Vera C. Barclay

“ Clue was fitting into clue like the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. The detective’s heart beat fast with excitement. Then, like a cold hand crushing the hope out of him, came the realisation [106] that the man with the buzzer stood full in his path, preventing him from reaching the end of the passage with the steps and the water that led to freedom. He was balked!
Never before in his life had Danny so longed to be a man, to be big and strong and a match for this spy. ”

“ Yet, to seek for every possible chance of getting out and making known the facts to the military was his clear duty. He had not yet explored the vault; there might possibly be a way of escape through this.
Pushing the heavy stone of the secret entrance to the vault, Danny crept once more into the mysterious place, holding aloft his lantern. On every hand guns, rifles, cases of ammunition surrounded him. All was so silent and horrible, and yet so sinister and alive. Suddenly he started, a gasp of horror rising in his throat. ”

“ With beating heart, he crept down the kitchen garden and between the gooseberry bushes. Through the hedge he crawled, and out on to the mossy turf. It was soaking wet with dew. The pale moonlight shone down on the Abbey, giving it a mysterious air, and casting very black shadows. Suddenly Danny remembered his dream. So it was coming true! There was a “traitor” in the Abbey ruin. And he must prove himself to be the gallant crusader of his dream. ”

“ His heart beating fast with excitement, Danny pressed forward through the damp darkness. There was a silent horror about this place. Mildew stood on the walls. Black creatures scurried away beneath his feet, afraid of the light. How often Danny had longed to find a secret passage! But now that he had really found one he shrank from going into the unknown darkness. If only there were another chap to talk to, to feel near! ”

“ The great body of the car loomed like some huge monster in the darkness. Danny could just make out the form of a man sitting quite still in the driver’s seat. He seemed to be waiting for something.
Perhaps the man who had been talking in the ditch was going to rejoin him. Danny, managing to overcome his fear of the revolver, decided to wait and watch. Before long there was a slight sound and the man he had seen before stepped on to the road from the grassy border that had muffled his approaching steps. ”

“ For there, row upon row, shining, perfect, [101] ready for use, lay a vast store of machine guns. In the yellow light of the guttering candle they seemed to fix a hundred black and hollow eyes upon the boy, like so many traitors startled in their hiding-place. Belts of ammunition lay like piles of coiled snakes; cases, boxes, rose in pyramids to the roof. Rifles were stacked against the wall.
A kind of helpless horror filled Danny. ”

“ Danny put out his lantern. In the darkness he turned the corner and watched the spy at work. The yellow light of the candle was not sufficient to pierce the shadows and reveal him to the enemy. What should he do now? As before, he longed to attack the man. But this course would, he knew, be worse than useless. The spy was very much intent upon his work. Inch by inch Danny crawled nearer. What should he do?
Suddenly an inspiration came. The man was facing the wall, his back to the passage. His ears were filled with the noise of the buzzer, his eyes fixed on a notebook he held in his hand. ”

“ If I do that, the police and the soldiers and the Scouts will take all my clues that I’ve spent months in finding, and they will catch the spies, and have all the fun and get all the honour and glory. They are my spies—I will catch them myself. And all the beastly people who laughed at me and said I was telling lies will see I really am a detective. And p’raps the King will hear about me.”
But still the voice inside him said: “A Cub does not give in to himself. England is in danger—what does it matter if you get the glory or not, as long as her enemies are caught?” But Danny would not listen. ”

“ It was at this moment that an “enemy [34] Scout” trod on a dry stick the other side of the hedge and set Danny on his guard. Lying flat on his tummy in the ditch and peeping through a patch of nettles, he caught sight of a flutter of red and grey that was unmistakably a Kangaroo shoulder-knot!
Creeping along the ditch, regardless of the hundred nettle-stings that raised great white lumps on his knees, Danny indulged in a little strategy. Taking off his cap, he arranged it on a stump so that it just showed above a mass of green and would be well in view from a gap in the hedge. ”

“ The detective instinct in him tempted him to explore the vault. But the voice of duty had become the loudest in Danny’s ears at last. Curiosity and ambition must have no say. He had been trusted with a momentous secret. Over England hung the possibility of a great catastrophe. Here was his duty—to get out of this place without a single moment’s delay, to make his report as clearly as possible to those who could take action. With his life he would guard this secret ”

“ He started violently, and then, remembering the law of the wild, he “froze.” The next moment three whistle notes sounded, not quite so muffled, and coming, certainly, from the ditch. Then a strange, guttural voice, speaking in low tones. It was there, at his feet, in the ditch. What could it mean? Danny, the sleepy little boy, was trembling with fear, but Danny the Detective was on the scent again.
Creeping softly across the grass to the edge of the ditch he dropped on one knee and peered down. It was far too dark to see anything. ”

