The Boy Scouts on the Trail
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George Durston >> The Boy Scouts on the Trail
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When they had finished doing that they looked at one another.
"The French and the English are retreating," said Henri, soberly. "You
were right, Frank. They fought on the line of Mons to Charleroi in
Belgium, and then they began running away."
"Not exactly that, either," said Frank. "Look here--look at the map,
Henri. There is Paris. There is a great army there under General
Gallieni. There are enormous fortifications. That is the great base.
There is this line with three fortresses--Rheims, La Fere, Laon, with
other forts between them. That backed the centre when the French army
retired from the border. But there is another army on the left of that
line--because, if the Germans get around the left, behind that line of
fortresses, they could be surrounded."
"But they could be defended--"
"Yes, as Bazaine defended Metz--until he was starved out," said Frank.
He was beginning to be excited. "I think I see what may happen, Harry.
The German right is moving out, always--far out, toward the sea. It
wants to get around our left, and cut it off. If it gets between our
left and Paris, there will be a disaster--another Sedan, perhaps. That
is why there is a retreat. It is necessary. We are not ready to fight
yet. But wait!"
"Wait! Wait? Is that the thing for French soldiers to do? That is not
how Napoleon won his battles! He struck--and he struck first!"
"Never until he was sure of victory."
"But if they keep on retreating, they will be south of here! The Germans
can take Amiens, if they like!" exclaimed Harry in much alarm.
"What of it? It will be sad for Amiens, but it will do the Germans no
good. Amiens has no strategic value. Less than Rheims or Laon--and we
know now that the Germans have them both, though that has not been in
the bulletins."
"Then why are troops going south? The troops from here?"
"We don't know where they are going, Henri. They start south but perhaps
they turn, and go to re-enforce the centre. Don't you suppose our
generals have their plans, too? You spoke of Napoleon. Don't you
remember the march to Moscow? How the Russians retreated, always, and
drew him on? And what happened then, when they were ready to fight?"
Frank had awakened a memory terrible for any Frenchman. But there was no
more time for argument. The telephone rang out sharply and Henri went to
answer it. M. Marron was on the wire. When Henri returned his eyes were
shining.
"We are wanted. Perhaps it is for real work," he said, happily. "He
wanted to know if we could both speak English--if I could, that is. None
of the other scouts can do that, he says, and so we are to report at
once. Oh, I wonder what can be wanted?"
"Well, the best way to find out is to go and see," said Frank,
practically.
M. Marron was ready for them when they reached him. He was no longer in
his khaki scoutmaster's garb, but in his uniform of captain of the line.
"You are to report to Colonel Menier," he said, briefly. "I do not know
what service is required of you. I can only say to you, do your best. My
orders have come. I join my regiment to-day. From this moment the troop
of Boy Scouts of Amiens has no organization, until such time as it can
be restored. Each scout must act for himself, taking his orders whenever
it is possible from officers of the army. When he has no such orders he
must use his own best judgment. Before you report to Colonel Menier you
are to wait here--I intend to address all the scouts of the troop."
They had not long to wait before the other scouts arrived. At the sight
of the scoutmaster in his uniform they cheered him heartily.
"Scouts!" he said, speaking in French, when all were there. "I leave you
now, for the fatherland has called me to its service in ways different
from those to which I have been assigned so far. I leave you free to
your own devices. But you are free only in name. You are bound by your
scout oath, by your scout law. You are bound by those principles of
honor which the scouts teach and enforce. Never forget them!
"While you are still boys, before it is time for France to call you to
the army, the enemy thunders at our gates. In our millions we have risen
to repel them, to drive the iron heel of the invader from France, France
the beautiful, the loved of all! It is for you, as for all who are
worthy of the name of Frenchmen, to help in that great work, to make
sacrifices, to do your part.
"But your part gives you no right to fight. You are to bear no arms.
That does not mean you have no service to render to your native land;
that France does not ask anything of you. She asks much; she expects
much from the Boy Scouts.
"It may be you can do most by quietly filling the place made vacant in
your home--made vacant by father or older brother gone to serve in the
ranks. It may be your privilege to aid in caring for the wounded as they
come back to their homes from the scene of conflict. It may be you will
find a place to help on the battlefields. But wherever you are, whatever
you do, remember that Scouts are ever faithful, ever loyal, ever true to
the trust reposed in them.
