CHAPTER XII
THE OTHER SIDE
The launch in which they embarked bore the Red Cross on its sides, andan American flag floated from the bow and a Red Cross flag from thestern. Its four occupants wore the Red Cross uniforms. Yet three milesout of Dunkirk a shot came singing across their prow and they wereobliged to lay to until a British man-of-war could lower a boat toinvestigate their errand. The coast is very shallow in this section,which permits boats of only the lightest draught to navigate in-shore,but the launch was able to skim over the surface at twelve miles anhour.
"This is pleasant!" grumbled Uncle John, as they awaited the approach ofthe warship's boat. "Our very appearance ought to insure us safeconduct, but I suppose that in these times every craft is regarded withsuspicion."
The boat came alongside.
"Where are you going?" demanded an officer, gruffly.
"To Ostend."
"On what business?"
"Our own," replied Mr. Merrick.
"Be respectful, sir, or I'll arrest your entire outfit," warned theofficer.
"You'll do nothing of the sort," declared Mr. Merrick. "You'll examineour papers, apologize for your interference and row back to your ship.We have the authority of the Red Cross to go wherever our duty calls us,and moreover we're American citizens. Permit me to add that we're in ahurry."
The officer turned first white and then red, but he appreciated theforce of the argument.
"Your papers!" he commanded.
Uncle John produced them and waited patiently for their inspection,which was very deliberate. Finally the officer returned them and gavethe order to his men to row back to the ship.
"One moment!" called Uncle John. "You haven't made the apology."
There was no answer. The boat moved swiftly away and at a gesture fromCaptain Carg the sailor started the launch again.
"I wonder why it is," mused Mr. Merrick, "that there is always thisraspy feeling when the English meet Americans. On the surface we'refriendly enough and our governments always express in diplomaticrelations the most cordial good will; but I've always noticed in theEnglish individual an undercurrent of antipathy for Americans thatcannot be disguised. As a race the English hate us, I'm positive, and Iwonder why?"
"I believe you're wrong, Uncle," remarked Patsy. "A few of the Britishmay individually dislike us, but I'm sure the two nations are notantagonistic. Why should they be?"
"Yorktown," muttered the captain.
"I don't believe it," declared the girl. "They're too good sportsmen tobear grudges."
"All the same," persisted Uncle John, "the English have never favored usas the French have, or even the Russians."
From Dunkirk to Ostend, by the coast line, is only some twenty-fivemiles, yet although they started at a little after eleven o'clock it wasthree in the afternoon before they finally landed at the Belgianseaport. Interruptions were numerous, and although they were treatedcourteously, in the main, it was only after rigid questioning and athorough examination that they were permitted to proceed. A full hourwas consumed at the harbor at Ostend before they could even land.
As they stepped upon the wharf a group of German soldiers met them andnow Captain Carg became the spokesman of the party. The young officer incommand removed his helmet to bow deferentially to Patsy and then turnedto ask their business at Ostend.
"He says we must go before the military governor," said Carg,translating. "There, if our papers are regular, permits will be issuedfor us to proceed to Charleroi."
They left the sailor in charge of the launch, which was well provisionedand contained a convertible bunk, and followed the officer into thetown. Ostend is a large city, fortified, and was formerly one of themost important ports on the North Sea, as well as a summer resort ofprominence. The city now being occupied by the Germans, our friendsfound few citizens on the streets of Ostend and these hurried nervouslyon their way. The streets swarmed with German soldiery.
Arriving at headquarters they found that the commandant was too busy toattend to the Red Cross Americans. He ordered them taken before ColonelGrau for examination.
"But why examine us at all?" protested Mr. Merrick. "Doesn't our sacredmission protect us from such annoying details?"
The young officer regretted that it did not. They would find ColonelGrau in one of the upper rooms. It would be a formal examination, ofcourse, and brief. But busy spies had even assumed the insignia of theRed Cross to mask their nefarious work and an examination was thereforenecessary as a protective measure. So they ascended a broad staircaseand proceeded along a corridor to the colonel's office.
Grau was at the head of the detective service at Ostend and investedwith the task of ferreting out the numerous spies in the service of theAllies and dealing with them in a summary manner. He was a very stoutman, and not very tall. His eyes were light blue and his grizzledmustache was a poor imitation of that affected by the Kaiser. When Graulooked up, on their entrance, Patsy decided that their appearance hadstartled him, but presently she realized that the odd expression waspermanent.
In a chair beside the colonel's desk sat, or rather lounged, anotherofficer, encased in a uniform so brilliant that it arrested the eyebefore one could discover its contents. These were a wizened,weather-beaten man of advanced age, yet rugged as hickory. His eyes hada periodical squint; his brows wore a persistent frown. There was abroad scar on his left cheek and another across his forehead. A warriorwho had seen service, probably, but whose surly physiognomy was somewhatdisconcerting.
The two officers had been in earnest conversation, but when Mr.Merrick's party was ushered in, the elder man leaned back in his chair,squinting and scowling, and regarded them silently.
"Huh!" exclaimed the colonel, in a brusque growl. "What is it, vonHoltz?"
The young officer explained that the party had just arrived from Dunkirkin a launch; the commandant had asked Colonel Grau kindly to examinethem. Uncle John proceeded to state the case, Captain Carg interpreting.They operated a Red Cross hospital ship at Dunkirk, and one of theirpatients, a young Belgian, was dying of his wounds. They had come tofind his young wife and take her back with them to Dunkirk in theirlaunch, that she might comfort the last moments of her husband. TheAmericans asked for safe conduct to Charleroi, and permission to takeMrs. Denton with them to Dunkirk. Then he presented his papers,including the authority of the American Red Cross Society, the letterfrom the secretary of state and the recommendation of the Germanambassador at Washington.
