IT never rains but it pours, and the conversion of Mrs. Bennett toscouting was shortly followed by the greatest catch of the season.
Charlie O'Connor came into the troop on the same wave which broughtConnover, and East End contingent, though it did not surrender as yet,retired to the sweltering and almost deserted Bridgeboro, and tried tokindle a fire in Temple's lot after the Camp Ellsworth fashion. Theeffort was not very successful.
The next day Jakie Mattenburg, on the strength of talk he had overheardin camp, tried his hand, or rather, his foot, at stalking, and wassurprised to find that it was rather more interesting to watch themovements of a sparrow than to throw stones at it.
It could hardly be said that this band of seasoned hoodlums made muchimmediate progress toward scouting, but they remembered their rescuefrom the river at Roy's hands, and they accorded him thereafter agrudging measure of consideration which, in the fullness of time,blossomed into genuine friendship. They were, in fact, the future ElkPatrol in its chrysalis form; but their career as scouts is part ofanother story.
A few days after the events of the preceding chapter the troop'sbirthday was celebrated in camp and Connover and Charlie O'Connorsubmitted themselves to Roy, who tied a pink ribbon about the right armof each. From Connover's ribbon depended a card reading,
_Chief With Many Happy Returns from The Silver Foxes_
while Charlie O'Connor was presented as the gift of the Ravens.
The presentations were made at supper and the two tenderfeet were led(with rather sheepish faces) to Mr. Ellsworth at the head of the tableand tendered to him in true birthday fashion amid much laughter.
Roy made a characteristic speech. "These two valuable gifts arepresented to our beloved scoutmaster with twelve profit-sharingcoupons. When you get one hundred of these coupons take them toTemple's lot in Bridgeboro and receive a new scout.
"Honorable Charles O'Connor has always had brothers enough, but now hehas a few hundred thousand more, so he ought to be satisfied. Thispriceless gift" (grabbing Connover by his pink ribbon) "was verydifficult to procure; it is _what you have always wanted_. If itdoesn't fit you can exchange it. Honorable Bennover Connett is the onlysurvivor, ladies and gentlemen--the _only survivor_ of the extinctEureka Patrol! The Eureka Patrol was a part of the only original Cockand Bull Troop of Nowhere-in-Particular. The records of this troop,known as the _Dan Dreadnought Series_, are donated to CampEllsworth for fuel in case the kindling wood runs short. Full andimplicit directions go with each gift."
It was a gala occasion in camp and the troop sat late about the roaringfire that night.
They were just raking up the last embers preparatory to turning in whenthey were startled by the sound of running footsteps, and out of thedarkness emerged a dark-cloaked figure with streaming hair and glintsof white under the heavy garment which she wore.
"I--lost the path," she gasped, "and--and then I saw your--light--and-oh,Mr. Ellsworth--the house--was robbed and James--is shot and-there'sanother man shot--and it was all planned for they've cut thewires--and we have to get help--a doctor----"
It was Mary Temple who gasped this shocking news and then all butcollapsed from fear and haste and excitement. An automobile coat hadbeen donned over her nightdress. For a few moments she was utterlyunable to give a coherent account of what had happened at Five Oaks.The few minutes during which she had been lost in the woods, togetherwith the appalling events at home, had quite unnerved her and she clungto Mr. Ellsworth, looking affrightedly about her as if she were beingpursued.
He did not wait to get at the details. Something had happened andmedical aid was needed. That was apparent.
"Did they send you?" he asked.
"No--I just came--I know scouts can do anything."
"Yes," he said concurrently.
"Of course, we can't get a real doctor, but--"
"We can try," said a voice.
She looked up startled, and in the last dying glow of the fire she sawthe stolid face of Tom Slade. It was the first time she had seen himsince her mother's mishap and their visit at camp, though she knew fromRoy of his tracking feat and recovery of her pin. She knew too of hisnight in the lock-up, but no knowledge of his father's connection withthe affair had come to her.
"I meant--I was coming to thank you--Tom; truly, I was----"
But Tom had turned away and presently she saw an agile figure springafter him.
"Are you going to try for it, Tom?" said Roy. "It's after one o'clock."
"He sometimes stays there till two--he told me--he'll be there."
"How do you know?"
"Because I want him to be." "Mary thinks you snubbed her, Tom; whydidn't you speak to her?"
"I wish I had her ball to toss back," said Tom.
It was odd that he should think of that now.
In the lean-to Roy lit the lantern and presently the whole troop wasdivided into two groups; one was getting ready the stretcher andhelping Doc Carson, and the other stood about the lean-to watching Tom,who sat on the rickety grocery box before the wireless apparatus. Roystood anxiously at his shoulder; the others waited, speaking to eachother in an undertone occasionally, but never to Tom. By common consentthey seemed to leave this thing for him to do, and there was about hima certain detachment from the others which suggested slightly hismanner that day when he had been arrested.
Boys came and went, Mr. Ellsworth and others departed hastily with Doc,the little group in the lean-to watched and waited while Tom,apparently unconscious of all about him, sat there adjusting his sparkgap. Occasionally he spoke in an undertone to Roy, but seemed obliviousof all else.
"R. V., isn't it?" he asked.
"Yes," said Roy.
"Better look and make sure."
Roy consulted a note book. "R. V. is right," said he.
Tom laid his hand upon the key and adjusted his head receivers. Then upinto the darkness and out into the vast trackless sky went the call forR. V.
