Kitabı oku: «Under Fire For Servia», sayfa 8

CHAPTER XV
THE TABLES TURNED

But even Dick, for all the wild mood of anger that had held him since he had had Hallo in his power, had to consent to a halt now. If the Servians planned not only to inflict a severe blow on the Austrians by the destruction of war material, but to spread terror as well, they succeeded admirably. For there was not one explosion alone; there was a series of explosions. And fire spread from the arsenal, too.

"The shells are going off, you see," said Dick, a little awed. "They're exploding in all directions. I suppose there will be a good deal of damage. And those cartridges must be sending an awful lot of bullets around promiscuously."

"I don't think many people will be hurt," said Hallo. Like Dick, he was awed by the spectacle, and the terrible magnificence of it for the moment seemed to have driven from his mind all thought of anything but the explosion itself. "There are very few houses about the arsenal; they are mostly public buildings of one sort and another. It's not the sort of neighborhood people choose to live in. Even in time of peace there may be an accident in an arsenal at any moment – and just as bad an explosion as this one."

But then, suddenly, Hallo seemed to remember his position.

"You will pay for this!" he cried. "It is your doing, because if you had let me go I should have stopped that! You are in league with the Servian spies who have been working here for months, who planned the murder of the Archduke in Serajevo – "

"Why don't you say I killed him?" suggested Dick. "Forward march, again! The show is over!"

"Oh, your time will come – and you will cry to me for help then! The police only had suspicions before, but now they will have facts, and all the consuls and ambassadors in the world won't be able to help you! It won't be a matter for the police at all, my lad! It will be a court-martial that will try you."

"Perhaps. We shall see. Hello, what's this?"

Dick had just been thinking to himself that it was highly fortunate that they had passed the settled district to the northeast of Semlin before the explosion, since he could easily imagine the outpouring there must have been into the streets at that terrific sound. But now there was a sound of rushing feet, and around a corner, perhaps a quarter of a mile in front of them, a body of men appeared – troops, coming at the double quick.

"Here, this way!" said Dick, sharply.

He pointed to a clump of trees beside the road, and forced the reluctant Hallo to go in before him. The pistol was giving him fine support for it was very evident that Hallo did not mean to take chances. Dick did not know, as a matter of fact, whether he would be able to fire if the necessity arose. To shoot even Mike Hallo in cold blood, and when the man was helpless to all intents, was something he could not contemplate without a shudder.

In fact it was partly because Hallo was his enemy that he felt that he was likely to hesitate, and at a moment when hesitation was likely to be dangerous, if not fatal.

"I'd feel differently if I didn't have anything against him, personally," said Dick to himself. "As it is, I'd never be sure, if I shot him, whether I was doing it in self-defence or because it was a good chance to get even with him for the things he's done to me and to my family."

Fortunately, however, Hallo did not put him to the test. Dick realized that it was a dangerous minute. The seconds that elapsed while the soldiers were passing in the road were the longest he had ever spent. A single shout from Hallo would have settled matters. In such times, and with a reminder of the dangers of the situation such as the destruction of the arsenal, there would have been an immediate investigation, and, whatever happened to Hallo himself, Dick would be in a bad case, and he fully realized his situation.

Dick allowed plenty of time for the soldiers to pass. It did not take long, as a matter of fact, and he decided that there could have been only a small detachment, not more than a company of infantry probably. Hallo might have told him that there were comparatively few troops in Semlin, and that the greater part of the Austrian forces along the border were placed at two points, Schabatz, on the Save, and Losnitza, on the Drina, since it was at those two points that the invasion of Servia was to be begun, according to the plan of the Austrian General Staff.

The bombardment of Belgrade was not intended to cover a subsequent attack, but to serve as a feint, in the hope that a large number of Servian troops would be retained for the defense of the capital. Belgrade was of no use to the Austrians. By holding Semlin they could cut the railway and had every advantage that the occupation of Belgrade could have given them, except the sentimental value of having possession of the enemy's capital. Later in the war the Austrians were to make the grave mistake of occupying Belgrade for just such sentimental reasons, and the mistake was to be proved by the sacrifice of an army.

"All right, we can go back to the road again," said Dick, when he had allowed more than enough time for a rear guard to pass. "Your friends have held us up. See if you can't move a little faster to make up for the delay!" and he prodded him with his revolver for emphasis.

Dick had scattered his corn steadily and now, as they went back to the road, he kicked the kernels that marked their digression aside, since he knew that Stepan and the others, if they were following, would only waste time by following the detour into the woods. He had brought a plentiful supply, and he was glad of it, since he was traveling further with Hallo than he had thought it at all likely that he could. For some time he had been listening eagerly for some indication that Stepan and his friends were approaching, but there had been none. He was not ready to be worried about them yet, however dangerous as he knew their work had been, since it was easy to imagine a dozen trifling things that might have delayed them.

