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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts in Front of Warsaw, by 
+Colonel George Durston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Boy Scouts in Front of Warsaw
+       Or In the Wake of War
+
+Author: Colonel George Durston
+
+Posting Date: February 21, 2011 [EBook #5981]
+Release Date: June, 2004
+[This file was first posted on October 6, 2002]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS IN FRONT OF WARSAW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Pobuda
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Boy Scouts in Front of Warsaw
+
+Or In the Wake of War
+
+Boy Scout Series Volume 20
+
+By Colonel George Durston
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Disappearance
+
+It was the fifth of August. Warsaw the brilliant, Warsaw the Beautiful,
+the best beloved of her adoring people, had fallen. Torn by bombs,
+wrecked by great shells, devastated by hordes of alien invaders, she lay
+in ruins.
+
+Her people, despairing, seemed for the greater part to have vanished in
+the two days since the fatal third of August when the city was taken.
+
+Many of the wealthiest of her citizens had taken refuge in the lower
+part of the city, leaving their magnificent palaces and residences
+situated in the newer part to the flood of invading soldiers, who went
+with unerring directness to the parts containing the greatest comfort
+and luxury.
+
+Warsaw is built in the midst of a beautiful plain mostly on the left
+bank of the river Vistula. All the main part of the city lies close to
+the river, and the streets are so twisted and crooked that it is almost
+impossible to picture them. They wriggle here and there like snakes of
+streets. The houses, of course, are very old, and with their heavy
+barred doors and solid shutters, look very strange and inhospitable.
+
+People, in a way, become like their surroundings. Here in these twisted,
+narrow streets are to be found the narrow, twisted souls of the worst
+element in Poland; but the worst of them love their country as perhaps
+no other people do. To the last man and to the frailest woman, they are
+loyal to Poland. For them, it is Poland first, last and always.
+
+In these low and twisted streets, the devastation was greatest and the
+people had scurried like rats to cover. A week before they had swarmed
+the streets and crowded the buildings. Now by some miracle they had
+gone, utterly disappeared. The houses were deserted, the streets empty.
+The destruction had been greatest in these crowded places, but many of
+the beautiful public buildings and state departments in the new part
+were also in ruins, as well as a number of matchless palaces.
+
+The people from the upper part of the city who had taken refuge in the
+holes along the river front, were for the most part a strange appearing
+lot. Some of them carried great bundles which they guarded with jealous
+care. Others, empty handed, sat and shivered through the summer
+night-chills that blew from the river. Scores of little children clung
+to their mother's hands, or wandered trembling and screaming from group
+to group, seeking their own people.
+
+There was a general gathering of types. Nobles mixed with the poorest,
+meanest and most criminal classes, and mingled with their common sorrow.
+For the most part a dumbness, a silence prevailed. The shock of the
+national disaster had bereft the people of their powers of expression.
+
+Since 1770, Poland had been torn and racked by foes on every hand.
+Prussia, Austria and Russia envied her wealth, courage, and her fertile
+plains. Little by little her enemies had pressed across her shrinking
+borders, wet with the blood of her patriot sons. Little by little she
+had lost her cherished land until the day of doom August third, 1915.
+
+Sitting, hiding in their desolated city, the people of Poland knew that
+theirs was a country no longer on the map. Russia, Austria and Prussia
+at least had met. There was no longer any Poland. For generations there
+had been no Polish language; it was forbidden by her oppressors. Now the
+country itself was swallowed up. No longer on the changing map of the
+world had she any place.
+
+But in the hearts of her people Poland lives. With the most perfect
+loyalty and love in the world, they say, "We are Poland. We live and die
+for her."
+
+A gray haze hung over Warsaw. The streets, after the roar of great guns,
+the bursting of shells, and the cries of thousands of people rushing
+blindly to safety, seemed silent and deserted. The hated enemy held the
+town, and the people of Warsaw, most hapless city of all history,
+cowered beneath the iron hand of the enemy.
+
+As is usual in the fearful lull after such a victory, the town was
+filled with dangers of the most horrible sort. Murder, crime of every
+kind, lawlessness in every guise, stalked through the streets or lurked
+down the narrow, dark and twisted alleys. The unfortunate citizens who
+had not retreated in time hid, when they could, in all sorts of strange
+places. They gathered in trembling, whispering groups, into garrets and
+cellars; even the vaults in the catacombs, the old burial place of the
+dead, were opened by desperate fugitives, and became hiding places for
+the living.
+
+The soldiers were in possession of all the uninjured residences in the
+more modern portion of the city, where they reveled in the comforts of
+modern baths, lights and heat. But the lower part of the city, lying
+along the left bank of the river Vistula, was filled with a strange
+mixture of terrified people. In all the throngs, huddled in streets and
+alleys, storehouses and ware-rooms, there was perhaps no stranger group
+than the one gathered in a dark corner of a great building where
+machinery of some sort had been manufactured.
+
+This had, strangely enough, escaped destruction and stood unharmed in a
+street where everything bore the scars of shells or bombs.
+
+The engines were stopped; the great wheels motionless; the broad belts
+sagged hopelessly. Even the machinery seemed to feel the terrible blow
+and mourned the fallen city.
+
+The persons huddled in the shadow of a vast wheel, however, gave little
+heed to their strange surroundings. They seemed crushed by a frightful
+grief more personal even than the taking of Warsaw would cause in the
+most loyal heart.
+
+In the center of the group a boy of fourteen or fifteen years stood
+talking excitedly. He was tall, dark as an Italian, and dressed with the
+greatest richness. Two rings set with great jewels flashed on his hand
+and while he spoke, he tapped his polished boot with a small cane in the
+end of which was set a huge, sparkling red stone. He spoke with great
+rapidity, in the pure Russian of the Court, and addressed himself to an
+elderly man who sat drooping in an attitude of hopeless sorrow.
+
+Near them sat a plainly dressed woman who buried her stained face in her
+apron, and wept the hard sobs of those who can scarcely weep more. A
+young girl clung to her, silent but with beautiful dark eyes wild with
+terror and loss. On the floor lay a wounded soldier, bearing in perfect
+silence the frightful pain of a shattered shoulder. His only bandage was
+a piece of cloth wound tightly around his coat, but not a groan escaped
+his pale lips. At the window, gazing down into the wrecked street, stood
+a tall boy of perhaps fifteen years. His face was bloodless; his strong
+mouth was set in a straight line; the hand resting on the window sill
+was clenched until the knuckles shone white through the tanned skin.
+Desperation, horror, and grief struggled equally in his face. His left
+arm encircled a boy nearly his own size. He, like the woman, sobbed
+brokenly, and the taller boy patted him as he listened to the rapid
+words of the boy who was talking.
+
+Suddenly the elderly man spoke.
+
+"You must pardon me, Ivanovich," he said in a trembling voice. "I do not
+seen to comprehend. Will you kindly repeat your account?"
+
+A flash of anger passed over the face of the young nobleman; then he
+spoke courteously.
+
+"Certainly, Professor! It was thus. You remember, don't you, that I came
+to your house as usual, five days ago, for my lessons in English? And
+you know the sudden bombardment, so close to the city, was so terrible
+that you would not let me go home? Good! Then you understand all, up to
+this morning. You know we had watched all night with the doors
+barricaded, and we decided it was too unsafe to remain longer in the
+direct path of those brutal soldiers. So we prepared to come here, to
+one of my father's buildings where there is a chute and an underground
+storeroom where we could be safe.
+
+"You send me for this cloak and when I returned, what did I find in the
+room where I had left everyone of the household gathered ready for the
+flight? The room was empty. I had been upstairs perhaps ten minutes
+because I could not find my cloak, and there was the room empty. Sir, I
+was furious at you for leaving me. I am in your charge; I am a Prince;
+yet you left me--"
+
+The tall boy turned from the window and spoke.
+
+"Never mind that, Ivan," he said. "Just cut that all out and hustle to
+the part you haven't told." Although he spoke English, while Ivan told
+his story in Russian, the boys understood each other perfectly for with
+a frown and quick glance, the boy Ivan nodded and continued.
+
+"I stood for a while and listened but heard nothing. Then I went through
+the other rooms on the floor, and all were empty. I decided to get to
+the warehouse alone if I could, and crept to the door. I drew back
+hastily. A horrible old woman squatted on the step. She was watching
+over two great sacks full, no doubt, of valuables stolen from your house
+and others. As I looked, two men came up. Criminals, they looked, and I
+scarcely breathed. Presently they went away, the men throwing the sacks
+over their shoulders, and the woman dragging a jeweled Icon in her hand.
+
+"I heard footsteps behind me, and there you were coming down the stairs.
+You had that package in your hands, and you said, 'Just think, I nearly
+forgot my book, Ivan; my great book on the history of Warsaw, now so
+nearly finished.'
+
+"You asked where the others were, and you said they had thought it wise
+to go in two parties. You said they had told you to be very careful of
+something; you couldn't very well remember just what, but it made you
+remember your book in your and you hurried to save it. So we hurried
+out, and managed to escape the soldiers, and get here and then everyone
+cried out, 'Where are the children?'"
+
+"When I went to get my book," said the Professor, with a groan, "they
+were sitting quiet as mice by the stove, holding each other's hands. How
+could they have gone off?"
+
+The woman looked up. "They could not go," she said. "I myself slid the
+great latch on the door; they could not lift it. I have seen Elinor try
+to do so. The little stranger was much too small. The Germans have them,
+I am sure of it." She bowed her head with fresh sobs.
+
+"There were no Germans about," said Ivan. "No soldiers of any sort; no
+one at all save the three of whom I spoke and they certainly did not
+take them away."
+
+"Certainly not!" said Professor Morris, frowning. "They must have gone
+out and wandered off while I was after my book, although I distinctly
+told Elinor not to stir from her seat. I have always endeavored to teach
+my children absolute obedience. I am surprised at Elinor. She
+understood. She is six years of age, and she said, "Yes, father." This
+is a terrible thing; but they will be found. I will report at once to
+the military authorities. I am convinced that they are safe. Someone
+will take them in just as we took in the strange child whom we found at
+the door. That child, as you know, is a noble, yet she was lost. These
+are war times. People are glad to return lost children. They do not want
+them. Now if I had forgotten my book, it might have been burned; three
+years of effort in this city wasted and lost forever! I will hide the
+manuscript in the underground room you told of, Ivan, then we will go to
+the proper authorities, and get the children."
+
+"Bah!" said the soldier with the broken shoulder suddenly. "Go where
+thou wilt these days there is no authority save the authority of brute
+might. Will that help thee?"
+
+"We must find them," said the Professor brokenly. The seriousness of the
+affair was beginning to dawn on him. "It will certainly be simple. We
+will advertise."
+
+The girl at his side smiled. "Advertise?" she said. "Why, father, there
+are no papers left to advertise in."
+
+"Ivan," said the tall boy at the window, "did you hear what the three
+people at the door were talking about? What did they say? The people you
+said looked like thieves."
+
+"Yes, they talked," said Ivan, "but it did not seem to mean much. I
+didn't get much from it anyway."
+
+"Try to think what they said," said the boy. He passed a hand carefully
+across the bright fairness of his hair where a dark red streak stained
+it. "Can't you remember anything they said?"
+
+Ivan stood thinking, the jeweled cane still tapping his boot. "Yes," he
+said, "when the men came up, they said, 'What have you?' The woman
+laughed--evilly, and said, 'All the wine we can drink, and all the bread
+we can eat, and all the fire we burn for years and years.'"
+
+"The man who had spoken said 'Jewels,' and rubbed his hands. 'That is
+indeed good! Jewels fit for a king!"
+
+The woman said, "Jewels now, thou fool! Where can one sell jewels these
+days when one cannot cross the border, and when the world cracks? No one
+wants jewels!"
+
+"'Then what?' said the man.
+
+"'Oh, stupid!' said the woman. 'Pick up my sacks carefully and be off."
+
+"Then the other man who had already picked up the larger sack, laughed.
+'Better than rubies,' he said. 'You are always wise, my woman!'"
+
+"And then the other man picked up the other sack and he laughed too, and
+the woman held hand to them and whined, 'Please give me some money for
+these poor little refugees are starving!'
+
+"At that they all roared, and hurried on."
+
+Ivan paused. "That was all they said," he added. "It doesn't help, does
+it?"
+
+The girl Evelyn leaned forward. "Say it again, Ivan," she said
+excitedly. "Say just what the woman said."
+
+Ivan, repeated the words.
+
+Evelyn whispered them after him. Then a wild cry broke from her lips.
+She turned to her father who sat holding the package containing the
+fatal manuscript. She seized his arm and shook him. So great was her
+emotion that she could not say the words she wanted.
+
+"Father, father, don't you see it now!" she cried. "Oh, oh, father! Oh,
+what shall we do? Oh, my darling little sister!" she gasped, and the
+tall boy ran forward and seized her hands.
+
+"Control yourself, Evelyn," he cried. "I never saw you act like this.
+Tell me what it is."
+
+She looked at him quite speechless. The agony of all that she had
+witnessed, the terror of the past week, the fright of losing her
+precious little sister scarcely more than a baby, the blindness of her
+father, all had combined to send her into state scarcely better than
+insanity. With a desperate effort to control, herself, she looked into
+her brother's eyes.
+
+"You see, don't you, Warren?" she begged. "You can't seem to be able say
+it. Say you see it too, Warren!"
+
+Then as if she had found some way of giving him her message of doom, she
+drooped against brother's strong shoulder and fainted quietly away.
+Warren laid her down, and the governess rushed to her.
+
+"Is she dead?" asked Warren.
+
+"Certainly not," said the woman; "she has fainted."
+
+"What did she try to tell you?" cried Ivan. "Was it something I said?"
+
+"Yes, you told her," said Warren, "and she read it right. I know she is
+right."
+
+"Well, well, what is it?" demanded the Professor. "This is fearfully
+upsetting, fearfully upsetting!"
+
+Warren bent tenderly above his sister. She was regaining consciousness.
+
+"It is about as bad as it can be," he said hesitatingly. "The remark
+about refugees told the whole thing. Our little sister was in one of
+those sacks, gagged or unconscious. They have been stolen to be used and
+brought up as beggars."
+
+A deep silence followed. The governess covered her eyes. The wounded
+soldier slowly shook his head. Professor Morris, Ivan and jack stood
+with bulging eyes staring at Warren, trying to make themselves
+understand his speech. Ivan, who knew more of the ways of the half
+barbaric people of Poland and Russia, nodded his head understandingly.
+Jack stood with open mouth. The Professor rumpled his hair, though
+deeply, and laughed.
+
+"Now what would they do that for!" he asked sarcastically. "That sort of
+thing is not done nowadays."
+
+"Not in the best families," said Warren coldly. "But it is done, I'll
+bet."
+
+"Oh, yes, it's done," said Ivan, "all the time. I know my father talked
+a lot about it just before the commencement of the war. He was going to
+try to stamp out a lot of that sort of thing, especially what affected
+the women and children. Yes, it is done, Professor."
+
+"Not now," said the Professor stubbornly. "There was recorded a case of
+that sort in 1793, and even later in the early sixties. Later, there are
+no records at all bearing on the subject. And if no records, surely
+there are no instances requiring the attention of thinking people.
+
+"It would be most natural to record any instance of the sort, however
+small and trifling. In my researches I would have run across the facts.
+There is no mention of it whatever."
+
+"I know it happens anyhow," said Ivan, sticking to his point.
+
+"Ivan, you forget that I am in a position to know," said the Professor.
+"My researches have led me, thanks to the presentations of your father
+and many others, into secret records never before opened to outsiders of
+any race. I regret the stand you take with me. I am unused to
+contradiction."
+
+"Pardon me," said Ivan wearily. He looked at Warren. In the minds of
+both boys there was a feeling that the mystery was solved. There was no
+longer any need to discuss it. A little search around the house would
+show if the children were there; after that it meant that Evelyn was
+right.
+
+"Well, Ivan's right," said Warren doggedly. "It doesn't matter what you
+have found in your researches, father; you have had those dry old
+records to prove everything to you. I have heard the people tell stories
+that would make your hair curl. They not only steal children, but
+sometimes they cripple them, just as they did hundreds of years ago in
+England. Why do you suppose boys like Ivan here are watched every
+second? Sometimes they take them for revenge, but when they are gone,
+they are gone. You can't go out with a wad of bills and stick it under
+the park fence, and go back and find your child on the front stoop like
+you can at home."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+The Search Begun
+
+"Impossible!" said the Professor. "Impossible, Warren! It surprises me
+that you should harbor such wild and impracticable ideas."
+
+"It makes sound sense, dad," said Warren sadly. "Europe has been full of
+beggars from the beginning of time. And soon, after the war is over,
+there will be thousands of sightseers flooding the continent. What could
+be more practical from the standpoint of such people as the ones
+described by Ivan than to secure two beautiful little children like our
+Elinor and the strange child that wandered to our doors? They would
+indeed mean 'drink and money and fire.'" He stopped and for a moment
+looked reproachfully at his father. "Oh, father, father," he cried, "see
+what your dreadful forgetfulness has done! How will you ever forgive
+yourself when you think of the misery and suffering you have brought on
+your darling! I can scarcely forgive you."
+
+Professor Morris sat with bowed head.
+
+"My son," he said brokenly, "I can not forgive myself. I do not know
+what to do. I confess I did indeed leave the children. I thought of my
+book. I thought they were safe--and my book--Warren, surely you do not
+blame me for getting my book?" He spoke tenderly, even lovingly, and
+clasped the bulky parcel to his breast.
+
+"No, I do not blame you for anything, father, knowing you as well as I
+do. It is a terrible thing, but we will find her, our precious darling,
+if we spend our lives hunting." He turned to his sister and brother.
+"Won't we?" he said.
+
+They did not reply, but gazed at him with looks that were more than
+promises.
+
+"Well," he continued, "I guess my boyhood is over now. My work is cut
+out for me. Come on, Ivan, come Jack, let's get going!"
+
+"What do you think you are going to do, Ivanovich?" asked the wounded
+soldier. Like all his class, generations of submission made him ignore
+as much as possible all save the one noble. All his attention was given
+to Ivan, the young Prince.
+
+"Be careful, Ivanovich," he urged. "It is not possible for you to go
+forth in the clothes you wear. There is danger lurking abroad for the
+high born."
+
+Ivan shrugged his fearless shoulders. "They would not dare to harm me,"
+he answered.
+
+"He's right. Those clothes won't do," said Warren decidedly. "We don't
+know where we are going, nor whom we may meet. Where can we find
+something rough for you to wear?"
+
+"Down below are the workmen's extra blouses," said the soldier. "When I
+worked here, the room was kept locked, but you might perhaps force the
+door. There are blouses and rough shoes there. But I tremble; I
+tremble!" He suddenly lapsed into Polish. "Let these Americans go,
+Prince," he begged. "Harm never come to them. They go always as though
+they wore a charm. Poland shall yet rise, my Prince. From these ashes
+she shall arise more beautiful than ever. She will need you then."
+
+Ivan listened with flashing eyes. "I shall be here," he said simply. "I
+shall be here, I shall answer when she calls, but in the meantime shall
+it be said that in Poland, even in her darkest hour, children were
+stolen for such evil purposes? Never, never!" He turned to Warren. "For
+a year now," he said, "we have been organizing these Boy Scouts that you
+have so many of in America. Let us pass the word to them. If little
+Elinor and the stranger are to be found, surely they will find them. My
+rank has always hampered me, but even then I know that boys will go
+where no others can penetrate. What do you think?"
+
+"It's the dandiest idea I ever heard!" exclaimed Warren, his face
+lighting. "We will have to depend on passing the word to them as we find
+them here and there, but it's the only thing to do, so let's go to it."
+
+"First the workman's clothes," said Ivan.
+
+"Assuredly!" exclaimed the Professor. "Let us disguise ourselves and go
+forth. I know that we will find the dear children playing near the
+corner."
+
+"Father, you must stay here," said Warren, determination in his voice.
+
+"Of course not; of course not!" said the Professor. "Do you expect me to
+sit idly here while my youngest child needs my protection?"
+
+A smile as sad as tears crossed Evelyn's pale face. "You must stay here,
+father," she said. "You would certainly get lost, and then we would have
+to hunt for you. It has happened so before, you know."
+
+"That was very different," said the Professor. "A man uses all his
+powers of concentration at times, and if it has happened that I have
+occasionally been so intent on my studies of Warsaw's past history that
+I have for the time forgotten my surroundings, it is scarcely to be
+wondered at. The present occasion is different. You will need a man,
+with a man's wisdom, and a man's ability to act quickly. I must go; I am
+ready."
+
+Warren, knowing his father's stubbornness, hesitated. Catching his
+sister's eye, she shook her head slightly. Professor Morris was
+scrambling to his feet, still clasping his book.
+
+Warren led his father around the narrow aisle that ran between the great
+machines, until they were alone. Then he spoke.
+
+"Father," he said, "you cannot go. Today has made a man of me. I am
+sorry, father, but we children are the ones who are always the victims
+of your forgetfulness, and we have suffered many times before today.
+This is the worst of all. Perhaps we shall never see our little Elinor
+again; and I am the one who promised mother when she died that I would
+always look out for her. It is my fault that she is lost. I should have
+known better than to have left her with you, but I meant to see the
+others safely here, and get back before you started.
+
+"I know you, father; you mean to do the right thing by us always, but I
+certainly don't know what would happen if we did not look out for you as
+well as ourselves." His voice trembled. "I know this does not sound like
+proper talk from a boy to his father; but I've got to say it for once. I
+promise that I'll never speak so to you again, but I'm going to get it
+out of my system this time. Since I can remember we have been looking
+out for you. We have had to take care of you and help you remember your
+meal times, and your rubbers, and your hat, and overcoat and gloves and
+necktie. We have had to see that you went to bed, and ate and got up and
+everything else. And all because of books. It makes you sore at me
+because I hate them. I ought to hate them! Your writing and reading and
+studying have been the curse of our lives. I tell you, father, it has
+been just as bad as any other bad habit or appetite. Why, when you are
+reading up for some article or digging into some musty old work, you are
+dead to everything else. And we have had to suffer for it. Do you think
+any other man you know would have left those children a minute in a time
+like this?"
+
+He paused and once more pressed a hand carefully on the red stain across
+his fair hair.
+
+"Oh, you must forgive me for talking so, dad, but I'm pretty sore.
+Little Elinor--" He turned sharply, and hurried away to Ivan. The three
+boys hurried down the steep stairs and disappeared. Professor Morris for
+a moment, a long, dazed moment, stood looking blankly at the dark
+doorway through which his son had disappeared. Then he sank weakly down
+on a bench.
+
+As a boy and as a man, he had been noted for his ability to memorize
+remarks.
+
+In college the worst of the lectures, no matter how dry, had been all
+imprinted on his mind. Now as he sat thinking, he could fairly see his
+son's accusing words like large print before his eyes.
+
+For once in his life Benjamin Morris had heard the plain truth from the
+lips of his favorite son. Yet he did not realize the seriousness of his
+son's charge. He had heard the words, but their real meaning did not
+seem to pierce his brain, so filled with knowledge that there was no
+room there for any interest in the living, or any thought that the
+present, the passing moment in which we make our little life history, is
+more precious to each of us then the great moments of the past, no
+matter how filled they may be with heroic figures.
