THE GERMAN HEADQUARTERS
Scarcely daring to breathe, Dave kept himself near the top of the
tree, doing what he could to hide from the observation of the five
German soldiers below. He knew that they most likely had discovered the
raincoat, the package of food, and the rifle he had left at the foot
of the tree; and that being so, they would take it for granted that he
could not be far away.
He heard the five soldiers talking earnestly, and also heard them tear
open the package of food he had been carrying.
“Ha! he lives pretty high,” was the comment of one of the soldiers.
“Smoked bologna and potato salad! Very good! I think, comrades, we can
dispose of this in short order.”
“We certainly can,” returned another soldier, and the whole five, who
were evidently hungry, lost no time in disposing of what remained of
the food.
Making no noise, Dave succeeded in lowering himself to one of the
larger limbs of the tree. Then, as the soldiers continued to talk and
eat, having thrown themselves on the ground for that purpose, he
worked his way out on the limb until he was almost to the end.
Below him he could make out a mass of brushwood and also several rocks.
These partly screened the spot where he might land from the trunk of
the tree. But the distance to the ground was all of fifteen feet, and
our hero was by no means sure that he could make the drop in safety. If
he sprained an ankle or injured his foot, it would be all up with him.
“But I’ve got to take some chances,” he murmured to himself. “I don’t
intend to go back to one of their prison pens. Besides, having escaped
once, it may be that they would shoot me on sight.”
He gave himself a moment more of thought, and then, gritting his teeth,
suddenly swung out to the end of the limb and let his body drop.
As he came swiftly down he heard a yell of surprise from one of the
soldiers. Then all leaped up, grabbing their weapons as they did so.
Fortunately for our hero, he came down in some of the brushwood, and
this broke his fall to such an extent that he was not injured save for
a few scratches. Having landed, he leaped out of the bushes and then
sped through the woods at the best rate of speed he could command.
Crack! Crack! went one rifle after another, and the bullets whistled
uncomfortably close to him.
However, he was not struck, and soon the brushwood and the trees
screened him so completely that further shooting was out of the
question.
But Dave knew the German soldiers must be after him, and he kept on
running until he was well-nigh exhausted. He was going downhill at the
time, and he had to be careful that he did not pitch headlong over some
of the rough rocks which cropped out here and there on the hillside.
At the foot of the hill ran a small brook, and here he paused long
enough to get a drink. Then he walked along through the brook for quite
a distance, doing this that he might hide any trail that he had left
behind. He had heard that the enemy occasionally used hounds in getting
on the track of escaped prisoners.
Beyond the hill and the brook was a wide valley dotted with numerous
farms. Here the country was more or less open, and he wondered how he
could make another advance. He moved along the brook, and presently
came to an old stone bridge, over which ran a fairly good highway.
One side of the bridge was hidden in a mass of bushes, and here the
young lieutenant found a fairly good hiding-place. From this he did not
dare to venture until darkness had fallen, in the meantime keeping his
eyes and ears wide open for the possible appearance of the soldiers who
had discovered him. But they did not come that way, and he at last
concluded that he must have thrown them off the trail.
It was probably nine o’clock in the evening when Dave resolved to
resume his journey westward. He crawled out on the roadway just as a
farmer came along driving a box-wagon loaded with barrels.
“I wonder if I dare chance a ride?” he said to himself; and then, as
the back of the wagon passed him, he made a quick leap, landing between
several barrels. He wormed his way in between the barrels, finally
coming to a sitting position well hidden from the farmer, who sat on
the front seat driving.
Two hours passed, and in that time the wagon covered a distance of at
least twelve miles. The valley with its farms was left behind, and
they were beginning to ascend a slight rise of ground. Here there was
another patch of woods.
During the ride Dave discovered that one of the barrels in the wagon
contained apples and another pears, and he appropriated as much of this
fruit as he wished to eat.
“Get up there, you!” cried the farmer in German to his team. “We’ll
soon be there now, and I’ll be glad of it. This has been a long drive.”
Dave could see that they were approaching some sort of an estate, and
from the words of the farmer concluded that a stop was to be made
there. Consequently, he thought it about time for him to leave the
wagon, and lost no time in doing so.
This move was a fortunate one for our hero, because less than two
minutes later the wagon turned in at a massive stone gateway where
several men were on guard. Seeing the lights flashing in the darkness
and the figures of some men moving along, Dave lost no time in dropping
out of sight into the woods on the opposite side of the road.
“Well, I’m about twelve miles nearer the fighting front, anyway,” he
reasoned. “I suppose from now on I’ve got to be doubly careful as to
how I advance.”
