CHAPTER VII
A TIMELY WARNING
Jack debated the advisability of meeting General Bean and telling himwhat he had learned, but he decided that since that detour would take upnearly half an hour of time that was now most valuable, he had betterhurry right through to headquarters, and carry his news direct to thecommander-in-chief. He cared little now for the danger of meeting straydetachments of the enemy. He was not afraid of them, since he knew thatthey would not, in all probability, be keeping a particularly carefulwatch for him, and he was confident of the ability of his car tooutdistance any pursuit that might be attempted.
Twice, indeed, as he raced for Hardport, he met patrols of the enemy'scavalry, but he was burning up the ground at such a rate that theyprobably were not able to distinguish the nature of his car, especiallyas it was nearly dark.
"Gee, Danby, you certainly make this old car go!" said Canfield,admiringly. "She's a daisy, too. I never was in a car before that rodeas easily as this, and I think you're going twice as fast as I've everridden in my life before."
Going at such speed, it did not take long for Jack to reachheadquarters. He rushed at once into the hotel, and his earnest,dust-streaked face so impressed the officer on duty outside theGeneral's door that he took Jack in at once.
"I have the honor to report that I have carried out your instructions,General," said Jack. "I have used more than the two hours you allowedme, but I felt that that was necessary."
Then he explained the capture he and Tom Binns had effected, and how, bytaking the place of their prisoner with the flags, they had been able todiscover the enemy's real plans.
General Harkness wasted no words then for a few minutes. He pressed twoor three buttons, and, as staff officers answered, his orders flew likehail.
"Telegraph General Bean to change his route at once," he ordered, "andmake Newville his objective point, throwing out heavy skirmish lines andadvance pickets to prevent a surprise. He will march all night, ifnecessary--but he must be at Newville before five o'clock."
The officer who took the order saluted, turned on his heel, and left theroom.
"Direct Colonel Abbey to bring up his cavalry regiment at once fromBremerton," was the next order. "He will march across the line, and thenfollow it until he reaches the Newville pike. Thence he will turn tosupport any movement General Bean may find it necessary to make there.Colonel Abbey will not engage the enemy, however, even to the extent offeeling him out, without direct orders from either General Bean ormyself. Repeat a copy of Colonel Abbey's orders to General Bean."
"That's good work, Danby, once more," he said, then, turning to Jack."We'd have been in a nice mess if you hadn't discovered that. Theymasked their turning movement beautifully. If they had got hold ofNewville and cut General Bean off from the main body of this army wewould have had to abandon Hardport at once. General Bean would certainlyhave been captured, and we would have had to fall back on the capital,with an excellent prospect of being attacked and forced to fight at agreat disadvantage on our retreat. As it is, even if General Bean isforced to circle around Newville, we can concentrate at Bremerton andfight on ground of our own choosing, though that would make this placeuntenable."
Receiving no further orders, Jack remained to listen. He stood atattention, and he enjoyed the experience of being in the room of ageneral on active service, for the constant stream of orders GeneralHarkness was giving was hardly checked at all by his pause to speak toJack and thank him for the good work he had done.
"Instruct Colonel Henry to complete preparations for the theoreticaldestruction of the railroad station, the sidings, and all passenger andfreight cars now here," he directed next. "If we are forced to abandonthe place, we will leave plenty of evidence behind us that it is nolonger of any use to the enemy. Rather a dog-in-the-manger policy, Isuppose--" this to Jack, since the officer had gone to obey theorder--"but that's war. If you can't make any use of a town or a lot ofsupplies yourself, remember always that that is no reason why the enemyshould not find them of the utmost service, and see to it that he canget no benefit from them. That was General Sherman's way. He left atrail of desolation fifty miles wide wherever he marched with his army,and he was always sure that the enemy, even if he came along after him,would find no chance to live in that country."
Jack offered no comment at all. He knew his place, as a Boy Scout, and,while he realized that it was a great compliment for the General to talkto him in that fashion, he had no intention of presuming on the fact.
Just then an orderly entered.
"Scout Thomas Binns, of Durland's Troop, General," he said, saluting."He says he has important information."
"Another of you?" asked the General, smiling as he faced Jack. "Send himin!"
"He was with me in the car, sir," said Jack. "I left him behind when Icame to make my report."
"I have the honor to report, General," said little Tom Binns, standingat the salute when he appeared, "that the enemy now has reason tobelieve that General Bean is advancing for Cripple Creek and will campthere to-night."
"How do you know that, my boy?" said the General.
"The signal station next to me on the side nearest Hardport flashed thenews that General Bean had changed his course, sir," replied Tom. "Ididn't think they ought to hear that at General Bliss's headquarters, soI changed the message in relaying it, and said that it was nowpositively determined that General Bean was heading for Cripple Creek,and would proceed to occupy the bridge. In fact, I added that hispickets were already in sight."
"Excellent!" laughed the General. "But how did you get here, my boy? Idon't see how you escaped falling into their hands."
"That was the last message we got before dark, sir," said Tom. "Afterthat we all got orders to report at their Scout headquarters, and Idecided to try to make my way back here. On the way I ran into one oftheir outposts, and a man with a motorcycle chased me. But he had apuncture--I think that was because I dropped my knife in the road--andhe had to stop to repair that. While he was doing it, I worked up behindhim, and I managed to get the motorcycle and came on. I knew he'd have agood chance to catch me, because I didn't know the roads very well."
"Ha, ha!" laughed General Harkness. The incident seemed to amuse himimmensely, for he laughed till the tears rolled down his cheeks. "I wishI had a whole army of you, my boy. We'd have little trouble with theenemy, then. Now you two can go back to Bremerton. That is likely to benearer the scene of battle in the morning than this town, and you haveboth done a good day's work in any case. I am highly pleased with you.Carry my compliments to Captain Durland, and say to him that I shall beglad to see him in my headquarters in the morning. He will have to findout where they are, for I don't know myself at this moment. I shallprobably be up most of the night myself, but do you be off now, and geta good night's rest. You have earned it."
So once more Jack drove the grey car to Bremerton. He was almost reelingwith fatigue by this time, for it was nearly nine o'clock, and he haddone enough since noon to tire out a full-grown man.
"That was mighty clever work of yours with the motorcycle," he said toTom. "How did you ever think of it?"
"I didn't want to be caught, Jack, that's all. I guess you were rightthe other day when you said we never knew what we could do until we hadto do it. It's certainly true with me, because if anyone had ever toldme that I would do a thing like that, I'd have told them they werecrazy."
"Well, whatever the reason was, it was good work. If they'd caught youwith your signal flags, they might have smelled a rat, and the best partof our catching Canfield was that they didn't know anything about it.That's what made him such a very valuable prisoner for us to have."