Brighton Boys in the Radio Service Read online

  CHAPTER III

  UNEXPECTED ACTION

  If red-headed, freckle-faced Jerry Macklin, star sprinter of Brighton,ever ran in his life he ran that night. Down across the uneven,hill-dotted dumps he tore at a speed that would have put his schoolrecords to shame. Three times he fell, but each time on the instant hewas up and off again, without even a thought as to whether or not he hadinjured himself.

  And all the time he kept repeating in his mind, "There's a spy out thereplanning dangerous things for the navy yard and the United States. Joe'sin the icy water watching him, and I must get help as fast as I can."

  It was good, too, that he did put forth the last ounce of his strength.Sergeant Martin was just passing through the navy yard gate as Jerryarrived, his uniform covered with loose ashes and dirt, and his handsbleeding from stone cuts received in his falls.

  To Sergeant Martin, between gasps, Jerry managed to blurt out enough tomake the other understand. Within two more minutes Sergeant Martin hadimparted the vital information to the captain of the company of marinescharged with guarding the navy yard for that particular night. Thecaptain sent two aides scurrying, one to his major, the other to theoffice of the navy yard commandant.

  Twenty marines, fully armed, were hurried aboard a launch thatconstantly was kept under steam for just such an emergency, and, withJerry directing, the boat swung out to Joe's aid.

  Rapidly as Jerry had traveled the distance between the spot where Slimwaited and the navy yard itself, it seemed like ages to Joe, out therein the icy water, a quarter of a mile from shore.

  At first the tense excitement of the manhunt had made him unmindful ofthe low temperature, and he swam with strong, even, silent strokes thatsent his lithe body gliding through the current noiselessly; but when hehad come within forty feet of the rowboat its lone occupant had turnedsuddenly, as though scenting danger, and Joe, after waiting for a fewseconds to see what might happen, considered the absolute silence anomen of danger and had dived under water, staying there as long as hecould, and coming to the surface at an entirely different point from theboat.

  After that the cold got to the very heart of him. His muscles grew numb,he felt his strength waning, and he had to bring the whole force of hiswill to bear to keep from turning back to shore.

  But just as Jerry had maintained his courage and strength by keepingconstantly in mind Joe's plight, so Joe stuck to his terrible task,suffering the most severe punishment, by an unwavering confidence inJerry's ability to get assistance in the shortest possible time.

  He could see and hear that the man in the boat was working hastily, evenlaboriously; and every few seconds there was the smothered splash ofsomething heavy being dropped carefully overboard.

  And then, at the most inopportune moment, just when Joe was head andshoulders out of the water, not more than twenty feet away from theboat, the searchlight was thrown full upon him.

  He dived; but not before the other man saw him. Joe, swimming ten feetunder water, and as hard as he could with the current down stream, knewthat he had been discovered, for he heard the quick rap-rap of the oars,the sound dying away as the little craft sped toward shore.

  When he did come to the surface it was with the certain feeling that thefatal searchlight had been played upon the scene two minutes too early,and just in time to prevent the capture red-handed of a veryquestionable character, undoubtedly carrying out some plot for an enemygovernment.

  For as distinctly as he could hear the oars thrashing the water towardshore, he could discern the steady but subdued puffing of a steam launchracing up the river.

  Joe was now on the point of exhaustion. He was flapping the waterdesperately, but he was making no progress, and he was having thegreatest difficulty keeping himself afloat. He tried to cry out, andthis final effort took his last bit of strength.

  The steam launch was then perhaps thirty feet away, but Jerry's words,"Right about here," floated to him as from the opposite side of theriver. The boat's searchlight that was then suddenly thrown on blindedhim; he lost all account of things, and had the vague feeling ofsailing across great spaces on fleecy white clouds.

  When he regained partial consciousness Sergeant Martin was in the waterwith him, and trying to raise his body over the side of the launch; thenhe relapsed again, for what seemed to him hours, but what was actuallyonly about two minutes, and was awakened to his real senses by theshouts of Slim, on shore.