"It is cowardly to shirk a duty. Perform your part in the struggle as
becomes true Scouts--as becomes men who have been born and reared in our
fair France.
"Mark my word well. So, if I am spared to return to you, after the war,
I shall meet all of you again, and I shall be able to grasp the hand of
each one of you, and say: 'Well done! You have deserved well, you of
France and of the Boy Scouts Francais!'"
His sword flashed from his scabbard, and he held it stiffly to the
salute. Then sheathing it, he turned and stamped from the room. He went
with a high head and a happy heart to the service of the land he
loved--as millions of Frenchmen had gone or would go.
There was silence when he had gone. Quietly the scouts melted away to
the tasks they had in hand. The words of their departing leader had made
a great impression on them. Nor had his reminder of what they should and
should not do against the Germans been unnecessary.
"I suppose he must be right," said Henri, a little wistfully. "I shall
obey. But I had hoped that I might have a shot at a few Germans! Frank,
I have practiced so often with my rifle! I have killed hawks and
rabbits--"
"Let's find Colonel Menier," said Frank. "We can hurt the Germans far
more, I expect, by obeying orders than by killing a few. It is not the
killing of a few men that will settle this war, Henri! War is bad--war
is terrible. Let us not make it worse."
Then they went to the barracks, inquiring, as they had been told to do,
for Colonel Menier. Soon they were brought to him, a busy, tired looking
officer of the staff. He eyed them keenly.
CHAPTER VII
THE GLORY OF WAR
One glance at Henri seemed to satisfy him. The French boy, so typical of
his race, he was ready to take for granted. He asked just one question.
"You speak English well? You can understand thoroughly?"
"Yes, my colonel," answered Henri.
Then the officer turned to Frank.
"You are English--one of our allies?" he asked.
"No, sir." And Frank had to explain, for the hundredth time since the
war began, as it seemed to him, his nationality and his mixed blood. He
threw up his head a little proudly now as he told of his French mother.
"That is well enough," said the colonel. "You are neutral--in America.
But I think--ah, yes, I believe that you Americans remember Lafayette
and the help you had from Frenchmen once."
"I am ready to do what I can for France, colonel," said Frank, simply.
"That is all I can say."
"Or I, or any of us," said Colonel Menier. "Listen well, then. I shall
tell you things that no one else is to know. You, Martin, know the
country here? You can find your way about?"
"Yes, my colonel."
"I want you to take certain messages for me to the English headquarters.
Where it is to-day, I know. It is here--see, on the map?"
They looked at the spot he indicated, and concealed their surprise. They
had supposed the English much nearer the border.
"Where it may be to-morrow I cannot tell. But it is of the greatest
importance that the papers I give you be delivered at headquarters. It
is so important that we will not trust them to the telephone, to the
telegraph, to the field wireless. They are reports of the most
confidential nature, having to do with movements that will be of great
importance a few days from mow. You will not wear your uniforms of Boy
Scouts for the work in hand."
Neither of them said anything.
"That, you will understand, is because the uniforms would make you more
than ever conspicuous to the Germans. I do not think you will be
anywhere near the Uhlans. But in war one must not think; or, if one
does, one must think of all things that may happen. So you will wear
your ordinary clothes. You have one day, two days, three, if necessary,
to find the British headquarters. No more. These papers are written on
the thinnest of paper. It is so thin that the messages are contained in
these marbles that I give you--one to each of you."
They took the marbles and still they made no comment.
"If you are captured and searched, I believe you will have very little
to fear. It is not likely that a German officer, no matter how zealous
he may be, will be over-suspicious of a lot of marbles in a boy's
pocket. You will have a pocket full of them, and they will all look
alike. And if the Germans find you are only boys moved by the curiosity
of boys to see battlefields, they will not hurt you. I do not believe
they will even hold you. Probably they will not even take your marbles
away from you, thinking them harmless playthings, never once dreaming of
their secret. Only the officer at our headquarters who knows of your
coming will be able to distinguish one marble from another. How he will
do so, it is better that you should not know."
"Someone then will know that we are coming, my colonel?" said Henri, a
smile brightening his face.
