CHAPTER V.
A SHOT FROM AMBUSH.
Up, up and still up the road that Colonel Edwards, Hal and Stubbs had selected continued, winding first to the right and then to the left until all three had practically lost all sense of direction. Hal mentioned this.
"Don't know just where we are," he said.
"No," agreed Colonel Edwards. "However, it doesn't make much difference. We'll be around here for several days. Chances are the sun will come out before we get ready to leave and then we can get our bearings."
"Maybe there won't be any sun," said Stubbs.
"There you go again," said Hal. "Of course there'll be a sun. What's the use of hunting trouble?"
"I'm not hunting trouble," Stubbs disclaimed. "I just said maybe there won't be any sun."
Hal threw up both hands in a gesture of dismay.
"You're beyond hope," he declared.
After what seemed like hours of climbing, though in reality it was not more than two at the most, the three reached what apparently was the top of the mountain, and the road stretched out level ahead of them, heavily shaded on both sides with trees.
"Nice place for a fellow to hide and shoot a man," said Stubbs almost cheerfully.
Hal just looked at the little man but said nothing. Edwards grinned.
"Real cheerful little fellow, aren't you?" he said dryly.
Stubbs grinned back at him.
"I just said—" he began.
"We heard you," interrupted Hal.
The three trudged along silently for a few moments. Then, coming to a place where the trees crowded the road even closer and the branches hung low across their path, Stubbs again broke the silence.
"An assassin—" he began.
The interruption this time came from another source.
The little man's hat suddenly leaped from his head. There was the low whine of a bullet and a rifle cracked from the woods on the left.
Stubbs threw himself to the ground almost before his hat settled near him and he gave a loud cry.
"Help!"
Startled though they were by the unexpectedness of the attack, Colonel Edwards and Hal acted promptly. A revolver flashed in the hand of each and both fired into the woods toward the point from which the shot had come. Then they leaped for shelter among the trees that lined the road on the right. Stubbs, for the moment forgotten, still lay in the road and seemed to be attempting to bury his head in the dirt.
Hal, now sheltered by trees, perceived the little man's plight.
"Can't leave him there," he called to Edwards. "Cover me if you can."
Edwards nodded and held his revolver ready.
Hal dashed quickly from his shelter, grasped Stubbs by the right arm, jerked him violently to his feet and turned his face toward the woods on the right.
Stubbs seemed too frightened to realize in what direction lay safety, and breaking from Hal's hold, whirled about and dashed across the road, almost directly toward the spot from whence had come the shot a few moments before.
Hal gave a cry of dismay and dashed after him. But even as he would
have given chase, there came a second rifle shot from the trees and
Hal felt the breeze as a bullet sped by his ear. At the same moment
Edwards yelled:
"Come back!"
Hal wasted no time in thought. He obeyed Edwards' command and dashed back to shelter with all speed.
"Whew!" he muttered. "That was pretty close."
"Rather," agreed Edwards dryly. "Where did the little man get to?"
"Oh, he's over there with our unseen enemy some place. He got away from me."
"I saw him," said Edwards grimly. "He's likely to have a warm time on the other side of the road."
Hal grinned in spite of himself, as he replied:
"He is that. I suppose we should do something to help him, but I am frank to say I don't know just what."
"We'll have to figure some way to get rid of that fellow," said Edwards.
"He's dangerous. Apparently there is only one."
"Tell you what," said Hal, "you stick here. I'll sneak through the trees here for a quarter of a mile, cross the road and double back. If I can go quietly enough perhaps I can catch him off his guard."
Edwards considered this plan.
"Might be done," he said finally. "I don't think of anything else. Off with you then."
Hal walked still deeper into the woods and then turned to his left. Keeping himself well screened from the road he made his way carefully and silently along. At last, when he felt sure that he could no longer be seen by their unexpected foe, he approached the road again.
The lad poked his head out cautiously and, after a quick glance back to make sure there was no one in sight, crossed the road at a bound, almost expecting as he did so to hear a bullet whiz near.
No bullet came.
Once safe on the other side, the lad turned again to his left and doubled back. He went more cautiously now, making sure of each footstep that he might not warn the unseen foe of his approach.
