Air Service Boys Flying for France/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV
STARTING FOR FRANCE
"Just to think of it, Tom," Jack Parmly was saying some time afterwards, as he sat before a fire in his chum's den, for they had been home some days, "to-night will be the last we expect to spend with our folks for a long while."
"Yes," added the other boy, a bit seriously. "And to tell you the truth, Jack, I really wish the parting was over. Father and mother don't say much, but I can see by their eyes they've been lying awake these last nights worrying about me. This parting from the family is the hardest part of the whole business to me."
"Yes, my mother is trying to smile through it all," said Jack soberly, winking very fast as he spoke for some reason or other, though Tom did not seem to notice the fact. "She has the soul of a true patriot. Years ago when we were at war with Spain, she let father go to the front without a complaint. My aunt told me that many times she found mother crying in secret; yet to the world she always seemed to be as calm and contented as if father had been at her side. No fellow ever had a finer mother, Tom."
"There's only one fly in the ointment, according to my mind," continued the other, frowning as he spoke.
"I can guess what you mean," said Jack. "You're still thinking of that scoundrel, Adolph Tuessig, and how he stole part of your father's design of his great invention. Tom, I wager the one hope in your heart is that fortune will send you across his path some day or other, when you can perhaps recover the lost paper, or at least repay him for his treachery."
"You've guessed it, Jack! I'd give anything to have just such a chance. Father is beginning to despair of ever getting his invention completed, with that part of his plans lost. He seems to be unable to remember just how the exact combination was to be effected; and the more he worries the deeper his confusion grows. Mother is quite anxious about him on that account."
"Stranger things than such a meeting have happened, Tom. Let's hope that just such a chance may come your way before that Tuessig is able to hand over his find to the German headquarters in the Wilhelmstrasse."
"Strange to say," mused Tom, "the detective my father employed has been unable to find a single trace of Tuessig. He seems to have disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him up. Men have been kept watching the German Legation at Washington right along, because the ambassador is getting into pretty deep water, and is apt to receive his walking papers any day; but Tuessig hasn't been there."
"Then," said the hopeful Jack, "perhaps he doesn't feel satisfied to hand in only an incomplete prize. He may be holding on in the hope of yet being able to steal the rest of your father's secret."
Jack soon took his departure. He hardly knew whether he felt joyous or depressed over the near approach of the day when he was to start for New York, there to board a trans-Atlantic steamer bound for the warring country beyond the sea. There were times when Jack's heart beat high with delightful anticipations; and then again the sight of his widowed mother's pale face, with its forced smile whenever she thought he was looking, gave him a severe pang.
Tom spent a quiet evening with his family. His father and mother, as well as Oscar, a lad of twelve, and Phoebe, a six-year old sister, hovered over him constantly, and the talk was as cheerful as could be expected under the conditions.
Finally Tom kissed his mother good-night and went to his room. He was gulping down the emotions that struggled in his heart, for it is indeed no light thing for a boy to part from all he loves and go forth to risk his life in the service of mankind.
The boy found it hard to lose himself in sleep. His thoughts roved far afield as he endeavored to lift the curtain of the future and catch faint glimpses of the wonderful things that might be lying in store for him in the land across the sea, where the hand of war had been laid so heavily.
At last he sank into an uneasy slumber. Just what time it was when he suddenly awoke Tom would have found it difficult to say had he been asked. He heard all manner of queer sounds welling up to his partly-opened window from the yard. There were loud and explosive ejaculations in a masculine voice, fierce yappings from the dog, Duke, and then certain suspicious crashing noises as though some person might be striving to clamber hastily over the high fence that ran around the Raymond premises.
Tom leaped to his feet and hurriedly slipped into some of his clothes, though in his excitement he could hardly manage his dressing, even after he had turned on the electric light. Having accomplished this after a fashion, he picked up a baseball bat as the best weapon of defense within reach, and then hurried down to the front door.
His father called to him as he descended the stairs.
"Be careful of the dog, Tom! He's back in the yard and growling furiously. Speak to him as you go out. I'll join you shortly. I believe he must have the thief cornered somewhere."
That gave Tom a pleasant thrill, for he fully believed the man must be the same bold intruder who had stolen the paper from the safe on that former occasion. He had undoubtedly returned in hopes of securing another prize, and thus completing the object of his previous visit.
Swinging his baseball bat as he ran, Tom hastened around the house. The moon was hidden from view behind clouds, but for all that it was not dark, and Tom could see some object moving over in one corner of the back yard.
A rather high fence surrounded Mr. Raymond's property. Near the top of this Tom made out a struggling figure that he took to be a man. As he dashed forward and drew closer he discovered what it all meant.
The thief on being attacked by the bulldog had attempted to climb over the fence. Before he could draw himself wholly out of reach the animal had made an upward leap, and fastened those terrible teeth of his in the seat of the fellow's trousers as he hung suspended there.
