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Show fll 'lFC Or lOlltii lMqmtu daitxQslornimx I HIHjvout of Heme alon.u tho "d;r; F , i.ausanne and ' At thc last minute An- Ktd declined the use of tho tK:,,M"r,"d arm' car 03 .K;,-,,. I"" i!l repose " iKI'eil Clarkson's offer of f ,tlve. sombre Nf n H, rr, v. :,: aboi,t 'oMo: of tlio evening ,03i-v. v;ln. K,7- f- lenfure to HaLo-i coml.:: - 1 pro-K,k.rldion pro-K,k.rldion ' " 1 KirUanr Ki- v.-l ! and throbbing Btw- 1 1 era rwr,BiU Antbony v.if. for ETBLrpon of their - Sec- PlBnf thf kO"11016 ot ,1liB ' early." obj ctod Ray. rvil v ir !" prc! "n;" Wtior fi.vcen miles and then Cum ' 1 1 K.- , sent 25 El 3 If-1 ' : EV Clarkson pave him an sf' - J Hr-Wetson y o u disturb Hiodaalion. Do you uot per- I Y I l&e M 'V"' y It CylBr In. y,' wn Ing with jfcr ! action, of excitement vie lior: p-nla v 1 n I jjb le experienced a sudden i Hi of all America ... . i laa hr i.i j i'.'-" .' " b j King and ',, - pa felre European faces among III fti WU living, and a E2 '- H kVork or in i Llt-EEH Llt-EEH fHi, la village or hamlot or sad a?, on a su-M-n -coined in gaj f!ydear to hltn. a new i j t j'inb' humanity, w! W the hearts of chili! i Wa of America, he ;ii-r: I 1 :oy in the n ,; for BQCta darn fools J Anlhoiiy' t0IR W ,4me to you. ('hi .- jJjWtiLMMji-.i-ijrhfon." An-f An-f "After you and w - ,eleaT' t'ie ear Bui right on toward JW before ent( " w a Bhorlage of netrol Then c turn round tick to Frei burg-only v. . ,tere- We softly and WJZ m r In the du , I K? Klllbea8darka9 po8- W -: B creep np on them r little trick Wh0a I . slEul creep back, y -rcar' '"I Dor with : l5 E Possible and tshoot , C?0Ui,Walsn. marvellous! ac amateur-l"T,irov amateur-l"T,irov on joyously. -JJne trees wd hemlock. I . on. The -W i ? '"' h lllghwl !h erowlh or tbe da, h a raan Jt ...d. divinR softly Into a darklinK cloud- c bank. Anthony paused and listened ; Intently. The others crawling bo 's, hind also paused. Lights would , have revealod them, with tln-ir amis extended, as a dark twenty-foot twenty-foot line in the lush Krass The augmented brilliance of the stars, their twinkling serenity i;cemrMj to bo shedding upon them a mantle ot i peace, an Invisible sheet of endless - .''" ' ' ' ' security. The hum and murmur of voices V '. , . 1 ' ' ' ''V ' ... . tie below these two Clarkson was tp He and cover them with a loaded revolver. They were determined, however, to make no manner of use of weapons unless it were desperately desper-ately necessary. Their purposo was to glean information and nothing else. Quietly tho car moved on toward Baycrne, and, in due course, Clnru-eon, Clnru-eon, though he saw not a soul in the road, stopped his car, swore softly, alighted and examined his gasoline gago. "Why, dash it," he said to tho others with a dellghteJ histrionic wink, "we're short of petrol. Got to go back to Freiburg." "Why, dod-gast it!" cried Hay. "you don't mean it!" "What a lemon of a chauffeur wn drew!" pxclalmed Anthony. Tho spirit of fun was irresistible to them, and they stood there, chuckling chuck-ling and laughing under tho blinking blink-ing stars, feeling marvclously froo and happy. "I remember when I wua a kid, about nineteen," began Clarkson, "1 was doing a Summer's cattle punching punch-ing on my old man's ranch a crazy kid llko you youngsters and I got it into my head that the lassy, sodden sod-den no-aecount Injuns on tho nearby near-by reservation were going to attack us" "Sorry to interrupt ayarn'broko In Anthony, showing the luminous disk of his watch, "but it's quarter to twelve. We've got to be hiking." "This! lad hasn't any pootry to him' complained Clarkson. "Look at tho soft night, the stillness, the mystery, the young moon tho sleeping, unsuspecting edolweiss tho chamois and didn't BP' Toll' live around here, and Ml1, Excelsior?" Excel-sior?" "You're mistaken, Clarkson." laughed Anthony. "I've been think lng of that young moon all tho time." "Ain't it a beauty?" exulted Clarkson. Clark-son. "Yes but I wish it would go away and put on a pair of clouds or hide or something. We'd bo better off without any moon juat now." Cautiously CLarKhoa turned his car about and they sped away toward their chosen shade tree. A vivid emotion of happino:;.