CHAPTER IV
THE HOUSE OF THE HELIOGRAPH
"You know your way about London?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," said Harry.
"I shall have messages for you to carry," said the colonel, then. "Now Iwant to explain, so that you will understand the importance of this, whyyou are going to be allowed to do this work. This war has comesuddenly--but we are sure that the enemy has expected it for a longtime, and has made plans accordingly.
"There are certain matters so important, so secret, that we are afraidto trust them to the telephone, the telegraph--even the post, if thatwere quick enough! In a short time we shall have weeded out all thespies. Until then we have to exercise the greatest care. And it has beendecided to accept the offer of Boy Scouts because the spies we feel wemust guard against are less likely to suspect boys than men. I am goingto give you some dispatches now--what they are is a secret. You takethem to Major French, at Waterloo station."
He stopped, apparently expecting them to speak. But neither saidanything.
"No questions?" he asked, sternly.
"N$1--$2 sir," said Dick. "We're to take the dispatches to Major French,at Waterloo? That all, is it, sir? And then to come back here?"
The colonel nodded approvingly.
"Yes, that's all," he said. "Except for this. Waterloo station is closedto all civilians. You will require a word to pass the sentries. Nomatter what you see, once you are inside, you are not to describe it.You are to tell no one, not even your parent--what you do or what yousee. That is all," and he nodded in dismissal.
They made their way out and back to the railway station. And Dick seemeda little disappointed.
"I don't think this is much to be doing!" he grumbled.
But Harry's eyes were glistening.
"Don't you see?" he said, lowering his voice so they could not beoverheard. "We know something now that probably even a lot of thesoldiers don't know! They're mobilizing. If they are going to be sentfrom Waterloo it must mean that they're going to Southampton--and thatmeans that they will reach France. That's what we'll see at Waterloostation--troops entraining to start the trip to France. They're going tofight over there. Everyone is guessing at that--a lot of people thoughtmost of the army would be sent to the East Coast. But that can't be so,you see. If it was, they would be starting from King's Cross andLiverpool street stations, not from Waterloo."
"Oh, I never thought of that!" said Dick, brightening.
When they got on the train at Ealing they were lucky enough to get acompartment to themselves, since at that time more people were coming toEaling than were leaving it. Dick began at once to give vent to hiswonder.
"How many of them do you suppose are going?" he cried. "Who will be incommand? Sir John French, I think. Lord Kitchener is to be War Minister,they say, and stay in London. I bet they whip those bally Germans untilthey don't know where they are--"
"Steady on!" said Harry, smiling, but a little concerned, none the less."Dick, don't talk that! You don't know who may be listening!"
"Why, Harry! No one can hear us--we're alone in the carriage!"
"I know, but we don't know who's in the next one or whether they canhear through or not. The wall isn't very thick, you know. We can't betoo careful. I don't think anyone knows what we're doing but there isn'tany reason why we should take any risk at all."
"No, of course not. You're right, Harry," said Dick, a good dealabashed. "I'll try to keep quiet after this."
"I wonder why there are two of us," said Dick presently, in a whisper."I should think one would be enough."
"I think we've both got just the same papers to carry," said Harry, alsoin a whisper. "You see, if one of us gets lost, or anything happens tohis papers, the other will probably get through all right. At least itlooks that way to me."
"Harry," said Dick, after a pause, "I've got an idea. Suppose weseparate and take different ways to get to Waterloo? Wouldn't that makeit safer? We could meet there and go back to Ealing together."
"That's a good idea, Dick," said Harry. He didn't think that theirpresent errand was one of great importance, in spite of what ColonelThrockmorton had said. He thought it more likely that they were beingtried out and tested, so that the colonel might draw his own conclusionsas to how far he might safely trust them in the future. But he repressedhis inclination to smile at this sudden excess of caution on Dick'spart. It was a move in the right direction, certainly.
"Yes, we'll do that," he said. "I'll walk across the bridge, and you cantake the tube under the river from the Monument."
