IN THE NICK OF TIME
Crouched behind the packing case, Dick waited, wondering what was to
come next. Now that he was here, he felt that he had done a foolish
thing, and one only likely to lead to more trouble. There was so little
chance for him to accomplish anything of value, and he was not even sure
that Hallo would come here at all. Perhaps he was going somewhere else,
and he had simply walked into a trap without even a chance of getting
any results.
Yet luck had been with him so far in good measure. He had been almost
marvelously lucky in the boathouse. That Hallo had not seen him there
had been due only to fortune, and scarcely at all, in the first perilous
moment, to any action of his own. And he had been lucky again in his
trip into the city with Hallo ahead of him. In war time, as he knew,
people were likely to be suspicious of any stranger, even of one acting
in the most ordinary fashion. And his behavior, as he dodged and trailed
after Hallo, had been more than suspicious.
And finally, too, his getting into Hallo's office and finding a place to
conceal himself so well had been luck of the greatest sort. He had taken
a wild chance when he darted ahead of his man, for he might well have
found the door closed and locked, and have been caught by Hallo before
he could have got away. But he had staked everything on the hazard that
there ought to be a night watchman, as there would be, he knew, in any
American warehouse. And a night watchman there was. He had seen the
light of a man's lantern, as he came up to the door, from a second floor
window. The door had been open, and so he had slipped in.
The very fact that the door was open, too, encouraged him. It seemed to
him to make it certain that Hallo was expected some time that night. And
then a sound of brisk footsteps on the uncarpeted floor just outside the
office set his pulses leaping. Was it Hallo?
He could not tell, and he dared not emerge from his shelter enough to
see. In a moment the room was light, but Dick was still hidden, and the
movements of whoever had come in were hidden from him, too. But he was
sure of one thing after a very few moments. It was not Hallo with whom
he now shared the room. The newcomer's movements were too brisk, too
quick, for Hallo, who was slow moving, rather heavy footed, though agile
enough when it was necessary. Consumed by curiosity, Dick gradually
edged over so that he might have a chance to steal a look around the
edge of the big packing case without being seen himself.
He succeeded at last, and just as he looked around, the door was opened.
Hallo came in, and Dick darted back--but not until he had seen that the
other occupant of the room was Stepan Dushan! Now he felt that he was
amply justified for what he had done. Steve was here, and between them
there should be a chance to do something, he thought!
"What are you doing here?" growled Hallo, as he saw Stepan.
"I came to try to catch up with my work, sir," said Stepan, meekly.
"Since I could not be here to-day during the day, I thought it would be
better if I got ready for to-morrow, so that in the morning no time
would be lost."
"H'mph!" growled Hallo. He hesitated for a moment; then, half satisfied,
sat down at his desk.
"Did you have a fall, sir?" asked Stepan, and Dick almost choked with
laughter at his tone. "You're all covered with mud. Shall I get a brush
and try to take some of it off?"
"No! Attend to your work!" roared Hallo. "Or here--clear out of here!
I'm going to be busy, and I want to be alone."
It seemed to Dick that Stepan was hesitating, that he was on the verge
of refusing to obey, and so of giving everything away. But he yielded,
after just a moment's pause.
"Very well, sir," he said. "I'll go down to the stock-room and make the
tally from last night's sheets."
"All right. Be off!" said Hallo, ungraciously.
And now one thing filled Dick's mind. How much had Hallo seen or heard
while he was hidden in the closet of the boathouse? Did he know Stepan's
real work, and the part he was playing in these stirring times? If he
did, and had concealed his knowledge, it meant that he was laying a trap
for Stepan, and it meant, too, that he was a good actor, for he had
managed to conceal his knowledge admirably if he really possessed it.
Nothing that Dick knew of Hallo made it seem at all likely that he could
dissemble well enough to keep from betraying his knowledge, if he had
it. But Dick felt that it would not be safe to assume that, because his
father had trusted Hallo to a great extent, and had supposed him to be
an honorable business man, and there had certainly never been anything
in his conduct to suggest that he would behave as he had done. And,
moreover in New York he had seemed a plodding, stolid business man, and
had never seemed to have it in him to play a part in the sort of
intrigue that so evidently occupied much of his time in Semlin.
For a time the room was absolutely quiet. Dick wondered where Steve had
gone. He was sure, somehow, that his chum was within reach, probably
within hearing, waiting like himself for Hallo to do something. And Dick
guessed, too, that Steve must have discovered by this time that the
boathouse was empty, and thought that perhaps it was in search of him
that Steve was here. That worried him, but for the time there was
nothing to be done; he could only wait. The one preparation he could
make for whatever might be coming was to get very close to the edge of
his shelter, so that he could with little risk peep out from time to
time. Each time that he looked out he saw Hallo, head bent low over the
table, writing furiously.
Then came the break in the tension. Outside, echoing on the flags, came
hurried footsteps. Dick listened eagerly. They turned in and came
clattering up the steps. He dared not risk a peep just then to see who
was coming. For the time, he decided, his ears must do the work of his
eyes as well as their own share. He heard Hallo spring up, overturning
his chair.
