Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-01

emperor's hunting lodges. | suggest
that you get down there tomorrow and
have everything ready. You thor
oughly know what is required of you
doctor?"
On my asserting ! was dismissed.
lost no time In getting home to my
quarters and into comfortable toys
This mission needed some thinking
out. And after / told my Basuto boy
to pack my bag l glanced again at the
list Won Wedeli had given me.
Haldane, lord chancellor of England,
persona grata with the kaiser-in fact,
a personal friend; Churchill, first lord
Of the British admiralty; Waechter,
the German minister of foreign affairs
and, despite court opposition, the
trusted man of the kaiser; Tirpitz and
Won Heeringen, chiefs of the German
navy and army stats, the latter a sec
ond Moltke. When l came to Won Auf-
fenberg's name / whistled. Won Auf-
fenberg was minister Of war and the
right-hand man of the chancellor of
the Austrian empire. Thus three
great powers were represented.
Six men OF this eminence, the brains
and force of three nations, to meet
in secret in a little obscure hunting
lodge in the forest. 1t p~ortended
darby for France; but how darkly 7
could not then conjecture. 1t inter-
ested me tremendously, but I con-
soled myself that l would probably
know all when the party gathered in
that secluded hunting lodge.
According to instructions, l present
ed myself early next morning at the
residence of Herr Won Kiderlen-Waech-
ter. 1t was In the Thiergartenstrasse
without delay / was shown into his
e~xcellency's He was seated at
his desk, and while we exchanged a
few perfunctory words / permitted my
self a moments brief conjecture.
Statesman and His WaIstcoats.
Judging from appearances, you
would never have taken this portly,
rubicund. iron1gray, bushy-browed gen.
tleman for a statesman. But a states
man he wal for all that, and the en-
peror and Germany miss him sorely.
I would have taken him for a Boer
Dopper or an English yeoman. This
suggestion was supported by his afro
cious taste in fancy waistcoats. The
one he had on still sticks in my mem.
DRY. 1t was a lurid peach-blossom Gre
alton, spotted with green. But once
his steel-gray, deerhound ayes looked
you up and down you forgot all about
the fancy waistcoat and got right down
to business. / told his excellency /
had come for his personal instructions.
His first remark was like a dash of
cold water in the face.
"Hum," he grunted. you are rather
young, but | suppose they (meaning
the emperor and Won Wedell) know
what they are doing"
Besides telling me to halt my maui
Ia German military expression liter
ally meaning keep your mouth shut,
but implying the need for utmost Sc.
Gregg he gave me certain general in.
structions. But from them / could gain
no idea of just what was going to hap
pen. How big was the gathering storm
he never even limited.
Remembering Won Wedell's sugges
ton about the hunting party, l pro.
cured some guns and reached the sta.
ton in time to catch the 1890 express
for Schlangenbad.
1t was early in October when / went
to the Kur hotel and registered as
Herr Bamberger from Berlin. II you
ever go to Schlangenbad look up the
register. Schlangenbad Is a mineral
watering place in Prussia, near the
Black Forest, and within easy distance
of u ultimate meeting place, the
hunting lodge that Won Wedell had
mentioned.
The Secret ENJOYS Gather.
l was alone at the hotel for several
days. Then, travelling ~incognito, the
dignitaries began to drift in. First
came the Austrian, Gen. Moritz Ritter
von AuffeDberg. A distinguished, quiet.
unassuming gentleman, he Is known
to be high in the confidence of Fran.
els Joseph. | found the war minister
very fond of salmon fishing, and got
quite into his good graces by enthu-
siastic tales of fly fishing in New Zea.
land.
Admiral Won Tirpitz and General
Won Heeringen came next. The adj
miral is typical Of the German sailor,
a big man, six feet, wide of shoulder,
~blue-eyed and full bearded. His man
mel / found genial and courteous. His
exact opposite was Won Heeringen.
thin, almost crooked Of body, stoop-
shouldered, unusually taciturn, and
possessing deep-sunken, smoldering
black eyes. He struck me as an ami
mated mummy of the Rameses dynasty
com to think Of it, he much re-
sembles Rameses II.
The exact date of the meeting, as I
recall 1t, was October IL. and the place
a shooting lodge named Ehrenkrug.
On the morning of the twelfth / hired
q vohfola ard goodfnO nrovfotoua ~fno