The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1913-11-08

proprietor bppedTeU, HNlO, budhiuS
with terror. He fell on his knees He
did not recognize the waiter In this
peremptory visitor.
"Ah. forgive me. forgive me-" he ex-
claimed. almost distraught. Il knew
nothing OF this. Oh. monsieur"
He groveled upon the floor. incapa-
BILE Of further utterance. Paul raised
him. not urgently.
Monsieur Gabriel. where are the
tuns that were in your CELLAR" he
asked
The tuns. monsieur? The tuns?"
babbled the Frenchman. All, yes.
the tuns, OF course, the tuns. Why.
monsieur. this Is the night which falls
each quarter when the vans collect
them for shipping back to the south
OF France. Tomorrow my new tuns
arrive. They were all empty. mon
sieur. even the last Of them. for some
body had turned the spigot and spilled
the wine"
You ass" said Paul; when were
they collected"
Half an hour since. monsieur. ]
was distraught; | watched the men
like a mailman: could say nothing.
My beautiful wine, all spilled, and"
Where have they gomez"
| ITO the Southern station. monsieur.
All tuns go thither. to be shipped back
to the wine-growers each quarter.
Doubtless all Paris is yielding up
lob q q GnaHtQl
train. monsieur. which starts in the
morning and"
Paul thrust Monsieur Gabriel from
him and rushed out into the street
He hailed passing fiacre and ordered
the man to drive to the terminal sta
ton Of the Southern railway. Arrived
there. he tossed the man louis and
rushed into the freight yard There
were thousands Of tuns. piled up,
rolled into heaps which every now
and then collapsed. like topheavy pyra-
mids, and tumbled over other tuns,
sending dozens Of them skipping and
rolling in every direction. And at
each gate wagons and vans were dis
charging tuns and barrels OF every
sort and size. Paul stared In dismay
at this fearful panorama. Among
those thousands. which tun held Ger
many's ruler and which the woman
spy? He could never find either. He
pictured the kaiser slowly perishing
in that dreadful receptacle. rolled into
vans. shifted and shunted. passing
from the main track to little branch
railways, at last to find resting place
in some French peasants home. where
his body would be disclosed to a
startled, gasping multitude. dead
man in a tun. A mystery for five
days, Then-nothing. He would be
inferred In some little graveyard and
the secret Of Germans lost ruler would
never be revealed,
He staggered like a drunken man
around the yards. At the gates por
tiers we're joking and chatting will
drivers as the hideous tuns were un
loaded and sent crashing upon thu
tops of others. From their battered
sides thin drops of wine stained the
ground like blood. Which one? Deal
God. which one?
Distracting images crowded Paul'i
brain. He thought Of Richard of thu
Lion Heart and of his faithful trouba
dour who sought him in his imprison
length and breadth of Europe, until a
last, singing the "Chanson de Roland
beneath the castle walls, he hear,
Richards response within. But Their
was neither castle nor song-onl
these hideous tuns.
Stay! There was song. For ha
not His Majesty composed a famou
song, the Song to Aegir," which ha
been satirized and ridiculed and aC
mired throughout all Germany an
Europe, too?
Paul Lane began to hum that sons
He trod the outskirts Of the barrel
and began humming, hopelessly. bu
doggedly humming. Then he san
louder. Presently he was chantin
loudly. A porter turned and jeere
at him as he closed his gate. Tn
! man was drunk. He filched wine froI
, the nearly empty barrels and. imp
IDENTIFY drunk, he slammed the gate
II Paul's face You can wait there Il
II morning, IL you want to-" he yelle
y at him. Paul went on singing.
: Presently, as he threaded his wa
: among the maze OF tuns. 1t occurre
= to him that the barrels from Gabriel
having been collected only recent
would of necessity be on the on
skirts nearest the gates. This though
gave him new hope. He picked b
way thither and began singing agai
And at last, just as he had abandone
hope, he heard the fa,ntest answer
He stopped. hardly daring to hop
He sang loudly. Now he could di
tinguish the tun from which the volt
proceeded. He listened; 1t was Il
answer. It was the Song to Aegir
!. and sung under circumstances such
it's royal composer had never In
.. widest dreams imagined.
"A Paul went toward that end OF Il
20 barrel where he knew the Kaiser
al feet must be. He swung his arm ba'
and his fist forward. An instant lat
at he was helping Germany's ruler o
or of his hiding place.
ID And both gasped:
"A THE woman"