Boy Scouts -- Juvenile fiction; Courage -- Juvenile fiction; Spy stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- England -- Juvenile fiction
Harry Fleming had, of course, given up all hope of catching Graves by a
direct pursuit by the time he accepted the offer of a ride in the motor
truck that was carrying vegetables for the troops in quarters in London.
His only hope now was to get his information to Colonel Throckmorton as
soon as possible. At the first considerable town they reached, where he
found a telegraph office open, he wired to the colonel, using the code
which he had memorized. The price of a couple of glasses of beer had
induced the driver and the soldier to consent to a slight delay of the
truck, and he tried also to ring up Jack Young’s house and find out what
had happened to Dick.
When he found that the line was out of order he leaped at once to the
same conclusion that Jack and Dick had reached–that it had been cut on
purpose. He could not stay to see if it would be reopened soon. A stroke
of luck came his way, however. In this place Boy Scouts were guarding
the gas works and an electric light and power plant, and he found one
squad just coming off duty. He explained something of his errand to the
patrol leader, and got the assurance that the telephone people should be
made to repair the break in the wire.
"We’ll see to it that they find out what is the trouble, Fleming," said
the patrol leader, whose name was Burridge. "By the way, I know a scout
in your troop–Graves. He was on a scout with us a few weeks ago, when
he was visiting down here. Seemed to be no end of a good fellow."
Harry was surprised for he had heard nothing of this before. But then
that was not strange. He and Graves were not on terms of intimacy, by
any means. He decided quickly not to say anything against Graves. It
could do no good and it might do harm.
"Right," he said. "I know him–yes. I’ll be going, then. You’ll give
my message to Mercer or Young if there’s any way of getting the line
clear?"
"Yes, if I sit up until my next turn of duty," said Burridge, with a
smile. "Good luck, Fleming."
Then Harry was off again. Dawn was very near now. The east, behind
him, was already lighted up with streaks of glowing crimson. Dark
clouds were massed there, and there was a feeling in the air that
carried a foreboding of rain, strengthening the threat of the red sky.
Harry was not sorry for that. There would be work at Bray Park that
might well fare better were it done under leaden skies.
As he rode he puzzled long and hard over what he had learned. It seemed
to him that these German spies were taking desperate chances for what
promised to be, at best, a small reward. What information concerning
the British plans could they get that would be worth all they were
risking? The wireless at Bray Park; the central station near Willesden,
whence the reports were heliographed–it was an amazingly complete chain.
And Harry knew enough of modern warfare to feel that the information
could be important only to an enemy within striking distance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account