GRANNY AND THE EELS
When the cathedral bells rang the next morning for early mass, the children were still sleeping the sleep of utter exhaustion.
It was not until the bells had ceased to ring, and the door, opening from the sacristy near their resting place, creaked upon its hinges, that even Fidel was aroused.True to his watchdog instincts, he started to his feet with a low growl, letting the heads of Jan and Marie down upon the floor with a sudden bump.
For an instant the awakened children could not remember where they were or what had happened to them.They sat up and rubbed their heads, but the habit of fear was already so strong upon them that they made no sound and instantly quieted Fidel.Again the door creaked, and through it there appeared a tall figure dressed in priestly robes.The children were so near that had they thrust their hands through the railing of the communion bank behind which they were concealed, they might have touched him as he passed before the altar of the Virgin and presented himself in front of the high altar to conduct the mass.His head, as he passed them, was bowed.His face was pale and thin, and marked with lines of deep sorrow.
"Oh," whispered Marie to Jan, "it must be the Cardinal himself.
Mother told me about him."
The whisper made such a loud sound in the silence of the great cathedral aisles that Jan was afraid to reply.For answer he only laid his finger upon his lips and crept still farther back into the shadow.Fidel seemed to know that dogs were not allowed in church and that it was necessary for him to be quiet, too, for he crawled back with the children into the sheltering darkness.
There were only a few persons in the cathedral, and those few were near the door; so no one saw the children as they knelt with folded hands and bowed heads in their corner, reverently following the service as the Cardinal ate the sacred wafer and drank the communion wine before the altar.Later they were to know his face as the bravest and best beloved in all Belgium next to those of the King and Queen themselves.
When again he passed the kneeling little figures on his return to the sacristy, their lonely hearts so ached for care and protection, and his face looked so kind and pitiful, that they almost dared to make their presence known and to ask for the help they sorely needed.Marie, bolder than Jan, half rose as he passed, but Jan pulled her back, and in another instant the door had closed behind him and he was gone.
"Oh," sobbed Marie under her breath, "he looked so kind! He might have helped us.Why did you pull me back?""How could we let him see Fidel, and tell him that our dog had slept all night before the altar?" answered Jan."I shouldn't dare! He is a great Prince of the Church!"The sound of scraping chairs told them that the little congregation had risen from its knees and was passing out of the church.They waited until every one had disappeared through the great door, and then made a swift flight down the echoing aisle and out into the sunlight.For a moment they stood hand in hand upon the cathedral steps, clasping their bundle and waiting for the next turn of fortune's wheel.
The bright sunlight of the summer day, shining on the open square, almost blinded them, and what they saw in the square, when their eyes had become used to it, did not comfort them.
Everywhere there were German soldiers with their terrible bayonets and pointed helmets and their terrible songs.Everywhere there were pale and desperate Belgians fleeing before the arrogant German invader.
"Oh, Jan," whispered Marie clinging to him, "there are so many people! How shall we ever find Mother? I didn't know there were so many people in the whole world.""It isn't likely that we'll find her by just standing here, anyway," answered Jan."We've got to keep going till we get somewhere."He slung the bundle on his shoulder and whistled to Fidel, who had gone down the steps to bark at a homeless cat.
"Come along," he said to Marie.And once more the little pilgrims took up their journey.At the first corner they paused, not knowing whether to go to the right or to the left.
"Which way?" said Marie.
Jan stood still and looked first in one direction and then in the other.
"Here, gutter-snipes, what are you standing here for? Make way for your betters!" said a gruff voice behind them, and, turning, the children found themselves face to face with a German officer dressed in a resplendent uniform and accompanied by a group of swaggering young soldiers.Too frightened to move, the children only looked up at him and did not stir.
"Get out of the way, I tell you!" roared the officer, turning purple with rage; "Orderly!" One of the young men sprang forward.He seized Jan by the arm and deftly kicked him into the gutter.Another at the same moment laid his hands on Marie.But he reckoned without Fidel, faithful Fidel, who knew no difference between German and Belgian, but knew only that no cruel hand should touch his beloved Marie, while he was there to defend her.
With a fierce growl he sprang at the young orderly and buried his teeth in his leg.Howling with pain, the orderly dropped Marie, while another soldier drew his sword with an oath and made a thrust at Fidel.Fortunately Fidel was too quick for him.He let go his hold upon the leg of the orderly, tearing a large hole in his uniform as he did so, and flung himself directly between the legs of the other soldier who was lunging at him with the sword.
The next instant the surprised German found himself sprawling upon the sidewalk, and saw Fidel, who had escaped without a scratch, dashing wildly up the street after Jan and Marie.Beside himself with rage, the soldier drew a revolver and fired a shot, which barely missed Fidel, and buried itself in the doorstep of the house past which he was running.
If Jan and Marie had not turned a corner just at that moment, and if Fidel had not followed them, there is no telling what might have happened next, for the young soldier was very angry indeed.