El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-01-19
THE SPY
By Jean AIercivaIle.

p HAVE this tale from a Boer. who.
during the last war with England,
= disguised as peddler, got into the
English camp to find out the strength
and position Of the enemy
AS soon as got near the camp"
he said. "a cavalry patrol came to-
wards me. I was dressed as most Of
the people in that part Of the country
and carried a big box Of merchandise
on my back
THE patrol was commanded by a
young lieutenant who stopped his
horse in front of me and asked curt
": Who are you and where are you
going
This was the first test I had to
undergo. All the soldiers stared at me
and when I was about TO speak I
heard one of those fellows say: That
fellow is a deaf mute, but he has
face like a scOundreL'
Very flattering to me- 1 thought
and made up my mind TO use their
mistaken idea of my deafness to my
advantage, as it would undoubtedly
make IL much easier for me to carry
out nv plans. 1 therefore wrote down
der and would like 10 show my goods
to the soldiers.
I handed the paper to the lieuten-
ant who asked me IN writing to let
him see my passport 1 replied that
had been held up few days ago
and had been robbed Of my passport
He looked at me a moment rather sus-
pectingly but finally gave me q sign
that I might go on.
i did not lose any time in doing so
and started off briskly but soon dis
covered that man followed close be-
hind me. I acted as If 1 had not
nd
I soon reached the camp and was
challenged by sentry and taken be-
fore the officer Of the guard
Here I had to undergo a series OF
tests, one worse than the other and
would have been lost If I had not kept
my wits about me.
Here is a deaf mute without a
passport my guard said to the officer
who was busy writing.
All right he replied, and as the
soldier went. out he turned to me and
said in a friendly tone: Please sit down
a moment, ! shall be at your service
in a moment
He said this in the most natural
and casual way and I came near doing
as he asked. Had I taken a single
step towards the chair l would I'M
doubtedly have been lost, but I did
not move q muscle. When he saw
this ruse had failed he began TO cross
examine me I answered all his Ques-
tons and as the paper passed back
and forth between US the captain en-
tered the tent. He also repeatedly
tried to confuse me, but finally gave
il sup and gave me a paper with q
written permission to sell my goods in
the camp but could see on his face
that he was not convinced and that
l must be on my guard all the time.
Il soon found, out that 1 was right
Tor every ID minutes at least a new
ingenious trap was set for me and
several times nearly was caught.
Once while I was kneeling down on
the Teldt showing my goods a pistol
was fired just behind me, but FORUM
ately I had heard it being cooked. so
the report did not scare me. At last
L succeeded in reaching the place in
the camp 1 wanted to investigate most
carefully, and, as L supposed, 1t was
the weakest spot in the defence where
a sudden attack would have every
chance OF success.
Having seen what / wanted my next
object was TO set away as soon as
possible. At first 1t looked as if
were TO succeed for I got quite a dis
tance away from the camp, but IN
fortunately l was stopped by a patrol
and was taken back to the generals
tent
Besides the general himself num-
Der of high officers were present and
as soon as 1 had written down my ex-
PLANTATION 1 saw staff surgeon
whisper something to the general and
had a feeling that II concerned me.
a moment later the general turned
anu SalA II Pheasant voice. step
up closer my friend
II did not move but kept on staring
ct the hilt of his sword and only when
he made sign 10 step closer I stepped
forwOrd.
I handed him my paper and he
wrote asking me why I had no pass
port and where I was going I told
the story Of the hold up once more and
said that 1 was going to Benjamins-
dOrf to buy merchandise.
THE general seemed satisfied but
the surgeon was not yet convinced 1
heard him telling the other so and
knew that it would be hard to fool
him. Sudeply he stood up walked up
to me, slapped me on the shoulder and
said: Let me see your tongue
bit my teeth together to hold my
tongue back
y Attention, he roared. The word
hit me like a blow but I did NOT move.
Then he quickly turned around.
stared straight into my eyes and asked. 1
What day did it happen?'
When this attempt also failed all [
the officers burst out Laughing.