Tom Slade, Motorcycle Dispatch Bearer   By: Percy Keese Fitzhugh (1876-1950)

TOM SLADE MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER

BY PERCY K. FITZHUGH

AUTHOR OF TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP, TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER, TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS, ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY R. EMMETT OWEN

PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS :: NEW YORK.

Copyright, 1918, by GROSSET & DUNLAP

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

Preface vii I. For Service as Required 1 II. Aid and Comfort to the Enemy 8 III. The Old Compass 14 IV. The Old Familiar Faces 20 V. Getting Ready 25 VI. Over the Top 36 VII. A Shot 45 VIII. In the Woods 50 IX. The Mysterious Fugitive 57 X. The Jersey Snipe 62 XI. On Guard 68 XII. What's In a Name? 73 XIII. The Fountains of Destruction 79 XIV. Tom Uses His First Bullet 84 XV. The Gun Pit 89 XVI. Prisoners 97 XVII. Shades of Archibald Archer 105 XVIII. The Big Coup 111 XIX. Tom is Questioned 119 XX. The Major's Papers 127 XXI. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere 133 XXII. "Uncle Sam" 140 XXIII. Up a Tree 150 XXIV. "To Him That Overcometh" 156 XXV. "What You Have to Do " 162 XXVI. A Surprise 169 XXVII. Smoke and Fire 175 XXVIII. "Made in Germany" 184 XXIX. "Now You See It, Now You Don't" 194 XXX. He Disappears 205

PREFACE

It was good advice that Rudyard Kipling gave his "young British soldier" in regard to the latter's rifle:

"She's human as you are you treat her as sich And she'll fight for the young British soldier."

Tommy Atkins' rifle was by no means the first inanimate or dumb thing to prove human and to deserve human treatment. Animals of all sorts have been given this quality. Jack London's dog, in The Call of the Wild , has human interest. So has the immortal Black Beauty .

But we are not concerned with animals now. Kipling's ocean liner has human interest a soul. I need not tell you that a boat is human. Its every erratic quality of crankiness, its veritable heroism under stress, its temperament (if you like that word) makes it very human indeed. That is why a man will often let his boat rot rather than sell it.

This is not true of all inanimate things. It depends. I have never heard of a steam roller or a poison gas bomb being beloved by anybody. I should not care to associate with a hand grenade. It is a matter of taste; I dare say I could learn to love a British tank, but I could never make a friend and confidante of a balloon. An aeroplane might prove a good pal we shall have to see.