CHAPTER IV.
IN DANGER STILL.
It was with no small trepidation that the occupants of the automobile sawthe officer in command approach.
"Keep your wits and say nothing unless you have to," was the younglieutenant's whispered advice. "Leave the talking to me."
"Where are you from?" asked the officer.
"Berlin," replied the Englishman.
"Where are you bound?"
"Stettin."
"Your business?"
"Our business is purely private. Two of my companions are young Americanlads and the third is a Belgian gentleman. I am an Englishman. You willinterfere with us at your peril."
"In times of war we interfere with whom we choose. A state of war existsin Germany, as you know."
"There is no state of war between your country and ours."
"Perhaps not, but I am not sure of it; there may be by this time. Youhave no passports, I take it?"
"We have not."
"Then I must ask you to leave your machine and come with me."
"For what reason?"
"Because I command it. You are my prisoners."
Turning to an aide, the German officer commanded:
"Call a guard of four men!"
The aide saluted and did as he was ordered. Four of the troopers whoblocked the road dismounted and ranged themselves beside the car.
"Order Lieutenant Myers to take his men and report to Major Von Volk,"commanded the German officer of his aide.
The troopers, with the exception of the four who guarded the car, wheeledand rode away.
The officer turned again to the automobile.
"Leave the car," he ordered the four occupants.
"He evidently hasn't been tipped off," whispered Lieutenant Anderson tohis companions, as they left the machine.
"No," Hal whispered back, "but the others are likely to be along in afew minutes."
"Right," came the reply. "We must watch our chance, and, if one comes,make the most of it."
The four stepped from the automobile, and were immediately surrounded bytheir guards.
"See what they have in the machine," the officer ordered one of the men.
"Great Scott!" ejaculated Chester. "We are in for it now!"
Exploring the front of the auto first, the soldier found nothing. Then heturned his attention to the back. He lifted up the rugs that had beenthrown over the chauffeur, and started back with a cry.
"A dead man!" he exclaimed, and added: "At least he appears to be dead.He has a bullet hole in the back of his head."
"What!" demanded the officer, and hurried to the side of the car.
He drew his sword and waved it at his men.
"Guard them closely!" he exclaimed, indicating his four prisoners.
"Pretty ticklish situation," whispered Hal to Chester, who stood besidehim. "We have got to do something."
"You bet," replied Chester, "and we've got to do it now."
He took off his cap, twirled it about a few seconds, and let it fall tothe ground.
Chester stooped to pick it up. Rising suddenly, he came up under theguard of his nearest captor, and with his head butted him with all hisforce under the chin.
The blow was more than flesh and blood could stand. The soldier fell tothe ground with a groan of pain, his tongue almost bitten off. Without apause, Chester turned upon another of his captors, and, with twowell-directed blows of his fist, sent him staggering.
The suddenness of Chester's attack had not taken Hal by surprise. WhenChester dropped his cap, Hal divined his purpose, and, as his friendbutted his first victim, Hal acted. Turning upon his nearest guard, heseized the latter's rifle, at the same time delivering a well-directedkick at his enemy's shin. The man released his hold on the rifle, and, ashe stooped unconsciously to rub his shin, the pain of which was almostunbearable, he met Hal's right fist, which, sent into his face withstunning force, knocked him cold.
All this happened in the smallest fraction of the time it takes to tellit, and, before the German officer and the soldier who were exploring theinterior of the automobile could realize what was happening and go to theaid of their companions.
Captain Derevaux and Lieutenant Anderson had acted with almost as muchcelerity as had Hal, in spite of the fact that Chester's attack had takenthem by surprise. Almost at the same moment Hal seized the weapon of hisguard Captain Derevaux closed with the third man, and, with his fingersat his throat, was attempting to choke him into unconsciousness.
At the same moment the German commanding officer and his troops ran tothe aid of their fellows.
"Shoot them!" shouted the officer, drawing his revolver and rushing totake part in the fray. He already held his sword in his hand.
The soldier drew a revolver.
Hal, having disposed of one enemy, clubbed the rifle he had wrenchedfrom him, and, before either the German officer or his man could fire,was in the thick of the melee. Lieutenant Anderson, having picked up arifle dropped by one of the German soldiers, was already there, hisweapon also clubbed.
The officer and the trooper were unable to bring their revolvers to bear,and rushed into the fight with their weapons clubbed.
With a single blow Hal crushed the skull of the soldier, and then turnedupon the officer who was engaging Anderson.
Lieutenant Anderson and his opponent were still battling desperately forthe possession of the latter's gun, and Captain Derevaux and theremaining German trooper were rolling about upon the ground, thecaptain's finger still pressed into his enemy's throat. Chester had goneto the captain's aid.
Warding off the officer's sword, Anderson suddenly dropped his rifle,and, stepping inside the other's guard, placed the officer hors de combatwith several well-directed and lightning-like blows to the face and jaw.
At that moment Captain Derevaux's opponent succeeded in shaking off thecaptain's grip, and, springing to his feet, leveled his rifle, which hesnatched from the ground as he arose, squarely at the young Frenchman.
With a shout Chester sprang forward, picking up a rifle as he leaped, andaimed a smashing blow at the man's head. The clubbed weapon found itsmark with a crushing impact, and the man threw up his arms, spun aroundtwo or three times, and then fell in a heap.
And it was not a moment too soon. For, as the last German measured hislength upon the ground, there was a sudden shout, and a body of cavalry,attracted by the sounds of the conflict, bore down upon the victors.
"Quick!" shouted the lieutenant. "To the machine!" And, with Hal andCaptain Derevaux, he made a rush for the auto.
Chester had stopped to gather up the two revolvers that lay on theground.
