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 scout-master 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 tonight." 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 Grenfels 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 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 tonight. 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 extra 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.