CHAPTER VI
HUGH HAS AN IDEA
"What's what?" demanded Hugh, peering in the direction Bob indicated.
"Look!" cried Bob.
"I am looking. What is it?" The tone of his friend's voice had alarmedhim greatly, though he did not know what it was that Bob saw.
"Can't you see? Right down there!"
"Where? Where?" pleaded Hugh. "Tell me, Bob."
"Down under the track. I see sparks."
"It's a bomb," cried Hugh suddenly catching sight of the little flashesof light. "It's a bomb that man planted there."
"What shall we do?" cried Bob, acting as if he was ready to turn and run.
"Go and get it," said Hugh instantly. "Come along," and he startedtowards the spot of danger. Spurred on by his comrade's show of courage,Bob followed.
Their hearts were in their throats and terror held them in its grasp asthey hurried along. The little sparks still appeared, and the sputteringof the fuse could be heard distinctly as they ran forward. The footingwas dangerous and who could tell but that at any moment the bomb mightexplode and blow them into eternity.
Hugh reached the spot first. He was outwardly calm, but had the sun beenshining his face would have shown white and frightened. A second laterBob arrived and stood beside him.
"There it is," he gasped. "It's a bomb all right."
"Pinch the fuse," cried Hugh excitedly. "Put it out."
Both boys reached for it, but Bob was first. He had completely recoveredhis nerve now and was perhaps even more self-possessed than Hugh.
Bob grasped the lighted part of the fuse between the thumb and forefingerof his right hand. He squeezed it tightly, but quickly withdrew his handwith a cry of pain. The fuse still sputtered.
"Let me!" almost sobbed Hugh. "Let me try."
He repeated Bob's performance, except that he held on in spite if thepain he suffered. With tight-shut lips and set jaw he pinched the fusewith all his strength. Finally he could stand it no longer and let go.
"It's out," cried Bob. "No, it isn't either," he exclaimed a secondlater as the fuse once more showed red and the tiny sparks again madetheir appearance. "We'd better run for it, Hugh. What's the use in ourbeing blown up along with the bridge?"
"Get out of the way!" ordered Hugh, and Bob obeyed at once. There wassomething in the tone of his friend's voice that made him hasten to doas he said.
Hugh knelt on the ties and leaned down over the bomb.
"Here comes a train," cried Bob suddenly. "On this track too."
Hugh paid no attention to this warning. He picked the bomb up in his twohands and staggering under its weight, carried the spitting andsputtering engine of death to the edge of the bridge. With a supremeeffort he hurled it from him. A moment later a splash told that it hadlanded in the river below.
"That'll never do any more harm," he gasped faintly.
"Stay there, Hugh!" shouted Bob. "Look out for the train!"
The two boys crowded close against the side of the bridge and a momentlater a heavy train thundered past them. Through the lighted windowscould be seen crowds of passengers, and Hugh and Bob shuddered as theythought what might have happened to the train with its load of precioushuman freight had the bomb exploded. They felt faint and weak after theirexperience and presently sat down until their shattered nerves shouldhave recovered somewhat from the shock.
The night was cool, but Bob mopped his perspiring brow. "Whew," hegasped. "That was a close call."
"I should say it was," echoed Hugh. "What luck that you should haveseen those sparks when you did! There was only a couple of inches offuse left."
"Lucky you were with me too," said Bob soberly. "If I'd been alone Ithink I would have run for home."
"Haven't you two gone home yet?" demanded a voice, and the two boyslooked up to see Harold standing over them.
"Not yet," said Bob.
"Well, you'd better skip," Harold advised. "You'll get in troublearound here."
"There'd been more trouble if we hadn't been here," said Bob quietly.
"What do you mean?"
Bob related the story of the bomb to his brother.
"Say!" exclaimed Harold in an awestruck voice. "That was pretty good workof you two. A train came along on that track too."
"Hugh got the bomb out just in time," said Bob.
"Say," repeated Harold. "Say," he said again, completely overcome.
"Do you think they'll let us enlist on the strength of what we did?" Hughasked hopefully.
"I doubt it," said Harold. "I'll certainly speak to the captain aboutyou though."
"We might as well go home now, I guess," said Bob. "You don't want to seeyour canoe tonight, do you?"
"No," replied Hugh grimly. "I've lost all interest in canoes forthe present."
They said good night to Harold and started homeward. They still felta little shaky as a result of the bomb episode, but before long thewalk and the crisp night air had refreshed them and their spiritsonce more revived.
"I wonder what they'll do to that German," exclaimed Bob.
"Harold said they had locked him up for over night, and I guess when theyhear what he tried to do, they'll keep him longer than that."
"They'll send him to jail probably."
"I hope so," said Hugh. "Any man who would try to blow up a bridge andkill crowds of people deserves worse than jail."
"They'll give him five or ten years all right," said Bob.
"Yes, and when they try his case we'll have to act as witnesses Isuppose."
"I wouldn't mind that," Bob exclaimed. "It might be a lot of fun."
"Aren't these plotters silly?" said Hugh. "They may be able to blow up aplant or a bridge here and there, but they'll lose more than they gain."
"Why so?"
