DEAD WIRES

"We must have a chance yet," S. S. insisted weakly.

"About as much of a chance as a dish of ice cream at a Sunday-School picnic," grinned Specs.

Bunny cleared his throat. "I know how you fellows feel about this, and I know just what we are up against. Twenty minutes isn't much time for the distance we have to cover. Just the same, I've made up my mind that we are going to be at the ball park in Belden by three o'clock this afternoon, even if we have to build a toboggan and slide there. But we're not going to give up, not if I know anything about this patrol. We've never quit yet when something had to be done."

There was a general murmur of agreement. Little Prissler said primly, "That's the spirit that moves mountains!"

"And if it should turn out, at five minutes of three," added Bunny, "that we are still trying to cross this lake, I'd vote for keeping right on toward Belden till we reached there."

"That's what we all say!" shouted Bi enthusiastically; "that is, if some near-sighted laundry doesn't catch us and hang us up on a line to dry."

In the laughter that followed, the nine boys began to take stock of their soaked clothing, wringing and pressing out as much of the water as they could.

"The bullgine's picking up a little," said Roundy hopefully, squirting a little oil on the exposed running parts and tightening the grease cups. "If we don't touch shore ahead of time, I'm a tenderfoot."

With freshened courage, they waited the landing. And because neither breakdowns nor stoppages came their way, they climbed upon the yacht pier at exactly 10:39. While Roundy arranged with the keeper to look after the launch, Bunny interviewed a fisherman on the best way to get to Harrison City.

"The main road is that macadamized pike right there," the man informed him. "It's a good mile and a quarter to the Charles City station."

Bunny gasped. The situation was even worse than he had imagined.

"But if you are in a hurry—"

"We are, Mister; we're in a mighty big hurry."

"Then take the old wagon road to the right," advised the fisherman. "It's a short cut over a couple of little hills. A bad stretch of road, I'm telling you, but only three quarters of a mile to Harrison City that way. On foot, you'll get there a lot sooner than if you follow the main highway."

"We want to catch the 10:50 train."

"You'll make it if you keep your legs moving."

A series of short blasts on the patrol leader's whistle gathered the eight boys about him. In a few quick words, Bunny explained the lay of the roads.

"We'll take up the Scout's pace, and keep at it till we reach the station. We have almost ten minutes to make three quarters of a mile. I'll lead, and I want each fellow to hang close to the heels of the one ahead."

"I'll be rearguard," said Specs, as the nine boys broke into a trot. "Remember, Roundy, if you drop back, I'll—I'll pick you up and carry you into Harrison City."

There was nothing about the road to hinder people on foot. Deep ruts and gullies made it practically impassable for finicky automobiles, but the nine boys strung out in single file and thus avoided bad places and fallen branches that had toppled upon the trail. Less than a quarter mile from the lake, they skimmed the crest of the first hill with every fellow hanging close to his pace-setter.

"It's like taking candy from a baby," Specs grinned, as the group dropped into a walk. "What do you say, Bunny, if we make the run a hundred yards and the walk fifty? We can do it easy enough."

Bunny was unwilling. "Yes, we could," he admitted, "but we have a ball game to play this afternoon, and I guess we'll need all our strength to win it."

The road was a little better now. Trees that met overhead threw a grateful shade upon the hikers. There were even clumps of wild flowers waiting to be appreciated by anybody in the mood to look at them. But the Scouts and the Scout-trained Prissler had their minds set upon catching that train, and the most beautiful flowers in the world could have bloomed their heads off without getting more than a passing glance.

"Off again!" Bunny announced, giving the signal for the jog.

They wound past a clump of trees and around a turn to the left. Without warning, Bunny slowed and halted. Behind him, Scout bumped Scout, like a row of dominoes that is set falling.

A man with a cane faced Bunny. "I—it's—" He stammered incoherently before he loosed a flood of words. "Boys, I must have help! I must have it! I must ask you to help me!"

"What's the matter?" called Specs, who had not heard the request. He was rubbing an affronted nose that had collided with Roundy's back.

It was now evident to Bunny that the stranger was older than he had seemed at first. His face was lined with wrinkles. His back was twisted and bent, as if from rheumatism. When he spoke, his voice quavered uncertainly.

"My wife and I, we live back there in that little frame house. She's just getting over a long spell of sickness, and it is necessary for me to be in touch with the Harrison City doctor night and day. But now my telephone won't work; it's gone dead."

"We'll leave word at Harrison City."

The old man shook his head despairingly. "It's a bad time of week to get anything done. This is Saturday, you know, and they might not come—they might not come till Monday."

"Well, what do you expect us to do, anyhow?" demanded the irritated Specs.

The old gentleman's hand trembled as he gestured. "I—I don't know. Perhaps one of you could go to the telephone office and maybe stay right there and explain how much we needed the 'phone fixed and not give up till they started somebody out here to fix it."

