CHAPTER XVII
A MESSAGE
"Well, Hugh, what do you think about that?" demanded Bob.
Hugh looked blankly at the rude drawing on the back of the envelope."I don't know," he said slowly. "Why should they send Mr. Wernberg oneof these?"
"Unless it's a message from one member of the gang to another."
"But Mr. Wernberg is in the hospital."
"The others may not know that."
"That's true," Hugh agreed. "This handwriting is the same as that on themessages that came to your father and to Heinrich too."
"I know it, and the same as in the list we found in the old house."
"What do you suppose the alligator stands for?"
"I've no idea. Why did they steal Percy?"
"Anyway we'd better ring the bell and deliver our message. We can't standout here on the porch all day, you know."
Bob pushed the electric bell, and almost instantly the front door wasopened by Frank Wernberg. It would seem as if he had been behind the doorwaiting all the time. His close-cropped light hair bristled fiercely, andhis nose was still slightly swollen; his chin also was still raw whereBob had planted his fist the day before. Bob thought how much longer agothan that it seemed; so many things had happened in the last two days.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Frank brusquely.
Bob and Hugh had been so surprised by the sudden opening of the door thatfor a moment neither one of them replied.
"What do you want?" exclaimed Frank.
"We've got a letter for your mother," said Bob.
Frank glared at them under lowering brows. "Who from?" he asked.
"That's for her to find out," said Bob. "It's addressed to her you see."
Frank snatched the letter from Bob's outstretched hand, and made as if hewas about to go in and shut the door.
"Wait a minute," exclaimed Hugh. "Here's another."
"What kind of a joke are you trying to play on me?" cried Frank angrily.
"None at all," said Hugh. "This one is for your father."
Frank grew red in the face, "If this is a joke I swear you'll be sorryfor it," he exclaimed hotly.
"It's no joke at all," said Hugh. "We found this letter lying here underthe mat. I was just going to hand it to you."
Frank took the letter from Hugh and looked at it suspiciously. Then heturned it over and looked at the back of it. Suddenly he turned pale.
Bob and Hugh, watching him closely, noticed this fact, and Bob, suddenlyplucking up courage, determined to speak of it.
"What does that alligator mean, Frank?" he asked.
The color rushed back into Frank's face. He looked as though he weregoing to run. He swallowed hard two or three times, choked, and thenswallowed again. "I don't know," he blurted out finally, and steppinginside slammed the door shut in the faces of the two boys.
Hugh looked at Bob and smiled. "Frank was certainly glad to see us,wasn't he?" he said sarcastically.
"I should say so," Bob agreed. "Let's go home."
They went down the steps and walked slowly in the direction of theCook home.
"Frank's a queer fellow," said Hugh finally.
"He certainly is," Bob agreed.
"Do you think he knows what has happened to his father?"
"I doubt it. I don't believe he would have been so surly if he hadknown."
"What do you think about the alligator?"
"I'm sure I don't know," said Bob. "It must mean something though, andFrank must know what it is. Did you see how pale he got when he saw it!"
"Maybe it's the sign of some secret society like the Black Hand, or theKu Klux Klan, or something like that."
"Still I can't understand why they should send a warning to Mr. Wernbergif he is a member of the gang."
"It may not have been a warning," said Hugh. "Perhaps it was just amessage of some kind or another."
"Then why should Frank have been so scared when he saw it?"
"Don't ask me. I'm getting more mixed up every minute."
They turned into the Cooks' yard and slowly approached the house. A manand woman were just disappearing around the corner.
"Who are they?" Hugh inquired.
"Lena, the cook, and one of her beaux," said Bob.
"I thought Heinrich was in love with her."
"He is," laughed Bob, "but he has a rival, and that's the man."
"What's his name?"
"Karl Hoffmann."
"Another German," said Hugh soberly.
"Say, Hugh," laughed Bob, "you certainly are suspicious. You suspect goodold Lena, and now you suspect the man with her because he has a Germanname. Why, that man Hoffmann has worked for father for years, and fatherthinks the world of him."
"That doesn't mean he may not be mistaken," Hugh insisted.
"Why, father has even selected him as one of the guards for the factory,"said Bob. "I guess that shows how much confidence he has in him."
"But suppose Lena is disloyal," exclaimed Hugh. "If Karl Hoffmann is inlove with her there's no telling what she might get him to do."
