CHAPTER XXV “A PRISONER”

“What’s he doing here?”

“Where’s he going?”

“Did he see us?”

These were the questions asked in turn by Ned, Bob, and Jerry, as they slipped along in the darkness, following the man with the crooked nose, whom they had so unexpectedly seen.

“Maybe he came to laugh at us for the way the tables were turned on us, the time we tried to catch him in the farmer’s barn,” suggested Jerry.

“He’s come a long distance out of his way for a little thing like that,” commented Ned. “I’m inclined to think he came here to meet some one. After Bob spoke I saw the fellow look at his watch as though impatient because of an appointment not kept.”

“Well, where’s he going now?” asked Bob, repeating his question.

“I guess it’s up to us to find out,” replied Jerry.

“Maybe he’s trying to lead us into an ambush,” suggested Bob.

[198]

“Cut out the dime-novel stuff,” advised Jerry, with a low laugh. “I’ve got a better explanation than that, and the real one.”

“What is it?” asked Ned.

“It’s our black faces,” returned the tall chum. “If that crooked-nosed man—Jim Waydell the farmer called him, though it may not be his right name—if he saw us at all, which he probably did, he takes us for negroes. That’s why he isn’t worried. He thinks we’re camp roustabouts, and that we don’t know anything about him.”

“I believe you’re right!” exclaimed Ned, after a moment’s thought. “We do look like a trio of colored chaps, and that’s why he isn’t getting worried and taking it on the run. Say, it’s a lucky thing we are this way.”

“Maybe,” assented Jerry. “Now mind your talk. Do the negro dialect as well as you can, fellows, and we may find out something about this mysterious Crooked Nose. If we can bring about his arrest for robbing the Frenchman, or for setting the fire, which Mr. Cardon seemed to think he did, it will be a good thing for us and Cresville. So pretend we are colored men with a few hours off.”

The boys walked as near as they thought safe to the solitary suspect, who was trudging down the road alone. When they spoke aloud the motor boys simulated the broad negro tones, talking[199] and laughing as they had often heard the camp teamsters and servants do, for the place was overrun with good-natured, if rather shiftless, colored men.

As for “Mr. Crooked Nose,” as the boys sometimes called him, he seemed to pay little attention to those who were following him. Either he took them for genuine colored men, and, as such, persons who could have no interest in his movements, or he was indifferent to the fact that they might be some of the minstrel players.

What the man’s object was in coming to camp, when the farm on which he was supposed to work was several miles away, could only be guessed at. But the boys hoped to find it out.

They were approaching the camp confines, and were debating whether they could risk going beyond them, when the crooked-nosed man turned into a field, and made his way toward a deserted barn. This was one that had been on a farm when the land had been taken by the government for Camp Dixton.

“Maybe he’s going to sleep there,” suggested Bob. “Or perhaps he is going to meet some one there.”

“Keep quiet,” advised Jerry. “We’ll walk on down the road, as if we didn’t care what he did. Then we’ll circle back and sneak up to the barn. Maybe we can find out something about him.[200] Strike up a song, so he’ll think we’re what we pretend to be.”

They began humming the chorus of one of the songs they had sung in the minstrel show, and so passed on down the road. There was a moon, and the movements of the crooked-nosed man could easily be observed. He struck off across the vacant lots toward the barn, not even looking back at the singing boys, who did, indeed, have the appearance of negroes.

Proceeding far enough beyond a turn of the road to be hidden from sight, Ned, Bob, and Jerry waited a few minutes, and then turned back. This time they did not sing, and they talked only in whispers.

Cautiously they approached the barn, looking for any sign of a light or any movement that would indicate the presence of the mysterious man or of a person who had come there to meet him, or with whom he had expected to keep a rendezvous.

“‘All quiet along the Potomac,’” quoted Bob, in a low voice.

“Well, have it quiet here, too,” whispered Jerry. “We may discover something, and we may not. But there’s no use in giving ourselves away. He may get angry if he finds we’re not what we seem to be, and knows that we’ve been following him. Go easy now!”

[201]

The young soldiers finally stood in the shadow of the barn and listened intently. At first they heard nothing but the rattle and flap of some loose pieces of wood.

“He’s gone!” murmured Ned.

“Listen!” advised Jerry.

Even as he spoke they all heard the low murmur of voices. And the voices were those of men.

“We’ve got to get nearer, where we can hear better,” whispered Jerry to his chums. “It’s around this way.”

He led the way to the side of the barn that was in the deepest shadow, and presently they came to a stop below a small window. The glass had been broken out of it, and through the aperture came the tones of the voices more distinctly. One said:

“When did he say he was coming?”

“He promised to be here to-night,” was the answer.

Of course the boys, not having heard the crooked-nosed man’s voice, did not know which was his, nor which was his companion’s.

