The Great Airship Part 14

"Not she! As right as a trivet," came in somewhat shaking tones from close beside him, for unconsciously the young mids.h.i.+pman had spoken aloud. "But, jingo, what an explosion! I've been hanging on to my hair ever since. Hope we don't get another of those gentlemen within such close distance."

The hope was hardly expressed when a second sh.e.l.l announced its coming, and caused them once more to shelter close to the wall which had already given them protection. As for the giant airs.h.i.+p, when d.i.c.k gazed aloft as this other messenger exploded, there was no longer a sign of her. No doubt Andrew and his nephew had set the elevators going, and were now high overhead, out of reach of danger.

"And so we've only ourselves to think about," said d.i.c.k. "What next, then? What are the orders, sir? I caught a sight of the great mosque for which Major Harvey said he would make. It's close to us. I suppose that's where we shall begin our search?"

Strangely enough there came no answer. d.i.c.k caught his breath, Alec gasped aloud. The mids.h.i.+pman could hear his breath coming fast and deep within two feet perhaps of where he was sitting.

"Wait," he whispered. "He was just to my right. I'll crawl that way and see where he has got to."

Getting to his knees, for till now he had been p.r.o.ne beside the friendly wall which had sheltered them from stones and splinters sent hurtling through the air by the sh.e.l.ls which had fallen so close to them, d.i.c.k made his way along the edge of the wall in search of the Commander. And presently his fingers lit upon his figure. The officer was huddled up against the brickwork; and though d.i.c.k pulled his sleeve violently there came no response, not even when he kneeled above him, felt for his head, and spoke sharply into his ear.

"Come along and join me," he called gently to Alec. "The Commander's. .h.i.t; yes, hit in the head. I'm sure of that, for I can feel that his hair is wet; and listen to his breathing."

Neither of those two young fellows had had up till then much acquaintance with wounds and injuries. But d.i.c.k had once seen a man lying severely stunned, and now he recognized one at least of the symptoms. For the unfortunate Commander was breathing stertorously--positively snoring--while he took not the smallest notice when his junior tugged at his clothing.

"Bend over him and strike a light," whispered d.i.c.k when Alec had joined him. "We'll have to chance being seen. Got any matches?"

Evidently Alec was well provided, for in a moment there came the tell-tale sc.r.a.pe of a lucifer being rubbed against the box. Then a tiny flame blazed out, a flame which Alec s.h.i.+elded with his hand, while he directed a portion of it on to the unconscious Commander.

"Yes; hit in the head. See, here's a big scalp wound," whispered d.i.c.k, making a rapid examination, and discovering blood welling from a nasty wound just above the Commander's forehead. "I'm not much used to this sort of thing, Alec, but I imagine that he's not very badly hurt. He's stunned, of course, and the thing is to know how to deal with him. First thing, anyway, is to tie a handkerchief round the wound. Get another match ready. Strike when I tell you to. Now. I've got his head lifted on to my knee and my handkerchief unfolded. Strike now."

With the help of that feeble glimmer, lasting perhaps for half a minute, they bound up the Commander's wound, and then, finding a raised piece of ground close to the wall, gently lowered his head upon it.

"Better than nothing. It'll act like a cus.h.i.+on," said d.i.c.k. "Now?"

"Ah--a d.i.c.kens of a business! There's the Commander down and wounded, Major Harvey lost, perhaps dead for all we know, or only a prisoner; and this Charlie, whom we've never seen, and hardly heard of, somewhere in this awful city. What's to be done?"

"That's what I asked you," came quickly from d.i.c.k. "Let's see, we could make a flare with your box of matches I suppose, and so call the attention of Mr. Andrew. Pis.h.!.+ That's funking. Never! Besides, the airs.h.i.+p's gone by now. Didn't it strike three as we were descending?"

"Three, yes; what's the time now?"

"At a guess four o'clock. Might be less; feels as though it were a heap more."

That, in fact, was the position. So much had happened since they set foot in this besieged city of Adrianople, that hours might have pa.s.sed, and d.i.c.k really felt as if they had. And yet he knew well enough that that was not possible. But the mention of the hour made him recollect matters of greater moment.

"George!" he cried, "it will be light soon, and we shall be seen unless we manage to discover a hiding-place of sorts. Lor! This is the maddest kind of expedition I have ever been on, for here we are wanting a place in which to hide, and yet our job is to discover two individuals whom we can't possibly recognize unless we see 'em in broad daylight."

"While the airs.h.i.+p has hooked it, eh?"

"Certain. It's getting a trifle lighter already, and she might be seen, which would be dangerous. Well now, it seems to me that we must do something pretty soon or we shall find ourselves in chokey. Look here, Alec, are you game to stand by the Commander while I go on a tour of inspection? The flash sent out by those two sh.e.l.ls when they exploded gave me a rough idea of our surroundings. In any case I spotted a huge mosque away to our left, so I shall make over in that direction. I'll follow this wall, and when it comes to an end I'll take good care to get hold of something which will tell me I am on the right road when returning. Ah! Listen to that! Rifle fire, eh? Getting lighter outside the city and the pickets are having shots at one another. Or it is a real attack opening. Yes, there go the guns again."

