The Belgians to the Front | Page 4

from him than he from us, I'm
afraid, Arthur, for a little while. If the Germans are spying as openly as
all that, it must mean that they're getting ready to come into Belgium.
They wouldn't take such chances unless they felt that it didn't make any
difference now."
"Don't you think we could find him, Paul? If we could, we could have
him arrested, I think."
"Don't say a word--yet," cautioned Paul. "Uncle Henri would only
laugh at us. Let's wait until we can look at his papers, and see what
there really is there besides the sketch of Fort Boncelles. If that's all
there was in the papers, I don't see why he was so awfully anxious to
get them back. Perhaps we've done even better than we know, Arthur."

"All right, I won't say anything," said Arthur. "But you are going to do
something about it, aren't you, Paul?"
Paul laughed. He knew that Arthur was a little disappointed at the idea
of having to keep what they had done secret, especially as he had
probably rehearsed already the astonishment with which all those at the
dinner table would greet the startling announcement of the discovery of
the spy.
"I certainly hope we're going to do something about it, Arthur," he said.
"We'll slip away from the table as soon as we can, and then when we're
alone, we'll see exactly what it is we've got."
But at the table there was a great surprise for them. Their uncle (though
they both called him uncle the relationship was not really so close) was
not in his accustomed seat, and Madame de Frenard's eyes were
suspiciously red. She had been crying.
"Uncle Henri may not be back for two or three days," she said, gravely.
"He is a member of parliament, as you know, and he has been called to
Brussels on account--on account of what we all hope may not come."
"War?" asked Arthur, in a hushed voice.
"It looks terribly as if war must come," she said. "And if it does, I am
afraid our poor Belgium must suffer as well as the lands that are really
concerned. We have done nothing; we want nothing except to be left
alone. If they will only do that! But I am afraid we must not hope for
that. Your uncle expects to join the army at once if there is an
invasion."
"Then we'll stay here and look after you," proposed Arthur, promptly.
"Won't we, Paul?"
"For as long as we are needed," Paul said, gravely.
It was easy enough for them to cut their dinner short that night. The
house was uneasy, stirring with a strange foreboding of what was to

come. Servants, everyone, indeed, seemed to look always toward the
east. There were the Germans. Often during the summer they drove to
Aix-la-Chapelle, the first city over the German border--Aachen, as the
Germans called it. Paul remembered, with a smile, as he thought of the
German city, how indignant he had been when he had first discovered
that the Germans invariably spoke of Liege as Luttich, and how he had
been appeased when he was told that he and most people outside of
Germany refused to adopt the German name for Aix-la-Chapelle.
No one in the house, least of all their aunt, had time that night to think
of the two boys. As a matter of fact, it was that now famous Saturday
upon which Germany finally cast the die by declaring war upon Russia
in the interest of her Austrian ally, whose quarrel with Servia she thus
made her own. France, as the ally of Russia, was bound to fight
Germany. Belgium lay between the two huge powers on either side of
her, well-nigh certain to be caught in the disaster that war meant. But
the news that war had actually been declared had not yet come.
Madame de Frenard was waiting with the utmost anxiety for a
telephone message from her husband in Brussels, who had promised to
send her word as soon as there were any important developments.
And so Paul and Arthur slipped out to the garage, which was a favorite
hiding place. Now it was especially safe, since Marcel, the chauffeur,
had gone to Brussels with their uncle, and there was no likelihood of
any unwelcome interruptions. They repaired, therefore, to the room
above the one in which their uncle's automobile was kept, and spread
out the papers they had captured from the German spy. First there was
the sketch they had already seen of the Boncelles fort; then, equally
detailed, they found sketches and maps of the other forts--Flemalle,
Embourg, Chaudfontaine, Fleron, Evegnee, Pontisse, Liers, Lanlin,
Longin and Hollogne--the great chain of detached forts that made Liege,
in the opinion of military