CHAPTER X

GIRAFFE FACES A SERIOUS CHARGE

Consternation seized upon the boys when Giraffe was thus summarily arrested, and, in so many words, charged with aiding the enemy in the guise of a spy. Such a serious accusation is enough to frighten even the most valiant heart; for in many cases it means a short shrift and a file of soldiers, with a kneeling figure against a dead wall.

Thad managed to recover the use of his tongue. He faced the grim soldier who wore the marks of a colonel, which he probably had won over in Algiers or Morocco battling with dark-faced Moors or the tribes of the desert.

“Pardon, M’sieu,” Thad had started to say, “there must be some terrible mistake about this. We are all American boys, as we can prove without any trouble. Please give us a chance to explain how we happen to come here.”

The colonel frowned at first. Evidently he had it on the tip of his tongue to say gruffly that there was no time to bother with explanations, when at any moment his regiment might be engaged in a life and death struggle with the invading foe, and that all of them must be put in confinement until later on, when they could be placed on trial.

Just then it happened that the old soldier came under the magical influence of Thad’s winning smile. He set his teeth harder together, as though resisting the evident blandishment of that frank, eager, boyish look; but it was no use. Perhaps memories rushed into his mind of some favorite son or grandson at home. He shrugged his square shoulders, nodded his head, and went on to say, in excellent English:

“I will give you a very brief opportunity to explain, as you call it, young m’sieu. Lead them all to my temporary quarters!”

Several minutes later the four boys found themselves confronting the colonel and several of his officers. A number of armed privates stood alongside, where they could seize the boys should occasion arise. The commanding officer looked at Thad, and he was still frowning as though not sure that he should go to all this bother for just a quartette of fairly grown lads in khaki, who could just as well be sent to the rear under guard, to await his pleasure when he had less weighty affairs on his mind.

“Please tell me of what my comrade is accused, M. le Colonel?” asked Thad.

“It is all very simple,” replied the soldier, shortly. “This gentleman, whom you see with me, happens to be a confidential agent of my government. He has declared to me most positively that he certainly saw yonder boy in close conversation with a notorious spy of the German Government, and who has since been apprehended. This, he says, was just two days before war was declared by Germany on France and while Paris was feverish with excitement, for it was on the streets of the capital he tells me this meeting took place. That justifies me in making an arrest.”

Thad looked relieved. Grave as the accusation might be reckoned, he felt sure of being able to clear Giraffe, if only the colonel showed any inclination to be reasonable.

“I do not in the least doubt the intentions of the gentleman,” Thad went on to say; “and, of course, he believes all he states to you; but at the same time he has mistaken some other party for my chum here. In the first place, we were away up on the Rhine when war was declared. We had left the mother of this other chum at a famous sanitarium in Antwerp to be treated, and we were making a trip down the Rhine in a small cruising boat when we heard the thrilling news.”

Then Thad went on in a graphic fashion to narrate how they determined to hasten to the Belgian seaport as fast as they could go; with what perplexing difficulties their passage through that section of Belgium had been attended, and how in the end they had been compelled to turn back so as to go through the friendly Netherlands to Rotterdam in order to get a boat that would take them to the city on the schedule.

Step by step he explained how they found that Mrs. Hawtree had hurriedly left the city of Antwerp in the company of the doctors and nurses connected with the sanitarium and started overland to Paris, where a branch hospital existed; and also how they had followed.

Somehow Thad seemed to tell all this in such an interesting way that he had the colonel spell-bound. Minutes were passing; the boom of bursting shells could be heard all around them; the Germans were undoubtedly coming closer and closer all the time, yet he stood there and let the boy proceed to the very end, where he told of the chase along the road, the destruction of the bridge, the coming of the Uhlans, the blowing up of the ammunition wagon by the driver, and last, but not least, how the field battery shelled the cavalrymen and saved the boys from a premature end.

It certainly made a thrilling story, and small blame to the colonel for allowing himself to stand there and drink it in. A Frenchman loves to hear of daring, because he himself is by nature adventurous. When Thad, in addition, showed him various letters they had received, which all went to prove his declaration to the effect that Giraffe would sooner cut off his right hand than do anything to betray the interests of France, evidently the colonel had made his mind up.

Turning to the secret agent, he conversed with him in low tones for a brief time. Then he once more faced Thad and held out his hand.

“The gentleman is himself now convinced that he must have made a mistake, though he still says it was a boy resembling your friend in a remarkable degree whom he saw talking with the seized German spy. Let us then forget it. What can I do to show you how French soldiers appreciate their American cousins across the sea and also to make amends to you in a measure for having put you to this trouble?”

Bumpus thereupon gave Thad an eager thump with his elbow, and managed to say, half aloud:

“Don’t forget it’s nearly dinner-time, Thad, and we haven’t had hardly a bite since last night in the bargain!”

“M’sieu le Colonel,” said Thad, paying no attention to this imperative demand from the rear, “all we can hope for is that if we are sent back at least allow us to see something of the battle from some friendly hilltop. And, believe me, that all the while we watch from a distance we shall be hoping that victory comes to those who are defending their capital against the invaders. Our sympathies are with the lilies of France!”

That quite completed the conquest of the doughty colonel. He gave Thad’s hand an extra squeeze and hastened to say:

“I shall simply insist that you retire from the firing-line. After that I wash my hands of you, young messieurs from our sister republic. You shall see how my brave _enfants_ meet the rush of the army that has broken its sacred treaties and swept across a neutral country thinking to catch us asleep. Ah! and you will never forget what glorious deeds the defenders of Paris expect to accomplish this day, and the next, and the next, until the invader has been chased back to his strongholds beyond the Rhine. I am from Alsace, and our hour has struck for revenge. Yes, and I shall give orders also that you dine with my men in the field. That is all. Adieu!”

