us, which he signed with his name,” said Thad, smilingly; “you see he said it might be of assistance to us in case we came across any party of Uhlans on our travels. I supposed from that he must be pretty well known, although of course none of us had ever heard his name.” “Was it that note you just took from under the lining of your hat?” asked the officer. “Yes, sir, and here it is. You see, I felt that it might get us into trouble if Belgian eyes saw it, for they would not like to know we had saved the life of a German aviator who would have died in that tree, perhaps.” The officer hastily took the piece of paper and read the few lines written thereon by the man of the wrecked Taube. Thad saw that it seemed to create something of a sensation among the Uhlans as it was passed from hand to hand, and from this he felt satisfied that the aviator must have been one of the leading airmen in the German flying corps. Now the grim face of the Uhlan commander had relaxed. He even smiled on the Scouts. “I am convinced that you are what you claim, my brave boys; so shake hands with me, one and all of you,” he said. CHAPTER XXVIII. TURNED BACK. “Bully,” Giraffe was heard to mutter half under his breath, at this sudden change in front on the part of the stern Uhlan officer, evidently a soldier of more or less reputation. Even Bumpus wanted to be able to say he had grasped the fist of a German cavalry officer raiding through Belgium, for he crowded forward, and was the last to be greeted in that friendly way. “Let me give you back this slip of paper, boy,” said the commander to Thad. “You should be very proud of having saved the life of that brave man, for he is called the foremost aviator in our entire corps. If our commander, the Kaiser, ever learns of what you have done be assured that he will send you a personal letter of thanks.” All this was very pleasant for the boys to hear. Bumpus was evidently still hugging a faint hope to his faithful heart that they might be allowed to pass on. He even managed to find his voice, and put his anticipation 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. “It would be much better for you to try and reach Antwerp by way of Rotterdam and the sea. There nothing will delay you, while on land a thousand obstacles may arise to prevent the accomplishment of your plans. Besides, you must give us your word of honor as scouts that you will not come back this way again.” Thad felt as though a great load had been taken from his chest. Now that they were to be forced to promise Bumpus could not complain; and they would be able to try the other plan. He was sorry now he had not insisted on doing that at the time they trod Dutch soil; before now they would have reached Rotterdam, and might even be sailing for the Schelde. “We are ready to make you that promise, sir,” he told the commander of the Uhlans, “in fact, we should have decided on that course long ago. It would have saved us a heap of trouble. Once across the border and on Dutch soil we should not have crossed back again.” “I differ with you there, boy,” said the other, smiling again; “for had you done so the German flying corps would perhaps have lost its most brilliant and daring exponent. Turn your car, therefore, and you can proceed ahead of us. First of all let me mark out the course I wish you to take.” With that he drew out a map of Belgium and Holland. Thad was interested when he saw what a marvel of ingenuity that map was. It had evidently been carefully prepared for the army to be used in case of just such an invasion. 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 of consequence but that it was plainly marked there. And the officer had other 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 his own apology for a chart, made marks to indicate the course he was to take. 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 of horses’ hoofs from the rear announced that the entire squadron of troopers 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 long neck 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 these hard-riding Uhlans for friends than enemies. And I also hope we don’t run afoul of that armored motor-car we saw, with those reckless Belgians in the same. I do believe they’d charge the whole Uhlan squadron.” Thad himself echoed that wish. He had seen sights during that terrible battle for the possession of the disputed bridge that would never fade from his memory; and he did not want to look on anything further that had 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 lead to the Dutch border,” Thad announced after a time. A few minutes later and the car turned to the left, after which Thad shut down. Standing up they watched the troop gallop past, and fortunately the dust was blowing toward the opposite quarter so their view was not hindered. The scouts had taken off their hats, and every time they saw any one in that long column give them a salute they answered in kind as they had been taught by the rules of the organization to which they belonged. Finally the last Uhlan had ridden past, and only a slowly settling cloud of dust told where they had gone. “We’ll always remember this last incident as one of the pleasant episodes of our dash through Belgium,” remarked Thad, as they settled down again in their places for another start. “One thing sure, Thad,” observed Giraffe, “that commander must have placed a lot of confidence in your simple word, because he wouldn’t know now whether we meant to keep on into Holland, or try again to push on after 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 over the 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 Holland they’re not so apt to be given over wholly to the military forces, so we stand a chance to get passage to Rotterdam. The very first time our car goes back on us with the railroad close by it’s good-bye to this machine.” “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 mellow in our minds well