A DECISIVE MOVEMENT
Pete Stubbs was secretly glad that the scouting trip toward Fessenden
Junction had been ordered. He was terribly afraid of the consequences to
Jack should he accept Broom's defiance and meet him that night, and he
did not know whether Durland and Dick Crawford would share his views. So
he hoped that the work in the scout car would distract Jack's mind and
lead him to forget his promise to Broom to see what the Scout-Master and
his assistant thought of the plan.
As the car made its swift way along the roads towards Fessenden
Junction, the sound of firing constantly came to them.
"I thought Jim Burroughs said the fighting had been stopped," said Tom
Binns.
"The main bodies were stopped, but that doesn't mean the whole fight is
over," explained Jack. "Bean's brigade, you see, probably hasn't been in
action at all yet. His troops were not among those sent to Tryon Creek,
and he has to cover the roads leading in this direction. It's just
because General Harkness is afraid that some of the Blue troops may have
been detached to make a raid by a roundabout route that we are coming
over here."
"Suppose we ran into them, Jack? Would we be able to get word back in
time to be of any use?"
"Why not? This is our own country. We have the telegraph and the
telephone wires, and the railroad is within a mile of General Harkness's
quarters at Tryon Creek. All he needs to do is to pack troops aboard the
trains he undoubtedly has waiting there and send them on to Fessenden
Junction. We have the same advantage here that the enemy had when they
held Hardport. Then we had to move our troops entirely on foot while
they could use the railroad, and move ten miles to our one. Now that
position is reversed--as long as we hold the key of the railroad
situation, Fessenden Junction."
The road to Fessenden Junction was perfectly clear. They rolled into the
busy railroad centre without having seen a sign of troops of either
army. A single company was stationed at the depot in Fessenden Junction,
impatient at the duty that held it there while the other companies of
the same regiment were at the front, getting a chance to take part in
all the thrilling moves of the war game.
Jack told the officers all he knew as they crowded around his car while
he stopped to replenish his stock of gasoline. There was little in his
narrative that had not come to them already over the wires, but they
were interested in him and in the scouting car.
"We've heard all about you," said a lieutenant. "You've certainly done
yourself proud in this war! They tell me that the car will surely be
adopted as a result of your success with it. Do you know if that's so?"
"I hadn't heard, Lieutenant," said Jack, his face lighting up. "But I
certainly hope it's true. It's a dandy car!"
"You didn't expect to see anything of the enemy the way we came, did
you, Jack?" asked Pete Stubbs, when they were in motion once more.
"No, I didn't, Pete. But it was a good chance to study a road we didn't
know. We may have considerable work in this section before we get
through, and I want to know the roads. That road, of course, is guarded
this morning by General Bean's brigade. It would take more than a
raiding cavalry brigade to break through his line and make for the
Junction this way, and if General Bliss sent troops to Fessenden, they
wouldn't stop to fight on the way. They would choose a road that was
open, if they could, or very weakly defended, at least. Otherwise they'd
be beaten before they got here. Even a couple of regiments would be able
to hold up a brigade, no matter how well it was led, long enough for
General Harkness to find out what was going on and occupy Fessenden
Junction in force."
"Where are you going now, then?"
"East of Bremerton, on the way back. I know that isn't exactly orders,
but it seems to me it's common sense. General Bliss had a long line this
morning, and Mardean was practically its centre. Hardport had become his
base again. He's held Hardport now for two days, practically, and he's
had time to repair all the damage we did. Why shouldn't he have thrown
his brigade, if he planned a raid on the Junction at all, thirty miles
east from Hardport, to swing across the State line at about Freeport,
cut the railroad east of Fessenden Junction, and so approach it from the
east, when everyone expects an attack to be made from the west?"
"That would be pretty risky, wouldn't it, Jack?"
"Certainly it would--and yet, if he could fool everyone into thinking he
was going to do just the opposite, it would be the safest thing he could
do. You see, all the fighting to-day has been well west of Bremerton and
Fessenden Junction. Our orders were to do our scouting on the western
side of the Junction. I've obeyed those orders, and I haven't found out
a thing. Now I think I've a right to use my own discretion, and see if
there are signs of danger on this side."
"Gee, that certainly sounds reasonable, Jack! They've been doing the
thing that wasn't expected ever since the business started. I guess
they're just as likely as not to keep on doing it, too."
