And then he flung down the glass, so that it was shattered on the stone floor, and the red wine ran over the white flags.
"And so say I and every other good Belgian!" echoed Arthur.
For a moment there was a stunned silence in the room. The German soldiers, aghast at such daring, stared with open mouths and wide eyes. And then there was an angry murmur, spreading from one man to another, as the enormity of Paul's daring sank in.
"He has insulted the Kaiser! He has dared to be disrespectful toward our Emperor! He has refused to drink to his health!"
"Do what you like!" cried Paul, thoroughly aroused now, as Arthur had seen him roused only once or twice before, and utterly indifferent to what might happen to him. "I am not afraid of you! Come, stop us if you like!"
And then while the angry muttering continued, and each of the German soldiers seemed to wait for one of the others to make the first move, Paul and Arthur, side by side, without looking to right or left, walked out of the place and into the open air of the single street of Hannay. For a moment, after they passed outside, they heard nothing, though they had expected to be pursued and brought back. And then suddenly from behind them there came the last sound they could have expected or hoped to hear—a tremendous roar of laughter! Paul's courage in defying them had won the admiration of the German soldiers at last. Brave men are nearly always ready to pay a tribute to bravery in others.
But if they had escaped from one danger, they had still to face another and one that might be even greater, as they well knew. For Raymond, the butcher, had seen them in the cellar. No doubt he knew by this time what had happened to his guns, and he would certainly know who was to blame for their condition. He would be more certain than ever that they were traitors to Belgium, since he was too stupid to understand how well the scouts had served him, and it was sure that he and his cronies of the civic guard would make some attempt to secure revenge.
Indeed, even as they came into the street, Paul saw a lurking figure across the way, that moved as they did.
"Don't look around," he whispered to Arthur. "But I think that Raymond is watching us from the other side of the street. We must be careful."
And then, suddenly, without the slightest warning, a whistling sound that both scouts knew well after their experience during the shelling of the German battery near their old home, was heard overhead. It was followed in a few seconds by a terrific explosion. But fortunately the explosion was at some distance. The shell, for it was a shell that they had heard, burst outside of the village and did no damage.