THE ESCAPE
"What's the matter with him, Schmidt!" asked the officer.
Fred knew enough of German uniforms by this time to place him as a
lieutenant of the lowest grade, and was thankful that he did not have an
experienced man to deal with.
"Deaf and dumb, I think, Herr Lieutenant," said the man. "I rode up
behind him, calling to him and making a good deal of noise, but he did
not even know I was coming until I was on top of him."
"Well, he can't go this way!" said the lieutenant. "How are we to make
him understand that?"
"If I dismounted and turned him about, he might perhaps understand,"
said the soldier.
"Try it!"
Fred had hard work to conceal his amusement but he managed it. The
soldier solemnly turned him about and pushed him in the direction whence
he had come. But Fred immediately turned around, walked a couple of
paces as he had been going, and then stopped, smiling broadly. Then he
turned around, shook his head violently, and turned back.
"He's trying to tell us he wants to keep on the way he was going," said
the lieutenant.
The two Germans seemed to be puzzled, but then the officer got an idea.
He produced paper and pencil and wrote hurriedly.
"Who are you? Where are you going?" he wrote. Then he handed the paper
to Fred. Fred hesitated for a moment. He understood German and could
talk it very well. But he was a little nervous about writing it,
especially in the German script. He could write it, but he was not sure
that he could write it so well that it would seem like the work of a
German. However, he took the chance.
"My name is Gebhardt," he wrote. "I come from Munich, and I am visiting
my uncle and aunt here at Gumbinnen. My uncle sent me to Insterberg and
then I found I could not go back by train. Soldiers have made me turn
around so many times that it has taken me all this time to get here. Why
can I not go to Gumbinnen?"
The officer took the paper and, when he had read it, told the soldier.
They seemed to find Fred's explanation plausible, and his writing had
passed muster.
"Here is a fine mess!" said the lieutenant. "Poor boy! I feel sorry for
one with such an affliction! And is he not between the devil and the
deep blue sea? In Gumbinnen there will be Russian cavalry by
to-morrow--and at Insterberg, I suppose, the first real battle will be
fought!"
Fred caught his breath. He was getting what he wanted now, certainly! If
only he did not betray himself! If the officer would only go on and tell
him a little more! And he did go on, almost as if he were speaking to
himself.
"If his people have any sense, they will have cleared out of Gumbinnen
before this. He knows someone at Insterberg, perhaps, but if it is the
plan to let the Russians come so far without fighting and then strike
while they are there, the population will have been ordered out. And
they have been unloading troop trains at Insterberg, too--so that the
Russians would not find out how many men we had here. Eh--take him up
behind you, Schmidt! We can't abandon him. Perhaps the hospital people
or the cooks can make some use of him."
Fred heard this with a start of dismay. It was decidedly more than he
had bargained for, because now that he had the information he had come
to get, he wanted to get back to the wireless as quickly as possible. It
did him no good to know the German plan, or to have a hint of what it
was, unless he could pass on his knowledge to those who could make some
use of it. But he could not protest when the officer wrote down an
explanation of what was to be done with him, telling him that the road
to Gumbinnen was not safe, but that he would see to it that Fred should
get to a safe place.
So when the soldier Schmidt patted his horse's back and indicated that
Fred should climb up, Fred had no choice but to obey. He had plenty to
think of, too, as they rode along. For one thing, while he had taken his
chance and won, since this officer had not seen him before, there was
every prospect that he would be recognized if he were now taken to
headquarters. He supposed that that was where they were going, and he
knew that a number of the officers who had left the parsonage with
General von Hindenburg on the night of the Cossack raid would be
present. It would be strange, indeed, if none of them knew him. And it
took no imagination to guess what recognition would mean.
There was just one thing in his favor now. It was beginning to get dark.
He did not know how far they had to ride, but he hoped it was a long
way. Ordinarily, he would not have wanted the ride to be prolonged
because his position was highly uncomfortable. Fred could ride well
himself, but riding alone on a horse and sitting behind a man who fills
his own saddle with very little to spare are two different things.
Try as he would, Fred could not think of a means of getting away. To
escape from five mounted men by slipping off the horse and running for
it was manifestly impossible. He gave up that idea before he even
elaborated upon it. But soon the glimmering dawn of an idea did come to
him. The pace slackened, and he noticed that he and Schmidt were falling
behind. The lieutenant called out sharply, and Schmidt, growling to
himself beneath his breath, used his spur and brought his horse up into
alignment with the others again. But only for a hundred yards or so.
Then the horse faltered and fell behind again. Now the lieutenant
reproved Schmidt sharply.
"I'm sorry, Herr Lieutenant," said Schmidt. "My poor beast is very
tired, and he is carrying an extra burden. He has had more work to do
to-day than any of the others. If you would permit me to drop behind and
come in alone--it is not so far now?"
"Very well," said the lieutenant. "We'll never get there if we hang
back waiting for you." And he gave the word to ride on.
Schmidt at once began to take things more easily. Fred heard him
grunting to himself.
"Those verdamter young officers!" he grumbled. "Just because they have a
pair of shoulder straps, they think they know it all! I would like to
put some of them across my knee!"
