CHAPTER XVIII THE TRAIL TO THE TRESTLE
“It’s certainly queer where that trail can be,” Rob himself was saying.On hearing this Tubby’s heart took on an additional flutter, for heseemed to think things must be pretty serious when experienced Rob, whoseldom allowed himself to show the least sign of discouragement, shouldspeak in this strain.
“We hae already come twicet as far as I thought wud be necessary,”admitted Donald, “and naething yet o’ the pesky thing.”
“I’m dead sure we haven’t passed over it,” added the scout master.“While one pair of eyes might have failed two could hardly have beendeceived. There’s only one explanation that I can think of.”
“Oh! what’s that, Rob?” hastily asked Tubby, making a great effort tokeep that miserable tremor from affecting his voice, though he felt thathe just _had_ to say something.
“The trail must have taken a sudden bend just about that big hemlock,”Rob explained. “You’ve been over it so many times, Donald, I shouldthink you might remember whether it does.”
“It’s verra curious,” spoke up Donald reflectively, “but I gie ye myword I was thinkin’ the same thing this minute. I am beginning tobelieve that it does the thing, ye ken. If that be so, then a’ we hae todo is to keep on goin’ till we fetch up once mair on the trail.”
“Well, let’s make an agreement,” said Rob. “We’ll keep along for fiveminutes, and if nothing shows up it would be better for us to abandonall hope of running across the path. Then we will have to shape ourcourse as best we may, with both you and Zeb here to figure things out.There’s no doubt about our hitting the railway embankment somehow.”
“It is unco’ kind o’ ye to say that, Rab!” declared the Canadian lad,who blessed the lucky chance that had raised up such devoted and loyalfriends as these cousins from over the border, when he was more in needof help than ever before in all his young life.
“Why not call on Zeb here to give his opinion, Rob?” mentioned Andy,having a sudden bright thought. It occurred to him that a veteranwoodsman’s advice ought to be particularly valuable under suchconditions as now confronted them.
“How foolish o’ us not to hae thought o’ that before,” said Donaldcontritely.
“Better late than never,” muttered Andy.
Rob, turning upon the big guide, hastened to say: “Zeb, you understandhow it is, and why we haven’t bothered mentioning this before. Donaldwas supposed to know more about this region than any one else; but nowhe is up a stump, and perhaps you could help us out. So please tell us,if you know about this part of the country, and particularly this trailwe’ve been following.”
“Wall, I sartin do have reason for rememberin’ that same big hemlock thecat was squattin’ in,” he said. Apparently the rough Maine woods guidewas not cherishing any resentment because he had not been considered inthe matter.
“It was under that tree Mr. Hopkins he shot the best moose bull he evergot. That was three winters ago. We was follerin’ this path, when hebroke cover and went down all in a heap at the fust shot. Say, but Mr.Hopkins he was some proud o’ that shot, fur it took right behind theshoulder, and tumbled the big bull over inside o’ twenty yards.”
“Try and remember, Zeb, about the trail; forget all those other things.Did it make a twist and a turn somewhere about that hemlock?” asked Rob.
“It sartinly did, sir,” the guide assured him. “I remember it because wehad occasion to look fur water, an’ hearin’ a stream nigh by I went onto scout for it. Yes, the path made a quick bend at the hemlock. It tookup the old direction arter a bit.”
“That settles it,” remarked Rob, fully satisfied. “We go on further, andI expect we’ll soon run across our trail.”
“Good enough,” grunted Andy. “Nothing like corroborative evidence.Donald _thought_ he was right, and now we _know_ he was, as sure asshooting.”
“That’ll do, Andy,” cautioned Rob, who feared they were all doing moretalking than discretion allowed. Who could say what hostile ears mightnot be within hearing distance, hidden by that semi-darkness surroundingthem on every side?
They started on. Hardly had two minutes passed, fraught with untoldanxiety to at least one of the party, Tubby, when Donald was heard togive a low exclamation. This time there was a note of joy and not dismaypermeating the cry.
“Have you struck it, Donald?” whispered Andy, close behind the others.
“Faith, an’ I hae done that, laddie,” bubbled the Scotch-Canadian boy,so filled with delight that he could hardly refrain from shaking handswith each of his companions.
Rob saw that it was even so, for his quick and practiced eye told himthe trail lay before them, as seen in the glow of the hand torch.
“We’ll have to douse the glim from now on,” he announced. “Much as I’dprefer to keep up its use, for we could go faster, it might be seen bysomeone, and bring us more trouble than we’d care to face.”
He shut off the light. It looked doubly gloomy to Tubby, once they hadto depend wholly on the dim glow of the stars above, for bright as theseheavenly bodies may appear, they afford but a poor substitute for atorch, backed by a little electric battery with its illuminationfocussed at one point.
“I hope we don’t lose it again,” ventured Tubby, who had sighed withrelief at the luck that came their way. He had come very near saying, “Ihope we don’t get lost again,” but caught himself in the nick of time.
