| OCR Text |
Show I f I , v . , , ii Herewith is presented the fifth installment of a fiction serial dealing with what might happen should European powers, after they had settled their 6wn differences, wage war upon the United States. The author, one of the best fiction writers in the country, has based hls story upon a thorough understanding of military, naval, and internal conditions in the United States and upon a sound knowledge of military and economic history. The story will cause you to realize the critical siittation in which ' this country and you, your neighbors, and your family are placed by the Ict-wcll-enough-alone attitude of the pacifists. PA. SYNOPSIS. In Elgin, HU, live the Ashby family, consisting of Nathan Ashb, owner of the Ashby Br.iss comply com-ply and his wife; n daughter, Nellie, rrfarricd to Bob Wendell, a nxy lieutenant; and Jim Ashby, l ion, engaged to Afrucj Ware. Nathan Ashby Ii the archtypc of. pacifist. deaf tq the ivornincrJ of the imminence of danger to America, and hi deafness in this respect 13 shared by his son. They arc impatient with Dob's refusal to resign lrn service and take n more lucrative job with a business coinern. In the Ashby works there arc wo foreign chemists, Ingonf and Enloe, expert ia their line Their night work and the discovery cf n inccndiarj bomb ju the brass works arouse Bob's suspicions While driving down a lonely load ,Hh Jim Uicy discover the two chemists to raotorcjclcs ahead of them Thinking they arc Utng trailed, the chemists hurl bombs back at the car and a revolver battle ensues Jngouf is lilled b one of his own bombs, but Enloe escapes. Lieut Ilarratt of the U. S Scout Cruiser Snlcm bis, in dctlance of orders, to proceed to Haiti with two of the government's representatives board, steamed cast in the north" Atlantic and encountered the fket of the former European fnernies The foreign fleet fires on the Salem a delfbcrato act of war and a one-sided battle remits re-mits in the sinking of "bne of the cnemj's largest ihips and then of the Salem, but not before the somber and class of ships comprising tho fleet and the fact that thty had fared the first shot have been wirelessed bick to Washington. Bob Wendell is notified to report at Newport hews, aud after bidding farewell to Nellie he is driven to Chicago by Jim. After Bob is1 jjonc Jim . tJes out the torn scrap of paper found on the tody ol lngmf, which revealed the fact that ilccouf and Lnloc were spies who had received orders tor their duty at the outbreak of war. With the oidrc3s "S D. Marlatt, Insurance building." on the torn envelope in mind, Jim seeks the building, feeling that " Marlatt " is the chief ol the pnncc regent's spies Some one is in the ofhee, iml as he makes his v ay in he henrs others coming up the stairway As he switches on the licht a revolver spits its flame in front of ijhi fa-e, br fires back, but a hcay blow upon his Ilccad tells him lie regains consciousness to find himself lying on a couch, guarded by one of the igcnts. He feigns unconsciousness v.hile the tccats try to ic him. Copyright: lOlfi: By Ed-vIn EaJmcr. YJT. "i IM'S teeth clenched and his hands Btioiucd as be recognized this situation. Bolo brought to his lips the glass of J whisky aud water; he forced a little down Jim's throat and dashed more over hl3 lace. Jim succeeded in still feigning stupor. Bole rolled him over on hia face and undid the cords which bound his arms, ieizing Jim's prists and rnoTiug the arms to stir Jim into life. The door of the room was shut tight, and U no sound enmc from other parts oC the iouse Jim felt assured that a little noise ml Wlvtfll :;r wp SSL" jpy? 