Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-01-19

| marching orders. This time was taken
| down long corridor, at the extremity
! OF which / was conducted, closely fol
/ lowed by my villainous looking escort
to q yeranda, where rows of empty
tables and tip-tilted chairs betokened
the hotels departed luxuriance. This
place had now quite sinister aspect, to
which the Black Forest Immediately be-
yond gave an additional gloom. One
table, however. at the end of the veran-
da, was occupied by a group of four,
who, by the light of a small lamp placed
| thereon, discovered, to my delight, TO
be ordinary travellers, who, as / later
on ascertained, were only awaiting re-
mittances expected the following
morning, 10 make rapid tracks from
| the scene of coming hostilities; fer the
rest the place was now ''guardhcuse.' -
! pure and simple. the sergeant appear
| ing to have taken over the entire con-
! troll of the well-stocked cellars, from
which, he informed me, could, on pay
| ing war prices. have whatever refresh
ment 1 pleased. Nor was he long in
supplying my wants in this respect at
an exorbitant chargNbrandy, seltzer
and cigars being placed by him on the
| table, as, filling himself a bumper to
begin with, he raised ii high in air, ex-
! claiming with the utmost gravity: 81
drink, monsieur, to the health Of his
majesty the king"
Feeling it would be polite TO join
him in loyal but unlimited libations,
helped myself from the decanter, ard
was going to say something courteous
about King William, when Fritz polite
~, but firmly. selling my glass, said:
"Oh, monsieur, one moment. l beg.
how terribly remiss of me in drinking
to the king; 1 forgot the Fatherland;
long live the Fatherland!" and with
this be drained my glass to the dregs,
made a profound bow, and left me in
custody of my two guards. who. with
fixed bayonets, were in immediate at
tendance. Cursing the evil fate, as
supposed. which had placed me in such
a quandary, 1 was sitting nursing my
wrath to keep it warm as Burns puts
il, when a kindly voice with a nasal
twang hailed me through the gloom.
$50 you're the prisoner of war, are
you? Wal, as we happen to be all neu
trail al this table. don't see why you
shouldn't leave that patriot sergeant TO
finish your cognac with those two hun
gry-looking guards of yours, and join
us for half an hour before you go I the
dreary dungeon assigned 10 you SUI
fee ii to say. this was an arrangement
to which Fritz. on his return. readily as
sented. I was as much in custody as
ever, and escape was impossible; while
he. with his two grim compairiots
could, in the meantime 90 full Justice
TO the health of Ibis majesty the king"
The American gentleman to whom I
was indebted for this kindly suggestion
unceremoniously introduced me to his
wife, and her brother and sister. who
were all much interested in my capture
and probable fate. They had noticed
the ill-usage 10 which l had been sub
jectcd by the villagers. who had been
hurting all the available rubbish they
could lay hold of al my unoffending
head on the way to the guardLouSe;
and /, moreover, made sure a a glance
(oh, such a glanceD that al least one of
my entertainers was convinced in her
own mind it was a case of mistaken
identity. that ! was no spy. and sympa-
thized with me accordingly. That her
name was Clara | at once ascertained
since she was thus addressed by them,
nor was long in discovering there was
a strange, INDISPENSABLE something
about her which. from the moment of
that first fateful glance, had placed me
curioUsly in touch with her. That
bright, Piquant face. that sympathetic
!
eyes, those They should never ride
Pegasus who cannot reign him in.
now felt. at least. that as 1.-The Prisoner
of Nulheim" enjoyed, in certain sense,
an enviabie reputation, so FASTENED to
explain that my real mission was that |
of a war correspondent.
''Oh. certainly" said my host. land to |
have been made the first prisoLer of |
war will be splendid copy if you can |!
get it through"
This at once threw a new light on |
what TO me had, till this moment, |
looked like an irglorious catastrophe |
Our chat, a delightful one to myself |
having extended over an hour and /
Fritz and his companions having |
drained that decanter TO the dregs. my |
new-found friends and myself cordially /
and unless I'm much mis-
taken, when / shook hands with |
CLARA" there was tremulous pressure
of the fnger-but no matter. Fritz
now thoroughly realized the gravity of
the situation. and as he conducted me
TO the apartment l was to occupy for
the night we were closely followed by
my two guards. with whom (having
first double-locked the door, he depart
ed, leaving me to the contemplation of
my prison house.
Ii was a miserable box room rather
han bedroom, in which truckle bed
stead. small wooden table and a chair
did duty for furniture, and the sole en-
bellishment of which was a piece of
broken looking glass nailed against the
wall by some departed scUllion OF the
establishment, who probably slep:
there. \ small piece OF candle in d very
grimy candlestick had been placed on
he table.
My first consideration was. naturally.
some possible means of escape. The SEN !
ries on duty at the rear of the build
ng- en- which my window looked out,
made this utterly Impossible il hat Gi-
-ection. death being the inevitable end
IF the escaping spy To unGress would
1aVe been absurd. I must be ready for
my eventualify. specially as my small
noJicum of candle was already lick
ring in lis socket. So sat and watched !
md waited. and listened the while to
- r,-rf -hyG Cr fl>a ,crI -1-o,7 -. |