George Durston

“ Henri turned on him fiercely.
"Do you mean you think the Germans can get to Amiens?" he cried furiously. "Never! Never! They will never come so far! They will be stopped long before they get near it!"
"I think so—and I hope so," said Frank. "But if my mother were there I should want to be there, too. I've read a great deal about war and battles lately, Harry, and I know that often an army has to retreat, not just because it's beaten, but because it's necessary for battles that are planned later on. The English and the French toward the coast are retreating now—on the left of the allies. ”

“ Hundreds of thousands of men were still in Paris, but they were the garrison of the city, the men who would man the forts if the Germans came.
And now, to get the news, Harry and Frank went to the places where the bulletins were posted, becoming a part of the silent crowds that waited. Every day they took their places in the crowds, to learn what they could and carry the tale back to Madame Martin. She was too busy to stand among the crowds herself; every day she was doing her part, helping in the nursing, and helping, too, to relieve the distress among the poor. ”

“ Aeroplanes that no one recognizes have flown above the border in the Vosges. There are tales of fresh troops that the Germans are sending to Metz, to Düsseldorf, to Neu Breisach." He struck his hand suddenly on his desk. "But this I feel—that when war comes it will be like the stroke of lightning from a clear sky! When there is much talk, there is never war. When it comes it will be because the diplomats will not have time, they and the men with money, the Rothschilds and the others, to stop it. And if there should be trouble, not a man would be left in this school. ”

“ Germany had sent an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that she stop massing her troops in Poland and on the borders of East Prussia.
"It means war," said Henri Martin to Frank. Gone was the exultation of his voice. Frank had noticed that, since the first appearance of the really ominous news, the excitability of his French schoolmates had disappeared. They were quiet; far quieter than American boys would have been in the same case, he thought.
"But this is not France's quarrel," said Frank. "She cares nothing for Servia."
"Servia? Bah! No one cares for Servia—except Austria and Russia! ”

“ Frank laughed. He knew by this time what piou-piou meant. It is the endearing term of the French for the little red-trousered soldiers who form the armies of the republic, just as the English call a soldier Tommy Atkins.
"It is for France," said Henri, gravely. "I shall perhaps be a piou-piou myself before so very long, Marie."
"You will be an officer, will you not?" exclaimed Marie. [Pg 47]
"It may be. I do not know," said Henri. "But the best and the greatest men in France, those who govern us and write books and plays, and paint pictures, and make fine statues, are in the ranks to-day. ”

“ For the first time they were within hearing distance of a battle.
"We will soon be on our way to Berlin, now," said Henri. "That must mean that we have turned—that the great battle has begun."
"It needn't mean that," said Frank. "It may be only artillery covering a rear guard action. I wish you'd remember, Harry, that a retreat may mean mighty hard fighting. Not a rout—a retreat. It isn't easy for an army to move backward. But it's been done by a good many armies that won later." ”

“ Alsace-Lorraine—they are French at heart, those lost provinces of ours! They shall be French again in name, too. Strassburg shall guard the Rhine for us again—Metz shall be a French fortress once more. We shall fight again—and next time we shall be ready! We shall win!"
"I hope so—if war comes again," said Frank, soberly. "But—"
"If war comes?" said Harry, surprised. "Don't [Pg 9] you know it must come? France knows that—France makes ready. We shall not seek the war. But it is not enough for us to desire peace. The Prussians are afraid of us. They will never rest content while we are strong. ”

“ Or if he had, he had been unable to get word to Frank. War in all its terrible reality was in full blast. Troops were passing through Paris still, going to the front. But they were older men now, the last classes of the reservists. Every night, too, the city was dark save for the searchlights that played incessantly from the high buildings and from the Eiffel Tower. For now there was a new menace. The Germans fought not on land alone, but in the air. At any time a German might appear, thousands of feet above the city, prepared to rain down death and destruction from the clouds. ”

“ The days that followed the return of Frank and Henri to Amiens were busy but uneventful ones. They had found a few staff officers at the abandoned headquarters, including Colonel Menier, to whom they had made their report and turned over the automobile. He had thanked them heartily, having heard already of their work. And when he was told of the destruction of the Zeppelins he had embraced them both.
"We had heard already of that," he said. "Only of the burning of the ships, not of how it was done. You have done well for France, mes braves! Wait! You shall not find France ungrateful. ”

“ All over France the soldiers were active; the new recruits, reporting for the beginning of their three years of military service, were pouring into the depots, the headquarters of the army corps, to be assigned to their regiments. But that was something that happened every year. In a country where every man, if he is not a cripple or diseased, has to be a soldier for three years, the sight of a uniform, even of a long column of marching troops, means nothing. ”

“ 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 amusement of the Englishmen present and Frank's own disgust and embarrassment. ”

“ The pass 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." ”

“ I've heard stories of how they prepare for war. They have maps that show every inch of land in this part of France. They know the roads, the hills, even the fields and the houses. They have officers with every regiment who know where ditches are that they can use as trenches, and who have studied the land so that they recognize places they have never seen, just from the maps that they have studied until they know them by heart. And it isn't only France that they know that way, but England, and some parts of Russia, too. ”

