"Fairly trapped!" said Kenneth, with nervous twitching of his eyebrow.
In the excitement of the last half hour their thoughts had been too busy to give them time for apprehension. But now, with Uhlans on foot spread out in the wood behind them, a troop on horseback approaching on their left, possibly another on their right, they began to realise what it was like to be hunted. They felt as if inexorable walls were closing upon them to crush them. It would be madness to take to the open. The impulse to turn to the right in the wood, away from the galloping Uhlans, was dulled by the fear that a second troop had been sent to head them off in that direction. They adopted the wisest course in such a situation: remained where they were, some few yards from the outer fringe of trees, and tried to think out their problem calmly.
"It will be safer to let them pass us," said Pariset presently. "They will expect to see us emerge; let us go to meet them. Can you hear the fellows behind us in the wood?"
They stood listening.
"No," said Kenneth. "I daresay they are stealing up quietly."
"We must keep our ears open. Now, as quickly as possible."
They threaded their way cautiously through the wood towards the oncoming Uhlans. Very soon they heard the thuds of the horses' hoofs to their right. Among the trees they could neither see nor be seen. The sound ceased suddenly. Then came the muffled murmur of voices. Apparently the Uhlans had drawn rein almost at the spot where the fugitives had intended to break cover.
"A clever lot!" whispered Pariset. "They calculated to a yard or two where we should be likely to come out. A good thing we turned this way."
The Uhlans, in fact, only about two hundred yards away, had dismounted, and leaving their horses tethered in the charge of two of their number, had entered the wood, spread out, and begun to beat the coverts in the direction of their comrades advancing from the farther side.
The fugitives pressed on rapidly, parallel with the edge of the wood, hoping that they would not meet the men at the extremity of the far-extended line. There was no sound to guide them or give warning. Presently they ventured to draw a little nearer to the edge, where the trees were sparser and they could move more quickly. Pariset constantly consulted his compass. Their course was northward, in the direction of Liége.