UNDER FIRE
It was after midnight when Steve finally decided that it was safe to
venture from their retreat. And then they did not emerge by the way in
which they had entered it.
"This place has saved the life of many a Servian patriot in these last
few years," said Steve. "I think the Austrians have come near to finding
it once or twice. They have pursued some of our people to the very
entrance. But what has always puzzled them is that we never go out by
the way in which we come in. And one entrance we have never used except
for flight, and then only in a grave emergency. No Austrian pursuer has
ever seen that, or come near it. It is the one by which we shall escape
now. Keep still. That is all that is necessary. Keep still and follow
me."
Dick had guessed already that there were other entrances. He was not
prepared, however, for the elaborate system of rooms and passages that
were revealed as he followed Steve, who had now possessed himself of an
electric flashlight, and had given Dick one also.
"We could almost have stood a siege down here," explained Steve.
"Here--we seem to be in a dead alley, don't we?"
They had passed from the room in which they had waited to another, where
Dick had seen a plentiful supply of provisions and of drinking water in
great bottles. From this they had gone into a narrow passage, dark and
damp. Now Steve flashed his light on a blank wall. But a touch at the
right place brought a handle into view. This, when it was pulled, showed
that there was really a door, cunningly made so that it seemed to be a
part of the wall, with no cracks to betray it. And behind this was
another door of solid steel.
"It would not be easy to get through that door, you see, even if they
penetrated the secret of the first one," said Steve. "That door is made
of armor plate, of tempered steel. It is the same sort of steel that is
used for the protection of a great battleship. Even a shell from a
cannon would not go through it very easily, and bullets would only be
hurled back if they struck it."
He touched a spring and the door revolved on its own axis, staying open
just long enough for them to pass through, and then closing.
"The action is automatic," said Steve. "That would make it safe even if
one were pursued, for the pursuer would be caught as the door closed; he
would not be so close as to be able to get through."
"You people didn't overlook anything, it seems to me," said Dick. "You
must have been getting ready for war for a long time."
"For years," said Steve, quietly. "Ever since King Peter came to the
throne and refused any longer to betray the country to Austria, as his
predecessor did always. We stand in Austria's way. Until we became
powerful by beating Turkey and Bulgaria, which attacked us as the
result of an Austrian trick, it mattered less. But ever since the end
of the second war last year we have known that Austria was only looking
for an excuse to attack us. And so we have tried to be ready. It was our
only chance."
"But you say you won't have to fight Austria alone. The Russians will
come to Servia's aid, won't they?"
"In a way, yes. But they will not be able to send troops to fight with
our armies. They may attack Austria, and so keep some of her soldiers
busy elsewhere. But that is all. We do not touch Austria anywhere. She
might send troops through Roumania, and Roumania, it is true, is
friendly toward us. But that would bring her into the war, and she will
not be ready for that for a time. At least Turkey would bar her from
sending troops by sea to Antivari, for they would have to pass through
the Dardanelles, and that is impossible since Turkey is the friend of
Germany.
"And there is another point. Austria has been making ready. She can
strike quickly. Russia is slow. It will be two months before she makes
herself felt, even if she declares war at once. For two months Austria
can devote herself almost entirely to us. And the odds in her favor are
so great that anything might happen in that time, if we had not prepared
for her. As it is, there is almost nothing of Austria's plans and
preparations that we do not know."
While Steve talked they were walking through what seemed almost like a
tunnel. Now he flashed his light, looked about, and dropped his voice.
"Now we must begin to be careful," he said. "We are getting near the
light. This is like a rabbit's warren, but soon we shall be in the open.
Sure as we are that the Austrians know nothing of this place, we never
take chances."
"We must be a long way from the cellar we first went into," said Dick.
"Even if we've circled around, and here where there are no stars, I
can't tell about that. We've walked a long distance, I should say."
"You're right," said Steve, with a low and discreet chuckle. "Oh, this
is a fine tunnel! Do you know what we did a few minutes ago? We walked
right under a police station!"
The tunnel seemed to dip now, and then to rise again. And in a few
moments cold air was blowing on their faces; cold, that is, by
comparison with the heat of the subterranean workings in which they had
been buried. Then they came out, stooping, and passing through a well
designed covering of shrubs and bushes, on the sandy beach of the river.
Dick gasped a little at that, and at seeing that they had evidently got
out of the town altogether. Before him now lay the lights of Belgrade,
but he noticed one thing at once. The lights had shrunk; there were
fewer than there had been the night before.
Steve had gone ahead now, scouting to see if the coast were clear, but
he returned in a moment, jubilant.
"All safe!" he said. "I knew it would be, of course, but there is no
need to take chances. Now we're all right so far. But we've got quite a
walk before us yet. We'll still be very cautious."
"Which way?" asked Dick.