+
+Benjamin Morris had been long years ago an infant Prodigy. Perhaps you
+fellows who read this have never known one; and if so, you are lucky. An
+infant Prodigy shows an unnatural amount of intelligence at a very early
+age. So far it is all right; and if he belongs to a sensible family, he
+is urged into athletics, and sleeps out of door and manages to grow up
+so he will pass in a crowd. But sometimes there are proud parents who
+read too many books on how to train a child, and pay too little
+attention to the child himself; and there are aunts, perhaps, as well;
+and they all take the poor little genius and proceed to train him all
+out of shape. He rattles off all sorts of pieces, Horatio at the Bridge,
+and Casabianca, and Anthony's Oration Over Caesar, are easy as pancakes
+and syrup to him. Then he skips whole grades in school and plows through
+college like a mole under a rose bush, enjoying himself immensely, no
+doubt, down there in the dark, but missing all the benefit of the light
+and air and sunshine. So the infant Prodigy gets to be a grown Prodigy,
+and presently an old Prodigy, never once suspecting that knowledge,
+hurtfully taken and wrongfully used, can be almost as great a sin as
+ignorance.
+
+Certainly Professor Morris, whose sins of learning were heavy ones and
+bore cruelly on those who loved him in spite of his strange ways, would
+never have believed any of this. At home, as a boy, when Benny studied,
+the house was kept so still that incautious mice sometimes came out of
+their holes and nibbled in broad daylight. At college his queerness,
+forgetfulness and oddity was excused because of his wonderful
+recitations and amazing marks. You just couldn't rag a fellow who made
+one hundred right along. When he married, he found a lovely, gentle
+girl, who believed him the greatest of all men and held his position as
+Professor of Ancient History in Princeton as the highest of all earthly
+positions. But when Elinor was a year old, the little wife died, quite
+worn out from looking after Professor Benjamin Mollingfort Morris, who
+had proved to be her most helpless and troublesome child.
+
+Mrs. Morris died warning her older children to look out for the father,
+and so passed her burden on to them. But some way or other, there was
+different stuff in the children. They did look after their father, and
+took good care of the old Prodigy, but the task did not wear them out.
+Young Jack was indeed so bright that it rather worried Evelyn and
+Warren, who were always on the alert to overcome any symptoms of genius
+in themselves or the other children; but owing to their caution, he
+seemed to be developing well. And Professor Morris, blind to it all,
+forever digging in the dust of ages, knew nothing of the fact that he
+was the father of four wonderful children who were successfully carrying
+on the difficult business of growing up, managing a house, taking care
+of a parent, and looking after money matters as well.
+
+Warren was the soul of honor. He hated school, but went without a skip,
+because it was right. And that's a hard thing to do. He looked clean,
+and was clean, and thought clean. And that's hard, too.
+
+Professor Morris, sitting in his study feverishly seeking facts
+concerning the table manners of Noah's second cousin twice removed, was
+deaf and dumb and blind. Yet when he occasionally "came up for air" as
+Warren put it, the children thought him the finest and funniest and
+kindest of fathers. It was at one of these times that he came home with
+the news that he had been given a vacation for three years with full
+pay. This was to make it possible for him to go to Warsaw, and write an
+account of some parts of the city's history of which rather little was
+known.
+
+Warren and Evelyn, who had read "Thaddeus of Warsaw" were wild with
+delight. It was a glorious journey and, on shipboard at least, it was
+easy to keep track of the Professor, who had found a very learned
+Englishman who disagreed with him on every known point. The two old men
+hurried to find each other each morning, and were dragged apart at
+night; and the children had time to enjoy the voyage and make many
+friends. In Warsaw, which they reached safely, they took a house near
+the magnificent Casimr Palace which now houses the University. Professor
+Morris did find time to secure fine teachers for the children, and
+reliable servants for the house. Warren, who always boiled with
+activity, soon made scores of pals, and immediately introduced the Boy
+Scouts to Poland.
+
+The young Polish and Russian boys took up the work with the greatest
+enthusiasm, and time slipped happily away, until war swept the
+continent. Professor Morris refused to believe in its nearness until it
+was too late to escape, and they were forced to remain until the day
+when Warsaw fell. Now Warsaw, beautiful and proud, Warsaw the brilliant
+lay in ruins. Professor Morris, sitting humped over on the rude bench,
+thought of the wonderful chance that had brought him where history,
+tragic and important, was being made. He did not worry greatly over the
+disappearance of Elinor. He remembered several times in Princeton when
+she had disappeared. Once they found her under a bed. He wondered
+whether anyone had looked under the beds in the forsaken house. The
+terrible idea that his baby girl might be actually lost in the terrible
+disaster of Warsaw's defeat never once occurred to him. He was annoyed a
+little at the disturbance she had caused, and resolved to speak very
+severely to her.
+
+He determined also to reprove Warren for his words; but reflecting on
+the terrors and excitement and peril of the past hours, he decided to
+treat it as a little boyish impatience, and overlook the whole thing.
+
+As for his going back to find Elinor, he supposed it would really be a
+waste of time. Warren would be perfectly able to find her; so he pushed
+the bench against the wall, snapped a pad from his pocket, was soon lost
+in pages and pages of notes on the events of the week.
+
+But down in the clothes room while Ivan hastily took off his rich
+garments and fitted himself with rough work clothes from the shelves,
+Warren Morris walked the floor and groaned.
+
+"Don't' take it like that, Warren," said Ivan, pausing to place a
+sympathetic hand on his friend's shoulder.
+
+"It is awful!" groaned Warren. "She is so little, and so easily
+frightened. I believe it will kill her."
+
+"No, it won't," said Ivan. "There is no coward's blood in Elinor.
+Wherever she is, she will know we will find her sooner or later. She
+will be looking out for us every minute. And no one will hurt her. You
+know people don't take the trouble to drag children off just to kill
+them. If the three I saw took those girls, they will be careful enough
+of them, you may be sure. I would rather have them there than with
+soldiers. The only thing I am hoping is that we can trace them before
+they leave the city. But I don't believe anyone, even with the best
+credentials, can get away for the next few days."
+
+"If we had anything for a clue," said Warren. "Can't you even remember
+what they looked like?"
+
+"Not particularly," said Ivan regretfully. "I would know them if I
+should see them again. One of the men had a very peculiar walk, but I
+couldn't describe it to you. It wasn't a limp; just a queer way of using
+his feet. I don't know whether I would know the woman or not. She looked
+like hundreds of the sort I have seen down in the open markets, some of
+them looking a little more so and some less."
+
+"How more so?" asked Warren.
+
+"Why, perhaps fatter, or thinner, or dirtier, but all lawless and no
+account. I tell you, Warren," he said earnestly, "when I get to be a
+man, if our house is still in power then, I shall spend my time cleaning
+up the streets and people of Warsaw. Those old holes and rookeries down
+by the river, and the streets leading to the wharves have got to be
+cleaned out or wiped out."
+
+"Better not let my father hear you," said Warren. "He would tell you
+that all that section is historic, and therefore valuable."
+
+"Perhaps it has been," said Ivan. "But we can always refer to your
+father's great book on Warsaw, and what the world needs now is light and
+space and air."
+
+"Well," sighed Warren, "perhaps the book will help some college grind,
+but if he had let the old thing slide, he would never have lost my
+sister."
+
+"I do think that we ought to look at it a little from your father's
+standpoint," said Ivan gently. "You know the children were in the house
+and the door shut. They were playing contentedly, and he thought it
+would only take a minute to go upstairs and get the parcel. No doubt he
+was a good deal longer than he thought he would be, but he thought
+everything was as safe as it could be. I think we would have done the
+same thing. Be fair, Warren. Don't you think so?"
+
+"I suppose so," said Warren. "Only now it seems as though it was not
+safe to leave them a second."
+
+"That's how it has come out," said Ivan, buttoning his blouse, "but
+that's just the sort of thing no one could foresee. One thing seems
+certain, if we find them near, or in the house, well and good. If they
+are not around there somewhere, I believe Evelyn has solved the thing.
+It doesn't seem possible, though, that anyone could have opened the
+door, and walked in, and dragged the children right in the house,
+without the least sound of disturbance reaching your father upstairs.
+Myself, I don't believe the door was close latched, and it may be the
+children went out themselves. If they did we will find them soon."
+
+"Elinor has been told a million times never to leave the house," said
+Warren hopefully.
+
+"And you know she minds," said Ivan. "I think we will find them all
+right, and Evelyn just imagines things. The woman probably meant just
+what she said. She doubtless had candles from some church, and clothes
+and food in the bags. She had enough to last some time, judging from the
+size and weight."
+
+"I hope so, anyway," said Warren. "Are you nearly ready? If we could
+only run for it!"
+
+"We can't," said Ivan. "The moment they see you run, you are in danger
+of being shot down. It won't take long, even if we do have to go
+slowly."
+
+"Well, let's make a start, if you are ready," said Warren restlessly.
+
+They opened the door and found Evelyn waiting for them. She looked pale
+and weak, but greeted them quietly.
+
+"Don't be any longer than you can, will you, boys?" she begged. "If she
+is hurt one of you stay with her, and the other come for me. Don't try
+to bring her here."
+
+"They won't be hurt," said Warren courageously. "But we won't bring them
+here at all. We will stay with them, one of us, and come back to tell
+you. You know they will be together."
+
+"How wicked I am!" said Evelyn. "I forgot little Rika. She has been with
+us so short a time. I am so thankful she is with Elinor. They will not
+be so badly frightened."
+
+"Of course not," said Warren. "You go to father, Evvy. We will come
+soon."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+In Warsaw's By-ways
+
+On the day of Warsaw's downfall, a little girl, perhaps three years of
+age, wandered to the door of the comfortable old house where the
+Morrises lived. She was dressed with the greatest richness. She was
+unable to tell her name, or indeed give the slightest clue to her home
+or family. Ivan and the servants declared her a child of the nobility,
+but were unable to gain any information from her broken baby talk. She
+played contentedly with Elinor all day, and at night when she was
+prepared for bed, they found secreted under her dress jewels fit for a
+king. Chains of diamonds and rubies encircled her baby neck, and rings
+of the greatest value were sewed to her garments, while great brooches
+were pinned in rows on her little skirts. Professor Morris, after
+pronouncing the collection worth a couple of hundred thousand dollars,
+stuffed the lot in a couple of his coat pockets with the remark that he
+had better put them away!
+
+Evelyn, however, took the jewels, and sewing them securely in a belt,
+fastened it around her own waist for safekeeping. No one doubted that
+the pretty child would soon be claimed. They soon discovered that her
+name was Rika, but more than that she could not tell them. She did not
+seem to feel very lonely or frightened, although she fretted at bed
+time, calling over and over some name they could not catch.
+
+Elinor was as delighted with her as though she had been given a
+beautiful new doll; and now Evelyn felt sure that they would remain
+together unless parted by force-or death. The last thought struck to her
+heart like a chill, but she would not admit even the possibility of such
+a thing. The certainty that the children had been drugged and carried
+off in the two sacks battled constantly with the hope that the boys
+would find them playing around the corner, or hidden in some
+unfrequented spot. So it was with a cheerful trust that she said
+good-bye to the two young workingmen who presently issued from the door
+of the great store building, and went rapidly up the deserted and torn
+up street.
+
+They did not dare run. Rather, they slunk along from building to
+building as though fearful of being seen. When they passed a wrecked
+chimney, fallen across the street, Warren rubbed some of the soot and
+grime on his face and clothes, and told Ivan to do the same. He thought
+very wisely that they looked too clean and neat for the parts they were
+endeavoring to enact. In addition to the soot, they were soon soiled and
+torn from scrambling over wreckage and even Evelyn would not have
+recognized them.
+
+Soon reaching the residence portion of the city, they began an immediate
+search for Boy Scouts. Out of the hundred or so in their section, they
+were fortunate enough to find ten. Several of these were searching
+frantically for relatives and friends. Not one but had lost someone dear
+to him. They scattered with a will when Warren and Ivan told them about
+the two children, but the boys who had been nearest the Professor's
+house, all said that they had not seen the little girls at all. There
+were no troops moving about that part while the boys were talking and
+planning, and they were not molested in any way when they scattered and
+began to search every foot of the neighborhood. Noon found Warren, Ivan,
+Jack and a couple of others near a wrecked and deserted bakeshop. There
+was no one to ask and none to object when they scrambled over the heaps
+of stone and plaster and wood, and tried the doors of the great ovens.
+Sure enough, there they found, well cooked and safe, a supply of bread
+and meat and sweets. Warren and Jack were broken-hearted at the absence
+of the slightest clue to Elinor, but they made a manly effort and
+managed to eat a good and nourishing meal, because they knew that they
+must keep up every bit of strength they had.
+
+At three o'clock by agreement they all met at the Professor's house. Not
+one had secured a single clue. They had searched every empty and ruined
+building and had asked every person that they had seen. No one had been
+able to tell them anything that sounded at all helpful. Warren had
+thought that the fact that the strange child wore a scarlet dress would
+be the means of tracing them immediately; but according to the people
+they questioned, half the children in Warsaw had worn scarlet dresses or
+coats. Warren was sick with despair. After a short talk, the boys
+scattered again, working out from the Professor's house like the spokes
+of a wheel for about half a mile. As Warren decided that he had about
+reached the limit agreed upon, he stood thinking, when the shrill Scout
+whistle sounded at his right. It was the signal to gather, and Warren's
+heart leaped with delight as he thought, "Elinor is found."
+
+He crossed the space like a whirlwind, leaping over fallen walls and
+dashing around buildings in his mad race.
+
+He found the Scout who had whistled standing at the sagging door of what
+had once been a comfortable home.
+
+"Where is she?" cried Warren as he reached the doorway.
+
+The boy shook his head. He was deathly pale, and trembled.
+
+"It is not your sister; you may be glad of that; but we must do
+something. Go in!"
+
+Four other Scouts came panting up, all flushed with the hope that Elinor
+had been found. They followed the boy who had pushed Warren through the
+hall and through another door. Warren stopped appalled.
+
+Half the wall was gone. A bomb had evidently struck the house. On the
+bed a young woman lay. She was quite dead. Her ashy face told it without
+the evidence of the blood in which she was bathed. By her side lay a
+tiny girl. She, too, was still and cold in the last sleep of death, but
+by a strange mischance of war, a baby lay unharmed in the young mother's
+arms.
+
+Unattended, uncomforted and cold, it had lain there for hours; yet it
+lived, and as the boys entered sent up a feeble wail. Shaken to the
+heart, Warren walked to the bed and picked up the infant. Its cries had
+dwindled to a feeble whining, and it shivered. Warren hastily unfastened
+his blouse, and pressed the little being to the warmth of his body. He
+could feel it press against him, or so it seemed to him, as he stood
+there in that chamber of death. His course, however, seemed clear. The
+living child in his arms must be cared for, and at once. He could only
+think of Evelyn. The hospitals were either shattered or filled with too
+many wounded soldiers. There was no room in any place of that sort now
+for a little baby. Life was cheap in Warsaw that day. He would take it
+to Evelyn and she would take care of it somehow. His own little Elinor
+he dared not think of.
+
+It was with an almost breaking heart that he and the other boys rapidly
+retraced their steps and finally gained the warehouse. As he went up the
+long stairs, Professor Morris left his corner, and stood ready to greet
+them. He was smiling.
+
+"Well, well, where is Elinor?" he asked testily.
+
+"We did not find her," answered Warren curtly. He was so tired that he
+staggered as he walked. He gained the top of the steps and, crossing
+unsteadily to Evelyn, laid the baby in her arms. Its little pinched
+face, and bloodstained dress prepared her for Warren's story.
+
+"It is nearly starved," she said. "What shall we give it?"
+
+"I know," said Ivan. "Babies all drink milk, don't they? There is a
+court down below, and when we went out I saw a couple of goats in it."
+
+It was true, and the poor creatures were glad enough to be milked. The
+baby, finally fed and warmed, slept exhausted in Evelyn's arms.
+
+In all the cruel war whose dark shadow obscured Europe a great deal of
+suffering fell to the share of the poor little babies and the small
+children. To older children war could be explained. It was a vast and
+terrible something that swept away homes and food and comfort. It was a
+monster that devoured fathers and brothers, and left families without
+support, and homeless. But there was a reason that could be told, and
+which they could understand more or less.
+
+But the tiny ones, alas! What could be told them when their little world
+tumbled, when they were carried out from warmth and safety, when food
+was denied; when the bosoms that had warmed them grew cold and
+unresponsive, what could they do but suffer and die the slow, torturing
+death of hunger and cold?
+
+Their little cries arose to heaven, there were no ears to hear them when
+the thunder of guns drowned all else. Poor, poor babies! Born, many of
+them, to enlighten the world with new discoveries, to cure the
+afflicted, to bring joy, they have perished as surely or a cause which
+they could not understand as have the soldiers in the trenches.
+
+When great nations are falling, and men are being mowed down like grass,
+in numbers beyond the counting, the lives of little babies can only be
+held precious by mothers who guard them with their every breath.
+
+The poor little bit of humanity found by the boys would soon have closed
+its little eyes in the death which had so suddenly overtaken the mother
+and sister. But it proved a sturdy little scrap, and after drinking all
+the milk they dared give it, cried for more.
+
+It was a pretty child, well dressed and well cared for, and Evelyn
+studied it with tender interest as it lay contentedly in her arms. As
+she hushed and soothed it into sleep, she talked with her brothers.
+Professor Morris had gone to the other end of the long room, and they
+could hear him groan as he walked the floor.
+
+"Don't you think that it would be safe now for us to go back home?" said
+Evelyn. "We can always prove that we are Americans, and I think there
+will be no more lawlessness. What do you think?"
+
+Warren remembered the soldier with the wounded shoulder.
+
+"We can't leave Peter here," he said.
+
+"Why no, but he managed to get up here with help, and I think we can get
+him home with us. I don't know what else to do, unless Anna is willing
+to stay with him until morning."
+
+"That's the thing to do," said Warren, "but Anna is such a scare cat."
+
+"She ought to be willing to stay with her own brother!" declared Evelyn.
+"That shoulder will kill him unless cold water is kept on it all the
+time, until we can get hold of a doctor or get him to a hospital."
+
+"The hospitals are so full that you can't get inside the doors," said
+Warren.
+
+"I found that out today."
+
+"Well, we will ask Anna, anyway," she said. She called to the governess,
+who approached at once. Telling her the plan, Evelyn waited for the
+woman to speak.
+
+"Surely that is a wise plan indeed," she said, to their great relief.
+"Peter could not be moved tonight. He is full of fever. And someone will
+find our little Elinor, and take her home. Then what could they do if
+the house was deserted?"
+
+"I never thought of that," said Evelyn in a grief-stricken tone. "Let us
+hurry and get back before it is dark."
+
+"Yes," said Warren, "we could not make it at all in the dark. The lights
+are all gone, and the streets are nearly impassable in lots of places.
+Get dad, and come on. Don't forget the book," he added, smiling
+bitterly.
+
+They hastily brought blouses and overalls from the clothes room below
+and made as comfortable a bed for Peter as they could. There was plenty
+of goat's milk to drink, and bread from the bake shop, with which Warren
+had thoughtfully had the boys fill their pockets.
+
+Then, as the dusk gathered, they hurried out, Professor Morris clasping
+the bulky manuscript, Evelyn carrying the sleeping baby, while Warren
+and Ivan supported her on either side, and Jack went ahead to pick out
+the safest path.
+
+They reached the house after a hard walk, and were soon feeling some
+sense of bodily comfort after all the hardships of the day. They decided
+to act as nearly as possible as though they were but little disturbed by
+the past events, and to assume the position of foreigners who felt
+themselves under the protection of their own government.
+
+Naturally, all their thoughts were of Elinor, but night had fallen black
+and stormy, and in all the confusion and lawlessness there was nothing
+to be done but wait as best they could for morning.
+
+In spite of his anxiety, Warren slept heavily and did not awaken until
+his sister shook him, and he opened his eyes to find that it was seven,
+7 o'clock.
+
+"No news, Warren dear," said Evelyn. "Only that that poor little baby is
+certainly better. Oh, Warren, it is so cunning! I do hope it will be all
+right. I want to keep it if we do not find its father. All the rest of
+its family must be dead." She sat down on the edge of Warren's bed. "Do
+you know," she said, "I feel as though everyone besides ourselves is
+hurt or lost or dead or kidnapped? I have been thinking what I would do
+if anyone kidnapped me. I would try so hard to leave some sort of a
+message. I think if I had my diamond ring on, I would try to scratch
+something on a window pane."
+
+Warren smiled. "Try some other plan, Evvy," he said. "They wouldn't be
+apt to wait while you found a window and scratched a letter on it."
+
+"You never can tell," said the girl. "Anyhow, that is what I would try
+to do. Get up now, Warren, I have a nice hot breakfast for you. Ivan is
+dressed and has been out getting things to eat."
+
+Warren hurried down and enjoyed the nice breakfast his sister had
+prepared. Jack, who had had his meal earlier, was awkwardly holding the
+baby, and seemed quite overcome by the task.
+
+Breakfast over, Warren went with Ivan to the door, and stood for a
+moment looking down the street. A couple of men, very evil looking and
+dark browed, approached slowly, and passed on in the direction of the
+open market. Ivan glanced carelessly at the pair, then stifled an
+exclamation of surprise. As they reached a safe distance, he clutched
+Warren by the arm.
+
+"Look, look!" he cried. "Those are the two men who were with the woman
+with the sacks."
+
+"What!" cried Warren tensely. "Come!" He started out, and together they
+followed the two men.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Ivan.
+
+"Shadow them until I find where they stay. That woman is no doubt there,
+wherever that is."
+
+"I follow," said Ivan briefly.
+
+Warren paused. "You can't come," he said regretfully. "Someone has got
+to look after dad, and as this is a dangerous job, it is my right, as
+the older, to do it. I wish you could come, but you see how it is, don't
+you?"
+
+"I suppose so," said Ivan mournfully, "but get back so soon as you can.
+And if you find Elinor, and need help about getting her away, come back
+or send, and I will bring all the Scouts down."
+
+The boys shook hands and parted, Ivan hurrying back to the house with
+the news, while the soiled work boy slouched along after the two
+skulking villains ahead.
+
+At the open market a few hucksters, braver than most, were selling meat
+and vegetables to as many as dared come and buy. The men ahead bought
+freely as though money was plenty. Laden down with supplies, they
+finally turned and, walking rapidly, plunged down toward the river where
+the narrow, twisted streets invited criminals of every kind.
+
+Warren, following them as far off as possible, had to act and think
+quickly at times in order to keep track of them. Finally they turned
+into a street or alley leading directly to the river, and as Warren
+hurried after them they disappeared as suddenly as though they had sunk
+into the earth. Warren darted forward.
+
+It was a row of dismal, crowded houses, and Warren was too far away to
+know just where the men had turned in. They had disappeared within one
+of the doors, and Warren walked openly and boldly along, studying each
+house. It was a rash and reckless thing to do.
