They found Calais in a state of intense excitement.

The streets were filled with British and French soldiery, with whom were mingled groups of citizens, all eagerly discussing the war and casting uneasy glances at the black sky overhead for signs of the dreaded German Zeppelins.
"How about Antwerp ?" Jones asked an Englishman they found in the lobby of one of the overcrowded hotels.
The man turned to stare at him; he looked his questioner up and down with such insolence that the boy's fists involuntarily doubled; then he turned his back and walked away.

A bystander laughed with amusement.

He also was an Englishman, but wore the uniform of a subaltern.
"What can you expect, without a formal introduction ?" he asked young Jones.

"But I'll answer your question, sir; Antwerp is doomed." "Oh; do you really think so ?" inquired Uncle John uneasily.
"It's a certainty, although I hate to admit it.