Boy Allies in the Balkan Campaign; Or, the Struggle to Save a Nation Page 4

  CHAPTER IV.

  INTO THE MOUNTAINS.

  Nicholas, king of the Montenegrins, came forward slowly, his head bowedas though in grief, and it seemed for a moment as though he would passHal, Chester and the others without seeing them. But even as he drewabreast of the five, he looked up suddenly. His gaze rested upon ColonelEdwards and the Englishman bowed low. Colonel Anderson did likewise. Hal,Chester and Stubbs remained erect.

  The king smiled slightly at Colonel Edwards, whom he plainly knew, andglanced inquiringly at the others.

  Colonel Edwards approached him.

  "Your majesty," he said, "I would crave your permission to presentanother of my countrymen and three Americans, who have seen service withyour allies in the western theater of war."

  The king nodded his head affirmatively and Colonel Edwards motioned theothers to approach. The king extended a hand to each and spoke a fewpleasant words.

  "I hope," he said, "that you will make yourselves perfectly at home in mycamp. I am sorry I have no better to offer you." He turned to Edwards. "Ihave faith in you English," he said, "and for that reason I was about tosummon you this morning. I have a mission of importance, and some danger,I would have you undertake."

  "I shall be pleased, sire" replied Colonel Edwards with a bow.

  The king smiled.

  "I knew you would be," he said. "Now this mission will necessitateprobably more than a single man. You shall pick the others. It seemssimple, but I can assure you it is not. Among the Albanian tribesmen, Iam told, there is a disposition to doubt the justice of our cause and thecause of our allies. A spirit of unrest is rife there. I would have itlooked into. I have faith in the majority of the Albanians, but a fewagitators could do much harm right now. The reason I say one man couldhardly undertake the task is that he would hardly have time to cover thenecessary ground. Two might do; even more would be better."

  At this point Colonel Anderson stepped forward.

  "If you please, your majesty," he said, and hesitated.

  "Speak, sir," said the king.

  "If you please, your majesty," Colonel Anderson repeated, "it would giveme, and my friends here, the utmost pleasure to be of some slightservice to you. With your permission, we shall offer our services toColonel Edwards."

  A smile stole over the king's rugged face.

  "I have always said," he declared, "that the British and the Americanscome nearer to being like my own people than any others. You have mypermission, sir, for yourself and your friends, and I have no doubt ofthe success of the mission." He turned again to Colonel Edwards. "Youwill make all possible haste?"

  "What we may, with caution," was the reply.

  "Good. Then I shall expect you back within the week."

  Again all bowed before the king and after a few words of farewell theMontenegrin monarch resumed his walk.

  "Well, I feel better now," declared Hal. "We've got something to do, sowe won't feel as though we had no business here."

  "My sentiments, exactly," agreed Chester.

  "Well, they are not mine," declared Stubbs. "Say! what's the matter withyou fellows, anyhow? Look at all the trouble we had finding a safe placeto come down, and now you are running around looking for more trouble.You are not going to get Anthony Stubbs into any Albanian mountains, Ican tell you that."

  "You don't have to go if you don't want to, I'm sure," said ColonelAnderson stiffly. "I had no idea you were afraid."

  "Afraid!" echoed Stubbs. "And why shouldn't I be afraid, I ask you? Whyshouldn't I be afraid, eh? I don't know anything about mountains. I don'tknow anything about mountaineers. I don't want to know anything about anyof them. All I want to do is--"

  "Get a little news for the _New York Gazette_," Chester interrupted.

  "Eh?" exclaimed Stubbs. "What's that? News? Sure, I've got to get somenews. By George! Might be a good feature story up in those mountains."He turned to Colonel Edwards. "Count me in on this little trip, willyou?" he said.

  Colonel Edwards hesitated. He didn't know Stubbs as well as the others.

  "Well--" he began.

  "Oh, he's all right, Colonel," said Hal. "It's just his way. He's nocoward. He is no more afraid than you are."

  "Don't you believe it, Colonel," said Stubbs. "I assure you I am scaredto death. But I am more afraid of losing my job with the _New YorkGazette_ than I am of these Albanian mountaineers, so if I go I am justchoosing the lesser of two evils. I want to go with you fellows. Butplease remember one thing: I'm no fighter. If it comes to a fight, youcan count me out; but if it's a question of run--well, you'll find mewith you, or far ahead."

  "Then if the others have no objections, I am sure that I shall be pleasedto have you accompany us," said Colonel Edwards.

