OCR Text |
Show King Tommy By George A. Birmingham Copyright br Bobtx-MerrU Co. W. N. U. Service name, which hnppenerf to be written very legibly. lie stared at It, looked at Tommy, and then began searching through a pile of documents at the side of hi desk. He came on the one lie wanted, opened it out beside Tommy'! Tom-my'! purport and rompnred the two. He took (lie cigarette out of his mouth and looked at Tummy with a mile of malicious triumph. He made a remark in tone which was evidently evi-dently meant to be Insulting. Then he gave an order to a couple of men In uniform who stood at the door of (he room. The men stepped forward, touched Tommy on the arm and motioned mo-tioned him to follow, Tommy, puzzled and mtlier itippl-clous, itippl-clous, followed the conxtiihle Into un Inner ofllre. There he found him-nelf him-nelf In the presence of another police nfllcer, evidently a limn of auperior rnnlc, for he wa smoking a cignr. The constable mude a ahort report and handed over Tommy's passport. The superior officer stared curiously, then he, too, began to ask questions, a large number of questions. Tommy Tom-my could neither understand nor answer. All he could do wus to point to his passport. Hut It was evidently evident-ly In some way unsatisfactory. The oft-ener oft-ener the police officer looked at it the more Insistently he repeated his questions. At last, thoroughly dissatisfied dis-satisfied both with Tommy and the passport, he rang the office bell sharply. Two minutes later Tommy found himself under arrest. He was not actually handcuffed, but it wag made quite clear to him that he was under un-der the charge of two policemen who stood one on each aide of him. The police officer laid his cigar down carefully and took up a telephone tele-phone receiver which stood on his desk. Then followed a long conversation, conver-sation, or rather a series of conversations. conver-sations. Tommy, listening and watch- CHAPTER X Continued 12 Janet Church was watching about the central hall looking out for some one In whose business she could Interfere, In-terfere, helpfully of course. Janet always wants to be helpful. When the ssw Tommy at the desk of the reception office ah walked over and Joined aim. She agreed with the bead clerk that an Auawels was necessary, nec-essary, and ahowed the one which the Berlin police had granted to her. Then ahe offered to take a look at Tommy's passport Just to see that it, was la order. It wss. Tommy's mouth, nose, eye and hair were described de-scribed In the tisuul offlclul style. His photograph, not In the least like him, was stud In the proper place and duly stamped by the Foreign office. of-fice. All the visas were there, as Illegible as usual. But Janot raised her eyebrows In surprise. Tuklng Tommy by the arm she led him away from the desk. "You'd better be careful with thnt passport," sht said. "The German police know more than you'd tliluk." "But It's all right, isn't it?" "Oh, it's all right, of course, for the Rev. T. A. Korreys, an Irish clergyman." "And that's who I am." "I don't see what good you expect to do by keeping up that pretense with 01," said Janet. "I assure you" "And I assure, you," laid Janet, "that no ordinary Irish clergyman that's what you profess to be, Isn't III-" "Quite ordinary," suld Tommy, "not even an archdeacon," "No ordinary clergyman, English, Bcotch or Irish, would have Count Caalmlr calling on hi in the moment he arrived In Berlin. Everybody knows that Casimlr la up to hi neck in international plots. What would he want with an ordinary clergyman? clergy-man? And if you're nothing but a curate, how do you account for the way you were received at the Mas-eotte Mas-eotte last night T I was there when you arrived. The whole staff simply bowed down to you and you were given the best table la the room. Everybody Ev-erybody turned round and atared at you when you cam in. The head waiter, , who was drunk later on, served you himself. And that's a thing head waiters don't do in the caae of ordinary curates." "I know it looks odd," said Tommy, Tom-my, "but, all the same, I really am " "I hope for your sake," said Janet, 9 my did not know It till afterward, but he was In thu presence of the Prince von Stelnveldt, bead of the German ministry for the control of aliens. "You speak not German good," suld Von Stelnveldt stiffly. "I don't speak it at all," suld Tommy, Tom-my, "except 'Ja.' 