CHAPTER IX.
OFF TO THE SOUTH.
The following morning Captain Anderson bade the boys good-by and set out to find his own regiment. Stubbs also said good-by, announcing that he must be moving in his search for news. He had been given credentials days before and, representing as he did one of the greatest newspapers in the world, was one of the few correspondents to have the freedom of the allied lines.
Hal and Chester idled about the greater part of the day. There had been a lull in the fighting, and, although they had reported to General French, no duties had been assigned them; but along in the afternoon they were again summoned to headquarters.
"I have here," said General French, placing a document in Hal's hand, "a communication that must be placed in the hands of General Joffre with all possible dispatch. I have selected you to deliver it. General Joffre has his headquarters near Soissons. You should have no difficulty in reaching him. Take an automobile and make haste."
The lads saluted and left the tent, actually disappointed that they had not been selected for some more strenuous work.
"Anybody could carry this," said Hal.
"There is certainly no danger," agreed Chester. "All we have to do is to stay within our own lines."
Half an hour later found them speeding southward, well in the rear of the great battle line. Hal himself was at the wheel and Chester sat in the tonneau of the machine. Through Ypres, Douai and many smaller towns the huge car sped without a stop. At Roy they halted for a fresh supply of petrol, and immediately resumed their journey.
But the lads were not entirely familiar with the lay of the land, and this fact resulted in throwing them into great danger once more.
Just south of Roy the long battle line—which had previously stretched straight southward—swerved suddenly to the east. The lads turned with it all right, but too soon. Instead of going straight south to the banks of the river Aisne, as they should have done, they turned eastward some distance north of this river, and were in trouble before they realized it.
Neither lad thought anything of the fact that they were pushing straight through the mass of French troops in this region, and it was not until they had come into an isolated region—an opening between the two great armies—that Chester surmised there was something wrong. The desolate appearance of the land spelled suspicion to him, and, leaning forward in his seat, he shouted to Hal:
"Slow down, quick!"
Hal obeyed without question and then turned to his chum to ascertain the reason for this abrupt command.
"We must have gone clear through our own lines," Chester explained. "If we hadn't, certainly there would be troops about. I believe we must be right between the two armies."
"I don't think so," replied Hal. "There are probably more French troops ahead of us."
"I am sure I'm right," persisted Chester.
"Well, it's not worth while taking a chance," said Hal. "We'll turn south here."
At a cross road he swerved toward the south again. But, although neither lad realized it then, they had penetrated right through the German lines where they had been thinnest and most greatly scattered. They were still north of the Aisne, and the main German line lay between them and the far shore, where the French were massed in strength. They could have turned west again at this point and probably have reached safety by the way they had come; but neither realized his danger, and so the big car sped south directly toward the enemy.
It was night now, and the machine was forced to travel more slowly, running along at a snail-like gait until the first signs of dawn appeared in the eastern sky. An hour later the lads made out in the distance a mass of troops. They were still too far away to make out plainly, but neither doubted that they were French.
But they were doomed to disappointment.
As the machine sped closer, Hal suddenly applied the brakes and uttered an exclamation of dismay.
"What's the matter?" demanded Chester.
"Matter!" echoed Hal. "Why, we have run right into a nest of Germans!"
It was only too true. The troops whom they were now approaching were the enemy, and both lads realized in an instant that they must be surrounded by Germans on all sides. In the darkness they had penetrated through the rear line, and now were in the very midst of their foes.
Hal thought quickly. So far they had not been perceived. Two men in civilian clothes were approaching afoot, and as they came up to them Hal crawled under the machine and began to tinker with it. The men came closer and stopped to watch.
Suddenly Hal crawled from under the car, and, as the men cried out in surprise at the sight of his British uniform, he covered both of them with a pair of revolvers.
"Silence!" he cried, "or you are dead men." He spoke to Chester over his shoulder. "We'll have to go straight though the line," he said, "and we can't do it with these uniforms. We'll have to exchange with these fellows."
