CHAPTER II

HELD UP ON THE BORDER

When Bumpus put up this piteous plaint the other scouts exchanged glances. Here was an unexpected complication that faced them, a puzzling riddle that would have to be solved.

Undoubtedly, when the news reached Antwerp that the great Kaiser had sent his terrible army into Belgium, it was realized that although King Albert’s little army might offer a desperate defense that would cover them with immortal fame, there would be but one end to such an uneven struggle. The Belgians might inflict more or less sanguinary losses on the Teuton host, but the machine-roller would eventually overwhelm them, and even Antwerp must fall into the hands of the invaders. And so the managers of the famous Spa had concluded that it would be just as well if they changed their location. They had a companion Cure in Paris, as the boys well knew, and, accordingly, the entire faculty, together with the trained nurses and most of the rich patients as well, had taken their departure some time before.

If, indeed, Paris were seriously threatened by the Germans, it might be like jumping from the frying-pan into the fire. At least the step had been taken, and here was Bumpus looking aghast at the idea of trying to follow his mother, when the whole of Northern France must be seething with war preparations, trains taken over for military purposes, private cars commandeered, and every available horse drafted into the service of the government.

No wonder, then, that Giraffe presently broke out in his explosive way:

“Gee whiz! Here’s a pretty kettle of fish, now!” he ejaculated. “Your mother is in Paris, it seems like, just when the Kaiser’s army is heading that way hot-footed. And she asks you to follow after her, does she, Bumpus? Whew! I can see a bunch of fellows I know breaking into a lot of new trouble trying to dodge a million fighters, more or less. But remember. Bumpus, we’re bound to stick to you whatever happens.”

The party addressed gave Giraffe a look of affection. He could not trust his voice to utter a single word just then, being so completely overcome with emotion, brought on by his bitter disappointment.

As usual, they turned to Thad. When things all went wrong it was queer how these boys of the Silver Fox Patrol placed their dependence on Thad Brewster to guide them out of the wilderness; and rarely had he failed them in an emergency.

“We might be able to make it,” the leader told them, seriously, as though he had been weighing the chances in his mind and already reached a decision; “that is, if things favored us about getting away from here. We ought to go to the railway station at once and see when the first train for Paris starts.”

“But, from all accounts we’ve had, the Germans are already far over the border, and there is desperate fighting going on in a dozen places on French soil,” observed the cautious Allan. “I’m mentioning this fact, not because you’ll find me hanging back whatever you decide to do, but only to get the situation clear in our minds before we take the jump.”

“You’ve got an idea of your own, I take it, Allan?” suggested Thad quickly.

“Well, since we’ve come all the way from Rotterdam by sea and found the going good, what’s to hinder our looking up a boat starting that would carry us to Calais, Dunkirk or Boulogne? It strikes me that if we did manage to land at one of those seaports we’d stand a much better chance of getting through to Paris over the railroad than by coming down here from Belgium.”

“A bright thought, Allan,” admitted Thad, “so let’s climb aboard our rig and scurry back to the docks again, to inquire about the departure of southbound steamers.”

They were speedily hastening back to the river, where those bustling scenes were hourly taking place, for even at this early date every boat leaving for London was packed to its capacity with fugitive tourists trying to get out of the war-stricken country.

Upon inquiry the boys found that they were up against a disappointment. A boat had left only an hour before for Boulogne; indeed, they remembered seeing it passing down the Schelde as they neared the docks. There would not be another bound for a port in France for three days, as most of the vessels were being impressed into the cross channel service just then, heading for England.

Realizing that there was no help for it, Thad suggested that they give up the scheme of going by sea. That long delay was terrible to even think of, and Bumpus could never stand idling his time away when he wanted so much to be on the move.

It was thereupon decided that they seek the railway _gare_ and board the first train that left for Paris. Of course this meant they would have to take great risks, for it could be understood that there was no telling what delays they were likely to face. Still, they had no choice in the matter, unless they chose to cross to London and take chances of being able to reach France in that roundabout way.

Shortly afterward they drove up to the railway _gare_ and dismissed their driver. Here, as everywhere, they found things in the utmost confusion. Every uniformed man was being besieged by a score of wild-eyed persons all wanting to know how soon their train would start, and if there was any hope that it might reach the destination for which it was billed. They had the poor servants of the company almost frantic with trying to pacify them and be civil at the same time.

Thad went about the business in his customary cool, deliberate fashion. First, he learned that a train would actually start for Paris within the hour, though the official who gave him this information merely shrugged his shoulders in an eloquent way when asked whether there was any chance of its reaching the French capital.

