LITMIR.BIZ

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      CHAPTER IV

      STARTING FOR FRANCE

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       "Just to think of it, Tom," Jack Parmly was saying some time afterwards, as he sat before a fire in his chum's den, for they had been home some days, "to-night will be the last we expect to spend with our folks for a long while."

      "Yes," added the other boy, a bit seriously. "And to tell you the truth, Jack, I really wish the parting was over. Father and mother don't say much, but I can see by their eyes they've been lying awake these last nights worrying about me. This parting from the family is the hardest part of the whole business to me."

      "Yes, my mother is trying to smile through it all," said Jack soberly, winking very fast as he spoke for some reason or other, though Tom did not seem to notice the fact. "She has the soul of a true patriot. Years ago when we were at war with Spain, she let father go to the front without a complaint. My aunt told me that many times she found mother crying in secret; yet to the world she always seemed to be as calm and contented as if father had been at ​her side. No fellow ever had a finer mother, Tom."

      "There's only one fly in the ointment, according to my mind," continued the other, frowning as he spoke.

      "I can guess what you mean," said Jack. "You're still thinking of that scoundrel, Adolph Tuessig, and how he stole part of your father's design of his great invention. Tom, I wager the one hope in your heart is that fortune will send you across his path some day or other, when you can perhaps recover the lost paper, or at least repay him for his treachery."

      "You've guessed it, Jack! I'd give anything to have just such a chance. Father is beginning to despair of ever getting his invention completed, with that part of his plans lost. He seems to be unable to remember just how the exact combination was to be effected; and the more he worries the deeper his confusion grows. Mother is quite anxious about him on that account."

      "Stranger things than such a meeting have happened, Tom. Let's hope that just such a chance may come your way before that Tuessig is able to hand over his find to the German headquarters in the Wilhelmstrasse."

      "Strange to say," mused Tom, "the detective my father employed has been unable to find a ​single trace of Tuessig. He seems to have disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him up. Men have been kept watching the German Legation at Washington right along, because the ambassador is getting into pretty deep water, and is apt to receive his walking papers any day; but Tuessig hasn't been there."

      "Then," said the hopeful Jack, "perhaps he doesn't feel satisfied to hand in only an incomplete prize. He may be holding on in the hope of yet being able to steal the rest of your father's secret."

      Jack soon took his departure. He hardly knew whether he felt joyous or depressed over the near approach of the day when he was to start for New York, there to board a trans-Atlantic steamer bound for the warring country beyond the sea. There were times when Jack's heart beat high with delightful anticipations; and then again the sight of his widowed mother's pale face, with its forced smile whenever she thought he was looking, gave him a severe pang.

      Tom spent a quiet evening with his family. His father and mother, as well as Oscar, a lad of twelve, and Phoebe, a six-year old sister, hovered over him constantly, and the talk was as cheerful as could be expected under the conditions.

      Finally Tom kissed his mother good-night and ​went to his room. He was gulping down the emotions that struggled in his heart, for it is indeed no light thing for a boy to part from all he loves and go forth to risk his life in the service of mankind.

      The boy found it hard to lose himself in sleep. His thoughts roved far afield as he endeavored to lift the curtain of the future and catch faint glimpses of the wonderful things that might be lying in store for him in the land across the sea, where the hand of war had been laid so heavily.

      At last he sank into an uneasy slumber. Just what time it was when he suddenly awoke Tom would have found it difficult to say had he been asked. He heard all manner of queer sounds welling up to his partly-opened window from the yard. There were loud and explosive ejaculations in a masculine voice, fierce yappings from the dog, Duke, and then certain suspicious crashing noises as though some person might be striving to clamber hastily over the high fence that ran around the Raymond premises.

      Tom leaped to his feet and hurriedly slipped into some of his clothes, though in his excitement he could hardly manage his dressing, even after he had turned on the electric light. Having accomplished this after a fashion, he picked up a baseball bat as the best weapon of defense ​within reach, and then hurried down to the front door.

      His father called to him as he descended the stairs.

      "Be careful of the dog, Tom! He's back in the yard and growling furiously. Speak to him as you go out. I'll join you shortly. I believe he must have the thief cornered somewhere."

      That gave Tom a pleasant thrill, for he fully believed the man must be the same bold intruder who had stolen the paper from the safe on that former occasion. He had undoubtedly returned in hopes of securing another prize, and thus completing the object of his previous visit.

      Swinging his baseball bat as he ran, Tom hastened around the house. The moon was hidden from view behind clouds, but for all that it was not dark, and Tom could see some object moving over in one corner of the back yard.

      A rather high fence surrounded Mr. Raymond's property. Near the top of this Tom made out a struggling figure that he took to be a man. As he dashed forward and drew closer he discovered what it all meant.

      The thief on being attacked by the bulldog had attempted to climb over the fence. Before he could draw himself wholly out of reach the animal had made an upward leap, and fastened those terrible teeth of his in the seat of the fellow's trousers as he hung suspended there.

      ​Duke was swinging back and forth like an animated pendulum, growling most ferociously. The alarmed man continued to strain every muscle while striving to drag himself up, but with that added weight holding him back he had until that moment been unable to accomplish this task.

      On hearing Tom shout out to the dog however, a new spasm of alarm caused the thief to struggle still more strenuously. Then the cloth of his trousers gave way, and suddenly the dog fell back to the ground, while the man, with great alacrity, slipped

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