Fred knew enough of German discipline to be vastly amused by this. But
he had no time now to think of trifling things. His whole energy was
devoted to finding some way to turn this new circumstance to his own
advantage. It seemed to him that there ought to be some way of managing
it. And in a moment he got the idea. Schmidt was as tired as his horse,
or even more so, and by this time he was swaying in his saddle and half
asleep, as a trained horseman often does. Fred leaned forward and very
quietly cut the saddle girth almost through. He knew that the slightest
strain would finish the work. Schmidt was utterly unconscious of what
was going on. Fred could tell, from the man's breathing, just what his
condition was. He would snore a little and then, with a start, he would
arouse himself, breathing normally for a minute. Then the snoring would
start again. He was trusting himself entirely to his horse.
Dusk had fallen now, and Fred decided that it was time to see if his
plan was feasible. He took a handkerchief from his pocket, rolled it
into a ball, and flung it straight ahead, so that it fell, unrolling,
right before the horse's eyes. The effect was inevitable. The frightened
horse reared. At the strain the severed girth gave, and the saddle,
rolling, spilled both Schmidt and Fred into the road, while the horse
bolted. Fred lay still, watching Schmidt, who rose, cursing fluently,
and stood for a moment staring stupidly after his horse. Then he began
to call, and broke into the awkward, lumbering run of the cavalryman.
Fred might have slipped away then, but he was sure that Schmidt would
catch the horse, which must, he thought, be trained to stop even after a
momentary panic. And it was not his plan to seize a chance that might
after all not be as good as it looked. He wanted to make as sure as
possible of getting away. And now, as soon as Schmidt had started after
the horse, he crawled over to the saddle, which lay where it had fallen.
He took the heavy revolver from the holster and was duly grateful for
one thing he had noticed--these Uhlans carried no carbines. Their only
weapons, seemingly, were their lances and the revolvers in their
holsters.
He was not a moment too soon. Schmidt came back almost at once, leading
his horse. He was scolding it for running, and he was also expressing
his opinion of government saddles and leather. He found the broken
girth, and sat down at once to mend it. Fred scarcely dared to breathe
for a moment. But Schmidt did not notice the empty holster, and though
he growled and swore when he saw how the girth had snapped, he did not
seem to notice that it had been cut almost through.
Fred went over and looked at him. Then, idly, indifferently, he went to
the horse, which was standing perfectly still, though its flanks were
still heaving. Fred patted the horse's head. Schmidt glanced around at
him. His back was turned, and he seemed to see nothing worthy of
attention in Fred's attitude.
And then, with one spring, Fred was on the horse's back, and, bending
low, was urging the tired animal back over the road he had travelled so
slowly. With a cry of mingled rage and surprise Schmidt leaped up and
began shouting. But the horse, ready enough to obey when it was running
riderless away, now obeyed the more convincing orders of its rider.
Fred, moreover, was a welcome contrast to Schmidt's big bulk; there was
a difference of at least seventy pounds.
Fred turned once to look at Schmidt, and saw him staring with an
expression of stupefaction at the empty holster. Then he devoted himself
entirely to the road ahead. It was as he had thought and hoped; Schmidt
did not have another pistol. And, with Fred urging him on, the horse
galloped on as if it had been really fresh.
"Thank heaven he's stupid, that Schmidt!" thought Fred.
Then he had a fit of remorse. He was afraid that it would go hard with
Schmidt, for he knew that in the German army excuses are not readily
accepted. However, it was not a time to think of sentiment. Fred was
taking desperate chances himself, and it had been a case of seizing any
chance of escape that offered itself. Not only his own liberty, but very
probably his own life had depended upon his getting away. He knew
enough, by this time, to understand that the outcome of the first
campaign of the war might depend upon the accuracy of the information
the Russians obtained of the German movements.
It was plain to Fred that the Russians, in this quarter at least, had
not been well served by their spies. He was surprised at the absence of
initiative the Russians had shown in some ways. Aeroplane scouting, for
instance, would have made it impossible for the Germans to spring such a
surprise as evidently was in preparation. The Germans were using their
aerial scouts. It was one of them, detecting the approach of General
Suvaroff and his Cossack raiders, who had spoiled the plan for the
capture of von Hindenburg.
But though he had felt that he was perfectly justified in sacrificing
Schmidt to his own need to escape, Fred could not help feeling sorry for
the poor fellow.
"I hope he'll be able to think up a good story!" he said to himself.
"And, by George, I hope I don't meet any more German soldiers! They
would certainly finish me off if they found me riding on a German horse!
There isn't anything I could do that would make them think that was all
right, no matter how stupid they were!"
He urged his horse on now as hard as he dared, tired though he knew it
to be. His plan was simple enough. He meant to ride to within a mile of
the village, and then dismount, letting the horse go wherever it liked.
Its usefulness to him would be over as soon as it had put him past the
possibility of pursuit. He thought his troubles were nearly over. But
suddenly, around a turn in the road, came a glare of light, and in his
ears sounded the bugle of a German military automobile.