-i, llko a warm tide, was flooding Anthony's An-thony's bosom. Ho was 9orving and he war, happy, absorbed. Solf und petty cares of self those were the quicksand? of unhappiness. It was quarter past twelve when they rcachod thc spot selected, and as Clarkson turned off the ignition tho engine expired with a faithful sigh. "Caution's thc word now," whispered whis-pered Antbony. "Everything depends de-pends on that and a little bit of luck. Tho one thing wo mustn't have is an accident." With the Immemorial thrill of tho hunter they stooped down in tho shade of tho troo, and flat on their stomachs, like Indians or scouts, began their slow creeping ascent through tho tall grasses joi lho Blopo. Interminable seemed the time as they strained and labored and guarded against even the ghost of a sound, until they retched the rlmmod inky shadow of the pines, and it was only then that, luck and the young moon favored them by f ) Ifll, Irit.ue.in' Their intently straining ears finally localized the sound of tho voices as coming from the right. Cautiously Cau-tiously Anthony advanced again, and the lino of his companions came softly winding like a serpent behind him. Tho voices wero becoming more and moro audible. Anthony could not distinguish articulate speech. Some ten yards before him ho beheld a massive group of men sitting sit-ting and squatting on tho dry needles, engaged in deep colloquy He moved a few feot nearer and paused. A moment later Ray crept up to his side. With thickly throbbing throb-bing hearts and open mouths, to lesson tho sound of brcathlng; they listened. forward, intently absorbed, they werO discussing Ccllgny as a place of meeting. Anthony counted them There wero eight nine I'jn! But the tenth of thorn was Von Uathenau, the master of the ceremony. Like another Mephlstophelos, ho talked with incisive distinctness, and his gleaming eyes seemed to dart from no to another of the grim-boarded faces, as in some council of infernal in-fernal regions. "God!" said Anthony to himself. "For once she hasn't lied!" And the picture of Vilma, protesting, pleading, with outstretched arms, floated before him llko an apparition. appari-tion. Cellgny was the rendezvous and point of departure and suddenly he hoard from Von Rathenau's lips the word "Amerikaner." His hearr . . A , -v ' , ...... , ' leaped wildly. Was ' -' , . y-?-A TaftfMTt ' , - .' ; . ?'"' ;' their presence de- , v , 1 v,: :.;r (: , J tected, suspectod? V ' ''''H'm '. y . ' j j Mercifully the beam ; -' ' s-.';';-,' . ' '-.-j.'. v' . y - Ail ' M of moonlight faded B and darkened-, and HBJgV y iVcvSjsiV 'ttiiSVt, ' 'Ti m Ray on a sudden gave . VhUHHB ' -'ti&s iV.vt? '-'- ';'' , a tug to his coat i - ' , 5 ' - ' ' i ' " ' 8 the signal for going - V 1 .; . -ci'.' : . back ' '-. " 1 y ""'n'.W'" - ' ' -'' "Did you get it?" ;.''" , v.. :'i:9jf Anthony breathed in- " , vJ.l ' ;'V' ' : to Ray's ear.. .22S l&ffttx$f 8LV-f-v "Got it all." was the f vV-'- . ' answering breathy ' " V" crackling with "xcitetuent. 'Got to picked their spot as they came to T; 'jtiBSk " . ! see MIchaud," be repeated; "ifs his j tho head of the curve, and slowly . ' . territory." h fil they cohtlnnad Ufelr course round .