Heinrich Hilker, Master Spy
Time sweeps along, and this gigantic contest which has engulfed the
world spreads and grows constantly greater. The times in which we live
are so momentous, and the incidents so numerous and so close at hand,
that one is apt to lose grip of the general situation and to forget, in
the vastness of our own responsibilities, that others than ourselves
are concerned. Yet it were wise to dissever ourselves for a moment
from our own particular and personal interest in this world-contest,
and, standing aside as it were in some quiet niche--if one is actually
discoverable when the world is aflame--to look out and survey the whole
area of operations from that niche or point of vantage. We should
see Britain and France, and now America too, locked closely with the
enemy along the line of trenches from Nieuport to far-off Belfort
on the Franco-Swiss frontier. In Italy we should catch a glimpse of
King Victor's hosts, driven back from the Isonzo, in October, 1917,
mourning the loss of a fertile province, and awaiting the onslaught of
the Austrian hosts along the Trentino front and throughout the whole
length of the Piave River.
In Salonika and adjacent parts there would appear British and French
and Serbians and Greeks and Italians facing the Bulgarian cohorts. In
Palestine, General Allenby's troops beyond Jericho and Jerusalem, in
touch with the King of the Hadjiz, steadily driving the Turk before
them. Farther east, in Mesopotamia, other British and British-Indian
troops, sweeping steadily upward along the courses of the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers, leaving the Persian frontier behind them, with
their right flank thrown out in the direction of the Caucasus. Behind
these two last groups of British troops, in Egypt itself, would be
seen teeming masses of troops ready to reinforce the Palestine and
the Mesopotamian fronts, and prepared at any moment to subjugate the
tribes in the western desert should they again venture to rise. But the
Senussi have learnt their lesson. Elsewhere the Arabs, stirred up by
German agents, and fed and paid by them, have likewise learnt that the
British arm is a strong and a long one, and they too are glad to be at
peace with us.
Go east across the ocean to East Africa, where German columns still
trek through swampy and forest country, and where British troops, with
Indians amongst them, pursue them relentlessly, having already captured
practically the whole of this, the last of the German colonies. Then
turn to Russia. Was there ever such a wretched country? Revolution
having first deposed the Tsar, the Revolutionists have turned upon one
another. Armies have disappeared, the German has invaded the Muscovite
provinces without difficulty; for while the hand of brother was raised
against the hand of brother there were none to oppose the invader. We
have dealt already in some detail with this lamentable condition of
affairs, and have shown how it reacted on the Western Front, but we
have not so far dealt with its meaning in other directions.
Siberia borders China and runs down to the sea which washes the
Japanese islands. Not only are Russian revolutionists swarming in these
parts, but the many hundreds of thousands of Austrian prisoners and
the many thousands of Germans captured by Russia in the early days
of the war, when the Russian armies were triumphant, are at large,
seizing arms, electing leaders, and at this very period threatening the
security of the Chinese provinces across the Siberian border, and the
interests of Japan in Manchuria and elsewhere.
Thus as, ensconced in our niche, we look out and survey this world-wide
scene, another aspect of affairs is presented to us. China, like many
of the South American provinces, indeed as in the case of nearly every
nationality throughout the world other than the Central Empires of
Europe, has declared war against the Kaiser and his allies, or has
severed diplomatic relations with them, while it needs not to be added
that the Japanese have long since joined Britain and her allies. But
till this stage of the war neither China nor Japan has taken active
military steps against the enemy, though the navy of Japan has already
lent much assistance. The time has now arrived, however, when China
must seriously consider the protection of her Siberian frontier, when
Japan must likewise protect her interests on the coast washed by the
Sea of Japan.
At this stage of the conflict one is unable to prophesy what will
happen in this particular direction; yet, bearing in mind the course
of this gigantic war, its constant spread, it seems only reasonable to
expect that presently China and Japan will be brought actively into the
fighting.
One last point in our survey. The Caucasus, captured in such
magnificent manner by the Russians, has now been abandoned by the
Revolutionists, and the Armenian people, released from the torture of
Turkish rule, have again been thrown into the hands of that remorseless
people. Thus, while the outbreak of revolution has dismembered Russia,
and brought infinite misery upon the people, it has automatically, as
it were, brought even greater misery upon the Armenians. Yet it has not
found them irresolute or without strength to protect their homes. As we
write, they are fighting the Turk, and may success follow their efforts!
