April 7, 2025 • 14 mins
In this international Boy Scout mystery, Harry and his new British friends decode heliographs, outsmart spies, and uncover secrets that could change the course of a war. Discover hundreds of ad-free audiobooks, soothing sounds for sleep and meditation, and more—unwind and learn at www.adfreebooks.com!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Recording by Kangaroo an unexpected blow. For a moment, it
would have been hard to lay which of them was
more completely staggered and amazed. What are you doing here?
Harry gasped finally, and then all at once it came
(00:22):
over him that it didn't matter why. Ernest answered that
there could be no reasonable and a good explanation for
what he had caught Graves doing. You sneak, he cried,
what are you doing here? Spine on us? He sprang forward,
and Graves, with a snarling cry of anger, lunged to
(00:45):
meet him. Had he not been candy capped by his
lame ankle, Harry might have given a good account of
himself in a hand to hand fight with Graves, but
as it was the older's boy's superior wait gave him
almost his own way. Before Jack, who was running up,
(01:06):
could reach him, his Graves threw Harry off. He stood,
looking down on him for just a second. That's what
you get for interfering, young Fleming, he said, there's something
precious queer about you, my American friend. I fancy you'll
(01:26):
have to do some explaining about where you've been tonight.
Harry was struggling to his feet. Now he saw the
papers in graves hand, you thief, He cried, Those papers
belong to me. You've stolen them. Give them here, But
Graves only laughed in his face. Come and get them,
(01:49):
he taunted, and before either of the scouts could realize
what he had meant to do, he started on one
of the motorcycles, sprang to the saddle and started. In
a moment he was out of sight round a bend
in the road. Only the put put of the motor,
(02:11):
rapidly dying away, remained of him. But even in that moment,
the two he left behind were busy. Jack sprang to
the other motorcycle and tried to start it, but in
vain something was wrong. The motor refused to start. That's
(02:33):
what he was doing when I saw him first, cried Harry,
with a flash of inspiration. I thought was Dick trying
to start the motor. It was Graves trying to keep
us from starting it. But he can't have done very much.
I don't believe he had the time. We ought to
(02:53):
be able to fix it pretty soon. It's two miles
to the repair place, said Jack blankly. Not to this
repair shop, said Harry, with a laugh. The need of
prompt and deficient action pulled him together. He forgot his
wonder at finding Graves, the pain of his ankle, everything
(03:17):
but the instant need of being missy. He had to
get that cycle going and be off in pursuit. That
was all there was to it. Give me a steady light,
he directed. I think he's probably disconnected the wires of
the magneto. That's what i'd do if I wanted to
(03:38):
put out a motor out of business in a hurry.
And if that's all, there's no great harm done. I
don't see how you can know all that, wondered Jack.
I can ride one of those things, but the best
I can do is men to puncture if I should
have one, Oh, said Harry. It's easy enough, wondering while
(04:05):
he talked. You see, the motor itself can't be hurt
unless you take an axe to it and break it
all up. But to start, you've got to have a spark,
and you get that from electricity. So there are these
little wires that make the connection. He didn't cut them,
(04:27):
thank heaven, He just disconnected them. If he'd cut them,
I might really have been up a tree, because that's
a sort of accident, you wouldn't provide for and repaired kit.
It isn't an accident at all, said Jack. Literally, that's right,
said Harry. That's what I meant too. Now let's see.
(04:51):
I think that's all good thing. We came up when
he did where he had cut the tires to ribbons.
And there are a lot of things I'd rather do
than ride one of these machines, and its rims, to
say nothing of how long the wheels would last if
one tried to go fast at all? He tried the engine,
(05:16):
it answered beautifully. Now, is there a telephone in your
father's house? Jack? Sure? There is? Why for Jack was
plainly puzzled, so that I can call you up. Of course,
I'm going after Graves later. I'll tell you who he is.
(05:36):
I'm in luck. Really, he took Dick's machine, and mine
is a good ten miles an hour faster. I can
race him and beat him. But of course he couldn't
know which was the fastest. Dix is the best looking.
I suppose that's why he picked it. But where is Dick?
(05:58):
That's what I'm coming to. They may have caught him,
but I hope not. I don't think they did either. It.
