CHAPTER VI
THE MYSTERY OF BRAY PARK
"I hope he'll be all right," said Dick.
"They'll find him, I'm sure," said Harry. "Even if they don't, he'll beall right for a few days, two or three, anyhow. A man can be veryuncomfortable and miserable, and still not be in any danger. We don'tneed half as much food as we eat, really. I've heard that lots oftimes."
They were riding along the line that Harry had marked on his map, and, amile or two ahead, there was visible an old-fashioned house, with atower projecting from its centre. From this, Harry had decided, theyshould be able to get the view they required and so locate the secondheliographing station.
"How far away do you think it ought to be, Harry?" asked Dick.
"It's very hard to tell, Dick. A first-class heliograph is visible for avery long way, if the conditions are right. That is, if the sun is outand the ground is level. In South Africa, for instance, or in Egypt, itwould work for nearly a hundred miles, or maybe even more. But here Ishould think eight or ten miles would be the limit. And it's cloudy sooften that it must be very uncertain."
"Why don't they use flags, then?"
"The way we do in the scouts? Well, I guess that's because theheliograph is so much more secret. You see, with the heliograph theflashes are centered. You've got to be almost on a direct line withthem, or not more than fifty yards off the centre line, to see them atall, even a mile away. But anyone can see flags, and read messages,unless they're in code. And if these people are German spies, the codewouldn't help them. Having it discovered that they were sending messagesat all would spoil their plans."
"I see. Of course, though. That's just what you said. It was really justby accident that we saw them flashing."
Then they came to the house where they expected to make theirobservation. It was occupied by an old gentleman, who came out to seewhat was wanted and stood behind the servant who opened the door. At thesight of their uniforms he drew himself up very straight and saluted.But, formal as he was, there was a smile in his eyes.
"Well, boys," he said, "what can I do for you? On His Majesty's service,I suppose?"
"Yes, sir," said Dick. "We'd like to go up in your tower room, if youdon't mind."
"Scouting, eh?" said the old gentleman, mystified. "Do you expect tolocate the enemy's cavalry from my tower room? Well, well--up with you.You can do no harm."
Dick was inclined to resent the old gentleman's failure to take themseriously, but Harry silenced his protest. As they went up the stairs hewhispered: "It's better for him to think that. We don't want anyone toknow what we're doing, you know--not yet."
So they reached the tower room, and, just as Harry had anticipated, gota wonderful view of the surrounding country. They found that theheliograph they had left behind was working feverishly and Harry tookout a pencil and jotted down the symbols as they were flashed.
"It's in code, of course," he said, "but maybe we'll find someone whocan decipher it--I know they have experts for that. It might come inhandy to know what they were talking about."
"There's the other station answering!" said Dick, excitedly, after amoment. "Isn't it lucky that it's such a fine day, Harry? See, there itis, over there!"
"Let me have the glasses," said Harry, taking the binoculars from Dick."Yes, you're right! They're on the top of a hill, just about where Ithought we'd find them, too. Come on! We've got no time to waste.They're a good seven miles from here, and we've a lot more to do yet."
Below stairs the old gentleman tried to stop them.
He was very curious by this time, for he had been thinking about themand it had struck him that they were too much in earnest to simply beenjoying lark. But Harry and Dick, while they met his questionspolitely, refused to enlighten him.
"I'm sorry, sir," said Harry, when the old gentleman pressed him toohard. "But I really think we mustn't tell you why we're here. But if youwould like to hear of it later, we'll be glad to come to see you andexplain everything."
"Bless my soul!" said the old man. "When I was a boy we didn't think somuch of ourselves, I can tell you! But then we didn't have any BoyScouts, either!"
It was hard to tell from his manner whether that was intended for acompliment or not. But they waited no longer. In a trice they were ontheir motorcycles and off again. And when they drew near to the hilltopwhence the signals had come, Harry stopped. For a moment he lookedpuzzled, then he smiled.
"I think I've got it!" he said. "They're clever enough to try to foolanyone who got on to their signalling. They would know what everyonewould think--that they would be sending their messages to the Eastcoast, because that is nearest to Germany. That's why they put theirfirst station here. I'll bet they send the flashes zig-zagging allaround, but that we'll find they all get east gradually. Now we'llcircle around this one until we find out in what direction it isflashing, then we'll know what line we must follow. After that all we'vegot to do is to follow the line to some high hill or building, and we'llpick up the next station."
Their eyes were more accustomed to the work now, and they wasted verylittle time. This time, just as Harry had guessed, the flashes werebeing sent due east, and judging from the first case that the nextstation would be less than ten miles away, he decided to ride straighton for about that distance. He had a road map, and found that they couldfollow a straight line, except for one break. They did not go near thehilltop at all.
