FLIGHT.
Frank made a move to rise. Lord Hastings stayed him.
"Wait!" was all he said.
Immediately following Lieutenant Holzen's words, there was a terrible
commotion in the café. Officers jumped quickly to their feet. Several
rushed to Lieutenant Holzen, who still stood there gesticulating wildly.
"Traitors! Spies!" he cried.
"Be calm," said one of the officers. "Tell me what is the matter?"
"My papers!" shouted the young German. "My papers! The charts of the
fortress! They are gone."
"Impossible!" cried one of the others. "You must be mistaken. Look
through your pockets again."
"I looked through them!" was the shouted response. "See here! and here!"
and he turned them all wrong side out.
"Perhaps you left them in your rooms," said another officer.
"No. I brought them with me. I had them when I sat down."
"But no one has come near you," said one of his companions. "But wait a
moment. You danced with Mlle. Dulcé. Could she have taken them? You
danced with her several times; yet, on previous nights, I have noticed
that she avoided you. It must be she."
"Yes! It must be she!" cried Lieutenant Holzen. "Arrest her!"
Half-a-dozen men moved down the room toward where Marie Dulcé stood
smiling. It was at that moment that Lord Hastings gave the signal to
rise.
"Up and run for the door!" he cried. "Shoot the first man who draws a
gun!"
He suited the action to the word, and the two lads were right behind
him.
Before Lord Hastings loomed up the figure of a German colonel. The
commander of the D-17 fired point-blank and the man fell to the floor.
Lord Hastings dashed on.
Now Marie took a hand in things herself. As one of the Germans would
have seized her, she stepped quickly backward and reached upward on the
wall. There her hand found what she knew it would find--an electric
switch. Quickly she threw it and the room was plunged into utter
darkness.
Eluding the grasp of the man who reached for her in the darkness, Marie
stepped quickly forward. Keeping close to the wall, she made her way
toward the front door. On all sides men shouted and women screamed, but
the girl went on calmly.
Occasional revolver flashes lighted up the darkness, but only
momentarily.
Lord Hastings, reaching the door, found it barred by two men. Before he
could bring his revolver to bear, an outstretched arm sent it spinning
from his hand. Lord Hastings growled and struck out with his fist. An
arm encircled his neck and held him powerless. At the same time a voice
called out:
"I've got one of them!"
Jack, who was immediately behind his commander, although he could not
see what was going on, realized from the German's words what was up, and
called out:
"Where are you, sir?"
"Here," came the reply. "A man has me around the neck."
Jack's lips shut grimly, and, leaving Frank to guard their rear, he
stepped quickly forward and laid his hand on a man's arm.
"Have I hold of you, or the enemy, sir?" he asked quietly.
"Must be the German," was the reply.
Jack ran his hand up the arm until he felt a face. Then he drew back his
left arm and his fist crashed forward.
"All right," said Lord Hastings. "You've dropped him."
The second man who had blocked the doorway now closed in, but Jack
disposed of him quickly. Shots came from behind, and Frank's voice
cried:
"Getting too warm, sir. Let's move."
"Come on, then," said Jack.
He threw his weight against the door, and it crashed open. A moment
later all three were in the street and running in the direction of the
water.
A crowd of Germans poured from the café after them, and the crack of
revolvers sounded like a rapid-fire gun in action.
"We'll have to hurry!" cried Lord Hastings. "They'll have the whole
fortress on our heels in a moment."
Directly the water front came into view.
"Here we are!" cried Lord Hastings. "Quick, now!"
He made directly toward the D-17's motorboat, which he could see was
where he had left it, but at that moment a figure blocked the way. It
was a German sentinel, and his rifle was pointed squarely at Lord
Hastings.
"Halt!" he said sternly.
Lord Hastings stopped in his tracks.
"What's all the row back there?" demanded the sentry.
Lord Hastings would have replied, but Jack did not give him time.
Stepping suddenly from behind Lord Hastings, he dived at the German's
legs. He had gauged the distance accurately, and the two went to the
ground violently. The sentry's gun was discharged, but the bullet
whistled harmlessly over Lord Hastings's head.
"No time to fool with him, Jack!" cried Lord Hastings. "Here come the
others. Hurry!"
