Page 144 - A Hero of Liége

"I vote we leave them at the next village we come to. They'll be discovered
by the Germans in their advance to-morrow."

"Not a man of them! The villagers would have put them out of sight by

to-morrow. We must leave them on the road if you want to keep them
alive."

They had still not determined what to do with their troublesome charges
when they caught sight of lights twinkling mistily through the rain-laden

darkness ahead. Kenneth slipped down from his saddle, and went forward
on foot to reconnoitre, the rest halting. In a few minutes he returned.

"The place is evidently full of Germans," he said. "I heard the eternal
'Deutschland uber Alles'; the bosches certainly sing well! We must make up

our minds once for all what to do."

After a brief discussion they retreated some distance up the road, out of

earshot from the village. On one side was an extensive plantation, probably
the covert of some Belgian nobleman. Here they decided to leave their

prisoners. The trees would give the men a certain protection from the rain.
They could make themselves heard when their troops passed along the road
in the morning. There accordingly the two young fellows placed the

Uhlans, eking out the rope to bind their legs as well as their arms. Then
they struck down a bridlepath that ran westward, the direction of the

Ourthe.

The night was so dark that though the rain ceased towards midnight they

made but slow progress. In changing clothes neither had provided himself
with matches, so that Pariset's compass was useless. Groping from

bridlepath to lane, from lane to high road, which they quitted as soon as
possible, stealing past the few cottages they came upon, they wandered for
an hour or two until both felt that they must wait for daylight, if they were

to secure themselves against the risk of falling unawares among the enemy.
They tethered their horses in a copse, and, being wet through, paced up and

down to maintain their circulation until the dawn stole through the trees.
Then, weary, hungry, and bedraggled, they remounted, and pursued their