CHAPTER XV.
THE FIGHT IN THE FARMHOUSE.
The boys ascended the stairs and followed the girl back into thedining-room.
"Well," said Chester, after the three had talked for some minutes. "Iguess we had better be moving. We have wasted too much time already."
They turned toward the door, and, as they did so, Hal uttered a lowexclamation.
"Look!" he whispered.
Turning to where Hal pointed, Chester and Edna beheld a face pressedagainst the window pane.
"It is one of the German officers!" cried the girl. "He has returned forsomething."
It was apparent that the officer had seen the two boys. He turned fromthe window, and the lads saw him making violent gestures to someone inthe distance. A moment later two soldiers joined him, and the trio turnedtoward the door.
There came a loud knock, followed by the sound of footsteps in the hall,as one of the servants went to open the door.
"Do not open the door, Bento!" called the girl.
The footsteps halted.
"Open that door at once!" came a voice of command from outside.
Again came the sound of footsteps, as the servant, evidently frightened,moved toward the door.
"Bento! Do as I command you! Do not open the door!" cried the girl again,and the servant stopped.
"Break down the door!" came the command from outside.
"What shall we do?" cried the girl, clasping her hands nervously.
"Fight!" was Hal's brief reply.
His eyes roved about the room. His gaze fell upon a pair of old duelingswords hung upon the wall. Stepping on a chair, he took them down, andpassed one to Chester.
At that instant there came the sound of a crash, as the door gave way,followed by a command from the officer:
"Follow me!"
Edna and the two boys retreated to the far end of the room, as the threeGermans rushed through the door.
"Surrender!" cried the officer.
"Come and take us!" replied Hal, his lips set grimly.
The officer covered the lads with his two pistols.
"Stun them with your rifle butts, my lads!" he cried to his soldiers."Take the spies alive!"
Reversing their weapons, the two soldiers strode forward. As one raisedhis rifle preparatory to bringing it down upon his head, Chester leapedforward between them, thinking to take the officer, who stood behindthem, unprepared, and cut him down.
But, even as he stepped forward, the officer's revolver spoke, andChester fell to the floor with a groan, a bullet in his chest. But, atthat instant, and before the officer could fire again, Hal, who also hadavoided the attack of the two soldiers, sprang forward and aimed aslashing blow at the officer.
The latter warded off the blow with his arm, but one of his pistols wassent flying from his grasp. As he raised his other revolver, his armwas suddenly seized from behind, and Edna attempted to wrench therevolver from him. He turned on her, and as he did so the revolver cameaway in her hand.
Pointing the weapon straight at the officer, the girl pulled the trigger;but the revolver missed fire. Stepping back, as the officer advanced, thegirl grasped the pistol by the muzzle and hurled it squarely in his face.With blood gushing from his mouth and nose, the man fell to the floor.
In the meantime Hal had turned swiftly once more to face the secondattack of the two soldiers. As they again raised their rifles to strikehim down, he leaped between them, thrusting with his sword.
Pierced through the shoulder, one of the soldiers threw up his arm andstaggered back. In doing so he struck the arm of his companion, and thelatter's blow was deflected; and Hal was unharmed.
Turning, Hal dashed into the next room--the parlor--closely followed bythe two soldiers, the wounded man not being seriously hurt. At the sametime the German officer sat up on the floor, looked around dazedly, thenpicked up one of his revolvers, drew his sword, and followed his men.
"Shoot the dog in the legs!" he commanded, and the soldiers brought theirrifles to their shoulders.
An instant before they fired Hal sprang upon the piano stool, which wasjust behind him, and the bullets went low. Hal jumped to the top of thepiano, and then dropped behind it. As the soldiers again prepared tofire, Hal put his shoulder to the piano, and sent it tumbling over, andthe bullets were imbedded in the soft wood.
Hal ducked as the officer raised his revolver and fired at him, and then,stepping around the piano, made a sweeping slash at the officer. Thesword struck the latter on his pistol hand, and, with a groan, theofficer dropped his revolver.
Hal turned to the two soldiers, who had leaped on the overturned piano toget at him before he stepped from behind it, and again his sword dartedout. The thrust went true, and one soldier fell to the floor, bloodstreaming from a deep wound in his chest.
Before the second soldier could bring his rifle to bear, Hal ran from theroom into the hall. The soldier followed. In the hall, dimly lighted by asingle chandelier over the stairway, Hal sprang up the steps.
