THE ENCOUNTER ON THE RIVER
“This looks as if I had jumped from the frying-pan into the fire.”
Such was Dave’s thought as he listened to what was said by the German
guards. He could not understand every word spoken, but he gathered
enough to know that they were keeping a lookout for him and some others
who had leaped from the prisoners’ train.
The two guards were on the top of one of the cars, and only a few feet
from where the young lieutenant was in hiding. He crouched low on one
of the bumpers, running a serious risk of being pinched should the cars
make a sudden swerve to one side or the other.
On and on puffed the train. The top of the hill was presently gained,
and then the cars increased their speed and rattled forward over the
uneven rails and across numerous switches.
One of the guards had evidently gone toward the rear of the train, and
now the other started to move forward. He leaped directly over our
hero’s head from car to car, but he was too interested in maintaining
his footing to glance down, so Dave remained undiscovered.
“I hope those fellows don’t come back this way,” he muttered to
himself, as he straightened up, holding fast to one of the cars as he
did so. His cramped position had begun to tell on him, and he was glad
to make a change.
A couple of hours passed and the long freight still continued on its
way. It had rolled through a number of villages and several small
towns, and had also crossed three small streams. Now they were climbing
another hill, and the speed of the train was again slackened.
One of the towns through which they passed Dave recognized as a place
he had seen before, and this gave him not a little satisfaction, for he
felt that he was once more headed for the fighting front.
“I’ve got to get pretty close to it if I ever expect to get back to
our lines,” was the way he reasoned. “It wouldn’t be any use for me
to attempt to travel any great distance through Germany, especially
wearing this uniform.”
As the train passed over the top of the second long line of hills and
began to increase its speed down the other side, Dave resolved to make
another move. He knew that sooner or later the freight would roll into
some yard and there, if the place was lighted up and well guarded, it
would be next to impossible to escape.
“I’ve got to leave this train before that happens,” was the way he
reasoned. “And I had better take a look around and see what the
prospects ahead are.”
At the end of one of the freight cars was a ladder-like arrangement,
and with caution Dave mounted this, to peer out over the top. He could
see nothing of the guards, and so sat down on the top of the freight
car to get a better view of his surroundings. The sky was now clearing
and a number of stars were beginning to show themselves.
They were going down the grade rather rapidly, and looking far ahead
the young lieutenant saw a gleam of brightness which he rightly took to
be a broad stream. On this side of the river was a good-sized town.
In a few minutes more they rattled into the outskirts of the town. It
was quite dark, the lights evidently being extinguished on account of a
possible air raid by the Americans or their Allies. But in a tall tower
was located a searchlight, and this was suddenly turned on the train,
flashing along the tops of the cars from end to end.
Evidently the guards had been expecting this light to fall upon them,
for they were on the alert and their eyes, following the bright beams,
fell full upon Dave before he had any chance to hide himself.
“Who are you? Throw up your hands!” came the cry in German. And then,
as Dave started to drop down between the cars once more, a shot rang
out, followed by another.
Both of the bullets whistled close over our hero’s head, and he made
such a quick move out of range that he almost lost his footing. As it
was, he dropped down on the bumper and had all he could do to keep
himself from going clear through to the rails below. Had he done this,
he would have been instantly ground beneath the wheels of the cars.
The train was now rattling through the town, and a few seconds later it
reached the near end of the long bridge across the river.
“I guess here is where I’ll have to jump for it,” thought the young
lieutenant. He knew that the guards above would be rushing to the spot
where they had last seen him and that they would not hesitate to open
fire again. He had no desire to fall a victim to a German bullet.
The train ran out on the trestle; and the edge of the cars was less
than two feet from the outside of the bridge. Bracing himself as best
he could, Dave took a long breath and then made the leap.
“There he goes!” cried one of the guards.
[Illustration: DAVE TOOK A LONG BREATH AND THEN MADE THE LEAP.--_Page
252._]
“Shoot him!” exclaimed the other; and then both blazed away with their
rifles.
Dave felt a queer stinging sensation along the outside of his left leg,
and then he hit the waters of the river with a loud splash and went
under. He knew he had been struck, and he hoped it was not a serious
wound.
Not to give the guards on the train a chance to shoot at him again,
our hero kept under water as long as he could hold his breath. In
the meantime, the long freight-train continued over the bridge and
presently was lost to sight in the distance.
But the young lieutenant was too bewildered by what had occurred to
note the disappearance of the train, and, coming up to the surface, he
took a hasty breath and then dived again.
When he came up a second time he dashed the water from his eyes and
endeavored to look around him. All was semi-dark on the river and
everything was quiet.
“Well, I’m out of that, anyway, unless they send word back to start a
search for me,” he told himself. “But what am I to do next?”
Fortunately for our hero, he had on only his light summer outfit, so
his clothing did not weigh heavily upon him. The water was cool, but
not cold, and this was rather refreshing than otherwise after his
many days of confinement during which it had been impossible to get
anything like a bath.
