CHAPTER IXTHE LAWS AGAINST SPIES
"Did you notice the colonel said that we could have anything we wanted?" said Ralph, after they were once installed in their room in a wing of the building where the officers were sheltered.
"I hope he won't forget it," said Alfred. "Tell him we want to be assigned to the artillery branch."
"Perhaps we ought to wait until we get through with the peddler, as Captain Rose said the case would come up in the morning," replied Ralph.
"Too bad we haven't told Joe. I wonder where he puts up? Maybe the captain knows," said Alfred.
"We might look him up," replied Ralph, and they were quickly out of the room and prancing across the parade ground toward the commandant's quarters, where the main offices were located. As it was past nine at night they had some difficulty in locating Joe, but he was eventually found, and at eleven o'clock they left the quarters in the rear of the hangars, and marched across the ground in the direction of their building.
Turning the corner they were confronted by an individual who caused the boys to gasp. It was the peddler,—the identical individual they had followed during the day. He glanced at the boys, then turned and hurried away.
"We mustn't let him get away this time," said Ralph.
The man evidently heard Ralph's voice, for he hurried his steps.
"Halt!" cried Alfred.
The man paid no attention to the command.
"Halt or we'll shoot!" shouted Ralph.
The man hesitated, then stopped and turned around.
"Face the other way," shouted Ralph.
The man obeyed. Neither of the boys were armed. It was an awkward position.
"Run for the captain," said Ralph in a whisper.
Alfred quietly walked around the corner and fairly flew across the ground.
"We've got him; come on quickly," said Alfred in excitement, as he burst into the captain's room without waiting for an invitation. The captain was about to retire, and jumped up with a roar of laughter as he recognized Alfred.
"Who is it? What is up?" asked the captain.
"The peddler!" replied Alfred.
"I'll be there as soon as I can get something on," said the captain.
"Then I'll borrow this," said Alfred, seizing the heavy army revolver, "if I may."
He rushed out of the door without waiting to get the desired permission, and reached the corner of the building just as Ralph was shouting: "Halt, I say!"
Evidently the man began to doubt the authority or the sincerity of his would-be captor, for he turned just as Alfred emerged from the corner. One look was sufficient. The peddler bolted for the shelter of the buildings to the left.
Alfred raised the revolver and fired. The man stopped.
"Come this way!" ordered Ralph.
The shot at such a time was sufficient warning for the guards and the officers. They swarmed from all sides, as the boys advanced toward the peddler.
One of the first to arrive was the captain, half-dressed. He was the only one who understood the meaning of the shot. Alfred handed him the weapon, and in another moment the peddler was in the hands of the captain and on the way to the lock-up.
As they marched across the ground the colonel ran up.
"What's this!" he asked the boys, as they were following the captain and the prisoner.
"We have him this time," said Ralph.
"Who?" asked the colonel.
"The real peddler," said Alfred.
The aroused camp soon learned of the work of the boys. It is marvelous how soon things of this character drift from mouth to mouth. Earlier inthe day the camp knew of the capture of a spy; that seemed to be common knowledge. The incident which had just taken place seemed to be a fitting complement to the happening of the day, and in both instances the boys had a prominent part.
Naturally, the boys had to go to headquarters and relate the circumstances surrounding their latest exploit, so that it was late in the morning before they were able to get to their room and retire.
"I feel a sort of sympathy for those fellows," said Alfred, while dressing the next morning.
"Well, I don't," replied Ralph. "They are mean sneakers; they daren't do anything openly. They ought to be shot if they are really spies."
"There's one thing about this business I can't understand," said Alfred. "I don't think spying is any worse than other things that are done in war. It isn't worse than killing, is it?"
"No; but don't you remember Lieutenant Guyon saying that it was not the doing of a thing, but thewayit was done that was wrong," said Ralph.
"Well, I can't see how that helps things in the least. Here comes the captain; he just passed the window. Come in!" said Alfred. "We've been discussing what is right and what is wrong in war. I said that it didn't seem to me to be any worse to spy than to do anything else."
"There is nothing wrong in spying,—that is, trying to find out what your enemy is doing; thatisn't it. If a man does it openly, and not in disguise, he is protected. It is only when fellows take the guise of a peddler, we will say, that the rules of war decide he is entitled to no consideration and cannot be protected," answered the captain.
"I must say, now that I think of it, that there must be something wrong about the laws that are made to use such an excuse to execute a man. I read in the papers a few weeks ago that one of the war vessels exhibited a neutral flag until the unsuspecting ship got near enough so it could attack. Now, if it was wrong for an individual to deceive, or sail under false colors, why wasn't it wrong for a ship to do that very thing?" remarked Ralph.
"You are right about that, undoubtedly," said the captain, "but, of course, we must be guided by what law is, and not by what we think or know it ought to be. If the peddlers are guilty they must suffer," answered the captain.
"I agree with you," said Alfred. "Of course, those men knew the risks they were taking, and they did it with their eyes open. That reconciles me."
"Yes; and the very thing those fellows tried to do would mean, if they succeeded, death to many of our soldiers, and it is better for two to die than to have hundreds suffer," remarked Ralph.
The evidence brought forth at the trial that day was conclusive. The men refused to make anystatements concerning their co-operation in the work of espionage, but when the second peddler's pack was eventually discovered, it was learned that each carried a suit, the counterpart of the other.
