John Garth

“ From the first day at camp, little more than a week ago, he had been attracted by the handsome, accomplished fellow and in his shy, awkward manner had even “made up” to him a little. To his surprise Cavanaugh responded to a certain extent, and the two became friends as well as tent-mates. Steve could not understand what there was about himself to interest a chap so brilliant and so generally a favorite. It never occurred to him that his own sturdy, steadfast strength might have been the magnet which, consciously or unconsciously, attracted Cavvy’s more mercurial personality. ”

“ THE LONELY SOLDIER
Private John Farren of Seattle, glanced listlessly out of the barracks’ window and sighed. It was not a very cheerful view. The snow drove past his vision in fine, slanting lines that veiled and softened the raw outlines of the building across the cantonment street. It had been falling steadily all night, and Farren was tired of the soft, monotonous brush of icy particles against the glass. It took very little today to tire him. A month in the contagious ward of a camp hospital is apt to weaken nerves as well as body, and Farren had come out only the afternoon before. ”

“ He woke with a start to find the room in darkness. The fire had died down to a dull red glow which illuminated only a foot or two of the stone hearth. Everything else was swathed in shadows—everything, that is, save—
Barber gasped suddenly and sat up tingling, his gaze fixed fearfully on the farther wall of the cabin. For a long moment he stared, wide-eyed, horrified, at the motionless, shapeless figure which stood out, vaguely white against the glass of the window. ”

“ Back on the main thoroughfare of the shipyard, Steve stared about him with widening eyes. How could he ever have thought the place quiet or empty he wondered? The siren still wailed shrilly from the engine stack. But added to it now was the dull, hoarse clamor of many voices rising and falling, the roar and clatter of arriving motor cars, the thud of hurrying feet.
Along the road as far as he could see ranged a long line of empty automobiles, and fresh ones were constantly arriving. ”

“ They were constantly tripping and falling over unseen obstacles, but they never paused and at length they gained the belt of trees and undergrowth which surrounded the clearing.
Here they slowed down to get their breath and listen for sounds of possible pursuit.
“They’d—hardly come—this far,” panted Cavanaugh. “Do you—hear anything?”
“No,” gasped Micky. “Nothing but—the rain and—wind. Whew! I’m winded.”
For a space the silence was unbroken save by the sound of their suppressed panting. Then Cavvy turned and began to push through the undergrowth. ”

“ His every muscle tense, he waited impatiently for the next flash. The instant it had come and gone, he began to edge backward, slowly, silently, with infinite care, over the wet, yielding sand. It took a long time to worm past the length of the canoe, but after that he made better progress. At length, a hundred feet or more from the end of the point and on the opposite side, he rose to his feet and hurried along the beach toward the mainland.
Anyone who has tried walking in the dark will realize something of his difficulties. ”

“ There was always, to be sure, just the faintest touch of tolerance in Cavanaugh’s manner toward the big, black-browed, quiet fellow whose admiration he could not help but notice. It was the sort of attitude which said, almost as plainly as words, “Of course, I know he’s dull and heavy and not thrillingly interesting, but he’s a good hearted chap, and I like him.”
If Steve noticed this he gave no sign. To him Cavvy was a hero who could do no wrong. ”

“ But somehow Red’s moment never came. Ducking, dodging, feinting, countering, the smaller fellow simply played with his clumsy opponent. Not for a moment did he let him rest. Now and then he got in a smashing blow with all the force of his weight and muscle behind it, which brought a gasp from Garrity’s wide lips. Constantly he lured the other on to frantic rushes which took the fellow’s strength and got his wind, while McBride, with the skill he had gained in these past weeks of work, expended not even an unnecessary ounce of effort.
At last there came the moment Micky had hoped for. ”

“ He broke off with a shrill squeal of fright as Cavvy’s flashlight, sweeping suddenly across the room, brought into clear relief an unmistakably human form, lank and white-clad, looming up beside the rough shelves that hung between the fireplace and the window.
Furn’s cry choked, died away, changing to a surprised gasp which, in its turn was drowned in the shout of laughter that came from the others. ”

“ Amongst the sand dunes to the eastward were a few fishermen’s huts. Several miles in the other direction lay the village of Shelbourne, and beyond it, along both sides of a wide estuary, sprawled the raw, staring buildings, the many dry docks and numberless other appurtenances of the big, new Government ship building plant. But between the village and the camp the shoreline cut abruptly inland for upwards of a mile, forming a wide, deep harbor which did much toward isolating the camp site from the rest of the world. ”

