CHAPTER XXII.
SCOUT TACTICS
Just as he feared, when Rob managed to turn around and look back, he found that Tubby had gone and done it again. Whether he had missed his footing, or something had given way under his additional weight, was a question that could not be decided.
Before Merritt, close in his rear, could thrust out a helping hand, poor Tubby had fallen. The river was all of thirty feet below, and just there the water looked unusually unpleasant, because it had considerable foam on the surface, there being a shallow rift above the wider stretch.
By the merest accident in the world, Tubby's clutching hands had succeeded in fastening upon a loose steel stay that hung downward for ten feet. It must have given the fat boy a considerable wrench when he gripped this, but he had clung with the tenacity of despair.
When Rob turned around, the first thing he saw was Merritt kneeling there on the violently agitated girder over which they were making their crossing. He was staring downward, and, of course, Rob instantly focused his gaze in the same quarter.
He had expected to see Tubby splashing about like a porpoise in the stream far down below; but, instead, was astonished to discover him clinging desperately to that loose piece of steel wreckage.
Tubby had his face turned up toward his chums. There was not a particle of the rosy color to be seen that as a rule dyed his ample face; in fact, he was as white as a ghost. A beseeching look was in his eyes. Tubby knew that swinging there he was in a serious predicament, from which there would be only one escape if he were left to his own devices. That would mean he must release his frantic clutch on the swaying steel rope, and drop down into the river, a possibility he shuddered to contemplate.
"Hey! get me up out of this, fellows, can't you?" he whined, for, after his recent gymnastic efforts, he no longer had sufficient breath to shout.
"Clasp your legs around the thing, can't you, Tubby?" said Rob, who saw that the strain on the other's arms must be tremendous, judging from the way he was hanging there.
The advice struck Tubby as well worth following; so he immediately began to work his short legs violently until he found that he could, as Rob suggested, twist them around his slender support.
When that had been accomplished it was much easier for him. He began to suck in some encouragement once more.
"But won't you try and get me up again, Rob?" he asked piteously. "I can't hang on here for very long, like a regular old pendulum to a clock. I'm not wound up for a seven-day-goer. And say, I'd hate to have to drop kerplunk into all that water down there. Think up some way to grab me out of this, won't you, Rob?"
"I'm trying to, Tubby. Keep still a bit, and let me think," he was told.
In one way, of course, it was a ridiculous sight, and that was why Rob winked his eye at Merritt when he thought he could detect a whimsical look on the other's face. Still, it was anything but a laughing matter to poor Tubby, who felt that he had a tremendous amount at stake. Every time he found himself compelled to let his horrified eyes turn downward that noisy stream seemed to be more and more formidable to him. He fairly hated it.
"Can't you climb up again, Tubby?" asked Merritt, who knew exactly what he would have quickly done had he found himself placed in the same predicament.
"I'd like to, the worst kind," the fat scout assured him, "but you know I'm feeling very queer and weak, so I don't believe I could do much that way, unless," he added quickly, "I had some assistance from above."
"And that's just what I'm going to try and give you, Tubby."
While Rob was saying this he had unbuttoned his coat. This he proceeded to take off, first making sure to transfer anything he had in the pockets, so that he might not suffer a loss.
"Now, by leaning down here, I think I can reach you with this coat," he proceeded to explain. "If I had a rope, it would be much easier, for with a loop I could make a sure thing of it. But half a loaf is better than no bread, they say."
"Of course it is, Rob," agreed Tubby, who was in no position to quarrel with any measures that were taken for his relief. "But what can I do with the coat when it comes down to me? I don't feel that cold, you know."
"I'm going to keep hold of one end, Tubby," Rob explained quietly, in a way to convince the imperiled scout that everything was working as arranged, and that he need not worry. "With just one hand you get a good grip of the end that's near you; then start in to try and climb, using your clasped legs the best you know how. And don't get discouraged if you only come up an inch or so at a time. When you're within reach Merritt will hang down and lend a hand, too."
