CHAPTER XXIII
IGGY TURNS SLEUTH
Vindicated at the eleventh hour by the confessions of Bixton andEldridge, Franz Schnitzel returned to barracks completely exonerated ofthe crime of poisoning his comrades. Bixton and Eldridge both underwentspeedy trial by a court martial. Bixton was charged with desertion andconspiracy, and sentenced to several years in a Federal prison, whileEldridge escaped with a year. As an accomplice of Bixton in the matterof the suitcase affair, he was deemed equally guilty of conspiracy.
During the first week or two after his return to his company, Schnitzelshowed a depth of gratitude toward the four Brothers that only one whohad been so long in the shadow could exhibit to those who had led himback into the sunshine. As time went on, however, he relapsed into hisold taciturn ways. He took to prowling about by himself seeming almostto resent the Khaki Boys' kindly invitations to accompany them on theirlittle adventures about camp or to Tremont or Glenwood.
In fact Schnitzel showed a decided predilection for the society of aCuban, named Fernando, who lived in Company E's adjoining barrack.Fernando was a man who had almost as little to say as had Schnitzel.Though not a citizen of the United States he had enlisted shortly beforethe four Khaki Boys had come to Camp Sterling. At the time of thepoisoning he had been on kitchen detail also and, soon after Schnitzel'srelease, the German-American had struck up a friendship with him.
"I no like him, that Koobain," Ignace frequently protested to hisbunkies. "Never I see why Schnitzel go by him all time. He no good."
Growing distrust of Fernando prompted Iggy to poke about in the discreetwake of Schnitzel and the Cuban. His frequent absences from barracks inthe evening occasioned a good deal of curious comment on the part of hisbunkies.
One night as they discussed this Iggy was hiking along through a finerain after his quarry. He had followed Schnitzel out of barracks andseen him meet Fernando. This evening the two had elected to walk fardespite the bad weather. Coming at last to an outlying barrack in anearly stage of the process of erection, the two paused before it andbegan to talk. Seeing them stop, Iggy stopped also at a safe distance.He dared go no nearer to them. Deeply disappointed, he was about to turnback when a brilliant idea assailed him.
Keeping well in the shelter of a neighboring barrack which was almostcompleted, he made a wide circle and approached the skeleton of theother barrack from the back. It would be easy enough for him to climbinto it and make his way to the partially open front, provided he coulddo it without being heard. Once there he could crouch low within a fewfeet of the two men and perhaps overhear what they said. He had alreadyheard at different times enough of their talk to worry him. Now heproposed to hear still more--if only they did not go away before he gotto them. The first words he heard, spoken in German, nearly toppled himover.
"You are willing to do this for the Fatherland?" It was the supposedCuban who spoke.
"Yes. I long to be of use to Germany. Nothing else can wipe out thetrouble that these cursed Americans have made me. I wish now that I hadbeen the one to poison those dogs. Then I would have gloried in it."
"You have been spared for a greater work. What you will do to-morrownight will well recompense you. Now remember. Meet me here at sixto-morrow evening. I will give you the camera. Be sure and set it in therubbish can with the tripod socket downward. The shutter release is onthe side. You will have fastened one end of this piece of fishing lineto the trigger of the shutter release. Fishing line does not stretch.Loop the other end round one of the bolts on the inside of the coverthat hold its handle on. I have examined those covers and there is abolt end coming through which makes this possible. Tie it with as littleslack as possible and fit the cover on the can. The first man who liftsit will do the trick."
"What will happen when that release is pulled?" asked Schnitzel.
The other man chuckled grimly.
"A snap shot will be taken somewhat different from the usual sort. Thatrelease controls an electrical contact intimately connected with acertain kind of fulminate and behind that again is--the stuff that meansthe finish of Company E barracks. The explosion will be so destructivethat no trace will be left of either the camera or the can. Very soonafterward Company E's other barrack will follow yours. This is a trickwhich can be successfully worked twice. Now heed what I tell you, asthis is our only chance to talk. To-morrow night I will meet you hereonly for a moment to give you the camera. You must then hurry back anddo your work, while the men are at mess. We can only trust that no onewill disturb the can too soon. We must destroy as many of our enemies aswe can before they are sent out against us. You are not afraid to doyour part for the Fatherland?"
"_Deutschland ueber alles_," was Schnitzel's low, fervent answer.
