CHAPTER XXIII IN SWIFT PURSUIT
Tubby grunted.
He immediately understood that Rob did not mean to include _him_ in theparty that was to try and cut the invaders off before they could recrossthe boundary line. Really, Tubby did not know whether to be glad orsorry. To be sure, he always wanted to have a hand in everythingpatriotic that was going on, which might reflect credit on the scoutuniform; and in one way he would have dearly delighted in being present,should those unknown plotters be brought to book. But then it promisedto prove an arduous undertaking, since all possible haste must be made;and this would necessitate driving through the brush with utterdisregard as to who was tagging along at the rear of the procession, aplace Tubby occupied about ten times out of ten.
Well, to be philosophical, Tubby concluded to calmly abide by whateverdecision Rob arrived at. As scout leader he ought to know what was bestfor all concerned, and really it would be much more comfortable sittingthere with the bridge guards and chatting, rather than butting upagainst unseen trees and getting “the map of Ireland” scratched on hisface by a score of thorny bushes.
The train conductor could not think of accompanying them, though hegenerously told Rob to keep the lantern; this trifling sacrifice was theleast thing he could do to show his deep gratitude, for it looked asthough his life might have paid the penalty, only for the valor of thesethree scouts and Donald.
The engineer had to return with him, too, and there was an affectionateparting between Mr. McGuffey and his boy; for, despite his lame leg,Donald—that stubborn Scotch blood showing again—had concluded that he,too, wanted to be in the chase.
So Rob, Andy, Zeb and Donald, together with the lieutenant and two ofhis men, started off in hot haste. Too many precious minutes had alreadybeen taken up with this hunt for the hidden mine; the panic-strickenfugitives by now must be well on their way toward the border, and unlessthe pursuers were smart they would never overtake them in time.
One thing was in their favor: The men from the other side could not bevery well acquainted with the locality. They had been able to reach thevicinity of the trestle and the bridge which they had doomed fordestruction by making use of the map drawn and the aerial photographstaken by the pilot of the aeroplane, that had hovered over the railwayembankment on that occasion witnessed by the scouts; but now that thisnear-panic had gripped them, there was a chance of becoming twisted intheir bearings and losing their way.
Tubby went back to the bridge, and, making friends with several youngfellows, he quickly won a way to their regard by his chummy manner.Tubby never lacked for friends because his warm heart quickly aroused afeeling of reciprocation. He was soon seated, with a number of deeplyinterested fellows in uniform, telling of the amazing things he, Rob andMerritt Crawford had seen—yes, and been engaged in also—when across thewater in the fighting zones of Belgium and France. As none of thesesturdy sons of Canada had as yet crossed, and they were all deeplyinterested in everything connected with the ferocious warfare going onover the sea, it can be readily understood that Tubby soon lost hishumorous aspect in their eyes, induced by his rotund figure, and becamea genuine hero.
Meanwhile the train had once more started, crossing the bridge insafety, thanks to the work of Rob and his chums. It was soon miles awayfrom the danger point, heading toward the blue sea, to have itsmillion-dollar cargo stowed in the holds of various steamers bound forthe direction of the fighting fronts.
Since Rob had elected to accompany the hunting party, it must be ourduty to keep track of the doings of this detachment. Donald and Zeb werecalled upon once more to exercise their judgment with regard to reachingthe border by the shortest possible route. This would be the very pathover which they had come; and in a short time Rob, upon using thelantern, decided that the fugitives had made use of another route, forthere was no sign of tracks heading south. He could easily pick outtheir own footprints, especially those plain ones made by Tubby; but inno instance were they superseded by fresher tracks.
This did not discourage them in the least. In fact, Donald declared hefelt sure he knew how the fugitives would go, as there was only a choicebetween two trails, unless they lost themselves and wandered aimlesslyto and fro.
Somewhere close to the border he declared it would be possible for themto make a swift turn and cut across to the other trail, upon hearingwhich the officer displayed considerable satisfaction.
“That sounds well to me, Donald,” he told the engineer’s son. “Put uswhere we can lie in ambush and surprise those fiends, and you will bedoing your country the greatest possible service. I would willingly givefive years of my own life for an opportunity to take those rascals andshow the curs who plot to ruin our cause what it means to invade Canadafrom a friendly country.”
Rob, in a measure, could feel for the officer. His own indignation hadkept growing the more he considered what the probable result of anexplosion must have been, with that train on the trestle at the time.Yes, while scouts were not supposed to take sides with either party inthe great war being waged—and Rob had shown on several notable occasionsthat he had a warm feeling for the German people, much as he hated themethods by means of which their leaders were conducting the campaign offrightfulness—at the same time he considered that these plotters had bytheir action placed themselves outside the pale of scout law. Rob lookedupon them not as heroes daring deadly perils for the sake of theirbeloved Fatherland, but in the light of cowardly schemers who wouldcreep up and do a terrible crime without taking any great riskthemselves.
