For some time heavy firing had been heard in the direction of the woods where the Germans had lain. Now this died away. General Smith-Derrien glanced significantly at a colonel of his staff and permitted himself the luxury of a smile, a rare one for him in those days of the retreat.
Just then the telephone on his table rang. The nearest officer answered, listening attentively for a moment.
"Colonel Mewbray using the field telephone, sir," he said to the general. "It"s been connected with our wires here. He reports that the horse artillery completely surrounded the wood in which the Germans were quartered, and sh.e.l.led the woods for ten minutes. After that the Germans ceased firing, and when we played searchlights a dozen white flags were shown. The German commander, General von Garnst, surrendered to avoid a further useless sacrifice of lives."
The general nodded.
"My compliments to Colonel Mewbray," he said. "Ask him to convey my thanks to Brigadier-General Lannin. The German prisoners will be placed on trains at once and sent to Paris, through Amiens. The staff will prepare at once to take the new position as indicated in the order of to-night. Orderly!"
"Yes, sir!" said a private, stepping forward.
"My motor is to be ready in five minutes."
"Yes, sir."
The orderly went to transmit the order. Then the general turned to Frank and held out his hand.
"I shall see to it that you and your companion Boy Scout are mentioned in dispatches," he said. "I shall also see to it that your scoutmaster is informed of your excellent work, and shall request him to give you the highest possible promotion for distinguished services!"
CHAPTER XV
THE RETREAT
Frank felt that he was dismissed, and a gentle pressure on his arm from Captain Greene made him sure of it. The aviator went out with him, and when they were outside he slapped him on the back.
"Well, you"ve got a right to feel proud of yourself!" he said. "And the general doesn"t begin to know all you did. He will, though, as soon as he gets my report. I"ll write that directly because there"s no telling what will happen any time I go up. You"ve seen something of how it goes in a monoplane."
"I wonder what I"m to do now," said Frank.
"Go away from here as quickly as you can," said Greene, with a laugh. "I can tell you that much. That"s what we"ve been doing ever since they smashed us at Mons, in Belgium. You see those beggars creep out, trying to get around us. The Frenchmen made a bad guess at the beginning, and sent too many men to Alsace, and so this chap Von Kluck had enough men to threaten to surround us. But his turn"s coming!"
"When?" asked Frank.
"Ask me something easy! Before very long, though, I think. We"ll be south of Amiens by to-morrow. We"ve got to wait until we get enough men. But there"s a surprise coming to the Germans. If I told you any more I"d be shot at daybreak for betraying military secrets. Good luck, young "un! Sorry you"re not going to be with us in the flying corps!"
"Good-bye," said Frank.
Then he went to look for Henri, and found him in the same room in which they had first been received by Major Cooper. Henri started up with a cry of delight at seeing him and embraced him, in the French fashion, to the huge amus.e.m.e.nt of the Englishmen present and Frank"s own disgust and embarra.s.sment. But he tried to hide how he felt, for he knew that Henri was only doing what he had been brought up to regard as the proper thing, and he would not have hurt his chum"s feelings for the world.
"You two youngsters have got to get back to Amiens," said the major.
"For one thing because the Germans will be here as soon as we get out, and for another because I want you to take some dispatches to the French staff there. Can either of you drive a motor?"
"I can," said Henri, proudly.
"Really? All right. I"d rather not spare a man. You will take these dispatches in the same containers in which they were brought, and deliver them to Colonel Menier, if he is still in Amiens. If not, to Major Fremille. You will also turn over the motor car to the French authorities there. Shall you stay in Amiens after that, even if the French leave, which they will?"
"Yes, sir, unless there is something we can do elsewhere."
"I rather think you"ll be able to do more there than anywhere else, if the Germans don"t drive you out. But you"ll hear of that from the French officer you report to. By the way, when I spoke of the convoy that resisted a Uhlan attack, you didn"t tell me you"d had anything to do with that. Why not?"
"We didn"t, sir," said Frank, surprised. "We got away just as the fighting began."
"Yes, and sorry to go, too, I"ll wager! Captain Hardy reported that it was your quickness and intelligence that saved him, and enabled him to get help up in time to save the convoy. Something about the hands of a clock you saw moving, eh?"
"That was nothing, sir," said Frank. "I just happened to see that they"d moved, when a minute before the clock had seemed to have stopped."
"Maybe it was nothing, but we hadn"t got on to it before. And if they"ve been doing that at all steadily it accounts for the way they"ve been able to drop sh.e.l.ls on to what we supposed were concealed positions.
