CHAPTER XXVII
A HARD BLOW TO THE ENEMY
It was the voice of Chester.
Hal stopped abruptly. Stubbs also panted up and came to a halt.
"What on earth are you doing here, Chester?" asked Hal.
For answer Chester pointed to the men who were pursuing his friends.
"Are those fellows after you?" he asked.
"Yes," was Hal's answer.
"Then let's get away from here," said Chester. "Come on."
He took to his heels and Hal and Stubbs followed him. Gaining his friend's side, Hal, in a few quick words, explained his plan as he had outlined it to Stubbs only a few moments before.
"Then we shall have to get out of sight of our pursuers," said Chester. "Come, Stubbs," he called back over his shoulder, "a little spurt now and we shall be safe."
Stubbs tried to respond to this command; and he did succeed in getting up a little more speed as he turned about a tent after Hal and Chester. Twice more the three doubled on their tracks and then Hal pulled up before a tent.
"This will do as well as another, I guess," he said.
"Waste no time," said Chester. "Revolvers ready and come on."
With weapons reversed the three entered the tent quietly. Deep snores within led the friends to the cots of the occupants of the tent.
"I hate to do this," said Chester, as he stood over a German soldier, "but there is no help for it."
His arm rose and fell.
Across the tent Hal performed a similar operation. Then they explored carefully in the darkness for signs of another figure.
There was none.
"Only two cots, Hal," whispered Chester. "Now let's get to bed until things have quieted down."
Quickly the three threw off their clothes and clambered into the cots, first throwing the men they had overcome beneath them. Stubbs had a cot to himself, while Hal and Chester climbed in together.
"When they fail to find trace of us they likely will come back and ask if we have been seen," said Hal. "We must pretend to be asleep."
A few moments later the sound of their pursuers' feet were audible as they passed the tent on the run. Then they died away in the distance.
"Had we better wait or try to get out before they come back?" asked Chester.
Hal was undecided, but the question was answered for him.
Only a few minutes had passed when there came the sound of returning footsteps. The boys could hear them stop before the different tents and also the sound of voices. Directly a man poked his head into the tent.
"Awake in here?" he asked.
There was no answer.
The man advanced into the tent and approached Stubbs' cot which was nearest the entrance. He laid a hand on Stubbs' shoulder and shook him.
"Hello," said the little man sleepily. "What's the matter. Time to get up already?"
"No," was the reply. "Have you seen anything of three men, whose appearance would indicate they had been running?"
"I've been asleep," protested Stubbs. "I had a dream. But I guess the men
I saw in my dreams are not the ones you want."
"These are not dream men," was the response. "I thought possibly you might have heard them run by this tent."
"No," said Stubbs, truthfully, "I didn't hear them run by this tent."
"All right," said the German and withdrew.
For perhaps an hour the three fugitives lay in the shelter of the German tent. From time to time they heard voices without but after awhile these died away. After there had been absolute silence without for perhaps fifteen minutes, Chester slipped from the cot.
"May as well move, I guess," he whispered.
Hal also arose.
"All right," he said. "Come, Stubbs."
There was no reply from Stubbs' cot. Hal walked quickly across the tent, laid a hand on Stubbs' shoulder and shook him vigorously.
"Come, Stubbs!" he exclaimed. "Time to get out of here."
Stubbs muttered something unintelligible and turned over.
"By Jove! if he isn't asleep," said Chester, who came to Hal's side now.
"That's what he is," agreed Hal. "Well, we've got to get him up. Grab hold of his feet."
Chester did so and together the boys picked the little man up bodily.
"I say!" said Stubbs, sleepily, "let me alone, will you? I want to sleep a little more."
"You'll find an eternal sleep if you don't get out of here, Stubbs," said Hal. "Don't you know you are in a German tent and that you'll be shot if you're found here?"
This awoke Stubbs instantly. He stood up and rubbed his eyes.
"Great Scott!" he ejaculated. "How on earth did I go to sleep in a predicament like this?"
"I don't know how you did it," returned Hal, "but you did. Come on,
Chester, let's get out of here while we have a chance."
He led the way cautiously to the door of the tent and poked his head carefully outside.