- V. "Do you think he'll hog the show. I 'H tho gracefully bending road. An z&x - . sir?" queried Ray with a note of i occasional light blinking a couple ' v H plaintiveness lu his voice. "These of hundred feet beneath their vSbM t fpPlt: ;. ;5 French" ) w heels In the valley below was the jSS y'' . f "No. no." interrupted the colonel. enly sign of human presence near "'f' sr . y ' ilwlW No fear (i,T'' h,m ie11 il h" lrlcs iLifl them. The grove in itself is of . j T&m 11 ' Besides ho won't try it." 8mall dimensions and they agreed .tjgwf r . ". jj-W, . - ; Vv t ttjfiffl Mi- 1-aud was an Ally, and the that they would follow the sound ' PjfitffrP' '..w''V S colontd said no more. But In his of the voices of those who were to u" V . - ML vyH heart he proudly felt that Michaud meet there and creep as near to tho rlPMEE8BflMBftfela lw wi would be glad enough to let his voices as they dared. Anthony was ' Li2i. '. 1 ' young American officers bear the jH to be in tho lead, and as soon as ho 4it$iify )iLy ' ' v . ,-. brunt of the enterprise and profit sH fixed upon he listening post Ray, N . f : f by it. The -lonel felt a joyous IsiV who understood the dialect, would . "access of pride in his boya. r creep up and He beside him. A lit- ; .-df "Ouglit to be promoted every - r r "With a catlike agility he wrenched himself loose, whipped out an automatic and with a snarl of rage sent a bullet crashing Into Anthony's body." reaching thorn now. however, sharply sharp-ly brought home to them both their errand and their danger. Instantly their norves responded like the taut strings on fiddle or harp. Tho vocal sounds seemed to float at first from tho very bosom of the night. Hark' What was that? A tiny twig had cracked. To th-'ir - u the stillness was shatter- i as .y a gunshot. With wildly leaping hearts they lay still. Had they been heard 7 Cicadas, locusts and other insects made a dlstructlng orchestra orches-tra that was like the blended voice of the silence. The passing of tho moon brought a gentlo breeze with tinkling musical rustle In the pine needles Ages of time seemed to pass. No, they had not been heard. iturr SpctIcc. Ice Great The speech of tho men was in German and ui the guttural dialect of Switzerland. Cellgny was a word that kept ro-OOrrlng ro-OOrrlng in their arguments, but Anthony An-thony could uot at first bo clear or ineir moaning. Suddenly the clouds parted and tho mischievous young moon cast a faint beam of light upon tho clump of men. Anthony stifled a gasp When he realized that he and nay were barely lying lu the shadow. Six Inches nearer and they would have been dotccted. Still as death they lay there, peering at the cluster clus-ter of men, boarded, most of them, sharply resembling Frenchmen as though they had been picked tor that ethnic similitude Leaning nrlUtci nimu lr.rtt.l The creeping down the slop seemed a work of centuries. Clarkson Clark-son was loading tho way now and he put elaborate flourishes of technique, tech-nique, of Indian woodcraft, into the bniLnefS. They wore near their car at last. Their hearts were pounding pound-ing with the wild stalking excitement excite-ment that lingers on in humanity - v n in these days of high explosives, explo-sives, and their clothes wero dripping drip-ping with dew. They wero out of earshot now. "Mid you get whoro in Cellgny they would meet?" Anthony, breath-loss, breath-loss, asked of Ray. Clarkson was cranking his car. "Yea," Ray laughed softly. "Say, it's the grandest Joko I've heard In years!" and ho was convulsed by a paroxysm of stifled laughter "Jump In, boys," whispered Clarkson Avlth boyish gusto, "we're off." In the car Ray could hardly Chech his convulsive laughtor. Ills arms aud logs seemed helpless in a whirl of caehinnatlon. "Oh say," ho sputtered, "this is rich. My undo bus a villa there on Lake Geneva the apple of his oy. that villa that's where they're going go-ing to star4, from to-morrow night! ills caretaker is one of 'em." and again