BOY SCOUTS MYSTERIOUS SIGNAL
Or
Perils of the Black Bear Patrol
by
G. HARVEY RALPHSON
[Frontispiece: The Forces Finished a Brilliant Attack]
M. A. Donohue & CompanyChicago -------- New York
Copyright, 1916M. A. Donohue & Co.Chicago
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. AN UNWILLING RECRUIT II. A FRIEND APPEARS III. OUT OF THE FLAMES IV. BURIED ALIVE V. A GUARD IN DISGRACE VI. A MYSTERIOUS SIGNAL VII. A SUSPECTED SPY VIII. FRUSTRATED PLANS IX. ABANDONING A REGIMENT X. AN EAGLE'S TALONS XI. THE FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE XII. TEMPTATIONS XIII. A GREAT SURPRISE XIV. BAFFLED PURSUERS XV. A BIT OF SCIENCE XVI. UNDER FALSE COLORS XVII. ACCUSED XVIII. PURSUIT XIX. LESE MAJESTY XX. CAPTURED XXI. ESCAPED PRISONERS XXII. HELD UP! XXIII. TABLES TURNED XXIV. A STERN CHASE XXV. ESCAPE
Boy Scouts Mysterious Signal
Or
Perils of the Black-Bear Patrol
AN UNWILLING RECRUIT
CHAPTER I
"But I say it's not fair!" cried a red-headed lad, drawing himself upto his full height. "You're not playing fair with us!"
"Ach, it is not so!" protested the one to whom the boy spoke. "We findyou an enemy in our city, and you must take the consequences!"
"Just because you wear an officer's uniform," retorted the boy,beginning to lose his temper and gazing fearlessly into the pale blueeyes of the other, "is no sign you know more than we do. You may thinkthat helmet and those stripes on your arm give you more brains than thecommon run of people, but it isn't so! I say I protest!"
"And much good your protest may do you at this time and place," was thecalm answer. Then, drawing his eyebrows down until the blue eyes werescarcely able to peer beneath them, he continued: "I, Heinrich vonLiebknecht, Captain in His Imperial Majesty's army in command of adetachment sent forward to capture this city, have decided that it isbetter that you remain with us. There is nothing more to say."
"But there is a great deal more to say!" stormed the boy.
"Jimmie," cautioned another lad, stepping forward and laying a hand onthe arm of the red-headed boy, "perhaps it would be better to say nomore just at this time. There must be some way out of this."
"Silence!" commanded the man who had called himself von Liebknecht."The decision has been made. I leave you now, but will return in a fewmoments. By that time you will have said farewell to your friends andbe ready to accompany me for service under the Kaiser!"
The lad addressed as Jimmie could scarcely restrain a sneer as theother finished speaking. His contempt was unbounded, and he did notseem to be making any great effort to conceal his emotion.
Just as the door was closing behind the departing man Jimmie permittedhimself to wrinkle his freckled nose in that direction and accompaniedthe gesture with a motion indicative of great disgust and contempt wellknown to many.
The scene was one unusual in the extreme. Four young boys werestanding in a room from which the ceiling had been partly removed by anexploding shell from a cannon. They were in one of the houses that hadonly partly escaped destruction during the bombardment of Peremysl bythe Germans on that memorable first day of June, 1915.
Three of the boys were about eighteen years of age and wore thewell-known uniforms of the Boy Scouts of America. The eldest, NedNestor, was slightly older than the others and wore insignia thatdenoted his rank as patrol leader of the Wolf Patrol, New York City.
Jack Bosworth and Harry Stevens stood beside Ned, their uniformsslightly the worse for wear, due to the extremely active experiencesthey had just undergone. These boys were members of the Black BearPatrol of New York City, and were fast friends of Ned Nestor and hisred-headed chum, Jimmie McGraw, the fourth member of the group.
Just now Jimmie was not wearing the Boy Scout uniform. Instead he wasdressed in the uniform of a Russian Cossack, and this was the immediatereason for the controversy that had arisen between the boy and theGerman officer. Those of our readers who have followed the adventuresof the boys as related in previous volumes of this series, andparticularly that entitled "Boy Scouts with the Cossacks, or PolandRecaptured," will at once recall the exciting circumstances thatresulted in Jimmie's donning the Cossack uniform and the reason for thepresence of the four boys in Peremysl at this time.
Jimmie seemed to be too much overcome by his emotion at what heconsidered rank injustice to be able to carry on rational conversation.
"I tell you, Ned," he sputtered, "just because I happen to have on someclothes a little different from others they needn't think I'm anydifferent myself! I'll fix his clock, all right!"
"Don't forget about using slang, Jimmie!" cautioned Ned, half laughing."But you see the German officer, von Liebknecht, is really more than alittle bit right at that."
"How's that?" inquired Jimmie in astonishment.
"They say clothes don't make the man," replied Ned, "but in a greatmany cases clothes are like one's reputation--they play an importantpart in other people's estimate of us. In this case, for instance, theGermans have just captured this city from the Russians. You arediscovered wearing a Russian Cossack uniform, and they naturally andalmost excusably conclude that the wearer of the uniform is a subjectof the country it represents."
"Oh, I see," slowly replied the lad, nodding his red head.
"Yes, Jimmie," put in Harry Stevens, "you see it pays to 'Be Prepared,'just as our motto says. We never can tell just when we'll be requiredto depend upon our reputation or our uniform for a favorable opinionfrom those who see us or hear of us."
"That's all very well," interrupted Jack Bosworth, "but how are we toget Jimmie out of this predicament? General or Captain von Liebknechtseems to think that he's going to make a German soldier out of Jimmiejust to keep him out of harm's way, and I don't like it."
