Richard Harding Davis

“ The scout told himself he was entitled to another trial. Again he spun the wheel. Again the spokes flashed in the sun. Again the puncture rested on the road to Middleboro.
“If it does that once more,” thought the scout, “it’s a warning that there is trouble ahead for me at Carver, and all the little Carvers.”
For the third time the wheel flashed, but as he waited for the impetus to die, the sound of galloping hoofs broke sharply on the silence. The scout threw himself and his bicycle over the nearest stone wall, and, unlimbering his rifle, pointed it down the road. ”

“ In his anxiety to rid himself of his prisoner, he lifted the bicycle into the road and held it in readiness.
“You’re all right!” he said, heartily. “You can make your getaway as quick as you like.”
But to the conspiracy Miss Farrar refused to lend herself.
“How do you know,” she demanded, “that he will keep his promise? He may not go back to his own army. He can be just as dead on my lawn as anywhere else!”
Lathrop shook his head at her sadly.
“How you wrong me!” he protested. “How dare you doubt the promise of a dying man? ”

“ When we meet some more Reds we’ll turn him over. Fall in!” he commanded.
“No!” protested Lathrop. “I don’t want to be turned over. I’ve got a much better plan. YOU don’t want to be bothered with a prisoner. I don’t want to be a prisoner. As you say, I am better dead. You can’t shoot a prisoner, but if he tries to escape you can. I’ll try to escape. You shoot me. Then I return to my own army, and report myself dead. That ends your difficulty and saves me from a court-martial. They can’t court-martial a corpse.”
The face of the sergeant flashed with relief and satisfaction. ”

“ And think of your jewels, and your mother’s jewels. Think of yourself in a house filled with jewels, and entirely surrounded by hostile armies! My duty is to remain with you.”
Miss Farrar was so long in answering, that Lathrop lifted his head and turned to look. He found her frowning and gazing intently into the shadow of the woods, across the road. When she felt his eyes upon her she turned her own guiltily upon him. Her cheeks were flushed and her face glowed with some unusual excitement.
“I wish,” she exclaimed breathlessly—“I wish,” she repeated, “the Reds would take you prisoner!” ”

“ Miss Farrar laughed, and Lathrop moved toward her.
“I deserve worse than being laughed at,” he said. “I made a strategic mistake. I should not have tried to capture you and an army corps at the same time.”
“You,” she taunted, “who were always so keen on soldiering, to be taken prisoner,” she lowered her voice, “and by men like that! Aren’t they funny?” she whispered, “and East Side and Tenderloin! It made me homesick to hear them! I think when not in uniform the little one drives a taxicab, and the big one is a guard on the elevated.” ”

“ If we take you, you’ll have to tramp all the way to our army, and all the way back. But, if you’re dead, how different! You ain’t no bother to anybody. You got a half holiday all to yourself, and you can loaf around the camp, so dead that they can’t make you work, but not so dead you can’t smoke or eat.” The sergeant smiled ingratiatingly. In a tempting manner he exhibited his rifle. “Better be dead,” he urged.
“I’d like to oblige you,” said Lathrop, “but it’s against the rules. You CAN’T shoot a prisoner.”
The rat-faced soldier uttered an angry exclamation. ”

“ Lathrop, looking back over his shoulder, waved one hand reassuringly.
“Death was instantaneous,” he called. He bent his body over the handle-bar, and they watched him disappear rapidly around the turn in the road.
Miss Farrar sighed with relief.
“Thank you very much,” she said.
As though signifying that to oblige a woman he would shoot any number of prisoners, the sergeant raised his hat.
“Don’t mention it, lady,” he said. “I seen he was annoying you, and that’s why I got rid of him. Some of them amateur soldiers, as soon as they get into uniform, are too fresh. ”

“ Miss Farrar was bored, but the man gave her no opportunity to escape. In consequence she was relieved when the noisy approach of an automobile brought him to an abrupt pause. Coming rapidly down the road was a large touring-car, filled with men in khaki. The sergeant gave one glance at it, and leaped across the road, taking cover behind the stone wall. Instantly he raised his head above it and shook his fist at Miss Farrar. ”

“ The rat-like one swung toward it. From his revolver came a report that shook the room, a flash and a burst of smoke, and through it Miss Farrar saw Lathrop hurl himself. He dived at the rat-like one, and as on the foot-ball field he had been taught to stop a runner, flung his arms around the other’s knees. The legs of the man shot from under him, his body cut a half circle through the air, and the part of his anatomy to first touch the floor was his head. ”

“ Turn him loose!”
The older man rounded on the little one savagely. The tone in which he addressed him was cold, menacing, sinister. His words were simple, but his eyes and face were heavy with warning. ”