"We ought to know in a little while, anyhow, Pete. I'm going to circle
around here, strike a road that runs parallel to the railroad as it runs
east of the Junction, and see what's doing."
Jack hurried along then for a time, and none of those in the car had
anything to say, since, when Jack was pushing her, the noise was too
great to make conversation pleasant or easy in any sense of the words.
They were in the road now that ran along parallel with the railroad
that, running east from Fessenden Junction and away from the State
capital, which lay southwest of that important point, approached
gradually a junction with the main line of the railroad from Hardport at
Freeport.
Jack was keeping his eyes open. He hardly knew what he expected to see,
but he had an idea that there would be something to repay their trip.
And, about fifteen miles from Fessenden Junction, the soundness of his
judgment was proved once more.
"Look up there!" cried Pete, suddenly. The eyes of three Scouts were
turned upward in a moment, and there, perhaps two miles away, and three
hundred feet above them, they saw a biplane hovering.
"Gee!" cried Jack. "That's the first we've seen in the air--a Blue
biplane! None of our machines would be in this direction."
Swiftly he looked along the fence until he saw an opening.
"Here, jump out and let those bars down!" he cried, stopping the car.
The others obeyed at once, and in a moment he ran the car gently into
the field and stopped beside a hayrick.
"Sorry to disturb the farmer's hayrick," said he, then, jumping out in
his turn, "but this is important!"
And a moment later the three Scouts, following his example, were as busy
as bees, covering the grey automobile with new hay, that hid it
effectually from any spying eyes that might be looking down on them from
above.
"Now we'll make ourselves look small," said Jack.
He looked around the field.
"I shouldn't wonder if they picked this out for a landing spot, if they
decide to land at all," said he. "We want to see them if they do
anything like that, and hear them, too, if we can. We may want to find
out something from them."
Swiftly, then, they burrowed into the hay. They could look out and see
anything that went on about them, but unless an enemy came very close,
they themselves were entirely safe from detection.
"Now we'll know what they're up to, I guess," said Jack, with a good
deal of satisfaction. "It's a good thing I sort of half disobeyed orders
and came this way, isn't it?"
"You didn't really disobey orders, did you, Jack?" asked Tom.
"No, I didn't, really, Tom. I did what I was ordered to do, but I did
something more, too, as there was no special time limit set for the job
they gave us. But a scout is supposed to use his own judgment a good
deal, anyhow. Otherwise he wouldn't be any use as a scout, so far as I
can see."
It was very quiet in the hay. But above them, and sounding all the more
clearly and distinctly for the silence that was everywhere else, they
could hear the great hum of the motor of the aeroplane. With no muffler,
the engine of the flying-machine kicked up a lot of noise, and, as it
gradually grew louder, Jack was able to tell, even without looking up,
that it was coming down.
"By George," said he, "I think they are going to land! They're getting
more cautious, you see. They scout ahead now, and they're using their
war aeroplane the way we have been using this car of ours."
"What are our flying-machines doing, Jack? I haven't seen them on the
job at all."
"General Harkness is using them in the actual battles. They go up to
spot concealed bodies of the enemy, so that our gunners can get the
range and drive the enemy, theoretically, out of any cover they have
found. That's one of the ways in which flying machines are expected to
be most useful in the next war. You see, as it is now, with smokeless
powder and practically invisible uniforms, ten thousand men can do a lot
of damage before anyone on the other side can locate them at all. But
with a flying-machine, they won't be able to hide themselves. A man a
thousand feet above them can see them, and direct the fire of artillery
by signals so that the troops that were in entire security until he
discovered them can be cut to pieces by heavy shell fire."
"That's what our men have been doing, eh?"
"Yes--and theirs, too, mostly. This is the first time I've seen one of
their machines scouting. Look out now--keep quiet! They're landing, and
they're not more than a hundred feet away!"
The scraping of the flying-machine, as it came to rest in the field, was
plainly audible as the Scouts stopped talking and devoted themselves to
listening intently. Also, by craning their necks a little, though they
were in no danger of being seen themselves, they could make out what the
two men in the aeroplane were doing.
"Pretty lucky, Bill!" said one of them. "This is a good landing-place,
and we can get an idea of the situation and cut the telegraph wire to
send back word."
