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26. unexpectedly, had a startling effect upon that individual. His sword
left his hand and went to the ground with a clatter, the man himself
following swiftly and landed upon the cobbles with a thump. As for
Dick, he turned to bolt for his life, guessing that other undesirable
and inquisitive persons might be near at hand and have heard that
shout. But he need have had little fear. If anyone had heard and
were inclined to venture near, their inclination was subdued at once
by the landing of a shell some thirty yards down this narrow street.
Dick heard it crash against the cobbles and instantly threw himself
flat, being only just in time to escape the succeeding explosion. A
hot blast of flame and gas swept over his recumbent figure. For one
brief second the street and the mean houses on either side were
brilliantly illuminated, and then there was darkness and silence
again, save for dimly-heard shrieks of terror from the distance and
the moaning of a man nearer at hand. Dick scrambled to his feet,
turned to go, and then swung his head round to look at the spot he
had so recently vacated. There was a glimmer on the cobbles, and
the faint outline of a lamp turned on its side.
"Why not?" he asked himself. "A lamp would be useful later on
perhaps. That officer fellow is moaning. Wonder whether that's due
to my blow or to the shell which just now exploded?"
As a matter of fact, his sudden blow had considerably startled the
Turk, and had made him lose his balance with a vengeance. Then he
had sat up giddily, only to be struck by a stone hurled in that
direction by the explosion. Dick went hastily across to him, picked up
the lamp, and closely inspected his late enemy.
"Captain of an infantry battalion," he told himself. "No, not a captain;
merely a subaltern. Not so very old either. No hair on his face at any
rate. Let's see how he's dressed. Greatcoat, belts and sabre, and
revolver pouch. Nothing on his head at the moment but—ah, there's
the fez! Why, it just fits me. Now I wonder if——"
It was hardly the place to stop and wonder, for without doubt a
general bombardment had begun, and stray messages from the
allies were falling about him. Dick took the lamp and went to the
27. opening from which this officer had come. He pushed the door
before him and found it opened easily. He knocked loudly, then
entered without hesitation, and threw his light into the downstairs
rooms. They were empty, as was also the upper part of the house.
"Just the sort of little crib we want," he told himself. "Sorry, of
course, for the officer, but he shouldn't have been so inquisitive.
Anyway, I'll have to borrow some of his belongings. But first I'll fetch
Alec and the Commander."
Perhaps ten minutes later Commander Jackson was resting on a
settee or divan in the house which Dick had selected, while Dick and
Alec rapidly removed the Turk's greatcoat and fez as well as his
weapons. Then they picked him up, and staggered away with his
unconscious figure till they had gained a street some distance from
the spot where he had accosted our hero.
"That'll do. He'll be picked up by his friends some time, and won't
soon find his way back to the house. Jingo, ain't things humming!"
It was strange, as the morning light slowly stole upon the besieged
city of Adrianople and penetrated the windows of that house
borrowed by Dick and Alec, to see those two young hopefuls resting
contentedly on the divan running the length of an upstairs room,
eagerly discussing the food they had brought with them, as well as
this curious situation. As to the Commander, he was no longer
snoring so stertorously. He was conscious, and was gazing fixedly at
his comrades.
"What next?" he was asking quite jovially in spite of his headache.
"That's it, sir," grinned Dick. "What next? That wants a heap of
guessing."
29. CHAPTER IX
Dick Hamshaw Saves the Situation
There was pandemonium in the city of Adrianople as daylight stole
coldly across the roofs of the houses and penetrated to mean streets
and alleys, to the interior of houses large and small, and to the
cloistered halls of the many mosques. Wailing could be heard on
every side, the frightened cries of women, the piteous, hungry sobs
of infants and children. For provisions had been short for a long
time, while but seven ounces of bread formed the daily ration of
each soldier, and civilians must fight for what they could see and live
as best they could.
Shells rained into the place fitfully, ebbing and flowing as does the
sea. They came in shoals like mackerel, then intermittently, crashing
their way through roofs, thudding into the streets and open spaces,
and bursting to right and left. And then, of a sudden, they would
cease to fall. Comparative silence would reign in the city; while
outside, in the neighbourhood of the forts, could be heard the rattle
of musketry, incessant, rising and falling, overwhelmed every few
seconds by some violent detonation as a cannon was discharged,
and running in waves from one end of the defences to the other.
"Hard at it," said the Commander, listening to a great outburst. "You
may depend upon it that the allies have decided to take the place
whatever it may cost them. And if all the Turkish troops are like the
poor objects one sees from this window, why, this business won't be
long before it's ended. Meanwhile, if one may enquire, what are our
prospects?"
He turned with smiling face to Dick and Alec, though the hands
supporting his head on either side, and the anxious, drawn look
about his eyes, told that he was suffering. Indeed he had a dreadful
30. headache that morning, while the wound he had been unlucky
enough to receive was extremely painful.
"If one may enquire?" he said again, with polite and jovial satire. "I
am as a child in your hands, and, 'pon my word, you've done
uncommonly well. What happened after I was knocked over? Tell
me, do. I am still left gaping at the fact that a moment ago, as it
seems to me, I was crouching beside a wall waiting for a shell to
wreak its vengeance upon this unfortunate city. The very next, I
appear to be in clover, reclining on a most comfortable divan, and—
er—er—watching you two munching your rations. Now."
They told him all that had happened with a gusto there was no
denying.
"And so you see, sir, here we are," added Dick, his mouth occupied
with a hunch of bread and cheese which the thoughtful Sergeant
Evans had provided.
"Precisely! Here we are. Afterwards, what? That's where I'm vastly
interested. We appear to have got into a charming little pickle. How
do we emerge from it?"
