Whilst still advancing northward we passed to higher ground, which grew drier as we proceeded, and before we had gone very far we suddenly stumbled on to the railway. Joy of joys! we had got our direction once more, when, following the railway for about a mile, which was still running due west, quite suddenly it branched southward. This rather put us off, but we decided to follow it for a little while longer; and a very good thing we did, as before long we were brought up sharp by numerous lines of lights, showing like pin-pricks in the darkness, some being red, others green. This must be a big junction of some kind. We crept cautiously nearer, more lights showing as we advanced. By the side of the track was a big hedge; to this we made our way, and lay down in the shelter of its shadow.
For the first time we realised that we were both very tired, but, strange to say, not in the least hungry—in fact, neither of us could have eaten anything, even if we had had it. As we lay resting ourselves the bells of a neighbouring church chimed out the hour of twelve. Good heavens! only five hours to daylight; we must get on. Each said to the other we must start at once, but neither of us moved, our limbs refusing to obey us. I had a violent pain in the chest, my head ached, and my teeth would not cease from chattering. In the end the spirit gained over the flesh, and the two of us moved nearer to the lights, when, suddenly looking to our right, we discovered a bright light in the sky to the north. Great Scott! that must be the town of V——; there cannot be any other place big enough within fifty miles of here which could shed such a light as that, and V—— was three miles over the Dutch frontier. My companion refused to believe we could be so near, but I insisted. “Then, what is this town in front of us?” “It must be K——,” I replied—which is, as you know, just on this side of the frontier and south-west of V——.
For the moment our pains were forgotten, as we made towards the welcome lights of V——. But our troubles had only just begun; the climax of the venture was to come.
CHAPTER XV
ELUDING THE SENTRIES
As we walked towards V—— over heavily ploughed fields, we found that we were very gradually ascending. On the way we passed a line of posts running in a straight line north and south. Was this the boundary? They were certainly boundary-posts of some kind. But then this could not be the frontier, as we had seen no sentries at all, and we knew there were at least two lines of them. Still pressing forward, only with added precaution, dropping on our faces every time we heard a sound or saw anything suspicious, we approached a sunken road, with what appeared to be a line of blockhouses situated on it, at about a hundred yards apart. These were occupied by soldiers, as once or twice a door opened, letting out a flood of light, and exposing to view a man in German uniform, who left his house and walked over to another one, carrying a lantern. This he put out and went inside. All this time we were lying in suspense not more than sixty yards from one of these blockhouses.
Immediately the soldier had disappeared we crawled over the road, and advanced towards the glow in the sky already mentioned. Within a mile the plough came to an end, and we found ourselves approaching what appeared to be a long hedge, but when we came up to it we found it to be the outskirts of a dense forest of broom. Into this we penetrated for a few yards, when we came across a little path cut through the broom. Here we held a whispered consultation, and decided that we did not like the look of it at all. We lay down in the broom beside the path, in order to hear any sound that might betray the fact that others were there besides ourselves.
Hardly had we sunk into the broom when the intense silence of the place was broken by the sound of footsteps, which came nearer and nearer, until a sentry with his gun at the slope passed us on the path; he was so close I could have touched him. It is not necessary to describe to what a pitch of excitement we were brought by our discovery that we were actually in the frontier lines. The moment of swift and fearless action had arrived! Drawing out my penknife, I hastily cut the laces of my boots, pulled them off, and padded silently in my stockinged feet down the path after the sentry. Fortunately this path had not been cut in a straight line, but wound about here and there, so that I was able to slip after him from corner to corner. Once or twice I imagined that I could distinguish his form in front of me, but I could hear the sound of his heavy tramp distinctly enough to know if he stopped, otherwise I might have come upon him suddenly round a corner.
We must have proceeded about seventy yards in this manner when the soldier in front of me was challenged, but I could not catch the answer. Then I distinctly heard two, if not three voices in conversation, although I must have been quite thirty yards away, which led me to believe that, for the moment at least, our presence had not been suspected, or they would have been more careful to hush their voices. Again a slight noise led me to believe that our sentry was on the move. Instantly I slunk into the bushes to await events, thinking that perhaps he might be going to return, but nothing happened until I heard another challenge in front of me, this time very indistinct. I now came to the conclusion that we were in a line of outposts, and that our sentry was the visiting patrol, which turned out to be correct. If this was the case, then there must be another sentry very close to the spot where I had left my companion—too close, in fact, for peace of mind—and I immediately started to retrace my steps.
On my way back I noticed for the first time that I had passed a number of small paths, cut through the broom, in the same way as the one on which I was, but running at right angles to it—in fact, going towards what we supposed to be the frontier. Could we afford to risk taking one of these? If there were any more sentries in front, certainly not. Whilst absorbed in these meditations I suddenly heard something coming towards me. Hurrying on, I arrived at the place where I supposed my friend was, and plumped down into the bushes. In a few moments the same sentry passed again, so close I could have touched him. Within from ten to fifteen yards he was again challenged, to which he answered “Friend,” after which I thought I heard a few mumbled words passed between them about rain coming, and one of them moved off again. My difficulty now was to find my companion without making any noise that the sentry near us could hear. Creeping down the path, I tried to locate the place where I had taken off my boots, but I was absolutely at sea, when to my satisfaction I saw another figure creeping towards me.
Fortunately my friend had seen me come back, and had marked down my position. We then discussed in whispers the result of my scouting movement, deciding to take to the broom, and try to follow the direction of one of the paths running at right angles. This we put into immediate execution, but very soon found that the disturbance we were making would be fatal to us, since it is almost impossible to walk or crawl through thick whippy stuff like broom without making a noise; so, after having gone a few yards, we decided to trust ourselves to one of the paths, which we did, advancing along its edge and dodging from bush to bush.