WAR STORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 69, 22 March 1915, Page 8

WAR STORIES.

THE LIGHT IN THE MILL

A Tale of the Bombardment of Antwerp. (By CAPTAIN CHARLES GILSON.) Mr. Wedgewood was working late in his office, when the door opened and Heinrich Sprundel entered. The Dutchman's face was serious; he had the look of a disappointed child "You have heard, the news?" he asked. Mr Wedgewood, putting down his pen, looked up. "What news?" he inquired. "England has declared war against Germany." Then he iurst forth in a torrent of anger. "It is treachery," -he cried, "nothing" loss."

The scene va_ the office of a wellknown shipping company in Antwerp, situated near the Custom-house on the right bank of the Schekle, in the shadow of one of the most magnificent cathedrals in the -world

The speaker was a short, squat man, whose close-cropped hair and rounded head denoted his Teutonic origin. He was, indeed, a Dutchman of German extraction, who for many years had carried on business as a stevedore in the great Belgian port. The other occupant of the room was a man of about fifty years of age, grey-headed, tall, and straight of back. 3fr. Wedgewood had lived long enough in the great cosmopolitan port to know that Sprundel's anti-British opinions were shared by a vast number of people beyond the Rhine.

"Treachery?" he reeated in amazement. "We would most certainly have been traitors had we resolved to leave Belgium to her fate, had we refused to support our allies. I regard this war as the greatest crime that has ever been perpetrated in the whole history of the worlfi; for all thai, I am glad -hat England has not refused to play her part." I Sprande. laughed.

' "It weans the end of England," said he. "Your so-called empire will crumble | t. hits hetorc "the fcts. h\aat ol the O.tI man guns."

-Mr. Wedgewood rose slowTr to bis feet.

"My good Sprundel," said he, "if that is -what you think, I advise you to go to Germany at once, and offer your services to the Kaiser. They -will "want all the men they can get before this war is ended."

"Ah, no," said Sprundel. "I am a Dutchman. "Why should I fight for a nation that is not my own? In this war Holland "will play a neutral part. I myBelf "will be neutral."

"You promise that?" said the English man.

"How eke?" said Sprundel, -with a hollow laugh. "I repeat, lam a neutral."

To describe the weeks that followed would be but to tell the story of the first two months of the war. After a gallant resistance. Liege fell. A few days afterwards the -walls of Xamur were shattered by the German siegeguns. Tlie heroic Belgian army was outnumbered and overpowered at Louvain, and fell back upon Antwerp, leaving Brussels to its fate. Then came the great advance on Paris, with the brilliant, rearguard action of tbe British Army, until the German rush _jß_h._*.itself like a wave upon tlie valley of the Mairme.

From the Marnc, tlie armies of th. Kaiser fell back to the Asne and to the Oiee, whence the conflict spread itself north-westward, drawing nearer and nearer to the coaet.

Hitherto, the German objective in the I west had been Paris. Now, it was deIcided by the German General Staff to sweep down the coastline from Dunkirk, | possibly to Havre. Thereby, not only would England be threatened, but the lines of communication of the British I Expeditionairy Foroe would be cut. and there would be come reason far Tejoicinjj in Berlin, which city had of late Shown a marked tendency to gloom. But before the German armies could cross the sand-dunes of Dunkirk and Calais, it was necraseary that Antwerp should be taken. Accordingly, the German army in Brussels moved out towards the north, taking with them the great siege-guns and howitzers which had wrought tsuch havoc upon the fortresses of —lege, Xanrur, Maubeuge.

There followed the engagements at Mali nes and Wavre-St. Gatherrne, In which the gallant Belgian army, which hitherto had sustained the brunt of the Germaai onslaught, was forced to retire upon ih. line of forte that encircled Antwerp. It was then, at the eleventh hour, when tbe German guns were audible in the very centre of the city, that a brigade of British marimEs waa hucried acrosß the Scheldt.

