CHAPTER XXII LIKE OLD TIMES FOR THE SCOUTS
“There, that settles it. Donald wants us to show up,” Tubby broke outwith, rejoiced in the opportunity to discontinue his long silence.
“Are we going, Rob?” demanded Andy, even more impatient.
“Come along, everybody!” decided the scout master.
With that they arose to their feet, the distressing period of crouchingand trying to hide themselves being at an end. They could all take deepbreaths and begin to experience some of the joy that comes with theadvent of victory after a hard-fought battle.
Rob led the way, and they quickly arrived at the foot of the steepembankment which marked the joining of the railway with the beginning ofthe trestle. Up this they started bravely. Tubby began to have his owntroubles immediately, for, as might be expected, the soil started tocrumble more or less under his feet. Tubby was unusually awkward aboutgetting a footing.
Several times he started to slide back, and only recovered himself withdifficulty. Then came an occasion when he failed to secure a grip, andas his weight caused the earth and stones to crumble more and more underhim Tubby commenced rolling down the slope like a barrel, clawing at awild rate to the right and to the left.
He undoubtedly would have gone all of the route and brought up where hebegan his climb, much the worse for his experience, but for Zeb. The bigMaine guide chanced to be below the rest, and was thus able to reach outand seize upon the revolving Tubby. By bracing himself, Zeb also managedto bring the other to a full stop. Tubby was in luck, as usuallyhappened. He once again started upward, as if he were the famous youthin the poem whose motto, when climbing the snow-clad heights, was“Excelsior”; only Tubby did not expect to meet with the other’s sadfate.
In this fashion, assisted by the man of the woods, Tubby was enabled tofinally gain the top of the embankment. Rob and Andy had alreadyadvanced to join the little group of excited men hurrying toward thespot.
There was Donald in the lead, with a sturdy man in overalls at his side,whose arm was proudly thrown across the boy’s shoulders; for RobertMcGuffey realized that his boy had covered the family name with honor byhis action. Then came the conductor of the train, a man in uniform, whocarried a lighted lantern, together with a number of soldiers armed withguns. Every one of them seemed eager and full of enthusiasm, for the warno longer lay thousands of miles off, with an ocean rolling between—ithad actually come to their very doors.
One man, who Rob could see was an officer, he thought a lieutenant atleast, immediately bustled up and faced him. He leaned forward andlooked earnestly into the face of the scout, whose khaki uniform musthave interested him.
“This boy who turns out to be the engineer’s son,” he hurriedly said,“tells us you and your comrades are American lads and that you havecrossed the boundary to give warning that a vile plot was on foot todynamite the bridge. Is this the truth, or a fairy story?”
“Yes, it is what brings us here, sir,” replied Rob simply. “Most of thecredit for discovering the truth belongs to Donald McGuffey.”
“No, no; for where would I have been only for your finding me caught inthe auld bear trap?” cried the other energetically. “Besides, I nevercould hae reached here alone, in time to save the bridge. If there beany honor, every one o’ ye shares in the same.”
“This sounds very fine,” said the officer, who could hardly bringhimself to believe that it was the truth. “What proof have you to backyour story up?”
Impulsive Andy could contain himself no longer. He was more than alittle indignant that their word should be even doubted.
“Rob, show them, won’t you? Seeing is believing every time, and we’vegot all the proof any one would want, a dozen times over.”
“Yes, show him, Rob, please do!” urged Tubby, also beginning to feel arighteous indignation.
“If you will come with us, sir,” Rob told the officer, “you can seeenough to convince you we have told nothing but the truth.”
“Lead on, and we will follow,” the other commanded; and then, turning,he added something in low tones to a couple of his men, who immediatelyclosed in on either side of the boys and Zeb.
But Rob only smiled. He could easily afford to laugh, knowing as he didwhat was in store for the Doubting Thomas of a Canadian officer, who,fearful of being made the victim of a joke, would not believe withoutpositive evidence.
Accordingly down the bank they all plunged, while the engine continuedto fret near by, as though repenting of having been stopped short.Possibly Tubby would have excelled all the rest in making that descent,for he had already commenced to slide, and in another moment must havetaken a header, only for the strong arm of Zeb, the Maine guide, havinghovered near in the rôle of protector and defender.
Once at the bottom, Rob, taking in his bearings, led the way directly tothe spot where, with his comrades, he had been lately crouching. Thefirst thing he did on arriving was to take the lighted lantern from thehand of the train conductor and hold it close to the ground.
“There is the copper insulated wire that ran from the battery to theplanted mine,” he explained.
The officer, bending forward, looked it over. His doubts began tovanish, for surely this seemed like stern business.
“Who cut this wire?” he demanded sharply.