"But Lena is not disloyal," said Bob peevishly. He was becoming tired ofHugh's constant slurs against the people whom his father employed.
"Well, I'd watch them all," said Hugh.
Bob offered no further comment. He could not convince Hugh that hissuspicions were unfounded so he decided there could be no use in arguingwith him. They entered the house and found Mr. Cook seated in thelibrary alone.
"Did you deliver my note?" he asked.
"We did," replied Bob.
"Who came to the door?"
"Frank," and Bob related their experiences to his father. Mr. Cook wasmuch interested and puzzled by the manner in which Frank had acted whenhe saw the drawing of the alligator on the back of the envelope.
"We thought perhaps it might be the sign of some secret society,"said Hugh.
"Possibly so," agreed Mr. Cook. "Let's see; the same sign was on thepaper you found in the old house, Heinrich got a note with thepicture on it, and now this letter you picked up on the Wernbergs'porch had it too."
"And the handwriting was the same as on that postal card you got thismorning," said Bob.
"I didn't see any picture on that though."
"No," agreed Bob. "Neither did I."
"I threw the card away," said Mr. Cook. "I was afraid your mother mightfind it and worry."
"Perhaps there won't be any more trouble, now that Mr. Wernberg is out ofthe way," suggested Bob. "If he was the leader of the gang, his burnswill keep him in the hospital and out of mischief for some time to come."
"You didn't hear what happened this afternoon then?" asked his father.
"No, what?" demanded Bob and Hugh in one breath.
"You remember the railroad bridge, don't you?"
"I guess we'll never forget that, will we, Hugh?" exclaimed Bob. "Youdon't mean that they tried to blow it up again?"
"Well, it looks so," said Mr. Cook. "One of the guards on the bridge thisafternoon saw a man coming down the river in a rowboat. He called to himto halt, but the man kept right on. The guard challenged him three times,but as the man gave no answer he fired at him."
"Did he kill him?" demanded Bob excitedly.
"No," said Mr. Cook, "he didn't try to kill him. He just wanted to scarehim, and when he fired the man jumped out of the boat into the water. Theguard hurried down to the bank of the river, but the man had scrambledashore and run off; you know it's quite a long distance from where therailroad tracks cross the bridge down to the water. The guard got a longpole and waded out into the river after the boat. He caught it finallyand when he had hauled it ashore he found it was loaded with dynamite. Ofcourse no one knows, but they think he planned to blow up the bridge."
"Whew!" exclaimed Hugh. "The man got away, you say?"
"Yes, unfortunately."
"Couldn't the guard see what he looked like?"
"Yes, he did see that, and here is the interesting part."
"Why," said Mr. Cook, "the man was rather slight, weighing perhaps ahundred and fifty pounds and he had a close-cropped black mustache."
"The fake detective!" exclaimed Bob. "Was that who it was?"
"The description fits him, doesn't it?"
"Yes," agreed Hugh, "but he was out at the old house this afternoon. Howcould he be on the river at the same time?"
"He was out at the old house early this afternoon," said Mr. Cook. "Thisepisode at the bridge happened only about an hour ago."
"He must have hurried right down there," exclaimed Bob. "When he realizedthat the police were on his trail he probably decided he had no time tolose, and that's why he dared try such a thing in broad daylight."
"Where did you hear about it, Mr. Cook?" inquired Hugh.
"Sergeant Riley just told me over the telephone; I had called him up toinquire how Mr. Wernberg was getting along."
"How is he?" asked Bob.
"Pretty bad yet; once in a while he recovers consciousness, but onlyfor a few minutes. Besides he suffers so from his burns he can't doany talking."
"And meanwhile his gang keeps on working," said Hugh.
"Is that fake detective part of his gang?" said Bob. "He's the one whoblew him up."
"I don't know," exclaimed Hugh in despair. "We just go 'round and 'roundin circles and don't seem to get anywhere at all."
"But the fact remains, doesn't it, boys," inquired Mr. Cook, "thatwhether we know who the gang is, and what the relations are between thetwo gangs--if there are two--that somebody is hard at work plottingagainst this country? Also they are becoming bolder for they know thattheir time is short; sooner or later they are bound to be caught."
"You're afraid for your factory to-night, aren't you, father?" asked Bob.
"I am, indeed," said Mr. Cook.
Bob was on the point of asking if he and Hugh might not help guard itwhen the telephone rang and his father was called away to answer it.
Bob Cook and the German Spy Page 17
