He heard du Chaillu's report; then he questioned
both the scouts.
"You have served Belgium well to-day," he said, finally. "I shall
report your conduct to His Majesty the King. Major, see to it that
these boys reach their homes in safety, and if an escort is needed, or
any other help, to enable them and their relatives to reach a place of
safety, supply it. I shall see you again, I hope, my boys!"
"What we discovered will really prove useful, then?" asked Paul, when,
with the major, they had left General Leman.
"Useful?" exclaimed the major. "Eh--but yes! Listen! What you have
found is the location of all the heavy guns that will soon be
thundering at our brave forts. Now we shall know just where those guns
are. We can give the gunners the exact range, the exact spot at which
to drop their shells. We shall put their heavy pieces out of business.
Do you see? If you had not brought us this word we might have wasted
many shots trying to do that. We should have sent up aeroplanes, we
should have guessed by the smoke and the reports just where their guns
were placed. But now we need not guess; we need risk nothing to learn
the truth. We know it in advance."
"I was hoping there would be time to send men to destroy such places as
we found," said Arthur.
"There might be time, but it is far better not to do so, you see," said
the major. "As it is, we could destroy only the mountings.
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