Merritt did not answer back. Truth to tell he realized that he merited a rebuke for his lack of observation. It might pass with an ordinary boy, but was inexcusable in a scout who had been trained to constantly use his faculties for observation wherever he went.
"Our road will take us past that place where they are hiding, won't it, Rob?" he presently said. "Suppose, now, they guessed that we must have turned the armored car back, and lost them their victims, wouldn't they be likely to take it out on us, thinking we might be Belgian Boy Scouts?"
"I had that in my mind, Merritt," admitted Rob, "and for that reason I reckon we ought to leave the road right here. We can make a wide detour, and strike it further along, where the danger will be past."
All of them were of the same mind. They did not fancy taking any chance of having that concealed six-pounder discharged point-blank at them. Mistakes are hard to rectify after a fatal volley has been fired. The best way is to avoid running any chances.
They found a way to leave the road and take to the fields, skirting fences, and in every way possible managing to keep out of sight of the German gunners who were lying concealed in that scrub on the little elevation.
It was while they were pushing on some distance away that without the least warning they caught a strange pulsating rattling sound from the rear. All of them came to a stop, and wondering looks were quickly changed to those of concern.
"Rob," exclaimed Merritt, "it comes from near where that gun lies hidden back of the bushes; and that's the rattle of a Maxim, as sure as you live. Those Belgians have turned the tables on the Germans; they've managed to sneak around back of them, and must be pouring in a terrible fire that will mow down every gunner in that bunch of brush!"
Rob was a little white in the face, as he continued to listen to the significant discharge. He had seen what mischief one of those Maxim guns could do at fairly close quarters, for they had witnessed them at work during the battle of the preceding day.
"I feel bad about it in one way," he said, "because in saving the lives of those three Belgians we have been the means of turning the trap on those who set it. But I never dreamed they would try to surprise the men in ambush."