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diff --git a/19957.txt b/19957.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c469fd --- /dev/null +++ b/19957.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4830 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Facing the German Foe, by Colonel James +Fiske, Illustrated by E. A. Furman + + +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: Facing the German Foe + + +Author: Colonel James Fiske + + + +Release Date: November 28, 2006 [eBook #19957] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACING THE GERMAN FOE*** + + +E-text prepared by Brian Sogard, Irma Spehar, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +World's War Series Volume 2 + +FACING THE GERMAN FOE + +by + +COLONEL JAMES FISKE + +Illustrated by E. A. Furman + + + + + + + +The Saalfield Publishing Company +Chicago Akron, Ohio New York +Copyright, 1915 +by +The Saalfield Publishing Co. + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter Page + +I Serious News 11 + +II Quick Work 27 + +III Picked for Service 45 + +IV The House of the Heliograph 65 + +V On the Trail 81 + +VI The Mystery of Bray Park 99 + +VII A Close Shave 117 + +VIII A Friend in Need 127 + +IX An Unexpected Blow 143 + +X A Good Witness 153 + +XI The First Blow 163 + +XII The Silent Wire 173 + +XIII A Treacherous Deed 185 + +XIV The Trap 195 + +XV A Daring Ruse 205 + +XVI The Cipher 213 + +XVII A Capture from the Skies 223 + +XVIII Vindication 233 + + + + +Facing the German Foe + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SERIOUS NEWS + + +"As long as I can't be at home," said Harry Fleming, "I'd rather be here +than anywhere in the world I can think of!" + +"Rather!" said his companion, Dick Mercer. "I say, Harry, it must be funny +to be an American!" + +Harry laughed heartily. + +"I'd be angry, Dick," he said, finally, "if that wasn't so English--and so +funny! Still, I suppose that's one reason you Britishers are as big an +empire as you are. You think it's sort of funny and a bit of a misfortune, +don't you, to be anything but English?" + +"Oh, I say, I didn't quite mean that," said Dick, flushing a little. "And +of course you Americans aren't just like foreigners. You speak the same +language we do--though you do say some funny things now and then, old chap. +You know, I was ever so surprised when you came to Mr. Grenfel and he let +you in our troop right away!" + +"Didn't you even know we had Boy Scouts in America?" asked Harry. "My +word--as you English would say. That is the limit! Why, it's spread all +over the country with us. But of course we all know that it started +here--that Baden-Powell thought of the idea!" + +"Rather!" said Dick, enthusiastically. "Good old Bathing-Towel! That's what +they used to call him at school, you know, before he ever went into the +army at all. And it stuck to him, they say, right through. Even after +Mafeking he was called that. Now, of course, he's a lieutenant general, and +all sorts of a swell. He and Kitchener and French are so big they don't get +called nicknames much more." + +"Well, I'll tell you what I think," said Harry, soberly. "I think he did a +bigger thing for England when he started the Boy Scout movement than when +he defended Mafeking against the Boers!" + +"Why, how can you make that out?" asked Dick, puzzled. "The defence of +Mafeking had a whole lot to do with our winning that war!" + +"That's all right, too," said Harry. "But you know you may be in a bigger +war yet than that Boer War ever thought of being." + +"How can a war think, you chump?" asked the literal-minded Dick. + +Again Harry roared at him. + +"That's just one of 'our funny American ways of saying things,' Dick," he +explained. "I didn't mean that, of course. But what I do mean is that +everyone over here in Europe seems to think that there will be a big war +sometime--a bigger war than the world's ever seen yet." + +"Oh, yes!" Dick nodded his understanding, and grew more serious. "My +pater--he's a V. C., you know--says that, too. He says we'll have to fight +Germany, sooner or later. And he seems to think the sooner the better, too, +before they get too big and strong for us to have an easy time with them." + +"They're too big now for any nation to have an easy time with them," said +Harry. "But you see what I mean now, don't you, Dick? We Boy Scouts aren't +soldiers in any way. But we do learn to do the things a soldier has to do, +don't we?" + +"Yes, that's true," said Dick. "But we aren't supposed to think of that." + +"Of course not, and it's right, too," agreed Harry. "But we learn to be +obedient. We learn discipline. And we get to understand camp life, and the +open air, and all the things a soldier has to know about, sooner or later. +Suppose you were organizing a regiment. Which would you rather have--a +thousand men who were brave and willing, but had never camped out, or a +thousand who had been Boy Scouts and knew about half the things soldiers +have to learn? Which thousand men would be ready to go to the front first?" + +"I never thought of that!" said Dick, mightily impressed. "But you're +right, Harry. The Boy Scouts wouldn't go to war themselves, but the fellows +who were grown up and in business and had been Boy Scouts would be a lot +readier than the others, wouldn't they? I suppose that's why so many of our +chaps join the Territorials when they are through school and start in +business?" + +"Of course it is! You've got the idea I'm driving at, Dick. And you can +depend on it that General Baden-Powell had that in his mind's eye all the +time, too. He doesn't want us to be military and aggressive, but he does +want the Empire to have a lot of fellows on call who are hard and fit, so +that they can defend themselves and the country. You see, in America, and +here in England, too, we're not like the countries on the Continent. We +don't make soldiers of every man in the country." + +"No--and, by Jove, they do that, don't they, Harry? I've got a cousin who's +French. And he expects to serve his term in the army. He's in the class of +1918. You see, he knows already when he will have to go, and just where he +will report--almost the regiment he'll join. But he's hoping they'll let +him be in the cavalry, instead of the infantry or the artillery." + +"There you are! Here and in America, we don't have to have such tremendous +armies, because we haven't got countries that we may have to fight across +the street--you know what I mean. England has to have a tremendous navy, +but that makes it unnecessary for her to have such a big army." + +"I see you've got the idea exactly, Fleming," said a new voice, breaking +into the conversation. The two scouts looked up to see the smiling face of +their scoutmaster, John Grenfel. He was a big, bronzed Englishman, sturdy +and typical of the fine class to which he belonged--public school and +university man, first-class cricketer and a football international who had +helped to win many a hard fought game for England from Wales or Scotland or +Ireland. The scouts were returning from a picnic on Wimbledon Common, in +the suburbs of London, and Grenfel was following his usual custom of +dropping into step now with one group, now with another. He favored the +idea of splitting up into groups of two or three on the homeward way, +because it was his idea that one of the great functions of the Scout +movement was to foster enduring friendships among the boys. He liked to +know, without listening or trying to overhear, what the boys talked about; +often he would give a directing word or two, that, without his purpose +becoming apparent, shaped the ideas of the boys. + +"Yes," he repeated. "You understand what we're trying to do in this +country, Fleming. We don't want to fight--we pray to God that we shall +never have to. But, if we are attacked, or if the necessity arises, we'll +be ready, as we have been ready before. We want peace--we want it so much +and so earnestly that we'll fight for it if we must." + +Neither of the boys laughed at what sounded like a paradox. His voice was +too earnest. + +"Do you think England is likely to have to go to war soon--within a year or +so, sir?" asked Harry. + +"I pray not," said Grenfel. "But we don't know, Fleming. For the last few +years--ever since the trouble in the Balkans finally flamed up--Europe has +been on the brink of a volcano. We don't know what the next day may bring +forth. I've been afraid--" He stopped, suddenly, and seemed to consider. + +"There is danger now," he said, gravely. "Since the Archduke Franz +Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, Austria has been in an ugly mood. +She has tried to blame Servia. I don't think Russia will let her crush +Servia--not a second time. And if Russia and Austria fight, there is no +telling how it may spread." + +"You'd want us to win, wouldn't you, Harry, if we fought?" asked Dick, when +Mr. Grenfel had passed on to speak to some of the others. + +"Yes, I think I would--I _know_ I would, Dick," said Harry, gravely. "But I +wouldn't want to see a war, just the same. It's a terrible thing." + +"Oh, it wouldn't last long," said Dick, confidently. "We'd lick them in no +time at all. Don't you think so?" + +"I don't know--I hope so. But you can't ever be sure." + +"I wonder if they'd let us fight?" + +"No, I don't think they would, Dick. There'd be plenty for the Boy Scouts +to do though, I believe." + +"Would you stay over here if there was a war, Harry? Or would you go home?" + +"I think we'd have to stay over here, Dick. You see, my father is here on +business, not just for pleasure. His company sent him over here, and it was +understood he'd stay several years. I don't think the war could make any +difference." + +"That's why you're here, then, is it? I used to wonder why you went to +school over here instead of in America." + +"Yes. My father and mother didn't want me to be so far from them. So they +brought me along. I was awfully sorry at first, but now it doesn't seem so +bad." + +"I should think not!" said Dick, indignantly. "I should think anyone would +be mighty glad of a chance to come to school over here instead of in +America! Why, you don't even play cricket over there, I've been told!" + +"No, but we play baseball," said Harry, his eyes shining. "I really think I +miss that more than anything else here in England. Cricket's all right--if +you can't play baseball. It's a good enough game." + +"You can play," admitted Dick, rather grudgingly. "When you bowl, you've +got some queer way of making the ball seem to bend--" + +"I put a curve on it, that's all!" said Harry, with a laugh. "If you'd ever +played baseball, you'd understand that easily enough. See? You hold the +ball like this--so that your fingers give it a spin as it leaves your +hand." + +And he demonstrated for his English friend's benefit the way the ball is +held to produce an out-curve. + +"Your bowlers here don't seem to do that--though they do make the ball +break after it hits the ground. But the way I manage it, you see, is to +throw a ball that doesn't hit the ground in front of the bat at all, but +curves in. If you don't hit at it, it will hit the stumps and bowl you out; +if you do hit, you're likely to send it straight up in the air, so that +some fielder can catch it." + +"I see," said Dick. "Well, I suppose it's all right, but it doesn't seem +quite fair." + +Harry laughed, but didn't try to explain the point further. He liked Dick +immensely; Dick was the first friend he had made in England, and the best, +so far. It was Dick who had tried to get him to join the Boy Scouts, and +who had been immensely surprised to find that Harry was already a scout. +Harry, indeed, had done two years of scouting in America; he had been one +of the first members of a troop in his home town, and had won a number of +merit badges. He was a first-class scout, and, had he stayed with his +troop, would certainly have become a patrol leader. So he had had no +trouble in getting admission to the patrol to which Dick belonged. + +It had been hard for Harry, when his father's business called him to +England, to give up all the friendships and associations of his boyhood. It +had been hard to leave school; to tear up, by the roots, all the things +that bound him to his home. But as a scout he had learned to be loyal and +obedient. His parents had talked things over with him very frankly. They +had understood just how hard it would be for him to go with them. But his +father had made him see how necessary it was. + +"I want you to be near your mother and myself just now, especially, Harry," +he had said. "I want you to grow up where I can see you. And, moreover, it +won't hurt you a bit to know something about other countries. You'll have a +new idea of America when you have seen other lands, and I believe you'll be +a better American for it. You'll learn that other countries have their +virtues, and that we can learn some things from them. But I believe you'll +learn, too, to love America better than ever. When we go home you'll be +broader and better for your experience." + +And Harry was finding out that his father had been right. At first he had +to put up with a good deal. He found that the English boys he met in school +felt themselves a little superior. They didn't look down on him, exactly, +but they were, perhaps, the least bit sorry for him because he was not an +Englishman, always a real misfortune in their sight. + +He had resented that at first. But his Boy Scout training stood him in good +stead. He kept his temper, and it was not long before he began to make +friends. He excelled at games; even the English games, that were new and +strange to him, presented few difficulties to him. As he had explained to +Dick, cricket was easy for any boy who could play baseball fairly well. And +it was the same way with football. After the far more strenuous American +game, he shone at the milder English football, the Rugby game, which is the +direct ancestor of the sport in America. + +All these things helped to make Harry popular. He was now nearly sixteen, +tall and strong for his age, thanks to the outdoor life he had always +lived. An only son, he and his father had always been good friends. Without +being in any way a molly-coddle, still he had been kept safe from a good +many of the temptations that beset some boys by this constant association +with his father. It was no wonder, therefore, that John Grenfel, as soon as +he had talked with Harry and learned of the credentials he bore from his +home troop, had welcomed him enthusiastically as a recruit to his own +troop. + +It had been necessary to modify certain rules. Harry, of course, could not +subscribe to quite the same scout oath that bound his English fellows. But +he had taken his scout oath as a tenderfoot at home, and Grenfel had no +doubts about him. He was the sort of boy the organization wanted, whether +in England or America, and that was enough for Grenfel. + +Though the boys, as they walked toward their homes, did not quite realize +it, they were living in days that were big with fate. Far away, in the +chancelleries of Europe, and, not so far away, in the big government +buildings in the West End of London, the statesmen were even then making +their last effort to avert war. No one in England perhaps, really believed +that war was coming. There had been war scares before. But the peace of +Europe had been preserved for forty years or more, through one crisis after +another. And so it was a stunning surprise, even to Grenfel, when, as they +came into Putney High street, just before they reached Putney Bridge, they +met a swarm of newsboys excitedly shrieking extras. + +"Germany threatens Russia!" they yelled. "War sure!" + +Mr. Grenfel bought a paper, and the scouts gathered about him while he read +the news that was contained on the front page, still damp from the press. + +"I'm afraid it's true," he said, soberly. "The German Emperor has +threatened to go to war with Russia, unless the Czar stops mobilizing his +troops at once. We shall know to-night. But I think it means war! God send +that England may still keep out of it!" + +For that night a meeting at Mr. Grenfel's home in West Kensington had long +been planned. He lived not far from the street in which both Harry and Dick +lived. And, as the party broke up, on the other side of Putney Bridge, +Dick, voicing the general feeling, asked a question. + +"Are we to come to-night, sir?" he said. "With this news--?" + +"Yes--yes, indeed," said the scoutmaster. "If war is to come, there is all +the more reason for us to be together. England may need all of us yet." + +Dick had asked the question because, like all the others, he felt something +that was in the air. He was sobered by the news, although, like the rest, +he did not yet fully understand it. But they all felt that there had been a +change. As they looked about at the familiar sight about them they wondered +if, a year from then, everything would still be the same. War? What did it +mean to them, to England? + +"I wonder if my father will go to war!" Dick broke out suddenly, as he and +Harry walked along. + +"I hadn't thought of that!" said Harry, startled. "Oh, Dick, I'm sorry! +Still, I suppose he'll go, if his country needs him!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +QUICK WORK + + +At home, Harry had an early dinner with his father and mother, who were +going to the theatre. They lived in a comfortable house, which Mr. Fleming +had taken on a five-year lease when they came to England to live. It was +one of a row of houses that looked very much alike, which, itself, was one +of four sides of a square. In the centre of the square was a park-like +space, a garden, really. In this garden were several tennis courts, with +plenty of space, also, for nurses and children. There are many such squares +in London, and they help to make the British capital a delightful place in +which to live. + +As he went in, Harry saw a lot of the younger men who lived in the square +playing tennis. It was still broad daylight, although, at home, dusk would +have fallen. But this was England at the end of July and the beginning of +August, and the light of day would hold until ten o'clock or thereabout. + +That was one of the things that had helped to reconcile Harry to living in +England. He loved the long evenings and the chance they gave to get plenty +of sport and exercise after school hours. The school that he and Dick +attended was not far away; they went to it each day. A great many of the +boys boarded at the school, but there were plenty who, like Dick and Harry, +did not. But school was over now, for the time. The summer holidays had +just begun. + +At the table there was much talk of the war that was in the air. But Mr. +Fleming did not even yet believe that war was sure. + +"They'll patch it up," he said, confidently. "They can't be so mad as to +set the whole world ablaze over a little scrap like the trouble between +Austria and Servia." + +"Would it affect your business, dear?" asked Mrs. Fleming. "If there really +should be war, I mean?" + +"I don't think so," said he. "I might have to make a flying trip home, but +I'd be back. Come on--time for us to go. What are you going to do, boy? +Going over to Grenfel's, aren't you?" + +"Yes, father," said Harry. + +"All right. Get home early. Good-night!" + +A good many of the boys were already there when Dick and Harry reached +Grenfel's house. The troop--the Forty-second, of London--was a +comparatively small one, having only three patrols. But nearly all of them +were present, and the scoutmaster took them out into his garden. + +"I'm going to change the order a bit," he said, gravely. "I want to do some +talking, and then I expect to answer questions. Boys, Germany has declared +war on Russia. There are reports already of fighting on the border between +France and Germany. And there seems to be an idea that the Germans are +certain to strike at France through Belgium. I may not be here very long--I +may have to turn over the troop to another scoutmaster. So I want to have a +long talk to-night." + +There was a dismayed chorus. + +"What? You going away, sir? Why?" + +But Harry did not join. He saw the quiet blaze in John Grenfel's eyes, and +he thought he knew. + +"I've volunteered for foreign service already," Grenfel explained. "I saw a +little fighting in the Boer war, you know. And I may be useful. So I +thought I'd get my application in directly. If I go, I'll probably go +quietly and quickly. And there may be no other chance for me to say +good-bye." + +"Then you think England will be drawn in, sir?" asked Leslie Franklin, +leader of the patrol to which Dick and Harry belonged, the Royal Blues. + +"I'm afraid so," said Grenfel, grimly. "There's just a chance still, but +that's all--the ghost of a chance, you might call it. I think it might be +as well if I explained a little of what's back of all this trouble. Want to +listen? If you do, I'll try. And if I'm not making myself clear, ask all +the questions you like." + +There was a chorus of assent. Grenfel sat in the middle, the scouts ranged +about him in a circle. + +"In the first place," he began, "this Servian business is only an excuse. +I'm not defending the Servians--I'm taking no sides between Servia and +Austria. Here in England we don't care about that, because we know that if +that hadn't started the war, something else would have been found. + +"England wants peace. And it seems that, every so often, she has to fight +for it. It was so when the Duke of Marlborough won his battles at Blenheim +and Ramillies and Malplaquet. Then France was the strongest nation in +Europe. And she tried to crush the others and dominate everything. If she +had, she would have been strong enough, after her victories, to fight us +over here--to invade England. So we went into that war, more than two +hundred years ago, not because we hated France, but to make a real peace +possible. And it lasted a long time. + +"Then, after the French revolution, there was Napoleon. Again France, under +him, was the strongest nation in Europe. He conquered Germany, and Austria, +Italy and Spain, the Netherlands. And he tried to conquer England, so that +France could rule the world. But Nelson beat his fleet at Trafalgar--" + +"Hurrah!" interrupted Dick, carried away. "Three cheers for Nelson!" + +Grenfel smiled as the cheers were given. + +"Even after Trafalgar," he went on, "Napoleon hoped to conquer England. He +had massed a great army near Boulogne, ready to send it across the channel. +And so we took the side of the weaker nations again. All Europe, led by +England, rose against Napoleon. And you know what happened. He was beaten +finally at Waterloo. And so there was peace again in Europe for a long +time, with no one nation strong enough to dictate to all the others. But +then Germany began to rise. She beat Austria, and that made her the +strongest German country. Then she beat France, in 1870, and that gave her +her start toward being the strongest nation on the continent. + +"And then, I believe--and so do most Englishmen--she began to be jealous of +England. She wanted our colonies. She began, finally, to build a great +navy. For years we have had to spend great sums of money to keep our fleet +stronger than hers. And she made an alliance with Austria and Italy. +Because of that France and Russia made an alliance, too, and we had to be +friendly with them. And now it looks to me as if Germany thought she saw a +chance to beat France and Russia. Perhaps she thinks that we won't fight, +on account of the trouble in Ireland. And what we English fear is that, if +she wins, she will take Belgium and Holland. Then she would be so close to +our coasts that we would never be safe. We would have to be prepared always +for invasion. So, you see, it seems to me that we are facing the same sort +of danger we have faced before. Only this time it is Germany, instead of +France, that we shall have to fight--if we do fight." + +"If the Germans go through Belgium, will that mean that we shall fight?" +asked Leslie Franklin. + +"Almost certainly, yes," said Grenfel. "And it is through Belgium that +Germany has her best chance to strike at France. So you see how serious +things are. I don't want to go into all the history that is back of all +this. I just want you to understand what England's interest is. If we make +war, it will be a war of self-defence. Suppose you owned a house. And +suppose the house next door caught fire. You would try to put out that +fire, wouldn't you, to save your own house from being burned up? Well, +that's England's position. If the Germans held Belgium or Holland--and they +would hold both, if they beat France and Russia--England would then be in +just as much danger as your house would be. So if we fight, it will be to +put out the German fire in the house next door. + +"Now I want you to understand one thing. I'm talking as an Englishman. A +German would tell you all this in a very different way. I don't like the +people who are always slandering their enemies. Germany has her reasons for +acting as she does. I think her reasons are wrong. But the Germans believe +that they are right. We can respect even people who are wrong if they +themselves believe that they are right. There may be two sides to this +quarrel. And Germans, even if they are to be our enemies, may be just as +patriotic, just as devoted to their country, as we are. Never forget that, +no matter what may happen." + +He stopped then, waiting for questions. None came. + +"Then you understand pretty well?" he asked. + +There was a murmur of assent from the whole circle. + +"All right, then," he said. "Now there's work for Scouts to do. _Be +prepared!