'neln,' 'helsx wasser und 'bltte schuen,' I don't believe I know a single word. It's a great relief re-lief to me to hear you talk English. Yon can't Imagine how I've been worried wor-ried all the morning by people asking ask-ing me questions which I couldn't understand. un-derstand. If there's anything you really want to know, I'll be delighted to tell you provided you ask In Eng--llsh." "Your name?" "Norrejs," suld Tommy, "Rev. Thomas A. Norreys, M. A. T. C. D." "Ach, so?" "Yes," shIiI Tommy pleasantly, "Just so, I see you've got wy passport pass-port there. If you look at It you'll see uiy photograph. My nose Is of normal size, my fuce oval, my eyes of a hlulsh color" "So?" "Exactly so," said Tommy, and then waited. The German referred to some pa- I pers which lay before him and then took another look at Tommy's passport. pass-port. "Your name," he said, "Is Norreya but It Is here In the passport not al together rightly spelled." "N-o-r-r-e-y-s," aald Tommy. "Here," said the German, tapping one of hit own papers, "I your nam N-o-r-h-e-y-s spelled find. Not truer "Not In the least true," said Tommy. Tom-my. "llerr Marquis," said the German, "we are of your coming to this country coun-try and of your plan for the restoration resto-ration of the monarchy of Lystria and of the so-deep-grtpplng plots of your minister of Balkan affairs good Informed. The police Auswels permitting per-mitting you longer to remain In Berlin Ber-lin will not ge granted be." "I suppose you know," said Tommy, Tom-my, "that all that rigmarole about plots and monarchies and marqulsea has nothing whatever to do with me, and my name Is spelled exactly at It la en my passport." "The In English so-called bluff do I most perfectly understand," said the Germun. "Within the borders of the Germun state may you no longer remain." "That," said Tommy, "Is a bit rough ou me. I came over here sim-nlv sim-nlv to set rid of a lot of vour money which I hisjipened to have. I don't want to say anything Insulting to Germany or to hurt your feelings In any way, but you must know that your money Isn't very highly thought of anywhere else In the world. I don't suppose the most unsophisticated unsophisticat-ed South Sea Islander would give you a coconut for a whole - sackful of marks. If you turn me out of Germany Ger-many I don't see how I am to get rid of that money at all." "In Germany." said Von Stelnveldt. "for you to remain Is strongly forbidden." forbid-den." Tommy had begun to feel Irritated with the ridiculously pompous old man who sat before him. He had tried to annoy him by speaking of the worthlessness of German marks. But the attempt had not been a success. suc-cess. He tried again. This time a different taunt. "Very well," he snld, "If you expel me from Germany, I shall go to Straslmrg and make a tour of Alsace Al-sace and Lorraine. They're not in Germany any longer, ymi know." "To cross the frontier," said Von Stelnveldt, "Is without the police Auswels entirely impossible." Tommy thmielit this over carefully fur u minute nnd then realized the absurdity of the position. "You say I can't stay In Iterlin?" j he said. "Anywhere In Germany," said Von Stelnveldt,' "Is for you strongly forbidden." for-bidden." "And at the same time you say 1 can't go." , "To cross the frontier without the police Auswels 'Impossible Is." "So far as I can see," suld Tommy, Tom-my, "the only thing left for me to do Is to fade away gradually like the Cheshire cat In "Alice In Wonderland," Wonder-land," und I cun't do that. The only kind of man I ever heard of who ) could do that Is a Muhatma. with an astral body, and I'm not one. But 1 dare say you're simply making what you believe to be a joke. I always heard that German Jokes are a bit difiicult to sef." (TO LIB CONTINUED.) "that the police will believe you. I don't know who you really are, and it Isn't my business to And out; but If the police believe that curate story I shall be surprised. Don't you be under any mistake about the Merlin police. They'll know exactly what happened lust eight at the Mascotte, and In all probability they know, what I don't, exactly who you are and what you're doing In Berlin." This made Tommy a little uneasy, but he was not seriously anxious. Ills passport was In perfect order. He had papers In his pocket, a check book and some letters, which ougl t to be enough to establish his Identity. He took a cab to the police office. Ue found his way