Through a fine marble hall, that had so short a time before echoed with the footsteps of Belgians, and was now thronged with Prussian officers and their servants, Max was led. Out at the wide portico and into the open square, full in view of a large crowd a.s.sembled to do silent honour to a patriot; but only for a moment, for a sharp word of command rang out and a score of men closed round him, and with short military steps marched him rapidly through the crowd.
Max was dressed exactly as he was when he gave himself up. He had had no opportunity to wash or to make himself presentable for that last hour; unkempt, bareheaded, but erect and outwardly serene, he strode along, conscious that he was not only an example from the German point of view, but an example, and a greater one, to the Belgians. He tried to tell himself that the unscrupulousness of the Germans should not have the effect they desired, that his execution should be a rallying-point for all true hearts in Liege and a turning-point so far as their little locality was concerned.
But though Max was outwardly calm and serene, inwardly he was deeply anguished. It was not a small thing to him to lay down, so to speak, his tools and to leave to others the continuance of the good work. His mother and sister, too--he could not think of them without many and bitter pangs. However, he strove hard to hold at bay such thoughts and to go down strongly to the parting of the ways.
With monotonous tramp his escort marched unmoved along. Max marched in the middle, unbound like a prisoner of war rather than the miscreant he had been called. Once away from the governor"s palace the people were spa.r.s.e--ones and twos and a few groups here and there--until the gates of the Durend works came in sight.
Here there was a larger crowd. There always was a small crowd about the gates, for the number of Belgians who still refused to work was considerable, and these men pa.s.sed much of their time outside, gloomily scanning the many evidences of abounding work, and discussing in low tones the progress of the war.
It wanted only twenty minutes to noon, and at that hour Max knew he would take his last look upon the things of this world. It was hard, he could not help thinking, but----
"_Get ready!_"
Those words, spoken in English, sounded in his ears. They seemed uttered in the sing-song tones he knew so well, in which the starter of a rowing contest prepared to send off the crews waiting in eager readiness before him. Max looked curiously about him. He knew he must be dreaming, and yet he had not been conscious at that moment of dreaming of the old days at Hawkesley. How far away they seemed--and how jolly--he would never know such glorious times again. A fresh wave of new regrets pa.s.sed through his mind. It was----
"_Are you ready?_"
This time Max looked more sharply about him. He was not dreaming, he was sure now. The words had certainly been uttered, and again in the sing-song of the Hawkesley starter. No one but Dale could have uttered them, and Dale it must be. Where was he?
A man carrying a big packing-case was at the side of the road on his right a dozen yards or so ahead. The packing-case hid his face, but his gait seemed somewhat familiar even while moving under his burden. He was slanting towards the prisoner"s escort, the foremost of whom had now reached the outer edge of the big crowd a.s.sembled outside the gates.
What did the words mean? What but that he was to act as though the greatest contest of his life was before him--aye, one with his very life for the prize! The zest for life, the deep-rooted objection to give up his task half done, the old sporting instinct to battle to the very finish, all combined to brace Max"s nerve to a point at which nothing was impossible. Ready?--aye, he was ready and more than ready--all he waited for was the signal he knew was close at hand.
Suddenly something dark flew through the air. Ere it touched the ground another and another followed. Three tremendous explosions took place at the very feet of the men of his escort in front of him. The officer and four of the men fell to the ground, and escort and crowd surged back and away in all directions.
"_Go!_"
Like a shot from a gun, Max dived into the crowd on his right. Not a man of his escort put out a hand to stop him. The surprise was complete, and in an instant Max was in the midst of the crowd of men already on the move, flying in terror from the scene of the fearful explosions which had killed five of the soldiers and injured others as well as some of the nearest of the crowd. Four more explosions followed hard on his heels, just behind him, and he guessed they had occurred in the middle of the rearmost of his escort.
The crowd scattered in all directions. Max followed those who fled towards the open country, and in a few minutes he was on the outskirts of the town. Hardly turning to right or left, he sped on at top speed.
It was his own safety he had now to look to, his own race to win, and he put out all the energy he possessed.
Out of the town and up the heights into the open country he ran, and it was not until he was practically beyond pursuit that he slackened and looked about him. Only one solitary figure was in sight, a quarter of a mile behind, and he was clearly not a soldier. In fact, as Max slowed down and looked back, the man waved a hand. It was Dale, and with a feeling of tremendous joy and grat.i.tude Max dashed back to meet him.
"By George, Max--you are no end of a sprinter!" Dale gasped as they met.
"I had no idea--you were such a hot man on the track."
"Ah! Wait until you are under sentence of death and see what speed you can work up to. I am glad--I can"t tell you how glad--to get away from there. And you are a brick, Dale, a real brick."
"Nonsense, old man, the boot is on the other leg altogether. I am still fathoms deep in your debt."
"Come out of the road into the wood here where we shall be safer. What about Dubec--he was in it, of course?"