Next Thad booked himself and three chums for the journey. They would have to share the third-class compartment with a number of other fugitives, all wild to shake the dust of Belgium off their shoes before those terrible Germans overran the whole country. This, however, did not bother the boys, for they were accustomed to camping out and taking things as they found them. A little crowding was to be expected under such remarkable conditions as prevailed at such a time as this. All of them said they could stand it if the other people were able to endure the crush.

When, later on, the signal was given for the heavily laden train to start, there were numerous persons who had not been able to find accommodations aboard. This came through the ever-growing desire to get away from the city which undoubtedly sooner or later would hear the crashing detonations of the monster mortars that had already smashed the steel-domed defenses of Liege and Namur.

“Well, this is what I call rushing things some,” observed Giraffe, as he looked out from the window near his elbow and saw that they were already leaving the environs of the Belgian seaport behind them. “It isn’t as much as two hours ago that we landed here expecting to pick up Bumpus’ mother and then take passage across the English Channel to London, yet here we are heading right into trouble again, and like as not with a good chance of seeing more fighting than fell to our share before.”

As the minutes continued to glide by and they kept going at a good pace the boys began to hope they might by great luck manage to get by the scene of hostilities without being held up. Bumpus looked at his little nickel watch ever so often. No doubt the time dragged with him as never before, for his faithful heart must be filled with misgivings concerning his sick mother.

Thad, always observing, saw how the boy was worrying, and he several times uttered words of cheer that were calculated to buoy the other’s hopes up more or less.

“Take courage, Bumpus,” he told him, “and look back at our record when you feel despondent. We have always managed, somehow or other, to accomplish whatever we set out to do, you’ll remember. No matter how difficult the task may have seemed, we have been highly favored by good fortune. And we’ll come through this time with colors flying.”

“I ought to be ashamed to let myself have a single doubt, Thad,” Bumpus frankly admitted, as he turned his eyes upon the leader in whom he had such implicit faith, “when right now I’ve got the backing of the best pards that ever donned the khaki. Yes, I’m going to shut my teeth hard together, and tell myself that we’ve _got_ to get to Paris, no matter if a whole German army corps stands in the way.”

“Shucks! I should say so,” Giraffe hastened to remark, for he had been listening to all that went on in spite of the jabbering of other inmates of the compartment, mostly French people hastening back home. “And, say, a railway train isn’t the only means of travel in these enlightened days; there are cars, and even aeroplanes, if you must come to it; though it’d have to be a buster of a heavier-than-air machine that could tote Bumpus fifty miles across country, I reckon.”

They talked from time to time as they continued to progress over the low country that lies toward the border from Antwerp, where canals seemed to predominate; and the boys were often reminded of the Dutch lands that had been reclaimed from the sea by the erection of the great dikes to shut the water out of Flanders.

They knew that as the minutes passed they were undoubtedly drawing closer to that region where trouble would possibly be lying in wait for them, if it came about that they were fated to be held up on their journey to the French capital.

Hence every time the train slackened speed Bumpus would glue his eyes on the landscape as seen through the open window, just as if he more than half-expected to discover a horde of Uhlans, with their lances and pennons and prancing horses, waiting to take the fugitives into camp as prisoners.

Finally as the afternoon began to wear away they did come to a halt in a small town. Thad announced that he believed they must now be on the border between Belgium and France. Here, if anywhere, they ought to be able to learn what the immediate future held in store for them.

A guard unlocked the door of their carriage. Thad could see that the man was looking displeased, as he made gestures with his hand to indicate that they must all get out.

“Of course they mean to search us for prohibited articles, such as tobacco and spirits,” Allan went on to say, as they hastened to comply with the order.

“I hope that’s the extent of the trouble,” ventured the doubting Bumpus; “but I’m awfully afraid this means we’re going to find ourselves in the soup. I wish we could coax that fellow to give us a little information; try him, won’t you, Thad?”

There was only one way of making the guard talk, and Thad understood the value of a generous tip; so he managed to slip a coin in the willing palm of the uniformed man, and then asked him something.

Thad had picked up a little French and could manage to make himself understood. Then again the guard would readily guess just what each and every passenger aboard the detained train must be anxious about, for it concerned their chances of continuing the journey into France.

While their leader was holding this animated talk with the guard, supplemented on the part of the native with sundry expressive shrugs that spoke more eloquently than words, the other three boys stood near by, holding their luggage, and wondering what fortune had in store for them next. So many strange things had happened to the party since coming across the sea that they were rapidly getting to a point where nothing surprised them very much.

Presently Thad joined them. His face looked grave, and poor Bumpus groaned as he anticipated the worst.

“This train is going to be abandoned right here, boys,” Thad told them. “They had information that the Germans have overrun the country it must pass through, and there would be no hope of our getting to Paris. We’ve got to try some other way around.”