_ That's our motto, isn't it? Suppose there's war. Franklin, +what's your idea of what the Boy Scouts would be able to do?" + +"I suppose those who are old enough could volunteer, sir," said Franklin, +doubtfully. "I can't think of anything else--" + +"Time enough for that later," said Grenfel, with a short laugh. "England +may have to call boys to the colors before she's done, if she once starts +to fight. But long before that time comes, there will be a great work for +the organization we all love and honor. Work that won't be showy, work that +will be very hard. Boys, everyone in England, man and woman and child will +have work to do! And we, who are organized, and whose motto is _Be +prepared_, ought to be able to show what stuff there is in us. + +"Think of all the places that must be guarded. The waterworks, the gas +tanks, the railroads that lead to the seaports and that will be used by the +troops." + +A startled burst of exclamations answered him. + +"Why, there won't be any fighting in England, sir, will there?" asked Dick +Mercer, in surprise. + +"We all hope not," said Grenfel. "But that's not what I mean. It doesn't +take an army to destroy a railroad. One man with a bomb and a time fuse +attached to it can blow up a culvert and block a whole line so that +precious hours might be lost in getting troops aboard a transport. One man +could blow up a waterworks or a gas tank or cut an important telegraph or +telephone wire!" + +"You mean that there will be Germans here trying to hurt England any way +they can, don't you, sir?" asked Harry Fleming. + +"I mean exactly that," said Grenfel. "We don't know this--we can't be sure +of it. But we've got good reason to believe that there are a great many +Germans here, seemingly peaceable enough, who are regularly in the pay of +the German government as spies. We don't know the German plans. But there +is no reason, so far as we know, why their great Zeppelin airships +shouldn't come sailing over England, to drop bombs down where they can do +the most harm. There is nothing except our own vigilance to keep these +spies, even if they have to work alone, from doing untold damage!" + +"We could be useful as sentries, then?" said Leslie Franklin. He drew a +deep breath. "I never thought of things like that, sir! I'm just beginning +to see how useful we really might be. We could do a lot of things instead +of soldiers, couldn't we? So that they would be free to go and fight?" + +"Yes," answered the scoutmaster. "And I can tell you now that the National +Scout Council has always planned to 'Be Prepared!' It decided, a long time +ago, what should be done in case of war. A great many troops will be +offered to the War Department to do odd jobs. They will carry messages and +dispatches. They will act as clerks, so far as they can. They will patrol +the railways and other places that ought to be under guard, where soldiers +can be spared if we take their places. So far as such things can be +planned, they have been planned. + +"But most of the ways in which we can be useful haven't showed themselves +at all yet. They will develop, if war comes. We shall have to be alert and +watchful, and do whatever there is to be done." + +"Who will be scoutmaster, sir, if you go to the war?" asked Harry. + +"I'm not quite sure," said Grenfel. "We haven't decided yet. But it will be +someone you can trust--be sure of that. And I think I needn't say that if +you scouts have any real regard for me you will show it best by serving as +loyally and as faithfully under him as you have under me. I shall be with +you in spirit, no matter where I am. Now it's getting late. I think we'd +better break up for to-night. We will make a special order, too, for the +present. Every scout in the troop will report at scout headquarters until +further notice, every day, at nine o'clock in the morning. + +"I think we'll have to make up our minds not to play many games for the +time that is coming. There is real work ahead of us if war comes--work just +as real and just as hard, in its way, as if we were all going to fight for +England. Everyone cannot fight, but the ones who stay at home and do the +work that comes to their hands will serve England just as loyally as if +they were on the firing line! Now--up, all of you! Three cheers for King +George!" + +They were given with a will--and Harry Fleming joined in as heartily as any +of them. He was as much of an American as he had ever been, but something +in him responded with a strange thrill to England's need, as Grenfel had +expressed it. After all, England had been and was the mother country. +England and America had fought, in their time, and America had won, but +now, for a hundred years, there had been peace between them. And he and +these English boys were of the same blood and the same language, binding +them very closely together. + +"Blood is thicker than water, after all!" he thought. + +Then every scout there shook hands with John Grenfel. He smiled as he +greeted them. + +"I hope this will pass over," he said, "and that we'll do together during +this vacation all the things we've planned to do. But if we can't, and if +I'm called away, good-bye! Do your duty as scouts, and I'll know it +somehow! And, in case I don't see you again, good-bye!" + +"You're going to stand with us, then, Fleming?" he said, as Harry came up +to shake hands. "Good boy! We're of one blood, we English and you +Americans. We've had our quarrels, but relatives always do quarrel. And +you'll not be asked, as a scout here, to do anything an American shouldn't +do." + +Then it was over. They were out in the street. In the distance newsboys +were yelling their extras still. Many people were out, something unusual in +that quiet neighborhood. And suddenly one of the scouts lifted his voice, +and in a moment they were all singing: + + Rule, rule, Britannia! + Britannia rules the waves! + Britons never, never, never shall be slaves! + +Scores of voices swelled the chorus, joining the fresh young voices of the +scouts. And then someone started that swinging march song that had leaped +into popularity at the time of the Boer War, _Soldiers of the Queen_. The +words were trifling, but there was a fine swing to the music, and it was +not the words that counted--it was the spirit of those who sang. + +As he marched along with the others Harry noticed one thing. In a few hours +the whole appearance of the streets had changed. From every house, in the +still night air, drooped a Union Jack. The flag was everywhere; some houses +had flung out half a dozen to the wind. + +Harry was seeing a sight, that once seen, can never be forgotten. He was +seeing a nation aroused, preparing to fight. If war came to England it +would be no war decreed by a few men. It would be a war proclaimed by the +people themselves, demanded by them. The nation was stirring; it was +casting off the proverbial lethargy and indifference of the English. Even +here, in this usually quiet suburb of London, the home of business and +professional men who were comfortably well off, the stirring of the spirit +of England was evident. And suddenly the song of the scouts and those who +had joined them was drowned out by a new noise, sinister, threatening. It +was the angry note that is raised by a mob. + +Leslie Franklin took command at once. + +"Here, we must see what's wrong!" he cried. "Scouts, attention! Fall in! +Double quick--follow me!" + +He ran in the direction of the sound, and they followed. Five minutes +brought them to the scene of the disturbance. They reached a street of +cheaper houses and small shops. About one of these a crowd was surging, +made up largely of young men of the lower class, for in West Kensington, as +in all parts of London, the homes of the rich and of the poor rub one +another's elbows in easy familiarity. + +The crowd seemed to be trying to break in the door of this shop. Already +all the glass of the show windows had been broken, and from within there +came guttural cries of alarm and anger. + +"It's Dutchy's place!" cried Dick Mercer. "He's a German, and they're +trying to smash his place up!" + +"Halt!" cried Franklin. He gathered the scouts about him. + +"This won't do," he said, angry spots of color showing on his cheek bones. +"No one's gone for the police--or, if they have, this crowd of muckers will +smash everything up and maybe hurt the old Dutchman before the Bobbies get +here. Form together now--and when I give the word, go through! Once we get +between them and the shop, we can stop them. Maybe they won't know who we +are at first, and our uniforms may stop them." + +"Now!" he said, a moment later. And, with a shout, the scouts charged +through the little mob in a body. + +They had no trouble in getting through. A few determined people, knowing +just what they mean to do, can always overcome a greater number of +disorganized ones. That is why disciplined troops can conquer five times +their number of rioters or savages. And so in a moment they reached the +shop. + +"Let us in! We're here to protect you!" cried Franklin to old Schmidt, who +was cowering within, with his wife. Then he turned to the rioters, who, +getting over their first surprise, were threatening again. + +"For shame!" he cried. "Do you think you're doing anything for England? +War's not declared yet--and, if it was, you might better be looking for +German soldiers to shoot at than trying to hurt an old man who never did +anyone any harm!" + +There was a threatening noise from the crowd, but Franklin was undismayed. + +"You'll have to get through us to reach them!" he cried. "We--" + +But he was interrupted. A whistle sounded. The next moment the police were +there. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PICKED FOR SERVICE + + +The coming of the police cleared the little crowd of would-be rioters away +in no time. There were only three or four of the Bobbies, but they were +plenty. A smiling sergeant came up to Franklin. + +"More of your Boy Scout work, sir?" he said, pleasantly. "I heard you +standing them off! That was very well done. If we can depend on you to help +us all over London, we'll have an easier job than we looked for." + +"We saw a whole lot of those fellows piling up against the shop here," said +Franklin. "So of course we pitched in. We couldn't let anything like that +happen." + +"There'll be a lot of it at first, I'm afraid, sir," said the sergeant. +"Still, it won't last. If all we hear is true, they'll be taking a lot of +those young fellows away and giving them some real fighting to do to keep +them quiet." + +"Well, we'll help whenever we can, sergeant," said Franklin. "If the +inspector thinks it would be a good thing to have the shops that are kept +by Germans watched, I'm quite sure it can be arranged. If there's war I +suppose a lot of you policemen will go?" + +"We'll supply our share, sir," said the sergeant. "I'm expecting orders any +minute--I'm a reservist myself. Coldstream Guards, sir." + +"Congratulations!" said Franklin. He spoke a little wistfully. "I wonder if +they'll let me go? I think I'm old enough! Well, can we help any more here +to-night?" + +"No, thank you, sir. You've done very well as it is. Pity all the lads +don't belong to the Boy Scouts. We'd have less trouble, I'll warrant. I'll +just leave a man here to watch the place. But they won't be back. They +don't mean any real harm, as it is. It's just their spirits--and their +being a bit thoughtless, you know." + +"All right," said Franklin. "Glad we came along. Good-night, sergeant. Fall +in! March!" + +There was a cheer from the crowd that had gathered to watch the disturbance +as the scouts moved away. A hundred yards from the scene of what might have +been a tragedy, except for their prompt action, the Scouts dispersed. Dick +Mercer and Harry Fleming naturally enough, since they lived so close to one +another, went home together. + +"That was quick work," said Harry. + +"Yes. I'm glad we got there," said Dick. "Old Dutchy's all right--he +doesn't seem like a German. But I think it would be a good thing if they +did catch a few of the others and scrag them!" + +"No, it wouldn't," said Harry soberly. "Don't get to feeling that way, +Dick. Suppose you were living in Berlin. You wouldn't want a lot of German +roughs to come and destroy your house or your shop and handle you that way, +would you?" + +"It's not the same thing," said Dick, stubbornly. "They're foreigners." + +"But you'd be a foreigner if you were over there!" said Harry, with a +laugh. + +"I suppose I would," said Dick. "I never thought of that! Just the same, I +bet Mr. Grenfel was right. London's full of spies. Isn't that an awful +idea, Harry? You can't tell who's a spy and who isn't!" + +"No, but you can be pretty sure that the man you suspect isn't," suggested +Harry, sagely. "A real spy wouldn't let you find it out very easily. I can +see one thing and that is a whole lot of perfectly harmless people are +going to be arrested as spies before this war is very old, if it does come! +We don't want to be mixed up in that, Dick--we scouts. If we think a man's +doing anything suspicious, we'll have to be very sure before we denounce +him, or else we won't be any use." + +"It's better for a few people to be arrested by mistake than to let a spy +keep on spying, isn't it?" + +"I suppose so, but we don't want to be like the shepherd's boy who used to +try to frighten people by calling 'Wolf! Wolf!' when there wasn't any wolf. +You know what happened to him. When a wolf really did come no one believed +him. We want to look before we leap." + +"I suppose you're right, Harry. Oh, I do hope we can really be of some use! +If I can't go to the war, I'd like to think I'd had something to do--that +I'd helped when my country needed me!" + +"If you feel like that you'll be able to help, all right," said Harry. "I +feel that way, too--not that I want to fight. I wouldn't want to do that +for any country but my own. But I would like to be able to know that I'd +had something to do with all that's going to be done." + +"I think it's fine for you to be like that," said Dick. "I think there +isn't so much difference between us, after all, even if you are American +and I'm English. Well, here we are again! I'll see you in the morning, I +suppose?" + +"Right oh! I'll come around for you early. Good-night!" + +"Good-night!" + +Neither of them really doubted for a moment that war was coming. It was in +the air. The attack on the little shop that they had helped to avert was +only one of many, although there was no real rioting in London. Such +scenes were simply the result of excitement, and no great harm was done +anywhere. But the tension of which such attacks were the result was +everywhere. For the next three days there was very little for anyone to do. +Everyone was waiting. France and Germany were at war; the news came that +the Germans had invaded Luxembourg, and were crossing the Belgian border. + +And then, on Tuesday night, came the final news. England had declared war. +For the moment the news seemed to stun everyone. It had been expected, and +still it came as a surprise. But then London rose to the occasion. There +was no hysterical cheering and shouting; everything was quiet. Harry +Fleming saw a wonderful sight--a whole people aroused and determined. There +was no foolish boasting; no one talked of a British general eating his +Christmas dinner in Berlin. But even Dick Mercer, excitable and erratic as +he had always been, seemed to have undergone a great change. + +"My father's going to the war," he told Harry on Wednesday morning. He +spoke very seriously. "He was a captain in the Boer War, you know, so he +knows something about soldiering. He thinks he'll be taken, though he's a +little older than most of the men who'll go. He'll be an officer, of +course. And he says I've got to look after the mater when he's gone." + +"You can do it, too," said Harry, surprised, despite himself, by the change +in his chum's manner. "You seem older than I now, Dick, and I've always +thought you were a kid!" + +"The pater says we've all got to be men, now," said Dick, steadily. "The +mater cried a bit when he said he was going--but I think she must have +known all the time he was going. Because when he told us--we were at the +breakfast table--she sort of cried a little, and then she stopped. + +"'I've got everything ready for you,' she said. + +"And he looked at her, and smiled. 'So you knew I was going?' he asked her. +And she nodded her head, and he got up and kissed her. I never saw him do +that before--he never did that before, when I was looking on," Dick +concluded seriously. + +"I hope he'll come back all right, Dick," said Harry. "It's hard, old +chap!" + +"I wouldn't have him stay home for anything!" said Dick, fiercely. "And I +will do my share! You see if I don't! I don't care what they want me to do! +I'll run errands--I'll sweep out the floors in the War Office, so that some +man can go to war! I'll do _any_thing!" + +Somehow Harry realized in that moment how hard it was going to be to beat a +country where even the boys felt like that! The change in the usually +thoughtless, light-hearted Dick impressed him more than anything else had +been able to do with the real meaning of what had come about so suddenly. +And he was thankful, too, all at once, that in America the fear and peril +of war were so remote. It was glorious, it was thrilling, but it was +terrible, too. He wondered how many of the scouts he knew, and how many of +those in school would lose their fathers or their brothers in this war that +was beginning. Truly, there is no argument for peace that can compare with +war itself! Yet how slowly we learn! + +Grenfel had gone, and the troop was now in charge of a new scoutmaster, +Francis Wharton. Mr. Wharton was a somewhat older man. At first sight he +didn't look at all like the man to lead a group of scouts, but that, as it +turned out, was due to physical infirmities. One foot had been amputated at +the time of the Boer War, in which he had served with Grenfel. As a result +he was incapacitated from active service, although, as the scouts soon +learned, he had begged to be allowed to go in spite of it. He appeared at +the scout headquarters, the pavilion of a small local cricket club, on +Wednesday morning. + +"I don't know much about this--more shame to me," he said, cheerfully, +standing up to address the boys. "But I think we can make a go of it--I +think we'll be able to do something for the Empire, boys. My old friend +John Grenfel told me a little; he said you'd pull me through. These are war +times and you'll have to do for me what many a company in the army does for +a young officer." + +They gave him a hearty cheer that was a promise in itself. + +"I can tell you I felt pretty bad when I found they wouldn't let me go to +the front," he went on. "It seemed hard to have to sit back and read the +newspapers when I knew I ought to be doing some of the work. But then +Grenfel told me about you boys, and what you meant to do, and I felt +better. I saw that there was a chance for me to help, after all. So here I +am. These are times when ordinary routine doesn't matter so much--you can +understand that. Grenfel put the troop at the disposal of the commander at +Ealing. And his first request was that I should send two scouts to him at +once. Franklin, I believe you are the senior patrol leader? Yes? Then I +shall appoint you assistant scoutmaster, as Mr. Greene has not returned +from his holiday in France. Will you suggest the names of two scouts for +this service?" + +Franklin immediately went up to the new scoutmaster, and they spoke +together quietly, while a buzz of excited talk rose among the scouts. Who +would be honored by the first chance? Every scout there wanted to hear his +name called. + +"I think they'll take me, for one," said Ernest Graves. He was one of the +patrol to which both Harry Fleming and Dick Mercer belonged, and the +biggest and oldest scout of the troop, except for Leslie Franklin. He had +felt for some time that he should be a patrol leader. Although he excelled +in games, and was unquestionably a splendid scout, Graves was not popular, +for some reason, among his fellows. He was not exactly unpopular, either; +but there was a little resentment at his habit of pushing himself forward. + +"I don't see why you should go more than anyone else, Graves," said young +Mercer. "I think they'll take the ones who are quickest. We're probably +wanted for messenger work." + +"Well, I'm the oldest. I ought to have first chance," said Graves. + +But the discussion was ended abruptly. + +"Fleming! Mercer!" called Mr. Wharton. + +They stepped forward, their hands raised in the scout salute, awaiting the +scoutmaster's orders. + +"You will proceed at once, by rail, to Ealing," he said. "There you will +report at the barracks, handing this note to the officer of the guard. He +will then conduct you to the adjutant or the officer in command, from whom +you will take your orders." + +"Yes, sir," said both scouts. Their eyes were afire with enthusiasm. But as +they passed toward the door, Dick Mercer's quick ears caught a sullen +murmur from Graves. + +"He's making a fine start," he heard him say to Fatty Wells, who was a +great admirer of his. "Picking out an _American_! Why, we're not even sure +that he'll be loyal! Did you ever hear of such a thing?" + +"You shut up!" cried Dick, fiercely, turning on Graves. "He's as loyal as +anyone else! We know as much about him as we do about you, anyhow--or more! +You may be big, but when we get back I'll make you take that back or +fight--" + +"Come on," said Harry, pulling Dick along with him. "You mustn't start +quarreling now--it's a time for all of us to stand together, Dick. I don't +care what he says, anyhow." + +He managed to get his fiery chum outside, and they hurried along, at the +scout pace, running and walking alternately, toward the West Kensington +station of the Underground Railway. They were in their khaki scout +uniforms, and several people turned to smile admiringly at them. The +newspapers had already announced that the Boy Scouts had turned out +unanimously to do whatever service they could, and it was a time when +women--and it was mostly women who were in the streets--were disposed to +display their admiration of those who were working for the country very +freely. + +They had little to say to one another as they hurried along; their pace was +such as to make it wise for them to save their breath. But when they +reached the station they found they had some minutes to wait for a train, +and they sat down on the platform to get their breath. They had already had +one proof of the difference made by a state of war. + +Harry stopped at the ticket window. + +"Two--third class--for Ealing," he said, putting down the money. But the +agent only smiled, having seen their uniforms. + +"On the public service?" he questioned. + +"Yes," said Harry, rather proudly. + +"Then you don't need tickets," said the agent. "Got my orders this morning. +No one in uniform has to pay. Go right through, and ride first-class, if +you like. You'll find plenty of officers riding that way." + +"That's fine!" said Dick. "It makes it seem as if we were really of some +use, doesn't it, Harry?" + +"Yes," answered Harry. "But, Dick, I've been thinking of what you said to +Graves. What did you mean when you told him you knew more about me than you +did about him? Hasn't he lived here a long time?" + +"No, and there's a little mystery about him. Don't you know it?" + +"Never heard of such a thing, Dick. You see, I haven't been here so very +long and he was in the patrol when I joined." + +"Oh, yes, so he was! Well, I'll tell you, then. You know he's studying to +be an engineer, at the Polytechnic. And he lives at a boarding house, all +by himself. Not a regular boarding house, exactly. He boards with Mrs. +Johnson, you know. Her husband died a year or two ago, and didn't leave her +very much money. He hasn't any father or mother, but he always seems to +have plenty of money. And he can play all sorts of games, but he won't do +them up right. He says he doesn't care anything about cricket!" + +"How old is he?" + +"Sixteen, but he's awfully big and strong." + +"He certainly is. He looks older than that, to me. Have you ever noticed +anything funny about the way he talks?" + +"No. Why? Have you?" + +"I'm not sure. But sometimes it seems to me he talks more like the people +do in a book than you and I do. I wonder why he doesn't like me?" pondered +Harry. + +"Oh, he likes you as well as he does anyone, Harry. He didn't mean +anything, I fancy, when he said that about your being chosen just now. He +was squiffed because Mr. Wharton didn't take him, that's all. He thinks he +ought to be ahead of everyone." + +"Well, I didn't ask to be chosen. I'm glad I was, of course, but I didn't +expect to be. I think perhaps Leslie Franklin asked Mr. Wharton to take +me." + +"Of course he did! Why shouldn't he?" + +Just then the coming of the train cut them short. From almost every window +men in uniform looked out. A few of the soldiers laughed at their scout +garb, but most of them only smiled gravely, and as if they were well +pleased. The two scouts made for the nearest compartment, and found, when +they were in it, that it was a first-class carriage, already containing two +young officers who were smoking and chatting together. + +"Hullo, young 'uns!" said one of the officers. "Off to the war?" + +They both laughed, which Harry rather resented. + +"We're under orders, sir," he said, politely. "But, of course, they won't +let us Scouts go to the war." + +"Don't rag them, Cecil," said the other officer. "They're just the sort we +need. Going to Ealing, boys?" + +Harry checked Dick's impulsive answer with a quick snatch at his elbow. He +looked his questioner straight in the eye. + +"We weren't told to answer any questions, sir," he said. + +Both the officers roared with laughter, but they sobered quickly, and the +one who had asked the question flushed a little. + +"I beg your pardon, my boy," he said. "The question is withdrawn. You're +perfectly right--and you're setting us an example by taking things +seriously. This war isn't going to be a lark. But you can tell me a few +things. You're scouts, I see. I was myself, once--before I went to +Sandhurst. What troop and patrol?" + +Dick told him, and the officer nodded. + +"Good work!" he said. "The scouts are going to turn out and help, eh? +That's splendid! There'll be work enough to go all around, never you +fear." + +"If, by any chance, you should be going to Ealing Barracks," said the first +officer, rather slyly, "and we should get off the train when you do, +there's no reason why you shouldn't let us drive you out, is there? We're +going there, and I don't mind telling you that we've just finished a two +hour leave to go and say good-bye--to--to--" + +His voice broke a little at that. In spite of his light-hearted manner and +his rather chaffing tone, he couldn't help remembering that good-bye. He +was going to face whatever fate might come, but thoughts of those he might +not see again could not be prevented from obtruding themselves. + +"Shut up, Cecil," said the other. "We've said good-bye--that's an end of +it! We've got other things to think of now. Here we are!" + +The train pulled into Ealing station. Here the evidences of war and the +warlike preparation were everywhere. The platforms were full of soldiers, +laughing, jostling one another, saluting the officers who passed among +them. And Harry, as he and Dick followed the officers toward the gate, saw +one curious thing. A sentry stood by the railway official who was taking up +tickets, and two or three times he stopped and questioned civilian +passengers. Two of these, moreover, he ordered into the ticket office, +where, as he went by, Harry saw an officer, seated at a desk, examining +civilians. + +Ealing, as a place where many troops were quartered, was plainly very much +under martial law. And outside the station it was even more military. +Soldiers were all about and automobiles were racing around, too. And there +were many women and children here, to bid farewell to the soldiers who were +going--where? No one knew. That was the mystery of the morning. Everyone +understood that the troops were off; that they had their orders. But not +even the officers themselves knew where, it seemed. + +"Here we are--here's a car!" said the officer called Cecil. "Jump aboard, +young 'uns! We know where you're going, right enough. Might as well save +some time." + +And so in a few minutes they reached the great barracks. Here the bustle +that had been so marked about the station was absent. All was quiet. They +were challenged by a sentry and Harry asked for the officer of the guard. +When he came he handed him Wharton's letter. They were told to +wait--outside. And then, in a few minutes, the officer returned, passed +them through, and turned them over to an orderly, who took them to the room +where Colonel Throckmorton, who was seemingly in charge of important +affairs, received them. He returned their salute, then bent a rather stern +gaze upon them before he spoke. