CHAPTER X
THE CONSPIRATORS
"You remember Lieutenant Woodward, the inventor of trodite?" I askedElaine one day after I had been out for a ride through the country.
"Very well indeed," she nodded with a look of wistfulness as themention of his name recalled Kennedy. "Why?"
"He's stationed at Fort Dale, not very far from here, at the entranceof the Sound," I answered.
"Then let's have him over at my garden party to-night," she exclaimed,sitting down and writing.
DEAR LIEUTENANT,
I have just learned that you are stationed at Fort Dale and would liketo have you meet some of my friends at a little garden party I amholding to-night.
Sincerely, ELAINE DODGE.
Thus it was that a few hours afterward, in the officers' quarters atthe Fort, an orderly entered with the mail and handed a letter toLieutenant Woodward. He opened it and read the invitation withpleasure. He had scarcely finished reading and was hastening to write areply when the orderly entered again and saluted.
"A Professor Arnold to see you, Lieutenant," he announced.
"Professor Arnold?" repeated Woodward. "I don't know any ProfessorArnold. Well, show him in, anyhow."
The orderly ushered in a well-dressed man with a dark, heavy beard andlarge horn spectacles. Woodward eyed him curiously and a bitsuspiciously, as the stranger seated himself and made a few remarks.
The moment the orderly left the room, however, the professor loweredhis voice to a whisper. Woodward listened in amazement, looked at himmore closely, then laughed and shook hands cordially.
The professor leaned over again. Whatever it was that he said, it madea great impression on the Lieutenant.
"You know this fellow Del Mar?" asked Professor Arnold finally.
"No," replied Woodward.
"Well, he's hanging around Miss Dodge all the time," went on Arnold."There's something queer about his presence here at this time."
"I've an invitation to a garden party at her house to-night," remarkedWoodward.
"Accept," urged the professor, "and tell her you are bringing a friend."
Woodward resumed writing and when he had finished handed the note tothe stranger, who read:
DEAR MISS DODGE,
I shall be charmed to be with you to-night and with your permissionwill bring my friend, Professor Arnold.
Truly yours, EDWARD WOODWARD.
"Good," nodded the professor, handing the note back.
Woodward summoned an orderly. "See that that is delivered at Dodge Hallto Miss Dodge herself as soon as possible," he directed, as the orderlytook the note and saluted.
Elaine, Aunt Josephine and I were in the garden when Lieut. Woodward'sorderly rode up and delivered the letter.
Elaine opened it and read. "That's all right," she thanked the orderly."Oh, Walter, he's coming to the garden party, and is going to bring afriend of his, a Professor Arnold."
We chatted a few moments about the party.
"Oh," exclaimed Elaine suddenly, "I have an idea."
"What is it?" we asked, smiling at her enthusiasm.
"We'll have a fortune teller," she cried. "Aunt Josephine, you shallplay the part."
"All right, if you really want me," consented Aunt Josephine smilingindulgently as we urged her.
. . . . . . .
Down in the submarine harbor that afternoon, Del Mar and his men wereseated about the conference table.
"I've traced out the course and the landing points of the greatAtlantic cable," he said. "We must cut it."
Del Mar turned to one of the men. "Take these plans to the captain ofthe steamer and tell him to get ready," he went on. "Find out and sendme word when the cutting can be done best."
The man saluted and went out.
Leaving the submarine harbor in the usual manner, he made his way to adock on the shore around the promontory and near the village. Tied toit was a small tramp steamer. The man walked down the dock and climbedaboard the boat. There several rough looking sailors were lolling andstanding about. The emissary selected the captain, a more thanordinarily tough looking individual.
"Mr. Del Mar sends you the location of the Atlantic cable and the placewhere he thinks it best to pick it up and cut it," he said.
The captain nodded. "I understand," he replied. "I'll send him wordlater when it can be done best."
A few minutes after dispatching his messenger, Del Mar left thesubmarine harbor himself and entered his bungalow by way of the secretentrance. There he went immediately to his desk and picked up the mailthat had accumulated in his absence. One letter he read:
DEAR MR. DEL MAR,
We shall be pleased to see you at a little garden party we are holdingto-night.
Sincerely,
ELAINE DODGE.
As he finished reading, he pushed the letter carelessly aside as thoughhe had no time for such frivolity. Then an idea seemed to occur to him.He picked it up again and read it over.
"I'll go," he said to himself, simply.
. . . . . . .
