The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-12-18

"A man playing deaf; a secret tele-
phone installed on our premises with
out our consent-this is all 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 as heavy as we can"
You need not use euphonious
TERMS" she said without lifting her
lashes or any movement except a
quick, nervous gesture Of her free
hand. What you mean Is that you
will kill as many as possible Of the
Grays, isn't is? And If you could kill
five for every man you lost, that would
| be splendid, wouldn't it,"
81 don't think Of it as splendid. There
is nothing splendid about war;" he OBJ
! jected; mot to me, Marta"
And after you have made them pay
five to one or ten to one in human
lives for the tangent, what then? Go
| on! | want to look at war face to face,
free Of the will-o' -the-wisp glamour that
draws on soldiers"
I'VE fall back to our first line of de-
dense, fighting all the time. The Grays
occupy La Tir, which will be out of the
reach of our guns. Your house will
no longer be in danger, and we happen
to know that Westerling means to
make it his headquarters"
Our house Westerling's headquar-
ters." she repeated. With start that
brought her up erect, alert, challeng-
ing, her lashes Pickering, she recalled
that Westerling had said at parting
that he should see her if war came.
This corroborated Lanstrons informa-
ton. One side wanted spy in the
garden; the other a general in the
house. Was she expected to make
choice? He had ceased to be Lanny.
He personified war. Westerling per-
sonified war. ~ suppose you have
spies under his very nose-in his very
staff offices?" she asked.
And probably he has in ours" said
Lanstron, though we do our best to
prevent it."
What a pretty example Of trust
among civilized nations!" she ex-
claimed. you say that Westerling,
who commands the killing on his side,
will be in no danger. And, Lanny, are
, you person of such distinction In the
business of killing that you also will
be out of danger?"
She did not see, as her eyes poured
her hot Indignation into his, that his
manned hand was twtching 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
staff. Only In this way can you have
that solidarity, that harmonious eff
cheney which means victory"
can autocracy, tyranny over the
lives of all the adult males in countries
that boast Of the ballot and self-gov-
erning institutional" she put In.
But hope" he went on, with the
quickening pulse and eager smile that
used to greet a call from Teller to set
things going" in their cadet days, that
| may take out a squadron of dirigibles.
After all this spy business, that would
be to my TASTE"
And if you caught a regiment in
close formation with shower of
bombs, that would be positively heav-
emily, wouldn't it?" She bent nearer
to him, her eyes flaming demand and
satire.
mo! War-necessary, horrible, hell
ish!" he replied. Something in her
seemed to draw out the brutal truth
she had asked for in place of euphoni-
GUS terms.
When l became chief of intelligence
found that an underground wire had
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 as
now, but abandoned as chimerical All
that was necessary was to install the
instrument, which Teller did. l, too.
saw the plan as chimerical, yet it was
a chance-the one out of a thousand
If it should happen to succeed wa
should play with our cards concealed
and theirs on the table.
THE rest of Feller's part you have
guessed already" he concluded. "You
can see how deaf. inoffensiye old
gardener would hardly seem to know
a Gray soldier from Brown; how It
might no more occur to Westerling to
send him away than the family dog or
cat; how he might retain his quarters
in the tower; how he could judge the
atmosphere of the staff, whether elated
or depressed, pick up scraps of CONVEX
sation, and, as trained officer, know
! the Yalna of what ha hanra al .