The Red Signal (Grace Livingston Hill Book) (11 page)

They paused at the foot of the ladder to talk and the words came up as if through a tube.

“Where do you keep that suitcase?”

“Eet iss onder my ped. Ect iss berfeckly safe.”

“Well, we cannot afford to run any risks with that. I think you had better take it over to Adolph to-morrow. You know that contains a lot of incriminating evidence against us. If that should be found we would all be in trouble. This is no place for it now, with suspicion turning this way. That bridge is guarded night and day, and no one can stir in this neighborhood without being watched for a while. You must not even look in that direction. You must go about your business as if you were nothing but farmers, see? So you had better take suitcase over to Adolph as soon as possible. There is no telling but they might come and search your house, and it won't do to have it around. You know all the drawings and sketches of the munitions factories are there, and the map with the ports and big railroad bridges marked, besides the wireless code, and those letters from the Prince. If you should be caught with those it would be all up with you! They would search the place and find the wireless, and then everybody concerned would be under suspicion and very likely arrested.”

“I petter dake oud the bapers and pud 'em in someding elze. I pud 'em in a pag! Not?”

“On no account! That suitcase was especially made for the purpose. Some of the most important papers are sewed up in its lining. That suitcase must be delivered without fail to the Captain of the submarine next Wednesday. The initials on the end are the sign by which he is to identify it and bear a code message to him. It must be hidden in the weeds by the wireless on the hill overlooking the coast. Your man understands. And have him leave in plenty of time. It is very dangerous for the boat to have to wait around if there is any hitch on our part; he should start a train sooner than last time as delay might be fatal to our plans. Better get that suitcase away from here as soon as possible. Adolph knows all about it, but be sure you give it into his hands. We don't want too many in on this. Adolph won't be home till near noon to-morrow. Better take the noon train down; but if I were you I'd come right back on the way-train. You don't want to be long away from here. Bring back a bag of potatoes or something. Now, it is getting light, and I must be going. My automobile is waiting down the road and I don't want to meet any guards. Is there a path across that field to the turnpike? I got out of the way coming over and lost time.”

They came up the ladder and the visitor waited while Schwarz smoothed the earth back over the lid and replaced the cabbage plants. Then they went silently down through the dawning to the garden and disappeared in the darkness. In a few minutes the girl heard the soft purring of an electric car, and Schwarz returned almost immediately afterward.

There was no more sleep for Hilda. Her heart was thumping wildly and she was shivering with excitement. If she could only get that suitcase and put it in the hands of somebody who knew what to do! Schwarz had said it was under his bed! Would she dare slip in there when she came up to make the beds in the morning and get it? Mrs. Schwarz never allowed her in that room. She made the bed herself. But there was always a few minutes in the morning when Mrs. Schwarz was busy in the kitchen and she was upstairs alone making the other beds. She might try. But, oh, what a terrible undertaking for an honest girl who had never laid a finger on other people's property! How like a thief she would feel! And what could she do with it if she got it? The young engineer had suggested the Government at Washington; that meant the President, and how could she get it to him without money?

Schwarz would kill her like a fly if he discovered her. She shivered as she remembered that crushing heel in the cinder path. But what did it matter if she died after all? It was better to die making an attempt to save her country than to live and know she had been a coward and a traitor. Suppose she succeeded in getting away safely, was there any way she could work her way to Washington? Well, perhaps a way would be provided.

Quietly she sat and made her plans, her heart beating like a trip-hammer the while. She would have to go down in the morning just as usual and work. She must not draw attention to herself in any way. She would have to trust to the circumstances to shape her plans when the time came. But one thing she could do now, write a note to Mrs. Schwarz and have it ready to leave where she could read it, so that they would think she had run away to go to her mother and not suspect about the suitcase, nor try to follow her. That would at least give her more time to get away before they discovered the loss. So, in the dawning light of another day she sat on the floor by her window and wrote:

“Dear Mrs. Schwarz;

“I have got to go and find my mother? I cannot stay here any longer. I am sorry, but I think you can find somebody who will help you better than I could. I shall find a way to earn my fare to my home, so don't worry about me.

“HILDA.”

