“There, the troops are coming on the double-quick, too!” announced Giraffe. “You can’t see the end of them yet, and I should think there must be thousands of soldiers in that bunch. It’s going to be a hot old affair, believe me. Mebbe the Germans may carry the bridge, and again they might get more than they bargained for right there.”
Evidences of considerable excitement could be seen among the defenders of the river bridge. Men ran this way and that; perhaps ammunition was being placed handy, so that the guns could be quickly served, because time was a factor that would undoubtedly enter into the result. A delay of a few seconds was apt to count heavily for either side when fighting it out at such close quarters.
Of course all of the scouts were keenly interested. While neither Thad nor Allan felt just the same eagerness that Giraffe displayed, at the same time they knew such an opportunity to see a wonderful and terrible spectacle would not be apt to come their way again in a hurry, and so they were satisfied to stay.
As for Bumpus, he was shivering, not with eagerness, but in anticipation of awful sights he expected to witness, once those guns started business. The florid look had left his round face, and it was now almost pallid, with his blue eyes round and expectant.
Amidst clouds of dust and more or less racket the German battery came dashing along. It broke through into a field as though all this had been figured out beforehand in the wonderful systematic way these Teuton fighters did nearly everything they undertook.
There the horses were detached from the guns and caissons and hurried away to a place of security. Already a loud crash announced that the Belgians were beginning hostilities, not meaning to wait until that host of grim gray-clad infantry reached the abutment of the bridge.
The four boys watched and saw a shell burst close to one of the German batteries. It did not seem to do any damage, nor did the gunners show the least sign of any flinching, but went steadily about their work of loading.
Other shots began to roar out until there was a constant crash in the air almost deafening, and white powder smoke rose in billows, through which the watchers on the hilltop could actually discover flashes of flame when another gun was discharged.
The battle for the bridge was now on in earnest. Hurrying figures could be seen in every direction. The Germans were evidently not fully satisfied with their first position for down came the horses again, and being attached to the guns the latter were whisked further up the rise where they could get a better chance to shell the chosen position of the Belgian battery.
It seemed to get more and more exciting every second. None of the boys said a single word; they were too intensely interested in looking; and besides, the riot of noise was now at its height, so that they would have had to shout in order to have made themselves heard, even close at hand.