The Washington herald., 1914-10-04

in everybody's mind, what would hap
pen If German soldiers appeared to-
night in the Norfolk coast just where
the book says they win appearl Not
one soldier, but dozens OF soldiers; not
in one. place. but in twenty places ?"
what would hsppen?" roared Maj.
Bellew loyalty "ThelBoy Scouts would
fall out of bed and kick them into the
seal"
Shut upl" snapped his nephew ir-
reyerently. He shook Ford by the arm.
~How?" he demanded breathlessly.
How are we to do it? 1t would take
hundreds of men,"
Two men," corrected Ford, "and
third man to drive the car. / thought
it out one day at Clarkson's when l
came across a lot of German uniforms.
| thought of it as a newspaper story,
as trick to find out how prepared you
people are to meet invasion. And when
you, said just now that you wanted a
chance to go to jail
What's your plan? interrupted Bir-
relL.
I'VE would start just before dawn
-" began Ford.
"We?" demanded Herbert "Are you
in this?
"Am i in it?" cried Ford indignant.
E. "Tt's my own private invasionl Pm
letting you boys in on the ground floor.
If don't go, there won't be any in
vasionp
The two pink-eheeEed youths glanced
at each other inquiringIy and then nod
ded.
I'VE accept your services, sir" said
BirrelI grayely. whats your plan1 =
Two: days later touring car carry
ing three young men, in the twenty
one miles between Wells and cromer,
broke down eleven times. Each time
this misfortune befell them one young
man scattered tools in the road and on
his knees hammered osteutatiously at
the TN hood; and the other two occu-
pants of the car sauntered to the beach.
There they chueised pebbles at the
waves and then slowly retraced their
steps. Each time the route by which
they returned was different from the
one by which they had set forth. ,"
But when they again reached the car
the procedure of each was alike-eaeh
produced pencil and on the face of
his Half Inch" road map traced
strange, fantastic signs.
At lunch time they stopped at the
East Cliff Hotel at Cromer and made
numerous and trivial inquiries about
the Cromer golf links. - The head
waiter of the East Cliff Hotel gave
them the information they desired. He
was an intelligent head waiter, young
and of pleasant, not to say distin-
guished, bearing. In a frock coat he
might easily have been mistaken for
something even more important than a
head wsiter-for a German riding mas
ter, leader of a Hungarian band, a
manager of Ritz hotel. But be was
not above his station. He even assisted
the porter in carrying the coats and
golf bags of the gentlemen from the
car to the coffee-room, where, with the
intuition of the homing pigeon, the
three strangers had, unaided, found
their way. As Carl Schultz followed,
carrying the dust coats, a road map fell
from the pocket of one of them to the
floor. Carl Schultz picked it up, and
was about to replace it, when his eyes
were held by notes scrawled roughly in
pencil With an expression that no
longer was that of a head waiter, Carl
cast one swift glance about him and
then slipped into the empty courtroom
and locked the door. Five minutes
later, with a smile that played uneasily
over face grown gray with anxiety,
Carl presented the map to the .tallest
of the three strangers. 1t was open so
that the pencil marks were most obvi-
Gus. By his accent it was evident the
taliest of the three strangers was an
American.
What the devilP' he protested
which of you boys has been playing
hob with my map?" +*%
The head waiter breathed deeply.
With an assured and happy counten-
ance, he departed and, for the two hun
dredth time that day, looked from the !
windows of the dining-room out over
the tumbfng breakers to the gray
stretch of sea.
In his minds eye he beheld rolling
tugboats straining against long lines of
scows, against the dead weight of field |
guns, against the pull of thousands of
motioniess, silent figures, each in khaki,
each in a black leather helmet, each |
with one hundred and fifty rounds.
In his own language Carl Schultz |
himself.
Patience" he muttered; "patiencei
By ten tonight all will be dark. There
will be no stars. There viii be no
moon. The very heavens fight for US,
and by sunrise our outposts will be