THE END OF THE CHASE.
A thin, spare figure rising to a height of over six and a half feet, in
field uniform, without a show of ribbon, cross or medal, grim, silent
and determined--this was the remarkable personality pointed out to the
boys as the military head of the enormous army of seven million men.
The aviators had landed within a few hundred yards of the headquarters
of the Russian commander-in-chief.
When Salisky and Marovitch had reported to an adjutant and turned over
the contents of their dispatch boxes to the proper authority, the time
was opportune for the young airmen to solicit the aid of the veteran
scouts in accomplishing that which they had set out to do.
"You are sure that nothing has turned your head?" anxiously inquired
Salisky, when he had heard, in part, the thrilling story of the death
ring and its secret menace to the life of Nikita.
"I am not cracked," earnestly assured Billy, so earnestly indeed that
his hearers' unbelief was considerably modified, and both observers
began to realize that the strange tale was not altogether the creation
of a disordered mind.
Marovitch even recalled hearing some talk at one time of some such
historical jewel owned in Warsaw, but memory failed him when it came to
placing it.
The boys had said nothing to specify the former ownership of the dread
decoration, and so did not repair this defect in the scout's
recollection.
"Taking it all seriously," remarked Salisky, now about convinced that it
was no myth with which they were dealing, "there is the duty of getting
to the Cossack chief without delay. Death is an everyday visitor around
here, but not in the form of slow poison, and there is peculiar interest
enough in this idea of rescue to key us all up to high pitch."
Marovitch, too, shared his comrade's growing concern as to the
importance of quick action. The driving force of intense interest
inspired them all.
Consider their disappointment, then, when it was learned at headquarters
that Nikita and his band had been but an hour in this camp, and were
already pushing on toward Petrograd.
"Here's where we stop, according to orders," regretfully stated Salisky,
"and I don't know for how long, either."
"Is there no earthly way to get a release?"
Billy was hoping against hope.
"Not unless by new instruction," responded the scout.
"Do you suppose the ring story would let us out?" asked Henri.
"Don't believe at all that they would swallow it," advised Marovitch;
"besides, it would probably take a lot of time to hit the trail of the
red riders. Too much space out there."
The speaker referred to the vast and trackless territory at the north.
Their first night in Brest Litovsk was not a happy one to the young
aviators. They had set their hearts and minds to the mission of
nullifying the vengeful scheme of Hamar, the very knowledge of which
spelled guilt to them.
And here all their plans were as naught in the face of inexorable
military rule, which held them fast until new commands succeeded the
original order.
An attempt to steal away in one of the biplanes would be simply reckless
folly, and of no avail--they had no definite advices as to the direction
even that the Cossack band had taken in their proposed journey to the
Russian capital, direct or roundabout, and, in addition, there was the
fear that without an interpreter it would be equally foolish to approach
Nikita, even though they located him.
The measure of life for the Cossack, with the death ring encircling his
finger, fixed by Ricker as two weeks, and handed down, no doubt, with
record of the ancient jewel, was still an uncertain quantity. It might
be in this very hour that the slowly coursing venom had done its work.
The favor of just another day for the boys' venture was needed to save
it from hopeless failure. Once on the trail there was always the chance
of making timely discovery; a continued internment in this camp, and
there was left nothing but the distress of defeat and the reverse flight
to Warsaw.
Would the streak of luck that in the first place had shunted the lads
into the coveted aeroplane space be extended?
It so developed that that was just what happened, and Salisky was the
early bird who brought the good news to the blanket bedsides of the
drowsy pilots.
"There is a regiment of Turkomans reported on the move, riding up to the
north line, and there is an order out for aeroplane service to convey
directions to these troops from headquarters. Marovitch and I have the
assignment--and that means our pilots, too."
"Doesn't that cover the route to Petrograd?" quickly questioned Billy.
"As far as two hundred and fifty miles," advised Salisky.
"Bully! Do you hear that, Henri?"
"Well, I guess yes, Buddy."
"Who are the Turkomans, anyhow?"
Billy wanted to learn a little every day.
"They are our new cavalry force," explained Salisky, "and they are even
quicker to ride at a fence of bayonets than the Don Cossacks, and that
is saying something. They came from the desert, the oasis and the
steppes of the Trans-Caspian provinces, as well as Caucasia, and they
come of their own accord."
"A famous fighting lot, that," added Marovitch, "and of all the horsemen
I have ever seen, these fellows are in the lead as whirlwind riders."
"They'll look good to us," exclaimed Billy, "especially as they are the
means of getting us out of here."
While the scout-messengers were waiting for their orders, the boys put
the biplanes in flying trim, and the party were off for the frozen north
within the hour.
The young aviators had never seen entrenchments laid out on such a
tremendous scale as in the early passing of this flight, and noted with
wonder the fortifications set up by the Russians in the open field.
What Napoleon had once called the "fifth element"--Russian mud--was now
sheeted with snow, and the great rivers and swamps were covered with
ice--an impressive outlook with a real chill in it.
But of dead white scenery the young pilots had grown weary; with them
the miles they left behind were of chief consequence--and full many a
league had then been rolled backward under the top-speeding aeroplanes.
It was at Vilna, where the observers had been directed to go, that first
landing was made by the aviators, and following which the scouts had
advices of the near approach of the Turkomans.
Upon sight of these picturesque cavalrymen, who feared neither hardship
nor danger, the boys were surprised at the youth of most of them, and
for whom it had been said, "war is the great and only poem, their unique
dream and faith."
These bold riders wore dark-brown caftans, and full headdress, instead
of the usual lambskin cap.
The sons of princes, khans or beks, the officers of these troops were
keenly shrewd and intelligent, as well as fiery and impetuous.
They gave the envoys from army headquarters a respectful hearing, and in
every way set back a common belief that the Turkomans generally were
merely hordes without discipline.
Of greater interest than all else in the proceedings, as far as Billy
and Henri were concerned, was the statement from a Turkoman chief
brought out by inquiry from Salisky, and by the latter interpreted, that
only the day before, traveling due northwest, the brown riders had met
the red-clad Nikita and his comrade Cossacks at the crossing of the Duna
River.
"One day's ride, he says," translated Salisky, "but he measures by the
gait of a horse. Even counting upon the fact that the Cossacks have done
some galloping since this meeting, it is no task to overhaul them now in
our aeroplanes, providing, of course, we do not miss their trail. I will
tell you what we will do," continued the scout; "Marovitch and I will
chance an extra dozen hours for this side expedition, but that is the
limit of our discretion. We have no choice but to return to
headquarters, and depend upon you drivers to make up most of the lost
time."
"You will get all there is in the motors," assured Henri.
The upshoot of the biplanes presented a spectacular leave-taking to the
horsemen, and they raised their lances on high in appreciation of the
show.
The twelve hours allotted would have been all too brief in which to
serve the purpose intended had the searching party been dependent upon
ordinary means of locomotion, and with less wide range of vision.
But in less than three hours the biplanes had swept across the river
mentioned by the Turkoman as the place of meeting with Nikita, and
onrushed, with occasional deviations right and left from straight
course, at hurricane speed.
The machines had traveled some fifty miles on the north side of the
Duna, when a shout from Marovitch, in the craft driven by Henri, caused
the pilot to suddenly set the planes for descent.
On the glittering white surface of the steppe there appeared a new color
effect--moving discs of scarlet!