CHAPTER VI.
THE END OF THE CHASE.
A thin, spare figure rising to a height of over six and a half feet, infield uniform, without a show of ribbon, cross or medal, grim, silentand determined--this was the remarkable personality pointed out to theboys as the military head of the enormous army of seven million men.
The aviators had landed within a few hundred yards of the headquartersof the Russian commander-in-chief.
When Salisky and Marovitch had reported to an adjutant and turned overthe contents of their dispatch boxes to the proper authority, the timewas opportune for the young airmen to solicit the aid of the veteranscouts in accomplishing that which they had set out to do.
"You are sure that nothing has turned your head?" anxiously inquiredSalisky, when he had heard, in part, the thrilling story of the deathring and its secret menace to the life of Nikita.
"I am not cracked," earnestly assured Billy, so earnestly indeed thathis hearers' unbelief was considerably modified, and both observersbegan to realize that the strange tale was not altogether the creationof a disordered mind.
Marovitch even recalled hearing some talk at one time of some suchhistorical jewel owned in Warsaw, but memory failed him when it came toplacing it.
The boys had said nothing to specify the former ownership of the dreaddecoration, and so did not repair this defect in the scout'srecollection.
"Taking it all seriously," remarked Salisky, now about convinced that itwas no myth with which they were dealing, "there is the duty of gettingto the Cossack chief without delay. Death is an everyday visitor aroundhere, but not in the form of slow poison, and there is peculiar interestenough in this idea of rescue to key us all up to high pitch."
Marovitch, too, shared his comrade's growing concern as to theimportance of quick action. The driving force of intense interestinspired them all.
Consider their disappointment, then, when it was learned at headquartersthat Nikita and his band had been but an hour in this camp, and werealready pushing on toward Petrograd.
"Here's where we stop, according to orders," regretfully stated Salisky,"and I don't know for how long, either."
"Is there no earthly way to get a release?"
Billy was hoping against hope.
"Not unless by new instruction," responded the scout.
"Do you suppose the ring story would let us out?" asked Henri.
"Don't believe at all that they would swallow it," advised Marovitch;"besides, it would probably take a lot of time to hit the trail of thered riders. Too much space out there."
The speaker referred to the vast and trackless territory at the north.
Their first night in Brest Litovsk was not a happy one to the youngaviators. They had set their hearts and minds to the mission ofnullifying the vengeful scheme of Hamar, the very knowledge of whichspelled guilt to them.
And here all their plans were as naught in the face of inexorablemilitary rule, which held them fast until new commands succeeded theoriginal order.
An attempt to steal away in one of the biplanes would be simply recklessfolly, and of no avail--they had no definite advices as to the directioneven that the Cossack band had taken in their proposed journey to theRussian capital, direct or roundabout, and, in addition, there was thefear that without an interpreter it would be equally foolish to approachNikita, even though they located him.
The measure of life for the Cossack, with the death ring encircling hisfinger, fixed by Ricker as two weeks, and handed down, no doubt, withrecord of the ancient jewel, was still an uncertain quantity. It mightbe in this very hour that the slowly coursing venom had done its work.
The favor of just another day for the boys' venture was needed to saveit from hopeless failure. Once on the trail there was always the chanceof making timely discovery; a continued internment in this camp, andthere was left nothing but the distress of defeat and the reverse flightto Warsaw.
Would the streak of luck that in the first place had shunted the ladsinto the coveted aeroplane space be extended?
It so developed that that was just what happened, and Salisky was theearly bird who brought the good news to the blanket bedsides of thedrowsy pilots.
"There is a regiment of Turkomans reported on the move, riding up to thenorth line, and there is an order out for aeroplane service to conveydirections to these troops from headquarters. Marovitch and I have theassignment--and that means our pilots, too."
"Doesn't that cover the route to Petrograd?" quickly questioned Billy.
"As far as two hundred and fifty miles," advised Salisky.
"Bully! Do you hear that, Henri?"
"Well, I guess yes, Buddy."
"Who are the Turkomans, anyhow?"
Billy wanted to learn a little every day.
"They are our new cavalry force," explained Salisky, "and they are evenquicker to ride at a fence of bayonets than the Don Cossacks, and thatis saying something. They came from the desert, the oasis and thesteppes of the Trans-Caspian provinces, as well as Caucasia, and theycome of their own accord."
"A famous fighting lot, that," added Marovitch, "and of all the horsemenI have ever seen, these fellows are in the lead as whirlwind riders."
"They'll look good to us," exclaimed Billy, "especially as they are themeans of getting us out of here."
While the scout-messengers were waiting for their orders, the boys putthe biplanes in flying trim, and the party were off for the frozen northwithin the hour.
The young aviators had never seen entrenchments laid out on such atremendous scale as in the early passing of this flight, and noted withwonder the fortifications set up by the Russians in the open field.
What Napoleon had once called the "fifth element"--Russian mud--was nowsheeted with snow, and the great rivers and swamps were covered withice--an impressive outlook with a real chill in it.
But of dead white scenery the young pilots had grown weary; with themthe miles they left behind were of chief consequence--and full many aleague had then been rolled backward under the top-speeding aeroplanes.
It was at Vilna, where the observers had been directed to go, that firstlanding was made by the aviators, and following which the scouts hadadvices of the near approach of the Turkomans.
Upon sight of these picturesque cavalrymen, who feared neither hardshipnor danger, the boys were surprised at the youth of most of them, andfor whom it had been said, "war is the great and only poem, their uniquedream and faith."
These bold riders wore dark-brown caftans, and full headdress, insteadof the usual lambskin cap.
The sons of princes, khans or beks, the officers of these troops werekeenly shrewd and intelligent, as well as fiery and impetuous.
They gave the envoys from army headquarters a respectful hearing, and inevery way set back a common belief that the Turkomans generally weremerely hordes without discipline.
Of greater interest than all else in the proceedings, as far as Billyand Henri were concerned, was the statement from a Turkoman chiefbrought out by inquiry from Salisky, and by the latter interpreted, thatonly the day before, traveling due northwest, the brown riders had metthe red-clad Nikita and his comrade Cossacks at the crossing of the DunaRiver.
"One day's ride, he says," translated Salisky, "but he measures by thegait of a horse. Even counting upon the fact that the Cossacks have donesome galloping since this meeting, it is no task to overhaul them now inour aeroplanes, providing, of course, we do not miss their trail. I willtell you what we will do," continued the scout; "Marovitch and I willchance an extra dozen hours for this side expedition, but that is thelimit of our discretion. We have no choice but to return toheadquarters, and depend upon you drivers to make up most of the losttime."
"You will get all there is in the motors," assured Henri.
The upshoot of the biplanes presented a spectacular leave-taking to thehorsemen, and they raised their lances on high in appreciation of theshow.
The twelve hours allotted would have been all too brief in which toserve the purpose intended had the searching party been dependent uponordinary means of locomotion, and with less wide range of vision.
But in less than three hours the biplanes had swept across the rivermentioned by the Turkoman as the place of meeting with Nikita, andonrushed, with occasional deviations right and left from straightcourse, at hurricane speed.
The machines had traveled some fifty miles on the north side of theDuna, when a shout from Marovitch, in the craft driven by Henri, causedthe pilot to suddenly set the planes for descent.
On the glittering white surface of the steppe there appeared a new coloreffect--moving discs of scarlet!