Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-08-23
Continued from Saturdays Capital }
CHATTER ~

hthf must nave Aau q military an
cestor from whom he had inherited a
talent for making defensive warfare as
nasty as possible. From the outside
his stockade surrounding several acres
Of ground presented no great obstacle
TO an attack in force. II was not as
high as il might have been. nor as
thick or strong. The tops Of the logs
Of which il had been built were not
even pointed. II did not seem to have
been pierced with a suficiency OF holes
for rifles. Indeed Mr. Kehrs stockade
was not so much a defense as a temp
tation. His real defenses began Just
inside. For twenty feet the ground
was pitted like a sieve, in each pit a
pointed stake had been planted, up
right Within this ring Of mischance
were vicious entanglements OF barbed
wire.
In Mr.. kehrs plan OF defense the
stockade would be surrendered after a
mere show of resistance, the strikers
swarming over the top would become
entangled among the staked pits and
the barbed wire like flies in a spiders
web, and then Kehr could make them
sorry that they had ever been born. He
had two machine guns placed on an
eminence from which they could sweep
the whole inner ring of the stoekade
He had plenty of rifles, plenty Of am
munition and what was more impor-
tant he had plenty of men who could
be relied on to shoot down their fell
low rhen.
II by any chance the stockade and
the entanglements were carried, the
assailants would be confronted by an
inner stockade higher and stronger,
built around a spring and well stocked
with provisions But the attack, Kehr
felt. II il ever did come to a head
would end bloodily and ingloriously
in the barbed wire
Four feet from the top Of the main
stockade on the inner side was a shelf
like walk of heavy planks from which
sentries could look out upon the world
beyond.
Celestia's first act of exploration was
TO climb a ladder which gave access
to this narrow way and start along It,
Almost instantly the white appariuon
was challenged by a sentry
Celestia gave the password and
made the man tell her what his hours
and duties were.
DO you really mean, she said, that
" you saw a man out there, and asked
him his business, and got no answer,
that you would try TO shoot him?"
IF saw him in this light" said the
sentinel he'd be so near that
wouldn't have to try. ] couldn't miss
him"
And he might be a deaf man who
didn't hear your challenge. | don't
think you'd shoot him. would you?
Wouldn't you just shoot somewhere
near him to frighten him?"
She looked the man steadily IN the
face.
Wouldn't your"
Il got no business talking to anyone
when I'm on duty"
Wouldn't your"
The man made q snufIiing noise.
"If l hear you FIRE" said Celestia, Il
shall know that you didn't shoot to
kill shan't II"
The sentry, an alert young fellow to
begin with, seemed now to have fallen
into a kind of trance.
Il guess" he said, I'd do anything
you said If you looked at me while you
said it,"
Celestia smiled and passed on. She
made the whole tour Of the stockade,
instiIling merciful feelings into the
heart Of each sentry she met. At last,
just as the moon was rising and food
ing the world with light, she came
back TO the first sentry II was easy
to see that he was glad she had come
back He drew a long breath and his
eyes frightened.
why" she asked, have almost all
the trees been cut DOWN."
SOS we can see the strikers a long
way before they get to u.s."
Then why have they left that one
big grove so near the stockade? They
could take shelter in that. and if they
had a small cannon"
But they haven't"
"They ought to have. oughtn't they7
If it's to be a fair fight But there
won't be any fight, win there? Still
you haven't told mo why all the trees
have been cut down except that one
grove--see, it's got a fine old stone
wall around It. If / were the captain
OF the strikers"
1T was left standing especial said
the sentry. "by Mr. Kehr's orders.
And he knows why it's been left, even
If nobody else does. I'm dead certain
of one thing. Anybody who thinks
he's safe in that grove VIII be making
a great big mistake"
But why? A bullet can't 60
through a stone wall or a big tree"
do you know what a blast is?"
4 think So"
(TO be Confirmed