In the woods there was the silence of death.
Hal, moving slowly forward, now felt that he must have reached the point from which the two shots had been fired and stopped and listened intently. Once he thought he heard the sound of a snapping twig and became perfectly quiet, waiting for the sound to be repeated; but it did not come again.
"Guess I must have been mistaken," the lad told himself, as he moved forward again.
Five minutes later Hal stopped suddenly in his tracks. He had heard a sound close at hand and knew he was not mistaken this time. A twig had snapped perhaps twenty yards to his right and as far ahead.
Hal grasped his automatic more firmly.
"Hope I get the first shot," he muttered.
Suddenly he caught sight of a form as it flitted from one tree to another. Quickly the lad raised his revolver and fired.
There was no outcry, and looking again, the lad saw no one.
"Missed him," he muttered. "Well, I've betrayed myself! Now I'll have to be more careful."
He lay down upon the ground behind the tree where he had taken shelter and waited patiently. Ten minutes later he thought he saw an object move behind a tree a scant fifteen yards away.
Again the lad fired.
This shot was followed by a startled cry as a figure leaped to its feet and started off through the woods at full speed.
Hal sprang to his feet.
"Halt!" he cried.
The figure seemed to run faster than before.
Hal paused and leveled his revolver in deliberate aim. His finger tightened on the trigger—then, suddenly he let his arm fall.
"Stubbs!" he cried in amazement.
The running figure was indeed the little war correspondent.
"By Jove!" muttered Hal. "Another moment and I would have shot him." He raised his voice in a shout: "Hey, Stubbs!"
But the little man ran on, unheeding.
"He'll run right smack into that other fellow if he doesn't watch out,"
Hal told himself. "Well, I suppose I'll have to stop him."
Still holding his revolver in his right hand, he also broke into a run and made after the fleeing Stubbs.
Several times he called, but Stubbs paid no heed. Then Hal grew angry.
"I'll get you if I have to chase you right back to the door of the New
York Gazette" he muttered to himself.
He gained at every stride and was rapidly overtaking the war correspondent, although Stubbs, with head lowered, looking neither to the right nor to the left, his arms working like pistons, ran blindly on.
Suddenly Hal stopped almost in his tracks and his heart leaped into his throat.
From behind a tree directly in Stubbs' path, stepped a short squat figure, with great long arms dangling at its side. A revolver was clasped in the right hand and the weapon was slowly raised until it covered Stubbs.
Hal gave a loud cry of warning, raised his own revolver and fired. But even as his finger tightened on the trigger he knew he had missed. Stubbs was so close to the other figure that the lad had been afraid of hitting him. Consequently the bullet went wild.
But though it missed its mark, Hal's bullet undoubtedly saved Stubbs' life, for it attracted the attention of the enemy for a brief moment; and in that moment, Anthony Stubbs, still unaware of the danger that confronted him, dashed head first into his would-be slayer.
So great was the force of the impact that both were hurled to the ground. With rare presence of mind, Stubbs, recovering his breath before his unexpected opponent realized what had happened, reached out and procured the other's revolver and hurled it aside.
Then he attempted to get to his feet, but at this point the other came back to life and seized him by the legs.
"Hey! Leggo my legs!" shouted Stubbs.
The other held him tightly.
"Let me up!" cried Stubbs again.
Still the other clung fast, while Stubbs raised a cry for help.
At this juncture Hal reached the combatants. He was about to lend a hand, when he saw that Stubbs' opponent was unarmed, and drew back.
Stubbs did not see him, and apparently believing that he was to get no help, he turned to give battle. He kicked out with his left foot and the foot came free. He followed suit with the right foot and felt it strike something soft. At the same moment there came a cry of pain from Stubbs' opponent and the grasp upon his other leg relaxed.
Quickly the little man leaped to his feet and darted toward the spot where he had thrown the revolver. He snatched it up and leveled it at his adversary.
"Hands up there!" he called.
There came a choking cry from the queer figure and the long arms were raised high in the air.
"Good for you, Stubbs!" cried Hal at this juncture.
Stubbs gazed about sharply.
"About time you were getting here," he said. "I had a terrible fight with this fellow."