Neither Dick nor Alec could give him the smallest indication, for they
themselves were nonplussed by the curious situation into which they
had tumbled. Not that they had not given vast thought to the
matter; for even then Dick had risen from the divan and was staring
through the window, the noise of people moving down the cobbled
street having attracted him. He swung round after a while, reseated
himself, and took an enormous bite from the hunch of bread he was
holding.
The Commander watched him as he ate it, watched him critically
and with some amusement. "Come," he said after a while. "What's
the manœuvre?"
Alec shook his head violently; Dick stood up, still munching, and
once more stared through the window. He did not mean to be
disrespectful to his senior, but, to be precise, his thoughts were so
31. fully occupied at that particular moment that he hardly heard the
sentence. Presently he turned again.
"I'm going out, sir," he said.
"Out! Impossible! You'd be spotted," cried the officer, his joviality
gone instantly.
"Hardly, sir. You see, or perhaps I should say, you will see the
reason. I can speak these fellows' lingo quite a little."
"Turkish?"
"Yes, sir. Father was quartered at Constantinople, at the British
Embassy. I was there a good five years, and so learnt to know all
about 'em. If I was disguised I could pass easily, and so I'm going in
the gear of that officer."
"But—but why?" demanded the Commander.
"First, to find a more suitable crib for us, sir. That officer fellow may
recover consciousness just as quickly as you have done, and then he
may very well return to these quarters. That'd be bad for us. Next,
there's Major Harvey and his friend to be thought of. We couldn't
very well return aboard the airship without them."
"Certainly not. If they're to be found, then we find them," came from
the officer. "But—look here, Dick, this idea means danger, don't it?"
"Risk, perhaps, sir. Nothing more."
"Supposing you were spotted?"
The Commander sat up quickly and looked anxiously at the
midshipman.
"Then it would be unlucky for me, sir," came Dick's steady answer.
"Of course, you and Alec would work hard to get back to the ship.
But I haven't been spotted yet, and don't mean to be. Someone's
got to go out, and I'm that someone, for I can understand these
people. Now, Alec, give me a help with this gear. Say, how do I look?
Fairly smart, eh? That fez always makes a fellow look fetching."
32. Dick made certainly quite a smart officer once he was dressed in the
greatcoat, belts, and pouches of his late assailant, while the fez gave
him quite an Oriental appearance. Indeed, the Commander was
delighted.
"I don't half like letting you go, Dick," he said. "I'm the one who
should be taking this sort of risk. But there—I couldn't stand steadily,
and am therefore useless. Lad, shake hands. I'm glad you belong to
us, and I must say that you two youngsters have done handsomely."
Dick coloured redly. Alec shuffled his feet and felt positively
uncomfortable. And then the former gripped each of his companions
in turn by the hand, saluted his officer, and turning, went out of the
room. They heard the front door bang. They heard his steps on the
cobbles, and looking out, Alec saw his chum strolling nonchalantly
down the street. Then he turned into another, and in an instant was
lost to view.
"Gone! Out of sight," he said, turning and speaking almost dismally
to the Commander.
"And good luck go with him! A plucky lad, a very plucky fellow!"
cried the officer. "But don't let's fret about him, for a midshipman's a
midshipman all over the world and a wonder at getting into and out
of scrapes. Now, let's see if we can get a fire going, for it's cold in
this room and I'm positively shivering."
It may be wondered meanwhile what had happened to the gallant
Major who had left the airship just two nights previous to Dick and
his fellows. If they had but known the truth he had set foot in this
beleaguered city within some fifty yards of the spot where they had
landed. And then all his efforts had been concentrated on the task of
finding that elusive individual known as Charlie. He groped his way
around buildings and along streets; and for hours haunted the
precincts of that huge mosque which the elusive Charlie had
denoted as his probable location. The dawn was breaking indeed
before he thought of his own personal safety and the need for some
hiding-place. For the Major cut a conspicuous figure wherever he
33. happened to be. He looked, in fact, precisely what he was, a soldier
and a gentleman. Nor must the reader imagine for one moment that
he and "Charlie", the high-placed officer of whom he had spoken,
were merely spies engaged on some dangerous espionage. There is
spying and spying. There is the patriot who for the sake of his
country, not for mere filthy lucre or out of burning curiosity, will
investigate matters of moment, such as guns and forts and
equipment used by possible enemies of his country. And there are
others who from the same patriotic motives will endeavour to
fathom some new negotiations between Powers other than his own,
some diplomatic move, some international conspiracy hatched in the
secret recesses of foreign offices, perhaps never set down on paper,
never signed and sealed, merely a secret compact, but still
something of vital importance for his own people. We do not profess
to guess what precisely was the business upon which the Major and
his friend had been engaged. It was secret, it was of vital
importance, and it was of the utmost delicacy. Let us, then, leave it
there, merely remembering that the elusive Charlie had intimated to
the Major that he had succeeded in his mission, while the authorities
at home had thought so much of the matter and desired that
information so greatly that they posted the Major to the great airship
when on her world-wide tour, and urged Andrew and Joe Gresson to
hazard a visit to Adrianople, even at the risk of wrecking a machine
than which nothing would appear to be more valuable to Great
Britain.
It was with an inner knowledge of this delicate affair that the Major
strove to discover his friend, and for the moment we will leave him
hastening through the streets of the city, gazing into the faces of
passers-by as the dawn drew near, and risking discovery. In fact, he
merely forestalled Dick, for the young midshipman was now engaged
in a similar task with similar risks, seeking eagerly for those for
whom he and his friends had descended from the airship.
"And it's like looking for the usual needle in the usual bundle of hay,"
he grumbled, as he dived into another street and strode down it. "A
mighty small needle, by jingo! and an awfully big bundle of hay. But
34. there's always the mosque. That must be the big one, and I don't go
a step farther from it. My first job is to investigate every corner. So
round we go. We'll do the outside first, and then dive in."
