River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-10-23

utilizing the services of a very no.
torious character-none less than
| Mademoiselle Guepin."
in surprise.
| Precisely 1t will not be the first
time that France will have made use
of her women for the accomplishment
of her purposes. The Sultan is no
| toriously susceptible to the charms of
| the other sex, and it is said that
Mademoiselle Guepin has already
reached Fee, installed herself in the
household of the Shereefa, the Sui
| tan's principal wife, and begun to ac-
| Quire an unbounded influence over
her and him So you see, Paul, that
you have hard problem to solve.
Waste no time, then, but take the
next steamship from Marseilles to
| Tangiers, and then-good luck to
| you'll"
Two days later Paul Lane sailed
| for Morocco. In his pocket he car
ried bills and gold coin to the value
i of $4,000. 1t was a case in which,
as it seemed to him, the possession
of money would play a considerable
part. He longed to acquit himself
well Of his mission. All the way
across the Mediterranean he dreamed
of the beautiful unknown Austrian
whom he had met only to lose so
| swiftly upon the shores of Long ISL
and. That was two months ago.
Then he had been nothing but glori-
! fled clerk in the huge industrial mill
| Of New YOrk-noW he was playing a
mans part in the world, as he had al
ways longed to do. When the purple
hills of the Atlas range doomed into
sight behind the quiet little Spanish
| town he felt curious confidence In
his success. A new sense of strength
came TO him; he would show that he
was a man to be reckoned with, he
would prove his mettle and demand
that he be taken fully into the conf
dence of the league, of whose mem
bership, so far, he knew nothing ex-
cept what Rosny had told him.
At Tangiers he spent several days,
familiarizing himself with the condi-
tons of the country Then, purchas-
ing camels and the necessary outfit,
he joined a caravan which was pro-
ceeding into the interior under the
protection of a bodyguard of French
troops.
He was amazed to find that the
presence of the Guepin woman was
already known to the men, and even
the purpose of her mission. Her life
| had been an adventurous one. Born
on the road, into a company Of stroll
ling players, she had acquired a repu-
tation second to none among the ad-
venturesses of olden times Minis
tiers of state, publicfsts, leaders of
France had fallen victims to her be-
fore it occurred to some high digni-
tary of France to utilize her for the
conquest of the Moorish Sultan She
had arrived in Tangiers a month or
two before, and had gone into the in
terror with circus company, then
parading throughout Morocco with
it's trained lions and performing ele-
plants, to the intense delight of the
natives. After week in the capital
the circus manager had withdrawn to-
ward the coast, loaded with honors-
but Guepin had remained, the pro-
tegee of the Sultan's principal lady
in her magnificent house in Fee.
So much Lane learned; further de.
tails came to him unexpectedly on the
tenth morning, when there came
struggling along che road the rem
nants of the very circus which had
taken Guepin to Fee. A few miser.
able, lean camels, a ham-strung horse
a troupe of starved and anxious men
and women were all that remained
of the trappings and the tinsel The
company had been attacked by
tribes along the course, the horses
carried away, the best of the camels
also, and the lions and leopards hewn
to pieces for the delectation of the
natives.
Never again do l enter Africa,
monsieur" said the proprietor to
Paul as they sat that night over the
campfire. Had 1 not gone to Fee
should now be in possession of my
animals-the finest lot that ever left
France, and all imported by me from
Monsieur Hagenbeck's menagerie at
Hamburg and of my own training
Now-see what is left! Assuredly
France must recompense me for my
losses"
But his majesty's presents" in.
terrupted Paul
Gone, all gone, monsieur" cried
the owner, wringing his hands "Stol.
en- by the accursed Moors And the
star of my collection, the beautiful
and unrivalled Mademoiselle Guepin
sieur, I worshipped that woman with
blind devotion. And she left me for
what? For a Moor, monsieur, a No
gro-for what else are these Arabs
but negroes masquerading as a
branch of the white race? For a
black man and a handful of jewels!
1t is a treasure house, that palace In
Fee, such as might turn the head OF
any woman The marvels, monsieur!
There are moving picture displays
the crowns Of gold, rubies and sap
phires and pearls as large as eggs;
mechanical toys and guns of gold and
silver-it is the wonder of the world !
o, for an hour inside and a stout
wagon in which to pack my choice OF
plumber, drawn by Mahmud, my old
elephant"
But why the ELEPHANT" asked
Paul
Because. Monsieur, Mahmud would