ob and several of his close adherents were unexpectedly
allowed to take a trip. Andy Bowles, the bugler of the troop, had an
uncle who owned a cattle ranch down in Chihuahua, in Mexico. He was
sick, and unable to go down himself to dispose of the stock before the
fighting forces of rebels and Federals drove the herds away.
Accordingly, he sent his nephew and several of his chums to seek General
Villa, whom he had once befriended, and gain his assistance in selling
the valuable stock. The wonderful things they saw, and the peculiar
adventures that came their way, have all been described in the seventh
volume, just preceding this, under the title of _The Boy Scouts Under
Fire in Mexico_.

That, telling briefly some of the remarkable things that happened in
their career as Boy Scouts, will have to suffice to introduce Rob and
his two chums to the reader.

Starting out from their hotel, the three American boys were soon
engrossed in their pursuit of seeing some of the strange sights for
which this old Flemish city on the Scheldt has always been famous.

While they gazed, and made many amusing comments, Rob could not help
noticing that, in turn, they attracted considerable attention. He could
give a good guess as to the reason of this.

At that time, with the vast German army spreading out over most of
Belgium, and also fighting its way to Paris, the good people of Antwerp
were constantly worried over the possibility of an attack. They had many
scares, though as yet the invaders, after taking Brussels, had not
chosen to invest the big city near the sea. Later on, as we all know,
the time came when their heavy artillery was turned on the forts of
Antwerp, and before the terrible fire from those colossal German guns,
steel domes that had been called invulnerable were easily battered to
pulp.

With the assault and fall of Antwerp we have nothing to do, at least at
present; but possibly those Flemish people thought the Boy Scouts part
of an English army coming to defend Antwerp.

When Rob and his two chums landed from England, after crossing on a
small steamer, they found the city choked with fugitives and Belgian
soldiers.

Pushing their way along the crowded sidewalks, the boys took in all the
sights that were so new to their American eyes. Only Rob had a small
smattering of French, while his companions could not speak a word of the
language. All of them were utterly ignorant of Flemish, current in half
the homes of B