A DARING DECISION
"Where is Milikoff?" Steve Dushan asked the soldier, as soon as they
were outside. They had left the boathouse, of course, by the land side,
and moved swiftly away from the water side.
"He is at the house by the pond," answered the soldier. "The others were
there too, ten minutes ago. But since then anything may have happened!"
"Yes," said Stepan, grimly. "It was stupid work--letting Hallo get away,
when once they had him in their grip! Still, there is no use in crying
over spilt milk. We must get him back, that is all. He knows the thing
that we have got to learn, and I think we shall be able to persuade him
to share his knowledge with us!"
"No doubt," said the soldier, shrugging his shoulders. "The man who
plays with both sides is always weak. It is always a dangerous thing to
run with the hare and ride with the hounds!"
The country hereabout was flat and waste, low-lying marsh lands, with
here and there a pond coming close to the road. Beside one of these
ponds, which, at a guess, might be useful in winter for the ice it would
carry, stood a small house, from one window of which a light showed.
"Wait for me here," said Steve to the soldier, and went inside. He
gained admittance by a peculiar knock, and the door was opened for him
at once by a man in the garb of a priest. Stepan laughed at himself for
starting back.
"Aha, you didn't know me!" said the priest, with a merry laugh. "Now I
know that this is a good disguise!"
"Yes, it's a good one, Milikoff," said Stepan. "But what is this about
Hallo? Did you actually let him escape after holding him here?"
"Yes," growled Milikoff, all his pleasure in the excellence of his
disguise vanishing. "He has been here fifty times before; that was the
chance we took, since we had to meet him somewhere. He came alone
to-night, and we were able to seize him very easily. And then, just as I
saw that it was nearly time for you to come, he had gone!"
"How did he get away?"
"He fooled us all by showing something none of us thought he had--a
little courage! He dropped from the window above. That was how we knew
he was gone, for he broke a pane of glass in one of the greenhouse beds
as he dropped. We rushed out--"
"You were so near as that, and still he got away?" said Stepan, with a
groan.
"Oh, we were out after him at once!" said Milikoff. "He ran toward the
river, and we were after him. We drove him in. We have that much
consolation, Stepan--we drove him into the water, and though we watched
a long time for him to come up, there was no sign of him. I think he
drowned like the rat he was!"
"You think so, and it does seem probable. But we can't be sure! And,
even so, he is worth more to us alive than dead. For the time, at least.
He is a wretched traitor--treacherous to both sides. I wouldn't mind
his death, because he has sent hundreds of men better than himself to
death of late. But I wish we had been able to hold him and use him. He
would have been afraid of us, I think, when he discovered how much we
knew!"
"It would have been enough for him to see you, Stepan, and know that you
were one of us, I think. He would have guessed very quickly what you
were doing during all those weeks when you were so close to him. That is
what has saved us. If it had not been for you we would have trusted him,
I think, with his tale of how the Austrian government had wronged him,
and his pretence that he was one of a group that wanted a free and
independent Hungary!"
Stepan was thinking hard.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
"They are busy in the town. We are almost ready to blow up the arsenal,
and perhaps we shall be able to finish the tunnel and plant the mine
to-night."
"That will be good," Stepan nodded, "unless Hallo has warned them. It
was he who gave us the information as to just where we should have to
place the mine, and he must have guessed what use we would make of it."
"Perhaps so. But they have not moved any of the stores. If we can
explode our mine, we shall strike a good blow for Servia."
"We may say that without boasting, Milikoff. The reserve ammunition for
two corps is here. They have been careless because they did not expect
anything like a general engagement for some time, especially when the
government moved to Nish. But I am uneasy still about Hallo."
"I think you need not be, Stepan. I tell you we were right on his heels,
and there was no way for him to escape. He went into the water beyond a
doubt, and I do not believe that he was strong enough to swim the
Danube. Besides, we would have seen him had he done that, and shot him."
"I don't think he swam the Danube, I'm quite sure he could not have
managed that. What I am afraid of is that he doubled on his tracks in
some fashion and got ashore."
"But that was even more impossible, I tell you! We expected him to try
to do that, and we watched out especially to make it too hard for him to
do it, even though he is as slippery as an eel."
"And still I should like to make sure, I think. I shall have to go into
Semlin."
"To look for him? It will be risky."
"Perhaps, but it can't be helped. I doubt if it will be so risky,
though. I'm not sure that even Hallo suspects yet that I was more than I
seemed."
"Wouldn't your sudden disappearance just at this critical time give it
away to him?"
"I don't think so, because I was very careful to arrange a good excuse.
