Rod himself was of the opinion that the enterprising peasants might manage to partly indemnify themselves for their losses by taking possession of some of the various things abandoned, and renewing their usefulness.
It was now getting well on toward noon. Hanky Panky had even been heard to call out that he felt hungry, though Rod could see little hope of appeasing their appetites in that country, so thoroughly cleaned out by the enemy.
Suddenly there came an outburst of heavy firing close at hand. It was so furious that the three boys involuntarily stopped short, and huddled together to compare notes, so that they might decide upon the safest course for them to pursue.
Smoke began to climb upwards above the trees not more than a mile away, where Rod had reason to believe the Marne River ran.
“That’s where the fight is going on, Rod, you can see!” shouted Josh, eagerly, pointing as he spoke; “look at the French batteries wheeling into position, would you? They mean to give the Germans a lot of pounding, looks like. I wonder what it all means; can you give a guess, Rod?”
Rod could, and lost no time in advancing his opinion.
“From what I heard when I talked with that last bunch of natives,” he called out, for the racket was growing more deafening with every minute’s passage, “there’s a ford to the river right about that place. Now like as not the Germans have determined to dispute the passage of the crossing, and left a big force there to hold Joffre’s men in check. The battle for that ford is now starting up, and it will be a pretty stiff fight unless all signs fail.”
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE THUNDER OF OPPOSING BATTERIES.
Standing there they used their eyes to the best advantage, though none of them felt fully satisfied with their position. Josh looked enviously at a spot only a short distance away. It was something of a small elevation, and he felt positive that if only they could manage to reach it their chances of seeing all that went on would be immeasurably enhanced.