Chapter XII: Another Obstacle

Time wore on. Now that there was something definite to work on, the secret service began to take a more active part in the spy hunt.

"You have helped us greatly," said the Chief to Captain Hardy, one day. "My men were so rushed with work that they simply could not take the time to go hunting round for clues. But now that the wireless patrol has furnished those clues, we shall be able to follow them up. But we want you to continue at work just the same. You can still help us."

But the members of the wireless patrol, and especially Henry, found small satisfaction in the Chief's praise. They had not come to New York merely to furnish the secret service with clues. They had come to uncover the system by which spies were betraying the movements of our transports. At the Elk City reservoir they had succeeded where trained men had failed; and they meant to succeed here also. They felt that the Chief was patting them on the head, as it were, and telling them that they were good little boys. They meant to show him they were the equals of his own men, even if the Chief's words, instead of pleasing them, stimulated them to half angry activity.

"He needn't think that just because we're boys and come from the country we aren't any good," argued Roy. "That's the way everybody talks about boys. That's the way they talked about us at Elk City until we caught the dynamiters and showed them what we could do. We'll show Uncle Sam's men, too. I don't care if they are famous detectives. We'll get these fellows ourselves. We're not going to have the secret service step in now and take all the credit."

But it was one thing to talk so confidently and quite another to accomplish the end they were striving for. They had not yet discovered a single one of the hidden wireless stations, and the secret of the dollar was still a secret. As far as the members of the wireless patrol could see, it was likely to remain a secret. How they could secure one of the dollars without being detected, they did not know; and how they were to read the message, even if they did get the dollar, was more than they could see; for by this time they had dropped the idea that the messages were engraved on the coins. More and more those dollars appeared a great and insuperable obstacle.

"Couldn't we manage to see the spy when he marks those dollars?" asked Roy. "Is there any way that we could get into his house and hide, so as to watch him?"

"You mustn't think of trying," said Captain Hardy decisively. "But possibly you could find a new place to watch from that would enable you to see him better. These field-glasses of mine are very powerful, and if you can find the proper view-point, you can see him well, even from a distance."

Without a word Roy grabbed his hat and darted out of the house. A second later he was slipping through the thicket on the sloping hillside. Cautiously he crawled from one point to another. The only station that gave any promise of success was the pine grove originally selected. The tree from which they had been watching the spy's house was a giant pine that towered above every other tree in the grove. But the scouts had never dared to ascend beyond the protecting foliage of the other trees, lest they be detected. So they had been looking upward at an angle, as they watched the spy's house. Roy now saw that if he were to climb high up in the big pine, he would be on a level with the spy's windows, and could doubtless see clearly into the house. The difficulty would be to make the climb without being detected.

Roy made his way back to headquarters and reported on his observations. "I didn't go up," he said, "for fear he would see me."

"You were wise," replied Captain Hardy. "We must devise some plan by which you can get up the tree unnoticed."

"Camouflage!" said Willie suddenly. "Fix one of us up like a pine tree. Then he won't see us."

"Just the idea," said Lew laughing.

"We'll have to use the smallest boy in the bunch," said Captain Hardy, "and that's you, Willie. Come. We'll see what we can do with you. Go get me some samples of pine bark and needles."

Willie speedily got the desired objects. Captain Hardy examined them critically. "You ought to have a dark brown suit, painted with irregular stripes, like branches, and dabs of green, like foliage."

"Don't forget his face," cried Roy in glee. "That will have to be painted brown and green also."

A laugh went up. "I'm merely telling what ought to be done, Willie," said Captain Hardy reassuringly, "not what we shall do. We have to guard against observation by persons other than this spy. If the neighbors saw a boy going out of here garbed the way you want Willie fixed up, Roy, they would begin to ask questions. And we don't know what the spy's relations are with his neighbors. What we shall have to do is to dress Willie in clothes as nearly the color of the tree as possible. We can get shoes, stockings, and a suit of clothes to match the tree trunk. We can get a cap the shade of these pine-needles. That leaves hands and face. They, too, must be disguised. A pair of gloves of the proper shade will take care of the hands. But what about the face?"

"Nothing for it but to paint it," said Roy, his eyes dancing.

"I guess you're right," said Captain Hardy. Willie made a wry face. The captain saw him. "The trench raiders blacken both their hands and faces when they steal out into No Man's Land at night," he said. "But we won't use real paint, Willie. We'll get some theatrical paint that comes off easily. I'll get the necessary materials at once."

