"Someone started up just now
from behind the bushes. A man--and he is running away from us!"
"After him!" cried Paul. "It looks--yes, it is the man I spoke of!"
They ran as hard as they could, shouting as they went, in the hope that
someone might intercept the fugitive. But he had too good a start, and
in a few moments he had distanced them by climbing a rail fence and
disappearing into a thicket that came down to the edge of a field.
"No use!" said Paul, disgustedly. "He got away from us. But I don't
suppose it would have done us any good to catch him. We couldn't have
done anything--hello!"
He ended with an exclamation of surprise, and stooped over. They were
at the foot of the fence the flying figure had climbed a moment before.
"What is it, Paul?" asked Arthur, eagerly.
"This!" said Paul. He held up a small black pocket-book, and from it
he took a package of papers, wrapped in oil silk. "I struck against it
with my foot! I wonder if that man who was running could have dropped
it?"
It was almost dark by this time; too dark, at any rate, for them to be
able to see the papers. But then Arthur remembered the pocket
flashlight he carried and produced it, switching on the light.
"Let's have a look," he said.
They unwrapped the oil silk covering. And, at the first sight of what
was within it, they gasped. They were holding in their hands a
complete sketch of the fort of Boncelles, the most important of the
works defending Liege to the southwest.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25