CHAPTER IX
"THERES MANY A SLIP--"
Once inside the house, Fred found a scene of orderly confusion. That is,it looked like confusion to him, but he could see that, for all thebustling and the hurrying that went on, everyone knew just what his partin the work was. Telephone bells were ringing all the time, and Frednoticed now that wires entered the house through the dining-room window.Evidently a field telephone system had been installed and connected thishouse with a whole region, of which, in a military way, it seemed to bethe brain. Then Fred heard a voice that he recognized at once, andstarted at the sound, until he placed it as that of the captain who hadtaken Boris away, and remembered that the captain had not seen him, evenbefore he was disguised.
Fred's work, he soon found, was simplicity itself. He was to do thebidding of any officer. He was sent on errands, from one part of thehouse to another; often he carried written messages, handed to him bystaff officers, to the room in which three telegraph operators were hardat work. Generally speaking, he was there to do odd jobs and makehimself generally useful. Luckily, he was taken for granted. Everyoneseemed assured that he was one of the village boys, pressed into servicebecause he happened to be the first one to come along.
But for the first hour or so it was impossible for him to make anyattempt to discover if Boris was still in the house. He was too busy,and he dared not spoil his opportunity to learn something really worthwhile by seeming to spy about. He was rewarded before long for hispatience, for just as he was beginning to despair, an officer spied himin a moment when he was not actively engaged upon some errand.
"Here, boy," called the officer, "take this tray!"
Fred took a tray from a soldier who was holding it awkwardly.
"Take it upstairs to the room on the third floor where a sentry is onguard. He will let you in. When the prisoner there has finished hismeal, return with the tray to the kitchen. Do not let any knife or forkor spoon stay in the room when you go. So you will make yourself reallyuseful and release a man who can do things for which you are too young."
It seemed to Fred, as he started upstairs with his tray, that this luckwas almost too good to be true. He scarcely dared to hope for what hadseemed to him the inevitable explanation of his errand. But when thesentry opened the door of the locked room, and he looked in, he sawBoris sitting dejectedly on the side of a bed. It was all he could do tosuppress a cry of delight, but he managed it, and he was hugely tickledas he saw Boris's indifferent glance at him. His disguise must be good,or Boris would have known him. He put the tray down, and then walked tothe window. He looked down first, and then up. Then with a grin, heturned to his cousin.
"Not a word," he said, quickly. "Do you know me?"
Boris stared; then a smile broke out all over his face. There was noneed for him to put his answer into words. Fred came very close.
"Speak low, but do not whisper," he said. "Tell me, what have they doneto you?"
"Nothing. Colonel Goldapp has been too busy to see me."
"I don't wonder! Boris, this is no colonel's headquarters. It is morelike that of an army corps. And there is at least one general here. Hisname is von Hindenburg."
"Von Hindenburg? He is commander-in-chief in East Prussia! If he ishere, there must be a German concentration in this region! They did notexpect that! Oh, I must get out and get the news back--"
"Yes. The wireless is working. I talked this afternoon to Suwalki."
And in a few words he told Boris the essential facts of what hadhappened since the raid upon the great house on the hill on thatmorning.
"How often do they come in here?" he asked.
"Only when my meals are brought to me. There will be no one else nowto-night, I think, unless Colonel Goldapp sends for me. They are verypolite. I think I shall be alone most of the time. They have no ideathat I will try to get away, because they think I know they have so manysentries and patrols about that it would be useless for me to try to doit."
"Listen, then, Boris. I will go now. I think they will let me go now. Ihave been working hard for them about the house. But I will come backlater. Stay near your window, so that I can see a handkerchief if youhold it. Then I will throw up a stone with a string tied about, and youcan draw up a rope and slip down. If this general is so important weought to let them know. I will send the word by wireless and then comeback."
"Good! It is risky for you. They wouldn't spare you if they caught youtrying to help me to get away. But if you can manage it at all, haveclothes like the ones you wear ready for me, in a bundle. Vladimir willget them for you."
Fred nodded, and was off at once. He was detained a little time when hewent down with the tray, but he pleaded finally with a kindly lookingofficer, telling him that he was very tired, and had not expected tostay away from home so long, and was allowed to go. He went to theopening of the tunnel, found that the place was unguarded, and decidedfrom the general appearance of the hollow that it was not visited bysoldiers. Indeed, it was within the outer line of sentries, and, in away, safer because of that. Had it been beyond that line, it would havebeen much harder to reach.
The operator at Suwalki, when he called him by wireless, complainedbitterly, saying that he had been trying for hours to get an answer.Boris's father had been heard from and was extremely anxious to get intotouch with his son. But it seemed the news that Fred sent made up forthis. The man at Suwalki was incredulous.
"Our information is that General von Hindenburg is many miles fromwhere you are," he flashed back. "Are you sure of your facts?"
"Absolutely sure," Fred answered. "Do you want the exact location of thehouse used as headquarters? I can describe it for you if you have thevillage shown on your map."
"Yes. Give it to me," came the answer.
Before he finished his wireless talk, Fred felt that the Russianoperator did not fully trust him. Nor did he blame him. He knew theexcellence of the German spy system; he had heard a good deal about itfrom Boris, and, for that matter, before he had even seen Boris at all.So he only laughed, though he hoped that this feeling would not preventthe Russians from using the information he had given. He could not seejust how it was to be useful to them, however. Possibly the fact thatvon Hindenburg was here, and not to the south, was the important thing.