They sh.e.l.led the house the staff was in two days ago. We"re giving them a good fight, but they beat us pretty badly when it comes to spying. If we had a few more people with eyes as quick as yours, we"d be better off. Come on, I"ll take you out and see you started."
As they reached the street they saw General Smith-Derrien climbing into a great automobile that started off at once, moving south toward Paris.
What little they had seen of him had already made them conceive a great admiration for the silent British commander, who only a few days later was to be honored as the first brilliant figure of the war on the allied side. It was for his very conduct of this retreat that Field Marshal French, the British commander-in-chief, selected him for special mention in his dispatches.
They had to wait a few minutes while Major Cooper attended to the details of getting a car for them.
"Oh, Frank," said Henri, wistfully, "I wish I"d been the one to go!
Though I wouldn"t have done so well, I"m sure of that."
"Nonsense! You"d have done as well, and better," said Frank.
"No! But think of what you have done for France, for what is done for the English now is done for France as well. I am glad the English are fighting with us now, instead of against us. I--"
Major Cooper"s return interrupted him.
"Here"s your car coming now," he said. "You"ll have to take a long way around. There are troops, or will be, on all the direct roads, and, besides, bridges are being blown up fast. Take the road that leads to Abbeville, over toward the sea. Use your own judgment about when you turn south, but keep moving toward the west until you are very close to Abbeville. After that you will have a fairly clear course. We haven"t any reason to think that the Germans are in that direction at all as yet, though where they may be to-morrow no one knows. I needn"t tell you to keep your eyes open. But if you do run into Germans, don"t try to get away. There"s very little chance of their finding the papers you carry, and, if they do, it is not important enough for us to want you to run any great risk. If you see them coming, hide at once. The motor doesn"t matter."
Henri took the driver"s seat and Frank sprang in beside him. And Henri, feeling that he had been pushed a little into the background, started the motor at once. He really could drive a car, having learned from his father years before, and he soon showed, when he had made himself familiar with the details of his machine, that he was to be trusted with it. And so, with a blast of his horn, he made a quick turn and sent the car roaring into the night. That was only to show off, however, for in a moment he m.u.f.fled his engine, and the car spun along almost in silence, the motor purring evenly, as if to show that it was in perfect trim and ready to give the car all the speed that was needed.
The rain had stopped by this time, but the roads were still muddy and greasy, and at first, too, there was a good deal of traffic. Guns and men were moving, and, moreover, there was another danger. The German guns had evidently moved up, and a sh.e.l.l fell near them once in a while, but not so near as to bother them.
After a few miles of travelling, however, they found the road freer, and found also that the sound of the rear guard engagement that was covering the British retreat was further off. Five miles saw them riding through fields where twinkling lights showed the presence of troops, and they were stopped by a French guard. The pa.s.s Major Cooper had given them got them through, and the soldiers laughed and chatted while an officer was examining it. These were fresh troops, hurriedly brought up to hold off the Germans while the exhausted British retired to new positions, and they were gay, light-hearted fellows. True, they had not yet been in action, but to Frank it seemed that they were likely to be jovial after they had heard bullets singing over their heads.
"They don"t seem to feel bad," said Henri. "And it is the same with the English. They are retreating, and still they are cheerful."
"You say that as if it was something remarkable!" said Frank, with a laugh. "Of course they"re cheerful. They"ve got faith in their leaders, and they know, I suppose, that a retreat is often necessary. They"ll turn the tables before long."
"It seems strange to be where it is so quiet," said Frank, when they had finally pa.s.sed beyond sound of the skirmishing on the extreme left of the allied line, formed by the French force through which they had pa.s.sed. "I"m expecting to see Germans every time we make a turn."
"So am I," said Henri. "And why shouldn"t we? If they are trying to turn the allied flank, we"re as likely to see them in this direction as not."
"Look here," said Frank, "you"re perfectly right. We haven"t got orders to make particularly good time. Let"s keep on right to Abbeville. That"s at the mouth of the Somme. Then we can turn toward Boulogne. If there are Germans around here at all they"ll be in that direction. We might get some trace of their cavalry. Or we might do what we did before, strike some of their infantry. I don"t think we"re so likely to do that, though."
"We"ll try it, anyhow," said Henri.
And so they turned toward St. Pol, instead of making the sharp turn at right angles that would have brought them to Amiens. Here there were traces, indeed, of a German invasion. Peasants, alarmed by the reports of Uhlans seen at Arras and near Boulogne, were in full flight.