“In that case we are likely to be in the thick of it.”
“I’m afraid so, and it may be mighty difficult to get away. We’ll have to find Tom Jukes as soon as we can, and then get back to the coast.”
An aeroplane buzzed by overhead, its powerful engines whirring, buzzing thunderously. By daylight the town was almost empty of soldiers; they had all, except a few detachments, been called to the front during the night.
The landlord of the hotel was in a great state of perturbation.
“Ah, those terrible Germans!” he exclaimed, “they will wreck our beautiful town and put us to death. I know them. Oh, what unhappy times.”
“Perhaps they may be beaten back,” encouraged Jack.
“Oh, no! No such good fortune,” said the landlord, wringing his hands miserably. Just after dawn, a mud-spattered courier arrived, and declared Liege had fallen, “the Germans are coming.”
Everywhere that was the cry as, after a hasty breakfast in the disordered hotel, the boys hurried out.