Book: The Boy Allies in Great Peril

C >> Clair W. Hayes >> The Boy Allies in Great Peril




The two Austrians who had arrived in time to prevent his escape after his
tussle with Robard now stood guard over the lad, waiting for Robard to
return to consciousness. Presently the fallen man stirred, rolled over,
gasped a bit, and sat up. He gazed about and took in his surroundings. An
ugly look passed over his face as his eyes fell upon Chester.

"I'll get even with you for this," he said harshly, as he scrambled
to his feet.

"Oh, I don't know," returned Chester with a smile. "I might only increase
my indebtedness the next time we meet."

The Austrian took a threatening step forward. Chester did not flinch and
the man paused and dropped the arm he had raised.

"I'll wait till we get to Vienna, and then I'll guarantee to make you
whine for mercy," growled Robard.

"We shall see," said Chester.

Robard turned to his men.

"We'll go at once," he said.

"By the way," interrupted Chester, "what has happened to the ambassador?"

Robard gave a start, and looked quickly at his two men, who had turned at
Chester's words.

"You'll find him in the next room, I think," said Chester, pointing.

"Shut up!" commanded Robard, again taking a step forward.

Chester smiled and stepped back a bit.

"Where you shot him," he continued pleasantly.

With a cry Robard leaped upon him. Chester struck out quickly with both
fists, one after the other, and the Austrian staggered back. Chester
turned to the others.

"What I say is true," he said quietly, as he noted the look of
uncertainty on their faces. "You can easily tell by investigating."

"It's a lie!" shouted Robard.

The men hesitated.

"Look and see," said Chester.

"The boy is right," said one of them. "I'll look."

He stepped toward the door.

"Stand where you are!" cried Robard.

He moved upon the other and clenched his fists. The man gazed at him a
moment without a word; then, suddenly, he seized his superior by the arms
and held him as though he had been in a vise.

"You have a look, Fritz," he said to his companion. "I'll hold him
safe enough."

The latter wasted no time. He hurried from the room.

"You'll pay for this!" screamed Robard.

"Perhaps," said his subordinate, "but I believe the boy has told the
truth. I never did trust you, with your shifty eyes."

At that moment the third man came back into the room, dragging a heavy
body after him.

"The ambassador!" cried the other.

"You see, I was right," said Chester.

The ambassador was unconscious still, although it was hours after he had
been wounded.

"He's alive," said one of the Austrians, after an examination.

"Get some water," commanded the other.

At this moment Robard took a step forward, and seemed about to wrench
himself free from his captor's arms.

"If you gentlemen will allow me," said Chester, "I shall make a
suggestion that may save us all time and bother."

"Well?" demanded one of the men.

"If you'll give me the gun you deprived me of," said the boy, "I'll give
my word to hold our friend here safe until the ambassador is brought back
to consciousness. Also, I give my word not to attempt to escape."

The others eyed him closely for a brief moment.

"All right," said the man who had gone after the ambassador. "Here." He
passed over his automatic.

Chester took it and covered Robard.

"You can release him now," he said to the big Austrian's captor. "He'll
make no break while I have him covered. He knows me too well by this
time, don't you, Robard?"

The latter's reply was a low growl.

The other Austrian released his hold, and stood back. For an instant it
seemed that Robard would spring forward and give battle to all three,
but as Chester's revolver covered him steadily, he changed his mind and
stood still.

Immediately the others began the work of reviving the ambassador, and
five minutes later their efforts were rewarded. The ambassador moaned
feebly, and a few seconds later sat up. His eyes fell on Robard, and he
jumped quickly to his feet.

"So!" he exclaimed. "Guard him carefully, boy. He's a dangerous man."

"I'll guard him," replied Chester briefly.

Suddenly the Austrian smote himself on the breast.

"The plot!" he cried. "Robard's plot!"

"Has failed," interrupted Chester. Then noticing the look of surprise on
the ambassador's face, he explained.

"We overheard the conversation in the room where we were locked, sir. My
friends managed to escape and give the warning. The plot has failed.
Robard told me as much."

"I'm glad," said the ambassador simply. "And now, what am I to do
with you?"

"Let me go, sir," was the lad's reply.

The ambassador considered the matter.

"I'll tell you," he said at length, "I would like for you to go to Vienna
with me and substantiate my story to the emperor. You will say that my
story should need no proof, as I am the ambassador, but Robard has
influential friends there. He would easily discredit the stories of these
two men here. With you it would be different. Will you go?"