People hurried past him, civilians with wan, lean forms and faces.
Half-starved soldiers dressed in rags, unshaven for weeks past,
dragged their weary limbs past him. An officer, a dapper enough
fellow at one time no doubt, stepped into the street before him,
turned a hurried gaze upon him, and then retreated with haste.
"Funny, that. Spotted me, eh?" Dick asked himself. "Then why did he
bolt as if he were afraid of me?"
It was a problem to which he gave his mind for some few minutes.
He was still worrying it out when almost a similar thing took place.
Two soldiers, under-officers without a doubt, tattered and
dishevelled, emerged from a doorway and halted immediately
outside to peer up and down the street. On seeing Dick's jaunty
figure they bolted, positively bolted.
"This beats me hollow," that young gentleman grumbled. "What's
the matter with me, or—er—with those jolly beggars? Surely it can't
be that they're—jingo! it looks it. What did that officer say?"
His mind went back to the encounter he had some little time before
and to the manner in which his assailant had accosted him. He
recollected that Adrianople was then being fiercely assaulted. If he
had been inclined to forget that fact there was the firing to tell him,
that and the roar of shells raining round the city. Yes, he could hear
the battle ebbing and flowing in the distance about the outlying forts
which protected all approaches to Adrianople.
"Got it!" he cried. "What have the papers said? Let's see. Little
enough, for correspondents have been barred and news sent by
some of them at least has been secondhand information written up
in a house perhaps a hundred miles from the fighting. But there's
been awful disorganization amongst the Turkish battalions. Men have
been anywhere at times except where they were wanted. Officers
have lost their commands, while, what with hardship, fear of wounds
35. or worse, and starvation, soldiers have strayed from their ranks or
actually deserted. Jingo! That's it. The fellows who have been scared
of me are shirkers. Lor! there seem to be a good many of 'em. That
don't say much for the chances of the defenders."
In any case the discovery he had made was of little moment and
gave him no help in his search. But it did put a little more dash and
swagger into our hero.
"If they don't see anything wrong about me and get scared so easily,
why, others'll be the same," Dick told himself with a grin. "I'll cut a
dash next time I meet a soldier. A bit of bounce'll help to deceive
'em."
He carried the plan out in a manner which would have made Alec
scream with laughing, for Dick was really too bold for anything.
Meeting a squad of men some few minutes later escorting an
ammunition cart along one of the streets he clanked his sword
loudly, squared his shoulders, and took their salute without a falter.
"My word! That's better," he grinned. "I'll be ordering 'em about
before I've done with this business. Hallo! A guard-house, eh? Yes,
sentry posted outside. Jingo, call him a sentry! Of course, I know the
poor beggar's been more than half starved for weeks past. But, what
a figure!"
The wretchedly ragged fellow outside this guard house did indeed
cut anything but a soldierly figure. He lolled against the post, his
face drawn and thin and vacant, and innocent of soap and water for
days past. And when, seeing an officer draw near, he shouldered his
rifle, it was in an uncouth and distinctly unmilitary manner.
"Like to see one of our tars give a salute like that," said Dick
bridling. "If the Turks are all like him, which I doubt, it ain't
surprising that those jolly Bulgarians and their allies have made such
a running. But let's get on. That's completed the round of the
mosque. Now we enter and see what's doing."
Unabashed by the presence of a sentry at the door of the mosque,
Dick marched boldly up to him and once more acknowledged a
36. salute. Then he donned a pair of shoes lying in the doorway and
entered without hesitation.
"It is empty," said the man over his shoulder. "I have orders to keep
all people from entering, all save those who command."
Dick nodded curtly. He wondered whether he ought to make some
reply; but fearing that the man would suspect him at once he went
on without halting.
"Though I've got to chance it some time," he said. "I've got to ask
questions so as to get information. Lor! why didn't I think of it
before? I'll be a foreign officer serving with the Turks. It's said that
there are something approaching a hundred German officers here in
Adrianople. Right! I ain't over particular which sort of a country it is I
come from. But I'm foreign. That's why I can't talk the lingo
perfectly. Now we take a look round and then come back to gather
information."
His tour of the mosque proved it to be much the same as others,
except that this was huge and more brilliantly decorated than those
Dick was accustomed to. It was deserted, without a doubt, not even
a mullah being present.
"They are gone in fear lest shells should strike the building,"
explained the sentry at the door when Dick questioned him. "Pardon,
your papers, please."
"Papers? Eh?" gasped Dick.
"All foreign officers carry papers to prove their identity. I took you
for one of our own nationality at first, but now that you speak,
though better than the majority, I see that you are foreign. Your
papers, please."
It was an awkward moment, and perhaps few others would have
escaped from it as did the light-hearted Dick. He gazed at the man
in amazement. He stamped his feet with seeming rage and fumed
and growled loudly.
37. "What! You ask for papers while shells fall into the city and there is
fighting! You expect me to take such things into the trenches, then?
What next! I keep such things in my quarters where you can see
them if you come with me."
"Ah! Pardon, I did not think," the sentry answered abjectly. "Of
course, it is not the time to make such a demand."
"As if one could enter or leave the city!" growled Dick, pretending to
be only half appeased. "But there! let it pass. Tell me for what
reason is there a guard-house yonder?"
"To house the patrols who police the streets. In times of peace the
place is unoccupied."
"And now?" asked Dick curiously.
"There are a few men there. I myself shall be relieved by one of
them."
"And prisoners?"
The sentry looked astonished. "Prisoners?" he asked, looking
suspiciously at Dick.
