America First
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hoped to locate the three giant pines--his nextobjective. From the pines, McKenzie had told him, old Death Head couldbe sighted plainly enough, for from that point it was silhouetted,black and unmistakable, against the sky, and its summit was marked bythe stark, white, blasted tree of evil fame.
"That's where the dead man swings!" echoed in Danny's memory. And fora moment it seemed that he _must_ give up and fly back to safety. Butsomething said: "I'll disown you, sir!" And Danny again turned hisface in the direction of his duty.
The moon looked out of the drifting clouds. Danny located the threegiant pines in the distance, and for one blessed moment saw areasonably clear path, skirting along the mountainside.
Darkness again! But Danny took the skirting path to the pine giants.
Once he nearly lost his nerve altogether, for suddenly there wasbehind him a sound as if some human foot had stumbled. The tenderfootdropped warily to the long grass at one side of the path, andlistened. A long, long time he listened, but not another sound did hehear. At length he told himself that the step was that of some wildcreature which he had disturbed.
Then forward again! Creeping, panther-footed.
Danny reached the pines at last--and sure enough, old Death Head roseall too plainly before him. He saw, or thought he saw, a tall whitesomething on its summit.
In thinking it over afterward, Danny was never quite sure just whathappened between the pines and the haunted tree. He had a vaguerecollection of imagining that step behind again, and he recalled atone point the almost welcome pain of a stubbed toe. But for the rest,he was too frightened to take it all in.
By the time the tenderfoot reached the summit of old Death Head andstood within fifty feet of the haunted tree, he was too frightened tomove, and he almost _expected_ to see the thing which he most feared.The sky was overcast again, but a dim white something towered beforehim--the haunted tree--and--and----!
But just at that moment the clouds broke, and the full moon, now allunveiled, flooded the scene with light.
Naked, stark, ghostly, the blasted pine-tree rose before him. With asudden spasm at his heart Danny looked for the swinging dead man. Butif anything unearthly hung from those bare white branches, his mortaleyes were spared the vision. And presently his awakening reason beganto urge: "There are no such things as 'ghosts.'"
The next moment the young scout came fully to himself, and withdrewquickly from the all-revealing flood of moonlight to the friendlyshadow of a low shrub. He began to peer sharply about. The growtharound was ragged, with great spaces between. If there was anythinghere that a scout ought to note, the opportunity was ideal.
He must perform the duty for which he was here! His leader had toldhim to know the spot before he showed up in camp again.
Danny began skirting about in the shadows, getting every angle hecould on the scene, and exploring adjacent wood lanes. It is true thathe kept well away from the haunted tree, but he came back to itsvicinity every now and then. And each time as he came he managed toforce himself to approach it closer.
Nearer and nearer he got to it, and then, suddenly, he heard issuefrom somewhere in its branches a low, sighing moan. Danny thought hewould drop in his tracks, but he did not. Instead, he stood as stillas death and listened.
That moan again! Every time a gust of wind came, the dim, weird soundtrembled along the night.
The moon was shining brilliantly now. Danny stood staring at thehaunted tree.
All at once he crept forward, sharply intent on something.
What was that straight black line against the sky? Where did it comefrom?--that haunted tree?
Another moment and Danny was at the foot of the ghostly pine-tree,staring upward at the crisscross of its naked branches.
There was no swinging dead man there, but there was _something_--atthe top!
Danny dropped to the ground and retreated a little on all fours for abetter view-point. 'Way up, two parallel black bars rose against the sky.
A scout must keep his head!
Now, no boughs of a tree ever grew that straight! And what were thoseorderly black lines which extended from one bar to the other?
That moan again!--or--or was it the sound of a wire, played upon bythe wind?
Danny shifted his position again.
Yes, that black line across the sky connected directly with the queersomething in the tree top.
"_Wireless!_" said the scout's head to him.
Danny stood up. All childish fear of a swinging ghost had dropped awayfrom him. He had not the slightest inclination now to cry like a babyabout anything.
He was a scout on duty!
Another moment and he was creeping, velvet-footed, through the woods,following that black line as it led away from the haunted tree. At theother end of it must be a receiving-station!
And it was no easy task which his duty set him. Over sharp rocks andthrough tangled briers that black line led him on. Sometimes the moonwould desert him and he would lose the clue for a while. Sometimes hewould be forced to abandon his clue to skirt around an insuperablebarrier. But he always came back to it, always pressed on.
On and on! And then, suddenly, the line disappeared. It ended, orseemed to end in a large pile of boulders which clung to themountainside. The undergrowth was dense here.
Danny circled about the spot. Yes, the wire stopped here. He begancreeping through the underbrush--feeling his way along the side of agreat boulder.
Suddenly his hand touched--_nothing_!
The scout stopped and thought. There was some sort of break in therock here.
Danny had a flashlight in his pocket which he had been too cautious touse. He thought of it now, and hesitated. Then he slipped it out andpressed the spring.
Before him was what seemed the door of a cave. He looked closer. Yes,the wire led into the cave. Darkness, again, for he was afraid to usehis light any longer.
Danny dropped to his all-fours and crept into the black hole. A floorof soft sand helped him to advance noiselessly. After a few yards thescout reached a turn in the rocky passageway, and----
His eye caught a big, black-hooded shadow humped over a point of light!
Danny withdrew quickly behind the sheltering turn in the wall, andcrouched in the sand, dead-still. But his blood was up. He took asecond look.
A man was sitting over some sort of instrument, and over his ears werecups, something like Danny had seen worn by the girl at the telephonecentral station. The one point of light in the big dark recess wasturned on a note-book under the man's hand.
The young scout drew back, and crept silently out of the cavern.
Out under the stars again, and this time with his blood on fire! Aspy, a German spy sat in that cave and sent messages----!
Only yesterday a fleet of transports had slipped out of the harbor,with thousands of American soldiers on board--submarines--sea-raiders!
But a scout must keep his head.
Help? Which way could help be found? The boys were scattered, McKenziewould not be in camp. Nobody knew when to expect Mr. Gordon.
Which way? Which way? Oh, yes, down over the drop of the cliff to thesouth yonder was the mountain wagon road by which their scouting partyhad ascended that afternoon. If he could get to the road he could findsomebody somewhere--surely, there were a few inhabitants hereabouts!
That German was sending wireless messages right this minute---- Yes,the shortest way to the road was the only way for a fellow to takenow! And Danny took it.
When he reached the cliff, spent and sore, a new difficulty presenteditself. A sheer fifty-foot drop still separated him from the road. Hecrept along the edge searching for a footing by which to descend, andpresently found one that looked possible. There were broken, shelvingplaces here, and tufts of growing things down the face of the dizzy wall.
Danny began to climb down. But he found it harder than he had thought,and at times he was a mere human fly clinging to a rock wall.
A man was sitting over some sort of instrument.]
Danny lay very still for a few moments, looking at the stars andthinking of--nothing!
Then presently the sound of human voices came to him from somewhereout of the night. With an effort he raised up a little to push off thestone from his arm, but he dropped back again.
The stars began to swim at that, and the voices to grow fantastic.
But a scout--must--keep--his head!
Those voices sounded familiar! Danny summoned all his strength, andsent the wavering call of a wounded whippoorwill along the night.
Silence, and then a whippoorwill answered sharply from out the forest.
Danny called again.
Shortly after that came low voices and the sound of hurrying feet.Then Mr. Gordon, the Scout Master, McKenzie, their leader, and jollyold Biddie Burton were hovering over him.
"Are you hurt?" they asked in one