*CHAPTER XXIV*
*IN TROUBLE AGAIN*
Hal and Chester, from their place of concealment, had been interestedspectators of the abdication of the German emperor, and his son, theCrown Prince.
"By Jove!" said Hal, drawing back, "this is a sight we can brag aboutthe rest of our natural lives."
"I should say so," agreed Chester. "And so the kaiser has abdicated.Who would have thought it?"
"Certainly not the kaiser himself four years ago," was Hal's response."But it just goes to show that right is bound to triumph in the end."
"So it does. Now I suppose the signing of the armistice will be only amatter of form."
"I should judge so. But who will sign the armistice for Germany?"
"Chancellor Ebert, I imagine," said Chester. "He should be the properman to do so now."
"Well, I guess we'll know soon enough," said Hal. "But see, theconference is breaking up. We'd better get back a bit. No need havingthem learn we have overheard what has happened."
The lads drew back to the far end of the tent.
Perhaps fifteen minutes later the man who had acted as spokesman for theGerman delegates at the conference with Marshal Foch entered the tent.
"I see you are still here," he said, smiling slightly. "We shall beready to return to your lines soon."
"Very well, sir," said Hal, "we await your pleasure."
The man withdrew.
"Well," said Hal, "I guess the war's as good as over. Of course, itwill be weeks and perhaps months after the armistice goes into effectbefore peace is signed, but I guess there will be no more fighting."
"I hope not," said Chester. "It's true enough that we've had a goodtime in Europe, such as it is, but how much better it will be when menturn their energies to up-building instead of destroying."
"True," agreed Hal, "and yet we know that until German militarism wasdestroyed, nothing was safe in this world. The war has been a benefitto mankind."
"From that standpoint, you are right, of course; and still, it wouldseem that there must be better ways than by wholesale killing. It is along ways from being pleasant."
"It is indeed. I shall be glad when it is over. I don't believe therewill ever be another war."
"Oh, I wouldn't go as far as to say that," said Chester. "I supposethat as long as there are nations, and men think as they do now therewill be war. Of course, some day nations will come to observe theGolden Rule, and then wars will cease."
"I heard Colonel O'Neil say the other day," said Hal, "that wars willcease only when men quit thinking war."
"A very apt remark, by Jove!" said Chester.
Further conversation was prevented by the entrance of half a dozenfigures, one of them the German delegate who had left the tent a fewmoments before.
"We will be moving any time you are ready, gentlemen," he said,addressing Hal.
"We are ready now, sir," was the lad's reply.
"Good! Then there is no need to delay. Let us go."
Hal and Chester followed the Germans from the tent.
Straight to the airplane in which Hal had piloted the Germans to theirown lines from Hirson the Germans led the way. Beside the machine, theycame to a stop.
"This trip," said the spokesman to Hal, "you shall carry a moredistinguished personage."
"Very well, sir," said Hal with a slight bow. "Who, sir?"
"Chancellor Ebert," was the reply. "However, it is not desired that hisdeparture be known; besides which, he will go incognito, his identity tobe revealed only to Marshal Foch, and to be kept secret after that."
"I see," said Hal. "I shall never mention the matter, sir."
"I was sure I could depend on you. And your brother officer?"
"I can answer for him, too, sir."
"It is well. Then we may as well move."
He stepped aside to allow the German chancellor, a man of slight staturebut imposing countenance, to enter the craft. The latter climbed innimbly.
The others followed him.
Hal was about to take his place in the pilot's seat when there was asudden interruption.
Came a body of infantry forward at the double and there was a shoutedcommand to halt. Chancellor Ebert stood up in the airplane.
"One moment, sir," he said to Hal, and raised a hand.
The leader of the advancing troops, catching sight of the chancellor,halted his men and came to attention.
"What can I do for you, sir?" demanded Chancellor Ebert.
"There is a rumor about the camp," said the other, "that the emperor hasrenounced the throne in favor of the Crown Prince, who also has signedpapers of abdication."
He stopped speaking and stood expectantly, awaiting a reply.
"Well?" asked Chancellor Ebert.
"We wish to know if the rumor is true, sir?"
"And what if it is true, General?"