Then let us turn to the active centre of the world-wide contest--to
France. We have already set down the outline of the German offensive
which commenced on 21st March, 1918, when Bill and Larry and Jim and
Nobby and their comrades were engulfed. We can conveniently, then,
follow this offensive to its end, and, advancing the story a stage or
two, describe events that followed.
The Fifth British Army, opposed to the bulk of the German host, fell
back by force of circumstances, fighting a brilliant rear-guard action,
while the Third Army, just to the north of it, swung its right flank
farther to the west to keep in touch with the left of the Fifth Army.
At the same time French troops were rushed forward to reinforce the
right flank of the Fifth Army, while American battalions were brigaded
with British and French troops, so that, as the Fifth Army retired, its
resistance was supported by others, and reinforcements accumulated.
The German drive was presently stopped definitely before Albert.
In effect that drive had carried the enemy across the conquered
battle-fields of the Somme, and the line now established was that held
for so many weary months through the years 1914, 1915, and 1916.
Then followed a short lull and another German offensive in the
neighbourhood of Armentières, which carried the enemy over Messines
Hill, across the flats of French Flanders, beyond Bailleul, in a big
bow which encompassed Kemmel Hill, the village of Locre, and many
other villages from a point south of Ypres down to Festubert to the
north-east of Bethune. Once more British and French and American
reserves checked the rush, and the Allied line once again held up the
enemy advance.
Another pause, more frantic efforts on the part of the enemy, whose
policy it was to smash the French and British before American troops
could arrive in sufficient numbers, and a third offensive was launched
towards the Aisne River, which swept the defenders back right to the
Marne and carved out another huge section of French country, till this
third wave of advance reached the Marne River at a point thirty-four
miles from Paris, encircling Reims to the east, and running from the
Marne past Villers Cotterets--scene of British gallantry in 1914--to
Noyon.
The position is one to consider for a moment. How had this trio of
retreats affected the Allies, and what success had it brought to
the Germans? In the case of the former it had caused losses, it had
secured country, it had devastated fertile areas, and it had rendered
homeless thousands of hapless French people. Moreover, it had brought
the Germans within easier striking distance of Paris, on which at least
three of their long-range guns had for some weeks now been casting
shells. But it had not broken Britain and her allies. Those losses
had already been made good, and now, instead of some three or four
hundred thousand Americans standing shoulder to shoulder with Britain
and France and Italy and Portugal and Belgium, there were a million
Americans, with more swarming on ships to cross the Atlantic and come
to our assistance.
What then of the Germans? What was in the first place the ultimate aim
and object of that first offensive, which, successful enough, we admit,
had yet caused them stupendous losses? What was the net result of
these three successful attempts, all accompanied by losses, which, if
published broadcast and fully known, might well stagger the people of
Germany? Ground had been won, prisoners had been taken, but the effort
was a failure--a ghastly failure--because its main object had been to
smash and drive a wedge in between the British forces to the north
and the French troops farther south--a position which would have been
pressed to the fullest and which would have enabled the Kaiser to have
thrown the whole of his forces upon the British and so overwhelm them.
That had not eventuated; that was the main object of the German High
Command, and its failure spelt failure in all directions. Those three
offensives had taken time--valuable days had slipped by, valuable
weeks had gone, and during those weeks, running into some three
months, America, stimulated by the danger, had made good the gaps in
the fighting-line of the Allies, and had sent her troops to France in
unprecedented manner.
What then of the future? There stood now in France a solid wall of
British and French and American troops, with Italians, Portuguese, and
Belgians, a wall growing stouter every day as American troops arrived.
On the other side of the line there stood a German host, staggered in
spite of itself by its losses, shaken by the stupendous task still
before it, doubtful of the future, hesitating as to the course it
should pursue.
As to the other theatres of war: in Italy another blow was given to
the German Alliance, for the Austrians, having staked their all on an
offensive, were hopelessly defeated, and Italy was advancing her line
across the Piave. Thus July arrived, and with it the crisis of this
world-wide conflict.
What of Bill and his friends? What, too, of Heinrich Hilker, the German
spy whom they had seen whisked off in an aeroplane, obviously with the
intention of landing behind the Allied line, there to mingle with the
American soldiers?
