Part 10 (1/2)
”Now for it, Dale; it's now or never,” cried Max in a voice of suppressed eagerness, as he emerged from under the desk the moment the party of Germans moved away along the pa.s.sage. ”If we do not get clear at once I rather think we never shall.”
”Yes, we are what you might call 'right on the post' and rowing neck and neck. 'Twill be a near thing whoever wins,” replied Dale, again breaking out into rowing jargon, as he was apt to do whenever excited.
”The prize is bigger than you imagine,” responded Max, dragging out the bag and glancing quickly about the room. ”Could you follow what was said well enough to understand why they rounded on Schenk, or Schenkendorf, as his name seems to be?”
”No, old man, my German isn't nearly equal to the job, especially when I'm submerged in trunks and desks.”
”Well, among the papers we've stuffed into this bag are the plans of some special siege-guns the Germans seem to set no small store on.
Schenk was just going to wire in making them, by the look of it. We've upset the whole business, and if he isn't under arrest he's very near it. But come along; we must get out of this.”
The bottom panels of the door were quickly removed and Max and Dale crawled through, carrying the now doubly precious bag with them. The manager and the two officers had by this time reached the front entrance of the building but appeared to have halted there and to be talking earnestly together. Hastily removing their boots, Max and Dale crept quietly down the stairs to the door of the drawing-office. They paused and listened before opening it, and heard the party at the entrance descend the steps, still talking together, and the scrunch of the gravel under their feet as they strode away. Then, almost immediately, they heard a harsh command and the rapid tramp of feet as the guard turned out at the entrance to the works.
Max whipped open the door of the drawing-office and they entered and closed it behind them. The window through which they had come an hour or two before gaped before them, and they eagerly moved to it and peered out. All seemed clear for the moment, but they could hear men in motion somewhere, and in the pa.s.sage they had just left they were startled to hear the voice of the manager talking in a peremptory tone to someone, one of the guard they imagined, and the tramp of their feet as they pa.s.sed the door and began ascending the stairs.
”Quick; jump out,” whispered Max, and he a.s.sisted his friend to drop as noiselessly as possible to the ground. Then he handed down the bag and lowered himself down after it. In silence and in great trepidation they sped towards the outer walls at the point at which they had entered.
Without mishap they helped one another up and over, and fled at the top of their speed towards their lodging. At any moment they feared a general alarm might be sounded, and the truest caution seemed to be to throw caution momentarily to the winds.
They reached the door of their lodging in safety, and as they entered Dale whispered triumphantly to his friend: ”We've won the final too. By George we have!”
Day was just beginning to break as the two friends left the town on the northward side and made their way across country towards the Dutch frontier. They carefully avoided the roads, and their progress was slow; but it was sure, and as soon as they were well away from the neighbourhood of the town they regained the roads and made more rapid progress. Before the day was out they reached Maastricht, and Max found his mother and sister safe and sound, though indeed in great distress.
The relief of Madame Durend at the return of her son from beleaguered Liege was intense. The stories told by the numerous refugees from the towns and villages of Belgium were so terrible that she could not be other than most anxious for his safety. Now he had arrived, and had brought, she soon learned, sufficient funds to enable them all to live in comfort and security for a long time.
But it was not until Max and his friend unfolded their story that she fully realized in what peril they had been, and at what cost they had been able to bring the much-needed a.s.sistance. Their story was indeed amazing. Schenk a traitor, and Schenk outwitted! Priceless German plans captured, and funds that the enemy had hoped to secure removed from beyond their grasp! Madame Durend could not but be proud of her son's exploits, but it was a pride with many a tremble at the frightful dangers run.
A fuller examination of their captures revealed to Max and Dale how valuable their prize had been, and sent them both hotfoot to the house of the nearest British consul, into whose care they confided the precious plans, with instructions that they wished them handed over to the British War Office without delay.
A statement briefly describing who the captors were, and how the _coup_ had been brought about, was drawn up and signed, and, in high glee at the shrewd blow struck against Schenk and his Germans, they returned once more to the lodging of Madame and Mademoiselle Durend.
A few days spent there in safety, and almost in idleness, were, however, sufficient to make Max and Dale, and especially the former, restless and dissatisfied with their inactivity. The onward march of the Germans, their terrible unscrupulousness and rapacity, and the tales of the terrific fighting with the English and French vanguards reached their ears and made them long to be doing something, however small, to aid the great cause. Max, in addition, had a constant sense of irritation at the thought that his father's great works were running night and day in the interests of the Germans and to the vast injury of his own countrymen.
He could not get away from the feeling that he had a responsibility towards the Durend works--a responsibility which he seemed in honour bound to discharge. This feeling grew and grew until it became so intolerable that he was impelled to announce to his mother that he must, without delay, return to his post in the stricken city.
”But surely you have done enough, Max?” cried Madame Durend, almost in consternation. ”You are not yet of man's age, and ought not to think of taking upon yourself such fearful tasks. It is no fault of yours that our property is being used by the Germans. Many other factories and workshops besides ours have been seized, and who can fairly put the blame upon the owners?”
”I know, Mother,” replied Max in a quiet voice, and with a far-away look in his eyes. ”I know it is no fault of ours. But our workmen--the faithful and real Belgian workmen--are there bearing alone in silence the pain and misery of seeing the great business they helped to create worked to the destruction of their own liberties. They feel nothing so much as the thought that their masters have deserted them, and left them to fight the battle for their land and liberties alone. I must go back and join them, if only to let them know we are with them, hand and foot, heart and soul. I feel, Mother, that so long as one workman still holds out against tyranny and oppression, the owners of the Durend workshops must be by his side to give him both countenance and aid.”
Max's voice grew stronger, and thrilled with a deeper and deeper earnestness, as he went on. It was clear to each of his hearers that the guardians.h.i.+p of his father's works had become the one great object and aim of his existence. With such a burning, pa.s.sionate desire in his heart, it was almost impossible that he could be persuaded to abandon his project if he were not to be rendered miserable for life, and Madame Durend realized almost at once that she dare not attempt it. But the thought of the desperate character of the undertaking made her mother's heart sink with dread.
”I dare not say you nay, Max, my son,” she said tremulously, after a long pause, ”for I should feel that I was setting my own wishes against what is, perhaps, your duty to your country, and still more your duty to your dear father's name. Go, then--only do not--do not run unnecessary risks. Be as cautious as you can--and come back to me often.”
”We will be as cautious as we honourably can, will we not, Dale?” cried Max, appealing to his friend. ”It is stratagem that we shall use in making our war--not force. We have thought it all out together, and hope to give a good account of ourselves without giving the Germans a chance to pay us back with usury.”
”Yes,” replied Dale cheerfully, ”we are not going to give the enemy a chance. Why, you have no idea how cautious and full of dodges Max is. He just bristles with 'em, and I think we shall give Schenk and his friends a warm time.”
Madame Durend sighed deeply. ”It seems terrible to me to think of two such boys returning to that dreadful place to do battle unaided with those men. How I pray that you may come safely back!”
”No fear of that,” cried Dale confidently, and Max gazed into his mother's face and nodded rea.s.suringly.
The next day they left the hospitable streets of Maastricht and arrived safely in Liege, still in their disguises as Walloon workmen. A visit to a clever hairdresser before they left had completed their disguise.