They glanced at the car. The off front wheel had disappeared; the off hind wheel was buckled; the bonnet and radiator were a mass of twisted iron. It was a complete wreck. A shell bursting little more than a hundred yards away warned them to be gone, and they started to run towards the fort. "Hellwig!" exclaimed Kenneth suddenly. They ran back. The spy, the man whom the Kaiser delighted to honour, lay huddled in the bottom of the car, under the machine gun. It had broken his neck. "Poor devil!" murmured Granger. They turned hastily, and ran on silently, each thinking his own thoughts. Pariset was the least concerned at Hellwig’s fate. To him Hellwig was merely a German and a spy, who had met with his deserts. Granger, whatever his private animus against Hellwig, could not but remember that they were members of one profession, who faced the same perils and might suffer the same end. Kenneth was the most deeply affected. He had disliked Hellwig, and had the average Englishman’s contempt and hatred of spying. It was the one thing that alloyed his liking for Granger. But, as he said to Pariset afterwards: "If there must be spying, and I suppose there must, it is something to spy like a gentleman, and that I am sure Granger does." The three men came to the glacis. A roar startled them and made them duck instinctively. The fort had opened fire on the German battery. They raced up, past empty trenches, still followed by shell; but they now presented an inconspicuous mark to the gunners more than three miles distant. It was a long uphill climb, but they panted on towards the door of safety. Was it safety? Their way across the moat was barred by a group of Belgian engineers with rifles, amazed at the appearance of two men in Uhlan uniform. Pariset held up his hands. "Lieutenant Montoisy!" he shouted. "Is he here?" The men lowered their rifles and advanced. Pariset hastened to meet them. "We are friends," he said. "Tell Lieutenant Montoisy that Lieutenant Pariset is here." One of the men ran back. A shell burst on the wall some distance to the right. "Come inside, messieurs," said another of the men. And as they entered, Lieutenant Montoisy, the second in command, a begrimed haggard figure, met them. "Pariset!" he exclaimed. "You were in the car? Mon Dieu! You have had an escape! Come in: what is the meaning of it?" CHAPTER XIX--’A LONG, LONG WAY----’ No sooner had the fugitives entered the fort than Kenneth collapsed. The tension of the last two days, the terrific strain of controlling the armoured car, and the concussion of the final shock, had been too heavy a tax upon his nervous system. Pariset was in little better condition. Granger, an older man, of settled constitution, was less affected than the others, and he was able to assist the surgeon of the fort in tending upon his friends.