STRANGE NOISES
Left to himself Randy tramped up and down slowly along the post
assigned to him. The distance was several hundred feet, and at either
end he met another guard. One of these was Codfish, and it must be
admitted that the sneak of Colby Hall was thoroughly scared.
"I don't like this at all," Codfish declared, when he and Randy met.
"There's a terrible wind sighing through those trees."
"Have you seen anybody?" questioned Randy.
"I thought I did, but I'm not sure whether it was some person or an
animal."
"When was that?"
"Nearly an hour ago."
"Maybe it was the same person Ned Lowe thought he saw," went on Randy.
"He called out, but nobody answered."
"If I see anybody again, I'll shoot off my gun and call the corporal,"
announced Codfish.
His whole manner showed that he was much disturbed. His post was
along the edge of the wood beyond where Randy was stationed, but the
latter saw that the sneak never walked very close to the trees and
brushwood.
The time dragged heavily, and Randy heaved a sigh when he looked at
his watch and found that it was only one o'clock.
The young cadet, as was the custom with many of the lads, had supplied
himself with a thin cake of sweet chocolate, and to help pass the time
he munched on bits of this. Then it commenced to rain, the scattering
drops making quite a noise on the trees and fallen leaves.
Fortunately Randy had brought his raincoat with him. It hung on a bush
about midway between the ends of his post, and, turning, he hurried to
get the garment. He was just in time to see a figure sliding away
between the bushes. This figure had confiscated the raincoat only a
few seconds before.
"Come back here!" yelled Randy, in justifiable anger. "Come back, I
say, or I'll fire at you!"
"Fire, and be hanged!" came in a somewhat familiar voice. Evidently
the speaker knew that Randy's rifle contained only blank cartridges.
Randy's blood was up, for he felt certain the raincoat had been taken
by one of his fellow cadets, probably Werner or Glutts. Leaping
forward, he cleared some low bushes at a bound, and then made after
the figure skulking along among the trees.
"Drop that raincoat or I'll crack you on the head with my gun!" he
roared, as he drew closer to the fleeing fellow.
"Keep back, or it will be the worse for you, Randy Rover!" cried the
other cadet, and now Randy recognized the voice of Gabe Werner quite
distinctly.
The fun-loving Rover did not reply to Werner. Instead he hurried on
faster than ever, coming so close presently that he was able to reach
the ex-lieutenant with his gun. He swung the weapon by the barrel, and
the stock caught Werner a severe blow on his right shoulder.
"Ouch!" yelled the big cadet, and his right arm dropped to his side
and the raincoat slipped to the ground.
"You're a fine rascal to steal my raincoat," remonstrated Randy,
raising his gun as if to give the ex-lieutenant another blow.
"Aw! can't you take a joke? You Rovers didn't think anything of
smashing my flashlight."
"You did that yourself, throwing it against your tent pole," answered
Randy.
"Huh! who told you that?"
"Never mind who told me--I know it's the truth. Now, after this, Gabe
Werner, you leave my things alone!"
"Bah! don't talk to me, Randy Rover. If it wasn't that you have nearly
broken my right shoulder, I'd give you the licking you deserve."
"And for two pins, Gabe Werner, I'd report you for being absent from
camp without leave," retorted Randy. "Now you get back to your tent
just as fast as you can."
"Rats! don't you talk to me," growled the ex-lieutenant. Nevertheless,
he turned and walked through the woods toward the encampment, and then
lost no time in hurrying to his tent.
Randy slipped on his raincoat, and then resumed his duty as a
sentinel. Back and forth he tramped, occasionally exchanging a word or
two with Codfish or with the guard at the other end of his post. Thus
two hours more dragged by. For half of that time it rained steadily,
and if his feet did not get wet, they at least got very damp. Then,
however, the shower passed on, and presently the morning stars shone
forth.
Randy was watching for the first streaks of the coming dawn and
congratulating himself that his lonely vigil would soon come to an
end, when an unusual sound broke upon his ears. From a distance came a
curious clank! clank! followed by another sound that seemed to be the
rattle of several chains.
"Hello! where does that come from?" he asked himself. "Somebody must
be getting to work pretty early in the morning."
The noises kept up for a minute or two, and then abruptly ceased. The
young cadet listened for quite a while, and then resumed his tramp.