Having folded it and written Mrs. Schwarz's name on it, she began to look about on her few belongings with a sinking heart. If she took the stolen suitcase she would have to leave all her own things except what she could wear. It would not be possible to carry more than one suitcase. It would arouse suspicion at once if she were seen. Besides, she must remember that it -was going to be a hard trip. She must travel “light.”

Softly she went about picking up her few bits of things, folding her garments and laying them in her suitcase. Perhaps some day when the war was over she could send for them. She was glad now that Uncle Otto had not thought it best to let her bring a trunk. He had said she could have that sent later, after she knew what she was going to need. There wasn't much to pack after all. She slipped on an extra skirt and pinned a few little things to the inside of her dress, but she dared not do more lest her appearance be noticed by the family. She locked her suitcase, put her hat and jacket where she could snatch them quickly, tied on her neat brown denim apron and went downstairs to get breakfast. As she started the fire and fried the potatoes and ham she was wondering whether she had better hide her own suitcase, and then it occurred to her that perhaps she might be able to substitute it for the other one. Even if they were not alike it wouldn't be noticed. Her heart pounded away almost to suffocation whenever she thought of the preposterousness of her attempting to steal a suitcase that belonged to the German Government and run away with it; but then a great anger would surge up and a great loyalty to the Land of the Free would uplift her and give her strength again.

Schwarz looked haggard and worn when he came down to breakfast. His unshaven lips trembled when he lifted his cup to drink. He gulped cup after cup of strong coffee, and between times belabored his pitiful old wife with his tongue. When Hilda looked at him she trembled at her own audacity and wondered that she had ever thought of meddling with aught that concerned him.

The men went to their work with an appearance of great zeal, and Schwarz followed them as far as the barn, slipping in behind the reaper and unlocking the door cautiously with many a glance behind.

Hilda went at once to the task of clearing the breakfast table. She was too excited to eat anything, but forced herself to sip a few mouthfuls of coffee lest Mrs. Schwarz should notice.

But Mrs. Schwarz was engrossed in her own sad thoughts. She sat on the side porch peeling apples and taking no more notice of Hilda than if she had been the pump that stood just over the door stone; and Hilda slipped her piece of bread she was trying to eat into her apron pocket and went on washing the dishes.

Suddenly, in the midst of her tense thoughts, she became conscious of a figure standing in front of the door, down by the pump; a barefoot boy with an old felt hat on the back of his head. He must have appeared around the corner of the house, and Mrs. Schwarz seemed not yet aware of his presence.

Hilda stopped wiping the dish she had in hand to stare at him, but the boy, without an instant's hesitation, lifted a finger to his lips in a swift motion of warning and winked one eye solemnly at her, at the same time putting his hand in his trousers pocket and displaying the corner of a crumpled envelope. Then he pulled off the old hat politely toward Mrs. Schwarz and said in a gruff voice:

“Say, lady, may I have a drink of water? I've come a long way and I'm parched to a crisp. I seen your pump and I thought you wouldn't mind ef I come up and got a drink.”

Mrs. Schwarz looked up with a start and grunted an unkindly consent, motioning toward the tin cup on the pump.

The boy, nothing loath, went to the pump and brimmed the cup; then sidled back and leaned against the frame of the kitchen doorway, with his back to Hilda, who was still watching him intently.

"Mighty fine view you've got up here,” he remarked affably to Mrs. Schwarz, and something white whizzed across the floor behind him and landed at Hilda's feet.

She looked down and saw that it was a letter bearing her name. Breathlessly she stooped and picked it up, slipping it quickly inside her blouse.

The boy, meantime, was standing with his back to her in the doorway slowly sipping his cup of water, but his left hand was stuck out behind him, palm open, in an attitude of receptivity.

“You petter pe going!” said Mrs. Schwarz ungraciously. “Schwarz don't like no poys arount. Pe quigk! He iss coming!

Hilda gave a hasty jerk to the string around her neck, breaking it, and pulling out the tiny sewed-up package. She stepped lightly over to the door, laid it in the boy's hand, and was back at her sink again before Mrs. Schwarz had hardly finished her sentence. The boy's fingers closed quickly over the message, and, dashing his tin cup down, he leaped away over the plowed ground just as Schwarz came around the corner of the barn.

