The Wolf Patrol: A Tale of Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts

'Right,' said Dick, 'we'll see this out;' and the scouts began once more to work along the trail.

For more than half a mile they followed quite easily. There were many bare patches among the grass, and the heavy shower which had fallen at midday proved a good friend to them, the damp soil giving many excellent impressions of the heavy steps of the man whom they pursued.

The boys had now gained a very lonely part of the heath, for the fugitive appeared to be making for the most secluded corner of the vast expanse. They had been steadily working away from the part where the patrols had been searching, and the distance between them and the rendezvous at the railway-station increased with every stride.

Chippy was leading, and Dick was guarding the rear. The former looked out the track, the latter watched before and behind and on either side: by sharing the duties thus they covered the whole field of a scout's work – the finding of the trail and the guarding against surprise.

Looking out in this fashion, Dick saw a crow come sailing on outspread wings, down, down from a great height. The crow was skimming straight towards a small solitary pine sixty or seventy yards before them, as if aiming to settle among the topmost branches; but just as it was about to alight, it gave a startled, gobbling quaw-quaw-quaw, flapped its wings swiftly, and shot away at a sharp angle, and continued its flight across the heath.

Dick reached out his patrol flag and touched Chippy. The latter paused, and the two scouts put their heads together while Dick whispered what he had seen. 'There's someone about,' concluded Dick. 'The bird was going to settle, but it was scared and flew away.'

'S'pose I 'ave a look?' suggested Chippy.

'All right,' said Dick. 'I'll stay here. One can work more quietly than two.'

Chippy went, and within ten minutes was back, his face shining with excitement and triumph.

'Albert,' he whispered – 'it's Albert aw' right. Come on!' He crept away on hands and knees, and Dick followed. Piloted by Chippy, the latter crawled along until he found himself behind a small bank about a yard high.

'Yer can see 'im over this bank,' breathed Chippy into his ear.

Laying his hat aside, Dick raised his head inch by inch until his eyes were above the bank. Now he could see between stems of dried fern without being seen himself. He was looking into a deep green hollow, bounded upon one side by an almost perpendicular wall of earth – a place from which most likely sand had been dug a long time ago. At the foot of the steep wall sat a man – the man whom they had been following. He had a pencil in his hand, and a pocket-book on his knee, and he was busily writing on a sheet of the pocket-book.

All this seemed innocent enough, but at the next moment the boys looking on were filled with wonder. Albert suddenly laid down pencil and pocket-book, bent forward, unlaced his left boot, and took it off. Then he drew something from his pocket, and went to work on the heel of his boot. The boys were not near enough to see what tool he was using, but his movements were those of one who draws out screws, and they clearly saw the heel of the boot come loose and fall into his hand.

Chippy gave his companion a nudge, and they looked at each other in astonishment. Then they watched Albert closely, and saw him fold into small compass the piece of paper upon which he had been writing, place it inside the heel, and screw the latter up again.

An idea shot into Dick's mind. If he had never been a boy scout, that idea would not have occurred to him; but in his enthusiasm he had bought Baden-Powell's 'Aids to Scouting,' and read it over and over again. One chapter in that little book now sprang to his memory, and he touched Chippy, and beckoned to the latter to draw back completely out of sight.

They slipped eight or ten yards away, and put their heads close together and held a whispered conversation.

Dick's eyes shone brightly, and he took Chippy by the arm. 'Chippy,' he said, 'I believe that's a spy!'

Chippy's sharp face wore a puzzled look. 'A spy!' he repeated. 'Wot's he a-spyin' on in the he'th?'

'The fort, Chippy – the fort!' breathed Dick eagerly – 'the Horseshoe, the new fort!'

'Ah!' said the Raven, and began to see what his companion meant.

'I've read all about it in a book of B. – P.'s,' went on Dick. 'Foreigners will do anything to learn about a new fort. They send spies to find out all they can. He's taking notes of all he discovers, and hiding the papers in the heel of his boot.'

Chippy gave an eager nod. His keen face lighted up at this new and wonderful turn of events. A spy! a foreign spy! He felt at once that here was greater game than any escaped convict.

'That's why he dodged the sergeant,' breathed Chippy.

'Yes; it's plainer and plainer every instant,' said Dick.

Chippy nodded. 'Wot do we do?' he asked.

'We must stop him, somehow,' replied Dick. 'He might do the greatest harm to our country. It's a scout's work to collar such people. B. – P. himself has caught four foreign spies at different times in England.'

