Evening star., 1917-12-09
SN8htTSt ,PTo7ocaoo'11
thGlr leader SMYrVed
his horse and cut
down one Of the men
Suddenly without the

mony against these disciplined maraud-
ers. the mere journey of the little party
of men and women who set out from
Eerviers that Saturday afternoon would
itself dispose of any attempt to cloak
the high placed Offenders.
They arranged rendezvous at Pep
inster- Dalroy went alone. He in
sisted that this was advisable. Maertz
brought Nine. Joos and Irene. Joos
having been besought to curb his
tongue. conveyed Leontine. Until Pep
inster was reached, they took the main
road. with its river of troops. None
gave them heed. Not a man addressed
an uncivil word to them. The soldiers
were CHEEKY and well behaved.
They halted that night at Louveigne,
which was absolutely unscathed Next
day they passed through Hamoir and
Maffe. and the peasants were gathering
the harvest.
Huy and Andenne. a villaeer told
them. We're occupied by the Germans,
but all was quiet. They pushed on,
turning northwest from Aiaffe. and de-
scended into the Meuse valley about
o'clock in the evening. 1t was omi-
nous that the bridge was destroyed
and a cluster Of houses burning in
Settles. 4 town on the opposite. or left.
bank of the river. But. Andenne itself.
peaceful and industrious place.
seemed to be undisturbed. While pass
ing farm known as Dermine they
fell in with a priest and few Bel
- W
wounded Pruss.an officer on a stretcher.
Then. to his real chagrin, Dalroy
heard that the Belgian outposts had
been driven south and west only that
and he and the others would have
been out of their present difficulties.
However. he made the best of it. Sure
~ they could either cross the Meuse or
reach Namur next day; while the fact
that some local residents were attend
ing to the injured officer would supply
the fugitives with an excellent safe
conduct into Andenne, just as a similar
incident had been their salvation at
Argenteau.
villa of well-to-do resident: and. it
being still broad daylight. Joos asked
to be directed to the house of NJ. AL
phonse Stauwaert The miller was ac-
auainted with the topography of the
town. but the Stauwaert family had
moved recently TO new abode.
Barely two hundred meters, tout
oit.'' he was told.
They had gone part of the way when
a troop, OF uhlans came at the gallop
along the Namur road. The soldiers
advanced in pack, and were evidently
in a hurry. Nine. zoos was seated in
the low built fiat cart. drawn by two
strong dogs, which had brought her
from Verviers. Maertz was leading the
animals. The other four were disposed
on both sides of the cart. AT the mo-
ment. no other person was nearer than
some thirty Yards ahead. Three men
were standing there in the roadway.
and they moved closer to the houses on
the left Maertz. too, pulled his team
on to the pavement on the same side.
The uhians came on. Suddenly.
leader swerved his horse and cut down
one of the men. who dropped with a
shrek of mingled fear and agony.
Retribution came swiftly. because the
oh oil h.
bles. crossed it's forelegs and turned a
ly non-commissioned officer, pitched
clean on his head. and either fractured
his skull or broke his neck, perhaps
achieving both laudable results, while
his bloo6-stained saber clattered on the
stones at Dalroy's feet. The nearest
uhIans drove their lances through the
other two civilians, who were already
running for their lives. In order to
avoid the plunging horse and their
fallen leader. the two rufians refined
weapons. evidently meaning to trans
fix some of the six people clustered
around the cart. The women screamed
shrilly. Leontine covered near the
body. put himself in front Of his wife;
Maertz, hauling at the dogs, tried TO
convert the vehicle, into a shield for
Leontine: while Da1roy. conscious that
Irene was close behind, picked up the
unteroffiziers sword.
Much to the surprise of the trooper.
who selected this tall peasant as an
easy prey. he parried the lance thrust
in such wise that the blade entered the
horses off foreleg and brought the ami
ducked. and lodged a wild lunse,
which missed because the uhlan was
trying to avoid crashing into the cart
But the vengeful steel found another