either did I," answered his father; "and neither did the Germans for
that matter. There was no one in sight."

"Oh," cried Mother De Smet, "it was as if the good God himself
intervened to save you!"

"As I figure it out," said Father De Smet, "we must have stopped very
near the trenches, and our own men must have seen the Germans attack
us. My German friend had evidently been following us up, meaning to get
everything we had and me too. But the smell of the onions was too much
for him! If he hadn't been greedy, he might have carried out his plan,
but he wanted our potatoes and our supper too; and so he got neither!"
he chuckled. "And neither did the Kaiser get a toast from me! Instead,
he got a salute from the Belgians." He crossed himself reverently.
"Thank God for our soldiers," he said, and Mother De Smet, weeping
softly, murmured a devout "Amen."

Little did Jan and Marie dream as they listened, that this blessing
rested upon their own father, and that he had been one of the Belgian
soldiers, who, firing from the trenches, had delivered them from the
hands of their enemies. Their father, hidden away, in the earth like a
fox, as little dreamed that he had helped to save his own children from
a terrible fate.

XII

THE ZEPPELIN RAID

When the Twins awoke, early the next morning, they found that Father
and Mother De Smet had been stirring much earlier still, and that the
"Old Woman" was already slipping quietly along among the docks of
Antwerp. To their immense surprise they were being towed, not by
Netteke, but by a very small and puffy steam tug. They were further
astonished to find that Netteke herself was on board the "Old Woman."

"How in the world did you get the mule on to the boat!" gasped Jan,
when he saw her.

"Led her right up the gangplank just like folks," answered Father De
Smet. "I couldn't leave her behind and I wanted to get to the Antwerp
docks as soon as possible. This was the quickest way. You see," he went
on, "I don't know where I shall be going next, but I know it won't be
up the Dyle, so I am going to keep Netteke right where I can use her
any minute."

There was no time for further questions, for Father De Smet had to
devote his attention to the tiller. Soon they were safely in dock and
Father De Smet was unloading his potatoes and selling them to the
market-men, who swarmed about the boats to buy the produce which had
been brought in from the country.

"There!" he said with a