"Yes, prisoners," declared that young fellow without a falter. The
high hand he had played already had served his purpose
wonderfully. Then why not continue? "Did I not say prisoners
plainly?" he asked curtly, at which the man nodded abjectly. "Then
why this surprise?"
"But—but pardon, sir, you asked as if it were not merely curiosity. It
seemed as if you might be interested in some other way," said the
sentry, emboldened for the moment and again surveying Dick in a
manner which, if it did not show suspicion, at least told of his dislike
of all foreigners. As for the midshipman, his interest was stimulated
by the curious stubbornness of the man. Dick recollected that he
was in search of Major Harvey, and that the latter had disappeared,
had failed to signal to the airship, and was lost for the moment.
Supposing there were prisoners yonder? Supposing this fellow and
his mates placed in the guard-house to police the neighbourhood of
38. the mosque had seized upon the Major and were holding him a
prisoner? Was it likely that they had reported their action? Hardly at
such a time when the allies were pressing an attack, and if they had
sent in a report a day before, no doubt in the hurry and bustle of
hastening troops to meet that expected assault the matter had been
forgotten. However, this was all guesswork. Dick had yet no certain
information that prisoners were located in the guard-house, though
he had his suspicions.
"And I'm pretty sure that this fellow is trying to throw dust in my
eyes," he told himself. "It ain't difficult either to see why he's so
stubborn and sly. I'm a foreign officer attached to the Turkish army.
Half a mo'; I ain't. But that's what he takes me to be. Well, then,
supposing he and his fellows had bagged the Major, they'd expect
me to kick up a shindy and——"
In one instant he saw it all, and his suspicions were heightened.
"You have prisoners in the guard-house," he said severely. "Foreign
prisoners. I will see them. Stay here, man; have a care what you do
and say. Tell me, you reported the taking of these men?"
The sentry stood to attention, looking shamefaced and frightened.
"We could not," he excused himself. "No officer has visited us for
two days now. There is heavy fighting."
"Ah!" Dick regarded him severely. "You dared to neglect to report,"
he cried angrily. "You took these men prisoner, careless whether
they were friends of your army or not. There will be more said upon
this matter, for learn this, idiot that you are. These men are wanted
by His Highness Shukri Pasha himself. Yes, by the general in
command of the defenders."
Dick positively blushed at his own assurance and cheek, while the
unhappy sentry actually trembled. For this foreign officer was
without doubt very angry and filled with indignation.
"I—we," he began in an effort to excuse himself.
39. "March down to the guard-house with me," commanded Dick. "You
shall be relieved instantly, and shall yourself conduct me to these
prisoners. A more disgraceful and high-handed proceeding I never
experienced, and His Highness shall hear of it. To think that he is
waiting for these men, these foreigners, while you, you fools, sitting
here near the guard-house, hold them as prisoners."
Dick ought to have been an actor, for he stamped and raved at the
unfortunate fellow, and altogether impressed him so much with the
heinousness of the act he had committed that the sentry was ready
to sink into the ground or do anything to repair his blunder. He was
a very humble individual as he shambled down to the guard-house
in front of Dick and surlily bade his comrade make for the mosque
and there relieve him.
"Now, take me to these men," commanded Dick. "There are two?"
"No—three, sir," came the answer.
"Three!" Dick's hopes fell of a sudden. This statement that there
were three prisoners took the wind entirely out of his sails and
robbed him for the moment of his high-handed assurance. "Three!"
he muttered. "I've been groping in the dark all this while, guessing
wildly. But I've also been putting two and two together, and seeing
that the Major was to make for the surroundings of the great
mosque and expected to meet his friend there, why, when I
gathered that this fellow and his comrades had made prisoners of
foreigners I made sure there must be two. If it had been one that
might still have been the Major taken prisoner before he had met
this Charlie. But three! That's a stunner!"
For a little while he stood watching the shambling figure of the man
going to take post at the door of the mosque. And then, roused by
the detonation of a shell in an adjacent place, he turned sharply
upon the fellow who stood before him.
"Three prisoners whom you have dared to hold without reporting!"
he cried. "Lead on, man; this is monstrous. Take me to them."
40. Thoroughly scared now by the anger of the foreign officer, whom he
imagined to be doing service with the Turkish army, and conscious
that by making captures and failing to report he had been guilty of a
serious offence, the man upon whom Dick, with his unblushing
cheek and wonderful assurance and resource, had so completely
turned the tables proceeded to obey his orders with a meekness
which was apparent. In fact, he was obviously anxious to appease
the anger of this officer, and so escape punishment for his
remissness.
"Follow, sir," he said. "There are three prisoners as I have told you,
and it may be that when you see how ready I am to act on your
orders, you will forget the fact that I failed to send a report,
remembering too, that the times are very unsettled."
They were that without a doubt, for all this while the distant rattle of
musketry could be heard, rolling round the defences, now breaking
out here with a severity which showed that an attack was probably
being forced home, perhaps even at the point of the bayonet, and
then dying down quite suddenly only to break out with virulence in
another direction. And every now and again, sometimes very
frequently, at others after quite a lull, heavy guns would open, shells
would scream through the air, and rarely now one of the monsters
would drop into the streets of the city or plunge amongst the
houses, when the succeeding explosion would be followed by
heartrending shrieks, by piercing cries, by the anguished calls of the
helpless and defenceless.
Yes, the times were unsettled enough; Dick had his own troubles
and could therefore sympathize. He bade the man hasten, and
followed into the guard-house.
"And there was good reason for making these men prisoners," said
the Turk, pushing his fez to the back of his head and turning to our
hero, still with the hope that he might excuse his own breach of the
standing orders of the army. "I will tell you. One, a big man——"
41. "Yes, a big man," said Dick eagerly. "The Major without a doubt," he
told himself.
