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THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS
OR
A WILD DASH OVER THE CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS
By CLAIR W. HAYES
AUTHOR OF
"The Boy Allies at Liege"
"The Boy Allies On the Firing Line"
"The Boy Allies In the Trenches"
A. L. BURT COMPANY
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1915
By A. L. Burt Company
The Boy Allies with the Cossacks
[Illustration: ALEXIS--FROM HIS CANTEEN POURED WATER OVER THE LAD'S
FACE. _Page 203._ _The Boy Allies With the Cossacks_.]
THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS.
CHAPTER I.
FLYING.
"What's that below, Hal?"
The speaker was Chester Crawford, an American lad of some 16 years.
Hal Paine allowed his eyes to turn from the steering wheel and glanced
over the side of the flying aeroplane.
"I don't see anything," he replied, after a careful scrutiny below.
"Neither do I, now," said Chester, straining his eyes.
At this moment the third occupant of the machine made his presence
known.
"Woof! Woof!" he exclaimed.
The third speaker was Marquis, a dog.
"Woof! Woof!" he barked again.
Hal, with a quick move, slackened the speed of the aeroplane, and let it
glide gently closer to the earth.
"Must be something wrong," he confided to Chester, "or Marquis wouldn't
be barking like that."
Both lads peered into the darkness that engulfed them on all sides. As
far as the eye could penetrate there was nothing but blackness, solid,
intense.
"Let's go a little lower, Hal," whispered Chester.
Under Hal's firm hand the aeroplane came down gently, until at last it
was soaring close to the treetops. And now, suddenly, both lads made out
the cause of Marquis's uneasiness.
Beneath them were thousands upon thousands of armed men. To the north,
to the south, and to the east and west the dense mass of humanity
stretched out. Hal and Chester, flying close to the earth, at last could
make out moving forms below them.
Suddenly it became light. Not broad daylight, but the darkness gave way
enough for the lads to distinguish what lay below them. The dawn of
another day was breaking.
At the same instant that the lads made out the huge mass of humanity
upon the ground their presence in the air was discovered. There came the
sound of a single shot and the whiz of a bullet, as it sped close to
Hal's ear.
With a quick movement the lad sent the plane soaring high in the air
once more. So sudden was the movement that Chester, caught unprepared,
lost his balance, and saved himself from tumbling to the ground only by
clutching the side of the machine. Marquis also had a narrow escape from
being thrown out. He let out a loud yelp of fear, as he was thrown
violently against Chester. The lad threw out a hand and grabbed him by
the scruff of the neck, just as it seemed he would plunge to certain
destruction.
"Say!" he called to Hal, when he finally regained his breath and his
head. "What's the matter with you? You almost dumped us both out."
"Did I?" replied Hal briefly. "Well, as long as you didn't fall it's all
right. We had to come up suddenly, or the chances were we would have
gone down suddenly. But it's my fault. I should have given you warning.
Are you hurt?"
"No," replied Chester.
"I'll be careful next time," said Hal. "You'll have to forgive me this
once."
"Say no more about it," answered Chester. "But what was the cause of
this sudden rise?"
"Cause!" repeated Hal in astonishment. "You don't mean to tell me you
don't know the cause? Didn't you hear that shot?"
"Yes, I heard it. But how do you know whether it was fired by friend or
foe?"
"I can't see as that would make any difference if it happened to hit us.
However, I'm morally certain they were Germans."
"Well, maybe they were. What are we going to do now?"
"We'll stay up here until we are absolutely certain we have passed over
the German lines. Then we'll come down."
The machine was high in the air now, and, peering intently over the
side, as he did, Chester was unable to make out anything below in the
early morning light.
But in the rear, soaring high in the air, although neither lad realized
it, a new danger threatened. When the presence of the boys' plane had
been discovered, a German craft had immediately risen, and was now in
pursuit.
Glancing over his shoulder, Chester was the first to discover that they
were followed. At the same moment that he perceived the pursuing machine
there came a shot from the enemy.
There was no need for Chester to cry out to Hal. The sound of the shot
told the latter of their danger, and he immediately threw the speed
lever over as far as it would go.
The machine bounded forward.
But the pursuer also came on faster than before; and, while it was
apparent that he was not lessening the distance between the two craft,
he nevertheless was still in range, and his rifle continued to crack.