"Evidently. When you reach the British lines, you will be challenged,
probably arrested and detained. Say to the soldier that he is to give a
word to his officer--Mezieres. That will insure your being taken to
headquarters. Everywhere, all through the field, the giving of that word
will mean that he who gives it is to be taken at once to the nearest
staff officer."
"Mezieres. We will remember, my colonel," said Henri. "We will change
into our ordinary clothes and start at once. On our return we report to
you here?"
Colonel Menier smiled sadly.
"When you return there will be no French troops in Amiens, I fear," he
said. "Indeed, I know it. The time to stop and turn to fight is not yet.
We shall not play into the hands of the Germans by fighting on their
chosen ground. We shall wait until we are ready. This is not 1870 when
armies were thrown away rather than retreat to ground where the chances
of victory were even, at the worst. Remember that, if you think the
retreat is shameful. If, in 1870, the army of Chalons had retreated upon
Paris, instead of marching to the trap at Sedan, French history might
well be different."
"Then Amiens is to be evacuated, my colonel?"
"It is the order. When you have done your errand, return here or do
whatever the British staff may require of you. It will not be for long
that Amiens shall be deserted. We shall return. But whether I shall be
here then, I do not know. Farewell! Obey the orders I have given you,
and you will deserve well of France."
They saluted then and went to make their preparations for the start.
"Harry," said Frank, "if the Germans are coming to Amiens, your mother
must go. She should be where she will be safe."
"You are right, Frank. We will try to persuade her to go. But will she
leave her task with the wounded?"
"She can take it up elsewhere."
But though they had expected to have difficulty in persuading her, they
found that Madame Martin was already making plans to go.
"The wounded are to be taken to Tours in great numbers," she told them.
"They will need nurses there, and I shall go. Henri, will you and
Francois come with me?"
"We cannot," said Henri. "There is work for us to do. You would want me
to do my share?"
"Of course I do!" she said, her eyes filling with tears. "And so speaks
every mother in France to-day! Stay, then, and serve your land in
whatever way you can, for France needs even the boys now. Remember,
Henri, that somewhere your mother is serving too, and she expects her
son to do his whole duty. More, she _knows_ he will do it." And her face
glowed with pride in her son as she clasped his hand in her own.
"I will remember," said Henri.
Then they went to their room, laid away their newly acquired uniforms of
Boy Scouts, and, keeping not even their new badges of which they had
been so proud, especially Henri, dressed in their ordinary clothes.
"Let's start on bicycles, anyhow," proposed Frank. "We may not be able
to stick to them, but we can save a lot of time on our way to Le Cateau.
That's where we shall go first, isn't it?"
"Yes. We had better start for there. You're right about the bicycles,
too. Even if we lose them, that does not matter so much," said Harry.
"And, Harry, we've got to pretend to be pretty stupid, if we are caught.
You mustn't act as if you knew too much. Don't let the Germans see how
you really feel about them. Pretend to be terribly frightened, even if
you're not," instructed Frank.
"All right. I see what you mean. Come on, then. Let's be off!"
Already, as they rode through the streets of Amiens, the signs of what
was to come were multiplying. Troops were marching out of the town, but
they were going south, away from the battle line, it seemed. And the
townspeople were not slow in taking the hint. They were gathering such
things as they could carry with them, and all those with anything of
real value, and with a place to take it, were preparing to get away
before the coming of the Germans. The refugees from Belgium had told
them lurid tales of the German treatment of captured places; they had no
mind to share the fate of their unhappy neighbors in the plucky little
country to the north. And so the exodus was beginning.
Henri was very much depressed.
"And this is war!" he said, sadly. "So far, except for the wounded, we
have seen only the suffering of women and children. Where is the glory
of war of which history tells? I want to see some fighting! I want to
know that we are really resisting the invaders of the fatherland."
"You'll know it soon enough," said Frank, with a smile. "You are too
impatient, Harry. And you must remember this. While all this is going
on, Russia is advancing too. The Austrians have been well beaten all
along their front already. Soon it will be the turn of the Germans to
meet Russia. They cannot long devote all their energy to France and the
British."
"That is so, Frank. But the Russians won't fight here."
"Perhaps not. But it will be the same. For every army corps that Russia
sends into Prussia means that Germany can spare so many troops less for
the war on this side. Harry, do you know what I think? I think Germany
is beaten already!"