“ Finally he could suppress the thought no longer, and he turned to Frank with:
"They have said that Germany has fine soldiers, but they are not like our men! There's all the difference in the world between them—and that difference will bring victory to our banners. Our men fight for right; these men fight because they think it their duty."
"Even though they are the foe, I hope there will be no shooting at them here. If there is, they will show no mercy, I am sure of that," said Frank. [Pg 206]
"Amiens has pledged its honor," replied Henri quietly. "They are safe here. ”

“ But the element of luck that, despite all his skill, Greene had to have, favored him. The field was smooth and the monoplane came to rest safely. In an instant both were out, Greene first, since Frank, having to free himself from his straps, was delayed.
"Quick! The small flashlight!" called the flyer. "Here, give it to me! If we're to save any essence we've got to be quick!"
He took the light. But a quick look over the tank failed to show a spurting stream of gasoline.
"By Jove! Wonder if I could have been mistaken? Perhaps it was something else they hit!" cried Greene. But then he groaned. ”

“ Servia is only an excuse. Austria wants to get some ports and Russia wants them, too, or wants a friendly country [Pg 19] to have them. But I will tell you why it means war, Frank, my friend. It is because Guillaume, their Kaiser, thinks it is the chance to crush France!"
"Why now more than at any other time, Harry?"
"Lieutenant Marcel told me what he thinks. It is that England is having much trouble. In Ireland there is rebellion, almost, over the home rule. The Germans think England will be afraid to fight, that she will have to think of her own troubles. ”

“ Germans have done," said the woman with the baby. "We women—we gave our husbands, and those who had sons gave their sons. Now we have given all to France. Let the men win back enough for us to live—that is all that we ask."
They did not know the meaning of the military movements they had seen. Indeed, they had not seen military movements in the strict sense of the word. All they knew was that soldiers, first in one uniform, then in another, had passed through their villages, first going north and east, then south and west. ”

“ Even the enemy, the hated Germans, found that the Boy Scouts were useful. There was constant danger of an outbreak, and the Germans had no desire to destroy Amiens. Had they been attacked from the houses, they would have lost heavily; in house-to-house fighting civilians, battling at close range, can inflict great damage on the best of regular troops. Such an outbreak would have meant the killing and the wounding of hundreds of German soldiers. ”

“ But they had been non-combatants, civilians, and by the [Pg 217] laws of war the civilian who takes active measures of any sort against the enemy is liable to death. The German army enforced this rule strictly and invariably. Neither age nor sex was a reason for sparing one who had violated it. A woman spy, a boy of fifteen who fired at Germans, would alike be made to face a firing squad.
No. If he and Henri were caught, and this officer, who had already shown his venomous hate for them, was their accuser, they would never live to see the German defeat for which they prayed. ”

“ All Amiens was cut off from the world. Whatever the German invaders knew they kept strictly to themselves. It was only by such inferences as they could draw from the sound of firing in the direction of Paris and by the passage of trains through the city that they were able to form any opinion at all.
"I feel sure that there's a real battle going on," said Frank. "The firing is too heavy and too [Pg 211] continuous for a rear guard action. But as to who is winning, we can't tell. Sometimes the firing seems to be a little nearer again, but that might be because of the wind. ”

“ I want to know that we are really resisting the invaders of the fatherland."
"You'll know it soon enough," said Frank, with a smile. "You are too impatient, Harry. And you must remember this. While all this is going on, Russia is advancing too. The Austrians have been well beaten all along their front already. Soon it will be the turn of the Germans to meet Russia. They cannot long devote all their energy to France and the British." ”

“ But wherever you are, whatever you do, remember that Scouts are ever faithful, ever loyal, ever true to the trust reposed in them.
"It is cowardly to shirk a duty. Perform your part in the struggle as becomes true Scouts—as becomes men who have been born and reared in our fair France. ”

“ Already, as they rode through the streets of Amiens, the signs of what was to come were multiplying. Troops were marching out of the town, but they were going south, away from the battle line, it seemed. And the townspeople were not slow in taking the hint. They were gathering such things as they could carry with them, and all those with anything of real value, and with a place to take it, were preparing to get away before the coming of the Germans. The refugees from Belgium had told them lurid tales of the German treatment of captured places ”

“ They sprang to their places in the car.
"Now tell me everything!" said Colonel Menier. "How it is that you left Amiens and how you came here?"
He leaned over first, however, and spoke to his driver, and the car shot forward, leaving the troops far behind.
And then they began the story, each telling the part of it that he knew best. At the story of how the German officer had recognized Henri and caused his arrest, he clenched his hand angrily.
"They make war even on boys!" he said, bitterly. "A brave enemy recognizes the heroism of his foes. ”

“ Each day a new group of hostages was taken into the Hotel de Ville, now occupied as headquarters by the German staff, rather than the buildings formerly used by the Second Corps d'Armee of France. These hostages, it was explained, would be shot at once if orders were not obeyed or if Germans were attacked. There were many irksome rules. Every citizen was required to salute a German officer whenever he saw him. ”

“ Obey the orders I have given you, and you will deserve well of France."
They saluted then and went to make their preparations for the start.
"Harry," said Frank, "if the Germans are coming to Amiens, your mother must go. She should be where she will be safe."
"You are right, Frank. We will try to persuade her to go. But will she leave her task with the wounded?"
"She can take it up elsewhere."
But though they had expected to have difficulty in persuading her, they found that Madame Martin was already making plans to go.
"The wounded are to be taken to Tours in great numbers," she told them. ”