All of which was undoubtedly very cheering to Tubby. This thing of having stanch comrades in times of distress was, he had always believed, one of the best parts of the scout brotherhood.
He immediately took a firm grip of the dangling coat-sleeve, and commenced to wriggle the best he knew how.
"I'm making it, Rob; sure I am!" he presently announced. "That time I slid up as much as six inches. It was a bully hunch, that coat racket of yours. Keep her going, Rob, and I'll get there yet. Never give up – that's my motto, you know. I may get in lots of scrapes, but somehow I always do manage to crawl out, don't I?"
"Save your breath, Tubby, for your work; don't chatter so much," Rob told him.
Merritt was ready to do his part. He had clasped a leg about the girder to help hold him, and was leaning as far down as possible. Presently the grunting fat chum reached a place where he could be taken hold of, and so Merritt fastened a hand in his coat back of his neck.
"Here you come, Tubby," he said encouragingly.
"Don't let go with your hands or knees yet!" warned Rob; for, should Tubby be so foolish as to do this, the chances were that such a sudden weight might drag Merritt down, and both would take the plunge.
It required considerable effort to finally land Tubby on the horizontal girder, but in the end this was accomplished. Then all of them sat there to rest after their recent violent exertions.
"I don't see how I came to do it," Tubby finally remarked, as though he deemed it necessary that some sort of explanation were forthcoming. "I was moving along as nice as you please, when all of a sudden I felt myself going. I must have grabbed at the air, and happened to get a grip on that hanging steel rope. Well, it might have been a whole lot worse for me! I'm glad I didn't get soused in the river. And I'll never forget how nobly my chums came to the rescue."
"Oh! stow that sort of talk, Tubby," Merritt told him. "That's what we're here for. What's a scout wearing his khaki uniform for if it isn't to remind him what he owes to his chums? You'd do the same for us any old time."
"Just try me, that's all," declared the grateful Tubby; and then, changing his tune, he went on to say: "Here we are, out in the middle of the span, and it's just as hard to go back as it is to move forward. So when you're ready, Rob, start off again. I'll try not to slip any more. The next time you might see my finish."
"I'm sure it would see mine," remarked Merritt, rubbing the arm he had used in order to tug at Tubby's great weight.
Luckily nothing more happened, and they were able to reach the opposite shore in safety. Tubby sank down and panted, as soon as he crawled off the end of that fragment of the steel bridge.
"Thank goodness that job is over with!" he exclaimed fervently, "and all I hope is that we don't have to come back this way."
"Oh! you're getting to be an expert tight-rope walker by now, Tubby," Merritt said encouragingly. "A little more practice, and you could apply for a job with Barnum & Bailey's circus."
"Thank you, Merritt, but I have loftier aims than that calling," said Tubby disdainfully.
"Well, let's be getting on," suggested Rob. "We've spent enough time here already."
"Thank goodness I don't have to tramp along soaked to the skin," Tubby was heard to tell himself, with gratitude.
The road skirted the river bank on the side they were now on for some little distance at least. Rob continued to keep a watchful eye around as they progressed. He knew there was always a chance that they might meet some detachment of troops hurrying along; though the fact of the bridge being down must be known to the Germans, and would deter them from trying to make use of this road until a temporary structure could be thrown across the river by their engineers.
Most of the inhabitants had fled from that part of the country. Some may have drifted into Brussels before the capital fell into the hands of the invaders, when August was two-thirds gone; and they had remained there ever since. Others had fled in the direction of Ghent and Antwerp, in the hope that these cities might hold out against the German army.
Several times they saw old men at work in the fields, trying to save a part of their farm crops, though without horses they could do little. Every beast of burden had been drafted for one or the other army; what the Belgians missed the Germans had certainly commandeered to take the place of horses lost in the numerous fierce engagements thus far fought.
