Boy Allies with the Cossacks; Or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians

by Clair W. Hayes

  CHAPTER XXIX.

  THE DEATH OF A TITAN.

  Quickly the three leaped out. In spite of the Germans hovering overhead,Hal examined the 'plane.

  "Great Scott!" he exclaimed, after a quick, though careful, inspection."I can fix this thing in five minutes."

  Now the German machines came to the ground a short distance away. Fromeach craft leaped three men, who dashed toward the three friends.

  Alexis turned to Hal and Chester.

  "Do you," he said calmly, "fix up the airship. I will meet thesefellows!"

  Before either lad could reply, he had hurled himself upon the foe.

  For some reason, probably because they did not wish to attract theattention of the Swedish authorities by the sounds of a struggle, theGermans, at first, drew no firearms. Perceiving but one form rushingtoward them, they advanced to meet him confidently. Plainly theyconsidered it the wild dash of a madman.

  Hal and Chester turned their attention to the aeroplane, and whileAlexis fought against overwhelming numbers, they overhauled itcarefully.

  Right into the midst of his foes rushed the giant. Such a superb attackwas never seen before--such a mad wild dash as he took the enemy bysurprise and hurled them back--all of them--back against the airshipsthat stood on the sands.

  As the huge Cossack rushed forward, his sword flashed above his head.His revolver he gripped tightly by the barrel. A fighting fire dartedfrom his eye, and his thin lips were bared in a slight smile.

  If ever a man felt the joy of battle it was he. He heeded not the numberof his adversaries nor the steel that flashed forth against him.Slashing, cutting, parrying, thrusting, he hurled himself in upon them.They were carried back by the very fierceness of his attack. They gaveway before him, parting to retreat around one of the aircraft. With oneswift sweep of his foot, Alexis tore a ragged hole in the bottom of thefirst craft; and at the same instant two men fell beneath his slashingblows.

  They could not stand before him--their very numbers were against them asthe giant pressed ever forward. Now a man dropped to the ground andseized the giant by the left leg, thinking to drag him down. Alexisdrove his right boot into the man's face, and at the same moment, by aquick back-handed sweep of his sword, cut down a man who would havesprung upon his back.

  His revolver rose and fell, once, twice, three times, and beneath thesecrushing blows more Germans went down. But Alexis did not escapeunscathed. A sword thrust had pierced his chest, not deeply, but theblood streamed forth. There was a gaping wound in his cheek; hisclothing was pierced in a dozen places.

  But in spite of this he pressed on. He thought only of advance, never ofretreat; and as he hurled his gigantic body, time after time, upon theoverwhelming number of his foes, they gave back in consternation andastonishment.

  Ten men lay dead upon the ground, their skulls battered by fierce blowsof the revolver, or pierced through and through by the great sword.

  And now Hal and Chester, the aeroplane once more ready for flight,dashed forward to the rescue with loud cries.

  They ranged themselves alongside the fighting Cossack. He greeted themwith a half-smile; he had no time for more. Three men threw themselvesupon him. One he hurled from him with a stroke of his mighty leg,another felt the weight of his revolver butt and the third fell backwith a sword wound in his chest.

  Unmindful of his own danger, the giant turned to the aid of Chester,who, at that moment was at the mercy of an enemy's sword. A mightystroke of the massive arm and the German lay dead on the ground.

  The Germans, having had the worst of this encounter with a single foe,stood back and drew their revolvers. Quickly Alexis reversed his ownweapon and fired. There was one enemy less. A bullet struck him in thechest. He staggered, but recovered, and again fired at his foes.

  The revolvers of the two lads were also spitting fire. A bullet grazedHal's head and he toppled over. He was up in a moment, however, fightingmore fiercely than before. Chester felt a stinging sensation in hisright arm. Quickly he transferred his weapon to his left hand, and itcontinued to send out its deadly missiles.

  But this unequal contest could not last. It must be ended.

  Alexis, wounded in a score of places, his giant body hacked and hewn,hurled himself forward in one last desperate attack. Germans quailedbefore the very fury of his face; they tumbled here and there beneathhis sword, or sweeping blows of his now empty revolver. A bullet struckthe giant in the throat. He dropped his revolver and clapped his hand tothe wound. Another struck him in the shoulder. He sprang forward, struckdown another of the enemy, then staggered back.

  And at that moment there came the sound of tramping footsteps on thesand. Turning quickly Hal and Chester perceived approaching rapidly abody of Swedish troops. The Germans saw them at the same instant. Theywere still a mile away across the sands, but the Germans had no mind tobe caught and interned. Quickly they leaped for their aircraft, allexcept those who remained upon the sands, their faces turned upward orburied therein.

