BETWEEN TWO FIRES.
At the door to the parlor, Chester stopped stock still. The others halted
behind him.
"Now what do you think of that?" he demanded.
Inside, Stubbs was standing before Helen Ellison.
"Yes," he was saying, "I am Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent of the _New
York Gazette_. I am here on important business. But I have other worries
besides my work. I am burdened with the care of two young American boys.
I have to look after them and keep them out of trouble. Hal Paine and
Chester Crawford. Perhaps you know them?"
The little man paused expectantly.
"I have met Chester Crawford," was the reply. "He was here only a moment
ago. I do not know Hal Paine."
"Well, if you know one of them you are just one better off than I am,"
was Stubbs' rejoinder. "I know them both, too well. Were it not that I am
continually giving up my time to getting them out of scrapes, I would be
able to give more attention to my own work. You should be glad that you
know but one of them."
"But I thought--" began the girl.
Stubbs interrupted her with a wave of his hand.
"Oh, I know what you thought," he said. "I thought so myself once. So
have lots of others. But if you knew them as well as I do you'd change
your mind."
"Well, what do you think of it?" asked Chester of Hal, in a whisper.
"I think it's about time we went in," returned Hal.
Chester advanced into the room and the others followed. Stubbs
turned guiltily.
"Oh, there you are," he said. "I was just telling this young lady here
what great friends we all are. Yes, sir. I just remarked that if she were
in any kind of danger, to mention it to you and you boys would see that
no harm came to her."
"Are you sure that's what you were talking about, Mr. Stubbs?"
asked Chester.
"Why, of course. What did you think?"
"Well, I thought perhaps you might have told Miss Ellison of all the
trouble we have caused you."
Stubbs started.
"I--I--" he stammered.
"Oh, we heard you, Mr. Stubbs," said Hal.
"Well," said Stubbs with ruffled dignity. "Eavesdroppers never hear any
good of themselves." But the little man soon recovered his poise. "I was
just joking," he said. "I knew you boys were listening. Ha! Ha!" He eyed
Chester. "The young lady here says she has met you," he said. "You young
rascal, so this is why you wanted to come on ahead, is it?"
Chester blushed.
"See here, Mr. Stubbs," he began, "I--"
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Stubbs. He approached Chester and gave him a dig in the
ribs with his thumb. "So," he exclaimed, and added, "well, I was young
myself once."
He had successfully turned the tables on Chester and he was now very much
pleased with himself.
Chester decided that the best policy was to ignore the little man's
remarks, so he turned the conversation by introducing Hal and Nikol to
Helen. Then, when all were on speaking terms, he turned to Hal.
"Tell me how you happened to find us?" he asked.
"It's simple enough," was the reply. "As we were sailing along, I heard
shots below. I came down to investigate. The first thing I knew, after
coming in sight of this house, I saw a great hulk of a man come rushing
out. I drew my revolver and was about to fire when I recognized Ivan. At
first I wasn't sure whether Ivan knew us, but when he grabbed Stubbs
there and began to play with him, I knew he did. So Nikol and I stood
back and watched. Then you came out. That's all I have to tell."
"And so you admit it wasn't a dream," exclaimed Stubbs angrily. "A fine
lot of friends you are. How do you know what that untamed heathen might
have done to me?"
"Heathen, am I?" exclaimed Ivan, getting to his feet.
"No, no! I didn't mean that," said Stubbs, backing away. "I apologize."
Ivan resumed his seat and Stubbs continued:
"I just want to tell you I don't think much of such treatment. As I have
told you before, you rush to each other's aid fast enough, but when I get
in a tight place I am left to fight it out by myself."
"And you always come out on top, Mr. Stubbs," declared Chester. "We would
deprive you of none of the glory."
"Yes, but some of these times I won't come out on top and then what good
will glory do me, huh?"
"Think how proud Mrs. Stubbs--"
"I can tell you right now that Mrs. Stubbs is not looking for glory,"
shouted Stubbs. "What Mrs. Stubbs wants is me and if I fool around with
you much longer I'm mighty likely to disappoint her."
Stubbs stalked across the room and sat down in a corner.
"Tell me," said Hal to Chester, "what was all the shooting about?"
"Oh, it didn't amount to much," returned Chester. "Thirteen
Bulgarians attacked us. That's all. Anderson, Miss Ellison and I
disposed of a couple and Ivan here attended to the rest. They are all
dead now, I guess."