all take a lot of satisfaction in talking about this trip, and the old car will come in for its share of attention. Time heals many faults, you know.” Now that the change in plans had really come about, they could feel a sort of satisfaction in reflecting that they had kept on to the very last. In fact, they had refused to give up until actually in the hands of the Uhlans, and compelled to promise on their honor as scouts that they would do as ordered. “Oh! did you see that?” exclaimed Bumpus, starting them all to staring around in various directions; and then he condescended to go on, thus centering their attention to the one point—“it was ahead of us I saw it, boys.” “Saw what, a boa constrictor from the menagerie?” demanded Giraffe, with the suspicion of a sneer in his voice. “It was a man ,” said Bumpus, severely, “if you want to know, and he dodged into the bushes there as quick as a flash when we came around the bend.” “Oh! he did, eh?” continued Giraffe; “and now mebbe you could tell us what sort of a man it was, Bumpus, white or black, tall or short, soldier or just a plain ordinary citizen. Speak up, Bumpus, we’re waiting.” “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 dodged into the brush, too!” Thad stopped the car. “Nothing more likely than that it was the very man,” he remarked. “I should think he might have gotten this far along the way to the Dutch border by now,” and then raising his voice the patrol leader called: “Hello! Kaiser, don’t you want to buy a dog? Show yourself, Bob; you ought 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 the bargain,” he declared, fairly bubbling over with delight as he shook first Thad’s hand and then that of each scout in rotation; “I never dreamed I’d see you boys again on this side of the water. What made you change your minds?” “A stout officer in the uniform of a Uhlan colonel,” laughed Thad. “The fact is we ran smack into a squadron of Uhlans, and they made us promise to cross over to Holland; so, as scouts always keep their solemn word we’re bound that way right now. And there’s room enough for you to crowd in, if you think we can make faster time than afoot.” The tattooed man did not wait for a second invitation, and easily squeezed in with the two boys in the rear. There was not much room to spare, owing to the fact of Bumpus being so very corpulent; but then Kaiser was as thin as he was long, so that he occupied very little space. Giraffe said he “wedged” himself in, which was about the truth. He was greatly interested in hearing of the adventure that had befallen Thad and his three chums since they separated from him that morning. For the first time he learned how they had saved that German Taube man from the treetop, afterwards binding up his wound. “It does beat all creation,” declared the circus fugitive, “how you boys manage to go around doing good to others. I owe you a big debt just as that aviator does, and I warrant you there are many others, only you’re too modest to mention the fact.” “Oh! that’s all in the game!” said Giraffe, making out to look upon such things with a feeling bordering on contempt, although being human he must have liked to hear his praises sung. “To tell the truth,” ventured Thad, “we are the ones who feel under obligations, because we get much more benefit out of these happenings than the other fellow. Everybody does who believes in the old saying that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. Besides, we are only obeying the rules of the organization that we’re proud to say we belong to.” As they went on their way the man who had traveled to the uttermost corners of the world entertained them with still further stories connected with his strange experiences. Thus they hardly noticed the lapse of time, and when Thad told them they had passed the seventh mile the eagle eye of Giraffe began to get busy with the task of locating the guard station that would mark the border line. A short time afterwards he pointed it out to them, and they discovered one of the same white posts that had marked the division of territory at the time they were chased by the German cavalrymen, and found refuge over the line with the soldiers of Queen Wilhelmina. Of course they were stopped, but at this early stage in the war the Dutch guard along the border had no orders to keep any one out of Holland. Questions were put to them by an officer who was summoned by the privates. These of course Thad could answer truthfully, and besides, the manly bearing of the lads must have had an influence in determining the officer to admit the party. He did look rather doubtfully at the circus freak, but having been told just who Kaiser was, and seen something of his wonderful adornment, he did not think himself justified in turning him back. So it came the four scouts left Belgium territory again. They had been through some pretty warm experiences since first striking the soil of the buffer state, many of which would never be forgotten. Somehow all of them seemed to breathe easily after they had started along the road that would take them to the nearest railroad town. Thad knew it had all been a mistake, their trying to break past the struggling armed hosts, and that they would have shown wisdom had they come this way in the beginning. At the same time he did not feel very sorry. They had been given a wonderful experience, and would certainly never forget some of the things that had happened to them. Particularly would they have reason to remember that terrible battle for the bridge head, when the German hosts fought their way through a storm of shot, only to see the bridge blown up with dynamite before they could secure it. CHAPTER XXIX. A CHANGE OF PLANS—CONCLUSION. “That finishes it with me,” remarked Thad, when the car came to a sudden stop, on account of the treacherous motor breaking down again. “Get ready to leave the old trap in the ditch, boys. We’ll give some other simpletons a chance to tinker with