CHAPTER XIII.
THE FIGHT IN THE PASSAGE.
A form pressed Jack closely from behind.
"Careful!" said a low voice that the lad recognized with a start.
Jack half wheeled and muttered:
"Frank! What----"
"Sh-h-h," was Frank's response, for it was really he, and added quickly:"When the light goes out, duck and make for the door. I'll be behindyou."
Jack said nothing, but awaited developments as he moved still nearerCount Blowinski. He held himself tense, ready for anything that mighttranspire.
Frank held his right hand carelessly in his pocket as he moved slowlyforward behind Jack. The long line of men were passing through the door,but there were still many more behind.
A close observer now would have seen the right side of Frank's greatcoat rise slowly. The hand within was pulling it up. Suddenly it flashedup still more suddenly and there came a sharp report. There was a soundof crashing glass and the room was immediately plunged into darkness.
Through his overcoat, Frank had shot out the light!
At the moment he had pressed the trigger Frank had reached forth hisleft hand and clasped Jack by the arm. Then he leaped in the directionof the door dragging Jack after him.
"Quick!" he cried.
For a moment after the single shot, there was a deathly stillness in theroom and in that moment Frank and Jack almost reached the door. Almostbut not quite. At a far end of the room a match flared up. Frank, whohad now drawn his revolver from his pocket, raised it quickly and firedagain. The match went out.
But this second shot had betrayed the lads' new position to the otheroccupants of the room. A terrific roar went up and several revolverscracked sharply.
But Frank and Jack had been too quick for the others. Immediately Frankhad fired, both had dropped to the floor. Then rising they sailed intothe crowd of Russians before them with their hands, striking out rightand left.
It was in this kind of fighting that Jack showed up best. Though hiswits were no quicker than Frank's, his courage no greater, his blowswere heavier and his weight bore all before it.
Quicker than it takes to tell it he had cleared a passage to the door,and reaching back, he grabbed Frank by the arm and pulled him throughafter him. Unfortunately, the door closed the wrong way, so he could notclose it after him.
"Run!" he cried.
Frank needed no urging and darted after his chum, at the same timecrying out:
"Look out for the steps, Jack!"
But Jack did not need this warning. Always observant, he had measuredthe distance from the steps to the door as he entered, and now he drewin the darkness a scant three paces from the steps. He felt for themwith his foot.
"All right," he said to Frank, who had stopped when he collided with hisfriend. "Fifteen steps down, then run to the left."
Frank followed instructions without question.
Suddenly Jack came into contact with a figure in the darkness. The ladshoved him to one side and the two darted by. Other figures now blockedthe passage. They were the men who had passed out ahead of the lads.
There were hoarse cries of alarm and surprise; but unheeding these, thetwo boys ran on. The advantage was theirs, for the Russians, althoughrealizing something was wrong, could not see them and did not know thecauses of all the trouble were so near.
Frank and Jack turned into the last passageway safely. And there itbecame light.
Before the door at which stood the first guard was a light. The guardhimself, attracted by the sounds of commotion from behind, faced thelads as they turned into the passage, a drawn revolver in his hand.
"Halt!" he cried.
Without pausing in his stride, Frank raised his own revolver and firedaround Jack's side. The Russian dropped.
Jack pulled up before the door.
"Pull it open!" cried Frank.
Jack laid hold of the knob and pulled. The door did not budge.
"Hurry!" cried Frank.
Came the sounds of running footsteps from behind, loud cries and shouts.
Again Jack wrenched at the knob, and it came away in his fingers. Jacklooked at the knob in dismay.
"It's broken," he cried.
At that moment the first Russian hove in sight. He saw the lads at thesame moment Frank perceived him. Both raised their revolverssimultaneously, but Frank was the first to fire.
"Blow the lock off the door!" cried Frank. "I'll hold 'em back."
Jack placed the muzzle of his revolver to the lock and pulled thetrigger. Still the door would not open.
