The Red Cross Girl

n him in a wood road and once on Round Hill where the stranger was pretending to watch the sunset. Jimmie knew people do not climb hills merely to look at sunsets, so he was

e been one. Because, by birth he was a boy, and by inheritance, a scout. In Westchester County the Sniffens are one of the county families. If it isn't a Sarles, it's a Sniffen; and with Brundages, Platts, and Jays, the Sniffens date back to when the acres of

sles will count for nothing. It will not explain why to Jimmie, from Tarrytown to Port Chester, the hills, the roads, the woods, and the cow-paths, caves, streams, and springs hidden in the woods were

before in those same woods he had trailed that same Indian, and with his own tomahawk split open his skull. Sometimes when he knelt to

er open would seem to suggest he was right. But still Jimmie remembered once before he had knelt at that same spring, and that when he raised his eyes he

rst, besides being a justice of the peace and a Master of Beagles and President of the Country Club, was also a local "councilman" for the Round Hill Scouts, he brought his guest to a camp-fire meeti

make sure of their ammunition, and then they will start for New York City. They will follow the New Haven and New York Central railroads, and march straight through this village. I haven't the least doubt," exclaimed the enthusiastic war prophet, "that at this moment German spies are as thick in Westchester as black

isper. "Keep your eyes open!" he commanded. "Watch every stranger. If he acts suspiciously, get w

d home, behind each wall and h

rst was extr

at you said to-night every real estate agent who dares open a map will be arrested. We're n

"you own half the county now, and

s bring charges against the Italians for poaching, and when I fine the Italians, they send me Black Hand letters. And now every day I'll be asked to issue a warrant for a German spy who is selecting gun sites. And he will turn out to be a millionaire

ng two hundred pounds; if, himself unobserved, he could lie and watch, off its guard, a rabbit, squirrel, or, most difficult of all, a crow, it became a deer and that night at supper Jimmie made believe he was eating venison. Sometimes he was a scout of the Continental Army and carried despatches to General Washington. The rules of that game were that if any man ploughing in the fields, or cutting trees in the woods, or even approaching along the same road, saw Jimmie before Jimmie saw him, Jimmie was taken prisoner, and before sunrise was shot as a spy. He was seldom shot. Or else why on his sleeve was the badge for "stalking." But always to have to make b

useum of Natural History, who wanted to dig for Indian arrow-heads. And when Jimmie threatened to arrest him, the indignant gentleman arrested Jimmie. Jimmie escaped only by leading the professor to a secret cave of his own

But there it developed the mysterious stranger, so far from wishing to destroy the Kensico dam, was the State Engineer who had built it, and, also, a large part of the Panama Canal. Nor in his third effort was Jimmie more successful. From the heights of Pound Ridge he discovered on a hilltop below him a man working alone upon a basin of concrete. The man was a German-American, and already on Jimmie's list of "suspects." That for the use of the German artillery he was preparing a concrete bed for a siege gun was only too evident. But closer investigation proved that the concrete was only two inches

e Jimmie proceed

He made a cross-cut through the woods, and came upon the young man in the golf-cap. The stranger nodded, and his eyes, which seemed to be always laughing, smiled pleasantly. But he was deeply tanned, and, from the waist up, held himself like a soldier, so, at once, Jimmie mistrusted him. Early

! It's luck you haven't got it now,

arly to be hungry," said Jimmie; "

up an appetite, and I lost myself. But, I haven't lost

d to your righ

anger anxiously. That he w

-hour's walk

orrected the young man;

to walk that distance, and, then, diving into the wood that lined the road, "stalked" him. From behind a tree he saw

he noise of the crackling twigs. When the noises ceased, Jimmie guessed the stranger had reached the wood road, grass-grown and moss-covered, that led to Middle Patent. So, he ran at right angles until he also reached it, and as now he was close to where it entered the main road, he approached warily. But, he was too late. There was a sound like the whir

to approach him was impossible. For acres Round Hill offered no other cover than stubble. It was as bald as a skull. Until the stranger chose to descend, Jimmie must wait. And the stranger was in no haste. The sun sank and from the west Jimmie saw him turn his face east toward the Sound. A storm was gathering, drops of rain began to splash and as the sky grew black the figure on the hilltop faded into the darkness. And then, at the very spot where Jimmie had last seen it, there suddenly flared two tiny flashes of fire. Jimmie leaped from cover. It was no longer to be endured. T

"I'll get you yet! Next

d that fact to explain his borrowing the family shotgun. He loaded it with buckshot, and, in the pock

