SCOUTING FOR UNCLE SAM.
"Rob! Rob! Rob!"
Merritt nudged his dozing companion as they lay near to the submarine
shed, where they had taken up their position earlier in the night.
Immediately after supper the lads had, apparently, slipped off to their
tents; but as soon as they were sure that they were free from
observation they had, in pursuance of their plans, taken up a position
close to the sheltering place of the _Peacemaker_.
Rob had dozed off shortly before midnight, and the words at the
beginning of this chapter formed Merritt's notification to him that it
was time to bestir himself.
The boy, aroused at once from his nap, sat up at his comrade's summons.
"What is it?" he asked in a whisper.
"Look! Look yonder! Don't you see Barton sneaking toward the shed?"
There was no moon, but in the starlight Rob, thus admonished, could
distinctly discern a shadowy figure gliding across the sand dunes to the
submarine shed.
"It _is_ Barton, sure enough!" he exclaimed in a low, tense voice. "I
guess we were right, Merritt, when we read that 'Ready to-night'
message."
"We sure were," was the response; "the question now is, what is that
fellow up to?"
"Some sort of mischief, just as we surmised," was the reply. "Let's do
an Indian crawl toward the shed and see what we can find out."
The next instant both boys were noiselessly wriggling their way on their
stomachs toward the shed into the interior of which Barton had, by this
time, vanished. It was easy work to make a noiseless advance over the
soft sand, but so thoroughly had both the Boy Scouts practiced the
maneuver of silent advance that even had the ground been different, it
is likely that they could have approached unheard.
Right up to the very walls of the shed they wriggled their way and then,
placing their eyes to a crack in the timbers, they peered in. By the
yellow light of a lantern Barton had lighted they saw him dive down into
the interior of the submarine and emerge, ere long, with several rolled
sheets of paper.
The fellow did not appear to labor under anxiety that he was being
watched, for he went boldly about his business, taking no apparent pains
to screen the light or to move noiselessly. Having emerged from the
submarine and reached once more the door of the shed, he extinguished
the light and glided out into the night like a half-embodied form.
Merritt half leaped to his feet as he saw the fellow making off, but Rob
drew his companion down into their place of concealment with a
whispered,
"Hold on. Don't spoil everything now by betraying our presence. Let him
get a little way and we'll follow him."
"But we may lose him in the darkness," objected Merritt.
"I scarcely think so," was the rejoinder; "in fact, I have a pretty good
idea where he is bound for."
"And where may that be?"
"The place in which he lay this afternoon to read those signals from the
distant island. Depend upon it, he is going to meet the men who
manipulated that flag!"
"By hooky! That's so, Rob. What a mind you have for figuring out things!
Of course, it's plain enough now that he is betraying Mr. Barr by giving
drawings and plans of the submarine to Mr. Barr's enemies, but I didn't
think he'd take so bold a method."
"There's nothing very bold about it," retorted Rob. "He is a trusted
man, and has been given every opportunity to be dishonest, if it so
suits him."
"I guess that's right; but it's our duty to thwart him."
"You just bet it is, and we'll do it, too, if it's possible. See, there
he goes over the top of that sand dune. I could see his figure
silhouetted against the sky. I reckon it's safe now to take after him."
"All right, you say when."
"I'll give the word right here. Silently, now; remember he is on the
outlook for some interference with his plans, and a false move may spoil
everything."
"Don't worry about me. A first class Scout should be able to carry
through a simple little thing like this."
"Don't be too sure it's simple," admonished Rob, as they silently rose
from their crouching postures and took after the vague shadow; "this
thing may turn out to be bigger than we thought."
"Have you laid any plans as to what you will do if we do apprehend him
in the act of transferring the plans to Mr. Barr's enemies?"
"Not yet. There's no use crossing a bridge till you come to it."
Through the night the boys pursued their quarry as silently as two
snakes. At times they lost sight of him, but always his figure would
loom up against the star-sprinkled sky as he topped a sand dune. At
length they saw him pause and light the lantern, which he had used in
the shed, and which he still carried.
This done, he swung the light twice across his body, after the fashion
of a brakeman signalling a train to come ahead.
Instantly, out of the darkness, flashed an answering beacon--a red
light. The boys clasped each other's arms. That they were on the brink
of an exciting adventure they did not doubt. But in each lad's heart was
a firm resolve that, come what might, they would do their duty by Uncle
Sam.
"Was that red light shown from the other island?" whispered Merritt.
"No, I am inclined to think it came from that launch we saw sneaking in
behind the island this afternoon just before the signalling commenced,"
was the response.
"In that case, she must be still far out?"
"Yes; but in any event they would have to send a boat ashore. That
launch is too large to land on the beach directly."
As if in answer to his opinion the watching boys presently saw a red
light creeping over the water toward the island. Undoubtedly it came
from a small boat, so low on the water was it.
Before long they could detect the splash of oars, although whoever was
rowing the boat was trying to make as little noise as possible.
As the light drew close in shore, Merritt seized Rob's arm.
"What's the next move?" he asked.
"It looks as if it were ours," was the quiet, but determined,
rejoinder.