And so, to their surprise and Paul's relief, they were soon being escorted through the German lines, their direction being southwest, in the general direction of Huy, the Belgian city nearest to Liege of the border line of fortresses. Huy, though not as strong as either Liege or Namur, was a link in the chain, having been designed chiefly to supply a base for the centre of an army resisting the advance of an invader, with its wings resting on the more powerful fortifications of Liege and Namur.
Their escort was the same good-natured soldier who had taken them before Colonel Schmidt, and he paid little attention to them. Perhaps he thought that there was no need to watch them closely; perhaps he was simply negligent. But, whatever the reason, Paul was able to discover the composition of the force upon which they had stumbled with a good deal of exactness. He learned to what regiment their escort belonged, and he also saw numbers on helmets and other identifying marks that supplied him with much other information. Neither he nor Arthur knew the real meaning of what they saw, but both boys knew that if they reached the Belgian lines they would find officers of the intelligence department to whom such facts would be valuable in the extreme. It was important, as both knew, for the Belgians and their allies to know something of the German plan.
Paul, indeed, had spoken of that very point to Arthur after their arrest.
"If we see what regiments are here, others can use what we tell them to determine what army corps are being used in this attack, and perhaps what the general plan is," he had said. "Then the French will know where to mass their troops."
"Last stop!" said the soldier, finally. Some time before they had passed a sentry and for nearly a mile they had seen only outposts. "I must go back now. You are all right. We have passed the last of our posts. The next soldiers you see will be Belgians, unless we have cavalry in this direction. Perhaps this is a mistake. It might be better if I shot you myself, to make sure—eh?"
"You needn't trouble," said Arthur, and the soldier roared with laughter.
"All right, then, I won't!" he declared. "You are good boys. I am glad they let you go. But what will you do? You live in Liege, don't you? You can't get back there."
"We have friends in Brussels," said Paul. "I think we shall do very well now, thank you."
"Good! Then I will go back, and you will go forward—so! Good-bye!"
"Good-bye!" they echoed.