War stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Belgium; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
They walked past their car and down the road. They looked across the
fields into the black night. Straight down the road a lamp suddenly
shone in the gloom. It moved to and fro, and up and down. There was
regularity in its motion. A great shaft of answering white light shot up
into the night from the north.
"They are signalling from inside our line here," said the Commandant,
"over there to the enemy guns beyond Ramskappele. Some spy down here
with a flash-lamp is telling them that we're out of ammunition."
"But can't we catch the spy?" urged Hilda. "That light doesn't look to
be more than a few hundred yards away."
"That is further away than it looks," answered Jost; "that's all of a
mile away. He's hidden somewhere in a field."
Mrs. Bracher seized Victor by the arm, and faced the Commandant.
"I know where he's hidden," she cried. "Let me show you."
The Commandant nodded assent.
"Messieurs, les Belges," she commanded in a sharp, high voice, "come
with me and move quickly!"
She brought them back to the car.
"Send for four of your men," she said to Jost. They came.
"Wait in the house," she said to Hilda.
"Now we start," Mrs. Bracher ordered. "Victor, you take the wheel. Drive
down the Furnes road."
They drove in silence for five minutes, till her quick eye picked a
landmark out of the dimness.
"Drive the car slowly past, and on down the road," she ordered, "don't
stop it. We six must dismount while it is moving. Surround the house
quietly. The Commandant and I will enter by the front door."
They had come to the deserted farm-house. It loomed dimly out of the
vacant fields and against the background of travelling clouds. Victor
stayed at the wheel. Mrs. Bracher, the Commandant, and the four
soldiers, jumped off into the road. The six silently filed into the
door-yard. The four soldiers melted into the night. Mrs. Bracher caught
the handle of the door firmly and shoved. The door gave way. She and
Jost stepped inside. The Commandant drew his pistol. He flashed his
pocket light down the hall and up the stairs. There was nothing but
vacancy. They passed into the room at their right hand. Jost's light
searched its way around the room. In the corner, stood a tall soldier,
dressed in green.
"Let me introduce Monsieur Rollo, the spy," said Mrs. Bracher. There was
triumph in her voice. The Commandant put a whistle to his lips and blew.
His four men came stamping in, pistols in hand.
"Clever device, this," said Mrs. Bracher. She had stooped and lifted out
a large electric flash lamp from under a sweater.
"Clever woman, this," said the Commandant, saluting Mrs. Bracher. "How
did you come to know the place?"
"Monsieur Rollo uses double tires on a wet soil," she explained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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