Boy Allies in Great Peril; Or, With the Italian Army in the Alps
Page 16
CHAPTER XVI.
A FRIEND IN NEED.
Many thoughts ran through Chester's head as he stood there for a briefmoment with the hand of the man who had accosted him on his shoulder. Hethought of flight and he thought of fight, but most of all he thought ofthe ill fortune he had encountered in the past few days.
"This is the limit," he told himself ruefully. Aloud he said: "You aremistaken, sir."
"No, I'm not mistaken," returned the officer, "and I suppose most wouldtake you at your word. You speak German without an accent, but your facebetrays you. At a guess, I would say you are English."
"You are wrong," declared Chester.
"Nevertheless, I shall have to ask you to accompany me," said theofficer.
For a moment Chester hesitated; he was tempted to leap upon his captorand make a fight for it, but he had hesitated too long now. The officerproduced a revolver, which he held carelessly in his right hand.
"I have a little persuader here, in case you should think of disobeyingmy order," he said quietly.
"Oh, all right," said Chester. "I'll go along."
"I thought you would," replied his captor, with a smile.
He motioned for Chester to walk on ahead of him, which the boy did, thewhile grumbling to himself.
"I should have run when I saw him coming," he muttered.
There was little doubt in Chester's mind now that he was due for his tripto Vienna with the ambassador. After that, in view of his attempt toescape, he wasn't sure what might happen, for he believed the ambassadorwould recall his offer of a safe conduct after this.
"Yes, it looks like Vienna to me," he told himself.
And so it probably would have been but for one thing--or rather, for oneperson; and Chester had no more idea of seeing him than he had ofencountering Hal at the next cross street.
As the two walked along, Chester slightly in front, his captor followinghim closely with drawn revolver, a figure left the shadow of a nearbybuilding, and with a whistle of amazement, crept silently in their wake.
"Well! Well!" muttered this figure to himself. "What do you think ofthat? I can't stand for this. I'm liable to get killed or hurt, but I'vejust got to take a hand."
As Chester and his captor turned into another street and disappearedfrom sight, the man broke into a run, stepping lightly on his toes. Whenhe rounded the corner he was only a few feet behind the other two.Silently as a cat, he closed up the distance, drawing a weapon from hispocket as he ran.
He took the revolver by the barrel, and with a sudden leap, sprangupon the officer who had captured Chester. A quick blow and theofficer staggered. He seemed about to cry out, but even as he openedhis mouth, the newcomer repeated the blow and the man fell to thesidewalk without a word.
"It's all right, Chester," said the newcomer.
Chester, who had stood as if petrified during the struggle--he was sosurprised at this sudden and unexpected aid--uttered an exclamationof surprise.
"Who are you?" he asked, in vain trying to pierce the darknesswith his eyes.
The stranger chuckled.
"You don't know, eh?" he asked.
Again Chester peered at him intently. It was so dark he could not makeout the man's features, but there was something very familiar about theshort, rotund figure that stood before him.
"By Jove!" cried the lad at last. "It is--it can't be--yes, it must be--"
"Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent of the New York _Gazette_, sir, andvery much at your service," came the now well-known voice.
Chester sprang forward and seized the extended hand.
"And what in the name of all that's wonderful are you doing here?" heasked in amazement.
"Getting some red-hot news for the New York _Gazette_," was Stubbs'laconic response. "You are liable to find me most any place. As I toldyou before, there is no place a newspaper man cannot go. Now, what's allthis mess I find you in?"
Chester explained and Stubbs listened attentively.
"Hm-m-m," he said, when the lad had concluded, "I guess the best thingfor you to do is to hop back into Italy as fast as the law allows."
"My idea," said Chester dryly. "The trouble is it's a pretty long hop,and in the next place the Austrian law doesn't allow it."
"That's so," agreed Stubbs. "However, you just leave these little thingsto Anthony. He'll get you through or the New York _Gazette_ will lose itsbest man."
