Part 36 (2/2)
Kenneth and Rollo were not allowed to be idle. Eager to get to work again, they were taken in hand by a captain, who by the aid of a map pointed out the position of the various forts forming the outer and inner lines of defences. The lads had also to memorize the princ.i.p.al roads of communication between the city and the advanced works, as well as the chief thoroughfares and public buildings of Antwerp itself.
Until they had a fair topographical knowledge they could be of little use as dispatch-riders, but, owing to the comparatively narrow limits of the Belgian forces, this information could be mastered after a brief concentrated effort.
Major Planchenoit took good care to put the rejoined dispatch-riders to a practical test. Although glad of the help of the two British subjects, he was not an officer likely to employ them on important work until they knew the locality. Of their courage and sagacity he already had proof, but these qualifications were almost of a negligible quant.i.ty unless they knew the ”lay of the land”.
Next morning the lads had their instructions.
”You will proceed with the dispatch to the officer commanding the outpost at Lierre,” ordered Major Planchenoit. ”This done, go on to Vremde. There you will find a detachment of the regiment. This packet is for the company officer. This done, proceed to the city, seek Commandant Fleurus, and deliver this dispatch. Await further instructions from him, and report to me.”
Kenneth and Rollo saluted, and hastened to the shed where their motor-cycles were stored. As they were giving them a final overhaul, Private Labori--formerly a diamond merchant and now a dispatch-rider--hailed them.
”Are you going into the city, camarades? You are? Good! Bring me some cigars, and I will be eternally indebted to you. I smoked my last yesterday, and without cigars I am as a man doomed to perdition. Of your charity, camarades, do me this favour.”
Private Labori pressed a ten-franc piece into Kenneth's hand, and with a hurried expression of grat.i.tude returned to his task of peeling potatoes for the midday meal.
”He's taken it for granted that we get the cigars,” remarked Kenneth.
”I suppose it would not be a breach of discipline to get them.”
”Almost like old times,” declared Rollo, as the riders sped side by side over the tree-lined road. ”Pity we haven't our own motor-bikes, though.”
He spoke with the same sort of affection as the huntsman has for his favourite horse, but Kenneth was more practical and unimaginative.
”We're lucky to be riding at all,” he said. ”After all, this jigger gets along pretty well. We're doing a good twenty-five.”
The three dispatches were delivered in quick time. Commandant Fleurus greeted the lads warmly, and questioned them at great length on the subject of their adventures.
”It is not possible to give you a reply at once,” he said at the close of the interview. ”Come back at three o'clock, and the dispatch for Major Planchenoit will be handed you. Meanwhile it will not be necessary for you to return to Wavre Ste Catherine. You are at liberty to amuse yourselves until the hour named.”
”Jolly considerate of him,” remarked Kenneth after the lads had withdrawn from the Commandant's presence. ”We'll put up the bikes and have a stroll round. It wouldn't be half a bad idea to call at the post office. There may be something for us, but we had better not reckon too much on it.”
They were not disappointed, for on making application at the post office they were each handed quite a bulky packet of correspondence.
There were letters from their respective parents and relatives, and a number from old school chums. These had been written when a part of their adventures in Belgium had been related by their proud parents to the head of St. Cyprian's. He, in turn, had pa.s.sed on the news to the rest of the school, and the result was a swarm of congratulatory letters, sent to Mr. Everest and Colonel Harrington, who, upon receiving news of their sons' safety, had promptly forwarded the batch of correspondence.
”By Jove!” exclaimed Kenneth, ”the pater's written to say that Thelma is a nurse in one of the hospitals here--St. Nicholas is the name. He wants me to keep an eye on her, so to speak, and pack her off to England if there's danger of the city being taken by the enemy.”
”Let's find out where St. Nicholas Hospital is, and go there at once,”
suggested Rollo. ”Only I hope we'll have better luck than when we tried to see your sister at Madame de la Barre's.”
”We do look like a couple of brigands,” said Kenneth as they hurried through the crowded streets; for their uniforms were far from being smart, while their rifles slung across their backs gave them a truly ferocious appearance.
”Think so?” asked Rollo with considerable misgivings. ”Then I think I'll wait outside, if you don't mind.”
”Nonsense, man,” rejoined his companion heartily. ”We're like the rest of the troops. It's an honour to wear a Belgian uniform, after what these fellows have done to delay the German advance and to upset the Kaiser's time-table. Only I'll bet that Thelma doesn't know me.”
Kenneth was wrong in his surmise, for on calling at the hospital, Thelma happened to be pa.s.sing through the hall. She recognized her brother at once, but he hardly knew the tall, graceful girl in the neat and becoming nurse's uniform as his sister.
”So you are my brother's chum,” she remarked quite unaffectedly when Kenneth had introduced the bashful Rollo. ”I've heard a lot about you from Kenneth when you were at St. Cyprian's, you know. And now you are soldiers fighting for brave little Belgium.”
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