"Why, yes; we have no further use for it," he was told, "and there's
always a small chance that some soldier would be sent this way on an
errand, when he might get a whiff of the smoke, and take a notion to
investigate. For one I'm not hankering to be sent a prisoner of war to
some detention camp on the Rhine."

"And I'd feel pretty bad if my mission over here turned out a fizzle,"
said Merritt, "because my heart is set on getting that paper for
Grandfather Crawford."

"I'm going to propose," Tubby projected, as though he could not tear his
thoughts away from the one fascinating subject as long as the taste of
his remarkable feast was still on his lips, "that we put in a couple of
hours' more work getting a supply of these bouncing big frogs. If the
Germans stay right there the rest of the day we want to lay in some
provisions; and our choice is limited, you know, to this one thing."

"Of course we could do that," Rob informed him, "in case it was
absolutely necessary; but I've got a hunch that there's going to be a
movement of that army before sundown. If that happens, we can get away
from here, and find some one to cook us a meal."

"Then you must have noticed signs that told they were beginning to get
ready to go?" suggested Merritt.

"Which was just what I did," replied Rob. "I can hear certain sounds
that tell me they have received the order they were expecting, and are
breaking camp."

As all of them were anxious to learn whether this glorious possibility
could be really true or not, they once more made their way back to the
spot where their former vigil had taken place.

"Why, the whole army is in motion, seems like!" ejaculated Tubby.

"And a wonderful sight it is, at that," added Merritt. "They can say
what they please about these German soldiers--and the Belgians feel
they've got a right to call them all sorts of hard names, as barbarians
and the like; but there never was such remarkable discipline in the
history of the world. The huge army is like one vast machine. Men count
only as necessary cogs. When one goes another takes its place, and the
engine grinds on."

They crouched there and watched every operation from a safe distance. It
seemed as though there was a never-ending procession of gray-coated
figures, most of them with the spiked helmets on their heads, marching
away in columns toward the southwest. Then came batteries of
quick-firing guns, and heavier field pieces. The clattering of
acco