BELGRADE
Now there was plain sailing before them. The Servians were all armed,
and they had proved that night, if it needed proof, that they had the
sort of courage that enables a man to take the one chance of escape in a
hundred when a desperate thing is to be done. No ordinary obstacle could
possibly keep them from the boathouse now.
Relieved of his care of Hallo, Dick fell into step beside Stepan.
"You saved the day for us," said Stepan. "If you had not been there, he
would have caught me--and he would have been in time to save the arsenal
from destruction. That is going to prove the most important feat of the
war, I do believe. There will be great news soon unless I am greatly
mistaken. Now tell me of what happened after I left you."
"There isn't much to tell," said Dick. "He was clever enough to think
that he might be followed and trapped me--but, after all, it was better
so. I should have had to try to stop him if he had gone into a house,
and the place might not have been so quiet and deserted as the one he
chose."
Dick went on to tell of the strange walk that he and Hallo had taken,
and Steve laughed heartily. But his face was grave when Dick had
finished.
"It seems trifling enough now," he said, "but it was no laughing matter,
Dick. You were in terrible danger all the time, of course, and anyone
less cool and clear headed would never have come through so well. Having
Hallo gives us a breathing spell. We may be able to use the boathouse
still. If he had got away, even after the arsenal was blown up, we could
never have used it. We may not have to. I think most of our work here in
Semlin was finished to-night. Soon the armies in the field will be doing
the work, and the time for the spies will have passed."
At the boathouse Milikoff joined them, his face glowing.
"All here? Not a man lost? That makes it so much the better!" he
exclaimed, happily. "And--what? You have Hallo again? Welcome back,
Hallo! This is splendid!"
"I think we had better get away," said Stepan. "After this business
to-night, there will be a most searching examination, and it would be
dangerous for any of us to stay here. We cannot carry many in the motor
boat, but there will be time for her to make three trips, and that will
be enough. I shall run her back first, and take my friend Dick Warner
and Hallo. One other can come. You, Milikoff?"
"No. I shall go on the last trip," said Milikoff. "Let one of the men
bring her back. It will be your part to see that Hallo is looked after
in Belgrade."
So they ventured out into the yellow Danube again. This time the voyage
promised to be more dangerous. The destruction of the arsenal had
aroused all the forces defending Semlin to a high pitch, and
searchlights danced incessantly about, winking first one way, then
another. There was still a blaze of light at the confluence of the Save
and the Danube, but more searchlights seemed to be in use, and the
Austrians were not as perfunctory as they had been, but flashed them
here, there, and anywhere.
However, Steve was a skillful handler of the swift little craft. Darting
forward when the flashing of a light left a space dark, turning this way
and that, coming almost to a full stop when the river ahead was suddenly
lighted, he played hide and seek amid the great, flashing beams of
light. And at last they were well beyond them, and could sweep across
the river and come to the safe haven of the little wharf on the Servian
shore.
A few explanations then, and Steve reluctantly turned over the boat he
had guided so well to another, while he and Dick, with Hallo and one of
the other men who had come with them, tumbled into a military automobile
that was waiting. There was a swift rush to the citadel, where Steve
turned over his prisoner.
"He's a slippery customer," Dick said, in warning.
"He won't get away from us," the officer promised.
And then--sleep! Sleep that was almost as welcome as it had been the
night before or, rather, the morning before. For again they had been
busy through all the hours of darkness, and it was daylight before they
got to bed.
This time, when Dick awoke at last, Steve was still there, and he yawned
luxuriously when Dick woke him up.
"Nothing to do to-day!" he said. "At least, nothing that I know of now!
It's a real holiday, Dick. I can tell you it feels good, too. I wouldn't
have missed the chance to do what I've been able to do for Servia, but
I'm tired now."
"I should think you would be," said Dick. "You haven't only had to work
hard, but there's been the chance always that you would be caught."
"I know. But I didn't think much about it, Dick. I was too busy. The
chief danger was that Hallo would find me looking through his papers
some time. He might not have suspected that I was a spy, but that would
certainly have ended any chance there was for me to get more news."
They got up then, and enjoyed a great meal at their leisure, while old
Maritza looked on and kept their plates full, and scolded Stepan for
having caught cold the night before. She said he must have caught cold,
because he was hoarse, and laughed at him when he said it was only
because he had been so tired.
"You say there's nothing for us to do?" asked Dick.
"Yes, but I didn't mean it. There's plenty to do, only it's stupid
compared to the sort of thing we have done. There are errands of all
sorts to be run, and I believe that there is a good deal of help to be
given to the poor people. It's mostly their houses that have been
knocked about in the bombardment, you see. We don't have to do it, of
course. The rest of the scouts here have been busy that way, and I'm
excused from that sort of work because I was detailed to this special
service. Still I think I'll lend a hand until there is more work for me
from the Intelligence Department."
"When will that be, do you suppose?"
"Oh, there's no telling. It depends on the way the campaign runs. Now,
for a time, it's all a question of how General Pushkin's plans work out.
And he has two plans. Russia has declared war, and that means that
Austria can't concentrate a great force against us. But the question is
whether she will try to crush us before she turns against Russia, or
whether she will just hold both Russia and Servia safe. If she throws a
great army against us, General Pushkin won't risk a decisive battle.
He'll go back into the hills and worry them until they have to detach
troops for the other front. If the Russians begin coming down through
the passes of the Carpathians into Hungary, you'll see the Austrians
sending troops back to meet them in a hurry. It wouldn't make so much
difference, from a military point of view, even if the Russians got to
Buda-Pesth. But it would pretty nearly cause a revolution in Hungary,
and a separate peace."