"I'd like to know what they're doing there," said Dick.
"So would I, but it's open country, and they're probably keeping a closelookout. They're really safer doing that in the open than on the roof ofa house, out here in the country."
"Because they can hide the heliograph? It's portable, isn't it?"
"Yes. They could stow it away in a minute, if they were alarmed. I fancywe'll find them using hilltops now as much as they can."
"Harry, I've just thought of something. If they've planned so carefullyas this, wouldn't they be likely to have country places, where they'd beless likely to be disturbed?"
"Yes, they would. You're right, Dick. Especially as we get further andfurther away from London. I suppose there must be plenty of places aGerman could buy or lease."
"And perhaps people wouldn't even know they were Germans, if they spokegood English, and didn't have an accent."
That suggestion of Dick's bore fruit. For the third station they foundwas evidently hidden away in a private park. It was in the outskirts ofa little village, and Harry and Dick had no trouble at all in findingout all the villagers knew of the place. "'Twas taken a year ago by arich American gentleman, with a sight of motor cars and foreign-lookingservants," they were told. "Very high and mighty he is, too--does allhis buying at the stores in Lunnon, and don't give local trade any ofhis patronage."
The two scouts exchanged glances. Their suspicions were confirmed in away. But it was necessary to be sure; to be suspicious was not enoughfor them.
"We'll have to get inside," he said under his breath to Dick. But thevillager heard, and laughed.
"Easy enough, if you're friends of his," he said. "If not--look out,master! He's got signs up warning off trespassers, and traps and springguns all over the place. Wants to be very private, and that, he does."
"Thanks," said Harry. "Perhaps we'd better not pay him a visit, afterall."
The village was a sleepy little place, one of the few spots Harry hadseen to which the war fever had not penetrated. It was not on the lineof the railway, and there was not even a telegraph station. By showingColonel Throckmorton's letter, Harry and Dick could have obtained theright to search the property that they suspected. But that did not seemwise.
"I don't think the village constables here could help us much, Dick,"said Harry. "They'd give everything away, and we probably wouldn'taccomplish anything except to put them on their guard. I vote we waituntil dark and try to find out what we can by ourselves. It's risky buteven if they catch us, I don't think we need to be afraid of their doinganything."
"I'm wit
h you," said Dick. "We'll do whatever you say."
They spent the rest of the afternoon scouting around the neighboringcountry on their motorcycles, studying the estate from the roads thatsurrounded it. Bray Park, it was called, and it had for centuriesbelonged to an old family, which, however, had been glad of the highrent it had been able to extract from the rich American who had takenthe place.
What they saw was that the grounds seemed to be surrounded, near thewall, by heavy trees, which made it difficult to see much of what waswithin. But in one place there was a break, so that, looking acrossvelvety green lawns, they could see a small part of an old andweatherbeaten grey house. It appeared to be on a rise, and to standseveral stories above the ground, so that it might well be an idealplace for the establishment of a heliograph station.
But Harry's suspicions were beginning to take a new turn.
"I believe this is the biggest find we've made yet, Dick," he said. "Ithink we'll find that if we discover what is really going on here, we'llbe at the end of our task--or very near it. It's just the place for aheadquarters."
"I believe it is, Harry. And if they've been so particular to keepeverything about it secret, it certainly seems that there must besomething important to hide," suggested Harry, thinking deeply. "I thinkI'll write a letter to Colonel Throckmorton, Dick. I'll tell him aboutthis place, and that we're trying to get in and find out what we canabout it. Then, if anything happens to us, he'll know what we weredoing, and he will have heard about this place, even if they catch us.I'll post it before we go in."
"That's a splendid idea, Harry. I don't see how you think of everythingthe way you do."
"I think it's because my father's always talking about how one ought tothink of all the things that can go wrong. He says that's the way he'sgot along in business is by never being surprised by having somethingunfortunate happen, and by always trying to be ready to make it astrifling as it can be."
So Harry wrote and posted his letter, taking care to word it so that itwould be hard for anyone except Colonel Throckmorton to understand it.And, even after having purposely made the wording rather obscure, he putit into code. And, after that, he thought of still another precautionthat might be wise. "We won't need the credentials we've got in theretonight, Dick," he said. "Nor our copies of the code, either. We'll burythem near where we leave our motorcycles. Then when we get out we caneasily get them back, and if we should be caught they won't be found onus. Remember, if we are caught, we're just boys out trespassing. Letthem think we're poachers, if they like."
