CHAPTER V-THE SILENT WIRE
Probably Jack Young and Dick reached the vicarage just about the timethat saw Harry getting into trouble with the police for speeding. Thevicar was still up; he had a great habit of reading late. And he seemedconsiderably surprised to find that Jack was not upstairs in bed. Atfirst he was inclined even to be angry, but he changed his mind when hesaw Dick, and heard something of what had happened.
"Get your friend something to eat and I'll have them make a hot bathready," said the vicar. "He looks as if he needed both!"
This was strictly true. Dick was as hungry and as grimy as Harryhimself. If anything, he was in even worse shape, for his flightthrough the fields and the brook had enabled him to attach a good dealof the soil of England to himself. So the thick sandwiches and the bowlof milk that were speedily set before him were severely punished. Andwhile he ate both he and Jack poured out their story. Mr. Young frownedas he listened. Although he was a clergyman and a lover of peace, hewas none the less a patriot.
"Upon my word!" he said. "Wireless, you think, my boy?"
"I'm sure of it, sir," said Dick.
"And so'm I," chimed in Jack. "You know, sir, I've thought ever sincewar seemed certain that Bray Park would bear a lot of watching and thatsomething ought to be done. Just because this is a little bit of avillage, without even a railroad station, people think nothing couldhappen here. But if German spies wanted a headquarters, it's just thesort of place they would pick out."
"There's something in that," agreed the vicar, thoughtfully. But in hisown mind he was still very doubtful. The whole thing seemed incredibleto him. Yet, as a matter of fact, it was no more incredible than thewar itself. What inclined him to be dubious, as much as anything else,was the fact that it was mere boys who had made the discovery. He hadread of outbreaks of spy fever in various parts of England, in which themost harmless and inoffensive people were arrested and held until theycould give some good account of themselves. This made him hesitate,while precious time was being wasted.
"I hardly know what to do-what to suggest," he went on, musingly. "Thesituation is complicated, really. Supposing you are right, and thatGerman spies really own Bray Park, and are using it as a central stationfor sending news that they glean out of England, what could be doneabout it?"
"The place ought to be searched at once-everyone there ought to bearrested!" declared Jack, impulsively. His father smiled.
"Yes, but who's going to do it?" he said. "We've just one constablehere in Bray. And if there are Germans there in any number, what couldhe do? I suppose we might send word to Hambridge and get some police orsome territorials over. Yes, that's the best thing to do."
But now Dick spoke up in great eagerness.
"I don't know, sir," he suggested. "If the soldiers came, the men inthe house there would find out they were coming, I'm afraid. Perhapsthey'd get away, or else manage to hide everything that would prove thetruth about them. I think it would be better to report direct toColonel Throckmorton. He knows what we found out near London, sir, yousee, and he'd be more ready to believe us."
"Yes, probably you're right. Ring him up, then. It's late, but he won'tmind."
What a different story there would have been to tell had someone hadthat thought only half an hour earlier! But it is often so. The mosttrivial miscalculation, the most insignificant mistake, seemingly, mayprove to be of the most vital importance. Dick went to the telephone.It was one of the old-fashioned sort, still in almost universal use inthe rural parts of England, that require the use of a bell to call thecentral office. Dick turned the crank, then took down the receiver. Atonce he heard a confused buzzing sound that alarmed him.
"I'm afraid the line is out of order, sir," he said.
And after fifteen minutes it was plain that he was right. The wire hadeither been cut or it had fallen or been short circuited in some otherway. Dick and Jack looked at one another blankly. The same thought hadcome to each of them, and at the same moment.
"They've cut the wires!" said Dick. "Now what shall we do? We can'thear from Harry, either!"
"We might have guessed they'd do that!" said Jack. "They must have hadsome one out to watch us, Dick-perhaps they thought they'd have a chanceto catch us. They know that we've found out something, you see! It's agood thing we stayed where we could make people hear us if we got intoany trouble."
"Oh, nonsense!" said the vicar, suddenly. "You boys are letting yourimaginations run away with you! Things like that don't happen inEngland. The wire is just out of order. It happens often enough, Jack,as you know very well!"
"Yes, sir," said Jack, doggedly. "But that's in winter, or after aheavy storm-not in fine weather like this. I never knew the wire to beout of order before when it was the way it is now."
"Well, there's nothing to be done, in any case," said the vicar. "Beoff to bed, and wait until morning. There's nothing you can do now."
Dick looked as if he were about to make some protest, but a glance atJack restrained him. Instead he got up, said good-night and followedJack upstairs. There he took his bath, except that he substituted coldwater for the hot, for he could guess what Jack meant to do. They weregoing out again, that was certain. And, while it is easy to take cold,especially when one is tired, after a hot bath, there is no such dangerif the water is cold.
"Do you know where the telephone wire runs?" he asked Jack.
