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The cab had a good engine, and it made good time. But after a little while Harry noticed with some curiosity that the route they were taking was not the most direct one. He rapped on the window glass and spoke to the driver about it. "Got to go round, sir," the man explained. "Roads are all torn up the straight way, sir. Won't take much longer, sir." Harry accepted the explanation. Indeed, it seemed reasonable enough. But some sixth sense warned him to keep his eyes open. And at last he decided that there could be no excuse for the way the cab was proceeding. It seemed to him that they were going miles out of the way, and decidedly in the wrong direction. He did not know London as well as a boy who had lived there all his life would have done. But his scout training had given him a remarkable ability to keep his bearings. And it needed no special knowledge to realize that the sun was on the wrong side of the cab for a course that was even moderately straight for Ealing. They had swung well around, as a matter of fact, into a northwestern suburban section, and once he had seen a maze of railway tracks that meant, he was almost sure that they were passing near Willisden Junction. Only a few houses appeared in the section through which the cab was now racing and pavements were not frequent. He spoke to Dick: in a whisper. "There's something funny here," he said. "But, no matter what happens pretend you think it's all right. Let anyone who speaks to us think we're foolish. It will be easier for us to get away then. And keep your eyes wide open, if we stop anywhere, so that you will be sure to know the place again!" "Right!" said Dick. Just then the cab, caught in a rutty road where the going was very heavy, and there was a slight upgrade in addition, to make it worse, slowed up considerably. And Dick, looking out the window on his side, gave a stifled exclamation. "Look there, Harry!" he said. "Do you see the sun flashing on something on the roof of that house over there? What do you suppose that is?" "Whew!" Harry whistled, "You ought to know that, Dick! A heliograph—field telegraph. Morse code—or some code—made by flashes. The sun catches a mirror or some sort of reflector, and it's just like a telegraph instrument, with dots and dashes, except that you work by sight instead of by sound. That is queer. Try to mark just where the house is, and so will I." The cab turned, while they were still looking, and removed the house where the signalling was being done from their line of vision. But in a few moments there was a loud report that startled the scouts until they realized that a front tire had blown out. The driver stopped at once, and descended, seemingly much perturbed. And Harry and Dick, piling out to inspect the damage, started when they saw that they had stopped just outside the mysterious house. "I'll fix that in a jiffy," said the driver, and began jacking up the wheel. But, quickly as he stripped off the deflated tire, he was not so quick that Harry failed to see that the blow-out had been caused by a straight cut—not at all the sort of tear produced by a jagged stone or a piece of broken glass. He said nothing of his discovery, however, and a moment later he looked up to face a young man in the uniform of an officer of the British territorial army. This young man had keen, searching blue eyes, and very blond hair. His upper lip was closely shaven, but it bore plain evidence that within a few days it had sported a moustache. "Well," said the officer, "what are you doing here?" The driver straightened up as if in surprise. "Blow-out, sir," he said, touching his cap. "I'm carrying these young gentlemen from Waterloo to Ealing, sir. Had to come around on account of the roads." "You've have your way lost, my man. Why not admit it?" said the officer, showing his white teeth in a smile. He turned to Harry an Dick. "Boy Scouts, I see," he commented. "You carry orders concerning the movement of troops from Ealing? They are to entrain—where?" "Near Croydon, sir, on the Brighton and South Coast Line," said Harry, lifting his innocent eyes to his questioner. "So! They go to Dover, then, I suppose—no, perhaps to Folkestone—- oh, what matter? Hurry up with your tire, my man!" He watched them still as the car started. Then he went back to the house. "Whatever did you tell him that whopper about Croydon for?" whispered Dick. "I wasn't going to tell him anything-" "Then he might have tried to make us," answered Harry, also in a whisper. "Did you notice anything queer about him?" "Why, no—" "You have your way lost!' Would any Englishman say that, Dick? And wouldn't a German? You've studied German. Translate 'You've lost your way' into German. 'Du hast dein weg—' See? He was a German spy!" "Oh, Harry! I believe you're right! But why didn't we—" "Try to arrest him? There may have been a dozen others there, too. And there was the driver. We wouldn't have had a chance. Besides, if he thinks we don't suspect, we may be able to get some valuable information later. I think—" "What?" "I'd better not say now. But remember this—we've got to look out for this driver. I think he'll take us straight to Ealing now. When we get to the barracks you stay in the cab—we'll pretend we may have to go back with him." "I see," said Dick, thrilling with the excitement of this first taste of real war. Harry was right. The driver's purpose in making such a long detour, whatever it was, had been accomplished. And now he plainly did his best to make up for lost time. He drove fast and well, and in a comparatively short time both the scouts could see that they were on the right track. "You watch one side. I'll take the other," said Harry. "We've got to be able to find our way back to that house." This watchfulness confirmed Harry's suspicions concerning the driver, because he made two or three circuits that could have no other purpose than to make it hard to follow his course. At Ealing he and Dick carried out their plan exactly. Dick stayed with the cab, outside the wall; Harry hurried in. And five minutes after Harry had gone inside a file of soldiers, coming around from another gate, surrounded the cab and arrested the driver. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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