Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-09-05
The Argus Daily Short Story
Whimsical Fate-By F. A. Mitchell.
Copyrighted. 1911. by Associated Literary Press

The eggs tempted me. 1 agreed to
buy half a dozen-all could take care
of while on duty-taking them out OF
the basket and holding them up TO the
light, which / always did before using
eggs to test them. The girl held one
end of the basket toward me, from
which I took the eggs, but on coming
to the fifth 1 reached for one at the
other end Looking through it I could
see no light.
"That one is bad" I said, putting it
back in its place.
Monsieur should take those at the
other end of the basket, They are for
the officers. These are for the men.
You will find that one very fresh"
handing me an egg.
''That one will do" The girl walk
ed away, I looking at her as she
receded. 1t seemed to me that her
gait was peculiar. At any rate, l
never saw a woman with stride like
that But many Of the peasant wom-
en- in France, as you know, gen
orally do so much field work that ex-
cept for their petticoats they may
well be taken for men,
ant Antoine Ducat, who rode up to my
tent that evening while was cooking
the eggs. 1 invited him to sup with
me, and he accepted. At headquarters
they had not been able to secure fresh
supplies, and Ducat enjoyed the eggs
SO well that when he returned to the
general he told of the feast Of which
ne had partaken. Then came an or
derby to ask where had procured the
eggs. I told of the girl who had sold
them to me, and the general sent his
aids, his orderlies and his escort fly
ing all over the limited region we &C.
cupied with orders to find the farm
and the girl. Each and every one re-
turned with the information that
there was no dairy farm within the
picket lines and the girl could not be
found
81 received a summons to report in
person at headquarters, and the gen.
eral questioned me and cross ques-
toned me, making me very uncom-
Portable. He even got out of me the
fact that 1 had tried to look through
one of the eggs and found only dark
ness.
"'Was 1t the same weight as the
othersr asked the general.
81 could detect no difference
"'Are you sure the girl was not q
man in girls clothes?'
"I remembered her walk and hest
tated.
"'Come, out with IT. You suspect
that she was?
"'She had a mans stride
THAT win do. By your stupidity
you have permitted a spy to pass
through our lines and become ac-
Quainted with our weakness. Besides.
there are small bodies of Prussians
on every side of US. If we had not
them SO separated that they can't
communicate, by a concerted move
ment they could crush u.s.
But, general 1 protested, the
people hereabout are all French and
loyal This girl spoke excellent
French
peasants do not speak excellent
French he replied impatiently. That
viii do; you may 60
81 had hardly left his headquarters
before a flag of truce was announced
waiting without the picket line for
admission. Its commandant was
taken to the general and presented a
demand for our capitulation. He told
our general just what forces were in
oar vicinity and that they had every
road by which we might escape oc-
cupied. By concerted action, which
had been agreed upon, they could
capture us.
"Our general declined to surrender,
and at midnight we made a dash for
escape. Nearly half of our number
were killed or wounded tried my
best to get shot, for felt sure / had