There were five seconds of uncomfortable silence, broken by Bunny. "We might do better than that. If Handy were here—"

"Roundy knows a lot about telephones," suggested Jump.

"Not very much," Roundy admitted slowly. "But I can tell if any of the wires are disconnected, or if the battery is dead, or if anything big is the matter with the instrument."

"That's enough; that's plenty!" Bunny was thinking hard and fast. "We all know a little something about electricity. Roundy, you go to the telephone and look it over. I'll meet you there." Roundy was off on a run. The old gentleman, staring in blank surprise, suddenly comprehended and shouted that the telephone was in the hall, just inside the front door.

"Now for the insulators," Bunny said briskly. "You notice how the wires run from the house along those trees, with the insulators on the limbs. If somebody shinnies up each tree, we'll soon discover whether the trouble's between here and the regular poles."

There was no time to discuss matters with the aged cottager, who seemed still dazed and wondering. Like so many squirrels, the boys scattered and began squirming their way up the proper trunks.

Eight trees carried the glass insulators. Fortunately, however, the one nearest the house could be examined with the aid of a friendly stepladder. Bunny was up and down in the twinkling of an eye. With the other volunteer repairmen fairly started, he now made his way to Roundy, already deep in his labors of examining the telephone.

"I can't see anything wrong here," Roundy grunted, squinting at the wire coiled in the box. He tested the poles of the battery with a wet finger. "Plenty of juice in that. Everything tightly connected, and transmitter and receiver in good shape."

Bunny flung open the nearest window.

"Find anything wrong, Bi?"

"Nothing here. How about you, Specs?"

"Right as a trivet on this tree."

Down the line the Scouts reported, each to the effect that his wire and insulator were in prime condition. From the last tree, Prissler shouted a confident, "O. K. here."

Puzzled and disappointed, Bunny turned again to Roundy, who was making a last effort to call Central. Almost two minutes had passed in this determination to live up to the Scout law that says a Scout must be helpful and prepared at all times to give aid to those in need. If they hoped to catch the train—

"Oh, Bi!" It was the voice of Bonfire Cree calling from the fourth tree, that roused Bunny from his slump of depression. "Look back where the wire leaves the house. It doesn't come out from the corner; it turns through that vine. Take a look at the vine."

With a shout, Bi swung from the lowest limb of his perch, and ran to the spot Bonfire had pointed out. Along the side of the house, a vine had wrapped its heavy creepers around a little segment of the wire between the insulator on the corner and the holes where the wire turned in to connect with the instrument.

Slapping open his knife, Bi slashed away the green foliage, to expose a tiny patch of wire, hard against a tin rain trough, where faulty insulation had rubbed or rotted free, forming a short circuit. By bending out the copper strands, the trouble was eliminated.

At that moment, a smile creased Roundy's cheeks into joyous wrinkles.

"Listen to this!" he said, handing the receiver to Bunny.

Faintly, but distinctly, the patrol leader could hear the voice of Central. "Number, please?"

"Get 'em together, Roundy, and have Bi start on a slow jog and keep it up. I'll catch you. And hustle, because we have a fighting chance yet." As Roundy picked up his cap, Bunny turned his attention to the telephone. "The R. A. & S. station, please. No, I don't know the number, and there isn't a book here. But it's important."

A moment later, a gruff voice answered. "R. A. & S."

"Nine of us want to catch that 10:50 train. We must make it. Can't you hold it sixty seconds for us? Yes, we'll be there surely by 10:51; by 10:50, I hope. Just sixty seconds?"

The answer made his heart leap. "Thank you! Thank you! You've done us the biggest favor anybody could!"

Working with all possible speed, Bunny hooked the front of the telephone box in place, warned the old gentleman to tape the exposed wire outside the house, and dashed after the others, without getting more than the first part of the thanks which were being showered upon him.

Already the other boys had rounded the next bend in the road, and it took stiff running for almost three hundred yards to catch them.

"Just heard the whistle of the train," Specs confided, as Bunny came even.

"We'll make it," said Bunny confidently. "Why, we're not much behind schedule. There are over seventy seconds of our regular time left, and they have promised to hold the train an extra minute for us."

As they trotted down the last hill, the railroad station came into sight. Already slowing down, the train was just pulling in.

"Safe at last!" Nap shouted. "I knew we could catch it."

But even while they were still running, a most unexpected thing happened.

The train braked to a stop. But it wasn't a real stop. As Specs said, it seemed as though the engineer just "hesitated." Almost before the big driving wheels had ceased revolving, and with the nine boys still a good two hundred yards from the track, the engine puffed, the piston rods spun the wheels till the friction caught, and the train, under gathering speed, pounded out of sight.