Chippy jerked his head towards the bank, and began to crawl back. Dick understood that he was going to see what the man was at now, and followed.

Albert still sat under the steep bank, pencil in hand, and a fresh sheet of paper on his knee. Chippy nudged Dick, and made signs to him to duck down, as Bardon boys say.

'I'm off to get a bit closer and see wot he's a-doin',' breathed Chippy. 'Stop 'ere an' "pewey" if he shifts.'

Dick nodded, and Chippy slid away as quietly as a snake.

Six or seven minutes passed before Dick saw his companion again. Then he caught sight of the Raven's head as Chippy appeared round the trunk of the pine which grew on the steep bank of the pit.

Little by little Chippy crept on, until his head was thrust over the brink, and he was looking straight down on the concealed man, the latter now drawing lines on his sheet of paper. His head was bent low over his work, and Chippy craned out farther and farther to glance over his shoulder. The man sat up and began to fold this paper as before, then reached out his hand for the boot which lay beside him, and deftly unscrewed the heel once more. As soon as the paper was stowed away and the heel refastened, he took the boot in hand to put it on his foot.

Suddenly he looked up. Either he had caught Chippy's shadow, or he had felt that he was watched. He looked up, and saw the boy hanging over the brink.

Chippy's main purchase was on a root of gorse which cropped up at the edge of the pit. He aimed to swing himself back with all his might, depending on his grasp of the root. The root snapped short off close to the ground, and Chippy went tumbling and sprawling head-long into the pit, landing at the man's feet.

CHAPTER XIV

CHIPPY AND THE SPY

The latter sprang up with a savage cry that was not English. 'Ach Himmel!' cried he, and again, 'Ach Himmel!'

At that moment of immense surprise, his native tongue sprang to his lips before any other, and he leapt upon Chippy, and seized him with hands that trembled.

The leader of the Ravens was not hurt, and his coolness was splendid.

'Hello, Albert!' he said; 'it's all right. There's no need to 'elp me up.'

'Help you up!' hissed the stranger. 'What are you doing here? What do you mean by watching me?'

His Cockney accent, too, was wiped out as if by magic. Probably he had forgotten for the instant that he had used it in Locking. At any rate, he did not use it now. But his English was perfect, in word and tone – the English of a well-educated man.

'Why,' said Chippy calmly, as if to tumble on a man's head was the most natural thing in the world, 'me an' a lot more are out to-day for a run over the he'th. One cuts ahead, an' the rest of us foller 'im. We've lost the one we foller, an' he's got to be found, so I'm looking everywheer. Wot made yer pull yer boot off? Got a stone in it?'

Chippy did this superbly. He boldly mentioned the fact that the boot was off, and he suggested a probable explanation, and he did it all with just the right amount of careless curiosity. But he was dealing with no common man. The tall, powerful foreigner was still holding him by one hand with a grip of steel, and the fierce blue eyes blazed again with suspicion and distrust. The man spoke, and his tone was low and cool, for he had mastered himself, but there was a hard note in it.

'How long had you been there?' he asked quietly.

'Just seein' who it was, then tumbled,' said Chippy.

The Raven knew – how he could not say – but he knew that he was in great danger. There was a dreadful change in this man. The chattering Cockney who had called himself Albert had gone, and a grim, stern, savage man stood in his place, a man whose fierce glittering eyes seemed to be striving to pierce Chippy's very soul and read his thoughts.

Chippy was indeed in danger. For Dick was right: this man was a spy sent by his Government to gather for them all particulars of the new fort which was being built at the mouth of the river. So far the spy had been very successful, and to carry off his notes and to secure his own safety he was quite ready to kill this boy if need should arise, and hide his body in this solitary place.

Consider for a moment the position in which the spy stood. What is the punishment threatened to the spy who is caught at such a task? Death! What will the Government he serves do to help him? Nothing at all, nothing. It may be a Government quite friendly to the land where the spy is seized. It will disavow him, and leave him to his fate. Yet that Government was quite willing to profit by his labours; nay, sent him there to gain that information. Yes, because Governments act upon the idea that the friend of to-day may be the foe of to-morrow, so they use such instruments freely. But if an instrument should break in the hand, it is cast aside, and not a second thought is given to it.

The spy knew all this; he was no raw hand in this dangerous profession, and he was now weighing in his mind whether it would be safe to let this boy go. Had he seen too much? He tried to find out how much Chippy had seen.