The Boy Scouts on the Trail | Page 6

be able to go to
Amiens at once. Amiens is in the north--it is that way that the soldiers
must go, soldiers from Paris, from Tours, from Orleans, from all the
south. It is from the north that the Germans will come. Perhaps they
will try to come through Belgium. So, until the troops have finished
with the railways, we must wait. We will go to my aunt in Paris."
And go they did to Madame Martin, Henri's aunt, who lived in a street
between the Champs Elysees and the Avenue de l'Alma, not far from
the famous arch of triumph that is the centre of Paris. At the station in
St. Denis, where they went from the school, they found activity enough
to make up, and more than make up, for the silence and stillness
everywhere else. The station was choked with soldiers, reservists
preparing to report on the next day, the first of actual mobilization.
Women were there, mothers, wives, sweethearts, to bid good-bye to
these young Frenchmen they might never see again because of war.

And there was no room on the trains to Paris for any save soldiers. The
gates of the station were barred to all others, and Frank and Harry went
back to the school.
"I know what we can do, of course," said Harry. "It isn't very far. We'll
leave our bags here at the school, and make packs of the things we need.
And then we'll ride in on our bicycles. We were stupid not to think of
that before."
That plan they found it easy to put into execution. They had meant to
abandon their bicycles for the time being, at least, but now they
realized what a mistake it would have been to do that, since with every
normal activity cut off by the war, the machines were almost certain to
be their only means of getting from one place to another, in the
beginning at least.
Mounted on their bicycles, they now found their progress easy. The
roads that led into Paris were crowded, to be sure. They passed
countless automobiles carrying refugees. Already the Americans were
pouring out of Paris in their frantic haste to reach the coast and so take
boat to England. On Saturday night automobiles were still allowed to
leave Paris. Next morning there would be a different story to tell.
In Paris, when they began to enter the more crowded sections, they saw
the same scenes as had greeted them in St. Denis, only on a vastly
larger scale. Everywhere farewells were being said. Men in uniforms
were all about. Officers, as soon as they were seen, were hailed by the
drivers of taxicabs, who refused even to think of carrying a civilian
passenger if an officer wanted to get anywhere, or, if there were no
officers, a private soldier. The streets were crowded, however, and with
men. Here there were thousands, of course, not required to report at
once.
"When mobilization is ordered," explained Henri, "each man in France
has a certain day on which he is to report at his depot. It may be the
first day, the third, the fifth, the tenth. If all came at once it would mean
too much confusion. As it is, everything is done quickly and in order."

"It doesn't look it," was Frank's comment.
"No," said his chum, with a laugh. "That's true. But it's so, just the same.
Every man you see knows just when he is to go, and when the time
comes, off he will go. Why, even in your America, now, all the
Frenchmen who have gone there are trying to get back. I know. They
will be here as soon as the ships can bring them. They will report to the
consul first--he will tell them what to do."
They made slow progress through the crowded streets. Already,
however, there was a difference in the sort of crowding. There were
fewer taxicabs, very many fewer. And there were no motor omnibuses
at all.
"What has become of them?" asked Frank. "Aren't there men enough to
run them?"
"Yes, and they are running them," said Henri, dryly. "But not in Paris.
They are on their way to the border, perhaps. Wherever they are, they
are carrying soldiers or supplies. The government has always the right
to take them all. Even at the time of the manoeuvres, some are taken,
though not all. It is the same with the automobiles. In a few days there
will be none left--the army will have them all. Officers need them to
get around quickly. Generals cannot ride now--it is too slow to use a
horse. You have heard of Leon Bollet?"
"No. Who is he?"
"He is a famous automobile driver in races. He has won the