"_Gut!_ Now we must return. Go you first and I will follow slowly. Ishall not see you again until I meet you here at six to-morrow evening."
Trembling with horror at what he had heard, Ignace waited breathlesslyfor the plotters to depart. After five minutes he straightened upcautiously. All was silent. Growing bolder he stood erect and peered outof one of the open spaces in the frame-work of the barrack. No one wasin sight. Making a hasty exit he set off for headquarters on the madrun.
Arrived at headquarters he had his own troubles with a superciliousorderly, who demanded to know the nature of his business.
"I will no tell," was the Pole's dogged refusal. "You no say himPulinski want see, you ver' sorry."
This threat was effective in gaining for him the desired interview. Histale told, Ignace became alarmed at the major's lack of agitation.
"You no believe, sir, what I do?" he ended desperately.
"I believe you, Pulinski." The K. O.'s tone was extremely kind. "Now I'mgoing to ask you to go back to barracks and say nothing to anyone aboutthis. You've done your part and done it well. Leave the rest to me, andremember the Army will protect its own."
"So will I, sir. For Schnitzel have I the hurt here." Iggy laid a handon his heart. "Never have I think he spy. Once fren's. Now him enemy mycountry, my enemy, too. I am the solder."
Saluting, Iggy departed wholly unconscious of the nobility of his littlespeech.
The next day broke in a torrent of rain that gradually slackened to afine mist that continued to fall all day, bringing on an early dusk.Painfully on the alert, Ignace had watched vainly all day for the"som'thin'." He had had no trouble in avoiding Schnitzel. The latter hadnot come near the four Brothers. When at ten minutes to six Ignace sawhim go down the squad-room stairs, he was in a fever of dread. The timehad come and the "so cross major" had done nothing. He had not believed,then, after all. Ignace decided that he would have to take theinitiative. He would say he was not hungry. He would not go to mess. Hewould stay in barracks and watch the rubbish can. If Schnitzel attemptedto go near it, he would fight him away from it.
Meanwhile Schnitzel was forging along through the mist toward therendezvous. As he neared the spot, he could see no one. Drawing close tothe barrack he waited, eyes and ears trained to catch first sight andsound of Fernando. It was only a moment or two until he heard theswashing contact of running feet with mud. Next a rain-drenched figuremade port beside him, flashing a white ray of light upon him.
"It is you," spoke a relieved voice in German. "Here is the camera. Takeit quickly. I must return. Fail you not. Strike well for theFatherland!"
"Hold it just a second," replied Schnitzel. "I brought a paper for it toguard against the rain."
"_Gut_," approved the voice. "_Bitte, schnell!_"
"All's well!" Schnitzel exclaimed loudly in English.
"Shh! Are you mad that you----"
The question was never answered. Forth from the skeleton of the barrackleaped a succession of dark forms. They closed in on the pair withincredible quickness.
"Traitor!" came a savage cry uttered in German. "Die then, with yourkind!"
"Not yet," panted Schnitzel as the supposed colleagues foughtdesperately for the possession of the camera case, to which Schnitzelclung
like grim death. "Got it," he bellowed. "Hold him tight! He'sFreidrich, not Fernando! He's a German spy! He poisoned the boys! Hetried to blow up the barracks! I swore to run him down! I've done it.Let him die like a dog! Shooting's too good for him!"
CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION
"We're here because we're here!" announced Bob, beaming fatuously onfour young men gathered about a round table in a Tremont restaurant.
A week had elapsed since Franz Schnitzel had sprung the dramaticdenouement that had rid the world of one more fiend. Johann Freidrich,alias Juan Fernando, had been shot at sunrise of the morning before. Bobwhimsically declaring that the event needed celebrating, he hadstraightway invited his Brothers and Schnitzel to a celebration inTremont.
"We're not going to be _here_ long. I mean at Camp Sterling," smiledRoger. "I expect any minute to get the order to pack."
"We should worry," rejoined Bob. "We've stirring times ahead of us.We've had a few right in camp, too."
"Gee whiz, Schnitz, you must feel great!" glowed Jimmy. "Think of allyou've done already for your country. I thought I was some when Inabbed Bixton. Beside you--well--I'm not so much. What a shame therearen't any medals handed out in the Army. You ought to get enough tocover up your chest. You're due for a rise in ranks, though. Bet you myhat on that. Now you've got to tell us how you did it all. You've neverpeeped. We've been laying for you. Got you down here on purposeto-night. Now spill."
