CHAPTER XXIV.
UNCLE JOHN "BUTTS IN."
"Well," said Chester to the young Austrian officer, as they werereturning to their quarters an hour later, "you hold a remarkably strongposition here. And still, if you are forced to fall back, then what?"
The Austrian smiled.
"We have considered all possibilities," he replied. "Back there,"sweeping his arm about in a comprehensive gesture, "lies Gorizia, the keyto Trieste, which naturally is the Italian goal in this section. Goriziais exceptionally well fortified, as you well know. We could defendourselves there indefinitely in the face of overwhelming numbers."
"But," interrupted Hal, "it is not necessary to capture Gorizia totake Trieste?"
"No," said the Austrian with a smile, "but it is necessary to takeGorizia to hold Trieste. The mountains that overhang the city arefortified with our great guns, which could rain shells upon the citywithout danger of a successful reply. The Italians know this, which isthe reason they have not struck at Trieste before. The same goes forTrent, the other point coveted by the enemy."
The party had stopped during this discussion, but now moved on again. Inthis part of the camp the tents were laid out in little streets andavenues, and down these they walked slowly.
And suddenly the three friends were treated to a disagreeable shock.
Closely followed by a guard, Uncle John suddenly stepped from a tent andstood directly in their path. He seemed stricken dumb with amazement fora moment and then hurried up to them with a glad cry.
"Chester! Hal!" he exclaimed in English.
For a moment the two lads were dumbfounded. Then, realizing theirperilous situation, Hal pushed Uncle John away and frowned at him. Hewhirled upon the Austrian officer.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded sternly. "I did not know youhad lunatics here."
Now Uncle John knew something of German himself, and he caught thisremark. He glared angrily at Hal and then spoke to Chester.
"What's the meaning of this, Chester?" he asked.
Chester did not reply, pretending that he did not understand English.Uncle John grew more angry.
"You young scalawags," he shouted, "what are you trying to do? Have somefun with me? I want to tell you this is no place nor time for fun. I wantto get out of here."
Hal and Chester each was afraid to give Uncle John a signal for fear itmight be seen and Colonel Anderson made no move to interfere. TheAustrian officer turned a suspicious gaze upon the three friends.
"Do you know this man?" he asked.
Hal shook his head.
"He evidently has mistaken us for some one else," he said. "Do youunderstand what he says? It sounds like it was English he spoke."
"So it is," replied the Austrian. "He called you Hal and Chester and alsoscalawags, whatever that means."
Chester shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know him," he said.
"Nor I," said Hal.
"I've never seen him before, to my knowledge," declared Colonel Anderson.
The Austrian officer glared down at Uncle John.
"What's the meaning of this?" he demanded in broken English. "Why do youaccost these gentlemen?"
"Why?" exclaimed Uncle John, dancing up and down in his rage, "why?Because one of them is my nephew. What does he want to deny heknows me for?"
"He says one of you is his nephew," said the Austrian turning tothe others.
"Well, he's wrong," declared Chester. "I'm sure none of us ever saw himbefore. Let us go."
The Austrian signified his readiness and they moved off; and as they wentalong Uncle John, glaring after them, shook a finger violently, andshouted time after time:
"You young rascals. You'll be sorry for this."
He was still raging when the others disappeared from sight amongthe tents.
"I wonder why?" he asked himself repeatedly, when he was back in hisprison tent. And then suddenly it dawned upon him. "What a fool Iwas," he muttered. "Of course they are here to get me out of this andI came almost spoiling the whole thing, if I have not done so. I oughtto be licked."
Meanwhile, the three friends followed the Austrian officer back to theirquarters, where he left them.
"By Jove! that was a pretty close shave," remarked Hal, after the officerhad taken his leave.
"Rather," replied Chester dryly. "You would think a man of Uncle John'sage would have more sense. I'll tell him about it good and strong when Isee him again."
"But great Scott! wasn't he mad," said Hal with a laugh. "Did you see howhe glared at us? Wonder what he thinks of us, anyhow?"
