The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1914-01-10
learned that one paper had served on

| humbly.
POOL! On geo Snow gOos o-opoo.
ore signatHrs?"
mo. eEcellszey.o che eolgiop n.
8wereg hunbly. mo one but General
Faber Dasses through this dOoc T6o,,c
, ore his orders"
| as Nikolai still made toward Che
| door there came o elattey 81 steet. ane
! Simultaneously the two guards had
| snatched HP their rifles ana atte5 bay
onets to them. ! laid my hama on my
/ revolver; then ] saw that Ni6olai vac
still eSpostBlating With the men.
What are your exact Crders, aolts?'
no askea. Ana then the olen replied 10
chorus:
1t is forbidden that anyone except
his OEcelleAcC, General Fober. passes
! through this door."
! We'll said" cried NiBola: heartily,
glappine the dearest maA upon the
hack. II vas but testing goo. shall
report your gooa conduct TO our EN-.
peror himself The soldiers present
ed bayonets Of the name. Ana now,
! me men," he continued, handing the
key to one o! the guard. edo you take
this ana turn the locs Gntil SEQ SEQ
the Number s75 appear--see, will
show you. Now turn It and enter"
The soldier too6 the key ana opened
the door ebediontly. Ss it ss-ang back
blaze Of electric light flooded the
chamber. And staggered bach N
| establishment J saw astonisAne emit
} uBoR NiRolai's fsce, Acknowledgement
! upon the stolid eounte1ances % the
guards. For the vault beyond vas
heapea WITH shining coins.
A., There they lay. Sust as theY MAD
been aune n 1S7i But the sacks
F. which had contained them haa moUl-
A.; deeed under the touch OF tlyGe. and the
hooe vas beapea ceiling hige with
! cola pieces They lay like Aakes ef
! golden grain. shining ana sciOtllating
{ in tho electric glow.
Enter, mon. and gather 2,e09
pieces said Nisolai Ana the men
, obsyea Rim and staggered toward
him, carrying the coins i0 pieces %
rottins sackelotA.
Close the Eooc anu remain on
guard" slig NikoIai. With our peck
cts filled anG also bearing o precious
cargo in our arma, We staggered out
At the second door however, S,i6olai
halted
An officer may not oarrp bun
de- he said Summers. must
transfer this freight to you. Can gou
carry it,"
1t was the heaviest bur en
had carried in my life. | staggered
through the passage, Nikolai beside
me. At the outermost door he vhis-
pered his final instructions.
Dump them in the freight cars" he
whispered. In the first car are tools
Unscrew the shells, pour out the
shrapnel, and fill them. You under
stand? | shall be with you
We passed out of the courtyard.
The soldiers stood in columns of four,
but at word from Nikolai, they with
drew and formed a hollow square at
some distance from the cars. The
were hardly visible.
When / had deposited my burden in
the car, Nikolai and l went back for
more. Twenty times We made that
journey, and every time the soldiers
brought out the coins to US. And, at
the twenty-first we had made scarcely
an impression upon the shining hoard
Reluctantly Nikolai gave the final or
der to close the door.
Then all through the night toiled,
filing the shells. lifted them into
the cars one by one, unscrewed the
projectiles, filled them with coins. and
poured out the shrapnel, until, in
place of the golden food that .apped
my feet there was stream Of leaden
bullets. 1t was dawn before my task
was done.
1t was done at last The shells were
screwed fast; in the breaking light
Nikolai and looked into each others
haggard faces. And we read in each
others eyes that we had miserably
failed
For neither of US had estimated in
any degree the magnitude of our task.
We had not known how very few
gold pieces prove the limit Of mans
strength. We lad removed 10000
pieces of gold, worth roughly $500, 200
100000, when there remained TO-
100000 pieces behind!
With bleeding hands descended
from the cars. Nikolai called to the
driver, who was doing upon his en-
gine. The cars were uncoupled. II
seemed hours before We got up steam,
while the day lighted, and waited in
an agony of apprehension. At last
the engine was in readiness to move.
We sprang aboard, the wheels re-
volved. and as the sun rose we passed
through the fortress gates into the
open country beyond. We had plum
dered Spandau; but where was our
gain?
That" said Nikolai remains for
future gathering. When the shells
burst upon the practice field in Al
SAGE there will be good gold pieces
sown among the weeds for our pick
ing up" And so he began to laugh.
It was a scheme Matched in the most
fantastic brain that ever sane man
possessed We had filled the shells
with gold that we might pick up the
contents after the big guns had fired
at the practice targets on the waste
4. Ii