I have talked for two or three weeks of the illness of my uncle in
Buda-Pesth, and have said that if he became worse perhaps I might have
to go home very suddenly. And I left a note in the office when I came
out yesterday, because I was sure I would not be back, saying I had been
called away. I didn't say I was going to Buda-Pesth--just that I was
called away."
"Well, if no one else had any reason to suspect you, you will be safe
enough, for you won't see Hallo."
"I am going, anyhow. But first, Milikoff--you are to stay here, I
suppose?"
"Yes, until daybreak, at least."
"Good! I left a friend at the boathouse--an American, but one who is
with us, heart and soul, and has proved it at the risk of his life
already. I want him to come here and wait for me."
"You are sure he is all right? We have to be careful, Stepan."
"If you can trust me, you can trust Dick Warner," said Stepan.
"That is enough. Let him come!"
"Right! I will send Vanya."
He stepped to the door and called to the Serb in the Austrian uniform,
who was waiting outside.
"Vanya," he said, "will you go back to the boathouse and return with
the friend I left there? Tell him that I want him to come, and show him
the way."
"At once," said the soldier, and was off.
Stepan returned and found Milikoff studying some papers.
"You had better keep a guard at the boathouse when you have a man to
send there," suggested Stepan. "Vanya will be on duty before long, I
suppose?"
"Yes. We shall not be able to use him again. Not at once, at least. I am
surprised that we have had the chance to use him at all. But, as a
matter of fact, two Serbo-Croatian regiments are here, or near here."
"The Austrians are in a tight place," said Stepan, with a laugh. "They
know that they may have to fight Italy, and so they are sending the
Italian troops from the Trentino and Trieste to the Galician frontier,
to fight the Russians. And they have to use every regiment. They might
as well keep their Serbs and Croats here--they will fight as readily
against Servia as against Russia. If they could spare first line troops
for garrison work and for watching the Italian border, they might
manage. But they cannot. That duty they must leave to the reserves and
the old men. I believe their plan is to surround the troops that may be
disaffected with Hungarians and true Austrians who can be depended upon
absolutely."
"They can depend upon their Hungarian levies now," said Milikoff. "But
for how long will that be true? If a few battles are lost, if Russian
troops pour through the passes of the Carpathians and the Cossacks come
within sight of Buda-Pesth? After all, Hungary is an independent
kingdom, and a part of the Austrian empire only of her own free will.
Her army is her own, and she has her own parliament and her own
ministers. There is no reason why she should not have a king of her own
again when she chooses. We may see the rise of another Kossuth, who
would force Hungary to make peace with Russia and with Servia. At least
you may live to see it."
"Do you really think so?" asked Stepan, eagerly. "That would be
glorious! Oh, we are lucky, after all, Milikoff, we Servians! Our
country may be small, but it is our own. We do not have to rule a score
of different subject races. All those who live under our flag do so
willingly. We do not have to drive our soldiers into the ranks with
whips and threats of shooting."
"No! And after this war, if God is still with us, as he has been, our
brothers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Albania, too, will come under our
flag. The old Serb kingdom will be fully restored. Montenegro will join
us, and we shall have borders that are made by the limits of the Serb
race."
"There has been talk of annexing part of Hungary when we win," said
Stepan.
"Slavonia we can take, because it is peopled by our kin, Stepan. But we
want no Magyars under our rule. Let them keep their country. Or else we
should face the troubles we have brought upon them."
Stepan looked at his watch and tossed his head impatiently.
"Time for me to be off," he said. "Why are they so long? I want to see
Dick before I go, but I can't wait much longer--"
He was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Vanya, the soldier who
had gone to fetch Dick.
"He is not there!" he cried. "The boathouse is empty--except for the
boat in which you came!"
Stepan and Milikoff stared at one another, aghast.
"This is Hallo's work!" said Stepan, furiously. "He has a grudge against
this friend of mine! Ah, I see it all now, Milikoff--how he escaped! He
went into the water--you are right! But tell me, now--was it near the
boathouse?"
"Yes, now that I remember, it was."
"Then can't you see what happened? He dived and swam under the door. It
would be easy enough for anyone who could swim at all well and knew the
ground. Heavens, he must have been in there when we first came in with
the boat!"
And now their dismay knew no bounds. Milikoff saw that Stepan was right;
it was exactly what must have happened.
"I'm a dolt--a fool!" he cried, bitterly. "That I never thought to
search the boathouse!"
"Who would have thought?" said Stepan. "But it is no time to think of
what is done and can't be undone. Now, more than ever, I must go after
him. I have to try to save my friend, and it is doubly imperative now
that we should catch Hallo."
"Let me come with you!"
"No. Your work is too important for you to take risks. I will go
alone."