In Tongres it was necessary to get a passport signed, and pay three marks each, and ten marks for the motor. But the office of the commander was not open before three o'clock in the afternoon, according to the soldiers who were doing sentry-go in front of the town-hall. Wait till three o'clock? No fear! My companion showed his miraculous paper again, and was allowed to go in, but only by himself. I gave him my papers and those of the chauffeur, and also wanted to give him sixteen marks, three each for the chauffeur and myself and ten for the motor, but he said that that was unnecessary. Within twenty minutes the fellow came back with our verified passports on which the words "Paid: Free" were written. A lot of artillery and a great number of soldiers were in the market-place ready to start. The commander sent one of his officers to us, who addressed me, examined my papers, and then said that I had surely met Belgian soldiers on the way. Of course I denied this emphatically. "Don't you know then whether there are Belgian military in Vroenhoven?" "No." "And in Lanaeken?" "I know nothing about that." "Didn't hear either about it?" "No." Evidently he seemed to confide in me, and told me that they had been ordered to clear the north-east corner of Belgium of enemies, and that by and by they were going to march upon Lanaeken first of all. When he was gone I gazed for some moments in silence at all these men and guns, destined to go and destroy by and by the heroes, who have done so much harm to the Germans, under command of the brave lieutenant Count de Caritat, burgomaster of Lanaeken. I thought of that brave Belgian from Dinant whom I met on his solitary outpost outside Lanaeken, and if I had acted according to my heart's desire, I should have sneaked away to the threatened point in order to warn those courageous men of the approaching disaster. My mysterious companion touched my shoulder and asked whether we should not go on. "All right," I said, and we got in again. At Tirlemont they were very busy rebuilding the burnt houses, although all day long the air shook from the heavy roar of the cannon near Antwerp. I sent the motor back to The Netherlands, and went with my companion to the commander's office, where we got a permit to go on by military train. From the side of Brussels many soldiers arrived at the station, who had all been wounded near Antwerp. After a long time we were able to enter a train taking numerous new troops to Antwerp. We occupied a first-class compartment, which looked like a cattle-truck: pieces of bread, paper, cigar-ends, and tobacco were lying on the floor and the seats; the ledges of the windows were full of candle-grease.