The Submarine Boys for the Flag by Victor G. Durham
CHAPTER XXI
DAISY HUSTON DECIDES FOR THE FLAG
"It is a somewhat lonely place, on the outskirts of the city," warnedthe girl. "Mr. Graves had thought that, if no other chance offered,he might possibly get away by leaving that house and taking to thecountry roads. For he knows that, if he takes a train at any point, hewon't ride five miles before he'll find himself in the clutches of aSecret Service man. Oh, he knows how well the trains and thesteamboats will be watched. He dreads, even, that the country roadswill be watched."
"I don't know anything about the Secret Service lines that are out,"Jack confessed, honestly. "Yet I imagine that every possible precautionhas been taken to capture Millard--or Graves."
"You do not know my name," cried the girl, as though struck by a suddenthought. "Mr. Benson, you have been wrapped in so much mystery, somuch deceit, so much lying and treachery that I won't even have youguess whether I am telling you the truth. Here is my card-case. Takeout a card for yourself."
The request was so much like a command that Benson obeyed. On the card,in Old English script, he read:
"Miss Daisy Huston."
"I thank you, Miss Huston," he acknowledged, gravely, handing back hercard-case.
"Will you signal the driver to stop?" she requested. They were nowdriving through the western part of Washington.
When the driver found himself signaled he reined up, then came to thecab door.
"You know where to go?" she said.
"Yes," nodded the man.
"Drive there, then."
The driver whipped up his horses to a better speed, the vehicle bowlingalong now.
"I very much fear that I am running you into danger," declared DaisyHuston, soberly. "Mr. Benson, if you decide to leave the cab, or tohave me take you back to the center of the city, I shall not imagineyou to be lacking in courage."
"I cannot be in any greater danger than you are, Miss Huston," Bensonventured, with a smile.
"Oh, it is much different in my case," argued the girl. "Donald Graveswould not attack a woman, especially the woman he had professed to love."
"Miss Huston, do you feel like discussing this matter any further?"hazarded the young acting naval lieutenant.
"Yes; as much as you wish."
"I confess to being a bit curious."
"About what?"
"Did Millard--Graves, I mean, have any great reason to need money?More, I mean, than he could earn by honest work?"
"Yes," admitted Miss Daisy. "My mother is dead. Under her will Iinherit a considerable little fortune when I am twenty-five. But itis solely on condition that I have my father's permission to marry theman of my choice. I could remain single until twenty-five, but I amonly nineteen, and Mr. Graves complained that it would be aneternity to wait."
"Then your father did not approve Millard? I am going to call him thatbecause the other name is unfamiliar."
"My father feared that Donald was a fortune hunter. He said he wouldbe satisfied if Donald could show that he were rich in his own name."
"So, then, Graves, or Millard, hit upon the plan of stealing our harborfortification secrets and selling them to another government," saidJack, meditatingly. "Yet I am puzzled to understand how he found thechance. There are no foreigners openly engaged in buying our nationalsecrets."
"I think I can explain all that, though it will be but guess-work,"replied Daisy Huston, thoughtfully. "My father was for some yearsminister to Sweden. He is still well acquainted among foreign diplomatshere in Washington. Some of them are often at our house. Donald musthave met one there who tempted him, or pointed the way to a fortune.Yes; I am certain that must be the answer."
"Did--but perhaps you don't like my asking such questions?"
"No; I do not mind--now," replied Daisy Huston. "I began to feel asthough I had been an innocent party to Donald Graves's wrongdoing.When I went to try to see you, this afternoon, I supposed only thatDonald had gotten into trouble through some filibustering expeditionto Central America. I did not look upon that as so serious, you see.But selling the national secrets is quite another matter," she added,bitterly. "I shall never care for the man again. I have wrenchedhim from my heart in these last few minutes. So you may ask me anyquestions that will help to clear up the matter."
"Thank you, Miss Huston. Then did Graves, or Millard, as I call him,express any hope of becoming suddenly well to do?"
"Yes; and now I can understand how he has lied to me. He let me believethat he hoped to profit through mining concessions to Americans thatwould follow the overthrow of one of the petty despots in CentralAmerica."
"Yet Millard has been away from Washington much, has he not?"
"Most of the time during the last four months. He generally managedto get over here for one day out of the seven; sometimes two days at atime."
"I believe the whole matter is becoming rather clear in my mind. I donot mind telling you, Miss Huston, how I first came to know thefellow. He was over at our shipyard in Dunhaven, trying to getemployment on the construction of submarine boats. But something inhis manner made us suspect him, and he didn't get near the secrets ofany of our boats."