On consulting his little chart Rob soon found that it would be necessary for them to abandon this good road, and take to a smaller one that branched off from it, winding in through the trees, and past farms that had been thrifty before this blight fell on the land.
"Here's a wood ahead of us that looks as if it covered considerable territory, and you don't often see such a bunch of timber in Belgium," Merritt announced presently.
"Because, with seven million inhabitants to such a small area," added Rob, "it's always been necessary that they employ what is called intensive farming. That is, they get as much out of the soil as possible, even to several crops off of the same patch of ground during the year."
"Belgium is a busy manufacturing country, too, or has been up to now," Merritt continued, which information he may have remembered from his training at school, or else found in some guide-book purchased in New York City before their steamer sailed for England.
"I wonder what we'll strike on the other side of this wood?" Tubby questioned, always speculating on things to come; and possibly hoping then and there they might run across a hospitable farmer who would kindly offer to provide them with some sort of breakfast.
"That's yet to be seen," Merritt told him. "Here's where there seems to be a sort of swampy patch, with water and bogs. Listen to the frogs croaking, will you? And I can see more than a few whoppers, too. Chances are this is a frog farm that supplies the big hotels in Brussels and Antwerp. You know the French are keen on frogs' legs, and pay fancy prices for them by the pound."
"I've eaten them more than once," Rob informed them, "and I never had spring chicken that was more toothsome and tender."
Whereupon Tubby cast a wistful eye toward the border of the frogpond, where the big greenbacks could be seen, sitting partly in the water, and calling to one another socially.
The boys kept walking on, and finally came to where the trees began to get more scanty. About this time Rob made a discovery that was not at all pleasing.
"Hold up, fellows," he said in a hoarse whisper that thrilled Tubby in particular, "our road is blocked. There's a whole German army corps camped ahead of us; and it's either go back, or else hide here in the woods till they take a notion to break camp and clear out. Let's drop down in the brush and talk it over."
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE FROG HUNTERS
"That settles me, I guess!" said Tubby sadly, as he followed Rob into the shelter of the brush nearby, from which haven of refuge they might watch to see what chances there were of the big camp, a mile and more away, being broken up.
"I know what you're thinking about, Tubby," Merritt told him; "that none of us has had any breakfast, and the outlook for dinner is about as tough as it could be."
"Yes," admitted the fat scout, "I feel just like kicking myself, because I didn't think of doing it when I had the chance."
"Doing what?" asked Merritt.
"Getting that good-natured old fellow at the inn to put us up some lunch," was the explanation Tubby offered. "I guess he'd have done it, too, because he thought we deserved being taken care of, after hearing what the wounded Belgian soldiers had to tell about us. Oh! it's a shame how all my great thoughts come afterward. What's the use of locking the stable door when the horse has been stolen?"
"Well, cheer up," said Rob, who, of course, had overheard what was being said; "it may not be a case of starving."
"See here, you don't happen to have a lot of stuff hidden away on your person, do you, Rob?" gasped Tubby hopefully; and, as the other shook his head, he continued in a mournful tone, "I thought that would be too good to be true. But please tell us what you mean by saying it mightn't be so very serious. Mebbe you know of a henroost nearby, where we might find a tough old Dominick fowl that had been overlooked by the raider squads from the camp?"
"If I did I'd tell you, Tubby; but wait a bit, while we watch the camp. If nothing happens inside of two hours, I've got a sort of scheme to propose to you both, and I hope it'll meet with your approbation."
"Two hours! Two long, weary hours! Gee!" And, as Tubby said this, he proceeded to take in some of the slack of his waistband, possibly meaning to show Rob how terribly he had fallen away of late.
They could see that myriads of men were moving about on the level stretch of country where the invaders were encamped. Fires were going, and doubtless those excellent camp ovens, of which so much had been written, were being used to bake fresh bread for the day. Those Germans omitted nothing that would provide for the comfort of the enlisted men.
"It looks as though they meant to stay there all day," remarked Rob, when they had been observing these things for at least a full hour.
