The night was clear and cold. There was no moon, for which the boys were thankful. There were no cities along the route, and they pa.s.sed through the occasional scattered hamlets without attracting much attention. Now and then a dog barked and at times a face could be seen pressed against a window pane. Sometimes a straggling figure was seen on the road, but at the sight of the shadowy body of marching men it discreetly vanished into the fields or woods at the side of the highway.
It was about four o"clock in the morning when they reached the outskirts of the town that was their destination. The lieutenant threw out a cordon of men to guard the roads and intercept any one going to or coming from the place. No fires were built, though in the bitter cold of the early morning they would have been grateful. But the men submitted to this privation without grumbling, and stood about stamping their feet and swinging their arms to keep warm and munching the cold rations that they had brought with them.
Within an hour three Germans had been brought in by the sentries.
Two of them were laborers who were coming from a neighboring hamlet to their work in the town. The other had been intercepted coming from the town on his way to take an early train at a railroad station some three miles away.
The men were questioned by the lieutenant with the aid of an interpreter. The laborers knew nothing, or, if they did, they were too frightened by the sight of the armed men about them to answer intelligently. They knew that there had been rioting in the town and some people had been killed and wounded, but they had gone along doing their work and had not been molested. They knew nothing about any American prisoner. They were plainly what they claimed to be and the questioning was not continued long.
The other man proved more intelligent and more communicative. Yes, the Spartacides held possession of the town and the red flag was flying from the town hall. The regular authorities had been disarmed and were held as hostages by the rioters. There had been a good deal of looting of shops and robbery of the homes of the well-to-do.
As to there being any American among the prisoners or hostages, he did not know. He had heard some rumors to that effect, but he had not inquired, for in these days it was well not to show too much curiosity, and he was a quiet man and wanted to keep out of trouble.
The lieutenant was not satisfied that he had told all he knew, and pressed the man further. Under questioning, at first persuasive and then threatening, the man remembered that there had been a meeting of the Spartacides the night before in which the matter of disposing of the prisoners had been discussed. Some had been in favor of executing them out of hand. Others had objected. He did not know what decision had been reached.
Under pressure, he admitted that several executions had already taken place. Where? At the parade ground. Where was that? Not ten minutes walk from where they were now standing. Would he lead them to it?
At this he demurred. He was a peaceful citizen. He did not want to get tangled up in any political affair. He was strictly neutral.
The Spartacides would take his life.
A cold glint came into the lieutenant"s eyes and his hand dropped carelessly on the handle of his revolver. He toyed with it for a moment. Was the man quite sure that he did not want to show him where the parade ground was?
The man wilted on the instant. Certainly he would show them. He would go that minute if the Herr Lieutenant was ready.
"Very well," said the lieutenant, and promptly gave the order that the men should fall in line, and prepare to march.
In less than ten minutes they were at the designated spot. It was a bleak, wind-swept s.p.a.ce of ground, rectangular in shape, on the edge of a stretch of wood. At the end of the grounds nearest the woods there was a blank wall about ten feet high.
As he caught sight of the wall, Frank gave an involuntary shiver that was not from cold.
"What"s the matter?" asked Billy Waldon, looking curiously at his companion.
"Nothing," replied Frank Sheldon, studiously avoiding his comrade"s eye.
CHAPTER XIX
TURNING THE TABLES
The lieutenant carefully disposed his men in the shelter of the trees and waited.
It was growing a little lighter now that the dawn was beginning to glimmer in the eastern sky.
In a little building at the side of the parade ground lights began to show and figures could be seen pa.s.sing to and fro. The bustle increased as the moments pa.s.sed until it could be surmised that something unusual was on foot.
A file of men could be seen going through the dim street on the further side of the building and pa.s.sing into it by what was evidently the front entrance. Then, after a while, groups of two or three came out through the back door and hung about, smoking, as though they were waiting until the business inside, whatever it was, should be finished.
Most of the men had old German Army uniforms, but others were dressed as civilians. One man wore an officer"s cap, but if that really indicated his rank, it was evident from the free and easy way in which he mingled with the others that the old discipline of the German Army had disappeared. The boys remembered that one tenet of the Spartacides" creed was that officer and man should stand on equal terms.
