"Where did they come from? That's more to the point!" said Frank, vastly excited. "I know! They got the railway—that's what they did! They must have come through Arras. Jove, though, they took a terrible risk, Harry! Because, no matter how many of them there are, they can't even begin to compare with the allies in numbers—not around here. But how can they be here without being seen? What are our aeroplanes doing?"
"I haven't seen one all day—not since we left Amiens, at least," said Henri. "But I know where they are—flying over the enemy's lines, trying to locate the guns exactly. That's what they try to do, you know. They decide just where a masked battery is, and then our fellows can drop their shells right among their guns. The gunners can't get the range properly any other way. There isn't any powder smoke to help them any more, you know. So I suppose that's where they are."
"Then I tell you what I think happened. I think they cut the railroad, or, rather, they didn't cut it. I bet they ran those fellows down there through on trains—right through our army."
"How could they do that?"
"Easily—no, not easily. It wouldn't be easy at all. But it's possible. They've caught a lot of our men, haven't they? Well, couldn't they use their uniforms so that it would look as if it was a French or an English train? Let me have your field glass. It's better than mine."
They were sheltered now and safe from observation. They could, nevertheless, see the German column strung out along the road. It seemed to cover at least two or three miles of the road, and there was no way of being sure that there were not more men.
"I think they've got pretty nearly five thousand men," Frank decided finally. "They're in light marching order, for Germans, too. No camp kitchens—nothing. Only what the men themselves are carrying. They're making a forced march to get to some particular place. Queer to use infantry, though, but I suppose they couldn't get horses through with whatever trick it was they played."
"They're beginning to turn off," said Henri. "See, the head of the column is slipping through that field over there. They must know this country as well as I do or better. That's a short cut that will take them to Hierville."
"I don't believe they're going to Hierville or any other village now," said Frank. "Tell me, are those woods I can see in front of them at all thick?"
"Yes, they're old, too. They've been preserved for a long time. That's the oldest part of the old park of the Chateau d'Avriere. It was one of the castles that wasn't destroyed in the revolution."