CHAPTER VIII
WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
For many reasons Fred did not want to hold a long talk with the Suwalkioperator. German wireless stations were undoubtedly at work in thesurrounding country, and, though there was no great danger that hismessages might be intercepted and read, it was not advisable, of course,to let the Germans, who were sure to be watchful, know that there was aprivate Russian station somewhere within German limits. The instrumentshere were tuned to a certain wave length, and he guessed that this wasstandard for all Russian military stations, and different from that ofthe Germans. But when he held his circuit to listen he got whisperingsthat sounded almost like static electricity. It was evident that a goodmany stations were sending, and that the air all about was full of thewaves.
So he contented himself with a brief and direct report of what hadhappened, explaining why Boris was not himself present to make thisreport. He asked for information as to the movements of the Russianarmy, but got no satisfaction.
"We don't know ourselves," said the Suwalki operator. "Things are movingvery fast, but absolutely no news is being given out. I know that ourcavalry--Cossacks, chiefly--have crossed the border at half a dozendifferent points. The Germans and the Austrians have invaded Poland, andour troops have all been withdrawn from that region. The concentrationthere is going on at Brest-Litovsky, and behind the line of Warsaw-NovoGeorgevsk. But here there are a good many troops. There may be Cossackswithin a few miles of you. They are raiding. Here it is said that ourfirst move will be to try to cut the German railways."
That was all he could find out. He arranged for word of Boris's seizureto be sent to his father, and then closed his circuit and went below, insearch of old Vladimir.
By now it was afternoon, and Fred began to think that if Boris had beencoming back that day he would have arrived already. Plainly, it seemedto him, Colonel Goldapp must have decided to retain him as a prisoner.He wanted to get down near the parsonage again, but he was afraid toventure out by the secret passage. He didn't know how thoroughly he hadfrightened the soldier who had so nearly caught him. If the man hadrecovered his wits and decided that it was no ghost, but a verysubstantial and real person who had bowled him over, there woulddoubtless be a guard in the hollow, by the outer entrance of the tunnel.And, in any case, it was too risky to seek egress by that means again inbroad daylight.
"Vladimir," he said, when he found the old servant, "I want you to makeme look like a German, if you can. Disguise me, so that I may go downtoward the village safely. Is it possible?"
Vladimir studied him for a moment.
"I think so," he said. "There are plenty of clothes here, and there isa man who has often helped when there were to be private theatricals."
The transformation was soon completed, and when he looked at himself ina glass Fred had to laugh. His clothes were those of a Prussian peasant,and a few very slight changes in his appearance had been made by the manto whom Vladimir had spoken. They worked wonders, and Fred decided thathe could go anywhere in Prussia now with impunity.
"Is it safe for you to leave the house?" he asked Vladimir.
"Yes, for they think that I am harmless," said the old man.
"I wish to know how to open the door of the tunnel from the outside,"said Fred. "But I think it would be unsafe to go there directly. It willbe better for you to start out and get there as if you had gone bychance. It is near the parsonage where my cousin is, and if anyonequestions you, you could say, I should think, that you wanted to be nearyour master."
"Yes," said Vladimir. "That would be safe."
"Then do you go there and stay, unless they drive you away. I will gothere, too, if I can, and if the coast is clear and no one is watching,you can show me. Unless, indeed, you can tell me now?"
"It will be better for me to show you," said Vladimir. "The looks of theoutside change constantly. A storm will destroy a bush, or some otherlandmark there, and, though I could touch the proper spot in thedarkness myself, I would find it hard to describe it to you. I willstart at once?"
"Yes. And I will come to you, if it is safe, as soon as I can. I shouldnot be more than ten minutes behind you in reaching the hollow."
Nothing about the whole adventure upon which he had embarked sostrangely, and with so little intention on his own part, impressed Fredmore than the unquestioning obedience old Vladimir yielded to him. Morethan ever before, he realized that the Suvaroffs must indeed be as greata family as his mother had declared. Though she had become a trueAmerican, Mrs. Waring had never ceased to love the land of her birth,and she had always tried to impress Fred with her own feeling for thegreat house to which she had belonged.
"Such families as the Suvaroffs can do much harm to themselves and toothers," she had said. "But they can also be of great service to thoseof their blood, to those who are dependent upon them, and to theircountry."
The truth of this was constantly being impressed anew upon Fred at thistime. He was struck especially by the difference between the way thatthe people of this house treated Boris and himself, and the attitudethat had been noticeable in those who had served his uncle, MikailSuvaroff. Mikail was decidedly a greater figure than Boris's father. Yetit was not devotion that he seemed to inspire. He won obedience, notbecause his people were devoted to him, but because he had filled themwith fear, and because they knew the consequences that would certainlyfollow if he were displeased in any way.
