"Then we will capture them. I will ride on to the road and keep my eye on them. You hurry along the lane and tell our men to hurry. There is no time to be lost."
Willing enough to do something, even at this last moment, for the common cause, Kenneth and Pariset hurried along the lane. In the course of a quarter of an hour they met the Chasseurs. Pariset gave the message, and on explaining that he was a Belgian officer and knew the country well was invited to mount behind the captain and act as guide. Kenneth sprang up behind a trooper, and they set off at a trot, riding across the fields in order not to be heard.
Presently they heard, in the distance, a revolver shot. Immediately afterwards came the crack of carbines. Quickening their pace, they galloped in the direction of the sounds, expecting to find that the scout had been killed.
At Pariset's instructions, they rode in a north-westerly direction, so as to strike the Waremme road some miles west of the spot where he and Kenneth had seen the Uhlans. The firing continued; the sound of the single revolver was clearly distinguishable from the reports of the carbines. Wondering what was happening, they came suddenly upon a remarkable scene.
Dawn was stealing over the country. At a turn of the road, the cyclist was standing behind a tree, resting his revolver against the trunk. No one was in sight at the moment, but just as the Chasseurs, who had now reduced their pace to a walk, came up behind the cyclist, he fired his revolver at a Uhlan who had edged round the corner.
The Chasseur captain took in the situation at a glance. Whispering to Pariset and Kenneth to get down, he gave his men the order to charge. With a wild cry they dashed forward, swept round the bend, and fell upon the Uhlans, grouped indecisively at the side of the road. There was a brisk fight, lasting half a minute. Ten of the Uhlans were killed or wounded, the rest flung down their arms and surrendered.
"Many thanks, messieurs," the cyclist was saying to Pariset and Kenneth. "I was afraid they would not be up in time. But they are a timid lot, these bosches."
It appeared that, not content with merely watching the Uhlans, he had conceived the bold notion of holding them up until the Chasseurs arrived.
The Chasseurs returned with their prisoners towards their own lines. The captain had invited Pariset to accompany them, but Pariset decided, tired though he was, to continue his course towards Brussels. With Kenneth, he plodded along the road, and an hour later they were challenged by Belgian outposts at Waremme. They were too fatigued to enter into explanations at once, and sought shelter in a cottage, where they slept until the sun was high. And when they awoke and went into the village street, they found the people streaming westward, in carts, on foot, carrying what they could of their household gear. Fort Boncelles had surrendered.
Seeking the colonel of the nearest regiment, they told him what they had seen in the fort. He had just heard by telephone that Fort Loncin also had surrendered that morning, and General Leman was a prisoner.