THE TWO COMRADES.
"War has been declared, mother!" shouted Hal, as closely followed by his
friend, Chester Crawford, he dashed into the great hotel in Berlin, where
the three were stopping, and made his way through the crowd that thronged
the lobby to his mother's side.
"Yes, mother, it's true," continued Hal, seeing the look of consternation
on Mrs. Paine's face. "The Kaiser has declared war upon France!"
Mrs. Paine, who had risen to her feet at her son's entrance, put her hand
upon the back of her chair to steady herself, and her face grew pale.
"Can it be?" she said slowly. "After all these years, can it be possible
that millions of men will again fly at each other's throats? Is it
possible that Europe will again be turned into a battlefield?"
Overcome by her feelings, Mrs. Paine sank slowly into her chair. Hal and
Chester sprang to her side.
"It's all right, mother," cried Hal, dropping to his knees and putting
his arm about her. "We are in no danger. No one will harm an American. At
this crisis a citizen of the United States will not be molested."
Mrs. Paine smiled faintly.
"It was not of that I was thinking, my son," she said. "Your words
brought back to me the days gone by, and I pray that I shall not have to
go through them again. Then, too, I was thinking of the mothers and wives
whose hearts will be torn by the news you have just told me. But come,"
and Mrs. Paine shook off her memories, "tell me all about it."
"As you know, Mrs. Paine," spoke up Chester, who up to this time had
remained silent, "Hal and I went to the American Embassy immediately
after dinner to-night to learn, if possible, what difficulties we were
likely to encounter in leaving Germany. Since the Kaiser's declaration of
war against Russia all Americans have been preparing to get out of the
country at the earliest possible moment. But now that war has been
declared on France, we are likely to encounter many hardships."
"Is there any likelihood of our being detained?" asked Mrs. Paine in
alarm. "What did the ambassador say?"
"While the ambassador anticipates no danger for foreigners, he advises
that we leave the country immediately. He suggests that we take the early
morning train across the Belgian frontier."
"Why go to Belgium?"
"All railroad lines leading into France have been seized by German
soldiers. Passenger traffic has been cut off, mother," explained Hal.
"All trains are being used for the movement of troops."
"Yes, Mrs. Paine," continued Chester, "we shall have to go through
Belgium. Even now thousands of the Kaiser's best troops are marching upon
the French frontier, and fighting is only a question of hours."
"Very well, then," returned Mrs. Paine. "We shall go in the morning. So I
guess we would all better go upstairs and pack. Come along, boys."
While the packing is going on, it is a good time to describe the two
American lads, who will play the most important parts in our story.
Hal Paine was a lad some seventeen years of age. Following his graduation
from high school in a large Illinois city the previous June, his mother
had announced her intention of taking him on a tour through Europe.
Needless to say, Hal jumped at this chance to see something of the
foreign countries in whose histories he had always been deeply
interested. It was upon Hal's request that Mrs. Paine had invited his
chum, Chester Crawford, to accompany them.
Chester was naturally eager to take the trip across the water, and, after
some coaxing, in which Mrs. Paine's influence also was brought to bear,
his parents finally agreed to their son's going so far away from home.
Hal's father was dead. A colonel of infantry, he was killed leading a
charge at the battle of El Caney, in the Spanish-American war. Hal's
grandfather died of a bayonet wound in the last days of the Civil War.
But, if Hal's father's family was a family of fighters, so was that of
his mother. Her father, a Virginian, was killed at the head of his men
while leading one of Pickett's regiments in the famous charge at
Gettysburg. Three of her brothers also had been killed on the field of
battle, and another had died in prison.
From her own mother Mrs. Paine had learned of the horrors of war. Before
the war her father had been a wealthy man. After the war her mother was
almost in poverty. While too young then to remember these things herself,
Mrs. Paine knew what havoc had been wrought in the land of her birth by
the invasion of armed men, and it is not to be wondered at that, in view
of the events narrated, she should view the coming struggle with anguish,
despite the fact that her own country was not involved and that there was
no reason why her loved ones should be called upon to take up arms.