That night Dodge Hall was a blaze of lights and life, overflowing tothe wide verandas and the garden. Guests in evening clothes werearriving from all parts of the summer colony and were being received byElaine. Already some of them were dancing on the veranda.
Among the late arrivals were Woodward and his friend, Professor Arnold.
"I'm so glad to know that you are stationed at Fort Dale," greetedElaine. "I hope it will be for all summer."
"I can't say how long it will be, but I shall make every effort to makeit all summer," he replied gallantly. "Let me present my friend,Professor Arnold."
The professor bowed low and unprofessionally over Elaine's hand and amoment later followed Woodward out into the next room as the otherguests arrived to be greeted by Elaine. For a moment, however, shelooked after him curiously. Once she started to follow as though tospeak to him. Just then, however, Del Mar entered.
"Good evening," he interrupted, suavely.
He stood for a moment with Elaine and talked.
One doorway in the house was draped and a tent had been erected in theroom. Over the door was a sign which read: "The past and the future arean open book to Ancient Anna." There Aunt Josephine held forth in amost effective disguise as a fortune teller.
Aunt Josephine had always had a curious desire to play the old hag inamateur dramatics and now she had gratified her desire to the utmost.Probably none of the guests knew that Ancient Anna was in realityElaine's guardian.
Elaine being otherwise occupied, I had selected one of the prettiest ofthe girls and we were strolling through the house, seeking a quiet spotfor a chat.
"Why don't you have your fortune told by Ancient Anna?" laughed mycompanion as we approached the tent.
"Do you tell a good fortune reasonably?" I joked, entering.
"Only the true fortunes, young man," returned Ancient Anna severely,starting in to read my palm. "You are very much in love," she went on,"but the lady is not in this tent."
Very much embarrassed, I pulled my hand away.
"How shocking!" mocked my companion, making believe to be very muchannoyed. "I don't think I'll have my fortune told," she decided as weleft the room.
We sauntered along to the veranda where another friend claimed mycompanion for a dance which she had promised. As I strolled on alone,Del Mar and Elaine were already finishing a dance. He left her a momentlater and I hurried over, glad of the opportunity to see her at last.
Del Mar made his way alone among the guests and passed Aunt Josephinedisguised as the old hag seated before her tent. Just then a waitercame through with a tray of ices. As he passed, Del Mar stopped him,reached out and took an ice.
Under the ice, as he had known, was a note. He took the notesurreptitiously, turned and presented the ice to Ancient Anna with abow.
"Thank you, kind sir," she curtsied, taking it.
&n
bsp; Del Mar stepped aside and glanced at the little slip of paper. Then hecrumpled it up and threw it aside, walking away.
No sooner had he gone than Aunt Josephine reached out and picked up thepaper. She straightened it and looked at it. There was nothing on thepaper but a crude drawing of a sunrise on the ocean.
"What's that?" asked Aunt Josephine, in surprise.
Just then Elaine and Lieutenant Woodward came in and stopped before thetent. Aunt Josephine motioned to Elaine to come in and Elaine followed.Lieutenant Woodward started after her.
"No, no, young man," laughed Ancient Anna, shaking her forefinger athim, "I don't want you. It's the pretty young lady I want."
Woodward stood outside, though he did not know quite what it was allabout. While he was standing there, Professor Arnold came up. He hadnot exactly made a hit with the guests. At least, he seemed to makelittle effort to do so. He and Woodward walked away, talking earnestly.
In the tent Aunt Josephine handed Elaine the piece of paper she hadpicked up.
"What does it mean?" asked Elaine, studying the curious drawing insurprise.
"I'm sure I don't know," confessed Aunt Josephine.
"Nor I."
Meanwhile Lieutenant Woodward and his friend had moved to a corner ofthe veranda and stood looking intently into the moonlight. There wasDel Mar deep in conversation with a man who had slipped out, at a quietsignal, from his hiding-place in the shrubbery.
"That fellow is up to something, mark my words," muttered Arnold underhis breath. "I'd like to make an arrest, but I've got to have someproof."
They continued watching Del Mar but, so far at least, he did nothingthat would have furnished them any evidence of anything.
So the party went on, most merrily until, long after the guests hadleft, Elaine sat in her dressing-gown up in her room, about to retire.
Her maid had left her and she picked up the slip of paper from herdresser, looking at it thoughtfully.
"What can a crude drawing of a sunrise on the sea mean?" she askedherself.