"I would rather not, sir," replied Chester quietly.

"I must insist," urged the ambassador.

For some reason that Chester was never afterwards able to explain to
himself, he suddenly grew terribly angry.

"No, I won't go!" he shouted, and waved a fist in the very face of the
ambassador.

The latter looked at him in amazement; then took his decision.

"You shall go anyhow," he said softly. "Seize him, men!"




CHAPTER XV.

INTO AUSTRIA.


"Any time," said the ambassador gently, "that you are ready to give me
your parole, I shall have your bonds removed."

"I wouldn't give my parole to you or any other of your kind," declared
Chester grimly.

"I'm sorry you feel that way about it," declared the ambassador, with a
deprecating gesture. "I assure you, I shall see that you are given safe
conduct back to Italy. But in the meantime, I can take no chances upon
your escaping."

"Do as you please," said Chester.

Again a captive, Chester left Venice.

In a first class compartment of the special train that was bearing the
Austrian ambassador and his staff rapidly toward Trieste was also
Chester, nursing a sore head, the result of trying to vanquish the
ambassador and the two other Austrians when the diplomat had ordered him
seized. The lad put up such a battle that one of his opponents had found
it necessary to tap him gently on top of the head with the butt of his
revolver. That had settled the argument, and when Chester returned to
consciousness he was aboard the special train, bound, and seated across
from the ambassador.

"Sorry we had to give you that crack on the head," the ambassador
continued, "but you wouldn't behave without it. Does it pain you much?"

"Not so much as the fact that you are a race lacking in all sense of
gratitude," replied Chester. "I wish now I had let you lie where you
were. The next time I shall keep my mouth shut, you can bet on that."

"Well, anyhow, here you are," said the ambassador, "and I promise that
you shall remain with me until I see the emperor in Vienna, if I have to
drug you. After that, I promise you safe conduct to the Italian border.
Come, why not be sensible?"

But Chester was in no mood to be sensible, and there is little wonder.
Twice he had almost regained his liberty, and a third time, after he had
come to the assistance of the ambassador, he felt certain he would be set
free. He was far from cheerful now.

"We are now in Austria," said the ambassador, an hour later.

"It won't be so long before it will be Italy, I guess," said Chester,
with something like a sneer in his voice.

"Come, come, my friend," said the ambassador. "Don't let your feelings
run away with you. You are simply talking to hear yourself talk."

"Don't you believe it," declared Chester. "I know what I am talking
about. Say! You fellows don't think you can whip the world, do you?"

"Well, we seem to have been whipping a pretty good part of it," replied
the ambassador sententiously.

"That's it! That's it!" cried Chester. "That's your Teutonic air of
conquerors. Don't forget that some of these days, however, you will be
sorry for all this trouble and bloodshed you have caused."

"We have caused?" echoed the ambassador. "You mean that England
has caused."

"No, I don't mean England," replied Chester.

"Why," exclaimed the ambassador, "if it had not been for England, this
war would never have happened."

Chester looked at the ambassador sharply for a moment.

"Good night," he said at last, and fell back in his seat.

It was dusk when the train pulled into Trieste, and the party alighted.

"We shall spend the night here," the ambassador decided. "I have some
work to do."

"One place suits me as well as another, if I have to stay in this kind of
a country," said Chester.

At a hotel where they were driven in a taxi, Chester was locked in a room
on the fifth floor. It was a handsomely appointed room, and Chester would
have been content to spend the night there had he been in other
circumstances. But right now he wasn't content to spend the night in
Austria, no matter how well he was treated.

"I want to get out of this country," he told himself repeatedly. "I guess
it's a good enough country, so far as it goes, but I can plainly see it's
no place for me."

Left alone, Chester made a tour of inspection. The door was heavily
barred. He looked out the window.

"A long way to the ground," he muttered.

There was no other means of egress.

"Looks like I was safe enough," he muttered.

Again he examined the window carefully. A slight whistle escaped him.

"A little risky," he told himself, "but I believe it can be done."

He walked to the door, laid his ear against it and listened intently. No
sound came from without.

"Well," he said, straightening up, "if I am going to do it, the sooner I
get busy the better."

Quickly he stripped the covering from the bed, and with his knife
slit it lengthwise. Each strip he tied to another, until he had a
strong improvised rope. He stretched it out on the floor, and
measured it carefully with his eye. Then he again walked to the
window and peered out.

