"Yes; we're as good as they on foot; we are safe for a while. Did you hear the bomb?"
"Rather: it went off all right; the Taube must be blown to atoms."
The pursuing horsemen, on finding themselves checked by the undergrowth and the trees, flung themselves from their saddles. They lost a few minutes in tethering their horses, so that when they pushed on on foot, the fugitives had been enabled to penetrate deeper into the wood.
"I hope they'll give it up soon," said Pariset, hearing the troopers' movements in the rustling and crackling undergrowth. "To rout us out they must beat the wood thoroughly."
"It's lucky they're only a patrol and not a whole squadron, or they might encircle the wood," responded Kenneth in the same low tone.
They went still farther among the trees, moving as quietly as they could. It was soon evident that they were being followed up. Every now and then they heard the same sounds of movement, and shouts in different directions behind them. Apparently the Uhlans were scattering to beat the wood systematically.
"Our uniforms account for their perseverance," Pariset remarked. "The Germans don't scruple to wear Belgian uniform, or to dress as civilians; nothing makes them more angry than that we should do the same."
"And they know it was their own Taube, purloined at Cologne," said Kenneth. "You may be sure they are particularly incensed at that."
"We are outstripping them," said Pariset a few moments later. "The sounds are fainter."
"The question is, what shall we find at the other side of the wood? If open fields, we shan't stand a dog's chance against their rifles. Perhaps we had better dodge about among the trees."