Brighton Boys in the Radio Service Page 16

  CHAPTER XVI

  A TIGHT PLACE

  Major Jones was paying his compliments in a very brusque, business-like,but kindly way. Before him, standing at attention, Lieutenant Mackinsonand Corporals Joe Harned, Jerry Macklin and Slim Goodwin were awaitingimportant orders.

  "The manner in which all of you have performed your duties in the pasthas won you the esteem and confidence of your commanding officers,"Major Jones said.

  "Your striking services not only have led to promotion, but to anotherimportant trust, upon which much may depend. Through the mountains tothe east of us a company of engineers is cutting a rough road. They workunder great handicaps and frequently are harassed by enemy detachments.But they are making progress.

  "This road is being cut for the purpose of permitting the passage of awireless tractor, of which you men are to be in charge. Through a partof that section an old telegraph line still remains, but it does notconnect in a direction to meet our requirements.

  "Reports received this morning indicate that by night the engineers willhave put the road through to a selected point where you will have theleast difficulty in concealing your tractor and its aerials. From yourposition there you will keep constant vigil, for you will be able toinform us long in advance of any effort of the Boches to come throughthat way.

  "The road winds about the mountain side, and in some places is quitesteep. But the ground is now hard and the motor will make the pull.Good-by, and good luck to you."

  An hour later, with Frank Hoskins, who was an experienced driver, at thewheel, they started for their destination in one of the big,high-powered trucks which not only carry a complete wireless equipmentbut also provide enough space for sleeping quarters for half a dozenmen.

  As a matter of fact, these trucks are so designed that, if it isnecessary, they can carry a crew of ten men, while by means of a specialclutch and gear the engine is made to drive an alternator for generatingthe necessary electrical energy which, under the most adverseatmospheric conditions, will give a sending and receiving range of atleast one hundred miles. In ideal weather the radius increases to asmuch as two hundred and fifty miles.

  A powerful mechanism which in its operation resembles the opening of agiant pair of shears, raises the mast and umbrella-shaped antenna, andthe average time in getting the apparatus ready for service is onlyabout eight minutes.

  The entire tractor, including crew, weighs close to five tons, and itcan be easily imagined that its operation on a steep and treacherousmountain road was far from easy and anything but entirely safe.

  With them the lads carried sufficient rations to last them five days, itbeing understood that their larder would be replenished at the necessaryintervals.

  They also took with them a radio pack-set, which is another wirelessapparatus that can be carried about with little difficulty. This theyhad in the event of any unexpected emergency. The entire pack-set couldbe carried about in a suitcase, and after it was set up its current wasgenerated by turning a crank by hand. Its range, under ordinaryatmospheric conditions, was about twenty-five miles.

  The first few miles of their journey were accomplished with littledifficulty, but as they struck the uneven, newly-made road, theirtroubles began to increase. At times the jolts were so severe that itseemed they would shake the electrical apparatus loose from the tractor,while some of the inclines were so steep that, after attempting andfailing to make them once, they had to go backward and then try again,with increased speed.

  It was bitterly cold, and while Frank and whoever at the time sat besidehim on the front seat kept reasonably warm, being directly behind thehard-working motor, the others frequently got out, to run along for aquarter or half a mile to limber up their stiffened joints and get theirblood in circulation again.

  One of their greatest difficulties came when, more than three-fourthsthe distance to their destination, and at one of the narrowest pointsalong the road, they met the large truck bearing back toward camp thecompany of engineers.

  The wireless tractor was chugging along under a heavy strain, but theother truck was coming down the steep grade under the compression of itsengine, to accelerate the use of the brakes. And with the little warningthey had, the two drivers brought their big machines to a stop less thanten feet apart.

  It was impossible for the truck containing the engineers to back up. Andthe first widening in the road over which the wireless men had come wasfully a quarter of a mile behind. There was no other course than forFrank to reverse, and, with a man on either side of the tractor in therear, directing every slight turn of the wheel, to go back to thatpoint.

  Once the engine stalled, making the stability of the whole weight of theheavy tractor depend upon the brakes. Frank grabbed the emergency, andjammed it on with all his strength, but not before the machine hadgained a momentum which made it a question for a few thrilling secondswhether or not the brakes would grip and hold it.