'WwJlfflfcviK ral would scud no alarm toi other rooms. As Bole , rolled him over with aAms loosed ha still lay limp ; thcnr as Bole bent oyer him, Jim caught a loop of the rope whicll had bound him and threw it over Bole's ncik. The man "leaped back in his first start of Aurprlsc and. so drew tho loop tight He did not cry out at onco, and, as Jim lcapod upon bim and yjrew tho cord tighternnd tighter aboQt the man's neck, Bole now could not cry out "With, his breath stopped, he did not fight effetttivcty ; he stmg-' gled uselessly to seize the ncxteo with his fingers fin-gers and tear it from his neck, till, with mouth gasping open and bulgiDfe eyes shut, 'he crumpled. Jim pushed hiiri down on the conch and swiftly searched his pockets, findang first a revolver; re-volver; in another pocket was d kirge handkerchief. hand-kerchief. Jim stuffed this cloth, quickly into Bole's mouth, and, securing it thrre, he loosed the noose about the man's neck. Bole's btrenth returned in loud, rasping snores.. There wna no way to stop the snoring but tc rcnloe the gag; Jim dared not do that. He worked swiftly, swift-ly, binding Bole as ho hnd been bo"und and in ' addition securing him to the couch. The man n as conscious again, though w eal; ,and breath-. ing hard. Jim delayed over him ni longer ; he switched out the light, stepped to tho window, pulled back the bhadc, and peered out The space directly below tho window was In flic shadow of the house and was therefore quite dnrk, but the moonlight, striking over tho roof, illumined the ground twenty or thirty feet away and showed a brick paved area between the house of tho Bpie3 nnd a'( neighboring house, which at that moment was dnrk. The area extended back to an alley, fenced In with a high brick vail with a wooden wood-en gate which was closed. Jim was in a room on tho first floor, and as his ejes became used to the darkness he conld see that the paved area reached below bis window. After throwing throw-ing up the sash he could ensily gain the ground ; and then A man suddenly moved out into the moon- light as Jim was putting his hand to the. window win-dow a young, active man, alert and watchful. Some noise in the alley seemed to ba-o attracted at-tracted his attention, for he stepped quickly to the gate and before opening it drew a rovolvcc . and held it ready. Another man appeared from tho other side of tho house and joined the first; together they Investigated the alley, closed the gate, and withdrew to the seclusion of the shadow. , Jim moved away from the window ; opportunity oppor-tunity to escape through the house could not be worse than the risk of attempting flight through that window. He felt his way to tho door without again turning on tho light ; ha stood and listened there, opened tho door n crack, nnd peered into a handsomely decorated, decorat-ed, dimly lighted hallway with polished hardwood hard-wood floor and with a rich oriental rug down tho middle. There as no one in the hall at that moment, mo-ment, and a room which was all dark opened just ahead. Jim made sure of Bole's revolver his own had been taken together with everything every-thing else, including some business letters which had been in his pocket softly removed the koy from the inside of the door, nnd stepped Into the hall. lie stood a moment with every nervo tenso ; ho locked the door behind him, took the key, and crept into the dark room just ahead. If an alarm were raised now, or if the " sir " came again to see whether the prisoner was conscious, a door must be broken down beforo the spies could learn that their captive was loose. Enough light glowed in from tho hall to show Jim that he was In the dining room a ktrge room with heavy f fashionable furniture ; tho rug upon which ho stepped wns soft and thick. There was another door at the other end, and as Jim crept cautiously toward thla J;c heard voices ; they were tho voices of wom-vn wom-vn as well as men, speaking in quiet, guarded tones. In the air was the odor of cigarets and cigar smoke. A girl's toIco suddenly rose In a reckless, excited exclamation which Jim could not make out, but at wbich a man laughed; another with a deep, heavy voice It was not the roico of the " sir " who had vslted the rear room-rebuked room-rebuked tho girl, and there was silence. Jim gained the front of the dining room; velvet vel-vet hangings half covered tho doorway, which opened into a