Still Giraffe and Thad strove to reach the further bank, though just what they could do to save themselves after that had been accomplished was a conundrum for every one. Bumpus was turning his head to look behind now, consumed by a terrible curiosity that seemed to gnaw into his very vitals. He stared at the oncoming riders and wondered whether the next volley they might fire would bring disaster to himself and comrades. He could see that they were dead in earnest, and that while this fighting spirit moved them they were not inclined to show mercy to those they believed to be their enemies.
Bumpus could not tear his eyes away from the terrible spectacle. Those galloping soldiers began to assume gigantic appearance to his wondering and horrified eyes. And then, even as he looked again, he heard a loud roaring sound as if other caissons had taken up the challenge and were also exploding in one, two, three order.
To his amazement he suddenly realized that the leading Uhlans had vanished in a cloud of smoke—men and horses seemed to have been enveloped in destruction, and those behind, panic-stricken, were driving their animals this way and that, wild to get off the road. But Allan knew what it meant, and that the French battery had taken up a position where the gunners could command the bridgehead!
CHAPTER IX
WITH THE FRENCH AT THE FRONT
“It’s all over but the shouting, fellows!” cried Giraffe, holding the boat steady in the current by means of his push-pole, while with his companions he watched to see what was transpiring over on the further shore.
The shells from the French battery continued to burst amidst the rapidly scattering Uhlans, showing the wonderful accuracy of the gunners’ aim. Knowing that it would be simple madness to attempt a further advance in the face of such a raking fire, the Germans had done the only possible thing under the circumstances. This was to scatter like a flock of sheep into the midst of which a wolf has suddenly leaped.
The four scouts no longer found any reason to fear those riders; in fact, the shoe was on the other foot now, and the Uhlans were fleeing from the peril that lay in French shells.
Giraffe clapped his hands excitedly and indulged in some of his characteristic sayings as he applauded the fine work of their friends a quarter of a mile away, it might be.
“Oh! look!” cried Bumpus, “there’s some one swimming across the river below us!”
“It’s our friend, the driver of the caisson!” snapped Giraffe immediately. “Glad he escaped being hit with any of his own shells when he let her go bang. Say, this is something like it now. It makes a heap of difference whose ox is gored, they tell us. And mebbe those Uhlan lancers don’t feel so stuck up, with all that chasing across fields to get away from the shells. Oh! did you see that one burst right alongside a rider—and he’s down, sure he is!”