The colonel looked them all over. He uttered little gutturalexclamations and tapped the desk with his finger-tips as he read, andall the time his face wore that perplexing expression of surprise.Finally he asked:
"Which is Mr. Merrick?"
Hearing his name, Uncle John bowed.
"Huh! But the description does not fit you."
Captain Carg translated this.
"Why not?" demanded Uncle John.
"It says you are short, stout, blue-eyed, bald, forty-five years ofage."
"Of course."
"You are not short; I think you are as tall as I am. Your eyes are notblue; they are olive green. You are not bald, for there is still hairover your ears. Huh! How do you explain that?"
"It's nonsense," said Uncle John scornfully.
Carg was more cautious in interpreting the remark. He assured thecolonel, in German, that the description of Mr. Merrick was consideredclose enough for all practical purposes. But Grau was not satisfied. Hewent over the papers again and then turned to face the other officer.
"What do you think, General?" he asked, hesitatingly.
"Suspicious!" was the reply.
"I think so, myself," said the colonel. "Mark you: Here's a man whoclaims to come from Sangoa, a place no one has ever heard of; and theother has endorsements purporting to come from the highest officials inAmerica. Huh! what does it mean?"
"Papers may be forged, or stolen from their proper owners," suggestedthe squinting general. "This excuse of coming here to
get the wife of ahurt Belgian seems absurd. If they are really Red Cross workers, theyare not attending to their proper business."
When the captain interpreted this speech Patsy said angrily:
"The general is an old fool."
"An idiot, I'll call him," added Uncle John. "I wish I could tell himso."
"You _have_ told him," said the general in good English, squinting nowmore rapidly than ever, "and your manner of speech proves you to beimpostors. I have never known a respectable Red Cross nurse, of anycountry, who called a distinguished officer a fool--and to his face."
"I didn't know you understood English," she said.
"That is no excuse!"
"But I _did_ know," she added, "that I had judged you correctly. No onewith a spark of intelligence could doubt the evidence of these papers."
"The papers are all right. Where did you get them?"
"From the proper authorities."
He turned to speak rapidly in German to Colonel Grau, who had beenuneasy during the conversation in English, because he failed tounderstand it. His expression of piquant surprise was intensified as henow turned to the Americans.
"You may as well confess your imposture," said he. "It will make yourpunishment lighter. However, if on further examination you prove to bespies, your fate is beyond my power to mitigate."
"See here," said Uncle John, when this was translated to him, "if youdare to interfere with us, or cause us annoyance, I shall insist on yourbeing courtmartialed. You are responsible to your superiors, I suppose,and they dare not tolerate an insult to the Red Cross, nor to anAmerican citizen. You may have the sense to consider that if thesepapers and letters are genuine, as I declare they are, I have friendspowerful enough to bring this matter before the Kaiser himself, in whichcase someone will suffer a penalty, even if he is a general or acolonel."
As he spoke he glared defiantly at the older officer, who calmlyproceeded to translate the speech to the colonel. Carg reported that itwas translated verbatim. Then the general sat back and squinted at hiscompanion, who seemed fairly bewildered by the threat. Patsy caught theyoung officer smothering a smile, but neither of them interrupted thesilence that followed.
Once again the colonel picked up the papers and gave them a rigidexamination, especially that of the German ambassador, which was writtenin his own language. "I cannot understand," he muttered, "how oneinsignificant American citizen could secure such powerful endorsements.It has never happened before in my experience."
"It is extraordinary," said the general.
"Mr. Merrick," said Patsy to him, "is a very important man in America.He is so important that any indignity to him will be promptly resented."
"I will investigate your case further," decided Colonel Grau, afteranother sotto voce conference with the general. "Spies are getting to bevery clever, these days, and we cannot take chances. However, I assureyou there is no disposition to worry you and until your standing isdetermined you will be treated with every consideration."
"Do you mean that we are prisoners?" asked Uncle John, trying to controlhis indignation.
"No, indeed. You will be detained, of course, but you are notprisoners--as yet. I will keep your papers and submit them to thegeneral staff. It will be for that august body to decide."
Uncle John protested vigorously; Patsy faced the old general and toldhim this action was an outrage that would be condemned by the entirecivilized world; Captain Carg gravely assured both officers that theywere making a serious mistake. But nothing could move the stolidGermans. The general, indeed, smiled grimly and told them in Englishthat he was in no way responsible, whatever happened. This was ColonelGrau's affair, but he believed, nevertheless, that the colonel wasacting wisely.
The young officer, who had stood like a statue during the entireinterview, was ordered to accompany the Americans to a hotel, where theymust be kept under surveillance but might follow, to an extent, theirown devices. They were not to mail letters nor send telegrams.
The officer asked who should guard the suspects.
"Why not yourself, Lieutenant? You are on detached duty, I believe?"
"At the port, Colonel."
"There are too many officers at the port; it is a sinecure. I willappoint you to guard the Americans. You speak their language, Ibelieve?"
The young man bowed.
"Very well; I shall hold you responsible for their safety."
They were then dismissed and compelled to follow their guard from theroom.
Patsy was now wild with rage and Uncle John speechless. Even Carg wasevidently uneasy.
"Do not mind," said the young lieutenant consolingly. "It is merely atemporary inconvenience, you know, for your release will come very soon.And since you are placed in my care I beg you to accept this delay withgood grace and be happy as possible. Ostend is full of life and I amconducting you to an excellent hotel."