Chester's father was a prominent and wealthy lumberman, and Chester,
although nearly a year younger than Hal, had graduated in the same class
with his comrade. The two families lived next door to each other, and the
lads had always been the closest of chums.
For the last three years the boys had spent each summer vacation in one
of the lumber camps owned by Chester's father, in the great Northwest.
Always athletically inclined, the time thus spent among the rough
lumbermen had given the boys new prowess. Day after day they spent in the
woods, hunting big game, and both had become proficient in the use of
firearms; while to their boxing skill--learned under a veteran of the
prize-ring, who was employed by Chester's father in the town in which
they lived--they added that dexterity which comes only with hard
experience. Daily fencing lessons had made both proficient in the use of
sword and saber.
Among these woodsmen, composed of laborers from many nations, they had
also picked up a smattering of many European languages, which proved of
great help to them on their trip abroad.
Standing firmly upon their rights from first to last, the two lads never
allowed anyone to impose upon them, although they were neither naturally
pugnacious nor aggressive. However, there had been more than one
lumberjack who had found to his discomfort that he could not infringe
upon their good nature, which was at all times apparent.
Both boys were large and sturdy, and the months spent in the lumber camps
had given hardness to their muscles. Their ever-readiness for a
rough-and-tumble, the fact that neither had ever been known to dodge
trouble--although neither had ever sought it, and that where one was
involved in danger there was sure to be found the other also--had gained
for them among the rough men of the lumber camp the nickname of "The Boy
Allies," a name which had followed them to their city home.
It was by this name that the boys were most endearingly known to their
companions; and there was more than one small boy who owed his escape
from older tormentors to the "Boy Allies'" idea of what was right and
wrong, and to the power of their arms.
Both lads were keenly interested in history, so, in spite of the manner
in which they tried to reassure Mrs. Paine and set her mind at rest,
there is no cause for wonder in the fact that both were more concerned in
the movement of troops and warships than in the efforts the other powers
were making to prevent a general European war.
Staunch admirers of Napoleon and the French people, and, with a long line
of descendants among the English, the sympathies of both were naturally
with the Allies. As Chester had said to Hal, when first rumors of the
impending conflagration were heard:
"It's too bad we cannot take a hand in the fighting. The war will be the
greatest of all time, and both sides will need every man they can get
capable of bearing arms."
"You bet it's too bad," Hal had replied; "but we're still in Europe, and
you never can tell what will happen. We may have to play a part in the
affair whether we want to or not," and here the conversation had ended,
although such thoughts were still in the minds of both boys when they
accompanied Mrs. Paine to their apartment to pack up, preparatory to
their departure in the morning.
The packing completed, the lads announced their intention of walking out
and learning the latest war news.
"We won't be gone long, mother," said Hal.
"Very well, son," Mrs. Paine replied; "but, whatever you do, don't get
into any trouble. However, I do not suppose there is any danger to be
feared--yet."
For more than an hour the lads wandered about the streets, reading the
war bulletins in front of the various newspaper offices, and listening to
crowds of men discussing the latest reports, which became more grave
every minute.
As the boys started on their return to their hotel, they heard a shout
down a side street, followed immediately by more yells and cries; and
then a voice rang out in English:
"Help! Police!"
Breaking into a quick run, Hal and Chester soon were upon the scene of
confusion.
With their backs to a wall, two young men were attempting to beat back
with their fists a crowd of a dozen assailants, who beset them from three
directions.
As the two boys rounded the corner, the cry for help again went up.
"Come on, Chester!" shouted Hal. "We can't let that gang of hoodlums beat
up anyone who speaks the English language."
"Lead on!" cried Chester. "I am right with you!"
They were upon the crowd as he spoke, and Hal's right fist shot out with
stinging force, and the nearest assailant, struck on the side of the
neck, fell to the ground with a groan.
