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.