“I did, sir,” replied Rob modestly.
“What was your object in doing it?” continued the soldier, eyeing thescout with kindling interest.
“We knew that the first thing to be done was to prevent thoseconspirators from using their battery to discharge the mine,” explainedRob, “and that if only we could come upon the connections and sever themthey would have their teeth drawn. But it was only at the last minute wemanaged to find the concealed wire; for as you can see, sir, they had itpinned close to the ground with these metal staples.”
He pulled one of the crooked bits of stout wire up as he spoke andshowed them how craftily it worked. Everybody pushed forward to see. Theconductor of the million-dollar freight knew he was losing valuable timeand would have to run additionally fast if he ever hoped to make it up;but the story of the scout interested him deeply, and, besides, it had adirect bearing on the safety of himself and crew, so he felt justifiedin lingering.
“Now,” continued Rob, “none of us has as yet set eyes on any mine. Weonly believe one has been planted under the trestle here. It would bethe right thing for us to follow up this broken wire and see forourselves how true this theory is. Shall we start, sir?”
“Without a second’s delay!” snapped the aroused lieutenant. “There mayyet be sufficient time to pursue the rascals and bring them to justicefor this attempted outrage. And believe me, boy, we will make them paydearly for their fun, if only we can lay hands on the cowardly curs!”
Still holding the lantern, and followed by the group, Rob was alreadytracing the course of the pinned-down copper wire. As he had theconductor’s light, of course that worthy had to keep trotting at hisheels, which was sufficient excuse for further delay on his part.
They speedily came to the high trestle, and passed under the heavy beamsand timbers of which it was constructed. Then there were exclamationsthat ran the whole gamut of wonder and horror, when the end of the wireshowed them a small box that contained enough explosives to wreck theentire structure, for it had been artfully placed so as to do the utmostdamage possible.
“Lift up that box and handle it carefully, two of you men,” ordered theofficer. “Soak it in the river, and stand guard over it until relieved.We will want it as evidence when handing in a report of this madadventure.”
Hardly waiting to see that they started to carry out his instructions,he turned once more upon Rob. Now there was only admiration in theofficer’s manner of speaking to the boy.
“We apparently owe a great deal to the efficiency of you and your bravescout comrades, my lad,” said the now convinced lieutenant. “Perhaps youcould add still further to the debt by
showing us where those scoundrelswere in hiding, waiting to fire the mine. I confess an overpoweringdesire to follow them, and save them the trouble of recrossing theboundary line.”
“Nothing easier, sir,” calmly replied Rob. “All we have to do is tofollow the other half of the broken wire and it will lead us to theirnest.”
“Well, I should say so!” chuckled Andy, wondering why the officer hadnot hit upon this very simple method instantly; but then, Andyreflected, the poor fellow had in his youth never had the chance ofbecoming a scout and learning the art of using his wits to look for thecause of things, as well as cultivating the habit of observation.
Back they hurried in an eager bunch to the spot where Rob had severedthe connecting link with his little combination pliers and wire-cutter.Here the other line was taken up. It led them toward the identical spotwhere the boys had previously decided the plotting invaders were hidden.This proved to be a clump of dense bushes, affording an excellent refugesecure from discovery, although it was near enough to the railwayembankment to allow observation.
“You see, here’s the battery,” laughed Rob, making good use of thelantern again, and everybody gasped as they saw what he was pointing at.
Apparently, when the men in hiding had failed to fire the mine andrealized that their terrible plot had “missed connections” in somestrange way, they must have been suddenly overwhelmed with a panic, forthey had fled in such haste that no attempt had been made to carry offtheir belongings, and so the fine little battery was abandoned to itsfate.
There was no longer the shadow of a doubt in the mind of the warylieutenant. He forgot that he had mistrusted these boys in thebeginning, and suspected that they were trying to gain some glory,without any real basis for their wonderful story. All this Robunderstood when the other impulsively grasped and squeezed his hand, atthe same time exclaiming:
“I am proud to meet you, my brave young chap. I only regret that you arenot a Canadian like Donald here. You have done us a tremendous favor byyour energy and your Yankee smartness. I am going to ask you to help usstill further. If only we could capture those villains, it wouldcomplete this wonderful night’s work. Will you accompany me with severalof my men, while we try and cut them off before they can recross theline and find refuge in the States?”
“Oh, Rob!” cried Andy; and that was all he said, but there was a worldof entreaty in those two words.
The scout master, whose indignation had been fully aroused because ofthat late near-tragedy, in which his country would have been undoubtedlyinvolved, did not take ten seconds to make up his mind.
“Yes, we’ll gladly coöperate with you to try and round them up, sir;three of us at least will go with you, and the sooner we start thebetter chances we’ll have for success.”