Presently a table was brought out by some men and placed on the ground a little way away from the bottom of the steps. Following this came three men who seemed to be in authority, and behind them a number of prisoners, guarded by men with rifles.
It had grown lighter now, and a thrill went through the Army Boys crouching in their covert as they saw that one of the prisoners wore the American uniform. He was facing the men who sat at the table, evidently his judges, and his back was toward the eyes that were watching him so eagerly from the wood, but they knew in an instant who it was.
It was Tom, dear old Tom, his form as erect, his bearing as defiant as they had always known it! They knew that figure too well to be mistaken. There was a constriction in their throats and their hands gripped their rifles until it seemed as if their fingers would bury themselves in the stocks.
They were at too great a distance to hear what was said, but it was apparent that a trial of some kind was in progress. It might have been that some of them had scruples about executing the prisoners out of hand, and the form was observed in order to get their a.s.sent to the b.l.o.o.d.y work that the majority had determined on.
But that the trial was a mere form was evident from the hurried way in which it was carried on. One by one, the prisoners, of whom there seemed to be about a dozen, pa.s.sed before the table, were asked a few questions, and then dismissed to take their stand on the other side. It was pitiful to note that one or two of the prisoners were mere boys, while others were men well advanced in years. One, who wore a velvet cap, seemed to be a person of consequence, possibly an official of the town.
Not more than fifteen minutes had pa.s.sed before all had gone through this mockery of a trial. It was evident that their fate was predetermined, for none was freed. All took their places between the guards and awaited the next move of the men who held in their hands the power of life and death.
During all this time the eyes of the Army Boys had been glued on the one figure of their comrade. They had noted that of all the prisoners he alone had his hands tied behind him. It filled them with pride to see the undaunted way in which he had faced his captors and the evident scorn with which he had heard his fate.
While some of the prisoners were weeping, others wringing their hands, and others standing in an att.i.tude of completest dejection, he was apparently as self-possessed and unalarmed as though he had been standing in front of the barracks at Ehrenbreitstein.
"Same old Tom!" whispered Frank to Bart. "The Germans never cowed him yet."
"He"s faced death too many times to fear it now," answered Bart, with a catching of his breath. "They knew, too, what they were about when they tied his hands."
"You bet they know what those hands can do," added Billy.
Two or three minutes elapsed while a dispute seemed to be going on between the men seated at the table. Then, at a given signal, the guards marshaled the prisoners in line and led them toward the wall at the back of the parade ground.
The Army Boys were in a fever of apprehension.
"What"s the lieutenant doing?" asked Bart impatiently. "Can"t he see that now"s the time?"
"Don"t worry," admonished Frank, though he himself was frantic with the desire for action. "He knows what he"s about."
The prisoners were lined up in a row about ten feet from the wall.
Then by a refinement of cruelty, spades were brought forward, and the condemned men were bidden to dig their own graves. The guards pa.s.sed along the line, placing a spade in the hand of each and telling them roughly what they were to do. They came to Tom and saw that his hands were bound. There was hesitation and a moment"s colloquy between two of the guards, and then one of them drew his knife and cut the cords while the other handed Tom a spade.
Tom took it.
The next instant he had whirled it over his head and brought it down on the head of the guard nearest him. The man went down as if shot. Spinning about, Tom sent the other guard down in a heap.
Then he hurled the improvised weapon into the ranks of the men"s comrades, who in wild excitement were bringing their rifles to their shoulders, and broke like a deer toward the woods.
"Charge!" shouted Lieutenant Winter.
Never was order obeyed with more alacrity. Out of the woods came rushing the men of the old Thirty-seventh, sending a hail of bullets before them. Several of the German firing squad went down at the first volley and the rest were overborne in the mad rush.
The scene was indescribable. There was a crackling of scattered shots from the startled Germans. The men who had acted as judges jumped to their feet in terror and tried to escape. Bullets brought down one of them, a bayonet another, while the remaining member of the trio was gripped and held none too gently by enraged doughboys.
In a few minutes it was all over. The prisoners were placed under guard and the Americans were recalled from the chase.
And in the midst of the Army Boys was Tom, panting, spent, breathless, mauled and pounded by his rejoicing comrades, scarcely able to believe in his good fortune--good old Tom, who once more in his adventurous career had gone into the very jaws of death and had come out unscathed!