Cutting the Line
The line was well guarded. A company of infantry was allotted to every four or five miles of line, and furnished the sentries who were posted every hundred yards or so. These men were within easy reach of one another, sometimes stationed on the line itself and at other times at the top of any adjacent knoll or rising ground. The nucleus of the company, the men resting from their turn of sentry-go, was stationed at a point of vantage within easy touch of the whole of the line under its care. An alarm at any point would not only attract the sentries from both sides to the spot, but would also quickly bring the remainder of the company hurrying to the scene.
Corporal Shaw's dispositions were soon made. His men were brought within reach of the railway at a point where it ran through country well wooded on either side. A sentry was then marked down as the point of contact, and six men, three on either side, were detached to act as flank guards. These were posted within easy reach of the sentries, next on either side, with instructions to shoot them down should they make any move to interfere, and to hinder, by all means in their power, the approach of further reinforcements.
The unfortunate sentry marked down as the point of contact would not require much attention. He would obviously be helpless against ten men.
A whistle apprised the flank guards that the attack was about to begin. Then the main body emerged from cover and half a dozen rifles were levelled at the sentry in front of them. For a moment the man was too astonished to move; then he gave a shout of alarm and fled down the line towards the sentinel on the right.
Two rifles cracked almost simultaneously and the man fell in his tracks and lay motionless.
"Get his rifle, someone, and then come and lend a hand here," cried Corporal Shaw, springing out on to the line and getting to work with an entrenching tool upon the permanent way. Other men followed his example, the gravel was rapidly scraped away from the sleepers, and several long iron bars, taken from some derelict agricultural machine passed on the way, inserted beneath the rails. But the united efforts of several men made no impression upon the well-bolted rails and the attempt was promptly abandoned.
The bolts and nuts which held the rails together were attacked instead, and, although no spanners were available, the men managed, by dint of much persuasion from the iron bars and their bayonets, to get the nuts to turn. Two rails were in time entirely removed and carried across the line and laid endwise in a ditch, where they promptly sank out of sight in the muddy ooze.
In the meantime the flank guards had not been idle. The shout of the sentry first attacked had given the alarm to his comrades on either side, and one had started immediately to his aid. The other remained where he was, but levelled his rifle at Shaw and his men as they sprang on to the line. Both were promptly shot down and their rifles and cartridges as promptly secured.
By this time the alarm was fairly general. Several shots had been fired, and the line guards up and down the track had come to the conclusion that a serious attack on the line was in progress. Instead of rushing in ones and twos to the point of attack, they now waited until some half-dozen men had collected before advancing. Even these bodies were easily disposed of by the flank guards posted by Shaw. They were well concealed, and, as the Germans came up, opened a heavy fire upon them at close range. Most of the latter dropped at once, and the survivors fled, only too glad to get away in safety with their lives.
Max and Dale had assisted in the removal of the rails and their deposit in the muddy ditch. This accomplished, Max, who viewed the whole affair with some misgiving, stood aside and took no part in the further attacks already in progress on the rails.
"You look glum, Max," remarked Dale in a rallying tone, as he straightened his back. He himself looked far from glum. His face was flushed, his eyes sparkled, and he bore himself as though at the height of enjoyment. "Don't you like raiding the railway?"
"Not this way," replied Max with decision. "What's the good of it? It won't take half an hour to repair, and, coming after that other affair, will mean half the cavalry in the Ardennes stirring on our tracks."
"Who cares?" retorted Dale recklessly. "I——What's the matter?"
"Hark! A train I think. Let's get to the top of this bit of rising ground and see what happens. The driver can't come steaming through with all that firing going on yonder."
The two friends climbed upon the little hill and up into the lower branches of a large tree. The view thus obtained was a wide one, and showed them much. In the distance a train was approaching. It was slowing up as they watched, and presently came to a standstill. Instantly crowds of soldiers poured out from both sides and formed up on the permanent way. Apparently in response to an order, the troops split into two bodies, one passing to the north side of the line and one to the south, both almost immediately disappearing from view in the woods.