The river was rather swiftly flowing, and the young lieutenant allowed
himself to be carried along by the current, meanwhile, however,
striking out in the direction of the other shore. This he knew would be
bringing him just so much closer to the firing-line. As he swam along
he used his left leg, and thereby ascertained that the wound he had
sustained was little more than a scratch, for which he was thankful.
Dave had passed down the river a distance of several hundred yards, and
was within fifty rods of the opposite shore, when an object coming down
the stream caught his attention. It was a large rowboat manned by two
soldiers who were singing some sort of an army song in noisy, guttural
tones.
“I’ll have to take care that those fellows don’t discover me,” the
young lieutenant reasoned, and then struck out toward the distant shore
in an endeavor to evade the on-coming craft.
Had the two soldiers in the boat been perfectly sober they would
probably have kept on a straight course and passed Dave. But, as it
chanced, both of them had been drinking heavily and were consequently
somewhat befuddled. They managed their oars in anything but a skillful
manner, and as a consequence when the boat was close to our hero it
suddenly swerved around, hitting Dave in the shoulder.
The blow was not a hard one, but it was sufficient to send the young
lieutenant under and to knock a good deal of the wind out of him. When
he came up he was at the stern of the rowboat, and this he clutched
with both hands.
“Ha! who is there, Hans?” bawled one of the German soldiers.
“I don’t know. Let us find out,” answered Hans, and, dropping his oar,
he stumbled to the stern of the boat and caught Dave by both wrists.
Then the other German soldier also leaped back, and between them they
hauled Dave up and into the craft.
“Upon my head, I think it is one of those Yankee swine!” cried one of
the soldiers in astonishment, as he peered into Dave’s face and looked
at his water-soaked uniform.
“What? An American!” roared the other. “Dump him into the river again;
he deserves nothing better than to be drowned.”
“No, no! Now we have him, let us take him to camp as our prisoner,” was
the mumbled reply. “We shall get a good deal of credit for capturing
one of those beasts.”
To this the young lieutenant answered nothing, for the reason that he
was almost out of breath, and, furthermore, the befuddled soldiers
spoke in a German dialect of which he hardly understood a word.
“Hands up, you son of a rat!” muttered one of the soldiers, as our hero
sank down on one of the middle seats of the large rowboat. “Don’t try
to play any tricks on us.”
As he spoke he made a clumsy pass at the young lieutenant, and it was
then for the first time that Dave realized the truth of the situation,
which was that the two soldiers were in no fit condition to manage the
rowboat. They had evidently been sent from their camp into town on an
errand, and while on this had taken the opportunity to treat themselves
liberally to liquor.
Dave realized that if he wanted to escape from the clutches of the
enemy, he must do some quick thinking, if not acting. Seeing the
condition of the two soldiers, he let out a groan as if in deep pain
and sank down on the bottom of the rowboat.
“He must be wounded, or else he has been swimming a long distance,”
mumbled one of the soldiers.
“Well, that will make it so much the easier to take him along. Let the
pig lie where he is until we reach the landing. Then we’ll make him
march along, or else shoot him.”
Both soldiers picked up their oars once more and endeavored to continue
their rowing. One had his feet in the middle of Dave’s back and took
savage delight in punching his heels into the prisoner.
“I’d like to have all the Americans under me just like this one,” he
mumbled to his companion.
“We’ll have them all under our feet some day,” answered the other.
“They will be sorry they ever went to war against the _Vaterland_;”
and then the soldier began his singing again, in which his companion
presently joined.
Dave noted with satisfaction that the guns of both of the soldiers lay
forward, on the bottom of the rowboat. While the craft was passing
along in the darkness he put forth one hand cautiously and pulled first
one gun and then the other toward him. He did not dare to raise either
of the weapons; but he placed them in such a position that neither of
the Germans could get at them very readily.
A full mile had been covered on the journey down the river, and one
soldier was looking ahead as if to see at what point he might make a
landing, when Dave resolved to act. He felt somewhat recovered, and,
gathering himself for the effort, he suddenly leaped up and caught one
of the soldiers by the arm.
“Stop! What does this mean?” spluttered the fellow, but before he could
utter another word Dave had him half overboard. Then he gave the
soldier a shove which sent him headlong into the water.
The encounter had been a brief one, but short as it was it had given
the second soldier a chance to leap up and at the young lieutenant. He
came at our hero very much like a big bear, fastening himself on Dave’s
back with a grab at his throat which was as painful as it was dangerous.
But all the young lieutenant’s fighting blood was now aroused, and,
standing straight up, he suddenly bent low, sending the German soldier
flying into the air and over his head.
The fellow gave a yell of rage and alarm, but he did not lose his grip;
and a moment later both he and Dave splashed overboard into the swiftly
flowing river!