the machine. I’m done with it, once and for all.” “Well, you gave us all plain warning in good time, Thad,” spoke up Giraffe, not in the least depressed with this change of plans, because his impatient spirit could not brook these irritating delays. Even Bumpus did not show any considerable amount of chagrin, and the reason was quickly made manifest when he broke out with: “I really believe we must be close on to that railroad town they called Valkenswaard; because as sure as anything I heard the sound of a train moving along just then. Yes, there it goes again, with the motor puffing like hot cakes. Thad, tell me if I’m right about that.” “Just what you are, Bumpus,” replied the patrol leader. “I heard it myself, which was one reason I said what I did. We’ve been heading nearly due east for some little time now, and were due to strike the line of steel before long.” “The plan then is to step out lively, and get to this Dutch town,” suggested Allan. “I suppose then we’ll take the very first chance we can strike to start for Rotterdam by way of—for goodness’ sake, let me see that chart of yours again, Thad; because these terrible Dutch names twist my tongue so—here it is, Hertogenbosch, which seems to be about the biggest railway center in all Holland.” “How far away is Rotterdam, Thad?” asked Bumpus. “I couldn’t tell you exactly, Bumpus,” answered the scout leader; “but on a guess I’d say not more than a hundred miles. The Netherlands isn’t a very big country, you remember, and yet one of the most wonderful places in the world. We’ll see some strange sights as we go along.” “I hope we make the trip by daylight, then,” said Giraffe, who was more or less fond of seeing new scenes. They made sure to leave nothing behind that they cared to keep. “Good-bye, little old trap,” said Giraffe, making a mock bow toward the abandoned car; “you played your part all right in the circus, and we’ll often think of you, with tears in our eyes. All the same we’re glad to be able to say our necks haven’t been broken while we navigated the roads of Germany, Belgium and Holland in your care.” Inside of half an hour they actually arrived at the town on the railway. Here they managed to get something to eat while waiting for a train to come along. It was by the greatest luck in the world that they found themselves on the road shortly after noon, because the service between Belgium and Holland was already sadly disorganized on account of what was going on across the border. When they arrived at the town of Hertogenbosch they found that they would have to wait an hour before they could make a fresh start for Rotterdam. Here Kaiser the tattooed man said good-bye to his young friends, since he was headed for Amsterdam, and their routes ran in different directions. “I’ve got your home address, boys,” he said after squeezing their hands for the third and last time, “and I’m going to drop in and see you some time or other, if I get out of this country alive. You’ve been good friends to me, and I’ll never forget it. I’m a firm admirer of Boy Scouts from this time on, and will preach the gospel of humanity wherever I go, just as you’ve paid it out to me. Good-bye, all!” They were really sorry to part with Bob Kaiser, for if ever there lived an entertaining and good-hearted eccentric fellow he “filled the bill,” as Giraffe said. During that long afternoon they continued to pass through a most interesting country, with many glimpses of watery sections, where the dikes kept the sea from flooding the rich land which the industrious Dutch had wrested from the grip of Mother Ocean. It seemed as though every rod of it must be under cultivation, and the boys understood after that journey what was really meant by “intensive farming.” Flowers without number were included in the various crops, for Holland is the home of the greatest nursery of bulbs in the whole world, her rich soil being just suited to their growth. Evening was drawing on apace when they neared the great city of Rotterdam and sniffed the salty scent of the sea that lay beyond. It acted like a tonic upon the four lads. Even Bumpus was noticed to take numerous whiffs of the invigorating atmosphere, although he had been very seasick on the voyage across the Atlantic. They managed to get located at a small but neatly kept hotel, where they could stay while looking about, and making inquiries concerning the possibilities of getting to Antwerp by water. Never in all their lives had they seen such wonderful cleanliness. The women and children with their queer head-dresses, and snow-white garments were a never ceasing source of wonder to the boys, especially Bumpus, who often chuckled when he pointed out roly-poly boys who put even his own generous proportions into the shade, so to speak. “This is the land where you really belong, Bumpus,” Giraffe told him; “here you could pass unnoticed, if only you dressed like these other boys do. Just imagine our Bumpus with a pair of those wide trousers on, and wooden shoes to finish him off, would you? I’ve got half a mind to buy an outfit for you, Bumpus, while we have the chance. You’d make a great hit with the pretty girls of Cranford when you came out and set the style for the rest of the fellows.” “Squander your money if you feel like it, Giraffe,” Bumpus good-naturedly told him; “but getting me to wear such a clown outfit will be another thing. One boy c’n lead a horse to water, but the whole Cranford Troop can’t make him drink against his will, remember.” They had a peaceful night of it, although at first they feared the many noises welling up from the water front where the shipping was so dense would annoy them. It must have been they were all pretty tired, and that of late they had failed to enjoy their customary sound sleep, for to tell the truth none of them seemed to know a thing from the time they retired until Thad, arousing, found it was already broad daylight.

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