CHAPTER XX

SURROUNDED BY FOES

The night was very cloudy and dark, which promised to favor their escape. They strained their ears to catch any sound of a lurking enemy, but, although there was considerable stir and bustle in the distance, they could hear nothing near at hand that threatened any special danger.

“Guess we might as well risk it now as any other time,” whispered Blake, and, as Joe felt the same way, they stole cautiously out. Occasionally a few stars showed through breaks in the clouds, and the boys knew enough of astronomy to lay a rough course by them.

They had traveled perhaps a mile in this manner, when suddenly they heard the tramp of marching feet coming in their direction. What to do now became an immediate and most pressing problem. Ignorant as they were of the surroundings in which they found themselves, their only safety seemed to be in flight, although no matter in what direction they went, they stood in imminent danger of running into some other party of the enemy. However, the unknown danger was preferable to certain capture; so for the second time that day they sought safety in flight.

They had hardly started to run, however, when they heard another body of troops coming from almost the opposite direction. They halted, and Joe exclaimed:

“Looks pretty much as if we were up against it hard and fast this time, old fellow. There seem to be Huns on every side of us. Unless we can grow wings pretty suddenly it looks as though we have exactly a one hundred per cent. chance of getting caught.”

“It looks bad, I’ll admit,” said Blake anxiously. He strained his eyes through the darkness, and a glow of hope shot through him as he made out through the blackness what seemed to be the outlines of a ruined house.

“Quick!” he whispered, “over this way, Joe. I think there’s some shelter over here, and we may be able to lie low until they pass.”

With renewed hope, the boys made for this refuge, stumbling over the rough ground, but progressing rapidly in spite of all obstacles. They reached the ruins none too soon, for now the advancing Huns were almost upon them. Blake’s eyes had not deceived him, for they found that their objective was really a small, brick house, that had apparently been struck by a big shell, as it was now little more than a mass of bricks and shattered beams.

They crouched down in the ruins, and had barely settled themselves, when the two advancing columns of German infantry met, almost opposite their shelter. They heard the Germans stop, and exchange guttural challenges and replies. Then the two columns resumed their march, and the sound of their tramping feet gradually died away in the distance.

“Whew!” exclaimed Joe, “it’s lucky you saw this place, Blake. We’d have been marching along with those fellows now, if you hadn’t.”

“Yes, or lying out there shot as spies,” replied Blake grimly. “They’re apt to shoot first, and hold a court martial afterward.”

“If we ever get out of this mess, I’ll say we deserve every variety of medal and cross that was ever invented.”

“I’d swap them all for a nice juicy beefsteak, just at present. I’m just about starved, and that’s no camouflage, either.”

“You’ve got nothing on me. If we come across a German mess wagon, I’ll make an attack on it single-handed.”

“Remember I’m in with you on that. But I think we’d better get started again, don’t you? We’ve got a long way to go before we get back to our own lines.”

“Right you are,” agreed Joe. “Let’s go.”

The two friends emerged from their hiding place, and, after getting their bearings, resumed their journey. But Fate, while helping them once, refused to do so a second time. They had traveled perhaps a mile and a half, when suddenly, seeming to rise out of the ground in front of them, a German sentry challenged them.

Without a word, swift and deadly as a panther, Blake sprang on the man and gripped his throat in fingers of steel, but as the sentry crashed to the ground, others of his comrades, who seemed to be all about, took the alarm, and in a moment the moving picture boys found themselves striking out at foes who outnumbered them ten to one. They made a gallant battle, and for a few minutes held off their assailants, who were afraid to shoot in the dark, for fear of injuring each other. But the odds were too great, and, at length, the two Americans were overborn by sheer weight of numbers, and pinned to the ground. The light from an electric flashlight was thrown on their faces, and the officer holding it gave some curt commands.

“_Amerikaner!_” he growled, as he recognized their uniforms. “Tie the dogs tightly, for they are the very mischief at slipping through one’s fingers. We will take them before the captain, and see what they have to say before they are shot.”

“Cheerful beggar, isn’t he?” said Joe, who had caught the sense of this statement. “We’re to tell them all we know before we’re set up against a wall, Blake.”

“We’re safe enough, then,” said Blake, with a wry grin, “because I don’t imagine we’ll tell them much, do you?”

“Silence, there!” growled the German. “Talk when you are told to, and not else.” Then he gave some harsh commands to his men, and the whole party, with the boys in the center, started off.

The party consisted of sixteen or eighteen men. They had been on patrol duty, but this night had been resting in a dugout some distance in back of the lines, when the two friends had had the misfortune to run right into them.

Escape was practically out of the question, as their hands were securely bound behind them, and they were surrounded by their enemies, who watched them warily.

The party proceeded in silence for nearly an hour, and then, at a command from the leader, halted in front of a low, wooden building, that the boys took to be Field Headquarters. The leader exchanged a few sentences with the sentry on guard, and then, as the door was thrown open, he commanded the two boys, together with four of his own men, to enter. There was nothing for it but to obey, so the boys went in, surrounded by the four Germans, with their officer bringing up the rear.

The room was lighted by several oil lamps, and contained a large desk and a number of chairs. At the desk was seated a burly German, wearing the uniform of a captain. He glared balefully at the prisoners, while their captor made his report.

“I know very well who you are,” said the captain, when the other had finished his report and saluted. “We had report of you to-day, and were on the lookout for you. You are the two Yankees who made us a visit this morning with an aeroplane and some moving picture cameras, not so?”

Blake could see no object in denying this, so he admitted the fact. The officer then questioned them concerning other pictures they had taken, how long they had been taking them, and so forth. The boys with their quick wits were more than a match for him, however, and gave a quantity of choice misinformation in such a convincing and apparently frank manner, that the German was completely fooled, and appeared to be greatly satisfied with what they had told him when he at last brought the interview to a close.

“Take them to the guardhouse,” he ordered Kopf, the lieutenant who had captured them, “and see that they are well guarded. They escaped from us once to-day. I charge you to see that they do not repeat the performance.”

Kopf saluted stiffly, and with a sharp order to his men, turned and left the room, followed by captives and captors.

##