The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1908-07-24

French corps des automobiles" could
only be wiped out in blood. 1t all be-
gan in a dispute as to the efficiency
of motor carriages and OF torpedo
boats in warfare, but the talk soon
assumed more personal aspect.
my people, re French" said Des-
jardins, fight onlee for re glory. But
look at you Doochmans. you Hessians
Re Germans fight for money, while re
Frenchman fight for re glory!"
Sure" said Baumgarten. "Dey each
fights for de tings dey needs most"
The court of honor discussed the
bearings of the case for three whole
hours. Then it decided that, inasmuch
as the quarrel concerned the utility
of the services which the two officers
so ably represented, it was but fair
that they should put their pretensions
directly to the test. Strictly speaking,
therefore, Desjsrdins should make his
attack in an automobile, and Baumgar-
ten in a torpedo boat. 1t being OBJ
viously impracticable for either COM
Blatant to borrow government proper
ty for the purpose, especially as both
were attaches on the neutral soil of
Spain, the court modified somewhat
these rigorous conditions. A hired
motor car and a hired launch should
take the places of the war chariot and
the fighting ship. AS to armament, the
brass saluting cannon used on yachts
were the nearest thins obtainable. In
cidentally, these would greatly reduce
the possibilities of carnage. The little
man at the gun shop would load ~
gauge shells with round lead balls
and ask no questions.
When they heard this decision, both
the principals laughed grimly. 1t was
absurd to lay such stress on the purely
military aspects of their disagreement.
If the outbreak had not come in a
tactical dispute, ii was bound to come
somehow, possibly in a discussion of
the comparative deliciousness ofCam-
embert and Limburger. For each man
realized that his dislike for the other
was but the natural accompaniment
Of his love for the Lady Laura, the
niece of the British ambassador. If
he could have evoked a CLEAN Of pity,
or of something better, from her beau
tiful blue eyes, either would cheerfully
have submitted to being carved into
the most CHASTITY fragments, had they
not felt that this would be the very
worst way to make an impression.
1t was one Of the conditions Of the
duel that neither man should make
preliminary trial of his weapons. So,
long before daylight, each one was
nervously lingering the mechanism of
his improvised howitzer and greatly
wondering what manner of execution
1t would do. The machinery of their
hastily procured conveyances was,
moreover, almost as strange to them.
Imagine two fish-hooks placed near
together but not in contact, back to
back. Let one of these represent the
border of little lake, and the other
country road, and you have a rough
plan of the scene of action. Starting
from the points where the two fish
lines would be attached, Baumgarten
in his launch and Desjardins in his
motor-car were to approach each other
at sunrise, along the shanks of the
hooks, as it were, until they were but
an eighth of a mile apart. Then a
turn of the road and an outward sweep
of the shore (the bend of the hooks
would compel them to separate If
both became from the onset unscathed,
it was agreed that they should go
back to their stations and repeat it.
Baumgarten pushed a top-heavy pa?
per shell into the breech of his can
non and levelled the muzzle at the
point where. beyond a two-mile stretch
a marshy meadow land, the white road
emerged from a group of trees. AS
he did so, he glanced over his Shout
der and saw that the tiniest fraction
of the suns disk had come above the
hilltop. He picked up the lanyard.
Just at the moment a scurrying
black thing shot out from behind the
trees. with a cloud of steam behind 1t.
simultaneously, he started the launch
and fired So far as he could see, the
shot landed nowhere at all. With his
left hand on the wheel, steering the
boat in an even curve close to the
shore, he reloaded with his right and
fired again.
1t was distracting to have to steer
with one hand and manipulate a piece
of ordnance with the other, but he
kept on firing as fast as he could open
and close the breech-lock. The car
was within easy range now, and once
he placed a shot so close that the dust
IL raised mingled with the steam from
the motor. Closer and closer they
swept. They had almost reached the
turn, and still not shot had come
from the car.
He got down low in the boat and
levelled his eye along the sights. Just
IS he was ready to fire there came
came a shock. In his effort to aim
more accurately, he had forgotten to
steer, and the boat had stuck fast in
the reedy bank. His frenzied pull at
the reversing lever did not dislodge
the craft and he had no time TO get
out and push II of I'm stationary. at