"I suppose there's a lot of places they could hide along the brook; the brush is pretty thick all the way up," Tom added.
Roscoe whistled softly in indecision. "I like the open better," said he.
"I guess so," Tom agreed, "when there's only two of us."
"There's three of us, though," said Roscoe, "and Tommy here likes the open better. I'd toss up a coin only with these blamed French coins you can't tell which is heads and which is tails."
Roscoe was right about the Germans having withdrawn beyond the road north of the woods. Whether he was right about its being safer to go around the edge of the forest remained to be determined.
This wood, in which they had passed the day, extended north of the village (see map) and thinned out upon the eastern side so that one following the eastern edge would emerge from the wood a little east of the main settlement. Here was the by-path which Roscoe had mentioned, and which led down into the main road.
Running east and west across the northern extremity of the woods was a road, and the Germans, driven first from their trenches, then out of the village, and then out of the woods, were establishing their lines north of this road.
If the boys had followed the brook down they would have reached the village by a much shorter course, but Roscoe preferred the open country where they could keep a better lookout. Whether his decision was a wise one, we shall see.
