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!