Little Falls herald., 1913-01-17

drifted into View. separating Itself
with mysterious suddenness from the
waste Of the sea, al empty life boat
And. clinging to its edge, making des-
perate efforts to enter It, was Stapf-
haus. With the last vestiges Of my
rapidly waning strength I pulled my.
self together; the heavy boat slowly
dipped toward us till her edge was
level with the waves. One last en-
deavor, and stapfhaus and I lay on
her bottom. side by side, But wheth-
er we were friends or tbitterest enc
mics, neither Of us was able to lift q
finger toward the other in friendship
or enmity.
How long we lay there helpless at
do not know. Luckily, the promise Of
the storm had not been fulfilled, or we
should have been swamped many
times before morning. When the sky
lightened I was able to sit up and look
YEARLY round me. We had drifted
beyond the circle of treacherous ice
foes, which had vanished utterly, as
though, having fulfilled their deadly
purpose, there remained nothing more
for them to do. We were adrift upon
the breast of the immense Atlantic.
Stapfhaus hauled himself into a sit
ting posture and regarded me. When
he spoke his voice was nothing but
shaky whisper. wonder, now, wheth.
er mine was, too. .-.*
adams" he said, ''1 have no weap-
ons here. But, for all that we have
gone through and escaped from, /
! swear that one of us shall never live
to be picked up by any ship unless
unless you hand to me the Anglo.
American treaty"
Il stared at him awhile; then an
swered: p
'"Stapfhaus, when you accused me
of having a treaty in my possession
last night I thought that the disaster
had turned your brain. Yet now rec
ollect that you actually ransacked my
room, even as I did yours, apparently
under the influence of that same be-
| lief. Stapfhaus, have no treaty.
But you have one which is upon you
round your waist or about your neck
And l swear that one of us shall go
plunging down into this depths OF sea.
unless you deliver it to me"
"Why did YOU ransack my room?"
he demanded, huskily. "Why did you
| take ship with me?"
! ITO get the treaty"
IT have no treaty." he shrieked out
at me. ''1 took ship to intercept you
at New York because heard that you
were on your way to deliver your
treaty to the American president"
"Who told you that?" demanded.
my sovereign, the kaiser" he an.
swered, proudly. "And you?"
"His majesty, King Edward VII"
I answered. "Well, shall we strip"
"Wait!" he said, thoughtfully. "Have
you no papers upon you?"
"Yes," answered. Il have an OIL
skin bag round my waist. But it con.
tains no treaty-merely sealed instruc-
tions which his majesty handed to mo
in person, with instructions that I
should open them after had obtained
the treaty.
Stapfhaus stared at me incredulous.
ly. Then he began to tremble.
*Dare you open it," he muttered.
"see-" From beneath his clothes he
produced similar bag. 'This, or it's
contents, rather, his imperial majesty
the kaiser handed to me before my
departure" he said, with instructions
that I should open it when I had OBJ
tanned the treaty from you."
said no more, but boldly unripped
the sewn oilskin. The water had pen
etrated not at all. simultaneously
Stapfhaus ripped his own open. We
laid them in the bottom Of the boat
and stared at them.
They were identical. Each con.
tained a single note of the Bank OF
England to the value of $500. And,
with each, was a formal discharge
from the civil service of our respec'
tive countries, and q regret that fu'
ture employment was not to be e1'
pected.
I think It was some time before !
understood the tenor Of this. Then
I heard some one sobbing near a1
hand. looked up; stapfhaus waa
weeping unrestrainedly. And . tear
fell on my own hand. ,~*. ID.
! II served my emperor" he cried.
n gave my life for him- would have
died for him gladly at any time. But
I did not think the day would come
when. he would make jest Of me-.
sending mo On N impossible mission
toobtain = trsaty whom there vas na =