ANTHONY STUBBS, WAR CORRESPONDENT.
"Now, what in the name of all that's wonderful do you suppose is the
matter with him?" ejaculated Chester.
Hal shrugged his shoulders expressively.
"You've got me," he admitted; "but by the look of him he's not
running for fun."
"Right," agreed Captain Anderson; "but whatever is on his trail will have
to travel pretty lively to catch him. Look at him come!"
As the stranger dashed toward them, head hanging and arms working like
pistons, the three friends suddenly broke into a loud laugh. A more
comical-looking specimen of humanity would be hard to imagine. The
friends looked him over carefully as he came on.
Large he was, there could be no mistake about that, but he seemed to be
about as wide as he was long. Hal and Chester took in his dimensions
with an appraising eye. Stout and chubby, he must have weighed all of
200 pounds, and his height, the lads saw, could not be more than five
feet four.
As he tore down the road as fast as his peculiar build would permit, he
did not once raise his head, and therefore did not perceive the British
troops in his path. The lads could see that his face was red, and that he
was puffing and snorting from lack of breath. Not perceiving the men who
barred his path, he would have dashed right in among them had not Hal
brought him to a sudden stop with a word of command.
"Halt!" he cried.
With a gasp of amazement the man halted and gazed at the British as
though bewildered. One look he gave them and then exclaimed in a shrill
piping voice, in English:
"You are surrounded! Run, Anthony, run!"
He suited the action to the word, and, turning in his tracks, ran,
puffing and blowing, in the direction from which he had come.
In spite of his merriment at this comical sight, Hal put spurs to his
horse and dashed after him. The others did likewise. Hearing the sounds
of pursuit, the little stout man redoubled his efforts and puffed on like
an engine.
Hal ranged his horse alongside of him, and, restraining his laughter,
shouted in a stern tone:
"Halt! or you are a dead man!"
The little man needed no further warning. He stopped so quickly that Hal
rode on beyond him, while those behind were able to check their horses
barely in time to keep from riding over him.
Hal leaped to the ground, and stood over the stranger, who lay panting on
the earth where he had fallen the moment he stopped running.
"Who are you?" demanded Hal. "What are you doing here?"
The little man struggled in vain to reply; but he gasped so wildly for
breath that for a moment he was unable to utter a word. Then, as he still
panted, his eye fell upon the uniforms of the British troopers. He was on
his feet in a moment.
"I thought you were Germans!" he exclaimed. "Great Caesar's ghost! I
didn't think I could run another step, but I did; and here I was running
from you fellows. What do you mean by chasing an American citizen down
the road?"
He paused and glared at Hal wrathfully. The latter could control
his merriment no longer, and burst into a hearty laugh. The others
did likewise.
The little man drew himself up indignantly.
"I say!" he exclaimed, "what are you fellows laughing at me for?"
Hal ceased laughing, and his face took on a stern expression.
"Who are you?" he asked briefly. "A spy, eh?"
"A spy! Me a spy?" exclaimed the man. "Great Caesar's ghost, no;
I'm no spy."
"Who are you, then?" demanded Hal.
The stranger drew himself up to his full height--and he was still almost
as broad as he was long, folded his arms and said proudly:
"I am Anthony Stubbs, sir, war correspondent of the _New York Gazette_,
sir; and I am here in search of news."
"News, eh?" said Hal. "It is my belief that you are in search of
information to turn over to the Germans."
"You are mistaken, sir," replied Anthony, somewhat uncomfortably, the
lads could see. "I assure you on the honor of a Stubbs that I am what I
represent myself to he."
Hal could keep a straight face no longer. So comical was the little man
in his ruffled dignity that the boy was forced to laugh.
"All right, Mr. Stubbs," he said at last, "I believe you; but tell me,
what were you running from when you bumped into us?"
"I wasn't running, sir," was the reply. "I heard a large force of the
enemy in a field just out of the woods, and I was merely hurrying to a
place where I could get a look at them."
"Well, you were hurrying at a pretty good gait," said Hal. "But tell me,
is the enemy in force?"
"I didn't see any of them," said Stubbs, "but by the sounds of their
horses' hoofs, I should say they were in force, sir."
"Where?" demanded Hal, somewhat anxiously.
"Straight ahead, sir," replied Stubbs, pointing down the road.
