The Belgian Twins Page 12

  XII

  THE ZEPPELIN RAID

  When the Twins awoke, early the next morning, they found that Fatherand Mother De Smet had been stirring much earlier still, and that the"Old Woman" was already slipping quietly along among the docks ofAntwerp. To their immense surprise they were being towed, not byNetteke, but by a very small and puffy steam tug. They were furtherastonished to find that Netteke herself was on board the "Old Woman."

  "How in the world did you get the mule on to the boat!" gasped Jan,when he saw her.

  "Led her right up the gangplank just like folks," answered Father DeSmet. "I couldn't leave her behind and I wanted to get to the Antwerpdocks as soon as possible. This was the quickest way. You see," he wenton, "I don't know where I shall be going next, but I know it won't beup the Dyle, so I am going to keep Netteke right where I can use herany minute."

  There was no time for further questions, for Father De Smet had todevote his attention to the tiller. Soon they were safely in dock andFather De Smet was unloading his potatoes and selling them to themarket-men, who swarmed about the boats to buy the produce which hadbeen brought in from the country.

  "There!" he said with a sigh of relief as he delivered the last of hiscargo to a purchaser late in the afternoon; "that load is safe from theGermans, anyway."

  "How did you find things up the Dyle?" asked the merchant who hadbought the potatoes.

  Father De Smet shook his head.

  "Couldn't well be worse," he said. "I'm not going to risk another trip.The Germans are taking everything they can lay their hands on, and aredestroying what they can't seize. I nearly lost this load, and my lifeinto the bargain. If it hadn't been that, without knowing it, westopped so near the Belgian line of trenches that they could fire onthe German foragers who tried to take our cargo, I shouldn't have beenhere to tell this tale."

  "God only knows what will become of Belgium if this state of thingscontinues," groaned the merchant. "Food must come from somewhere or thepeople will starve."

  "True enough," answered Father De Smet. "I believe I'll try a tripnorth through the back channels of the Scheldt and see what I can pickup."

  "Don't give up, anyway," urged the merchant. "If you fellows go back onus, I don't know what we shall do. We depend on you to bring suppliesfrom somewhere, and if you can't get them in Belgium, you'll have to goup into Holland."

  Mother De Smet leaned over the boatrail and spoke to the two men whowere standing on the dock.

  "You'd better believe we'll not give up," she said. "We don't know themeaning of the word."

  "Well," said the merchant sadly, "maybe you don't, but there are otherswho do. It takes a stout heart to have faith that God hasn't forgottenBelgium these days."

  "It's easy enough to have faith when things are going right," saidMother De Smet, "but to have faith when things are going wrong isn't soeasy." Then she remembered Granny. "But a sick heart won't get youanywhere, and maybe a stout one will," she finished.

  "That's a good word," said the merchant.

  "It was said by as good a woman as treads shoe-leather," answeredMother De Smet.

  "You are safe while you stay in Antwerp, anyway," said the merchant ashe turned to say good-bye. "Our forts are the strongest in the worldand the Germans will never be able to take them. There's comfort inthat for us." Then he spoke to his horses and turned away with his load.

  "Let us stay right here to-night," said Mother De Smet to her husbandas he came on board the boat. "We are all in need of rest afteryesterday, and in Antwerp we can get a good night's sleep. Besides, itis so late in the day that we couldn't get out of town before dark ifwe tried."

  Following this plan, the whole family went to bed at dusk, but theywere not destined to enjoy the quiet sleep they longed for. The nightwas warm, and the cabin small, so Father De Smet and Joseph, as well asthe Twins, spread bedding on the deck and went to sleep looking up atthe stars.

  They had slept for some hours when they were suddenly aroused by thesound of a terrific explosion. Instantly they sprang to their feet,wide awake, and Mother De Smet came rushing from the cabin with thebabies screaming in her arms.

  "What is it now? What is it?" she cried.

  "Look! Look!" cried Jan.

  He pointed to the sky. There, blazing with light, like a greatmisshapen moon, was a giant airship moving swiftly over the city. As itsailed along, streams of fire fell from it, and immediately therefollowed the terrible thunder of bursting bombs. When it passed out ofsight, it seemed as if the voice of the city itself must rise inanguish at the terrible destruction left in its wake.

  Just what that destruction was, Father De Smet did not wish to see."This is a good place to get away from," he said to the frightenedgroup cowering on the deck of the "Old Woman" after the bright terrorhad disappeared. When morning came he lost no time in making the bestspeed he could away from the doomed city of Antwerp which they hadthought so safe.

  When they had left the city behind them and the boat was slowly makingits way through the quiet back channels of the Scheldt the world oncemore seemed really peaceful to the wandering children. Their way layover still waters and beside green pastures, and as they had nocommunication with the stricken regions of Belgium, they had no news ofthe progress of the war, until, some days later, the boat docked atRotterdam, and it became necessary to decide what should be done next.There they learned that they had barely escaped the siege of Antwerp,which had begun with the Zeppelin raid.

  Father De Smet was now obliged to confront the problem of what to dowith his own family, for, since Antwerp was now in the hands of theenemy, he could no longer earn his living in the old way. Under thesechanged conditions he could not take care of Jan and Marie, so one sadday they said good-bye to good Mother De Smet, to Joseph and thebabies, and went with Father De Smet into the city of Rotterdam.

  They found that these streets were also full of Belgian refugees, andhere, too, they watched for their mother. In order to keep up hercourage, Marie had often to feel of the locket and to say to herself:"She will find us. She will find us." And Jan, Jan had many times tosay to himself, "I am now a man and must be brave," or he would havecried in despair.

  But help was nearer than they supposed. Already England had begun toorganize for the relief of the Belgian refugees, and it was in theoffice of the British Consul at Rotterdam that Father De Smet finallytook leave of Jan and Marie. The Consul took them that night to his ownhome, and, after a careful record had been made of their names andtheir parents' names and all the facts about them, they were next dayplaced upon a ship, in company with many other homeless Belgians, andsent across the North Sea to England.