Boy Scout Fire Fighters; Or Jack Danby's Bravest Deed

by Richard Harding Davis

  CHAPTER XV

  THE DYNAMITERS

  "Well," said Mr. Simms, "that is a providential discovery, certainly!If they had been allowed to reach that car of dynamite and set off allthat stuff there would have been precious little left of us or thefactories tomorrow morning. Now the question is what to do to preventthem from doing anything else?"

  "I think we'd better leave the car just as it is, and even fixsomething under that sacking to look like the dynamite," said Jack."If they get to it at all they will be in a terrible hurry, certainly,and they won't stop to look to see if it's the right stuff. Then, ifwe are watching them we can catch them red-handed, and it will be justthe ones that are making all the trouble that will be caught. Big EdWillis and his gang are perfectly willing to sneak up in the night andset some dynamite to blow up innocent people, but they'll leave othersto bear the brunt of their crimes, every time."

  "That's a good idea," said Carew. "I think we'd better fix that upright away, Mr. Simms. Now, how about you, boys? Do you think you cankeep a sharp enough lookout to be able to spot those fellows when theycome in?"

  "Yes, sir, I do! They'll be careful to dodge the places that wouldordinarily be watched. I think they'll try to come in by the fencenear the railroad spur. They'll know that the main gates would beclosely guarded, and the spur itself. But the fence near the spur iseasy to climb, and I think that's where they'll try to get in."

  "And I'll tell you how to catch, them, too, Mr. Carew," said PeteStubbs. "They'll have to get inside the car to fix that dynamite, youknow, and get it ready to set off, and if Jack and I are right behindthem, I don't see why we can't lock them inside the car. Then, if thegate is open, we can start the car rolling down the grade, and it willrun right outside of the yard and down toward the freight yard. If wereally catch them we'll have plenty of time to give the alarm, and theycan be taken right out of the car. If they made a racket here theymight make trouble."

  "That's so," said Jack. "I think Pete's got the right idea, Mr. Carew.You see, those strikers, if they have an inkling of what's going tohappen, are likely to be pretty close by, watching for the chance torush in after the explosion, if I know anything about the way Big Edmanages things."

  "You mean they might make an attempt at a rescue?"

  "That's just the danger I should guess, sir. Big Ed and his preciousfriends probably plan to set a time fuse, and then disappear, and getas far as possible away before the explosion, so that they can havewitnesses to prove that they were a long way off when the explosiontook place."

  They spent the afternoon not in sleep, as Jack and Pete had planned todo, but in going all over the ground outside the shops of the bigfactory, trying to determine the places most likely to be selected byWillis and his gang in their effort to reach the dynamite. Then, whenthey were satisfied that they had inspected the whole place, and thatthey could find their way even if they were blindfolded, Jack and Peterested.

  After supper Mr. Simms insisted that they should have some sleep. Hetold them they would have a hard night's work ahead of them, and that,as there was no telling at what time the attempt to reach the dynamitewould be made, they must guard against the danger of getting sleepy.

  "We're still depending a good deal on you two," he said, "although youhave, of course, already made the complete success of this plotimpossible. But if they got to that car without being seen, anddiscovered that their dynamite had been taken away, they might stillmake an effort to set the whole place on fire, and, if they succeededin that, and had a mob outside to hamper the firemen, there might beterrible damage, that would cripple the company for a long time."

  It was about ten o'clock when Pete and Jack, in their Scout uniforms,hard to detect at any distance, even in broad daylight, and making themalmost invisible at night, took up their vigil. The place seemed to beas silent and deserted as a tomb. Lights were few and far between, buteach of them carried an electric torch supplied by Mr. Carew. Thesethey did not intend to use except in an emergency, since to use themwould mean betraying their position to the enemy, and it was theirchief opportunity to succeed that they were not known to Willis and theothers to be in the place at all. The strikers would be on the lookoutfor regular watchmen, not for keen-eyed boys.

  There was a high wall around the greater portion of the grounds, toppedwith broken glass, so that the place was really well fortified againstthe attack of a mob. But the danger tonight was even greater than itwould have been from a mob, more insidious, and harder to guard against.

  The two Scouts, to make sure, if that were possible, that there shouldbe no surprise, agreed to patrol the whole wall, and thus have the bestpossible chance of seeing anyone who tried to climb over. They coulddo this, meeting in the center of the trip, and leaving no spotunwatched for more than two or three minutes.

  "If I hear anyone, Pete, or see anything wrong," said Jack, "I'll givethe Patrol call--the cry of a crow."

  "Sure! I'll understand, if I hear it, and I'll give the same call ifI'm the one that sees something."

  "Right! If we hear that call the one who hears it will stop patrollingat once and go for the sound."

  "They can't see us if we keep in the shadow, can they, Jack?"

  "I don't believe so, Pete. It is a pretty heavy shadow, and anyonecoming over the wall is likely to have his eyes more or less dazzled bythe arc lights on the other side."

  "Don't call unless you have to, Pete. Remember that they're not fools,these fellows, and they're apt to know that such a call means danger,even if they don't know who's here. We don't want just to scare themoff--they might come back if we did that. We want to catch thering-leaders."

  They started from the railroad spur, so they would meet there each timeas they completed a round of the walls, since that was where they feltthe enemy was most likely to appear.

  "Sleepy, Pete?" asked Jack, when they had been at it nearly an hour.