+
+Warren forgot the teachings of his order, for there is nothing more
+persistently urged on a Boy Scout than caution. If Warren had not been
+so intensely excited, he would have remembered this. But of course his
+excitement was an excuse for forgetting. It is when we are in dangerous
+and exciting situations that we must train ourselves to have every
+faculty at our command.
+
+It is the commonest thing in the world to hear people tell what they
+might have done, and unfold plans conceived after the necessity for them
+was past. Such plans make good reading, but poor history.
+
+Warren, of course, tramping hastily down a deserted street, lay open to
+disaster, and the defeat of his purpose. If he had reconnoitered as
+carefully as he had followed his game, he would have been able to locate
+them without the least suspicion on their part that they had been
+shadowed. It then would have been simple to have watched for some
+unguarded moment, when the boys could easily have gained entrance to
+their quarters and secured the children.
+
+There is no great deed accomplished in this world where caution does not
+play a great part. In war, in business, in sports, the man who looms the
+biggest after the game is done and people have the time to study things,
+is the man who had never once failed to exercise a proper amount of
+caution. In a fairy story this warning is given: "Be bold; be bold--but
+not too bold."
+
+You see caution does not question or hesitate or delay too long. Caution
+keeps right on, but slowly and with a careful regard to safe footing.
+Caution keeps you from rocking the boat, and pointing the loaded gun,
+and skating near the thin ice. It keeps you from the heels of the
+kicking horse. It makes the good general save his men.
+
+Warren forgot. After blocks and blocks of trailing, he bolted down the
+street, examining each house with anxious excitement.
+
+Finally he discovered footmarks leading toward a dark, heavy door, and
+he stood looking the place over. It was a tall, narrow place which had,
+centuries past, been used as a dwelling. What it was at present Warren
+could not guess, unless it had fallen to the level of the damp, rat
+infested hovel where crime and disease are bred daily in old towns like
+Warsaw. Strange carvings of dragons and monsters upheld the eaves and
+formed the heavy water spouts. The tiny, windows were bare and
+curtainless. They swung open in the wind that blew from the Vistula.
+
+Warren stood looking. He was all alone in the street.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+HOT ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+The men had disappeared, and there seemed no further need for caution.
+As Warren approached nearer, he noted the dark, tumbledown building,
+which looked as though it had been a ruin for centuries, dismal and
+uninhabited. Only one thing was noteworthy. The door, a stout one
+heavily barred with ornamental straps of ancient and rusty iron, was
+fitted with strong, modern hinges, and had been closely fitted in anew
+frame. Warren's keen eye quickly grasped these details as he sauntered
+past, and stopped before 'the building, but what he did not see, and
+could not guess, was the tiny auger hole bored close to one of the iron
+frets. Behind that hole stood a man in whose cunning brain suspicion
+lurked; and Warren did not know that after that close scrutiny the
+trained eye of one of the basest murderers and criminals in Poland would
+now recognize him, no matter where they met.
+
+Warren knew that he must gain access to the den, but how?
+
+Thinking rapidly, he resolved to wait until the men again left the
+place, when he would rap at the door, and try to get in on whatever
+excuse he might need to invent when the moment arrived. He crossed the
+street, and entered an abandoned building. For two hours he waited in
+biding, never suspecting the anxious scrutiny he himself was undergoing.
+
+His wrist watch told him that noon was past. There was no sign of life
+in the street. Remembering the loads of provisions that the men had
+carried, he decided that they did not intend to come out of their hiding
+place until nightfall. That would give him time to return, report to the
+anxious watchers at home, and consult with Ivan and the other Boy
+Scouts.
+
+With Warren, to decide was to act. He hurried through the shattered
+streets, wondering what the careful Evelyn had kept for him to eat.
+
+As he turned the corner he saw before the house a group of people who
+seemed to be regarding it curiously. Warren hastened his steps. Pushing
+through the group, he entered. The door, torn from its hinges, swung
+against the wall. In the hall a heavy chest of drawers was overturned
+and the drawers piled together on the floor. The contents were scattered
+everywhere. Calling the names of the family, Warren dashed through the
+rooms, vainly hoping to find some trace of his people, or some
+explanation of the new disaster. Returning to the door, he appealed to
+the bystanders. What had happened? They told him that they had come down
+the street just in time to see the soldiers leading off a group of
+people. More than that they did not know. They supposed that they were
+now dead. It was what happened in war.
+
+Warren returned to the house, his head whirling. This seemed the last
+and most crushing blow. To have such a thing happen just as he was about
+to rescue his little sister and reunite the family! He could not imagine
+why this thing should have been done. Why should any soldiers molest
+American citizens?
+
+Utterly overcome, he sank down in a chair by the window and leaned his
+head on the sill. All gone! He did not know what to do. His quick and
+clever brain for the moment refused to act. He raised his head and
+looked dully out into the street where the group of curious people was
+slowly moving away. For a long time he stared, then his eyes suddenly
+set themselves on something nearer. Dumfounded, unbelieving, he glared.
+It seemed that he could hear Evelyn's voice, Evelyn's own words.
+
+"If anyone kidnapped me," she had said, "I think if I had my diamond on
+I would try to scratch a message on the window pane."
+
+Indeed, her mother's ring had served her well. Before Warren's eyes, on
+the glass, Evelyn had left her message:
+
+"Arrested as spies. Ac't dad's book. Taken to camp. Find Ivan. Tell
+Consul. Help."
+
+Clutching the arms of his chair, Warren sat staring at the message on
+the window pane. He read it over and over. A curious feeling that his
+eyes were tricking him possessed him. He reached out and rubbed the
+message slowly, fully expecting it to disappear. The letters felt rough
+under his fingers. It was really written there with Evelyn's diamond.
+Still unbelief possessed him. How had it happened that she had foreseen
+this dreadful mischance clearly enough, in some mysterious way, to plan
+the delivery of the saving message?
+
+As Warren looked, the events of the last few crowded days seemed to rise
+up and bear him down under their horror and immensity. He sat clutching
+the arms of his chair, and with unseeing eyes stared and stared at the
+letters. All at once he felt very young, very helpless, very lonely.
+
+America, his own dear country, with its safety and its careless,
+unthinking haphazard hospitality for every living person who seeks her
+shores; America seemed suddenly to be set farther than the farthest
+star.
+
+Like most American boys, Warren was clever, shrewd and ingenious. Life
+with Professor Morris had trained him in ingenuity and efficiency. Since
+his earliest remembrance it had fallen to his lot to act as the head of
+his family, making decisions that usually are the sole right of fathers
+and guardians. But now, under conditions of horror and tragedy, he
+realized that he was after all only a boy; and the thought came to him
+that he and his, dear and infinitely precious as they were to each
+other, counted not at all in the great tragedy of war.
+
+Who was there to help? The American Consul was powerless for the time,
+if he could be found. Warren knew that the portion of the city where he
+had lived was a shapeless ruin.
+
+The boy continued to sit motionless in his chair, desperately,
+desperately puzzling the dark mystery.
+
+Gradually in Warren's dazed mind the whole affair took definite shape.
+They were gone; arrested on suspicion. For the moment at least he felt
+sure they were safe, even in the hands of an enemy who had shown
+themselves utterly cruel and heartless. He felt sure that if they were
+suspected of being spies every effort would be made to make them confess
+before they were executed, if it did indeed come near that question.
+
+But "Find Ivan." What did that mean? Evidently Ivan was not with them.
+As though in answer to his thought, Warren heard or thought he heard a
+faint shout. He listened. It was repeated, with a sound of pounding and
+banging. Once more Warren searched the house, beginning with the old
+dusty, rambling attic set close under the great beams of the old house.
+Down he hurried, from room to room, looking in presses, under beds, and
+listening in each room.
+
+As he reached the kitchen, the sound seemed clearer. It was Ivan's
+voice. He opened the cellar stairs and went down. Once, years, even
+generations past, the house had been the residence of a noble. The
+cellar was not the one or two rooms of the modern house. It was vast and
+vaulted and contained a dozen dark, unlighted apartments, all with
+heavy, iron-barred, oaken doors.
+
+Professor Morris said that two of the rooms had been used as dungeons
+and it was in one of these that Warren found Ivan. He stumbled over him
+as he opened the door. The boy was bound, but lying on his back, so had
+been able to hammer on the door with his feet. The sound of pounding had
+carried even better than his shouts.
+
+Warren hastily untied the cords that secured him and helped him up the
+stairs. He was stiff and sore from the cramped position, but once in the
+upper rooms, he took a deep breath, and proceeded to tell Warren the
+events of the morning.
+
+Once more Professor Morris was the cause of the disaster. The Professor
+was, fortunately, of uncommon type. He was a modest man--so modest that
+it even ceased to be a virtue, and became an annoying and irritating
+trait. He never stood up for himself, nor for his family in any way.
+
+The saying, "Generous to a fault" likewise applied to him. He was a
+spendthrift in kindness, giving not only money needed for himself and
+the children, but bestowing his time when he needed it himself. His
+learning he gave recklessly, too, writing long, learned articles for
+little or no pay, and without a thought that the material given away was
+just so much capital.
+
+But of one thing he was jealous, careful and touchy. His book, his
+almost completed work on Warsaw. It was to be a book of books, so clear,
+so accurate, so full of new f acts that it would be a treasure among the
+literary treasures of his time. Professor Morris believed in the book
+with the conviction that comes to writers when they have done something
+really good. He knew it was fine. It was more than a history of the
+beautiful and fated city. It was written in such golden, flowing English
+that the hardest and driest facts in its pages were polished and placed
+like jewels of great price in their descriptive setting. And they were
+jewels. He had mined them out of strange places in that ancient town. He
+had taken his time and in digging for his beloved facts, he had found
+many an unexpected wonder.
+
+Knowing his father as he did, Warren could see the story told by Ivan as
+plainly as though he had been present. One thing made him smile as he
+recalled it. His father would not use a typewriter, and anything written
+in his strange, cramped hand would look suspicions at once. And he knew,
+too, that his father would resent even the touch of strangers on the
+beloved pages. He smiled a little bitterly.
+
+"Go on, Ivan," he said. "Let's hear it all."
+
+"A detachment of soldiers came down the street," said Ivan, rubbing his
+lame muscles, "and as they came they looked through every house. I
+suppose they were on the lookout for troops of our soldiers. When they
+reached this place, your father met them at door and talked a moment
+with the officer in charge. Of course Evelyn and I did not know what
+they said, but the officer grew angry and your father just stood there
+and smiled and shook his head. Then Evelyn went to your father and as
+soon as the officer saw her he bowed very low, and in English said,
+'Prettee, prettee.' Evelyn came back to us and took the baby from Jack.
+
+"Then the door slammed, and we heard the big bolt fall, and your father
+dragged that big chest across it and came in as pleased as could be. He
+said, 'There, I have settled that! Such impertinence! They wanted to
+search my house!'
+
+"But at that, blows fell on the door and presently it fell and the
+soldiers rushed in. Your father had his book and was trying to hide it
+in the lining of a chair. Of course they at once thought it must be
+plans or something of the sort, and Professor would not tell them a
+thing and we couldn't because we could not make them understand that it
+was just a book about the history of Warsaw. When they took it from your
+father, of course he resisted, and that settled the matter. We had to go
+to the headquarters. Of course, your father would have followed his book
+wherever that went. As we started, the officer took Evelyn by the arm,
+and I think I hit him pretty hard for it. Anyway he gave a command, and
+a dozen big fellows took me and tied me up and carried me down here. It
+is a good thing you came, Warren." He shuddered as he thought of the
+possible ending that his adventure might have had.
+
+Warren was deep in thought. One event pressed so closely on another that
+things lost their significance and importance.
+
+"We have got to get a hustle on now," he said.
+
+"Your American hustle-on; that means act quickly, does it not?" said
+Ivan. "We must indeed hustle on. Let us find where they are, and then
+apply to your Consul."
+
+"That's all right," said Warren, "but I don't think they are in any
+immediate danger and I think the first thing to do is to got hold of
+Elinor."
+
+"Get hold of her," said Ivan. "Do you know where she is?"
+
+"Yes, I think I have found her," said Warren and commencing at the
+moment when the boys parted on the street, he gave Ivan an account of
+his morning's discoveries.
+
+"Good! Good!" said Ivan. "We will go together this time, and together we
+will rescue our pretty little Elinor. Have you made any plans?"
+
+"No, I haven't," confessed Warren. "I don't know what ails me; I seem to
+be perfectly brainless today. It looks like I am losing everybody that
+belongs to me."
+
+Ivan shrugged his shoulders. "Look at me," he said. "My mother long
+dead, my father somewhere on the field of battle, or lying dead in the
+trenches. I do not know; but I must not think. What I want to do is to
+save Professor Morris, my second father, and Evelyn and Jack and Elinor,
+who are as sisters and brother to me. Let us start and plan as we go."
+
+"Have you any money?" asked Warren. "I have not a single copper."
+
+"Nor I," said Ivan.
+
+"We ought to have some," said Warren. "We might have to bribe those
+people."
+
+Ivan laughed, and felt down his blouse. "This might help," he said. "I
+hate to give the small one up. It has been in the family, always worn by
+the eldest son, for more generations than I know; but if we have to give
+it, it will come back. It always has." He offered Warren two rings,
+magnificent jewels.
+
+Warren shook his head. "I hope we won't have to use them," he said.
+
+"What of that?" said Ivan. "Jewels, even family jewels, do not count for
+much beside the dear ones. Ah, Warren," said Ivan, "it is hard for boys
+to talk, even here in Poland, where it is easier to say what is in one's
+heart than it seems to be with you Americans. But let me tell you now
+all that I think. We do not know what we may get into today, what
+peril--maybe death. I feel danger approaching; I cannot say how. All the
+people of my house have been able to foresee disaster. What it is I know
+not. So I will say that so long as I do live, I will never cease to love
+you and yours. I want you to take this ring that we have held so long
+and if we are parted, wear it for the sake of Prince Ivan of Poland."
+
+Warren swallowed hastily. "Same here!" he said. "You know darned well
+I'm strong for you, Old Ivy Scout." He felt hastily in all his pockets.
+"Haven't a thing to swap," he continued, "not a--" He drew out his hand
+with something in it. "Guess this will have to do," he said. "It's a
+buffalo nickel, but I brought it from home. You can have it."
+
+"Thank you so much. I will always keep it," said Ivan. It was so. Years
+after, if Warren could have looked into the future, he would have seen a
+magnificent figure at court, one decoration on his jeweled breast being
+a coin around which sparkled a double row of priceless diamonds. The
+coin was only, a nickel but that mattered not to Prince Ivan.
+
+As the boys approached the street where Warren had located the house of
+the thieves, they decided to hide for a little in the ruins across the
+street, and watch for awhile in the hope that the door might open, or
+the two men come out.
+
+They made the approach one at a time, and settled down for a long wait.
+An hour or more went by, and all at once Warren stuck out a long leg and
+noiselessly kicked Ivan. The oaken door across the street was ajar. Just
+a crack, and for a long time it remained so, while the boys scarcely
+breathed.
+
+It opened slowly, and the two men came cautiously out. They did not
+glance across the street, but looking carefully up and down the crooked
+alley, closed the door carelessly, and went off at a brisk gait without
+a glance behind.
+
+The boys looked at each other.
+
+"Now!" said Ivan.
+
+"Wait!" answered Warren. "Give them time. No doubt they will be gone
+most of the night."
+
+There was a long silence, then glancing at his watch, Warren said,
+"Come! Do you see that door? They did not latch it. I don't believe
+there is a soul over there but the woman. There is just one thing to do.
+Go over and look in; and if she is alone we will rush her, tie her up
+and get off with the children. We can do it."
+
+"That's the only thing to do," said Ivan. "Let's go."
+
+The street was deserted as they crossed it and stepped close to the
+oaken door. It was ajar, and they could see the interior of the dark,
+prison-like room. The woman was there bending over a pot that swung on a
+crane in the fireplace. A heap of filthy rags was in a corner near by,
+and lying there was little Elinor and the strange child Rika. A sob rose
+in Warren's throat as he saw his sister, so pale and thin and terrified
+she looked. He heard Ivan's breath come sharply.
+
+"Let's rush!" he said.
+
+"You can't!" answered Ivan. "Don't you see the chain on the inside of
+the door?"
+
+"It's light, we can break that," answered Warren. "Get yourself
+together. When I say three, throw your whole weight. Grab the woman as
+quickly as you can."
+
+"All right," said Ivan.
+
+Warren stepped back a space and held himself for a spring.
+
+"One, two," he counted slowly. "Three" was never uttered. He heard a
+strange cry from Ivan; and as he did so, a frightful blow from some
+heavy, blunt instrument struck him squarely. He crumpled down
+unconscious.
+
+Ivan, behind him, evaded the blow aimed at his head by the second
+ruffian, and quick as a panther stood back to the wall, gazing at his
+assailant.
+
+"Hands down," said the man, grinning evilly. "Hands down before I brain
+you!"
+
+"What do you want with us?" demanded Ivan.
+
+The man laughed.
+
+"What would we want of eavesdroppers and spies? This is our house, poor
+as it is. We will guard it when young thieves like you come peering in
+the cracks. What did you think to steal of honest men as poor as
+yourselves? Your friend here deserves his broken head. Must I give you
+one, or will you come with me peaceably?"
+
+"I'll come if you will tell me what you are going to do with us," said
+Ivan.
+
+Again the man laughed, and with his foot shoved the body of Warren lying
+motionless on the ground.
+
+"Come on," said the other man. "Why waste words? Get hold of him and
+bring him along!"
+
+"Let me have my way," said the man standing over Ivan. "This amuses me.
+Come, come, young one, what will you-obedience or a broken head?"
+
+Ivan was silent, then he spoke. "I won't fight," he said. "You are too
+big, but I won't go in that door with you."
+
+"So!" said the man. "Then we do it in this fashion." He made a rush at
+Ivan and seizing him in his arms, held him until the other man lifted
+Warren and so, half carrying and half dragging Ivan, he followed through
+the dungeon-like doorway into the gloom and chill of the great room
+beyond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS
+
+
+Ivan's first impression was of a dead, heavy chill which the fire
+burning in the great fireplace at the other end of the vast room was
+powerless to lighten. The place was half underground, and what light
+entered was filtered through dusty and cobwebbed panes of leaded glass
+set high under the vaulted roof. The windows partially lighted the heavy
+oak beams which supported the ceiling, but the lower parts of the room
+lay in deep shadow. Emblems and rude pictures were scratched and chalked
+on the walls, but Ivan could not make them out in the dim light.
+
+Running the width of the room before the fireplace was a massive table,
+and on either side of it were benches built where they stood. From the
+size and strength of them, they might have been intended for the use of
+a race of giants or exceedingly fat men! Their carved bases spread
+heavily apart, and huge dragon claw feet braced them on the floor which,
+beneath and around the table, was carefully paved with stone.
+
+At one side of the fireplace a great pile of wood was placed, broken and
+splintered pieces picked up from the buildings which had been shelled by
+the great guns of the enemy. Bits of oaken beams, pieces of rare, highly
+polished furniture, and scraps of priceless carvings made the pile which
+soon would go in flames to cook the wretched supper even then in course
+of preparation.
+
+A woman stood by the table, scraping scales from a fish. A heavy knife
+was in her hand, and as she raised her dark and scowling face Ivan
+recognized her and shuddered.
+
+As she stood watching the entrance of the group at the door, scowling
+and peering through the gloom, she looked to Ivan's eyes like one of the
+furies of the French Revolution. All the history he had read of that
+dreadful period was made clear and real to him. Ivan, closely watched,
+and closely guarded from harm, had up to the time of the bombardment of
+Warsaw, never come in contact with anyone out of his own noble class
+with the exception of the Morris family. His father, knowing the
+educational standing of Professor Morris in America, and judging the
+whole family by his mild, inoffensive manner, had decided to allow Ivan,
+his son, to learn English from the Professor. It had not occurred to
+him, a man of many affairs, to suspect the presence of an ingenious
+lively, mischievous whirlwind in the person of the Professor's elder
+son.
+
+When Ivan told his father with enthusiasm of the Professor's family, the
+Prince imagined them of course to be exactly like the Professor, and
+rejoiced that Ivan could be among such studious and book loving, quiet
+people. So he told Ivan that he might spend what time he liked with the
+Morris family, and then forgot the whole thing in the fearful question
+of War which soon arose. When he left for the Russian front he left
+orders that in case of any peril or disaster Ivan was to go to the
+Morris house and there remain for greater safety.
+
+Before the happenings of the last chapter, however, Ivan had been almost
+constantly with Warren for a year, and had so imbibed his democratic
+ideas and had studied so hard to make good as a Scout that Prince Ivan
+the Magnificent, had he returned, would have had difficulty in
+recognizing his only and dearly loved son.
+
+But as a matter of fact, Ivan the Magnificent did not return. Instead,
+blood stained, mud stained and distorted, he slept in a far away trench
+past which had swept the invaders' line, grim and terrible.
+
+He had fought well and desperately for the honor of Poland until at
+last, under a leaden rain, Ivan the Prince had gone to meet the fate of
+Ivan the Man. And not one word of this did Ivan the boy suspect.
+
+It had never seemed that harm could touch his wonderful father. He must
+be safe; and Ivan moved through his many adventurous days with only the
+thought that he would have so much more to tell his father on one of the
+rare and precious evenings when Prince Ivan's duties at court and with
+his regiment would allow him to spend a few happy hours with his son.
+
+So it was with a keen and appraising eye that Ivan viewed that dark and
+dungeon-like interior, thinking to tell his father all about it.
+
+The woman beside the table scowled darkly as she saw the group.
+
+"What now?" she demanded. "Are those the spies? They are nothing but
+boys! Why do you bother with them, Michael Paovla, why did you bring
+them here? Crack them on the head! The river runs swift enough down the
+street there."
+
+She brandished her knife as she spoke.
+
+"I will not give them one single meal, do, you hear that?"
+
+"Peace, Martha! Do not jest," said the large man with a wry smile.
+
+He looked at Ivan as he spoke.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked. Clothed as the boy was in mean and soiled
+garments, there was still something distinguished about him.
+
+He stood proudly erect. Perhaps his name would help out.
+
+"Ivan Ivanovich, of the House of Sabriski," he said, looking the man in
+the face.
+
+The three shouted with laughter. "Isn't he clever?" cried the woman.
+"Ask him something else!"
+
+"No," said the man. "I want to think that over. Come, it is cold here!"
+
+He picked Warren up from the floor where he had thrown him, and,
+carrying him down the long room, made his way around the great table and
+dropped him roughly on the pile of rags where, Elinor and Rika were
+crouched.
+
+Poor little Elinor, huddled on her pile of rags, did not recognize the
+limp burden carried in by the larger of the two men, whom she had
+learned to dread with unspeakable terror. When he threw it down in the
+middle of the room, the pale face was turned toward the child, and she
+recognized, Warren. She commenced to scream. Shriek after shriek left
+her pale lips, and the man started over to her side, when a short, sharp
+word silenced her. She looked to see who had spoken, calling her so
+familiarly by name.
+
+"Stop, Elly, stop," said the voice in English, and her cries were
+stilled as by magic, although she still gazed with longing and terror at
+the pale face down which a tiny line of blood trickled.