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HOUSE OF THE HELIOGRAPH + + +"You know your way about London?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," said Harry. + +"I shall have messages for you to carry," said the colonel, then. "Now I +want to explain, so that you will understand the importance of this, why +you are going to be allowed to do this work. This war has come +suddenly--but we are sure that the enemy has expected it for a long time, +and has made plans accordingly. + +"There are certain matters so important, so secret, that we are afraid to +trust them to the telephone, the telegraph--even the post, if that were +quick enough! In a short time we shall have weeded out all the spies. Until +then we have to exercise the greatest care. And it has been decided to +accept the offer of Boy Scouts because the spies we feel we must guard +against are less likely to suspect boys than men. I am going to give you +some dispatches now--what they are is a secret. You take them to Major +French, at Waterloo station." + +He stopped, apparently expecting them to speak. But neither said anything. + +"No questions?" he asked, sternly. + +"No--no, sir," said Dick. "We're to take the dispatches to Major French, at +Waterloo? That's all, is it, sir? And then to come back here?" + +The colonel nodded approvingly. + +"Yes, that's all," he said. "Except for this, Waterloo station is closed to +all civilians. You will require a word to pass the sentries. No matter what +you see, once you are inside, you are not to describe it. You are to tell +no one, not even your parents, what you do or what you see. That is all," +and he nodded in dismissal. + +They made their way out and back to the railway station. And Dick seemed a +little disappointed. + +"I don't think this is much to be doing!" he grumbled. + +But Harry's eyes were glistening. + +"Don't you see?" he said, lowering his voice so that they could not be +overheard. "We know something now that probably even a lot of the soldiers +don't know! They're mobilizing. If they are going to be sent from Waterloo +it must mean that they're going to Southampton--and that means that they +will reach France. That's what we'll see at Waterloo station--troops +entraining to start the trip to France. They're going to fight over there. +Everyone is guessing at that--a lot of people thought most of the army +would be sent to the East Coast. But that can't be so, you see. If it was, +they would be starting from King's Cross and Liverpool street stations, not +from Waterloo." + +"Oh, I never thought of that!" said Dick, brightening. + +When they got on the train at Ealing they were lucky enough to get a +compartment to themselves, since at that time more people were coming to +Ealing than were leaving it. Dick began at once to give vent to his wonder. + +"How many of them do you suppose are going?" he cried. "Who will be in +command? Sir John French, I think. Lord Kitchener is to be War Minister, +they say, and stay in London. I bet they whip those bally Germans until +they don't know where they are--" + +"Steady on!" said Harry, smiling, but a little concerned, none the less. +"Dick, don't talk like that! You don't know who may be listening!" + +"Why, Harry! No one can hear us--we're all alone in the carriage!" + +"I know, but we don't know who's in the next one, or whether they can hear +through or not. The wall isn't very thick, you know. We can't be too +careful. I don't think anyone knows what we're doing but there isn't any +reason why we should take any risk at all." + +"No, of course not. You're right, Harry," said Dick, a good deal abashed. +"I'll try to keep quieter after this." + +"I wonder why there are two of us," said Dick, presently, in a whisper. "I +should think one would be enough." + +"I think we've both got just the same papers to carry," said Harry, also +in a whisper. "You see, if one of us gets lost, or anything happens to his +papers, the other will probably get through all right. At least it looks +that way to me." + +"Harry," said Dick, after a pause, "I've got an idea. Suppose we separate +and take different ways to get to Waterloo? Wouldn't that make it safer? We +could meet there and go back to Ealing together." + +"That's a good idea, Dick," said Harry. He didn't think that their present +errand was one of great importance, in spite of what Colonel Throckmorton +had said. He thought it more likely that they were being tried out and +tested, so that the colonel might draw his own conclusions as to how far he +might safely trust them in the future. But he repressed his inclination to +smile at this sudden excess of caution on Dick's part. It was a move in the +right direction, certainly. + +"Yes, we'll do that," he said. "I'll walk across the bridge, and you can +take the tube under the river from the Monument." + +They followed that plan, and met without incident at the station. Here more +than ever the fact of war was in evidence. A considerable space in and near +the station had been roped off and sentries refused to allow any to pass +who could not prove that they had a right to do so. The ordinary peaceful +vocation of the great terminal was entirely suspended. + +"Anything happen to you?" asked Harry, with a smile. "I nearly got run +over--but that was my own fault." + +"No, nothing. I saw Graves. And he wanted to know what I was doing." + +"What did you tell him?" + +"Nothing. I said, 'Don't you wish you knew?' And he got angry, and said he +didn't care." + +"It wasn't any of his business. You did just right," said Harry. + +They had to wait a few moments to see Major French, who was exceedingly +busy. They needed no one to tell them what was going on. At every platform +trains were waiting, and, even while they looked on, one after another +drew out, loaded with soldiers. The windows were whitewashed, so that, once +the doors of the compartments were closed, none could see who was inside. +There was no cheering, which seemed strange at first, but it was so plain +that this was a precautionary measure that the boys understood it easily +enough. Finally Major French, an energetic, sunburned man, who looked as if +he hadn't slept for days, came to them. They handed him the papers they +carried. He glanced at them, signed receipts which he handed to them, and +then frowned for a moment. + +"I think I'll let you take a message to Colonel Throckmorton for me," he +said, then, giving them a kindly smile. "It will be a verbal message. You +are to repeat what I tell you to him without a change. And I suppose I +needn't tell you that you must give it to no one else?" + +"No, sir," they chorused. + +"Very well, then. You will tell him that trains will be waiting below +Surbiton, at precisely ten o'clock to-night. Runways will be built to let +the men climb the embankment, and they can entrain there. You will +remember that?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You might as well understand what it's all about," said the major. "You +see, we're moving a lot of troops. And it is of the utmost importance for +the enemy to know all about the movement and, of course, just as important +for us to keep them from learning what they want to know. So we are +covering the movement as well as we can. Even if they learn some of the +troops that are going, we want to keep them from finding out everything. +Their spy system is wonderfully complete and we have to take every +precaution that is possible. It is most important that you deliver this +message to Colonel Throckmorton. Repeat it to me exactly," he commanded. + +They did so, and, seemingly satisfied, he let them go. But just as they +were leaving, he called them back. + +"You'd go back by the underground, I suppose," he said. "I'm not sure that +you can get through for the line is likely to be taken over, temporarily, +at any moment. Take a taxicab--I'll send an orderly with you to put you +aboard. Don't pay the man anything; we are keeping a lot of them outside on +government service, and they get their pay from the authorities." + +The orderly led them to the stand, some distance from the station, where +the cabs stood in a long row, and spoke to the driver of the one at the +head of the rank. In a moment the motor was started, and they were off. + +The cab had a good engine, and it made good time. But after a little while +Harry noticed with some curiosity that the route they were taking was not +the most direct one. He rapped on the window glass and spoke to the driver +about it. + +"Got to go round, sir," the man explained. "Roads are all torn up the +straight way, sir. Won't take much longer, sir." + +Harry accepted the explanation. Indeed, it seemed reasonable enough. But +some sixth sense warned him to keep his eyes open. And at last he decided +that there could be no excuse for the way the cab was proceeding. It seemed +to him that they were going miles out of the way, and decidedly in the +wrong direction. He did not know London as well as a boy who had lived +there all his life would have done. But his scout training had given him a +remarkable ability to keep his bearings. And it needed no special knowledge +to realize that the sun was on the wrong side of the cab for a course that +was even moderately straight for Ealing. + +They had swung well around, as a matter of fact, into a northwestern +suburban section, and once he had seen a maze of railway tracks that meant, +he was almost sure, that they were passing near Willisden Junction. Only a +few houses appeared in the section through which the cab was now racing, +and pavements were not frequent. He spoke to Dick in a whisper. + +"There's something funny here," he said. "But, no matter what happens, +pretend you think it's all right. Let anyone who speaks to us think we're +foolish--it'll be easier for us to get away then. And keep your eyes wide +open, if we stop anywhere, so that you will be sure to know the place +again!" + +"Right!" said Dick. + +Just then the cab, caught in a rutty road where the going was very heavy, +and there was a slight upgrade in addition, to make it worse, slowed up +considerably. And Dick, looking out of the window on his side, gave a +stifled exclamation. + +"Look there, Harry!" he said. "Do you see the sun flashing on something on +the roof of that house over there? What do you suppose that is?" + +"Whew!" Harry whistled. "You ought to know that, Dick! A heliograph--field +telegraph. Morse code--or some code--made by flashes. The sun catches a +mirror or some sort of reflector, and it's just like a telegraph +instrument, with dots and dashes, except that you work by sight instead of +by sound. That _is_ queer! Try to mark just where the house is, and so will +I." + +The cab turned, while they were still looking, and removed the house where +the signalling was being done from their line of vision. But in a few +moments there was a loud report that startled both scouts until they +realized that a front tire had blown out. The driver stopped at once, and +descended, seemingly much perturbed. And Harry and Dick, piling out to +inspect the damage, started when they saw that they had stopped just +outside the mysterious house. + +"I'll fix that in a jiffy," said the driver, and began jacking up the +wheel. But, quickly as he stripped off the deflated tire, he was not so +quick that Harry failed to see that the blow-out had been caused by a +straight cut--not at all the sort of tear produced by a jagged stone or a +piece of broken glass. He said nothing of his discovery, however, and a +moment later he looked up to face a young man in the uniform of an officer +of the British territorial army. This young man had keen, searching blue +eyes, and very blond hair. His upper lip was closely shaven, but it bore +plain evidence that within a few days it had sported a moustache. + +"Well," said the officer, "what are you doing here?" + +The driver straightened up as if in surprise. + +"Blow-out, sir," he said, touching his cap. "I'm carrying these young +gentlemen from Waterloo to Ealing, sir. Had to come around on account of +the roads." + +"You have your way lost, my man. Why not admit it?" said the officer, +showing his white teeth in a smile. He turned to Harry and Dick. "Boy +Scouts, I see," he commented. "You carry orders concerning the movement of +troops from Ealing? They are to entrain--where?" + +"Near Croydon, sir, on the Brighton and South Coast line," said Harry, +lifting innocent eyes to his questioner. + +"So! They go to Dover, then, I suppose--no, perhaps to Folkestone--oh, what +matter? Hurry up with your tire, my man!" + +He watched them still as the car started. Then he went back to the house. + +"Whatever did you tell him that whopper about Croydon for?" whispered Dick. +"I wasn't going to tell him anything--" + +"Then he might have tried to make us," answered Harry, also in a whisper. +"Did you notice anything queer about him?" + +"Why, no--" + +"'You have your way lost!' Would any Englishman say that, Dick? And +wouldn't a German? You've studied German. Translate 'You've lost your way' +into German. 'Du hast dein weg--' See? He was a German spy!" + +"Oh, Harry! I believe you're right! But why didn't we--" + +"Try to arrest him? There may have been a dozen others there, too. And +there was the driver. We wouldn't have had a chance. Besides, if he thinks +we don't suspect, we may be able to get some valuable information later. I +think--" + +"What?" + +"I'd better not say now. But remember this--we've got to look out for this +driver. I think he'll take us straight to Ealing now. When we get to the +barracks you stay in the cab--we'll pretend we may have to go back with +him." + +"I see," said Dick, thrilling with the excitement of this first taste of +real war. + +Harry was right. The driver's purpose in making such a long detour, +whatever it was, had been accomplished. And now he plainly did his best to +make up for lost time. He drove fast and well, and in a comparatively short +time both the scouts could see that they were on the right track. + +"You watch one side. I'll take the other," said Harry. "We've got to be +able to find our way back to that house." + +This watchfulness confirmed Harry's suspicions concerning the driver, +because he made two or three circuits that could have no other purpose than +to make it hard to follow his course. + +At Ealing he and Dick carried out their plan exactly. Dick stayed with the +cab, outside the wall; Harry hurried in. And five minutes after Harry had +gone inside a file of soldiers, coming around from another gate, surrounded +the cab and arrested the driver. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ON THE TRAIL + + +Harry had reached Colonel Throckmorton without difficulty and before +delivering Major French's message, he explained his suspicions regarding +the driver. + +"What's that? Eh, what's that?" asked the colonel. "Spy? This country's +suffering from an epidemic of spy fever--that's what! Still--a taxicab +driver, eh? Perhaps he's one of the many who's tried to overcharge me. I'll +put him in the guardhouse, anyway! I'll find out if you're right later, +young man!" + +As a matter of fact, and as Harry surmised, Colonel Throckmorton felt that +it was not a time to take chances. He was almost sure that Harry was +letting his imagination run away with him, but it would be safer to arrest +a man by mistake than to let him go if there was a chance that he was +guilty. So he gave the order, and then turned to question Harry. The scout +first gave Major French's message, and Colonel Throckmorton immediately +dispatched an orderly after giving him certain whispered instructions. + +"Now tell me just why you suspect your driver. Explain exactly what +happened," he said. He turned to a stenographer. "Take notes of this, +Johnson," he directed. + +Harry told his story simply and well. When he quoted the officer's remark +to the cab driver, with the German inversion, the colonel chuckled. + +"'You have your way lost!' Eh?" he said, with a smile. "You're right--he +was no Englishman! Go on!" + +When he had finished, the colonel brought down his fist on his desk with a +great blow. + +"You've done very well, Fleming--that's your name?--very well, indeed," he +said, heartily. "We know London is covered with spies but we had flattered +ourselves that it didn't matter very much what they found, since there was +no way that we could see for them to get their news to their headquarters +in Germany. But now--" + +He frowned thoughtfully. + +"They might be able to set up a chain of signalling stations," he said. +"The thing to do would be to follow them, eh? Do you think you could do +that? You might use a motorcycle--know how to ride one?" + +"Yes, sir," said Harry. + +"Live with your parents, do you? Would they let you go? I don't think it +would be very dangerous, and you would excite less suspicion than a man. +See if they will let you turn yourself over to me for a few days. Pick out +another scout to go with you, if you like. Perhaps two of you would be +better than one. Report to me in the morning. I'll write a note to your +scoutmaster--Mr. Wharton, isn't it? Right!" + +As they made their way homeward, thoroughly worked up by the excitement of +their adventure, Harry wondered whether his father would let him undertake +this service Colonel Throckmorton had suggested. After all, he was not +English, and he felt that his father might not want him to do it, although +Mr. Fleming, he knew, sympathized strongly with the English in the war. He +said nothing to Dick, preferring to wait until he was sure that he could go +ahead with his plans. + +But when he reached his house he found that things had changed considerably +in his absence. Both his parents seemed worried; his father seemed +especially troubled. + +"Harry," he said, "the war has hit us already. I'm called home by cable, +and at the same time there is word that your Aunt Mary is seriously ill. +Your mother wants to be with her. I find that, by a stroke of luck, I can +get quarters for your mother and myself on to-morrow's steamer. But there's +no room for you. Do you think you could get along all right if you were +left here? I'll arrange for supplies for the house; Mrs. Grimshaw can keep +house. And you will have what money you need." + +"Of course I can get along!" said Harry, stoutly. "I suppose the steamers +are fearfully crowded?" + +"Only about half of them are now in service," said Mr. Fleming. "And the +rush of Americans who have been travelling abroad is simply tremendous. +Well, if you can manage, it will relieve us greatly. I think we'll be back +in less than a month. Keep out of mischief. And write to us as often as you +can hear of a steamer that is sailing. If anything happens to you, cable. +I'll arrange with Mr. Bruce, at the Embassy, to help you if you need him, +but that ought not to be necessary." + +Harry was genuinely sorry for his mother's distress at leaving him, but he +was also relieved, in a way. He felt now he would not be forbidden to do +his part with the scouts. He would be able to undertake what promised to be +the greatest adventure that had ever come his way. He had no fear of being +left alone for his training as a Boy Scout had made him too self reliant +for that. + +Mr. and Mrs. Fleming started for Liverpool that night. Train service +throughout the country was so disorganized by the military use of the +railways that journeys that in normal, peaceful times required only two or +three hours were likely to consume a full day. So he went into the city of +London with them and saw them off at Euston, which was full of distressed +American refugees. + +The Flemings found many friends there, of whose very presence in London +they were ignorant, and Mr. Fleming, who, thanks to his business +connections in London, was plentifully supplied with cash, was able to +relieve the distress of some of them. + +Many had escaped from France, Germany and Austria with only the clothes +they wore, having lost all their luggage. Many more, though possessed of +letters of credit or travellers' checks for considerable sums, didn't have +enough money to buy a sandwich, since the banks were all closed and no one +would cash their checks. + +So Harry had another glimpse of the effects of war, seeing how it affected +a great many people who not only had nothing to do with the fighting, but +were citizens of a neutral nation. He was beginning to understand very +thoroughly by this time that war was not what he had always dreamed. It +meant more than fighting, more than glory. + +But, after all, now that war had come, it was no time to think of such +things. He had undertaken, if he could get permission, to do a certain very +important piece of work. And now, by a happy accident, as he regarded it, +it wasn't necessary for him to ask that permission. He was not forbidden to +do any particular thing; his father had simply warned him to be careful. + +So when he went home, he whistled outside of Dick Mercer's window, woke him +up, and, when Dick came down into the garden, explained to him what Colonel +Throckmorton wanted them to do. + +"He said I could pick out someone to go with me, Dick," Harry explained. +"And, of course, I'd rather have you than anyone I can think of. Will you +come along?" + +"Will I!" said Dick. "What do you think you'll do, Harry?" + +"We may get special orders, of course," said Harry. "But I think the first +thing will be to find out just where the signals from that house are being +received. They must be answered, you know, so we ought to find the next +station. Then, from that, we can work on to the next." + +"Where do you suppose those signals go to?" + +"That's what we've got to find out, Dick! But I should think, in the long +run, to some place on the East coast. Perhaps they've got some way there of +signalling to ships at sea. Anyhow, that's what's got to be discovered. Did +you see Graves to-night?" + +"No," said Dick, his lips tightening, "I didn't! But I heard about him, all +right." + +"How? What do you mean?" + +"I heard that he'd been doing a lot of talking about you. He said it wasn't +fair to have taken you and given you the honor of doing something when +there were English boys who were just as capable of doing it as you." + +"Oh!" said Harry, with a laugh. "Much I care what he says!" + +"Much I care, either!" echoed Dick. "But, Harry, he has made some of the +other chaps feel that way, too. They all like you, and they don't like +him. But they do seem to think some of them should have been chosen." + +"Well, it's not my fault," said Harry, cheerfully. "I certainly wasn't +going to refuse. And it isn't as if I'd asked Mr. Wharton to pick me out." + +"No, and I fancy there aren't many of them who would have done as well as +you did to-day, either!" + +"Oh, yes, they would! That wasn't anything. We'd better get to bed now. I +think we ought to report just as early as we can in the morning. If we get +away by seven o'clock, it won't be a bit too early." + +"All right. I'll be ready. Good-night, Harry!" + +"Good-night, Dick!" + +Morning saw them up on time, and off to Ealing. There Colonel Throckmorton +gave them their orders. + +"I've requisitioned motorcycles for you," he said. "Make sure of the +location of the house, so that you can mark it on an ordnance map for me. +Then use your own judgment,--but find the next house. I have had letters +prepared for you that will introduce you to either the mayor or the +military commander in any town you reach and you will get quarters for the +night, if you need them. Where do you think your search will lead you, +Fleming?" + +He eyed Harry sharply as he asked the question. + +"Somewhere on the East coast, I think, sir," replied Harry. + +"Well, that remains to be seen. Report by telegraph, using this code. It's +a simplified version of the official code, but it contains all you will +need to use. That is all." + +Finding the house, when they started on their motorcycles, did not prove as +difficult a task as Harry had feared it might. They both remembered a +number of places they had marked from the cab windows, and it was not long +before they were sure they were drawing near. + +"I remember that hill," said Harry. "By Jove--yes, there it is! On top of +that hill, do you see? We won't go much nearer. I don't want them to see +us, by any chance. All we need is to notice which way they're signalling." + +They watched the house for some time before there was any sign of life. And +then it was only the flashes that they saw. Since the previous day some +sort of cover had been provided for the man who did the signalling. + +"What do you make of it, Dick?" asked Harry eagerly, after the flashing had +continued for some moments. + +"It looks to me as if they were flashing toward the north and a little +toward the west," said Dick, puzzled. + +"That's the way it seems to me, too," agreed Harry. "That isn't what we +expected, either, is it?" + +"Of course we can't be sure." + +"No, but it certainly looks that way. Well, we can't make sure from here, +but we've got to do it somehow. I tell you what. We'll circle around and +get northwest of the house. Then we ought to be able to tell a good deal +better. And if we get far enough around, I don't believe they'll see us, or +pay any attention to us if they do." + +So they mounted their machines again, and in a few moments were speeding +toward a new and better spot from which to spy on the house. But this, when +they reached it, only confirmed their first guess. The signals were much +more plainly visible here, and it was obvious now, as it had not been +before, that the screen they had noticed had been erected as much to +concentrate the flashes and make them more easily visible to a receiving +station as to conceal the operator. So they turned and figured a straight +line as well as they could from the spot where the flashes were made. Harry +had a map with him, and on this he marked, as well as he could, the +location of the house. Then he drew a line from it to the northwest. + +"The next station must be on this line somewhere," he said. "We'll stick to +it. There's a road, you see, that we can follow that's almost straight. And +as soon as we come to a high building we ought to be able to see both +flashes--the ones that are being sent from that house and the answering +signals. Do you see?" + +"Yes, that'll be fine!" said Dick. "Come on!" + +"Not so fast!" said a harsh voice behind them. They spun around, and there, +grinning a