"Nothing, sir, except that my men will obey none but his majesty."
"You mean," asked the chancellor, sharply, "that you will dispute myauthority?"
"I do, sir."
"General Herwigs," said the chancellor, addressing one of his companionsin the airplane, "will you kindly dispatch one of your men forassistance? It seems there is mutiny here."
In response to a command from the general, a man who had been standingnear the airplane started away. He was immediately halted by theofficer who had accosted the party in the plane.
"One moment, my man," said the officer. "You cannot pass here until Ihave verified the rumor of the kaiser's abdication."
"General Herwigs," said Chancellor Ebert quietly, "will you kindly placethat officer under arrest."
"With pleasure, sir."
General Herwigs sprang from the machine with alacrity and approached theofficer and addressed the latter's own men.
"You know me, men," he said. "I have ever been a stanch supporter ofhis majesty. But now General Derloff questions the authority of theimperial chancellor. I order you to arrest him."
It was plain that the sentiment of the troops was about evenly divided.General Derloff immediately began to harangue his followers, and whilethe argument continued the man whom General Herwigs ordered away insearch of reinforcements took the opportunity to disappear.
He was out of sight before anyone noticed his absence. Ten minuteslater, while the argument between the two generals still waxed hot, thetroops meanwhile being undecided just what to do, a second force ofinfantry appeared in the distance, coming forward at the double.
General Derloff was the first to see them.
"Quick, men, away!" he cried. "We have been tricked!"
His men turned in confusion and ran.
As they did so, the loyal troops opened fire on the mutineers.Immediately the latter, angered, turned to reply to the fire.
Rifles cracked right and left.
The allied airplane, caught thus between two fires, was in a dangerouspredicament.
"Climb in here, sir," said Hal to General Herwigs, "and we will make ourescape while we may."
But Chancellor Ebert stayed the departure.
"A moment," he said. "I cannot fly while Germans, through amisunderstanding, are at each other's throats."
"But we must go, sir," said General Herwigs. "Time is growing short.Marshal Foch said that if we had not returned in twenty-four hoursnegotiations would be considered suspended. We have little time now,sir. Haste is necessary."
For answer Chancellor Ebert stepped from the plane.
"As I have said," he said quietly, "I cannot go now, under theseconditions. But you may go, general, you and the other delegates.Before all these witnesses, I designate you to sign the armistice termswith Marshal Foch. But I cannot go. My place is here."
"But, sir--" began General Herwigs.
Chancellor Ebert stayed further words with upraised hand.
"Enough," he said quietly. "You heard me, sir. I am your superior, andas suc
h will be obeyed. Report to me when the armistice has been signed,and not before."
General Herwigs, it appeared, was about to protest further, but thechancellor stayed him with a gesture.
"Hurry now," he said. "You have not much time."
Unmindful of the bullets that were flying overhead, he turned on hisheel and walked toward the loyal troops, who, still firing at themutineers, hurried forward to receive him.
General Herwigs, realizing that to protest further to the chancellor wasuseless, climbed in the airplane again and took his seat.
"No use arguing with him," he muttered.
Hal smiled slightly and made sure that his spark was set.
"All ready, sir?" he called back over his shoulder.
"All ready," was the reply; "and hurry."
The huge plane slid gently over the ground. Gradually its momentumincreased until it was traveling with the speed of an express train.Then Hal touched the elevating lever.
The airplane leaped aloft.
Almost at the same moment, a dozen or more of the mutineers, who werestill facing the loyal troops firmly, at command from General Derloff,turned their rifles on the airplane and fired.
Hal, catching their movements out of the corner of his eye, veered thecourse of the airplane sharply. Prompt though he was, he had not actedpromptly enough.
A hail of bullets sang above and on both sides of him. The planefluttered like a big bird, wounded.
Hal's heart sank within him.
"Something wrong," he told himself grimly. "We're hit."
Chester also was alarmed. His fear grew as the airplane began todescend.
"What's the matter, Hal?" he called.
"Don't know," was Hal's reply. "I'm going to land and find out."
The Boy Allies with Marshal Foch; or, The Closing Days of the Great World War Page 24
