So Jack and Amos found smiles upon some of the wan faces around them as well as wonder and curiosity.
“If we can only run across some one who speaks English I’d call it lucky,” Amos was saying as they reached the center of the village.
“Here comes the man we want to see, then,” Jack told him. “The rest are pushing him along as if they knew he could talk with us. My French isn’t all it should be, and I have to depend on signs half the time so as to make myself understood. But it’s going to be all right now.”
Jack proved to be a good prophet, for the old man with the white beard addressed them in very fair English. He told them he had worked in an American arms factory for several years, and considered that he knew Yankee customs very well indeed.
“If you wish to spend the night with us,” he continued, “we will do the best we can to entertain you. In these sad times most of us are content to find a roof over our heads, and have something to satisfy our hunger. I will take you to my own poor house, though it is already crowded with relatives from other parts of our distracted country. Such accommodations as we have you are quite welcome to.”
Of course the boys thanked him, and hastened to say they would be satisfied to sleep in a shed, if there was no other place vacant. He asked them to accompany him, and with quite a procession tagging at their heels they started off.
It turned out that their host was really an important man in the village. Jack guessed he must be the mayor or burgomaster, since every one seemed to defer to his judgment.
One of the first things they noticed as they drew near the cottage for which they were headed, was a small boy parading up and down bearing a Belgian flag proudly over his shoulder. He seemed a very determined-looking youngster, and Amos openly commented on his manifest patriotism, at which the old man shrugged his shoulders, and then remarked:
“Of such material are the Belgian people composed. Like the Dutch they have never been conquered. They dared even to defy the Kaiser and his millions of fighting men. Belgium will rise again, and be a greater nation than ever.”
“And the boy?” said Jack, deeply interested.