Evening star., 1906-02-23
CHAPTER XII.
John Hardy Among the Nations.

4
The next day John Hardy shut himself up
in fit of sulky moroseness. fatty refusing
to see any one. The day after that was
Sunday and on Sunday evening he was at
| Freshwater.
| His yacht was ready TO sail
| He had IN his breast pocket letters Of
credit from the bankers of his solicitors 10
| business houses in Paris, Berlin. Peters
burg, Peking and Shanghai.
He had also with him French dicton-
airy, German dictionary. Bible and a
very elementary French conversation book.
He had also with him a portrait of Bosey
| Jay, which he had obtained that morning
| from Lady Sinclair
| He had also with him Colts revolver.
| He had also with him shilling map or
northern China. and four sorts of foreign
| coin.
As he stepped from the train from New
| port at Freshwater. he saw a late Sunday
edition placard announcing that lup.oJo
English troops were about to embark for
| Harve for French invasion; and this
| made his heart rejoice.
The English Bird weighed anchor at 8
pm. He was under requisition by letter to
| attend at the admiralty the next day, Dut
| he took not the least notice of II. leaving
| it to be supposed that he had set out be-
| fore receiving the requisition. he was
| free subject, he said to himself
Before sunrise on Wednesday morning ne
| arrived at the old town of San SEBASTIAN
| on the north Spanish coast.
He had taken the precautfou 10 bring no
| linen marked with his name. He intended
| to travel as an American citizen, under he
| name of Petersen. From San Sebastian he
| sent back the yacht to England, and at
once proceeded with a small trunk by train
| to Rayonne, thence to Bordeaux, and thence
| by way of Angouleme. Poitiers, and TOURS
| to the French capital He reached Ethe
| Care d Orleans on the Thursday morning
| at $780, nearly week after the battle or
| Shoreham, and proceeded westward 10
| hotel in the neighborhood of the Madeleine
reporting himself in the hotel bulletin as
| lla wing Travelled from Spain.
The first thing that happened TO him was
| that he fell In love with that charming
| courteZan. Paris.
| He had been so exceptionally and scrupu-
| lously insular that he had always shrunk
! from leaving England, except in the shlps
on which he served. Hence he knew some
of the ports of Europe very well, but had
never been TO Paris. Now was revealed 10
him the file de joie of the cities of the
earth the pure feminine. as queer, ana
| treacherous, and lovely, and indescrihabie,
| as woman. Whose truly loves woman will
not escape her witchery. She Is the dlVlhe
sinner. ,
Hardy intended to leave Paris at O'Clock; ;
but he put off his departure TIL the next
,iay; and meantime he got into trouble
The news of the disaster to the allied fleet
had four days since reached france. bul
the whole thing was Incredible II was not
believed or believed with only half the
mind: and for this reason: that the news
had come by the roundabout way OF tne
Mackay- Bennett cable-from New forh:
What lent some color of truth to the report
was the incomprehensble fact that the
Contre-Amiral and General de Rosney haa
sent no dispatch-boat to announce the lanu-
ing of the troops on English soil. Yet the
nation refused to believe the incredible
They waited, with suspended mlhu' VII"
ba ted breath. wildly hoping.
Ir the impossible contingency OF 5 Ile,5
feet having been defeated. they argued
that a least one ship would have eScapeu
to bring them the news But no snip hau
come: the feet could not be defeated
The fact was that five ships had escaped
three liners and two battleships. But of the
three liners one was towing another at the
rate of about half a knot an hour, ana tle
third was just forging through the water
against a head wind under sail alone. Inc
two battlesnips were German. ana IN sorry
plight One with a broken screw ana one
with disabled engines, they We're making
their slow way northeastward with vague
outlook toward Bremerhafen IN the hihd
eye
manned afloat
rival in Paris. one of the three liners driited
on to the French coast, near st Nalery en-
Caux having on board an infantry orlgade'
and a crew. perishing with munger. on tIie
verge of frenzy with thirst. BY noon PARIS
knew.
Then there was brouhaha and houlabalu.
or, as say, 'rucuons.
Pans, IN her RACES dS III All tIStr - INT
a woman. She tears her fnery and ribbons
to shreds; she foamS at the mouth her hair
is ''all over the place.!
Her last exuberance had taken the shape
Of the Dreyfus riots Monsieur Zola had
been the scapegoat He had been declared
a 'deeenere'' by the university; had been
regarded as a "cas" by the alenists; had
been hopelessly caricatured; was regarded
as a man done for.
He waited On this Thursday morning he
had his revenge.
Under the great statue OF France In the
Place de la Bastille he stood, and the crowd
around him spread far UP the avenues,
leading into the place. He was recognized:
"C"est NJ. Zola.' And he harangued them.
He had always been known as very
decent orator. And he three times used
the word ''trahison.'
This word treason has strange gla-
mour for the French mind, carrying with 1t
an extraordinary hint of the blackest IN
II was a word which Paris could i'll bear
at that moment. 1t simply made the crowd
a kennel of rabid dogs. Already In other
parts-in the Cite the Place de la Concorde
la Vilette-excited throngs were rushing
riotously about the rues and avenues and
boulevards without the incentive of NJ
Zola's "trahison." And in the midst Of NJ.
Zola's crowd, in the deadliest peril. stood
John Hardy.
On his forehead was the strip Of plaster
which covered the scratch received at
Shoreham.
Bv some sure intuition, the French know
an Englishman at once; they say OF you at
a glance I'll est Anglais.' And Hardy was
very much of an Englshman.
If ever human boy enjoyed himself. II was
he at that moment. He loved a row for its
own sake and here was the sweetest OF all
rows-a French row.
What added a touch of eXquisiteneSs 10
his enjoyment was his inner knowledge of
the cause of the row. These children had
dashed themselves like impotent waves
against the rock OF England and We're
now astonished to find that rock was hard.
and could shatter them.
John could hardly understand word OF
the harangue though he once heard his
own name but he guessed what 1t was all
about and he saw Il in the distorted faces
of the people He stood looking mp into
the startling eyes of the orator, quietly
smiling
At the first sounds of uproar he had run
from his hotel, and followed a crowd east
ward No thought of his danger occurred
to him. His attitude of mind toward the
peopie among whom he found himself was
one of quiet and assured dominancy
NJ. Zola was about To complete his oratton,
and the mob to rush with some indefinitely
hostile purpose toward the Elysee, when
Hardy felt himself touched with deliber-
ate tap on the shoulder.
He looked around and up.
He was confronted by an extremely Tor