"Yes; and _he_ has been a brick, if you like. It was he that got us the hand-grenades--Schenk has just started making them--and he was one of those who pitched them into the middle of the Germans. Ha! Ha! Schenk will know that they were his own grenades when he hears about it. I guess it will not improve his temper."
"Is Dubec following?"
"No, he is safe at home, I expect, by now. He will be all right. They have nothing against him, and he is not going to the Durend yard again.
He is going to apply for work at the mines instead."
"Good! then we can be off?"
"Aye--though we haven"t fixed up where we are to go. We were too busy over the rescue to think about anything else."
"Well, we ought to give Liege a rest. Let us go for another trip into the Ardennes until this affair has blown over and we can return to the attack once more. We have earned a rest, and I for one feel I need it."
"Hear! hear! I"ve got my wind again, so let us make tracks before the Germans send out patrols to hunt about the countryside. It would be too bad to be captured after hoodwinking them so thoroughly."
"Not to mention killing and wounding an officer and several men."
Chatting gaily together, but nevertheless keeping a sharp look-out, the two friends strode along out into the open lands southward of the town, and then on towards the wide stretch of broken highlands known as the Ardennes. They had no clear idea of what they would do when they got there, the one thought in their minds being to find some quiet rural spot where they could remain in safety and quietude for a little while.
It was certainly as well for them to do so, for the daring and successful rescue of the prisoner under sentence of death stirred the city of Liege to its very depths. To the people it was an example of courage and self-sacrifice joined to determined and skilful leadership; to the Germans it was most exasperating evidence of their inability to crush this people notwithstanding their many and varied methods of repression. The affair was hushed up by the governor so far as he was able to do so, but it eventually became known that it had been the cause of a violent altercation between him and the manager of the Durend works, Herr von Schenkendorf, who was said to have made a strong complaint to the Imperial Government at the bungling of the military.
Be that as it may, it was certain that no stone was left unturned to recapture the prisoner and to find out who were the workmen partic.i.p.ating in the rescue. Nothing was ever discovered, but the manager of the Durend works from that time forward refused to employ any Walloon workmen anywhere save in the Durend colleries, where they were supposed to be incapable of doing any serious damage.
CHAPTER XVI
In the Ardennes
After two days" steady tramping Max and Dale arrived at La Roche, a little town on the Ourthe, well in the broken country of the Ardennes.
They had had no such easy and uneventful journey as they antic.i.p.ated.
The whole country was in a very unsettled state, the people ready to be startled and alarmed by every rumour--and they were not few--and viewing strangers with the utmost suspicion as probably German spies on the look-out for more victims.
Half the population of the villages pa.s.sed on the way had gone. Houses stood unoccupied, with doors wide open, although the furniture of those who had so lately tenanted them was still within. The whole countryside bore evidences of a great panic, and some places the more sinister signs of rough and brutal treatment. Many houses had been burned down and others had been plundered in a most barbarous manner, property that could not be carried off having been wantonly destroyed. The fields and farmlands seemed deserted, as though no one dared to work at a harvest that was likely to be reaped by the enemies of their country.
The authors of all this mischief were said to be the Uhlans. It appeared that these formidable hors.e.m.e.n, after the fall of Liege, had spread in small parties all over the Ardennes and had carried terror and destruction wherever they went. Their princ.i.p.al motive was, no doubt, to gather information of the enemy"s whereabouts, but, while doing so, they seemed to throw themselves heart and soul into another task--that of making their name known and dreaded throughout the length and breadth of Belgium.
La Roche had so far suffered little. Parties of Uhlans had pa.s.sed through from time to time, but they had usually been in a hurry, and had had no time to do more than seize supplies for themselves and their horses. This was the kind of place Max and Dale were looking for, and, finding no troops there at the moment, and none expected, they sought out (avoiding the hotels) a cafe in the most out-of-the-way spot they could find, and settled down for a long stay.
At least they hoped it might be a long stay. They had had so busy a time of late that neither felt any inclination to go out of his way to meet trouble. If only the enemy would leave them alone, they were prepared to welcome a long period of peace and tranquillity.
But somehow peace and tranquillity seemed to have turned their backs upon Max and Dale. Only the second night after their arrival they were awakened in the middle of the night by the clatter of horses" hoofs upon the cobbled pavements, loud shouting, and the insistent hammering of doors.
"Ask the proprietor what"s the row, Max," growled Dale sleepily, as he heard Max get up and look out of the little window of their bedroom.
Max did so, and learned that a strong body of Uhlans had just ridden in and demanded shelter and supplies.
"Are we in any danger?" he asked.
"I do not think so," the innkeeper replied. "But you must not leave the town, for they have posted men to intercept all who try to go."
"And what is that for?" cried Max, more perturbed by this than if he had been told that a house-to-house search for suspected persons was already being made.