CHAPTER XIV.

THE DEATH OF A TRAITOR.

"Great Scott!" Hal ejaculated. "We've got to get out of here some way. We can't stand here and be shot down."

"Wait," said Chester, as Hal started to move away, and pulled the latter to the ground, where he had dropped himself.

"What is it?" demanded Hal.

"Let me look at that gun you have a moment."

Without a word Hal passed it over. Chester examined it as carefully as possible in the dark.

"I don't believe there is more than one man in these woods," he finally said. "Now, you stay here, and I shall try and work round behind him."

Without waiting for a reply Chester started crawling away, not directly toward the spot where the last flash of fire had come from, but bearing off well toward the right.

Hal started to protest, but, before he could utter half a dozen words, Chester had disappeared in the darkness. Hal lay in silence for some time. Finally, putting his cap upon a stick, he poked it cautiously out from behind the tree, where it was silhouetted against the opening between the trees.

A shot followed, and the cap leaped into the air.

"Good thing it wasn't my head," said Hal ruefully. "But if I can keep that fellow's attention centered on me, Chester may be able to nab him."

Once more he raised his cap on a stick and moved it about. Again there was a sound of a shot. But, even as the bullet sped by, there was a second report, and Hal heard his friend's voice raised in almost a shout:

"I got him."

Quickly Hal sprang to his feet and dashed in the direction of his friend's voice.

When Chester had left Hal he crawled slowly, and, making a wide detour, came upon his unseen enemy from behind. The second time the man had fired at Hal's hat, Chester was almost upon him.

Thinking that the man was shooting at his friend, being unconscious of the ruse Hal was employing, Chester immediately turned his own weapon loose upon the man, whom he could now plainly see. But, after firing, the enemy had shifted his position slightly at the very moment that Chester fired. Therefore, he escaped what otherwise would assuredly have been a death wound--for Chester was a crack shot--and received the ball in his pistol hand.

His weapon dropped to the ground, and he sent up a loud howl of pain.

Before he could seize the weapon in his other hand, Chester was upon him, and Hal was hastening to the aid of his friend, for, wounded though he was, the man put up a hard fight.

Chester forced him to the ground, but the man heaved him away with a mighty kick. Chester fell sprawling on the ground, and his opponent turned to grope for his revolver.

But, before he could pick it up, Hal was upon the scene. He took in the situation at a glance, and sprang upon Chester's assailant.

Hal's first leap bore his opponent to the ground, where the boy twisted one hand around the man's throat. But, if he thought to overcome his opponent thus easily, he had reckoned without his host. Lying almost at full length on the ground as he was, he drove his fist straight upward into Hal's face. The lad released his hold upon his enemy's throat and fell back.

It was now beginning to grow light, and, as the man sprang after him, Hal recognized him. It was young Dersi!

"Dersi!" gasped Hal, as he once more put himself in an attitude of defense.

"Yes," gritted his opponent, "and I am going to kill you both, right here and now."

With this he sprang upon Hal and bore him to the ground. But the lad was not to be thus easily conquered, and, with a mighty effort, wriggled from beneath his assailant and sprang back to gain a breath.

This movement almost cost him his life, for, in springing back, he allowed his opponent time to reach down and pick up his revolver. This he now pointed full at Hal.

But aid came from an unexpected source. Chester, who had been lying unconscious up to this time, now recovered sufficiently to take in the situation about him. In his hand he still grasped the automatic.

This he brought to bear, and an instant before Dersi's finger pressed the trigger, Chester fired. Dersi fell to the ground with a groan. His revolver exploded as he fell, and the bullet whistled close to Hal's right ear.

Quickly Hal jumped to Chester's side and raised his chum in his arms.

"Chester! Chester!" he said anxiously. "Tell me, are you much hurt?"

"Not much, I think," was his friend's reply. "But he gave me an awful wallop. I shall be all right presently."

Hal did not leave his friend for a moment until Chester announced that his head had cleared up sufficiently for him to stand. With Hal's assistance he struggled to his feet, one hand holding the side of his head.

"He kicked like a mule," said Chester. "Great Scott! I never had anything hurt like that."

At that instant there came a groan from the fallen man.

Hal and Chester bent over him. Dersi's voice was very indistinct, and the boys at first were unable to distinguish what he said.

Hal placed his ear close to the dying man's lips. The voice came faintly.

"Do not tell mother I died like this. It would break her heart. She thinks I am a soldier of France. And so I was," and his voice became stronger, "until I fell in with evil companions. Then I began to gamble. I lost. I needed money. When the war broke out, I was offered a chance to cancel all my debts, if I would deliver certain plans to the Germans. I did. Then I was discovered."

"How?" demanded Chester.

"I was caught in the act of taking papers from my superior's coat, which he had laid aside. I was court-martialed and ordered put to death. Through the connivance of another who was associated with me in this piece of treachery I managed to escape. He is high in the confidence of General Joffre."

"His name?" demanded Hal quickly.

The wounded man was silent for some time.

"I have never betrayed a comrade," he said at length, "but I am at the door of death. I must make what reparation I can. His name is General Emil Tromp."

"What!" exclaimed Hal and Chester in a single breath.

"It is true," continued the wounded man. "But listen," and his voice grew fainter. The end was not far off now. "Listen! Will you do me one favor, you whom I have tried to kill?"

Hal and Chester nodded their heads in assent.

"Then do not tell my mother of my treachery. Tell her that I died in battle, fighting for my country, and that I was game to the end, as you Americans say. Will you do this for me, one who has sought your death?"

"We will," promised Hal and Chester in a single voice.

"Promise," said the dying man feebly, as he raised himself on one elbow.

"We promise," said both lads solemnly.

The man fell back with a groan of thanks, and Hal bent over him, thinking that he was dead. But the voice came again:

"I wouldn't have her know for all the world. I was always wild, but who would have thought that I would be a traitor to my country? When you see General Joffre, tell him at once what I have told you concerning the traitor. Immediately, do you understand?"

"We understand," said Hal.

"And my mother, you will do as you have promised?"

"We have promised," said Chester simply.

"Then I may die in peace," said the wounded traitor.

He lay back on the ground at full length, shuddered, once, twice, and lay still.

Hal rose from his kneeling posture, and lifted his cap from his head.

"He is dead," he said quietly. "May he rest in peace."

"Amen to that," said Chester, also standing with bared head. "And his mother. He is right. It would break her heart. We must see that she does not know."

"And so we shall," declared Hal. "It will be a lie for which I am sure we shall be forgiven."