They followed that plan, and met without incident at the station. Heremore than ever the fact of war was in evidence. A considerable space inand near the station had been roped off and sentries refused to allowany to pass who could not prove that they had a right to do so. Theordinary peaceful vocation of the great terminal was entirely suspended.
"Anything happen to you?" asked Harry with a smile. "I nearly got runover--but that was my own fault."
"No, nothing. I saw Graves. And he wanted to know what I was doing."
"What did you tell him?"
"Nothing. I said, 'Don't you wish you knew?' And he got angry, and saidhe didn't care."
"It wasn't any of his business. You did right," said Harry.
They had to wait a few moments to see Major French, who was exceedinglybusy. They need no one to tell them what was going on. At the platformtrains were waiting, and, even while they looked on, one after anotherdrew out, loaded with soldiers. The windows were whitewashed, so that,once the doors of the compartments were closed, none could see who wasinside. There was no cheering, which seemed strange at first, but it wasso plain that this was a precautionary measure that the boys understoodit easily enough. Finally Major French, an energetic, sunburned man, wholooked as if he hadn't slept for days, came to them. They handed him thepapers they carried. He glanced at them, signed receipts which he handedto them, and then frowned for a moment.
"I think I'll let you take a message to Colonel Throckmorton for me," hesaid, then, giving them a kindly smile. "It will be a verbal message.You are to repeat what I tell you to him without a change. And I supposeI needn't tell you that you must give it to no one else?"
"No, sir," they chorused.
"Very well, then. You will tell him that trains will be waiting belowSurbiton, at precisely ten o'clock tonight. Runways will be built to letthe men climb the embankment, and they can entrain there. You willremember that?"
"Yes, sir."
"You might as well understand what it's all about," said the major. "Yousee, we're moving a lot of troops. And it is of the utmost importancefor the enemy to know all about the movement and, of course, just asimportant for us to keep them from learning what they want to know. Sowe are covering the movement as well as we can. Even if they learn someof the troops that are going, we want to keep them from finding outeverything. Their spy system is wonderfully complete and we have to takeevery precaution that is possible. It is most important that you deliverthis message to Colonel Throckmorton. Repeat it to me exactly," hecommanded.
They did so, and, seemingly satisfied, he let them go. But just as theywere leaving, he called them back.
"You'd go back by the underground, I suppose," he said. "I'm not surethat you can get through for the line is likely to be taken over,temporarily, at any moment. Take a taxicab--I'll send an orderly withyou to put you aboard. Don't pay the man anything; we are keeping a lotof them outside on government service, and they get their pay from theauthorities."
The orderly led them to the stand, some distance from the station, wherethe cabs stood in a long row, and spoke to the driver of the one at thehead of the rank. In a moment the motor was started, and they were off.
The cab had a good engine, and it made good time. But after a littlewhile Harry noticed with some curiosity that the route they were takingwas not the most direct one. He rapped on the window glass and spoke tothe driver about it.
"Got to go round, sir," the ma
n explained. "Roads are all torn up thestraight way, sir. Won't take much longer, sir."
Harry accepted the explanation. Indeed, it seemed reasonable enough. Butsome sixth sense warned him to keep his eyes open. And at last hedecided that there could be no excuse for the way the cab wasproceeding. It seemed to him that they were going miles out of the way,and decidedly in the wrong direction. He did not know London as well asa boy who had lived there all his life would have done. But his scouttraining had given him a remarkable ability to keep his bearings. And itneeded no special knowledge to realize that the sun was on the wrongside of the cab for a course that was even moderately straight forEaling.
They had swung well around, as a matter of fact, into a northwesternsuburban section, and once he had seen a maze of railway tracks thatmeant, he was almost sure that they were passing near WillisdenJunction. Only a few houses appeared in the section through which thecab was now racing and pavements were not frequent. He spoke to Dick: ina whisper.
"There's something funny here," he said. "But, no matter what happenspretend you think it's all right. Let anyone who speaks to us thinkwe're foolish. It will be easier for us to get away then. And keep youreyes wide open, if we stop anywhere, so that you will be sure to knowthe place again!"
