The Rover Boys Under Canvas Or The Mystery of the Wrecked Submarine Part 27

"I'm about over it--although I haven't returned to work yet," answered Kessler. "You see, those awful shocks, and being thrown into the lake that way, kind of got on my nerves. My folks don't want me to go back until I'm feelin' stronger."

"Have they resumed work at the sh.e.l.l-loading plant?" questioned Fred.

"They're startin' up to-day. One gang is clearin' up the wreckage, while a number of the old hands are at work in the places that wasn't damaged very much. And say! I've got something to tell you that I know you'll be interested to hear," went on old Jed Kessler.

"What is that?" questioned Jack.

"I saw those two German-lookin' fellers again early this morning, when I was on my way here to visit my brother who works on this farm."

"You did!" cried the two Rovers simultaneously.

"Where were they?" added Jack.

"They was down on the road that runs to Barlight Bay."

"Walking?" queried Fred.

"No, they was in an old wagon pulled by the sorriest lookin' nag I ever set eyes on. They had the wagon piled high with packages."

"Were you sure they were the same men?"

"I think they was the same. Of course, I wouldn't like to swear to it until I got a better look at 'em. They was just goin' past as I came in from a side road, and as soon as they saw me they whipped up their horse and started down the road in a cloud of dust."

"You ought to have stopped them," said Jack.

"How could I do that? I wasn't close enough to catch hold of the horse. And besides that, what chance would an old feller like me have against two husky men? More than likely, too, they was armed, while I didn't have anything--not even a cane."

"But you should have notified the authorities," said Fred.

"Oh, I did that, knowing that they was on the lookout for those fellers. I hurried to Rackville just as fast as I could, and called on the justice of the peace and the town constable. Then they got busy and telephoned to the next town and notified the police. They got a gang of six or eight men lookin' for the men and the wagon, but up to this afternoon they hadn't got any trace of 'em."

"Well, that certainly is interesting," remarked Jack. "You say you are pretty sure they are the same fellows who were around the plant just previous to the explosion?"

"Well, as I said before, I wouldn't like to swear to it until I got a better look at 'em. But those two fellers on the wagon had the same bushy black hair and whiskers and the same round faces. More than that, they wore the same slouch hats that the other fellers had."

"Have you any idea what was in the packages in the wagon?" questioned the young captain.

"Sounded to me as if it might be iron, or something like that. It jangled just like hardware."

"It's queer they would be on that back road with such stuff," said Jack slowly. "Did the folks at Rackville think they might live down near the bay?"

"They said there wasn't any folks around there so far as they knew that wore bushy black hair and black beards. They knew about everybody who lives within several miles of here," answered Jed Kessler.

The two Rovers talked the matter over with the old man for a few minutes longer, the foreman of the dairy also having his say. Then the boys had to hurry back to the camp, to fulfill their duties as captain and lieutenant.

As was to be expected, there was a certain amount of horseplay in camp that evening to which those in charge turned something of a blind eye.

"We'll have to leave the boys let off steam a little," said Captain Dale to the professors who had come with him. "I think they'll soon settle down to regular routine."

But the excitement of getting ready for the encampment, and the long tramp over the dusty roads, had tired all of the cadets, and it was not long before the great majority of them were ready to retire. Only a few, like Andy and Randy, wanted to continue the fun, but Jack and Fred quickly subdued the twins.

"You'll have plenty of time for your jokes when we get into the regular camp," said the young captain. "Now you had better get a good night's rest, for we have a long hike before us for to-morrow--over the Lookout Hills."

As members of Company C, Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts would have been under the direct command of Jack and Fred. This was a thorn in the side of the ex-lieutenant, and as soon as he had received word from home that he must remain at the school for the period of the annual encampment, he went to Captain Dale and asked to be transferred to another company, and requested that Glutts be transferred also.

"I think I can understand your feeling, Werner," said Captain Dale kindly. "I am very sorry that you refused to run for a lieutenancy after your defeat. Which company would you like to go in--A or B?"

"If it's all the same to you, Glutts and I would like to go into Company B."

"Very well. I'll have the necessary s.h.i.+fts made, and you can report to the captain of that company before we start away." And so it was arranged.

"The Rovers ain't going to get me under their thumb!" growled Werner to Glutts. "I know they would like nothing better than to find all sorts of fault and to get me into trouble."

This, of course, was not true, because both Jack and Fred had decided to treat the defeated candidate with every consideration.

"But I'm glad they've been transferred," said Fred, when he heard the news.

"You're not half as glad as I am, Fred," answered the young captain.

Jack and his two lieutenants occupied a tent together, while Andy and Randy were under canvas with Gif and Spouter. The night was a pleasant one, neither too hot nor too cold, and it was not long after the young cadets had turned in before most of them were sound asleep. But not so Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts.

During the halt at noon for lunch, the cronies had held an animated conversation, and this talk had been continued after the battalion had gone into camp for the night. The subject of their discussion had been the question of getting square with Jack and Fred because of what had occurred during the election. Werner attributed his downfall entirely to the Rovers.

"I'll show 'em a thing or two before I get through with 'em!" he a.s.serted to his crony. "They can't walk all over me and get away with it!"

"Well, Gabe, you know I'll be on deck to help you in anything you try to put over on 'em," responded the wholesale butcher's son.

"Of course we'll have to be careful what we do," went on Werner. "We don't want to run afoul of Captain Dale or any of the professors. If we did they might set us some awful mean tasks to do while we were in camp."

"Yes, we'll have to be on our guard and work on the sly."

Neither Werner nor Glutts were particularly brilliant in evolving their scheme, but finally the ex-lieutenant hit upon something which he thought would answer. Then he told his crony of what had occurred to him.

"That's the talk!" cried Bill Glutts, his eyes gleaming wickedly.

"Let's go and do it this very night, just as soon as they are sound asleep. My, won't there be some rumpus in the morning when they wake up and find out what has happened!"

CHAPTER XVIII

ONE SURPRISE AND ANOTHER

Fred Rover was so tired that he closed his eyes in slumber almost as soon as he touched his cot.

But not so the young captain. Jack was fatigued, but he was also worried over some of the problems connected with his company, and these he tried to solve as he lay there in the darkness.