CHAPTER VI.
FOUR-FOOTED ENEMIES.
Hal bent over the dead British soldier; then, arising, turned to Chester.
"He was shot from ambush," he said quietly. "He didn't even have time todraw his revolver. See, it is still in its holster."
"And, if we don't get away from here immediately, we are likely to beshot, too," replied Chester.
"Chester is right," agreed Captain Anderson. "Come, Hal, we had betterbe moving."
Hal nodded, and gave a brief word of command. Immediately the littletroop of cavalrymen, afoot now, moved slowly down the road in thedarkness. They went forward briskly and the hand of every man restedon his weapon, for the mysterious death of their companion had beena warning they could not but heed. There was no telling what foesmight lurk in the blackness of the bushes that lined either side ofthe highway.
Anthony Stubbs, war correspondent, had been unable to force himselfinto the center of the British troops, and was now bringing up therear. Now and then he tried to insert himself between the men in frontof him, but all such attempts had proved futile. The British did notintend to lose their formation in order to allow him to reach a placeof comparative safety.
As Stubbs stumbled along in the darkness, he cast furtive glancesover his shoulder and peered intently into the bushes, first on oneside and then on the other; and as he plodded on he mumbledcontinually to himself.
Came a sudden shrill cry from the left--a wild screech that, for themoment, the lads were unable to identify.
Hal immediately called a halt and all stopped to listen. It came again, ashrill, piercing cry; and with it Anthony Stubbs hurled himself violentlyupon the men ahead of him and dashed through the center of the troop.Beside the two lads he stopped, panting. He felt more secure there.
"What was that?" he cried in a shrill voice.
The lads did not reply, but still stood listening. A third time the cryrang out from the woods. Then Chester laughed aloud.
"It's a cat!" he exclaimed.
"A cat!" echoed Stubbs.
"Yes, cats are plentiful in the war zone. Necessity has taken the edgeoff their skin-deep docility, and many of them resemble hyenas more thanthe domestic pets they used to be."
"Then there is nothing to fear," said Stubbs, drawing a breath of relief.
"No," replied Chester, "there is nothing to fear so long as we are many,but two or three of them would not hesitate to attack a single man. Infact, they have done so before now."
"What! pet cats attack a man?" exclaimed Stubbs.
"Yes, and from what I have heard, they are pretty tough customers. Iheard that one man, in an encounter with four of the animals, had one ofhis eyes scratched out and was otherwise badly clawed before he couldshoot them. Half starved, they are perfectly wild."
Stubbs shuddered.
"Let's get away from here, then," he exclaimed.
At a command from Hal, the troop moved off again and Stubbs stuck closelybetween the two lads.
They had progressed perhaps half a mile further when Stubbs felt his hatsuddenly lifted from his head, and at the same moment the sharp crack ofa rifle shattered the stillness of the night.
With a shout of terror the war correspondent threw himself to the groundand, like an ostrich, seemed to try to bury his head in the hard road.
Hal turned quickly and, taking quick aim with his revolver, fired intothe bushes, a little below the spot where the rifle had flashed fire. Ascream of pain rewarded this shot.
Without waiting to ascertain whether there was more than one of theenemy, Hal shouted a command, and the British cavalrymen poured a volleyinto the woods, aiming low and scattering their fire. Loud gutturalexclamations and shouts were the answer to the fusillade.
Immediately Hal shouted:
"To the ground, men! Down quick!"
He suited the action to the word, as did Chester, Captain Anderson andall of the troop. They did not fall a moment too soon, for there now camefrom the bushes a scattering and withering volley that would have doneterrible execution among the little troop of British, but for the factthat they were beneath the line of fire.
"Up and into the bushes!" cried Hal.
A moment and the British were screened from the fire of the enemy on theopposite side of the road, while from their shelter they poured a fire inthe direction of rifle flashes across the highway.
Peering from behind the small tree where he had taken shelter, Chestersaw a prostrate form in the middle of the road. He thought he recognizedit but was not sure. He turned and called to Hal:
"Is Stubbs with you?"
"No," was the reply. "Where is he?"
"I'll have him in a minute," was Chester's brief response.
Throwing himself to the ground, he crawled from behind his shelter andwormed his way along the ground toward the prostrate form in the road,the figure of Stubbs.
