The Washington herald., 1911-03-06
A SPLENDID HAZARD
By HAROLD MacGRATH
Copyright. 1910. The Merrill Company

tary crisis. He had other papers, and th'
prYing little FrenChman had never seer
! those: clever forgeries, bearing the sig
nature Of certain great German person
ages. These should they find at the sc,
lected moment. Let them rip one an
others thoats, the dogs. Two million Of
francs, enough to purchase a hundred
thousand men.
"Ah, my great-grandsire, II spirits have
eyes, yours will see something presently
And that poor little devil of a secre
agent thinks I want crown on my head
There was a time Curse these in.
fernal headaches"
On. on: hurry, hurry The driver was
faithful, a sometime briEand and later a
! harbOr bOatman; and of all his confed.
crates this one was the only man he
dared trust on an errand Of this kind.
ETisa. They did not pause. They ate
their supper on the way. With three
Sandman dOnkeys, strong and patient
little brutes, with lanterns and shovels
and sacks, the two Jared into the pines
Aitone was all familiar ground to the
CorsiCan who. in younger days. had taken
his illegal 1.-THE from these hills. They
found the range soon enough. but made
dozen mistakes in measurements: and
it was long toward midnight, when the
oil Of the lanterns ran low. that theiI
shovels bore down into the precious poe
ket. The earth flew. They worked like
madpen, with nervous energy and power
of VIII and when the chest finally came
into sight, rotten with age and the soak
OF earth, they fell back against a tree
on the verge of collapse. The hair was
damp on their foreheads. their breath
came harshly. almost in sobs-
Suddenly Breitmann fell upon his knees
and laughed Historically. plunged his
btstered hands into the shining heap. II
played through his fingers in little mus
iCal cascades. He rose
"Pietro, you have been faithful to me-
Put your two hands in there
4. padrone?" stupefed
Go on! Go on! As much as your two
hands can hold is yours Dig them in
deep. man; dig them in deep"
With a cry Pietro dropped and bur
rowed into the gold and silver. A dozen
times he started to withdraw his hands
but they trembled so that some OF the
coins would slip and fall At last with
one desperate plunge. the money running
down toward his elbows. he turned aside
and let fall his burden on the new earth
outside the shallow pit He rolled beside
1t, done for, in fainting state. Brett
mann laughed wildly.
Come, come: We have no time. Put
it into your pockets"
But. padrone, have not counted it,
naively
q Tomorrow. when we make camp for
breakfast. Let US hurry
Quickly Pietro stuffed his pockets. lab
bering in his patOis, swearing so many
candles to the Virgin for this night $
work. Then began the loading of the
sacks, and these were finally dumped
into the donkey panniers.
Now. Pietro. the shortest cut to
Ajaccio. First, your hand on your ANU
let, and oath never to reveal what has
happened"
Pietro swore solemnly. IT am ready
now, padrone,"
Lead on. then" replied Breitmann.
Impulsiyely he raised his hands high
above his head. Mine. all mine.".
He wiped his face and hands, pulled
his cap down firmly lighted a cigarette,
struck the rear donkey, and the hazard
Gus journey began.
Seven men, more or less young, with a
genial air of dissipation about their eyes
and a varied degree of recklessness lurk-
ing at the corners of their mouths; seven
men sat round a table in a house in the
Rue St Charles. They had been eating
and drinking rather luxuriousIy for
Ajaccio. The Rue st. Charles is neither
spacious nor elegant as a thoroughfare,
but at that point where it turns into the
Place Letitia 1t is quiet and unfrequented
at night. A film of tobacco smoke wav-
cred in and out among the gIttering can
dies and streamed round the empty and
part empty champagne bottles. At the
head of the table sat Breitmann, still pale
and weary from his Herculean labors
His face was immobile, but his eyes were
lively.
Tomorrow" said Breitmann, I'VE
leave for France. On beard the moneys
will be equally divided. Then, for the
work" His voice was cold, authoritative.
TWO millionsf' unused Picard. from be-
hind fresh cloud of smoke He picked
up bottle and grayely. filled his glass,
reckoning to the others to follow his ex-
ample. At another sign all rose to their
feet, Breitmann alone remaining seated,
ITO the Day-'
Breitmann's lips grew thinner; that was
The only sign.
Outside, glancing obliquely through the
grilled window, stood NJ. Ferraud. He
had not seen these worthless together be-
fore. He knew all of them. There was
not a shoulder among them that he could
not lay a hand upon and voice with
surety the order OF the law. Courage of
! kind they all had. names once written
sioriously in history but now merely
into dubious traffics. Heroes OF
boulevard exploits. duelists. card players.
could IT be possible that any sane man
should be their dupe? After the strange
cast he heard many things. some he had
Snown. some he had guessed at. and some
which surprised him Only loyalty was
acking to make them feared indeed 4
Presently he saw Breitmann rise He-'