It was obvious that the arrest of one would enable him to prove an alibi, just as he was prepared to do when the first one was apprehended by the boys, and he would have been successful, too, were it not for the fact that the boys observed the man in the act of taking notes, or jotting down items so systematically, and on several occasions items were put down where no sales were effected.
No time was lost in carrying out the orders of the court and the spies were executed without delay.
The boys remained in the camp for two weeks, and it was getting to be irksome. There seemed to be no occasion for hurry. Soldiers were arriving from England in every branch of the service, and the camp was enlarged by taking in a vast plain directly to the west and adjoining the main camp.
"I wonder if the colonel will forget what he said about giving us whatever we want," said Ralph, one morning.
"We might as well find out," replied Alfred.
Once in the colonel's presence they were quick to bring up the subject.
"You may remember," said Ralph, "that you once told us that we could have anything we wanted."
"I remember it well," he said. "Now, what is it?" he asked.
"Why, we want to join an artillery company," said Alfred.
"And is that all?" he inquired with an amused air.
"Yes; we thought you might help us out; of course, we know we are minors, and Americans, and all that, but we can help out, just the same," said Ralph.
"Yes; that is, indeed, commendable. Your cases are so different from the ordinary ones that it may make the job of getting you in much easier; at any rate, I hope so," he remarked.
"Thank you," said Alfred.
"Now, mind you, I may not be able to succeed, for the War Department is very particular, and we are working under a pretty rigid set of rules, but you have been in the service and are entitled to consideration; and, by the way, won't you tell me how you succeeded in getting in heretofore. Did you have any influence to push you along?" asked the colonel.
"Oh, yes; we had considerable influence," said Alfred with a smile.
"Yes, that's what I wanted to find out," replied the colonel. "How did you work it?"
"Well," replied Ralph, "we simply walked in and went to work; that's the influence we had; they couldn't help but take us."
The colonel leaned back in his chair and roared with laughter, in which the boys joined.
"Maybe it wasn't just as bad as that," rejoined Alfred, after the laughter subsided, "but down at Bar-le-Duc the chances of getting in with the flyers were pretty slim, so we just went into the hangars and asked them what there was to do, and we didn't wait for them to tell us, we simply went to work."
"That's a sample of the way we worked also to get into the transportation service,——"
"So you've been in that, too? Tell me about it," said the colonel.
"Down at Amiens we saw them loading up a military truck, and they looked as though they were rather short of help, so we pitched in and helped fill up the van. It happened we were on the van when it started for the front, and that's where we had a lively experience in taking the vans through Devil's Cut," said Ralph.
"Devil's Cut! I've heard about that! But I imagine there isn't any more trouble in that place now," observed the colonel.
"No, indeed! The big drive spoiled Devil's Cut," said Alfred, "and we helped the artillery to do it, and that's why we want another chance in the same direction."
If there is anything more disagreeable than another, it is waiting. Waiting for something, good or bad, is equally discouraging. In their wanderings they had become acquainted with a quaint corporal, formerly of the British navy, and at that time a trainer for the various gun squads at the camp. Daily guns were prepared and hurried tothe front, and Walker, the corporal, was always on hand and frequently accompanied the guns as they were sent forward.
"Would you like to have a little outing?" he remarked one morning, as the boys appeared at his tent.
"Yes; anything, to get a change, this is too trying," said Ralph.
PontooningPontooning Heavy Guns Across a Stream
Pontooning Heavy Guns Across a Stream
"Well, we are going to send half a dozen heavy guns out the Bapaume road this morning, so along," he remarked.
Six horses were hitched to each piece, and were pulling out, as Walker spoke.
"Jump on this ammunition van," shouted Walker, as he ran forward and seized the stanchions at the side.
The boys needed no second invitation, for they would, at least, have an opportunity to go over a great deal of the ground formerly occupied by the Germans, before the British commenced the Somme drive.
"Why don't you use lorries for these guns?" asked Alfred.
"There is one very good reason," replied Walker. "The bridges are down, and we haven't had time to repair them, and the pontoons are too light for the heavy pieces we are taking across, so we have to adopt an entirely new method," he said, shrugging his shoulders and making a grimace, which, at first, seemed very comical to the boys.
"Then how do you get them across? Is the river very deep?" asked Ralph.
"About ten feet deep, I should say; of course, we can't run them across on their own wheels, but we pontoon them over," he said.
The subject was dropped for the moment, as one of the officers came in at that moment to consult with Walker. The boys seemed to be puzzled at his remarks, and when he returned he said:
"When we reach the end of this road, beyond, we turn to the right, at a point only a few hundred feet from the river. Well, just notice the heavy barrels at the landing."
As the corner was turned they quickly observed the barrels, and men busily engaged with ropes and heavy poles. A gun was run on its wheels close to the river's edge, and five of the barrels were secured to two poles, and lashed forward of the wheels, the poles running transversely. A like number of guns were then secured behind the wheels, also held by cross poles.
All of the barrels were hung higher than thetread of the wheels, so that after the equipment, as thus explained, was fully attached, the horses were driven into the river and hitched to the floating gun, while others mounted the float thus constructed, and, with poles, assisted in floating the piece across.
There was not a single mishap, and the six guns were taken over in a brief space of time. The ammunition wagons were taken across by way of the pontoon bridge, crowded as it was, and the entire outfit assembled on the other side within an hour of the time the stream was reached.