“Nope, coast clear back here,” said Bumpus, nearly bursting a blood vessel in his endeavor to look.
Thereupon the pilot deliberately disobeyed the orders of the officer stationed in the town. He turned into the side road, and thus gave positive evidence of an intention to once more try to run the blockade. At the same time Thad understood what risks he was taking; only there may arise situations that demand radical cures, unless one means to lay down meekly and submit to Fate.
Bumpus began to show signs of renewed interest.
“It may be a case of two strikes, and then a swat over the fence for a home run, Thad!” he announced, after they had gotten well started along the new trail, which did not seem to be built along the same order as those other roads, though not at all bad in that dry season of the year, early August.
“Let’s hope so,” replied the pilot. “From the way this road runs we’ll have to give up all notion of getting across the line into Belgium. We’ll be lucky if we can make it Holland.”
“Well, along here where a tongue of Holland runs down between Germany and Belgium,” explained Allan, who had looked up these things on the map, “and which is a part of the Limberg country, it isn’t over twelve or fourteen miles across. There’s one place at the Holland town of Sittard where the gap can’t be much more than four miles, so you see how easy it would be for us to run across that neck, and land in Belgium.”
“With this lightning car,” observed Giraffe, “we’d hit the border, give one grand splurge, and then bring up on Belgian soil.”
“Limberg, you said, didn’t you, Allan?” remarked Bumpus; “I guess I know now where that strong cheese comes from. I only hope we don’t strike any factories on the way. It always makes me feel faint, you know.”
“Huh!” snorted Giraffe, the taint of German blood coming to the surface, “that’s because some people don’t know a good thing when they strike it.”
“Well, Giraffe, you ought to be glad then that I don’t, because sometimes you complain of my appetite, as if I could help being always hungry.”