"You! Here?" cried Hallo, in a low voice. "Are you mad, man?"
"No. I had to come," said the newcomer. "It was impossible to send word,
and you had to know--someone had to know! I suppose it was risky for me
to come here, but they are all at work. All except Milikoff, and I don't
know where he is."
"He led a band of assassins who tried to kill me earlier in the
evening," growled Hallo. "But there are others, at least two others,
here somewhere. They came in this evening, from the other side."
"From the other side?" said the stranger, in amazement. "But how could
that be? The river front is guarded so that a strange fly could hardly
cross from Belgrade to Semlin!"
"Don't you know of the boathouse near Milikoff's place?"
Hallo's tone was suddenly menacing. Dick could imagine that he was
leaning forward, pushing his heavy jaw into the face of the other man.
He remembered that trick of the Hungarian's.
"Boathouse--near Milikoff's? No!" stammered the other. "I never heard of
it before!"
"H'mph!" Hallo's voice expressed doubt, distrust. "Perhaps not! Well, I
came upon it by chance to-night, and it saved my life. They seized me
to-night when I was in conference with them--the treacherous hounds! But
they are Servians! I might have expected it! I escaped, and they chased
me! They chased me right into the Danube! I swam, while they peppered
the water. They had those new silencers, so that it was safe to shoot.
And by the merest chance, when I was nearly exhausted, I suddenly saw a
door in front of me, as I was trying to swim ashore in an inlet, in the
hope of escaping after I had landed. I dived, and came up in a
boathouse. The door could be raised, you see, to admit a boat. There
was a closet, and I hid."
"That is news to me! I never heard that there was such a place!"
"I drew the closet door to when I heard a man come in. Soon afterward a
motor boat entered, and two men landed from her. I could hear their
voices dully--that closet door was thick, and it was so hot and close
inside that I was almost suffocated. I do not know who they were except
that I think Vanya, the soldier, was the man who opened for them. Later,
when they had gone, I got out and came here."
"It is good that you came. Master, it is to-night that they plan to
strike a great blow. They have dug a tunnel beneath the arsenal. I am
almost sure that it is to-night they have chosen to explode a great mine
that will destroy the arsenal completely, with all the stores and guns
it contains!"
Hallo swore savagely.
"You have done well!" he said. "Eh, there is time yet, you think, to
stop them? How is it that you do not know more concerning their plans?"
"They do not trust me wholly. I know only what I can learn by spying and
ferreting about. They tell me almost nothing. But I am sure that I am
right. Look--I will draw you a plan that will show you where the tunnel
is. I think that if you hasten you can catch most of them like rats in a
trap. Milikoff is not there. He is the most dangerous of all, save one."
"Who is more dangerous than Milikoff?"
"The boy Stepan Dushan!"
"Stepan Dushan! I do not believe there is such a boy! You tell me of
him, but you can never show him to me!"
For a moment Dick could not understand. But then he smiled at his own
stupidity. Of course Steve was known to Mike Hallo under an assumed
name; he would never have used his own, so obviously that of a Servian.
"It makes no difference whether you believe me or not, I am telling you
the truth," said the newcomer with a show of spirit. "He is young, but
he has done more to discover the truth than any of them. He has brought
information of the concentration of the Austrian troops along the Drina.
It is through him that they learned where the stores and supplies were
being massed in the mountains there. I told you yesterday of the plans
that were made for a Servian raid, but it was too late. A raiding column
crossed the Drina last night and destroyed most of the stores you had
collected."
"There has been a leak somewhere in my own place!" said Hallo, savagely.
"Even the men who executed the orders did not know where those supplies
were going! I trusted no one!"
"That is just the bad part of it, master," said the spy. "They will be
saying next that you yourself gave away the truth to the Servians."
"Who will believe them?"
"If it is known that you have been in touch with Milikoff?"
"It is known, fool! It is known that I am treating with them simply to
gain information of their plans. But now--it is no time for talk. We
must move quickly, or they will explode their mine."
He lifted his voice in a sudden shout.
"Jan!" he cried. "Jan!"
And then Dick's heart sank. That must be meant for Steve--and to answer
meant deadly peril for Stepan Dushan, since the spy, who had so plainly
been betraying Servian secrets to Hallo, knew Stepan. Dick edged
forward, waiting, wondering. Now he caught a glimpse of the spy, and
then he drew back, as he saw that both Hallo and the other man had come
very close to him. They stood just by the box that sheltered him.
"Jan!" cried Hallo again.
"Here I am!" said Stepan's voice. And then, "Serge!"
"Stepan Dushan! That is Stepan Dushan!" shrieked the spy.
Then, before anything more could happen, Dick had an inspiration. He
threw his whole weight against the heavy packing case, straining,
pushing. It trembled, gave, and then crashed down, bearing Hallo and the
spy down beneath its crushing weight, sending them down, stunned and
helpless.