Reaching the wagon, he said to the driver:
"The rascally enemy has blocked the road, as you see. The carts there are chained together. Get out, quickly!"
The three infantrymen in the wagon were obviously amazed, not so much at being ordered about by a Uhlan, as at the apparent purposelessness of the command. They got out, however, and were still more astonished when the masterful Uhlan mounted into their place, and after a glance at the car below, released the brakes, let in the clutch, and sent the wagon lumbering down the hill. For a few seconds, while the vehicle was gathering speed, Kenneth steered straight; then, turning the wheel so as to give a slight tendency to the left, he sprang off, fell sprawling, jumped up and ran after the wagon, watching its course eagerly.
On it thundered, every moment faster. Would it reach the foot of the hill, or swerve into the bank on the left? On, and on--and then, at a speed of twenty miles an hour, it struck the left-hand cart with a terrific crash, and threw both cart and itself in a pile of wreckage up the bank and into the field beyond. The chain connecting the carts had snapped like rotten cord.
CLEARING THE ROAD
"Bravo!" shouted the two men waiting beside the motor-car.
Rushing forward, they helped Kenneth to draw the released cart to one side, leaving a clear space between it and the wreckage. Then they leapt into the car, waved their hands to the astonished motormen above, and started forward towards Durbuy and safety.
"We are all right now--unless the Germans are in greater force than I believe," said Granger, taking a map from his pocket. "If we can cross the river at Durbuy, we can run due west to Dinant, where we shall probably find the Belgian, or maybe the French lines. Then we can swing northwards, and get to headquarters somewhere between Tirlemont and Brussels."
A run of a few miles brought them within sight of the river winding away to the east, and the little town--a mere village in point of size--of Durbuy. But here they perceived with dismay that the course they had planned was not feasible. Along the road between Barvaux and Durbuy a large German force was on the march. Their leading companies were already crossing the quaint old bridge, covered by troops of Hussars on both banks.