"West, along the bank of the Save here. Look, do you see that monitor
there? If her searchlight swings this way, drop down. She might not pay
any attention, but we don't want to be noticed at all, and it's better
to be on the safe side."
"Why are there so few lights in Belgrade?" asked Dick. "I know it's
late, but other nights, when I've looked over, it was much brighter."
"I'm not sure," said Steve, looking anxious. "You see, it's hours since
I've had any news. The war may have come already, Dick. I hope not,
because I should feel that we were more sure of getting across before
the declaration. Still we have a good chance, even if it has begun."
Three times, as they walked along the river bank, Steve made a long
detour inland.
"The Austrians have patrols along the river," he said. "But they don't
take that sort of work very seriously. They are trusting the monitors
and their searchlights. You see, their lights are swinging pretty
steadily, and they cover the whole river and the Servian shore."
"And don't they think that there's likely to be danger on this side?"
"They're right, too, of course. Spies, yes. But we couldn't threaten
them very seriously in any way that would make it necessary for them to
be very careful here."
"I wish we knew what was going on, don't you? Doesn't it seem funny to
be right in the middle of something that's going to make history and to
think that people thousands of miles away really know more about it than
we do?"
"Yes. But soon we'll know all there is to be known. When we're once over
the river, then we can ask questions and get true answers, which is more
than people in Semlin have been doing lately. Yes, I'm just as anxious
for some news as you are. I rather wish now that I'd gone out while we
were waiting for it to be late enough to start. But I suppose it was
better that I didn't. You'd have been helpless there if anything had
happened to keep me from coming back," remarked Stepan.
"If you'd been caught, you mean?"
"Ye--es, I suppose that's what I mean. Although really I don't think
there was ever any great danger of that. When I got a job from Hallo, it
was sure that no one suspected me, because he's so busy with government
contracts that he had to be careful. I'm supposed to be a Hungarian,
from Buda-Pesth. And it isn't as if I'd been trying to find out things
in a general way. All I had to do was to pick up the information that it
was so easy to get in Hallo's place. There were all sorts of things to
be learned there, and a lot was made easy for me because Hallo and
others didn't think, I suppose, that I would know what certain papers
and estimates meant."
"How did you know enough to be able to do all that sort of thing,
Steve?"
"Well, there were a lot of things I didn't understand, myself. But I
didn't have to. I just copied down everything I saw that seemed to have
anything to do with military matters in any way, and sent everything I
got to the general staff at home. They knew the meaning of everything,
you see. It wasn't any one thing, perhaps; it was what I and a lot of
others who were at work over here were able to report that counted. They
could put one thing with another, and, altogether, it was worth
something. I don't know how much. But I do know, for instance, that
Hallo has sent supplies of various sorts to particular places. There's a
regular arsenal on the Austrian side, near Schabatz, and there are big
depots of supplies at a lot of places along the Drina."
"Oh, I understand better now. Hallo is supplying food and things that
the soldiers will need?"
"Food, and shoes, mostly. He's the biggest contractor for those, but he
is handling about everything. Medical supplies, uniforms, horseshoes,
saddles, and a tremendous lot of petrol--gasoline. And he's making a big
profit, too. He's one of several big army contractors who have been
eager for this war, and have had a lot to do with bringing it on,
because they hoped to grow richer out of their contracts. War meant big
profits."
"Men like that ought to have to do some of the fighting themselves, I
think! But they never do. They stay behind, and let others do the work.
I've heard about that sort of thing at home in America. And some of them
didn't even behave honestly. They sold bad beef for the soldiers, and
rotten leather, and shoddy cloth for uniforms."
Steve chuckled.
"I'll tell you something about Hallo," he said. "But remember not to
tell anyone else, even if you get a chance, until the time comes. He's
doing something like that, too. He thinks he's been very clever, and
that there's no chance for anyone to find him out. But I've got the
proof, and perhaps there'll be a chance for you to use what I know to
make him do what's right for your mother, Dick. As it is, you see, I
wouldn't give him away, because it's good for us to have the Austrians
badly equipped. Hello, we're getting near our ferry! Do you see that
blasted tree there--the one that was struck by lightning?"
"Yes," said Dick, peering through the darkness.
"Well, just below that there ought to be a boat and a man with it. We'll
soon know if we can row or if we'll have to swim for it. It's a long
swim, and I'm not anxious to go that way."
But the boat was there, and beside it a Servian who greeted Steve
happily, and looked at Dick appraisingly.
"He is with me," said Steve. "Jump in, Dick! Hurry, Mischa!"
In a moment they were out in the stream. And then things began to
happen. There was a sputtering of fire from the bank they had left, and
Mischa, the ferryman, staggered and collapsed. A bullet had reached him!
The oars fell into the water, and they were adrift.