“I don’t seem to know him,” said the officer, still peering intently at Uncle John.  And then suddenly he exclaimed:  “The prisoner!”

He raised his voice in a cry for help; and at the same moment Hal’s revolver butt crashed down upon his head!

CHAPTER XXV.

A wild dash.

But the damage had been done; and in response to the single wild cry, footsteps came hurrying toward them.  Every sleepy outpost within hearing was wide awake now; and the alarm was carried both ways down the long battle line.

“Run!” cried Hal.

The four took to their heels and dashed ahead—­in the direction that eventually would carry them into the heart of the Italian lines, were they fortunate enough to escape the bullets that in a moment would be sent whizzing after them.

“If we only had horses,” thought Chester as he dashed over the ground.

The same thought struck the others, but they did not pause to give voice to it.

Fifty yards, a hundred yards they covered in the darkness before the first shot came whining after them; but this was wide, thanks to the blackness of the night.  But now came a volley, from the Austrian troops behind.  They could not see the running figures, but the volley was scattered and the four heard the sound of the singing bullets as they passed over their heads.

“Down!” cried Colonel Anderson, even as a second volley rang out, and they dropped just in time; for this second volley was aimed low, and would have riddled the four fugitives.  A third volley passed over their prostrate forms, and then, as another did not come immediately, Colonel Anderson gave the command:  “Up and on again.”

This command was obeyed to the letter and again the four fugitives dashed over the ground without a word.  Two, three, four hundred yards they dashed at top speed and then paused for a much needed breath and to take stock of the situation.

“Anybody hit?” asked Hal anxiously.

“No,” came the reply from the other three.

“Good.  Now the question is what is best to do.  Undoubtedly the Austrians will send a force of cavalry out looking for our bodies, and when they fail to find them, they will spread out and give chase.  That way they are bound to overtake us sooner or later.  Shall we bear off to the left, with a hope of losing them, or shall we go straight ahead as fast as we can and trust to luck?”

“I think I can answer that,” said Hal, suddenly.  “As we came out I remember passing an old shack of some kind, a short distance off our left.  I vote we make for that, and if we can reach it, we will attempt to hold it until daylight, when we can expect some assistance from the Italians.  They will come to our aid when they see us besieged by the Austrians.”

“A good plan,” declared Colonel Anderson.  “Do you think you can lead the way to the shack you speak of?”