CHAPTER XXIV THOSE WHO SAT BY THE FIRE
“They must have made better time than we gave them credit for,” Andywent on to say, in his conclusive fashion, as though there could be nodoubt about the matter. “But,” he continued, with a queer chuckle,“after all, they’ve been silly enough to stop short and go into camp.Now’s our chance to give ’em the greatest surprise going.”
Apparently Andy had convinced himself that the fire was on the Canadianside of the line. Since it was more or less of a mythical division, howwere they to know the exact point of separation? Besides, those schemingmen, who never once regarded the sacrifice of human life as worthweighing in the balance, when trying to strike at Great Britain in sucha cowardly way, deserved little, if any, consideration.
If any doubt existed in Rob’s mind regarding the situation he saidnothing about it. With that lieutenant present Rob felt in no wayresponsible for affairs. He, too, was under orders now, and the successor failure of the plan of campaign rested wholly on the young officer’sshoulders.
“We will try to surprise them,” remarked the other; “and no time shouldbe lost in going about it. If you three boys will keep alongside me aswe advance, we can arrange a plan, for I shall certainly be glad of yourefficient help.”
Rob thought that was nicely put. It looked as though the militarydefender of the bridge had indeed radically altered the first opinion heentertained in connection with the scouts. Well, Rob Blake was the lastfellow in the wide world to bear any animosity toward another on accountof first impressions, which he knew only too well were often wrong.
Accordingly they made a start, but a warning was also issued beggingevery one to be extra careful how he stumbled, lest the unwonted soundreach the ears of those by the fire, and as they would naturally besuspicious of every unusual noise, the consequences might be disastrousto their success.
When he came to discuss the merits of the situation with the lieutenant,and in turn was told what the other meant to do, Rob conceived a growingadmiration for the young fellow. He really believed the other must havea most capable head on his shoulders; and it was also apparent toobserving Rob that he showed positive signs of considerable militarygenius. In private life he may only have been a bank clerk in Montreal,or a Government employee in Ottawa; but after being called out indefense of his country he had plainly taken it upon himself to sink allelse in the one overpowering fact that he was now a soldier, and mustgive up his whole mind to studying military tactics.
He really laid out quite a neat little plan of attack, whereby Zeb andthe two soldiers could creep around to the other side of the fire so asto cut off any possible escape on the part of the fugitives brought tobay. Rob understood why the Maine guide had been selected in thismanner; apparently the officer felt that Zeb would know just how to leadthe two privates, so that they might manage to get around on the longerroute without creating an alarm. He may himself have had experience withwoods guides, and appreciated their accomplishments.
So Zeb and the two men went off. The others were to loiter a bit inorder to give them a chance to cover the extra ground. A simple code ofsignals had also been arranged between the two parties, so that theycould communicate with one another. In this fashion the officer hadtaken it upon himself to be in a position to order a general advance onboth sides, when he thought the proper moment had come.
Rob heard all this, and his admiration increased. He was pleased toserve under such a smart head. Some upstarts, vested with a briefauthority by the circumstance of war, would have strutted, and posed,and tried to show how consequential they could be; but this chap was ofthe right sort. Rob was willing to wager that he must come from goodstock, and that some of his immediate ancestors had won their spurs onthe field of Waterloo, or some place where British soldiers foughtstubbornly and with bulldog courage against great odds.
As they advanced the fire began to be seen more frequently, though theundulating nature of the intervening ground often caused it to remainconcealed for a brief stretch of time. Andy and Rob, as well as Donald,were greatly interested in what they were about to see. They had hadthese plotters in their minds so much of late that naturally a mostintense curiosity had been aroused concerning their identity.
Andy had invested them with almost supernatural powers and attributes.If all the thoughts that flitted through his active mind could becondensed into a concrete whole, those by the fire were apt to assumegigantic proportions indeed, and prove pretty dangerous customers foreven half a dozen armed aggressors to attack.
But when Andy showed a disposition to hurry on faster than prudencewould dictate, he was gently but firmly repressed by the lieutenant, afact Rob noted with satisfaction.
They did not speak any more than was absolutely necessary, and then onlyin the softest of whispers. It was no time for comparing opinions, evenAndy understood that much; consequently he was compelled to hold all hiscommunications with himself.
Then there came the time when they began to detect moving figures aboutthe fire, and this increased their interest. They could manage to makeout just two men, one inclined to be tall, and as swarthy as an Indian,the other rather portly, though also of a generous size.
Well, so far as that went the boys had guessed before then that thenumber of those actually engaged in the work of trying to dynamite therailway span would turn out to be two, though they might haveconfederates scattered around the country, instructed to send themsignals, it might be, or advise of any suspicious fact going to tellthat the authorities were extra vigilant, as if having been warned thatspecial danger menaced the bridge.
