Part 24 (2/2)

Herr Schenk resumed his seat, nodded to the chauffeur, and the car moved slowly through the gates into the road. Max thought he was about to leave the works for good and all, but the car stopped at the side of the road a hundred yards or so from the gates, and all in her stood up and gazed back in the direction of the works. In the distance, but nearer now, could be heard a brisk fusillade of rifle-shots, with now and again the brief chatter of a machine-gun.

”Strong cavalry patrols approaching,” commented Max. ”They are driving in scattered bodies of stragglers or outposts, I should say. Look now at Schenk! He is waiting for the works to go up sky-high.”

The moments pa.s.sed, and nothing happened. A minute, two minutes, three minutes. Still there was no change, and the tense att.i.tude of the men waiting in the car relaxed, and they began talking together in low tones. Suddenly the figure of the officer of the guard appeared at the gates, gesticulating excitedly.

Schenk gave a quick order to the chauffeur. The car was turned and moved quickly back to the gates, and there stopped. The officer of the guard ran to it, leaned over the side, and explained volubly. Max and Dale, from where they stood, could hear nothing of what was said, but they knew, almost as well as if they had heard, that the officer was explaining that he had tried to fire the mines, but somehow without success.

With a gesture of rage or impatience Schenk sprang out of the car, and, followed by both officers, ran quickly to the guard-room and disappeared from view.

The dropping shots had approached quite near, and Max believed that the skirmishers could not be more than half a mile away, and were advancing with a speed that indicated that they consisted either of cavalry or armed motors.

”I'd give something to see their faces now--wouldn't you, Max?” queried Dale, who could hardly contain himself in his delight.

Max was busy scribbling on a sheet of paper torn from his notebook, and did not for a moment reply. When he had finished, he folded it up carefully and addressed it on the outside. ”Let us walk past the gates, Dale, as though just pa.s.sing. I am going to administer the _coup de grace_ to our friend Schenk.”

They crossed the road and slouched along past the gates. As they pa.s.sed the great grey motorcar, Max lightly dropped the note he was carrying on to the seat which Schenk had just been occupying. The chauffeur was looking eagerly in the direction of the guard-room, and did not observe the act or the missive. They slouched on until they turned a corner, and then Max cried eagerly:

”Now back again and in that garden among the bushes. We shall see it all, and see Schenk's face when he reads my note.”

”What did you say, old man?”

”Let us get out of sight there, and I will tell you.”

In a few moments the two friends were snugly ensconced in a clump of bushes in a garden very near the entrance to the works. The grey car was still occupied only by the chauffeur, but they could tell, by his listening att.i.tude and the expectant looks of the guards, that an altercation of some sort was going on inside the guard-room.

”This is what I said, old man,” Max went on in a voice which betrayed his excitement:--

”TO HERR VON SCHENKENDORF, _alias_ OTTO SCHENK,

”I observe that you have at last accepted your dismissal from your post as manager of the Durend works. You are going--hated and despised--back to the land which gave you birth. And at last, in this moment, you must know yourself defeated by those at whom you scoffed as boys. The works you swore to destroy still stand intact, and will, in a short time, be throwing all their weight and power into the cause of the Allies. Adieu.

”MAX DUREND, ”JACK DALE.”

”Good, old man! That'll make the beggar sit up if anything will. Hark!

cavalry. Ours or theirs, I wonder?”

In a measure they were answered by a sudden move of the soldiers guarding the gates. The lieutenant had shouted an order, and they fell into marching order and strode swiftly away in the direction of the frontier. The officer remained where he was, and was almost immediately joined by Herr Schenk and the other officer. All three walked quickly to the motor and got in.

The manager, as he did so, picked up a letter lying on his seat and glanced at the writing. He gave a start that was visible even to the watchers at the other side of the road, then plucked it open with nervous, jerky movements. He glanced quickly through it and sprang uncontrollably to his feet, his face aflame with pa.s.sion.

The officer at his side shouted to him in alarm and endeavoured to pull him back into his seat.

Suddenly there was a loud clatter of horses' hoofs at the end of the street, and a body of Belgian cavalry debouched into view. The chauffeur of the grey car instantly started and turned his machine, and it moved away with ever-increasing speed, Schenk still standing and gesticulating wildly, with Max's letter clenched in his right hand, and the officer endeavouring ineffectually to drag him back into his seat. As the car pa.s.sed the two watchers, they could not repress their exultation, but jumped to their feet and gave a loud, full-throated British cheer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TWO WATCHERS GAVE A LOUD, FULL-THROATED BRITISH CHEER]

The officer whose hands were free drew his revolver and fired viciously at them. The shots went wide, and in a moment or two the car had turned a corner and vanished out of sight.

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