Tha_ night, Tom Wedgewood walked alone in the darkened, deserted streets of Antwerp. Thousand- of the inhabitants had already left the town; and even then, late though it wa_, refugees were pouring across the military pontoon bridge, ■which had been constructed at the northern end of .the city. Throe months before, Tom had left school to take up an "appointment in tbe pest office. He had many qualifications far the post. In add_U-o_t to being a trained telegraphist, he spoke German well and had a slight knowledge of both Flemish and F-tench. Since he had joined his father a few weeks ago, the boy had lived in the atmosphere of war. He (had seem troops come and go from the trenches; he had seen the wounded returning from iMalinee. And _-ow, at la&t. the great German guns were growling to the south.

Day and night, tliey were never silent. It was just as If a pack of some monstrous, savage aniimals prowled around the city, like wolves about a camp-fiie, awaiting an opportunity to rush in and eeiae their victims.

During these days, Mr. Wedgewood had seldom heft his office. As he .told his son, he considered it has duty to remain in Antwerp to the last, lt was then doubtful whether .the forts would hold out. The Belgian! field army—as the soldiers themselves confessed—was worn out and exhausted. lhe British marine brigade i wae welcomed with open arms; and there were rumours abroad that more English troops, with heavy guns, wesre hastening Ito the relief of the city.

Mr. Wedgewood*- private house was in the southern part of the town, not fair from the Porte dcs Mal-oes. As Tom reached his home, h» father drove up in his motor-car from his office in the central paTt of the city.

"Any news?" asked the boy.

"The worst," said Mr. Wedgewood. "Two more farts have fallen—battered into rubbish heaps by the Gorman howitzers. Their infantry b_B crossed the Kethe. They have only to. erect concrete platforms on this side of the river, and they will be able to bombard the city."

That Right, the firing drew nearer and nearer. Great 6beHs were bursting along the inner line of forts, and several villages on "the outekk-ds of the city were ion. fire.

The following day, there was a silence which was like the calm that precedes a storm.' A German airman flew over the city, dropping pamphlets calling upon the town to surrender. He was fh*Bd at by the guns to the farts. The blue _ky woe j flicked here and there with the V—ite I puffs of bursting shrapnel. But the Gearmain succeeded in getting hack to his own lines, where, no doubt, he was decGTafcA for his valour.

By evening Antwerp was alnwfiß deserted. Pew people remained, and fcha=e dad not venture into the streets, where no one was to be seen tout officers and 6oldien_ —Belgian, French, and British. The deathlike stillness, after the continuous firing of the previous days, wain itself unnerving. There was no one in the city who did not know and understand, what this silence meant. The enemy's siege-guns, that had already accomplished so much against fortresses which had been thought impregnable were drawing meaner ajid nearer to the ill-fated city.

Tom was on the point of falling off to 6leep. when he became conscious of a dull, rumbling sound, which was growing loudeir and louder. Going to the window, he opened it and looked out. The narrow street w_s deserted save for Mt. W'edg-wood's miotor-caT, which remained before the door, and which Tom himiself had driven firom the city, Mr. Wedgewood having decided to sleep that -fight in hia office.

As the boy listened, .he cause of th. •Tumbling eounde became quite evident; land presently, a great number of motortanries came into sight. Each one -was loaded with ammunition, and guarded ibv a British bluejacket with bayonet 'fiied.

Tom, who had little or no desire to sleep, hastily put on his clothes, and went out, following in tlie track of the wagons. He found the British ammunition brain halted in the Grande Chasse, a wide square only a few hundred yards I firom Mr. Wedgewood's house. Even (then the ammunition was being unloaded, a_d placed in a groat, empty warehouse on the southern side of the square.

I Yor som. time, Tom wa.tche4 the Isailors at work, and then turned to go. Ab 'he did co ill. caught sight of a do.rlc ft<*ute, moving _\\«ntVv and. ewftly ;n the j shadow of the trees which iringed either 'side of the read war.

The moon wais low in the heavens, so I that only one angle of the square wa_ 'illumined; and as Wis shadowy form crcssed the moonlight. Tom Wedgewood recognised—or thought he recognised— the figure of the Dutchman, Sprundel.