"Maybe he thinks he has made a mistake," put in the colonel.
"No, he doesn't," declared Chester. "He knows us when he sees us, allright, and I'll bet he is doing some tall thinking about now."
"Well," said the colonel, "we have done about enough for to-day. I votewe accept the officer's invitation to have dinner with him."
"Same here," agreed the others.
The evening and night passed quickly, as did another day, and with thecoming of darkness on the second day, the friends began to think of amethod of making their way back to their own lines.
"We'll have to make an effort to take Uncle John with us," said Chester.
"Sure," agreed Hal and the colonel, and the latter added: "I guess wewill manage it some way. Now, as to the matter of getting by theoutposts."
"I can't see as there will be any difficulty about that," said Chester."Fortunately we are known to most of the officers around here by sight.They will think nothing strange of the fact that we are making a tour ofthe outposts. Then, if we can manage to catch a sentinel off guard, wecan nab him and run."
"Sounds all right," remarked Hal. "We'll try it. But first we must getUncle John."
"Of course," said the colonel. "We'll get him, all right. In an hour,then, we shall move."
The hour passed slowly, and it seemed to all that the time for actionwould never come. But at last Colonel Anderson, after a glance at hiswatch, rose to his feet.
"Let's go," he said briefly.
The others followed him from the tent and he led the way quickly to whereUncle John was confined. In the distance they saw that a sentinel stoodon guard and that to enter by that way would arouse suspicion.
"You fellows engage the guard in conversation," said Chester, "and keeptalking to him until I rejoin you."
The others asked no questions, but signified that they understood.Chester let them walk on ahead of him, and then made his way to the rearof the row of tents.
He produced a knife when he stood behind Uncle John's tent and slit thecanvas silently. Inside Uncle John was reading by candle light. Chesterwhistled softly, the old whistle of his boyhood days at home, which hefelt sure Uncle John would recognize.
Nor was he wrong. Uncle John looked around quickly and beheld Chester'sface peering into the tent. Chester laid a finger to his lips and UncleJohn nodded. Then Chester beckoned Uncle John to come toward him and thelatter did so. Chester enlarged the opening in the tent with his knifeand Uncle John stepped into the open.
"Follow me," whispered the lad.
Uncle John asked no questions, but obeyed. Two hundred yards from thetent, Chester halted.
"Now you stay right here till I come back," he said.
He hastened away to join his friends, who were still talking to UncleJohn's guard.
He joined in the conversation for a moment and then announced that theymight as well turn in. They told the guard good night and walked back towhere Chester had left Uncle John. The latter greeted them with silentjoy; he realized that to make a sound might betray them, and he was tiredof standing there by himself.
Colonel Anderson motioned to the others to follow and led the wayforward.
Swiftly and silently the four shadowy forms made their way along in theshelter of the innumerable tents; and finally they passed beyond thefarthest row and into the open. Rapidly they covered the ground towardthe outposts, and nearing them, slowed d
own.
Then they walked forward, talking quietly among themselves, as thoughthey were just out for an evening stroll. And then--
"Halt!" came a hoarse command.
The four obeyed. A soldier confronted them with levelled rifle.
"Who goes there?" he continued.
"Friends," was the reply.
The man peered at them closely, and still keeping them covered, raisedhis voice for his superior. The latter came on a dead run.
He eyed the four in the darkness and then motioned the soldier tostand back.
"It's all right," he told him.
The soldier saluted and walked away. The officer spoke to Hal.
"You are out rather late," he said.
"Right," returned the lad, "but we thought we would take a short strollbefore turning in. We had no idea we had wandered so far from camp."
"Oh, it's all right," was the reply. "Who is that with you?" peering atUncle John in the darkness.
"Just a friend we have made," said Chester, a slight tremor in his voice,for he had hoped that Uncle John's presence would be overlooked.
"I don't seem to know him," said the officer, still peering intently atUncle John. And then suddenly he exclaimed: "The prisoner!"
He raised his voice in a cry for help; and at the same moment Hal'srevolver butt crashed down upon his head!