"It's--it's----" spluttered Bill, as the machine took the air and went
off. "I--we----"
"You shut up," Larry commanded, still gripping him by the arm and
beginning to lead him away. "Sakes! D'you want every one of the Germans
outside to hear you--to see that something's happened? Come over here!
Stuff that into your mouth! Smoke, man! Now, Jim, sit down; we'll have
a talk. Nobby, you come across here. Of course you don't understand.
Well, sit down; now listen!"
"See here!" said Jim, tapping the huge Nobby on the knee as he sat
in front of him, for Larry was now engaged in talking sternly to
Bill. "This here is a real drama: our Bill--our young Bill, him as
we've been along with these weeks now--was a chum of ours out west in
America. There was Germans there, Nobby; you know as I'm speakin' of
times when America wasn't at war with Germany. Them Germans was up to
all sorts of stunts--dirty stunts; you get me?"
Nobby nodded. He opened a capacious mouth and popped in the tip of a
tiny cigarette, looking almost as though he would swallow it.
"Yep!" he said, unconsciously mimicking Larry.
"Well now, there was a bar down there, and Bill's father was the man
in charge of it. One of these here German skunks shot him because he
was talkin' about the Kaiser. That man was the man dressed in American
uniform that's just gone off aloft in that aeroplane. Say, Nobby,
what d'you think a German skunk like that wants to get dressing up in
American togs for? What d'you think?"
"Think!" Nobby's brow was wreathed with furrows, his eyes sank a trifle
deeper into his head, and for the first time since they had known
him he actually scowled. "Think! As if I wanted to think!" he said.
"Ain't I been out 'ere these months and months? Ain't we had spies
before?--nice, dear old gentlemen, who you'd think were real till you'd
stripped them of their beards and some of their clothes. Haven't I
known German officers dressed up as old Flemish women? Ain't they tried
every game on?--even to dressin' in British uniforms!--and you get
askin' me the sort o' question you'd put to a child! 'Ere, Jim, I've
took a likin' to you, but if you fling things like that at me, you and
I'll part--savvy?"
He blew out a puff of smoke directly into Jim's face, perhaps not very
politely; but then on active service the refinements of civilization
are not always observable--men think deeply and sometimes forget the
niceties they practised at home.
"D'you get me?" asked Nobby, blowing out another cloud of smoke, and
becoming quite American in his drawl, "or d'you really take me for a
child?--me as 'as been on active service almost since the war begun.
So young Bill's father was killed by that dirty scoundrel, eh?" he
asked, "and that explains his excitement just now. Bill, boy," he said,
holding out a hand and gripping Bill's arm with his huge fingers,
"don't you take on, you'll get even with that chap one of these days,
and I'll help you. Pull yerself together! Now let's talk! Of course
you mean to escape out of this place--so do we. Of course, you want
to get back to your folks as quick as possible, so as to give 'em a
warning--well, so do we. You ain't the only one as thinks of such
things or worries over the Americans. Well then, we're agreed. Then
let's put our heads together and talk it over and make plans and so on."
Nobby sat down, blew his cheeks out, grimaced at Bill, winked at Larry,
and jerked his head as much as if to invite Jim to be seated near him.
"Stand up, you English swine!" a German non-commissioned officer
shouted at them, using the English language.
"English swine!" Nobby grunted, while his cheeks flushed. "Well,
I don't know; suppose you've got to hold yerself in these days,
because it don't do to quarrel with the Germans when you're a
prisoner--but----" His big fist doubled, while with the other hand he
dashed the sweat from his forehead.
As for Bill, he appeared to take no offence at the coarse command.
Automatically, as it were, he stood up. All his thoughts were bent upon
the scoundrel, Heinrich Hilker, whom he had seen leaving the place on
that aeroplane, undoubtedly bound for the American lines. "American
lines!" They were the Allied lines; for was not America one of the
stanchest of the Allies? and had not he, Bill himself, the closest
relationship and friendship for America? Whatever did Heinrich Hilker's
presence bode for those friends of his? What danger did it mean? In
any case, his presence as a spy could hardly signify anything else but
trouble for the Allies, trouble which might lead to disaster.
"It must be stopped. We must get away," he said.