A second Russian came into sight in the rear. Again Frank fired withexcellent result.
"Open the door!" he cried to Jack.
"It won't open," Jack shouted back.
"Blow the lock off!"
"It didn't come off!"
"Try it again!"
Jack did so; and still the door refused to budge.
"Guess I don't hit it in the right place," he said quietly.
"Well, turn around here and do a little shooting," said Frank. "Herethey come. They'll try to rush us."
"We should be able to hold them," replied Jack cheerfully.
He fell to one knee, and holding one revolver in his left hand by hisside, rested his right elbow on his right knee.
Two Russians appeared around the corner at the same moment.
Crack! Crack!
Just two shots and the Russians toppled over. A second pair met the samefate. Another man did not appear.
"You guard this end a moment and I'll have a try at the door," saidFrank.
Jack nodded.
Frank placed his revolver against the lock and fired. Immediately thelad swung the door open.
"Fire a couple of shots to hold them back," he cried.
He suited the action to the word and Jack followed suit. Then both ladssprang through the open door into the darkness. They ran down the narrowhall as fast as their legs would carry them.
"Watch the steps!" cried Frank again.
Jack pulled up at the edge of the stairs safely and they descended themrapidly. Footsteps from behind indicated that the Russians haddiscovered their absence and were in full chase again.
Down the dark passageway ran the lads at full speed and at last came tothe outside. Quickly they climbed the few steps to the street and randown the thoroughfare.
"Here's where we shall have to hustle," shouted Frank. "They can spreadout here and pick us off. Double around the first corner."
They did so and with better fortune than they could possibly have hopedfor; for not a Russian emerged from the house while they were in sight.
"Around the next corner, and the next and the next," shouted Frank.
Jack obeyed; and after turning half-a-dozen corners the lads felt surethey had shaken off their pursuers.
"We'll have to get away from here," said Frank as they slowed down."Count Blowinski, being in command, will have the police and militaryauthorities scouring the neighborhood. If we are picked up in this partof town, we will be no better than if we had been caught in the house."
Turning the next corner, Jack came to a halt.
"Look!" he said and pointed.
Frank glanced in the direction indicated.
"Well," he said, "all I see is an automobile."
"Exactly," replied Jack, "and that is the thing that will get us to someother part of the city quicker than our legs."
"Right you are," said Frank. "No time to lose."
They approached the car.
"Hello," said Frank suddenly, "it's occupied."
A figure of a man had appeared suddenly in the front seat.
"It'll soon be unoccupied," declared Jack.
Frank made no reply and they approached the machine.
Jack walked directly up to the man and spoke.
"You will oblige me by getting out of there," he said in German.
The man understood, but he had
no mind to give up his property soeasily. He sought to temporize.
"This is my machine," he said. "By what right----"
"By the right of necessity," said Jack calmly. "He stretched forth along arm and grasped the man by the collar and lifted him to the ground.
"Stay there," he said. "All right, Frank. Hop in and start her off. I'llkeep an eye on this fellow until you are ready."
Frank leaped in the front seat quickly.
"Luck!" he exclaimed. "A self starter. I was afraid we would have tocrank her up. Leave him there and climb aboard."
Jack thrust the man from him.
"Stay away," he warned and leaped into the car.
But this Russian was no coward and he determined to fight for hisproperty. He produced a revolver.
"Stop and get out of there!" he commanded.
Jack looked at him and sighed.
"Poor fellow," he said. "I guess it must be done. All right," he calledto the man. "You've got the drop on us. We'll get out."
He suited the action to the word and got to the ground deliberately andwithout haste. He looked at the Russian calmly, and the man lowered hisweapon. It was the moment for which Jack had been waiting, and his righthand shot out with amazing speed and an aim that was true.
Struck squarely upon the point of the jaw, the Russian crumpled up onthe ground without a sound. Jack climbed back in the machine.
"All right, Frank," he said. "Let's go."