CHAPTER XXX.
SAFE.
As Hal and Anthony Stubbs approached the tent in which Chester and Colonel Anderson had been so recently confined, they discussed their plan of action; and after several plans had been advanced and rejected, Hal decided that caution must be thrown to the winds.
"A quick dash—and a fight if necessary," he declared.
And Stubbs had agreed, peaceful man though he was; and although Hal did not know it, the little man was literally shaking in his boots. However, like many men of his kind, he had a certain manner of concealing his nervousness, and he now followed Hal coolly enough.
Fifty yards from the tent Hal paused, as he saw two figures emerge from the prison and walk quickly away.
"Strange. Wonder what that means?" he said to himself. He turned to
Stubbs. "All right now," he said quietly. "Follow me and be quick."
He ran lightly forward and dashed into the tent. And in the darkness he stumbled over a prostrate form. Quickly he drew a match from his pocket and struck, it. The face of the man on the floor was not that of Chester nor Colonel Anderson. The flare of the match showed him a second prostrate form, and he saw that this, too, was a stranger to him. Then he saw the discarded clothing and realized what had transpired.
"Quick, Stubbs! They have escaped!" he shouted, and darted from the tent.
And in the entrance he met an Austrian guard, whose attention had been attracted by the sound of Hal stumbling within. The man uttered a low exclamation and sought to bring his gun to bear.
But Hal was too quick for him. In spite of the fact that he keenly realized the need of caution, he also realized the value of time. His hand slipped quickly to his revolver, and without raising it he fired from his hip. The Austrian staggered back and tumbled over.
"We're in for it!" cried Hal. "Follow me and hurry!"
He dashed forward in the direction recently taken by the two figures he had seen leave the tent, for he felt sure the forms were those of Chester and Colonel Anderson.
Stubbs was right behind him. Fear lent wings to the little man's legs, and Hal, despite his longer strides, did not forge ahead of him. Both ran at full speed.
And suddenly Hal made out figures in front, and before he could swerve aside, he heard Colonel Anderson's well-known voice exclaim:
"We surrender!"
With a stifled shout, Hal put forth an extra burst of speed, as he realized that the men who held the drop on Chester and Colonel Anderson numbered but three, although from beyond he could see others rushing toward them.
Again his revolver spoke and a bullet whizzed close to Colonel Anderson's head; but an Austrian soldier dropped. The others were taken by surprise, and relaxed their vigilance for a moment. And then Colonel Anderson and Chester, who had now recovered his balance, fired.
Chester started as he recognized Hal's voice, which now called out:
"Quick, Chester! To the right."
Colonel Anderson was no less surprised, but he did not hesitate; and closely bunched the four turned to the right and ran for their lives.
Men sprang up on all sides now; and it seemed impossible that the four could escape. But fortune favored them.
Swerving suddenly again, Hal, who was in the lead, stopped short, and uttered a cry of pure dismay. The way ahead was blocked. There seemed no way out; and then Chester cried:
"An aeroplane hangar!"
It was true. Fortune had guided their footsteps to possibly the only place in the whole Austrian camp where there was a chance of escape.
Hal wasted no time. Rapidly he mounted the hangar, the others following him closely. The lad uttered a short prayer as he climbed and then gave a great sigh of relief. He had feared there would be no air craft there, but, and Hal cried his relief aloud, there was.
He glanced at the machine quickly and uttered another cry of joy as he made out that the craft was exceptionally large, capable of seating at least ten men, and the additional fact that it was a self starter.
"Climb in quick!" he shouted, leaping into the pilot's seat and taking the wheel.
The others followed this command with all despatch, and Chester took his place at the motor.
"Let 'er go, Chester!" shouted Hal.
There came a faint buzz at first, followed by a louder noise as the motor began to whir; there was the sound of the whizzing propellers, and the machine shot from the hangar with a lurch.
And at the same moment there came from all sides volleys of rifle and pistol shots. Chester felt a sharp tinge in his left arm, and Hal felt the breeze of a bullet as it flew by his ear. Colonel Anderson was untouched, but Stubbs sent up a howl of anguish.
"I'm shot!" he cried and started to his feet.
The machine rocked crazily as he attempted to rise and Colonel Anderson reached quickly up and seized him by the arm.
"Sit down, you fool!" he commanded. "Do you want to spill us all out?"
Hal threw over the elevating lever and the huge air craft soared into the sky. And not until they had reached an altitude of a thousand feet did Hal straighten the machine out for a level flight.
Then he slowed down a moment to take stock of injuries.
"Hit, Colonel Anderson?" he asked.
"No," was the reply.
"You, Chester?"
"Scratch, I guess," answered Chester. "Bullet touched me on the arm.
Doesn't amount to much."
"Stubbs?" queried Hal.
"I'm killed!" exclaimed the little man, and there was the trace of a quaver in his voice. "Shot through the heart."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Hal. "If you had been shot through the heart you wouldn't be talking about it now."
"But I was," protested Stubbs.
"Look him over, Colonel Anderson," instructed Hal. "If it's as bad as all that, throw him out. We can't be bothered with excess now."
"No! No! I'm all right!" declared Stubbs, drawing away as Colonel Anderson extended an exploring hand. "I don't think the bullet touched me."
"All right then," declared Hal, smiling to himself, for his ruse had worked. "We'll go ahead then."
"Which way?" demanded Chester.