“There is verra little danger o’ that, I assure ye,” Donald told him, asonce more he started bravely forth.
Thus far Donald had managed to keep going, though Rob could not helpnoticing that the effort was beginning to tell upon him seriously. Thatlimp of his cropped up more frequently than at first; indeed, if the boytook his mind off the subject for a brief space of time he was sure tofall into stumbling along. Rob hoped he would be able to hold out to theend. At the same time he had made up his mind he and Andy, and Zeb,perhaps, would finish the mission of warning the guards, even though itbecame necessary to leave Donald behind, with Tubby to keep him company.He had never undertaken a task that appealed more to him than this standfor neutrality. There was something strangely fascinating about it,something uplifting, that appealed to Rob strongly. He felt that he wasdoing his full duty as a patriotic citizen of the great United States,in thus attempting to foil the miserable and pernicious schemes of thoseplotters who, if only they could accomplish their plan for injuring theAllies, did not care how much they embroiled Uncle Sam with his northernneighbor and the world at war.
“I saw something then that looked a whole lot like the flash of amatch,” suddenly muttered the quick-seeing Andy.
“It was a match,” admitted Rob. “I saw it, too. From the fact that itseemed to be higher up than we are I take it the man who struck it musthave been a guard on the railway embankment, in which case it is only ashort distance from us now.”
“But why would he want to strike a match, please?” asked Tubby, pushinghis head close up to the others in his burning desire to learn facts andtheories.
“Oh, perhaps just to light his pipe,” returned Rob, whispering, ofcourse. “Fact is that must have been just what he was doing. I saw thelight flare up several times, and that would mean so many puffs. TheseCanadians, like the British, are great hands for a pipe, you know.”
“Let us be awa’ then,” urged Donald feverishly. “Tell me, please, Rab,is it yet near the hour o’ eleven?”
He could hardly have exhibited more eagerness had he heard the fardistant rumble that would announce the coming of his father’s train. Erethis the poor boy was in a real fever, brought on by his emotions, aswell as the nature of his recent severe exposure and physical suffering.
Rob understood all this and could sympathize with Donald. At the sametime he also knew they were now about to approach the real danger thatoverhung the adventure. Undoubtedly those desperate men must be near byat work, intent on carrying out their monstrous scheme that would entail
so much loss of property and life. So, in trying to communicate with theguards of the trestle and the adjacent bridge, they would have to runthe gantlet of discovery at the hands of the dynamiters.
“Plenty of time yet, Donald,” Rob said in the ear of the eager one.“Many a fine plan has been spoiled by too great haste. We’ll carry itthrough to a successful finish. This won’t be the first time the scoutsof the Eagle Patrol have been put on their mettle. Donald, they havealways won out. Wait and see.”
“Rob,” ventured Andy, in his most muffled tones, “I just _know_ you’vegot a bully good plan up your sleeve right now. Tell us what it is,won’t you?”
“Get your heads close together, then,” cautioned the scout master.
When they had done this he went on:
“Donald, you ought to know all about this trestle here, since you’vebeen around it many a time. Am I right?”
“I thought I had tawld ye I did before, Rab.”
“All right. Then try to decide, if you can, just where these men wouldbe most apt to lay their mine. You can figure that out, can’t you,Donald?”
The other stopped to think it over carefully, for he was beginning tograsp the tremendous idea that had taken hold upon the intrepid scoutmaster.
“Ay, there is one place above a’ ithers they wud select. I gie ye myword on it, Rab. The mair I think o’ it the stronger that appeals to me.An’ if the mine were exploded underneath the trestle it wud do jist asmuch damage as though the bridge itsel’ were toppled down. An’ thetrain,—my soul, what an awfu’ fall there would be!”
Small wonder if the boy shivered as he said this. It must be rememberedhis one thought lay in the fact that the engineer whose hand would be onthe throttle of that ill-fated locomotive was his own dearly belovedfather.
“All right, then, Donald, we want you to lead us as straight to thatparticular spot as you can in this darkness. When we strike the trestlewe will all start to getting down on our hands and knees, and feelingfor something in the way of a trailing copper insulated wire.”
Andy gave a little snort of delight as he grasped the idea.
“Fine, Rob!” he whispered. “You mean to cut the connections, don’t you?When they press down the button of their old battery, expecting to firethe hidden mine, why, nothing will follow! It’s a sure enough bullyscheme.”
Tubby felt like hugging himself, or Rob, or some one, he hardly caredwho, for just as always happened, Rob was proving himself to be masterof circumstances. Oh! he had seen Rob carry out so many schemes built onthis order that Tubby knew success was bound to come to them again.
“Come awa’ then,” urged Donald, and Rob only added:
“No whispering after this, unless you put your lips directly up to myear.”
So they crept cautiously forward, and inside of three minutes Tubbybegan to see the trestle work looming up between himself and the sky.They had apparently reached the crisis in their fateful affair.