Book: Facing the German Foe

C >> Colonel James Fiske >> Facing the German Foe




"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.

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.