Jack raised his opponent's head in his two hands, then bumped it against
the ground.
"There," he said, rising, "that'll keep him for a while."
He hurried after the others, who had jumped into the boat.
"Cut the line there--quick!" commanded Lord Hastings.
Frank obeyed just as Jack tumbled aboard.
"All right, sir. All here," said the latter.
"Good," said Lord Hastings.
The boat moved off, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
By the time the German pursuers had reached the water's edge, the boat
was beyond revolver shot, though still within range of rifles.
"Down!" cried Lord Hastings, as a bullet whistled overhead.
The others obeyed.
"They'll be after us, sir!" shouted Frank.
"They'll have to hurry if they want to catch us," declared Lord
Hastings.
"Say! What time is it?" asked Frank suddenly.
"Why?" demanded his chum.
"Why," repeated Frank, "because if we get out here before nine o'clock
we might just as well stay ashore. Price will not come to the surface
until nine sharp."
By the flare of a match he struck, Jack gazed at his watch.
"No need to worry there, then," he said. "It's three minutes to nine
right now."
"Pretty lucky," said Frank.
"Rather," commented Lord Hastings dryly. "Look back and see if they are
following us."
"Yes, sir, twenty of them," replied Frank, after a glance over his
shoulder.
"Well, we'll have time, unless they are armed with cannon," said Lord
Hastings. "All we need is to get aboard the D-17. Rifle shots won't hurt
us then."
Rifle bullets continued to fly over and about the motorboat, one
occasionally striking home. But none of the occupants was touched.
"We must be about the place," said Frank suddenly.
"About a minute more," responded Lord Hastings.
The minute up, Lord Hastings shut off the engine. They gazed about.
"If Price doesn't come up pretty quick, we'll have to run for it," said
the commander quietly. "It's time now."
"He'll be up unless something has gone wrong," said Jack positively.
"Unless he's gone to sleep," declared Frank.
"Well, I wish he'd hurry," said Jack. "We can't remain here many minutes
longer. They are getting too close."
"So they are," agreed Lord Hastings. "We'll wait thirty seconds, then,
if there is not some sign of the D-17, we'll move. We'll make a fight
for it, at any rate."
The seconds ticked off slowly; and then, just as Lord Hastings was ready
to open the engine, the waters of the sea parted and the neat outline of
the D-17 appeared upon the surface.
A moment later the conning tower opened and Price stepped on deck. The
submarine was perhaps fifty yards away, and Lord Hastings ran the
motorboat toward it at full speed.
"Here we are, Price!" he called.
"All right, sir?"
"All right, but pursued. Below with you, and be ready to submerge the
minute we are below."
"Aye, aye, sir!"
Price disappeared.
A moment later the motorboat scraped alongside the submarine, and the
three clambered over the side as fast as they could amid a veritable
rain of bullets, none of which, however, found its mark.
"Down with you, quick!" shouted Lord Hastings.
Frank and Jack dashed for the companionway at top speed, Lord Hastings
right behind them. Down the ladder they went with a rush, and the
conning tower was hermetically closed behind them.
"Submerge to ten fathoms, and quickly, Mr. Templeton!" said Lord
Hastings quietly.
Jack repeated the command, slowly the tanks began to fill, and the D-17
to submerge, the while the occupants of the motorboats without peppered
the side of the vessel with rifle and revolver bullets.
"Shall I launch a torpedo at them, sir?" asked Frank.
Lord Hastings shook his head.
"Not much use," he said. "You might hit one, and you might not. It's not
worth a chance. But we haven't any time to lose now. They know we're
here, and the quicker we get out the better. They'll have every German
submarine in these waters on the hunt for us. Fortunately, we have the
heels of any of them, and we can still see while submerged. They don't
know that; so, for the moment, the advantage is on our side."
"But, sir," protested Jack, "how about the other part of our plans
here?"
"What?" demanded Lord Hastings.
"Warship, or two, sir," said Jack.
"True," said Lord Hastings. "I had forgotten. Shape your course due
north for two miles, Mr. Templeton; then come to the surface."
He turned to Frank and spoke again:
"We'll leave our card, at any rate," he said quietly. "You may prepare
for action, Mr. Chadwick!"