"Coast seems to be clear," he announced. "Come on and walk quietly."
The others followed him.
Hal made a direct line for the place where they had hidden the large army aeroplane. Fortunately, the lad was blessed with an almost uncanny sense of direction and he knew the course he laid out would take them to the hiding spot of the plane as directly as if he could see the huge machine from where he stood.
All was silence in the big camp as the lads walked cautiously along, stopping now and then and straining their ears for a sound that would indicate the presence of a watchful German sentry. No such sound came and the three had almost reached the outskirts of the camp when Hal, who was leading, stopped and pointed to an object that loomed up large in the darkness a short distance away.
"What is it?" asked Stubbs in a hoarse whisper.
"Looks to me like a place where ammunition might be stored," said Hal, quietly. "I shall have a look."
"Let it alone, Hal," said Stubbs, anxiously. "Don't go fooling around there. You're likely to blow us all up."
"I guess not," returned Hal, "but I wouldn't mind blowing all the ammunition up that the place may contain."
"By Jove!" said Chester. "A good idea! I'm with you."
"Well, I'm not," declared Stubbs. "I know where our aeroplane is and that's where I'm going right this minute. I don't know how to fly the thing, and if you fellows go fooling around that ammunition depot I'll probably have to hunt another pilot; but Anthony Stubbs is not going to be blown up with his eyes open when he can help it."
"Better wait here, Stubbs," said Chester.
"Not me," returned the little man, decisively. "You'll find me at the plane when you get there; or if you get there, I should say."
"But there is nothing sure that the building contains ammunition," said
Hal. "I just guessed at it, Stubbs. Come and have a look."
"Oh, it contains ammunition, all right."
"How do you know?" demanded Chester.
"Well, if it didn't you fellows wouldn't have spied it. You call it good luck. I call it hard luck. I tell you that every time I go any place with you I risk my neck. Sure the building contains ammunition! It was put there for the sole purpose of having you blow it up. That's the way it looks to me. But I can see all the fireworks I want to from a distance. Good-bye."
"All right, Stubbs, if you are such a coward," said Chester, somewhat nettled.
"I'd rather be a live coward than a dead fool," was Stubbs' reply.
He walked off.
"Come on, Chester," said Hal. "We'll have a look at this place."
He led the way close to the building. Going slowly and cautiously they advanced to within a short distance of the building without being observed, although they could see an occasional dark shape as it moved about in front of the building.
"Guards there," said Hal, briefly.
"Sure," said Chester. "I believe you have guessed right. I am sure the place is filled with ammunition. Now if we could just dispose of the guards and place a time fuse—"
"It would be a hard blow to the Germans," Hal agreed. "We'll try it."
Still cautiously they approached. A guard arose from in front of the building. He stretched his arms. Apparently he had been asleep. Then he sat down again.
"We'll wait a minute," Hal whispered. "Perhaps he'll doze again."
Fortune was with the boys. A few moments later there came the sound of a gentle snore. The man was asleep. Immediately the lads sprang to action. Quickly they dashed across the open space to the side of the large building, which was made of wood and seemed to be nothing more than a huge barn.
Chester stopped beside the guard and raised his revolver. He hesitated a moment and then lowered the weapon.
"Let him be," he muttered. "He won't be with us long anyhow."
Hal, in the meantime, had been exploring the barn. Coming back he picked up the guard's rifle.
"I can pry a board loose with this," he told Chester, in a whisper.
This proved easier work than it looked. The board came loose without much trouble. Hal disappeared inside.
"Ammunition?" Chester asked, as he poked his head in.
"Yes," Hal whispered back.
"Find a fuse?" asked Chester.
Again Hal's reply was in the affirmative.
"Stretch it out here then, and hurry," ordered Chester.
Hal appeared on the outside a moment later, carrying a fuse. One end still remained in the barn. The other Hal carried some distance.
"Guess you'd better dispose of that guard first," he said. "He might wake up and extinguish the fuse."
It was the work of but a moment, much as Chester hated to perform it.
Then Hal struck a light, shielding the match with his cap. He applied the match to the fuse. Then he sprang to his feet and called to Chester:
"Run!"