"Right!" said Dick.
Just then the cab, caught in a rutty road where the going was veryheavy, and there was a slight upgrade in addition, to make it worse,slowed up considerably. And Dick, looking out the window on his side,gave a stifled exclamation.
"Look there, Harry!" he said. "Do you see the sun flashing on somethingon the roof of that house over there? What do you suppose that is?"
"Whew!" Harry whistled, "You ought to know that, Dick! Aheliograph--field telegraph. Morse code--or some code--made by flashes.The sun catches a mirror or some sort of reflector, and it's just like atelegraph instrument, with dots and dashes, except that you work bysight instead of by sound. That is queer. Try to mark just where thehouse is, and so will I."
The cab turned, while they were still looking, and removed the housewhere the signalling was being done from their line of vision. But in afew moments there was a loud report that startled the scouts until theyrealized that a front tire had blown out. The driver stopped at once,and descended, seemingly much perturbed. And Harry and Dick, piling outto inspect the damage, started when they saw that they had stopped justoutside the mysterious house.
"I'll fix that in a jiffy," said the driver, and began jacking up thewheel. But, quickly as he stripped off the deflated tire, he was not soquick that Harry failed to see that the blow-out had been caused by astraight cut--not at all the sort of tear produced by a jagged stone ora piece of broken glass. He said nothing of his discovery, however, anda moment later he looked up to face a young man in the uniform of anofficer of the British territorial army. This young man had keen,searching blue eyes, and very blond hair. His upper lip was closelyshaven, but it bore plain evidence that within a few days it had sporteda moustache.
"Well," said the officer, "what are you doing here?"
The driver straightened up as if in surprise. "Blow-out, sir," he said,touching his cap. "I'm carrying these young gentlemen from Waterloo toEaling, sir. Had to come around on account of the roads."
"You've have your way lost, my man. Why not admit it?" said the officer,showing his white teeth in a smile. He turned to Harry an Dick. "BoyScouts, I see," he commented. "You carry orders concerning the movementof troops from Ealing? They are to entrain--where?"
"Near Croydon, sir, on the Brighton and South Coast Line," said Harry,lifting his innocent eyes to his questioner.
"So! They go to Dover, then, I suppose--no, perhaps to Folkestone--- oh,what matter? Hurry up with your tire, my man!"
He watched them still as the car started. Then he went back to thehouse.
"Whatever did you tell him that whopper about Croydon for?" whisperedDick. "I wasn't going to tell him anything-"
"Then he might have tried to make us," answered Harry, also in awhisper. "Did you notice anything queer about him?"
"Why, no--"
"You have your way lost!' Would any Englishman say that, Dick? Andwouldn't a German? You've studied German. Translate 'You've lost yourway' into German. 'Du hast dein weg--' See? He was a German spy!"
"Oh, Harry! I believe you're right! But why didn't we--"
"Try to arrest him? There may have been a dozen others there, too. Andthere was the driver. We wouldn't have had a chance. Besides, if hethinks we don't suspect, we may be able to get some valuable informationlater. I think--"
"What?"
"I'd better not say now. But remember this--we've got to look out forthis driver. I think he'll take us straight to Ealing now. When we getto the barracks you stay in the cab--we'll pretend we may have to goback with him."
"I see," said Dick, thrilling with the excitement of this first taste ofreal war.
Harry was right. The driver's purpose in making such a long detour,whatever it was, had been accomplished. And now he plainly did his bestto make up for lost time. He drove fast and well, and in a comparativelyshort time both the scouts could see that they were on the right track.
"You watch one side. I'll take the other," said Harry. "We've got to beable to find our way back to that house."
This watchfulness confirmed Harry's suspicions concerning the driver,because he made two or three circuits that could have no other purposethan to make it hard to follow his course.
At Ealing he and Dick carried out their plan exactly. Dick stayed withthe cab, outside the wall; Harry hurried in. And five minutes afterHarry had gone inside a file of soldiers, coming around from anothergate, surrounded the cab and arrested the driver.