said Gif angrily.
"Poof! what are you but a pack of silly schoolboys?" growled the German.
"Perhaps you thought you were doing a wonderful thing spying around our house and our barn? You didn"t know we had someone watching you all the time."
"Yes, and watching you also when you spied on Duval," broke in another of the men.
"Well, what do you want?" questioned Randy, after a brief and ominous pause.
"We want you to tell us just what you have discovered and what you propose to do about it," answered Emil Bauermann. "And remember, I want the plain truth! No beating about the bush!" and he shook a warning finger at the cadets.
While the man was speaking Jack had stepped to the rear of the crowd.
Now he made a movement to pick up his gun, but at this one of the Germans rushed forward, pulling a pistol from his pocket as he did so.
"Stop that! Don"t you dare to touch that gun!" the man roared threateningly.
"You can"t order us around in our own house," declared Gif. "If you are going to talk like that you can get out."
"We"ll stay as long as we please; and if you boys don"t behave yourselves, so much the worse for you," answered Emil Bauermann. "We are going to get to the bottom of your tricks, and do it now."
"Suppose we have nothing to say," said Andy.
"But you will say something," stormed another of the Germans. "If you don"t--well, you will take the consequences, that"s all."
After this the Germans did their best to make the cadets give all the particulars regarding their visit to Tony Duval"s shack, and also to the house and barn on the Parkingham place. They were anxious to ascertain just how much the boys knew, and also how much they suspected.
But the cadets were on their guard, and refused to answer many of the questions put to them. This infuriated both the Germans and Duval, and for the time being it looked as if a fight was coming and the cadets might get the worst of it. All of the men were armed, and they did not permit any of the young hunters to touch their weapons. Instead, one of the men was ordered by Bauermann to confiscate the guns. And this he did, placing them in a heap outside of the Lodge.
Seeing they could get very little out of the cadets, and suspecting that the lads were getting ready to notify the authorities, the Germans held another consultation in their own tongue and then called Duval to one side.
"Just as I expected, we"ll have to make prisoners of them for the time being," said Emil Bauermann to Duval. "We can take them up in the mountains, to that log cabin you spoke about."
"But we can"t take them in the sleigh," answered Duval.
"Then you and two of my men will have to march them up there on foot. We can come up later and bring you supplies."
"Do you think it"s as bad as all that?" questioned Tony Duval nervously.
"I do! They have learned too much! And if word of this got to the authorities it might go hard with all of us."
Thereupon the six cadets were ordered to get their belongings together and prepare to leave the Lodge. All demurred, but the Germans and Duval showed their weapons and acted so threateningly that there was nothing left to do but to obey.
"This is the worst yet!" groaned Fred. "Where in the world do they intend to take us?"
"Don"t ask me," replied Randy dismally.
"If only we could get at our guns," whispered Gif.
"Let"s make a dash for them," suggested Jack.
"Yes, and get shot down on the spot!" returned Spouter.
With their belongings over their shoulders, the six cadets had just been marched out of the Lodge when there came an unexpected interruption.
Glancing toward the river, Jack saw a body of men approaching. They were at least eight or ten in number, and the man in the lead was William Pollock.
"Look! look!" whispered the oldest Rover boy to the others. "There is that Secret Service agent, and he has an armed posse with him."
"Grab the guns and make for the Lodge," suggested Randy.
A shout came from the woods as Pollock approached. This surprised the Germans and Duval, and, noting the number of men coming on, they were bewildered and did not know what to do. It was just such a diversion as the boys were hoping for, and in a trice they had rushed for their guns and secured their weapons. Then Jack sent up a shout.
"Mr. Pollock! Mr. Pollock! This way! Here are those Germans now! And Tony Duval is with them!"
The things that happened next came so rapidly that it is almost impossible to describe them. At first the Germans and Duval sought to make resistance, and several shots were fired by them. The boys and some of the Secret Service posse fired in return, and Duval was struck in the arm and one of the Germans got a bullet through his leg. Then the Germans and Duval made a rush for the sleigh in an endeavor to escape.
But William Pollock and his men had handled such desperate characters before. Two of them leaped in front of the moving horses and stopped them, while the others surrounded the men in the sleigh and pointed their guns at the fellows.
"Hands up, all of you!" ordered Pollock sternly. "Quick now, if you don"t want us to fire!"
At heart the Germans were cowards, and even though they still held their pistols, when they saw the uplifted guns of, not alone the posse, but also the cadets, pointed at them, they raised their hands without further protest, and Tony Duval did the same; and thus the brief but sharp encounter came to a termination.
"You are making a terrible mistake," said Emil Bauermann lamely. "We have done no wrong."
"You can tell your story in court," answered William Pollock briefly, and thereafter he made the Germans and Duval give up all their weapons.
Then he had some of his men search the evildoers and take from them whatever papers and doc.u.ments they carried. When he had a list of their names he looked well satisfied.
"Bauermann, we have been trying to round you up for the past six months," said he sternly. "You know you are wanted for that little affair in Philadelphia." And at this the German looked much disturbed.
The cadets were exceedingly thankful for the opportune arrival of the Secret Service man and his posse.
"Well, I told you I would come," said he. "I was delayed a little though. You know in these war times matters do not always move as swiftly as one would want. A good deal of the credit for this haul goes to you boys," he added with a smile.
Much to the surprise of the cadets, in the crowd of newcomers was Herman Crouse. The German-American farmer seemed well satisfied with what had taken place.
"Mr. Pollock knows that I am true-blue," said he. "That Bauermann and the rest of his gang thought they could use me. But I have fooled them nicely. There is but one country for old Herman Crouse, and that is the good old United States of America," and his face beamed as he spoke.
"That"s the right way to talk!" cried Jack. "You don"t know how pleased I am to know the man we hauled out of that train wreck is true-blue."
"If we had thought you were a traitorous German, we might have left you to shift for yourself," added Randy. "Although maybe I wouldn"t have had the heart to do that, either," he added, on second thought.
After the Germans and Duval had been made prisoners they were left at the Lodge in charge of two of the Secret Service men and the cadets.
Then William Pollock and the other men took the sleigh and lost no time in making their way to the old Parkingham house. They had some trouble with the old German housekeeper, but wasted no words with her and finally compelled her to tell all she knew. The old house was ransacked from top to bottom for evidence against the Germans, after which the posse turned its attention to the contents of the barn.
The results were as William Pollock had antic.i.p.ated. These Germans, aided by a number of others and also by Duval, were getting ready to erect a fair-sized radio station in the woods behind the old house.
Duval had carried many messages for them and also done some trucking. He was hand-in-glove with them, willing to make money at any cost. He told later that both his mother and his grand-mother had been Germans.
As Herman Crouse had said, he had been used to do some trucking for the Germans, and had likewise been asked to perform a number of errands. But gradually he had become suspicious of the men, and was thinking seriously of notifying the authorities when the cadets appeared on the scene.
"And what about Bill Glutts and Gabe Werner?" questioned Jack of William Pollock later on, when the Secret Service men were getting ready to take the Germans and Duval away.