Once only through a miracle did they escape from death. A shell dropped upon the road back of them not ten seconds after they had passed. Had they been delayed just that length of time it must have blown caisson and all aboard into atoms; for, of course, the ammunition in the chest would also have exploded.
No one tried to talk, which was somewhat strange on the part of Giraffe, who always wanted to be heard. With all that fierce jolting knocking the wind out of them, even he realized the folly of wasting any breath.
Besides, it could do no good. They were in a position where the utmost that was possible would be to grimly hold on and trust to good fortune to presently carry them out of range of the German guns. Perhaps presently, too, they might reach the advance line of the French army, where they could hope to find shelter behind the bristling defense guns.
Down along the dusty road Thad stared. He fancied that he could see what looked like a covered bridge crossing some branch of the river. Yes, now the first gun was starting to pass over it, with the others, as well as the caissons, following swiftly behind. And higher rose that billow of dust, betraying their location to the eyes of the enemy doubtless through field-glasses and by means of aerial scouts hovering aloft.
Thad saw that one gun was missing, and he discovered it alongside the road almost at the same moment. Horses lay there with the shattered carriage supporting the gun and a human leg protruding from underneath the mass told of the terrible fate that had overwhelmed the driver. The second man was not in sight, and Thad had a suspicion that he might have been picked up by one of the other teams in passing.
Bumpus, too, caught a passing glimpse of this terrible sight, and his face was lacking its customary rosy hue; still he had as much grit as the next one when it came down to a showing, and uttered no sound to indicate his dismay, only clinched his jaws together and set the muscles of his fat cheeks as if summoning all his resolution to the fore.
They were now approaching the bridge.
Once across it and there was some hope that they might find themselves in less peril. Surely there must be a limit to the range of the guns that were sending all those bombs around them, and the stream might mark this. Thad hoped so most certainly, as he mentally counted the seconds that must elapse before they could gain the bridge.
The horses did not run as they should, and Thad knew they had been injured, for there was a perceptible limp to the gait of both animals. Only that constant lashing on the part of the driver caused them to keep going; and even that must fail before a great while.
What would happen then he knew not. At the most, they would find themselves no worse off than before they were taken aboard the caisson by the obliging driver. Afoot they would have to seek some sort of shelter and try to hide until that rain of shells had ceased.