But even Harry could think of no more precautions after that, and theyhad a long and tiresome wait until they thought it was dark enough toventure within the walls.
Getting over the wall was not difficult. They had thought they mightfind broken glass on top, but there was nothing of the sort. Onceinside, however, they speedily discovered why that precaution was nottaken--and also that they had had a remarkably narrow escape. Forscarcely had they dropped to the ground and taken shelter when they sawa figure, carrying a gun, approaching. It was a man making the rounds ofthe wall. While they watched he met another man, also armed, and turnedto retrace this steps.
"They've got two men, at least--maybe a lot more, doing that," whisperedHarry. "We've got to find out just how often he passes that spot. Wewant to know if the intervals are regular, too, so that we can calculatejust when he'll be there."
Three times the man came and went, while they waited, timing him. AndHarry found that he passed the spot at which they had entered everyfifteen minutes. That was not exact for there was a variation of aminute or so, but it seemed pretty certain that he would pass betweenthirteen and seventeen minutes after the hour, and so on.
"So we'll know when it's safe to make a dash to get out," said Harry."The first thing a general does, you know, is to secure his retreat. Hedoesn't expect to be beaten, but he wants to know what he can live tofight another day if he is."
"We've got to retreat, haven't we?" asked Dick. "It wouldn't do us anygood to stay here."
"That's so. But we've got to advance first. Now to get near that house,and see what we can find. Look out for those traps and things our friendwarned us of. It looks like just the place for them. And keep to cover!"
They wormed their way forward, often crawling along. Both knew a gooddeal about traps and how they are set, and their common sense enabledthem to see the most likely places for them. They kept to open ground,avoiding shrubbery and what looked like windfalls of branches. Beforethey came into full view of the house they had about a quarter of a mileto go. And it was an exciting journey.
They dared not speak to one another. For all about, though at first theycould see nothing, there was the sense of impending danger. They feltthat unseen eyes were watching, not for them, perhaps, but for anyonewho might venture to intrude and pass the first line. Both of the scoutsfelt that they were tilting against a mighty force, that theorganization that would perfect, in time of peace. Such a system ofespionage in the heart of the country of a possible enemy, was of themost formidable sort.
They stopped, at last, at the edge of the clump of thick, old trees thatseemed to surround the place. Here they faced the open lawn, and Harryrealized that to try to cross it was too risky. They would gain nothingby being detected. They could find out as much here by keeping theireyes and ears open, he thought, as by going forward, when they werealmost sure to be detected.
"We'll stay here," he whispered to Dick, cautiously. "Dick, look overthere--to the left of the house. You see where there's a shadow by thatcentral tower? Well, to the left of that. Do you see some wires danglingthere? I'm not sure."
"I think there are," whispered Dick, after a moment in which he peeredthrough the darkness. Dick had one unusual gift. He had almost asavage's ability to see in the dark, although in daylight his sight wasby no means out of the ordinary.
"Look!" he said, again, suddenly. "Up on top of the tower! There issomething going up there--it's outlined against that white cloud!"
Harry followed with his eyes and Dick was right. A long, thin pole wasrising, even as they looked on. Figures showed on the roof of the tower.They were busy about the pole. It seemed to grow longer as they watched.Then, suddenly, the dangling wires they had first noticed were drawntaut, and they saw a cross-piece on the long pole. And then, with asudden rush of memory, Harry understood.
"Oh! We have struck it!" he said. "I remember now--a portable,collapsible wireless installation! I've wondered how they could usewireless, knowing that someone would be sure to pick up the signals andthat the plant would be run down. But they have those poles made insections--they could hide the whole thing. It takes very little time toset them up. This is simply a bigger copy of what they use in the field.We've got to get out!"
He looked at his watch.
"Carefully, now," he said. "We've just about got time. That sentry mustbe just about passing the place where we got over the wall now. By thetime we get there he'll be gone, and we can slip out. We've goteverything we came for, not that we've seen that!"
They started on the return journey through the woods. More than everthere seemed to be danger about them. And suddenly it reached out andgripped them--gripped Harry, at least. As he took a step his foot sankthrough the ground, as it seemed. The next moment he had all he could doto suppress a cry of agony as a trap closed about his ankle, wrenchingit, and throwing him down.
"Go on!" he said to Dick, suppressing his pain by a great effort.
"I won't leave you!" said Dick. "I-"
"Obey orders! Don't you see you've go to go? You've got to tell themabout the wireless--and about where I am! Or else how am I to get away?Perhaps if you come back quickly with help they won't find me until youcome! Hurry--hurry!"
Dick understood. And, with a groan, he obeyed orders, and went.