  Hal and Chester each seized Alexis by an arm and dragged him back towardtheir own aeroplane, now righted and waiting only the touch that wouldsend it into the air. The giant Cossack staggered along, but it wasplain to both lads that he was about to collapse.

  "Come, come, Alexis!" cried Hal, trying to urge him on. "Only a few moresteps and we will be all right."

  To the very side of the craft they carried him; but here, shakinghimself free of their detaining hands, he suddenly fell, face forward,upon the ground. Quickly the two lads bent over him, and succeeded inturning him on his back.

  His voice came in faint gasps. The boys bent near to catch what he wassaying.

  "Leave me here! You go on!" came his voice. "I am done for! Saveyourselves!"

  The lads waited to hear no more. Chester took him by the feet and Hal bythe head, and with great effort succeeded in placing him within theaeroplane, stretching him out, as well as they could across two of theseats. Then Chester sprang in and Hal jumped to the wheel.

  Along the beach the craft skimmed lightly, then arose from the ground.At the same instant a volley rang out from the approaching Swedishtroops and the officer in command called out to surrender. The Germanairships, for some unaccountable reason, had not waited to resume thefight upon ascending into the air, but had made off.

  Hal headed the aeroplane due westward, making for the coast of England.Alexis had lapsed into unconsciousness upon being placed in the machine,but now he stirred feebly and spoke.

  "A real fight, wasn't it?" he gasped. "I told you I could do it if Iwere on the ground. How many was it I killed? Twenty--thirty--forty----"

  He broke off and burst into a fit of coughing. Chester bent over himanxiously.

  "You'll be all right in a day or two, old man," he said gently.

  Alexis smiled feebly.

  "Don't try to fool me," he said. "I am a man. I know when death is nearand I am not afraid to face it."

  Both lads realized that their giant Cossack friend was near his end, butthere was nothing they could do for him. Chester bound up the wounds aswell as he could, stopping the flow of blood, but that was all.

  As the aeroplane flew over the sea toward the coast of England, thedying man continued to talk. Now he sat up in the craft and gazed downover the side.

  "I had always thought," he said slowly, "that I should end my days in myown land. As it is I shall not end them in any land at all; but in theair. It is strange."

  Hal slowed the aeroplane down until it was barely moving and turned toAlexis.

  "You are wrong," he said. "You are not going to die. In a few hours weshall be in England, where you shall have the best of medicalattention."

  "It is too late," replied the Cossack calmly. "I shall not live anhour."

  His breath came with difficulty.

  "There is one thing I should like to know," he said.

  "What is it, Alexis?" asked Hal.

  "Will you tell me what you meant by 'drawing the long bow'?"

  Hal
was silent for some moments, and then replied gravely.

  "When a man boasts of things he has never done, in America it is called'drawing the long bow.' I was mistaken in your case. It would beimpossible for you to 'draw the long bow.' You have done too much."

  "That is true," agreed Chester.

  Suddenly the giant frame fell back. Hal turned as best he could whileChester leaned over him anxiously. Alexis extended a hand to each ofthem, which they grasped.

  "This," he said, pressing their hands in a still strong grip, "is theend. I wish that I could have lived to see the outcome of this war."

  "There can be but one outcome," replied Chester softly. "You may restassured of that."

  "True," said the giant, "but I would like to have seen my old homeagain."

  The lads were silent. Finally Hal spoke.

  "To think," he said, "that we are responsible for your fate; but for usyou would have remained with the army and have lived to the end of thewar. We are to blame."

  "Sh-h-h," whispered the dying giant. The hand which held Chester's freeditself and groped in his pocket. "But for you lads," he continued, "Ishould never have won this."

  He pulled from his pocket the Cross of St. George, pinned to his breastby the Russian emperor, and gazed at it lovingly.

  "It is well worth the sacrifice," he said.

  Still holding the medal his hand again sought Chester's and pressed it.His other hand still gripped Hal's.

  "Good-by, boys," he said firmly. "Let the Grand Duke know."

  The pressure upon their hands relaxed. The giant frame of AlexisVergoff, brave man and fighter extraordinary, stiffened and lay still.He was dead.

  And as the aeroplane swept over the sea to the distant coast of EnglandHal and Chester mourned the loss of a true and stanch friend.

  Arrived in England the lads saw the body of Alexis laid to rest withfitting honors, and continued their mission to the continent, where Halput the document entrusted to his care by the Russian Grand DukeNicholas into the hands of Field Marshal Sir John French,commander-in-chief of the British forces on the continent.

  And so we shall take leave of them for a short time. Their subsequentadventures will be found in a succeeding volume, entitled: "The BoyAllies in the Trenches; or Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne."

  THE END.