The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields

"They've been up against hard knocks, it looks like," Tubby mentioned, eager to let his chums know he was close at their heels, and able to see a few things for himself.

Indeed, the men did have the appearance of having been through the mill. Their hats were missing, so that their hair hung about their faces, which looked as if they had been brought in contact with a pile-driver, for there was blood, also contusions and bruises visible.

"And one of them stands as if he hadn't any use for his left leg, which means most likely he's got a bullet through it," Rob continued.

He spoke aloud, and for a reason. It were better that the soldiers in the field learned of their advance by some such method as this. If, on the other hand, the trio of scouts were detected advancing in any sort of suspicious manner they might be unfortunate enough to evoke a volley. Excited men sometimes shoot first and ask questions afterward.

A harsh voice suddenly demanded in French to know who they were, and what they had to say for themselves; adding that unless they replied instantly the order to cut them down would be given.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE FIELD HOSPITAL

"We are friends, three American boys only!"

Very often Rob had practiced his French so as to get this explanation correct. If his accent happened to be altogether wrong, what he said could be understood, and that was the main thing.

Apparently, what he had called out must have surprised the Belgian officer in charge of the detachment, for he could be heard exchanging comments with someone else. Then he spoke aloud again.

"Advance, and hold up your hands above your heads!" he ordered.

Rob understood the words, but of course his chums could not; so the first thing he did was to elevate both hands as high as he could, and say to them:

"Do the same as I am, both of you. The officer has ordered it. And then come on over to where they are waiting for us!"

In this manner they drew near the spot where the others stood. Everyone was staring very hard, for to see three boys dressed in khaki, and talking unmistakable English among themselves, was indeed a considerable surprise.

The one who held the lantern proved to be a lieutenant. He was a man of middle age, and as the newcomers drew near he held up his light in order the better to examine their make-up. What he saw must have created a good impression, for the frown began to leave his face.

"It is fortunate that I speak English," he started in to say, greatly to the delight as well as the surprise of Rob, "so you shall tell me how it comes we find you here on this particular night, and so close to a spot where a suspicious transaction was going on which we had the pleasure of nipping in the bud."

Apparently the lieutenant was not wholly satisfied. He could not tell but that these smart looking boys might have some connection with the game he and his detachment had blocked in the capture of the two spies.

So Rob hastened to explain as briefly as he could.

"We have come to Belgium on some very important business that has nothing whatever to do with the war. There is a man we must see, and it happens that he was last reported in a town near Brussels. We know what great risks we run in trying to pass between the lines of the hostile armies; but we hope to keep out of the hands of the Germans; and as for the Belgians, we are carrying with us a letter that has up to now always passed us."

This was the signal for Merritt to produce the passport written for them by the obliging burgomaster of Antwerp. The lieutenant received the paper gravely. He was evidently puzzled to know how much of Rob's strange story to believe; for it seemed remarkable that three boys should take such a dangerous mission upon their shoulders.

When he had read the short recommendation through, and saw the signature at the bottom, the officer uttered an exclamation of satisfaction.

"You could not have chosen a better sponsor than the worthy burgomaster of Antwerp," he said warmly. "I have met him more than once, and he is held in high respect throughout the land, as is Burgomaster Max of Brussels. Let me return your paper safely. It is worth keeping."

"And you will allow us to go on when we choose, then?" asked Merritt eagerly.

"There is no occasion for your detention," he was informed, "but if I sought your best welfare I should order that you turn back, and give up this foolish mission, for there is hardly one chance in ten that you can escape capture at the hands of the enemy, since they are everywhere. But you know best, and I shall not interfere. It must be a serious motive that brings you into this wretched country?"

"It means a great lot to my family that I find this man, Steven Meredith," Merritt told him, possibly with a faint hope that the lieutenant might recognize the name, and admit that he knew the person.

Rob had noticed several things. For one, that the taller prisoner was certainly badly wounded, since he stood on one leg, and had his teeth tightly clinched as if to keep from betraying any weakness that might be deemed unmanly.

One of the Belgians also carried a bandage, roughly fastened, possibly by a clumsy comrade, around his arm. It showed traces of blood, and Rob could guess that a speeding bullet fired by the spies at bay probably had caused the wound.

"I notice that a couple of men here have been wounded," he ventured to say to the lieutenant, "and, as you must know, Boy Scouts are taught something of field surgery. Would you mind if I and my friend here looked at them? We might stop the flow of blood, anyway, and perhaps make the men a bit easier."