little, but looking highly determined and dangerous, was the +same man they had seen the day before, and who had questioned them, when +the tire of their taxicab blew out! But now he was not in uniform, but in a +plain suit of clothes. + +"So you are spying on my house, are you?" he said. "And you lied to me +yesterday! No troops were sent to Croydon at all!" + +"Well, you hadn't any business to ask us!" said Dick, pluckily. "If you +hadn't asked us any questions, we'd have told you no lies." + +"I think perhaps you know too much," said the spy, nodding his head. "You +had better come with me. We will look after you in this house that +interests you so greatly." + +He made a movement forward. His hand dropped on Dick's shoulder. But as it +did so Harry's feet left the ground. He aimed for the spy's legs, just +below the knee, and brought him to the ground with a beautiful diving +tackle--the sort he had learned in his American football days. It was the +one attack of all others that the spy did not anticipate, if, indeed, he +looked for any resistance at all. He wasn't a football player, so he didn't +know how to let his body give and strike the ground limply. The result was +that his head struck a piece of hard ground with abnormal violence, and he +lay prone and very still. + +"Oh, that was ripping, Harry!" cried Dick. "But do you think you've killed +him?" + +"Killed him? No!" said Harry, with a laugh. "He's tougher than that, Dick!" + +But he looked ruefully at the spy. + +"I wish I knew what to do with him," he said. "He'll come to in a little +while. But--" + +"We can get away while he's still out," said Dick, quickly. "He can't +follow us and we can get such a start with our motorcycles--" + +"Yes, but he'll know their game is up," said Harry. "Don't you see, Dick? +He'll tell them they're suspected--and that's all they'll need in the way +of warning. When men are doing anything as desperate as the sort of work +they're up to in that house, they take no more chances than they have to. +They'd be off at once, and start up somewhere else. We only stumbled on +this by mere accident--they might be able to work for weeks if they were +warned." + +"Oh, I never thought of that! What are we to do, then?" + +"I wish I knew whether anyone saw us from the house! If they didn't--! +Well, we'll have to risk that. Dick, do you see that house over there? It's +all boarded up--it must be empty." + +"Yes, I see it." Dick caught Harry's idea at once this time, and began +measuring with his eye the distance to the little house of which Harry had +spoken. "It's all down hill--I think we could manage it all right." + +"We'll try it, anyhow," said Harry. "But first we'd better tie up his hands +and feet. He's too strong for the pair of us, I'm afraid, if he should come +to." + +Once that was done, they began to drag the spy toward the house. Half +carrying, half pulling, they got him down the slope, and with a last great +effort lifted him through a window, which, despoiled of glass, had been +boarded up. They were as gentle as they could be, for the idea of hurting a +helpless man, even though he was a spy, went against the grain. But-- + +"We can't be too particular," said Harry. "And he brought it on himself. +I'm afraid he'll have worse than this to face later on." + +They dumped him through the window, from which they had taken the boards. +Then they made their own way inside, and Harry began to truss up the +prisoner more scientifically. He understood the art of tying a man very +well indeed, for one of the games of his old scout patrol had involved +tying up one scout after another to see if they could free themselves. And +when he had done, he stepped back with a smile of satisfaction. + +"I don't believe he'll get himself free very soon," he said. "He'll be +lucky if that knock on the head keeps him unconscious for a long time, +because he'll wake up with a headache, and if he stays as he is, he won't +know how uncomfortable he is." + +"Are we going to leave him like that, Harry?" + +"We've got to, Dick. But he'll be all right. I am going to telephone to +Colonel Throckmorton and tell him to send here for him, but to do so at +night, and so that no one will notice. He won't starve or die of thirst. I +can easily manage to describe this place so that whoever the colonel sends +will find it. Come on!" + +They went back to their cycles and rode on until they came to a place where +they could telephone. Harry explained guardedly, and they went on. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MYSTERY OF BRAY PARK + + +"I hope he'll be all right," said Dick. + +"They'll find him, I'm sure," said Harry. "Even if they don't, he'll be all +right for a few days--two or three, anyhow. A man can be very uncomfortable +and miserable, and still not be in any danger. We don't need half as much +food as we eat, really. I've heard that lots of times." + +They were riding along the line that Harry had marked on his map, and, a +mile or two ahead, there was visible an old-fashioned house, with a tower +projecting from its centre. From this, Harry had decided, they should be +able to get the view they required and so locate the second heliographing +station. + +"How far away do you think it ought to be, Harry?" asked Dick. + +"It's very hard to tell, Dick. A first-class heliograph is visible for a +very long way, if the conditions are right. That is, if the sun is out and +the ground is level. In South Africa, for instance, or in Egypt, it would +work for nearly a hundred miles, or maybe even more. But here I should +think eight or ten miles would be the limit. And it's cloudy so often that +it must be very uncertain." + +"Why don't they use flags, then?" + +"The way we do in the scouts? Well, I guess that's because the heliograph +is so much more secret. You see, with the heliograph the flashes are +centered. You've got to be almost on a direct line with them, or not more +than fifty yards off the centre line, to see them at all, even a mile away. +But anyone can see flags, and read messages, unless they're in code. And if +these people are German spies, the code wouldn't help them. Having it +discovered that they were sending messages at all would spoil their plans." + +"I see. Of course, though--that's just what you said. It was really just by +accident that we saw them flashing." + +Then they came to the house where they expected to make their observation. +It was occupied by an old gentleman, who came out to see what was wanted +and stood behind the servant who opened the door. At the sight of their +uniforms he drew himself up very straight, and saluted. But, formal as he +was, there was a smile in his eyes. + +"Well, boys," he said, "what can I do for you? On His Majesty's service, I +suppose?" + +"Yes, sir," said Dick. "We'd like to go up in your tower room, if you don't +mind." + +"Scouting, eh?" said the old gentleman, mystified. "Do you expect to locate +the enemy's cavalry from my tower room? Well, well--up with you! You can do +no harm." + +Dick was inclined to resent the old gentleman's failure to take them +seriously, but Harry silenced his protest. As they went up the stairs he +whispered: "It's better for him to think that. We don't want anyone to know +what we're doing, you know--not yet." + +So they reached the tower room, and, just as Harry had anticipated, got a +wonderful view of the surrounding country. They found that the heliograph +they had left behind was working feverishly and Harry took out a pencil and +jotted down the symbols as they were flashed. + +"It's in code, of course," he said, "but maybe we'll find someone who can +decipher it--I know they have experts for that. It might come in handy to +know what they were talking about." + +"There's the other station answering!" said Dick, excitedly, after a +moment. "Isn't it lucky that it's such a fine day, Harry? See--there it is, +over there!" + +"Let me have the glasses," said Harry, taking the binoculars from Dick. +"Yes, you're right! They're on the top of a hill, just about where I +thought we'd find them, too. Come on! We've got no time to waste. They're a +good seven miles from here, and we've a lot more to do yet." + +Below stairs the old gentleman tried to stop them. He was very curious by +this time, for he had been thinking about them and it had struck him that +they were too much in earnest to simply be enjoying a lark. But Harry and +Dick, while they met his questions politely, refused to enlighten him. + +"I'm sorry, sir," said Harry, when the old gentleman pressed him too hard. +"But I really think we mustn't tell you why we're here. But if you would +like to hear of it later, we'll be glad to come to see you and explain +everything." + +"Bless my soul!" said the old man. "When I was a boy we didn't think so +much of ourselves, I can tell you! But then we didn't have any Boy Scouts, +either!" + +It was hard to tell from his manner whether that was intended for a +compliment or not. But they waited no longer. In a trice they were on their +motorcycles and off again. And when they drew near to the hilltop whence +the signals had come, Harry stopped. For a moment he looked puzzled, then +he smiled. + +"I think I've got it!" he said. "They're clever enough to try to fool +anyone who got on to their signalling. They would know what everyone would +think--that they would be sending their messages to the East coast, +because that is nearest to Germany. That's why they put their first station +here. I'll bet they send the flashes zig-zagging all around, but that we'll +find they all get east gradually. Now we'll circle around this one until we +find out in what direction it is flashing, then we'll know what line we +must follow. After that all we've got to do is to follow the line to some +high hill or building, and we'll pick up the next station." + +Their eyes were more accustomed to the work now, and they wasted very +little time. This time, just as Harry had guessed, the flashes were being +sent due east, and judging from the first case that the next station would +be less than ten miles away, he decided to ride straight on for about that +distance. He had a road map, and found that they could follow a straight +line, except for one break. They did not go near the hilltop at all. + +"I'd like to know what they're doing there," said Dick. + +"So would I, but it's open country, and they're probably keeping a close +lookout. They're really safer doing that in the open than on the roof of a +house, out here in the country." + +"Because they can hide the heliograph? It's portable, isn't it?" + +"Yes. They could stow it away in a minute, if they were alarmed. I fancy +we'll find them using hilltops now as much as they can." + +"Harry, I've just thought of something. If they've planned so carefully as +this, wouldn't they be likely to have country places, where they'd be less +likely to be disturbed?" + +"Yes, they would. You're right, Dick. Especially as we get further and +further away from London. I suppose there must be plenty of places a German +could buy or lease." + +"And perhaps people wouldn't even know they were Germans, if they spoke +good English, and didn't have an accent." + +That suggestion of Dick's bore fruit. For the third station they found was +evidently hidden away in a private park. It was in the outskirts of a +little village, and Harry and Dick had no trouble at all in finding out +all the villagers knew of the place. + +"'Twas taken a year ago by a rich American gentleman, with a sight of motor +cars and foreign-looking servants," they were told. "Very high and mighty +he is, too--does all his buying at the stores in Lunnon, and don't give +local trade any of his patronage." + +The two scouts exchanged glances. Their suspicions were confirmed in a way. +But it was necessary to be sure; to be suspicious was not enough for them. + +"We'll have to get inside," he said under his breath to Dick. But the +villager heard, and laughed. + +"Easy enough, if you're friends of his," he said. "If not--look out, +master! He's got signs up warning off trespassers, and traps and spring +guns all over the place. Wants to be very private, and all that, he does." + +"Thanks," said Harry. "Perhaps we'd better not pay him a visit, after all." + +The village was a sleepy little place, one of the few spots Harry had seen +to which the war fever had not penetrated. It was not on the line of the +railway, and there was not even a telegraph station. By showing Colonel +Throckmorton's letter, Harry and Dick could have obtained the right to +search the property that they suspected. But that did not seem wise. + +"I don't think the village constables here could help us much, Dick," said +Harry. "They'd give everything away, and we probably wouldn't accomplish +anything except to put them on their guard. I vote we wait until dark and +try to find out what we can by ourselves. It's risky but even if they catch +us, I don't think we need to be afraid of their doing anything." + +"I'm with you," said Dick. "We'll do whatever you say." + +They spent the rest of the afternoon scouting around the neighboring +country on their motorcycles, studying the estate from the roads that +surrounded it. Bray Park, it was called, and it had for centuries belonged +to an old family, which, however, had been glad of the high rent it had +been able to extract from the rich American who had taken the place. + +What they saw was that the grounds seemed to be surrounded, near the wall, +by heavy trees, which made it difficult to see much of what was within. But +in one place there was a break, so that, looking across velvety green +lawns, they could see a small part of an old and weatherbeaten grey house. +It appeared to be on a rise, and to stand several stories above the ground, +so that it might well be an ideal place for the establishment of a +heliograph station. But Harry's suspicions were beginning to take a new +turn. + +"I believe this is the biggest find we've made yet, Dick," he said. "I +think we'll find that if we discover what is really going on here, we'll be +at the end of our task--or very near it. It's just the place for a +headquarters." + +"I believe it is, Harry. And if they've been so particular to keep +everything about it secret, it certainly seems that there must be something +important to hide," suggested Harry, thinking deeply. + +"I think I'll write a letter to Colonel Throckmorton, Dick. I'll tell him +about this place, and that we're trying to get in and find out what we can +about it. Then, if anything happens to us, he'll know what we were doing, +and he will have heard about this place, even if they catch us. I'll post +it before we go in." + +"That's a splendid idea, Harry. I don't see how you think of everything the +way you do." + +"I think it's because my father's always talking about how one ought to +think of all the things that can go wrong. He says that the way he's got +along in business is by never being surprised by having something +unfortunate happen, and by always trying to be ready to make it as trifling +as it can be." + +So Harry wrote and posted his letter, taking care to word it so that it +would be hard for anyone except Colonel Throckmorton to understand it. And, +even after having purposely made the wording rather obscure, he put it into +code. And, after that, he thought of still another precaution that might +be wise. + +"We won't need the credentials we've got in there to-night, Dick," he said. +"Nor our copies of the code, either. We'll bury them near where we leave +our motorcycles. Then when we get out we can easily get them back, and if +we should be caught they won't be found on us. Remember, if we are caught, +we're just boys out trespassing. Let them think we're poachers, if they +like." + +But even Harry could think of no more precautions after that, and they had +a long and tiresome wait until they thought it was dark enough to venture +within the walls. + +Getting over the wall was not difficult. They had thought they might find +broken glass on top, but there was nothing of the sort. Once inside, +however, they speedily discovered why that precaution was not taken--and +also that they had had a remarkably narrow escape. For scarcely had they +dropped to the ground and taken shelter when they saw a figure, carrying a +gun, approaching. It was a man making the rounds of the wall. While they +watched he met another man, also armed, and turned to retrace his steps. + +"They've got two men, at least--maybe a lot more, doing that," whispered +Harry. "We've got to find out just how often he passes that spot. We want +to know if the intervals are regular, too, so that we can calculate just +when he'll be there." + +Three times the man came and went, while they waited, timing him. And Harry +found that he passed the spot at which they had entered every fifteen +minutes. That was not exact for there was a variation of a minute or so, +but it seemed pretty certain that he would pass between thirteen and +seventeen minutes after the hour, and so on. + +"So we'll know when it's safe to make a dash to get out," said Harry. "The +first thing a general does, you know, is to secure his retreat. He doesn't +expect to be beaten, but he wants to know that he can live to fight another +day if he is." + +"We've got to retreat, haven't we?" said Dick. "It wouldn't do us any good +to stay here." + +"That's so. But we've got to advance first. Now to get near that house, +and see what we can find. Look out for those traps and things our friend +warned us of. It looks like just the place for them. And keep to cover!" + +They wormed their way forward, often crawling along. Both knew a good deal +about traps and how they are set, and their common sense enabled them to +see the most likely places for them. They kept to open ground, avoiding +shrubbery and what looked like windfalls of branches. Before they came into +full view of the house they had about a quarter of a mile to go. And it was +an exciting journey. + +They dared not speak to one another. For all about, though at first they +could see nothing, there was the sense of impending danger. They felt that +unseen eyes were watching, not for them, perhaps, but for anyone who might +venture to intrude and pass the first line. Both of the scouts felt that +they were tilting against a mighty force; that the organization that would +perfect, in time of peace, such a system of espionage in the heart of the +country of a possible enemy, was of the most formidable sort. + +They stopped, at last, at the edge of the clump of thick, old trees that +seemed to surround the place. Here they faced the open lawn, and Harry +realized that to try to cross it was too risky. They would gain nothing by +being detected. They could find out as much here by keeping their eyes and +ears open, he thought, as by going forward, when they were almost sure to +be detected. + +"We'll stay here," he whispered to Dick, cautiously. "Dick, look over +there--to the left of the house. You see where there's a shadow by that +central tower? Well, to the left of that. Do you see some wires dangling +there? I'm not sure." + +"I think there are," whispered Dick, after a moment in which he peered +through the darkness. Dick had one unusual gift. He had almost a savage's +ability to see in the dark, although in daylight his sight was by no means +out of the ordinary. + +"Look!" he said, again, suddenly. "Up on top of the tower! There is +something going up there--it's outlined against that white cloud!" + +Harry followed with his eyes. And Dick was right. A long, thin pole was +rising, even as they looked. Figures showed on the roof of the tower. They +were busy about the pole. It seemed to grow longer as they watched. Then, +suddenly, the dangling wires they had first noticed were drawn taut, and +they saw a cross-piece on the long pole. And then, with a sudden rush of +memory, Harry understood. + +"Oh! We have struck it!" he said. "I remember now--a portable, collapsible +wireless installation! I've wondered how they could use wireless, knowing +that someone would be sure to pick up the signals and that the plant would +be run down. But they have those poles made in sections--they could hide +the whole thing. It takes very little time to set them up. This is simply a +bigger copy of what they use in the field. We've got to get out!" + +He looked at his watch. + +"Carefully, now," he said. "We've just about got time. That sentry must be +just about passing the place where we got over the wall now. By the time we +get there he'll be gone, and we can slip out. We've got everything we came +for, now that we've seen that!" + +They started on the return journey through the woods. More than ever there +seemed to be danger about them. And suddenly it reached out and gripped +them--gripped Harry, at least. As he took a step his foot sank through the +ground, as it seemed. The next moment he had all he could do to suppress a +cry of agony as a trap closed about his ankle, wrenching it, and throwing +him down. + +"Go on!" he said to Dick, suppressing his pain by a great effort. + +"I won't leave you!" said Dick. "I--" + +"Obey orders! Don't you see you've got to go? You've got to tell them about +the wireless--and about where I am! Or else how am I to get away? Perhaps +if you come back quickly with help they won't find me until you come! +Hurry--hurry!" + +Dick understood. And, with a groan, he obeyed orders, and went. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A CLOSE SHAVE + + +Probably Dick did not realize that he was really showing a high order of +courage in going while Harry remained behind, caught in that cruel trap and +practically in the hands of enemies who were most unlikely to treat him +well. In fact, as he made his way toward the wall, Dick was reproaching +himself bitterly. + +"I ought to stay!" he kept on saying to himself over and over again. "I +ought not to leave him so! He made me go so that I would be safe!" + +There had been no time to argue, or Harry might have been able to make him +understand that it was at least as dangerous to go as to stay--perhaps even +more dangerous. Dick did not think that there was at least a chance that +every trap was wired, so that springing it would sound an alarm in some +central spot. If that were so, as Harry had fully understood, escape for +Dick would be most difficult and probably he too would be captured. + +"I'm such a coward!" Dick almost sobbed to himself, for he was frightened, +though, it must be said, less on his account than at the thought of Harry. + +Yet he did not stop. He went on resolutely, and, as he got used to the idea +that he must depend on himself, without Harry to help him in any emergency +that arose, his courage returned. He stopped, just as he knew Harry would +have done, several feet short of the wall. His watch told him that he had +time enough to make a dash; had several minutes to spare, in fact. But he +made sure. + +And it was well that he did. For some alarm had been given. He heard +footsteps of running men, and in a moment two men, neither of them the one +they knew as the sentry, came running along the wall. They carried pocket +flashlights, and were examining the ground carefully. Dick sensed at once +what they meant to do, and shrank into the shelter of a great rhododendron +bush. He was small for his age, and exceptionally lissome, and he felt that +the leaves would conceal him for a few moments at least. He was taking a +risk of finding a trap in the bush, but it was the lesser of the two evils +just then. And luck favored him. He encountered no trap. + +Then one of the men with flashlights gave a cry that sounded to Dick just +like the note of a dog that has picked up a lost scent. The lights were +playing on the ground just where they had crossed the wall. + +"Footsteps, Hans!" said the man. "Turned from the wall, too! They have gone +in, but have not come out." + +"How many?" asked the other man, coming up quickly. + +"Two, I think--no more," said the discoverer. "Now we shall follow them." + +Dick held his breath. If they could follow the footsteps--and there was no +reason in the world to hope that they could not!--they would be bound to +pass within a foot or two of his hiding-place. And, as he realized, they +would, when they were past him, find the marks of his feet _returning_. +They would know then that he was between them and the wall. He realized +what that would mean. Bravely he nerved himself to take the one desperate +chance that remained to him. They were far too strong for him to have a +chance to meet them on even terms; all he could hope for was an opportunity +to make use of his light weight and his superior speed. He knew that he +could move two feet, at least, to their one. And so he waited, crouching, +until they went by. The light flashed by the bush; for some reason, it did +not strike it directly. That gave him a respite. Fortunately they were +looking for footprints, not for their makers. + +The moment they were by, Dick took the chance of making a noise, and pushed +through the bush, to reach the other side. And, just as the cry of the man +who first had seen the footprints sounded again, he got through. At once, +throwing off all attempt at silence, he started running, crouched low. He +was only a dozen feet from the wall. He leaped for a projection a few feet +up. By a combination of good luck and skill he reached it with his hands. +A moment later he had swarmed over the wall and dropped to the other side +just as a shot rang out behind. The bullet struck the wall; chipped +fragments of stone flew all over him. But he was not hurt, and he ran as he +had never known he could run, keeping to the side of the road, where he was +in a heavy shadow. + +As soon as he could, he burst through a hedge on the side of the road +opposite the wall, and ran on, sheltered by the hedge, until, to his +delight, he plunged headfirst into a stream of water. The fall knocked him +out for a moment, but the cold water revived him, and he did not mind the +scraped knee and the barked knuckles he owed to the sharp stones in the bed +of the little brook. He changed his course at once, following the brook, +since in that no telltale footprints would be left. + +Behind him he heard the sound of pursuit for a little while, but he judged +that the brook would save him. He could not be pursued very far. Even in +this sleepy countryside he would find it easy to get help, and the Germans, +as he was now sure they were, would have to give up the chase. All that +had been essential had been for him to get a few hundred feet from the +park; after that he was safe. + +But, if he was safe, he was hopelessly lost. At least he would have been, +had he been an ordinary boy, without the scout training. He was in unknown +country and he had been chased away from all the landmarks he had. It was +of the utmost importance that he should reach as soon as possible, and, +especially, without passing too near Bray Park, the spot where the +motorcycles and the papers and codes had been cached. And, when he finally +came to a full stop, satisfied that he no longer had anything to fear from +pursuit, he was completely in the dark as to where he was. + +However, his training asserted itself. Although Harry had been in charge, +Dick had not failed to notice everything about the place where they made +their cache that would help to identify it. That was instinct with him by +this time, after two years as a scout; it was second nature. And, though it +had been light, he had pictured pretty accurately what the place would +look like at night. He remembered, for instance, that certain stars would +be sure to be in the sky in a particular relation to the cache. And now he +looked up and worked out his own position. To do that he had to +reconstruct, with the utmost care, his movements since he had left the +cache. Up to the moment when he and Harry had entered Bray Park that was +easy. + +But the chase had confused him, naturally. He had doubled on his track more +than once, trying to throw his pursuers off. But by remembering accurately +the position of Bray Park in its relation to the cache, and by +concentrating as earnestly as he could, to remember as much as possible of +the course of his flight, he arrived presently at a decision of how he must +proceed to retrieve the motorcycles and the papers. + +As soon as he had done so he hurried on, feverishly, taking a course that, +while longer than necessary, was essential since he dared not go near Bray +Park. He realized thoroughly how much depended on his promptness. It was +essential that Colonel Throckmorton should learn of the wireless station, +which was undoubtedly powerful enough to send its waves far out to sea, +even if not to the German coast itself. + +And there was Harry. The only chance of rescue for him lay in what Dick +might do. That thought urged him on even more than the necessity of +imparting what they had learned. + +So, scouting as he went, lest he encounter some prowling party from Bray +Park silently looking for him, he went on hastily. He was almost as anxious +to avoid the village as the spy headquarters, for he knew that in such +places strangers might be regarded with suspicion even in times of peace. +And, while the war fever had not seemed to be in evidence in the afternoon, +he knew that it might have broken out virulently in the interval. He had +heard the stories of spy baiting in other parts of the country; how, in +some localities, scores of absolutely innocent tourists had been arrested +and searched. So he felt he must avoid his friends as well as his enemies +until he had means of proving his identity. + +Delaying as he was by his roundabout course, it took him nearly an hour to +come to scenes that were familiar. But then he knew that he had found +himself, with the aid of the stars. Familiar places that he had marked when +they made the cache appeared, and soon he reached it. But it was empty; +motorcycles and papers--all were gone! