CHAPTER XXII
HELD UP!
"Pull, Jimmie, pull like the mischief!" cried Dave as the linetightened about the forms beyond the shrubbery.
"Pulling!" answered Jimmie, throwing his weight onto the line behindDave and straining every muscle in an effort to keep it taut.
Presently they felt the tide turning in their favor.
"Pull it taut, Jimmie!" cried Dave. "Keep them there until I canmanage to tie them. Don't slacken an inch or they'll get up."
"Leave it to me," panted Jimmie, walking around the trunk of a smalltree with the free end of the lasso. "I'll take a turn around thistree and they'll go some to get away. I'll hold 'em!"
With movements that counted, the lad seized a small stone lying near,laid the end of the line across a larger one and pounded vigorously inan effort to sever a length of the lasso.
Almost as quickly as the task could have been accomplished with a knifeDave had cut off the desired piece of rope with which to tie thecaptives. In another moment he dashed through the thicket in which thethree prisoners were struggling.
Jimmie, hanging onto the lasso with grim determination and taking inevery bit of slack given by the struggling trio, was startled to hearhis companion emit a shriek of astonishment. A glance over hisshoulder told the lad that something unusual was happening beyond thebushes.
"Hurry up, Dave!" he advised. "I can't hold 'em much longer!"
"Let go, let go!" cried Dave, laughing and dancing about.
"What's the matter?" asked Jimmie incredulously. "Gone crazy?"
"My word, but this is funny!" laughed Dave, gasping for breath. "Hereare the boys, who were looking for us, and instead of rescuing us wehave captured them. Let go that line and let 'em up!"
"What?" was Jimmie's open-mouthed question. "What's that?"
"Sure enough!" declared Dave, swinging his arms to indicate that hewanted Jimmie to give more slack to the line. "It's the boys!"
"Say that again, please!" cried Jimmie, dropping the lasso and boundingforward. "That's good news if it's true."
Jimmie lost no time in convincing himself that Dave was indeed correctin his statement. One glance at the struggling trio and he sat downupon the grass, where he doubled up with laughter.
"Well," was Jack's scornful admonition, "better stop and save some ofit for another occasion. You might need it."
"Oh, ho, ho!" laughed Jimmie. "This is the best joke yet!"
"Where's the joke?" asked Harry, struggling to his feet and throwingoff the loop of the lasso. "This is no joke for us!"
"It's the best ever!" declared Jimmie. "Here I was going to be shot atsunrise for this 'lese majesty' business, and now in only an hour Ihave a chance to make the capture of my young life!"
"Shot at sunrise?" queried Ned, joining the group. "What do youmean--shot at sunrise? Is it another joke?"
"Well, it wouldn't have been much of a joke if they'd carried it out,but the way things stand it is decidedly a good joke all round."
"Would you like to step down to the camp and tell us about it?"
"Just invite us and see!" declared the lad, reaching for the lasso andcoiling it neatly. "We came out here just for the purpose, boys!"
"You did?" inquired Jack. "Why, how'd you know we were here?"
"Oh," went on Jimmie with a lofty air, "everybody pretty near knowsyou're here. Next time you'd better be careful and shut the damperswhen you make a fire. That smoke was a dead give-away!"
"Ah, ha, smarty!" declared Jack. "That's where you're wrong. Wedidn't make any smoke at all. So that punctures your balloon."
"Well, anyhow," went on Jimmie unabashed, "a little bird told us."
"Now, see here, Jimmie," put in Ned as the five boys started for thecamp near the Eagle, "tell me the exact truth. It may have seriousconsequences if you don't. Does anyone know we are here?"
"Not that I know of, Ned," was Jimmie's sober reply. "We just stumbledonto you as you were tracking something in the woods."
"Oh, that reminds me," Ned said, halting. "We were on the track ofsome fellow who visited our position and took out the spark plugs fromour engines. We were following his tracks in the woods when you came."
"What sort of a guy was he?" asked Jimmie, intensely interested.
"I don't know," answered Ned. "We haven't seen him yet."
"Didn't he leave any signs at all?" went on Jimmie. "Did he come andgo in an airship, or did he have wings and fly through the air?"
"Neither," declared Ned. "He left some pretty fair tracks."
"Then we'll get him!" asserted Jimmie, positively. "He can't get away.Once we get on his trail he might as well quit!"
"Good boy, Jimmie!" laughed Ned. "You're a sight for sore eyes. And,"he went on, "it's a pleasure to have your optimism to help."
"Thanks!" drily responded the Wolf. "Where are his tracks?"
"Right around here at the front of the machine near the engine."
"See anything, Dave?" asked Jimmie, at once, as the boys grouped aboutthe Eagle, being careful not to tread in the tracks left by the one whohad meddled with their engines.
"Yes," responded Dave, instantly. "He was a shortish chap, you know,because he had to stand on his toes here to reach the engines."
"And I think he was a Uhlan," went on Jimmie, pointing to other tracks."I can see the mark of the spur chain under his instep."
