LIKE OLD TIMES FOR THE SCOUTS
“There, that settles it. Donald wants us to show up,” Tubby broke out
with, rejoiced in the opportunity to discontinue his long silence.
“Are we going, Rob?” demanded Andy, even more impatient.
“Come along, everybody!” decided the scout master.
With that they arose to their feet, the distressing period of crouching
and trying to hide themselves being at an end. They could all take deep
breaths and begin to experience some of the joy that comes with the
advent of victory after a hard-fought battle.
Rob led the way, and they quickly arrived at the foot of the steep
embankment which marked the joining of the railway with the beginning of
the trestle. Up this they started bravely. Tubby began to have his own
troubles immediately, for, as might be expected, the soil started to
crumble more or less under his feet. Tubby was unusually awkward about
getting a footing.
Several times he started to slide back, and only recovered himself with
difficulty. Then came an occasion when he failed to secure a grip, and
as his weight caused the earth and stones to crumble more and more under
him Tubby commenced rolling down the slope like a barrel, clawing at a
wild rate to the right and to the left.
He undoubtedly would have gone all of the route and brought up where he
began his climb, much the worse for his experience, but for Zeb. The big
Maine guide chanced to be below the rest, and was thus able to reach out
and seize upon the revolving Tubby. By bracing himself, Zeb also managed
to bring the other to a full stop. Tubby was in luck, as usually
happened. He once again started upward, as if he were the famous youth
in the poem whose motto, when climbing the snow-clad heights, was
“Excelsior”; only Tubby did not expect to meet with the other’s sad
fate.
In this fashion, assisted by the man of the woods, Tubby was enabled to
finally gain the top of the embankment. Rob and Andy had already
advanced to join the little group of excited men hurrying toward the
spot.
There was Donald in the lead, with a sturdy man in overalls at his side,
whose arm was proudly thrown across the boy’s shoulders; for Robert
McGuffey realized that his boy had covered the family name with honor by
his action. Then came the conductor of the train, a man in uniform, who
carried a lighted lantern, together with a number of soldiers armed with
guns. Every one of them seemed eager and full of enthusiasm, for the war
no longer lay thousands of miles off, with an ocean rolling between—it
had actually come to their very doors.
One man, who Rob could see was an officer, he thought a lieutenant at
least, immediately bustled up and faced him. He leaned forward and
looked earnestly into the face of the scout, whose khaki uniform must
have interested him.
“This boy who turns out to be the engineer’s son,” he hurriedly said,
“tells us you and your comrades are American lads and that you have
crossed the boundary to give warning that a vile plot was on foot to
dynamite the bridge. Is this the truth, or a fairy story?”
“Yes, it is what brings us here, sir,” replied Rob simply. “Most of the
credit for discovering the truth belongs to Donald McGuffey.”
“No, no; for where would I have been only for your finding me caught in
the auld bear trap?” cried the other energetically. “Besides, I never
could hae reached here alone, in time to save the bridge. If there be
any honor, every one o’ ye shares in the same.”
“This sounds very fine,” said the officer, who could hardly bring
himself to believe that it was the truth. “What proof have you to back
your story up?”
Impulsive Andy could contain himself no longer. He was more than a
little indignant that their word should be even doubted.
“Rob, show them, won’t you? Seeing is believing every time, and we’ve
got all the proof any one would want, a dozen times over.”
“Yes, show him, Rob, please do!” urged Tubby, also beginning to feel a
righteous indignation.
“If you will come with us, sir,” Rob told the officer, “you can see
enough to convince you we have told nothing but the truth.”
“Lead on, and we will follow,” the other commanded; and then, turning,
he added something in low tones to a couple of his men, who immediately
closed in on either side of the boys and Zeb.
But Rob only smiled. He could easily afford to laugh, knowing as he did
what was in store for the Doubting Thomas of a Canadian officer, who,
fearful of being made the victim of a joke, would not believe without
positive evidence.
Accordingly down the bank they all plunged, while the engine continued
to fret near by, as though repenting of having been stopped short.
Possibly Tubby would have excelled all the rest in making that descent,
for he had already commenced to slide, and in another moment must have
taken a header, only for the strong arm of Zeb, the Maine guide, having
hovered near in the rôle of protector and defender.
Once at the bottom, Rob, taking in his bearings, led the way directly to
the spot where, with his comrades, he had been lately crouching. The
first thing he did on arriving was to take the lighted lantern from the
hand of the train conductor and hold it close to the ground.
“There is the copper insulated wire that ran from the battery to the
planted mine,” he explained.
The officer, bending forward, looked it over. His doubts began to
vanish, for surely this seemed like stern business.
“Who cut this wire?” he demanded sharply.
“I did, sir,” replied Rob modestly.