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A FRIEND IN NEED + + +Harry listened, in an agony of fear rather than of pain, to such sounds as +came to him after Dick had, so reluctantly, left him pinned in the trap. He +could hear, plainly enough, the advance of the two searchers who had scared +Dick into hiding in the rhododendron bush; he could even see the gleam of +their flashlights, and was able, therefore, to guess what they were doing. +For the moment it seemed impossible to him that Dick should escape. It +would require more skill than he thought Dick possessed, and more of +another quality--concealment and patience. Dick, he thought, was likely to +shine more when impulsive action was required, or in following a leader. +His courage was unquestioned; Harry had seen him stand up to far bigger +boys without flinching. + +As to himself, he was quite sure that he would be captured in a few +minutes, and, as a matter of fact, there were things that made the +prospect decidedly bearable. The pain in his ankle from the trap in which +he had been caught was excruciating. It seemed to him that he must cry out, +but he kept silence resolutely. As long as there was a chance that he might +not fall into the hands of the spies who were searching the grounds, he +meant to cling to it. + +But the chance was a very slim one, as he knew. He could imagine, without +difficulty, just about what the men with the flashlights would do, by +reasoning out his own course. They would look for footprints. These would +lead them to the spot where he and Dick had watched the raising of the +wireless mast, and thence along the path they had taken to return to the +wall and to safety. Thus they would come to him, and he would be found, +literally like a rat in a trap. + +And then, quite suddenly, came the diversion created by Dick's daring dash +for escape, when he sped from the bush and climbed the wall, followed by +the bullets that the searchers fired after him. Harry started, hurting his +imprisoned ankle terribly by the wrench his sudden movement gave it. Then +he listened eagerly for the cry he dreaded yet expected to hear, that would +tell him that Dick had been hit. It did not come. Instead, he heard more +men running, and then in a moment all within the wall was quiet, and he +could hear the hue and cry dying away as they chased him along the road +outside. + +"Well, by Jove!" he said to himself, enthusiastically, "I believe Dick's +fooled them! I didn't think he had it in him! That's bully for him! He +ought to get a medal for that!" + +It was some moments before he realized fully that he had gained a respite, +temporarily, at least. Obviously the two men who had been searching with +flashlights had followed Dick; there was at least a good chance that no one +else knew about him. He had decided that there was some system of signal +wires that rang an alarm when a trap was sprung. But it might be that these +two men were the only ones who were supposed to follow up such an alarm. + +He carried a flashlight himself, and now he took the chance of playing it +on his ankle, to see if there was any chance of escape. He hooded the light +with his hand and looked carefully. But what he saw was not encouraging. +The steel band looked most formidable. It was on the handcuff principle and +any attempt to work his foot loose would only make the grip tighter and +increase his suffering. His spirits fell at that. Then the only thing his +brief immunity would do for him would be to keep him in pain a little +longer. He would be caught anyhow, and he guessed that, if Dick got away, +he would find his captors in a savage mood. + +Even as he let the flashlight wink out, since it was dangerous to use it +more than was necessary, he heard a cautious movement within a few feet. At +first he thought it was an animal he had heard, so silent were its +movements. But in a moment a hand touched his own. He started slightly, but +kept quiet. + +"Hush--I'm a friend," said a voice, almost at his elbow. "I thought you +were somewhere around here, but I couldn't find you until you flashed your +light. You're caught in a trap, aren't you?" + +"Yes," said Dick. "Who are you?" + +"That's what I want to know about you, first," said the other boy--for it +was another boy, as Harry learned from his voice. Never had a sound been +more welcome in his ears than that voice! "Tell me who you are and what you +two were doing around here. I saw you this afternoon and tracked you. I +tried to before, but I couldn't, on account of your motorcycles. Then I +just happened to see you, when you were on foot. Are you Boy Scouts?" + +"Yes," said Harry. "Are you?" + +"Yes. That's why I followed--especially when I saw you coming in here. +We've got a patrol in the village, but most of the scouts are at work in +the fields." + +Rapidly, and in a whisper, Harry explained a little, enough to make this +new ally understand. + +"You'd better get out, if you know how, and take word," said Harry. "I +think my chum got away, but it would be better to be sure. And they'll be +after me soon." + +"If they give us two or three minutes we'll both get out," said the +newcomer, confidently. "I know this place with my eyes shut. I used to play +here before the old family moved away. I'm the vicar's son, in the village, +and I always had the run of the park until these new people came. And I've +been in here a few times since then, too." + +"That's all right," said Harry. "But how am I going to get out of this +trap?" + +"Let me have your flashlight a moment," said the stranger. + +Harry gave it to him, and the other scout bent over his ankle. Harry saw +that he had a long, slender piece of wire. He guessed that he was going to +try to pick the lock. And in a minute or less Harry heard a welcome click +that told him his new found friend--a friend in need, indeed, he was +proving himself to be!--had succeeded. His ankle was free. + +He struggled to his feet, and there was a moment of exquisite pain as the +blood rushed through his ankle and circulation was restored to his numbed +foot. But he was able to stand, and, although limpingly, to walk. He had +been fortunate, as a matter of fact, in that no bone had been crushed. That +might well have happened with such a trap, or a ligament or tendon might +have been wrenched or torn, in which case he would have found it just about +impossible to move at all. As it was, however, he was able to get along, +though he suffered considerable pain every time he put his foot to the +ground. + +It was no time, however, in which to think of discomforts so comparatively +trifling as that. When he was outside he would be able, with the other +scout's aid, to give his foot some attention, using the first aid outfit +that he always carried, as every scout should do. But now the one thing to +be done was to make good his escape. + +Harry realized, as soon as he was free, that he was not by any means out of +the woods. He was still decidedly in the enemy's country, and getting out +of it promised to be a difficult and a perilous task. He was handicapped by +his lack of knowledge of the place and what little he did know was +discouraging. He had proof that human enemies were not the only ones he +had to fear. And the only way he knew that offered a chance of getting out +offered, as well, the prospect of encountering the men who had pursued Dick +Mercer, returning. It was just as he made up his mind to this that the +other scout spoke again. + +"We can't get out the way you came in," he said. "Or, if we could, it's too +risky. But there's another way. I've been in here since these people +started putting their traps around, and I know where most of them are. Come +on!" + +Harry was glad to obey. He had no hankering for command. The thing to do +was to get out as quickly as he could. And so he followed, though he had +qualms when he saw that, instead of going toward the wall, they were +heading straight in and toward the great grey house. They circled the woods +that gave them the essential protection of darkness, and always they got +further and further from the place where Dick and Harry had entered. Harry +understood, of course, that there were other ways of getting out but it +took a few words to make him realize the present situation as it actually +was. + +"There's a spot on the other side they don't really guard at all," said his +companion. "It's where the river runs by the place. They think no one would +come that way. And I don't believe they know anything at all about what I'm +going to show you." + +Soon Harry heard the water rustling. And then, to his surprise, his guide +led him straight into a tangle of shrubbery. It was hard going for him, for +his ankle pained him a good deal, but he managed it. And in a moment the +other boy spoke, and, for the first time, in a natural voice. + +"I say, I'm glad we're here!" he said, heartily. "D'ye see?" + +"It looks like a cave," said Harry. + +"It is, but it's more than that, too. This place is no end old, you know. +It was here when they fought the Wars of the Roses, I've heard. And come +on--I'll show you something!" + +He led the way on into the cave, which narrowed as they went. But Harry, +pointing his flashlight ahead, saw that it was not going to stop. + +"Oh! A secret passage! I understand now!" he exclaimed, finally. + +"Isn't it jolly?" said the other. "Can't you imagine what fun we used to +have here when we played about? You see, this may have been used to bring +in food in time of siege. There used to be another spur of this tunnel that +ran right into the house. But that was all let go to pot, for some reason. +This is all that is left. But it's enough. It runs way down under the +river--and in a jiffy we'll be out in the meadows on the other side. I say, +what's your name?" + +They hadn't had time to exchange the information each naturally craved +about the other before. And now, as they realized it, they both laughed. +Harry told his name. + +"Mine's Jack Young," said the other scout. "I say, you don't talk like an +Englishman?" + +"I'm not," explained Harry. "I'm American. But I'm for England just +now--and we were caught here trying to find out something about that +place." + +They came out into the open then, where the light of the stars enabled +them to see one another. Jack nodded. + +"I got an idea of what you were after--you two," he said. "The other one's +English, isn't he?" + +"Dick Mercer? Yes!" said Harry, astonished. "But how did you find out about +us?" + +"Stalked you," said Jack, happily. "Oh, I'm no end of a scout! I followed +you as soon as I caught you without your bicycles." + +"We must have been pretty stupid to let you do it, though," said Harry, a +little crestfallen. "I'm glad we did, but suppose you'd been an enemy! A +nice fix we'd have been in!" + +"That's just what I thought about you," admitted Jack. "You see, everyone +has sort of laughed at me down here because I said there might be German +spies about. I've always been suspicious of the people who took Bray Park. +They didn't act the way English people do. They didn't come to church, and +when the pater--I told you he was the vicar here, didn't I?--went to call, +they wouldn't let him in! Just sent word they were out! Fancy treating the +vicar like that!" he concluded with spirit. + +Harry knew enough of the customs of the English countryside to understand +that the new tenants of Bray Park could not have chosen a surer method of +bringing down both dislike and suspicion upon themselves. + +"That was a bit too thick, you know," Jack went on. "So when the war +started, I decided I'd keep my eyes open, especially on any strangers who +came around. So there you have it. I say! You'd better let me try to make +that ankle easier. You're limping badly." + +That was true, and Harry submitted gladly to such ministrations as Jack +knew how to offer. Cold water helped considerably; it reduced the swelling. +And then Jack skillfully improvised a brace, that, binding the ankle +tightly, gave it a fair measure of support. + +"Now try that!" he said. "See if it doesn't feel better!" + +"It certainly does," said Harry. "You're quite a doctor, aren't you? Well, +now the next thing to do is to try to find where Dick is. I know where he +went--to the place where we cached our cycles and our papers." + +Like Dick, he was hopelessly at sea, for the moment, as to his whereabouts. +And he had, moreover, to reckon with the turns and twists of the tunnel, +which there had been no way of following in the utter darkness. But Jack +Young, who, of course, could have found his way anywhere within five miles +of them blindfolded, helped him, and they soon found that they were less +than half a mile from the place. + +"Can you come on with me, Jack?" asked Harry. He felt that in his rescuer +he had found a new friend, and one whom he was going to like very well, +indeed, and he wanted his company, if it was possible. + +"Yes. No one knows I am out," said Jack, frankly. "The pater's like the +rest of them here--he doesn't take the war seriously yet. When I said the +other day that it might last long enough for me to be old enough to go, he +laughed at me. I really hope it won't, but I wouldn't be surprised if it +did, would you?" + +"No, I wouldn't. It's too early to tell anything about it yet, really. But +if the Germans fight the way they always have before, it's going to be a +long war." + +They talked as they went, and, though Harry's ankle was still painful, the +increased speed the bandaging made possible more than made up for the time +it had required. Harry was anxious about Dick; he wanted to rejoin him as +soon as possible. + +And so it was not long before they came near to the place where the cycles +had been cached. + +"We'd better go slow. In case anyone else watched us this afternoon, we +don't want to walk into a trap," said Harry. He was more upset than he had +cared to admit by the discovery that he and Dick had been spied upon by +Jack, excellent though it had been that it was so. For what Jack had done +it was conceivable that someone else, too, might have accomplished. + +"All right. You go ahead," said Jack. "I'll form a rear guard--d'ye see? +Then you can't be surprised." + +"That's a good idea," said Harry. "There, see that big tree, that blasted +one over there? I marked that. The cache is in a straight line, almost, +from that, where the ground dips a little. There's a clump of bushes." + +"There's someone there, too," said Jack. "He's tugging at a cycle, as if he +were trying to get ready to start it." + +"That'll be Dick, then," said Harry, greatly relieved. "All right--I'll go +ahead!" + +He went on then, and soon he, too, saw Dick busy with the motorcycle. + +"Won't he be glad to see me, though?" he thought. "Poor old Dick! I bet +he's had a hard time." + +Then he called, softly. And Dick turned. But--it was not Dick. It was +Ernest Graves! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN UNEXPECTED BLOW + + +For a moment it would have been hard to say which of them was more +completely staggered and amazed. + +"What are you doing here?" Harry gasped, finally. + +And then, all at once, it came over him that it did not matter what Ernest +answered; that there could be no reasonable and good explanation for what +he had caught Graves doing. + +"You sneak!" he cried. "What are you doing here--spying on us?" + +He sprang forward, and Graves, with a snarling cry of anger, lunged to meet +him. Had he not been handicapped by his lame ankle, Harry might have given +a good account of himself in a hand-to-hand fight with Graves, but, as it +was, the older boy's superior weight gave him almost his own way. Before +Jack, who was running up, could reach them, Graves threw Harry off. He +stood looking down on him for just a second. + +"That's what you get for interfering, young Fleming!" he said. "There's +something precious queer about you, my American friend! I fancy you'll have +to do some explaining about where you've been to-night!" + +Harry was struggling to his feet. Now he saw the papers in Graves' hand. + +"You thief!" he cried. "Those papers belong to me! You've stolen them! Give +them here!" + +But Graves only laughed in his face. + +"Come and get them!" he taunted. And, before either of the scouts could +realize what he meant to do he had started one of the motorcycles, sprung +to the saddle, and started. In a moment he was out of sight, around a bend +in the road. Only the put-put of the motor, rapidly dying away, remained of +him. But, even in that moment, the two he left behind him were busy. Jack +sprang to the other motorcycle, and tried to start it, but in vain. +Something was wrong; the motor refused to start. + +"That's what he was doing when I saw him first!" cried Harry, with a flash +of inspiration. "I thought it was Dick, trying to start his motor--but it +was Graves trying to keep us from starting it! But he can't have done very +much--I don't believe he had the time. We ought to be able to fix it pretty +soon." + +"It's two miles to the repair place!" said Jack, blankly. + +"Not to this repair shop," said Harry, with a laugh. The need of prompt and +efficient action pulled him together. He forgot his wonder at finding +Graves, the pain of his ankle, everything but the instant need of being +busy. He had to get that cycle going and be off in pursuit; that was all +there was to it. + +"Give me a steady light," he directed. "I think he's probably disconnected +the wires of the magneto--that's what I'd do if I wanted to put a motor out +of business in a hurry. And if that's all, there's no great harm done." + +"I don't see how you know all that!" wondered Jack. "I can ride one of +those things, but the best I can do is mend a puncture, if I should have +one." + +"Oh, it's easy enough," said Harry, working while he talked. "You see, the +motor itself can't be hurt unless you take an axe to it, and break it all +up! But to start you've got to have a spark--and you get that from +electricity. So there are these little wires that make the connection. He +didn't cut them, thank Heaven! He just disconnected them. If he'd cut them +I might really have been up a tree because that's the sort of accident you +wouldn't provide for in a repair kit." + +"It isn't an accident at all," said Jack, literally. + +"That's right," said Harry. "That's what I meant, too. Now let's see. I +think that's all. Good thing we came up when we did or he'd have cut the +tires to ribbons. And there are a lot of things I'd rather do than ride one +of these machines on its rims--to say nothing of how long the wheels would +last if one tried to go fast at all." + +He tried the engine; it answered beautifully. + +"Now is there a telephone in your father's house, Jack?" + +"Yes. Why?" for Jack was plainly puzzled. + +"So that I can call you up, of course! I'm going after Graves. Later I'll +tell you who he is. I'm in luck, really. He took Dick's machine--and mine +is a good ten miles an hour faster. I can race him and beat him but, of +course, he couldn't know which was the fastest. Dick's is the best looking. +I suppose that's why he picked it." + +"But where is Dick?" + +"That's what I'm coming to. They may have caught him but I hope not. I +don't think they did, either. I think he'll come along here pretty soon. +And, if he does, he'll have an awful surprise." + +"I'll stay here and tell him--" + +"You're a brick, Jack! It's just what I was going to ask you to do. I can't +leave word for him any other way, and I don't know what he'd think if he +came here and found the cycles and all gone. Then take him home with you, +will you? And I'll ring you up just as soon as I can. Good-bye!" + +And everything being settled as far as he could foresee it then, Harry went +scooting off into the night on his machine. As he rode, with the wind +whipping into his face and eyes, and the incessant roar of the engine in +his ears, he knew he was starting what was likely to prove a wild-goose +chase. Even if he caught Graves, he didn't know what he could do, except +that he meant to get back the papers. + +More and more, as he rode on, the mystery of Graves' behavior puzzled him, +worried him. He knew that Graves had been sore and angry when he had not +been chosen for the special duty detail. But that did not seem a sufficient +reason for him to have acted as he had. He remembered, too, the one glimpse +of Graves they had caught before, in a place where he did not seem to +belong. + +And then, making the mystery still deeper, and defying explanation, as it +seemed to him, was the question of how Graves had known, first of all, +where they were, and of how he had reached the place. + +He had no motorcycle of his own or he would not have ridden away on Dick's +machine. He could not have come by train. Harry's head swam with the +problem that presented itself. And then, to make it worse, there was that +remark Graves had made. He had said Harry would find it hard to explain +where he had been. How did he know where they had been? Why should he think +it would be hard for them to explain their actions? + +"There isn't any answer," he said to himself. "And, if there was, I'm a +juggins to be trying to find it now. I'd better keep my mind on this old +machine, or it will ditch me! I know what I've got to do, anyhow, even if I +don't know why." + +Mile after mile he rode, getting the very best speed he could out of the +machine. Somewhere ahead of him, he was sure, riding back toward London, +was Graves. In this wild pursuit he was taking chances, of course. Graves +might have turned off the road almost anywhere. But if he had done that, +there was nothing to be done about it; that much was certain. He could only +keep on with the pursuit, hoping that his quarry was following the straight +road toward London. And, to be sure, there was every reason for him to +hope just that. + +By this time it was very late. No one was abroad; the countryside was +asleep. Once or twice he did find someone in the streets of a village as he +swept through; then he stopped, and asked if a man on another motorcycle +had passed ahead of him. Two or three times the yokel he questioned didn't +know; twice, however, he did get a definite assurance that Graves was ahead +of him. + +Somehow he never thought of the outrageously illegal speed he was making. +He knew the importance of his errand, and that, moreover, he was a menace +to nothing but the sleep of those he disturbed. No one was abroad to get in +his way, and he forgot utterly that there might be need for caution, until, +as he went through a fair sized town, he suddenly saw three policemen, two +of whom were also mounted on motorcycles, waiting for him. + +They waved their arms, crying out to him to stop, and, seeing that he was +trapped, he did stop. + +"Let me by," he cried, angrily. "I'm on government service!" + +"Another of them?" One of the policemen looked doubtfully at the rest. "Too +many of you telling that tale to-night. And the last one said there was a +scorcher behind him. Have you got any papers? He had them!" + +Harry groaned! So Graves had managed to strike at him, even when he was +miles away. Evidently he, too, had been held up; evidently, also, he had +used Harry's credentials to get out of the scrape speeding had put him in. + +"No, I haven't any credentials," he said, angrily. "But you can see my +uniform, can't you? I'm a Boy Scout, and we're all under government orders +now, like soldiers or sailors." + +"That's too thin, my lad," said the policeman who seemed to be recognized +as the leader. "Everyone we've caught for speeding too fast since the war +began has blamed it on the war. We'll have to take you along, my boy. They +telephoned to us from places you passed--they said you were going so fast +it was dangerous. And we saw you ourselves." + +In vain Harry pleaded. Now that he knew that Graves had used his +credentials from Colonel Throckmorton, he decided that it would be foolish +to claim his own identity. Graves had assumed that, and he had had the +practically conclusive advantage of striking the first blow. So Harry +decided to submit to the inevitable with the best grace he could muster. + +"All right," he said. "I'll go along with you, officer. But you'll be sorry +before it's over!" + +"Maybe, sir," said the policeman. "But orders is orders, sir, and I've got +to obey them. Not that I likes running a young gentleman like yourself in. +But--" + +"Oh, I know you're only doing your duty, as you see it, officer," he said. +"Can't be helped--but I'm sorry. It's likely to cause a lot of trouble." + +So he surrendered. But, even while he was doing so, he was planning to +escape from custody. