The Washington herald., 1914-10-25

I disappeared, as if IT had been swallowed
up by the earth.
looked around me in all directions
The woodland road by which l hac
reached the frontier stretched away or
the other side of the fence. This wa.
in itself a suspicious sign. 1t scarcely
seemed likely that the independent
rides would have been constructed SC
as to meet in the heart of the forest
unless there was some traffic meant tc
pass that way. All at once the explana.
tion burst upon me 1t was a SNUG.
glers' route, and what the Russian wal
Office had done was to bribe the SNUG.
glers to act as its allies in this strange
invasion. Unless my deductions were
wholly false, the thirty-six guns that
l had seen passing my window in the
night were by this time actually parked
on the soil of Austria.
/ sprang over the fence, and hurried
forward on the again clearly revealed
track.
Suddenly I felt a powerful hand
gripping my throat, a dark cloth de-
scended over my eyes, and l was
thrown violently to the ground
I did not lose consciousness while !
was lifted up by the feet and shoulders
and carried a distance which calcu-
lated at 200 PAGES. After some twisting
and turning was set down, and the
cloth was taken off my head.
l found myself in a small hut or
wigwam of boughs and woven rushes
surrounded by half dozen dsrk-fsced
men who squatted between me and the
doorway. the only opening by which
light was admitted. One glance at my
captors satisfied me that they were
neither soldiers nor Russians
A muaered exclamation solved ny
doubt as to the race of the smugglers
The language they used between them
selves was Romany.
What were you doing in our wood ?"
an old gypsy asked threateningiy.
Before 1 had time to reply, the old
mans eye suddenly lighted up. He took
a step toward me, uttered an amazed
ejaculation. and then, before I knew
what was happening, fell on his knees
before me, and seizing my right hand,
respectfully kissed the ring on the lit
tie finger. AT the same time, the other
members of the party crowded round,
evidently impatient to follow his ex-
ample.
The ring which excited this extraor-
dinary demonstration was one which
had worn so long that 1 had forgotten
all about it 1t had been given me sew
eral years before, in Bagdad, by an old
gypsy woman l had saved from the
bastinado at the hands of a savage
pasha.
They told me that the six batteries /
was tracing were within few yards of
us, skillfully hidden among the trees.
Their arrival brought the force de-
signed for the occupation of Galicia up
to a total strength of 10000 men and
seventy-two guns, all of which had
been secretly brought across the from
tier at different points during the last
few days, and were now ready to move
in concert as soon as the signal was
given and overrun the unprepared
province.
The fact was known to every SNUG
gler along the Galician frontier, and
yet so profuse were the bribes they had
received, and so perfect was their
secrecy, that not the slightest hint had
been suffered to reach any official of
Austria
l spent some hours of the most agen-
izing suspense l have ever known in
the company of these outlaws, before I
dared to risk an effort to get away.
Their suspicious, or rather their nat
ural distrustfulness, caused them to
raise all sorts of objections to my de-
parture. 1t was only by swearing on
the sacred pentagram that no hair of
their heads should even be inperi1ed
by any action of mine that I was able
to tear myself away.
When I, got out on the high road
again, at the spot where I had left my
motor, found, as had feared, that it
was no longer there. / turned at hap