"He must have put his hand right here," added Dave, indicating a spoton the forward wings that showed grimy finger marks. "He had a scarextending across all four fingers. See the print on it?"
"I'll bet I know who it was!" declared Jimmie, seizing Dave by theshoulder. "If that wasn't Otto, I'll go back and enlist all over!"
"Sure enough," replied Dave. "He was just about that height, and ofcourse he wore spurs and all that. I don't know about the scar."
"Well, we will look for a short, heavy set Uhlan with a scar on hishand, and when we find him we'll choke those plugs out of him!"
"Shall we start after him now, boys?" inquired Jack.
"I vote 'No' on the original question," said Jimmie, instantly. "It'spretty near dinner time and I'm as hungry as bears ever get and thensome. Have you got anything to eat, Ned?"
"Sure we have," was Ned's hearty response. "Got some mighty fine food,too. You'll like it, I'm sure. Those tracks can wait."
"Just right!" declared the lad. "Dave and I are starved! Just throwus together a little fried ham and some scalloped potatoes, a piece ofYorkshire pudding with some roast beef for Dave, here, and a few loavesof bread with a side of creamed cauliflower and some peas and carrots.Two or three helpings of succotash and some green onions wouldn't gobad either. With a couple of cups of coffee and some chocolate eclairsand a cream puff with a little ice cream and some lemon pie we couldmanage to worry along until tea time."
"Good night!" said Ned. "Wouldn't you rather take pot luck?"
"Oh," responded Jimmie, lightly, "any little old thing you wish."
"Then we'll give you some stew," announced Ned.
"Here's hoping, Ned," Jimmie said, laying a hand on Ned's arm, "that itisn't cabbage stew with bunches of vegetarian sausages cooked in it."
"Why?" inquired Ned. "Don't you like that sort of food?"
"Oh," exclaimed Jimmie, with a gesture of disgust, "we've had nothingelse for about four years! I feel just like poor old Ben Gunn in'Treasure Island.' I'd like a little civilized food--a piece of cheeseor something like that. Don't say stew to me or I'll quit you cold."
"If you want a piece of cheese, take me," declared Jack. "I feelmightily ashamed of the way we let you two sneak up on us and catch us."
"Oh, that's all right," offered Jimmie with great magnanimity, "youreally captured yourself, you know. Dave and I let you walk right uponto us before Dave swung that rope. I must get that trick."
"How did you learn that knack, Dave?" asked Ned, admiringly.
"Oh, that's quite easy, you know," replied the o
ther with becomingmodesty. "I've spent some time in Alberta where there are cattle and Ilearned to shoot and ride a horse and throw the rope pretty well."
"That's quite an accomplishment, all right," offered Jack.
"Agreed!" announced Jimmie. "But," he went on, "we're losing time andI'm losing flesh while you argue about it. Leave Dave alone, now.Can't you see him blushing over the praise you're giving him? Let'shustle about and get some eats started. I'm hungry, I tell you!"
"All right, Jimmie, your wants shall be supplied. We'll make anotherpot of coffee and all hands will take a cup with you for luck."
"This all happened so suddenly," said Ned, as the five lay about thefires waiting for the cooking to be finished, "that I haven't had achance to ask you a question nor tell you how overjoyed I am to haveyou with us again. But I'm really delighted. How did it happen?"
"Well, they took us with them after Dave knocked over one of theirtents," began Jimmie, with a sly look at his companion. "If it hadn'tbeen for that plucky kid over there, I most likely would have lost mytemper two or three times and tried to whip the whole German army."
"Oh, I say, you know," declared Dave. "He's putting it on too thick!I really wasn't much help at all. It was Jimmie who got the Kaiserinto a good humor and then saved his life!"
"Go on, go on!" urged Ned, excitedly. "Tell us about it quickly!"
In response to the invitation, Jimmie and Dave together told the storyof their adventures since last seeing their chums. Jimmie was in turntold of the exciting scenes through which the three boys had passed,and to him also were made known the circumstances through which Davehad joined the party. As the boys finally drew their narratives to aconclusion, Jimmie, who had followed the tales of his comrades withinterest, turned to Ned and said:
"And so you were on the point of rescuing me when that fellow shot therope by which Dave was hanging and you thought it was all off!"
"You are right, we thought things were going wrong with us then."
"And after that you pretty nearly got into a trap yourselves."
"Yes and we were compelled to exchange our perfectly good uniforms forsome old rags that would disgrace a wharf rat!" was Ned's indignantresponse. "Then we simply took the privilege of putting on thesegarments. They are not what we would have chosen, but they matchyours."
"They fooled Dave and myself, all right," laughed Jimmie. "We thoughtthat we had caught a mess of German soldiers."
"That simply goes to show us, boys," gravely commented Ned, "that weought to be extremely careful about our outward appearance. It's soeasy for others to mistake us for what we are not."
"Hands up!" the boys heard a rough voice say. They turned to see arifle muzzle showing through a clump of bushes.
Boy Scouts Mysterious Signal; Or, Perils of the Black Bear Patrol Page 22