"Right, Harry!" said the other. "I guess the coast is clear. The brigade
isn't more than five miles back, and with three train loads, they'll be
able to make that Fessenden Junction look like a desert before
night--theoretically."
"It's all theory, Bill, but it's pretty good fun, at that. I tell you,
we would be in a tight place if they'd guarded this approach at all.
That brigade of ours would be cut off in a minute. But if we can mess up
Fessenden Junction for them, they'll be so busy trying to cover their
line of retreat that they won't have any time to bother about our
fellows."
"What's the matter with that engine, anyhow?"
"Nothing much, I guess. But sometimes, if she starts missing, the way
she did when we were up there, you can fix things and avoid a lot of
trouble by a little timely tinkering. I was up once when my engine began
missing that way, and I didn't pay any attention to it. Then, about
twenty minutes later, she went dead on me while I was over the water,
and I had to drop, whether I wanted to or not. The water was cold, too,
I don't mind saying."
"You hear that?" said Jack, in a tense whisper. "Now, as soon as they
go, we've got to destroy that railroad track, right across the road. We
may have half an hour; we may have only a few minutes. And while two of
us do that--you and Tom, Pete--the other will have to cut the telegraph
wire and send word to Fessenden Junction. General Bean is in the best
position to get over there. I don't think we can hold them up more than
an hour or so, but that ought to be enough. At least, if there's nothing
else to be done, the fellows at Fessenden Junction can tear up a lot of
track."
For five breathless minutes they watched the two aviators tinkering with
their engine. Then the big bird rose in the air again, and winged its
way eastward. In a moment Jack was out of the hay and calling to his
companions to follow him.
"Get your tools from the car, now," he said. "Mark a rail torn up for
every ten minutes you spend there. I'll get busy with the telegraph
wire."
It took Jack twenty minutes to finish his task, which was exceedingly
quick work. But he had had practice in it, and he worked feverishly,
since he did not know at what minute they would be surprised and forced
to abandon the task by the on-coming enemy.
Ten minutes after he had completed his part of the task, when,
theoretically, the others had been able to destroy three lengths of
rail, and had left a pile of smouldering brushwood as proof that they
had had time to build a fire of the ties, they heard the hum of
approaching trains along the rails.
"All right!" cried Jack. "This is as far as they can go now until they
make repairs. It's time for us to be off!"
And he led the way swiftly toward the car, still hidden in the field.
Swiftly he adjusted the spark plug, which he had carried with him, and,
just as the first of the trains from the east appeared in sight, the car
was ready to move. But Jack, instead of returning to the road, and
retracing his course toward Fessenden Junction, headed north across the
field, toward the State line.
"I'm going to take a short cut to General Bean's brigade and get him
word of the chance he has to end things right now," he cried. "If he can
capture this brigade of the enemy, the war will be as good as over. It's
the best chance we've had yet."
Jack knew the country perfectly, and soon he was on a country road,
which, while it would have been hard on the tires of an ordinary car,
was easy for the big scouting machine. They made splendid time, and in
an hour they were in touch with the outposts of General Bean's troops,
waiting, since the attack of the enemy in front had ceased, for any news
that might come.
"I've just heard that the enemy is threatening Fessenden Junction from
the east," the general told Jack, when the Boy Scout made his report.
"Yes, General," said Jack, eagerly. "And the roads are open in this
direction. They will not be able to get very far along the railroad. The
troops in Fessenden Junction will undoubtedly cut the tracks, just as we
did, somewhere near the village of Bridgeton, and that will be a
splendid place to make a flank attack. They won't be expecting that at
all, and I think you can finish them up."
General Bean reached at once for a field map.
"You've got it!" he cried. "That's just what I'll do!"
And in a moment he had given his orders accordingly. Ten minutes later
the troops were on the march, and Jack was scouting ahead, to make sure
that no shift of the enemy's plan had made it impossible for his idea to
be carried out successfully.
Bean's troops marched quickly and well, and within two hours they were
in touch with the enemy, near Bridgeton. Jack and his companions, in the
rear, heard the sound of firing, which soon became general. And then,
unhampered, Jack sped for the place where he had already cut the
railroad, and, in two hours theoretically destroyed nearly half a mile
of track.
"They're in a trap, now," he cried. "They'll never get by here!"