"Pretty close," he muttered, "but I believe it will reach. The trouble is
some one in one of the rooms below is liable to see me."

Now he pushed the bed close to the window, and securely knotted one end
of his improvised rope to the heavy iron bars. Then he walked across the
room to the door again and listened.

It was now dark outside and Chester realized that he could not have a
better moment for his desperate attempt. Quickly he recrossed the room,
and dropped the other end of the rope out the window. He glanced down.

"O.K.," he said. "Here goes."

He leaped quickly to the sill, and a moment later was lowering himself
hand over hand. And at length he came to the end of the rope.

The ground was still far below him, but Chester had not figured the rope
would reach to the ground. Clinging tightly to the rope, he gazed
quickly about.

He was now even with the window on the third floor, and he succeeded by
clever work in getting a foothold on the sill; and, still clinging to the
rope, he stood erect. Inside, Chester saw the figure of a man.
Inadvertently, the lad's foot crashed against the window pane, shattering
the glass. There was a crash, followed by a guttural exclamation from
inside the room.

"I've got to move now!" exclaimed the lad.

Taking a firm hold on the rope, he swung himself outward, giving his
flight through space an added impetus by pushing with his right foot. He
went sailing through the air, even as a pistol shot rang out behind him.

Chester had calculated truly. Headfirst he crashed among the branches of
a tree, at the far side of the walk. Instantly he released his hold upon
the rope and was safe in the tree.

"I thought I could do it," he muttered. "Now to get down before some of
these fellows get after me."

Rapidly he made his descent, and a few moments later stood upon the
sidewalk, unhurt. For a moment he paused to gain a much-needed breath,
and then, turning, he stalked quickly away. And as he did so there came
cries from within the hotel, and men rushed out and after him.

Chester took to his heels.

"I don't know whether they saw me on the street or not," he told himself,
"but the safest place for me is a long way from that hotel."

He doubled around several corners, and at last, as he turned into a more
traveled street, he slowed down to a walk. He drew a long breath.

"Guess I have shaken them," he said. "Now, if I only knew where I was,
I might manage to get out of here. Guess I had better pick one
direction and keep going that way. I'll trust to luck that it is either
north or west."

He turned down the next street and set out resolutely, having determined
in his mind to stick to the direction he had selected. Fortunately,
although the lad could not be sure of it, he was heading northward,
where, eventually, he would reach the Italian frontier, although it was
much further away than was the western border.

Chester walked along for an hour without even being challenged.

"Funny, too," he muttered. "It's a wonder every street corner doesn't
spout soldiers and police at me. I must be getting to be rather a lucky
young man."

He had now reached a less thickly populated district. There were few
pedestrians upon the streets, houses became farther and farther apart. An
occasional automobile passed him, but no attention was paid to the
hurrying figure.

Chester slowed down a trifle as he made out a form approaching. As
it drew closer Chester noticed it was a uniformed figure. He drew a
deep breath.

"Looks like there was liable to be something doing here," he muttered.

He continued his way. The officer, for such Chester perceived the man to
be, drew closer. As Chester would have passed him, he suddenly stopped in
his tracks, and commanded:

"Halt!"

Chester did so.

"Who are you?" demanded the man, "and where are you going?"

To Chester's great relief, he spoke in German, and the lad replied in the
same language, which he spoke without an accent.

"I am on an errand for the ambassador, sir. A prisoner has
recently escaped, and I am bearing word to the outposts to be on
the watch for him."

"Hm-m-m," muttered the officer. "Why didn't the ambassador make use of
the wireless 'phone?"

"I don't know, sir," replied Chester.

The officer laid a heavy hand on the lad's arm, and peered into his face
in the dim light. Then the hand tightened.

"You are no German!" was his quiet comment. "You are probably a spy. You
are my prisoner!"

Chester's heart sank.




CHAPTER XVI.

A FRIEND IN NEED.


Many thoughts ran through Chester's head as he stood there for a brief
moment with the hand of the man who had accosted him on his shoulder. He
thought of flight and he thought of fight, but most of all he thought of
the ill fortune he had encountered in the past few days.

"This is the limit," he told himself ruefully. Aloud he said: "You are
mistaken, sir."

"No, I'm not mistaken," returned the officer, "and I suppose most would
take you at your word. You speak German without an accent, but your face
betrays you. At a guess, I would say you are English."