“To-night; eh?” came in sharp tones. “Well, he didn’t come, and you tell him I want to see him, and see him bad. I’m tired of hanging around here without any money, and I’m working like a dog on that farm.”

“That’s Crooked Nose,” whispered Bob.

[202]

“Yes,” agreed Jerry.

“Well, I’ll tell him,” said the other voice. “I don’t know what’s got into him lately. But he and Pug have some game on and——”

The voice died out into an indistinguishable murmur.

“Did you hear that?” demanded Ned, and his voice was so sharp that Jerry clapped a hand over his friend’s lips.

“Quiet!” he cautioned.

They listened, but the voices were no longer heard. Instead came the sound of feet tramping on bare boards.

“They’re going away,” murmured Bob.

“Let’s stay here and see what happens,” suggested Ned. “I’d like to know who that other man is. Maybe there’s spy work going on in our camp!”

It was within the bounds of possibility.

Waiting in the shadows, the motor boys heard the footsteps die away. Then the murmur of voices sounded again. They came nearer, and indicated that those who were talking were outside the barn.

“Well, I’ll tell him you want to see him,” said the man who was with the crooked-nosed fellow.

“You’d better! He can have all the games he wants with Pug, but he’s got to make a settlement[203] with me. I took all the risk, and he got all the money. I want my share!”

“I’ll tell him!”

“And now about this storehouse business,” went on the other. “Can you get into it?”

“I have an extra key. And Kratzler——”

“No names!” warned the other quickly. “You can’t tell who may be sneaking about. Nix on the names!”

Then the voices died away again, and the boys, listening, could hear nothing more.

“There’s something wrong going on here!” decided Ned. “Did you hear Pug’s name mentioned twice?”

“Yes,” assented Jerry. “But it may not be the one we know.”

“I believe it is,” went on Ned. “We’ve got to find out more about this. There they go!”

He pointed to two figures, dimly seen. They were moving rapidly away across the field.

“Come on!” exclaimed Ned, in a tense whisper.

Just then in the distance, two shots rang out.

“That’s the signal!” cried Jerry. “They’re ending the sketch ‘The Sentry’s Last Challenge.’ We go on right after that in the final chorus. We’ve got about five minutes to make it. Come on! Hike!”

“But what about these fellows?” asked Bob.

“We’ll have to let them go,” decided Ned.[204] “We can’t afford to spoil the minstrel show for the sake of something that may not amount to anything.”

“Not even to catch Crooked Nose?” asked Bob, in disappointed tones.

“We’ll take up his case later,” said Jerry. “Just now we’re minstrels. Come on.”

There was nothing else to do, and though the boys wanted to remain and, if possible, solve the mystery, they felt that they owed it to Captain Trainer to make the minstrel show a success. They had important parts, and the shots they had heard fired were blank cartridges, discharged during the enactment of a little skit, played by some members of their company.

The two men had disappeared in the shadows, and it was a question whether the boys could have spied on them to any further advantage that night. So they hurried back, arriving just in time to take part in the last chorus.

After the show, which was voted a big success, the boys debated among themselves whether they should report what they had seen and heard and mention Pug Kennedy’s name. Also they talked of the time when they had seen Pug have a midnight meeting with some one.

“There was more in that than appeared on the surface,” declared Ned.

“Yes, I agree with you,” said Jerry. “And[205] there’s something in this affair to-night, too. But we don’t know enough to cause more than suspicions, and there’s a chance that things would go against us.”

“Then what are we to do?” asked Bob.

“Keep quiet, I say, until we have more definite information,” was the tall lad’s answer. “We can make another attempt to find out more about this crooked-nosed man.”

“That’s what I say,” decided Ned. “Let’s wait a bit.”

So they said nothing about having followed the man to the barn, being able to get close to him because he took them for negroes, and they bided their time.

The minstrel show made a welcome break in the monotony of camp life, and it acted like a good tonic. The boys were the more ready to take up the routine of work, and there was plenty of it.

As they progressed in their soldier life Ned, Bob and Jerry found it more interesting. The need of the various drills began to be better understood. They liked the work on the rifle ranges, the machine gun exercises and the trench work. They went on several other hikes, and at times were given charge of some new squads of drafted men who came to camp.

It was about two weeks after the minstrel show[206] that Jerry, Bob and Ned were all out on guard together when they heard the man on the post next to Jerry’s calling:

“Corporal of the guard!”

“What’s the matter?” asked Jerry, as he sent the call down the line.

“I’ve got a prisoner!” was the answer. “I caught him trying to get in through the lines! I guess he’s a German spy!”

“Maybe it’s the crooked-nosed man!” exclaimed Bob.

“Or the one who was with him in the barn,” added Ned.

“Or the one they spoke of as going into some game with Pug,” said Jerry. “Come on! We’d better go help Kelly.” Kelly was the name of the sentry who had called.

The three boys went off on a run in the darkness, going to the aid of their comrade. Little did they dream of the surprise in store for them.