At the bottom of the steps the soldier stopped and took aim at the lad.With a backward sweep of his sword, Hal knocked the chandelier crashingto the floor, throwing the hall into inky darkness, and with a quick leapwas several steps higher up.
There came the sharp crack of a rifle, and the hall was lighted for asecond by a flash, as a bullet sped past Hal. With a light leap the laddropped over the railing into the hall, and, taking a step forward,lunged swiftly in the darkness from where came the sound of a mutteredimprecation. There was a stifled groan, and the second soldier dropped tothe floor.
Hal made his way back to the parlor, where the German officer stillstood, trying to bind up his injured hand with a handkerchief. He saw Halapproach, and raised his sword, taking a step forward. At the samemoment, Edna, who had in the meantime dragged Chester's inert body out ofharm's way, stepped into the room.
His face red with fury, the German officer took another stride forward,and thrust. The blade passed through Hal's guard and through the side ofhis open coat, grazing his body.
As the sword went through the boy's coat, it looked to Edna as though thelad must have met his death; and she screamed. The German officer laughedgleefully, but, even as he did so, Hal, smiling, took a step forward.
With a quick stroke, he sent the German's sword flying from his grasp,and the officer was at his mercy.
The German's rage burst like a bubble.
"Kill me!" he said quietly to Hal.
"No," replied the lad; "I cannot kill a man in cold blood. Pick upyour sword."
The officer obeyed, and Hal placed himself on guard. But, taking theweapon by the blade, the German extended the hilt to Hal.
"I surrender," he said.
The lad took the extended sword, and then passed it back to the officer.
"Keep your sword, sir," he said.
The German glanced at him a moment in silence; then took the sword.
"You are a generous enemy, sir," he said. "You will have no occasion toregret your confidence in me."
"I am sure of it, sir," was the lad's answer. "You are at liberty toleave at any time you choose."
The officer scrutinized Hal closely.
"You are a gallant lad," he said finally. "There are few men who couldhave done what you have. I hope that we may meet again."
Turning, with a polite bow, first to Edna and then to Hal, he made hisway from the house and was gone.
"How is Chester?" was Hal's first question, after the German haddeparted.
"He has recovered consciousness," replied the girl. "He is badly wounded,but I believe he will be all right in a few days. Bento, who has someknowledge of medicine, is attending him."
Hal hurried to the room upstairs where Chester had been carried. Chester,lying in bed, greeted him with a smile.
"You certainly have all the luck!" he exclaimed. "Here I was unable towalk while you were doing all the fighting."
"Never mind that," replied Hal. "How do you feel? Are you in
pain?"
"Not much, now," was the reply. "Bento is quite a surgeon. He hasfixed me up to the queen's taste. It appears the ball glanced off mythird rib."
"But you won't be able to travel!"
"I am afraid not. I am so weak I cannot stand. But you must go on justthe same."
"What! And leave you here?"
"Of course. I shall be perfectly safe here, more so than you will be onthe road. I wish I could go with you, but I am afraid it will be a day ortwo before I can walk."
"Then I shall wait for you."
"What! Then how about the letter to General Givet, at Louvain?"
"It will have to wait."
Chester raised himself feebly on one elbow and looked at Hal in surprise.
"A fellow like you to say a thing like that?" he exclaimed. "That lettermust be delivered at once. You and I are of secondary importance. If youhad been wounded instead of me I should have gone on without you, much asI should have hated to do so. The letter must be delivered immediately."
"You are right, as usual," replied Hal, after a pause. "The letter mustcome first. But I hate to leave you here alone."
"Alone?" exclaimed Edna, who up to this time had remained silent. "Do notI count for something?"
"I beg your pardon," said Hal. "I spoke thoughtlessly. I am sure he willreceive the best of attention at your hands."
"There is no question about that," replied Chester.
"Well, I must be going, then," said Hal. "I have delayed too longalready."
"You will stop by on your return, will you not?" asked the girl.
"Yes, if I come this way; and I see no reason why I should not."
"I shall be ready to travel when you return," said Chester.
"All right," replied Hal. "But, if I have not returned in three days, youwill know something has happened to me, and you will make your way backto Liege alone."
Chester agreed to this, the two lads shook hands, and Hal left the houseand set out upon his journey to Louvain.