"You are wrong," declared Chester.

"Nevertheless, I shall have to ask you to accompany me," said the
officer.

For a moment Chester hesitated; he was tempted to leap upon his captor
and make a fight for it, but he had hesitated too long now. The officer
produced a revolver, which he held carelessly in his right hand.

"I have a little persuader here, in case you should think of disobeying
my order," he said quietly.

"Oh, all right," said Chester. "I'll go along."

"I thought you would," replied his captor, with a smile.

He motioned for Chester to walk on ahead of him, which the boy did, the
while grumbling to himself.

"I should have run when I saw him coming," he muttered.

There was little doubt in Chester's mind now that he was due for his trip
to Vienna with the ambassador. After that, in view of his attempt to
escape, he wasn't sure what might happen, for he believed the ambassador
would recall his offer of a safe conduct after this.

"Yes, it looks like Vienna to me," he told himself.

And so it probably would have been but for one thing--or rather, for one
person; and Chester had no more idea of seeing him than he had of
encountering Hal at the next cross street.

As the two walked along, Chester slightly in front, his captor following
him closely with drawn revolver, a figure left the shadow of a nearby
building, and with a whistle of amazement, crept silently in their wake.

"Well! Well!" muttered this figure to himself. "What do you think of
that? I can't stand for this. I'm liable to get killed or hurt, but I've
just got to take a hand."

As Chester and his captor turned into another street and disappeared
from sight, the man broke into a run, stepping lightly on his toes. When
he rounded the corner he was only a few feet behind the other two.
Silently as a cat, he closed up the distance, drawing a weapon from his
pocket as he ran.

He took the revolver by the barrel, and with a sudden leap, sprang
upon the officer who had captured Chester. A quick blow and the
officer staggered. He seemed about to cry out, but even as he opened
his mouth, the newcomer repeated the blow and the man fell to the
sidewalk without a word.

"It's all right, Chester," said the newcomer.

Chester, who had stood as if petrified during the struggle--he was so
surprised at this sudden and unexpected aid--uttered an exclamation
of surprise.

"Who are you?" he asked, in vain trying to pierce the darkness
with his eyes.

The stranger chuckled.

"You don't know, eh?" he asked.

Again Chester peered at him intently. It was so dark he could not make
out the man's features, but there was something very familiar about the
short, rotund figure that stood before him.

"By Jove!" cried the lad at last. "It is--it can't be--yes, it must be--"

"Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent of the New York _Gazette_, sir, and
very much at your service," came the now well-known voice.

Chester sprang forward and seized the extended hand.

"And what in the name of all that's wonderful are you doing here?" he
asked in amazement.

"Getting some red-hot news for the New York _Gazette_," was Stubbs'
laconic response. "You are liable to find me most any place. As I told
you before, there is no place a newspaper man cannot go. Now, what's all
this mess I find you in?"

Chester explained and Stubbs listened attentively.

"Hm-m-m," he said, when the lad had concluded, "I guess the best thing
for you to do is to hop back into Italy as fast as the law allows."

"My idea," said Chester dryly. "The trouble is it's a pretty long hop,
and in the next place the Austrian law doesn't allow it."

"That's so," agreed Stubbs. "However, you just leave these little things
to Anthony. He'll get you through or the New York _Gazette_ will lose its
best man."

"Well, I hope the _Gazette_ doesn't lose him," said Chester; "but I would
like to get back into civilization."

"Civilization?" echoed the little man. "And what do you call this? Let
one of these uniformed gentleman on this side of the border hear you say
that and you won't ever get any place except under the sod. This, take
the Austrian word for it, is the last word in civilization. Therefore,
what you mean is that you want to get out of civilization."

"Whichever way suits you," agreed Chester.

"All right. Then you come with me. It's time to be moving, anyhow. This
fellow is getting about ready to get up and there is no use of our being
here to greet him when he opens his eyes. Let's go."

He led the way back toward the heart of the city and Chester followed,
though not without a protest.

"What's the use of going back there?" he wanted to know. "That's the
place I have been trying to get away from."

"Now listen here, young man," said Stubbs, "you didn't have much luck
getting away by yourself, did you?"