"How can you say that, Frank? We know now that they have pushed us back
everywhere--that they are all over Belgium, and are marching on Paris,
just as they did the last time--"
"No, not just as they did the last time, Harry. For then they marched on
Paris with the field armies of France beaten--one of them captured, the
other locked up in Metz. Now the armies of France are still in the
field. And I say that Germany is beaten because her one chance in this
war was to destroy France as she did in 1870--quickly. If she had done
that, she might have been able to turn back, away from France, and meet
Russia with her full strength."
"Oh, I see what you mean. But I'll feel better when we turn and fight,
instead of running away from them."
"So will I and everyone else, Harry. But the great thing for our side
now is to win delay. Every day is as important as a battle. Russia
moves slowly, but when she is fully in the field she will have as great
an army ready as France and Germany together."
"Well, I hope you are right. Ah, now we are out of the town. We can go a
little faster. En avant!"
In the fields women and young boys were working hard, getting in the
harvest that the men had abandoned. Never had a countryside looked more
peaceful, except that at every bridge they passed now was a sentry,
usually a man of the reserve, held back from the front for this sort of
duty, while the younger men were at the front to do the actual fighting.
For a long time they were not challenged. The sentries looked at them
idly, but decided that they were not at all likely to be Prussian spies,
and let them pass. But when they came to the railroad line leading from
Amiens to Arras, which they had to cross, it was different. Their
crossing was at a culvert, where the road passed under the tracks. Here
there was not one sentry, but a post, under the command of a one-legged
veteran.
To him they were forced to make explanations, which he received gravely,
studying Frank with particular attention.
"So you carry despatches," he said. "You have a word, a countersign,
perhaps?"
"Mezieres," said Henri, promptly.
"Very well. Pass, then, but keep an eye open. There were Uhlans here
before daybreak."
"Here?"
"They are beginning to show now. We hear they were in Arras yesterday.
Some stayed with us. They sought to blow up the culvert here."
Then they went on. And just after they had passed the post, they saw
what the crippled veteran had meant when he had said that some of the
Uhlans had stayed. They lay beside the road, in their greenish gray
uniforms. They were the first German soldiers either of the boys had
seen. And, in the field, two old peasants were digging a grave.
CHAPTER VIII
THE HANDS OF A CLOCK
The sight was a sobering one. There had been only half a dozen of the
Uhlans, and they knew from what they had heard and read that thousands,
scores of thousands probably, had already died in the war. But they
hadn't seen the others, and these men had lain by the roadside within a
few feet of them. For a time neither of the two scouts had much to say.
"There's some real war for you, Henri," Frank said, finally.
"Don't!" said the French scout with a shudder. "It must be, but it is
terrible. And only a few hours ago, I suppose, they were riding along as
well as you and I!"
Then for a mile or more they rode along in silence. They made good time
for the roads were level. There were no interruptions to their progress
now. In the fields, as before, they could see the women and a few old
men about the work of the harvest, but in spite of that, there was an
air of desolation. Everything seemed to have stopped. And there was a
curious something that made itself felt. For a long time, though each of
them felt this, they made no comment on it. Finally Frank called a halt.
"Listen, Harry," he said. "There's something curious. It's a noise, and
yet it isn't, exactly. It sounds a little like thunder or like the surf
when you are quite a little way inland--"
They stopped together, listening.
"I know!" said Henri, suddenly. "It's the guns we hear. The wind is
changing and that is why it is coming to us now. There is a battle. In
olden days we could see its smoke but now they fight without making
smoke. And the noise, too, seems to come from the direction in which we
are going."
Once he had named the cause, there was no mystery about the sound. It
was less a sound, however, than a beating of the air. There were no
sharp reports; it was a steady, ceaseless murmur. But even so, there was
no mistaking it. For the first time they were within hearing distance of
a battle.
"We will soon be on our way to Berlin, now," said Henri. "That must mean
that we have turned--that the great battle has begun."
"It needn't mean that," said Frank. "It may be only artillery covering a
rear guard action. I wish you'd remember, Harry, that a retreat may mean
mighty hard fighting. Not a rout--a retreat. It isn't easy for an army
to move backward. But it's been done by a good many armies that won
later."
"Well, come on! We're not getting any nearer to the English by stopping
here to talk."
"No. We'll be off again. That noise is getting nearer, Harry. Or louder,
anyhow. Perhaps that only means that more guns are going into action."