+
+The second man clasped a second boy, dirty and torn, and meanly dressed
+in a workman's blouse. She stared at him, never recognizing Ivan, whom
+she had always seen so gorgeously clothed in furs and fine broadcloth
+and exquisite linen. It was not until he spoke again that she recognized
+him.
+
+"Be quiet, Elinor," he said. "We will save you. Warren is not hurt, he
+is just dizzy. He will be all right soon."
+
+Ivan spoke hopefully, but as he looked down at the boy lying before him,
+he wondered in his heart if there was really a spark of life left in
+that still, pale, bleeding body. As for Elinor, after the first
+outburst, she sat dumbly trembling.
+
+The past day and night had been so crowded with horrors that the tender
+children were fast passing into a state where they neither realized nor
+felt the hardships and abuse they were subjected to.
+
+The time when they sat playing in Professor Morris's quiet house seemed
+too far away to remember.
+
+They had been playing happily, the two children, when the family decided
+to go away for a few hours, but so happily were they with their dolls
+and each other, that they paid no attention to the stir and unrest about
+them. Even Elinor, who was almost six years old, had not concerned
+herself with the sound of the big guns.
+
+She did not notice when her father left the room. If he told her, as he
+thought he had, to "sit quietly" and await his return, she failed to
+hear him. So she took Rika by the hand and "went, visiting." They sat
+down on the top step, and looked into the empty street, and watched
+occasional groups of fleeing Poles hurry past to the safety of the
+plains. A rough looking woman came past, noticed them, and returned,
+looking as she did so at the house, and peering into the hall through
+the open door.
+
+Then she approached the children and in a voice she tried in vain to
+make soft, she asked what they were doing, and who they were.
+
+Little Rika, who could say but few words, sat and stared at her with a
+frown.
+
+Elinor answered politely. The woman studied them carefully. Elinor was a
+child whose beauty was always remarked wherever she went, and the little
+Rika was equally lovely. They had been used to kindness and attention
+from everyone, so when the woman took out a queer little box, and
+offered them each a funny little black candy, they accepted them quite
+as a matter of course. Then she drew back, and the children turned to
+their dolls again. But only for a moment. Then the head of golden curls
+and the long, black ringlets drooped and the drugged children were
+asleep. The woman shook two big sacks out from beneath her dress, and as
+coolly and as cruelly as though she was filling them with straw, she
+shoved a child in either bag, crossed to the curb with her heavy burden,
+and sat down to wait.
+
+When her two accomplices joined her, they went rapidly to the hovel
+where Warren had tracked them later, and releasing the half smothered
+and unconscious children, they laid them down on a pile of rags, and sat
+looking at them, while they ate their evening portion of black bread and
+cold fish.
+
+There was a great discussion. The larger man, Michael, was in favor of
+offering the children for a ransom. The others would not consider it at
+all.
+
+"Remember," said Martha, the woman, "there is much danger in collecting
+such fees. Rather will I prepare these little ladies for the trade of
+beggars. So beautiful are they that I can go through every capital in
+Europe, if so Europe still stands."
+
+"Have it your own way," said the smaller man, Patro by name.
+
+"I always do," she said simply. Then she studied the sleeping forms
+again.
+
+"I think it will be well, some time soon, to twist the legs of the small
+one," she said. "She would make a sweet cripple."
+
+"No!" said Michael. "You may not do so. I will not have it."
+
+The woman laughed. "Said I not that I have my own way?" she asked.
+
+"All right, Martha, you do," said Patro, "but believe me, it is better
+to take the greatest care of those little ones. Think what dancers they
+may make some day. There is a fortune in those little feet, I'll be
+bound. Be careful of them, watch them, and perhaps some day they may be
+prancing on the opera stage at St. Petersburg, or even here in Warsaw."
+
+The woman sat thinking for a little. "Perhaps you are right," she said.
+"People are dance-mad these times. They are pretty enough to climb to
+any heights."
+
+Patro laughed.
+
+"Why laugh?" said Martha angrily.
+
+"Nothing, nothing, dear Martha, only that it is funny to think you are
+taking these children down from the heights where they belong so that
+they may climb back for your pleasure."
+
+The woman's brow grew black. She reached out a heavy foot, and pushed
+Elinor away from her.
+
+"Not for thy pleasure," she said sneeringly.
+
+"No, Patro, no! They are to pay me over and over for my life. Drop for
+drop, pain for pain, I will take from them all I have myself suffered.
+They shall sleep cold, because so I slept all my childhood. They shall
+hunger because I did so. They shall beg in the streets while I listen.
+Ah!" she shook her fists above her head, "I have hated all the world,
+and now these shall pay me!"
+
+Patro shrugged his shoulders. "As you will," he said. "They are coming
+to life again, however. I would advise you to feed them enough to keep
+beauty in their faces and grace in their limbs, if you indeed wish to
+use them for food and light and fire."
+
+"That is sound sense, Patro," she answered, and when the children came
+dizzily to consciousness again, she treated them with almost a rough
+kindness. But when they cried, she beat them, taking pains to let the
+blows fall where they would not leave visible scars or bruises.
+
+So passed the dragging hours, until Warren, unconscious and bleeding,
+was flung down at Elinor's side.
+
+"There!" said Michael. "You will spy, will you? Well, we have you now.
+And when next you walk the streets, if so you do, you will have cause to
+remember Michael Paovla and his friends."
+
+Patro frowned. "You are too handy with names," he said. "Trust only a
+dead dog."
+
+"Leave that to me," said Michael with a dark frown. "You," he said to
+Ivan, "you see this gun? We'll not bind you, but if you stir toward the
+door, or make a move to free yourself, you are lost. I will shoot you
+down."
+
+"We only want the children," said Ivan boldly. "Give them to us, and we
+will go away, and you will not be harmed."
+
+The three set up a shout of laughter. "Thanks, thanks!" said Michael
+when he could speak, but Martha said angrily, "What! Give up my fire and
+light and food? Not much!"
+
+"Suppose I pay you," said Ivan, "I will reward you well."
+
+Again a shout went up.
+
+"A million thanks," said the woman. "What will you give--a dozen dried
+fishes?"
+
+"You don't know me," scowled Ivan proudly. "I am the son of your Prince,
+Ivan the Brilliant. Beware how you treat me and these friends of mine."
+
+"The boy will kill me!" cried the woman, leaning back and wiping the
+tears of mirth from her leathery cheeks. "Go on, go on, my prince. And
+will you not ask us to the palace some day soon? We would like to see
+you at your own home."
+
+"Give us the children and set us free, and you may come," said Ivan
+after a pause.
+
+"No; you are too amusing," said the woman. "Rather we will take you with
+us, or else leave you safely locked here where no one shall disturb
+you."
+
+Ivan looked at the worn and haggard children and the form of Warren now
+stirring slightly, then he handed the great ruby to Michael.
+
+"Take, this and let us go," he pleaded.
+
+The man looked wonderingly at the flashing stone. "So you too help
+yourself in these war times?" he said sneeringly. "What else do you
+carry, little rat?"
+
+He ran a practiced, light fingered hand over Ivan, searching for more
+jewels, but of course found none.
+
+Night seemed to come all at once in the dark and partly underground
+room. Warren, untended, came slowly back to consciousness, and lay where
+he had fallen in a sort of doze. Little Elinor crept to him and, laying
+her head on his shoulder, went to sleep. Presently Martha began to yawn,
+and the men nodded where they sprawled on the benches. The woman drew
+out an armful of rags, and prepared for the night by wrapping another
+shawl around her shoulders.
+
+The men rose after a whispered consultation, and taking Ivan to the
+furthest and darkest corner, tied him securely to a ring in the wall.
+His bonds were loose enough to permit him to lie down on the hard earth
+and stone floor, but he sat with his back against the wall, wide awake,
+every nerve tense and quivering.
+
+Twice Michael came and looked at him in the light of a torch from the
+fire, and retreated muttering. Ivan decided to pretend sleep. The third
+time Michael gave a grunt of satisfaction.
+
+He went back to the fire and beckoned the others from their pallets.
+
+"He is dead asleep," he said in a low whisper. "We must make our plans."
+
+"Good!" said the woman. "What do you want to do about it?"
+
+She too whispered in a low tone and it struck Ivan that for some strange
+reason he was listening to a conversation spoken in tones that
+ordinarily could not be heard three feet away from the speakers. He
+listened intently. Every syllable was clear and distinct. Owing to some
+peculiar formation of the vaulted ceiling, the sounds were brought to
+him, forty feet from the speakers, as accurately as though spoken into a
+telephone. Ivan's courage rose once more.
+
+He heard the man Michael light his pipe.
+
+"I don't know," he said.
+
+"Of course not!" sneered the woman. "You never do! I suppose you don't
+want to kill them?"
+
+"What's the use?" asked the man. "Why blacken our souls further than we
+must?"
+
+"I'll tell you why," said Martha suddenly. Her whisper cut like a knife.
+"I'll tell you. Because I fear them. Boys as they are, I fear them!
+There is a spirit in the eyes of the one who calls himself Ivan that
+will never die until death blinds them. The little rat! The smart little
+rat! Calling himself a prince! My, I wish I had had the training of him.
+Well, whoever he is, he is a Pole, and he will hurt us yet. I feel it. I
+can feel it, anyway, that harm will come to us through those boys. I
+warn you, Michael. Patro, I warn you. Once, twice, thrice! You know I
+never fail."
+
+There was a silence, and Ivan heard Patro catch his breath sharply.
+
+"Well, what would you?" he said finally.
+
+There was a note of triumph in the woman's voice when she spoke.
+
+"Tomorrow night," she said, "we will leave them here, tied to the table.
+I will leave food on the table for them, just enough for one meal. I
+have still my little friends in the pill box on the chimney ledge. They
+are as strong as ever. We will not stay to see whether they eat or not.
+But I think they will, because I will see to it that they do not taste
+much food tomorrow. We will lock the door. I will go down to Prague.
+They say it is but little harmed, and I have a sister there. I will give
+the smaller child to her. I have a fancy for the light one myself, and
+they are too unlike to pass off for sisters."
+
+There was a long pause. Then, "Have it as you like," said Michael. "Of
+course, the boys will bother a good deal, if they go free."
+
+"Certainly they would," said Martha. "We would never know where they
+would crop up, especially that Ivan one."
+
+"Suppose they do not eat?" asked Patro.
+
+"Eat, eat!" cried Martha. "Well, know you nothing of boys! And they will
+suspect nothing. You are brutes, brutes, remember, and I so kind and so
+sorry," she laughed. "They will believe all I say," she added.
+
+Michael nodded. "Then it is settled," he said.
+
+In the United States, every possible precaution is taken to protect
+children from harm. Laws are made especially for their safety; societies
+exist in every town and city to look after them. They go unharmed
+through the streets. Noble men and women give their lives to visiting
+the poorest districts and making easier the lot of the unfortunate ones
+they find there. Special cases are frequently written up in the papers,
+and help found for them in that way. In factories, shops, stores,
+asylums, in the streets, in the slums, every possible, effort is made to
+make the lot of children an easier and happier one.
+
+In a great number of the European countries, the case is different.
+There are no laws, for instance, governing the age at which a child
+shall be put to work. In fact, in order to keep body and soul together,
+children labor from the time they are babies. They do the work of farm
+animals when their little hands can scarcely grasp the implements of
+toil. There are many, oh, so many of them; and they are held cheaply.
+Poorly clothed, poorly fed, they take kindly to theft, as a means of
+getting the necessities of their bare, miserable little lives.
+
+Once upon a time, there was a dark and dreadful age when making cripples
+and dwarfs was a regular trade. Children were taken (nearly always
+stolen ones) and their limbs twisted, or their faces distorted, in order
+to gain sympathy from the passersby, of whom they were taught to beg.
+That frightful time is long past; but the trades of begging and thieving
+are still taught.
+
+And to criminals like those in whose hands the children had fallen,
+life, and child life especially, was too cheap and of too little account
+to matter much. They did not in the least mind the contemplation of a
+crime as horrible as the one they had just decided on. They were afraid
+of the bright, alert Scouts who had fallen into their clutches, and to
+them there was but one way to treat the matter--the shackles and the
+poisoned food.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+After this there was silence. The men slept with snores and grunts an
+they moved uneasily on their hard beds, and Ivan slept only at
+intervals. He was anxious to know whether the conversation had been
+heard by Warren, but did not dare to communicate with him in any way,
+although he could hear an occasional sigh as though his friend was
+suffering pain. Warren was indeed feeling badly from the blow that had
+nearly broken his skull. Fortunately the weapon, a piece of iron shod
+wood, had glanced and so saved his life. But his head ached worse than
+he had thought a head could ache; and when he finally came out of the
+daze of the blow, he slept only in a sort of stupor. He had not heard
+the conversation that had been listened to so eagerly by Ivan, and so
+was at least saved that anxiety.
+
+Day came, and to Ivan, who was prepared, there were signs of departure.
+Warren, who still lay silent on his pallet of rags, did not seem to see
+anything. He did not eat, but accepted a cup of' water from the woman's
+hand.
+
+Elinor clung to him, and the woman did not object.
+
+Ivan was afraid to speak to any of them. The day dragged away, and
+finally (it seemed years) the room grew so dark that Ivan knew that
+night must be approaching. Soon he would know their fate. It was
+uncertain, because he knew that at any time in the day they might have
+decided not to leave their death to the poisoned food, but to shoot them
+to death before leaving the place.
+
+However, Martha commenced the preparation of the meal that was meant for
+supper, and Ivan noticed that she had made more than usual.
+
+A crust of dry bread and a cup of water was given to Warren, and the
+same fare thrown on the floor beside Ivan, who did not eat it and
+watched anxiously to see if Warren would taste his. But the boy shook
+his head.
+
+"Never mind," said the woman, slyly looking over to the door where the
+men were bundling some ragged garments in a big square of cloth.
+
+"Never mind. I am sorry for you, my poor boy. Soon those brutes will
+take us away, but I will leave one good meal for you. I promise you that
+if they beat me for it you shall be decently fed for once. And I am a
+good cook; you shall see!"
+
+Ivan shivered. Then as the woman turned to the fire and rattled the
+pans, he said sharply in English:
+
+"Warren, do not eat!"
+
+The three turned threateningly as he spoke, but as he made no effort to
+continue the speech in what was to them an unknown tongue, they once
+more went about their tasks. As they became interested in the tasks they
+were doing, Ivan spoke again.
+
+"Warren?" he said.
+
+Warren heard. "Yes!"
+
+"Don't try to keep the girls if they start to take them," he said as
+rapidly as he could talk.
+
+"There they go again!" said the woman "What are they up to, do you
+think?"
+
+Michael went over to Warren.
+
+"Do you want your head broken again?" he scowled. "You will get it. And
+you, too!" He turned to Ivan, and shouted threateningly across the room.
+"It will be your turn if I hear you speak again."
+
+Ivan, who had said all he wanted to, nodded and was silent.
+
+Soon Michael and Patro picked Ivan up and carried him to the massive
+bench that stood at one side of the table, and seating him there, tied
+his legs in a clever fashion so that he was unable to reach the bonds,
+he was so wedged between the bench and table. The place must once have
+been a public wine room, and what furniture there was of the heaviest
+sort.
+
+Warren they lifted and tied in the same manner on the opposite side of
+the great table.
+
+"There!" said the woman Martha. "Now you can see each other, and talk as
+long as you like." She looked at the men and laughed.
+
+"Where are you going?" said Ivan in Polish.
+
+"Well," said the woman, "I don't mind telling you in the least."
+
+"Don't do it!" warned Patro.
+
+"Why not? They are safe," said the woman.
+
+"Won't your bonds hold as long as necessary? You see," she said, turning
+to Warren, "it will be a day or two perhaps before your friends find
+you. And even then I don't believe you will tell my plans. It will be
+too late. We are going to tame these nice little girls, and make beggars
+of them. Something useful, you see, instead of letting them grow up in
+idleness as they would if they stayed with you. We will go to Prague
+from here and I will give the little one to my sister. Then we will get
+out of this accursed country soon as we can, and get away where money
+comes easy to the poor war refugees. What do you think of that?" She
+leered close to the boy's face.
+
+Everything was ready. The food, poisoned as Ivan knew it to be, stood
+temptingly between them, on the table. It was not an unpleasing meal. To
+Warren, who had not tasted solid food for two days, everything looked
+inviting. Ivan felt himself shaking with excitement. All was ready. The
+men unbarred the door, and the woman with a last sneering jest at the
+boys, picked up little Rika, while Michael lifted Elinor. The child
+screamed.
+
+"Warren, don't let them take me away! Don't let them take me!" she cried
+over and over.
+
+"Be a good girl! We will come for you very soon," said Ivan swiftly, as
+she paused for breath.
+
+The child screamed again, and Michael wound a thick muffler across her
+face.
+
+The heavy door closed with a clash. The boys heard a faint cry, and then
+the great key turned in the lock. They looked at each other.
+
+"What does it all mean?" said Warren. He struggled furiously to release
+his feet, but gave up to sit staring at Ivan. "What does it all mean?"
+
+"Well, for one thing," said Ivan, "that food is poisoned." He proceeded
+to recount to Warren, the strange circumstance of the whispered
+conversation which he had so clearly overheard.
+
+"It has saved our lives," said Warren solemnly. "I am starved and would
+have eaten this stuff sure as nails. Gee, what an escape! Let us work
+out of these ropes and get out of here. Perhaps, we can get those
+cutthroats before they got away from the city."
+
+For some moments the boys both wiggled and twisted to free themselves.
+It was in vain. So closely were they wedged between the benches and
+table, and so cleverly were their feet tied with rope and pieces of
+board to wedge them, that it was absolutely an impossibility to release
+themselves. All through the night they sat there, at intervals renewing
+their efforts to get free, and with despair growing in their hearts.
+They began to realize the seriousness of the situation. When Warren's
+watch told them that morning had come, they found themselves looking
+wistfully at the food. Its scent was in their famished nostrils. Warren
+drew a piece of fish toward him.
+
+"I wonder if it is all poisoned," he said.
+
+With a cry Ivan reached out and swept the food from the table. "There!"
+he exclaimed, "I found myself wondering the same thing. If we die, we
+die--but not that way, my Warren. We will be free yet. Ivanovich does
+not die today."
+
+But Warren, weakened from, his hurts, laid his head down on his arms
+with a groan.
+
+Ivan looked at him pityingly. The loss of his little sister had almost
+crushed Warren. He who was always the leading spirit, quick and
+resourceful, was for the moment crushed.
+
+Ivan did not speak. He respected the grief of his friend. He knew that
+soon he would be himself again, planning for success.
+
+Late that same afternoon three Boy Scouts sauntered down the dark and
+twisted alley leading to the river. The section of the city was strange
+to them, and it was now so wrecked by the recent bombardment that the
+enemy themselves shunned it. The poor creatures that had once found
+lodging in those dark holes of want and famine had all fled at the first
+gunshot; and the boys idled here and there, looking at the marks of the
+shots, and picking up many a queer memento of the battle.
+
+Warsaw had fallen; but the spirit of boys is the same all the world
+over. In their imaginations, even while the smoke of battle still hung
+over the city, they had planned other and victorious battles. They had
+already saved Warsaw for a wonderful golden future.
+
+As they climbed around, one of them pointed to the broken plaster on the
+ground.
+
+"See!" he said. "A Scout! Two of them have been here. There are the
+marks of the nails in their Scout shoes."
+
+The other boys looked. Sure enough they saw distinctly the marks of the
+well known Scout shoes, sold even in distant Warsaw.
+
+"Let's follow them up," said another boy, leading the way.
+
+It was something to do and they bent to the chase like young hounds on a
+fresh fox trail. Rather to their disappointment, the tracks did not
+double or disappear here and there. They led directly down the street.
+As they followed, a faint cry sounded. The boys stopped, startled.
+
+"What's that?" whispered one.
+
+The cry was repeated. "Someone in trouble," cried the first boy,
+hurrying forward.
+
+The boy behind took a quick step, and caught him by the arm.
+
+"Stop!" he whispered. "Don't go on! That's not a human voice."
+
+Frozen in attitudes of astonishment, the boys stood listening with all
+their might.
+
+"Pshaw!" said the tall boy, Thaddeus, in his rapid Polish. "What think
+you would cry like that--spirits?" He laughed.
+
+"It might be," said the second lad doggedly. "There are spirits, of
+course; and when souls are set free in the violence of war they say they
+ever return to haunt the scene of their passing."
+
+"Well, nobody has passed here," said Thaddeus, "alive or dead. Let's go
+on!"
+
+"Wait just a minute," said the second boy. "I tell you there is evil
+somewhere about here!"
+
+"The street is dark and crooked enough to hold almost anything," said
+Thaddeus. "I am not surprised now that my father always ordered me to
+keep away from these streets leading to the river. They say many and
+many a poor wretch has been bundled down there and pushed off into the
+Vistula. She tells no tales, that river."
+
+The cry was repeated. It was faint, and there was a note of pain or
+terror in it that chilled the listeners. Very faint and far away it was
+too.
+
+"I'm going back," said the second boy.
+
+"Go!" said Thaddeus scornfully, "Go and give up your Scout badge, and
+tell the chapter that while the sons of Warsaw were not afraid to meet a
+bloody death, you are not one of them because you think the spirits are
+abroad in the town."
+
+The boy blushed.
+
+"Come!" said Thaddeus. "I know you don't mean it. There is someone in
+trouble. Let us find them quickly."
+
+Following the tracks and listening every few steps for the voices, the
+boys reached the place where Warren and Ivan were imprisoned. They were
+nearly exhausted from the cramped positions and the long fast. They had
+called until their throats were parched, and their voices croaked and
+wheezed. But as they heard the boys familiar and welcome voices sound
+faintly through the heavy door, new energy thrilled then and they lifted
+their voices together in a shout that echoed in the vaulted room. It was
+answered.
+
+So thick and close fitting was the door that they could not make the
+listeners outside understand anything but the word "Help!" which, spoken
+in any language, is certain to bring response. The boys outside shouted
+assurances which were, also not understood, but the sound of friendly
+voices put now life into Warren and Ivan every moment. The great locked
+door was baffling; but there was plenty of heavy timbers around, and
+finding a sort of battering ram was a moment's work. The three went to
+work with a will. Blow after blow fell on the heavy door. It did not
+yield an inch. The lock also held firm, but the new casing was built in
+old and rotted wood. It gave, and with a dusty splintering the door
+toppled in, and the boys, springing over without a moment's hesitation,
+entered.
+
+They hurried to the exhausted prisoners and cut the ropes and freed
+them. Both boys were so numb that it was some time before the Scouts
+could rub feeling into the cramped legs and feet.
+
+Warren pointed to the floor where the pieces of food were scattered.
+Three dead rats lay near.
+
+"You were right, Ivan," he said with a great shudder.
+
+"What is it?" said the Scout who was rubbing him.
+
+"Poison," said Warren. "Meant for us." A little at a time he told the
+newcomers the adventures of the past long hours.
