Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1914-12-16
BY H. G. WELLS
Copyright. 1914. By H. G. WELLS

draft through the curtains and attend
ants that gave wide margin to King
Ferdinand's state. and the familiar
confidence Of his manner belied Ger.
tain hardness in his eye. Firmin trot-
ted behind him, and no one else was
with him And as Ferdinand Charles
rose to greet him there came into the
heart Of the Balkan king again that
same chilly feeling that he had felt
upon the balcony. and it passed at the
careless gestures of his guest. For
surely any one might outwit this fool
ish talker who for mere idea at the
command of little French nationalist
had thrown away the most ancient
crown in all the world.
One must deny. deny.
And then slowly and quite tiresomely
he realized that there was nothing to
deny. His visitor. with an amiable
ease, went on talking about everything
in debate between himself and Bris
sage except
Could it be that they had been de-
to drop for repairs and were still I'm
captured? Could it be that even now
while this fool babbled they were over
there among the mountains heaving
their deadly charge over the side Of
the aeroplane?
Strange hopes began to lift the tail
of the Slavic fox again.
What was the man saying? One
must talk to him, anyhow. until one
knew. At any moment the little brass
door behind him might open with the
news Of Brissago blown to atoms.
Then it would be delightful relief t.
the present tension to arrest this chat.
terer forthwith. He might be killed
perhaps. What?
The king was repeating his observa.
tion "They have ridiculous fancy
that your confidence is based on the
possession Of atomic bombs.''
King Ferdinand Charles pulled him
self together. He protested.
"Oh. quite so.'' said the ex-king;
quite SOP
What grounds?"
The ex-king permitted himself a ges.
ture and the ghost of a chuckle Why
the devil should he chuckle? "Practi-
cally none." he said. But, of course,
with these things one has to be so care
full"
And then again for an instant some
thing like the faintest shadow Of de
rision glea med out Of the ENJOYS eyes
and recalled that chilly feeling to King
Ferdinand's spine.
Some kindred depression had come to
the unknown aeroplane had sighted
Como 1t had dozen eager attendants
closing in upon it. Its driver seems to
have hesitated, dropped down among
the mountains and then turned south
ward in flight, only to find an inter
cepting biplane sweeping across his
bows. He then went round into the
rye Of the rising sun and passed with
in Il hundred yards Of his original pur
Suer.
The sharpshooter therein opened fire
J once and showed an intelligent grasp
IF the situation by disabling the pas
,pnyer first The man at the wheel
must have heard his companion cry out
behind him, but he was too intent on
getting away to waste even glance
behind. Twice after that he must have
heard shots. He let his engine 60, he
rrouched down, and for twenty minutes
be must have steered In the continual
expectation Of bullet. 1t never came
and when at last he glanced round
three great planes were close upon
him, and his companion, thrice hit, lay
dead across his bombs. His followers
manifestly did not mean either to upset
or shoot him. but inexorably they drove
him down, down. At last he was curry
ing and flying hundred yards or less
over the level fields Of rice and maize.
Ahead of him and dark against the
morning sunrise was village with a
very tall and slender campanile and a
line Of cable bearing metal standards
that be could not clear He stopped
his engine abruptly and dropped fat
He may have hoped to get at the bombs
when be came down, but his pitiless
pursuers drove right over him and shot
him as he fell.
Three other aeroplanes curved down
and came to rest amid the crushed
grass close by the smashed machine.
Their passengers descended and ran,
holding their light rifles in their hands,
toward the debris and the two dead
men. The coffin shaped box that had
occupied the center of the machine
had broken. and three black objects,
each with two handles like the ears OF
pitcher. lay peacefully amid the lit
ter.
These objects were so tremendously
important in the eyes of their captors
that they disregarded the two dead
men who lay bloody and broken amid
the wreckage as they might have dis
regarded frogs by country pathway.
Look! Look!' cried the first. Here
they are!''
| And unbrokenv' said the second.
! i've never seen the things before.
said the first.
bigger than l thought" said tn,
second.
The third conner arrived. He staret
for a moment at the bombs and thel
turned bis eyes to the dead man will
a crushed chest who lay in a mudd,
place among the green stems under tn
center of the machine.
"One can take no risks" be said witt
a faint suggestion Of apology.
The other two now also turned to tn