But with an impatient shake of the head Jimmie tossed the recollection from him. After what he had seen he cou

car should be just beyond him, Jimmie slackened his steps. After half a mile the scent grew hot. The tracks were deeper, the arrow-heads more clearly cut, and Jimmie broke into a run. Then, the arrow-heads swung suddenly to the right, and in a clearing at the edge of a wood, were lost. But the tires had pressed deep into the grass,

enwich. Directly before him were no signs of habitation, only green forests, green fields, gray stone walls, and, where a road ran up-hill, a splash of white, that quivered in the heat. The storm of the n

ent the scout

e sighed happily

he sun, overhung the wall and hid it in black shadows. Jimmie divided the hill into sectors. He began at the right, and slowly followed the wall. With his eyes he took it apart, stone by stone. Had a chipmunk raised his head, Jimmie would have seen him. So, when from the stone wall, like the reflection of the sun upon a window-pane, someth

ds on the hill opposite. When he came to within twenty feet of the oak beneath which he had seen the stranger, he stood erect, and as though avoiding a live wire, stepped on tip-toe to the w

ng the gun on the top o

ur hands!" h

the little sun-filled valley. They were half closed as though in study, as though perplexed by some deep and intric

sbelief. These were followed instantly by an expression of the most acute alarm. "Don't point that thing at me!" shouted the stranger. "Is it loaded?" With his cheek pressed to the stock and his eye

commande

ity the st

yes from the gun the stranger lifted the binoculars from his neck and tossed them to the stone wall. "See here!" he pleaded, "if you'l

ce was changing, or because he was excited the growl ended in a high squeak. With mortification, Jimmie fl

protested. "If you don't want an

ned Jimmie, "I'm

gain his eyes smiled. "Oh," he crie

ranger. Reassured, he lifted one leg after the other over the wall. "

"Don't worry about that," he exclaimed.

noculars. He gave them a swift glance, slung them over his shoulder, an

our name?" The stranger smiled, but corrected himself, and re

riumph. "Hah!" he cri

ger shook

made?" With polite insistence he repeated, "Would you mind

Jimmie was not at home with maps. They told him nothing. But the penciled notes on this one made easy reading. At his first glance he saw, "Correct range

ed toward the base of the hill. "Keep forty feet ahead of me," he commanded, "and

"I'll have to explain

ptor. "You're going to drive straight t

ms even higher. "Thank God

overing the five miles to Judge Van Vorst's he exceeded the speed limit, the fact that from the

stily descended. The sight of the spy hunter filled him with misgiving, but the sight of him gave Jimmie sweet relief. Arresting German spies for a small boy is no easy task. For Jimmie the strain was great. And now that he knew he had successfully delivered him into the hands of the law, Jimmie's hear

concealing his sense of triumph

. "I didn't make no m

" demanded

pression the stranger was tenderly fingering the back of his he

ed Jimmie. "He'

ell from him. In his exclamation

e!" he

," commanded the scout. "It's all military words. And these are his glasses. I too

had glanced at it. Then he regarded it more closely.

ed the priso

"I'm only glad it's no worse. He might have shot you

r quickly i

e boy. He behaved extremely well. Mi

om, that served also as his office, and closed the door. The stranger

lmont Park," he said. "She must

re she broke her back, I refused three th

waved aside t

lever scout. I knew he was following me and I threw him off twice, but to-day he caught me fair. If I really had been a German spy, I couldn't have got away from him. An

d, "that you're an officer of the State militia,

ed in approval, b

pocketbook he took a visiting card and laid it on the table. "I'm 'Sherry' McCoy," he said, "

, on the phone. They sent me here. Ask THEM. I'm not picking out gun sites for the

laughed

laimed. "You're a

regarded him

. You WON'T believe! When the Germans are shelling this hill, when they're

manded Van Vorst. "An

of it and ridicule us, and accuse us of trying to drag the country into war. That's why we have to prepare under cover. That's why I've had to skulk around these hills like a chi

moved to

m me," he said. "For I will tell h

r Westchester County, I want that lad for my chief of scouts. And give h

owed you'd shoot him! I wouldn't have caught him, if I'd knowed that. I couldn't sleep if I thought he was going to be shot at sunrise." At the prospect of unen

smiling, and the butler who followed, bearing a t

home. You will be glad to hear that he begged me to spare your life, and that your se

tain McCoy, "We wil

golf clubs had again been brought to the steps, Judge Van Vo

itors wer

faces, masked by automobile glasses, were indistinguishable. As though preparing for an immediate exit, the car swung in a circle until its nose pointed down the drivew

ere. We saw it from that hill. Then the damn ti

an Vorst, stiffly

th. The driver with a shove

sented the driver eagerl

rk," said

hrieked at h

s gone to New Haven." He stooped and thre

r swept youn

with him?" he ca

car the words of the driver were flung back. "We're Secret Service from

les an hour, the car vanished in