+
+After the blow on the head Warren had lain unconscious for so long, and
+when he finally roused the darkness and dungeon-like appearance of the
+room so perplexed him, that he thought himself delirious. He was very
+dizzy, and tried to sleep, feeling that if he could lose himself, he
+would wake and find the whole thing a bad dream. Even when his sister
+came and caressed him, he did not change his mind.
+
+But finally full consciousness came, with all the suffering of his
+hurts, as well as the dreadful anxiety about Elinor and Rika and the
+seeming hopelessness of escape.
+
+The boys all shook their heads when Ivan broke in to tell how he had
+given up the great ruby, only to be thought a thief. They listened
+breathlessly when he told of the strange whisper that came so clearly to
+his ears, and when they reached the account of the poison they scarcely
+breathed.
+
+"You couldn't see the rats, could you?" Warren asked Ivan.
+
+"No!" said Ivan.
+
+"Well," said Warren, "it queered me so I thought I wouldn't say anything
+about it. After you threw the food off the table, I looked down and
+presently something slipped out of the shadow. It was the biggest rat
+you ever saw. Much bigger than any of those. He walked around bold as
+anything, and I began to think what a big fellow like that could do if a
+fellow got down and out. Well, it made me cold. Then he went off, and I
+think he told a lot of the others that there was a lot of good eats on
+the floor, and half a dozen of them came along, and went after that meat
+and stuff. And when they ate it, one by one they just went staggering
+around for a little as though they didn't know what ailed them, and then
+they fell down, and I never hope to see such agony. It was back of you,
+Ivan, and I thought there was no use telling you. But it is all over
+now, for the rats and for us too; and we can be glad you fellows found
+us. As soon as we can walk," he ended, "we must take this thing to
+headquarters. We know where to look for the girls, and they must help."
+
+The largest Scout laughed.
+
+"You don't know what you are talking about," he said. "You can't get
+help from anyone. Our people, the people of Warsaw, are so scattered,
+that it is the same as though they did not exist. As for the others, the
+enemy, they laugh. I know of one lady who lost a child--But there is no
+use to talk. Whatever is done--we will have to do ourselves."
+
+"We will go down ourselves, now we know where to look, and we will take
+the children. We are strong, if it comes to a fight; we can still get
+them away. We ourselves will rescue the children." He laughed and helped
+Warren to his feet. "We are Scouts," he said.
+
+"It is a good thing we are," said another boy, busy rubbing Ivan who lay
+with set teeth, stifling the pain of returning circulation in his
+tortured ankles.
+
+"You did a wonderful thing, Warren," he continued, addressing the boy he
+named, "when you started the Boy Scout movement over here. Well I
+remember the day I told my people about it. They were amused. They
+called it one of the crazy plans of the Americans. They were afraid to
+have me join. They were afraid that I would get into trouble with the
+government. Everything is so strictly watched. But they were so glad to
+have me have a good chance to learn the American language, that they
+would not quite forbid me. I thought I never would learn. Sometimes I
+thought I knew it well; and there would appear in your speech some
+strange words that you could not seem to translate to us, and you called
+it all with one word, 'Slang!' You said you could not get along without
+it. And it was and is the most difficult part of all the noble language.
+Yet now that I can read your native language, I never seem able to find
+this slang you talk in the books or magazines. I have kept a careful
+list of all I have heard you say, and I am teaching it to my mother and
+to my sister who was to have been presented at Court, had not this war
+come up. It would be fine for them to be able to talk this slang to your
+ambassador." He stopped speaking Polish, and broke into lame and halting
+English. "Do you get me, Lissee!" he asked.
+
+Warren groaned.
+
+"For the love of Mike!" he said. "No, I don't mean that! For Pete's
+sake--" He groaned again. "I don't know what I mean," he said, "but I do
+get you. Mikelovo and you don't want to teach your precious family any
+more gems." He hastily sought an excuse. "You see only men and boys talk
+it as a general thing. Better teach the women stuff out of the books."
+
+"All right," said the earnest student of the American language, "but in
+all other things the Boy Scouts are all right for my family."
+
+"When the books and other things came from your country, I showed them
+to my father with trembling; but he approved. And now we will do all the
+great things, we ourselves, that our poor country cannot do. We will
+help your good father, and rescue the little children."
+
+"One thing I have noticed," said the first boy. "There are no boys
+around the streets giving any help to the hurt or lost or troubled
+except the Boy Scouts. When Warsaw rises again, there will be a great
+order here, and all the boys in the city shall have a chance to prepare
+for it."
+
+"Gee whiz, yes," said the student of slang, solemnly, "we will get 'em
+all in line."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CARVED PANEL
+
+We will leave the Boy Scouts puzzling over the tremendous problem of
+getting in touch with headquarters and releasing Professor Morris and
+the others, while we visit a magnificent home far up in the residential
+part of the city, where the beautiful parks, wide streets and fine
+buildings all told of great wealth.
+
+Many of the places lay in ruins, but here and there arose a dazzling
+white marble building that had happily escaped the destruction of the
+iron rain that had poured over the ill-fated city. Many of these were
+occupied by the officers and men of the invading army. Destruction of
+the worst sort went with them, and the unhappy owners had, whenever
+possible, secreted the most valuable of their belongings. Pictures,
+jewels, silver, furs and even rugs were hidden in secret vaults or
+buried in gardens and cellars. For the people of Warsaw, as well as
+their fair city, were ruined, although sooner or later the scraps saved
+could be converted into money. Rich and poor fared alike; for the
+present, at least, everyone needed food and safe shelter.
+
+In the dining-room of one of the finest places saved from the destroying
+shells sat a group of officers. They were big, blonde men, and they
+talked roughly and rapidly in their native German. It was plain to see
+that they were quarreling. One of them, rising from the great carved
+chair in which he had been lounging, kicked it from his path and walked
+nervously up and down the room. He was scowling ferociously while with
+his saber point he jabbed little holes in the Russian leather covering
+the back of the chair opposite him.
+
+He shook his head as the man who was walking up and down neared his
+chair.
+
+"I tell you, Otto, you can't do it," he said. "You can't burry things
+so. Those people are Americans. You can't execute that old man on a bare
+suspicion. What if his notes are a code? We have them, at all events;
+and we have him; and we must wait until the General returns."
+
+"That's not my idea at all!" scowled the other man. "This is war. I am
+in command, my friend, and if I think I have a spy, and see that it is
+my duty to stand this man up against a wall, then what? Bang! Bang! It
+is all over. What can be said?"
+
+"What is your idea exactly?" asked the man at the table. "What is the
+use of hurrying things so? It sounds like murder to me. I think the old
+man is perfectly harmless. He is probably just what he claims, a
+professor in one of the American Universities. I've heard of this
+Princeton. It is a place of some size and standing."
+
+"That is just it, Gustav!" cried the other.
+
+"That is one reason for suspecting him. He is too glib with his
+Princeton. Himmel! Did you ever hear a man talk so fast and so much and
+use such words? I can speak as good English as any man my age, but there
+were words, dozens of them, that I had never dreamed of."
+
+"Is that the real reason why you are going to shoot him as a spy?" asked
+Gustav, coming back to the main point once more.
+
+"I don't suppose I shall shoot him at all," answered Otto grimly. "I
+want to, that's all, but I can't do it unless I have sufficient cause,
+no matter how much I would like to remove him. He is in the way."
+
+Gustav stared, and laid down his saber. "I see!" he said, nodding his
+head slowly. "The girl?"
+
+"Yes! The girl!" said Otto. He frowned and continued to walk up and
+down, while the other laughed.
+
+"What would you?" he demanded. "You would get yourself into all sorts of
+trouble. There is no kidnapping of young women in this campaign,
+remember!"
+
+"I would like to marry her," said Otto coolly. "She is so pretty and
+sweet."
+
+"So are the German girls," declared Gustav, loyally.
+
+"What a romantic episode!" sighed Otto, rolling his eyes in a
+sentimental manner. "I discover this beautiful American here in Warsaw,
+in the heart of the war; I love her; I marry her. It is wonderful!"
+
+"It certainly is," said Gustav. "Wonderful indeed! And in order to bring
+her to a proper idea of your goodness and charm, you shoot her father
+and brother-do you shoot her brother, by the way?"
+
+Otto scowled. "You are coarse, my friend," he said. "I do not shoot
+anyone. Germany merely destroys a spy. As for the brother, he is small,
+I think he disappears."
+
+"Does the German army cause that too?" asked Gustav.
+
+"Don't jest," said Otto. "I am in earnest."
+
+"In truth, so am I!" answered Gustav. "You are crazy, just plain crazy.
+The man is no more a spy than I am, I'll be bound!"
+
+Otto shrugged his broad shoulders. "You don't know whereof you speak,"
+he said. "You have not heard him talk, have you?"
+
+"No, I'll grant that," Gustav acknowledged. "Have him brought in and let
+me hear him."
+
+"Very well," said Otto, "but speak English to him. His German is so bad
+that he ought to be shot for that if for nothing else."
+
+He turned and summoned an orderly. The two men sat in silence. At a
+nearby table two lieutenants were busy writing. They did not speak but
+looked eagerly as the door opened, and the prisoners entered. The
+lieutenants shifted in their chairs and smiled at each other in
+anticipation. Gustav caught their fleeting grins and dismissed them from
+the room with a curt command, then turned his attention to the group
+standing just within the door.
+
+Professor Morris stood with a protecting arm around each of his
+children. He looked broken and old, and wore the air of a man who has
+been rudely wakened from a secure and comfortable sleep to view some
+unimagined horror. The War, the bombardment and the fall of Warsaw, had
+at last become something more than a spectacle to be transferred to the
+pages of his book. It was a frightful fact, a living reality in which
+men died by thousands, and little children perished, where women's
+hearts broke with their anguish and despair.
+
+He found that War recognizes but few laws, and even fewer obligations.
+It seemed that his standing as a man of learning, his claim as a citizen
+of the United States, availed him nothing. Standing there, a prisoner,
+with a helpless child on either side, the ivy-covered walls of his
+beloved Princeton seemed far away indeed. As he closed his tired eyes
+for an instant he could see a clear and lovely picture of the velvet
+green campus and the great iron gates opening on the smooth and level
+streets shaded by lofty trees. He heard the chimes, the laughter of
+happy young fellows passing to and fro. There were rows and rows of
+peaceful homes, stately mansions and simple cottages. On level,
+perfectly kept tennis courts, here and there, men and girls all in white
+played tennis. He saw his friends--
+
+But opening his weary eyes, he saw a gorgeous, tumbled room whose
+princely draperies were torn and full of saber cuts, a sideboard where
+priceless glass had been a target for the rough play by rougher men.
+Before him were the two hard, blonde German faces, and there he stood, a
+prisoner, with his two children clinging to him. Warren and Elinor were
+gone, he knew not where.
+
+Captain Handel stood motionless, but Captain Schmitt rose civilly and
+bowed when he saw Evelyn. He could not help it. The girl was so noble,
+so lovely, and hid her fright so gallantly, that he was compelled to pay
+her the slight courtesy that he did.
+
+"Captain Handel tells me that this notebook is yours, Professor Morris,"
+Gustav commenced in almost perfect English.
+
+"It is," said the Professor. He eyed it hungrily, and reached a hand out
+without thinking what he did.
+
+Gustav drew the book back.
+
+"It has a suspicious look," he said. "So many plans and measurements and
+specifications. Will you not explain?"
+
+The Professor reddened. He shut his mouth stubbornly.
+
+"Those are private notes," he said. "I was sent over here to make what
+discoveries I could along certain lines."
+
+"What, did I tell you, Gustav?" broke in Otto, turning to his brother
+officer and speaking in a low tone. "There is the whole thing! He was a
+spy sent to make discoveries along 'certain lines.' He confesses that.
+He has succeeded in doing so. The book tells us that."
+
+"Wait, wait!" begged Gustav. "Professor Morris, do you understand that
+you are here facing a most serious charge?"
+
+"It is a silly, trumped up charge," declared the Professor, irritably.
+"Silly trumped up charge! I absolutely will not answer your questions.
+Wait until you hear from the American Consul."
+
+"We won't hear from him," said Gustav gently. "You are in our hands,
+bearing suspicious documents, and you refuse to answer our questions. Do
+you realize the seriousness of this affair?"
+
+"Certainly not!" declared the Professor, "and let me tell you, my young
+friend, I shall write this thing up in the papers when I return to
+America. I shall make public your personal attitude in the matter. At
+the present all I demand is release and that manuscript on the table
+beside you. Also my notebook." He bowed slightly and stood waiting as
+though he fully expected the officers to do his bidding, as indeed he
+did.
+
+"Will you explain your notes?" asked Gustav quietly.
+
+Otto was nervously biting his small moustache, his eyes fixed on
+Evelyn's lovely face.
+
+"No! No!" cried the Professor loudly, "a thousand times no! I refuse to
+share with you the results of my researches. What, and have you get the
+credit of all my labor? Never!" He clenched his hands.
+
+"Father--" began Evelyn pleadingly.
+
+"Be silent, Evelyn!" commanded her father sternly. "I know what I am
+about! I refuse to say anything, whatever happens."
+
+"You had better think this over, Professor," said Gustav. "We will leave
+you here alone for half an hour. Talk it over with your children and
+decide if you wish to give up your life for the sake of these notes.
+Explain them to us, and we will promise you safe conduct out of the
+country. The girl and boy will have to remain as guarantee of your good
+faith. They will not be harmed. In case you will not do as we suggest--"
+He tapped his saber, and started to the door.
+
+Otto spoke abruptly.
+
+"The windows are barred," he said. "Two men guard the door. You cannot
+escape. Decide!"
+
+He looked longingly at Evelyn and followed Gustav from the room. The
+heavy door shut silently behind them but not before they had a glimpse
+of the two soldiers standing at attention in the hallway.
+
+While they stood looking at it, it opened and Otto entered, closing it
+after him.
+
+"I may as well tell you," he said. "You will shoot as a spy if you do
+not explain your charts and figures and leave the country."
+
+Then as though he could not conceal his triumph, he added, "In any case,
+you know your daughter remains here."
+
+"Remains here?" cried the Professor. "How is that? What do you mean?"
+
+Otto shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I like her," he said coolly. "I might marry her. You are very lovely,"
+he added, turning his bold, cold eyes on Evelyn.
+
+She hid her face against her father's shoulder.
+
+Otto laughed.
+
+Jack sprang at him with a shrill cry. The big man caught the boy, and
+flung him contemptuously to the floor.
+
+"Be careful, little sparrow!" he said. "A second time and I will crush
+you! I'm going now," he said, turning to the Professor. "In half an hour
+we will come and you will tell us which you prefer--death or safe
+conduct." He bowed. "Good-bye for a little, Mees Evelyn, he said and
+closed the door behind him."
+
+Evelyn threw herself on her father's shoulder and burst into sobs. "Oh,
+father, father, what shall we do?" she cried.
+
+The Professor was silent, then he said, "Well, my dear, I actually
+believe that young man meant what he said."
+
+"Of course he did!" sobbed Evelyn.
+
+"In that ease," said the Professor firmly, "I would as lief be dead as
+to have the work of a lifetime destroyed by those rascals."
+
+He hastened to the table and took up the portfolio enclosing his book.
+"It's all here," he said after a glance.
+
+"But father, whatever they do to you, they are going to keep me here.
+What will I do? What will I do?"
+
+She ran to the windows and looked out. It was just as they had been
+told. The casements were heavily barred and there was but one door, the
+one through which the officers had passed. The walls were paneled half
+way up with old oak. The room was solid as a dungeon. There was not a
+chance for escape. In a few minutes the soldiers would return and tear
+her father from her.
+
+Her father was speaking. She listened.
+
+"All here," he said, "every page! That is fortunate indeed."
+
+He looked searchingly at Evelyn. "I have a plan, my," he said. "This is
+a very dreadful affair, but on second thought a scheme occurs to me. I
+will explain somewhat of my notes, but not enough so they could amplify
+them. Then, with my safe conduct, I will go over to Germany, explain the
+whole affair, and demand your release. You will doubtless be absolutely
+safe here, absolutely safe. This young Handel seems rather a
+rattle-brained youth, but Captain Schmitt looked conservative and sane.
+I will place you in his Charge. John is with you, and you will be
+perfectly safe, I am positive."
+
+Evelyn grew deathly pale. She kissed her father's cheek, then listlessly
+approached the table. A revolver was lying there.
+
+"Yes, I know that I will be safe," she said firmly. She took the weapon
+in her hand and looked up.
+
+As she raised her eyes, she looked straight into the face of a girl
+about her own age, who stood motionless against the wall, one hand
+outstretched its though to call her. Evelyn stared in unbelief. An
+instant before they had been alone in the room! Were her senses leaving
+her? She looked at her father and brother. They, too, were staring,
+speechless and wild-eyed. So she did not imagine the graceful figure and
+lovely face with its dark troubled eyes.
+
+The stranger pressed a finger on her lips in a gesture of silence, then
+she beckoned, and as they approached, tiptoeing over the thick rug, she
+turned and pressed a finger on a carved rosette in the oak panel.
+Without a sound it slid open, and they found themselves in a narrow,
+stone passage. Once more the strange girl motioned for silence. Then she
+slid an iron grating across the secret door through which they had come,
+and turning ran lightly down the passage. Without a moment's hesitation,
+Evelyn started after, her hand still clasping the revolver which she had
+taken from the table. The Professor, clutching his recovered manuscript,
+followed, while Jack brought up the rear.
+
+As they turned a corner, a faint shout reached them. The officers had
+returned to the empty room!
+
+The way was long, with many sharp turns. It seemed to be a space between
+rooms. Once or twice shouts and laughter were faintly heard, as they
+seemed to pass near a room full of soldiers. It was dark. The girl ahead
+felt in her pocket, and brought out a tiny flashlight. They came finally
+to a steep flight of stairs.
+
+Now for the first time the girl spoke. In a cautious whisper she said,
+"Be careful!" and holding the flash behind her for their guidance, went
+swiftly and lightly down, with the manner of one who is familiar with
+every inch of the way. The stairs were wide and shallow. There were a
+great many of them and they seemed to go down a long way. Evelyn
+wondered if the place was built on a hillside, making it a long way to
+the underground regions she suspected beyond or below. She afterwards
+found out that this was correct. A door barred with iron was at the foot
+of the stairs. Indeed, they ended right against it. The girl pushed the
+door open, and when they had entered, closed it behind them and dropped
+a massive bar across it. They were in a large, stone chamber, empty save
+for a few scraps of furniture.
+
+Their guide swiftly crossed the room and opened another forbidding
+looking door. The second room was like the first, but was filled with
+casks and huge barrels. Beyond this again they entered a narrow passage,
+so very narrow that their garments brushed the walls at either side. The
+stones underfoot were rough and uneven.
+
+Professor Morris walked carefully, picking his steps by the aid of the
+flashlight. Evelyn and Jack, more careless, stumbled frequently, but
+still the girl, light as a feather, flitted on, swift and sure footed.
+
+Once more the flash revealed a wall ahead. As she approached it the girl
+turned and smiled. Evelyn stared. There was no sign of any opening in
+the rough wall and the great stones seemed fast in their cement, but the
+girl, stooping, pressed a corner of one of the paving stones. To their
+amazement it slid from its place, revealing another very narrow flight
+of steps. The girl descended, and when they were all down, pressed
+another spring, and the stone slid in place. Another flight of steps
+exactly like the ones they had just descended rose against the flooring;
+and when the girl had led the way, they one by one stepped into a large
+and brightly lighted room.
+
+Professor Morris blinked; Jack turned red; Evelyn gasped with surprise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE SECRET CHAMBER
+
+It was a vast apartment of stone, but the rugged walls were nearly
+covered with the most rare and beautiful hangings--curtains, tapestries
+and strange oriental rugs. Numerous paintings apparently of great value
+also hung about, or stood on the floor leaning against the wall. The
+stone floor was deep with rugs and fine furs. A number of couches, wide
+and comfortable, were set here and there, and one corner of the room was
+hidden by a great black and gold screen. From this corner came the
+comforting odor of coffee.
+
+Professor Morris sniffed it with joy.
+
+In the center of the ceiling hung a simple drop light of great power
+illuminating the place with almost the glare of sunlight. Beneath the
+light stood a large table littered with magazines, papers and articles
+of value. Beside it, in a deep easy chair, sat a woman. She was about
+forty years of age and beautiful. Her garments were very rich, and she
+sat listlessly leaning her head on her hand for she had been weeping. At
+her side, evidently bent on comforting her mistress, knelt a woman in
+the costume of a servant. A footman in livery stood at attention behind
+her chair. Even in that strange, sunless, underground place, everything
+in sight, confused though it was, gave evidence of immense wealth and
+luxury.
+
+After the dark, blank, twisted passages, and the horrors so lately
+escaped in the room above them, the scene seemed unreal enough to be a
+dream. As they appeared through the small square in the floor and stood
+in a hesitating group the lady in the easy chair leaned forward and
+looked at them earnestly.
+
+Their guide, the young girl, pressed the spring that replaced the
+flagstone, and as soon as she was sure that it was adjusted, ran eagerly
+across the wide space and knelt at the lady's knee. She spoke rapidly
+and excitedly in Polish. Evelyn could catch a word occasionally. Then
+the lady rose and advanced with a graceful gesture of welcome.
+
+"You are indeed welcome," she said easily in English. "I cannot be
+thankful enough that my daughter overheard those brutal soldiers and was
+able to rescue you. Come and tell me about it."
+
+Professor Morris bowed low over the hand extended him. Then leading the
+way, the lady returned to the table where the footman drew chairs for
+the group.
+
+Professor Morris told his story of the arrest and imprisonment and the
+result of the conference in the dining-room. The lady shuddered.
+
+"You are safe now, at least," she assured him when the story was
+finished. "And we are happy to have you with us. It is a comfort to have
+someone with whom to share one's sorrows. One has no happiness to share
+now." She smiled sadly.
+
+"I am the Princess Olga Nicholani; with my husband and children I have
+lived here all my life. The Prince is with his troops, living or dead I
+know not. Our son is with him. When the war separated us I, Modjeska
+here and my baby girl, with a few of our old servants, remained in
+Warsaw.
+
+"We were perfectly safe until the bombardment of the city commenced.
+Then we decided to escape, if possible. We clothed ourselves plainly,
+and under cover of darkness crept from the house the first night. All
+lights were out, and we reached the corner safely. We had planned to go
+down to the river front, where we had a motor boat, in which we planned
+to escape. But just as we turned into the river street, we were met by a
+maddened crowd of citizens all rushing to safety. They met us like a
+great wave. Modjeska and the servants were crushed against a building,
+but I was thrown down and for a moment stunned. When the crowd had
+passed, my people assisted me to consciousness, but oh, my heart--my
+heart! How can I tell?"
+
+She bid her face in her hands and shuddered. Modjeska clasped her in
+other in her arms, murmuring loving words of comfort.
+
+In a moment the Princess looked up.
+
+"You can imagine our agony, Professor Morris, when we found that our
+baby was gone. She had been torn from me in the crowd. We could not find
+her. We searched all night. Then they brought me home here by a secret
+passage, and, the men hastened to bring down everything movable of value
+or comfort. We have plenty of light because we have our own electric
+light system, and this building was not struck by shell or bomb.
