mptly.

Bates offered no objection, as long as they followed in rear. The
hussar's cloaks came in useful, and Dalroy buckled on a sword-belt. Jan
announced that he was good for another twenty miles provided he could
win clear of those _sales Alboches_. He was eager to relate his
adventures, but Dalroy quieted him by the downright statement that if
his tongue wagged he might soon be either a prisoner again or dead.

A night so rife with hazard could hardly close tamely. The rain cleared
off, and the stars came out ere they reached the ferry on the Schelde,
and a scout sent ahead came back with the disquieting news that a strong
cavalry picket, evidently on the alert, held the right bank. But the
thirteen had made a specialty of disposing of German pickets in the
dark. In those early days of the war, and particularly in Flanders,
Teuton nerves were notoriously jumpy, so the little band crept forward
resolutely, dodging from tree to tree, and into and out of ditches,
until they could see the stars reflected in the river. Dalroy and Irene
had dismounted at the first tidings of the enemy, turning a pair of
contented horses into a meadow. They and Maertz, of course, had to keep
well behind the main body.

The troopers, veritable Uhlans this time, had posted neither sentry nor
vedette in the lane. Behind them, they thought, lay Germany. In front,
across the river, the small army of Belgium held the last strip of
Belgian territory, which then ran in an irregular line from Antwerp
through Gand to Nieuport. So the picket watched the black smudge of the
opposite bank, and talked of the Kron-Prinz's stalwarts hacking their
way into Paris, and never dreamed of being assailed from the rear, until
a number of sturdy demons pounced on them, and did some pretty
bayonet-work.

Fight there was none. Those Uhlans able to run ran for their lives. One
fellow, who happened to be mounted, clapped spurs to his charger, and
would have got away had not Dalroy delivered a most satisfactory lunge
with the hussar sabre.

No sooner had Bates collected and counted sixteen people than the
tactics were changed. Five rounds rapid rattled up the road and along
the banks.

"I find that a bit of noise always helps after we get the windup with
the bayonet, sir," he explained to Dalroy. "If any of 'em think of
stopping they move on again when they hear a hefty row."

A Belgian picket, guarding the ferry, and, what was of vast importance
to the fugiti