"A big man, and fat, very."
"Ah! Fat! Then that cannot be the Major. Get along with it," cried
Dick peevishly, his hopes wrecked in a moment.
"Fat and big," went on the man. "We saw him in converse with some
of the stragglers who had left the lines of trenches. He was inciting
them to stay away."
"Or to return to their duty, which?" asked Dick curtly.
"The former, we thought," came the answer. "We arrested him. He
was angry and shouted and threatened; but since he could speak
only a few words of our language we could not understand the
cause of his anger. Then there were two others, foreigners."
"Ah! Describe them," Dick almost shouted. It was hard indeed at this
moment to restrain his eagerness.
"One, tall, and spare, and like a soldier."
"The Major," Dick told himself. "Hooray! Things are going to come
right."
"And the other older, getting grey, also tall, and spare, and soldierly."
"Lead me to them at once," demanded Dick. "They are the men
whom His Highness desires to interview. Come, lead quickly; there
will be trouble about this matter."
That set the sentry shivering with apprehension, and made him still
more eager to appease the officer who had accosted him. Leading
the way towards the back of the guard-house, he took down a
bunch of keys strung to a hook on the wall and with their help
opened a cell. Dick looked in. An ill-kempt, unwieldy man dressed in
the uniform of an officer was seated on a stone bench and scowled
as the two appeared. And then, recognizing Dick as an officer he
burst into a torrent of abuse, expressed in a language of which the
midshipman was ignorant.
42. "Not my bird at any rate," he told himself. "My! Listen to the fellow.
I'm sorry for him, awfully. But I can't get mixing myself up in his
affairs. Now, let us see the others," he demanded of the Turk.
A minute later they were peering into an adjacent cell, in which Dick
instantly recognized the Major. As for the latter, though he looked at
our hero very hard and with suspicion, there was no recognition until
Dick spoke.
"Major," he said. "Please be careful as I am disguised as a Turkish
officer. I have come to demand your release."
"Demand my release! Turkish officer! Why, it's—it's Mr. Midshipman
Hamshaw."
"Present, sir," grinned that young gentleman, saluting. "You see," he
said, swinging round upon the soldier. "He recognizes me, and so
does the other officer. Ah! There will be bad trouble over this, when
Shukri Pasha gets to hear of it. Yes, trouble which——"
A groan escaped the wretched sentry. Ever since he had exchanged
words with Dick, he had been conjuring up all sorts of pains and
penalties as a consequence of his rashness. His knees positively
knocked together as he besought this officer to spare him and forget
the matter.
"Release them at once," cried Dick peremptorily. "Now, listen. If His
Highness asks no questions, well and good. Perhaps we shall not be
too late for this discussion even now, that is if you hasten. As to the
third officer, hold him till you receive a written order, or till an hour
has passed. Now, stand aside. Major, please follow."
"But—but you don't mean to tell me that you have obtained our
release?" cried that astonished officer. "How? And where are we to
go?"
"Please follow as if you had every right to be at liberty," answered
Dick. "I'll tell you later how I've worked it. But come at once, for
there is no saying when other soldiers may turn up, with perhaps an
officer."
43. He stalked before them out of the guard-house and led the way into
the streets of Adrianople, streets for the most part still untenanted.
For civilians lay at home shivering beneath the cruel bombardment,
and fearful of those dreadful shells. They were coming again into the
city, and more than once Dick and the two who followed had to
dodge behind some building to escape the bursting of a bomb.
"And now, perhaps, you'll tell us where we are going," said the
Major, when they had gained a smaller street. "To the airship?
Impossible. She would never dare to come here in daylight. Then
where?"
"To join Commander Jackson and Alec," answered Dick. "We entered
the city last night in search of you both. But—hush! Lookout! Let's
hurry. If that isn't the very fellow I most wanted to avoid."
A figure had dived into the street immediately behind them, a figure
strangely familiar. Dick eyed him suspiciously, and then recognized
him with a start. For this man's head was swathed in bandages
which left his face fully exposed, and that face was young, and
smooth, and hairless. In fact, it was the very officer against whom
he had collided on the previous night.
"Had he been back to his house and there discovered Alec and the
Commander? Or was he now on his way?"
Dick asked himself those urgent questions, and then, spurred on by
fear and dreadful foreboding hastened along the street, the Major
and his friend close beside him, and the inquisitive officer in rear.
Soon they turned into the street in which that house they sought
was located, and for a moment the follower was out of sight.
"Run!" cried Dick, and took to his heels. "Now, into this house. Alec!"
he called.
"Here," came back a jovial call. "And the Commander, both of us
getting a bit anxious about you."
"Shut the door and bolt it," commanded Dick, careless of the
presence of his seniors. "Now, peep through the windows. The
44. owner of this house was following us a moment ago. If he tries to
enter, keep perfectly quiet. I'm going to see how we can manage to
get out of what may prove to be a trap."
If they had any doubts of that follower, these were cleared on the
instant. There came the sound of steps on the cobbles, and then a
heavy blow upon the door.
"Open—open in the name of the Sultan!"
Not one of those within answered. They stood back from the window
waiting and watching. "Open!" they heard the command repeated,
and then there followed a shrill whistle.
"Look, men are running across from a house almost opposite,"
whispered Major Harvey, peering through the window. "This begins
to look ugly, and I'm not so sure that we should not be better off in
our prison. Listen to them, and see that fellow carrying a huge
hammer."
There came a crashing blow upon the door an instant later, a blow
that almost shattered the lock. It was clear that within a few minutes
the irate individual outside and his helpers would force an entrance.
The Major turned in bewilderment to the Commander, for he could
not quite understand this new situation. Then Dick burst in upon
them.