front hall; directly across this hall was another room, lighted and evidently much larger than the dining room a salon with dclicato paper and pretty gilded chande-liers chande-liers and wall lights, with graceful table and , chairs and with a grand piano of a corre-' sponding style. Brocaded curtains wero drawn elbsc over the windows and at tho larger table near tho center of tho room nnd also at a "Shoo f 'she chGchim, 'lQeesoe " one sho rush ''go4 of szti . smaller table at the side men and women vcrc at work. There was n heap of papers upon one end of tho larger tabic; and a tall man, who stood with his back to the door, sorted oer this pile, put some sheets aside, and passed others along the' table, giving a verbal direction with each. In somo cases the direction was brief only a word or two In other instances it was longer, and twice while Jim watched the tall man himself him-self bent and wrote upon the popers which he took from the pilo. Jim could bee as tho sheets were held up that they already bore writing; there was no possible question of tho nature of the work going on ; nndcr the direction of the tall man at tho large table the others were prepnrlng letters of the so"t found on Ingouf's body. The papers in the pile which the tall man was sorting wero undoubtedly just the ordinary form letters of life insurance solicitation, and the great majority of them would remain no more than that; they would be addressed to persons who had no connection with the plots of tho regent's agents, and they would be offered of-fered life Insurance in the regular mnnncr it they applied for it at .Morlatt's office. The letters which the tall man papsed down the table unquestionably looked tho samo ai the others; but they wero addressed to spies, and tit tho tall man's direction orders wero being written in invisiblo fluid between tho type- wrlttcn lines orders which tho spies would develop by some chcmicaL Jim crouched and crept closor, forgetting his impulse merely to attempt escape. If he could cauBq tho capture of thoBo in the rooms ncross the hall ho would have the chief of the regent's spios there, together with tho lists of the agenta and the designations of the work each waB ordered to do. The lettora, between tho lines of which the secret instructions now were being written, evidently hadbeen at Mar-lutt's Mar-lutt's office when he had learned after midnight mid-night of developments which made It imperative impera-tive for him to issue now orders, bo Marlatt had gone to his office and directed another to meet him there ; when Jim had surprised them they bad overpowered him and brought him unconscious to thh house, where they had impressed im-pressed tho family to the work required. And more than the family of this house wero at work two men besides the tall man at the end were writing at the larger table f three women jisslstcd them; at the Smaller table weic a joung man and two girls. These three appnrcntly had spent the earlier hours of the night at a dance or some formal entei-iainmentj entei-iainmentj the joung man was in ciening clothes and both the girls wore dk'ollete One of these girls faced the door, and ns slic looked up nnd laughed nt some remark of the joung man's Jim stared. lie knew that girl; he knew her not as an acquaintunde but as one whoso piGturo bftcn appeared In papers accompanjiug accounts of social alTnira, one who was poiuted out at the opera or among the spectatbrs "at a polo or tennis match. Where ho hod seen her Jim could not remember, but that he had seen her under somo such conditions and that she was one of tho popular debutantes of the jeat before be-fore he was certain. The sight of her laughing and bantering with the man across the tablo from her struck Jim aghast. Could such as she be there nmong the spies of the regent planning betrayal be-trayal of the countrj'i or since he had brokon Intp the office in the city had he been going upon some horrible mlstakd and could It be that theso people had proper businopB of their own together