In the Ardennes
After two days' steady tramping Max and Dale arrived at La Roche, a little town on the Ourthe, well in the broken country of the Ardennes. They had had no such easy and uneventful journey as they anticipated. The whole country was in a very unsettled state, the people ready to be startled and alarmed by every rumour—and they were not few—and viewing strangers with the utmost suspicion as probably German spies on the look-out for more victims.
Half the population of the villages passed on the way had gone. Houses stood unoccupied, with doors wide open, although the furniture of those who had so lately tenanted them was still within. The whole countryside bore evidences of a great panic, and some places the more sinister signs of rough and brutal treatment. Many houses had been burned down and others had been plundered in a most barbarous manner, property that could not be carried off having been wantonly destroyed. The fields and farmlands seemed deserted, as though no one dared to work at a harvest that was likely to be reaped by the enemies of their country.
The authors of all this mischief were said to be the Uhlans. It appeared that these formidable horsemen, after the fall of Liége, had spread in small parties all over the Ardennes and had carried terror and destruction wherever they went. Their principal motive was, no doubt, to gather information of the enemy's whereabouts, but, while doing so, they seemed to throw themselves heart and soul into another task—that of making their name known and dreaded throughout the length and breadth of Belgium.
La Roche had so far suffered little. Parties of Uhlans had passed through from time to time, but they had usually been in a hurry, and had had no time to do more than seize supplies for themselves and their horses. This was the kind of place Max and Dale were looking for, and, finding no troops there at the moment, and none expected, they sought out (avoiding the hotels) a café in the most out-of-the-way spot they could find, and settled down for a long stay.
At least they hoped it might be a long stay. They had had so busy a time of late that neither felt any inclination to go out of his way to meet trouble. If only the enemy would leave them alone, they were prepared to welcome a long period of peace and tranquillity.
But somehow peace and tranquillity seemed to have turned their backs upon Max and Dale. Only the second night after their arrival they were awakened in the middle of the night by the clatter of horses' hoofs upon the cobbled pavements, loud shouting, and the insistent hammering of doors.
"Ask the proprietor what's the row, Max," growled Dale sleepily, as he heard Max get up and look out of the little window of their bedroom.
Max did so, and learned that a strong body of Uhlans had just ridden in and demanded shelter and supplies.
"Are we in any danger?" he asked.