The closer they drew the more violently did Andy’s heart pump. Hisexcitement kept on growing by leaps and bounds. This, then, was to bethe culmination of the remarkable adventure that had come to them sounsolicited during their visit to the woods of northern Maine. Hewondered whether these two men were going to resist arrest, even whenoutnumbered three to one. That they were desperate characters wentwithout saying, and they must know what their fate was likely to be,once the military authorities of Canada had them in their hands.
So Andy fingered his gun, and made up his mind how far he would bejustified in using it under the conditions. As a scout, he had nobusiness to seek glory such as a soldier would seek to attain; and yetthere may be occasions when even a peace-loving scout, bound by the vowsof his order, must display loyalty and courage, and be ready to defendthe weak against a bully. He should also, Andy felt confident, be promptto stand up for the laws of neutrality, and consider it his bounden dutyto aid the authorities of a neighboring community to stop any bold raidthat threatened to disrupt the peace.
Yes, it must be admitted that impulsive Andy was about ready to makestern use of his gun, if the occasion demanded such a necessity. Hecould aim so as to only wound the fellow at whom he fired; that was theextent his activity in the affair ought to reach, Andy decided, thoughfor that matter, if the conspirators were bound to be set up before afiring squad anyhow they would be no worse off if they paid the fulldebt now.
The lieutenant interrupted his reflections, grim as they were becoming,nor was Andy sorry for it. Drawing their heads close together, theofficer gave his last orders in the ears of his three followers. He haddecided that they would stand a far better chance of advancing close in,without the risk of discovery, if they veered a little to the left, andthen continued to creep up.
Rob saw that the scheme was a good one, for in that quarter lay a fringeof bushes that seemed dense enough to effectually conceal theirmovements. Once behind this barrier, they would feel more free to moveas they pleased. It seemed that these accommodating bushes kept right onuntil only fifty feet away from the fire itself.
Really nothing better could have been devised. If he had had themanagement of the scheme in his own hands, Rob did not see how he couldhave improved upon the lieutenant’s plan of action.
By now it was probable that Zeb and the two privates were nearing theirpost,
having crept around the camp as ordered. In good time the signalsarranged for could be exchanged, to make sure that all was ready; thenthe command to rise up and advance would be next in order—after that itdepended on the state of desperation that would assail the fugitiveswhether any fighting must ensue, or the capture be carried out withoutbloodshed.
As the quartette of creepers drew near the terminus of the bush fringethey grew more and more cautious. By now they had reached a point soclose to the fire that they plainly heard some one give vent to a laugh.This would seemingly indicate that while the plotters might be adesperate lot, at the same time their recent escapade had not entirelydemoralized them. Andy felt a strange sensation creeping over him. Heknew it could not be _fear_, because Andy always boasted that he hadnever experienced such a silly thing in all his life; and certainlythere was no occasion for it now; indeed, the boot was on the otherfoot, and it should be these two trapped rascals who hovered near acondition of collapse after their recent narrow escape, and with perilstill overshadowing them.
When Andy first peered out between the bushes he anticipated seeing apair of desperadoes who, by their fierce appearance, would have shamedall the villains depicted on the screen at the movies. He had quite ashock when he discovered that nothing of the sort greeted his vision. Infact, had Andy happened on this camp by accident, knowing nothing aboutthe bold raid across the border, he would never have suspected that twosuch dreadful villains could masquerade under such ordinary exteriors.
One of the men was tall and dark, with straight black hair, and acertain dignified way of doing his menial duties, for he was actuallywashing up a few tin dishes at the time—no, Andy corrected himself, fora second look told him these were of aluminum ware, the most expensiveoutfit any camper can purchase, and much preferable to any other onaccount of extreme lightness.
Well, at any rate, those terrible German sympathizers knew a good thingwhen they saw it, Andy decided. They had come prepared to stay out inthe woods for days, if need be, until they received word, perhaps byaeroplane messenger, that an unusually heavy shipment of munitions hadstarted east, and would arrive at a certain night in the neighborhood ofthe threatened bridge. Oh, it was very easy for clever Andy to figureall this out, and he secretly admired the way in which the two men hadarranged things. They had prepared this camp beforehand, meaning to flyto its shelter after accomplishing the destruction of both bridge andtrain.
As to the second man, he puzzled Andy the most. The dark-faced member ofthe pair looked capable of any sort of crime, but that other chapcertainly must be out of his element when engaging in such a dastardlyact; for he laughed heartily and looked most genial as he sat there withhis hands locked about his knees and watched the other handling the campcooking outfit.