"Because it'll make the people mad. When they once get angry they'llfight and work much harder to defeat Germany. Half the people in thiscountry don't seem to realize that we are at war now, but when a few ofthem get blown up we'll begin to do something."
They discussed the war and the possibility of sending American troops toFrance. Hugh wanted to go into the aviation corps when he was old enoughbut Bob thought the infantry and solid ground under his feet would begood enough for him.
Presently they came near home. Hugh lived two blocks farther downthe street than Bob and consequently he had to pass the Cooks' houseon his way.
"There's the Wernbergs'," said Bob. "A light in the second story backwindow, and two automobiles in front."
"Do you suppose they're up to anything?" exclaimed Hugh.
"I suspect them all right, but how can we prove it?"
"I have an idea," Hugh exclaimed suddenly. The two boys were standing onthe opposite side of the street from the Wernbergs' house, regarding itcuriously.
"What is it?"
"Can you get your automobile?"
"I guess so, if Heinrich hasn't taken the family out."
"Let's get it and follow one of those machines. In that way we can seewhere the people live who are at the Wernbergs'. Maybe we can learnsomething about them if we know who they are."
"A good scheme," exclaimed Bob readily. "We'll have to be awfullycareful though; if they ever found out we were following them it mightgo hard with us."
"We'll be careful all right," said Hugh grimly. "Come ahead, we want tobe ready to start and they may leave at any time."
The two boys walked quickly up the street, taking care to keep on theopposite side from the Wernberg home. When they arrived in front of theCooks' they darted across the street and hurried along the drivewayuntil they came to the garage. The door was shut and locked. Bobknocked loudly.
There was no reply. Bob looked at his watch under the light of a matchwhich Hugh struck. It was twenty minutes of eleven.
"That's queer," he muttered. "Heinie is usually in bed long before this."
"Maybe he is now, and is asleep," Hugh suggested.
Bob glanced up at the second story window. "I don't thi
nk so," he said."The window is closed in the room where he usually sleeps, and I know heis a crank on fresh air."
"Throw some gravel at it," said Hugh. "That'll get him up if he's there."
This plan was followed, but with no success.
"He's out," said Bob finally. "What'll we do?"
"Is the car there?"
"Yes, but what good will it do us if we can't get in?"
"Haven't you got a key to the garage up at the house?"
"Father has one, but I don't dare wake him now." Bob glanced at the houseand the absence of lights on the first and second floors convinced himthat his family were all in bed. A single light shone from a window onthe third floor where Lena, the cook, slept.
"Maybe we can force a window," suggested Hugh. "You can open the doorfrom the inside, can't you?"
"Oh, yes," said Bob. "Let's try a window anyway."
They went around the corner of the garage and the first window they triedyielded immediately. A moment later both boys had clambered inside, andpresently Bob found the electric light button. As the light flooded thegarage Heinrich's angora cat rose sleepily from the tonneau of theautomobile and stretched himself. A cloth covering over the parrot's cagekept that garrulous bird quiet. Percy lay stretched out in the waterwhich filled his tub.
"The dog must be out with Heinrich," said Bob.
He seated himself in the driver's seat of the car, and Hugh lifted thedrowsy cat to the floor. Bob pushed a button, put his foot on theself-starter and the engine started. Heinrich always backed the car intothe garage so that it was headed in the right direction as it stood. Hughundid the spring catch on the door and rolled the door back. They werenow ready to start.
"I'll go down by the street and watch the Wernbergs," said Hugh. "I hopethey haven't gotten away while we have been fooling around here."
"I guess not," said Bob. "When they start you whistle twice and I'll bewith you right away."
"All right," agreed Hugh. "You'd better run with your lights dimmed."
"I shall, don't worry."
Hugh hurried away. Bob was left alone in the car and he presently shutoff the engine. He had wished to warm up the motor so that it would startreadily when the time came; he was convinced that it would do so now.
He thought over the events of the day, and for the first time he realizedthat he was tired. Excitement had spurred him on and the intense interesthe took in the war had made him forget all else. He wondered if he andHugh were starting off on a wild goose chase now. What particular reasonhad they to suspect the Wernbergs anyway? True, all Germans were more orless under suspicion just then, but why the Wernbergs any more than theothers? He recalled his fight with Frank that morning, and his father'sremarks. Perhaps it was just as well to go out that night after all.
Bob thought of the war and the terrible things the Germans had done. Whatbrutes and beasts they were! The Germans had been busy in the UnitedStates too. The big factory at Eddystone had been blown up that day, withthe loss of a hundred and twenty-five lives, mostly of girls. Thatshowed what the American people had to guard against.
"I hate them all!" muttered Bob angrily. He took that back a momentlater, however, as he thought of Heinrich. Surely their chauffeur was asfaithful and kindly a soul as ever lived; his love for animals provedthat. Then there was Lena, their cook, a buxom woman of forty who hadnever been heard to utter a cross word in her life.
Heinrich was capable of getting mad, however, particularly about the car.Bob wondered what he would say if he should arrive home now, and find himpreparing to go out in it and perhaps get it dirty.
His reverie was suddenly interrupted by the sound of two whistles. Amoment later the motor was purring softly, and with the headlightsdimmed, the big sixty horse-power car slid out of the garage and startedsilently down the driveway.