“ When he passed near that portion of the Green again the obnoxious “Red” Garrity was gone. Another boy stood there, however, whom McBride had sometimes noticed in his company. He frowned, and then he caught an odd, almost wistful questioning in the other’s eyes which puzzled him. None of that crowd of roughnecks had ever shown the slightest interest in scout doings except to hoot and jeer at the troop when they met in the street. There had been more than one case of solitary scouts or small boys in pairs who had been roughly treated by the hoodlums under the leadership of the red haired chap. ”

“ Cavanaugh, in advance, took a few more steps forward and then stopped again. Of a sudden, out of the blackness before them, came a faint, wavering glow of light. For a second or two they failed to place it. Then the vague outlines of a window sprang up in the darkness, only to fade again as the light flickered, died out, to reappear presently in another window on the upper floor.
“He’s moving around up there,” whispered Cavvy. “I guess it’s safe enough. Champ, you and Rit stay here. Better get off the path a little; he might come out. Mind you don’t run into the pond. Come ahead, Micky.” ”

“ Cavvy merely knew that certain outside agitators had been haranguing the men for the last few days. As they panted up the slope and reached the level they paused, startled at what lay before them.
The wide, open space was packed with men. Hundreds and hundreds in their greasy, ore-grimed working clothes, a week’s stubble, darkening their already swarthy faces, stood shoulder to shoulder in close-packed masses. ”

“ A picture of Jim Wright flashed into his mind—laughing, fearless, blue-eyed Jim, whose devotion to his mother had been the only thing that made him await the machinery of the draft. He might have pleaded dependency, but he did not—could not, he told Micky, who was an ardent admirer of the older fellow.
“She’ll have every cent of my pay, Micky, old scout,” he explained just before leaving. “And with you to help her over the hard spots, I guess she’ll make out all right. I just can’t stick around home when men are needed over there.” ”

“ And as he stared, heedless for the moment of Cavvy’s question of how he liked it, the door flew open and a horde of boys in scout uniform burst out pell-mell and clustered around the sleigh.
“Merry Christmas!” they shouted exuberantly. “Merry Christmas, Jack! How’s the boy? It’s great to see you again. Lay off him, you roughnecks; don’t paw him to pieces. Give him a chance to get his breath.”
240
Farren grinned broadly as he stepped from the sleigh into the throng of dancing, excited youngsters. “I certainly need it,” he laughed, ruffling one boy’s hair and slapping another on the back. ”

“ McBride and Hinckley, who had stripped more leisurely, were even now moving slowly toward the spring-board. If he hurried—
Instinctively the boy bent down and untied his shoe laces with a jerk. Then he straightened slowly, face flushed and jaw squaring. He couldn’t do it. Something within him made the thing impossible—the action of a coward and a weakling. What sort of a Scout would he be to deliberately fling overboard his principles and do a thing he felt to be wrong for the sake of winning another’s approval? ”

“ Cavanaugh waited a few moments and then knocked again. By this time the silence and desolation of the place was beginning to wear upon the spirits of others than Ritter. A frankly deserted house often has interesting possibilities. But this gloomy ruin, so far from the unfrequented road, that appeared to be the hiding place of a mysterious unknown, was something quite different.
“Funny,” commented Cavvy presently, in an unconsciously lowered tone. “He must have heard that. I wonder why he doesn’t answer.... Well, suppose we try the back door.” ”

“ But in the surrounding country were many and excellent farms, and the fact that the great bulk of unenlisted men were working in shaft and smelter made the services of boys on the land more than usually welcome. Even Harry Ritter did his part, though with a good deal of surface grumbling and complaint. And Cavvy, out on his grandfather’s farm, resolutely took his share of work as it came, finding some additional comfort in the realization that the hardening muscles and increasing girth of chest would be of no small benefit to him on the football field that fall. ”

“ In the old days if he liked a fellow he was apt to monopolize him regardless of the other’s feelings in the matter. Now, though Steve would have been perfectly content to spend all his time within the camp limits with Cavvy, the latter refused to allow it.
“No reason why you should stay cooped up here just because I have to,” he said one afternoon in his quick, decisive manner. “You’ve spent three days hanging around doing nothing; it’s time you had a change. If you hustle you can get off with that bunch fishing.”
“But I don’t give a hang about fishing,” protested Haddon. ”

