Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-10-17
THE LAST SHOT
BY FREDERICK PALMER

Wnero the lOnS-ulstance telephone W.
installed, Westerling was talking
with the premier in the Gray capital
"Your total casualties are eight hun.
dred thousand. That is terrific, Weg
terling!" the premier was saying.
"Only two hundred thousand o.
those are dead!" replied westeriing.
MANY with only slight wounds are
already returning to the front. Ter
rife, do you say? Two hundred thou!
sand in five millions Is one man out
of twenty-five. That wouldn't have
worried Frederick the Great or Napo
leon much. Eight hundred thousand is
one out of six. The trouble is that
such vast armies have never been en-
gagged. before. You must consider the
percentages, not the totals"
"Yet, eight hundred thousand If
the public knewi" exclaimed the pre-.
mier.
"The public does not know!" said
Westerling.
They guess. They realize that we
stopped the uoldiers' letters because
they told bad news. The situation is
serious"
why not give the public something
to think about?" Westerling demanded.
tive tried. It doesn't work. The
murmurs increase. l repeat, my fears
OF rising Of the women are well
grounded. There is mutiny in the air.
/ feel II through the columns of the
press, though they are censored. l."
Then, soon I'll give the public some
thing to think about, myself" Wester-
| ling broke in. "The dead will be for
gotten. The wounded will be proud
| of their wounds and their fathers and
mothers triumphant when our army
descends the other side of the range
and starts on its march to the Browns
! capital"
"But you have not yet taken a
! single fortress!" persisted the premier
"And the Browns report that they have
lost only three hundred thousand
men"
"Lanstron is lying!" retorted Wes-
terling hotly. But no matter. We
have taken positions with every at
tack and kept crowding in closer. I
ask nothing better than that the
Browns remain on the defensive, leav-
ing initiative to US. We have devel-
oped their weak points. The resolute
offensive always wins. know where
/ am going to attack; they do not. I
shall not give, them time to reinforce
the defense at our chosen point I
have still plenty of live soldiers left.
! shall go in with men enough this
time to win and to hold"
"The army is yours, Westerling,"
concluded the premier. 'T admire your
stolidity of purpose. You have my con-
fidence. I shall walt and hold the stu
alton at home the best l can. We go
into the hall Of fame or into the gut.
ter together, you and II"
For a while after he had hung up
the receiver Westerling's head
dropped, his muscles relaxed, giving
mind and body a release from tension.
But his spine was as stiff as ever as
he left the closet, and he was even
smiling to give the impression that
the news from the capital was favor
able.
When he called his chiefs of divi.
Sion 1t was hardly for stan council
Stunned by the losses and repulses,
loyalty industrious, their opinions un.
asked, they listened to his whirlwind
of orders without conment-all except
Turcas.
! GIf tbay a,a ,norIsod 80 o,,. ,,I.x. oud
are able to concentrate more artillery
than our guns can silence, the losses
will be demoralizing," he observed.
Westerling threw up his head, frown.
ing down the objection.
Suppose they amount to half the
forces that we send in!" he exclaimed
isn't the position, which means the
pass and the range, worth it?"
Yes, IL we both take and hold It;
not II we fall" replied Turcas, quite
unaffected by Westerling's manner.
Failure is not in my lexiconi" Wes.
terling shot back. For great gains
there must be great risks"
I'VE prepare for the movement,
your excellency," answered Turcas.
1t was a steel harness of his own
will that Westerling wore, without ad.
mitting that 1t CALLED him, and he laid
1t of only in Marta's presence. With
her, his growing sense of isolation had
the relief Of companionship. She be.
came a kind of mirror of his egoism
and ambitions. He liked to have her
think of him as a great man unrufied
among weaker men. In the quiet and
seclusion OF the garden, involuntarily
as one who has no confidant speaks
to himself, reserving fortitude for his
part before the staff, while she, under
the spell of her purpose, silently, with
serene and wistfully listening eyes,
played hers, he outlined how the final
and telling blow was to be struck.
I'VE must and we shall win!" he
kept repeating.
Through a rubber disk held to his
ear In the closet Of his bedroom q
voice, tremulous with nervous fatigue
was giving Lanstron news that all his
aircraft and cavalry and spies could
not have gained; news worth more
than q score of regiments; news fresh
from the lips of the chief Of staff Of