Immediately the French officer decided that something must be done. The
plans of the Germans, so far as he knew, had not been anticipated. For
some reason he did not wish to trust the information to the telegraph
wires, and the two lads had volunteered to deliver it in person to
General Petain. Their offer had been accepted, which accounts for the
fact that we find them upon the last leg of their journey to Verdun at
the opening of this story.
Stubbs had elected to accompany them, for, as he said, "I've got to get
the news."
The two lads had seen considerable active service. They had fought with
the Belgians at Liege; with the British on the Marne; with the Cossacks
in Russian Poland and in the Carpathians; with the Montenegrins and
Serbians in the Balkans, and with the Italian troops in the Alps.
They had been participants in many a hard blow that had been delivered by
the Allies. They had won the confidence of Field Marshall John French,
commander of the British forces in France until he was succeeded by
General Sir Douglas Haig after the battle of the Champagne, and of
General Joffre, the French commander-in-chief.
While they ostensibly were British army officers, their titles were
purely honorary, but they held actual lieutenancies in the Belgian army,
these having been bestowed upon them by King Albert in recognition of
services accomplished in and around Liege in the early days of the war.
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