For a long time she studied the paper, thinking it over. At last anidea came to her.
"I'll bet I have it," she exclaimed to herself. "Something is going tohappen on the water at sunrise."
She took a pretty little alarm clock from the table, set it, and placedit near her bed.
Returning from the party to his library, Del Mar entered. Except forthe moonlight streaming in through the windows the room was dark. Heturned on the lights and crossed to the panel in the wall. As hetouched a button the panel opened. Del Mar switched off the lights andwent through the panel, closing it.
Outside, at the other end of the passageway, was one of his men,waiting in the shadows as Del Mar came up. For a moment they talked."I'll be there, at sunrise," agreed Del Mar, as the man left and hereentered the secret passage.
While he was conferring, at the library window appeared a face. It wasProfessor Arnold's. Cautiously he opened the window and listened. Thenhe entered.
First he went over to the door and set a chair under the knob. Next hedrew an electric pocket bull's-eye and flashed it about the room. Heglanced about and finally went over to Del Mar's desk where he examineda batch of letters, his back to the secret panel.
Arnold was running rapidly through the papers on the desk, as heflashed his electric bull's-eye on them, when the panel in the wallopened slowly and Del Mar stepped into the room noiselessly. To hissurprise he saw a round spot of light from an electric flashlightfocussed on his desk. Some one was there! He drew a gun.
Arnold started suddenly. He heard the cocking of a revolver. But he didnot look around. He merely thought an instant, quicker than lightning,then pulled out a spool of black thread with one hand, while with theother he switched off the light, and dived down on his stomach on thefloor in the shadow.
"Who's that?" demanded Del Mar. "Confound it! I should have fired atsight."
The room was so dark now that it was impossible to see Arnold. Del Margazed intently. Suddenly Arnold's electric torch glowed forth in a spotacross the room.
Del Mar blazed at it, firing every chamber of his revolver, thenswitched on the lights.
No one was in the room. But the door was open. Del Mar gazed about,vexed, then ran to the open door.
For a second or two he peered out in rage, finally turning back intothe empty room. On the mantlepiece lay the torch of the intruder. Itwas one in which the connection is made by a ring falling on a piece ofmetal. The ring had been left up by Arnold. Connection had been made ashe was leaving the room by pulling the thread which he had fastened tothe ring. Del Mar followed the thread as it led around the room to thedoorway.
"Curse him!" swore Del Mar, smashing down the innocent torch on thefloor in fury, as he rushed to the desk and saw his papers alldisturbed.
Outside, Arnold had made good his escape. He paused in the moonlightand listened. No one was pursuing. He drew out two or three of theletters which he had taken from Del Mar's desk, and hastily ran throughthem.
"Not a thing in them," he exclaimed, tearing them up in disgust andhurrying away.
At the first break of dawn the little alarm dock awakened Elaine. Shestarted up and rubbed her eyes at the suddenness of the awakening, thenquickly reached out and stopped the bell so that it would not disturbothers in the house. She jumped out of bed hurriedly and dressed.
Armed with a spy glass, Elaine let herself out of the house quietly.Directly to the shore she went, walking along the beach. Suddenly shepaused. There were three men. Before she could level her glass at them,however, they disappeared.
"That's strange," she said to herself, looking through the glass."There's a steamer at the dock that seems to be getting ready forsomething. I wonder what it can be doing so early."
She moved along in the direction of the dock. At the dock thedisreputable steamer to which Del Mar had dispatched his emissary wasstill tied, the sailors now working under the gruff orders of the roughcaptain. About a capstan were wound the turns of a long wire rope atthe end of which was a three-pronged drag-hook.
"You see," the captain was explaining, "we'll lower this hook and dragit along the bottom. When it catches anything we'll just pull it up. Ihave the location of the cable. It ought to be easy to grapple."
Already, on the shore, at an old deserted shack of a fisherman, two ofDel Mar's men had been waiting since before sun-up, having come in adirty, dingy fishing smack anchored offshore.
"Is everything ready?" asked Del Mar, coming up.
"Everything, sir," returned the two, following him along the shore.
"Who's that?" cautioned one of the men, looking ahead.
They hid hastily, for there was Elaine. She had seen the three and wasabout to level her glass in their direction as they hid. Finally sheturned and discovered the steamer. As she moved toward it, Del Mar andthe others came out from behind a rock and stole after her.
Elaine wandered on until she came to the dock. No one paid anyattention to her, apparently, and she made her way along the dock andeven aboard the boat without being observed.