The war correspondent lay as though dead, making no move. The lad,keeping as close to the ground as possible, so as to avoid the Germanbullets flying overhead, drew closer; and, while the lad did not knowit, three other forms also were approaching closely in spite of thehail of lead.
But these latter were making their way through the tree-tops, jumpinglightly from bough to bough. Silent as shadows they were, but their eyesglared a fiery red and their tails switched angrily.
They were cats.
Half-starved as they were, they had trailed the troop. They had been inthe war zone long enough for their feline intelligence to tell them thatwhere men rode there was likely to be food. More than one dead man, leftdead upon the field, had fallen a victim to their claws and teeth.
So now, as Chester crept toward the inert form of the warcorrespondent, the cats, not perceiving this new enemy--so intent werethey upon the body of Stubbs--also approached quietly. Two of theanimals were now directly above the body of Stubbs, and stood switchingtheir tails on the limb of a large tree that overhung the roadway. Thethird was close behind.
Snarling, with bared claws and outstretched legs, the first cat leaped.In a moment the others followed.
Stubbs had been lying upon his face, and all three of the hungry animalslighted squarely upon his back. Instantly the war correspondent lost allresemblance to a dead man, and the man and cats became a panting,struggling, rolling heap.
As Stubbs cried out in alarm, Chester--still some distance away--raisedhis head and quickly realized the struggle that was taking place.Throwing caution to the winds, he sprang to his feet and with a shoutcharged the feline foes.
The war correspondent was fighting off his biting, clawing assailants asbest he could; but the very fact that the cats clung to his back was apoint in their favor. One buried its sharp teeth in the back of Stubbs'sneck and the war correspondent raised a howl of anguish.
As if by magic now the firing from the Germans' side of the road ceased.Hal was unaware of the reason for this, but, suspecting a ruse, heordered his men to cease firing also until he could determine the causeof the enemy's unexpected silence.
On the German side of the road dark faces peered from between the treesand hoarse guttural exclamations issued from these faces as they watchedStubbs struggle with the cats. While the Germans would not go to Stubbs'assistance, nevertheless they would not shoot him down as he struggledwith his four-footed enemies.
The British also advanced to their side of the road and watchedthe struggle.
Thus, by mutual consent, a truce had been declared.
It was at this moment that Chester came to Stubbs' rescue; but before hecould take a hand in the fray the figure of a large German, with leveledrevolver, accosted the lad.
"Back," he exclaimed in a deep voice. "Let the little man fight it out.This is rare sport. We will declare a truce until the struggle is over.Do you agree?"
Chester considered quickly. He knew that the German officer would be asgood as his word, and he knew also that Stubbs, if given time, woulddispose of his three enemies.
"I agree," he said, and made his w
ay back to Hal, where he told him ofthe strange request and his answer.
As the little war correspondent still struggled with his felineassailants the Germans, from their side of the woods, gradually cameout from among the trees to get a closer view of the struggle.Unconsciously also the British left their shelter and crowded about toget a better view.
With his right hand Stubbs succeeded in grasping the cat that had bittenhim by the back of the neck, and in spite of the animal's frantic clawingand scratching he raised it in the air and brought its head against theground violently. The cat lay still.
But while Stubbs was thus engaged with one of the enemy, the other twowere busy. Stubbs had now jumped to his feet, and one of the animals hadsucceeded in crawling to his shoulder, where it was making desperateefforts to reach the war correspondent's eyes with its claws. Stubbsprotected his eyes with one upraised arm, and groped blindly for the cat.
At last he grasped it securely by the neck and raised it aloft; the othernow was biting so fiercely at the back of his neck that he did not taketime to dash the first one to the ground, but still holding it aloft withhis left hand sought to pluck the other away with his right.
He was unsuccessful in this, for he could not obtain a good hold on thelast cat. With a cry of rage he suddenly dashed the cat he held aloft tothe ground, and then threw himself to the ground backward, pinioning thecat beneath him.
The cat screamed angrily, and succeeded in squirming from beneath Stubbs;but instead of running away it launched itself directly at Stubbs' face.Stubbs threw up his arm just in time and caught the animal by the neck.Then he walked over to a tree, the Germans allowing him to pass, anddashed the animal's head against the trunk.
The fight was over. The truce was ended.
Quickly the British and German soldiers returned to their shelter onopposite sides of the road. Five minutes passed. Then a British soldierwho had exposed himself tumbled over, struck by a stray German bullet.
The battle in the dark was on again.