"We can give a good account of ourselves in here, should we be attacked,"
Hal explained.
"Right," Chester agreed. "But do you antic.i.p.ate an attack?"
"I do," replied Hal. "As soon as the Germans we drove out report to the main body, a strong force probably will be sent against us."
"And are we supposed to hold them off?"
"We are supposed to stick until ordered to fall back, I reckon,"
Hal replied.
"Well," declared Chester, "we are at the very opposite side of the town and can see them coming--if they do."
They were attracted by a peculiar noise at the opposite side of the room in which they stood.
It was His Lordship, dead to the world, snoring, with wide-open mouth.
"The sergeant was right," said Hal. "His Lordship can sleep anywhere."
Almost at this moment there came a warning from without.
"Germans approaching in force, sir," cried the sergeant, poking his head in the door.
And at that moment there came a clattering of horses" hoofs, and a moment later a French officer entered the room.
"General Joffre orders you to fall back, sir!" he said.
CHAPTER XVII.
A FIGHT FOR A BED.
With a word to the sergeant to order an immediate retreat, Hal crossed the room and shook His Lordship roughly.
"Get up!" he shouted.
His Lordship opened one eye sleepily.
"What"s that?" he demanded.
"Get up!" repeated Hal.
"Not on your life," said His Lordship slowly, and closed his eyes again.
"Quick!" shouted Hal. "We must retreat! A whole German regiment is about to attack us."
"All right," came the reply, and His Lordship did not take the trouble to open his eyes.
Once more the lad shook him roughly, and Chester added his voice.
"Get up out of here," he commanded sharply. "A German regiment is upon us."
"I don"t care if it is the whole German army," replied His Lordship, with some heat--and it was the first time in his life that he had ever been aroused--"they won"t get my bed."
"I order you--" Hal began.
But His Lordship calmly shut his eyes, turned on his other side, and went peacefully to sleep.
"Now, what do you think of that?" demanded Hal of Chester.
"Well," said Hal, "there is nothing we can do. It"s up to us to save our own skins. We have done the best we can for him."
He stepped to the door and Chester followed him. They looked about for some sign of their men, but the latter had gone, and Hal, Chester and His Lordship were left alone in the house.
"We might as well make a dash for it," said Hal. "Come on!"
He stepped from the door, but, as he would have started ahead, something whistled by his head. He started back with an exclamation, and, jumping back into the house, closed the door.
"Too late," he said briefly.
For a moment he stood listening.
"What are we going to do?" demanded Chester.
Hal considered.
"Follow me," he said at length.
He led the way beyond where His Lordship was sleeping, and, swinging himself out of a rear window, quickly clambered into the house next door.
"Maybe they won"t look for us here," he said. "Then, when they have gone, we can escape."
"Maybe," said Chester dubiously, "but I don"t think so."
The boys approached the front of the house and looked out the window, taking care to keep out of sight from the street. But just then there came a sound of a shot.
"Wonder what that is for?" asked Hal.
He peered through the window. At the far end of the street he beheld a squad of German troops gazing toward the house they had just left.
"Guess they are afraid we"ll take a shot at "em if they rush us," said Chester. "They don"t know we have left."
At that moment, from the house they had so recently quitted, there came the sound of a shot. A German soldier tumbled in his tracks.
The enemy was just beyond the town, and the others, instead of rushing forward when their companion hit the ground, scattered and took refuge behind the nearest possible shelter.