The Belgian officer hesitated for a brief time. He looked at Rob, and seemed to be considering. Then he nodded his head.

"As we have to stay here until my superior officer and a larger detachment come along in answer to the signals we are about to make, it could do no harm. Yes, I have heard that Boy Scouts are supposed to know something of surgery, although I myself have never seen them practice it. You may proceed. Albert!"

He beckoned to the private who had his arm bound up. The man upon being told to show his injury hardly knew what was about to happen. He could not believe that mere boys would know what a surgeon was supposed to do.

That man evidently had the surprise of his life when Rob, assisted by Merritt, washed the wound by the aid of some water obtained from a canteen, and then neatly bound the arm up, using some strips from a little roll of linen which Rob took from his pocket.

The officer watched the whole operation with considerable interest.

"That was neatly done," he commented, after the man had stepped back to where a comrade was holding his gun for him. "As you expressed a wish to attend to the prisoner, I give you full permission to do so. Though, after all, it will make but little difference with him, since his doom is sealed."

The tall German said never a word, but allowed the boys to do as they willed with him. He realized the desperate condition in which his boldness had placed him and was evidently determined, if convicted of being a spy, to die game.

His injury turned out to be much more serious than that of the Belgian soldier, for the bullet had made a bad puncture, and he had already lost much blood.

Tubby turned his head away at first, as though he could not bear to see the wound, but evidently realizing that a display of such timidity was hardly in keeping with what they wished these men to believe of Boy Scouts, he finally forced himself to offer to assist his chums in their gruesome work.

It took all of ten minutes to wash and dress that wound with the few things at their command the best they were able to. During all that time the spy did not say a word, nor did he groan even when Rob knew he must be hurting him more or less, although that could not be avoided.

And the officer had commenced to ask questions. It seemed to surprise him that even in far-away America there, too, the boys had organized themselves into patrols and learned all these valuable lessons calculated to make them better citizens when they came to take their places in business, on the firing line, or among the professions.

"Then the scouts over in your country are also taught to be ready for any emergency, the same as the boys are in Belgium?" he asked Rob, as he watched the latter's nimble fingers, with considerable dexterity into the bargain, draw the bandage tightly into place.

"Oh! yes," replied the boy, only too pleased to say a good word for the thousands upon thousands of comrades in khaki whom he represented. "You see, most of us camp out a good deal, and all sorts of accidents happen. I've known a boy to cut himself so badly with an ax when he was chopping wood that he would have bled to death long before they could get him to a doctor, but it was easy for his mates to stop the flow of blood, and do the right thing."

"It is grand, this teaching boys to be able to save human life," declared the middle-aged officer, who perhaps had sons of his own in the army, "and yet it never came to me before that even in America they were practicing these noble avocations. I have seen them in England, yes, in France also, but in America – it is superb to think of it. And there are other ways in which boys in camp could be injured, you are telling me?"

He had become so deeply interested that Rob only too willingly proceeded to explain at greater length.

"Why, sometimes a boy is taken with a cramp when in swimming, and of course he is saved by those who know just how to get him without being pulled down themselves."

"And," continued the Belgian lieutenant, "if the poor fellow should be nearly gone, what then? I myself once had a narrow escape that way, and to this day it gives me a cold feeling every time I remember it."

"Oh! every scout, even when he's a tenderfoot, is supposed to learn how to resuscitate a comrade who has swallowed lots of water, and come near drowning. Unless he was pulled out too late, he will be brought back every time. Then there are the bites from poisonous snakes and insects that may happen; we are taught how best to counteract the effect of poison, so as to save the victim."

"I am delighted to know all this," the officer told them. "It has been quite a pleasure to have met you, although under peculiar conditions, I admit. And the more I see of you, young messieurs, the more I am convinced that you can look out for yourselves. At first I considered it was a shame that three tender boys were allowed to travel over this dangerous country. I no longer feel that way. If anybody should know how to take care of themselves, I surely believe you know, and are equal to do it. I am proud to shake hands with you, and wish you all a successful journey."

Which operation he proceeded to immediately put into execution; though Tubby, having had one previous experience with a hearty Belgian hand-grip, was mighty careful just how he allowed the other to take hold of his plump digits.

Rob was quite satisfied now that they had done the right thing in coming forward and joining the party. At least it had been the means of easing the pain of those who were wounded, and stopping the flow of blood sensibly.

The German had actually broken his silence to thank the boys when they finished their work. It was evident, however, that he was not caring very much what happened to him, since he knew the probable penalty for allowing himself to be captured in the act of delivering important plans of fortifications – death.