"Back to the Italian lines; and it behooves us to hurry. There will be a squadron of the enemy after us in a minute."
"Right," declared Chester briefly.
But, much as they would have liked it, they were not to get back within the heart of the Italian army for many a long day; and strenuous times were to befall them before they again saw their mothers, and Uncle John, who was to put in many weary days searching for them.
As Hal headed the huge machine southward, a blinding glare caught his eyes. It cut off his view entirely, and only for the lad's quick wit, might have ended the lives of all.
But the moment the light blinded him Hal acted. He knew in an instant from whence it came, and he swerved to the right so quickly as almost to upset the plane; but it was in time to avoid the forward sweep of an enemy plane.
"Wow!" cried Stubbs. "Don't throw me out!"
"Keep quiet," ordered Hal, when he had slowed down a bit, so as to ease his dazzled eyes and gain his bearings.
"What was the matter?" demanded Chester.
"Matter?" echoed Hal. "You mean to tell me you didn't see that other airship flash by?"
"I didn't," replied Chester.
"Well, I did," declared Hal. "We'll have to get away from here pretty quick. There'll be more of them along in a minute."
He threw over the elevating lever and the craft soared higher into the heavens. And again Hal turned south.
Once more he caught the flash of a hostile craft in time to avoid being run down. Again and again it happened. And at last Hal said:
"Evidently there is no use trying to get back that way. They must be on the lookout for us. What shall we do?"
"Whatever you say," replied Chester.
"We'll take a vote on it," Hal decided. "I'll make my suggestion first."
"All right," was the reply.
"Then I'll suggest that we head in some other direction and keep going until we have passed out of the enemy's territory."
"Which way?" asked Colonel Anderson.
Hal considered a few minutes before replying.
"Well," he said finally, "I should say east."
"What!" exclaimed Chester. "Right into the heart of Austria?"
"And why not?" Hal wanted to know. "We'll be safer there than any place else. Besides, if we go far enough we'll eventually land in Greece or perhaps Servia or Montenegro. They won't be expecting a foe that far from Italian soil. What do you say, Colonel Anderson?"
"I'm with you," was the quiet response. "I believe that is good reasoning."
"My only objection," said Chester, "is that we must get back to Uncle
John, and then to Rome, where mother is."
"True," replied Hal. "But mother would a great deal rather have us safe in Greece or Servia, than dead in Italy."
"Which is more good reasoning," declared Colonel Anderson.
"I guess you are right," replied Chester. "I'm with you then."
"And you, Stubbs?" questioned Hal. "You have a vote on this."
"Oh my, I don't care where you go," was the answer in a weak voice, "just so you let me put my feet on the ground once more. I'm so sick."
"Poor fellow," said Chester, in a low voice, "he's frightened."
"What's that?" demanded Stubbs in a shrill voice.
"Frightened? Me frightened? I'll leave it to Hal there if I am frightened. Who was it found the way to get here and help you fellows, anyhow? Who was it, I ask you? I'll tell you who it was. It was me, Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent of the New York Gazette. Yes, sir, it was—Oh, let's go down. I'm so sick."
"Stubbs, you are all right," declared Hal, and added to the others: "What he says is perfectly true. Had it not been for him, we would not be here now. He conceived the plan that admitted us to the Austrian lines, and if it were light enough you would see that it was a good plan. I'll venture to say you would know neither one of us but for our voices," and he explained in detail.
"By George, Mr. Stubbs, I didn't think you had it in you!" exclaimed
Chester. He stretched forth a hand. "Shake!" he said.
"Oh, please let me alone," moaned Stubbs. "I'm terribly sick. How long before we can go down?"
"Not for some hours, I'm afraid," replied Hal. "If we were to descend now we would fall into the hands of the Austrians."
"I don't care whose hands we fall into," mumbled Stubbs, "if we could only fall, that's all I ask."
"He must be sick," declared Chester. "Funny it never affected me that way."
"No, it's not," declared Stubbs, suddenly taking an interest in things.
"Nothing would affect you like it does me. Nor any of the rest of you.
You are hardened to these things. I'm a man of peace, and sympathetic,
and kind. You are a lot of hard-hearted brutes."
The other three occupants of the machine smiled to themselves. Not for the world would they have laughed at the little man, for he was very close to them all. And at last Hal said:
"Tell you what, Stubbs. I'll put on a little extra speed, just for your benefit. We'll get you back on terra firma just as soon as we can."
Stubbs' only reply was another moan.
"Well, Chester," said Hal, "here we are again, flying over an enemy's country. May we be as fortunate as we have been before."
"Which we shall be," was Chester's quiet response. "We have had our share of bad luck in the last few days. Fortune must smile on us at last."
And Chester proved himself a true prophet; for, before another sun had risen and set, the huge air craft had carried its four occupants safely across the Austrian empire and beyond the Montenegrin border. And here, among these hardy mountaineers, among the best fighters in the world—among the people of this little Balkan kingdom—the smallest to declare war against the Teuton oppressor—the lads were to see more of the horrors of war—were again to play active parts in the struggle. And also they were to see service with the heroic Servian troops, than whom there are none braver.
But these adventures must come in their proper place; and so, for the time, we must again take leave of these two lads and their brave companions and friends, but only to meet them again in a succeeding volume, entitled: "The Boy Allies in the Balkan Campaign; or The Struggle to Save a Nation."