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

"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 d...

The moon was well up in the heavens and this made it almost as light as day out there in the open. Both the scouts could see that scores and scores of men mounted on fine horses...

Through the clouds of powder smoke they could see that the Germans were moving toward the bridge in solid ranks, shoulder to shoulder, in the favorite formation of the Kaiser's...

"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.

Thad did not wait to consult his chums on hearing what the forlorn figure standing amidst the bushes said; he knew they would back him up in his generous impulse.

"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...

Thad may have thought that, up to this point, Giraffe was allowing his suspicions to overcome his better judgment; but he now saw the other was unusually serious. So the scout l...

Once more the fugitives managed to go on for some little distance, with nothing out of the common run happening. Bumpus was thinking that the engine had commenced to act quite d...

"Giraffe, would you mind bending over and pinching me?" asked Bumpus, sweetly, after they had been going on for a short time, leaving the watch-hill behind them, with all its dr...

"My poor mother!" they heard him mutter, as he stared over into the mysterious west, in the direction where Antwerp was supposed to lie, with part of Germany and the whole of Be...

"I certainly heard Giraffe's laugh then," he told Allan; "and you can tell now it's only a single horse that's thumping along. After all Giraffe had to give up on the petrol bus...

They passed over a second and even a third mile without having any trouble. Now and then they overtook or met people on the road but although the natives stared at seeing four b...

"Yes, and if the grub is as attractive as the surroundings," added Giraffe, "I'd wish it was night time right now, so we could put up here. I've heard how neat as wax these Dutc...

During the next few hours they made progress, but the distance covered did not count for many miles. There were several reasons for this. In the first place Thad found he had ma...

"Keep a good hold on him everybody," he said, and was also pleased to note that the aeroplane pilot had himself taken a desperate clutch upon a small limb, as though meaning to...

"Now I certainly do hope we'll be able to get what we want here at this place," he went on to remark, dubiously. "So few of these Belgians in this section of the country underst...

It was certainly pretty lively while it lasted. Giraffe, who liked excitement must have felt quite in his element when turning the tables on those plotting Belgian boys who had...

There was no mystery attached to it all, and Thad understood the whole occurrence as soon as he saw the car moving down the road with Bumpus in it. As usually happens, meddling...

That must have been the thought flashing through the mind of each of the other three scouts. Indeed, what else could they believe, after seeing the woman carrying on in such a w...

Giraffe was one of those fellows with a disposition very much like a rubber ball; when crushed down by some sudden disappointment he would come up again on the rebound.

"The thing that's bothering me," said Bumpus, a little later on, "is this. If the military in Belgium here are so hard up for cars that they'd even think to take such a tough-lo...

The man was undoubtedly a soldier, but Thad came to the conclusion that he must now be on some important mission rather than simply riding to a concentration camp. In fact, he s...

"I've been thinking it all over," said Giraffe, "and I've got it arranged. You know our landlord isn't much on the American lingo, and I expect to have some little trouble makin...

The actions of Giraffe spoke louder than words could have done. With a really wicked grin he reached down and took something in his hand which it seemed he had stowed away in th...

"Gee whiz!" burst out Giraffe, of course using his favorite expression to denote his great astonishment; "why, they must be running to interview us, fellows! And say, I don't ju...

Of course everybody became tremendously excited; at least everybody but Thad, who somehow seemed to be able to retain his coolness in the presence of peril better than any of hi...

"Put it a little stronger, Giraffe," ventured Thad. "Say to-day and to-morrow will go pretty far toward settling it; because with such a knock-down machine we're apt to meet up...

No one considered this an odd remark for the stout boy to make, because they knew from past experience that he was not an ardent pedestrian. Bumpus was not built for action alon...

"Oh! perhaps he's struck some exciting news worth picking up; you know he's a correspondent for a newspaper at home in the good old United States, and must always be on the look...