"Oh! Rob!" protested Tubby helplessly, as though the information gave him a severe pain.
"Well, they believe in drilling right up to the minute they go into battle," was what Merritt remarked; "for there you can see a whole regiment of them marching in review past the commander, with others following behind."
"It's a wonderful sight," admitted Rob. "I never saw soldiers keep step, and seem to be such parts of a machine like that. You'd think they were moved by some network of wires, like a big automatic engine."
"Oh! look what funny steps that first line is practicing!" cried Tubby. "Why, they must be only boys, and just playing soldiers. See how they lift their feet, and go along like a high-stepper of a horse. Ain't that the limit, now?"
"I tell you what that must be," said Rob, quickly. "I've read about what they call the 'goose-step.' It's a flinging up of each leg, as the step is taken, bending the knee, instead of keeping it stiff, like most soldiers on parade do."
"The silly nonsense!" laughed Tubby. "What would I look like trying that fancy step? I thought the Kaiser had more sense than that."
"Hold on. Don't condemn a thing before you know what it's meant for," said Rob. "There's an object, and a mighty good one, about that step, even if it does make most people smile when they see it for the first time."
"Then let's hear what it is, please, Rob."
"As far as I know about it, the object is to strengthen the muscles of the leg, and give those that are tired from a set position a rest. Don't you see how that sort of a movement relieves the leg? Try it a few times, and you'll believe me."
"Have you ever seen the goose-step before, Rob?" asked Merritt.
"Only once, in a moving-picture play of the German maneuvers," he was told. "It struck me then as ridiculous; but I knew those German military men had long heads, and would not start a thing like that in a parade without something big back of it. So, when I got home I tried it a few times, and then I saw what a splendid relief that throwing forward of the foot was. There goes another line doing it."
They continued to crouch – there was small possibility of any one discovering them – and watched all that was going on in the busy camp beyond.
Not once did any of the soldiers wander away. It was plainly evident that they were being given no liberties. Rob only hoped that the order would come for this corps to get on the move, and head to the southwest; for he did not doubt but they were meaning to go to Ghent, or to some other place toward the coast.
Several times Tubby was observed to crane his neck and look up toward the heavens anxiously. The others did not need to be told what those signs indicated. They knew very well that the fat chum had not become suddenly interested in astronomy, or expected an eclipse of the sun to happen. He was merely noting how far along his morning journey the sky king had traveled, because he could not forget how Rob had set a time limit on their remaining there.
Two hours he had mentioned as the sum total of their stay; when that boundary had been reached Rob was going to make some sort of pleasing proposition. Tubby hoped it would have to do with the procuring of a certain nourishment, of which all of them certainly stood in great need.
At last Rob gave signs of making a move.
"Now, if you fellows will come back along the road a little ways with me," he announced with a smile, "I've got something to propose. I only hope you fall in with my views, for then there's a chance that we'll have something to eat."
"Oh! you can count on me agreeing with you, Rob!" said Tubby cheerfully. "No matter whether it's fur, fin, or feather, I think I could do justice to nearly anything that grows."
"As it happens, it's something that doesn't fly or walk that I have in my mind," Rob declared rather mysteriously. "The fact is, it hops!"
"Now you have got me worse balled up than ever," protested Tubby, his brow wrinkled with his endeavor to guess the answer.
"I think I know," volunteered Merritt, grinning amicably.
"What does he mean, then? Please hurry and tell me," pleaded Tubby.
"Frogs, isn't it, Rob?" demanded the other.
"Oh! gingersnaps and popguns! Do I have to come down to choosing between eating jumpers and starving to death?" complained the fat boy, looking distressed.
"Well, wait till you get your first taste, that's all," Rob told him. "If you don't say it beats anything you ever took between your teeth, I'm mistaken, and that's all there is about it. Why, they're reckoned one of the fanciest dishes in all the high-class clubs in America, along with diamond-back terrapin, canvas-back duck, and such things. The only thing I'm afraid about is that after you get your first taste you'll want to hog the whole supply."