after some trouble. trou-ble. Into a small, grimy, badly overheated over-heated room. It waa filled with shabby shab-by looking people, men and women of various nationalities who stood In an Irregular Ill-formed queue. Tommy Tom-my took his place behind a smelly Polish Jew and waited. After about half an hour he found himself standing stand-ing opposite a desk at which a young man In plain clothes wus writing. This man was smoking a bedraggled cigarette, which looked as If he had licked it all over before lighting It. He was very badly shaved and nearly near-ly as grimy as his ofllce. His temper, tem-per, like the atmosphere of his room, wus overheated. He asked Tommy a number of questions rapidly. Tommy did not understand a word that was said to blip and shook his bead atulubly. The young man osked his questions over again more loudly. Tommy Tom-my did not understand any better than before, but he tried the experiment experi-ment of saying "Ja" In an ugreealde tone to each question. Tills merely irritated the young man, so Tommy, who was beginning to learn a little German, said, "Jn, bltte scboen." Even this appeared to be unsatisfactory, unsatisfac-tory, and the young man wns gettlnc seriously annoyed. Tommy tried "neln," and then, alining at politeness, polite-ness, "neln, danke." The young man repeated his questions In a very loud and threatening tone. Tommy, still confident that everything every-thing must go well in the end, got out his passport and handed It across the tuble. It contained all the Information Infor-mation which even the most Inquisitive Inquisi-tive policeman could desire, his name, his profession, the date and place of his birth were nil there. Ills height was stated, and the color of his eyes and the shape of his mouth and a large number of other things. It certainly cer-tainly seemed as If every possible question was answered. The police officer opened the passport pass-port with a Jsrk of his hand and allowed al-lowed the ash of his cigarette to fall on the paper In order to show his disdain dis-dain of everything English. There was really very little of It he could read or understand, for he knew no English; bat be pretended to study tt with a sort of contemptuous attention. atten-tion. Suddenly he became really alert Bis eye bad 1 on Tommy's The Superior Officer Stared Curiously. Then He, Too, Began to Ask Questions, Ques-tions, a Large Number of Questiona. lng carefully, realized thnt the officer wus repeating his story several times over, with long pnuxes between each telling, during which It seemed to Tommy thnt he wus being switched o(t from otie listener to nnother. Tommy Tom-my did not understand a word he suld, but he cnught his inline ocni-slonally, ocni-slonally, very badly pronounced. After Aft-er a while he began to recognize the words "Junger Knglunder." Tommy, who wns still In quite a friendly mood, turned to one of the policemen beside him. "It's a pity," he sulci, "thnt he doesn't try broadcasting. That must be the fifth time he's told his story." After the police pflicer had talked Into his telephone for half tin hour, he guve an order to his two men and Tommy was led o(T. They shut him up In a small Inner room and left him there. Tommy begun to feel slightly annoyed, but was not in the least frightened. It was evident that the hotel clerk bail been wrong in saying that the police proceedings are merely formal, and .timet Church right when she warned him that he was likely to have a great deal of trouble before he got permission to stay In Herliii. When Tommy had been Incarcerated Incarcerat-ed for about an hour he whs taken out nnd put In a taxi. His two guards went with him. They were perfectly civil, but they never took their eyes off him for un Instant. The cul stopped opposite an Immense, Im-mense, floridly decorated doorway. Tommy was led through It, into what seemed to be a public oflice. lie wns conducted along a corridor, taken up an elevator, led along two other corridors cor-ridors and finally with Immense cer- emony, ushered Into a very handsomely hand-somely furnished ofllce. A tall, fierce-looking man, elderly, grizzled and most Imperfectly shaved, sat at a large table covered with paper pa-per He was evidently a person of great Importance and Tommy took a good look at him. His short gray hair stood upright on bis head like the bristles W a brush. There were large rolls of at on his Beck. Tom- - |