"Perhaps we can find some of the other uniforms or clothes of some sortfor Jimmie to change into," suggested Harry eagerly.
Ned shook his head in a despondent manner.
"I'm afraid that wouldn't work, boys," he said presently. "We wouldonly be caught at it and all tried for spies, and maybe find ourselvesin a worse predicament than we now are. Perhaps the German officerwill listen to reason when he returns."
"Yes," scorned Jimmie. "Perhaps the sun will shine at midnight, orwater will start running uphill, or something like that will happen!"
"You don't seem to have much faith in the German ability to change themind?" inquired Jack. "Maybe this fellow'll be different."
"No, sir!" pursued Jimmie gloomily. "The average German is a prettydecent fellow in a great many ways, but when it comes to changing hismind--why, it 'can't be did,' because it's impossible."
"Hush!" commanded Ned. "Here he comes. I'll talk to him."
But, though Ned endeavored by every art of conversation at his commandto influence the German Captain to change his mind, that individualinsisted that since Jimmie had been found in the captured city wearingthe uniform of a Russian Cossack he must be treated as one. The onlyalternative he would admit was that Jimmie must give evidence of hisclaim that he was not a Russian by enlisting in the German army.
"So," decided the German, "you haf been to riding horses accustomed.Goot. You shall now ride a horse for der Kaiser, und," he addedmeaningly, "you shall do it vell. You may now say goot bye to deseodder poys und come mit me. Der oath ve vill administer."
Several soldiers fully armed, standing about, stepped forward at theCaptain's signal. Placing themselves between Jimmie and his chums,they
advanced, fairly compelling the lad to accompany them.
Thunderstruck at the proceedings, but unable to render any assistanceto their comrade, the three lads watched Jimmie disappear through thedoorway. Then, as they were left quite alone, they turned to oneanother with an air of dejection.
"What shall we do, Ned?" inquired Jack presently.
"Yes, Ned," put in Harry, with something very like a catch in hisvoice, "let's have your ideas. You are always ready with somesuggestion in an emergency. What shall we do?"
"In the first place, boys," answered Ned, "I'm mighty glad to hear youask questions like that. It shows me that you are ready for actioninstead of wanting to sit down and give way to despair. I'm ready foraction this minute if I could only decide what should be done."
"I move we hunt around and find some guns and go hold that bunch ofGermans up and take Jimmie away from them!" said Harry impulsively.
"Do you suppose the Captain will make good on his threat of makingJimmie enlist in their cavalry regiment?" asked Jack, ignoring Harry'ssuggestion. "If they do, can't he slip away some night?"
"What if he does?" inquired Harry. "Where would he slip to, and whereshall we get to help him? It seems to me that every minute counts now.If they get him into a cavalry regiment they'll want to be on the moveright away. At times like these, with Germany fighting the whole ofEurope, they can't afford to let a regiment remain idle."
"That's very true," nodded Ned thoughtfully. "Germany has won avictory over Russia, and that may relieve some of her forces in theeast, at least temporarily, until Russia gathers enough of an army tomake another assault. In that case they might send the cavalryregiment toward the western front in Prance or Belgium, where Germanyis meeting the French, English and other troops."
"Do you think they will make Jimmie go along and fight the allies?"questioned Jack. "If they do that, he may get killed."
"Perhaps that would suit the German Captain as well as anything else,"observed Ned. "It would save him the trouble and responsibility ofordering the red-head shot immediately."
"Then in that case," continued Jack, "I second Harry's motion and hopeit is carried unanimously. Let's get busy and get the boy."
"I think you are right," agreed Ned. "Now, if we can have some plan ofaction we'll be able to make more headway than without it."
"Right you are, Scout Master!" cried Jack. "What is your plan?"
"Well," began Ned, glancing at his comrades, "it seems almost too bolda thing to try just at first thought, but I can't think of anythingbetter than to try to get away from this place in the Eagle, and thenwatch our chance to kidnap Jimmie from those fellows."
"A fine idea!" was Harry's almost cheerful response. "Ned, there'snothing too bold to try once, anyway. Maybe we can get Jimmie out oftheir hands. If we ever do--"
Harry's clenched first, which he shook at the door out of which theGermans had led Jimmie, spoke more eloquently than his unfinishedsentence. Plainly he was ready for action.
"Let's slip out of here while we have a chance," suggested Ned.
"Just the thing!" agreed Jack. "It's the best time we'll ever find.The incoming army is pretty busy just now and won't see us."
With one accord the three lads moved toward the door. Ned glancedaround the partially wrecked apartment in the hope of discoveringsomething that would be of use to them in their endeavor to help Jimmieescape. An object in one corner caught his attention.
As Ned stepped forward to examine the object he had seen, he wasstartled to hear a cry from Jack, who had been looking from a window.
"Look!" cried the boy, pointing toward the street. "They're actuallymaking Jimmie take an oath of enlistment!"
Quickly joining Jack, Ned and Harry saw Jimmie standing in the street,surrounded by German soldiers wearing the uniforms of Uhlans. Directlybehind the lad stood one of the soldiers with the muzzle of a gunpressed against Jimmie's back. Before him an officer stood, apparentlyadministering some form of oath. The three boys could see Jimmie'slips move in response to the prompting of the officer.
Directly the ceremony was ended and the soldiers turned as if preparingto mount their horses, standing near.
"There's a bunch coming back to this house!" declared Jack.
"Wonder what they want?" mused Harry in a puzzled manner.
"I think they have decided they want three more recruits!"
"Good night!" was the lad's startled ejaculation. "Let's go!"
"Come over here," directed Ned, springing toward a corner of the room."I think I've found something that will help us out."