pped before we
really get started," said Paul. "On foot we never could have got ahead
of the Germans in that sweeping flank movement of theirs. But now,
when we can make sixty miles an hour, I should think we ought to be
able to do it. I think the worst time will be right along here in the
first ten miles or so. All I'm hoping is that we don't run into the
people who know where Poertner was going in this car. I think we can
get by anyone else. But there's no telling where he did start from.
Perhaps from Huy."

"Huy? But we were there this morning--and our troops were there, too!"
exclaimed Arthur, plainly puzzled.

"That doesn't mean that they're there now. Huy couldn't have held out
for more than a few hours against a real attack. And we had very few
troops there. Our concentration seems to be further north."

They swept through Hannay at a terrific pace, but not so fast as to
prevent them from seeing that the wine shop was still open and that it
was full of Raymond's men. Paul sounded a blast on the siren of his
car, the peculiar siren that indicated its military character, and
laughed at the rush of people to the door of the shop. Then they were
out in the open road again.

And now Paul's knowledge of the geography of the country stood him in
good stead. Twinkling camp fires showed that they were running toward
a country that was literally swarming with Germans. Now more than
ever, it was plain that from all around Liege a great advance movement
was being pushed. Despite the battle that was still raging behind
them, these troops seemed to be in camp, a plain proof that the Germans
must still have troops enough and to spare behind them, though here
were fresh divisions that would not be engaged at all.

In the southwest the lights of Huy, could be seen, but they gave no
clue as to which army held the town. Only the fires that dotted the
ground, clustered about Huy in a great semicircle, seemed to indicate
that perhaps the Germans had not yet entered the town. They were west
of it, however, though only a few, toward Namur, and Paul muttered
angrily to himself as he saw that well west of Huy the fires stretched
in a solid line between that place and the fortress of Namur.

"We won't be able to reach Namur, I'm afraid," he said. "We might get
through, but I believe that our best chance is to swing right around
Huy, staying well inside the line of the fires, and slip past it, just
to the west. Th