CHAPTER XIX
THE DESERTED HOUSE
FOR some moments Tressidar could do nothing but cling to the fence.He was still under the influence of vertigo, caused by his flightthrough space. Everything seemed to be revolving round and round. Butfor the support he would have been unable to stand.
"I'm feeling beastly giddy," he gasped.
"Not unusual," replied Fuller briskly. "Sit down and clap your headbetween your knees. You'll soon feel all right. You are not used tothis sort of work."
"And it strikes me I never will be," thought the sub. as he carriedout his companion's instructions.
"Better?" asked the flight sub. "Good! I knew you would be. Now,what's the plan of action? I vote we go cautiously, to make sure thatwe are in neutral territory. We'll have to get decent clothes beforedaybreak. We're positively not respectable."
"Look here," said Tressidar. "What happens if we are on Danish soil?Do you think we'll be interned if we are discovered? If so, I'm nothaving any."
"Can't say," replied Fuller. "The Danes are jolly good fellows, butthey are sticklers for international propriety. You see, they are infear of the Huns. They haven't forgotten the loss ofSchleswig-Holstein. Is there a British vice-consul at Esbjerg, Iwonder?"
"I should imagine so," answered his chum. "But how on earth can weget in touch with him while we are wearing these multicolouredtravesties of apparel? We would be run in on sight, and then therewould be the deuce of a bother. I don't like the idea of cooling ourheels in a Danish internment camp until the end of the war. No, theonly thing I can suggest is to turn burglars. In short, sneak someclothes and food, and then make for Esbjerg. We're bound to find avessel bound for England. As for the stuff we sneak, we must makereparation at the first convenient opportunity."
"I'm on," replied Fuller laconically.
"Then north-east is our course. We'll investigate at the firstcottage we come to that doesn't show a light. Suppose I'd betterstick to this?" And he held up the revolver in the starlight.
"Might be useful," agreed Fuller. "Especially in this 'dunno where 'eare' district."
Keeping by the side of the fence, the two men stole cautiously alongfor nearly two hundred yards, till they found their progress barredby a wire railing supported by stout wooden uprights.
"'Ware barbed wire," whispered Fuller.
"It's not barbed," declared Tressidar, running his fingers along asection of the wire. "That's another fairly sound proof that we aresomewhere in Denmark, as, I believe, the Danish Government forbidsthe use of that beastly barbed stuff. I guess the fellow who inventedbarbed wire has something on his conscience if he's still alive. Itmust have cost thousands of lives in this war."
Several fields were traversed before the two officers came to anabrupt halt. Not so very far away was a road. They could hearfootsteps and then the gradually increasing roar of a motor-cycle.
"A German by the beastly sound of the engine," declared Fuller. "It'salmost as guttural with its explosion as a Hun jabbering away in fullblast. Look here, this road won't do. Too many people about. Edgeaway to the right and keep parallel to it."
Within the next hour the chums passed close to half a dozen houses.Lights within showed that the occupants were still up. Caution urgedthe fugitives to give these buildings a wide berth.
"I'm getting horribly peckish," announced Fuller. "I could swallow abasin full of steerage cocoa without the faintest qualms, and I don'tthink I would jib at a weevily biscuit. What's that over there?"
He pointed to the faint outlines of a house which, unlike the othersthey had passed, was unlighted, and also not surrounded byoutbuildings. On the side facing them was a row of tall poplars thatsighed mournfully in the breeze.
"That's the ticket," agreed Fuller. "Only remember: if you're nabbedI give myself up. We sink or swim together on this trip."
Fortunately the ground was fairly soft, and the sub's wooden-soledfoot-gear made no sound. The canvas uppers, too, had no tendency tosqueak, but how the soles would behave if they came in contact with atiled or cobbled pavement was another matter.
On approaching closer to the house, Tressidar made the discovery thatit was surrounded by a stone wall of about seven feet in height. Thishe skirted until he found that the front of the building abutted on anarrow lane that evidently joined the highway at no little distance.
At first the sub. thought that the house was empty, until he noticeddrawn curtains over the windows. Possibly there were lights within,for the fabric was heavy and impervious to illumination. There wereshutters also, but these had not been drawn-to.
Having completed the circuit of the building, Tressidar paused toconsider his next step. One thing he felt fairly certain of therewere no dogs on the premises, otherwise even his light footfallswould have aroused them. A strange quietude brooded over the place.Although furnished, it was temporarily without its occupiers.
Thrice he essayed to scale the wall, but owing to his exertions andlack of food the task was beyond him.
"Say, old man," he whispered as he rejoined his chum, "come and giveme a leg up. There's a tough bit of wall to tackle. After that itlooks simple enough. No need to stop here. Keep close to the wall. Ifthe place is empty, as I think it is, I'll open the door for you."
With Fuller's assistance the sub., having thrown off his boots, foundhimself astride the wall. On the other side was a rough lean-to shed,which extended to the wall of the house. The roof creaked but held asTressidar made his way with great care and deliberation over thetarred boards. He was now able to reach a small window without undueexertion.