  "And when shall we start?" asked Hal.

  "Just as soon as we can."

  "Walk, ride, or what?"

  "Horses, until we reach the top of the mountains. Then we'll walk. Also,we will discard our uniforms--anyhow, I don't imagine you like the cut ofthose Austrian garments."

  "I don't, and that's the truth," Hal agreed.

  "Good. We'll change immediately. You go to my quarters and wait. I'llrustle up some civilian clothes and have them sent you. Also I'll arrangefor our mounts and other details. I'll meet you here two hours from now."

  With this Colonel Edwards betook himself away and the others returned tohis quarters.

  Half an hour later the clothes arrived and the four friends hastened toclimb into them, Stubbs the while muttering to himself.

  "Great Scott, Stubbs!" said Hal at last. "Quit your grumbling. Any onewould think you were going to a funeral."

  "And so I am--maybe," returned the little man. "And what worries me isthat it is likely to be my own."

  "You are a cheerful sort of a companion, I must say," declared Chester."What's the use of yelling before you are hurt?"

  "Because I probably won't be able to afterwards," was the reply.

  Colonel Edwards was waiting when the four made their way to the appointedspot. The horses were picketed nearby.

  "All ready?" asked the colonel. "Guns? Ammunition?"

  All nodded.

  "Then there is no use waiting longer. We may as well be moving."

  He led the way to the horses and leaped lightly to the saddle. The othersfollowed suit. Edwards waited until all were mounted and then headed hishorse toward the north.

  "Let us ride," he said.

  All through the morning hours and well into the afternoon they rodealong without adventure. They were challenged several times byMontenegrin outposts, but were allowed to proceed after an explanationby Colonel Edwards.

  It was four o'clock by Hal's watch when Colonel Edwards at last drew reinin the far outskirts of a tiny mountain village.

  "We'll leave our horses here," said the colonel, dismounting.

  He led the way to a small barn near a smaller hut. Approaching the huthe gave a loud whistle. A man emerged and Colonel Edwards engaged himin conversation. At length the man nodded. Colonel Edwards turned tothe others.

  "We'll turn our horses over to him," he said. "I told him we would beback within seven days and wanted him to keep the animals here for us. Hehas agreed."

  "But will he?" asked Hal.

  Colonel Edwards shrugged his shoulders.

  "You know as much about it as I do," he replied. "However, we haveno choice."

  "Well, they might come in handy if we get back," declared Stubbs. "Whenwe return this far we are liable to be in considerable of a hurry, and ifthe horses were not here it would be a terrible disappointment for us, atleast. If we come back, we'll probably come on the run."

  "And why will we come on the run?" Chester wanted to know.

  "Bayonets behind," returned Stubbs briefly. "Rifles, revolvers andwhatnots. Oh, yes, we'll--"

  "Stubbs," said Hal severely, "you would be a kill-joy at any feast. Whenit comes to plain, downright pessimism, you take the cake. Your equaldoes not exist."

  "I'm glad to h
ear you say I'm good for something," muttered Stubbs.

  "Well, if a pessimist is good for anything, you come first always,"said Chester.

  By this time the mountaineer had stabled their horses. Colonel Edwardsgave him a piece of money, and mumbling his thanks, the man moved away.

  "Which way?" asked Colonel Anderson.

  Colonel Edwards drew a small map from his pocket, which he consulted forsome moments.

  "About five miles straight along this mountain road," he said at last."There we cross the Albanian frontier, and there, also, we part company,or some of us do. Some of us will strike off to the right and the othersto the left. You know what his majesty said. We would not learn much ifwe all went together."

  "True," returned Hal. "Well, let's be moving."

  They trudged along the rough, hilly road at a fair gait; but the walkingwas difficult and it was almost two hours later that Colonel Edwardsagain called a halt at what appeared to be a fork in the mountain pass.

  "We'll split up here," he said briefly.

  "And how?" asked Chester.

  "That's up to you fellows. Of course, I'll take charge of one party, andI suppose Colonel Anderson should be entrusted with the other."

  "Of course," said Chester. "I'll go with Colonel Anderson. Hal and Stubbscan go with you."

  "One way as well as another," was the reply.

  And so it was decided. There was a last handshake all around and the twoparties went their separate ways--Colonel Anderson and Chester taking themore level trail to the right, and Colonel Edwards, Hal and Stubbs movingoff along the rough pass to the left, leading more abruptly upward.