CHAPTER VI.
FLIGHT.
Frank made a move to rise. Lord Hastings stayed him.
"Wait!" was all he said.
Immediately following Lieutenant Holzen's words, there was a terriblecommotion in the cafe. Officers jumped quickly to their feet. Severalrushed to Lieutenant Holzen, who still stood there gesticulating wildly.
"Traitors! Spies!" he cried.
"Be calm," said one of the officers. "Tell me what is the matter?"
"My papers!" shouted the young German. "My papers! The charts of thefortress! They are gone."
"Impossible!" cried one of the others. "You must be mistaken. Lookthrough your pockets again."
"I looked through them!" was the shouted response. "See here! and here!"and he turned them all wrong side out.
"Perhaps you left them in your rooms," said another officer.
"No. I brought them with me. I had them when I sat down."
"But no one has come near you," said one of his companions. "But wait amoment. You danced with Mlle. Dulce. Could she have taken them? Youdanced with her several times; yet, on previous nights, I have noticedthat she avoided you. It must be she."
"Yes! It must be she!" cried Lieutenant Holzen. "Arrest her!"
Half-a-dozen men moved down the room toward where Marie Dulce stoodsmiling. It was at that moment that Lord Hastings gave the signal torise.
"Up and run for the door!" he cried. "Shoot the first man who draws agun!"
He suited the action to the word, and the two lads were right behindhim.
Before Lord Hastings loomed up the figure of a German colonel. Thecommander of the D-17 fired point-blank and the man fell to the floor.Lord Hastings dashed on.
Now Marie took a hand in things herself. As one of the Germans wouldhave seized her, she stepped quickly backward and reached upward on thewall. There her hand found what she knew it would find--an electricswitch. Quickly she threw it and the room was plunged into utterdarkness.
Eluding the grasp of the man who reached for her in the darkness, Mariestepped quickly forward. Keeping close to the wall, she made her waytoward the front door. On all sides men shouted and women screamed, butthe girl went on calmly.
Occasional revolver flashes lighted up the darkness, but onlymomentarily.
Lord Hastings, reaching the door, found it barred by two men. Before hecould bring his revolver to bear, an outstretched arm sent it spinningfrom his hand. Lord Hastings growled and struck out with his fist. Anarm encircled his neck and held him powerless. At the same time a voicecalled out:
"I've got one of them!"
Jack, who was immediately behind his commander, although he could notsee what was going on, realized from the German's words what was up, andcalled out:
"Where are you, sir?"
"Here," came the reply. "A man has me around the neck."
Jack's lips shut grimly, and, leaving Frank to guard their rear, hestepped quickly forward and laid his hand on a man's arm.
"Have I hold of you, or the enemy, sir?" he asked quietly.
"Must be the German," was the reply.
Jack ran his hand up the arm until he felt a face. Then he drew back hisleft arm and his fist crashed forward.
"All right," said Lord Hastings. "You've dropped him."
The second man who had blocked the doorway now closed in, but Jackdisposed of him quickly. Shots came from behind, and Frank's voicecried:
"Getting too warm, sir. Let's move."
"Come on, then," said Jack.
He threw his weight against the door, and it crashed open. A momentlater all three were in the street and running in the direction of thewater.
A crowd of Germans poured from the cafe after them, and the crack ofrevolvers sounded like a rapid-fire gun in action.
"We'll have to hurry!" cried Lord Hastings. "They'll have the wholefortress on our heels in a moment."
Directly the water front came into view.
"Here we are!" cried Lord Hastings. "Quick, now!"
He made directly toward the D-17's motorboat, which he could see waswhere he had left it, but at that moment a figure blocked the way. Itwas a German sentinel, and his rifle was pointed squarely at LordHastings.
"Halt!" he said sternly.
Lord Hastings stopped in his tracks.
"What's all the row back there?" demanded the sentry.
Lord Hastings would have replied, but Jack did not give him time.
Stepping suddenly from behind Lord Hastings, he dived at the German'slegs. He had gauged the distance accurately, and the two went to theground violently. The sentry's gun was discharged, but the bulletwhistled harmlessly over Lord Hastings's head.
"No time to fool with him, Jack!" cried Lord Hastings. "Here come theothers. Hurry!"