"Good work, Hal!" shouted Chester, at the same time wading into the crowd
of young ruffians, for such the attackers proved to be, and striking out
right and left.
Howls of anger and imprecations greeted the attack from this unexpected
source, and for a moment the ruffians fell back. In the time that it took
the crowd to return to the struggle, the boys forced their way to the
side of the victims of the attack, and the four, with their backs to the
wall, took a breathing spell.
"You didn't arrive a moment too soon," said one of the young men, with a
smile. "I had begun to think we were due for a trimming."
"There are four of us here," returned Hal, "and we ought to be good for
that crowd; but, instead of standing here, when they attack again, let's
make a break and fight our way through. There will be more of them along
in a minute, and it will be that much harder for us."
"Good!" returned the second stranger in French. "Here they come!"
"Are you ready?" asked Hal.
"All ready," came the reply from the other three.
"All right, then. Now!"
At the word the four rushed desperately into the throng, which was
pressing in on them from three sides. Taken by surprise, the enemy gave
way for a moment; then closed in again.
Blows fell thick and fast for the space of a couple of minutes. Then,
suddenly, Chester fell to the ground.
Turning, Hal fought his way to the other side of Chester's prostrate
body. Then, bending down, he lifted his chum to his feet.
"Hurt much?" he asked.
"No," replied Chester, shaking his head like an enraged bull. "Let me get
at them again!"
He rushed in among his assailants with even greater desperation than
before, and two young hoodlums fell before his blows.
In the meantime the strangers were giving a good account of themselves,
and the enemy were falling before their smashing fists.
Hal ducked a blow from the closest of his assailants, and, stepping in
close, struck him with all his power under the chin. The youth fell to
the ground.
As he did so the ruffian nearest him, with a hiss of rage, drew a knife,
with which he made a wicked slash at Hal. Hal did not see the movement,
being closely pressed elsewhere, but Chester, with a sudden cry, leaped
forward and seized the hand holding the knife, just as the weapon would
have been buried in Hal's back.
"You would, would you, you coward!" he cried, and struck the young German
in the face with all the strength of his right arm. The latter toppled
over like a log.
All this time the crowd of assailants continued to grow. Attracted by the
sounds of the scuffle, reinforcements arrived from all directions, and it
is hard to tell what would have happened had not the sudden blast of a
whistle interrupted the proceedings.
"The police!" yelled someone in the crowd. "Run!"
In less time than it takes to tell it, Hal, Chester, and the two other
young men were alone, while racing toward them, down the street, were
several figures in uniform.
"Run!" cried the young Frenchman. "If they catch us we will all go to
jail, and there is no telling when we'll get out. Run!"
The four took to their heels, and, dodging around corner after corner,
were soon safe from pursuit.
"Well, I guess we are safe now," said the Englishman, when they stopped
at last. Then, turning to Hal:
"I don't know how to thank you and your friend. If you had not arrived
when you did, I fear it would have fared badly with us."
"No thanks are due," replied Hal. "It's a poor American who would refuse
to help anyone in trouble. Shake hands and call it square!"
The Englishman smiled.
"As modest as you are bold, eh? Well, all right," and he extended his
hand, which Hal and Chester grasped in turn.
But the Frenchman was not to be put off so easily. He insisted on
embracing both of the boys, much to their embarrassment.
"I'm Lieutenant Harry Anderson, of the Tenth Dragoons, His Majesty's
service," explained the Englishman, and then, turning to his friend:
"This is Captain Raoul Derevaux, Tenth Regiment, French Rifle Corps. We
were strolling along the street when attacked by the gang from which you
saved us. In the morning we shall try to get out of Germany by way of the
Belgian frontier. If now, or at any other time, we may be of service to
you, command us."
"Yes, indeed," put in the Frenchman, "I consider myself your debtor
for life."
Hal and Chester thanked their newly-made friends for their good will,
and, after a little further conversation, left them to continue their
way, while they returned to the hotel, much to the relief of Mrs. Paine,
who had become very uneasy at their long absence.