"No," replied Chester, "but--"

"And you won't have any better now, if you don't do as I say," declared
Stubbs. "But I'll tell you. I am leaving here myself in the morning. I am
going to Italy. I've dug up all the stuff I can get around here and now
I'm going to have a look at the Italian army in action. If you wish, you
can come along."

"Of course I'll come," said Chester. "That is, if they will let me."

"Oh, they'll let you, all right," replied Stubbs. "Say, I guess you
don't know who I am! I'll tell you: I'm the war correspondent of the New
York _Gazette_, and these fellows over here are glad to show me what
favors they can. It doesn't do them any harm, and it might do them some
good. See?"

"I see," agreed Chester briefly.

"All right, then. I'll take you to my lodgings and you can spend the
night there with me. We'll leave early in the morning."

Chester followed the little man, though not without some misgivings.

Apparently Stubbs had not spoken without reason. Along the way they
passed several officers, each of whom, after recognizing the war
correspondent, gave him a formal military salute.

"You see," said Stubbs, "I am some pumpkins around these parts."

"So I see," replied Chester.

"Here is where we put up," said Stubbs presently, turning into a large
and well-lighted hotel. "Put your best foot foremost now, and walk in
like you owned the place. Can you swagger a bit?"

"Well, some," said Chester hesitatingly.

"So can I," said Stubbs, "which is the reason I get along so well.
Follow me."

His usual manner--the one to which Chester had become accustomed when he
had been with the little man in the French theater of war, left him as he
entered the door, and he swaggered in like a true bravo. Chester threw
out his shoulders and did likewise.

Straight up to the desk walked Stubbs, where a clerk came courteously
forward to see what was desired.

"My friend here," said Stubbs, with a wave of his hand, "will share my
room to-night. Have us called at six o'clock and send a man to help me
with my things at that hour. Understand?"

"Yes, Herr Stubbs," replied the clerk, rubbing his hands together, though
why Chester did not know. "It shall be done."

"All right," said Stubbs. "My key!"

The clerk hastened to get it.

"Now that's the way to get by in this benighted land," said Stubbs to
Chester as they made their way to the little man's room. "Make 'em think
you own the place. It never hurts anything."

"So I see," said Chester dryly. "Now, about the morning. How do we get
out of this country?"

"Simple," said Stubbs. "We take an automobile from here to a little
town called Gorz, to the north. And then we circle around the little
neck of Italy to Trent, again in Austria. Of course there are quicker
ways out, but I have made these arrangements already and it would look
suspicious to change now. Until we get to Trent there will be no
trouble. There we shall have to do a little figuring, but the best way
is this: I have a safe conduct, given me by the Austrian commander
here. It will pass me into Italy. What I shall do is give it to you and
you can cross the border."

"But you--" began Chester.

"I'm coming to that. They will stop me, of course. Then I'll raise a
holler. I'll demand that they wire the commander here and give a
description of me, saying I have lost my papers. They will identify me,
all right, because there are no more like me. A second safe conduct will
come along and I'll move into Italy. Simple little thing, isn't it?"

"Quite simple--if it works," said Chester.

"Oh, it'll work all right!"

"I hope so," declared Chester.

"It's got to work," replied Stubbs. "I can't afford to have it fail. My
paper will be expecting something out of Italy from me within a few days
and I've got to be there to give it to them. Otherwise, I'm liable to be
dismissed."

"I guess that won't happen," said Chester, with a smile.

"Not if I can help it," agreed Stubbs. "Now let's climb between
the sheets."




CHAPTER XVII.

BACK INTO ITALY.


"Now here," said Stubbs, "are my papers. You just take them, and for the
moment you will be Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent of the New York
_Gazette_. You are a little young looking, so put on all the airs you
can, for they'll think you must be awful good to have such a job."

Chester and the little war correspondent had left Trieste without trouble
and had arrived in Trent without adventure of any kind. True to his word,
Stubbs had arranged for Chester's departure with him and now the time for
parting had come.

Chester took the papers Stubbs held out to him and thrust them into
his pocket.

"And when will you be across?" he asked.

"Oh, I'll be there before the day is over," was the reply. "When you once
get within the Italian lines, you demand to be taken to the nearest
general commanding a division and explain matters to him. Then wait for
me, if it is until to-morrow. I'll be there."

"All right," agreed Chester.

"I'll walk as far as the outposts with you," said Stubbs. "No, I won't
either," on second thought. "I'll be wanting to get out myself directly
and it wouldn't do for us to be seen together."

He held out his hand.

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