thero in that guarded house at a quarter to 4 In the morning? Ho had no need to summon remembranco of Ingouf's body beside tho road, tho first shot fired at him, aud the rest of tho fight in the office, the ropes about his arms ns he recovered con-Hciousncss; con-Hciousncss; the girl herself gave htm n&w reassurance. re-assurance. She called to tho tall man at the other table: "And Vettls of Aurora; what did you say he was to enter? Artillery? " Aviation corps, if Illinois B6ndB one," the tall man corrected curtly. "He's not to try to communicate with us at nil, after this, until he is in tho Bervicc.', Jim retreated further behind tho -velvet portieres. por-tieres. Somewhere on that first floor, and probably In the rear of the hall, thero must bo a tolophone, and a plan suddenly had matured in hia mind. He stolo noiselessly to the other door of the dining room and peered again into tho 111 lit renr hall. Everything wns quiet there ; the silence at tho door of the den told that Bolo was still securely bound nnd could not hnic succeeded l removing his gag. Jim went past the den and found nnothcr door. He opened It and looked into a kitchen ontryk He went further and found another door. Thi-opened Thi-opened into n cloFPt which was dark until tho door was closed again. Then an electric light burned overhead and JSSmMW W I - ? Jim found himself fae- IMsSSKMM RM lil'ill I I ? ing a little desk, upon gTfjHWSjE? Ulrf II WW ll&! I ' I which a feltpaond JMfff ilMBSSl 'MiS Pl '! '$Xt(m stood. The number of $1 HKHSrWI WpM 5 ' the telephone waa fflfMmg j , printed npon a papr W iWmmmmW WM 1 I strip under the nickel M XMHhbP '1& UWS I I . su&rd of the transmit. fiiitili I I far. A Chicago city dl- Smmf 1 (1 I rectory was upon the ' B flgS8iy mi 3 31 $ ' & 11M I if I1 desk, and Jim, laying m JmtSSIM '$$ M I ' $ KWl'M 1 B dori Bole's revolt, W & iflp '$fflM I f MIlllWl' I I I op.ned the booL Ho J W WKBttBmk Ifi f IMfI I 1 I turned to di D. Mar- J I g WS Wm & IMSI I I latt's name and read I MfflM I ft f f ' tho telephone number f I bHHPP ImI Wc i fe I 6pposlte his residence j imWWBBBii iMll'U S $ ft! ffi'Ski -I I h address. It did not 'MBpllll I correspond with' that Ifik JwKBKpK1m 4 J M S f upo. the instrument M EMSIPIIJ 1 Ml i i 'This residence, then, was not jNIarlatt's. Jim lifted the rcceiier and called the number num-ber given in the book ns Mai latt's office. Si-beft Si-beft and his men could not Have visited 3fni-lalt'a 3fni-lalt'a oflicc and gone away before he got there. ' If tliey went to the office at all they must have arrived after Mui'lutt add Ills comnmiioii h.id taken Jifu away; iu that urise, Sibeit might hi' nt the office now Jim heard the bui'r Of! the ringing signal but twice before Bomu one at the other cud of the wlie answered it wnq not Sibeit's voIcp, unldsa it wns much disguised dis-guised "Who is this?" Jim asked. The voice repeated Marlatt's office number. If the man nt the other end was a spy he was being cautious. If he wfig one of the Bt'Oret sei'vico men he evidently beitGud that t)no of Mnlkitt's ngcntd must be dnlling. Jim fphltc quickly. "Is Mr. Slbert thero? " "Mh Slheit?" tlio mnn nt the Other end scemsd not to have heard tho name. "If he Is there, tell him this is" Jaiue Ashby, whom he met tonight Tell him to cdme to tho phone aud 1 will proc it." " Describe Robert Wendell I " The voice at the other end altered suddenly to Sibert's. Jim complied quickly. Sibert Interrupted him after an itlstant. " Well, Ashby, what is it?" " I am at " Jim read the number of his telephone to Sibdrt. " It Is a large, fashionable fash-ionable house, Sibert! I do not know what the names of tho people are or whero it is. but I believe It Ib not Marlatt's." " One of my men Is n6w "calling central on another phone to find out where you are talking from. Go on I " Sibert directed. " I went to the office from the station." " I supposed bo," Sibert commented grimly. " 1 would have waited for you, but I saw a light Some one was up there. I wont in and was attacked. There