nder the boys involuntarily uncovered and stood for some time
without speaking.
"Somebody's mother," said Dicky at last, with a catch in his throat as
he uttered the words.
"Yes, perhaps," said Bob, as he gently covered the body with a blanket.
"We must bury her decently. Who knows how long she might have lain
here but for our chance coming?"
Under a dust sheet, strung on a bit of string along the side of the
room, the boys found many women's garments, of the cheapest, simplest
sort, and some men's clothing. Dicky stripped off his uniform and
pulled on a random selection of what lay to his hand. With the
addition of a dirty cap, found on the floor at the foot of the bed,
and a pair of coarse boots, one without a heel, that were discovered
in the cupboard in the kitchen, Dicky's disguise was complete. Given
a plentiful application of dirt on face and hands, and a couple of
days' growth of stubble on his chin, no one could have imagined him
a smart young officer.
Bob was not so easy to outfit. His larger size made it impossible for
him to find a coat that he could get into, so he had to content himself
with an old shirt and a dilapidated pair of trousers which did not
come near his feet. No other hat or cap could he find.
Toward dusk, at Dicky's suggestion, they went out and made a search
for some rude instrument wherewith to dig a grave. They found a
broken shovel and a dull adze-like implement. The grave prepared,
and dusk having come, Bob was struck with the idea that they had best
bury their uniforms.
"If the Germans should happen to clap eyes on us and decided to
search us, it would be all up with two Brighton boys," said Bob.
"So it's my think that we'd better hide the certain evidences as
to our identity."
Dicky not only agreed to this, and started at once to put the idea
into practice, but made a further suggestion. "We might give the
poor old woman a better resting place further afield, if we knew
where to find a graveyard," he said.
"We can search for one," replied Bob. "To carry her away from here
would be the best plan, and bury her when we find a proper burial
ground. We certainly should not have to take her far."
"If we were discovered doing so, I suppose the fact we were actually
carrying our dead, or what the Germans would think was our dead, would
help us to get a bit further, too," Dicky argued.
"Fine! And if I can't talk Belgian-French better than any German
that ever
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