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A GOOD WITNESS + + +Dick's surprise and concern when he found the cache empty and deserted, +with papers and motorcycles alike gone, may be imagined. For a moment he +thought he must be mistaken; that, after all, he had come to the wrong +place. But a quick search of the ground with his flashlight showed him that +he had come to the right spot. He could see the tracks made by the wheels +of the machine; he could see, also, evidences of the brief struggle between +Harry and Graves. For a moment his mystification continued. But then, with +a low laugh, Jack Young emerged from the cover in which he had been hiding. + +"Hello, there!" he said. "I say, are you Dick Mercer?" + +"Yes!" gasped Dick. "But how ever do you know? I never saw you before!" + +"Well, you see me now," said Jack. "Harry Fleming told me to look for you +here. He said you'd be along some time to-night, if you got away. And he +was sure you could get away, too." + +"Harry!" said Dick, dazed. "You've seen him? Where is he? Did he get away? +And what happened to the cycles and the papers we hid there? Why--" + +"Hold on! One question at a time," said Jack. "Keep your shirt on, and I'll +tell you all I know about it. Then we can decide what is to be done next. I +think I'll attach myself temporarily to your patrol." + +"Oh, you're a scout, too, are you?" asked Dick. That seemed to explain a +good deal. He was used to having scouts turn up to help him out of trouble. +And so he listened as patiently as he could, while Jack explained what had +happened. + +"And that's all I know," said Jack, finally, when he had carried the tale +to the point where Harry rode off on the repaired motorcycle in pursuit of +Ernest Graves. "I should think you might really know more about it now than +I do." + +"Why, how could I? You saw it all!" + +"Yes, that's true enough. But you know Harry and I were too busy to talk +much after we found that motor was out of order. All I know is that when we +got here we found someone I'd never seen before and never want to see again +messing about with the cycles. We thought it must be you, of course--at +least Harry did, and of course I supposed he ought to know." + +"And then you found it was Ernest Graves?" + +"Harry did. He took one look at him--and then they started right in +fighting. Harry seemed to be sure that was the thing to do. If I'd been in +his place, I'd have tried to arbitrate, I think. This chap Graves was a lot +bigger than he. He was carrying weight for age. You see, I don't know yet +who Graves is, or why Harry wanted to start fighting him that way. I've +been waiting patiently for you to come along, so that you could tell me." + +"He's a sneak!" declared Dick, vehemently. "I suppose you know that Harry's +an American, don't you?" + +"Yes, but that's nothing against him." + +"Of course it isn't! But this Graves is the biggest and oldest chap in our +troop--he isn't in our patrol. And he thought that if any of us were going +to be chosen for special service, he ought to have the first chance. So +when they picked Harry and me, he began talking about Harry's being an +American. He tried to act as if he thought it wasn't safe for anyone who +wasn't English to be picked out!" + +"It looks as if he had acted on that idea, too, doesn't it, then? It seems +to me that he has followed you down here, just to get a chance to play some +trick on you. He got those papers, you see. And I fancy you'll be blamed +for losing them." + +"How did he know we were here?" said Dick, suddenly. "That's what I'd like +to know!" + +"Yes, it would be a good thing to find that out," said Jack, thoughtfully. +"Well, it will be hard to do. But we might find out how he got here. I know +this village and the country all around here pretty well. And Gaffer Hodge +will know, if anyone does. He's the most curious man in the world. Come +on--we'll see what he has to say." + +"Who is he?" asked Dick, as they began to walk briskly toward the village. + +"You went through the village this afternoon, didn't you? Didn't you see a +very old man with white hair and a stick beside him, sitting in a doorway +next to the little shop by the Red Dog?" + +"Yes." + +"That's Gaffer Hodge. He's the oldest man in these parts. He can remember +the Crimean War and--oh, everything! He must be over a hundred years old. +And he watches everyone who comes in. If a stranger is in the village he's +never happy until he knows all about him. He was awfully worried to-day +about you and Harry, I heard," explained Jack. + +Dick laughed heartily. + +"Well, I do hope he can tell us something about Graves. The sneak! I +certainly hope Harry catches up to him. Do you think he can?" + +"Well, he might, if he was lucky. He said the cycle he was riding was +faster than the other one. But of course it would be very hard to tell just +which way to go. If Graves knew there was a chance that he might be +followed he ought to be able to give anyone who was even a mile behind the +slip." + +"Of course it's at night and that makes it harder for Harry." + +"Yes, I suppose it does. In the daytime Harry could find people to tell him +which way Graves was going, couldn't he?" + +"Yes. That's just what I meant." + +"Oh, I say, won't Gaffer Hodge be in bed and asleep?" + +"I don't think so. He doesn't seem to like to go to bed. He sits up very +late, and talks to the men when they start to go home from the Red Dog. He +likes to talk, you see. We'll soon know--that's one thing. We'll be there +now in no time." + +Sure enough, the old man was still up when they arrived. He was just saying +good-night, in a high, piping voice, to a little group of men who had +evidently been having a nightcap in the inn next to his house. When he saw +Jack he smiled. They were very good friends, and the old man had found the +boy one of his best listeners. The Gaffer liked to live in the past; he was +always delighted when anyone would let him tell his tales of the things he +remembered. + +"Good-evening, Gaffer," said Jack, respectfully. "This is my friend, Dick +Mercer. He's a Boy Scout from London." + +"Knew it! Knew it!" said Gaffer Hodge, with a senile chuckle. "I said they +was from Lunnon this afternoon when I seen them fust! Glad to meet you, +young maister." + +Then Jack described Graves as well as he could from his brief sight of him, +and Dick helped by what he remembered. + +"Did you see him come into town this afternoon, Gaffer?" asked Jack. + +"Let me think," said the old man. "Yes--I seen 'um. Came sneaking in, he +did, this afternoon as ever was! Been up to the big house at Bray Park, he +had. Came in in an automobile, he did. Then he went back there. But he was +in the post office when you and t'other young lad from Lunnon went by, +maister!" nodding his head as if well pleased. + +This was to Dick, and he and Jack stared at one another. Certainly their +visit to Gaffer Hodge had paid them well. + +"Are you sure of that, Gaffer?" asked Jack, quietly. "Sure that it was an +automobile from Bray Park?" + +"Sure as ever was!" said the old man, indignantly. Like all old people, he +hated anyone to question him, resenting the idea that anyone could think he +was mistaken. "Didn't I see the machine myself--a big grey one, with black +stripes as ever was, like all their automobiles?" + +"That's true--that's the way their cars are painted, and they have five or +six of them," said Jack. + +"Yes. And he come in the car from Lunnon before he went there--and then he +come out here. He saw you and t'other young lad from Lunnon go by, maister, +on your bicycles. He was watching you from the shop as ever was!" + +"Thank you, Gaffer," said Jack, gravely. "You've told us just what we +wanted to know. I'll bring you some tobacco in the morning, if you like. My +father's just got a new lot down from London." + +"Thanks, thank'ee kindly," said the Gaffer, overjoyed at the prospect. + +Then they said good-night to the old man, who, plainly delighted at the +thought that he had been of some service to them, and at this proof of his +sharpness, of which he was always boasting, rose and hobbled into his +house. + +"He's really a wonderful old man," said Dick. + +"He certainly is," agreed Jack. "His memory seems to be as good as ever, +and he's awfully active, too. He's got rheumatism, but he can see and hear +as well as he ever could, my father says." + +They walked on, each turning over in his mind what they had heard about +Graves. + +"That's how he knew we were here," said Dick, finally. "I've been puzzling +about that. I remember now seeing that car as we went by. But of course I +didn't pay any particular attention to it, except that I saw a little +American flag on it." + +"Yes, they're supposed to be Americans, you know," said Jack. "And I +suppose they carry the flag so that the car won't be taken for the army. +The government has requisitioned almost all the cars in the country, you +know." + +"I'm almost afraid to think about this," said Dick, after a moment of +silence. "Graves must know those people in that house, if he's riding about +in their car. And they--" + +He paused, and they looked at one another. + +"I don't know what to do!" said Dick. "I wish there was some way to tell +Harry about what we've found out." + +Jack started. + +"I nearly forgot!" he said. "We'd better cut for my place. I told Harry +we'd be there if he telephoned, you know. Come on!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FIRST BLOW + + +To Harry, as he was taken off to the police station, it seemed the hardest +sort of hard luck that his chase of Graves should be interrupted at such a +critical time and just because he had been over-speeding. But he realized +that he was helpless, and that he would only waste his breath if he tried +to explain matters until he was brought before someone who was really in +authority. Then, if he had any luck, he might be able to clear things up. +But the men who arrested him were only doing their duty as they saw it, and +they had no discretionary power at all. + +When he reached the station he was disappointed to find that no one was on +duty except a sleepy inspector, who was even less inclined to listen to +reason than the constables. + +"Everyone who breaks the law has a good excuse, my lad," he said. "If we +listened to all of them we might as well close up this place. You can tell +your story to the magistrate in the morning. You'll be well treated +to-night, and you're better off with us than running around the country--a +lad of your age! If I were your father, I should see to it that you were in +bed and asleep before this." + +There was no arguing with such a man, especially when he was sleepy. So +Harry submitted, very quietly, to being put into a cell. He was not treated +like a common prisoner; that much he was grateful for. His cell was really +a room, with windows that were not even barred. And he saw that he could be +very comfortable indeed. + +"You'll be all right here," said one of the constables. "Don't worry, my +lad. You'll be let off with a caution in the morning. Get to sleep +now--it's late, and you'll be roused bright and early in the morning." + +Harry smiled pleasantly, and thanked the man for his good advice. But he +had no intention whatever of taking it. He did not even take off his +clothes, though he did seize the welcome chance to use the washstand that +was in the room. He had been through a good deal since his last chance to +wash and clean up, and he was grimy and dirty. He discovered, too, that he +was ravenously hungry. Until that moment he had been too active, too busy +with brain and body, to notice his hunger. + +However, there was nothing to be done for that now. He and Dick had not +stopped for meals that day since breakfast, and they had eaten their +emergency rations in the early afternoon. In the tool case on his impounded +motorcycle Harry knew there were condensed food tablets--each the +equivalent of certain things like eggs, and steaks and chops. And there +were cakes of chocolate, too, the most nourishing of foods that are small +in bulk. But the knowledge did him little good now. He didn't even know +where the motorcycle had been stored for the night. It had been +confiscated, of course; in the morning it would be returned to him. + +But he didn't allow his thoughts to dwell long on the matter of food. It +was vastly more important that he should get away. He had to get his news +to Colonel Throckmorton. Perhaps Dick had done that. But he couldn't trust +that chance. Aside from that, he wanted to know what had become of Dick. +And, for the life of him, he didn't see how he was to get away. + +"If they weren't awfully sure of me, they'd have locked me up a lot more +carefully than this," he reflected. "And of course it would be hard. I +could get out of here easily enough." + +He had seen a drain pipe down which, he felt sure, he could climb. + +"But suppose I did," he went on, talking to himself. "I've got an idea it +would land me where I could be seen from the door--and I suppose that's +open all night. And, then if I got away from here, every policeman in this +town would know me. They'd pick me up if I tried to get out, even if I +walked." + +He looked out of the window. Not so far away he could see a faint glare in +the sky. That was London. He was already in the suburban chain that ringed +the great city. This place--he did not know its name, certainly--was quite +a town in itself. And he was so close to London that there was no real open +country. One town or borough ran right into the next. The houses would grow +fewer, thinning out, but before the gap became real, the outskirts of the +next borough would be reached. + +Straight in front of him, looking over the housetops, he could see the +gleam of water. It was a reservoir, he decided. Probably it constituted the +water supply for a considerable section. And then, as he looked, he saw a +flash--saw a great column of water rise in the air, and descend, like +pictures of a cloudburst. A moment after the explosion, he heard a dull +roar. And after the roar another sound. He saw the water fade out and +disappear, and it was a moment before he realized what was happening. The +reservoir had been blown up. And that meant more than the danger and the +discomfort of an interrupted water supply. It meant an immediate +catastrophe--the flooding of all the streets nearby. + +In England, as he knew, such reservoirs were higher than the surrounding +country, as a rule. They were contained within high walls, and, after a +rainy summer, such as this had been, would be full to overflowing. He was +hammering at his door in a moment, and a sleepy policeman, aroused by the +sudden alarm, flung it open as he passed on his way to the floor below. + +Harry rushed down, and mingled, unnoticed, with the policemen who had been +off duty, but summoned now to deal with this disaster. The inspector who +had received him paid no attention to him at all. + +"Out with you, men!" he cried. "There'll be trouble over this--no telling +but what people may be drowned. Double quick, now!" + +They rushed out, under command of a sergeant. The inspector stayed behind, +and now he looked at Harry. + +"Hullo!" he said. "How did you get out?" + +"I want to help!" said Harry, inspired. "I haven't done anything really +wrong, have I? Oughtn't I be allowed to do whatever I can, now that +something like this has happened?" + +"Go along with you!" said the inspector. "All right! But you'd better come +back--because we've got your motorcycle, and we'll keep that until you come +back for it." + +But it made little difference to Harry that he was, so to speak, out on +bail. The great thing was that he was free. He rushed out, but he didn't +make for the scene of the disaster to the reservoir, caused, as he had +guessed, by some spy. All the town was pouring out now, and the streets +were full of people making for the place where the explosion had occurred. +It was quite easy for Harry to slip through them and make for London. He +did not try to get his cycle. But before he had gone very far he overtook a +motor lorry that had broken down. He pitched in and helped with the slight +repairs it needed, and the driver invited him to ride along with him. + +"Taking in provisions for the troops, I am," he said. "If you're going to +Lunnon, you might as well ride along with me. Eh, Tommy?" + +His question was addressed to a sleepy private, who was nodding on the +seat beside the driver. He started now, and looked at Harry. + +"All aboard!" he said, with a sleepy chuckle. "More the merrier, say I! Up +all night--that's what I've been! Fine sort of war this is! Do I see any +fightin'? I do not! I'm a bloomin' chaperone for cabbages and cauliflowers +and turnips, bless their little hearts!" + +Harry laughed. It was impossible not to do that. But he knew that if the +soldier wanted fighting, fighting he would get before long. Harry could +guess that regular troops--and this man was a regular--would not be kept in +England as soon as territorials and volunteers in sufficient number; had +joined the colors. But meanwhile guards were necessary at home. + +He told them, in exchange for the ride, of the explosion and the flood that +had probably followed it. + +"Bli'me!" said the soldier, surprised. "Think of that, now! What will they +be up to next--those Germans? That's what I'd like to know! Coming over +here to England and doing things like that! I'd have the law on +'em--that's what I'd do!" + +Harry laughed. So blind to the real side of war were men who, at any +moment, might find themselves face to face with the enemy! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SILENT WIRE + + +Probably Jack Young and Dick reached the vicarage just about the time that +saw Harry getting into trouble with the police for speeding. The vicar was +still up; he had a great habit of reading late. And he seemed considerably +surprised to find that Jack was not upstairs in bed. At first he was +inclined even to be angry, but he changed his mind when he saw Dick, and +heard something of what had happened. + +"Get your friend something to eat and I'll have them make a hot bath +ready," said the vicar. "He looks as if he needed both!" + +This was strictly true. Dick was as hungry and as grimy as Harry himself. +If anything, he was in even worse shape, for his flight through the fields +and the brook had enabled him to attach a good deal of the soil of England +to himself. So the thick sandwiches and the bowl of milk that were +speedily set before him were severely punished. And while he ate both he +and Jack poured out their story. Mr. Young frowned as he listened. Although +he was a clergyman and a lover of peace, he was none the less a patriot. + +"Upon my word!" he said. "Wireless, you think, my boy?" + +"I'm sure of it, sir," said Dick. + +"And so'm I," chimed in Jack. "You know, sir, I've thought ever since war +seemed certain that Bray Park would bear a lot of watching and that +something ought to be done. Just because this is a little bit of a village, +without even a railroad station, people think nothing could happen here. +But if German spies wanted a headquarters, it's just the sort of place they +would pick out." + +"There's something in that," agreed the vicar, thoughtfully. But in his own +mind he was still very doubtful. The whole thing seemed incredible to him. +Yet, as a matter of fact, it was no more incredible than the war itself. +What inclined him to be dubious, as much as anything else, was the fact +that it was mere boys who had made the discovery. He had read of outbreaks +of spy fever in various parts of England, in which the most harmless and +inoffensive people were arrested and held until they could give some good +account of themselves. This made him hesitate, while precious time was +being wasted. + +"I hardly know what to do--what to suggest," he went on, musingly. "The +situation is complicated, really. Supposing you are right, and that German +spies really own Bray Park, and are using it as a central station for +sending news that they glean out of England, what could be done about it?" + +"The place ought to be searched at once--everyone there ought to be +arrested!" declared Jack, impulsively. His father smiled. + +"Yes, but who's going to do it?" he said. "We've just one constable here in +Bray. And if there are Germans there in any number, what could he do? I +suppose we might send word to Hambridge and get some police or some +territorials over. Yes, that's the best thing to do." + +But now Dick spoke up in great eagerness. + +"I don't know, sir," he suggested. "If the soldiers came, the men in the +house there would find out they were coming, I'm afraid. Perhaps they'd get +away, or else manage to hide everything that would prove the truth about +them. I think it would be better to report direct to Colonel Throckmorton. +He knows what we found out near London, sir, you see, and he'd be more +ready to believe us." + +"Yes, probably you're right. Ring him up, then. It's late, but he won't +mind." + +What a different story there would have been to tell had someone had that +thought only half an hour earlier! But it is often so. The most trivial +miscalculation, the most insignificant mistake, seemingly, may prove to be +of the most vital importance. Dick went to the telephone. It was one of the +old-fashioned sort, still in almost universal use in the rural parts of +England, that require the use of a bell to call the central office. Dick +turned the crank, then took down the receiver. At once he heard a confused +buzzing sound that alarmed him. + +"I'm afraid the line is out of order, sir," he said. + +And after fifteen minutes it was plain that he was right. The wire had +either been cut or it had fallen or been short circuited in some other way. +Dick and Jack looked at one another blankly. The same thought had come to +each of them, and at the same moment. + +"They've cut the wires!" said Dick. "Now what shall we do? We can't hear +from Harry, either!" + +"We might have guessed they'd do that!" said Jack. "They must have had some +one out to watch us, Dick--perhaps they thought they'd have a chance to +catch us. They know that we've found out something, you see! It's a good +thing we stayed where we could make people hear us if we got into any +trouble." + +"Oh, nonsense!" said the vicar, suddenly. "You boys are letting your +imaginations run away with you! Things like that don't happen in England. +The wire is just out of order. It happens often enough, Jack, as you know +very well!" + +"Yes, sir," said Jack, doggedly. "But that's in winter, or after a heavy +storm--not in fine weather like this. I never knew the wire to be out of +order before when it was the way it is now." + +"Well, there's nothing to be done, in any case," said the vicar. "Be off to +bed, and wait until morning. There's nothing you can do now." + +Dick looked as if he were about to make some protest, but a glance at Jack +restrained him. Instead he got up, said good-night and followed Jack +upstairs. There he took his bath, except that he substituted cold water for +the hot, for he could guess what Jack meant to do. They were going out +again, that was certain. And, while it is easy to take cold, especially +when one is tired, after a hot bath, there is no such danger if the water +is cold. + +"Do you know where the telephone wire runs?" he asked Jack. + +"Yes, I do," said Jack. "I watched the men when they ran the wire in. There +are only three telephones in the village, except for the one at Bray Park, +and that's a special, private wire. We have one here, Doctor Brunt has one, +and there's another in the garage. They're all on one party line, too. We +won't have any trouble in finding out if the wire was cut, I fancy." + +Their chief difficulty lay in getting out of the house. True, Jack had not +been positively ordered not to go out again, but he knew that if his father +saw him, he would be ordered to stay in. And he had not the slightest +intention of missing any part of the finest adventure he had ever had a +chance to enjoy--not he! He was a typical English boy, full of the love of +adventure and excitement for their own sake, even if he was the son of a +clergyman. And now he showed Dick what they would have to do. + +"I used to slip out this way, sometimes," he said. "That was before I was a +scout. I--well, since I joined, I haven't done it. It didn't seem right. +But this is different. Don't you think so, Dick?" + +"I certainly do," said Dick. "Your pater doesn't understand, Jack. He +thinks we've just found a mare's nest, I fancy." + +Jack's route of escape was not a difficult one. It led to the roof of the +scullery, at the back of the house, and then, by a short and easy drop of a +few feet, to the back garden. Once they were in that, they had no trouble. +They could not be heard or seen from the front of the house, and it was a +simple matter of climbing fences until it was safe to circle back and +strike the road in front again. Jack led the way until they came to the +garage, which was at the end of the village, in the direction of London. +Their course also took them nearer to Bray Park, but at the time they did +not think of this. + +"There's where the wire starts from the garage, d'ye see?" said Jack, +pointing. "You see how easily we can follow it--it runs along those poles, +right beside the road." + +"It seems to be all right here," said Dick. + +"Oh, yes. They wouldn't have cut it so near the village," said Jack. "We'll +have to follow it along for a bit, I fancy--a mile or so, perhaps. Better +not talk much, either. And, I say, hadn't we better stay in the shadow? +They must have been watching us before--better not give them another +chance, if we can help it," was Jack's very wise suggestion. + +They had traveled nearly a mile when Dick suddenly noticed that the +telephone wire sagged between two posts. + +"I think it has been cut--and that we're near the place, too," he said +then. "Look, Jack! There's probably a break not far from here." + +"Right, oh!" said Jack. "Now we must be careful. I've just thought, Dick, +that they might have left someone to watch at the place where they cut the +wire." + +"Why, Jack?" + +"Well, they might have thought we, or someone else, might come along to +find out about it, just as we're doing. I'm beginning to think those +beggars are mighty clever, and that if we think of doing anything, they're +likely to think that we'll think of it. They've outwitted us at every point +so far." + +So now, instead of staying under the hedge, but still in the road, they +crept through a gap in the hedge, tearing their clothes as they did so, +since it was a blackberry row, and