A NEWSPAPER SENSATION 285
XIV. THE MAN WHO SAVED HIS COUNTRY 294
XV. A MERRY MEETING 301
A MAKER OF HISTORY
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
AN ACCIDENTAL SPY
The boy sat up and rubbed his eyes. He was stiff, footsore, and a little
chilly. There was no man-servant arranging his bath and clothes, no
pleasant smell of coffee--none of the small luxuries to which he was
accustomed. On the contrary, he had slept all night upon a bed of
bracken, with no other covering than the stiff pine needles from the
tall black trees, whose rustling music had lulled him to sleep.
He sat up, and remembered suddenly where he was and how he had come
there. He yawned, and was on the point of struggling to his feet when he
became aware of certain changed conditions in his surroundings. Some
instinct, of simple curiosity perhaps, but of far-reaching effect, led
him to crawl back into his hiding-place and watch.
Last night, after many hours of painful walking, two things alone had
impressed themselves upon his consciousness: the dark illimitable forest
and the double line of rails, which with the absolute straightness of
exact science had stretched behind and in front till the tree-tops in
the far distance seemed to touch, and the rails themselves to vanish
into the black heart of the close-growing pines.
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