CHAPTER XXV
“A PRISONER”
“What’s he doing here?”
“Where’s he going?”
“Did he see us?”
These were the questions asked in turn by Ned, Bob, and Jerry, as theyslipped along in the darkness, following the man with the crooked nose,whom they had so unexpectedly seen.
“Maybe he came to laugh at us for the way the tables were turned on us,the time we tried to catch him in the farmer’s barn,” suggested Jerry.
“He’s come a long distance out of his way for a little thing likethat,” commented Ned. “I’m inclined to think he came here to meet someone. After Bob spoke I saw the fellow look at his watch as thoughimpatient because of an appointment not kept.”
“Well, where’s he going now?” asked Bob, repeating his question.
“I guess it’s up to us to find out,” replied Jerry.
“Maybe he’s trying to lead us into an ambush,” suggested Bob.
“Cut out the dime-novel stuff,” advised Jerry, with a low laugh. “I’vegot a better explanation than that, and the real one.”
“What is it?” asked Ned.
“It’s our black faces,” returned the tall chum. “If that crooked-nosedman--Jim Waydell the farmer called him, though it may not be his rightname--if he saw us at all, which he probably did, he takes us fornegroes. That’s why he isn’t worried. He thinks we’re camp roustabouts,and that we don’t know anything about him.”
“I believe you’re right!” exclaimed Ned, after a moment’s thought. “Wedo look like a trio of colored chaps, and that’s why he isn’t gettingworried and taking it on the run. Say, it’s a lucky thing we are thisway.”
“Maybe,” assented Jerry. “Now mind your talk. Do the negro dialect aswell as you can, fellows, and we may find out something about thismysterious Crooked Nose. If we can bring about his arrest for robbingthe Frenchman, or for setting the fire, which Mr. Cardon seemed tothink he did, it will be a good thing for us and Cresville. So pretendwe are colored men with a few hours off.”
The boys walked as near as they thought safe to the solitary suspect,who was trudging down the road alone. When they spoke aloud the motorboys simulated the broad negro tones, talking and laughing as theyhad often heard the camp teamsters and servants do, for the place wasoverrun with good-natured, if rather shiftless, colored men.
As for “Mr. Crooked Nose,” as the boys sometimes called him, he seemedto pay little attention to those who were following him. Either he tookthem for genuine colored men, and, as such, persons who could have nointerest in his movements, or he was indifferent to the fact that theymight be some of the minstrel players.
What the man’s object was in coming to camp, when the farm on which hewas supposed to work was several miles away, could only be guessed at.But the boys hoped to find it out.
They were approaching the camp confines, and were debating whether theycould risk going beyond them, when the crooked-nosed man turned into afield, and made his way toward a deserted barn. This was one that hadbeen on a farm when the land had been taken by the government for CampDixton.
“Maybe he’s going to sleep there,” suggested Bob. “Or perhaps he isgoing to meet some one there.”
“Keep quiet,” advised Jerry. “We’ll walk on down the road, as if wedidn’t care what he did. Then we’ll circle back and sneak up to thebarn. Maybe we can find out something about him. Strike up a song, sohe’ll think we’re what we pretend to be.”
They began humming the chorus of one of the songs they had sung in theminstrel show, and so passed on down the road. There was a moon, andthe movements of the crooked-nosed man could easily be observed. Hestruck off across the vacant lots toward the barn, not even lookingback at the singing boys, who did, indeed, have the appearance ofnegroes.
Proceeding far enough beyond a turn of the road to be hidden fromsight, Ned, Bob, and Jerry waited a few minutes, and then turned back.This time they did not sing, and they talked only in whispers.
Cautiously they approached the barn, looking for any sign of a lightor any movement that would indicate the presence of the mysterious manor of a person who had come there to meet him, or with whom he hadexpected to keep a rendezvous.
“‘All quiet along the Potomac,’” quoted Bob, in a low voice.
“Well, have it quiet here, too,” whispered Jerry. “We may discoversomething, and we may not. But there’s no use in giving ourselves away.He may get angry if he finds we’re not what we seem to be, and knowsthat we’ve been following him. Go easy now!”
The young soldiers finally stood in the shadow of the barn and listenedintently. At first they heard nothing but the rattle and flap of someloose pieces of wood.
“He’s gone!” murmured Ned.
“Listen!” advised Jerry.
Even as he spoke they all heard the low murmur of voices. And thevoices were those of men.
“We’ve got to get nearer, where we can hear better,” whispered Jerry tohis chums. “It’s around this way.”
He led the way to the side of the barn that was in the deepest shadow,and presently they came to a stop below a small window. The glass hadbeen broken out of it, and through the aperture came the tones of thevoices more distinctly. One said:
“When did he say he was coming?”
“He promised to be here to-night,” was the answer.
Of course the boys, not having heard the crooked-nosed man’s voice, didnot know which was his, nor which was his companion’s.