"Well, I hope the _Gazette_ doesn't lose him," said Chester; "but I wouldlike to get back into civilization."
"Civilization?" echoed the little man. "And what do you call this? Letone of these uniformed gentleman on this side of the border hear you saythat and you won't ever get any place except under the sod. This, takethe Austrian word for it, is the last word in civilization. Therefore,what you mean is that you want to get out of civilization."
"Whichever way suits you," agreed Chester.
"All right. Then you come with me. It's time to be moving, anyhow. Thisfellow is getting about ready to get up and there is no use of our beinghere to greet him when he opens his eyes. Let's go."
He led the way back toward the heart of the city and Chester followed,though not without a protest.
"What's the use of going back there?" he wanted to know. "That's theplace I have been trying to get away from."
"Now listen here, young man," said Stubbs, "you didn't have much luckgetting away by yourself, did you?"
"No," replied Chester, "but--"
"And you won't have any better now, if you don't do as I say," declaredStubbs. "But I'll tell you. I am leaving here myself in the morning. I amgoing to Italy. I've dug up all the stuff I can get around here and nowI'm going to have a look at the Italian army in action. If you wish, youcan come along."
"Of course I'll come," said Chester. "That is, if they will let me."
"Oh, they'll let you, all right," replied Stubbs. "Say, I guess youdon't know who I am! I'll tell you: I'm the war correspondent of the NewYork _Gazette_, and these fellows over here are glad to show me whatfavors they can. It doesn't do them any harm, and it might do them somegood. See?"
"I see," agreed Chester briefly.
"All right, then. I'll take you to my lodgings and you can spend thenight there with me. We'll leave early in the morning."
Chester followed the little man, though not without some misgivings.
Apparently Stubbs had not spoken without reason. Along the way theypassed several officers, each of whom, after recognizing the warcorrespondent, gave him a formal military salute.
"You see," said Stubbs, "I am some pumpkins around these parts."
"So I see," replied Chester.
"Here is where we put up," said Stubbs presently, turning into a largeand well-lighted hotel. "Put your best foot foremost now, and walk inlike you owned the place. Can you swagger a bit?"
"Well, some," said Chester hesitatingly.
"So can I," said Stubbs, "which is the reason I get along so well.Follow me."
His usual manner--the one to which Chester had become accustomed when hehad been with the little man in the French theater of war, left him as heentered the door, and he swaggered in like a true bravo. Chester threwout his shoulders and did likewise.
Straight up to the desk walked Stubbs, where a clerk came courteouslyforward to see what was desired.
"My friend here," said Stubbs, with a wave of his hand, "will share myroom to-night. Have us called at six o'clock and send a man to help mewith my things at that hour. Understand?"
"Yes, Herr Stubbs," replied the clerk, rubbing his hands together, thoughwhy Chester did not know. "It shall be done."
"All right," said Stubbs. "My key!"
The clerk hastened to get it.
"Now that's the way to get by in this benighted land," said Stubbs toChester as they made their way to the little man's room. "Make 'em thinkyou own the place. It never hurts anything."
"So I see," said Chester dryly. "Now, about the morning. How do we getout of this country?"
"But you--" began Chester.
"I'm coming to that. They will stop me, of course. Then I'll raise aholler. I'll demand that they wire the commander here and give adescription of me, saying I have lost my papers. They will identify me,all right, because there are no more like me. A second safe conduct willcome along and I'll move into Italy. Simple little thing, isn't it?"
"Quite simple--if it works," said Chester.
"Oh, it'll work all right!"
"I hope so," declared Chester.
"It's got to work," replied Stubbs. "I can't afford to have it fail. Mypaper will be expecting something out of Italy from me within a few daysand I've got to be there to give it to them. Otherwise, I'm liable to bedismissed."
"I guess that won't happen," said Chester, with a smile.
"Not if I can help it," agreed Stubbs. "Now let's climb betweenthe sheets."