Page 167 - A Hero of Liége

between two clumps of woodland Pariset called over his shoulder that he
had just caught sight of Fort de Boncelles, two or three miles to the west,

and Fort d'Embourg a little nearer to the east.

"Which shall we make for?" gasped Kenneth.

"Boncelles," replied Granger. "It is nearer the French lines. We can cross

by the iron bridge just below Tilff."

On they went. Second after second passed; a minute, two minutes. They
swept round to the left towards the bridge. There was still no shot from the
guns.

"They were trained on Boncelles," said Granger. "We are too near them

still."

He had scarcely spoken when there was a moaning in the air, followed

instantly by a roar and crash, and a thick cloud of black smoke sprang up
some four hundred yards to the right. They all crouched low in the car,

which dashed across the throbbing bridge at forty miles an hour. Another
shell plunged into the river, a third struck the road a few yards behind them,
as they entered the railway arch, bespattering them with earth. No sooner

had they emerged on the other side than still another shell burst ahead of
them, in the field beside the road. They all caught their breath: if it had

fallen a few yards to the right, it would have dug a hole large enough to
engulf the car.

Shells now began to explode, as it seemed, all around them. The sky was
darkened by the smoke, poisonous fumes almost choked them. Only the

great speed of the car and the slight changes in its direction due to the
windings of the road preserved them from annihilation. The thought that
flashed through Pariset's mind was that if the Germans had used shrapnel

instead of shell they must almost certainly have been destroyed, for he
could not doubt that the whole battery was now playing upon them.