“To-night; eh?” came in sharp tones. “Well, he didn’t come, and youtell him I want to see him, and see him bad. I’m tired of hangingaround here without any money, and I’m working like a dog on that farm.”
“That’s Crooked Nose,” whispered Bob.
“Yes,” agreed Jerry.
“Well, I’ll tell him,” said the other voice. “I don’t know what’s gotinto him lately. But he and Pug have some game on and----”
The voice died out into an indistinguishable murmur.
“Did you hear that?” demanded Ned, and his voice was so sharp thatJerry clapped a hand over his friend’s lips.
“Quiet!” he cautioned.
They listened, but the voices were no longer heard. Instead came thesound of feet tramping on bare boards.
“They’re going away,” murmured Bob.
“Let’s stay here and see what happens,” suggested Ned. “I’d like toknow who that other man is. Maybe there’s spy work going on in ourcamp!”
It was within the bounds of possibility.
Waiting in the shadows, the motor boys heard the footsteps die away.Then the murmur of voices sounded again. They came nearer, andindicated that those who were talking were outside the barn.
“Well, I’ll tell him you want to see him,” said the man who was withthe crooked-nosed fellow.
“You’d better! He can have all the games he wants with Pug, but he’sgot to make a settlement with me. I took all the risk, and he got allthe money. I want my share!”
“I’ll tell him!”
“And now about this storehouse business,” went on the other. “Can youget into it?”
“I have an extra key. And Kratzler----”
“No names!” warned the other quickly. “You can’t tell who may besneaking about. Nix on the names!”
Then the voices died away again, and the boys, listening, could hearnothing more.
“There’s something wrong going on here!” decided Ned. “Did you hearPug’s name mentioned twice?”
“Yes,” assented Jerry. “But it may not be the one we know.”
“I believe it is,” went on Ned. “We’ve got to find out more about this.There they go!”
He pointed to two figures, dimly seen. They were moving rapidly awayacross the field.
“Come on!” exclaimed Ned, in a tense whisper.
Just then in the distance, two shots rang out.
“That’s the signal!” cried Jerry. “They’re ending the ske
tch ‘TheSentry’s Last Challenge.’ We go on right after that in the finalchorus. We’ve got about five minutes to make it. Come on! Hike!”
“But what about these fellows?” asked Bob.
“We’ll have to let them go,” decided Ned. “We can’t afford to spoilthe minstrel show for the sake of something that may not amount toanything.”
“Not even to catch Crooked Nose?” asked Bob, in disappointed tones.
“We’ll take up his case later,” said Jerry. “Just now we’re minstrels.Come on.”
There was nothing else to do, and though the boys wanted to remain and,if possible, solve the mystery, they felt that they owed it to CaptainTrainer to make the minstrel show a success. They had important parts,and the shots they had heard fired were blank cartridges, dischargedduring the enactment of a little skit, played by some members of theircompany.
The two men had disappeared in the shadows, and it was a questionwhether the boys could have spied on them to any further advantage thatnight. So they hurried back, arriving just in time to take part in thelast chorus.
After the show, which was voted a big success, the boys debated amongthemselves whether they should report what they had seen and heard andmention Pug Kennedy’s name. Also they talked of the time when they hadseen Pug have a midnight meeting with some one.
“There was more in that than appeared on the surface,” declared Ned.
“Yes, I agree with you,” said Jerry. “And there’s something in thisaffair to-night, too. But we don’t know enough to cause more thansuspicions, and there’s a chance that things would go against us.”
“Then what are we to do?” asked Bob.
“Keep quiet, I say, until we have more definite information,” was thetall lad’s answer. “We can make another attempt to find out more aboutthis crooked-nosed man.”
“That’s what I say,” decided Ned. “Let’s wait a bit.”
So they said nothing about having followed the man to the barn, beingable to get close to him because he took them for negroes, and theybided their time.
The minstrel show made a welcome break in the monotony of camp life,and it acted like a good tonic. The boys were the more ready to take upthe routine of work, and there was plenty of it.
As they progressed in their soldier life Ned, Bob and Jerry found itmore interesting. The need of the various drills began to be betterunderstood. They liked the work on the rifle ranges, the machine gunexercises and the trench work. They went on several other hikes, and attimes were given charge of some new squads of drafted men who came tocamp.
It was about two weeks after the minstrel show that Jerry, Bob and Nedwere all out on guard together when they heard the man on the post nextto Jerry’s calling:
“Corporal of the guard!”
“What’s the matter?” asked Jerry, as he sent the call down the line.
“I’ve got a prisoner!” was the answer. “I caught him trying to get inthrough the lines! I guess he’s a German spy!”
“Maybe it’s the crooked-nosed man!” exclaimed Bob.
“Or the one who was with him in the barn,” added Ned.
“Or the one they spoke of as going into some game with Pug,” saidJerry. “Come on! We’d better go help Kelly.” Kelly was the name of thesentry who had called.
The three boys went off on a run in the darkness, going to the aid oftheir comrade. Little did they dream of the surprise in store for them.