The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1914-12-24
TheLast Shot
FREDERICK. PALMER
(copynsht. lsIA. BY Charles Schbns<s soaal
And yet. l don't know your pla

AND yet, ] don't know your plans
for him, Lanny. There is another thing
to consider" she replied. with an abb
rupt change Of tone. But first let US
leave Feller's quarters. We are In
truders here"
"A man playing deaf: . secret tele-
phone installed on our premises with
out our consent-this Is all l know so
far" said Marta. seated opposite
Lanstron at one end of the circular
seat In the arbor of Mercury.
"Of course. with our 100000
against their 100000. the Grays will
take the offensive" he said. For US.
the defensive. La Tir Is In an angle.
1t does not belong In the permanent
tactical line of our defenses. Never
theless. there will be hard fighting
here. The Browns will fall back step
by step. and we mean. with relatively
small cost to ourselves. to make the
Grays pay heavy price for each step
just rs heavy as We can"
You need not use euphonious
TERMS" she said without lifting her
lashes or any movement except .
quick. nervous gesture of her free
hand. What you mean u that you
will kill - many As possible of the
Grays. ISN'T is? And II you could kill
hve for every man you lost, that would
be splendid. wouldn't IT."
Il don't think of It ~ splendid. There
is nothing splendid about war" he o.
jected: mot to me, Marta"
And after you have made them pay
hve to one or ten to one in human
lives for the tangent. what then? Go
on! want to look at war face to facs.
free Of the will-o.the-wisp glamour that
draws ON soldiers"
I'VE fall back to our hrst line OF DE-
dense. fighting all the time. The Grays
occupy La 1ir. which will be out Of the
reach Of our guns. Your house will
NO longer be in danger. and We happen
to know that Westeriing means to
make 1t his headquarters"
Our house Westerling's headquar.
ters!" she repeated. With . start that
brought her up erect. alert. challeng.
ing. her lashes dickering. she recalled
that Westerling had said at parting
that he should see her II war came
This corroborated Lanstron's informa.
ton. One side wanted . spy in the
garden: the other general In the
house. Was she expected to make q
choice? He had ceased to bs Lanny.
He personified war. Westerling per.
soniied war. Il suppose you have
spies under his very nose-in his very
staff Offices? 2" she asked.
And probably he has In ours" said
Lanstron, though We do our best to
prevent it."
What = pretty example of trust
among civilized nationb!" she ex.
claimed. You say that Westerling,
who commands the killing on his side.
will be in no danger. And, Lanny, are
/, you a person Of such distinction In the
business Of killing that you also will
be out of danger!"
She did not see. n her eyes poured
her hot indignation into his. that his
MANNED hand was twitching or how
he bit his lips and flushed before he re-
| piled:
Each one goes where he is sent
link by link. down from the chief OF
stan. Only in this way can you have
that solidarity. that harmonious eff
cheney which means victory"
AN autocracy. a tyranny over the
lives Of all the adult males in countries
that boast of the ballot and self-gov
erning institutions!" she put in.
But l hope" he went on. with the
quickening pulse and eager smile tha,
used to greet a call from Feller to "set
things going" in their cadet days. "tha,
may take out squadron of dirigibles
After all this spy business. that would
be to my taste"
And II you caught q regiment In
close formation with shower Of
bombs. that would be positively heav
ealy. wouldn't it," She bent nearer
to him. her eyes flaming demand and
satire
NO! War-necessary, horrible. hell
ish!" he replied. Something in hel
seemed to draw out the brutal truth
she had asked for in place OF euphoni
Gus terms.
when became chief of intelligence
I found that an underground wire haC
been laid to the castle from the Eighth
division headquarters, which will be
our general STAFF headquarters in time
of war. The purpose was the same al
now, but abandoned as chimerical. All
that was necessary was to install the
instrument. which Feller did. /, too
saw the plan as chimerical. yet it wa.
a chance-the one out OF thousand
II it should happen to succeed W.
i should play with our cards concealed
and theirs on the table,
THE rest of Feller's part you have
guessed already" he concluded. "Yo,
can see how deaf, inoffensive ole
gardener would hardly seem to know
a Gray soldier from a Brown; how /,
might no more occur to Westerling te
send him away than the family dog O,