"Oh! hardly, unless they take to ransacking the house for valuables, or more wine. They must know time is too valuable for that, because there are Belgian forces all around this place who might drop in on them. No, they'll get a hurried bite and then be off again."
For some little time they continued to listen to the confused sounds that came to their ears. Considerable shouting from the street testified to the fact that some of the soldiers might be acting, as Tubby expressed it, "rough-house"; and although the light outside was commencing to grow rather dim, looking through the window they saw several instances where a soldier struck some half grown boy who may have acted in a sullen fashion, or declined to do what he was told.
All at once there was a shot!
This was followed by a great outcry, in which loud German voices could be heard giving orders. A scrambling downstairs announced that the officers who had been eating at the inn were hurriedly rejoining their command.
"Are the Belgian troops coming, Rob?" asked Tubby, finding it impossible to see what was going on, because he had been unable to open his window, as the others had done.
"No, it must have been some desperate villager sniping from a house," replied Rob; and a minute later he continued hastily: "Yes, they're carrying a Uhlan to his horse, and threatening the people with guns and lances."
"Oh! I hope now they don't start in to shooting the poor things down!" cried the sympathetic Tubby, wringing his hands, though hardly conscious of what he was doing.
"They've rushed into the house next to this," Merritt now exclaimed, "and seem to be searching it, which tells me the party who fired, man or boy, must have been concealed there!"
"Gee! that's getting pretty near home!" muttered Tubby.
"Rob, did you see that puff of smoke coming out of the house then?" Merritt presently demanded, almost bursting with the excitement.