CHAPTER II
THE STRANGER
For the life of him Phil Morgan could not have told why he was so keenlyinterested in that stranger. He could not see the man's face; he did notpresume it was anybody he had ever seen before; nor had he any reason tobe suspicious of the man.
Nevertheless he felt a little thrill as he first caught sight of thestranger, and this feeling spurred his exclamation to Torry, which leadthe others' attention to him.
After they had all seen the man, Phil added: "Pull her down. Let's seewhat he is up to."
Torrance stopped the automobile. His chum was their acknowledged leaderin most things, and all the other Navy boys were used to obeying PhilMorgan's mandates without much question. As told in the former books ofthis series, Morgan was an observant and level-headed youth, and hisfriends might have followed a much more dangerous leader in both workand play.
The four boys, at that time all under eighteen years of age, had beguntheir first enlistment in the Navy several months before the UnitedStates got into the war. They spent some months in the training camp atSaugarack, on the New England coast.
The Government commissioned new craft of all kinds as rapidly as theycould be obtained, and was obliged to man some of them partly withyouths who had not yet finished their preliminary training ashore.
Phil Morgan and his friends had made rapid progress in their studies andthe drills, and they were lucky enough to be assigned to the same ship.This was the destroyer _Colodia_, one of the newest of her class, a fastship of a thousand tons' burden. She made two cruises, both crammed fullof excitement and adventure; and the story of these cruises is relatedin the first volume of the series, entitled "Navy Boys After theSubmarines; Or, Protecting the Giant Convoy."
In this first narrative of their adventures in the United States Navy,Phil had a very thrilling experience. He fell overboard from his shipand was picked up by the German U-boat No. 812.
After the conclusion of the destroyer's second cruise the four chumsfrom Seacove were enabled to spend a week at home. Returning to theport in which they had been instructed to join the _Colodia_ theevening before she again was to sail, the four chums were held up by aburning railroad bridge, which had been set on fire by German agents.
It looked as though they would be unable to reach the _Colodia_ on time.This event would be a very serious matter, for the naval authoritiesfrown upon any tardiness of enlisted men in returning from shore leave.Besides, the boys particularly desired to be aboard the _Colodia_ duringher coming cruise.
The second volume of the series opened with this situation. The boysmade the acquaintance of an influential man, Mr. Alonzo Minnette, whowas likewise a passenger on the stalled train. And he made it possiblefor the four apprentice seamen to reach their ship in time.
In this second volume entitled: "Navy Boys Chasing a Sea Raider; Or,Landing a Million Dollar Prize," the four young members of the_Colodia's_ crew, whose adventures we are following, had many thrillingexperiences. In the end, the destroyer, by a ruse, captured the _Grafvon Posen_, a noted sea raider, and Whistler and his chums are allowedto board her as part of the prize crew.
The boys were particularly interested in the cargo of the raider, forMr. Minnette had promised them a thousand dollars to divide among themif they discovered aboard the raider the treasure of the Borgias, acollection of precious stones, that the captain of the _Graf von Posen_had taken from an Italian merchant ship which had been captured and sunkby the Germans.
Naturally the Navy boys were interested in having others join the Navy;and Hans Hertig, whom they found at home visiting his mother, wasparticularly anxious to get some young men, who were working in Elmvaleand who came of German stock like himself, to enlist and show theirpatriotism and love for the country of their birth.
"Say! what do you suppose is the matter with that chap?" Frenchydemanded at last in his rather high, penetrating voice.
Instantly the man in the bushes turned and saw the automobile. Like aflash he settled down in his tracks and disappeared. One moment he was aplain figure standing out against the background of the dam; the next hewas not there at all!
"By St. Patrick's piper that played the last snake out of Ireland!"gasped Frenchy, "he ain't there no more."
"You poor fish!" ejaculated Al in disgust, "you scared him off with yoursquealing. Who do you suppose he was?"
"And what is he doing over there?" added Ikey Rosenmeyer.
"Funny thing," observed Whistler. "Must be something important up onthat dam he was looking at through his glasses."
"Might as well drive on," growled Al, punching the starter button again."This Frenchman from Cork would spoil anything."
"Aw--g'wan!" muttered the abashed Michael Donahue.
"Well, that chap was no guard, that is sure," Whistler said.
They drove slowly on across the bridge. All of them searched the base ofthe dam--or as much of it as could be seen, for the fringe of trees andshrubs that masked it--but not a moving figure did they see. The waterpoured over the flashboard with a splashing murmur at that distance, andran down under the bridge in a rocky bed. It was clear and cool looking.Below the factories the river water was of an entirely different color,and people in Seacove had begun to object to the filth from the Elmvalemills being dumped into the cove.
Al Torrance stopped the car at the side gate of the biggest munitionworks just as the noon whistle blew. Seven Knott got out and began tolook about for his friends to whom he had tried to talk enlistment.
He soon spied two of them, and beckoned them near. Others followed.Whistler and his chums were introduced by the boatswain's mate, who leftthe talking to the youths after he had introduced his friends.
In five minutes there was a very earnest enlistment meeting going on atthe gate of the munition factory. Perhaps no harder place to gainrecruits could have been selected. In the first instance, all the boysworking here were earning big money. And there was, too, some excitementin the work. As one of them said:
"You Jackies haven't anything on us. We don't know but any moment we maybe blown sky-high."
"True for you," put in Frenchy smartly. "But you don't get any fun outof your danger. We do. And we get promotion and steadily increased payand a chance to get up in the world."
"Sure!" broke in Al. "Some day we're all going to win gold stripes;aren't we, fellows?"
His chums declared he was right. But one listener said doubtfully:
"You won't ever win commissions if you get sunk or blown up, on one ofthose blamed old iron pots."
"Say!" put in Ikey Rosenmeyer hotly, "you fellows won't get no advancein rating at all, and you may get blown up any time. We've gotsomething to work for, we have!"
"We've got money to work for," declared one of the munition workers.
"Oi, oi!" sneered Ikey. "What's money yet?" A sneer which vastly amusedhis chums, for Ikey's inborn love for the root of all evil was wellknown.
As the group stood talking, along came a man, walking briskly from thedirection the Seacove boys had come in their automobile. Two or three ofthe munition workers spoke to the man, who was broad-shouldered, walkedwith a brisk military step, and was heavily bewhiskered.
Whistler stopped talking to a possible candidate for the blue uniform ofthe Navy, and looked after this stranger.
"Who is he?" he asked.
"That's Blake. Works in our laboratory. Nice fellow," was the reply.
"Oh! I didn't know but he was one of the men guarding the dam," Whistlermurmured.
"Shucks! there aren't any guards up there. There are soldiers here atthe factories, though."
"Is that so?" questioned Whistler. "Where's he been, do you suppose?"
"Who? Blake?"
"That man," said young Morgan grimly.
"Oh, he's a bug on natural history, or the like. Always tapping rockswith a hammer, or hunting specimens, or botanizing. Great chap. Hasn'tbeen here in Elmvale long. But everybody likes him."
Phil made no further c
omment aloud, but to himself he said:
"He wasn't botanizing through that field-glass; or knocking specimensoff of rocks. His interest was centered on the face of the dam. I wonderwhy?"
For the military looking man, called Blake, was the individual he andhis friends had seen in the bushes as they drove along the Upper Road,and who had seemed desirous of being unobserved by the passers-by.