With the coming of nightfall the rumble of battle had died away. But
from the sounds of the last shots fired, he had reached the conclusion
that the fighting front could not be any great distance off.
As the young lieutenant hid in the woods opposite the gateway he heard
a sound on the road from the westward, and presently several German
officers on horseback came riding along. They were talking earnestly,
and turned into the same gate which the farmer had used.
“Hello! maybe that’s some sort of headquarters,” Dave murmured to
himself. “If it is, I had better watch out for myself. They must have
guards all around here.”
It would have been the part of prudence for our hero to have placed
as much distance as possible between himself and such a place. But
the young lieutenant had not only the bravery of the average American
soldier, but he had likewise his share of curiosity, and now that
he was so close to these German officers he wondered how they were
carrying on the conduct of the war.
“I’d like to spy on them a little and see just how they do it,” he told
himself. “Gracious! what a story it will be to tell if ever I get back!”
His curiosity finally got the better of him, and, watching his
opportunity, he slipped across the road again and then climbed the
stone fence of the estate. He knew he was taking a tremendous chance,
for there might not only be soldiers in that vicinity, but the owner of
the place might have a number of watch-dogs.
Looking ahead through the trees and brushwood, the young lieutenant
presently made out a large stone-pile, evidently an ancient German
castle. All was dark from the outside save the light which peered from
around the cracks of dark curtains pulled down over the windows. But as
the night was warm, most of the windows were open and the air blowing
would occasionally shift a curtain so that a look inside could be
obtained.
There seemed to be no soldiers on that side of the building, so our
hero had little difficulty in making his way forward until he was
within a short distance of the castle. He could hear loud and earnest
talking coming from probably six or eight officers. They were gathered
in a room not far from where he was standing, and when the wind raised
the curtain of one of the windows for a few seconds, Dave saw that
they were seated around a large table containing a number of maps and
documents.
“And you think the Crown Prince will be here to-night?” questioned one
of the officers presently.
“That’s what he said, Captain Baska,” was the reply.
“I doubt if he will agree to this plan,” came from another officer.
“Probably he will have a plan of his own,” he added, rather sourly.
The discussion continued, the officers in the meantime consulting the
maps and some of the documents which lay before them. All were smoking
and to let in some fresh air, one of the curtains of a window was
raised several inches.
Presently there was a commotion at the front of the castle, and a
moment later an under officer came into the room somewhat out of breath.
“The Crown Prince!” he announced.
Instantly all of the officers in the room arose to their feet and left
the apartment, evidently intending to greet the German Crown Prince at
the entrance to the castle.
Peering under the curtain into the room, Dave saw that the apartment
was empty. The table where the officers had sat was less than two feet
away, and on it still rested the maps and the documents they had been
consulting.
It was an opportunity too good to be lost. Though he was running a
tremendous risk, Dave raised the curtain to the window a trifle higher,
threw his body over the window sill, and stretched out his hands toward
the table. With a quick move he gathered in the maps and the documents,
rolled them into a bundle, and pulled them toward him. Then he dropped
from the window again, pulled down the curtain, and ran with all
possible speed toward the rear of the castle.
“Now if they catch me they’ll kill me sure,” he thought. “But they are
not going to catch me if I can possibly help it.”
He rolled the maps and the documents still tighter, and thrust them
into an inside pocket, buttoning his coat tightly over them. Then he
continued on his way until he reached the stone fence, over which he
climbed with little difficulty.
Fortunately for the young lieutenant, the night was clear, so that when
his eyes became accustomed to the semi-darkness he managed to progress
fairly well. He stumbled on and on until he reached the roadway once
more, and then headed westward as before. He listened for an alarm
from the castle, but strange to say it did not come.
“I guess they haven’t gone back to that room yet,” he thought. “Well, I
hope they don’t go back until I’m a long distance away.”
He kept to the highway for about two miles further, and then, reaching
the outskirts of a small village, turned slightly to the northward.
Here there was another patch of woods, and into this he plunged,
finally reaching a place where he thought it would be safe to sit down
and make up his mind what to do next.
Dave had rested a quarter of an hour when suddenly he heard a noise
about a hundred yards further within the wood. Then, of a sudden, came
a roar which almost deafened him. This roar was followed by others,
until the very ground under him seemed to tremble.
He leaped to his feet, and with good reason. With that opening roar
came a discovery which interested him tremendously. He had reached the
vicinity of the fighting front without knowing it. Directly in front of
him was one of the German batteries, and it was now in full action.
[Illustration: WITH A QUICK MOVE HE GATHERED IN THE MAPS AND
DOCUMENTS.--_Page 287._]