Jack raised his opponent's head in his two hands, then bumped it againstthe ground.
"There," he said, rising, "that'll keep him for a while."
He hurried after the others, who had jumped into the boat.
"Cut the line there--quick!" commanded Lord Hastings.
Frank obeyed just as Jack tumbled aboard.
"All right, sir. All here," said the latter.
"Good," said Lord Hastings.
The boat moved off, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
By the time the German pursuers had reached the water's edge, the boatwas beyond revolver shot, though still within range of rifles.
"Down!" cried Lord Hastings, as a bullet whistled overhead.
The others obeyed.
"They'll be after us, sir!" shouted Frank.
"They'll have to hurry if they want to catch us," declared LordHastings.
"Say! What time is it?" asked Frank suddenly.
"Why?" demanded his chum.
"Why," repeated Frank, "because if we get out here before nine o'clockwe might just as well stay ashore. Price will not come to the surfaceuntil nine sharp."
By the flare of a match he struck, Jack gazed at his watch.
"No need to worry there, then," he said. "It's three minutes to nineright now."
"Pretty lucky," said Frank.
"Rather," commented Lord Hastings dryly. "Look back and see if they arefollowing us."
"Yes, sir, twenty of them," replied Frank, after a glance over hisshoulder.
"Well, we'll have time, unless they are armed with cannon," said LordHastings. "All we need is to get aboard the D-17. Rifle shots won't hurtus then."
Rifle bullets continued to fly over and about the motorboat, oneoccasionally striking home. But none of the occupants was touched.
"We must be about the place," said Frank suddenly.
"About a minute more," responded Lord Hastings.
The minute up, Lord Hastings shut off the engine. They gazed about.
"If Price doesn't come up pretty quick, we'll have to run for it," saidthe commander quietly. "It's time now."
"He'll be up unless something has gone wrong," said Jack positively.
"Unless he's gone to sleep," declared Frank.
"Well, I wish he'd hurry," said Jack. "We can't remain here many minuteslonger. They are getting too close."
"So they are," agreed Lord Hastings. "We'll wait thirty seconds, then,if there is not some sign of the D-17, we'll move. We'll make a fightfor it, at any rate."
The seconds ticked off slowly; and then, just as Lord Hastings was readyto open the engine, the waters of the sea parted and the neat outline ofthe D-17 appeared upon the surface.
A moment later the conning tower opened and Price stepped on deck. Thesubmarine was perhaps fifty yards away, and Lord Hastings ran themotorboat toward it at full speed.
"Here we are, Price!" he called.
"All right, sir?"
"All right, but pursued. Below with you, and be ready to submerge theminute we are below."
"Aye, aye, sir!"
Price disappeared.
A moment later the motorboat scrape
d alongside the submarine, and thethree clambered over the side as fast as they could amid a veritablerain of bullets, none of which, however, found its mark.
"Down with you, quick!" shouted Lord Hastings.
Frank and Jack dashed for the companionway at top speed, Lord Hastingsright behind them. Down the ladder they went with a rush, and theconning tower was hermetically closed behind them.
"Submerge to ten fathoms, and quickly, Mr. Templeton!" said LordHastings quietly.
Jack repeated the command, slowly the tanks began to fill, and the D-17to submerge, the while the occupants of the motorboats without pepperedthe side of the vessel with rifle and revolver bullets.
"Shall I launch a torpedo at them, sir?" asked Frank.
Lord Hastings shook his head.
"Not much use," he said. "You might hit one, and you might not. It's notworth a chance. But we haven't any time to lose now. They know we'rehere, and the quicker we get out the better. They'll have every Germansubmarine in these waters on the hunt for us. Fortunately, we have theheels of any of them, and we can still see while submerged. They don'tknow that; so, for the moment, the advantage is on our side."
"But, sir," protested Jack, "how about the other part of our planshere?"
"What?" demanded Lord Hastings.
"Warship, or two, sir," said Jack.
"True," said Lord Hastings. "I had forgotten. Shape your course duenorth for two miles, Mr. Templeton; then come to the surface."
He turned to Frank and spoke again:
"We'll leave our card, at any rate," he said quietly. "You may preparefor action, Mr. Chadwick!"