Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-11-01

the house windows for moment, then
the shutters banged closed. The tawny
dog sprang to the middle of the road.
voicdng defiance, then leaped aside
too late. for swooping lance caught
him full IN the side and flung him in
agony against the step which he had
so lately guarded. with blood gushing
from a death wound. and the uhlans
swept on through the village to the
far end and beyond.
Like company of actors. long re-
hearsed. the cavalrymen performed
their functions. The patrols and sup
ports Immediately became fixed in out
post beyond the town limits. while the
squadrons which had poured out of
the woods like an avalanche halted in
place at the command of the trumpet.
d1smounted, and, first taking care for
their mounts, loosened the girths and
adjusted saddles.
An officer, followed by staff officers
and messengers. dismounted before the
door of the village post and telegraph
office Flinging the reins to ready
orderly. he stalked in. in rear of the
troopers who shouldered the door open.
Gray of hair and gray of face. yet with
steady light burning in his intent
eyes, the official in charge of the office
was brought out between two soldiers.
The officer followed. while the troopers
dragged out the mail sacks. the news
paper files. desk. chair and the te1e-
graph books with their yellow fimsy
leaves
When did your troops leave here?'
asked the officer of the official
Il shall tell you nothing" replied the
man. You may shoot me if you wish.
That is your business
The officer arose slowly from his seat
and with his eyes fixed upon the de-
fiant ones before him. Take him
away" he said.
AS the old man was led to the rear
the aids fell to sorting the mail, open
ing letters and glancing over them,
Swimming over the newspapers and
scanning the telegraph copies Now
and then the attention of the COM
nanding officer was invited to some
thing in particular: notes were made of
certain items and various papers were
bound into packets. delivered to an
orderly and dispatched to the rear to
be placed in the hands of the fntelli-
gence section of the general staff.
By this time the houses of the village
had been thoroughly searched and the
inhabitants were collected before the
door of the post office, under guard.
One by one they were scrutinized. To
a handful. questions were addressed
which were answered haltingly. A few
were singled out to be kept under sur
VIGILANCE until the matter of their iden-
tity was fixed. and patrols from the
outposts brought in others who had
been halted while attempting to escape
through the lines.
Are you sure no one got through
asked the officer. No one must be
permitted to precede Very good,
sergeant
After a few moments the advance
of the cavalry screen was resumed.
For fifty miles in each direction similar
scenes were being enacted in similar
villages. The dancing lance -pennons
fioated along the entire line and the
rumble of horse artillery arose from
the cavalry columns which marched a
mile or SO to the rearward of the pa
trolls and contact squadrons. Reel carts
spun off copper strands along each
road and over the glistening wire SO
slender the story of the reconnaissance
was flashed to the intelligence bureau
with each step.
From the clear fields in which they
had alighted. swarm of aeroplanes
got under way with a terrifying rattle
of exhausts. and, mounting upward in
towering spirals, sped away to the
front to gain early information of the
enemy-a flock of human buzzards
which soon lessened and lessened in
size. until they utterly faded from
view.
1-rder the fostering of science. the
bird-men had come to supplement the
scouting work of cavalry, hallowed by
usage through centuries past. Their
work was not to thrash out the details
of cover and numbers. but to locate