Part 11 (1/2)

They pa.s.sed on now over land comparatively level, the soft, fragrant needles yielding under their feet, the tall cone-like trees diffusing their resiny, pungent odor. It seemed as if the war must be millions of miles away. The silence was deathlike and the occasional crunching of a cone under their feet startled them as they groped their way in the heavy darkness.

”That looks like an oak ahead,” said Archer. ”You can see the branches sticking out----”

”Sh-h-h,” said Tom, grasping his arm suddenly and speaking in a tense whisper. ”Look--right under it--don't move----”

Archer looked intently and under the low spreading branches he saw a human form with something s.h.i.+ny upon its head. As the two boys paused, awestruck and shaking, it moved ever so slightly.

The fugitives stood rooted to the ground, breathing in quick, short gasps, their hearts pounding in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

”He didn't see us,” whispered Tom, in the faintest whisper. ”Wait till there's a breeze and get behind a tree.”

When presently the breeze rustled in the tress the two moved cautiously behind two trees.

And the silent figure moved also....

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”SH-H-H.” SAID TOM IN A TENSE WHISPER. ”LOOK--DON'T MOVE.” Page 78]

CHAPTER XII

THE DANCE WITH DEATH

The boys were thoroughly frightened, but they stood absolutely motionless and silent and Tom, at least, retained his presence of mind.

They were not close enough together to communicate with each other, nor could they more than distinguish each other's forms pressed against the dark tree trunks.

But the figure, being comparatively in the open, was discernible and Tom, by concentrating his eyes upon it, satisfied himself beyond a doubt that it was a human form--that of a German soldier, he felt sure.

Thanks to his stealth and dexterity, they were apparently undiscovered.

He tried to distinguish the bright spot on the cap or helmet, but it was not visible now, and he thought the man must have turned about.

In his alarm it seemed to him that his breathing must be audible miles away. His heart seemed in his throat and likely to choke him with every fresh breath. But he did not stir. Then another little breeze stirred the trees, sounding clear and solemn in the stillness and Tom moved ever so slightly in unison with it, hoping by changing his angle of vision to catch a better glimpse. He could see the bright spot now, the grim figure standing directly facing him in ghostly silence.

No one moved. And there was no sound save the half audible rustle of some tiny creature of the night as it hurried over the cus.h.i.+ony ground.

What did it mean? Who was it, standing there? Some grim Prussian sentinel? Had they, in this remote wilderness, stumbled upon some obscure pa.s.s which the all-seeing eye of German militarism had not forgotten? Was there, after all, any hope of escape from these demons of efficiency?

Archer, his chest literally aching from his throbbing breaths, crowded close behind his tree trunk in terror, startled by every fresh stir of the fragrant breeze. It seemed to him, as he looked, that the figure danced a trifle, but doubtless that was only his tense nerves and blinking eyes playing havoc with his imagination.

There was another rustling in the trees, caused by the freshening night breeze which Tom thought smelt of rain. And again the silent figure veered around with a kind of mechanical precision, the very perfection of clock-work German discipline, as if to give each point of the compa.s.s its allotted moment of attention.

Tom strained his eyes, trying to discover whether that lonely sentinel were standing in a path or where two paths crossed or where some favored view might be had of something far off in the country below. But he could make out nothing.

Suddenly he noticed something large and black among the trees. Its outline was barely discernible against the less solid blackness of the night, and it was obscured by the dark tree branches. But as he looked he thought he could see that it terminated in a little dome, like the police telephone booths on the street corners away home in Bridgeboro. A tiny guardhouse, possibly, or shelter for the solitary sentinel.

Perhaps, he thought, this was, after all, a strategic spot which they had unconsciously stumbled into; a secret path to the frontier, maybe.

He remembered now the talk he had heard in the prison camp, of Germany's building roads through obscure places in the direction of the Swiss border for the violation of Swiss neutrality if that should be thought necessary. These roads were shrouded in mystery, but he had heard about them and the thought occurred to him that perhaps these poor Alsatian people--women and children--were being taken to work on these avenues of betrayal and dishonor.

But try as he would, he could discern no suggestion of path, nor any other sign of landmark which might explain the presence of this remote station in the desolate uplands of Alsace. He believed that if they had taken five steps more they would have been discovered and challenged.