In vain did their prisoners protest. Hal kept the two covered while Chester stripped himself of his own garments and climbed into those one of the prisoners passed to him. Then Chester covered the men while Hal made a change and transferred the document given him by General French to the pocket of his new coat. Then they bound and gagged the two men and tumbled them into the ditch at the side of the road.
"So far so good," said Hal. "Now, if we simply act unconcerned, we should have no difficulty in going through the lines. It's when we make a dash for the other side that the trouble is likely to come; but we must chance that."
"All right," said Chester, "let's move."
They started off slowly down the road and within the hour were in the town of Caronne, held by the Germans, but a few miles from the northern bank of the river Aisne. Here they left the machine to avoid attracting unnecessary attention.
They lost no time, and made their way through the town as swiftly as possible. They walked along boldly, and near the outskirts, coming upon a little restaurant Chester suggested a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Hal assented and they entered the door.
They took seats at an improvised counter and soon were engaged in the pleasant occupation of satisfying their appetites. A German officer, who had been eating in the rear of the restaurant, passed them on his way out, and, as he did so, he cast a quick look at Chester, and turned back toward him.
"Haven't I seen you some place before?" he asked, tapping the lad on the shoulder.
The lad turned and glanced at him sharply, and his heart leaped into his throat. He recognized the officer in a moment. He was the man with whom Hal had fought in a farmhouse near Liège in the earlier days of the war, the man who, mistaking Chester for Hal, had spared the former's life when he was sentenced to death by a band of conspirators in Louvain, and from whom the lad had escaped in time to warn the Belgian commander of the plot to deliver the town into the hands of the Germans.
"I don't seem to remember you," said Chester, replying to the
German's question.
The officer looked at him long and searchingly. Chester returned the gaze without flinching, and finally the German, evidently satisfied that he had made a mistake, bowed and turned to leave. Chester drew a quick breath of relief as the officer stepped from the door.
"Do you know who that was," he whispered to Hal, who, although he had said no word, had been greatly surprised by the conversation between his friend and the German officer.
"No," he replied. "Who is he?"
"That," replied Chester, "is the German whom you disarmed in Edna
Johnson's home and whose life you spared."
"Is that so?"
"Yes; and it's lucky he didn't recognize us."
"I should say it is. Well, let's be moving."
The two lads left the restaurant and started on their journey again. They had not gone a block, however, when they halted at a sudden hail from behind them. Turning suddenly they saw the German officer hurrying after them.
"I can't get you off my mind," he said to Chester, as he came up. "I am positive that I have seen you some place, but for the life of me I can't tell where."
"Well, you have the advantage of me," replied the lad, his hand seeking his pocket and resting on the butt of one of his revolvers.
The two lads started to move on again, and at that moment the German explained:
"I have it! You are the lad who invaded our secret council in Louvain!"
Chester did not take the trouble to deny it, but as the German's hand went to his hip he said quietly:
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
His revolver gleamed in his hand as he spoke, and he took a step forward. The German moved back a pace, but he made no further move to draw his weapon.
"Now that you have recognized me," continued Chester, "I would advise you to come along with us. We can't afford to let you go back and set up an alarm, you know. I don't want to shoot you, for I remember that I owe my life to you. Walk on ahead of us, now!"
He emphasized this last sentence with a flourish of his revolver, and the German, realizing that a refusal to obey might possibly spell death, obeyed.
"Sorry I didn't place you at once," he exclaimed. "Then I guess we would be going the other way."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Hal broke in. "We usually go the way we want to."
Half a block farther on Hal perceived a body of German troops moving toward them.
"Step in between us," he commanded the prisoner.
The latter obeyed without remonstrance.
"One false move and you are a dead man, no matter what happens to us," said Chester quietly.
The prisoner recognized by the lad's tone that he was in earnest, and he would have passed right on, but an officer with the approaching troop walked directly up to him and saluted.
At the same moment he felt the pressure of Chester's automatic, which the lad gripped inside his pocket, against his back.