"Yes, I do," said Jack. "I watched the men when they ran the wire in.There are only three telephones in the village, except for the one atBray Park, and that's a special, private wire. We have one here, DoctorBrunt has one, and there's another in the garage. They're all on oneparty line, too. We won't have any trouble in finding out if the wirewas cut, I fancy."
Their chief difficulty lay in getting out of the house. True, Jack hadnot been positively ordered not to go out again, but he knew that if hisfather saw him, he would be ordered to stay in. And he had not theslightest intention of missing any part of the finest adventure he hadever had a chance to enjoy-not he! He was a typical English boy, fullof the love of adventure and excitement for their own sake, even if hewas the son of a clergyman. And now he showed Dick what they would haveto do.
"I used to slip out this way, sometimes," he said. "That was before Iwas a scout. I-well, since I joined, I haven't done it. It didn't seemright. But this is different. Don't you think so, Dick?"
"I certainly do," said Dick. "Your pater doesn't understand, Jack. Hethinks we've just found a mare's nest, I fancy."
Jack's route of escape was not a difficult one. It led to the roof ofthe scullery, at the back of the house, and then, by a short and easydrop of a few feet, to the back garden. Once they were in that, theyhad no trouble. They could not be heard or seen from the front of thehouse, and it was a simple matter of climbing fences until it was safeto circle back and strike the road in front again. Jack led the wayuntil they came to the garage, which was at the end of the village, inthe direction of London. Their course also took them nearer to BrayPark, but at the time they did not think of this.
"There's where the wire starts from the garage, d'ye see?" said Jack,pointing. "You see how easily we can follow it-it runs along thosepoles, right beside the road."
"It seems to be all right here," said Dick.
"Oh, yes. They wouldn't have cut it so near the village," said Jack."We'll have to follow it along for a bit, I fancy-a mile or so, perhaps.Better not talk much, either. And, I say, hadn't we better stay in theshadow? They must have been watching us before-better not give themanother chance, if we can help it," was Jack's very wise suggestion.
They had traveled nearly a mile when Dick suddenly noticed that thetelephone wire sagged between two posts.
"I think it has been cut-and that we're near the place, too," he saidthen. "Look, Jack! There's probably a break not far from here."
"Right, oh!" said Jack. "Now we must be careful. I've just thought,Dick, that they might have
left someone to watch at the place where theycut the wire."
"Why, Jack?"
"Well, they might have thought we, or someone else, might come along tofind out about it, just as we're doing. I'm beginning to think thosebeggars are mighty clever, and that if we think of doing anything,they're likely to think that we'll think of it. They've outwitted us atevery point so far."
So now, instead of staying under the hedge, but still in the road, theycrept through a gap in the hedge, tearing their clothes as they did so,since it was a blackberry row, and went along still in sight of thepoles and the wire, but protected by the hedge so that no one in theroad could see them.
"There!" said Jack, at last. "See? You were right, Dick. There's theplace-and the wire was cut, too! It wasn't an accident. But I was sureof that as soon as I found the line wasn't working."
Sure enough, the wires were dangling. And there was something else.Just as they stopped they heard the voices of two men.
"There's the break, Bill," said the first voice. "Bli'me, if she ain'tcut, too! Now who did that? Bringing us out of our beds at this hour tolook for trouble!"
"I'd like to lay my hands on them, that's all!" said the second voice."A good job they didn't carry the wire away-'twon't take us long torepair, and that's one precious good thing!"
"Linemen," said Jack. "But I wonder why they're here? They must havecome a long way. I shouldn't be surprised if they'd ridden on bicycles.And I never heard of their sending to repair a wire at night before."
"Listen," said Dick. "Perhaps we will find out."
"Well, now that we've found it, we might as well repair it," said thefirst lineman, grumblingly. "All comes of someone trying to get amessage through to Bray and making the manager believe it was a life anddeath matter!"
"Harry must have tried to telephone-that's why they've come," said Jack."I was wondering how they found out about the break. You see, as arule, no one would try to ring up anyone in Bray after seven o'clock orso. And of course, they couldn't tell we were trying to ring, with thewire cut like that."
"Oh, Jack!" said Dick, suddenly. "If they're linemen, I believe theyhave an instrument with them. Probably we could call to London fromhere. Do you think they will let us do that?"
"That's a good idea. We'll try it, anyway," said Jack. "Come on-itmust be safe enough now. These chaps won't hurt us."
But Jack was premature in thinking that. For no sooner did the twolinemen see them than they rushed for them, much to both lads' surprise.
"You're the ones that cut that wire," said the first, a dark, youngfellow. "I've a mind to give you a good hiding!"
But they both rushed into explanations, and, luckily, the other linemanrecognized Jack.
"It's the vicar's son from Bray, Tom," he said. "Let him alone."
And then, while their attention was distracted, a bullet sang over theirheads. And "Hands oop!" said a guttural voice.