though each was bathed in
perspiration when they regained the shelter of the house where they
had spent the night.

"Not a moment must now be lost," said Pre Marquee. "You must get as
far away from this village as possible without delay. Your presence
here will lead to inquiry before many hours have passed, and subsequent
registration. If that comes, you would be shot as spies without
doubt, sooner or later. I advised that you take the chance of discovery
at the funeral so that we could say that you came from a nearby town
for that ceremony and had at once returned. Be sure that I shall
select a town in the opposite direction to that in which you will be
working your way. I am sure that the end justifies the means, and
I wish you Godspeed."

Ten minutes later the two boys slipped out the rear door of the
house. Dicky was soon limping through the trees of a thickly-foliaged
orchard, Bob close behind. Stooping under the low branches, step by
step they advanced. No one was in sight. A last glance behind and
the boys ducked through the leafy hedge, wriggled over a low wall,
and rolled into a deep ditch beside it. Stooping as low as they
could, the boys followed this ditch for some hundreds of yards, until
they were well clear of the town, and out of sight of anyone in it.
Finally they reached a spot which seemed particularly well suited
for a hiding place, and decided to remain there until dark before
attempting to proceed further. All the rest of the day they lay in
the moist, muddy ditch-bottom. Bob had torn a map from the back of
an old railway guide he had seen in the house in which he had slept,
and it was to prove of inestimable value to him. To strike north,
edging west, and reach one of the larger Belgian towns was the first
plan. What they should do once they had accomplished that, time must
tell them. So far they had been blessed by the best of fortune, and
the part of the country in which they had descended did not seem to
hold very many German troops. Even Bob began to hope.

CHAPTER XI

THROUGH THE LINES

It was stiff, tiresome work lying quiet in the ditch that day, but
with brambles pulled over them the boys were in comparatively little
danger of discovery. At dusk they crawled cautiously out of their
hiding-place and slowly headed northward. Every sound meant Germans
to them, and their first mile was a succession of sallies forward,
interspersed with sudden dives underneath