Ten minutes later they turned their backs on the little hamlet where a fair meal had been procured, and which had also witnessed their first real misfortune in the base desertion of Anthony.
In many cases they found the roads occupied with throngs of fugitives. These poor peasants were flocking, in a general way, toward Antwerp, though possibly a few of them meant to cross the line into the Netherlands, where they hoped to be safe from the German armies of invasion that were gradually progressing further and further toward the coast.
A thousand-and-one sights greeted the eyes of the three scouts. More than a few times they stopped for some purpose or other that did their hearts credit. Once it was a limping boy whose condition excited the pity of Rob. He did not hesitate to put to some use the practical knowledge of surgery that he had picked up in company with all the other members of the Eagle Patrol.
Another time they saw a wretched woman trying to mend the wheel of a miserable old handcart, upon which she had some humble belongings, and three small children. That was more than the boys could stand. They stopped their horses, and giving the lines of their mounts into the keeping of Tubby, Rob and Merritt busied themselves with fixing up the disabled wheel.
Although they had next to no tools with which to work, their skill proved sufficient to surmount the difficulty. Inside of twenty minutes the woman was able to trudge along again. She thanked them volubly in Flemish, which they did not understand. Tubby listened eagerly, but owned up that it was beyond the range of his extremely limited vocabulary, consisting, as that did, of but one word.
"Well, that look on her face paid us for all our trouble," Rob remarked contentedly, as he once more remounted, and led the way along the highway.
"It's something fierce where all these forlorn people come from," said Tubby.
"To me the greatest puzzle is where they're all going," Merritt added.
"If you should ask them," Rob advanced as his opinion, "nine out of ten couldn't begin to tell you. Some have had their houses burned over their heads; others I expect have seen their homes destroyed by bursting shells, where they happened to lie near the place where an artillery duel was going on. So they've just started on the road, hoping to reach somewhere the fighting won't follow."
"It's a terrible sight," sighed Tubby. "I'll never forget it as long as I live. Every minute I'm telling myself we ought to be the happiest people going over in America, to know that we needn't get mixed up in all this butcher business."