Somehow the nearness of the battle stimulated them. They found
themselves making better time, though they had certainly seemed to be
riding as fast as they could before. And all the time the sound of the
cannon in front of them grew louder, and the quality of the noise
gradually changed. Soon loud explosions began to be distinguishable amid
the general hum of battle, and, too, there was an overtone,--a sharper,
less steady noise.
"Rifle fire, I think, too," said Frank. "It's lighter than the sound of
the cannon, but it seems to be just about as steady. And to think that
that's going on, all the way from here to the Swiss border nearly!
They're fighting here and near Verdun, and in the Vosges mountains."
"Look over there," said Henri, suddenly. "Do you see? That looks like an
omnibus!"
"It is--one of the sort they use in London!" said Frank, in surprise.
The great, unwieldy vehicle came lumbering toward them. It rolled along
the road, raising a tremendous cloud of dust, and they could see that
behind it were many more. Just behind it, too, a man on a motorcycle
came suddenly into view. He was mounted on a high-powered machine, and
they could hear the roar of his motor as he came up to them.
"Halte!" he cried, in a broken French. "Arretez vous!"
They were off their machines in a moment, saluting, as he stopped his
motor and put one foot on the ground to steady his machine. He was
dressed in khaki, and both of them recognized his uniform as that of the
British forces.
"We speak English," said Frank.
"The deuce you do! That's good! Well, tell me how to get to Guise. We've
lost our blooming way, that's what we've done! And we've got supplies
for the troops."
"You're going the wrong way--straight to Amiens," said Henri. "The road
to Guise is back four miles, at least. Can you turn your 'buses here? We
will guide you. We are going that way."
"You are, are you?" said the English officer. He laughed, curtly. "I
doubt that, young fellow! I do, indeed! However, you can come along
with us as far as that. Then I'll wash my hands of you. But I can tell
you that if you go on much further, you'll get into some fighting that
isn't meant for boys!"
They made no reply, for as they understood their errand, they were not
supposed to tell every officer they met what they were doing, but were
to answer questions only when it was plain that not to do so meant that
they would be prevented from reaching their destination.
It was not the easiest of tasks to manage the reversing of the supply
train of omnibuses, but the officer in charge was efficient, and it was
managed. When the convoy had turned around, he rode up beside the boys.
"Seen any signs of Germans?" he asked.
"Only at a culvert a few miles back," said Frank. He described the fight
there as best he could, and the officer looked a little worried.
"As far as that, eh?" he said. "We hadn't heard of their being in that
quarter at all. H'm!"
Then he rode on ahead, to what had, until a few moments before, been the
rear of his train.
"He's doing well enough, now that he knows his way," said Frank in an
undertone to Henri. "But I think he was in a bad way. I've got an idea
that the Germans are behind us. Do you know what I think? It's funny for
a supply train like this to be here without any escort of troops, isn't
it?"
"Yes. I thought of that, too."
"Well, I believe he was supposed to meet a guard, and missed it. Suppose
he'd run into the Germans?"
"Yes, that would have been a nice mess! I suppose some English soldiers
would have gone hungry to-night!"
The road was rising a little, enough for them to feel the added pull in
propelling their wheels. And now, at the crest of the little rise, they
saw that the officer had dismounted. He had unstrapped a box from his
machine and was setting it up. In a few minutes, as they reached him,
he had set up a tripod-like machine, not unlike a surveyor's
instrument, and was flashing a small mirror.
"Hello!" he said. "Field heliograph kit. Ever see it before?"
"No, sir, but I know about it," said Frank, while Henri looked on
admiringly. "I know the Morse code, too."
"Do you? Good! Then watch those answering flashes. Check off the message
for me."
Harry obeyed, having spotted in that moment the answer of a similar
instrument on a hill perhaps five miles away. He read off the Morse
signs carefully, and the officer nodded.
"And that's all right," he said, with a sigh of relief. "They'll have an
escort here for us as quickly as it can ride over. I suppose you know I
signalled for that?"
"Yes, sir."
The officer was plainly puzzled by Frank and Henri. He could not quite
understand what they were doing in what was decidedly disputed ground.
But he had not the instinct that would have prompted a French, and more
especially, a German officer, to question them and, if he was not fully
satisfied, to put them under restraint.
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