Nothing occurred to disturb them. If there were various sounds heard during the time that the moon rode high in the heavens they were not of a character to cause any alarm.
So morning found them, and breakfast was prepared in much the same fashion as supper had been on the preceding evening. Bob Kaiser was loud in his protestations of gratitude as he shook the hand of each scout at parting. He told them he would never forget what they had done for him; and from that time forth he meant to say a good word for scouts wherever he went.
When the four lads saw him last, as they moved off along the road, he was waving farewell in answer to their salute, before turning his face toward the north.
Upon the whole they were very glad such an opportunity to extend a helping hand had come to them. It must always please a genuine scout to be of assistance to any one in distress; and the fact that the party had been a fellow American added to the satisfaction they felt.
The man had told them he had friends at Amsterdam who would look out for him if only he could get there; and with a reasonable amount of good luck he surely ought to be able to cover the seven miles, more or less, between their camping place and the border, during the day ahead of him.
In fact, Thad almost envied him his resolution to head that way. It seemed the shortest route to safety in those strenuous days when the whole of Belgium was ablaze with excitement, hostile armies battling for supremacy, and every one suspicious of all strangers.
“To-day will decide the question for us,” Allan was saying, an hour or so after they had started that morning; “if we manage to pull through up to night time without any more backsets, we can consider it settled that we’re going to make Antwerp by this route.”
No one disagreed with him. Even Bumpus was figuring what thirty miles “as the crow flies” might mean, when they had to follow varying trails and roads, subject to the whims of any military commands they chanced to meet.
“Something coming ahead there!” announced the ever-watchful Giraffe.
On looking the others could see that a cloud of dust was rising in the direction they were heading. This of course indicated the passage of some considerable number of men or horses along the road.