The Boy Scouts In Russia | Page 4

Fred Waring, thousands of miles from home, to
start from Virballen. The lieutenant who had saved him from Suvaroff
lent him what money he could spare, though all told it was less than a
hundred marks, which is twenty dollars.
"Good-bye, and good luck go with you," said Ernst. "If we do not meet
again it will be a real good-bye. If you can send the money back, let it
go to my mother in Danzig. If you cannot, do not let it worry you! If
any people ask you questions, answer them quickly. If any tell you to
stop, stop! Remember that this is war time and every stranger is
suspected. You will be in no danger if you will remember to answer
questions and obey orders."
"Thank you again--and good-bye," said Fred. He had known this
German officer for only a few minutes, but he felt that he was parting
from a good friend, and, indeed, he was. Not many men would have
been so considerate and so kindly, especially at such a time, to a
strange boy from a foreign land, and one, moreover, who had certainly
not come with the best of recommendations. "I--I hope you'll come
through all right."
"That's to be seen," said Ernst, with a shrug of the shoulders. "In war
who can tell? We take our chances, we who live by the sword. If a
Russian is to get me, he will do so, and it will not help to be afraid, or
to think of the chances that I may not see the end of what has been
begun to-night! We have been getting ready for years. Now we shall
know before long if we have done enough. The test has come for us of
the fatherland."
And then Fred said a bold thing.
"I can wish you good luck and a safe return, Lieutenant," he said. "But
I can't wish that your country may be victorious because my mother,
after all, was a Russian."
"I wouldn't ask that of you," said Ernst, with a laugh. "Even though it is
Prince Suvaroff's country, too?"

"There are Germans you do not like, I suppose--who are even your
enemies," said Fred. "Yet now you will forget all that, will you not?"
"God helping us, yes!" said Ernst. "You are right. Your heart must be
with your own. But you don't seem like a Russian, or I would not be
helping you."
Then Fred was off, going on his way into the darkness alone. Ernst had
told him which road to follow, telling him that if he stuck to it he would
not be likely to run into any troop movements.
"Don't see too much. That is a good rule for one who is in a country at
war," he had advised. "If you know nothing, you cannot tell the enemy
anything useful, and there will be less reason for our people to make
trouble for you. Your only real danger lies in being taken for a spy.
And if you are careful not to learn things, that will not be a very great
one."
Fred was not at all afraid, as a matter of fact, as he set out. Before he
had stepped across the mark that stood for the border he had been
hugely depressed. He had been friendless and alone. He had been worse
than friendless, indeed, since the only man for many miles about who
knew him was his bitter enemy. Now he had found that he could still
inspire a man like Ernst with belief in his truthfulness and honesty, and
the knowledge did him a lot of good. And then, of course, he had
another excellent reason for not being afraid. He was entirely ignorant
of the particular dangers that were ahead of him. He had no conception
at all of what lay before him, and it does not require bravery not to fear
a danger the very existence of which one is entirely without knowledge.
The idea of walking all through the summer night, as Ernst had advised
him to do, did not seem bad to him at all. As a scout at home, he had
taken part in many a hike, and if few of them had been at night, he was
still thoroughly accustomed to being out-of-doors, without even the
shelter of a tent or a lean-to. Nor was he afraid of losing his way, for as
long as the stars shone above, as they did brilliantly now, he had a sure
guide.

Fred wasn't tired, for he had enraged Suvaroff, who had seemingly
wanted him to be frightened, by sleeping during the journey to
Virballen whenever he could. It had been comfortable enough on the
train; he had not been treated as a prisoner, but as