“Who vas dat?” he roared.

“Juist some poy that vanted a trink of vater. I send him apout his pizness.”

Schwarz roared something unkindly at her as he came nearer to the house, and Hilda wiped the last dish and fled upstairs to make the beds, every fibre of her being all a-tremble. The letter had really come! She could stop long enough to at least glance it through. It might tell her what to do.

She locked her door and tore open the envelope. It was thick and had several enclosures. If she had but time to read it slowly. But she must take but a second, there was so much at stake.

After all, the letter itself was but a few words, evidently written in great haste:

“Dear friend:

“I haven't but a minute to write before my train leaves, and I won't attempt to thank you for what you have done for me. Besides, it wouldn't be wise. I'll find a way, though, sometime soon. In the meantime I am worried about you. You might need to get away in a hurry if something else turned up, and not be prepared. I am sending you a pass on our road and a little money. Keep them, always with you, night and day! If you need a friend, come to my mother. The enclosed card has her address. I have written on the back and she will understand. The bearer will bring any message you have. If you are in trouble, remember the signal. I shall find a way to see you somehow, soon. Your friend,

“D. S.”

Hilda gave one swift glance at the delicate white card bearing the name and address of Mrs. Daniel Stevens. On the reverse side was written: “This is a good friend of mine, mother; please look out for her. Dan.” The soft color stole into her cheeks as she thoughtfully slipped the card back into the envelope. She looked at the folded green bills wonderingly, and the mysterious little card that was a pass, and slipped them quickly back with the letter, pinning the envelope firmly in a handkerchief inside her dress. Then she opened her door and listened. Schwarz and his wife were having a loud altercation below stairs, punctuated by tears on the woman's part and profanity from the man. Now was the time to get that suitcase if any. Dared she? Somehow she felt strong with that letter in her bosom! And that money! And a pass! How wonderful to have a real pass. Passes were things that only the rich and the great possessed.

Trembling at her own temerity, she stepped across the hall and turned the knob of the Schwarz bedroom cautiously. Then her hope suddenly fell. It was locked! Of course. She ought to have known they would lock it! How foolish she had been to suppose—But stay! There was the key in the door! They had thought it enough to turn it in the lock and leave it for each other's convenience or they had forgotten it!

She turned it slowly, carefully, every nerve tense, holding the knob firmly with her other hand. It grated noisily, but it turned, and the door yielded to her grasp!

SHE peered cautiously in, then ducked low and crept inside on hands and knees, for the opening door had revealed a glimpse through the window of Schwarz's shock bead in full view as he stood below outside altercating with his wife.

The bed was smoothed up, and the heavy knitted counterpane hung down to the floor on either side. Hilda pushed the door softly shut behind her and crept across to the bed, lifting up the fringe of the counterpane and peering beneath. There were quite a number of things there: several pasteboard boxes with papers sticking out. A wooden box with a cover nailed down tight, and up against the wall a plain leather suitcase, in size and style much like her own. Breathlessly she reached far down under the bed, straining her ears to be sure Schwarz and his wife were still safely arguing below and would not take her unawares; and finally, by crawling under the bed she managed to lift the suitcase and edge it out on the floor without disturbing any of the other things. Without stopping to look at it she hurried out of the room, and into her own, locking both doors silently behind her. She caught her breath with a quick sigh of relief as she looked down at the stolen article. And now, what? Should she look inside to be sure there was anything of value? She put it on the floor and tried to open it, but it was locked and there was no sign of a key. Schwarz likely carried that in his pocket. She dared not take the time to try to break the lock, even if she had known how. No, she must just trust to what she had heard that this was something containing incriminating papers and let the Government break into it if they thought best. Then her duty would be done. Meantime, this was enough like her own suitcase to be mistaken for it. Why not put hers under the bed in place of the other while there was opportunity? Of course, when they opened it they would have evidence that she was the thief, but she hoped by that time to be far away, and perhaps this would deceive them for a few hours and give her time to get to safety. Anyway, she must take the chance.