There lay the great mobilization camp of the State before them, with some thousands of stalwart young men training so as to be accepted by the Government for service along the far distant Mexico, where the threatening shadow of war hovered.
CHAPTER VIII
IN THE MOBILIZATION CAMP
“Well, this sure pleases me!” exclaimed Bud, as he stopped the car on the summit of the ridge, so that they could feast their eyes on the remarkable spectacle of all camp fires burning in the near distance.
“It is wonderful,” breathed Blake, “and well worth all the trouble it’s cost us to get here. I reckon that we must be close to the border of the camp, and can expect to be held up by a sentry any minute.”
“I’m going to start up my headlights going down this decline,” admitted the pilot. “The more we drop into the valley the darker it’ll be; and we can’t afford to meet with a smash-up at this stage of the game, when we’ve about won out.”
He took especial pains in going down the slope, and finally the bottom was reached in safety. Here they were suddenly greeted with a gruff command to halt, and discovered a soldier in khaki bearing a gun standing alongside the road.
“Say, this does look like war-times, doesn’t it?” said Blake, in a low tone, “when you get hauled up by a vidette post. Hugh, please fix it so we can go on.”
Some conversation followed between Hugh and the guard. Then a non-commissioned officer was called, and more talk ensued. Hugh had laid out his plan in advance, and so sagaciously that in the end he was given permission to move on, although a soldier was placed upon the footboard of the car to accompany the scouts to the quarters of Battery K.
Possibly the fact that they too wore the khaki had something to do with their being allowed to enter the camp at this late hour, so long after the time when soldiers were given a chance to see relatives and friends. No matter what the reason, all of the boys felt as though they had won fresh laurels in making that run from the home town in such a rack of a car, and also being obliged to overcome baneful opposition of an unscrupulous enemy.
They followed the road and were soon amidst some of the glowing fires. Here they found guardsmen sitting around, and eating their supper, which had evidently been prepared by the company cooks according to the rules that govern the summer training camps.