+
+"The secret passage through which Modjeska brought you was revealed to
+me by my husband, the Prince. His father had taught him the way, and not
+long before the war we carefully taught our two elder children the
+secret springs and all the turnings. I do not know why Modjeska happened
+to venture along those dark passages to the dining-room."
+
+"I don't know either, mother," said Modjeska, shyly. "I had a strange
+feeling that I had to go. Something seemed to drag me there."
+
+"Did you hear the conversation?" asked Professor Morris.
+
+"Part of it," answered Modjeska. "Enough to tell me that something
+terrible was going on. I was wild with fright. I did not know how I
+could help you until I heard that dreadful man say that he and the other
+officer would go out for half an hour. And mother, he told them they
+could not escape, because the windows were barred, and the door guarded.
+Then at first, when I pressed the spring, the panel would not open.
+Something had rusted. I worked and worked before it slid, back."
+
+"A moment later would have been too late," said the Professor, shaking
+his head.
+
+"This room is absolutely safe," said the Princess. "There are seven or
+eight of these chambers, about fifty feet from the house, under the
+garden. So compose yourselves and rest. I cannot leave--half the city is
+searching for my baby--I can do nothing but sit here in agony and pray
+for her return. I know she is dead; I almost pray that she is, but how
+can I ever rest until I know?" She bent her head and sobbed.
+
+Professor Morris cleared his throat.
+
+"I do not doubt that the infant is safe, Madame. No one would
+deliberately molest a helpless baby."
+
+"She wasn't really a baby," said Modjeska. "Mother calls her that
+because she was so tiny. She could walk, and talk a little too."
+
+"Don't say was!" cried the Princess. "Don't talk as if she was dead!"
+
+"No, mother darling, no!" soothed the girl.
+
+"How old is she?" asked Evelyn.
+
+The Princess again controlled herself. "Rika-"
+
+She had no chance to continue--
+
+"Rika?" cried Professor Morris, and Evelyn, and Jack, and again, "Rika?"
+
+Evelyn reached inside her blouse, and pulled out a heavy gold chain hung
+with a splendid diamond ornament.
+
+"Is this yours?" she cried.
+
+The Princess took one look, then seized Evelyn by the shoulders.
+
+"Yes! Yes!" she cried, chokingly. "Tell me where is she? Have you seen
+my baby? Tell me! Tell me!"
+
+Evelyn said the thing quickest.
+
+"She is with my sister, and I think they are safe," she cried.
+
+The Princess gave a deep sigh and fainted quietly away.
+
+It was a long time before she recovered, and then she wanted to be told
+over and over all about little Rika. How she had looked, how she had
+borne the separation, everything. The Morrises having been assured by
+Ivan that Warren was on the track of the men who had kidnapped the
+children, and knowing the cleverness and determination that Warren
+always put into everything he ever did, were positive that Warren had
+the children safely in his possession. And Evelyn knew well that once
+with him, they would not get out of his sight again. All of this she
+used to comfort the Princess who could scarcely contain herself for joy.
+
+"Now it will all come out right!" she said. "When the men come back next
+time, we can set them to hunting up your son and Prince Ivan, and we
+will soon be reunited."
+
+She clapped her hands softly, and the footman approached.
+
+"Luncheon, Michael!" she said, and the Professor watched with pleasure
+the speed with which the Princess was obeyed. Soon they were eating a
+delicious and much needed meal. The Princess herself was so strengthened
+by the tonic of hope and joy that she was able to enjoy the delicate
+food. She could not hear enough about Rika and at every sound declared
+that the men must be returning, although Modjeska reminded her over and
+over that they were unlikely to return before dark.
+
+The afternoon wore on, Professor Morris and Evelyn glad to rest after
+the recent shocks, and Jack playing games with Modjeska, while the
+Princess walked restlessly about the vast chamber, constantly looking at
+her watch. Finally she said joyfully:
+
+"It must be growing dark now. The men will soon return, and we will send
+them to your house where the boys and your little daughter will be
+waiting with my baby Rika. Oh, how can I ever be thankful enough to you
+for your goodness to her?"
+
+Professor Morris smiled. "Considering the fact that Miss Modjeska has
+saved all our lives," he said, "I think that you need feel under no
+obligations to us. We were delighted to entertain the little Rika. I am
+positive that my son will have them in safety somewhere, so you really
+need not worry. I do not."
+
+Evelyn suppressed a smile. She was quite sure her father did not worry.
+He was always ready to let someone else do the worrying for him.
+
+Suddenly a silver knob fastened to the wall dropped from its place and
+swung back and forth on a thin chain.
+
+"They have come!" cried the Princess. She rushed across the room, and as
+the footman drew aside one of the heavy hangings, she pressed with all
+her might on a rough spot in the granite wall. As in the case of the
+flooring, the wall itself parted and slowly swung open. In the dark
+opening stood not one of the well-known house servants, but a slight
+figure covered with dirt and grime. He was tattered and barefooted.
+Under the dirt his pallid face looked deathly, but fire blazed in the
+dark eyes, the fire of love.
+
+"Mother!" he cried. "Don't you know me?"
+
+The Princess gave a cry, and clasped her son in a passionate embrace.
+
+"Ignace!" she cried; and "Ignace!" over and over, while she patted him
+and felt of him as though to assure herself that it was not a dream.
+
+"Where is your father, Ignace?" she whispered finally, as a dreadful
+thought pierced her.
+
+"I come from him," said the young man wearily. "He is wounded, mother,
+and needs you, but be brave, because he will live. Let me sit while I
+tell you."
+
+He sank wearily into a chair, still clinging to the hand of the
+Princess. He paid no attention to the strangers, but closed his eyes.
+
+"I thought I would never see you again, dear ones," he said huskily. "I
+simply can't tell you now what we have been through. All I can say is
+that in the final encounter, as the enemy passed Lodz, my dear father
+was desperately wounded. I missed him, and searched for him. When I
+found him he was unconscious. Mother, I thought he was dead. But he
+lived, and under cover of darkness we carried him to the house of our
+Aunt Francoise. She has turned it into a hospital, mother, and all the
+forty rooms are filled with soldiers. Well, father had good care then,
+for all the rush Aunt Francoise had him taken to the hidden chapel in
+the east wall, and it is quiet and safe. But you must come and care for
+him, mother, for there are not enough nurses by half, and the men suffer
+so."
+
+"Where was he injured, Ignaee?" asked the Princess, shuddering. The boy
+hesitated.
+
+"Mother dear, it is pretty bad, but I have see it so much worse. He has
+lost his left arm."
+
+The Princess covered her eyes. "Oh, my dear, my dear!" she murmured.
+"How can I bear this for you?"
+
+"It might be far worse," said Ignace cheerily. "We must start back to
+him tonight. Did you save any of the motor cars?" He turned to Michael.
+
+"Two, your Excellency," said the man. "They are hidden in a haystack
+down past the woods at the end of the estate. The large touring car, and
+your racer."
+
+"Good!" said Ignace; then suddenly, "Where is my little Rika?"
+
+At once the Princess and Modjeska commenced the story of her loss, and
+all the other events leading up to the appearance of the Morrises and
+the strange coincidence of their having found the little girl.
+
+Ignace listened breathlessly.
+
+Once more the silver knob fell. Someone else was coming.
+
+The footman opened the stone portal, and three men entered. They bowed
+profoundly to the Princess and greeted Ignace with deepest respect.
+
+They had of course no news of Rika but the Princess was able to impart
+the good news to them and to tell them that, after they had eaten, they
+could go to the Morris house and fetch the two girls, Ivan and Warren
+back.
+
+"I am not sure that we can do so tonight, Excellency," one said. "There
+is great confusion in the house. A triple guard surrounds it. So far the
+guards are no nearer than our doorway, but if they spread their lines we
+will not be able to get back. I heard a soldier say that two important
+prisoners had slipped out from under the very eyes of the officers and
+could not be found. They are in hiding somewhere, and every effort is
+being made to find them. They know they have not left the building."
+
+He glanced suspiciously at the strangers.
+
+"Yes, they are here," said the Princess. In a few words she explained.
+The man bowed low.
+
+"By your leave, Excellency, I will take the others and go--at once," he
+said. "One may eat some other time perhaps. We are in danger even here,
+and I will not feel safe until we are on our way."
+
+"Go then by all means," said Ignace. "He is quite right, mother, and the
+sooner we are out of this, the better."
+
+"Go, and in the meantime we will prepare for the journey."
+
+The men saluted and left silently, and the Princess with the
+woman-servant and the two girls, collected dark cloaks and warm rugs. A
+bountiful lunch was prepared and packed.
+
+Professor Morris, holding his manuscript, sat searching through one
+pocket after another with a mournful persistence. Finally Evelyn noted
+him and asked what was the matter.
+
+"I have lost my reading glasses," he said.
+
+"Can't we find them for you?" asked Modjeska politely. She started to
+look on the rugs.
+
+"They are not here," said the Professor. "I heard the ease fall out of
+my pocket when we were coming through the passage."
+
+"Then we will get them," said Modjeska. "It will only take a minute.
+Would you like to come with me, Evelyn?"
+
+"Yes, I would!" said Evelyn, who was nervous and wanted to do something.
+
+"Hurry!" said the Princess. "I know it is absolutely safe, but I can't
+bear one of you out of my sight for a moment."
+
+The passage was very cold and damp, and the girls each put on a heavy,
+dark cloak. They threaded their way through the rooms that lay between
+the living-room and the passage, and went up the narrow hallway with the
+flashlight illuminating the stone floor. The case was found at last and
+they were turning to go back, when the sound of an explosion reached
+their ears and a dim light appeared at the end of the corridor. For a
+moment the girls stood motionless; then they turned, and ran swiftly
+down the twisted way to the sliding stone, and found themselves once
+more in the room they had left, but it was in darkness.
+
+The electric lights were out and the little flashlights made but a dim
+illumination in the room.
+
+The men had returned, and all stood staring as the two girls raced into
+the room and told their story.
+
+"I think they are dynamiting the dining-room to find the prisoners. We
+must leave now," cried Ignace. "No one knows how they may guard the
+grounds. They are bound to find their victims."
+
+"'Where is Rika?" cried Modjeska.
+
+"They could find no trace of any of them," said the Princess. "We can
+only hope that the boys have taken the little girls either to the
+American Consul's or away from Warsaw. We will have to trust to them and
+believe that they are all together, until we can get in touch with them.
+In the meantime there is but one course open. We must go to the Prince
+at Lodz."
+
+"And at once, mother! I have a feeling that we are not safe even here.
+Have you your jewels?"
+
+"I have them all," said the Princess. "All that I had placed on Rika,
+and which Miss Evelyn has returned, and the court jewels as well.
+
+"Then let us go," said Ignace. "I'll lead the way, Jan. When we reach
+the waterfall, go ahead and see if all is safe."
+
+In perfect silence they left the room, slipping along a narrow, low
+passageway that at first seemed walled with stone, then gave forth a
+moldy, earthy odor.
+
+Presently they heard the sound of gently falling water, and found
+themselves under a narrow waterfall. Again a clever spring was touched
+by some hand in the darkness, and one by one they emerged so close to
+the edge of the falling water that the spray wet them.
+
+They were in the open air once more.
+
+Ignace clasped Evelyn by the hand, and she could feel the nervous strain
+in his grasp. Noiseless as shadows, they slid from tree to tree through
+the great park, and down the grove of interlacing trees. It was a long
+walk. As Evelyn was wondering if she could possibly go much further, a
+dark, round shape appeared in the opening ahead.
+
+It was the haystack.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+NEW CLUES
+
+Walking along in the pleasant, fresh air, Warren and Ivan soon gained
+control of their cramped muscles. It was good to be free. They were
+faint from lack of food, however, and at the suggestion of one of the
+Boy Scouts, retraced their steps to the deserted bakery and once more
+raided the ovens. Then, rested and refreshed, they picked their way into
+the residential section where they knew the officers of the invading
+forces had settled themselves.
+
+Repeated questions finally led them to the building where Professor
+Morris and his son and daughter had been taken as spies. As they
+approached it, they noticed a triple guard at the gate and a large
+number of soldiers close around the palace. The boys hesitated.
+
+"Let's see what this all means," said Ivan. "There is some special
+reason for all these soldiers on guard. Perhaps we can get one of them
+to talk."
+
+"They are not allowed to, you know," said Warren.
+
+"We will try this," said Ivan. He took a large cake from his pocket and
+approached the nearest soldier. He was a young fellow with a wistful,
+hungry face, and as Ivan approached, his keen eyes fastened themselves
+on the bread.
+
+"Eat?" said Ivan.
+
+"Yes," said the soldier, seizing the cake and biting off a great corner
+of it. "Bless you, brother, I was starving!"
+
+"There is more where that came from," said Ivan. "If you are hungry, why
+don't you go eat your supper."
+
+"Eat?" said the soldier bitterly. "Who knows how many hours we have been
+on guard here? I guarded a door in there all day, and now they have sent
+me here. The Captain is so enraged that he thinks nothing of us,
+nothing!"
+
+Ivan leaned carelessly against the wall and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"What happened?" he asked, idly.
+
+The soldier laughed. "It is funny," he said. "You are nothing but a boy,
+so it will not hurt to talk to you, and I have been silent so long that
+my tongue's stiff. Besides, this is good cake. Well, know then, little
+brother, that some people were brought here last night with suspicious
+papers on them. An old man, a boy and a beautiful girl. The old man
+would not explain the mysterious words in his little book, and they
+threatened him with death. He did not believe it. Did I tell you he was
+an American? He was. These Americans never fear. They say simply, "Kill
+me? That is impossible. Postpone it, if you please, while I write to the
+Consul!" Always it is so. Well, that old man, he could not be made to
+realize that Captain Handel is absolute ruler now, right here. They were
+brought to the state dining-room this morning, and the Captain told them
+straight what he intended to do. It was death for the old man and the
+boy, and he would spare the girl." The soldier laughed. "I and one other
+were guarding the door, so we heard. Presently the two Captains came
+out. As they left the room Captain Handel called back, 'Half an hour.
+Just half an hour, understand!'
+
+"Then he closed the door sharply. The two Captains went to a little
+table not far from the door, and sat down. They were not for one second
+out of sight of the door.
+
+"We two stood directly facing it about three feet away in the hall.
+
+"The half hour passed. Captain Handel looked every minute at his watch,
+and Captain Schmitt kept saying, 'Wait, wait; be fair.'
+
+"At last the time was up. They went to the door. Captain Schmitt
+straightened his saber belt, and threw the door wide.
+
+"He looked, then he dashed in, almost upsetting Captain Handel. The room
+was empty. We could see. He called us, and together we searched in and
+on and under everything in the great room. We rapped on the wall. We
+examined the iron bars, but the windows had not even been opened.
+
+"Captain Handel went into a fearful rage. The prisoners had disappeared
+as though they had never been. Even the book was gone from the table,
+and the package of papers the old man had guarded.
+
+"We went over every foot of the place again and again. There was not an
+inch that sounded hollow, as though there was a secret passage. We even
+tore out a panel of the woodwork, and found a stone wall behind it."
+
+The soldier finished his cake, and drew a grimy hand across his lip.
+
+"That was good, brother," he said.
+
+"What happened then?" asked Ivan, while Warren pressed closer.
+
+"Why, we hunted all day," said the soldier, "but of course we couldn't
+find them. Why should we?"
+
+"Why not?" asked Ivan.
+
+"Why not?" repeated the soldier. "Why, those were not human beings at
+all. The old man was too silly for a real man, the girl was too
+beautiful. Human beings do not disappear from a guarded room with four
+stone walls about it."
+
+The man lowered his voice, and spoke in a whisper. "They were devils, of
+course," he said.
+
+The boys were silent.
+
+"Of course," said the soldier, "Captain Handel would not believe
+anything so simple. He would not believe they were gone, so tonight he
+fixed them. It is all over now, and I wish I could go get some supper."
+
+"What did he do?" asked Ivan, trying to keep the anxiety out of his
+voice.
+
+"He dynamited the room," said the soldier calmly. "That part of the
+palace is in ruins. The stones fell like rain. No human being could have
+lived in it. But they did not find the bodies. However, they may be
+buried under the wreckage. I don't believe it, though." He sighed. "That
+was good cake," he said.
+
+"Here's another," said Warren. He clutched Ivan and sunk into the
+shadow. He was shaking.
+
+"It is all over, Ivan," he whispered. "They have killed them."
+
+Ivan pondered. "I don't know," he said finally. "One thing is sure, if
+all those soldiers could not find them, it is certain we can't. They are
+either safe, Warren, or else they are where we can never help them any
+more. It seems to me that the only thing to do now is to go straight to
+Lodz and find Elinor."
+
+"Yes, that is the only thing to do," said Warren. "If I let myself think
+about Evelyn, I will go mad. We will go to Lodz."
+
+"How?" asked Ivan.
+
+"We will have to walk," replied Warren.
+
+"Well, I hope we can get a lift someway or other," said Ivan. "At any
+rate, we must get out of this. I know every step of this part of the
+city. This place belongs to Prince Nicholani. I used to play all the
+time in this park."
+
+He led the way rapidly through the beautiful grounds and entered a grove
+of noble trees. They went on and on through the shadows, until they
+reached the open fields. Beside the highway a great pile of hay lay
+scattered.
+
+"We might sleep here for the rest of the night," Ivan suggested.
+
+"Not if you can go on," said Warren. "I think we had better get as far
+from the city as possible."
+
+"Very well," said Ivan, "but let us rest for half an hour."
+
+They flung themselves on the hay, and in a moment Ivan was asleep.
+Warren could not rest, however, and sat staring moodily into the night.
+In half an hour he roused his friend, and they started onward. They
+proceeded in silence, each busily thinking. Warren trying to bear up and
+take his blows manfully, and Ivan at a loss to know what to say to the
+brave boy who had lost all he held dear in so terrible a manner.
+
+The road was level, and they went rapidly. As they rounded a sharp turn,
+they saw an automobile ahead of them. It was a low racing car and stood
+at the side of the road. There was some trouble on, for a couple of men
+were bending over a wheel.
+
+"They have had a puncture," exclaimed Warren, "and they are headed
+toward Lodz. Let's see if they will give us a lift."
+
+He boldly approached the men, who started, then looked relieved to see
+that it was a couple of boys.
+
+"What's the trouble?" said Warren in Polish. The man straightened, and
+threw his hands up in a gesture of despair. "All the trouble in the
+world!" he exclaimed. "The tire is punctured, and I cannot mend it. I am
+not a chauffeur, but I can drive this car a little, and my master told
+me to bring it to him. I don't know what to do. Of course, as soon as it
+comes light the soldiers will seize it."
+
+"I can fix the tire," said Warren. "I know all about it, but we are
+going to Lodz and we ought not to wait. It is a long way."
+
+"Good!" said the man. "We are going to Lodz, too. There are only two
+seats, but we will carry you somehow. Only be quick and mend the tire.
+Our lives may depend on it."
+
+Warren turned the light on the wheel and went to work. He had always
+prided himself on his swiftness in working out tire troubles, and when
+he saw the bad tear in the tube, he took it off and replaced it with one
+of the new tires strapped to the rear of the machine. He worked in
+desperate haste, and Ivan, at his side, worked with equal desperation.
+
+The men watched or restlessly walked up and down the road talking in
+undertones to each other. It was evident that their knowledge of cars
+was but slight, and they were forced to trust to the young stranger if
+they were to proceed at all on their perilous journey.
+
+When the tire was in place and pumped up, Warren hastily collected the
+tools and started to replace them in the tool box but Ivan stopped him
+with a word. He spoke sharply to the men.
+
+"Take these things," he said. "We are ready!"
+
+The man who had spoken first took the wheel, and his companion the other
+seat. Ivan sat on his knee, with Warren on the running board.
+
+It was soon evident that there was something wrong. The car went plowing
+along on low speed, the engine bucking and starting.
+
+"Good heavens, Ivan!" exclaimed Warren, after a few miles of this jerky
+progress. "What ails the thing? Do you suppose the dub knows how to
+drive?"
+
+Ivan turned to the man at the wheel.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked. "Do you know how to drive? What ails the
+car?"
+
+"I don't know," said the man. "In truth I have never driven but twice,
+but I thought I could and when the Princess told me to bring this car
+after her I was sure I could. She is ahead with her son and Princess
+Modjeska and some guests. I fear I will not be able to reach Lodz." He
+pressed a lever at random, and the ear shot forward with a speed that
+nearly threw Warren from the step. Another frantic attempt and she
+slowed down with a suddenness that almost put the others through the
+wind shield.
+
+"Here, stop!" commanded Warren. "Get out of that seat and let me drive!
+Ivan, tell him I simply eat cars!"
+
+The machine stopped, and the man thankfully resigned his seat to Warren,
+who drew up the heavy motor gloves, and settled himself in his seat. The
+car, a beautiful French model, was familiar to Warren, and he pressed
+the starter with perfect confidence. And he was justified. Like a
+swallow, the beautiful machine skimmed the smooth and level road,
+leaving Warsaw with all its tragedy and far behind.
+
+Warren had scarcely slept for two nights. He had had but little food,
+and his bandaged head felt light and strange. As they went on and on,
+Warren commenced to wonder if he could possibly make the distant city.
+At intervals strange colored lights flashed before his eyes, and faint,
+booming noises sounded in his ears.
+
+They had not encountered a soul. It was as though the whole country,
+after its terrible conflict, lay dead. Finally a faint streak of gray
+appeared in the east. Dawn was coming.
+
+"How far to Lodz?" he called. "Just over the hill?"
+
+"Just over yonder hill," said the man at his side.
+
+Warren slowed down, and dropped one tired hand from the wheel.
+
+"Where are you going when you get to the city?" he inquired.
+
+"If we get through," the man replied, "I am to go to the palace where
+lives a sister of our Princess. She has turned it into a hospital. By a
+strange chance, our Prince was taken there when he was wounded. The
+Princess must, be there now.'
+
+"Very well," said Warren. "Direct me when we reach the city."
+
+It grew brighter, and was quite light when they entered the quiet
+streets. Fortunately they were not stopped, and with the guidance of the
+man beside him Warren drew safely up before the wide stone steps of the
+palace.
+
+The car stopped. Warren shut off the engine, and the others jumped out,
+glad to stretch themselves. Warren alone made no effort to move. The
+others after stamping their cramped legs, turned to look at him.
+
+His hand was still on the wheel, but he was unconscious.
+
+They carried him into the great hall, and a nurse in uniform directed
+them to an empty cot and hurried after a doctor. He pronounced it simply
+a case of exhaustion, and gave orders which the nurse rapidly filled,
+motioning the others to leave as she did so.
+
+The servants turned to Ivan and thanked him for his assistance. For a
+moment Ivan thought that it would be a good plan to go to the Princess,
+and tell her that he was in Lodz. Then he decided that the presence of a
+boy in the city, although he was the son of her very good friend, would
+only cause her to feel responsible for his welfare or safety; so he
+merely nodded, turned his back to tell the nurse that he would return
+shortly, and then he walked listlessly down into the heart of the town.