As haste was the chief object now, everything else had to give way tothis one thing. It was entirely different from their former advancealong this trail—when they did not know what dangers lurked about themand were compelled to move along in the semi-darkness, almost gropingtheir way at times. Now with that lantern showing them all obstaclesthey made rapid progress. Besides, it almost seemed to Rob as though hewere familiar with the route.
Then again a little later Rob came around to look at things in stillanother light. He was not inclined to be bloodthirsty, as a rule, andsince the great plot had failed, perhaps it might be just as well if themen escaped. They could spread the disastrous story among their kind inthe States, and thus discourage any renewal of similar activities.
They were making good time. Even Donald, limping along, managed to keephis proud position as leader of the expedition. The praise that had comehis way of late, from his own father as well as others, had acted like abracing tonic upon his entire system, and encouraged him to make furtherdrafts upon his physical strength.
Andy, leaving all the labor of following the path to those in the lead,devoted himself to keeping a wary eye upon the surrounding forest. Hecherished a faint hope that possibly the fugitives, having become lost,might think to go into camp; and if they were incautious enough to starta fire Andy wanted to be the one to spy it out first.
Nothing happened up to the time when they glimpsed that rocky cairnwhich marks the dividing line between Canada and the United States.
“Here is the border, sir,” said Donald to the lieutenant, “and ye kenthe ither trail lies yonder toward the east. If so be we gang awa’ owerthat way it is probable that we may run across the wretches.”
“Then let us start without any more delay, Donald,” decided the officer.
“Do you think, Donald,” ventured Rob, “that you can take us therewithout the use of this lantern? If we keep on as we are going, I’mafraid they will glimpse the light and give us the slip. How about it,Donald?”
“Oh, ay, it will nae be so verra hard, I ween,” instantly replied theconfident young Canadian, as the scout master anticipated he would. Sothe light was “doused,” and they continued their forward movement withonly the stars to afford any illumination.
They turned abruptly to the left, and headed into the east. Donaldassured them that about this point the other trail did not lie more thantwo-thirds of a mile away; and he felt pretty pos
itive they would beable to make it before the fugitives, stumbling along in thehalf-darkness, could get there.
At first they found it rather difficult walking, for their eyes hadbecome accustomed to the assistance given by the train conductor’ssplendid lantern, and there were more or less frequent collisions withtrees and stumps and unseen rocks. But by degrees this difficulty wasremoved, and the accidents became less numerous.
Andy was once more feeling that prickly sensation commencing to chasealong his spine, such as approaching excitement always engendered. Andywas not thinking along the same lines as Rob. He really _yearned_ to seethe rascals pay the penalty. Andy would not have been at all concernedcould he see them fall into the hands of the military authorities ofCanada, even knowing that in times of war they must be taken before acourt-martial and in all probability would be condemned to be summarilyshot by a firing squad.
Once again Andy was using his eyes in the endeavor to make some sort ofpleasing discovery. He wanted to shine more in the limelight; thus farcircumstances had not been kind to him, for he had not been permitted totake a leading part in anything that had occurred; and Andy wasambitious.
They had been moving on for some time without anything happening, whenhe suddenly had a distinct thrill. What could that faint glow mean thathe had just discovered ahead? It was true that it lay somewhat to theright, and Andy imagined this might mean American territory instead ofthat belonging to Canada; but then who would know the difference, and ifthe prisoners were carried back to the railway there would never be anyproof that they had been taken on foreign soil.
Andy had a brief struggle in his mind over this, and then he decidedthat under the circumstances it would be easily justifiable; at anyrate, far be it from him to venture to call the circumstance to theattention of the officer in charge of the pursuit. If the lieutenantchose to take it upon himself to consider that they were still north ofthe line, why, so it must go on the records.
Having salved his conscience in this rather elastic fashion, which wasquite wrong in a scout, though Andy would not allow himself to believeit, the boy concluded to direct the attention of his companions to theglow as soon as he detected it again.
This happened a minute or so later, and Andy, having figured out hiscourse, hastened to remark eagerly:
“Rob, look over there to the right, will you? That must mean a camp fireis burning back of some mound or clump of thick brush, wouldn’t youthink?”
Every one looked. It was evidently the consensus of opinion, to judgefrom the various remarks that arose, that Andy was correct. Undoubtedlya small fire was burning in that quarter, and what more likely than thatthe fugitives, believing themselves safe across the border, had decidedto halt and repair such damages as they may have suffered during theirmad flight through the dark woods?