Page 100 - A Hero of Liége

"Good luck!" said Pariset, as they parted. "Don't risk too much. If the
stratagem fails, make your way back to the same spot."

Kenneth carried the gelignite and the battery. He gave the pick-axe to the

boy. Pariset had learnt from him that no Germans had been seen on the
lanes and roads, but they walked across the fields under cover of the
hedgerows in case patrols or foraging parties should appear.

Their course brought them within half an hour to a field some little distance

above the bridge. Kenneth dismissed the boy, and keeping under cover to
avoid observation from the trains, which were stationary in the places
where he had seen them forty minutes before, he crept as near to the bridge

as he dared, and waited. He heard the water lapping the piers, the voices of
the guards at the nearer end, the distant hiss of the locomotive of the troop

train blowing off steam--and then a faint deep burr, growing louder
moment by moment.

The guards raised their voices.

"Another Taube," said one.

"He's flying very high," said another. "Thinks we are Belgians, perhaps."

"But he's coming down," said the third. "Look at that swoop! It fairly

makes me sick to see him."

Kenneth, posted under cover, was not yet able to see the aeroplane, but

from the silence that fell upon the guards he guessed that Pariset was
executing one of those steep dives which make the onlooker hold his

breath.

"I hope he won't come too low," he thought.

And then, in pursuance of the plan arranged, he began to steal along the

bank of the river towards the bridge, confident that the attention of the
guards was riveted on the aeroplane. He saw it now, sweeping round in a