"Come along," he said. "Let's sling it. There's a way out at the back,
and I know a place that'll shelter us. Quick! Those chaps will be in in
a moment."
They did not wait to argue or discuss the matter with him but
followed at once. Stealthily departing by a door in rear of the
building they dived into a narrow alley, and from that place heard a
crash as the door of the house was beaten in. Then they turned and
fled through the streets of Adrianople with a dozen Turks hotfoot
after them.
46. CHAPTER X
A Thrilling Rescue
Perhaps no quainter or more exciting situation could be imagined
than that which found Dick Hamshaw and his little party scuttling
down the dark streets of Adrianople. For there he was, leading
surely a strange following.
"Enough to make the people open their eyes and rub 'em hard," he
told himself with a grin, for Dicky was not the one to be scared
easily or disheartened. "Here we are, led by a Turkish officer, that's
me; followed by a British naval officer, in uniform too, that's the
Commander, and jolly groggy he seems to be after that wound of
his. Then there's Alec—well, nothing out of the ordinary—while
behind come the Major, almost a stranger, though we know all about
him, and then 'Charlie', dear old Charlie."
"Where away? Where are you leading to?" suddenly came from the
Major. "We've gained on those beggars. Hadn't we better stop a
moment and discuss matters?"
Discuss matters when they were almost blown, and when the Turks
were rushing pell-mell after them!
"Good idea," cried Dick cheerily. "In here! Come along. Now, bang
the door. Jingo! Hope there ain't other people to kick up a rumpus."
Really his cheek and coolness were amazing, for hardly had the
Major finished calling when Dick halted at a doorway leading into a
small dwelling, threw it open, and beckoned them to enter. Then he
banged the door to, and leaving his friends went off on a tour of
inspection.
47. "All bright-o!" he whispered, reappearing. "Place empty. No one here
for a long while and not a scrap of food. I squinted into what must
be their larder."
"H—hush! There they are. Foiled for the moment," whispered the
Major, peering through a narrow window. "Wait! They've halted and
are looking about them. One of the men is pointing up the street,
and let's hope they'll make off in that direction. Good! There they go
as if the old gentleman himself were behind them. Now; what's the
meaning of all this bother, and how comes it that you are
masquerading in Turkish uniform? Dick, my boy, you've a heap to
answer for. Seriously, though, I'm eternally obliged to you for
liberating us from that prison. That reminds me. I haven't so far had
an opportunity of making formal presentations. Commander Jackson,
let me introduce Colonel Steven, Intelligence Department, War
Office, the 'Charlie' we've come after. Colonel, my excellent friends
and comrades Mr. Midshipman Hamshaw and Alec Jardine. Now you
all know one another."
Cordial hand-grips were exchanged all round, and here again one
may say that seldom before was there such a curious meeting. As
for "Charlie", the gallant Colonel Steven, Dick and his friends liked
his looks immensely. He smiled at them all, not in the least ruffled by
what had been passing.
"'Pon my word, gentlemen," he said, "but it needs an active man to
keep touch with your movements. First I come most miraculously in
contact with my friend, the Major, who descends actually and really
from the sky. Then, when I am reclining comfortably in a prison
where the circumstances of the bombardment, the breakdown of all
discipline, and the natural hate of an Ottoman made it likely enough
that I and the Major might have our throats slit, there appears upon
the scene a Turkish officer, who is not a Turkish officer, but a
midshipman from our own fleet, and who likewise has descended
from the sky. Lastly, I am taken to a place of refuge which is no
place of refuge, and from which I am bundled before even I have
time to be formally acquainted with other gentlemen, birds of the
48. same feather as my friend the Major. Really, this is almost enough
for one long day."
Cool! Of course he was cool. His pleasant satire showed that, while
his easy smile, his jaunty manner, the knowledge that he had been
engaged on an important and doubtless dangerous enterprise made
Dick and his friends take to the Colonel promptly. And naturally
enough, though the midshipman was not easily abashed, he now
waited for his seniors to give a lead. Not that the Commander was
capable of doing so.
"I've a head that feels as big as a football and heavier than lead," he
told them, sitting down of a sudden and looking faint. "Carry on
without me; I'll be better in a twinkling."
"Then we turn to Dick. The Navy commands here," smiled Colonel
Steven, while the Major nodded. "Have the goodness, Mr. Dick, to
issue your orders. Really, though, lad, you have the situation at your
finger tips. Do we stay here, or do we issue out again and seek
some other residence?"
Dick removed his fez and scratched his head. It was not, perhaps, a
very refined operation, but it seemed to help.
"You see," he began, "I'm thinking about the airship and how we are
to rejoin her. Supposing we hide here and send up a flare to-night.
Well, these johnnies may catch sight of the flame and rush us before
we can board the lift. Awkward that, very."
"Then let us suppose that we change our quarters. Are we better
off?" asked the Colonel.
"Perhaps. If we can find a crib, sir, that's easier to hold, more
ungetatable as one might say."
"For instance," interjected the Major. "You've some such crib in your
mind's eye, Dick."
"Well, there's the mosque. It's empty, save for a sentry at the door.
There are four towers at least there, and I climbed up one of 'em
this very morning. Now, a stairway could be held. There are no
49. doors and windows in all sorts of directions. Besides, we'd be above
the beggars who wanted to get us, and that'd be an advantage. We
could hold out perhaps till the airship arrived to take us."
It was a likely enough suggestion, and the two soldiers thought well
of it. But the Colonel soon put his finger on what appeared to be a
weak spot.
"We're up in this tower, let's imagine," he said. "Then the ship
comes. We're bottled in perhaps. How do we emerge? How reach
the line which this ship throws out to us?"