Then he'll be coming along here pretty soon, and if
he does, he'll have an awful surprise. I'll stay here
and tell him you're a brick jack. It's just what
(06:20):
I was going to ask you to do. I can't
leave word for him in any other way, and I
don't know what he'd think if he came here and
found the cycles all gone. Then take him home with you,
will you? And I'll ring you up just as soon
as I can. Goodbye, and everything being settled as far
(06:43):
as he could foresee it, Then Harry went scooting off
into the night on his machine. As he rode with
the wind whipping into his face and eyes and the
incessant roar of the engine in his ears, he knew
he was starting what was likely to prove a wild
goose chase. Even if he caught Graves, he didn't know
(07:07):
what he could do, except that he meant to get
back the papers. More and more as he wrote on,
the mystery of graves behavior puzzled him, worried him. He
knew that Graves had been sore and angry when he
had not been chosen for the special duty detail, but
(07:29):
that did not seem a sufficient reason for him to
have acted as he did. He remembered too the one
glimpse of Graves they had caught before, and a place
where he did not seem to belong. And then, making
the mystery still deeper and defy an explanation, as it
(07:51):
seemed to him, was the question of how Graves had known,
first of all, where they were, and of how he
had reached the place. He had no motorcycle of his own,
or he would have not read in a way on
Dick's machine. He could not have come by train. Harry's
(08:14):
head swam with the problem that presented itself. And then,
to make it worse, there was that remark Graves had made.
He had said that Harry would find it hard to
explain where he had been. How did he know where
they had been? Why should he think it hard for
(08:36):
them to explain their actions? There isn't any answer, he
said to himself, And if there was, I'm a juggins
to be trying to find it out now. I'd better
keep my mind on this old machine or it will
ditch me. I know what I've got to do anyhow,
(08:57):
even enough, I don't know why. Mile after mile he rode,
getting the very best speed he could out of the machine.
Somewhere ahead of him, he was sure, riding back toward London,
was Graves. In this wild pursuit he was taking chances.
(09:19):
Of course, Graves might have turned off the road almost anywhere,
but if he had done that, there was nothing to
be done about it. That much was certain. He could
only keep on with his pursuit, hoping that his quarry
was following the straight road toward London, and to be sure,
(09:43):
there was every reason for him to hope just that.
By this time it was very late. No one was abroad.
The countryside was asleep. Once or twice he did find
someone in the streets of the village as he swept through.
Then he stopped and asked it. A man on another
(10:07):
motorcycle had passed ahead of them two or three times.
The yokele he questioned didn't know. Twice, however, he did
get a definite assurance that Graves was ahead of him. Somehow,
he never thought of the outrageously illegal speed he was making.
(10:30):
He knew the importance of his errand, and that moreover,
he was menaced to nothing but the sleep of those
he disturbed. No one was abroad to get in his way.
And he forgot utterly that there might be a need
for caution, until as he went through a fair sized town,
(10:53):
he suddenly saw three policemen, two of whom were also
mounted on motorcycles, waiting for them. They waved their arms,
crying out to him to stop, and seeing that he
was trapped, he did stop. Let me buy, he cried, angrily,
(11:14):
I'm on government service. Another of them, one of the policemen,
looked doubtfully at the rest. Too many of you telling
that tale tonight? And the last one said that there
was a scorcher behind him. Have you got any papers?
He had them, Harry groaned. So Graves had managed to
(11:39):
strike at him even when he was miles away. Evidently
he too had been held up. Evidently also he had
used Harry's credentials to get out of the scrape speeding
had put him in. No, I haven't any credentials, he said,
(12:01):
But you can see my uniform, can't you. I'm a
boy scout and we're all under government orders now, like
soldiers or sailors. That's too thin, my lad, said the policeman,
who seemed to be recognized as the leader. Everyone. You've
caught for speeding too, fast since the war began, has
(12:25):
blamed it on the war. We'll have to take you along,
my boy. They telephoned to us from places you passed.
They said you were going so fast it was dangerous,
and we saw you ourselves in vain. Harry pleaded. Now
that he knew that Graves had used his credentials from
(12:48):
Colonel Throckmorton, he decided that it would be foolish to
crane his own identity. Graves had assumed that, and he
had had the practically inclusive advantage of striking the first blow.
So Harry decided to submit to the inevitable with the
(13:09):
best grace he can muster. All right, he said, I'll
go along with you, Off, sir, but you'll be sorry
before it's over, maybe, sir, said the policeman. But orders
his orders, sir, and I've got to obey them. Not
that I like surrunning a young gentleman like you yourself in
(13:32):
but oh, I know you're only doing your duty as
you see it. Off, Sir, he said, can't be helped,
but I'm sorry. It's likely to cause a lot of trouble.
