"True, true! But the Prussians are sure of victory, and one"s heart aches when one sees them sweep over the land like a pestilence. I haven"t told you one-tenth----"
"Why frighten these ladies needlessly? The gun-fire is bad enough. You and I are men, Monsieur Joos. We must try and save our women."
The miller was spirited, and the implied taunt struck home.
"It"s all very well talking in that way," he cried; "but what"s going to happen to you if a German sees you? _Que diable!_ You look like an Aachen carriage-cleaner, don"t you, with your officer air and commanding voice, and your dandy boots, and your fine clothes showing when the workman"s smock opens! The lady, too, in a cheap shawl, wearing a blouse and skirt that cost hundreds of francs!--Leontine, take monsieur----"
"Dalroy."
"Take Monsieur Dalroy to Jan Maertz"s room, and let him put on Jan"s oldest clothes and a pair of sabots. Jan"s clogs will just about fit him. And give mademoiselle one of your old dresses."
He whirled round on Dalroy. "What became of Jan Maertz? Did the Germans really kill him? Tell us the truth. Leontine, there, had better know."
"I think he is safe," said Dalroy. "I have already explained to your daughter how the accident came about which separated us. Maertz was pulled out of the driver"s seat by the reins when the horses plunged and upset the wagon. He may arrive any hour."
"The Germans didn"t know, then, that you and the lady were in the cart?"
"No."
"I hope Jan hasn"t told them. That would be awkward. But what matter?
You talk like a true man, and I"ll do my best for you. It"s nothing but nonsense to think of getting away from Vise yet. You"re a Liegeois whom I hired to do Jan"s work while he went to Aix. Everybody in Vise knows he went there four days ago. I can"t lift heavy sacks of grain at my age, and I must have a man"s help. You see? Sharp, now. When that fat fellow gets his puff again he"ll be here for more supplies. And mind you don"t wash your face and hands. You"re far too much of a gentleman as it is."
"One moment," interrupted Irene. "I want your promise, Captain Dalroy, that you will not go away without telling me."
She could not guess how completely old Joos"s broken story of the day"s events in Vise had changed Dalroy"s intent.
"I would as soon think of cutting off my right hand," he said.
Their eyes met and clashed. It was dark in the mill"s kitchen, even at midday; but the girl felt that the tan of travel and exposure on her face was yielding to a deep crimson. "Come, Leontine," she cried almost gaily, "show me how to wear one of your frocks. I"ll do as much for you some day in London."
"You be off, too," growled Joos to Dalroy. "When the Germans come they must see you about the place."
The old man was shrewd in his way. The sooner these strangers became members of the household the less likely were they to attract attention.
Thus it came about that both Dalroy and Irene were back in the kitchen, and clothed in garments fully in keeping with their new roles, when a commissariat wagon entered the yard. A Bavarian corporal did not trouble to open the door in the ordinary way. He smashed the latch with his shoulder. "Why is this door closed?" he demanded fiercely.
"Monsieur----" began Joos.
"Speak German, you swine!"
"I forgot the order, Herr Kaporal. As you see, it was only on the latch."
"Don"t let it happen again. Load the first wagon with hay and the second with flour. While you"re at it, these women can cook us a meal. Where do you keep your wine?"
"Everything will be put on the table, _mons_--Herr Kaporal."
"None of your lip!--Here, you, the pretty one, show me the wine-cupboard. I"ll make my own selection. We Bavarians are famous judges of good wine and pretty women, let me tell you."
The corporal"s wit was highly appreciated by the squad of four men who accompanied him. They had all been drinking. It is a notable fact that during the early days of the invasion of Belgium and France--in effect, while wine and brandy were procurable by theft--the army which boasts the strictest discipline of any in the world was unquestionably the most drunken that has ever waged successful war.
Irene was "the pretty one" chosen as guide by this hulking connoisseur, but she knew how to handle boors of his type.
"You must not talk in that style to a girl from Berlin," she said icily.
"You and your men will take what is given you, or I"ll find your _oberleutnant_, and hear what he has to say about it."
She spoke purposely in perfect German, and the corporal was vastly surprised.
"Pardon, _gnadiges Fraulein_," he mumbled with a clumsy bow. "I no offence meant. We will within come when the meal is ready. About--turn!"
The enemy was routed.
The miller and his man worked hard until dusk. The fat officer turned up, and lost no opportunity of ogling the two girls. He handed Joos a payment docket, which, he explained grandiloquently, would be honoured by the military authorities in due course. Joos pocketed the doc.u.ment with a sardonic grin. There was some fifteen thousand francs" worth of grain and forage stored on the premises, and he did not expect to see a centime of hard cash from the Germans, unless, as he whispered grimly to Dalroy, they were forced to pay double after the war. Meanwhile the place was gutted. Wagon after wagon came empty and went away loaded.
