CHAPTER XXV.
TURNING THE TABLES.
When Rob made this astonishing statement his two chums suddenly realized that this must be the matter he had been on the point of explaining to them when the armored car from Antwerp came tearing along the road in their rear like a modern war chariot.
The leader of the three Belgian soldiers, and who seemed to be a captain, looked incredulous. He repeated what Rob had said to his backers, in Flemish; and they, too, observed the scout with wondering eyes.
"This is a strange thing you are telling me, boy," remarked the captain. "How is it you know there is an ambuscade laid to catch us napping?"
"I will gladly explain," the Eagle Patrol leader hastened to say. "You see, we want to get to Sempst, and, as we helped the Red Cross on the battlefield yesterday, we were detained. Then we found that there was a German army camped right in our way. It moved off toward the front only an hour ago, and we have been hiding most of the day. But, while we were watching the troops depart, I was surprised to see a single gun taken into a patch of scrub on a little elevation that commands the road. It is pointed this way, and you can never notice it there unless you have been posted. Now I can guess what they are hiding for; they expect that you may be along, and mean to rid the German army of your stinging them so often!"
Tubby's mouth was wide open. He stared at Rob as though he hardly knew whether he were awake or asleep. Even Merritt seemed thrilled by what he had heard.
As for the Belgian captain, it was an incredulous look that gripped his features.
"I do not know what to believe, boy," he said, looking earnestly at Rob.