  "Slim's got him," Jerry almost shouted. "Hurry, captain, right off thisway to the shore. Slim must have him. Listen to Slim's bellow."

  And if there wasn't a first-class ruction in progress just upon the spotfrom which Slim's vocal signals were emanating, then Slim's voice wasdeceptive, indeed.

  As a matter of fact, there was the finest sort of a fracas afoot.

  Slim, on shore, had been a silent and anxious witness to the suddenturning on of the navy yard searchlight, and to all that it exposed--theboat, the man at work in it, Joe in the water, and his discovery by theboat's occupant.

  And then, as the light was extinguished, and the whole affair wasengulfed in darkness, Slim heard the rapid beating of the oars upon thewater, and the rower heading toward shore--and Slim.

  Unable to see the craft approaching, he traced its course by sound, andwhen the man stepped ashore Slim was only a few yards away. Discerning ashadow just ahead of him, the youth threw himself at it with his wholeweight, only to grunt his pain and disgust as he came into violentcontact with the trunk of a dead tree.

  The sound, however, startled the enemy into an exclamation whichrevealed his whereabouts, and a moment later the two were lockedtogether and rolling over the ground, Slim with a desperate grip uponthe stranger's throat, and the latter landing blow after blow uponSlim's stomach.

  It was during this melee that Slim spied the searchlight of the launchand let out his first call. After that most of his "bellows" wereinvoluntary and but punctuated the rapid-fire attack with which theother man was landing his blows just above Slim's waist-line, or wherehis waist-line should have been.

  As the launch headed toward shore, its searchlight trained over the bow,the man of the rowboat resorted to more desperate tactics. With atremendous jerk he managed to free his throat from Slim's grasp. Aninstant later he gave the youth's neck a twist which almost broke it.Then he landed a vicious kick which put poor Slim out of business.

  Just as the marines from the launch were climbing ashore the fellow spedoff into the denseness of the night; and as his footsteps died away allpresent trace of him was gone. A dozen of them searched for an hour, butwithout result, and further investigation along that line had to beabandoned until the following day.

  Meanwhile, however, all three lads were hurried back to the navy yardfor fresh clothing and other repairs; having received which, togetherwith hot coffee from the cook at the barracks mess, they were permitted,at their own earnest solicitation, to return to the scene with fourmarines who were to be stationed along that section of the shore for thebalance of the night.

  What they saw upon their arrival astounded them. Three additionallaunches had arrived upon the scene, and the commandant of the navy yardwas himself directing matters.

  He had in his hand a slight rope that ran down into the water, and closebeside it was a hose line attached to an apparatus in the boat. The boysknew at once that a diver was at work down on the river bed.

  From the side of another launch anchored parallel with the first, andfifteen feet distant, four husky bluejackets were waiting expectantly todivide their strength on two stout ropes that were being attached tosomething down in the water. The third launch played its flashlight uponthe work, while the fourth steamed about, doing patrol duty.

  Even as the boys watched, the commandant gave a signal and the sailorsbegan hauling upward on the two heavy ropes. In a moment an oblong box,about two feet long, a foot wide and of the same depth, came drippingfrom the water. As it was brought to the boat's side two other mengrasped it carefully and placed it in the bot
tom of the launch. Then theropes, which were attached to a guide line, were hauled down into theriver again.

  "What does it mean?" Joe asked of Sergeant Martin, who had changed hisclothes and arrived back ahead of them.

  "What does it mean?" repeated the big sergeant. "It means that youthree young men are due for several credits and early recognition, orI'm much mistaken. The man you discovered has not yet been caught, buthe cannot escape for long. And when he is captured it will be a longtime before he is free again.

  "You lads have frustrated a dangerous plot by an enemy government. Theriver bottom seems to be paved with those cases. They've taken out adozen already. One of them was opened, and, just as expected, it provedto be a water-tight container for smokeless powder!

  "The government that had those boxes hidden there undoubtedly wasscheming to have plenty of ammunition ready for use if it ever managedto land its men on American soil.

  "But you boys appeared here just in time to blow up the whole plot. Youhave been in your first real action in the service of your country, andyou have come off with flying colors."