"We thank you, Mr. Stubbs," said Hal, "and we shall now leave you to
gather your news while we proceed to reconnoiter."
"And leave me here?" cried Stubbs.
"Why, certainly. You are paid to get the news for your paper, are you
not?"
"But I'm not paid to be shot by the Germans," replied Stubbs vehemently.
"Take me with you."
How much truth there was in Stubbs' account of a large force of the enemy
approaching, Hal, of course, did not know. But the little man appeared so
greatly worried that Hal was moved to motion him to one of the spare
horses, which had followed the troop.
Stubbs clambered into the saddle with difficulty, and, once astride the
animal, he maneuvered so as to get right in among the British cavalrymen,
who smiled tolerantly as they surrounded him. Then, at a word from Hal,
the troop moved forward at a slow trot.
They rode for perhaps fifteen minutes, and so far Hal had seen no signs
of an enemy, nor was there any evidence that a large force had passed
that way recently. He turned to Stubbs.
"I see no sign of the enemy," he said. "Where were they?"
Stubbs motioned to the left.
"Beyond the woods, there, in an open field," he replied. "I didn't see
them, but I heard 'em, all right. They are probably lying in ambush, and
we shall all be killed."
Hal halted his men, and, dismounting, plunged into the woods to
investigate. At the edge of the woods he came upon a field, and there he
saw the "enemy" or at least what had caused Stubbs' fright. He broke into
a loud laugh, and hurried back.
"I have found the enemy," he said quietly. "Come, men, I shall show
them to you."
All dismounted, and Hal led the way, Stubbs following protestingly. At
the edge of the woods Hal stopped, and, taking Stubbs by the arm, led
him forward.
"There," he said, pointing, "is the enemy; and I don't believe they
chased you very far."
Stubbs looked and gasped, then mumbled:
"I wonder, I wonder--"
For the objects upon which his eyes rested, the movements of which had
sent him scurrying down the road in fear for his life, were nothing more
than a drove of about a dozen sheep, which, thrashing about in the field,
had led Stubbs to suspect the presence of the Germans.
Stubbs, after the one look, turned and strode majestically to where the
horses had been left. The laughter of the troopers rankled in his ears
and his face was a dull red. He was mounted when Hal, Chester and the
others returned.
"Stubbs," said Hal, as they rode forward again, "you could have whipped
all those fellows yourself."
"Well," replied Stubbs, "they might have been Germans."
He lapsed into silence.
Night was fast falling when the British came in sight of a little house,
and Hal decided that they would stop there and commandeer something to
eat. Accordingly they rode up to the door, where Hal, before dismounting,
hailed those within with a shout.
A woman appeared in the door, and learning what the British required,
invited them to dismount and enter. This they did, and soon sat down to a
substantial repast, Stubbs with them. The war correspondent now became
talkative, and entertained with an account of his adventures.
Upon learning that Hal and Chester were American lads, the little man's
pleasure knew no bounds.
"I knew it!" he exclaimed. "I knew it the minute I set eyes on you."
"Perhaps that is why you were in such a hurry to get back down the road,"
said Chester.
"No, no," was the reply. "I knew you were Americans, but I feared, for
the moment, that you might be fighting with the Germans."
"Well," said Chester shortly, "I don't imagine you will find many
Americans in the German ranks."
"I want to tell you boys," said Stubbs, "that I appreciate your saving me
from falling into the hands of the enemy, where I might have been kept a
prisoner for years."
"We didn't save you from anything," said Hal.
"I know, I know," said Stubbs, "but you might have done so. I want to
tell you that I appreciate it and that Anthony Stubbs is your friend for
life; and the friendship of such a man is not to be laughed at."
The little man's face was so serious that the lads even forbore to smile.
"We thank you for your friendship," said Hal quietly, "and I assure
you that it will not be laughed at. Friendships are not to be
treated lightly."
"I knew you would see it that way," was the response. "If at any time I
can be of service to you, command me."
He arose and made them the bow of a cavalier.
The meal finished, Hal pushed back his chair and arose.
"We might as well be on our way," he said. "Come."
They left the room and made their way to the place where they had tied
their horses. Hal started back with a cry of surprise.
The horses were not there, but upon the ground, a bullet wound in his
forehead, lay the man whom Hal had left to guard them.