"We"ll get there--unless our gasoline gives out altogether before that, Arthur. And it may. The engine is certainly missing all the time, now. Oh, if it will only hold out!"
Their speed was greatly reduced now. And from behind the other motor started again.
"I admire those Germans!" said Paul. "A good many people wouldn"t keep at it the way they"re doing. It"s no joke to ride on a motorcycle with both tires gone. They"ll remember to-night for some time, I think!
They"ll be sore and shaken to pieces before they"re done."
"They"ll be better off than their machine," said Arthur, philosophically. "There won"t be enough of that left to sell for junk if they ride it very far in that condition."
"Well, I don"t believe they"ll care about that, if they only catch us and get the plans--"
It was a sudden lurch of the machine, accompanied by a sputtering and a stopping of the motor, that interrupted him. The two scouts sprang off just in time, steadying the machine.
"Drop it! Into the fields here!" cried Paul. "We can"t run any longer. We must try to elude them by tricking them. Come on!"
And so they were obliged to abandon the machine that had served them so well, leaving it lying in the road. They ran across a ditch that bordered the road, and into a field where they managed to conceal themselves in a hedge. They could still see the white road, and the collapsed motorcycle, but there was a chance, even if it was a slim one, that they themselves would not be seen.
Arthur wanted to run across the field, but Paul stopped him.
"That"s what they"ll expect us to do, isn"t it?" he said. "And, besides, they could see us. There"s no shelter for a long way. Here they may overlook us, just because we"re so close--and it"s the only chance we have, anyhow."
"Here they come!" cried Arthur, and crouched down, staring. For a moment it seemed that the pursuers might ride straight by, and Paul groaned suddenly.
"We ought to have dragged the machine in here with us!" he said. "Then I don"t believe they"d have known we had stopped for quite a distance!
I never thought of it, though, and now it"s too late!"
It was too late, indeed, for the other machine stopped within a few feet of the overturned cycle.
"Ha! Now we"ll have them! They can"t have gone far!" said one of the Germans. "Accursed boys! They have given me a fright!"
"You haven"t caught us yet!" whispered Paul, defiantly.
It was true, as the Germans soon discovered. For when they began looking for the two boys, they found that it was one thing to know that they must be somewhere about, and quite another to find out just where.
They did not begin to look immediately in the field, but went along the road, toward Liege, evidently looking for footprints. Then when they did take to the field, they crossed the ditch fully a hundred yards further along the road.
"Come on!" said Paul, suddenly. "We got one of their machines--why shouldn"t we take the other?"
Arthur saw the point as quickly as Paul. The carelessness of the two Germans had once more given them an opportunity. In a moment they dashed out, and, just as the Germans, with a yell of fury, saw them, they were off. Bullets flew about them, but they bent low over the machine, and they were going fast. Still two bullets found their mark, one puncturing the rear tire, the other perforating the gasoline tank.
Once more they seemed to be caught. And then a searchlight swept down upon them again. But this time it was not the great light from Boncelles. It was the huge headlight of an automobile, and behind it they saw an armored car. Soldiers sprang from it, and in a moment the tables had been completely turned.
It was the two German officers who were made prisoners, while officers eagerly pressed about the scouts, asking question upon question.
"I must be taken to General Leman at once," said Paul, stoutly. "We have information of the utmost importance."
The Belgian officers laughed at him at first. But he was so earnest and persistent that he had his way at last.
CHAPTER VI
AT HEADQUARTERS
The armored automobile, a queer looking affair with its machine guns and its steel parapets, pierced with holes through which rifles could be fired, made good time on the way back to Liege. It was really a fairly large motor lorry, converted very readily from a commercial use to its new purpose, and even the untrained eyes of the two scouts could see that it was likely to prove a formidable weapon in time of war.
"It would take a heavy gun to stop it. Rifle fire wouldn"t bother us at all, you see," explained one of the Belgian officers. "Even the driver is thoroughly protected, because he could only be shot from above. I expect we"ll have a lot of use for these."
"Are there many of them?"
"Not so many here. We don"t need them. But at Brussels, where the field army is being mobilized now, there are a lot, and all through the open country where there will probably be a good deal of fighting."
"Will the Germans get so far?"
"They"re sure to. We"ll hold Liege with a small force as long as we can. But you must remember that they can send a million men against us! We"re not supposed to beat them--no one expects us to do that.
All we have to do is to hold them back as long as possible."
"But if there are so many of them, why can"t they go right around us here?"
"They can, and they probably will. But even so, they"ll have to account for the fortress of Liege and of Namur, as well, before they can get so very far."
"That"s what I don"t quite understand," said Arthur. "It seems to me that unless we have soldiers enough here to stop them they could go right on without bothering about Liege at all."
"You haven"t studied strategy yet, I can see, my scout!" said the officer, with a laugh. "But I"ll try to explain. You see, the Germans want to reach France--to conquer the French army and capture Paris, as they did in 1870. Then they went right through Alsace and Lorraine--beat the French around Metz, locked up the beaten army in that fortress, beat the only other army France had and captured it at Sedan, and then walked right through to Paris."
"Yes, I"ve read of that," said Arthur. "They didn"t go through Belgium then, either."
"They didn"t have to. But since then, you see, the French have learned their lesson. They"ve got the most powerful fortified line in the world, I suppose, all the way from Belfort to Verdun. It would take the Germans weeks to break through there, and by that time the whole French army would be mobilized behind that line of fortresses, and ready for them. If they were only fighting France they might try it.
But now they"ve got to fight France and Russia too. And the only chance they have is to beat France even more quickly than they did in 1870. I happen to know that their plans require them to capture Paris within six weeks."
"Six weeks! Do you think they can do it?"
"No! Not if we do our part! And if they don"t, they"re likely to fail altogether. Because then Russia will have had time to mobilize, and more than half of the German army will have to help the Austrians to hold back the Russians from Vienna and Berlin. What they"re counting on, you see, is smashing France, so that they can hold only a few corps back on this side, and throw all the rest of their army against Russia.
Then they"d have a chance--more than a chance."
"But still I don"t understand about Liege yet, and why it"s so important," said Arthur.
"I"m coming to that. Now, to get at the French, they"ve got to go through Belgium. Well, they"ve got to supply their armies. They"ve got to send guns, and ammunition, and food from Germany. To do that they have to keep their line of communication open. Liege is right on one of their important lines of communication--the one that really starts at Aix-la-Chapelle, just across the border. Liege, if it wasn"t reduced, or at least "masked"--that means surrounded--would threaten these communications all the time. We could raid the railway, for instance. And if communications are interrupted, even for a day or so, it may mean the loss of a battle. They use a frightful lot of ammunition, for instance, in a modern battle. And if troops didn"t get their supplies, they might be crushed utterly. That"s why we"ll hold them back."
Meanwhile the armored car was approaching Liege. And now they were near the old citadel, where, as both the scouts knew, General Leman had established his headquarters.
"I don"t know whether the General will see you," said a captain, doubtfully. "But you can see one of his staff, anyway. Won"t that do?
He can decide whether what you have is important."
"Yes, and I think he"ll take us to the General when he hears our story," said Paul. "But please hurry! There really isn"t any time to be lost."
"I"ll speak to Major du Chaillu," promised the captain. "I think he"ll be able to arrange matters for you."
After a short delay, Major du Chaillu, a tall, hara.s.sed looking man, under whose eyes there were great, dark circles as if he had not slept for many weary hours, received them in his office. He was busy with a great map of Liege and the surrounding forts, on which he was arranging and rearranging many small flags.