"I intended to tell you fellows." Schnitzel's melancholy dark eyeswandered over the group. Ever since that eventful evening in the rain hehad been the observed of all observers. As a result he had promptlyretired into his shell, declining to be lionized. Even to the four KhakiBoys he had granted only the barest details of his exploit.
"Somehow I couldn't bear to talk about it. It was all so sickening. ButI don't mind telling you fellows now. There isn't much to tell. I neversuspected Freidrich until after I got out of the guard-house. One day hecame to me and started saying how sorry he'd been for me. He beganasking me about myself and my people. What they thought about the warand if they had any relatives in it in Germany. He said many of theGermans were fine people who'd been misunderstood. He gave me a kind ofa queer look and, I don't know why, but it somehow made me distrust him.So I said I didn't know how my folks felt about it because I hadn'tseen them for several years. That wasn't true, but anyway it wasn't anyof his business. I told him I didn't know if any of our relatives inGermany were in the war. That was true enough. I didn't say what Ithought about the Germans themselves.
"That was all he said that time. He kept coming around after me andsympathizing with me. I thought at first he was trying to get me toqueer myself. Thought maybe headquarters had put him on my trail to seeif I was really all O. K. So I was pretty careful. I found out he couldspeak German, too. I thought that was rather queer and said so. Heexplained that he'd learned it from a German overseer on his father'splantation in Cuba. I didn't believe it. He spoke it like a German. Hehad more of the way of a German than a Cuban.
"All of a sudden I made up my mind not to go on in the dark. I went tothe K. O. and asked him flat if Fernando had been set to watch me. Henearly had a fit until I told him a few things that I suspected. Then hegave me leave to spring a bluff on the fellow that I was down on theArmy, just to see what he'd do.
"So next day I went to him and gave him a great line of talk about howsick I was of Camp Sterling and what a mistake the U. S. had made indeclaring war on the Fatherland. That made him prick up his ears. But hewas no fool. I had to string him along good and hard before he bit atthe hook. One day he asked me why I'd enlisted. I just smiled and threwhim a funny look. He stared hard at me and muttered: 'Hoch der Kaiser,'and I said: 'You bet.'
"Then I had him going. After that it was easy. He soon got so he'd talkfor hours about how bad the Germans had been treated. He'd almost alwaysend by saying, 'It is for you and me to avenge the great wrongs done theFatherland.' But he'd never said what we ought to do until about a weekbefore the bomb business. Then he asked me to go for a walk. We wentaway out past the trenches. After a while he stopped me and asked if Iwas willing to do my bit for the Kaiser. I said I was and he put methrough an oath of allegiance to Kaiser Bill and then told me what the'great work' was to be. He was careful not to let me know how he got thebombs. He had two or three of them, you know.
"I put it up strong to him then about the poison. Gave him a lot of guffabout our being Brothers in the cause, and all that. He didn't say in somany words that he did it, but he let me understand it just the same.You know the rest. Thank God, I got that bomb away from him. I'm glad Icould do something to help the United States and I'm glad, too, on myown account. I'd never have rested easy as long as that poison affairwasn't cleared up. I feel now as though I couldn't go over quick enoughto help even the score for Simpson and Brady."
"That's the way we all feel," declared Jimmy.
"I would to-morrow go," declared Ignace.
"Well, I'm ready to hike along the little old Glory Road," smiled Roger.
"Here, too," echoed Bob.
"Take the Glory Road to France; Hike along to join the fray. With the Sammies take a chance, 'Neath the Stars and Stripes to-day,"
hummed Jimmy.
"That's us," approved Bob. "Lead us to it!"
"Going Over" held no dread for the Khaki Boys. They were indeed ready totake their chance beneath the Stars and Stripes in the trenches offar-off France.
When the welcome summons came and what happened to them after leavingCamp Sterling for a longer hike along the Glory Road is told in thesecond volume of this series entitled, "The Khaki Boys on the Way, orDoing Their Bit on Sea and Land."
THE END
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Transcriber's note:
Printer, punctuation, and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
Inconsistencies in formatting and punctuation of individualadvertisements have been retained.
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