No sooner had she got on the boat, however, than Del Mar and his menappeared on the dock and also boarded the steamer.
The captain was still explaining to the men just how the drag-hookworked when Elaine came up quietly on the deck. She stood spellbound asshe heard him outline the details of the plot. Scarcely knowing whatshe did, she crouched back of a deckhouse and listened.
Behind her, Del Mar and his men came along, cat-like. A glance wassufficient to tell them that she had overheard what the captain wassaying.
"Confound that girl!" ground out Del Mar. "Will she always cross mypath? We'll get her this time!"
The men scattered as he directed them. Sneaking up quietly, they made asudden rush and seized her. As she struggled and screamed, they draggedher off, thrusting her into the captain's cabin and locking the door.
"Cast off!" ordered Del Mar.
A few moments later, out in the harbor, Del
Mar was busy directing thedragging for the Atlantic cable at a spot where it was known to run.They let the drag-hook down over the side and pulled it along slowly onthe bottom.
In the cabin, Elaine beat on the door and shouted in vain for help.
I had decided to do some early morning fishing the day after the party,and knowing that Elaine and the others were usually late risers, I saidnothing about it, determined to try my luck alone.
So it happened that only a few minutes after Elaine let herself outquietly, I did the same, carrying my fishing-tackle. I made my waytoward the shore, undecided whether to fish from a dock or boat.Finally I determined to do some casting from the shore.
I had cast once or twice before I was aware that I was not alone in theimmediate neighborhood. Some distance away I saw a little steamer at awharf. A couple of men ran along the deck, apparently cautioning thecaptain against something.
Then I saw them run to one side and drag out a girl, screaming andstruggling as they hurried her below. I could scarcely believe my eyes.It was Elaine!
Only a second I looked. They were certainly too many for me. I droppedmy rod and line and ran toward the dock, however. As I came down it, Isaw that I was too late. The little steamer had cast off and was nowsome distance from the dock. I looked about for a motor-boat indesperation--anything to follow them in. But there was nothing,absolutely nothing, not even a rowboat.
I ran back along the dock as I had come and struck out down the shore.
. . . . . . .
Out at the parade grounds at Fort Dale, in spite of the early hour,there was some activity, for the army is composed of early risers.
Lieutenant Woodward and Professor Arnold left the house in which theLieutenant was quartered, where he had invited Arnold to spend thenight. Already an orderly had brought around two horses. They mountedfor an early morning ride through the country.
Off they clattered, naturally bending their course toward the shore.They came soon to a point in the road where it emerged from the hillsand gave them a panoramic view of the harbor and sound.
"Wait a minute," called the professor.
Woodward reined up and they gazed off over the water.
"What's that--an oyster boat?" asked Woodward, looking in the directionArnold indicated.
"I don't think so, so early," replied Arnold, pulling out his pocketglass and looking carefully.
Through it he could see that something like a hook was being cast overthe steamer's side and drawn back again.
"They're dragging for something," he remarked as they brought up anobject dark and covered with seagrowth, then threw it overboard asthough it was not what they wanted. "By George--the Atlantic cablelands here--they're going to cut it!"
Woodward took the glasses himself and looked in in surprise. "That'sright," he cried, his surprise changed to alarm in an instant. "Here,take the glass again and watch. I must get back to the Fort."
He swung his horse about and galloped off, leaving Arnold sitting inthe saddle gazing at the strange boat through his glass.
By the time Woodward reached the parade ground again, a field-gun andits company were at drill. He dashed furiously across the field.
"What's the trouble?" demanded the officer in charge of the gun.
Woodward blurted out what he had just seen. "We must stop it--at anycost," he added, breathlessly.
The officer turned to the company. A moment later the order to followWoodward rang out, the horses were wheeled about, and off the partygalloped. On they went, along the road which Woodward and Arnold hadalready traversed.
Arnold was still gazing, impatiently now, through the glass. He couldsee the fore-deck of the ship where Del Mar, muffled up, and his menhad succeeded in dragging the cable to the proper position on the deck.They laid it down and Del Mar was directing the preparations forcutting it. Arnold lowered his glass and looked about helplessly.
Just then Lieutenant Woodward dashed up with the officer and companyand the field-gun. They wheeled it about and began pointing it andfinding the range.
Would they never get it? Arnold was almost beside himself. One of DelMar's men seized an axe and was about to deliver the fatal blow. Heswung it and for a moment held it poised over his head.