“ Two of the privates, after several efforts, succeeded in bursting open the little door. Then, with his revolver in his hand and followed by the sergeant and three privates, Captain Miles entered. Several breathless minutes passed. And then they reappeared, but not alone. Sheepish, sullen, and securely handcuffed, three Germans stepped out between their burly guards.
“Come on!” called Captain Miles to the Scouts, a grin of satisfaction on his cheery face.
Danny and the Scouts obeyed with alacrity. ”

“ The sky was black with threatening clouds. At twelve the storm broke. The rain came down in torrents. Danny took shelter in the mill, keeping watch on the pond from the window. It was nearly two before the downpour ceased. Then a pale sunbeam broke out, and Danny ventured forth into the dripping [24] world. Little streamlets gurgled down the paths; cataracts gushed from pipes and gutters about the mill. Small ponds lay in hollow places.
And, alas, the tracks of the stranger’s steps were hidden by an ocean of muddy water! ”

“ Danny nodded, and the man jumped on his bicycle and rode away.
“He’s a queer chap,” said Danny, “and I bet there’s something on somewhere. Wish I knew what it was.” The detective spirit was roused in him. Suddenly he forgot all about Cubs and paper-chases. He was a private detective again, as in the old London days. Kneeling on the ground, he examined the man’s footprints in the mud, and made a sketch of them and of the bicycle tracks in his notebook. ”

“ To sacrifice himself thus would do no good whatever. The spy would be free to go on with his terrible enterprise. The secret Danny alone knew, would die with him. It would be much wiser to retire, and seek for some other way of exit from the passage.
Sometimes action, with its element of [107] excitement, with the invigorating spirit of sacrifice that accompanies it, is much easier than a safer, wiser course. It was hard for Danny to turn his back on this dangerous enemy of his country, to leave him unmolested at his eavesdropping, and to creep back along half a mile of passage. ”

“ Can any one ever forget moments when death seems very near, or when an unseen hand seems to protect one marvellously and set one free?
Glancing at his entries, Danny decided that his little book would not be much use in helping to explain the immediate dangers that must be dealt with. It was useless to try and tell the whole story from the beginning. To get the Germans caught was all that mattered. His book would be useful as evidence later, so he replaced it in his pocket and set out along the road in search of the Scouts. ”

“ Danny the Detective was sorely puzzled. But, returning to the place by the wall where the man had stood, he suddenly saw what he had missed before. The footprints did leave the spot, but they went straight back to the pond-side, treading almost where the first footprints showed!
He followed them up. But at the water’s edge he was as puzzled as he had been at the wall. The footprints did not lead away!
Danny was stumped. There was nothing [18] more to be done. It seemed a mystery with no solution—a riddle with no answer. He determined to put the matter into the hands of wiser people than he. ”

“ Dick laughed and aimed a gooseberry at a big rat who happened to be passing.
“Look here, youngster,” he said, “don’t you get the idea that Scouting is all play, all ragging about, and dressing up, and paper-chasing—’cos it’s not.”
“Isn’t it?” said Danny.
“No,” answered the Patrol-Leader, lying back till his head was half-smothered in his stalky pillow.
“It means doing good turns to other people every chance you get. And it puts the lid on telling lies or sneaking or pinching things or [6] swearing. It means making a solemn promise and doing anything rather than break it. ”

“ Here he was, knowing a large number of important particulars about a dangerous gang of spies. He knew their hiding-places; their footprints; the faces and appearance of several of them. He knew mysterious things about them that he did not understand. His country was in great peril; the Scouts were [83] called out to try and catch these very Germans—while he kept his secret to himself. A voice inside him said:
“Danny, it’s your duty to go and report all you know to the police, at once.” ”

“ The “twins,” though not brothers, are of one age and have been brought up together. They are partners, in fact, in spirit, in the stirring adventures of frontier life that the story records. It tells how they get their start in life by an act of service, and how clean in thought, clear in head, with courage and brawn, they win their way, starting as market gardeners and ending as owners of a valuable mine. ”

“ A week passed, and every evening he would run down and squat on the ground by the artist, drawing. And while they drew the artist asked him lots of questions about Dutton, and the people, and the country round. Danny, being a Wolf Cub, was [71] delighted to answer them all, promptly and politely, and, if he did not know the necessary information, did his best to find it out for his new friend. When he was tired of drawing he would look at the sketch-books the artist kept in his satchel. The pictures were mostly of harbours and hills and fields. One day he came on one that puzzled him. ”