"Sure!" grunted Larry, "but you hold yer jaw, young Bill!" he added,
_sotto voce_. "This German chap speaks English, don't you forget it.
Perhaps he's been a waiter--most of 'em seem to have been that--and has
made a small fortune out of your people or out of mine. That's why he
hates us, perhaps; for see how he scowls at us. But escape, boy? Sure
we will--eh, Jim?"
Jim merely glanced at them, but as he did so his eyes flashed an answer
which there was no mistaking, and he nodded.
"March! No talking! I'll bayonet the man who speaks! Fall in, you dogs!
Listen to me. We've broken the British line; we've separated the French
and the English. We're marching to Paris. We shall soon have conquered
both England and France, and then America shall feel the weight of our
blows. Ha, America!"
The German swung round upon the diminutive Larry, and, stepping a pace
nearer, stood over him as if he would trample upon him and crush him.
Whereat Larry, no doubt unconsciously, felt for his cigar end, and,
discovering it had gone, merely stood staring up at this giant, this
bully.
"Say, mister!" he said in gentle tones, "you ain't got no call to try
and skeere me--I ain't the American army. You won't find the American
army and our boys so jolly small as I am. You wait! Marching on
Paris, eh? Waal, you ain't there yet, I'll bet. As for whoppin' the
British----waal! My! I've seen something of them fellows, and they'll
take some whopping! And then you'll beat the Americans. Oh ho, you
will! Waal, that too'll want a bit o' doin'."
The man scowled down at him, and, gripping his rifle, lifted it up
above his head as if he would dash the butt against Larry's face.
Then he thought better of the matter, lowered it, and, finally turning
on his heel, marched away. Who knows? The very mildness of Larry's
appearance, the gentleness of his voice, may have taken the man by
surprise. Or was it that in that gentle and diminutive exterior he
had seen something, perceived something hidden before, had grasped
some idea, as it were, of the indomitable courage of this gallant
American? Yes, it must have been that. Those who looked into Larry's
eyes under similar circumstances saw a glimmer there of warning. This
was the little man who in the mines was feared by evil-doers. Even as a
prisoner he was not to be derided. In point of fact, that swinging butt
had caused him to brace every muscle and every sinew. Unknown to the
German, unsuspected by his comrades, he was on the point of springing
at the man's throat, when luckily the bully turned abruptly.
"I'll know him next time," said Larry in the same gentle tone. "Things
then may be a bit more even. Suppose now he's got a gun, and I too.
Waal, boys, guess I'll do more than stand still and talk to him."
Nobby's big broad fingers were stretched out, and gripped the frail
shoulders of the American. Nobby, broad-shouldered, powerfully built,
and perhaps a little obtuse and dull of understanding, could yet
realize what had passed in those last few moments. Long since this he
had developed an enormous admiration for Larry and his other American
comrades, for Bill, too, let us say, and none the less for his British
comrades. Larry was such a queer fellow; so calm, so deliberate, so
full of pluck and spirit, and yet so fragile in appearance.
"Say, Larry," he gulped, mimicking the American's drawl, "you do get
me. Blest if I can understand a chap like you. Now if I was to take you
by this same shoulder, I could shake yer as a dog does a rat, and blest
if I don't think you look as though you'd fall to pieces. But when you
gets a squint at me, I knows that, like the rat, you'd turn and get yer
teeth into me, and then it'ud be a fight to the death. Blimey! I'm glad
I ain't that German, because some day you'll meet him, that's certain,
and then---- Well, as I said, I'm real sorry for 'im!"
"March!" They were hurried out of the barbed-wire entanglements, and
presently joined another column of unfortunate prisoners. A few hours
later they reached the railway station at Péronne, where they were
driven into cattle trucks preparatory to the journey into Germany. That
night the train pulled out of the station and lay in a siding. Far off,
very far off indeed, they heard the sounds of strife. British guns,
American guns, French guns, in the far distance, defending the Allied
line against the German rush. Then they lost these sounds as the train
which carried them steamed out on its journey.
When would they hear those reassuring sounds again? What chance
had Bill and his friends of ever returning to their comrades? And,
worst thought of all, what opportunity would they have to circumvent
the plans of Heinrich Hilker, the villain who by this time, in all
probability, had landed behind the American lines, and was no doubt
already fraternizing with those whose destruction he plotted?