So he surrendered. But even while he was doing so,
he was planning to escape from custody, end of Chapter nine.
(13:59):
Recording by King Yangaroo
Recording by Kangaroo an unexpected blow. For a moment, it
would have been hard to lay which of them was
more completely staggered and amazed. What are you doing here?
Harry gasped finally, and then all at once it came
(00:22):
over him that it didn't matter why. Ernest answered that
there could be no reasonable and a good explanation for
what he had caught Graves doing. You sneak, he cried,
what are you doing here? Spine on us? He sprang forward,
and Graves, with a snarling cry of anger, lunged to
(00:45):
meet him. Had he not been candy capped by his
lame ankle, Harry might have given a good account of
himself in a hand to hand fight with Graves, but
as it was the older's boy's superior wait gave him
almost his own way. Before Jack, who was running up,
(01:06):
could reach him, his Graves threw Harry off. He stood,
looking down on him for just a second. That's what
you get for interfering, young Fleming, he said, there's something
precious queer about you, my American friend. I fancy you'll
(01:26):
have to do some explaining about where you've been tonight.
Harry was struggling to his feet. Now he saw the
papers in graves hand, you thief, He cried, Those papers
belong to me. You've stolen them. Give them here, But
Graves only laughed in his face. Come and get them,
(01:49):
he taunted, and before either of the scouts could realize
what he had meant to do, he started on one
of the motorcycles, sprang to the saddle and started. In
a moment he was out of sight round a bend
in the road. Only the put put of the motor,
(02:11):
rapidly dying away, remained of him. But even in that moment,
the two he left behind were busy. Jack sprang to
the other motorcycle and tried to start it, but in
vain something was wrong. The motor refused to start. That's
(02:33):
what he was doing when I saw him first, cried Harry,
with a flash of inspiration. I thought was Dick trying
to start the motor. It was Graves trying to keep
us from starting it. But he can't have done very much.
I don't believe he had the time. We ought to
(02:53):
be able to fix it pretty soon. It's two miles
to the repair place, said Jack blankly. Not to this
repair shop, said Harry, with a laugh. The need of
prompt and deficient action pulled him together. He forgot his
wonder at finding Graves, the pain of his ankle, everything
(03:17):
but the instant need of being missy. He had to
get that cycle going and be off in pursuit. That
was all there was to it. Give me a steady light,
he directed. I think he's probably disconnected the wires of
the magneto. That's what i'd do if I wanted to
(03:38):
put out a motor out of business in a hurry.
And if that's all, there's no great harm done. I
don't see how you can know all that, wondered Jack.
I can ride one of those things, but the best
I can do is men to puncture if I should
have one, Oh, said Harry. It's easy enough, wondering while
(04:05):
he talked. You see, the motor itself can't be hurt
unless you take an axe to it and break it
all up. But to start, you've got to have a spark,
and you get that from electricity. So there are these
little wires that make the connection. He didn't cut them,
(04:27):
thank heaven, He just disconnected them. If he'd cut them,
I might really have been up a tree, because that's
a sort of accident, you wouldn't provide for and repaired kit.
It isn't an accident at all, said Jack. Literally, that's right,
said Harry. That's what I meant too. Now let's see.
(04:51):
I think that's all good thing. We came up when
he did where he had cut the tires to ribbons.
And there are a lot of things I'd rather do
than ride one of these machines, and its rims, to
say nothing of how long the wheels would last if
one tried to go fast at all? He tried the engine,
(05:16):
it answered beautifully. Now, is there a telephone in your
father's house? Jack? Sure? There is? Why for Jack was
plainly puzzled, so that I can call you up. Of course,
I'm going after Graves later. I'll tell you who he is.
(05:36):
I'm in luck. Really, he took Dick's machine, and mine
is a good ten miles an hour faster. I can
race him and beat him. But of course he couldn't
know which was the fastest. Dix is the best looking.
I suppose that's why he picked it. But where is Dick?
(05:58):
That's what I'm coming to. They may have caught him,
but I hope not. I don't think they did either. It.
