Corporal Shaw nodded and led the way in the direction indicated. The noise of the pursuing cavalry drew nearer, and the Corporal turned suddenly to Max: "Do you lead the retreat, lad. You know where we"re bound better than I do. Keep only just in front of the men with the guns--we"re going to give them a fight for their money."
The retreat was being made along a narrow track through rough and broken country overgrown with short, thick undergrowth. Looking back, Max saw that the six men with guns had disappeared, and the only men in sight were the bunch he was himself leading, and three or four a few yards in his rear. But the six men were not far off, and now and again he caught a glimpse of one or other of them in the woods on either side of the line of retreat of the main body.
Suddenly the Uhlans crashed through the thickets and came into sight only a hundred yards away. There were about a score of them, and they caught sight of the fugitives at the same moment as the latter caught sight of them. They gave a fierce yell of delight, and, at a harsh order, put spurs to their horses, grasped their lances, and rode helter-skelter over the bushes towards the straggling body of unarmed men in front of them. The nearest men, conspicuous among whom was the Scot in full war paint, quickened their pace to catch up to Max and the party in front.
"They love to spear a Scot," remarked Shaw in an undertone to Max, coolly indicating the main decoy and the wild eagerness with which the Uhlans charged down upon their unarmed foe.
Sixty yards, fifty yards, then forty, and still the enemy closed down upon their quarry. Then Shaw raised his voice and shouted:
"Now, boys, give it them!"
Although he had been expecting it, the answering blaze of fire from the bushes on both flanks of the charging hors.e.m.e.n took even Max somewhat by surprise. Three horses fell in a bunch, and two turned tail and dashed back riderless the way they had come. Again, in a second or two, a scattering discharge came from the bushes; more men fell, and the remainder, their nerves obviously shaken by the unexpected attack, turned their horses" heads and rode madly away.
Five men, apparently dead, were left behind, among them the young officer in command, and three more lay wounded.
"Get their rifles and ammunition," ordered Corporal Shaw, and the unarmed men darted back and secured rifles and ammunition with an eagerness which showed how irksome they felt their inability to join in any fight that might be going. Seven rifles, six lances, and a revolver were secured, but all the lances except two were thrown away almost immediately as useless. The two retained were broken off half-way down the hafts, and their captors, two of the French soldiers, grinning with delight, sloped arms with them and fell in with their comrades fully satisfied with their share of the spoils.
"Not a bad business that," remarked Shaw coolly. "We have nearly enough rifles now, and ammunition for a regular battle. And it can come as soon as it likes. I"m fair sick of dodging these Germans."
""Ear, "ear!" chimed in the Londoner, whose name was Peck. "Give me a bit of cover, a packet of cigarettes, and a hundred rounds, and I"ll die happy--eh, Corp?"
"Shut up, Peck, and get a move on," growled Shaw testily. "Did you find any grub?" he added. "I saw you going through their haversacks."
"Aye, enough to give us all a snack at our next "alt," replied Peck, giving a knowing wink and pointing to his own bulging haversack and those of two pleased-looking Frenchmen close at his heels. "And no need, I presoom, to mention a matter of a few cigarettes the orfizer had to dispose of--cheap?" And he displayed the end of a large packet of cigarettes which he had been careful to take charge of himself.
"Forward--single file," commanded Shaw, and the band resumed its interrupted march towards the Bastogne railway.
"What d"ye think of "em, Dale?" asked Max presently, indicating with a gesture the rest of the miscellaneous band of which they themselves now formed a part.
"A game lot; we shall see some fun presently," replied Dale in tones of deepest satisfaction. "They"re just about ready for anything, from a Uhlan patrol to an army corps."
"Ye--es," replied Max with much less a.s.surance. "We shall certainly see things. What I"m afraid of is that it won"t last long. We came to the Ardennes for a rest--not to commit suicide, you remember."
"I don"t feel as though I want any more rest, Max," replied Dale, still eyeing his new comrades with delighted satisfaction. "Be a sport and join in the fun, there"s a good fellow."
"I"m ready enough to join in," replied Max, smiling. "What I don"t approve of is the reckless way they go about things. This fight with the Uhlans will bring all the rest of them buzzing about our ears, and then it will be one last struggle and all over."
Dale shrugged his shoulders. "What could we have done?" he said. "The Uhlans caught us up, and we had to fight."
"We could have dispersed, and rejoined one another later at a rendezvous agreed upon. But never mind, we"re in with them for the moment, only I can"t forget that we have still some work left to us at Liege, and work more important than livening up the Uhlans in the Ardennes." Dale made no reply. Possibly he thought it useless to argue with Max on the subject of Liege, and for some time they marched along in silence.
Presently the band arrived within about half a mile of the railway line, and Max and Corporal Shaw went on ahead to reconnoitre.
CHAPTER XVII
Cutting the Line
The line was well guarded. A company of infantry was allotted to every four or five miles of line, and furnished the sentries who were posted every hundred yards or so. These men were within easy reach of one another, sometimes stationed on the line itself and at other times at the top of any adjacent knoll or rising ground. The nucleus of the company, the men resting from their turn of sentry-go, was stationed at a point of vantage within easy touch of the whole of the line under its care. An alarm at any point would not only attract the sentries from both sides to the spot, but would also quickly bring the remainder of the company hurrying to the scene.