  As they finally rounded the turn which gave them the brief space ofwider road, and the engineers' truck passed by, the men waving eachother a cheery farewell, the boys from Brighton gave a sigh of relief.

  When they reached what they decided should be their destination, almostat the end of the road and in a dense bit of wooded section which wouldobscure them from enemy observers, they brought their tractor to a stop.With pick and shovel they began building an earthen oven, in which theymight cook their food, and from which they might keep reasonablycomfortable, without being seen.

  A light snow began to fall, and, mess over, the lads decided to retirefor the night. Before doing so, however, they set up the mast andaerials and made the connection to the storage battery. It was agreedthat they should sit up in two-hour shifts, to be ready to receive anymessage that possibly might come, but it was arranged that the otherfour should divide this duty, allowing Frank, who had driven the truckover the entire trip, a full night's sleep.

  So the night passed, with the lads taking turns at the lonely vigil. Thesnow continued, the wind increased almost to a gale, and the temperaturedropped still lower.

  Fully eight inches of snow lay upon the ground when gray daylight cameand Slim, the last man on watch, awakened the others. The storm wasdiminishing, but still they could see only a few yards distant from thetractor.

  "Guess I'll warm up chopping some wood," said Joe, as he took an axe andleft the others still dressing.

  In half an hour he had brought in enough to cook the breakfast and lasthalf the day, and while Slim acted as cook, Jerry started out to fellmore saplings.

  Before noon the clouds broke, the sun came out, and its reflection fromthe pure white glistening snow was almost blinding.

  "A snowball fight," suggested Jerry, and the others took up the idea asa boon to dispel the monotony of their isolation.

  With the lieutenant "umpiring" from the little wireless room of thetractor, Joe and Frank "stood" Jerry and Slim, and from a distance of ahundred feet apart the battle began.

  One of Frank's well-aimed missiles caught Slim squarely in the mouth,just as he was calling out some challenging remark, and from the windowof his post Lieutenant Mackinson laughingly shouted: "Strike one!"

  Slim, spitting and blowing out the icy pastry, gathered all hisstrength to hurl a ball back at Frank. But he "wound up," as baseballpitchers call that curving swinging of the arm just before the ball isthrown, with such vigor that he lost his balance. His feet went up intothe air and he came down ker-plunk! but the snowball left his hand withwhat proved to be unerring aim.

  Joe, letting out a howl of laughter at Slim's accident, caught thetightly packed wad of snow right in the ear. He turned his back to the"enemy," and, leaning forward, began pounding the other side of his headto dislodge the snow.

  Of a sudden he straightened up, uttering an exclamation of surprise.

  "Lieutenant!" he shouted. "Look here!"

  The lieutenant jumped out of the tractor, and the others followed him onthe run to where Joe and Frank were gazing off down into the op
positevalley.

  Two, perhaps three, miles away, a winding, twisting line of blackagainst the snow was pushing its way laboriously around the mountainbase.

  "Germans!" exclaimed Lieutenant Mackinson. "Wait until I get my fieldglasses, but do not stand where they might see you with theirs."

  From positions within the clump of trees the lads watched the linespread out and slowly but surely forge its way ahead. The lieutenantreturned with his glasses.

  "At least ten thousand of them," he announced at last, after gazing downat them for fully a minute. "And nobody knows how many more behind. Wemust notify the camp at once."

  He ran back to the tractor, followed by all but Jerry, who remained toobserve the enemy's further movements.

  In two or three minutes the wireless operator at headquarters signaledback for them to go on with the message.

  "About ten thousand enemy troops proceeding through eight inches snow,bound northwest around eastern base of mountain," Lieutenant Mackinson'smessage ran. "Am observing and will report progress. Any orders?"

  In another five minutes the wireless clicked back: "Are any of enemyflanking mountain on south?"

  Jerry, who at that moment entered the tractor, informed them that theGermans had divided into two diverging lines, apparently for that verypurpose.

  There was a considerable pause after this was flashed to headquarters.Meanwhile Jerry had gone back to his post of observation, accompanied byFrank and Slim.

  "How many big guns?" was the next query from the commanding officer ofthe American forces in the sector.

  Joe rushed out to where the other three were standing, and from themreturned with the information that already they had counted seven headedtoward the north, and five being hauled toward a place where they mightround the southern base of the mountain.

