Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-10-31
THE LAST SHOT
By FREDERICK PALMER
Copyright. 1919. By Charles scribner's sons.


/ had been their strength.
81 should like you all to sign ito
make 1t simply the old form OF the
STAFF has the honor to report" he said
finally.
There was hush as he finished
the hush of deep impression when
one man waits for another to speak.
All were looking at him except the
vice-chief. who was still staring at the
table as If he had heard nothing. Yet
every word was etched on his mind.
The man whose name was the symbol
of victory to the soldiers, who would
be more than ever hero as the news
of his charge with the African Braves
travelled along the lines, would go on
record to his soldiers as saying that
they could not take the Gray range.
This was a handicap that the vice.
chief did not care to accept; and he
knew how to turn phrase as well as
to make a soldierly decision. Ho
looked up smilingly to Marta.
II have decided that had rather
not be a Westerling, Miss GaIland."
he said. "Wen make it unanimous.
And you" he burst out to Lanstron-
"you legatee of old Partow; I've al
ways said that he was the biggest maj
of our time. He has proved it b,
catching the spirit of our time and in
carnating it,"
Vaguely, in the whirl of her Joy,
Marta heard the chorus of assent as
the officers sprang to their feet in the
elation of being at one with their chief
again. Lanstron caught her arm, feer-
ing that she was going to fall, but
burning question rose in her mind t.
steady her.
"Then my shame-my sending me
to slaughter-my sacrifice was not l.
vain?" she exclaimed.
The sea of people packed in tn
great square Of the Brown capt.;
made a roar like the thunder of wave
against breakwater at sight of
white spot on a background of gra
stone, which was the head of an emi
nent statesman.
'It looks as If our governmen
would last the week out" the premie
chuckled as he turned to his colleague
at the cabinet table.
AS yet only the brief bulletins who's
publication in the newspapers he
aroused the public to a frenzy haJ
been received. The cabinet, as cage
for details as the press, had rename
up, awaiting fuller official account
I'VE have a long communication ir
preparation" the staff had telegrapheG
Meanwhile, the following is submit
ted"
Good heavens! It's not from the
army! It's from the gravel" ey
claimed the premier as he read the
"Of all the concealed dynamite ever!
he gasped as he grasped the full mean
ing of the document, that piece o!
news, as staggering as the victory IL
self, that had lain in the staff vault
for years. We'll, we needn't give II
after mature consideration" he de
clared when they had reached the enc
of Partow's appeal Now we'll hear
what the staff has to say for itself
after gratifying the wish of a dead
man." he added as a messenger gave
him another sheet.
"The staff. in loyalty to its dead
leader who made victory possible, and
in loyalty to the principles of defense
for which the army fought, begs to
say to the nation"
1t was four o'clock in the morning
when this dispatch concluded with
I'VE heartily agree with the forego-
ing" and the cabinet read the names
of all the general staff and the corps
and division commanders. Coursing
crowds in the streets were still shout
ing hoarsely and sometimes drunken
ly: "On to the Gray capital! Moth
! ing can stop us now!" The premier
tried to imagine what a sea of faces
in the great square would look like
In a rage. He was between the peo-
pie in passion for retribution and a
headless army that was supposed to
charge across the dawn.
ITO Be Continued