Suddenly a low, deep rumble of a reverberation echoed and reechoed fromthe hills over the water. The field-gun had bellowed defiance.
A solid shot crashed through the cabin, smashing the door. Astounded,the men jumped back. As they did so, in their fear, the cable,released, slipped back over the rail in a great splash of safety intothe water and sank.
"The deuce take you--you fools," swore Del Mar, springing forward inrage, and looking furiously toward the shore.
Two of the men had been hit by splinters. It was impossible to dragagain. Besides, again the gun crew loaded and fired.
The first shot had dismantled the doorway of the cabin. Elaine crouchedfearfully in the furthest corner, not knowing what to expect next.Suddenly another shot tore through just beside the door, smashing thewoodwork terrifically. She shrank back further, in fright.
Anything was better than this hidden terror. Nerved up, she ran throughthe broken door.
Arnold was gazing through his glass at the effect of the shots. Hecould now see Del Mar and the others leaping into a swift littlemotor-boat alongside the steamer which they had been using to help themin dragging for the cable.
Just then he saw Elaine run, screaming, out from the cabin and leapoverboard.
"Stop!" shouted Arnold in a fever of excitement, lowering his glass."There's a girl--by Jove--it's Miss Dodge!"
"Impossible!" exclaimed Woodward.
"I tell you, it is," reiterated Arnold, thrusting the glass into theLieutenant's hand.
The motor-boat had started when Del Mar saw Elaine in the water."Look," he growled, pointing, "There's the Dodge girl."
Elaine was swimming frantically away from the boat. "Get her," heordered, shielding his face so that she could not see it.
They turned the boat and headed toward her. She struck out harder thanever for the shore. On came the motor-boat.
Arnold and Woodward looked at each other in despair. What could they do?
. . . . . . .
Somehow, by a sort of instinct, I suppose, I made my way as quickly asI could along the shore toward Fort Dale, thinking perhaps ofLieutenant Woodward.
As I came upon the part of the grounds of the Fort that sloped down tothe beach, I saw a group of young officers standing about a peculiaraffair on the shore in the shallow water--half bird, half boat.
As I came closer, I recognized it as a Thomas hydroaeroplane.
It suggested an idea and I hurried, shouting.
One of the men, seated in it, was evidently explaining its working tothe others.
"Wait," he said, as he saw me running down the shore, waving andshouting at them. "Let's see what this fellow wants."
It was, as I soon learned, the famous Captain Burnside, of the UnitedStates Aerial Corps. Breathless, I told him what I had seen and that wewere all friends of Woodward's.
Burnside thought a moment, and quickly made up his mind.
"Come--quick--jump up here with me," he called. Then to the other men,"I'll be back soon. Wait here. Let her go!"
I had jumped up and they spun the propeller. The hydroaeroplanefeathered along the water, throwing a cloud of white spray, then slowlyrose in the air.
The sensation of flying was delightful, as the fresh morning wind cutour faces. We seemed to be hardly moving. It was the earth or ratherthe water that rushed past under us. But I forgot all about mysensations in my anxiety for Elaine.
As we rose we could see over the curve in the shore.
"Look!" I exclaimed, straining my eyes. "She's overboard. There's amotor-boat after her. Faster--over that way!"
"Yes, yes," shouted Burnside above the roar of the engine which almostmade conversation impossible.
He shifted the planes a bit and crowded on more speed.
The men in the boat saw us. One figure, tall, muffled, had a familiarlook, but I could not place it and in the excitement of the chase hadno chance to try. But I could see that he saw us and was angry.Apparently the man gave orders to turn, for the boat swung around justas we swooped down and ran along the water.
Elaine was exhausted. Would we be in time?
We planed along the water, while the motor-boat sped off with itsbaffled passengers. Finally we stopped, in a cloud of spray.
Together, Burnside and I reached down and caught Elaine, not a momenttoo soon, dragging her into the boat of the hydroaeroplane.
If we had not had all we could do, we might have heard a shout ofencouragement and relief from the hill where Woodward and Arnold andthe rest were watching anxiously.
I threw my coat about her, as the brave girl heroically clung to us,half conscious.
"Oh--Walter," she murmured, "you were just in time."
"I wish I could have been sooner," I apologized.
"They--they didn't cut the cable--did they?" she asked, as we rose fromthe water again, bearing her now to safety. "I did my best."