The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders Part 10

"Quick! You must fly!" she cried. "General Rentzel is on his way and will be here at any moment."

The fuse in the other room was burning fast, as Hal knew. The lad determined, in that instant, that he would not leave the house without getting the list for which he had come.

He pulled Gladys back into the room where the fuse was fast burning to the safe. McKenzie followed, and the three crouched down.

A moment and there was a m.u.f.fled explosion, followed by a flash of fire. Smoke filled the room. With a cry to the others to stay where they were, Hal dashed to the safe. It was as he hoped. The door had been blown clear.

Quickly Hal explored the contents of the safe. Then he gave a cry of delight. His hand encountered what he felt sure was the book he sought. He ran across the room with it to where McKenzie held the flashlight and by its glow examined his prize.

It was the list he sought.

Hal hesitated one moment, and then he pressed the book into the hands of Gladys.

"Quick!" he said. "Out the window with you. Give this to Chester and tell him to get out of Berlin at once. Tell him he will be followed but that he must get through."

"But you--"' protested Gladys.

There came the sound of rapid footsteps in the next room. Hal picked Gladys up in his arms, carried her to the window, and dropped her to the ground as he said in a low voice:

"To hesitate means failure. Do as I say and quickly."

He returned to McKenzie's side. When he reached there McKenzie extinguished his light.

"Well, we've got the list," he said quietly.

"We have," Hal agreed, "but our lives probably will pay the forfeit.

We must stay here until we are discovered. To follow Gladys would mean her capture."

"We won't have to wait long," said McKenzie grimly. "Here they come."

It was true.

Footsteps came toward them. Suddenly the room burst into light as someone pressed an electric, light b.u.t.ton. General Rentzel strode into the room.

His eyes fell upon Hal and McKenzie immediately. He said nothing, but gazed about. Then he saw the shattered safe. He dashed forward with a cry and examined the interior, carefully. Then his face turned white as he faced Hal.

"The list," he said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "where is it?"

Hal smiled.

"Where you will never get it, I hope," he replied quietly.

General Rentzel strode forward with a shout.

"They are spies! Seize them, men!" he cried.

Hal's right arm shot out and the chief of the German secret service sprawled on the floor.

"To the stairs!" Hal cried to McKenzie.

The Canadian needed no urging. Two German soldiers fell to the floor under his quick blows and then McKenzie joined Hal on the steps which fled upward from the rear of the room.

Hall produced a revolver. McKenzie did likewise.

"The first man who moves dies!" cried Hal, as he moved his revolver from side to side.

The men below, of whom there were perhaps a dozen, stood still.

Apparently each was afraid to make the first move.

General Rentzel sat up and wiped his face with a handkerchief.

"Shoot them!" he cried.

From the rear of the crowd there was a flash of fire and a report. A bullet sped over Hal's head. McKenzie's revolver flashed and a German fell to rise no more.

At this moment McKenzie took command.

"Up the steps!" he cried.

Hal realized that to hesitate meant instant death. He was, perhaps, two steps above McKenzie, and he covered the rest in two leaps. There he stopped and covered the room. He was in position to protect McKenzie's retreat.

McKenzie also leaped to the top step, and there, for a moment, they were out of the line of fire. To reach them it was necessary for the Germans to stand directly in front of the steps, and there was no man below who felt called upon to face this certain death, in spite of the hoa.r.s.e commands of General Rentzel.

But in a situation like this could not last long. Other officers and soldiers, aroused by the explosion appeared on the scene. Hal realized that their predicament was desperate. With a cry to McKenzie, Hal darted back along the hall, turned into the first room he saw, flung open the window and leaped to the ground.

McKenzie was close behind him.

Hal led the way along the street at a rapid walk, with McKenzie at his heels. The lad turned down several side streets, doubling occasionally on his tracks in an effort to throw off possible pursuers. As they drew farther away from the house where they had been discovered they encountered fewer and fewer people. Apparently the sound of the explosion had not reached here.

They were safe for the moment and Hal breathed easier.

"Hope Chester has a good start," he said to McKenzie in a low voice.

"He should have by this time," was the reply. "They figure, of course, that we have the list."

Hal would have replied, but as they pa.s.sed a house at that moment a man stepped from the door. Hal uttered an exclamation of pure amazement.

The newcomer was dressed in costume that he had worn since the war began. He looked much as upon the night that Hal first saw him. He paid no attention to Hal and McKenzie at first, but Hal brought him about with a word.

"Stubbs!"

It was indeed the little war correspondent of whose presence in Germany Herr Block had told the three friends before they left Holland.

Stubbs wheeled sharply. He saw Hal and turned pale.

"h.e.l.lo--h.e.l.lo, Hal," he gasped. "Wh--what are you doing here?"

"Is that your house?" demanded Hal, indicating the one from which Stubbs had just emerged.