By this time it was growing dark, and Fred decided that it would soon besafe to try to throw the cord up to Boris's window--as safe, at least,as it would ever be. He got a bundle of clothes from Vladimir, and thistime he determined to travel through the tunnel, since he knew that ifhe went by the outside route he would have trouble in getting throughthe sentries. Luck was with him again. He was nervous as he opened thedoor and came out into the night, but there was no one about. At alittle distance he could hear steady footsteps; evidently a sentry waswalking his beat near by. But Fred's scout training had taught him howto move quietly and he slipped through the gully and toward the housewithout raising an alarm.
Once he was on the right side of the house, he found shelter in a clumpof bushes, where, unseen himself, he could study the situation. Hisfirst thought was of the house. He soon found the window of Boris'sroom. Immediately below it were the windows of corresponding rooms, andone of these was lighted. This made him pause at once. For the rope tobe drawn up, or for Boris to show himself before that lighted windowfor even the moment of a swift descent, might well be fatal. That wasone point, but he speedily devised a way of overcoming that.
There was another danger to be considered, and it took him longer tocalculate this. Naturally there was a patrol about the house. Fredhimself had had to avoid the sentry, making his steady round. Now he layin the bushes and timed the man's appearances for nearly half an hour.There were two men, as a matter of fact, and they met on each circlingof the house. Fortunately, their meeting came at the very end of thegarden. So Fred was able to work out a sort of mental chart of theirmovements, and to confirm it by timing them. The two sentries met on hisside of the house at the eastern end. The first walked west, the sec
ondnorth. The one who walked west had his back to Fred and to the windowwhere Boris waited for a minute. Then he, too, turned north. Then came ablessed interval of just a minute, in which neither sentry was in sight.Altogether, there was a period of almost two minutes in which no eyewould be fixed on Boris's window, unless the sentry chanced to turn andlook back.
To make sure, Fred studied both men. And not once did either of themlook back or up. Their attention did not seem to centre on the house atall. It was as if their instructions were more to prevent a surpriseattack from outside, or the coming of some spy, than to watch those whowere already in the house.
Once he had made up his mind, Fred buried himself deeper in theshrubbery and risked using his pocket flashlight while he wrote a noteto Boris, telling him what he had learned of the movements of thesentries. He told Boris, also, not to draw up the rope at once, but toclimb from his window to the flat roof, something easy enough to manage,and then to move along five paces. There the rope, when it was drawn up,would be invisible against the grey stone of the house wall, whereas,against a lighted window, it would show up so plainly that the moststupid sentry would be sure to see it.
Fred had substituted a tennis ball for the stone he had originallyintended to throw. The ball had many advantages. In case his aim wasbad, the ball would not make a noise if it fell or if it struck againstthe wall, while the sound of a stone would have betrayed them had hefailed to put it through the window. Now he tied his note to the ball,making it firm and secure with the end of a ball of twine. About hisbody he had coiled a long, very thin, very strong rope. After Boris hadthe end of the cord he would fasten the rope to his end, and so enableBoris to draw it up. And to guard against losing the end of the cord, hetied it to his own left wrist.
He waited for the sentries to meet; gave the one who stayed on his sidea start, and then, taking careful aim, threw his ball. At home Fred hadplayed baseball. More than once a game had depended on the accuracy ofhis toss of a hot grounder to the first baseman. In basketball games, hehad stood, with the score tied, to shoot for the basket on a foul, whenthe outcome was to be settled by the accuracy of his throw. But neverhad he been as nervous as he was now. The ball flew straight and true,however. He saw it enter the window. And the next moment a tug on hiswrist told him that Boris had it.
He waited breathlessly. Then two short pulls signalled that Boris hadread his note and would follow his instructions. He gave three sharptugs, and then settled down to wait, with beating heart, for now thecrucial test was coming. The other sentry was about to appear. If henoticed the thin string, by any chance, the whole scheme would bespoiled and Fred, in all probability, would be caught and treated as aspy.
The man came around the corner of the house, walking slowly, his headdown. As he neared the twine he stopped for just a moment and looked up.Fred scarcely dared to breathe. He knew what had happened. The twine hadbrushed against the sentry's cheek. But then a puff of wind carried itaway, and the man went on, brushing at his cheek, thinking, perhaps, amoth had touched it.
One sharp tug of the twine. That was the signal to Boris to go ahead.His eyes strained on the window, Fred saw his cousin's figure appear onthe sill, saw him climbing swiftly up a water pipe, and then saw himdrop to the flat roof, hidden for the moment by a low parapet. Thenthere was another period of agonized waiting, for again a sentry was topass. Fred used the brief interval of enforced inaction to loosen therope and place it on the ground, tied to the loose end of the twine hetook from his wrist, so that it would have a clear passage through thebushes. Then the coast was clear again, and he signalled to Boris todraw it up. Up, up went the twine; then the rope started. And at last itdangled against the side of the house. Fred, knowing it was there, couldscarcely see it himself. He decided that the sentries would never noticeit.
Then came the last pause. And when the sentry had passed the rope, Borisslipped over the parapet and started his descent. He had to come quicklyfor he had less than two minutes to reach the ground and join Fred inhis shelter. Down he came, hand over hand, so fast at the end, when hejust slid, letting the rope slip through his fingers, that he must haveburned the skin from his palms. But he made it, and came running towardFred. He was crouched low against the ground. But, just before hereached the bushes there was a shout from above, a flash, a loud report.A bullet sang over Fred's head, and the next moment the garden was alivewith rushing, shouting men, ablaze with flashing points of electriclight. They tried to hide in the shrubbery. But in vain. At this lastmoment, when Fred's plan had seemed sure of success, disaster hadcome--for some German officer, going on the roof, had been just in timeto see the rope and spoil everything with his chance shot!