  This news was sent through space to the American army; and the lads whowere the silent witnesses to what the enemy had intended and fullyexpected should be a secret movement, waited in silence for furtherdevelopments.

  "Can you get back over the same road with tractor?" was the next messagethat came, and Lieutenant Mackinson called for the more expert judgmentof Frank Hoskins before answering.

  "We can try it," said Frank in a rather doubtful tone, "but it's riskybusiness. It will be as much as we can do to follow the road, and wecan't hope to see the ruts and bumps. The worst part of it is, though,that the tractor is so heavy it may not hold the road. However, we cantry."

  The lieutenant repeated the gist of this to headquarters, and themessage came back: "Better try."

  But by the time this decision was reached the fire in the earthen ovenhad almost entirely died out, and the engine of the tractor, which hadbeen drawn up to it, had become so cold that they had to build anotherfire, to get hot water to put into the radiator, before they could getit started.

  And then the perilous journey began.

  With Frank at the wheel, and running the engine only in low gear, ascompression against gaining speed, the lieutenant and Joe trotted ahead,one on either side of the road, to indicate the course of the crudehighway.

  Jerry and Slim, inside the big truck, were doing their best to holdthings in place as they rocked and jolted over the deep ruts andgullies.

  It must have been this series of terrible jars that finally splashedgrease and oil in on the brake bands. Whatever the cause, it suddenlybecame apparent at one of the steepest and sharpest turns in the wholeroute that the brakes were not holding.

  "Look out!" Frank shouted to Joe and the lieutenant ahead, as herealized the truck was getting beyond his control. "Better jump!" headvised Jerry and Slim, standing just behind him.

  As Lieutenant Mackinson and Joe ran to either side of the road, thetractor slid by them at increasing speed. Slim and Jerry, followingFrank's bidding, leaped from the rear and landed unharmed in asnow-bank.

  "Run her into the side of the mountain," shouted Lieutenant Mackinson,and that was exactly what Frank was doing. It was the only possible wayof saving the tractor from gathering more and more momentum, and,finally beyond all control, leaving the road and hurtling down the steepslope.

  With all his strength Frank swung the wheel so as to turn the right sideof the car at an angle up the mountain wall that flanked the road. Inthis position the machine was still traveling along with great forcewhen it struck a thick abutting ledge of rock.

  There was a sudden jolt, a sharp crack, and Frank was hurtled forwardhead first into the snow.

  When they had brushed him off and made certain that he was uninjured,except for an awful jarring up, they began an examination of themachine.

  The right front wheel had been crushed to splinters, the axle was bent,and the machine was wedged so far under a split edge of the granite asto be, for the time at least, totally useless.

  "Better go back to where we were first," Lieutenant Mackinson said atlast. "We'll take the pack-set with us, and we can probably adviseheadquarters of our predicament with that, and also inform them of theprogress of the enemy movement."

  Wearily they turned about, each man loaded down with the necessitiesthat they had to take with them from the wrecked tractor. It was nearingnight when they reached the apex of the mountain again, and their firstdesire was to see whether the Germans had entirely passed around themountain.

  So far as they could see they had!

  But the Boches had done more than that. Their heavy guns were being sentaround either side of the base of the mountain, each quota being part ofa good-sized army. But they were sending another strong detachment upand over the mountain itself!

  And the first section of it was less than a mile below, spreading out insuch a way that while a part of it would come over the top, other partswould go around either side, and they would be fan-like in shape,forming a virtual comb in the search for any enemies who might belurking there.

  "The pack-set!" ordered the lieutenant. In a very short time it was setup, and Jerry was grinding the crank to generate power while the officerflashed out the headquarters call.

  In a moment a message began to come: "J-X. J-X. J-X. J-X."

  Lieutenant Mackinson nervously began tapping the key again, but the onlyreply was the insistent call for J-X, which was the code call forthemselves.

  "No use," said the young officer at last. "We can catch them, with theirstronger range, but we haven't radius enough to send to them."

  "Those troops cannot reach here until after dark," said Slim.

  "No," Lieutenant Mackinson acknowledged, "but they are in such numbersthat we could not hope to keep our identity or presence hidden, andthey are getting around the mountain quicker than we could get down andbeyond their line."

  "It looks as though we were hemmed in," said Frank Hoskins in an eventone.

  "Yes," agreed Jerry, "and in a tight place."