“They’ll need to be many times over what the British army boasts, to stand up before the millions of the Kaiser,” Giraffe told him; for, as may be remembered, he had a strain of that same Teuton blood in his veins himself, though claiming to be American to the backbone.
They were fortunate enough to find lodging in a private house, for the hotels could not accommodate another person, being filled to overflowing. When this had been finally accomplished Thad and Allan left the others and sauntered out to discover what chance there was of the journey to Paris being carried through.
They were not long in determining that nothing could be done, that day at least. Bumpus would be grievously disappointed, but it could not be helped. Lots of other folks besides the four chums were being held up there and unable to reach their intended destinations, and Thad soon learned that many of these people were burning with anxiety, since their homes lay directly along the path taken by the German army in making for Paris. Of course they pictured the most terrible things as coming to pass, so the two boys agreed that at least they had something to be thankful for.
They did manage to find a little encouragement, and this led them to hope they might get away on the following morning. A train would be pulling out, and unless another boat came in meanwhile, laden with fresh troops, there might be room for them.
That was a very long night to poor Bumpus. And what made it even worse was the fact that they heard how many thousands of people were quitting the French capital by every sort of conveyance, anticipating that the Germans would soon be surrounding Paris, and another terrible siege would be on like that of ’71. Even the official headquarters and members of the National Legislature had gone south so as to prepare for the worst. And there would always be a possibility that Mrs. Hawtree might have accompanied the staff of the sanitarium to some city in the south of France.
With the coming of morning the boys were astir. Hardly waiting to devour a hasty breakfast, Thad and Allan, together with Giraffe this time, set out to ascertain what the chances might be for an early departure. Luck was with them, since they managed to book for the capital, though duly warned that the train might have to be abandoned long before it reached its intended destination, since one of the three great tidal waves of invaders was said to be threatening communications by way of that very line.
A little thing like that could not deter the boys, and, accordingly, when the train pulled out on schedule time, they were aboard, with Bumpus exceedingly hopeful, though at times also given to serious doubts.
Every mile passed over they knew was taking them closer to where the two hostile armies were maneuvring, each trying to flank the other and gain some decided advantage. At every stop on the way Giraffe could be seen thrusting his head out of the window and evidently straining his hearing.
“I’m almost dead sure I could catch a queer distant rumbling sound when the little wind there is came from out of the southeast,” he remarked after one of these occasions.
“You mean it may have been thunder or big guns working, don’t you, Giraffe?” asked Bumpus, deeply interested himself.