So when they had finished their meal, they went down toward the river.
The desultory, useless bombardment was still going on, but it was not
doing great damage, though it seemed to Dick that it was. A great many
important buildings had been struck, and were in ruins, and in the lower
quarters of the city there were plenty of evidences of war. But Steve
pointed out that none of this could have any effect upon Servia's
ability to hold out.
"It is all provided for in the plans of the general staff," he said. "As
long as our field army is in good shape, they can hammer away at
Belgrade as much as they like."
Some important work was still being done. Money and papers of value were
being removed from the quarters where there was danger from the Austrian
cannon, and scouts, who seemed to be numerous, were guarding the
transfers. Others, whom Dick and Steve joined, were going through the
unaffected parts of the city to find houses that had room for the poor
people who had been driven from their homes by the enemy's fire. One
spirit seemed to move all classes; there was a universal readiness to
make sacrifices of any sort for the common good.
"We have room for one family of five," would be the greeting, as they
knocked at a door, as soon as the inmates of the house saw Stepan's
uniform, which Dick saw him wear for the first time that day.
So it went everywhere. Dick went to see the American consul, and told
his story, and the official assured him that he would find a means of
sending word of his safety to Consul Denniston in Semlin.
"I've got ways of sending such messages, of course," the consul
explained. "They can't interfere with the messages of an American
consul. I saw Mr. Denniston a little while before the bridge was
destroyed, and he was quite worried about you. He'll be glad to know
that you are safe so far. I suppose, by the way, that you are strictly
neutral, as an American should be?"
Dick hesitated, and the consul roared with laughter.
"You don't have to answer that question!" he said. "I've got to be
neutral, worse luck! But, even so, sometimes I think I'll resign, just
so that I can take a chance with the side I'm on."
"Which side is that, sir?" asked Dick, innocently.
Once more the consul laughed.
"I refuse to answer!" he said. "You might send a report back to
Washington and get me into trouble. But perhaps you can guess."
The times that followed were uneventful enough in Belgrade, though
beyond the limits of the belabored Servian capital great things were
happening. There were scenes of wonderful rejoicing when it became known
that Russia had thrown herself to the aid of the little Slav state, and
still more wonderful scenes when the Servians learned that England and
France, as well, had been enlisted in their quarrel. They knew now that
they would not be made again a sacrifice to the peace of Europe, and
that Austria's attempt to bully them had precipitated the great war.
Closer at hand, however, was the actual fighting between the Servians
and Austrians. On the Danube and the Save there were minor skirmishes.
Servian forts fired on Austrian vessels. In the Save, near the wrecked
bridge, a Servian mine destroyed an Austrian monitor. And along the line
of the border there was constant skirmishing. Red Cross flags began to
fly from many houses in Belgrade, and there was a constant stream of
wounded men. Not many came at once, or in any one day, but every day saw
some additions to the wounded who were being cared for.
"But this doesn't look like a real battle yet, Steve," said Dick. "These
men have been wounded in outpost affairs, when at the most only a few
hundred men were engaged on either side."
"Wait," said Stepan. "The great battles will come."
And come they did. The news came first from Schabatz, as a wild rumor.
Belgrade was incredulous. The first reports were of a complete Servian
victory, of Austrian troops in panic-stricken flight. It seemed too good
to be true. But every hour not only confirmed these first reports, but
added to them. The Austrians had not alone been beaten; they had been
utterly routed, and were in full retreat in their own territory.
Then Servian victories came thick and fast. Even while batches of
Austrian prisoners were being brought in, Servian troops in great
strength followed, and there was a daring, magnificent raid across the
Save, in which the Austrian monitors were driven out into the Danube and
away by the terrific fire of the splendidly handled big guns of the
Servians. For two or three splendid days Servian troops held Semlin,
before the exigencies of the strategy of the campaign forced them to
give up their prize and let the Austrians, now heavily reenforced,
reenter their capital city.
"We couldn't stay, but we showed them what we could do, didn't we?" said
Stepan, exultingly.
"Yes. But isn't there danger that they may come on now in great force?"
"They are sure to do that," said Stepan, his eyes burning brightly. "It
is what we hope. Now the second stage of the campaign will begin. They
have already sent great reenforcements into Bosnia, and the army that we
and Montenegro sent against Serajevo has had to retire. Remember, Dick,
we are not fighting this war alone. Russia is at war, too. It was our
aim to compel the Austrians to withdraw many troops from Galicia and
Bukowina and the passes of the Carpathians. Now they have done that, and
we shall see. They are beginning to advance across the Drina toward
Valjevo. We shall see soon what the result is to be."
That prophecy was soon made good. For now the Austrians poured across
the northern and western borders of little Servia in overwhelming
force, and the Servian armies, muttering, fighting as they went, fell
back before them. Behind Belgrade, to the south of the city, the Servian
army that had won the great victory of Schabatz gave ground, lest it be
taken in the rear by the Austrian advance from Valjevo, and that
movement changed the whole aspect of affairs. That army had been the
real protection of Belgrade. As soon as it retreated the Austrians
marched into the city. But it had taken them five months, instead of as
many days, to accomplish their end.
"We are to stay," Stepan had said, when it was certain that Belgrade
must fall. And they had stayed, unmolested by the small Austrian force
of occupation.