were two men, Sibert Si-bert They knocked me out and carried me away. They carried away everything they wanted from tho office, too. I w'atf tied when I came to myself, but I got loose. I'm free In tho house now, and they don't know it" Swiftly he related what ho had Been. Sibert gavo him directions curtly. "Wo know whero yon are. You're about a mllo north of tho river end two blockB from tho lake Wo will be thoro within ten minutes. If theV'e guards outside, as you say, wo can't surprise thoso inside. Toll arc to watch what they do with their lists and other papers, and If they try to destroy thom stop them. Take a chancel Aftor you hear n disturbance outside you can count upon our coming in within thirty seconds. tJnderstand?" " I understand." The receiver nt tho other end was hung up. Jim Silt Btlll, listening Some ono was pass-Irut pass-Irut In. lh hall ft man by the heaviness of the tread and then there was silence. Xoth-itijr Xoth-itijr iudicatcd that any one hnd heard the liilk-jug liilk-jug at thq telephone, but Jim waited in tho closet before he 'opened the door. lCuidiug tb& rear hull empty he ciosbl'd to the dining rwm. I He hid toward the center' of the bik' rooii tt i vt-x, contenting himself with listening to the ' I voices of tlioic In tho paloti and not, tf.iiiu M I to see for feat himself of being seen. Wirb 1 ' f Sibeit aiid his men Coming the eisseutial tiling fc i l w.is to keep himself ficc to act whoil the l ctisls came. The work of tho men rind the K . I Women in the y.ilou seemed to be proceeding 1 J in the bamo miuiiior ns n few iiiimites bciore; ? , I then the tall man who wns directing the ' J others stclipcd into the hall. He tvent direct- 9 ly buck to the smokhig loom. In which Jim j p had been confined nnd, rrying the knob, lie J , t exclaimed with siirjiriso nt iindin? tile door 3 lockPd. He kiiorkwl uion it and, iceeivliig ' j rid response, ealipd, "Bolft! ol: -Why do J you not open? AVhal IS the matter? i Those In the salon heard thin nnd erased 4 their woik; two of Use men the young man 9 who had bCh with Ills two girls aud ono of J tbo others rin into the hall nt a call from $ ! the tall muli. He pour.dtd upon th uOof" J ( ugain aud called 'to Bole. Then the tbTfe-np- p .' j parcntly put their slK.ll'dcrs to the door; It A M -i held nnd some one brought a bur1 ut on ft ir I j f something to break Ic down. 'J he p.iuUls I 1 crnshi-d In and tilth the door burnt open; with Bweaizilg and cites of alarm tiid" three ' ( men btoke into the little loojn. The othors fl i who had been in tho salon the three women 5 j nud two girls and one of tho mec -had now :" : gone Into the hail too and leftthe laiefrOnt - room descited. Jim crossed behind them inlo. ' the 6nlon. , v, -. ! Outside tile house, ns Well ns within, thftre 1 Was disturbance. It might mean that Sibeit s ! and hifl mjn had arrived; It might mean that tho guurds without nlarmcd by the confusion... . within, were Outcriug to investigate. In j either case, It was tho moment in which Jim j must net tho moment in which he must take J his chance, ne swept up it heap of letters j j from tho larger table nhd, bundling them to- ' gethcr, ho thruut them under his coat beforo v . any ono turned about Then tho one who turned wns tho young girl who hnd fat facing tho door. Jim had made no .noise which t could have caused her to suspect his, presence. She Boomed to have rcallred before any of ' tho otherd that the fact that Bole was bound V meant that' the one who had been Bole's prisoner pris-oner mii6t bo, freo in the house. Sho spun about to the nalon to protect tho documents there; and, seeing Jim, sho did not recoil V she IJ ' cried to the pthors and ran at him. 'Thereat KtJll nmtmed, did not follow her at onco and I j 6ho advanced alono upon Jim. Ho backed j toward tho ncarcBt window and, pointing his revolver, tried to frighten her. " Stop I" ho wsirned her sharply. Go i back !; j "Shoot!" bhe dared him. " PleaBo firolH. i and she rushed at him. j ' TO JUS COKTIXUSDj. j ' ''-" J y |
