Читать книгу The Young Wireless Operator—With the U. S. Secret Service. Winning his way in the Secret Service онлайн

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The more Willie thought about these men, the more interested he became in them. It was his old habit asserting itself. He had given rein to his imagination. And he was picturing to himself the evil side of canal-boat life. And evil enough Willie knew it could be. More than once, when he was working to trace the secret wireless of that German spy, he had been told about the piratical river life led by some of these bargemen. Enormous amounts of property they carried in their barges, and not all of it, Willie knew, reached its rightful destination.

While Willie was wondering about these things, his eyes were focused on the growing group of river-men before him. Suddenly he became aware that they were gathering in a circle. They were drawing close together, right beside the pile of boxes where Willie believed the tramp was curled up. Willie had had no interest in the tramp previously, but now he suddenly felt the keenest sympathy for him. Closer together drew the bargemen, and Willie could see that they were discussing something. Probably, he thought, they were plotting a robbery of some float or lighter. And if they were, and if they discovered the tramp concealed so close at hand, they would instantly suspect him of being an eavesdropper. And what they would do to him Willie did not even like to imagine. He hoped the tramp would keep quiet and lie low.