Corporal Shaw"s dispositions were soon made. His men were brought within reach of the railway at a point where it ran through country well wooded on either side. A sentry was then marked down as the point of contact, and six men, three on either side, were detached to act as flank guards.
These were posted within easy reach of the sentries, next on either side, with instructions to shoot them down should they make any move to interfere, and to hinder, by all means in their power, the approach of further reinforcements.
The unfortunate sentry marked down as the point of contact would not require much attention. He would obviously be helpless against ten men.
A whistle apprised the flank guards that the attack was about to begin.
Then the main body emerged from cover and half a dozen rifles were levelled at the sentry in front of them. For a moment the man was too astonished to move; then he gave a shout of alarm and fled down the line towards the sentinel on the right.
Two rifles cracked almost simultaneously and the man fell in his tracks and lay motionless.
"Get his rifle, someone, and then come and lend a hand here," cried Corporal Shaw, springing out on to the line and getting to work with an entrenching tool upon the permanent way. Other men followed his example, the gravel was rapidly sc.r.a.ped away from the sleepers, and several long iron bars, taken from some derelict agricultural machine pa.s.sed on the way, inserted beneath the rails. But the united efforts of several men made no impression upon the well-bolted rails and the attempt was promptly abandoned.
The bolts and nuts which held the rails together were attacked instead, and, although no spanners were available, the men managed, by dint of much persuasion from the iron bars and their bayonets, to get the nuts to turn. Two rails were in time entirely removed and carried across the line and laid endwise in a ditch, where they promptly sank out of sight in the muddy ooze.
In the meantime the flank guards had not been idle. The shout of the sentry first attacked had given the alarm to his comrades on either side, and one had started immediately to his aid. The other remained where he was, but levelled his rifle at Shaw and his men as they sprang on to the line. Both were promptly shot down and their rifles and cartridges as promptly secured.
By this time the alarm was fairly general. Several shots had been fired, and the line guards up and down the track had come to the conclusion that a serious attack on the line was in progress. Instead of rushing in ones and twos to the point of attack, they now waited until some half-dozen men had collected before advancing. Even these bodies were easily disposed of by the flank guards posted by Shaw. They were well concealed, and, as the Germans came up, opened a heavy fire upon them at close range. Most of the latter dropped at once, and the survivors fled, only too glad to get away in safety with their lives.
Max and Dale had a.s.sisted in the removal of the rails and their deposit in the muddy ditch. This accomplished, Max, who viewed the whole affair with some misgiving, stood aside and took no part in the further attacks already in progress on the rails.
"You look glum, Max," remarked Dale in a rallying tone, as he straightened his back. He himself looked far from glum. His face was flushed, his eyes sparkled, and he bore himself as though at the height of enjoyment. "Don"t you like raiding the railway?"
"Not this way," replied Max with decision. "What"s the good of it? It won"t take half an hour to repair, and, coming after that other affair, will mean half the cavalry in the Ardennes stirring on our tracks."
"Who cares?" retorted Dale recklessly. "I----What"s the matter?"
"Hark! A train I think. Let"s get to the top of this bit of rising ground and see what happens. The driver can"t come steaming through with all that firing going on yonder."
The two friends climbed upon the little hill and up into the lower branches of a large tree. The view thus obtained was a wide one, and showed them much. In the distance a train was approaching. It was slowing up as they watched, and presently came to a standstill.
Instantly crowds of soldiers poured out from both sides and formed up on the permanent way. Apparently in response to an order, the troops split into two bodies, one pa.s.sing to the north side of the line and one to the south, both almost immediately disappearing from view in the woods.
Max and Dale next turned their gaze towards the flank guards. Here desultory fighting was going on with numbers of the sentries attracted to the spot. But beyond them, and in the direction of the head-quarters of the company guarding that section of the line, a strong body of men was on the march; and, in yet another direction, Max and Dale could see the lances of cavalry occasionally coming into view as their line of advance led them past bunches of low bush or gaps in the trees.
"Time we were off, Max," remarked Dale in a much sobered voice. "You see what those troops from the train are after?"
"Yes, they want to strike across our rear, whichever side of the railway we go, before the other bodies begin to attack us in front. Had we not chanced to climb up here, that last fight of ours would have been very near indeed. As it is, I shouldn"t wonder if we have a job to get Corporal Shaw and his fire-eaters away in time."
"We shall. They all reckon they"re getting a bit of their own back, and they"ll be in no hurry to move."
As quickly as possible, Max and Dale dropped from the tree and ran back to the railway, where Shaw and the bulk of his men were still working like bees, tearing up rails and transporting them to the swampy stream.
The gist of what they had seen was soon told to Corporal Shaw, and that worthy, while not inclined to take too much notice of "a few Germans", now that all his men were fully armed, was duly impressed with the necessity of moving from the neighbourhood without loss of time. He promptly called in the flank guards, and curtly told the whole of the band that it was time to march.
"Now, lad," he said, addressing Max, "you seem to know your way about.
Lead on out of this fix, and we will live to fight again another day.
Forward!"