This time the roar which came to their ears was, perhaps, not so loud, and it seemed probable that it emanated from the guns of the defenders.

But whoever was responsible for the firing, the enemy ringing in the city lost no time in replying. For these were the days of strenuous fighting about the beleaguered city. The allies, consisting of the Bulgarians, the Servians, the Montenegrins, and the Greeks, had swept the Turks in all directions before them, till the former were within striking distance of Constantinople itself, while such important cities as Salonica had been captured. But Adrianople still held out beneath the command of Shukri Pasha, while Scutari also resisted the Montenegrins.

It may be imagined therefore, that the presence of a strong force of Turks in Adrianople made it essential that the allies should detach an even stronger force to watch and hem in their enemy. For weeks the armies had, in fact, watched one another, pa.s.sage out of the beleaguered city being impossible, while actual fighting was intermittent and confined to mere skirmis.h.i.+ng. But now pour-parlers between the allies and the enemy had broken down. Terms for peace had been rejected by the Ottomans, and as a consequence the war had been resumed after an armistice of some weeks' duration. To force the Turks to accede to the terms demanded by the allies, Adrianople must be taken, even at a great cost, and it happened that the arrival of Andrew Provost and his friends had coincided with this period. Indeed, a furious bombardment of the city was to begin forthwith, sh.e.l.ls were to pour into the streets and about the houses, while the encircling forts were to be rushed one by one, at huge cost to the allies and the Turks, and the siege pressed daily closer. Here, then, was an explanation of this beginning cannonade.

"Get down close to the wall," d.i.c.k called to his chum, as those answering guns opened and that same tell-tale shriek sounded in the distance. "Here come the sh.e.l.ls. Hope they won't fall closer than formerly, for what has happened to the Commander may very well happen to us. Look out! Get down close. Wish to goodness there was a trench here in which we could shelter."

In spite of the fact that a huge sh.e.l.l had just whizzed overhead, d.i.c.k went scuttling along beside the wall on hands and knees in search of some shelter. And hardly three minutes had pa.s.sed before he was back again close to Alec.

"There's a bit of a ditch close to the wall farther along there," he said hastily. "Let's carry the Commander there. Wait, though, till that beggar has pa.s.sed us."

That beggar happened to be a sh.e.l.l whose advance they could hear, and every instant they expected it to pitch in the ground somewhere beyond them. But this time it failed to carry to such a distance, and landing with a thud some few yards behind the wall beside which they lay, it exploded with violence, almost smothering them with dirt and debris and tipping stones from the wall upon them. At once d.i.c.k and Alec took the Commander by his legs and arms and carried his unconscious figure away from this danger zone till they reached the ditch of which the former had spoken.

"Better be in the open for a while than in one of the houses," said d.i.c.k, panting after such exertion, and bending over his officer. "I dare say we could manage to discover a house that's deserted, for there are sure to be numbers left untenanted at such a time. But the danger would be greater there. If a sh.e.l.l happened to strike the place, and one were not killed by it, one would stand the chance of being buried alive in the ruins. Now, you're game to stick here and wait for a while?"

Of course Alec was game. He was getting quite accustomed to those falling sh.e.l.ls now, for more guns were speaking in the distance, and shots were raining into the city. All he feared really was discovery, and when he came to think of it the risk at present was not so very great. Indeed, while there was darkness no one was likely to stumble upon them, and less so just then when the enemy were battering the place, and people had their attention fully engaged in looking after their own security. It was when daylight came that the real danger would arise, so that it was urgent that one of them should at once seek out a place which would provide a haven.

"You hop off and leave the Commander to me, d.i.c.k," he said. "I ain't afraid. If any of these Turkish beggars interfere with me, I'll--well, I'll shoot 'em."

He felt for and handled the revolver with which Andrew had been careful to arm his young friends, and then slipped it back into his pocket.

"Right-o!" he said. "Off you go. But don't get lost and fail to find us again. Remember, too, that it's getting lighter; we ought to be hidden somewhere within an hour, eh?"

"And shall be," answered the mids.h.i.+pman optimistically. "Keep your hair on if people come near you, and lie low. This place seems to be out of the way, so I don't antic.i.p.ate you'll have any trouble. So long! I'm going."

He rose swiftly to his feet and went off along the wall, the fingers of one hand trailing along the stones of which it was composed. Perhaps he went a hundred paces, more than that even, before the wall ended abruptly, the termination being jagged and broken. A few feet beyond was what appeared in the dim light to be a ruined house, while a few paces more brought him to a cobbled street, into which a sh.e.l.l fell as he entered. Stepping back into the shelter of a doorway, against which he happened to have arrived, d.i.c.k waited for the following explosion. Then he crossed the street, stepped on the narrow footway beyond and b.u.mped heavily into an individual at that moment emerging from an opening in the house opposite. At once an angry shout burst from this stranger, while d.i.c.k distinctly heard the clatter of the end of a sword against the rough cobbles of the pathway. A moment later there was a glimmer of light, a hand shot out of the darkness and seized him by the collar, while the dark lantern, with its slide now drawn fully open, was turned upon him.