He noted down the sizes needed and went out. And it was well he acted so promptly. That very afternoon a message from the secret service informed them that more transports were sailing.

"Come with me and get on your pine tree outfit, Willie," suggested their leader. "You other boys go to your stations at once."

Henry's task henceforth was to trail the driver of the roadster. He hurried away to his waiting motor-cycle. Lew was at the wireless key again. Roy scurried out to the pine grove, and Willie followed his captain to be "camouflaged." A few moments later, dressed in his new brown clothes, and a chocolate brown in complexion, he slipped from the house and joined Roy.

Impatiently they waited for the first transport to appear. It was a long time coming. But finally Willie picked it out with his glasses, far up the Bay, as it nosed its way steadily through the rolling waves. Behind it was another transport. As the ships drew near, Willie mounted as far up in the tree as he dared, crouching behind the tops of the surrounding trees, and hugging his own tree trunk, motionless, awaiting his opportunity to climb to his ultimate post. His heart beat fast. His legs shook slightly with excitement. He was trembling all over, so eager was he to make the ascent. On came the boats. Long ago they had passed Robbin's Reef. Now they were well into the Narrows. Suddenly the spy appeared at his window, sweeping the channel with his glasses, his hands shutting off his vision on the sides, like blinders on a horse. Quickly Willie scurried up the tree, wrapping himself closely about the slender trunk, concealing as much of his body as he could, and snuggling behind the sparse clumps of foliage. Then he brought his glasses to bear, and sat silently studying the spy's house.

The interior of the dwelling was as he had guessed it to be. There was no partition wall in the forward part of the building, a single column upholding the ceiling, so that, above the low sash curtains, Willie could see entirely through the glassed-in room. This was more than comfortable. Willie saw a row of low book-shelves lining the north side of the great room. There were numerous fine pictures and plaster casts here and there. A piano stood in one corner, a talking-machine in another. The light within seemed to flicker, and Willie guessed that in the rear of the room, where he could not see it, a log was burning in an open fireplace; for the days were growing very chilly.

But before Willie could complete his observations, the spy turned from the window and walked toward a large, flat desk in the centre of the room. Willie shrank close against the tree and remained as motionless as a stone image. But the spy never once glanced out of the window. He sank into a chair before the desk, switched on an electric desk light, and began to write on a piece of paper. Evidently he was arranging his message. When this was done to his satisfaction, he reached into the desk and drew forth a dollar. Willie could see it plainly as the spy laid it on his desk blotter, under the lamp. Intently Willie strained forward. The spy leaned forward and fumbled about the bottom of his desk. His hands and arms were hidden and Willie could only conjecture what was happening. Then Willie gave a little gasp of surprise as the spy straightened up and laid on the blotter beside the dollar a curious little thing like nothing Willie had ever seen. Evidently it was of metal for it shone under the light. Willie screwed up his face as he strained his eyes to identify the object. It seemed to be a disc of exactly the same size as the dollar. Yet it was not solid, because Willie could see the blotter through it. To Willie the thing resembled nothing so much as a spider-web. What it was, Willie could not even guess.

Meantime the spy had pulled open a drawer, from which he took a slender instrument, which also Willie could not identify. But evidently it had a sharp point; for the spy, after placing the disc on the dollar, scratched the milled edge of the coin with the little instrument, then he began to make marks here and there through the little disc, on the surface of the dollar. From time to time he turned the coin, and occasionally he looked at the writing on his paper. He seemed quite expert, for he worked fast. He finished his task and leaned over behind his desk, evidently to put the curious disc in its secret repository.

Quick as a flash, Willie slid from his exposed perch and safely gained the concealing shelter of the lower tree tops before the spy straightened up again. Willie climbed on down the tree and joined Roy at the usual observation post.

"What did you see?" asked Roy eagerly.

When Willie had told him, Roy groaned. "Gee! That makes it all the harder. Now we've got to get one of those discs as well as a marked dollar before we can discover how they send their messages."

The grocer's boy came and went. Roy trailed him back to the store, but prudently kept out of sight. There was nothing to be gained by entering the store again. Meantime Willie scrambled up to the house and related to Lew and his captain what he had seen. And they agreed with Roy that the problem, instead of being easier, had become more difficult.