+
+Hucksters were driving into the open market. Doors were opening here and
+there. A company of soldiers passed at double quick. Ivan wondered where
+they were going. He wondered, too, what possible chance he had to get
+something to eat.
+
+There were no Scouts in Lodz besides his tired self and the exhausted
+boy back in the hospital cot. Ivan thought of Warren with a gratitude
+that he could not have put in words. Warren had taught him so many
+things. With Boy Scout principles and Boy Scout training, he had changed
+from a haughty, helpless young aristocrat to a helpful, well-balanced
+boy, perfectly capable of taking care of himself and of assisting others
+as well. Ivan felt the change; he was so reliant, so strong. A few
+months ago, he would have stood helpless in his present situation,
+conscious only that he was Prince Ivan Ivanovich and must be looked
+after. Now, as he faced the morning light, hungry, ragged, and with only
+the American nickel in his pocket, he smiled at fate and went on without
+fear to enter whatever adventure might come.
+
+The only thing that worried him was the want of enough money to buy
+himself a bit of bread and a dried fish. He reflected that he could
+easily have asked the Princess for enough to supply his wants, but he
+would not turn back.
+
+Ahead of him, an old man with a heavily laden cart was having trouble
+with a skittish horse. In vain he pulled on the lines. In vain he
+threatened and coaxed. The young creature would not stand, and while the
+old man worried with it, vegetables and long sticks of black bread were
+slyly stolen out of the end of his cart. Ivan approached.
+
+"Let me hold the horse, father," he said, taking it by the bridle as he
+spoke.
+
+The old man threw his hands up in a gesture of thankfulness.
+
+"Blessings on you, my son!" he cried. "These thieves will ruin me while
+I speak with that foolish animal. Hold fast, my son, and I will give you
+your breakfast."
+
+Ivan nodded, and the old man turned eagerly to his customers.
+
+Presently he reached over, and handed Ivan a generous piece of bread and
+some fresh fruit. Ivan watched the throngs as he ate, holding the horse
+with his left hand, although it was now perfectly quiet.
+
+As he idly watched the persons passing, he noted that with the passing
+time, the market had become crowded. People moved in throngs.
+
+And then, as the crowd before him happened to part, Ivan noticed in the
+distance a woman hurrying away. She had a big basket on her arm, filled
+with provisions. A little girl clung to her other hand. She was ragged,
+dirty and pale; but Ivan recognized Elinor.
+
+Dropping the horse's rein, he dashed toward them, but the crowd had
+closed, and he was too late. The earth seemed to have swallowed them.
+Like a hound on a trail, he searched the market over and over, but not a
+trace could he find of the woman or child. In his surprise at seeing,
+Elinor, he had failed to take particular notice of the woman. But as he
+thought of it, he felt that, it was not the one he had seen in Warsaw
+and he remembered that that woman had spoken of her sister in Lodz.
+
+Feeling that there was nothing to be gained by remaining longer in the
+market, Ivan hurried back to the hospital, where he found Warren much
+better, and fretting because he was not allowed to get up.
+
+"Well, I've seen Elinor!" said Ivan, as soon as he entered the ward.
+
+Warren sat up, his eyes bulging under, his bandage.
+
+"Have you, honest?" he cried. "Where is she?"
+
+"Well, I lost her in the crowd," said Ivan, and told the whole story.
+
+Warren lay listening carefully.
+
+"Well, as long as we know she is here in the same town, we know we will
+find her. And there won't be any slip the next time." His face clouded.
+"But, Ivan," he said huskily, "I can't bear to think of my dear Evelyn,
+and poor father, and little Jack." He closed his lips and shut his eyes
+in a desperate effort to control his grief.
+
+Warren's cot was drawn across a closed door. And on the other side of
+that door sat Evelyn, crying her heart out for her lost brother and
+sister!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BEGGARS
+
+When poor little Elinor found herself dragged forcibly from her brother
+and away from the comparative safety of the underground room where
+Warren and Ivan had so mysteriously appeared, as she thought, to get her
+and take her home, her childish heart was filled with a terror so
+overwhelming that she did not know what she did. Notwithstanding the
+efforts of the woman who held her, she screamed as hard as she could and
+stiffened in the woman's brutal grasp until she was obliged to put her
+down. Elinor tried to run, but she was too tightly held. Then with a
+muttered rush of comments, the woman rained blows on the poor little
+shoulders and body until the child sank to the ground, nearly stunned
+from the force of the blows. Her cries died, and she lay gasping.
+
+"Now will you be silent?" demanded the fury, shaking her. "You just try
+that again! Just try it, and see what I will do to you." She overwhelmed
+the fallen child with terrible threats until Elinor was silenced and
+shook as though in a chill.
+
+"Now you had better do as I tell you," the woman said. "You will never
+see your brother again, never; never! And you will have to live with me,
+and do as I say." She jerked the child to her feet and dragged her down
+the street after the two men who had gone on, one of them carrying Rika.
+
+She was still muttering when she reached them.
+
+"This one has got to be trained," she said savagely; "and I might as
+well begin it right off."
+
+Michael shrugged his shoulders. "Why don't you show a little, mercy at
+the first?" he inquired carelessly. "It doesn't matter to me, but I tell
+you, Martha, you will spoil her for everything if you handle her too
+roughly. She will die. I've seen her sort before."
+
+"Then let her die!" said the woman. "Good riddance it will be if she
+does not take kindly to my tasks."
+
+"Suit yourself," said Michael; "but take my advice and give her a little
+time."
+
+"Time!" said Martha. "Time! What are you thinking of? There is no time!
+She has lost two years, as it is. You don't seem to remember, Michael,
+that I am as good a pickpocket as there is in Europe. That child is
+almost too old to begin to learn the art. The other one, Rika, is just
+about right; and she has such fine, delicate, little fingers. Well, this
+one has good hands too. But you know well that they are clumsy after
+they reach five. Do you remember the yellow-haired child I trained about
+ten years ago? Ali, she was a wonder! But you never could keep her down.
+How I used to beat her! She would be black welts from her shoulders to
+her knees. No, you could not keep her down. She was so ambitious. If she
+had only kept out of politics, she might have been stealing yet. But now
+she is in Siberia, in the mines. Bah! A home life for me, I say! What
+care I who is in power, so long as pretty ladies carry shopping bags and
+wear sparkling bracelets and flashing brooches! I say a woman wants to
+keep to her own place. Isn't it so, my Michael?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Michael heartily. "I read the other day--"
+
+"Read!" said Martha scornfully. "That's another mistake. Why should a
+man like you read? Sooner or later it will get you in trouble. You never
+know what the reading may contain. Better not know. What you don't know
+won't hurt you."
+
+"You are wrong," said Michael stubbornly. "Sometimes what you don't know
+does hurt you. If I could live again, I would be a better man. When I
+was a boy there was no learning to be had, except for the upper class
+and the priests. Now when I am old and it is too late, you can learn
+everything. I have loitered around the schools and listened to the boys
+talking their lessons over. It is amazing what they know. Why, they know
+everything! And there are schools where they are set to work at all
+sorts of trades. I took a job cleaning floors once so that I might go in
+and see what it was they did. Martha, those boys (they were quite little
+ones, too) made such beautiful things--furniture and all that. There was
+one little chair that you could set on your hand. It was as perfect as
+though it was big enough for you. I thought that I would steal it. Then
+I thought how sad the little fellow who made it would feel. The janitor
+told me there were prizes for the best workmen, and I knew that chair
+was best. So I didn't take it. I never wanted anything more, in my
+life!"
+
+"Silly," said Martha. "Always bothering your old head about someone's
+feelings! I do wish you would stop it! As for these children, I tell
+you, Michael, it is a matter of business. We are no longer young. We
+must prepare for the time when we can no longer stand on corners and in
+church doors and beg. My fingers even now are growing clumsy. Who will
+take care of us then if we do not train these children?"
+
+"I suppose so," said Michael wistfully, "But it does seem a pity. You
+should have seen that chair."
+
+"I've heard about it enough at any rate," said Martha. "You should have
+taken it. You could have sold it for a few kopeks.
+
+"I couldn't," said Michael.
+
+"All right," said Martha. "This is another matter; these children. You
+heard what I said. Now here is what I plan. We will go to Lodz and there
+we will stay for the next year or two. This war cannot last forever, and
+when it is well past, why, then we will strike out in the world. I know
+little girls. These will both be beauties when they are a few years
+older." She laughed as she dragged Elinor along. "I tell you I did well
+when I picked up these pearls."
+
+"No doubt; no doubt!" Michael answered. He could not but look with pity
+on the two children however. He was a man whose whole life had been
+evil, but somewhere in him was a spark of kindness and tenderness. He
+fought, he drank, he stole, he lied; but the sight of the two poor
+little girls dragging miserably along with the remorseless woman somehow
+touched his heart. He knew that he would often beat them, and he would
+also give them their first lessons in picking pockets; but he knew, too,
+that there would be times when he would shield them from the cold,
+relentless fury of the woman.
+
+So it was with a feeling of pity for the weary little feet that he
+asked, "Where do we go tonight? I am tired."
+
+"Tired?" scorned Martha. "You are ever tired! However, we will eat some
+supper, and then on to Lodz."
+
+"Walk?" asked the other man, who had not spoken before.
+
+"No," said Martha. "I have a pocketful of money. No, you don't," she
+added as the man came close to her. "Here's a handy knife if you try
+that. Something tells me to get out of here as soon as we can and it
+will take too long to walk with these burdens. Besides, they would never
+stand it. You may be sure I would not spend this money on the railroad
+if I could help myself."
+
+She turned into a doorway. The house was deserted.
+
+"Here," she said, "I will stay here with these two, while you get
+something for me to drink. Also go to the railroad and see if the trains
+are running. And hurry!"
+
+She found a chair for herself, pushed the two children in the corner
+farthest from the door, and settled herself to wait, while the two men
+walked leisurely out of the house and away.
+
+An hour later Michael hurried back. Martha greeted him sourly.
+
+"Don't pretend to hurry, lazy one," she scolded. "I know where thou hast
+been. Did you bring what I asked?"
+
+"I bring news," said Michael, glancing at the two children.
+
+"Bah! That is dry drinking," said Martha, making a face. "Well, have it
+over!"
+
+"There is a search on for the little one," said Michael. "I know who she
+is. If they find her with us--" He drew his hand across his neck with
+the whistling sound of a knife.
+
+"Who is she then?" asked Martha in astonishment.
+
+Michael stooped and whispered in her ear.
+
+"Ai! Ai!" exclaimed Martha. "No wonder her hands are delicate and small!
+Well, we have got to go on with it now. And quickly, too. How will we
+get out of here? Shall we trust the cars? Do they run? Answer, Michael,
+what did you find out?"
+
+"A lot of things," said Michael. "First place, the station is watched,
+so I bought two tickets for Lodz. We men will go down there tomorrow."
+
+"And leave me here!" asked Martha furiously.
+
+"No, no, no!" said Michael. "Will you wait until I finish? When I came
+from the railroad, I passed a great empty motor truck. Some soldiers are
+getting it ready to go to Lodz tonight. They are going for more
+munitions. It belongs to the enemy, but thanks to my German mother, I am
+German at will; so I spoke to them. I told them about my wife and two
+little children who were going to walk to Lodz. It was great luck. They
+said you could go with them.
+
+"Think of that!" said Martha. "Not to walk a step, and to ride down that
+beautiful road in a truck. What a wonder! I never expected to get into
+one of those great horseless things. Well, what did you say then,
+stupid?"
+
+"You are to go down now, and they will start soon. But they do not want
+the officers to know they are taking you. It is only because of my
+German and my nice way," he laughed. "Well, get up, and we will go
+over."
+
+"I am almost afraid," said Martha.
+
+"There is no way as good as this," the man assured her. "You will be
+safe. You will rest quite well under the canvases in the truck. And the
+road is indeed smooth."
+
+He lifted Rika and led the way. It was growing late, and they hurried to
+the place near headquarters where the great track stood. Michael did not
+wait for anyone to come. He jumped in, and made a sort of nest in the
+canvas covers that were lying in the bottom. In this he seated Martha
+and the children, warning the woman to hold fast to the girls. Then he
+covered them cleverly with the lightest of the covers, saw that no one
+would guess that the truck was occupied, and proceeded to sit on the
+nearby curb and smoke. He was afraid that someone would throw something
+heavy in the truck, and bring a scream, from one of the children.
+
+Presently the two soldiers who were to drive came out. They had had a
+good meal and were smoking contentedly. Michael went up to them. He
+opened his hand and showed three coins.
+
+"Here is all my wealth. I will share it with for your kindness to my
+wife and dear little ones," he said in a trembling voice.
+
+The men shook their heads, but he insisted, and they took the offered
+coins, protesting that they would take their passengers safely to Lodz.
+
+"Ah! What goodness!" said Michael with deep feeling. "If I could ever
+repay you!"
+
+"That's all right," said one of the soldiers. "Just be silent about the
+load we are carrying. Tell no one. Our Captain is in the deuce of a
+temper. He would punish anything today." He drew on his gloves and
+mounted to his seat. The other soldier swung up beside him.
+
+"It's a pity we can't take you too," said he; "but it wouldn't be safe.
+Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," said Michael in a trembling voice. "Good-bye, wife!
+Good-bye, my sweet children!"
+
+Martha pinched Elinor roughly. "Say good-bye!" she hissed, and a
+frightened little voice called, something that was almost lost in the
+sound of the engine as the car started. Martha stifled a shriek. This
+was a terrifying experience. As the car rolled onward, the two children,
+both accustomed to riding in motor cars, and too tired to mind the
+unyielding springs and hard tires of the truck, were lulled to sleep;
+but Martha sat wide-eyed, not daring to make the least outcry, and
+afraid to follow her heart's wish and jump to the ground. The night was
+filled with terrors, and when at dawn the car stopped, and a soldier
+brought her a can of coffee she was too stiff and frightened to speak.
+
+When at last they reached Lodz, the two men were obliged to lift her to
+the ground. They set them down on the outskirts of the city and Martha
+hurried, as well as she could with her tired muscles, and the children
+dragging at her side, to the hovel where her sister lived.
+
+There was a long talk then, and many explanations, and Martha rested and
+slept as though she never would rise again. When she did finally get up,
+she had lost all count of the time, but Michael was there, and the
+children were trying to get a handkerchief from the pocket of a coat
+suspended from the ceiling by a cord.
+
+"Get it so carefully that you will not stir the coat, and you will have
+a piece of candy." The children tried again and again.
+
+Martha groaned and disturbed them.
+
+"Well, at last I am rested," she said. "Michael, thou fool, when next
+you get me such a place--" She groaned again.
+
+"Better that than not at all, eh, Martha?" laughed the man.
+
+"We might have walked it," she declared.
+
+"Yes. In how many days," he demanded, "with those children at heel?"
+
+"Of course," she said, "but it was frightful." She shook her head. "We
+rocked and tossed like a ship at sea. And those children slept. Slept
+all the way. I could have beaten them!"
+
+She turned to her sister. "You say you have no money? We will have to go
+and get some then." She turned to the children and studied them
+critically. "Those clothes won't do," she said. "Where is there a place
+where I can get them something else to wear?"
+
+"Two houses down," said her sister. "I will go with you."
+
+The women were not gone long, and came back with a bundle of children's
+clothing. Michael was still patiently teaching them the handkerchief
+trick, Rika's little face was puckered, and she was ready to cry
+although Michael had given her several pieces of candy. It did not take
+long to take off the clothes the children had been wearing, and dress
+them instead more in accordance with the parts they were to play.
+
+Then Martha took a stick and stood before Elinor.
+
+"Look at me!" she commanded, and when the child's frightened eyes sought
+her face she said, "You are to beg for your supper, do you hear? As soon
+as you see a kind looking lady or gentleman, you are to put out your
+hand, and say, 'Please, we are starving,' like that. Say it!"
+
+Elinor was silent.
+
+"Say it!" she repeated. But Elinor was still.
+
+"Do you want to be beaten?" Martha asked in a terrible voice. "Do you?"
+
+Elinor found her voice. "No," she said in Polish. "No, please do not
+beat me, but I cannot beg. My brother will come soon and get me. I do
+not want any supper. I will wait for him."
+
+Martha sat down, the stick still in her hand, and thrust her ugly face
+close to the child's.
+
+"Hear me!" she growled. "Your brother will never come for you. He is
+dead. Dead, I tell you! You will never see him again. You are going to
+live here with me, and you are going to do just what I tell you or I
+shall beat you so you will never forget it. Now do you understand?"
+
+Elinor looked her steadily in the eyes.
+
+"Yes," she said.
+
+"Then say what I told you," said Martha, getting to her feet.
+
+Elinor looked at her, then reading the threat in her eyes, she said,
+"Please, we are starving." It seemed more than her independent spirit
+could bear even with the fear of the stick on her heart. She added,
+"Some day I shall ran away."
+
+"That settles it!" cried Martha. "We will settle this now!"
+
+She threw the helpless child on the ground and began beating her with
+the stick. For a long while Elinor endured it, then unable to keep
+silent under the pain, she burst into screams and sobs. The woman
+continued her blows until Elinor's voice held a thin note of agony, and
+she lifted her and flung the quivering little body on a pile of rags,
+and sat herself down by the table.
+
+"That ought to break her spirit," she said.
+
+She waited until the sobs and cries subsided, and then called the child.
+The terrified little girl slipped from the bed and ran to her tormentor.
+Martha looked at her critically.
+
+"That did you good," she said. "Now we will get out of here, and go to
+work."
+
+"Have you any money at all?" asked her sister, turning to Michael.
+
+"A little," he grudgingly admitted.
+
+"Well, let us have enough to go to the market while it is open. I go
+late each morning, and buy the spoiled vegetables that are left over."
+
+"A good plan," said Martha.
+
+When they had finished with the market, the women walked slowly down
+through the city, begging wherever they could. They were able to
+recognize foreigners wherever they met them, although they were not
+many. Always, however, they gave, and gave generously. The store of
+coins in Martha's sack grew and grew.
+
+"We will have to exchange this stuff for a few larger coins somewhere,"
+she said. "I think we can do so safely at the railroad station. Let us
+go there."
+
+The day had been a time of torture for the two children. Elinor was so
+tired that she thought that she would fall at each step, but the
+relentless hand held her up and pulled her on.
+
+Rika, in the other woman's arms, had fallen asleep several times.
+
+They did not mind that; her tear-stained little face with its long,
+curling lashes looked very pitiful, and as long as she slept they told a
+sad story, about her being lame. But Elinor had to walk; and she was
+sure that when she fell from exhaustion, Martha would probably kill her.
+
+There was a great crowd at the station, and dozens of other beggars; but
+Martha noted with satisfaction that none had such beautiful children to
+beg for. There were many more coins in the sack before long, and just as
+Elinor's knees bent, under her, and she thought that now at last she
+would fall, the women set the children on a big box, and with the most
+horrible threats if they, stirred or spoke to anyone, walked off to the
+ticket office to change the small coins into something safer to handle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE RED CROSS CAR
+
+When Warren was dismissed from the hospital, he found himself being
+stared at by Ivan in a very perplexing manner. Finally he demanded the
+reason. Ivan laughed.
+
+"You look so clean," he said. "Your face does not go with the rest of
+you, those ragged clothes and all that. Besides, I have not seen what
+your natural face looked like for a few days. I had forgotten just what
+you did look like."
+
+Warren smiled.
+
+"Just the same, it did seem good to clean up little," he said. "However,
+just to oblige you I'll put on a few frills." He stooped and rubbed his
+hands in some plaster dust, and transferred it to his face. Ivan studied
+the change.
+
+"That's better," he said. "As long as we have to wear these clothes, I
+think we had better look the part. There is one thing certain though. We
+are dressed exactly as we were in Warsaw, when we were visiting our
+friends, the thieves. I wish we could get some other clothes."
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," said Warren. "I wish we could change, but
+how can we?"
+
+"I don't know," said Ivan. "Certainly we can't risk having those people
+see us. We will have to be cautious."
+
+"Where shall we go, I wonder?" mused Warren.
+
+"I don't suppose it matters now," said Ivan. "It is so late in the
+afternoon. Tomorrow morning we will have to watch the market. They will
+be sure to come for more provisions."
+
+"True enough," said Warren. "Let's go down to the central station and
+see if the trains are running again."
+
+The boys sauntered down through the streets without being molested by
+the sharp-eyed soldiers who patrolled the way. They found the station a
+busy place. The trains were once more running, on broken schedules of
+course, but everything was so nearly adjusted to the usual order that
+there was transportation for the hundreds who were eagerly seeking
+passage. There were a great many foreigners carefully clutching their
+transports and hurrying out of the country. At the back of the station
+stood an automobile, a low, racing roadster.
+
+"We had a ride in her last night," said Warren, as he approached and
+recognized the machine. "And it was some ride, wasn't it, Ivan?"
+
+"It certainly was," said Ivan, smiling. "What's the red cross flag on it
+I wonder?"
+
+"The Princess has given it over to the hospital, I suppose," said
+Warren. "No one will stop it now. Wonder who drives it? I'm sorry for
+anyone who rides with the crazy guy who tried to run it last night."
+
+"Here is the chauffeur now," said Ivan, stepping back as a dark, burly
+man approached the machine and took a package from the tool-box.
+
+"He is a new one," said Warren.
+
+They wandered around the corner of the building and mingled with the
+throngs waiting for the train. It came puffing in, and as the crowd
+pressed forward, Warren heard a familiar, coarse, whining voice behind
+him. He looked; and as he did so, he was conscious of Ivan who, with the
+quickness of a bird, slipped between two people, and was out of sight.
+Instantly Warren followed him. They met behind a truck loaded with
+boxes.
+
+Warren was shaking. "Did you see?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," said Ivan in a low voice. "Elinor and Rika, too! What are we
+going to do?"
+
+"I don't know," said Warren. "Just do what we have to do when the time
+comes. Don't risk them another hour. Elinor looks half dead. Keep out of
+sight and watch for a chance. Don't let the girls see you, any more than
+the women. They would give it away, sure. Come on!"
+
+He slipped quickly through the crowd, only a boy, and unnoticed. Behind,
+at his heels, came a thin lad, soiled and ragged. It was Prince Ivan,
+Prince of one of the greatest houses in Warsaw, but his own father would
+not have recognized him. Together they slyly watched the two women in
+front of them who, each with a child, begged pitifully of the travelers.
+The woman who had Rika held her in her arms, but poor little Elinor, on
+foot, reached a tiny hand toward the passing throng, and fearfully
+glanced at her ugly jailer as she did so.
+
+The train remained on the track. It was evidently going to make up a
+section. The women wandered here and there, and finally approached a big
+packing case near the station door. Here they stood, evidently
+consulting. One woman slyly, showed the other a handkerchief full of
+kopeks. Then while the boys scarcely dared to breathe, they seated the
+two children on the box, and with a fearful threat which caused the face
+of Elinor to turn even paler, they hurried into the waiting room, and
+turned towards the ticket window.
+
+"Now!" said Warren, "and be quick!"
+
+He ran up to the children, and taking his sister in his arms, pressed
+his hand over her mouth until he had spoken a word in her ear. Then
+followed by Ivan carrying Rika, he walked steadily round the corner of
+the platform.