Driblets of news were received. The pa.s.sage of the Meuse had been achieved, thanks to a flanking movement from Argenteau. Liege had fallen at the first attack. The German High Sea Fleet was escorting an army in transports to invade England, where, meanwhile, Zeppelins were destroying London. Vise, having been sufficiently "punished" for a first offence, would now be spared so long as the inhabitants "behaved themselves." If a second "lesson" were needed it would be something to remember.
The first and last of these items were correct, inasmuch as they represented events and definite orders affecting the immediate neighbourhood. Otherwise, the budget consisted of ever more daring flights of Teutonic imagination, the crescendo swelling by distance.
Liege was so far from having fallen that the 7th Division, deprived of the support of the 9th and 10th Divisions, had been beaten back disastrously from the shallow trenches in front of the outer girdle of forts. The 10th was about to share the same fate; and the 9th, after being delayed nearly three days by the glorious resistance offered by the Belgians at Vise, was destined to fare likewise. But rumour as to the instant "capture" of Liege was not rife among the lower ranks alone of the German army. The commander-in-chief actually telegraphed the news to the All-Highest at Aix; when the All-Highest discovered the truth the commander-in-chief decided that he had better blow his brains out, and did.
The fact was that the overwhelming horde of invaders could not be kept out of the city of Liege by the hastily mobilised Belgian army; but the heroic governor, General Leman, held the ring of forts intact until they were pulverised by the heavy ordnance of which Dalroy had seen two specimens during the journey to Cologne. Many days were destined to elapse before the last of the strongholds, Fort Loncin, crumbled into ruins by the explosion of its own magazine; and until that was achieved the mighty army of Germany dared not advance another kilometre to the west.
When the Bavarian corporal had gone through every part of the house and outbuildings, and satisfied himself that the only stores left were some potatoes and a half-bag of flour, he informed the miller that he and his squad would be billeted there that evening.
"Your pantry is bare," he said, "but the wine is all right, so we"ll bring a joint which we "planted" this morning. Be decent about the wine, and your folk can have a cut in, too."
Possibly he meant to be civil, and there was a chance that the night might pa.s.s without incident. Vise itself was certainly quiet save for the unceasing stream of troops making for the pontoon bridge. The fighting seemed to have shifted to the west and south-west, and Joos put an unerring finger on the situation when he said pithily, "Liege is making a deuce of a row after being taken."
"How many forts are there around the city?" inquired Dalroy.
"Twelve, big and little. Pontisse and Barchon cover the Meuse on this side, and Fleron and Evegnee bar the direct road from Aix. Unless I am greatly in error, monsieur, the German wolf is breaking his teeth on some of them at this minute."
Liege itself was ten miles distant; Pontisse, the nearest fort, though on the left bank of the river, barely six. The evening was still, there being only a slight breeze from the south-west, which brought the loud thunder of the guns and the crackle of rifle-fire. It was the voice of Belgium proclaiming to the high G.o.ds that she was worthy of life.
The Bavarians came with their "joint," a n.o.ble piece of beef hacked off a whole side looted from a butcher"s shop. Madame Joos cut off an ample quant.i.ty, some ten pounds, and put it in the oven. The girls peeled potatoes and prepared cabbages. In half-an-hour the kitchen had an appetising smell of food being cooked, the men were smoking, and a casual visitor would never have resolved the gathering into its const.i.tuent elements of irreconcilable national hatreds.
The corporal even tried to make amends for having damaged the door. He examined the broken latch. "It"s a small matter," he said apologetically. "You can repair it for a trifle; and, in any case, you will sleep all the better that we are here."
Though somewhat maudlin with liquor, he was very much afraid of the "girl from Berlin." He could not sum her up, but meant to behave himself; while his men, of course, followed his lead unquestioningly.
Dalroy kept in the background. He listened, but said hardly anything.
The turn of fortune"s wheel was distinctly favourable. If the night ended as it had begun there was a chance that he and Irene might slip away to the Dutch frontier next morning, since he had ascertained definitely that Holland was secure for the time, and was impartially interning all combatants, either Germans or Belgians, who crossed the border. At this time he was inclined to abandon his own project of striving to steal through the German lines. He was somewhat weary, too, after the unusual labour of carrying heavy sacks of grain and flour down steep ladders or lowering them by a pulley. Thus, he dozed off in a corner, but was aroused suddenly by the entry of the commissariat officer and three subalterns. With them came an orderly, who dumped a laden basket and a case of champagne on the floor.
The corporal and his satellites sprang to attention.
The fat man took the salute, and glanced around the kitchen. Then he sniffed. "What! roast beef?" he said. "The men fare better than the officers, it would seem.--Be off, you!"
"Herr Major, we are herein billeted," stuttered the corporal.
"Be off, I tell you, and take these Belgian swine with you! I make my quarters here to-night."
Joos, of course, he recognised; and the miller said, with some dignity, that the gentlemen would be made as comfortable as his resources permitted, but he must remain in his own house.