Tom set forward at a run; but when he gained the street on the other 'side of I the square, no sign of anyone -wm. to be 'seen. He searched everywhere, u_d even went .to SprundeTs house— a five-storied, 1 flat-bopped building, called the Maison |Hrbou —which lie found in darkmees. Not till then did he resolve to return home to bed. lt wa_ already well past eleven.

•And hardly had he laid his head upon the pillow, when the great, dull Teport of a cannon sounded from the south. Almost immediately, a shell flew overhead, whittling and shrieking like a lost spirit in the night. There followed a thun derous crash a 6 the tfhell burst in the city, and a little villa in the Rue dc Flandre was torn down like a house of cards.

From that moment onward, Antwerp was like a pit in Hades. The air wan alive with great shells from howitzers and 12m guns that shrieked and moaned and hooted. The thunder of artillery was constant; it was as if a storm had swept down upon the city. The terrible -explosion- caused houses iv the near vicinity .to tremble to their 'foundations, whilst every shell made more complete oikl horrible the work of devastation.

For a quarter of an hour, Tom Wedgewood lay upon his bed, wondering what • was the meaning of it all. He had known Antwerp since his very earliest days, and had come to love the city. It seemed as if the whole world were mad, an though justice had ceased to reign on earth; for, the boy knew well enough that every explosion meant the destruction of a house and, perhaps, the death of all its inmates.

At lost he could stand it no longer. Putting on his clothes, he went up the stairs to the top storey, and there climbed through am 1 open skylight to the roof.

The eoene that he beheld was like a nightmare. At several places in the city fire* had broken.out, and there were already crimson patches in the sky across which -rolled clouds of emokc.

He stood for some minutes watching the scene in mingled horror and amazement, It was at once magnificent and terrible.

Preeently 'his attention was directed to a strange light upon a neighbouring housetop. This light winked and flickered in a manner that was more than a little suepiciouß. Tlie boy could not at first realise the evidence of his eyes; and yet. after a while, there was- no room far doubt. He had discovered a signalling-lamp.

Tom caught his breath. It waß well known that Antwerp was full of spies. That very morning one had been raptured.

It did not take him long to satisfy himself that the sign__ing-lamp. was stationed on the roof of the tall, flattopped building that went by the name of the Maison HJbou, whence someone was signalling in the direction of th_ line of forte. Straining his eyes to the south, he caught sight of an answering lamp, which he realised at once was stationed in an old windmill, netrr the __aT>urb of Vieux Dieu. With the agility of a cat he scrambled through the skylight, and •raced down .the stairs, two steps at a time. A moment later, he was in the street. He foutnd himself in a situation in which it was necessary to act with promptitude. Someone was signalling from the city, and that man was Sprundsl. Since the German guns were at least ten mile, away, the windmill played the part of a go-between-, a kind of half-way house, by means of which Sprundel was sending hi_ messages to the Germain lines.

The door of the spy house was locked; but Tom Wedgewood kicked it in, and entered. The place "was in silence, and in the hall he struck a match a*nd looked about him. Near at hand was a candle, .which he lighted, and with this he began ito ascend the stairs.

When he was half-way up, he remem•bened that he was unairmed. However, it was boo late to go hack and get a revolver; every minute was of account.

At the top he came to a skylight which was open, and through which (had been placed a ladder, in order to enable the Dutchman to ascend to the roof. Tom was about to set foot upon the lowest rung of the ladder, when hiis -Mention was attracted by something white that lay upon the floor.

Stooping, he picked up a letter, which he saw at once was written in German.

A door wjs opan on the right, and through this he passed into a small attic bedroom. . The bed has been slept in that night. The servant who had ocI cupied it had no doubt Red in the utmost haste at the opening of the bom- , bardment. Everything in the room was jin disorder. Drawers had been left 'open, the looking-glass knocked over and smashed. In the centre ot' the room f i viae, si tranV. haYl pac-.- V\\c V\4 cA I which had been thrown back so violently 'that one of the hinges had been broken. 1 I ITo be concluded in to-morrow's issue.)