+
+Before him stood the roadster, with the Red Cross flag. Without an
+instant's hesitation, he slipped into the driver's seat, Elinor still in
+his arms. He thrust her between his knees, as Ivan took the other seat,
+and tucked little Rika out of sight in the same manner.
+
+As he did so, they heard a series of hoarse screams, and the two women,
+beating the air and wringing their hands, came rushing around the
+corner. Warren started the car full speed, and they started with a jerk
+that almost threw them out. Looking behind, Ivan saw the women point to
+the car and to his dismay a soldier on a motorcycle jumped from his
+machine and ran up to them. As the car sped down the long avenue, Ivan
+saw a last glimpse of the man returning to his machine. They were
+followed.
+
+"They are after us!" he said to Warren.
+
+"What with?" asked Warren, his eyes on the road. "There was no other
+machine."
+
+"A soldier on a motorcycle. Make the first turn you can."
+
+Warren whipped the little racer round one curve and then another. He was
+thinking deeply.
+
+Elinor commenced to cry.
+
+"Don't let them get me, Warry!" she begged.
+
+"You are all right, dear," he answered. Then to Ivan:
+
+"I have it. Didn't you say you knew that Princess what-is-her-name that
+owns this car?"
+
+"Yes, a little," said Ivan.
+
+"Well, you could make her recognize whose son you are, couldn't you?"
+
+"Of course!" said Ivan.
+
+"Well," said Warren, "we can't get anywhere with the car, and the only
+thing for us to do is to go to the hospital as quickly as we can, and
+you get hold of that Princess, and do some explaining. You see she
+stands in with both sides because of the hospital. It's her own sister's
+house, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," said Ivan, "and that's the only thing to do. This is a Red Cross
+car now, and there will be a big fuss about it."
+
+"Where are we, anyway?" said Warren, slowing down to regulation speed.
+
+"Turn to your left and ahead for three blocks, then once to the right,
+and you will see the palace in the distance," said Ivan.
+
+They swept on, reached the marble steps of the building, stopped the
+car, and Warren leaped to the ground.
+
+He looked at his little sister. He could not speak, but held out his
+arms, and she sprang into them. She clung to him trembling, and calling
+his name over and over while he pressed kisses on her pale little
+cheeks. With Ivan still holding Rika, they hurried up the steps just as
+the soldier on the motorcycle whirled to the curb.
+
+He leaped from his seat and followed them, talking furiously in German,
+but the boys were so close to the open door that they slipped inside
+before the man could lay a hand on them. A nurse came up and a doctor,
+and the boys commenced, both at once, one in Polish and the other in
+English, to explain matters. The doctor looked grave. No one would dream
+that the two thin, pale, ragged little girls were anything but the
+beggars they looked to be, and the doctor shook his head.
+
+Ivan stamped his foot. "I want the Princess!" he said. "She will
+straighten this out. Send someone for the Princess!" he demanded.
+
+"I think she is out," said the nurse; "but I will send." She gave a
+message to an assistant, and they waited in silence while the girl was
+gone. She returned in a moment.
+
+"The Princess is not here," she said, "but Madame, her sister, is
+coming." As she spoke, the door opened, and the lovely face of Princess
+Olga appeared.
+
+"What is the trouble?" she asked of the doctor, and glanced at the group
+before her.
+
+One low cry she gave; one spring, and little Rika was folded to her
+breast. The baby arms were close around her neck, the little face hidden
+while the Princess murmured loving names and strained the little form
+close to her heart.
+
+Warren was the first to speak. He turned to Ivan.
+
+"Well, what do you know about that?" he said solemnly in English.
+
+The doctor turned to Ivan and plied him with questions.
+
+Presently the Princess looked up.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, noting the pale child at his side.
+
+"My name is Morris, Warren Morris," said Warren. He would have explained
+farther, but the Princess, rising, lifted her head and looking
+reverently up, said simply, "God is good! Come with me!" Imperiously she
+led the way down the great hall, now full of cots, and to a narrow door.
+She opened this and pushed Warren through ahead of her.
+
+And Evelyn, poor heart-broken Evelyn, saw him as he came. Then she had
+him in her arms; and for once Warren could not kiss her enough or hug
+her hard enough. But he had to be shared with Elinor who commenced to
+look happy once more.
+
+"Where is father?" asked Warren doubtfully, when Evelyn seemed assured
+that he was real, and that she actually had Elinor back again.
+
+"Out with the Princess," said Evelyn. Then for the first time she
+noticed that the Princess was gone, and the door shut, and they were
+alone.
+
+"Warren, you must be very good to father," said Evelyn gently. "He has
+suffered more than I ever knew anyone could. He takes all the blame for
+everything."
+
+"Well,--" said Warren stubbornly, "a lot of it has been his fault."
+
+"That doesn't matter now," said Evelyn. "Father is not to blame for the
+forgetfulness and selfishness in his work that we find so hard to bear.
+His parents are the ones to blame. They thought because he was such a
+bright child that everything should be made secondary to his needs. And
+then our dear mother went right on spoiling him. So now we, who are his
+children, can't expect to make him over. We have just got to remember
+that he is a truly great man--in his own line, and we are very proud of
+him. We are older now, and things won't be so hard for us."
+
+"You bet we are older!" said Warren. "I don't expect to feel any older
+when I am ninety than I do now. But you are right about father. I have
+felt pretty sore, sis, I confess, and when I thought you were dead, and
+Elinor lost for good, it didn't seem as though I could forgive him. You
+are right about his people. Folks have no right to let a kid run the
+whole place like that, even if it is to develop his brain. I'll tell you
+one thing, if ever I have any kids of my own, I'm going to bring them up
+after a plan of my own."
+
+Evelyn smiled. "I hope it will work, Warry," she said.
+
+Warren looked savage. "It will, you can bet," he said. "I will make them
+go to school, of course, but they will begin to qualify for the Boy
+Scouts when they are about three years old; and they will learn to
+shoot, and know first aid when they are about four, and a lot of other
+things when they are five or so."
+
+Evelyn groaned. "I'm sorry for those children, Warren," she laughed.
+
+"Well, perhaps I will give them a little more time, but they have got to
+understand that efficiency is as necessary when they are sixteen as when
+they are sixty. Do you remember those chaps we saw in Switzerland? They
+were way up in their studies. You know I went to school with a fellow
+one day, but when school was out they were doing things worth while. And
+the fellow I knew had the dandiest rifle I ever saw. He said it was a
+prize from the government for target shooting. And he knew how to handle
+that gun, too. He said there was a fine for carelessness with firearms.
+
+"Then these Germans. I've seen dozens of fellows no older than I am.
+They are hard as nails and fit every minute. Say, what's father going to
+do?" he demanded. "Are we going to spend our lives here, or are we going
+home?"
+
+"Father does not know yet that you are here, you know," Evelyn reminded
+him. "He ought to be here soon now."
+
+"Let's get him to go home as soon as we can," said Warren.
+
+"I've seen about all I can stand of these horrors." He put his arm
+around Evelyn's shoulders and embraced both dear sisters.
+
+"Evelyn, we will never be the same children again," he said sadly. "Oh,
+I'm homesick for America! I want to go home to Princeton. I want to have
+it come Fourth of July and hear the crackers go off and see the flag
+hanging out of store windows, and upside down and wrong side to on
+people's lawns the way they most always hang it. I want to hooray for
+'Mericky.' I am dead, dead sick of this, sissy. I want to go where I
+belong."
+
+"Poor old Warren!" said Evelyn. "I know how you feel. I want to go, too.
+But you can't shake the dust of Europe off like that, you know. We have
+made friends, good friends here, and you will have to keep in touch with
+the Polish Boy Scouts. You can't shirk that, you know."
+
+"No, of course not," agreed Warren. "I just want to go home and soak up
+on America for awhile. I've got a lot of things to tell those fellows,
+too!" he said solemnly.
+
+"Well, we could go right away if father is willing, and if we could get
+passports and transportation," said Evelyn. "Only I've got to go back
+and get the baby."
+
+"The WHAT!" shouted Warren.
+
+"Why, the baby," said Evelyn. "The baby you brought me; the one you
+brought me from its dead mother."
+
+"Sure enough!" said Warren. "Well, where is it, anyway?"
+
+"Back in Warsaw," said Evelyn. "I left it with the woman who lived in
+the corner house. When the soldiers took us away, she came out to see
+what the disturbance was, and she offered to keep the baby."
+
+"A baby!" said Warren. "So you are going to take it home! Well, that
+does seem almost the last straw! You don't suppose your friend in Warsaw
+would like to keep it?"
+
+"No, I don't," said Evelyn firmly. "That woman has six, and her husband
+was killed, and she is ruined. She will have hard enough work feeding
+her own. She is an angel to keep it so, long. We have dozens of
+relatives over home, and they are all going to have the privilege of
+helping to care for our little war baby. I shall name her for the
+Princess."
+
+"All right," said Warren. He went to the window and looked out. "I wish
+father would come," he said. "Is Jack with him? Suppose I go and look
+for them?"
+
+"You will stay right here," said Evelyn. "I don't want one of you out of
+my sight from now on. Jack is with father. They went out to go to the
+market. Father has been helping a lot here. He has given the hospital
+all sorts of things that were badly needed. The Princess will send him
+in as soon as she comes. Isn't it like a fairy tale to think that we had
+little Rika all the time?"
+
+"I wish you would begin at the beginning and tell me all that happened
+after you were arrested," said Warren. "I have had such a lot of
+scraps."
+
+"All right," said Evelyn. She looked down at the little sister in her
+arms. "See," she said, "she has gone to sleep. The darling is
+exhausted."
+
+Warren looked grave. "She has had the worst experience of all," he said.
+"We won't know for a good while just what she has undergone. I would not
+want to question her. It will have to come out in bits. And I think the
+baby will be a good thing after all. It will help occupy Elinor's
+attention and make her forget. Yes, we have got to get out of here as
+soon as we can on her account. Now go on."
+
+Evelyn cuddled the sleeping child more closely, and commencing at the
+moment when the soldiers broke down the door, she told her brother the
+thrilling and almost unbelievable story of their adventure. Finally she
+reached the end. Warren had made no comments, but the stern and anxious
+expression of his face betrayed his feelings. Evelyn paused.
+
+"And to think that I was right on the other side of that door when you
+were crying yesterday! Poor little sister, I hope you will never, never
+have to cry for me again."
+
+There was a sound of rapid steps at the door. It was flung open and Jack
+rushed in, closely followed by the Professor.
+
+Trouble and danger and separation change our viewpoint. There had been a
+time not long past when Warren regarded any demonstration of affection
+as unmanly, but now he found himself in his father's arms and only too
+glad to be there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OVER THE SEA
+
+Evelyn had told the truth. Professor Morris was a changed man. For the
+first time in all his orderly humdrum student existence, he had had to
+face war and death and murder, and all the crimes that stalk through a
+land at such times.
+
+It had accomplished what all the arguments, all the lecturing, all the
+entreaties in the world would never have accomplished. Professor Morris
+had been shaken out of himself. There had been sleepless nights when his
+life had looked very poor and thin and useless. What was his book, a dry
+thing of many pages, when he compared it to the needs of the dear
+children who had been so loyal and so true to him? It came to him that
+culture may be made as selfish and as harmful as any vice there is.
+
+But Benjamin Morris was, after all, a man; and late as it was, it was
+not too late for him to humbly resolve to be a better father, and a more
+valuable citizen. And he kept his word.
+
+Presently Ivan returned. The boy had purposely kept away until the
+reunited family had had time to talk everything all over. When he
+entered, Professor Morris sat looking at him, with his eyes narrowed and
+a puzzled look on his face. Evelyn knew that look, and wondered what was
+passing in her father's mind. He sat quite silent, and after a little
+left the room. When he returned, he brought the Princess Olga, who was
+leading the little Rika as though she dared not leave her out of her
+sight.
+
+"We have been talking things over," said Princess Olga. "Of course the
+only reasonable thing for Professor Morris to do is to return to America
+without delay. He has no right to remain here and possibly endanger the
+lives of so many young people, and there is nothing that he can do for
+us. Some day we will want help, and then we know that you will all come
+to our aid. Ivan, we have been talking it all over with my husband, the
+Prince, and we have decided that the best thing for you to do is to go
+also. Wait," she said as Ivan shook his head. "My boy, our country is in
+ruins. Your father is at the front, we know not where. You can not serve
+him by remaining here where you are, every moment in danger of being
+arrested and held as a prisoner or worse. Your estates are in ruins; but
+not withstanding, you are, after your father, the head of your house.
+You owe to Poland the one thing you can now do for her. You must
+preserve and safeguard your life. And you must go to the University
+where Professor Morris is such an eminent instructor. You must learn
+statesmanship. Some day, Ivan, Poland will need you. What chance have
+you here now in this stricken land?
+
+"I want you to go, Ivan. We will take the responsibility. And I want you
+to take these jewels, and use them for your expenses and education!" She
+held out a glittering handful of priceless gems.
+
+"No," said Professor Morris firmly. "Princess, you will need all you
+have. It happens that I have plenty of money, and we live very simply,
+so there is enough and to spare for the two children we hope to take
+with us."
+
+"Two?" said the Princess.
+
+"The baby," said the Professor. "I confess the needs of an infant seem
+too complex and difficult for me to cope with, but my daughter
+entertains no fears, and insists upon taking the little fellow with us."
+
+"It's a girl, father," corrected Evelyn.
+
+"Ah, yes," said the Professor, bowing. "I believe you did say that he is
+a girl."
+
+"I have told him at least a dozen times," said Evelyn in a whisper to
+Warren.
+
+"I suppose we have got to take her along, no matter what he is," Warren
+whispered back.
+
+"However," said the Professor, glancing reprovingly at the children,
+"there is plenty of money, in reason, and if Ivan prefers, we will keep
+an account of his educational expenses, and at some future date he can
+repay what I shall deem necessary to expend for him."
+
+"That is better," said the Princess. She turned to Ivan.
+
+"You will go, Ivan."
+
+"Yes," said Ivan. Then sadly, "But I wish I could see my father."
+
+"It is indeed hard," said the Princess. "We feel that he must be unhurt
+however, and I know that he will be so relieved, and glad to know that
+you are in a place of safety. So that is settled." She smiled.
+
+"Now there is one more thing to be done. I have here a permit from the
+General in charge of the city. It gives us safe conduct on the roads to
+Warsaw and return, to get the baby. I have arranged for one of the
+nurses to go with the new chauffeur and Warren. I will take part of her
+duties, and Evelyn may assist me. She will get the baby and bring it
+here to us. They can go tonight, and return tomorrow. All will then be
+ready for your departure, if in the meantime Professor Morris can
+arrange to get your passports and your sailing privileges."
+
+"It sounds easy," said Warren to Evelyn. "When do you suppose we will
+start?"
+
+"As soon as the car is ready," said the Princess. "Get wraps for
+yourself, Warren. The nurse is ready, and she has everything needful for
+the baby."
+
+"Oh, Warren, be careful, begged Evelyn. I declare I have half a mind to
+go with you!"
+
+Warren laughed. "I have a whole mind that you will not!" he said,
+patting her shoulder. "You stay right here and don't go out of the
+place, and keep father and Ivan and Elinor where you can see them all
+the time. And if we are not back by noon tomorrow, don't begin to worry.
+Just lay our delay to a puncture or something of that sort. We won't be
+molested. The paper from the General is as good as a regiment of men.
+You had better believe that no one would dare hurt us, or even detain us
+while I have that to show them."
+
+"Well, be careful just the same," begged Evelyn.
+
+"I surely will," promised Warren.
+
+Everything went as smoothly as Warren had anticipated. The trip to
+Warsaw was without a hitch. Again and again they were stopped by
+soldiers, and each time the paper from the Commanding General acted like
+magic. Indeed, they were more than once assisted on their way, or
+directed to short cuts. In Warsaw it was the same. Warren, however,
+avoided that part of the city where he thought he might come in contact
+with Captain Handel, and driving by another route, approached the house
+of the neighbor who had so kindly taken care of the homeless little
+waif. The child was safe and well, having suffered less than they had
+feared from its terrible experience. With a thousand thanks and promises
+to write, Warren left the good, motherly woman and started on the return
+trip.
+
+They slept at an obscure little village that night in peace. The town
+had been overlooked in the tempest of war, and was untouched.
+
+At the inn they found good food and plenty of it. In the morning, when
+they started, they found every available part of the car crammed with
+offerings for the wounded soldiers. The chauffeur had spent a busy
+evening talking to the horrified villagers and it is to be believed that
+the terrors he had witnessed in Lodz and elsewhere did not lose in the
+telling. So there were all sorts of offerings for the wounded; bread and
+dried fish and cheese; and money, sometimes gold, sometimes a single
+kopek wrapped in scraps of paper, written over with heartfelt prayers of
+pity. There was scarcely room for the passengers to crowd in the car.
+
+Warren took the wheel, and the chauffeur, still the hero of the
+occasion, stood on the running board and waved his cap and called his
+farewells as long as they were in sight.
+
+The baby slept most of the time. It was a good baby, and Warren began to
+regard it with less distrust. They reached Lodz without accident and as
+they drew up at the palace, now only a hospital, Warren's watch stood at
+twelve. It had been a wonderful trip.
+
+Everything was going well. The Prince was stronger, and his wife, the
+beautiful Princess, was smiling happily.
+
+All that day and the next the Professor and the three boys went from
+office to office and back again to the army headquarters, getting the
+necessary papers.
+
+It was a difficult matter to get everything adjusted, but finally it was
+done, and there was no longer any reason for them to remain.
+
+They said good-bye to the Princess and her children, and at last started
+on the journey home.
+
+It was a time to be remembered as long as they lived. All of Europe was
+plunged in gloom. Even the neutral countries they touched or crossed in
+their roundabout way were oppressed by such sorrow that it was almost as
+bad as war.
+
+Reaching a seaport at last, they secured passage on a slow American
+boat, and it was not until they watched the shore receding from their
+view that they actually believed that they were on the way home.
+
+"Just the things we have seen coming over from Lodz would fill a book,"
+said Warren to the group at the rail.
+
+"I wouldn't want to read it," said Jack, shuddering.
+
+"Nor I!" said Evelyn. "Oh, boys, you don't know how funny you look in
+the clothes you have on!"
+
+"What's the matter with my clothes?" said Warren, looking down at the
+very short trousers and very long coat he was wearing. "I don't see but
+what I am all right, but doesn't Jack look cuty-cute? Kind of Lord
+Fauntleroy effect!"
+
+Everyone stared at Jack, who looked himself over in surprise. "It is all
+they had at that store we went to that would fit me. I try to turn those
+pants up, but they keep coming down." Everyone laughed as Jack stooped
+and once more tried to turn up the loose trousers which enveloped his
+slim legs. Left to themselves, they reached half way to his ankles, so
+Jack, who was used to knickerbockers, had carefully rolled them to his
+knee. The result was that most of the time one leg or the other hung
+dismally down its full length. His jacket was a short roundabout,
+something like an Eton jacket, and his shirt was soft and frilled.
+
+"I don't see why we didn't just wear the things we had on," he
+complained.
+
+"I guess not!" said Warren. "Those work clothes? Why, Jack, see how
+dressy we are now! We look like somebody; a bunch of 'em! We have got
+sample clothes from half the countries in Europe. See how neutral that
+makes us! Take yourself, Jack. Your feet are Polish, and your pants are
+German, and the top of you looks Dutch. Is it?"
+
+"My cap came from home," said Jack furiously, "and so did my face! The
+minute we get out here a way, I am going to yell Hurrah for America as
+loud as ever I can."
+
+"Wow!" said Warren. "Excuse me, Jack, old fellow, I didn't mean to be
+disrespectful. We are all in the same fix as far as clothes go. Even
+Evelyn looks a little queer. 'All the world is a little queer,' he
+quoted, 'and thee is a little queer.'"
+
+Safe on board ship, our party found that they were utterly tired out.
+They slept hour after hour; they were furiously hungry. The days went
+swiftly, without accident. Professor Morris, true to his new
+resolutions, spent a great part of each day with his children, and they
+found him a most delightful and amusing companion. He developed an
+alarming fondness for the baby, which he persisted in calling "him." He
+was fond of holding the quiet little creature, but after one of his
+lapses into the forgetfulness of the past, he happened to think of
+something he wanted to do so he laid his newspaper in Evelyn's lap, and
+before she could stop him placed the baby firmly in a waste paper box
+head down.
+
+After that Evelyn watched him. They had brought a young refugee with
+them as nurse for the baby, so Evelyn was not burdened with too much
+care.
+
+The boys played games and made plans and wrote letters. Ivan commenced a
+diary. He said he would never be able to remember every single thing
+that was happening, and going to happen, and he didn't want to forget
+it. Warren planned to have an evening with the home Scouts and tell them
+all that had occurred.
+
+"And you will be Exhibit A," he declared, clapping Ivan on the shoulder.
+
+The voyage drew to an end, as all fortunate voyages will. The last night
+came clear and fine. There was a stir of joyful anticipation on the
+great ship. Everybody packed up what trifles they had been able to bring
+away with them. Everybody talked and exchanged addresses and said
+good-bye. The day of landing is always too, full and confused for
+anything of that sort. Once more the Professor's manuscript seemed to
+him to be a thing of value. He picked it up and put it down a thousand
+times. It was a relief to everyone when the hour grew so late that even
+the most restless turned in, and went to sleep or at least tried to.
+
+At gray dawn Ivan was aroused by Warren shaking him.
+
+"Get up, Ivan, get up!" he cried. "I can see it!" The boy was shaking
+violently, and his teeth chattered.
+
+"What ails you?" said Ivan, speaking in Polish. "See what?"
+
+Warren answered in English. "America. Home, the little old United
+States!" A dry sob choked him. "Oh!" he said, "I didn't know I felt like
+this! Hurry up, old Scout! Dress and let's get out!"
+
+Voices sounded through the ship; people stirred and hurried with their
+dressing. It was as though a shock of electricity had stirred them.
+Certainly there had been no spoken call.
+
+As the boys hurried to the deck, the risen sun, a ball of gold, blazed
+like a celestial blessing, a flood of glory on the marvelous shore line
+ahead. Warren rushed forward.
+
+But Ivan, without a look, turned and made his solitary way to the stern
+of the ship, and there, all alone, looked away over the empty sea.
+
+For long he gazed. His eyes were filled with tears.
+
+"Good-bye, my father," he said. "Good-bye, my country. I will come back
+to you." He flung his hand out in a passionate gesture of farewell. Then
+with a last look, Prince Ivan, homeless, countryless, and fatherless,
+slowly turned, and, the boy Ivan went soberly to join Warren, who, crazy
+with joy, hung yelling over the rail at the prow.
+
+Before them, like the vision of an enchanted land, rose the wonderful
+shore line of the harbor; and before them, nearer and nearer, clearer
+and clearer, the Statue of Liberty, wise, strong, majestic, with the
+only true majesty of earth on her beautiful brow, the majesty of Freedom
+and of Truth.
+
+They had reached America.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts in Front of Warsaw, by 
+Colonel George Durston
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