“ Cavvy caught him up hotly. “He is a foreigner. What do you s’pose he knows or cares about the flag, or patriotism or anything like that? Those fellows don’t give a hang about this country. Dad says they all come over here just because they can make more money than at home. As soon as they’ve saved up enough they hustle back to spend it over there. They’re not Americans and never will be, even if a few of them do get naturalized. We don’t want that kind in the troop.” ”

“ Micky stared; then laughed oddly.
“Yes, you might call it that,” he agreed. “You’d call it a farewell present, I suppose, though it isn’t the sort any of you have in mind. Listen!” He bent forward abruptly, his face suddenly serious. “Jim can’t come home, but his mother could go to him. She wants to; she’s dying to. But she hasn’t any money. You know how poor they are. Jim’s pay is about all she has to get along on. And so it seemed to me—Jim’s an old scout and used to be in the troop—it’s up to us to send her there.” ”

“ Every foot of standing room was occupied by that close-packed mass of men, oddly silent in contrast to the shouting, gesticulating orator. And suddenly, to Cavvy’s wrought up imagination, instead of an ordinal crowd of workmen, many of whom he knew by sight if not by name, the throng became a mob of strangers waiting now only the word to launch into ravening destruction. ”

“ There was a good road leading through the woods from the village which was used by workmen going to and from their quarters; a motor car could make the distance in five minutes. But Shelbourne was quite as far from Cobb’s Point as the shipyard, and there were sure to be delays in rousing people and getting out a car. He thought, too, of pushing straight through the woods from where he was and trying to hit that road, but the chances of getting lost in even that short stretch of scrub and tangled undergrowth were too great to be risked. ”

“ On either hand steep, smooth masses of rock jutted up, shutting in the place completely. Less than a score of yards apart, they shelved down into the water, forming a tiny, sheltered cove toward which the ground sloped gently. It was a snug spot, shielded from storms, and also from observation, and a rough shack of weathered boards seemed a natural part of the gray, rock-strewn landscape. But Steve had not been expecting to find a hut here, and his first thought as he stared at it, motionless and a little tense, was to connect it, somehow with the man he was seeking. ”

“ At the further end of the room the youngsters were raucously disputing over sleeping places, but on the four or five older scouts gathered before the fire a sudden, thoughtful silence had fallen. A year from now where would they all be! Scarcely together as they were to-night. Presently Cavvy caught Steve’s eye and his arm dropped across the other’s shoulder to rest there with a faint pressure.
“So should I,” he agreed. Then he smiled. “Steve, old scout,” he went on briskly, “we’ll have to enlist together when we go and maybe they’ll put us on the same ship. ”

“ At the same instant Steve was conscious of the popping of a motor’s exhaust coming rapidly nearer, and turned curiously to see what it might be.
Swiftly the boat came into sight, a dingy, unpainted dory propelled by an auxiliary of unusual power. In the stern sat a single figure, bare headed and clad in rough fishing clothes. Almost unconsciously, Steve had not emerged from the bushes, and as the dory passed his hiding place scarcely a dozen feet from him, he had for an instant a clear, unrestricted view of the man’s face. ”

“ They took to calling him Slugger McBride, and wanted to know how soon he was going to challenge the champion tissue-paper weight of Wharton. Micky took it all serenely, or made some apt retort, and before long his critics were silenced by his rapidly growing expertness at the art. Naturally quick and clever, and a good athlete, he soon developed a skill which surprised even his teachers. Almost from the first he could outbox every fellow in the class save Jim Cavanaugh, and even he was sometimes hard put to hold his own. ”

“ Cavvy sighed. “I wish to thunder I’d been with you, old kid.”
Steve laughed a little. “I wish you had. I never wanted anything more in my life when I was stumbling along that beach through the dark. I was scared then, all right. Now, if you’d only been along—”
“We’d have been scared together, I guess,” chuckled Cavvy. “Well, I wasn’t, and that’s an end to it. How does it feel to be a celebrity? You’ll have your name in the paper, and be thanked by the Government, and—”
“Slush!” Steve pounded his friend on the back and when the brief tussle subsided, he hastened to change the subject. ”

“ But the necessity of making an early start for town cut this rather short, much to the former’s relief.
“I reckon no respectable ghost would stand half a chance with this bunch,” laughed McBride as they started off. He glanced back at the cabin which looked cheery enough now in the full glare of the morning sun. “It’s a swell place, fellows, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t make it a regular troop headquarters. If we could scrape up enough money to buy some furniture and fix it up a bit, there wouldn’t be a scout cabin anywhere that could beat it.”
“Not a half bad idea,” agreed Cavanaugh. ”