“What was your object in doing it?” continued the soldier, eyeing the
scout with kindling interest.
“We knew that the first thing to be done was to prevent those
conspirators from using their battery to discharge the mine,” explained
Rob, “and that if only we could come upon the connections and sever them
they would have their teeth drawn. But it was only at the last minute we
managed to find the concealed wire; for as you can see, sir, they had it
pinned close to the ground with these metal staples.”
He pulled one of the crooked bits of stout wire up as he spoke and
showed them how craftily it worked. Everybody pushed forward to see. The
conductor of the million-dollar freight knew he was losing valuable time
and would have to run additionally fast if he ever hoped to make it up;
but the story of the scout interested him deeply, and, besides, it had a
direct bearing on the safety of himself and crew, so he felt justified
in lingering.
“Now,” continued Rob, “none of us has as yet set eyes on any mine. We
only believe one has been planted under the trestle here. It would be
the right thing for us to follow up this broken wire and see for
ourselves how true this theory is. Shall we start, sir?”
“Without a second’s delay!” snapped the aroused lieutenant. “There may
yet be sufficient time to pursue the rascals and bring them to justice
for this attempted outrage. And believe me, boy, we will make them pay
dearly for their fun, if only we can lay hands on the cowardly curs!”
Still holding the lantern, and followed by the group, Rob was already
tracing the course of the pinned-down copper wire. As he had the
conductor’s light, of course that worthy had to keep trotting at his
heels, which was sufficient excuse for further delay on his part.
They speedily came to the high trestle, and passed under the heavy beams
and timbers of which it was constructed. Then there were exclamations
that ran the whole gamut of wonder and horror, when the end of the wire
showed them a small box that contained enough explosives to wreck the
entire structure, for it had been artfully placed so as to do the utmost
damage possible.
“Lift up that box and handle it carefully, two of you men,” ordered the
officer. “Soak it in the river, and stand guard over it until relieved.
We will want it as evidence when handing in a report of this mad
adventure.”
Hardly waiting to see that they started to carry out his instructions,
he turned once more upon Rob. Now there was only admiration in the
officer’s manner of speaking to the boy.
“We apparently owe a great deal to the efficiency of you and your brave
scout comrades, my lad,” said the now convinced lieutenant. “Perhaps you
could add still further to the debt by showing us where those scoundrels
were in hiding, waiting to fire the mine. I confess an overpowering
desire to follow them, and save them the trouble of recrossing the
boundary line.”
“Nothing easier, sir,” calmly replied Rob. “All we have to do is to
follow the other half of the broken wire and it will lead us to their
nest.”
“Well, I should say so!” chuckled Andy, wondering why the officer had
not hit upon this very simple method instantly; but then, Andy
reflected, the poor fellow had in his youth never had the chance of
becoming a scout and learning the art of using his wits to look for the
cause of things, as well as cultivating the habit of observation.
Back they hurried in an eager bunch to the spot where Rob had severed
the connecting link with his little combination pliers and wire-cutter.
Here the other line was taken up. It led them toward the identical spot
where the boys had previously decided the plotting invaders were hidden.
This proved to be a clump of dense bushes, affording an excellent refuge
secure from discovery, although it was near enough to the railway
embankment to allow observation.
“You see, here’s the battery,” laughed Rob, making good use of the
lantern again, and everybody gasped as they saw what he was pointing at.
Apparently, when the men in hiding had failed to fire the mine and
realized that their terrible plot had “missed connections” in some
strange way, they must have been suddenly overwhelmed with a panic, for
they had fled in such haste that no attempt had been made to carry off
their belongings, and so the fine little battery was abandoned to its
fate.
There was no longer the shadow of a doubt in the mind of the wary
lieutenant. He forgot that he had mistrusted these boys in the
beginning, and suspected that they were trying to gain some glory,
without any real basis for their wonderful story. All this Rob
understood when the other impulsively grasped and squeezed his hand, at
the same time exclaiming:
“I am proud to meet you, my brave young chap. I only regret that you are
not a Canadian like Donald here. You have done us a tremendous favor by
your energy and your Yankee smartness. I am going to ask you to help us
still further. If only we could capture those villains, it would
complete this wonderful night’s work. Will you accompany me with several
of my men, while we try and cut them off before they can recross the
line and find refuge in the States?”
“Oh, Rob!” cried Andy; and that was all he said, but there was a world
of entreaty in those two words.
The scout master, whose indignation had been fully aroused because of
that late near-tragedy, in which his country would have been undoubtedly
involved, did not take ten seconds to make up his mind.
“Yes, we’ll gladly coöperate with you to try and round them up, sir;
three of us at least will go with you, and the sooner we start the
better chances we’ll have for success.”