Churchill standard. (Fallon, Nev) 1903-1908, 1906-05-19

thrust. I was gritting my teeth,
hardly able to keep myself within
Yet l would hear him to the
end.
Il will tell you briefly, that you may
report the facts to His Majesty AS
you know. Latour was to be shot at
sunrise yesterday morning. We decided
to wait a day, hoping to extract from
him valuable information. MademoiS@lle
and her party, in three carriages. lett
yesterday morning before dawn. La
tour. Who was confined in one of the
must have bribed one of The
servants. and somehow slipped past the
guard and entered the onward earfla &c,
where he hid beneath a bundle OF rugs
The guard discovered at breakfast time
that Latour was gone, but, in fear or
punishment. omitted to eport until
this morning, giving the spy twenty
four hours in which to get away. IN
fortunately for your friends. madernoi-
selle decided to stop en- route for a visit
with an acquaintance. and we had no
difficulty in ov%ertaking them. OF course,
the spy is gone; but we drew a CON
fession from the servants, and mad >the
extreme pleasure of shooting thefn IN
stead of Latour. Those are the facts.
and you will pardon my suggestion that
you return Immediately and comm uni
cate them to the Emperor
81 return at my own pleasure l
replied. My orders do not come from
you. L request you to show me 10
Mademoiselle Lagunay.'
| really believe that Griesman un der
rated me as a fighter. How should he
have known my training?
So, without fear, and, as a cat dali
lies with a mouse, thinking TO give me
another playful bite, he assembled to the
last degree of insult.
II have told YOU that mademoise1le is
my prisoner. As such she may not see
YOU. She is also my companion, and as
such she does not wish to see YOU.
Why. monsieur, 1t was but an hour
that she sat upon my lap, all Shfalles
and bushes md
sprang at him with an oath. My
sword came from its seabbard with an
angry hiss. Had | followed my alrst
impulse his craven skull had been spit
that instant. But l merely snacked
his face with the fiat of the blade. say
1t again., if you dare, You lie. dog
Both men jumped to their feet. The
Colonel had his sabre in the air when
his orderly rushed between US.
member the Emperor's orders: he
cried. you will lose our commission.
Let him go. He is helpless"
But Griesman, traitor though he
proved to be, was no coward. Thor
oughly enraged by my challenge he
threw the man aside n came at me
with all his two hundred Pc unds
weight. | stepped back a little to get
room. and caught his blade on my
guard. He swore beneath his breath
and struck again with terrific 1orco'
Again stopped him.
"A little less Drawn and more skill,
baby" l said, derisively. You VIII be
wearied."
We carried the regulation German
cavalry sabre, rather heavy and sill ghtly
curved. 1t was built on the American
model, and as | met his savage lunges
| began to feel at home. | fell nat
urally into the old position of defense,
The muscles of wrist and arm came
easily into play. In memoir l Sa w the
great tan-bark circle of the acad deny
where we had our daily drills was
again in the ring, defending my title of
the best swordsman Of the class And
SO, without tremor or apprehension, l
stood there and fought, for Aimee's
sake and for my own life, parrying his
mighty strokes with little dtff1 Guilty,
the shock as l caught his heavy
told on my arm. SO long unuSe
to sword play. | made no eftoft 10
So swift was his attack a nd so
vicious that ] preferred the nsive,
well knowing that eventually he would
tire. Al intervals tainted him. using
all the German terms of scorn ana con-
tumely that | could call to mind Ills
anger was terrible. Great beads OF
formed on his brow and rolled
his cheeks. His eyes protTuded,
his mouth opened, his breath came
faster. We moved around the room,
advancing, retreating, sideSte piping,
obtaining any adNan tage,
I was certain that my pla y was
to his.
The innkeeper fed in terror at the
first clash, and we had the big room to
ourselves. The orderly stood to one
side. encouraging his Colonel. Now
and then we rested momen tarfly,