It was still light when Fred left the house. He went out by a sideentrance, reaching the road from the garden. Vladimir had gone down thehill before him. It was understood that he would manufacture some errandas an excuse for his appearance in the village. A number of the peopleof the village were in the road near the great house; they stared at itcuriously, and with hostile murmurs. They paid no attention to Fred,however, and this convinced him that his disguise was good. He passednear them, and he breathed more freely when he had gone by.
At the foot of the hill he turned away from the village. Here heremembered something that both amused and annoyed him. He had not askedjust where the parsonage was. He knew its location with reference to theouter portal of the tunnel, to be sure, but he had come to thatunderground. However, he remembered where the sun had been when he hademerged into the open air before, and, after some profitless scoutingabout, a passing motorcycle set him on the right track. It set himthinking, too.
"There are an awful lot of these fellows with dispatches running about,"he said to himself. "It seems to me that this place is more than acolonel's headquarters. A colonel has just one regiment under him, andhe certainly wouldn't need so many riders to carry his ordersabout--unless he were in command of a detached fort or position, andColonel Goldapp isn't. I guess he's there, right enough, but I've anidea there's someone more important, as well. It might be worth while tofind out just what is going on around here."
But that could wait. For the moment his task was to meet Vladimir andthen to spy out the parsonage. Meeting Vladimir proved easier than hehad hoped. He followed the trail of the man on the motorcycle until hewas within sight of the grey stone parsonage, and then had his bearingsexactly. He approached the hollow cautiously, but no one was around.The ground was fairly soft; there had been rain within the last three orfour days. And so, as he approached the spot of his encounter with thesuperstitious soldier, Fred was able to tell that no visitation had beenmade to the hollow. He marked the footsteps of the soldier; the man hadevidently run from the place.
Looking around cautiously, he saw that everything was clear, and droppeddown on hands and knees as he reached the gully. Vladimir was waiting,and in less than a minute explained the secret of the door.
"All right," said Fred. "Now you get back to the house, and either benear the entrance to the passage yourself, or keep someone stationedthere. I don't know what's going to happen, so I can't tell you, but Ithink that maybe I shall get Boris away from the parsonage."
Vladimir's eyes gleamed.
"I am an old man," he said, "and
I fear that I am useless. But if I canhelp to rescue him--"
"If you can help, I'll let you know," said Fred. "But I don't know yeteven how I shall set about it. And I think it's more important forsomeone we can trust absolutely to be in the house. There may be nothingfor you to do there, and yet, if anything does come up, you will beneeded there very quickly. Shall you go back through the tunnel?"
"No. They may have watched me as I came out, and it will be better forthem to see me return. No one suspects the tunnel yet, but some of theseGermans are clever."
"Right! Well, I know how to get into it now from this end, and that mayhelp a lot. But I hope that when I use it again Boris will be with me."
He let old Vladimir go out first. Then, after waiting for severalminutes, he went up the gully in his turn, and set out boldly and withno attempt to hide his movements, for the parsonage.
There was even more activity there now than there had been when he hadfirst set eyes upon it. There were more automobiles; four of themaltogether. At the wheel of each sat a soldier driver in grey uniform,and with a cloth covered helmet. Each car was of the same type, a longrakish grey body, low to the ground. As he neared the house an officerwearing a long, grey coat came out, accompanied by two or three youngermen. He turned to speak to them, then got into one of the cars, whichimmediately drove off. As it went a peculiar call was sounded, more likea trumpet than an automobile horn. Fred guessed then what he afterwardlearned to be a fact; that the automobiles used by the German staffofficers on active service had horns that indicated the rank of theofficer using them.
It seemed to Fred that there were more officers than soldiers about.There seemed to be only enough soldiers to provide a guard. Sentrieswere all about, but there were officers almost in swarms. He walkedalong, indifferently rather than boldly, and he was sharply challengedwhen he drew fairly near to the house.
"You can't go any further, youngster," said the soldier. "The staff hastaken this house."
Fred stared at him rather stupidly, but turned away. Then he was calledback suddenly, and for a moment his heart was in his mouth at thethought that his disguise had been penetrated and that he was about tobe made a prisoner. Like Boris, he was concerned only with the effect ofthis upon his plans. He did not think of his own safety, although, hadhe been caught, he might have expected the fate of a spy, since he wasin disguise within the German lines. It proved, however, that he was notto be arrested. A young captain was eyeing him sharply.
"Come with me, boy," he said. "We are short of servants in the househere. You will do."
For a moment he was indignant, but then his heart leaped happily. If hewas taken into the house as a servant, he could find out all and morethan he had hoped, and that without risk.
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