"Wish to goodness I had a diamond," he soliloquised as he pressedgently and firmly upon the resisting glass. "Hulloa. There's astack-pipe. I wonder if the guttering will hold?"
Steadying himself by the stack-pipe, Tressidar hauled himself upuntil he stood upon the window-sill. He was now able to reach theeave of the roof. Testing the spouting with his weight he came to theconclusion that it was fairly sound.
"Now or never," he muttered, and with an agile spring he drew himselfup sufficiently to enable him to clamber on the tiled roof. As heexpected, there was a dormer-window less than ten feet to his left.
The tiles creaked as he trod. A stork, nesting between one of thechimneys and the roof, flew noisily away, the sudden apparition ofthe large bird nearly causing the sub. to slide over the edge of thetiles. For some moments he listened intently. No sound from theimmediate vicinity reached his ears. Evidently it was safe toproceed.
The dormer-window was diamond-paned. The leads offered littleresistance as he pressed against the glass. In a very short space oftime he had removed a piece of glass nearest to the fastening; then,inserting his hand, he threw open the casement and drew aside theheavy curtain.
With his head and shoulders thrust into the room the sub. listenedagain. The noisy ticking of a clock was the only sound that caughthis ear.
"Jolly queer sort of house," thought he; "one might imagine it was ingood old England. It's the only one that shades the inside lights,and they are mighty particular about doing it. Even this attic windowwas bunged up."
The open casement was just large enough to allow him to squeezethrough. The floor-boards creaked alarmingly as they took his weight.Again he listened. The sound was enough to awaken the soundestsleeper, unless he or she were stone deaf.
"By Jove! A burglar must be a pretty plucky sort of individual,"mused Tressidar as he groped his way to the low doorway and commencedto descend the steep, rickety stairs. "Feeling one's way about in astrange house and in total darkness requires some doing, especiallywith the risk of being bowled over with a poker thrown in."
Systematically the sub. proceeded with his investigations, examiningevery room as he came to it, until he found himself on the groundfloor. Luck was in their favour, for the house was temporarilywithout its lawful occupants.
The front door was locked. The key had been removed, so the sub.directed his attention to the back entrance.
The mas
sive bolts grated loudly as Tressidar opened the door. Therewas no necessity to call to Fuller. The flight sub. had heard theunbolting process and was waiting close at hand.
"Stand by," whispered Tressidar. "I'll hand you over a stool."
By the aid of this useful article Fuller had no difficulty in scalingthe wall. Together the chums entered the house, and rebolted thedoor.
"Now we can get a light if we can find matches," said Tressidar."Every window is curtained. I took the precaution of leaving ajar thewindow that I tackled first. If we have to beat a retreat, that's ourway out."
"I wonder why you rebolted the door."
"Because if we did clear out by that way we would have to scale thewall," replied the sub. "By the window we land at once on the roof ofa shed which is almost level with the wall. That's a jolly sighteasier. Good! Here are some matches."
His hand had come in contact with a box on the mantelshelf. Close bywas a candlestick with a candle in the holder and a short piece inthe bowl. Arguing that one of the first things the returningoccupiers would look for would be the candlestick, Tressidar took thespare piece of candle and left the other undisturbed.
"Looks like a second-hand-clothes dealer's," remarked Fuller as thetwo officers entered the back bedroom on the first floor.
The room was long and narrow, extending from front to back. Theceiling was low and heavily beamed. At one end of the room, itscanopy screen effectually blocking the window, was an old four-posterbed. On it was laid a suit of clothes. More masculine garments werethrown negligently over chairs and sofa. A medley of coats andtrousers hung from pegs in an open wardrobe. A fur-lined great-coathad been thrown upon the floor.
"Take your choice, old man," said Fuller with a grin. "We'll stuffour discarded emblems of servitude up the chimney. It doesn't look asif they had a fire here very often. Wonder who the old josser is?"
Five minutes later the chums were rigged out in worn but serviceablegarb. They would easily pass for well-to-do Danish artisans.
"Now for grub," decided Tressidar. "Let's forage in our unknownhost's larder."
"Evidently no shortage of food in this establishment," said Fuller,as the two officers ate with a voracity that would have raised astorm of protest in the ward-room of one of H.M. ships. "Dash it all!I feel another man already. Now, what's the plan?"
"Esbjerg, as soon as possible. We'll either have to stow ourselves onboard a tramp bound for a British port, or else throw ourselves uponthe generosity of her skipper. These Danes are downright goodfellows.... It's very quiet down here. I'm curious to know more aboutthe owner of this remarkable place."
"I think your wish will be gratified," rejoined Tressidar grimly, asa motor-car that had driven up at high speed stopped outside thehouse. "Lights out! Up aloft as sharp as we can."
The two amateur cracksmen had barely gained the bedroom when theyheard the key grate in the lock. Then a voice exclaimed in German:
"That will do, Karl. Take this car as far as Rodgrund's farm andawait us there. It will not arouse suspicion. Now, Herr Oberfurst, atyour service."