Of course, all of them were greatly pleased with the outcome of the affair. It had looked rather gloomy for Giraffe at one time, but, thanks to the clever way in which Thad had managed, as well as his insinuating manner of speech, they had come out of the trouble with honor. And to Bumpus, one of the most pleasing features of the situation was that they stood a good show now to break their fast.

Shortly afterward the boys were allowed to sit down with several minor officers, who prepared to make a “short dinner” under fire. Soldiers can show a contempt for danger on occasion; and the fact that an occasional shell threw up the earth now and then within a hundred yards of where they sat did not seem to interfere at all with the appetites of the diners.

The boys had all they wanted of such food as the rations consisted. Two of the Frenchmen could speak English, and so many questions were asked and answered during the progress of the meal, Thad taking pleasure in telling more concerning the adventures that had fallen to the lot of himself and three comrades since they first learned that war had been declared.

Afterward they were informed that they must start at once toward the rear, as at any time that section of the front might witness a terribly fierce charge on the part of the oncoming German hosts, so that unarmed boys really had no business to be loitering there.

Recognizing that this was sound logic, Thad led his companions along another road, that he had learned had its other terminus in Paris itself. They might expect to meet many detachments of French recruits hastening toward the front, fresh batteries on their way, together with innumerable motor lorries, tractors drawing loads, ambulances, and other petrol-driven army vehicles laden with stores or ammunition, all heading toward the line where those men in the French blue waited calmly for a new phase of the fight to open.

All of the boys were feeling fairly fresh now, and evidently that meal had put new spirit in Bumpus for one, since he did not utter the slightest complaint as he trudged valiantly along in the wake of his more energetic chums.

Thad, after a while, began to keep his eyes about him, meaning to call a halt if they should happen to come upon a knoll where a view might be obtained of the lower country where those new trenches had been thrown up so hurriedly. What he wanted to be able to say was that he and the rest had actually seen with their own eyes some of the movements of the two rival armies at this battle for the possession of Paris.

The early September sun was more than half way down toward the horizon when the scout leader believed he had found the place he was looking for. True, the elevation did not amount to a great deal, for which, incidentally, Bumpus was grateful, because he did hate the worst kind to climb hills; but it seemed to offer them what Thad called a “coign of vantage.” Possibly his chums had only a dim idea as to just what that wonderful expression meant; but nevertheless, they asked no questions; accepting things as they found them.

Really, it was quite a fine view that opened around them. The line of vision was not obstructed to any extent, particularly toward the north. Here and there, to be sure, lay fields of drifting smoke, showing where a battery was at work. Smaller patches of the same might indicate the explosion of great shells; while higher in the air shrapnel patches could be seen, looking strangely white in comparison with the rest.

“Just the place for us to spend the rest of the afternoon,” Bumpus hastened to remark, fearful lest his silence might be misconstrued, and that the others would figure on looking further.

No one contradicted him, and so it seemed settled that they would remain there until toward nightfall, at any rate.

The road was far from deserted, because any number of vehicles kept coming forward and ascending the rise with accelerated speed. Often at the crown the deeply interested drivers would pause, not to rest their motors, but to stare across that stretch of country to where the roar of guns was ever increasing.

Then, as though some high sense of duty urged them on, they would suddenly start down the descent and speed away for the front. Perhaps for aught they knew much of the success or failure of the French in holding the oncoming Teuton hosts in check might depend on the prompt delivery of the cargo of ammunition which their particular van was fetching up for the big guns.

Just then Thad would have given a great deal for a good field-glass, but since they lacked such an aid to vision, owing to a robbery some time back, they must get on the best they could without. Giraffe would suffer less than any of the best because of his extraordinary sight; and he promptly promised to pass along any startling discoveries his advantage in that line might give him.

It may have been half an hour after the four chums located on the crown of that low hill when a sudden increase in the near-by thunder told them a new phase of the operations must have broken out.

Giraffe had been down at a spring they had noticed at the foot of the hill in order to quench his thirst, for the day was pretty warm; and so many vehicles passing along the road caused considerable dust to float in the air, all of which seemed to irritate that long throat of the tall scout.

He came leaping up to the lookout, his face filled with eagerness. The others were already straining their eyes to discover what this uproar meant; but after all it was the sharp vision of Giraffe that first made an important discovery.

“Sure as you live, the battle is on, fellows!” he exclaimed, excitedly. “Look over there near that ridge and you’ll see what resembles a running torrent pouring over the crowd. Well, instead of water, that’s made up of a never-ending stream of men, all in the Kaiser’s gray uniforms. Whee! they’re beginning to show in three other places, too. The woods are full of ’em, seems like, tens and tens of thousands, and every man of ’em pushing right on through shot and shell!”

Almost stunned by the thrilling spectacle, the four lads stood there and watched while, doubtless, their hearts pounded like mad against their ribs. Indeed, it would have to be a strange sort of a boy who could witness such a wonderful sight without unusual emotion.

Presently Giraffe again broke out. It was as if he could not restrain himself, and this way of telling his mates what he saw served as an escape valve for his surcharged feelings.

“Now you can see that the French have got busy and are sending every kind of missile right into the midst of the masses of Germans. Every time a shell breaks it leaves a horrible gap, but only for a second, because the living close it up like magic. Oh! what madness for them to charge in such mass formations in these days of machine guns and shrapnel and big shells. But that’s the way they’ve been taught, to go forward shoulder to shoulder; and Germans couldn’t fight like our men do, each on his own initiative. Oh! just see them coming on still, will you? I believe there must be a million of ’em pouring over that ridge. But the French don’t seem to be giving way a yard, do they?” And then, overcome by his emotions, Giraffe fell silent, though never for a second did he take his eyes off the thrilling drama that was being enacted not more than two miles away.