went along still in sight of the poles +and the wire, but protected by the hedge so that no one in the road could +see them. + +"There!" said Jack, at last. "See? You were right, Dick. There's the +place--and the wire was cut, too! It wasn't an accident. But I was sure of +that as soon as I found the line wasn't working." + +Sure enough, the wires were dangling. And there was something else. Just as +they stopped they heard the voices of two men. + +"There's the break, Bill," said the first voice. "Bli'me, if she ain't cut, +too! Now who did that? Bringing us out of our beds at this hour to look for +trouble!" + +"I'd like to lay my hands on them, that's all!" said the second voice. "A +good job they didn't carry the wire away--'twon't take us long to repair, +and that's one precious good thing!" + +"Linemen," said Jack. "But I wonder why they're here? They must have come a +long way. I shouldn't be surprised if they'd ridden on bicycles. And I +never heard of their sending to repair a wire at night before." + +"Listen," said Dick. "Perhaps we will find out." + +"Well, now that we've found it, we might as well repair it," said the first +lineman, grumblingly. "All comes of someone trying to get a message through +to Bray and making the manager believe it was a life and death matter!" + +"Harry must have tried to telephone--that's why they've come," said Jack. +"I was wondering how they found out about the break. You see, as a rule, no +one would try to ring up anyone in Bray after seven o'clock or so. And of +course, they couldn't tell we were trying to ring, with the wire cut like +that." + +"Oh, Jack!" said Dick, suddenly. "If they're linemen, I believe they have +an instrument with them. Probably we could call to London from here. Do you +think they will let us do that?" + +"That's a good idea. We'll try it, anyway," said Jack. "Come on--it must be +safe enough now. These chaps won't hurt us." + +But Jack was premature in thinking that. For no sooner did the two linemen +see them than they rushed for them, much to both lads' surprise. + +"You're the ones that cut that wire," said the first, a dark, young fellow. +"I've a mind to give you a good hiding!" + +But they both rushed into explanations, and, luckily, the other lineman +recognized Jack. + +"It's the vicar's son from Bray, Tom," he said. "Let him alone." + +And then, while their attention was distracted, a bullet sang over their +heads. And "Hands oop!" said a guttural voice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A TREACHEROUS DEED + + +Harry Fleming had, of course, given up all hope of catching Graves by a +direct pursuit by the time he accepted the offer of a ride in the motor +truck that was carrying vegetables for the troops in quarters in London. +His only hope now was to get his information to Colonel Throckmorton as +soon as possible. At the first considerable town they reached, where he +found a telegraph office open, he wired to the colonel, using the code +which he had memorized. The price of a couple of glasses of beer had +induced the driver and the soldier to consent to a slight delay of the +truck, and he tried also to ring up Jack Young's house and find out what +had happened to Dick. + +When he found that the line was out of order he leaped at once to the same +conclusion that Jack and Dick had reached--that it had been cut on purpose. +He could not stay to see if it would be reopened soon. A stroke of luck +came his way, however. In this place Boy Scouts were guarding the gas works +and an electric light and power plant, and he found one squad just coming +off duty. He explained something of his errand to the patrol leader, and +got the assurance that the telephone people should be made to repair the +break in the wire. + +"We'll see to it that they find out what is the trouble, Fleming," said the +patrol leader, whose name was Burridge. "By the way, I know a scout in your +troop--Graves. He was on a scout with us a few weeks ago, when he was +visiting down here. Seemed to be no end of a good fellow." + +Harry was surprised for he had heard nothing of this before. But then that +was not strange. He and Graves were not on terms of intimacy, by any means. +He decided quickly not to say anything against Graves. It could do no good +and it might do harm. + +"Right," he said. "I know him--yes. I'll be going, then. You'll give my +message to Mercer or Young if there's any way of getting the line clear?" + +"Yes, if I sit up until my next turn of duty," said Burridge, with a smile. +"Good luck, Fleming." + +Then Harry was off again. Dawn was very near now. The east, behind him, was +already lighted up with streaks of glowing crimson. Dark clouds were massed +there, and there was a feeling in the air that carried a foreboding of +rain, strengthening the threat of the red sky. Harry was not sorry for +that. There would be work at Bray Park that might well fare better were it +done under leaden skies. + +As he rode he puzzled long and hard over what he had learned. It seemed to +him that these German spies were taking desperate chances for what promised +to be, at best, a small reward. What information concerning the British +plans could they get that would be worth all they were risking? The +wireless at Bray Park; the central station near Willesden, whence the +reports were heliographed--it was an amazingly complete chain. And Harry +knew enough of modern warfare to feel that the information could be +important only to an enemy within striking distance. + +That was the point. It might be interesting to the German staff to know the +locations of British troops in England, and, more especially, their +destinations if they were going abroad as part of an expeditionary force to +France or Belgium. But the information would not be vital; it didn't seem +to Harry that it was worth all the risk implied. But if, on the other hand, +there was some plan for a German invasion of England, then he would have no +difficulty in understanding it. Then knowledge of where to strike, of what +points were guarded and what were not, would be invaluable. + +"But what a juggins I am!" he said. "They can't invade England, even if +they could spare the troops. Not while the British fleet controls the sea. +They'd have to fly over." + +And in that half laughing expression he got the clue he was looking for. +Fly over! Why not? Flight was no longer a theory, a possibility of the +future. It was something definite, that had arrived. Even as he thought of +the possibility he looked up and saw, not more than a mile away, two +monoplanes of a well-known English army type flying low. + +"I never thought of that!" he said to himself. + +And now that the idea had come to him, he began to work out all sorts of +possibilities. He thought of a hundred different things that might happen. +He could see, all at once, the usefulness Bray Park might have. Why, the +place was like a volcano! It might erupt at any minute, spreading ruin and +destruction in all directions. It was a hostile fortress, set down in the +midst of a country that, even though it was at war, could not believe that +war might come home to it. + +He visualized, as the truck kept on its plodding way, the manner in which +warfare might be directed from a center like Bray Park. Thence aeroplanes, +skillfully fashioned to represent the British 'planes, and so escape quick +detection, might set forth. They could carry a man or two, elude guards who +thought the air lanes safe, and drop bombs here, there--everywhere and +anywhere. Perhaps some such aerial raid was responsible for the explosion +that had freed him only a very few hours before. + +Warfare in England, carried on thus by a few men, would be none the less +deadly because it would not involve fighting. There would be no pitched +battles, that much he knew. Instead, there would be swift, stabbing raids. +Water works, gas works, would be blown up. Attempts would be made to drop +bombs in barracks, perhaps. Certainly every effort would be made to destroy +the great warehouses in which food was stored. It was new, this sort of +warfare; it defied the imagination. And yet it was the warfare that, once +he thought of it, it seemed certain that the Germans would wage. + +He gritted his teeth at the thought of it. Perhaps all was fair in love and +war, as the old proverb said. But this seemed like sneaky, unfair fighting +to him. There was nothing about it of the glory of warfare. He was learning +for himself that modern warfare is an ugly thing. He was to learn, later, +that it still held its possibilities of glory, and of heroism. Indeed, for +that matter, he was willing to grant the heroism of the men who dared +these things that seemed to him so horrible. They took their lives in +their hands, knowing that if they were caught they would be hung as spies. + +The truck was well into London now, and the dawn was full. A faint drizzle +was beginning to fall and the streets were covered with a fine film of mud. +People were about, and London was arousing itself to meet the new day. +Harry knew that he was near his journey's end. Tired as he was, he was +determined to make his report before he thought of sleep. And then, +suddenly, around a bend, came a sight that brought Harry to his feet, +scarcely able to believe his eyes. It was Graves, on a bicycle. At the +sight of Harry on the truck he stopped. Then he turned. + +"Here he is!" he cried. "That's the one!" + +A squad of men on cycles, headed by a young officer, came after Graves. + +"Stop!" called the officer to the driver. + +Harry stared down, wondering. + +"You there--you Boy Scout--come down!" said the officer. + +Harry obeyed, wondering still more. He saw the gleam of malignant triumph +on the face of Graves. But not even the presence of the officer restrained +him. + +"Where are those papers you stole from me, you sneak?" he cried. + +"You keep away from me!" said Graves. "You--Yankee!" + +"Here, no quarreling!" said the officer. "Take him, men!" + +Two of the soldiers closed in on Harry. He stared at them and then at the +officer, stupefied. + +"What--what's this?" he stammered. + +"You're under arrest, my lad, on a charge of espionage!" said the officer. +"Espionage, and conspiracy to give aid and comfort to the public enemy. +Anything you say may be used against you." + +For a moment such a rush of words came to Harry that he was silent by the +sheer inability to decide which to utter first. But then he got control of +himself. + +"Who makes this charge against me!" he asked, thickly, his face flushing +scarlet in anger. + +"You will find that out in due time, my lad. Forward--march!" + +"But I've got important information! I must be allowed to see Colonel +Throckmorton at once! Oh, you've no idea of how important it may be!" + +"My orders are to place you under arrest. You can make application to see +anyone later. But now I have no discretion. Come! If you really want to see +Colonel Throckmorton, you had better move on." + +Harry knew as well as anyone the uselessness of appealing from such an +order, but he was frantic. Realizing the importance of the news he carried, +and beginning to glimpse vaguely the meaning of Graves and his activity, he +was almost beside himself. + +"Make Graves there give back the papers he took from me!" he cried. + +"I did take some papers, lieutenant," said Graves, with engaging frankness. +"But they were required to prove what I had suspected almost from the +first--that he was a spy. He was leading an English scout from his own +patrol into trouble, too. I suppose he thought he was more likely to escape +suspicion if he was with an Englishman." + +"It's not my affair," said the lieutenant, shrugging his shoulders. He +turned to Harry. "Come, my lad. I hope you can clear yourself. But I've +only one thing to do--and that is to obey my orders." + +Harry gave up, then, for the moment. He turned and began walking along, a +soldier on each side. But as he did so Graves turned to the lieutenant. + +"I'll go and get my breakfast, then, sir," he said. "I'll come on to Ealing +later. Though, of course, they know all I can tell them already." + +"All right," said the officer, indifferently. + +"You're never going to let him go!" exclaimed Harry, aghast. "Don't you +know he'll never come back?" + +"All the better for you, if he doesn't," said the officer. "That's enough +of your lip, my lad. Keep a quiet tongue in your head. Remember you're a +prisoner, and don't try giving orders to me." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE TRAP + + +The bullet that sang over their heads effectually broke up the threatened +trouble between Dick Mercer and Jack Young on one side, and the telephone +linemen on the other. With one accord they obeyed that guttural order, +"Hands oop!" + +They had been so interested in one another and in the cut wire that none of +them had noticed the practically noiseless approach of a great grey motor +car, with all lights out, that had stolen up on them. But now, with a +groan, Dick and Jack both knew it for one of the Bray Park cars. So, after +all, Dick's flight had been in vain. He had escaped the guards of Bray Park +once, only to walk straight into this new trap. And, worst of all, there +would be no Jack Young outside to help this time, for Jack was a captive, +too. Only--he was not! + +At the thought Dick had turned, to discover that Jack was not beside him. +It was very dark, but in a moment he caught the tiniest movement over by +the hedge, and saw a spot a little darker than the rest of the ground about +it. Jack, he saw at once, had taken the one faint chance there was, dropped +down, and crawled away, trusting that their captors had not counted their +party, and might not miss one boy. + +Just in time he slipped through a hole in the hedge. The next moment one of +the headlights of the grey motor flashed out, almost blinding the three of +them, as they held up their hands. In its light four men, well armed with +revolvers, were revealed. + +"Donnerwetter!" said one. "I made sure there were four of them! So! Vell, +it is enough. Into the car with them!" + +No pretence about this chap! He was German, and didn't care who knew it. He +was unlike the man who had disguised himself as an English officer, at the +house of the heliograph, but had betrayed himself and set this whole train +of adventure going by his single slip and fall from idiomatic English that +Harry Fleming's sharp ears had caught. + +Dick was thrilled, somehow, even while he was being roughly bundled toward +the motor. If these fellows were as bold as this, cutting telephone wires, +running about without lights, giving up all secrecy and pretence, it must +mean that the occasion for which they had come was nearly over. It must +mean that their task, whatever it might be, was nearly accomplished--the +blow they had come to strike was about ready to be driven home. + +"'Ere, who are you a shovin' off?" complained one of the linemen, as he was +pushed toward the motor. He made some effort to resist but the next moment +he pitched forward. One of the Germans had struck him on the head with the +butt of his revolver. It was a stunning blow, and the man was certainly +silenced. Dick recoiled angrily from the sight, but he kept quiet. He knew +he could do no good by interfering. But the sheer, unnecessary brutality of +it shocked and angered him. He felt that Englishmen, or Americans, would +not treat a prisoner so--especially one who had not been fighting. These +men were not even soldiers; they were spies, which made the act the more +outrageous. + +They were serving their country, however, for all that, and that softened +Dick's feeling toward them a little. True, they were performing their +service in a sneaky, underhanded way that went against his grain. But it +was service, and he knew that England, too, probably used spies, forced to +do so for self-defence. He realized the value of the spy's work, and the +courage that work required. If these men were captured they would not share +the fate of those surrendering in battle but would be shot, or hung, +without ceremony. + +A minute later he was forced into the tonneau of the car, where he lay +curled up on the floor. Two of the Germans sat in the cushioned seat while +the two linemen, the one who had been hit still unconscious, were pitched +in beside him. The other two Germans were in front, and the car began to +move at a snail's pace. The man beside the driver began speaking in German; +his companion replied. But one of the two behind interrupted, sharply. + +"Speak English, dummer kerl!" he exclaimed, angrily. "These English people +have not much sense, but if a passerby should hear us speaking German, he +would be suspicious. Our words he cannot hear and if they are in English he +will think all is well." + +"This is one of those we heard of this afternoon," said the driver. "This +Boy Scout. The other is riding to London--but he will not go so far." + +He laughed at that, and Dick, knowing he was speaking of Harry, shuddered. + +"Ja, that is all arranged," said the leader, with a chuckle. "Not for +long--that could not be. But we need only a few hours more. By this time +to-morrow morning all will be done. He comes, Von Wedel?" + +"We got the word to-night--yes," said the other man. "All is arranged for +him. Ealing--Houndsditch, first. There are the soldiers. Then Buckingham +Palace. Ah, what a lesson we shall teach these English! Then the buildings +at Whitehall. We shall strike at the heart of their empire--the heart and +the brains!" + +Dick listened, appalled. Did they think, then, that he, a boy, could not +understand? Or were they so sure of success that it did not matter? As a +matter of fact, he did not fully understand. Who was Von Wedel? What was he +going to do when he came? And how was he coming? + +However, it was not the time for speculation. There was the chance that any +moment they might say something he would understand, and, moreover, if he +got away, it was possible that he might repeat what he heard to those who +would be able to make more use of it. + +Just then the leader's foot touched Dick, and he drew away. The German +looked down at him, and laughed. + +"Frightened?" he said. "We won't hurt you! What a country! It sends its +children out against us!" + +His manner was kindly enough, and Dick felt himself warming a little to the +big man in spite of himself. + +"Listen, boy," said the leader. "You have seen things that were not for +your eyes. So you are to be put where knowledge of them will do no +harm--for a few hours. Then you can go. But until we have finished our +work, you must be kept. You shall not be hurt--I say it." + +Dick did not answer. He was thinking hard. He wondered if Jack would try to +rescue him. They were getting very near Bray Park, he felt, and he thought +that, once inside, neither Jack nor anyone else could get him out until +these men who had captured him were willing. Then the car stopped suddenly. +Dick saw that they were outside a little house. + +"Get out," said the leader. + +Dick and the telephone man who had not been hurt obeyed; the other lineman +was lifted out, more considerately this time. + +"Inside!" said the German with the thick, guttural voice. He pointed to the +open door, and they went inside. One of the Germans followed them, and +stood in the open door. + +"Werner, you are responsible for the prisoners, especially the boy," said +the leader. "See that none of them escape. You will be relieved at the +proper time. You understand?" + +"Ja, Herr Ritter!" said the man. "Zu befehl!" + +He saluted, and for the first time Dick had the feeling that this strange +procedure was, in some sense, military, even though there were no uniforms. +Then the door shut, and they were left in the house. + +It was just outside of Bray Park--he remembered it now. A tiny box of a +place it was, too, but solidly built of stone. It might have been used as a +tool house. There was one window; that and the door were the only means of +egress. The German looked hard at the window and laughed. Dick saw then +that it was barred. To get out that way, even if he had the chance, would +be impossible. And the guard evidently decided that. He lay down across the +door. + +"So!" he said. "I shall sleep--but with one ear open! You cannot get out +except across me. And I am a light sleeper!" + +Dick sat there, pondering wretchedly. The man who had been struck on the +head was breathing stertorously. His companion soon dropped off to sleep, +like the German, so that Dick was the only one awake. Through the window, +presently, came the herald of the dawn, the slowly advancing light. And +suddenly Dick saw a shadow against the light, looked up intently, and saw +that it was Jack Young. Jack pointed. Dick, not quite understanding, moved +to the spot at which he pointed. + +"Stay there!" said Jack, soundlessly. His lips formed the words but he did +not utter them. He nodded up and down vehemently, however, and Dick +understood him, and that he was to stay where he was. He nodded in return, +and settled down in his new position. And then Jack dropped out of sight. + +For a long time, while the dawn waxed and the light through the window grew +stronger, Dick sat there wondering. Only the breathing of the three men +disturbed the quiet of the little hut. But then, from behind him, he grew +conscious of a faint noise. Not quite a noise, either; it was more a +vibration. He felt the earthen floor of the hut trembling beneath him. And +then at last he understood. + +He had nearly an hour still to wait. But at last the earth cracked and +yawned where he had been sitting. He heard a faint whisper. + +"Dig it out a little--there's a big hole underneath. You can squirm your +way through. I'm going to back out now." + +Dick obeyed, and a moment later he was working his way down, head first, +through the tunnel Jack had dug from the outside. He was small and slight +and he got through, somehow, though he was short of breath and dirtier than +he had ever been in his life when at last he was able to straighten +up--free. + +"Come on!" cried Jack. "We've no time to lose. I've got a couple of +bicycles here. We'd better run for it." + +Run for it they did, but there was no alarm. Behind them was the hut, quiet +and peaceful. And beyond the hut was the menace of Bray Park and the +mysteries of which the Germans had spoken in the great grey motor car. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A DARING RUSE + + +Harry, furious as he was when he saw Graves allowed to go off after the +false accusation that had caused his arrest, was still able to control +himself sufficiently to think. He was beginning to see the whole plot now, +or to think he saw it. He remembered things that had seemed trivial at the +time of their occurrence, but that loomed up importantly now. And one of +the first things he realized was that he was probably in no great danger, +that the charge against him had not been made with the serious idea of +securing his conviction, but simply to cause his detention for a little +while, and to discredit any information he might have. + +He could no longer doubt that Graves was in league with the spies on whose +trail he and Dick had fallen. And he understood that, if he kept quiet, all +would soon be all right for him. But if he did that, the plans of the +Germans would succeed. He had seen already an example of what they could +do, in the destruction of the water works. And it seemed to him that it +would be a poor thing to fail in what he had undertaken simply to save +himself. As soon as he reached that conclusion he knew what he must do, or, +at all events, what he must try to do. + +For the officer who had arrested him he felt a good deal of contempt. While +it was true that orders had to be obeyed, there was no reason, Harry felt, +why the lieutenant should not have shown some discretion. An officer of the +regular army would have done so, he felt. But this man looked unintelligent +and stupid. Harry felt that he might safely rely on his appearance. And he +was right. The officer found himself in a quandary at once. His men were +mounted on cycles; Harry was on foot. And Harry saw that he didn't quite +know what to do. + +Finally he cut the Gordian knot, as it seemed to him, by impounding a +bicycle from a passing wheel-man, who protested vigorously but in vain. All +he got for his cycle was a scrap of paper, stating that it had been +requisitioned for army use. And Harry was instructed to mount this machine +and ride along between two of the territorial soldiers. He had been hoping +for something like that, but had hardly dared to expect it. He had fully +made up his mind now to take all the risks he would run by trying to +escape. He could not get clear away, that much he knew. But now he, too, +like Graves, needed a little time. He did not mind being recaptured in a +short time if, in the meanwhile, he could be free to do what he wanted. + +As to just how he would try to get away, he did not try to plan. He felt +that somewhere along the route some chance would present itself, and that +it would be better to trust to that than to make some plan. He was ordered +to the front of the squad--so that a better eye could be kept upon him, as +the lieutenant put it. Harry had irritated him by his attempts to cause a +change in the disposition of Graves and himself, and the officer gave the +impression now that he regarded Harry as a desperate criminal, already +tried and convicted. + +Harry counted upon the traffic, sure to increase as it grew later, to give +him his chance. Something accidental, he knew, there must be, or he would +not be able to get away. And it was not long before his chance came. As +they crossed a wide street there was a sudden outburst of shouting. A +runaway horse, dragging a delivery cart, came rushing down on the squad, +and in a moment it was broken up and confused. Harry seized the chance. His +bicycle, by a lucky chance, was a high geared machine and before anyone +knew he had gone he had turned a corner. In a moment he threw himself off +the machine, dragged it into a shop, ran out, and in a moment dashed into +another shop, crowded with customers. And there for a moment, he stayed. +There was a hue and cry outside. He saw uniformed men, on bicycles, dashing +by. He even rushed to the door with the crowd in the shop to see what was +amiss! And, when the chase had passed, he walked out, very calmly, though +his heart was in his mouth, and quite unmolested got aboard a passing tram +car. + +He was counting on the stupidity and lack of imagination of the +lieutenant, and his course was hardly as bold as it seems. As a matter of +fact it was his one chance to escape. He knew what the officer would +think--that, being in flight, he would try to get away as quickly as +possible from the scene of his escape. And so, by staying there, he was in +the one place where no one would think of looking for him! + +On the tram car he was fairly safe. It happened, fortunately, that he had +plenty of money with him. And his first move, when he felt it was safe, was +to get off the tram and look