Boy Scouts -- Juvenile fiction; Courage -- Juvenile fiction; Spy stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- England -- Juvenile fiction
"It looks like a cave," said Harry.
"It is, but it’s more than that, too. This place is no end old, you
know. It was here when they fought the Wars of the Roses, I’ve heard.
And come on–I’ll show you something!"
He led the way on into the cave, which narrowed as they went. But
Harry, pointing his flashlight ahead, saw that it was not going to stop.
"Oh! A secret passage! I understand now!" he exclaimed, finally.
"Isn’t it jolly?" said the other. "Can’t you imagine what fun we used
to have here when we played about? You see, this may have been used to
bring in food in time of siege. There used to be another spur of this
tunnel that ran right into the house. But that was all let go to pot,
for some reason. This is all that is left. But it’s enough. It runs
way down under the river–and in a jiffy we’ll be out in the meadows on
the other side. I say, what’s your name?"
They hadn’t had time to exchange the information each naturally craved
about the other before. And now, as they realized it, they both
laughed. Harry told his name.
"Mine’s Jack Young," said the other scout. "I say, you don’t talk like
an Englishman?"
"I’m not," explained Harry. "I’m American. But I’m for England just
now–and we were caught here trying to find out something about that
place."
They came out into the open then, where the light of the stars enabled
them to see one another. Jack nodded.
"I got an idea of what you were after–you two," he said. "The other
one’s English, isn’t he?"
"Dick Mercer? Yes!" said Harry, astonished. "But how did you find out
about us?"
"Stalked you," said Jack, happily. "Oh, I’m no end of a scout! I
followed you as soon as I caught you without your bicycles."
"We must have been pretty stupid to let you do it, though," said Harry,
a little crestfallen. "I’m glad we did, but suppose you’d been an
enemy! A nice fix we’d have been in!"
"That’s just what I thought about you," admitted Jack. "You see,
everyone has sort of laughed at me down here because I said there might
be German spies about. I’ve always been suspicious of the people who
took Bray Park. They didn’t act the way English people do. They didn’t
come to church, and when the pater–I told you he was the vicar here,
didn’t I?–went to call, they wouldn’t let him in! Just sent word they
were out! Fancy treating the vicar like that!" he concluded with
spirit.
Harry knew enough of the customs of the English countryside to
understand that the new tenants of Bray Park could not have chosen a
surer method of bringing down both dislike and suspicion upon
themselves.
"That was a bit too thick, you know," Jack went on. "So when the war
started, I decided I’d keep my eyes open, especially on any strangers
who came around. So there you have it. I say! You’d better let me try
to make that ankle easier. You’re limping badly."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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