TWO MYSTERIOUS MEN.
The next afternoon the four lads left the village shortly after lunch,
and struck out along the sandy road leading in the direction of the De
Regny place. It was warm, and, walking on the heavy, sandy road proved
oppressive. In fact, before they had traversed two miles of the
distance, Tubby was begging for a drink of water.
“What do you want with water?” scoffed Merritt. “Doctors say that it
makes fat.”
“I don’t care,” retorted Tubby. “I want a drink, and I’m going to have
it, too.”
“Dig in the road for it, I suppose, or get it out of the sea yonder,”
laughed Rob.
“Neither, Mister Smart Alec; I’m going to get it at that house back
there.”
The stout lad indicated a rather tumble-down dwelling, situated in the
midst of a ragged orchard, which was set back some distance from the
road. It had once been the home of a fisherman, but had been long
deserted. Tubby knew, however, there was a well on the place, which
yielded clear, cold water. Without another word to his companions, he
struck off across the uneven ground toward the hut.
“Guess I could stand a drink,” said Merritt suddenly.
“Same here,” agreed Rob, and the two struck off after their rotund
comrade.
“I’m thirsty, too,” said Paul.
Close to the house, dense clumps of lilacs had grown up, straggling in
every direction, and forming a deep, impenetrable screen. As the boys
came up to the place, they were startled to hear, from within the hut,
the sound of voices.
“I thought the place was deserted,” gasped Merritt, using a low tone,
however.
“So did I,” chimed in Tubby. “Let’s get out of here. Maybe they’re
tramps, or something.”
“Hardly likely,” whispered Rob, parting the bushes ever so little and
peering through. The other two each made a similar observation place for
himself. Through this leafy screen they could see the interior of the
front room of the hut plainly. To their astonishment, a few rough pieces
of furniture stood within, and, at a battered table, two men were
seated, talking earnestly. One of them was a big, broad-shouldered
fellow, with a ruddy face and shifty blue eyes. The other was a small,
dapper man, dressed nattily, almost fastidiously. The back of this
latter fellow had been partly turned when the lads came in, but as he
faced restlessly about in his chair, the boys could not suppress a start
of astonishment.
The man was a Japanese!
More surprising still, the fellow with him could now be seen to be
garbed in the uniform of a United States regular.
Fascinated, with round eyes and attentive ears, the boys bent forward on
tip-toe to hear the conversation that was going on.
“So Duvall suspects nothing,” the Japanese said in perfect English,
evidently continuing a conversation, the first part of which they had
missed.
The soldier laughed.
“Not he. I’ve managed to get several drawings besides the ones I have
already brought you. In about a week’s time my work will be finished,
and then I’ll skip. You are sure your government will have that
appointment for me?”
“Absolutely certain, Honorable Dugan. Nippon is not ungrateful for any
services that may have been done her, and you will reap your reward. But
when is the trial flight to be made?”
“As soon as the equalizer is finished.”
“And that will be?”
“Some time this coming week.”
“You have not been able to get plans of the equalizer yet?”
“No; as I told you, I have failed so far. Lieutenant Duvall will not let
them out of his hands. But I’ll get them, if I have to knock him down
and take them from him.”
“That is right,” smiled the Jap. “I could wish you were acquainted with
jiu-jitsu, to make your task more easy. Above all things, I must have
the working plans of the equalizer. The rest does not matter so much,
but to equip our aerial fleet we must have that device.”
“You see, it’s the invention of Duvall himself, and for that reason he
guards it pretty close.”
“Naturally. However, we shall be too clever for him. You don’t think any
one suspects my presence here?”
“Not a bit of it,” Dugan assured his yellow skinned companion. “Didn’t
you come in by night and make straight for this place? You couldn’t have
a better hiding-place. No one ever comes here, and——
_Cra-c-k!_
A board, upon which Tubby had unthinkingly stood, so as to obtain a
better view, gave way under the heavy youth’s weight at this interesting
point. With a gasp of dismay, Tubby clutched at the lilacs to save
himself from falling, thereby creating even more noise.
“Who’s there?” roared Dugan, springing to his feet. The boys caught the
glint of a revolver, as he shot erect. Like a small and venomous snake,
the Jap, too, was up like a flash. But they were neither of them quick
enough to catch a glimpse of the scouts, as they dashed off into a patch
of woods lying to the left, into the shadows of which they had dived,
wriggling along on their stomachs, before either Dugan or the Jap had
recovered from their start.
From their cover, the boys could see the pair emerge from the house and
search about it thoroughly, without, of course, finding a trace of
anything unusual.
“Guess it must have been a rabbit or something,” they could hear Dugan
say, after a prolonged search that showed no indication of human
surveillance.
“Huh! Honorable rabbit gave me a big jump,” they heard the Jap rejoin.
The two went back into the house, no doubt to continue their
deliberations, while the boys, making a detour through the woods, once
more emerged on the main road, with Tubby’s thirst still unsatisfied.
“Now, what do you suppose was the meaning of that confab?” asked
Merritt, as they trudged along.
“Looks to me like treachery of some sort,” rejoined Rob. “Those Japs
have been busy in Mexico during the insurrection. You know, they wanted
to get a coaling base there. They certainly are not friends of Uncle
Sam’s, however much they pretend to be, and when you see one of our
soldiers in such a consultation with one of them, it looks bad.”
“That’s right,” agreed Merritt. “But what could they have been talking
about? Of course, you told us about Lieutenant Duvall having leased the
De Regny place for some mysterious government work. Evidently that man
Dugan is there with him, and perhaps several more soldiers. But what do
you suppose they are doing?”
“That was one reason why I proposed this walk this afternoon,” said Rob.
“Maybe we can find out something. But I think from what Dugan said it’s
pretty plain what the government is doing at the De Regny place.”
“What do you think it is, Rob?” asked Tubby interestedly.
“Testing out some sort of an airship.”
“What!”
“That’s right. Didn’t you hear the Jap speak of a Japanese aerial
fleet?”
“So he did!” exclaimed Merritt. “And now I come to think of it, I
remember I read some time ago that Lieutenant Duvall had invented a
stability device for aeroplanes. At the time, though, I didn’t connect
it with _our lieutenant_.”
“What we’ve got to do is to find the lieutenant and tell him about what
we overheard,” said Rob decidedly. “Those fellows may succeed in their
schemes, otherwise.”
“Ugh!” exclaimed Tubby, with a shudder, “I’d hate to have had that
fellow Dugan grab hold of me. He’s an ugly-looking customer.”
“He is,” agreed Rob, “but we can’t help that. Our duty is clear. Why, if
the Japs ever got hold of a practicable invention like that, they could
send an aerial fleet across the border and demoralize the country.”
“Always supposing it is a practicable invention,” put in the practical
Paul Perkins quietly.
“Of course,” the impetuous Rob hastened to agree.
Talking thus, they neared the De Regny place, which deserves some
description, as being, both by tradition and appearance, one of the most
remarkable places along the Long Island shores.