for a cab. He found a taxicab in a short time, +one of those that had escaped requisition by the government, and in this he +drove to an outfitting shop, where he bought new clothes. He reasoned that +he would be looked for all over, and that if, instead of appearing as a Boy +Scout in character dress of the organization, he was in the ordinary +clothes, he would have a better chance. He managed the change easily, and +then felt that it was safe for him to try to get into communication with +Dick. + +In this attempt luck was with him again. He called for the number of the +vicarage at Bray, only to find that the call was interrupted again at the +nearest telephone center. But this time he was asked to wait, and in a +moment he heard Jack Young's voice in his ear. + +"We came over to explain about the wire's being cut," said Jack. "Dick's +all right. He's here with me. Where are you? We've got to see you just as +soon as we can." + +"In London, but I'm coming down. I'm going to try to get a motor car, too. +I'm in a lot of trouble, Jack--it's Graves." + +"Come on down. We'll walk out along the road toward London and meet you. +We've got a lot to tell you, but I'm afraid to talk about it over the +telephone." + +"All right! I'll keep my eyes open for you." + +Getting a motor car was not easy. A great many had been taken by the +government. But Harry remembered that one was owned by a business friend of +his father's, an American, and this, with some difficulty, he managed to +borrow. He was known as a careful driver. He had learned to drive his +father's car at home, and Mr. Armstrong knew it. And so, when Harry +explained that it was a matter of the greatest urgency, he got it--since he +had established a reputation for honor that made Mr. Armstrong understand +that when Harry said a thing was urgent, urgent it must be. + +Getting out of London was easy. If a search was being made for him--and he +had no doubt that that was true--he found no evidence of it. His change of +clothes was probably what saved him, for it altered his appearance greatly. +So he came near to Bray, and finally met his two friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CIPHER + + +"What happened to you?" asked Jack and Dick in chorus. + +Swiftly Harry explained. He told of his arrest as a spy and of his escape. +And when he mentioned the part that Ernest Graves had played in the affair, +Jack and Dick looked at one another. + +"We were afraid of something like that," said Jack. "Harry, we've found out +a lot of things, and we don't know what they mean! We're sure something +dreadful is going to happen to-night. And we're sure, too, that Bray Park +is going to be the centre of the trouble." + +"Tell me what you know," said Harry, crisply. "Then we'll put two and two +together. I say, Jack, we don't want to be seen, you know. Isn't there some +side road that doesn't lead anywhere, where I can run in with the car while +we talk?" + +"Yes. There's a place about a quarter of a mile further on that will do +splendidly," he replied. + +"All right. Lead the way! Tell me when we come to it. I've just thought of +something else I ought never to have forgotten. At least, I thought of it +when I took the things out of my pockets while I was changing my clothes." + +They soon came to the turning Jack had thought of, and a run of a few +hundred yards took them entirely out of sight of the main road, and to a +place where they were able to feel fairly sure of not being molested. + +Then they exchanged stories. Harry told his first. Then he heard of Dick's +escape, and of his meeting with Jack. He nodded at the story they had heard +from Gaffer Hodge. + +"That accounts for how Graves knew," he said, with much satisfaction. "What +happened then?" + +When he heard of how they had thought too late of calling Colonel +Throckmorton by telephone he sighed. + +"If you'd only got that message through before Graves got in his work!" he +said. "He'd have had to believe you then, of course. How unlucky!" + +"I know," said Jack. "We were frightfully sorry. And then we went out to +find where the wire was cut, and they got Dick. But I got away, and I +managed to stay fairly close to them. I followed them when they left Dick +in a little stone house, as a prisoner, and I heard this--I heard them +talking about getting a big supply of petrol. Now what on earth do they +want petrol for? They said there would still be plenty left for the +automobiles--and then that they wouldn't need the cars any more, anyhow! +What on earth do you make of that, Harry?" + +"Tell me the rest, then I'll tell you what I think," said Harry. "How did +you get Dick out? And did you hear them saying anything that sounded as if +it might be useful, Dick?" + +"That was fine work!" he said, when he had heard a description of Dick's +rescue. "Jack, you seem to be around every time one of us gets into trouble +and needs help!" + +Then Dick told of the things he had overheard--the mysterious references to +Von Wedel and to things that were to be done to the barracks at Ealing and +Houndsditch. Harry got out a pencil and paper then, and made a careful note +of every name that Dick mentioned. Then he took a paper from his pocket. + +"Remember this, Dick?" he asked. "It's the thing I spoke of that I forgot +until I came across it in my pocket this morning." + +"What is it, Harry?" + +"Don't you remember that we watched them heliographing some messages, and +put down the Morse signs? Here they are. Now the thing to do is to see if +we can't work out the meaning of the code. If it's a code that uses words +for phrases we're probably stuck, but I think it's more likely to depend on +inversions." + +"What do you mean, Harry?" asked Jack. "I'm sorry I don't know anything +about codes and ciphers." + +"Why, there are two main sorts of codes, Jack, and, of course, thousands of +variations of each of those principal kinds. In one kind the idea is to +save words--in telegraphing or cabling. So the things that are likely to be +said are represented by one word. For instance _Coal_, in a mining code, +might mean 'Struck vein at two hundred feet level.' In the other sort of +code, the letters are changed. That is done in all sorts of ways, and there +are various tricks. The way to get at nearly all of them is to find out +which letter or number or symbol is used most often, and to remember that +in an ordinary letter E will appear almost twice as often as any other +letter--in English, that is." + +"But won't this be in German?" + +"Yes. That's just why I wanted those names Dick heard. They are likely to +appear in any message that was sent. So, if we can find words that +correspond in length to those, we may be able to work it out. Here goes, +anyhow!" + +For a long time Harry puzzled over the message. He transcribed the Morse +symbols first into English letters and found they made a hopeless and +confused jumble, as he had expected. The key of the letter E was useless, +as he had also expected. But finally, by making himself think in German, +he began to see a light ahead. And after an hour's hard work he gave a cry +of exultation. + +"I believe I've got it!" he cried. "Listen and see if this doesn't sound +reasonable!" + +"Go ahead!" said Jack and Dick, eagerly. + +"Here it is," said Harry. "'Petrol just arranged. Supply on way. Reach Bray +Friday. Von Wedel may come. Red light markers arranged. Ealing Houndsditch +Buckingham Admiralty War Office. Closing.'" + +They stared at him, mystified. + +"I suppose it does make sense," said Dick. "But what on earth does it mean, +Harry?" + +"Oh, can't you see?" cried Harry. "Von Wedel is a commander of some +sort--that's plain, isn't it? And he's to carry out a raid, destroying or +attacking the places that are mentioned! How can he do that? He can't be a +naval commander. He can't be going to lead troops, because we know they +can't land. Then how can he get here? And why should he need petrol?" + +They stared at him blankly. Then, suddenly, Dick understood. + +"He'll come through the air!" he cried. + +"Yes, in one of their big Zeppelins!" said Harry. "I suppose she has been +cruising off the coast. She's served as a wireless relay station, too. The +plant here at Bray Park could reach her, and she could relay the messages +on across the North Sea, to Helgoland or Wilhelmshaven. She's waited until +everything was ready." + +"That's what they mean by the red light markers, then?" + +"Yes. They could be on the roofs of houses, and masked, so that they +wouldn't be seen except from overhead. They'd be in certain fixed +positions, and the men on the Zeppelins would be able to calculate their +aim, and drop their bombs so many degrees to the left or the right of the +red marking lights." + +"But we've got aeroplanes flying about, haven't we?" said Jack. "Wouldn't +they see those lights and wonder about them?" + +"Yes, if they were showing all the time. But you can depend on it that +these Germans have provided for all that. They will have arranged for the +Zeppelin to be above the positions, as near as they can guess them, at +certain times--and the lights will only be shown at those times, and then +only for a few seconds. Even if someone else sees them, you see, there +won't be time to do anything." + +"You must be right, Harry!" said Jack, nervously. "There's no other way to +explain that message. How are we going to stop them?" + +"I don't know yet, but we'll have to work out some way of doing it. It +would be terrible for us to know what had been planned and still not be +able to stop them! I wish I knew where Graves was. I'd like--" + +He stopped, thinking hard. + +"What good would that do?" + +"Oh, I don't want him--not just now. But I don't want him to see me just at +present. I want to know where he is so that I can avoid him." + +"Suppose I scout into Bray?" suggested Jack. "I can find out something that +might be useful, perhaps. If any of them from Bray Park have come into the +village to-day I'll hear about it." + +"That's a good idea. Suppose you do that, Jack. I don't know just what I'll +do yet. But if I go away from here before you come back, Dick will stay. +I've got to think--there must be some way to beat them!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A CAPTURE FROM THE SKIES + + +Jack went off to see what he could discover, and Harry, left behind with +Dick, racked his brain for some means of blocking the plan he was so sure +the Germans had made. He was furious at Graves, who had discredited him +with Colonel Throckmorton, as he believed. He minded the personal +unpleasantness involved far less than the thought that his usefulness was +blocked, for he felt that no information he might bring would be received +now. + +As he looked around it seemed incredible that such things as he was trying +to prevent could even be imagined. After the early rain, the day had +cleared up warm and lovely, and it was now that most perfect of things, a +beautiful summer day in England. The little road they had taken was a sort +of blind alley. It had brought them to a meadow, whence the hay had already +been cut. At the far side of this ran a little brook, and all about them +were trees. Except for the calls of birds, and the ceaseless hum of +insects, there was no sound to break the stillness. It was a scene of +peaceful beauty that could not be surpassed anywhere in the world. And yet, +only a few miles away, at the most, were men who were planning deliberately +to bring death and destruction upon helpless enemies--to rain down death +from the skies. + +By very contrast to the idyllic peace of all about them, the terrors of war +seemed more dreadful. That men who went to war should be killed and +wounded, bad though it was, still seemed legitimate. But this driving home +of an attack upon a city all unprepared, upon the many non-combatants who +would be bound to suffer, was another and more dreadful thing. Harry could +understand that it was war, that it was permissible to do what these +Germans planned. And yet-- + +His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden change in the quality of the +noisy silence that the insects made. Just before he noticed it, half a +dozen bees had been humming near him. Now he heard something that sounded +like the humming of a far vaster bee. Suddenly it stopped, and, as it did, +he looked up, his eyes as well as Dick's being drawn upward at the same +moment. And they saw, high above them, an aeroplane with dun colored wings. +Its engine had stopped and it was descending now in a beautiful series of +volplaning curves. + +"Out of essence--he's got to come down," said Harry, appraisingly, to Dick. +"He'll manage it all right, too. He knows his business through and through, +that chap." + +"I wonder where he'll land," speculated Dick. + +"He's got to pick an open space, of course," said Harry. "And there aren't +so many of them around here. By Jove!" + +"Look! He's certainly coming down fast!" exclaimed Dick. + +"Yes--and, I say, I think he's heading for this meadow! Come on--start that +motor, Dick!" + +"Why? Don't you want him to see us?" + +"I don't mind him seeing us--I don't want him to see the car," explained +Harry. "We'll run it around that bend, out of sight from the meadow." + +"Why shouldn't he see it?" + +"Because if he's out of petrol he'll want to take all we've got and we may +not want him to have it. We don't know who he is, yet." + +The car was moving as Harry explained. As soon as the meadow was out of +sight Harry stopped the engine and got out of the car. + +"He may have seen it as he was coming down--the car, I mean," he said. "But +I doubt it. He's got other things to watch. That meadow for one--and all +his levers and his wheel. Guiding an aeroplane in a coast like that down +the air is no easy job." + +"Have you ever been up, Harry?" + +"Yes, often. I've never driven one myself, but I believe I could if I had +to. I've watched other people handle them so often that I know just about +everything that has to be done." + +"That's an English monoplane. I've seen them ever so often," said Dick. +"It's an army machine, I mean. See its number? It's just coming in sight +of us now. Wouldn't I like to fly her though?" + +"I'd like to know what it's doing around here," said Harry. "And it seems +funny to me if an English army aviator has started out without enough +petrol in his tank to see him through any flight he might be making. And +wouldn't he have headed for one of his supply stations as soon as he found +he was running short, instead of coming down in country like this?" + +Dick stared at him. + +"Do you think it's another spy?" he asked. + +"I don't think anything about it yet, Dick. But I'm not going to be caught +napping. That's a Bleriot--and the British army flying corps uses Bleriots. +But anyone with the money can buy one and make it look like an English army +'plane. Remember that." + +There was no mistake about that monoplane when it was once down. Its pilot +was German; he was unmistakably so. He had been flying very high and when +he landed he was still stiff from cold. + +"Petrol!" he cried eagerly, as he saw the two boys. "Where can I get +petrol? Quick! Answer me!" + +Harry shot a quick glance at Dick. + +"Come on," he said, beneath his breath. "We've got to get him and tie him +up." + +The aviator, cramped and stiffened as he was by the intense cold that +prevails in the high levels where he had been flying, was no match for +them. As they sprang at him his face took on the most ludicrous appearance +of utter surprise. Had he suspected that they would attack him he might +have drawn a pistol. As it was, he was helpless before the two boys, both +in the pink of condition and determined to capture him. He made a struggle, +but in two minutes he was lying roped, tied, and utterly helpless. He was +not silent; he breathed the most fearful threats as to what would happen to +them. But neither boy paid any attention to him. + +"We've got to get him to the car," said Harry. "Can we drag him?" + +"Yes. But if we loosened his feet a little, he could walk," suggested Dick. +"That would be ever so much easier for him, and for us, too. I should hate +to be dragged. Let's make him walk." + +"Right--and a good idea!" said Harry. He loosened the ropes about the +aviator's feet, and helped him to stand. + +"March!" he said. "Don't try to get away--I've got a leading rope, you +see." + +He did have a loose end of rope, left over from a knot, and with this he +proceeded to lead the enraged German to the automobile. It looked for all +the world as if he were leading a dog, and for a moment Dick doubled up in +helpless laughter. The whole episode had its comic side, but it was +serious, too. + +"Now we've got to draw off the gasoline in the tank in this bucket," said +Harry. The German had been bestowed in the tonneau, and made as comfortable +as possible with rugs and cushions. His feet were securely tied again, and +there was no chance for him to escape. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Dick. "Are you going to try to fly in +that machine?" + +"I don't know, yet. But I'm going to have it ready, so that I can if I +need to," said Harry. "That Bleriot may be the saving of us yet, Dick. +There's no telling what we shall have to do." + +Even as he spoke Harry was making new plans, rendered possible by this gift +from the skies. He was beginning, at last, to see a way to circumvent the +Germans. What he had in mind was risky, certainly, and might prove perilous +in the extreme. But he did not let that aspect of the situation worry him. +His one concern was to foil the terrible plan that the Germans had made, +and he was willing to run any risk that would help him to do so. + +"That Zeppelin is coming here to Bray Park--it's going to land here," said +Harry. "And if it ever gets away from here there will be no way of stopping +it from doing all the damage they have planned, or most of it. Thanks to +Graves, we wouldn't be believed if we told what we knew--we'd probably just +be put in the guard house. So we've got to try to stop it ourselves." + +They had reached the Bleriot by that time. Harry filled the tank, and +looked at the motor. Then he sat in the driver's seat and practiced with +the levers, until he decided that he understood them thoroughly. And, as he +did this, he made his decision. + +"I'm going into Bray Park to-night," he said. "This is the only way to get +in." + +"And I'm going with you," announced Dick. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +VINDICATION + + +At first Harry refused absolutely to consent to Dick's accompanying him, +but after a long argument he was forced to yield. + +"Why should you take all the risks when it isn't your own country, +especially?" asked Dick, almost sobbing. "I've got a right to go! And, +besides, you may need me." + +That was true enough, as Harry realized. Moreover, he had been +investigating the Bleriot, and he discovered that it was one of a new +safety type, with a gyroscope device to insure stability. The day was +almost without wind, and therefore it seemed that if such an excursion +could ever be safe, this was the time. He consented in the end, and later +he was to be thankful that he had. + +Once the decision was taken, they waited impatiently for the return of Jack +Young. Harry foresaw protests from Jack when he found out what they meant +to do, but for him there was an easy answer--there was room in the +aeroplane for only two people, and there was no way of carrying an extra +passenger. + +It was nearly dusk when Jack returned, and he had the forethought to bring +a basket of food with him--cold chicken, bread and butter, and milk, as +well as some fruit. + +"I didn't find out very much," he said, "except this. Someone from London +has been asking about you both. And this much more--at least a dozen people +have come down to Bray Park to-day from London." + +"Did you see any sign of soldiers from London?" + +"No," said Jack. + +He was disappointed when he found out what they meant to do, but he took +his disappointment pluckily when he saw that there was no help for it. +Harry explained very quietly to both Jack and Dick what he meant to do and +they listened, open mouthed, with wonder. + +"You'll have your part to play, Jack," said Harry. "Somehow I can't +believe that the letter I wrote to Colonel Throckmorton last night won't +have some effect. You have got to scout around in case anyone comes and +tell them all I've told you. You understand thoroughly, do you?" + +"Yes," said Jack, quietly. "When are you going to start?" + +"There's no use going up much before eleven o'clock," said Harry. "Before +that we'd be seen, and, besides, if a Zeppelin is coming, it wouldn't be +until after that. My plan is to scout to the east and try to pick her up +and watch her descend. I think I know just about where she'll land--the +only place where there's room for her. And then--" + +He stopped, and the others nodded, grimly. + +"I imagine she'll have about a hundred and twenty miles to travel in a +straight line--perhaps a little less," said Harry. "She can make that in +about two hours, or less. And she'll travel without lights, and in the +dark. Big as they are, those airships are painted so that they're almost +invisible from below. So if she comes by night, getting here won't be as +hard a job as it seems at first thought." + +Then the three of them went over in every detail the plan Harry had formed. +Dick and Harry took their places in the monoplane and rehearsed every +movement they would have to make. + +"I can't think of anything else that we can provide for now," said Harry, +at last. "Of course, we can't tell what will come up, and it would be +wonderful if everything came out just as we had planned. But we've provided +for everything we can think of. You know where you are to be, Jack?" + +"Yes." + +"Then you'd better start pretty soon. Good-bye, Jack!" He held out his +hand. "We could never have worked this out without you. If we succeed +you'll have had a big part in what we've done." + +A little later Jack said good-bye in earnest, and then there was nothing to +do but wait. About them the voices of the insects and frogs changed, with +the darkening night. The stars came out, but the night was a dark one. +Harry looked at his watch from time to time and at last he got up. + +"Time to start!" he said. + +He felt a thrill of nervousness as the monoplane rose in the air. After +all, there was a difference between being the pilot and sitting still in +the car. But he managed very well, after a few anxious moments in the +ascent. And once they were clear of the trees and climbing swiftly, in +great spirals, there was a glorious sensation of freedom. Dick caught his +breath at first, then he got used to the queer motion, and cried aloud in +his delight. + +Harry headed straight into the east when he felt that he was high enough. +And suddenly he gave a cry. + +"Look!" he shouted in Dick's ear. "We didn't start a moment too soon. See +her--that great big cigar-shaped thing, dropping over there?" + +It was the Zeppelin--the battleship of the air. She was dipping down, +descending gracefully, over Bray Park. + +"I was right!" cried Harry. "Now we can go to work at once--we won't have +to land and wait!" + +He rose still higher, then flew straight for Bray Park. They were high, +but, far below, with lights moving about her, they could see the huge bulk +of the airship, as long as a moderate sized ocean liner. She presented a +perfect target. + +"Now!" said Harry. + +And at once Dick began dropping projectiles they had found in the +aeroplane--sharply pointed shells of steel. Harry had examined these--he +found they were really solid steel shot, cast like modern rifle bullets, +and calculated to penetrate, even without explosive action, when dropped +from a height. + +From the first two that Dick dropped there was no result. But with the +falling of the third a hissing sound came from below, and as Dick rapidly +dropped three more the noise increased. And they could see the lights +flying--plainly the men were running from the monster. Its bulk lessened as +the gas escaped from the great bag and then, in a moment more, there was a +terrific explosion that rocked the monoplane violently. Had Harry not been +ready for it, they might have been brought down. + +But he had been prepared, and was flying away. Down below there was now a +great glare from the burning wreckage, lighting up the whole scene. And +suddenly there was a sharp breaking out of rifle fire. At first he thought +the men below had seen them, and were firing upward. But in a moment he saw +the truth. Bray Park had been attacked from outside! + +Even before they reached the ground, in the meadow where Harry and Jack had +emerged from the tunnel, the firing was over. But now a search-light was +playing on the ground on the opposite bank, and Harry and Dick saw, to +their wonder and delight, that the ground swarmed with khaki-clad soldiers. +In the same moment Jack ran up to them. + +"The soldiers had the place surrounded!" he cried, exultingly. "They must +have believed your letter after all, Harry! Come on--there's a boat here! +Aren't you coming over?" + +They were rowing for the other shore before the words were well spoken. +And, once over, they were seized at once by two soldiers. + +"More of them," said one of the soldiers. "Where's the colonel?" + +Without trying to explain, they let themselves be taken to where Colonel +Throckmorton stood near the burning wreckage. At the sight of Harry his +face lighted up. + +"What do you know about this?" he asked, sternly, pointing to the wrecked +airship. + +Harry explained in a few words. + +"Very good," said the colonel. "You are under arrest--you broke arrest this +morning. I suppose you know that is a serious offence, whether your +original arrest was justified or not?" + +"I felt I had to do it, sir," said Harry. He had caught the glint of a +smile in the colonel's eyes. + +"Explain yourself, sir," said the colonel. "Report fully as to your +movements to-day. Perhaps I shall recommend you for a medal instead of +court martialling you, after all." + +And so the story came out, and Harry learned that the colonel had never +believed Graves, but had chosen to let him think he did. + +"The boy Graves is a German, and older than he seems," said the colonel. +"He was here as a spy. He is in custody now, and you have broken up a +dangerous raid and a still more dangerous system of espionage. If you +hadn't come along with your aeroplane, we would never have stopped the +raid. I had ordered aviators to be here, but it is plain that something has +gone wrong. You have done more than well. I shall see to it that your +services are properly recognized. And now be off with you, and get some +sleep. You may report to me the day after to-morrow!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACING THE GERMAN FOE*** + + +******* This file should be named 19957.txt or 19957.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/9/5/19957 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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