It was then the boys noticed the cloaked figure of the girl standing inthe background watching. "I thought you went with Doc and Mr.Ellsworth," someone said.
"He said I might stay," she answered timidly.
Tom glanced around and saw her, but showed no interest. Roy sat on theedge of the instrument table, anxiously waiting.
"They can't cut this kind of wires," he said cheerily to Mary as if tomake up for Tom's silence.
Eagerly she watched Tom. She seemed fascinated with his absorption andwith every slight move of his hand.
"Nothing doing?" said Roy with a note of discouragement.
Tom made no answer, only adjusted the sending instrument to a differentwave-length.
"Too late, Tommy boy," Roy said.
Tom paid no attention, only in dogged silence adjusted the sendinginstrument to another wavelength and readjusted the tuning-coil.
AFTER SENDING THE WIRELESS MESSAGE, TOM FINDS HIMSELF AHERO.]
Mary watched him anxiously. She too seemed all by herself--a strange,wide-eyed figure, standing apart with the great auto cloak about her,silently watching and not daring to ask a question.
"Who did you say was hurt?" Tom asked at length, without turning.
"A burglar and James--our chauffeur, you know--they were both shot."
"Have you got him?" asked Roy excitedly.
"Nope."
He adjusted the tuning coil again and waited patiently.
"Too late, Tom."
No answer. Then suddenly Tom's hand flew to the sending key, and as theletters of the Morse Code clicked away into the night a slight smilecrept over his face. There was no member of the troop who could use theMorse alphabet with such rapidity as Tom, and he often thought (butseldom spoke) of that first message he and Roy had flashed togetherfrom the little tower on Blakeley's Hill.
"Up?" asked Roy.
"Sure he's up; wait till I get his O. K."
Back through the night and down to this boy at the rough table and tothe tense little group of watchers came the "
O. K." which assured themthat the message was understood.
Tom rose and Mary Temple impulsively made a step toward him, thenpaused half-embarrassed.
She actually stood a little in awe of Tom Slade, of Barrel Alley, whohad cheated her and stolen her ball. And Tom Slade, Scout, who was sureof himself and afraid of nothing, was very much in awe of this younggirl. And Roy Blakeley, his chum, understood and took the timid,admiring girl into his own charge and so the little party made its wayout of the dark woods and across the bridge to Five Oaks.
Mary Temple felt very much as Tom had felt the day after his own firstessay at signalling. She knew it was a wireless apparatus he had used(she would have asked questions of him if she had dared), and shesupposed that he was calling a doctor. She had experienced a thrill ofadmiration at the quiet, stolid exhibition of skill, and his apparentaloofness had only deepened her admiration into awe. But as Tom himselfhad felt so long ago, she wanted to see the tangible result of thiswork which was such a mystery to her.
Tom hurried stolidly along with Pee-wee and Charlie O'Connor, with thatclumsy gait which he had never entirely overcome, and which, ever sofaintly, suggested the old shuffle. Whether there was any foreboding inhis mind none of his companions knew for he was never talkative, butin the light of what soon happened, it occurred to them afterward thathe had known all along what was before him, that he knew what he shouldsee at Five Oaks, and that, like the good scout, he was_prepared_.
On the way Roy gleaned from Mary more of what had taken place. Itappeared that Mr. Temple, hearing sounds in the rooms below, had rungfor the gardener who, with the chauffeur, had come from the garage andentered a back door, letting themselves in by means of the chauffeur'skey. They were just passing through the foyer when three masked menrushed out of the breakfast room. One got away carrying some loot, not,however, before he had shot and seriously wounded James, the chauffeur,who had dropped in the hall with a bullet in his thigh.
Neither of Mr. Temple's men recalled what became of the second man morethan that he disappeared, they thought, empty-handed. The third hadmade for an open window and was just climbing out when the gardenershot him and he fell to the ground outside, where he still lay when thescouts arrived.
The gardener insisted that the man had drawn a revolver, but norevolver could be found about him.
It was then discovered that the burglary was a well-planned affair, forthe telephone wires had been severed, and it was upon discovery of thisfact that Mary had hurried to Camp Ellsworth.
Doc Carson was busy with James, who had been lifted to a couch in thehall, when Mary saw the tangible result of Tom's message in the form oftwo dazzling acetylene headlights coming under the _portecochere_, and the doctor stepping briskly into the house.
"Oh, Tom," she exclaimed, with as much delight as the occasion wouldpermit, and with gratitude in every note of her voice. "He came, justas you----Oh, where is he?" she broke off suddenly, as she noticedthat Tom was not there.
It was then and not until then that a quick thought flashed upon Royand he hurried out and around the house.
There, under the bay-window, lay a motionless form. Tom was bendingover it and Roy could hear his quick, short breaths as he tried tocontrol his emotion.
"Is he dead, Tom?" Roy asked softly.
"It's--it's my father."
"Yes, I know. Is he dead?"
"Get the doctor--I'm glad it was me sent the message for him."
It was another culmination of another triumph.
"I'm glad too, Tom."
"They'll have to see him--they'll have to know now. You tell thedoctor. I got to be loyal. Tell Mr.--Mr. Ellsworth he's got to rememberwhat he said, that there wasn't no First Bridgeboro Troop when he was aboy--you heard him say that."
"He _will_ remember it, Tom."
"Get the doctor--quick!"
Tom bent lower over the motionless form of his father as if he wereasking a question.
CHAPTER XX
TOM TOSSES IT BACK