But a little later the strange clanking and rattle of chains was
continued, and once more he halted, trying to locate the direction of
the sounds.
"Must come from somewhere in the woods," he reasoned, and he thought
this rather strange, for he was of the opinion that this portion of
the forest was entirely uninhabited.
Several times after that he heard the strange clanking, and every time
it was followed by a rattle as of chains. Then came a sharp tapping,
as of a hammer on steel, and with this a curious humming sound, as if
some big blowing machine was in action.
"Maybe it's an airship, or something like that," he said to himself.
"That humming sound may be the propellers going around. Maybe they had
an accident and had to come down for repairs."
It lacked ten minutes of the time for the new sentry to go on duty
when Randy, who had come to a halt to learn if the curious clanking
was still taking place in the woods, saw a movement behind some trees
at a distance.
"Must be either an animal or a man," he said to himself.
With strained eyes he watched the location, and presently saw two
slouch hats moving behind the top of some brushwood. Then for a brief
instant he caught sight of the forms of two men as they disappeared in
the distance.
"I wonder if those were the two men who were making all that noise?"
he mused.
At such a distance it had been impossible for him to note anything of
the features of the men. Both wore dark clothing and dark slouch hats,
but beyond that he made out nothing concerning them.
When the corporal of the guard came along to change the detail, Randy
said nothing about the attempt of Gabe Werner to deprive him of his
raincoat, but he did mention the sounds he had heard in the woods, and
also the appearance of the two men.
"Oh, I guess they were a couple of lumbermen," remarked the corporal,
in an offhand way. "They occasionally come here, I suppose, to get a
stick of timber." And not thinking it of any importance, he dismissed
the matter from his mind.
It was not until after the morning drill that Randy got a chance to
speak to his brother and his cousins, telling them of the encounter
with Werner.
"I supposed he would try to get square!" cried Jack. "I'm mighty glad
he didn't get away with it."
Then Randy told of hearing the strange clanking noises and also the
sounds of chains rattling and of some big blower in motion.
"That's certainly curious," remarked Jack. "From what Captain Dale
said, I thought these woods had no one in them. In fact, I supposed
they belonged to the government and were a part of the Camp Huxwell
reservation, and that all outsiders were to be kept out."
"I thought the blowing sound might be an aeroplane's propellers," went
on Randy. "I was thinking a machine might have been disabled and come
down, and the fellows on board might be trying to make repairs."
"They couldn't come down safely between those trees and on those
rocks," cried Andy. "They'd break their necks!"
"Well, I certainly heard something, and I saw two men."
"Say, did those two fellows look anything like the two Germans Jed
Kessler spoke about?" queried Randy's twin quickly.
"I don't know about that. I only got a glance at 'em, and they were a
long way off. All I know is that they were dressed in very dark
clothing and wore dark slouch hats."
"I think it might be a good thing to mention this to Captain Dale,"
said Jack thoughtfully. "The authorities are very anxious to get on
the track of those two men who were seen around the ammunition plant.
It won't do any harm to have this matter investigated." And then he
and his cousin sought out the old West Pointer for that purpose.
Captain Dale listened attentively, and nodded his head several times
while Randy was speaking.
"You are right, Captain Rover," he said to Jack. "And I'm glad that
you brought your cousin here to tell me this. I'll go over to town
this morning and report to the authorities. Of course there may be
nothing in it, but as you remarked, it is a clue that should not be
overlooked. Those two men with the wagon load of stuff certainly
disappeared somewhere in this vicinity, and I know the forest is
supposed to be a part of the government reservation, and no strangers
would be permitted to go into it and cut down any trees. More than
that, the strange sounds heard by your cousin Randy make it look as
if something unusual was being done there."
"Would there be any objection to our going into the woods and taking a
look around?" questioned Randy.
"Not the least, Rover. But I think you had better go slow, because if
those men we are looking for are really there, and they know the
authorities are after them--well, that may make them very desperate,
and you may get into serious trouble."
"Oh, I guess we could take care of ourselves," answered Randy quickly.
"Of course, Jack and I wouldn't go alone. We would take quite a bunch
with us. There is generally safety in numbers, you know," and he
grinned.
"All right, you may go if you want to. Only take good care of
yourselves."
So the matter was arranged, and in less than half an hour later the
four Rovers, accompanied by Spouter, Gif, and Walt Baxter, set off
into the forest.