Duke was swinging back and forth like an animated pendulum, growling most ferociously. The alarmed man continued to strain every muscle while striving to drag himself up, but with that added weight holding him back he had until that moment been unable to accomplish this task.
On hearing Tom shout out to the dog however, a new spasm of alarm caused the thief to struggle still more strenuously. Then the cloth of his trousers gave way, and suddenly the dog fell back to the ground, while the man, with great alacrity, slipped over the top of the high board fence.
The animal commenced to race about shaking the fragment of cloth he still held between his teeth. Tom made for the back gate, threw the bar aside, and ran out. He heard his father calling to him to be careful, but so long as he gripped such a good weapon as that heavy ash bat he had no fear of the result, should he be fortunate enough to overtake the thief.
The dog came rushing after him, and Tom gave the animal an encouraging word. But after all he was doomed to disappointment, for the man had obtained a start of half a minute at least, which was long enough for his purpose.
When Tom heard the familiar throb of a motor working near by he realized that the intruder had come prepared for hasty flight in case of discovery. Then a car sped away with a great roaring of the unmuffled engine.
Keenly disappointed, and yet pleased to know that the would-be robbery had not occurred, Tom retraced his steps. His father met him just inside the grounds.
"Then he got away clean and clear, did he?" asked the gentleman, who of course guessed the state of affairs when he first heard the sound of a speeding car.
"I don't know about clean and clear, Dad," Tom told him. "Come here, Duke, and let's see what you're shaking so savagely."
It was only with some difficulty that Tom persuaded the bulldog to let him have the article. He held this up and then laughed.
"Why, it's pretty nearly the entire seat of a pair of trousers, father," he explained. "The dog was hanging to him like the pendulum of a grandfather clock, and fighting like everything to drag him down. But the cloth gave finally, which allowed the scamp to tumble over the fence and get away."
Mr. Raymond took the spoils of Duke's attack and examined it under the glare of a little hand-electric torch he was carrying with him.
"The teeth of the dog drew blood, as you can see, my boy," he remarked, holding the article out to Tom. "I should say that rascal will have a most decided limp to his gait for some days to come."
"Then everywhere I go I'll keep on the lookout for any man who walks with a cane, and limps as though each step caused him pain," suggested Tom, perhaps in a semi-humorous mood, though he hardly felt as though the subject was one to be treated lightly.
"Perhaps I had better send this fragment of cloth to the detective who's looking for Adolph Tuessig," continued Mr. Raymond reflectively. "It might afford him an excellent clue, in case he manages to find the German secret agent of the Kaiser."
"You seem to feel absolutely certain, Father, that this man must have been the same thief who visited the house before."
"There is no question about it in my mind, Son," returned the other firmly. "He has realized that what he managed to secure is only a fragment of the whole;. and so he either came back himself, or else sent an accomplice, to try to find the rest of the papers containing my secret invention."
As the air was cold, and neither of them had fully dressed, the two spent no more time in the open, saying a last word of commendation to the dog, and then retiring indoors.
In the morning Tom investigated, and could easily see where the would-be thief had scrambled so hastily over the fence; for footprints led to the spot, and by looking closely he could even detect tiny specks of a suggestive red stain on the boards, that told the tragic story.
When Jack came he showed a tremendous amount of interest in the story, and had to be taken over the whole ground, as well as pet Duke and compliment him on his staying qualities. To all of this praise the bulldog seemed to listen with more or less appreciation, if the jerking of his abbreviated tail could be accepted as evidence.
That day would see them off. The minutes dragged in a way, because both boys were becoming very nervous over the parting scenes, which they dreaded a little. But it was over at last, and they boarded the afternoon train bound for New York.
When they arrived in the great metropolis the afternoon was well on toward its close. Indeed, already the shades of evening had begun to gather as they took a taxicab and with their steamer trunks rode down to the dock from which their vessel was to leave at some indefinite time, perhaps before sunrise on the morrow.
As they arrived at the great bustling dock it was to find that electric lights blazed and stevedores were hustling to finish loading the vessel to the limit, while intending passengers were dodging the rushing trucks or entering through the passenger entrance or hurrying over the gangplank.
It was a scene of considerable commotion on which the two comrades gazed as they paid their driver, and then saw to it that their steamer trunks, bags and smaller packages were started for their stateroom. Then they hurried to board the gray monster Lhat lay alongside the dock almost ready to start for the dangerzane, where waiting German undersea vessels lurked, watching for their prey like tigers in the jungle hungry for a meal.
It was just at this moment that Tom caught his companion's arm in a tense grip, while he hissed in his ear:
"Look at that taxi driving wildly away, will you, Jack? A man thrust his head out, and stared right at us just before the chauffeur started off so furiously. And Jack, I recognized his face! My father had a photograph of Adolph Tuessig which the detective obtained for him somehow or other. Yes, that man in the taxi was the slippery German who robbed my father! And he must know who we are, as well as why we're starting across to France!"