"But how shall we catch the frogs, and then cook them?" asked Merritt.
"The first ought to be easy," replied Rob, "seeing how plentiful they are, and how big and tame. I see a dandy piece of wood that would make a good bow with a piece of stout cord I've got in my pocket. Merritt, get some of those straight little canes, growing on the edge of the water. We can make them do for arrows, and, even without feathers, I think I can hit a big frog with one at ten paces away. It'll be fun as well as a profitable business. Frog-hunters, get busy now."
"Here's a long pole, Rob. Shall I take it and steal up close enough to whack a few of the jumpers on the head?" asked Tubby, now entering into the spirit of the game.
Being given permission, and warned not to make too big a noise, lest he frighten all the frogs into jumping, he set about his task. After several failures he finally brought one monstrous greenback frog to where the others were still working.
"I'll show you how to cut off the saddle, and skin the hind legs," said Rob.
Tubby did not altogether like this job. The slimy feeling of the frog rather went against his stomach. Still, after the large hind legs had been duly skinned, they presented so much the appearance of the white meat of a spring chicken that Tubby felt encouraged enough to set forth again.
He had four victims by the time Rob and Merritt pronounced the bow and arrow part of the business in readiness for work.
They kept at it steadily for an hour and more. Rob found considerable excitement and profit in his archery. His arrows could not be wholly depended on, for they were not properly balanced; but the distance was so short that he made numerous fatal shots.
Merritt, too, had secured another long pole, and joined Tubby in his share of the frog hunt. It was exciting enough, and with more or less delicious little thrills connected with it. No doubt the frogs must have enjoyed it immensely; but then, no one bothered asking what they thought of such tactics. A boy's hunger must be allayed, and, if there were only frogs handy, why so much the worse for the "hoppers."
"Whew! Don't you think we've got enough, Rob?" asked Tubby, unable to stand it any longer.
"What's the score?" asked the archer, as he tossed still another great big victim toward the spot where the fat scout had been counting the pile.
"Twenty-one, all told," replied Tubby. "That would mean seven for each. But how in the world can we cook them? I hope now you don't mean to tackle them raw? I love raw oysters, but I'd draw the line at frogs. I'm no cannibal."
"Well, let's find a place deeper in the woods, where we can make a fire out of selected dry wood that will make so little smoke it can't be noticed. That's an old Indian trick, you know. Hunters used to practice it away back in the time of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. When they were in a hostile country they had to be mighty careful about making a smoke. I've tried it before, and believe I can pick out the right kind of fuel to use."
While the others were finishing the not very pleasant work of skinning the numerous frog saddles, Rob busied himself with making the fire in a secluded neck of the woods. In the midst of jutting stones he soon had a blaze going. It could not be seen twenty feet away, on account of the obstructions; and, as the proper kind of wood had been selected, there was no smoke to mention.
The boys would have given something for their well-remembered frying pan, just at that time, and some pieces of salt pork with which to sweeten the dainty morsels which were to constitute their luncheon. They were true scouts, however, and could make the best of a bad bargain.
"All hunters do not have skillets when they're in the woods," said Rob, as he took a long splinter he had prepared, thrust it into one of the saddles, and then, poking the other end into the ground close to the fire, allowed the meat to get the benefit of the heat. "We must do what we can in this old-fashioned way. The best sauce, after all, is hunger; and, from the look on Tubby's face, I reckon he's fairly wild to set his teeth in the first of the feast."
Pretty soon it was a lively scene, with all those forks having to be attended to. A tempting odor also began to rise up that made Tubby's mouth fairly water. He heaved many a sigh, as he waited for Rob to tell him that the first of his allotment was sufficiently browned to be devoured.
"Now, let's begin," said Rob finally. "Only look out not to burn your lips. And, Tubby, take my word for it, you're going to get the treat of your life!"