Then he'll be coming along here pretty soon, and if
he does, he'll have an awful surprise. I'll stay here
and tell him you're a brick jack. It's just what
(06:20):
I was going to ask you to do. I can't
leave word for him in any other way, and I
don't know what he'd think if he came here and
found the cycles all gone. Then take him home with you,
will you? And I'll ring you up just as soon
as I can. Goodbye, and everything being settled as far
(06:43):
as he could foresee it, Then Harry went scooting off
into the night on his machine. As he rode with
the wind whipping into his face and eyes and the
incessant roar of the engine in his ears, he knew
he was starting what was likely to prove a wild
goose chase. Even if he caught Graves, he didn't know
(07:07):
what he could do, except that he meant to get
back the papers. More and more as he wrote on,
the mystery of graves behavior puzzled him, worried him. He
knew that Graves had been sore and angry when he
had not been chosen for the special duty detail, but
(07:29):
that did not seem a sufficient reason for him to
have acted as he did. He remembered too the one
glimpse of Graves they had caught before, and a place
where he did not seem to belong. And then, making
the mystery still deeper and defy an explanation, as it
(07:51):
seemed to him, was the question of how Graves had known,
first of all, where they were, and of how he
had reached the place. He had no motorcycle of his own,
or he would have not read in a way on
Dick's machine. He could not have come by train. Harry's
(08:14):
head swam with the problem that presented itself. And then,
to make it worse, there was that remark Graves had made.
He had said that Harry would find it hard to
explain where he had been. How did he know where
they had been? Why should he think it hard for
(08:36):
them to explain their actions? There isn't any answer, he
said to himself, And if there was, I'm a juggins
to be trying to find it out now. I'd better
keep my mind on this old machine or it will
ditch me. I know what I've got to do anyhow,
(08:57):
even enough, I don't know why. Mile after mile he rode,
getting the very best speed he could out of the machine.
Somewhere ahead of him, he was sure, riding back toward London,
was Graves. In this wild pursuit he was taking chances.
(09:19):
Of course, Graves might have turned off the road almost anywhere,
but if he had done that, there was nothing to
be done about it. That much was certain. He could
only keep on with his pursuit, hoping that his quarry
was following the straight road toward London, and to be sure,
(09:43):
there was every reason for him to hope just that.
By this time it was very late. No one was abroad.
The countryside was asleep. Once or twice he did find
someone in the streets of the village as he swept through.
Then he stopped and asked it. A man on another
(10:07):
motorcycle had passed ahead of them two or three times.
The yokele he questioned didn't know. Twice, however, he did
get a definite assurance that Graves was ahead of him. Somehow,
he never thought of the outrageously illegal speed he was making.
(10:30):
He knew the importance of his errand, and that moreover,
he was menaced to nothing but the sleep of those
he disturbed. No one was abroad to get in his way.
And he forgot utterly that there might be a need
for caution, until as he went through a fair sized town,
(10:53):
he suddenly saw three policemen, two of whom were also
mounted on motorcycles, waiting for them. They waved their arms,
crying out to him to stop, and seeing that he
was trapped, he did stop. Let me buy, he cried, angrily,
(11:14):
I'm on government service. Another of them, one of the policemen,
looked doubtfully at the rest. Too many of you telling
that tale tonight? And the last one said that there
was a scorcher behind him. Have you got any papers?
He had them, Harry groaned. So Graves had managed to
(11:39):
strike at him even when he was miles away. Evidently
he too had been held up. Evidently also he had
used Harry's credentials to get out of the scrape speeding
had put him in. No, I haven't any credentials, he said,
(12:01):
But you can see my uniform, can't you. I'm a
boy scout and we're all under government orders now, like
soldiers or sailors. That's too thin, my lad, said the policeman,
who seemed to be recognized as the leader. Everyone. You've
caught for speeding too, fast since the war began, has
(12:25):
blamed it on the war. We'll have to take you along,
my boy. They telephoned to us from places you passed.
They said you were going so fast it was dangerous,
and we saw you ourselves in vain. Harry pleaded. Now
that he knew that Graves had used his credentials from
(12:48):
Colonel Throckmorton, he decided that it would be foolish to
crane his own identity. Graves had assumed that, and he
had had the practically inclusive advantage of striking the first blow.
So Harry decided to submit to the inevitable with the
(13:09):
best grace he can muster. All right, he said, I'll
go along with you, Off, sir, but you'll be sorry
before it's over, maybe, sir, said the policeman. But orders
his orders, sir, and I've got to obey them. Not
that I like surrunning a young gentleman like you yourself in
(13:32):
but oh, I know you're only doing your duty as
you see it. Off, Sir, he said, can't be helped,
but I'm sorry. It's likely to cause a lot of trouble.
So he surrendered. But even while he was doing so,
he was planning to escape from custody, end of Chapter nine.
(13:59):
Recording by King Yangaroo
Popular Podcasts
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.