There was one other thing, however, that Benson felt he would like tohave cleared up. So he inquired:
"How did you know that I was at the United Service Club? Did Millardknow? Did he tell you to go there?"
"He guessed where you might be. He asked me to drive to the clubfirst; if you were not there, then I was to drive to the Arlington.Failing to find you at either place, I was to go back to the hotel inthe evening. In the event of my finding you at the hotel I was to seeyou in the ladies' parlor. But, oh! What can you think of me, Mr.Benson, to have come to you on such an errand--on a mission to save abetrayer of his Flag?"
"You came innocently, Miss Huston; that is all that I can understand.And your whole attitude, since you discovered the truth, has been thatof a loyal American girl who would crush her heart, even, for hercountry's honor."
"It isn't going to be as hard as you think, perhaps," she smiled,bitterly, "to cast the man out of my heart. The man that I now knowDonald Graves to be never was in my heart. There is no room, there,for a traitor."
She glanced out of the cab at the scene through which they were passing.Jack Benson looked at the same time.
"I am terribly uneasy," she confessed. "Perhaps, even now, Mr. Benson,you had much better leave this carriage and let me go forward alone. Iam a woman, and therefore safe. But I fear--yes, actually fear foryour life when he finds out!"
"Don't be at all uneasy about me, Miss Huston," begged Jack, with coolconfidence. "I have had rather a sturdy training in the art of takingcare of myself."
Though he did not allow the girl to see the motion, Jack felt stealthilyat his right hip pocket. Yes; the loaded revolver was there. Jack didnot believe much in the practice of carrying concealed weapons. He hadgreat contempt both for the nerve and the judgment of fool boys whocarried revolvers, loaded or otherwise. But just now the situation wasdifferent. Jack Benson was an acting lieutenant in the United StatesNavy. Just before leaving the Navy Department he and his comrades hadeach been advised to take a proffered weapon and carry it against thechance that they might find Millard--or Graves--in Washington, andfind themselves under the necessity of taking him prisoner.
"Spies and traitors are taken alive or dead," the official had remarkedwho had handed them the weapons.
"How much further have we to go?" Jack inquired, as the cab turned downa country lane.
"Only a very short distance, now," replied Daisy Huston.
"Jove, but she's a stunning girl for nerve and principle," thoughtLieutenant Jack, admiringly. "She's going, now, to what must be thetragedy of her plans and hopes, yet she has her color back again,and looks as composed as though out only for an airing!"
"There is the house," almost whispered the girl, at last, resting asteady, cool hand on his arm.
Jack looked and sa
Daisy Huston did not ask whether the young man at her side proposed totry to arrest the man he sought. She was too discreet to pry into hisplans.
Up into the little yard before the house the horses trotted. Then,just as the cab was coming to a stop, the driver cracked his whip-lashtwice.
Immediately the door flew open. Millard, as Jack Benson knew him,stepped out jauntily, a smile of delight on his face.
"Good enough, Daisy," he cried, as he strode toward the cab. "I seethat you have won Benson over to our side. He shall be my friend,after this. But, Daisy, _what_--"
For the girl had sprung lightly out ere Jack Benson could assist her.The girl now stood, drawn to her full height, yet without affectingany theatrical pose. But over her lips hovered a smile of cool disdainthat the look in her eyes heightened.
"Don't lie to me any more, Donald Graves," commanded the girl, steadily,"and don't deceive yourself. Both tasks, I know, will be hard for aman so vile that he'd sell his country's Flag!"
Millard stared at her in growing horror. Then anger rushed to his face.
"Daisy!" he gasped. "Have you betrayed me? Have you brought Bensonhere as an enemy?"
Daisy did not answer her former lover. She continued to gaze at himwith an irony of expression that sent the hot blood mounting to hishead.
"Can't you speak?" he demanded. "Then, Benson, why don't you talk?"
"Because," replied Jack, "I am waiting for Miss Huston to say to youall, or as little, as she cares to say."
"Speak, then!" commanded Millard, turning imperiously to the girl.
"And my command to you," retorted the girl, "is different. Silence!Never again address me, you traitor to your Flag!"
Millard was swift to realize the fullness of the girl's contempt. Heknew that everything between them was over.
"Come, come, then, girl!" he uttered, harshly. "It is time for you tobe gone! Step to the cab and get away from here, for I would spare youwhat is to follow--my reckoning with Benson!"
He clapped his hands. The door opened, and four men stepped out. Theirtype was not hard to determine. They were of the scum ofhumanity--ready for any desperate deed.