Bumpus was heard to give a big sigh.
“I can see our finish, boys,” he remarked, calmly, as though he had resigned himself to the inevitable. “I’m ready to cry quits, and hold up my hands. Holland looks pretty good to me just now.”
“Let’s wait and see what happens,” said Thad, though he secretly rejoiced to hear Bumpus admit this, for the fat scout had more at stake than the rest of them, in that his sick mother was waiting and watching in the city of the Schelde.
The Uhlans came swiftly along. If they noticed the old car drawn to one side of the road, out of the way, they gave no evidence of the fact until the leaders had arrived almost abreast of the spot.
Then a bugle sounded, and the whole squadron halted, causing the dust to mount up more furiously than ever.
A score of troopers gathered around the car, most of them officers, Thad could see, although the dust covered them so completely that it concealed the insignia of their rank to some extent.
“Giraffe, it’s your turn,” said Thad to the lanky scout; “air what German you know, and tell them we’re American Boy Scouts; also ask if one of them can converse with me in English.”
“There is no need to ask that, because most of us are familiar with your tongue,” said the stout officer who seemed to be in chief command, much to the satisfaction of the scouts. “But we must take that assertion of yours with a grain of allowance. We even suspect that you are English boys, bent on getting through our lines with valuable information for the enemy, which we cannot allow, you understand.”
Thad was not surprised. He realized that at such a time every one who spoke the English language must come under the ban with the Teuton race. Already he had discovered that this stout man was inclined to be a martinet, and possibly ruthless in dealing with those whom he had reason to suspect.
“I assure you, sir,” he hastened to say, respectfully but firmly, “that we are every one of us native-born Americans. We were making a cruise down the Rhine and when we arrived at Cologne news that war had broken out gave us a shock. One of my comrades here has a sick mother in Antwerp, under the care of a specialist. That is why we are trying to make our way there.”