"Go ahead!" he shouted. "I'm coming!" And, picking up the last revolver,he ran up to the automobile and swung himself aboard, just as Hal, whohad climbed into the driver's seat, threw in the clutch, and the machineleaped forward.
At that moment a volley of shots rang out. The whizzing bullets againflew around the car, and there was again the sound of splintering wood,as they smashed into the rear of the auto.
All but Hal dived into the bottom of the car, and he bent as low aspossible over the steering wheel.
Soon the sound of firing became less audible, and finally ceasedaltogether.
Chester, Lieutenant Anderson and Captain Derevaux arose from the bottomof the car and resumed their seats.
"That's what I call great work, boys," declared the lieutenant, puttinghis hand on Hal's shoulder. "If it hadn't been for you, I guess thecaptain and I would be locked up by this time. Isn't that so, captain?"
"It certainly is," was the reply. "And had it not been for the promptaction of Chester in that encounter, France would have lost a captainof rifles."
Hal and Chester were embarrassed by all this praise.
"That's all right," Hal called over his shoulder. "You would have donethe same for us."
At this moment the chauffeur, who had been almost forgotten in theexcitement, stirred.
"Hello," ejaculated
the captain. "Our friend is getting better. Guess wehad better see what we can do for him."
He raised the head of the wounded man to his lap, and wiped the bloodstains from his face, while the lieutenant prepared a bandage. In a fewminutes the chauffeur had recovered sufficiently to drink a little waterand to eat several sandwiches the lieutenant produced from a small butwell-filled hamper.
"Well, I guess we are safe for a little while, at any rate,"remarked Hal.
"It looks like it," replied the lieutenant; "but, as I said before, younever can tell."
They rode cautiously along in silence for a long time; in fact, until thefirst streak of dawn appeared in the east. Then, suddenly, the sound ofchug-chugging came from behind.
Chester turned his head and jumped to his feet with a cry:
"We are pursued! Speed up, Hal! Speed up!"
It was true. Far back could be seen a pursuing automobile, and, even fromthat distance, it was apparent it was gaining.
Hal "speeded up" and in a short time the pursuing car was out of sight.Nevertheless, the speed was not diminished.
"I guess they have learned that we can travel some, anyhow," remarkedHal happily.
And just at that moment there was a loud explosion--the car rockedcrazily, and Hal brought it to a stop.
"Tire blown out," exclaimed the French captain, in despair. "Now we areup against it. What shall we do?"
"Fix it," retained Chester briefly.
He got out, and the rest, including the wounded chauffeur, followed suit.
At that moment Chester bethought himself of the pursuing machine, andsaid:
"We haven't time. Our pursuers will be upon us."
"You are right," said the captain, "but I have an idea."
The place in which they had stopped was shaded upon both sides by greattrees. As far as could be seen the woods continued. A hundred yards backover the road they had traversed was a sharp curve, hiding anyapproaching vehicle from sight. Ahead, the road stretched out in astraight line for a considerable distance.
"I figure this way," said the captain hurriedly, "the machine as it is isdoing us no good, is it?"
"It certainly is not," replied the lieutenant.
"And, if we wait here long enough to fix it it won't do us any goodeither, will it?"
"Certainly not."
"Then my idea is this: Head the machine straight down the road, lashthe wheel fast and start her off. If I am not mistaken, it will runalong the road at least to the next curve. Even from here you can seethe steep embankment at the curve. When the machine hits that curve itwill go over.
"Now, if that embankment is as steep as it looks, the car, when it hitsthe bottom, will be out of sight. In the meantime, we hide here until ourpursuers pass. The chances are they will continue past the curve, neverseeing the wreckage at the bottom of the embankment, believing we arestill ahead of them. Then we can continue our journey afoot. What do youthink of that idea?"
"I think it is first-rate," declared Hal, and the others agreed with him.
"But won't they discover, when they reach the next town, that we haven'tpassed through?" asked Chester.
"They probably will," was the reply; "but we will cross that bridge whenwe come to it. Besides, there is little doubt in my mind that theauthorities in the next town know of our coming. We couldn't be sofortunate a second time."
Accordingly the plan suggested was carried out. Hal elected to get in thecar and start it, and, as it took a flying leap forward, he hurledhimself from the machine to the soft grass beside the road. He wasconsiderably shaken up, but not badly hurt.
Then the five stood and watched the car in its mad flight down the road.
"I hope that the fact of a tire being bursted won't stop it's sticking tothe road," said Chester.
Fortunately the car continued its journey in as straight a line as thebest chauffeur in the world could have driven, and the five companionsstrained their eyes as it neared the distant curve.
"It's almost there!" cried Hal. "I hope it makes a good jump; and I hopethat embankment is steep."
"And I hope that she makes her leap before our pursuers heave in sight,which is more to the point," declared Chester.
Again they strained their eyes, watching the flight of the mad car. Andthen the car reached the embankment.
"There she goes!" cried Chester, and the big machine, as though making adesperate leap, hurled itself into space, where it soared for a momentlike a huge bird, and then disappeared from sight.
"Well, it's gone," said the lieutenant sorrowfully; "and now it's up tous to hoof it, to the next town, at least."
The five moved into the woods and just as they gained the first densecovering there was a sound from the road over which they had come.
Dropping to the ground, they peered between the trees. Presently a secondhuge car, in which could be caught a glimpse of uniforms, rounded thecurve, flashed by, and disappeared down the road.
"Let's go farther into the woods," urged Chester. "We might beseen here."
Going deeper and deeper in among the trees the five continued theirjourney; and, when they felt sure they had penetrated far enough to avoidany chance of detection, they turned their faces northward and set out ata brisk pace.
Boy Allies at Liège; Or, Through Lines of Steel Page 4