"Ah! Who goes racing about the streets thus at night when every soldier should be in the trenches, and every dog of a civilian in his house?"

The light was flashed full into his face. From the darkness behind the lamp a pair of fierce Turkish eyes glared at d.i.c.k Hamshaw, and in an instant the individual who had spoken shouted loudly.

"What! A European!" he cried. "In uniform too! How now? A spy!"

It may be imagined that poor d.i.c.k was dumbfounded. Not that he was ignorant of what had been said or shouted by this stranger, for d.i.c.k was quite a travelled individual and something of a linguist. But then he was the son of a sailor, and his father had for some considerable while been attached to the British Emba.s.sy at Constantinople. It happened, then, that d.i.c.k spent some five years in that cosmopolitan city, where he was surrounded by Ottomans, and forced to speak the language to some extent at least, simply because his father's servants were Turkish.

There need be no surprise, therefore, that he at once took in the gist of what was shouted, while he blinked at the lantern held so close to his face. Then the hand gripping his collar seemed to stir him to action, that and the fact that it suddenly left his clothing, while there came a curious rasping sound telling him that this man had drawn his sword.

Things were looking decidedly unpleasant he decided. But what was he to do? Bolt! No, certainly not, for as the man swung to draw his weapon the lamp was turned partly upon his own person, and in a flash d.i.c.k saw that a revolver hung in his open holster. More than that, he saw that this was an officer. The very next second, before the sabre had quite left its scabbard, he had lunged forward desperately with one fist, into which he put all the force of which he was capable.

"Spy!" The officer was in the midst of the shout when the blow struck him on the forehead, for in the darkness d.i.c.k missed his aim and went a trifle high. But a l.u.s.ty fist, wielded though it was by a youth not yet fully grown, and coming against the Turk's forehead so unexpectedly, had a startling effect upon that individual. His sword left his hand and went to the ground with a clatter, the man himself following swiftly and landed upon the cobbles with a thump. As for d.i.c.k, he turned to bolt for his life, guessing that other undesirable and inquisitive persons might be near at hand and have heard that shout. But he need have had little fear. If anyone had heard and were inclined to venture near, their inclination was subdued at once by the landing of a sh.e.l.l some thirty yards down this narrow street. d.i.c.k heard it crash against the cobbles and instantly threw himself flat, being only just in time to escape the succeeding explosion. A hot blast of flame and gas swept over his rec.u.mbent figure. For one brief second the street and the mean houses on either side were brilliantly illuminated, and then there was darkness and silence again, save for dimly-heard shrieks of terror from the distance and the moaning of a man nearer at hand. d.i.c.k scrambled to his feet, turned to go, and then swung his head round to look at the spot he had so recently vacated. There was a glimmer on the cobbles, and the faint outline of a lamp turned on its side.

"Why not?" he asked himself. "A lamp would be useful later on perhaps.

That officer fellow is moaning. Wonder whether that's due to my blow or to the sh.e.l.l which just now exploded?"

As a matter of fact, his sudden blow had considerably startled the Turk, and had made him lose his balance with a vengeance. Then he had sat up giddily, only to be struck by a stone hurled in that direction by the explosion. d.i.c.k went hastily across to him, picked up the lamp, and closely inspected his late enemy.

"Captain of an infantry battalion," he told himself. "No, not a captain; merely a subaltern. Not so very old either. No hair on his face at any rate. Let's see how he's dressed. Greatcoat, belts and sabre, and revolver pouch. Nothing on his head at the moment but--ah, there's the fez! Why, it just fits me. Now I wonder if----"

It was hardly the place to stop and wonder, for without doubt a general bombardment had begun, and stray messages from the allies were falling about him. d.i.c.k took the lamp and went to the opening from which this officer had come. He pushed the door before him and found it opened easily. He knocked loudly, then entered without hesitation, and threw his light into the downstairs rooms. They were empty, as was also the upper part of the house.

"Just the sort of little crib we want," he told himself. "Sorry, of course, for the officer, but he shouldn't have been so inquisitive.

Anyway, I'll have to borrow some of his belongings. But first I'll fetch Alec and the Commander."

Perhaps ten minutes later Commander Jackson was resting on a settee or divan in the house which d.i.c.k had selected, while d.i.c.k and Alec rapidly removed the Turk's greatcoat and fez as well as his weapons. Then they picked him up, and staggered away with his unconscious figure till they had gained a street some distance from the spot where he had accosted our hero.

"That'll do. He'll be picked up by his friends some time, and won't soon find his way back to the house. Jingo, ain't things humming!"

It was strange, as the morning light slowly stole upon the besieged city of Adrianople and penetrated the windows of that house borrowed by d.i.c.k and Alec, to see those two young hopefuls resting contentedly on the divan running the length of an upstairs room, eagerly discussing the food they had brought with them, as well as this curious situation. As to the Commander, he was no longer snoring so stertorously. He was conscious, and was gazing fixedly at his comrades.