"Wait. You haven't seen the airship yet," cried Alec. "Wait, sir, and
you'll have an eye-opener. She can pick us up easily wherever we
are, even on the top of a chimney, for her lift can be manœuvred
with an ease and certainty that will astonish you. Oh yes, it don't
matter where we happen to get to, Mr. Andrew and Joe can reach
us."
There was pride in his voice. His words conveyed the impression that
if anything in this world were a success it was the curious lift
attached to the great airship, although, as a matter of course, that
huge vessel was of even greater excellence. But it can be imagined
that to one who had never seen the ship floating in the air, who had
never even set foot upon her galleries, nor climbed to the height of
her upper deck, it was hard to believe that what Alec described so
glowingly could in fact be possible. Not that the gallant Colonel was
a sceptic, or in the habit of decrying new inventions, or disbelieving
in the possibility of things that he had never seen. On the contrary,
he was very much awake and alive to the astonishing progress to be
observed on every side, particularly progress appertaining to
mechanics. For has not the latter end of the nineteenth century, and
the beginning of the present seen an amazing advancement on
every hand, an advancement beside which the progress of the so-
called Victorian era pales almost to insignificance? Think of the
conquest which the internal-explosion motor has accomplished, of
the rapid road and sea locomotion it has made possible, of the
trackless pathways of the air which it has thrown open to human
50. beings. For the beginning and the end of man's first successful
journeys at speed through the air, upon machines heavier than the
atmosphere which supports them, is attributable almost solely to the
petrol motor, that internal-explosion engine which less than twenty
years ago was but the crudest of inventions.
Colonel Steven had kept in close touch with the whole movement,
and had, during the hours he lay in prison with the Major, listened to
his description of the wonderful airship which Joe Gresson and his
uncle had constructed. He was burning to board the vessel, to ferret
out its secrets, to understand its construction; and he may be
forgiven if he failed to comprehend quite how the ship could manage
to remove himself and his friends even from the tower of a mosque,
should the party happen to find themselves in such a position.
However, the discussion as to their movements was cut short at the
moment. Cries were heard from the street, and the Major soon
made an important announcement.
"That fellow again!" he cried, in low tones. "He and his followers had
run out of sight, and I was in hopes that we had thrown them off
the scent. But they are coming back, yes, and numbers have joined
them. All the ragtag and bobtail of this terrible city have joined in
the search."
Dick dived towards the window there to join him, and stood peering
out into the street. It was true enough that the man who led these
searchers was returning, and true too that others had joined his
following. Indeed, some fifty ragged fellows were trailing after that
young Turkish officer, whose head was swathed in bandages, and
amongst them, immediately in rear of the officer, was no less a
person than the sentry whom Dick had accosted at the door of the
mosque, and whom he had duped so cleverly.
"Jingo!" he cried, turning with a somewhat scared expression upon
the company. "They've got to the bottom of the whole business. The
chap in advance is the beggar I collided with last night, and I
suppose he's anxious to get back these clothes I was compelled to
borrow. Then there's the man who was at the guard-house, and who
51. helped to put the Major and the Colonel in prison. Jingo! They're
entering the houses on either side and searching them."
There was a blank look upon the faces of the forlorn little party. Not
that they were frightened, or were likely to submit themselves as
prisoners without a struggle. But the outlook was black without a
doubt. This mob of Turkish soldiers, dressed in their ragged khaki
uniforms, unkempt, undisciplined, capable of any violence now that
the only authority over them was represented by a single youthful
officer, were searching every corner, and when they came to the
house in which Dick and his friends had sheltered they would find
the party, would drag them out and then, perhaps, shoot them.
"Nasty place," admitted the Colonel. "Regular troops might be
trusted to make prisoners of us, to treat us decently, and wait for
their officers to investigate the matter. Now——" he shrugged his
shoulders. "Well," he said, "we might find ourselves placed against a
wall and shot down deliberately. Adrianople is in a condition of
disorder, which one may imagine will get worse rather than better.
Who is to prevent violence just now, when every soldier who can be
controlled is in the firing line? That officer? No."
"Not he!" Dick cried. "He was furious last night. He'll be more angry
this morning. Besides, all these fellows are wasters, men who ought
to be in the forts but who have slunk to the rear. I ain't going to wait
to be torn to pieces, or shot out of hand. They've rifles with them,
sir."
"While we have revolvers," said the Major coolly. "Now, Dick, you're
leader still. What happens? Do we wait for these gentlemen, or—
what?"
"We pick the Commander up, carry him out at the back of the
house, and slink off to the great mosque," came the instant answer.
"It's not more than three hundred yards from us, and if we can only
get within easy distance we can keep this mob off with our
weapons. Shall I lead the way out of the back door, sir?"
52. "At once," came promptly from the Colonel. "See, I am a strong
man, and as hard as nails. I will shoulder the Commander. Come,
Jackson," he said, turning to the naval officer who had meanwhile
struggled to get to his feet, and had sunk back almost fainting.
"Now, up you go. That's the way. Cling with your arms round my
neck. I've a good grip of your legs, and can manage to use my
revolver. Ready, Dick."
"Then off we go," cried the Major. "First Dick, then the Colonel, then
Alec. I bring up the rear, and Alec can help me if there's any bother.
Come, don't let us delay any longer; those ruffians are already
getting far too close for our safety."
Silently opening the rickety back door of the house that had
sheltered them, Dick peered out and issued into the open.
"Come," he called gently. "There's a garden here, and a door at the
end. It ought to take us into another street and so away from those
beggars. Listen to 'em. They're kicking up more row than those
fellows away in the trenches."