“ With a howl the Cubs scrambled up the grassy bank, clinging to weeds and sticks and stones, and were soon in full cry across the grass. On they went, and through a hedge on to the road beyond. But there was no “scent” on the road; no paper showed on the brown mud.
“False trail!” groaned the hounds.
“Bad luck,” called Jim, the Sixer, “we must go back. We may get them yet.” And the hounds dashed off again across the field to get [9] back to the old “scent.” But it was too much for Danny. He sank down, tired out.
“They can run!” he said. ”

“ The only thing to do was to track the man down. Yes, there were the footmarks and a bicycle track in the soft mud of the little path that led down from the road to the marshy ground by the pond. Danny examined them carefully; they were quite fresh. He compared them with the drawing he had made in his pocket-book half an hour before, and they tallied exactly. So this was the same man; there could be no mistake.
With his heart thumping hard, Danny followed up the tracks. ”

“ If you buck up you’ll catch him,” said the Scouts.
“Thanks,” said Danny, and set off down the road at the double. Old Mike was a good chap and a friend of Danny’s, but somehow he didn’t seem the best chap to whom to report. The Senior P. L. was the very person Danny wanted.
[124] Rounding the corner, he saw a party of Scouts ahead, walking slowly towards the village. It must be those who had been on duty all night, just going back to bed. Danny slowed down into a walk again to get his breath, but before long he had caught them up. Stepping up to Dick’s side, he saluted smartly. ”

“ Every now and then he lifted the lantern high, looking about him. He must have gone nearly a quarter of a mile when, some five feet above [68] his head, a faint streak of pale light shone through a small, round hole in the wall.
“Daylight!” whispered Danny. “I wonder where that hole goes to.” Then he suddenly remembered his adventure of 1 A.M. on Sunday morning. “Why, that must be the drain-pipe telephone!” he said. “This is where the man was who listened at the other end of the pipe while the one in the ditch talked in a funny language!” ”

“ Clenching his fists tight, he turned his back on the sea and faced the darkness. Why had he come here if it was all for no purpose? Even as he wondered this, his eye fell on something that gave him the answer. In a cranny in the wall three objects were stowed: a powerful telescope, a signalling flag, and a strong flashlight. So the spies, also, had discovered this ledge! To whom did they mean to signal? Obviously to someone out to sea—to a submarine—a stealthy scout, sent from some [115] enemy squadron lying out in a bank of mist; the picture rose in Danny’s mind. ”

“ It is a story of the northern wilderness, clean and bracing as the vigorous, untainted winds that sweep over that region; the story of a boy who wins out against the craft of Indians and the guile of the bad white man of the North; the story of a boy who succeeds where men fail. ”

“ But a Wolf Cub is never at a loss how to do things, once he has got hold of the idea. In a minute he had drawn his notebook out of his pocket and torn a number of pages out. With quick fingers he tore these up into wee scraps and put them into his cap.
The man was already out of sight round the corner. Scrambling up the bank and through the hedge into a field, Danny sprinted along for all he was worth.
Before long he was up with the man, who still plodded along, head bent, his sack on his back. Creeping like a little green snake [33] through the hedge, Danny stole softly up behind him. ”

“ The great iron gates were always kept locked, and no one ever went in. But one day Danny had discovered that there was a little wee path that led from his mother’s cabbage patch to the hedge that divided the garden from the ruin. The path was only about ten inches wide. It must have been made by rabbits, and if rabbits could get through the hedge and the [57] barbed-wire into the mysterious old abbey, a boy could get in, too. So Danny had followed the path and had soon scrambled through the thick hedge. ”

“ In the same way it seemed to indicate that the man had taken cover behind walls and hedges, so as not to be seen from the road or from the mill. Little did he know that he left a tell-tale track of white paper behind him! And as Danny reached the pond he had to put his hands over his mouth to suppress a laugh of delight. There, on the surface of the still, black water, showed a quantity of little scraps of white paper!
Danny walked round the bank, thinking hard. What on earth could the man have got into the pond for? ”

“ There was only one other high building in Dutton—the ruined tower of the Abbey. The man must have done his sketch from there! But how had he got up? And why was he so mysterious about it?
“Sir,” said Danny, “how did you manage to get up the tower to do that sketch? The door is always locked and the tower is dangerous.” ”

“ He’s gone on with some more men. Now, let’s see to these poor chaps.”
But he found they were all being seen to very well, and he learnt for the first time what the Scout motto means. Through years of peace the Scouts had been preparing themselves. With keenness and energy they had been learning, practising much that seemed to outsiders of but little use. “Be Prepared,” was the motto their Chief had given them. And “Stick to it,” was the one they had added. The war has proved who, after all, was in the right.
The Kangaroos had been told to guard the mill pond. ”