"And where is Anderson?" demanded Hal.
"Over there on the sofa," said Chester, pointing. "He's sleeping and I
didn't like to disturb him. He's got a hole in his head."
"Bad?" asked Hal anxiously.
"No; mere flesh wound. He'll be all right directly."
"And do you mean to tell me," demanded Hal, "that Ivan here did all
this work?"
"Well, he did the greater part of it. It reminded me of the old days,
when we watched Alexis in action. Any one who had ever seen them both
fight would know they were brothers. Ivan is a powerful man and a
great fighter."
Ivan had hung his head modestly as Chester talked. Now he looked
up and said:
"It was nothing."
"And yet how unlike Alexis," muttered Hal. "Can you imagine what Alexis
would have said after a fight like that?"
"Rather," said Chester dryly. "He'd have sworn he had defeated a
regiment."
"Well," said Hal. "It seems to me we have delayed here long enough. You
will remember your orders to hurry. My plane will carry us all, if Miss
Ellison cares to go."
"Certainly she cares to go," returned Chester. "We can't leave her here
alone. I'll wake Anderson now."
He did so. The Colonel announced that he was feeling perfectly fit and
ready to go at any time.
"Well, you people get ready and I'll go and have a look at the
plane," said Hal.
He left the house.
It had grown light by this time. Dawn had broken half an hour before and
there was every indication that the day would be bright and cheerful.
Helen was upstairs getting her things together, while the others sat
about in the parlor. Suddenly Hal dashed into the house. There was an
expression of alarm on his face. The others jumped to their feet
excitedly.
"Now what's the matter?" exclaimed Chester.
"Oh, nothing much," said Hal, "only that about fifty thousand Bulgarians
have nabbed my aeroplane."
"What?" exclaimed the others.
"Exactly," said Hal, "and that's not the worst of it."
"My goodness!" exclaimed Stubbs. "What can be worse than that?"
"Well," replied Hal, sinking into a chair. "On the other side of us I
made out about a million Serbians advancing."
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Chester. "You mean we are in between them?"
"Precisely."
"Oh, my," groaned Stubbs. "This will be the last of us for sure."
"Quiet, Stubbs," said Hal sharply.
Now Ivan had a remark to make.
"There don't happen to be a million Serbians," he said calmly.
"Well, I wasn't talking literally," said Hal. "I don't know how many
there are, but they look like a million."
"And what are we going to do?" moaned Stubbs.
"It looks to me as though we should have to stop right here," said
Hal quietly.
"And be shot to pieces?" This from Stubbs.
"You might go outside and try running a bit," returned Chester. "I have
no doubt you would be killed a bit quicker."
"I'll stay here," said Stubbs.
At this moment Helen came into the room. She was heavily attired and
carried a small satchel.
"Well, I'm ready," she said, smiling. "Did you think it would take me all
day to dress?"
"You might just as well go back and get unready," said Stubbs in a
faint voice.
Helen gazed at the serious faces about her queerly.
"Why, what on earth is the matter?" she asked anxiously.
"Matter?" echoed Stubbs. "Everything is the matter. The Serbians and
Bulgarians are coming to shoot us full of holes."
Helen turned to Hal for an explanation.
"It's true, Miss Ellison, though not as Mr. Stubbs expresses it," said
Hal quietly. "We are between two fires. The Bulgarians are less than half
a mile from us and they have seized my airplane. The Serbians are
advancing. There will undoubtedly be a battle and we will be somewhere
about the middle of it."
"But can't we leave now and hurry toward the Serbians?" asked Helen.
"I had thought of that," said Hal; "but the Bulgarians are too close. If
they saw us fleeing, they would probably shoot us down."
"Then cannot we seek the protection of the Bulgarians?"
This brought a growl from Ivan.
"Better keep as far from the Bulgarians as possible," he said in a harsh
voice. "I know something of the Bulgarians."
Hal nodded.
"Besides, we have other business," he added. "We do not want to fall into
the hands of the Bulgarians if we can possibly help it. We have a mission
to perform if it is humanly possible."
"Boom!" it was the sound of a big gun.
"The battle is on," said Hal. "Will any of you come to the roof with me?
We should be able to get a good view."
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The battle was on in full blast.