CHAPTER XXIII

A PERILOUS SITUATION

The two moving picture boys had reached the gate, when suddenly from behind the doctor’s automobile walked the sentry whose duty it was to patrol part of the boundary line of the farm. Taken by surprise, the man gaped open-mouthed for a second or two, but then swung his rifle to his shoulder. In another second he would have fired, but that second was not vouchsafed him. Blake still had the revolver that had formerly belonged to Captain Petz, and, quick as a flash, he fired at the sentry. The latter crumpled up without a sound, but the report, ringing out on the quiet night, set all the guards on the farm into life. The boys heard the notes of a bugle from the guardhouse, and knew that soon an armed force would be at their heels.

“Here’s where we’ve got to do some awful sprinting!” panted Joe. “They’ll be after us hot and heavy now! Guess our only chance is to get to the woods and hide there until they quit looking for us.”

Blake nodded his head, for by this time the boys needed all their wind for running. They had noted, when planning their escape, that a thick stretch of woodland began about half a mile from the farm, and it was toward this that they were heading. Glancing behind, Blake saw several tiny lights bobbing down the road, and he knew that these were electric flashlights in the hands of the German guards.

Suddenly an idea came to him, and he panted: “Over to one side of the road, Joe, they’ll be firing pretty soon.”

“That’s so,” panted Joe.

They both crowded close to the ditch, and none too soon, for only a few seconds later there came a fusillade from their pursuers, and the boys could hear the whine of the steel-nosed bullets down the center of the road. But by now they were close to the friendly shelter of the woods, and in a short time reached the first trees. They veered off the road, and crashed through the sparse underbrush. They penetrated the woods for a short distance, and then stopped for a much-needed rest. On the still night air came the shouts and cries of their pursuers, and then they heard the sound of the motor car speeding along the road.

“Guess we got off just in time!” gasped Blake. “If they’d thought to use that car in the first place, they could have had us long before we could have gotten to these trees.”

“Yes, but who expects a Hun to do anything that’s intelligent?” asked Joe, and Blake had no answer for him.

The possibility of capture was still imminent, as the boys knew that the patch of woodland was not extensive, and that a strict search would be inaugurated. The pursuit swept by, but had not gone far, when the boys heard it returning. The Germans knew that the Americans could not have gone far without being overtaken by the automobile, so they returned and then entered the woods, beating the brush in every direction. The boys heard them coming closer, and started to penetrate deeper into the woods. They were going down a small hill, when suddenly Joe slipped and fell, but was on his feet almost immediately.

“That’s funny,” he muttered, “seemed as though I stepped into a big hole, and I just saved myself by twisting to one side.”

“Well, never mind, as long as you’re not hurt,” said Blake, impatiently. “Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute, Blake,” said Joe excitedly, “there’s some kind of an opening through these bushes. I’m going to investigate.”

Pressing through a thick clump of bushes, he suddenly seemed to disappear into the earth. A moment later Blake heard his voice, however, and then Joe reappeared in the land of the living.

“There’s a cave-in here,” he excitedly informed his friend, “and it’s so well hidden by bushes that unless one of the Germans just happened on it by accident, the way I did, we could hide out and they never would find us. Come on in.”

“Good for you, old timer!” exclaimed Blake. “We’re playing in luck this time, I guess, because there seem to be an awful lot of people in these woods who are out after our scalps. In we go.”

He followed Joe through the dense clump of bushes, and the two boys found themselves in as snug a hiding place as heart could wish. And it was none too soon, for the shouts and cries of their pursuers were drawing steadily nearer, and they could tell from the direction of the sounds that the Germans had formed a circle and were closing in on them. The sounds came steadily nearer, and soon, through the bushes, the boys could see the gleams of the little electric torches carried by the Boches, and hear them crying out earnestly in German. They were proceeding very systematically, and the boys knew that had it not been for Joe’s lucky discovery, they must have been captured.

The Germans were mightily puzzled at not finding their escaped prisoners, and the in-closing circle met almost at the entrance to the boys’ place of refuge. They had picked up enough German to understand something of what was being said, and in spite of their peril could not help being amused at the chagrin of the enemy.

“It is even as they say,” growled one, “these Americans are more cunning than Satan himself. You can never tell what they may be able to do.”

“I think the old Nick himself must have come to their assistance to-night,” said another. “He must have flown away with them, or we should surely have found them before this.”

“Never mind talking so much,” growled a sergeant; “we know they must be in these woods somewhere. But we will not hunt any more to-night. We’ll wait until daylight comes to our assistance. Meantime, I will post guards all about this woodland, and to-morrow we shall surely find them. Then we will shoot the Yankees like the dogs they are.”

“Maybe two could play at that game,” whispered Blake to Joe. “I could pot him so easily right now with this automatic that it would be a shame to take the money. He may not find us as easily as he thinks. And, anyway,” he added, “the man that _does_ find us, if anyone does, will be totally and entirely out of luck, I hope to tell you.”

The sergeant mustered his men, and soon took them off to the edge of the woods, where he stationed them at regular intervals, with orders to let no one pass. The boys, meanwhile, when they felt sure that their pursuers had gone, at least for the present, settled down calmly to await the coming of the morning.

As it grew lighter, enough daylight straggled in through the bushes to enable them to see what manner of place it was that had so opportunely come to their rescue. They found that the cave was only a small one, barely giving them room to move about, but they were not inclined to quarrel with its scanty dimensions.

They ate a small quantity of the food they had brought with them, and had barely finished, when once more they heard the German soldiers beating through the woods. But the Huns had no better success in the daylight than they had had in the dark, and once more went away baffled.

The boys had enough food to last them several days, with the strictest economy, but, as it turned out, they were not to need all of it. They lay close in their cave all that day, taking turns at sleeping while the other remained on guard. Toward evening, Blake, who was acting as sentry at the time, heard the sound of a horse and wagon approaching. Not more than twenty feet from the entrance to the cave ran a rough wagon road, and it was along this that the vehicle was coming. Blake was instantly on the alert, as he was eager to grasp at any chance of escape that might present itself.

The wagon drew closer, and in his anxiety to get a better view, Blake ventured to part the bushes a trifle. In a short time the wagon came in sight. Blake then saw that it contained two men, and, as it drew nearer, he recognized one of them. Both were dressed in the military gray of the German Army, and the taller of the two men, who was driving, was none other than Captain Petz, of the Imperial German Army!

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