The Boy Scouts on the Trail | Page 8

were
doing better than they could do--because they fought so well at Liege.
Now Namur has fallen. And the English--they are falling back."
"Ah, well, that is so," said Henri, brightening a little. "We did not
expect to fight in Belgium, we French. Wait till they try to enter France!
We will stop them--at Lille, at Maubeuge, at Valenciennes!"
"I hope so, Harry," said Frank, soberly. "But do you know what I think?
I believe we ought to go to your home at Amiens. I think you have been
waiting here on my account--because you thought my uncle was
coming. Well, I think he couldn't come. I am better off with you. And
perhaps I can help, too. I think you should go to your mother, if she is
alone at Amiens, because--"
Henri turned on him fiercely.
"Do you mean you think the Germans can get to Amiens?" he cried
furiously. "Never! Never! They will never come so far! They will be
stopped long before they get near it!"
"I think so--and I hope so," said Frank. "But if my mother were there I
should want to be there, too. I've read a great deal about war and battles
lately, Harry, and I know that often an army has to retreat, not just
because it's beaten, but because it's necessary for battles that are
planned later on. The English and the French toward the coast are
retreating now--on the left of the allies. They are moving back toward
Amiens, and the Germans are following them."
Henri continued to argue bitterly against the possibility that Frank
suggested, but his arguments grew weaker. And when he told his aunt
what Frank had said she sighed despairingly.
"I, too, have been thinking that," she said. "These are terrible times for
our poor France. We shall win--everyone believes that. But we shall
suffer greatly first. I have talked with General Broche--you know him,
Henri. He is too old and weak to fight now, but he was active in 1870.
And he says--he says that the government may move soon, away from

Paris!"
"Then they think--!" cried Henri, almost overcome.
"They do not know--no one knows. But if there is to be another siege, it
is better that the government should be where the Germans cannot
bottle it up. I shall stay here, but I shall be safe. There are plenty to do
what I need. Go to Amiens, Henri. Your place is near your mother. If
there seems to be danger, beg her to come here, or even to go to her
friends, the Douays, in Nice. There at least all will be safe."
Henri did not argue with his aunt. It was hard for him to realize the
truth, as it was for Frenchmen older than himself. But he admitted it to
Frank and even to himself, that night. And so the next morning they
started for Amiens. An officer, returning to the front after bringing
despatches to Paris, agreed to see that they reached the northern city
safely. Without him, indeed, they would have found it difficult, if not
impossible, to get aboard a train, for while other railways were open
those that led to the front were entirely in the hands of the military
authorities.
But thanks to the friendly officer, a friend of the Martin family in Paris,
they reached Amiens quickly enough. On the way, more than once they
passed long trains carrying wounded, and, several times, other trains on
which were packed German prisoners. These, under close guard,
looked out sullenly from the windows. The sight delighted Henri.
"That doesn't look much as if we were losing, does it?" he cried
happily.
Amiens itself was a smaller Paris. In times of peace, Amiens is, like
many other French cities, a curious place, owing to the contrast
between its character as a busy, bustling, manufacturing town, and its
other character as a place where there are many renowned examples of
ancient art. But now it was quiet save for the ever present soldier.
Troops were passing through the streets; in the station several hundred
were entraining.

"Do soldiers go from here, too?" asked Frank.
"Yes. Amiens is the headquarters of the second army corps," explained
Harry. "All the reservists of that corps report here, no matter where
they live. When a regiment loses a lot of men, if it is in the second
corps, new men from here go forward to fill their places. There is no
sign of the Prussians, eh?"
"No," said Frank. "I hope there never will be! But, tell me, would they
fight here? Are there fortifications?"
"Not new ones--no," said Harry. He pointed to the old citadel crowning
one of the hills that commanded the town and the crooked, twisting
course of the Somme river.