“I was just wondering if I could be seeing double, Jack, and if there
are two stars as red as Mars close together,” was what Amos remarked,
after directing the attention of his chum to a certain spot in the
heavens.
Jack gave a low whistle the very moment he looked.
“I can tell you offhand to begin with,” he hastily exclaimed, “that
those are not what you seem to think they are, Amos.”
“Oh! is that so?” exclaimed the other. “What would you say they are?”
“Look closer, Amos, and you can see that they move.”
“That’s a fact, they do seem to swing like the pendulum of a clock. Now
they’re close together, and then they separate more. Jack, it must be
some sort of flying machine up there; perhaps a German Zeppelin.”
“I hardly think so,” returned Jack, slowly. “In the first place no
airship would be apt to remain stationary as those two red lights seem
to be doing.”
“Yes, I guess that’s right,” assented Amos.
“And then again, while the breeze is blowing softly from the direction
of the sea, it’s perfectly still just now. Only once in a while you can
hear the far-away growl of a big gun. So you see we’d surely catch the
rattle of the propeller if that were an aeroplane or an airship.”
“Then how would you explain it, Jack?”
“I don’t know for certain, but on a guess I’d say those red lights
might be a couple of small but powerful lanterns.”
“What! lanterns in the sky?” echoed Amos, quite staggered.
“Perhaps held up by some sort of big kite,” continued Jack, “because
you can see for yourself there’s a bully breeze for flying such a
thing.”
“But Jack, whoever bothered with sending up a kite after dark?” urged
Amos.
“I’ve done the thing myself for a lark, and with a lantern fastened
to it to show where it sailed. Amos, in these war times all sorts of
strange dodges are made use of so as to send important information.”
This time it was Amos who whistled.
“You’ve certainly got me stirred up in great shape, Jack,” he admitted.
“Who but these smart German spies would ever think of sending
information through the enemy’s lines by means of red lanterns attached
to a big kite?”
“A clever dodge, all right,” ventured the Western boy, as they
continued to stand there on the road and watch the colored lights in
the heavens above.
“I wonder what they signify?”
“Those who, far away, are looking through night glasses must know,”
Jack explained. “Two lights mean a certain fact, and three would carry
a different message.”
“It’s a bold man who would risk his life to do such a thing,”
commented Amos, “for if caught at it he must expect to meet the usual
fate of a spy--a file of men, his arms bound, his eyes bandaged, a
rattle of guns, and that would wind up his career.”
“Still, thousands are taking that chance every day, in France, England
and over in Russia,” said Jack. “The spy system of the German army
excels by far anything ever dreamed of by other nations.”
“Of course we’ll never really know the truth about this business, Jack?”
“I was just wondering whether it might be possible to find that out,
and if we ought to meddle with matters that are really no concern of
ours,” was what Jack surprised him by saying.
“Do you really think we could run the thing down, and find the party at
the other end of the kite string?” demanded Amos, at once interested.
“I should say there was a fair chance,” declared the ranch boy, who
figured things out from force of habit on every occasion. “In the first
place you know that a kite must always go up directly against the
wind. There can be no compromise about that.”
“Sure thing,” agreed Amos, already intensely interested.
“Well, it’s easy to gauge the direction of the wind, and, after
noticing how high the kite must be, we can figure about how far away
the man would be standing who held the other end of the cord.”
Jack’s reasoning was so simple and yet so convincing that the other
immediately fell into his way of thinking.
“Let’s do it, Jack!” he exclaimed enthusiastically.
“I take it you mean to try and look up the kite-flyer, eh, Amos?”
“Yes, and give him a little scare in the bargain. That old kite with
its red lights has hung up there long enough.”
“It’s probably fulfilled its mission,” suggested Jack, “and conveyed
the information that it was planned to send. But I’m curious enough to
want to find out whether my theory was sound or not.”
“Then you say go, do you, Jack?”
“Yes, let’s make a start for it,” came the reply. “In the first place
we’ll have to leave the road and cross this field, because we’ve got to
advance straight into the wind.”
“That’s easy,” said Amos, copying the example set by his comrade.
“To begin with we’ve got to put a button on our lips, Amos.”
“I suppose by that you mean we mustn’t talk any more, eh, Jack?”
“Not unless it’s absolutely necessary, and then in the lowest of
whispers.”
Amos, being a sensible boy, could understand why there was need of
silence, and so he kept along at the heels of his cousin, using both
his eyes and his ears, but putting a seal on his tongue.
It was not very difficult to cross the field. The ground proved to be
hard enough to keep their feet from being mired in the mud, and no
unsurmountable obstacles confronted the two boys.
Now and then Jack would pause to take an observation. At such times
he first of all noted the position of the red lights, still in plain
evidence aloft. After that he would make it his business to closely
observe how the wind stood, and in this way get his bearings afresh.
Amos watched his actions with great interest. He had picked up a
certain amount of woodcraft knowledge in his association with the
scouts, but Jack, on the other hand, had acquired his through practical
experience. A year or two spent on a Western cattle ranch is bound to
be an education in itself, and lucky indeed is the boy who can profit
by it.
Presently it became evident to Amos that Jack was proceeding more
carefully. This convinced him that Jack must believe they were now
drawing close to where the end of the cord that held the signal kite
would be found.
Then Amos also noticed there was some sort of low elevation beyond. It
could hardly be called a hill, not being high enough for that, and yet
at the same time it was more than a mere knoll. Out in African Zululand
it would possibly have been called a _kopje_.
Of course, having himself flown kites many a time, Amos readily
recognized the value of such an uplift, free from trees as it was, and
all other objects which were likely to become entangled with the kite
string.
Yes, he saw that Jack was bending lower now, and that he headed in a
bee line for that raised ground. Amos became immediately interested.
Would they make the discovery they anticipated, once they drew closer?
There was no place in the immediate vicinity that offered such
advantages in the way of elevation and freedom from interference. And
accordingly it was with considerable faith that Amos continued to
follow close at the heels of his cousin.
The suspense that ensued was of brief duration. Then Amos began to
follow the dim outlines marking the rounded summit of the squatty
elevation as seen against the clouded heavens.
Suddenly his eyes stopped traveling along that curve and remained
riveted upon one particular point. Some object loomed up there, and
broke the even contour of the “hogback.”
“I do believe that must be a man!” Amos was saying to himself under
his breath, while he kept his eager eyes riveted on the spot; and
after he had followed Jack a little further he was convinced beyond
any possibility of doubt that his guess had been a correct one, for he
plainly saw the object move.
Well, here was the man supposed to be responsible for those signals
in the sky. Undoubtedly he must be an exceedingly bold and clever
secret agent of the Kaiser, a spy who had managed to pick up certain
information, valuable from a military point of view, and was now
industriously engaged in transmitting the same to a German station
miles away. So much was settled. The question Amos was anxious to have
answered was what Jack meant he and his chum should do in the matter.