However, neither the machine nor its three occupants were struck.
Chester took a snap shot at the other craft with his revolver, but the
bullet fell short. While the enemy could pepper them at will with his
rifle, a bullet from the lad's revolver could not reach him.
Hal heard the sound of Chester's revolver, and called out:
"Did you hit him?"
"No!" Chester shouted back, "he's too far behind. But he'll get us in a
minute if we don't do something." To himself he added: "If I only had a
rifle!"
"You be ready with your revolver," Hal called to his friend, "and I'll
soon fix that. It's our only chance."
Abruptly he slackened the speed of the machine, and swiftly the enemy
came on. So suddenly had Hal acted that the man at the wheel of the
pursuing machine could not act promptly enough, and was within range of
Chester's revolver before he could slow down.
As the first machine righted after its abrupt halt, Chester took
deliberate aim and fired, even at the moment that a bullet passed close
to his head.
There was a yell from the pursuing machine. A man leaped suddenly to his
feet, shaking the frail craft violently as he did so, waved his arms
once, twice, and toppled into space.
"I got one of 'em," Chester shouted to Hal, and his lips shut grimly.
"Good for you!" Hal shouted back.
Even Marquis realized that it was time to be pleased, and he sent up a
sharp bark of joy. His canine intelligence told him that something that
threatened had been overcome.
But the man at the wheel of the German aeroplane, now that he was alone,
was not minded to give up the chase. The machine darted at the boys'
craft suddenly, and, but for the fact that Hal at that very moment
happened to glance over his shoulder, the sharp-pointed prow of the
German craft would have cut them down.
With a sudden twist of the wheel, however, Hal sent the machine out of
the path of the German, and, as the enemy sped by, Chester took a snap
shot with his revolver.
Evidently he missed, for the German checked his plane and returned to
the attack.
"So," said Hal to himself, "two can play at that game."
Once more he avoided the German rush; and then, wheeling his own craft
at the moment the German sped by, he dashed in pursuit. The enemy, doing
the work of two men, did not perceive this change in tactics by his
foes, and, even as he slowed down to turn and make another attack, the
point of the lad's machine plowed into him.
There was a ripping, tearing sound; the German plane wavered and started
to fall as the craft in which the boys were flying dashed by. But, by a
superhuman effort, the German succeeded in righting his craft.
Then, holding the wheel steady with one hand, he calmly produced a
revolver and took deliberate aim at Hal.
There was a sharp crack, followed immediately by another, but Hal was
unharmed.
Realizing the German's purpose, Chester's weapon had spoken a second
before that of the enemy. The lad had not had time to take careful aim,
but the bullet sped true, striking the German squarely in the forehead,
even at the moment his finger pressed the trigger of his own revolver.
Chester saw the man throw up his hands and fall backward. The German
plane, now without a hand to keep it steady, rocked crazily for several
moments, then turned turtle and went tumbling over and over toward the
ground.
"Did you get him, Chester?" asked Hal, who had not turned his head, and
therefore had not perceived his own danger.
"Yes, I got him," replied Chester simply.
"Good!" returned Hal. "And the machine?"
"Gone!"
The lads now paused to take stock of their own damage, if any. There was
none. Not a German bullet had so much as struck the machine.
"They are not very good marksmen, are they?" said Hal, with a slight
grin.
"Doesn't look that way," returned Chester. "However, maybe those fellows
are not the best specimens."
"Maybe not," replied Hal.
"What next?" asked Chester, after a slight pause.
"Guess we might as well go on," replied Hal. "There may be some more of
those German machines flying after us, so I guess it behooves us to get
away from here as soon as possible."
"I guess you are right," Chester acquiesced.
Once more the aeroplane straightened itself out on its course and,
flying high--absolutely hidden from the ground by a dense mass of black
clouds that seemed to spring up as if by magic--sped on.
Hal, with firm hands on the wheel, kept his gaze directly ahead. Chester
settled himself comfortably in his seat again, and Marquis, after
sniffing about for several moments, finally composed himself to sleep.
In spite of the fact that he was flying far above ground, the dog had
not shown a sign of nervousness or fright. Evidently he had no fear.
Possibly through his head flashed the thought that if these young boys
who were caring for him had saved him once, it was no more than they
would do again.