The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-01-29
Who Captured
Him?
Was II q french War De.
tective Or q Pretty Girl?

IL l.
+ iective Or q Pretty Girl? +
F By JOHN Y. HARMED +
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
when the great European war broke
out Arthur Eggieston. young Ameri-
can reporter. anxious to make his way
II the world. full sf the vieor Of youth
and not aveEss. to adventure. saw his
Opportunity. He took TIE 6rst steam
e Tor LONDON that sailed and in due
tine arrived At that Gig.
Crossing tn channel with Q con-
tinRent Of Briti1h troops, no landed 1t
Ostend during that period when the
German forces were hammesing at the
forts Of Lege and the French and
British forces were gathering to resist
the invasion into France. He applied
for permission to attach himself to
the British headquarters, but was re-
fused on the ground that no newspaper
correspondents would be allowed to
accompany the army. At the French
headquarters be received the same re-
Spouse to his application.
Eggleston. having crossed the Allan
tic ocean and the British channel to
report the big tight. determined to fol-
low In the allies rear. hang about
their 6anks. anything except get In
their way. and report what he could
| gather. He found himself at Lille
when the allied armies had begun their
retreat. but before they had reached
that city. He also found the General
Safety" detective force used to hunt
down and eradicate spies. When one
IL hunting for any particular thing the
identity Of which Is doubtful be is very
apt to End 1t. With lot Of spy hunt
ers in the Geld q scarecrow set up t.
keep the crows away from the corn Is
not safe.
Eggleston was walking in Lille one
day when file of French soldiers
under the command Of a lieutenant
came down the street. stopping per
sons here and there. The American
did not dream Of danger and. when
they reached him and the officer de
manded to know who be was, where
be had come from and where he was
going. told him that he was q newspa
per correspondent looking for news
The officer, not being satisfied with this.
Informed him that he must take him tO
the headquarters of the General safety
Eggleston was conducted to q build
ing in u room Of which an onlcer. ait
ting behind a desk. regarded him ON
inously. The Frenchman Begin ask
ing him questions In French. and Eg
gleston understood most of them. an
swering without hesitation. but When
bis Questioner branched into German
the American showed plainly that be
did not understand II did not at once
occur to him that the man suspected
him Of being German spy and was
trying to catch him. Presently Eggles
ton bethought himself Of his passport
and produced it This established the
fact that he was an American, aud BIZ
was thereafter treated with great con
sideration.
EgglestOn spent some time In Lille
without being permitted to go near the
armies. One day he was walking alons
a residence street when he heard q
feminine voice say in French:
Monsieur. have you any news Of the
armies? VIII they come this way1
We are all packed ready to move"
Turning, he saw a pretty girl leaning
out Of a window. He had studied the
French language at school and had
picked up Frenchman on the way
across the Atlantic, with whom be had
talked necessarily in order to gather
enough French to enable him to get on
In France. So he replied as best be
could that he was profoundly ignorant
of what was going ON at the front: be
was trying to get there. but thus far
had been unsuccessful. Noticing that
his French was not Of the best. the
girl asked him II he were not English.
No: be was American. The English
were very popular since they had come
to assist the French. but before that
Americans were the best liked. An
elderly lady came to the window, anx.
iously asked for news and gave Eg
gleston an Invitation to come in. he
accepted It. A glass Of wine was
brought out. and the three sat discuss.
ing the probabilities Of the family hav.
ing to leave their home and cart their
belongings across country to the coast,
as the Belgians were doing.
And 20 It happened that Eggleston.
instead Of writing up the thunder Of
guns. the explosion Of SHELLS. the rattle
Of rifles. the groans Of the wounded.
spent several days dallying with pref.
ty girl. at the end Of which time, since
be did not 60 to the guns. the guns
came to him. and while they were yet
in the distance he helped his friends.
the Legires. to remove their e1ects-or
q small portion of them-to q cart he
secured for them and saw them on
their way 10 the southwark. after
which he began to do some work a. q
war correspondent
Eggleston. keeping as near the re-
treating French and English lines as
be dared. preceded their retreat toward
the capital When the tide turned he
was on the allies left nank and one
day after Witnessing some very hard
lighting went into a town on the west
A--t. - xhn .avop nfoa to xyrifo mn