he rolled with laughter. "And I ncle Jim is a colonel a high-up Intelligence officer in France! Oh, say, won't I have the laugh on old Xunks!" And he found tho force to hug himself delightedly. i "Never mind the laugh on old N'unks!" threw Clarkson over his shoulder. "What we've got to do is to got them'" And with gTlm j lips he sped the car toward Frel burg and Berne through the rushing rush-ing night, anxious to return before ihe betraying dawn. ' II was a day of glamour and ex-eliompnt ex-eliompnt In his present life, so remote re-mote from that kind of thinking and that specie of activity, the day lemnins graven in Anthony's memory mem-ory as a concrete picture a com- i poslto photograph of an old, intriguing, in-triguing, medieval, Borgia -like world which, in the simplicity of our IdOvtllsm, we enlisted to extinguish. extin-guish. Whether human nature and all too human ways can be thus obliterated is another matter Pessimists Pes-simists say it is impossible, and offr thc no less Impossible prescription pre-scription that the Creator is said to have used In the case of the Con-tinont Con-tinont of Atlantis sink the whole boiling; Blmmerlng mass under the merciful, merciless ocean. It was Thursday, the Fourth of July. Colonel Cole had learned enough of his surroundings to trust nobody, not even the walls of his Office With 3eeming carelessness he asked Anthony and Ray to ac-company ac-company him on a little drive to Belp. "to tako the air." he said casually. It was delicious to see that simple-hearted cavalry ofTlcer practice the dark ways of Intrigue! There In that heavy khaki-tinted limousine, with only the broad back of his lanky chauffeur a private detailed from a Kansas regiment In Franco and formerly a cowboy for the ono possible eavesdropper, Anthony, supplemented by Ray, told his story. The colonel listened calmly at first, like the blaso old diplomat ho Imagined himself to be. Ho was endeavoring, with his brown face and graying moustache, to look like one of those monstrous statesmen he had read of in fiction. whom nothing surprises, nothing astonishes. He could not, however, help rubbing his hands gleefully when ho got the full purport of his "boys' " exploit. "Let's run over and see Michaud." bo muttered gruffly. But the boys were seeing through him He was one of 'cm," ho thought, but on that point be was not sanguine. "Pock-eted "Pock-eted us llko this In tho middle of Europe" he reflected the sonti-meat sonti-meat of nearly every soldier and public servant "forgot us that's what thoy did." "Thoy" was a pro-occupied, pro-occupied, oblivious, careless G. H Q. that kept promoting between meals tho members of Its own, prox imate, immediate staff, but forget-ting forget-ting everybody else. That day was like a spell of semi-intoxication, semi-intoxication, when ono's brain i half alert and half amusod at the odd, funny things ono sees oneself doing, when dull caro lies burled and ono is laughing at tho obsc mchAUdi 1,10 French military at-tuchc, at-tuchc, was smoking his after-break-fast cigar, though It was nearly half past ten. Ho was In white duck trousers, with a dark, heavy, woolen lounge coat for to remove ono's coat Is to lose all dignity to be, in effect, an Amoric at least, uot a diplomat. "Have you hoard what wo did yesterday at Moulln-sur-Tousvent?" H he cried, puffing great clouds of smoke. "A thousand prisoners, rues amis at least a thousand. Xot had. that." And with his black moustache ho looked precisely Hk Otis Skinner in "Tho Honor of the Family." ' M "Miehuud. come for a ride I'll take you to your office," invited the . ' colonel Suavely, "Such a beautiful Michaud glanced inquiringly from ono to another of the trio. ,H (Continued on Next Page. ggIHgHgw-',; SK I gHIHH . ;3sll P-v--fe! &:&$sH SIB H SSsSSe '-wSSm |