Max and Dale next turned their gaze towards the flank guards. Here desultory fighting was going on with numbers of the sentries attracted to the spot. But beyond them, and in the direction of the head-quarters of the company guarding that section of the line, a strong body of men was on the march; and, in yet another direction, Max and Dale could see the lances of cavalry occasionally coming into view as their line of advance led them past bunches of low bush or gaps in the trees.
"Time we were off, Max," remarked Dale in a much sobered voice. "You see what those troops from the train are after?"
"Yes, they want to strike across our rear, whichever side of the railway we go, before the other bodies begin to attack us in front. Had we not chanced to climb up here, that last fight of ours would have been very near indeed. As it is, I shouldn't wonder if we have a job to get Corporal Shaw and his fire-eaters away in time."
"We shall. They all reckon they're getting a bit of their own back, and they'll be in no hurry to move."
As quickly as possible, Max and Dale dropped from the tree and ran back to the railway, where Shaw and the bulk of his men were still working like bees, tearing up rails and transporting them to the swampy stream. The gist of what they had seen was soon told to Corporal Shaw, and that worthy, while not inclined to take too much notice of "a few Germans", now that all his men were fully armed, was duly impressed with the necessity of moving from the neighbourhood without loss of time. He promptly called in the flank guards, and curtly told the whole of the band that it was time to march.
"Now, lad," he said, addressing Max, "you seem to know your way about. Lead on out of this fix, and we will live to fight again another day. Forward!"
Max and Dale strode quickly away, straight into the woods, and in single file the band followed them. The men were in high glee at the success of their enterprise, and seemed neither to know nor care about their critical situation. Max, however, felt very anxious, and presently managed to get Corporal Shaw so far to agree with him as to order complete silence and every care, as they threaded their way through the thickest-wooded country to be found in the quarter not yet reached by the soldiers from the train.
For over three miles the band moved in silence, at top speed, away from the scene of their daring exploit. Max judged that by that time they were outside the sweep of the encircling bodies of Germans, and could take a breather for a few minutes. The work on the railway had been hard and exhausting, and the men had for some time been too ill-nourished to be able to sustain long-continued exertion. At the order to halt and rest the men flung themselves on the ground, and for five minutes lay prone upon the grass. Then they went on again.
"D'ye see that smoke yonder, lad?" remarked Corporal Shaw, soon after they had restarted, pointing to a thick column of smoke rising above the trees a couple of miles in their rear. "Is it a signal, or what?"
"No—it's not that," replied Max, after a long look at the smoke, which was rising more thickly at every moment. "There is a little village just there, and I can guess what has happened. The Germans have fired the nearest village in revenge for the attack upon the line. I have often heard of it being done. It is one of their methods of terrorizing the people, so that they dare do nothing themselves and try to prevent others doing any thing in the vicinity of their villages. I had forgotten it until this moment."
"What a black shame!" cried Corporal Shaw with fierce indignation. "What had those poor folk to do with it? The Germans knew that well enough—the cowards!"
The other men in the band soon knew what had happened, and their rage and indignation were extreme. Some wanted to vent their rage by returning to the scene of the burning village and attacking those responsible for the outrage. It was as much as Max and Shaw could do to keep them from turning back and flinging away their lives in a desperate endeavour to exact reparation for the foul deed.
The retreat of the band was continued, but the rage and indignation of all concerned was not lessened when, later in the day, after a long halt, they were overtaken by two families fleeing from the burning village. It needed no question to tell them what they were. There were old men and women, heavy-eyed and outwardly uncomplaining, trudging beside creaking bullock-carts loaded with all the little bits of property they had been able to save from their burning homes. There were white-faced, frightened children, too, tucked in the corners of the carts or perched upon the piled-up goods, and their faces seemed to express mute wonder that such things could be.
It was indeed a sight to make any beholder furious with indignation, but on the unwitting causes of the trouble it acted with fourfold force. An instant reprisal was demanded by all the band, and Corporal Shaw, as angry as any of them, promised that they should have it, and that without any more loss of time than he could avoid.