Boy Scouts -- Juvenile fiction; Courage -- Juvenile fiction; Spy stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- England -- Juvenile fiction
Harry, furious as he was when he saw Graves allowed to go off after the
false accusation that had caused his arrest, was still able to control
himself sufficiently to think. He was beginning to see the whole plot
now, or to think he saw it. He remembered things that had seemed
trivial at the time of their occurrence, but that loomed up importantly
now. And one of the first things he realized was that he was probably
in no great danger, that the charge against him had not been made with
the serious idea of securing his conviction, but simply to cause his
detention for a little while, and to discredit any information he might
have.
He could no longer doubt that Graves was in league with the spies on
whose trail he and Dick had fallen. And he understood that, if he kept
quiet, all would soon be all right for him. But if he did that, the
plans of the Germans would succeed. He had seen already an example of
what they could do, in the destruction of the water works. And it
seemed to him that it would be a poor thing to fail in what he had
undertaken simply to save himself. As soon as he reached that
conclusion he knew what he must do, or, at all events, what he must try
to do.
For the officer who had arrested him he felt a good deal of contempt.
While it was true that orders had to be obeyed, there was no reason,
Harry felt, why the lieutenant should not have shown some discretion.
An officer of the regular army would have done so, he felt. But this
man looked unintelligent and stupid. Harry felt that he might safely
rely on his appearance. And he was right. The officer found himself in
a quandary at once. His men were mounted on cycles; Harry was on foot.
And Harry saw that he didn’t quite know what to do.
Finally he cut the Gordian knot, as it seemed to him, by impounding a
bicycle from a passing wheelman, who protested vigorously but in vain.
All he got for his cycle was a scrap of paper, stating that it had been
requisitioned for army use. And Harry was instructed to mount this
machine and ride along between two of the territorial soldiers. He had
been hoping for something like that, but had hardly dared to expect it.
He had fully made up his mind now to take all the risks he would run by
trying to escape. He could not get clear away, that much he knew. But
now he, too, like Graves, needed a little time. He did not mind being
recaptured in a short time if, in the meanwhile, he could be free to do
what he wanted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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