And yet he could think of more serious things, too. There might have been a premature explosion of the mine, and he shuddered at the thought of what the fate of the Servians must have been if that was what had happened. Or they might have been caught as they emerged from the tunnel. Or – but he shook off such ideas. There was no reason yet to suppose that everything was not all right. And the important thing was to get Hallo to the boathouse. It was absolutely vital, now that Hallo knew about that refuge, and also the identity of his former office boy, that Hallo should not escape to use his knowledge, since he could do incalculable mischief to the cause that Dick had now made his own.

Hallo went along stumbling, groaning, growling. Finally Dick did begin to feel sorry for him. After all, the man was in bad condition. He had been painfully hurt by the crashing down of the big packing case, and his fright and escape through the water had weakened and tired him, even before that. Now he seemed to be in the last stages of exhaustion, and when he began to plead with Dick on account of his weariness, rather than with promises or threats, he was on the right track. Perhaps that feeling threw Dick off his guard for a moment. At any rate, when Hallo finally made his bid for freedom he chose the most, perhaps the only, opportune moment.

Dick had taken his eyes off him for a moment, and had loosened his hold on the butt of his automatic. And just then Hallo stopped suddenly, whipped back his foot, and tripped Dick neatly and successfully. Dick went down; before he could reach for the pistol, Hallo was on top of him. Exhausted though he was, Hallo outweighed Dick still as much as ever, and he was strong as well. Dick fought well, but the surprise had been complete. As he reached for the pistol, Hallo seized his arm and in a moment was twisting it around behind his back in a cruel hammer lock hold – that deadliest of wrestling grips, that means a broken arm for the victim unless he yields. The struggle was over in a moment, and the positions were now completely reversed.

Hallo had the pistol, and he was in as absolute command as Dick had been while he still held it.

"Ah!" said Hallo. "I said your time would come, Dick, my lad! And it has! You're in my power now! I could kill you, do you know that?"

Dick did not answer; he was thinking too hard. And there was nothing for him to say, anyhow. He had been neatly tricked, and, though he was badly frightened and ready to admit it to himself, it was impossible not to admire Hallo, so adroit had he been in seizing his one chance of escape.

"Yes, I could kill you easily enough," Hallo repeated. "And no one would blame me. I have proof that you are a spy, and it is a praiseworthy thing to kill a spy. But I shall not. I shall be generous to you, Dick, even if you did not remember our old friendship. I shall take you back with me, and turn you over to the soldiers, and they will try you fairly, and let the American consul defend you, and then they will shoot you."

A perfect frenzy of revenge seemed to seize the Hungarian as Dick maintained his silence.

"Oh, they will know how to make you talk!" he cried. "Keep still, then, if you like! I don't care! You would come here after me? You would try to make me pay back the money you say I took? Well, then, I did take it! And why not? I could use it better than your foolish family! Ah, Dick, it does not pay to monkey with the buzz-saw, as your father used to say! Does it? I am a buzz-saw – yes, that is what I am! Now, then, march! But turn the other way!"

"I'm not afraid of you," said Dick, breaking his silence at last and speaking in a contemptuous voice. "I think you're pretty brave, though, Mike. I didn't think so a little while ago. I thought you were a great coward. But if you have the courage to go to the army authorities after the destruction of the arsenal, you are a brave man, and I respect you for that, even if you are a thief!"

Hallo stared at him stupidly for a moment.

"Eh? What is that?" he said. "No matter! March! You are trying to bluff me, as you Americans say, and you cannot do it! They will know the truth when I tell them. They will believe me. They will not think that I had anything to do with that."

"You say so – but you don't believe what you're saying yourself," said Dick. "When they hear about how you have been going on, they will think it funny that you did not know about this plot in time to warn them. Do you think they will try us at the same time?"

But he stepped out, just the same, for Hallo was beginning to look dangerous. He looked frightened, too, and Dick felt that it was not at all certain that Hallo would force him to go all the way. When he had had time to think for a little of what the attitude of the Austrian commander was likely to be, Dick thought military headquarters in Semlin would be about the last place that he would seek!

Even so, however, there did not seem to be much to make Dick hopeful. For it was just as likely that Hallo would shoot him if he decided to stay away from Semlin as that he would let him go.

But then there came just the interruption for which Dick had prayed. Ahead of them appeared half a dozen figures walking swiftly, at their head a smaller man or boy, his eyes on the ground. Dick's heart gave a leap.

"Into the field there!" said Hallo, with a growl.

Dick obeyed, scattering the last kernels of corn. And five minutes later a wild rush, led by Stepan Dushan, caught them. Once more the tables were turned, and Hallo was a prisoner for the third time that night!

CHAPTER XVI
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 reënforced, reënter 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 reënforcements 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.