Now they were moving on again, as before, every fellow feeling as he went, and hoping to be the lucky one whose itching fingers might come in contact with the wire. How this was to be severed when found, Tubby did not know, but he was willing to leave all that to Rob. Why, so well prepared did the scout master usually go that Tubby more than half believed he must be carrying with him a little pair of wire-cutters—at least he had a hazy remembrance of having once seen a minute sample of such a useful tool among Rob’s traps. Even though this did not turn out to be so, trust him for making a good use of his knife, with its largest blade in condition to do the ripping and sawing of the small insulated copper wire; why, Tubby himself had many a time bent and twisted such a delicate strand, yes, and parted it, without any sort of tool, when he was fixing the electric doorbell at home, or making and arranging a bell connection so that his mother could summon the servant from the kitchen by pressing her toe upon a button concealed under the rug and table of the dining-room.
How beautiful this blind confidence on the part of Tubby! It is ever a delight to have a chum upon whom you can always fully depend when the storm clouds gather and danger presses around! Rob had ever been such a stanch rock to his comrades in times past. They had reason to throw their troubles on his shoulders without scruple.
Perhaps only two or three minutes had gone by since first they discovered that the enemy was concealed near by, yet the time seemed much longer than that to the anxious hearts of the wire searchers. Donald was listening with all his might. He dreaded lest he catch the sound of an approaching train while their important errand was still unfinished; and thinking thus he burned with undiminished zeal as he went groping amidst the small weeds that covered the ground over which they were crawling.
Indeed, Donald was not alone in his ambition to accomplish something, for Rob and Andy themselves would have called it the happiest event of their lives could they have made the discovery for which every one yearned.
By now they had reached a point far enough away from the danger zone to permit with safety of a hurried consultation between Rob and Donald, provided it was carried on with the utmost discretion, each in turn placing his lips close to the ear of the other. Rob had ceased creeping. At first those behind hoped he had found what they were looking for, but in this they were soon undeceived, for they saw him putting his head against that of the Canadian boy and could just manage to catch a breath of the sibilant whispered conference that began.
It was at this very moment that a slant of the light breeze brought the rumble of the oncoming heavy freight train to their ears. To the imaginative Tubby it seemed as though it must proceed from a spot only a mile or so distant. With that elusive wire still unfound the prospect did not look very encouraging, Tubby was bound to admit, though still trying to bolster up his courage.
CHAPTER XX
THE MUNITION TRAIN’S APPROACH
“Do ye not hear it comin’, Rab?” Donald asked in the other’s ear. “Something must be done, or it will be too late!”
“We will find the wire, Donald,” the scout master assured him.
“Oh! ay, but will it be in time?” begged the other.