To speak the truth, this mob of unattached individuals in search of
our friends were by now infuriated at their want of success, for it
began to look as if they had been completely hoodwinked. Some
fifty of them were dashing into and out of the houses, breaking
doors open with the stocks of their rifles without the smallest
ceremony, and venting upon cupboards and beds and woodwork,
where they imagined someone might be hiding, all the ferocity they
might have been expected to display had they been directly engaged
with the Bulgarians. Many had their bayonets fixed, and drove them
deep into recesses, into dark corners, and through the very heart of
the gigantic mattresses on some of the beds. They bellowed at one
another. Some even slipped cartridges into the breeches of their
rifles and fired into the cellars and through the windows of the
houses. Altogether there was pandemonium in that part of the city,
pandemonium made worse by the rattle of musketry in the distance,
by those bursting shells which still clattered amidst houses and
53. streets, and by the shrill cries of terror, by the sobs and execrations
of the civil population now subjected to this added trouble.
"Ah! See! We have found their last lair. Look!"
The sentry whom Dick had accosted at the mosque came rushing
from the door of the tenement which our hero had but just vacated
and waved an object aloft. It was a cap, the same which the Colonel
had been wearing, and which the effort to lift the Commander to his
back had dislodged from his head. In an instant the Turk had
pounced upon it, and there he was now in the street, calling the
officer and his ragged following towards him, gesticulating and
shouting.
"See! I remember this cap. It was upon the head of one of our
prisoners, one of the foreign spies sent in here by the Bulgarians."
"And the men themselves. You saw them also?" asked the officer,
snatching the cap from him.
"The house is empty. They are gone. That cap proves that they were
there lately."
"Fool! Did you not look for them? Did you not attempt to discover
whence they had gone?" was shouted at him, while the furious
officer looked as if he were capable of shooting him down in his
anger. "Into the house," he bellowed. "Empty! Nothing here to keep
us. Then out at the back. Look. The ground is soft after the melting
of the snow. Here are fresh footmarks. Follow! Follow!"
Led by the officer the mob went tearing down the tiny garden of the
humble tenement, and burst their way through the gate at the
bottom. Indeed, in their eagerness and fury at having been so
duped, and in their knowledge that order was done with in
Adrianople for the moment, they tore the gate from its hinges,
trampled upon a couple of harmless civilians walking in the road to
which the gate gave entrance, and then seized and beat them
unmercifully.
54. "Release their throats so that they may speak!" commanded the
brutal young officer who led this riotous following. "Now, we seek
some foreigners who but lately escaped along this road. You saw
them? What! You shake your heads. Shoot them!"
It was a sample of the justice and treatment which Dick and his
friends might encounter if they fell into the hands of these rascals.
At such a time it seemed that friend and foe were alike to these
men, skulkers for the most part. Furious at the thought that the two
unfortunate people they had come upon could not help them they
hurried them to the house opposite, and perhaps would even have
gone to the length of shooting them had not one of the poor
wretches shouted at the top of his voice:
"We can help you," he called. "Give us but the opportunity, and I
swear by the Koran that we can speak. But you have beaten the
breath from our bodies."
"Then release them. Speak!" commanded the officer. "We seek some
foreigners."
"Five men passed us but a few minutes ago, one of whom was
injured and was borne by a comrade. They were hurrying towards
the great mosque, and a Turkish officer led them."
"The same—the ones we seek! They went this way?" demanded the
officer.
Hardly had the route been indicated when the whole mob was in
motion again, racing off along the street in pursuit of our hero. Nor
was it long before these wretches came in sight of the forlorn little
party. A shriek of glee escaped them immediately. Men levelled their
rifles as they ran and pulled their triggers, careless where the bullets
went, while the ruffianly officer drew his revolver and sent shot after
shot at Dick and his fellows.
"Keep straight on, Dick," the Major sang out. "Those fellows couldn't
hit a haystack at the pace they're going, so we've only fluke shots to
chance. That's the mosque, ain't it?"
55. "Yes, sir," Dick called out over his shoulder. "Two minutes'll do it.
Then we cross the floor of the hall, reach the foot of one of the
towers, and then, by jingo, the business begins with a vengeance."
"Then on we go. When we reach the tower, let Alec help the Colonel
carry our wounded friend to safety. You and I, Dick, 'll do our best to
teach these rascals a lesson. Ah! That's a sentry."
Well, it was a sentry at the moment the Major was speaking, for a
ragged Turk emerged from the entrance to the mosque and stared in
amazement at the scene before him. It filled him with perplexity to
observe a Turkish officer racing in his direction, followed by a
strange quartet, one of whom was carried on the shoulders of a
comrade, while in rear, and getting rapidly closer came a mob of his
own fellows, led again by an officer whose head was swathed in
soiled bandages. However, he was as sharp as others of his country
and smelling a rat immediately swung his rifle up to his shoulder and
covered the dashing Dick. But his finger never quite reached the
sights. Indeed, as we have intimated, he was a sentry at the
moment the Major called to our hero. The next he was merely a
bundled-up and extremely astonished human object. For Dick
planted a seaman's blow on the end of his prominent nose, a blow
that brought a thousand stars to the eyes of this sluggish Turk, and
toppled him backward in masterly fashion.
"One for his boko!" shouted the incorrigible Dick. "Number two does
for his rifle. Ah! The pouch of cartridges might be useful. Here we
are. I've got 'em both. Now, we make for the tower—quite close and
handy."
It was a little more than ten yards across the floor of the hall, and
long before the followers had reached the door of the mosque the
Colonel had entered the narrow door that led to the steep steps
ascending to the summit of the tower. Alec followed instantly, and
together the two bore the now almost unconscious Commander
upward. Dick slung his borrowed rifle over his shoulder, strapped the
cartridge belt about him and leaned against the wall mopping his
forehead. As for the Major, he blew his nose loudly, brushed some
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