  "I would be, I think, if I wasn't walking around, Jack. That's fine,though. It helps to keep me awake."

  "Same here! I've heard of being so tired that you can go to sleepstanding up, or even when you're walking about, but it doesn't seempossible to me."

  For a long time they kept up the patrol. All sorts of strange noisesstartled them, but, with their training as Boy Scouts, which hadaccustomed them to the night noises of the woods, and to keeping theirheads, they did not give the alarm. At last, however, after Jack hadmet Pete and passed on, he heard the sound of a crow's call.

  Gently and silently he slipped back. As he came near the spur he sawtwo dark figures climbing over the wall. And a moment later Pete,moving with the stealth of an Indian, touched his hand.

  "I guess they're here, Jack," he whispered, tense with excitement anddelighted that the long vigil was over at last.

  Big Ed Willis was easy to recognize. The other man was a stranger tothem, and, since both wore handkerchiefs over the upper part of theirfaces, it was impossible to tell what he looked like.

  The strikers, full of their murderous intention, moved quietly andcautiously along toward the car, which stood by itself. It was on asharp grade, but a billet of wood held it in place. The two Scouts,hardly daring to breathe, lest they be heard, followed the men not morethan twenty paces behind them. They wore moccasins instead of theirstout Scout shoes, so that their movements were without noise, and theycould see and hear everything the two men did.

  "We'll both have to get in the car," they heard Big Ed whisper. "Thestuff's heavy, and we want to fix the fuses in there, so that we'llhave less time to spend out in the open, where someone might see us."

  "Right!" said the other man. "Come on, then!"

  "As soon as they get inside, Pete," whispered Jack, now, with a littlethrill of exultation at the way the strikers were walking into the trapset for them, "kick that bit of wood that holds the car out of the way.I don't believe it will start moving right away. Then rush around andhelp me with the door, if I need you."

  "All right
, Jack! Be ready to slam it shut as soon as you hear mecoming, will you?"

  In a moment, as Jack crouched outside the door, with the heavy hasp inhis hand, he heard the slight jar that showed that Pete had done hispart. At once he slid the door close, and pushed the hasp in. WithPete to help him, they had it securely locked in a moment, so that noone inside could hope to get out. Then, while a yell of rage andsurprise, mingled with terror, came from inside the car, the two boysleaned all their weight against it. So slight was the resistance itcould offer, owing to the grade, that it started to roll at once.

  "Come on, Pete," cried Jack. "Get aboard the car--swing up the way thebrakemen do."

  Yelling in triumph, to let Carew and the others know that they hadsucceeded, the two Scouts leaped to the top of the car. A man had beenstationed in a nearby building, and, as he saw the car begin to move,he leaped to the gates and opened them. Then he swung aboard andjoined the two boys on the top of the car.

  Carew had telephoned to the freight yard as soon as he knew the menwere locked in the car, and by the time it rolled into the freight yardand came to a stop on the level section of track there a score of menstood ready to capture the strikers as they emerged. The regularpolice were not on hand, but Captain Haskin, and some of his railroaddetectives, well armed, were ready and waiting, and they were so strongthat there was no chance for Ed Willis and his chum to make asuccessful rush.

  "Surrender, you two!" cried Haskin, as the door was opened. "Don'tattempt to escape or make any trouble, or you'll be riddled withbullets. We've got you covered!"

  "Don't shoot, boss! We'll come down!"

  Big Ed Willis, all the bluff stripped from him, so that his realcowardice was exposed, was the speaker. His tone trembled and terrorfilled him. He crawled out abjectly, and held up his hands for thehandcuffs which Haskin at once fitted on.

  "You're a fine sort of a low hound!" exclaimed the other. "I thoughtyou were a man, Willis, when you proposed this game. I'd never havegone in with you if I'd thought you were going to quit cold this way."

  But he saw that he could do nothing, single-handed, against such a showof force as Haskin and his men made, and he, too, came out of the carand surrendered. Haskin whipped the handkerchief from his face, andJack, with a cry of surprise, saw that he knew him. It was SilasBroom--the man of the burning launch.

  "That's Broom, Captain Haskin--the man that escaped!"

  "I thought so," said Haskin, grimly. "He has some other names, butthat will do for the present. You see it didn't do you any good tohave that film destroyed, Broom!"

  "I didn't do that," cried Broom. "So help me, I didn't!"

  "I never said you did, did I?" asked Haskin, with a smile that wasn'tpleasant to see. "Better wait until you're accused of a crime nexttime before you're so ready to deny it. The cap seemed to fit you whenI threw it."

  Broom, snarling, turned on Jack then.

  "It's you, is it, you young whelp?" he gritted. "I might have guessedit. It's a pity I didn't smash your brains out the other day when Ihad you in my power. You're the one that's been in the way every timewe've turned a trick for the last two weeks. But we'll get you yet--besure of that!"

  "Never mind him, Jack," said Pete. "He talks mighty big, but he can'tdo anything to you. Every time they've tried it, they've got intopretty serious trouble. I guess they'll learn to let you alone beforelong. If they don't, they'll all be in jail anyhow, won't they,Captain Haskin?"

  "It looks that way, my boy," said the detective. "Take these fellowsoff, men. Turn them over to the police at headquarters. Tell themthat Mr. Simms and the railroad will both make a complaint. Thefederal marshal will be after them, too, for trying to transportdynamite on a railroad car. That's a very serious offense nowadays,under the Interstate Commerce Law."