Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-01-15

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So old Koch was taking precautions,
eh? Well, Capper, for one, could
hardly blame him; who wouldn't, IN
der the circumstances?
The Tavern of Thermopylae was
built for the Billy Cappers Of the
world-a place of genial deviltry where
every mans gold was better than his
name, and no man asked more than to
see the color of the strangers money.
Here was gathered as sweet a COM
pany of assassins as one could find
from Port Said to Honmoku, all gentle
to fellows of their craft under the free
masonry Of hard liquor. Greeks, LIE
vantines. Liverpool lime-juicers from
the Cape, leech eyed Firms from a
Russians stoke hole, tanned ivory
runners from the forbidden lands OF
the African back country-all n q
made Tyre and Sidon infamous in Old
| Testament police records was repre-
1nted there. =.
Capper called for an absinth drip
per and established himself in a de-
serted corner of the smoke filled
room. There was music, of sorts, and
singing; women whose " eyes told
strange stories, and whose tongues
| iumped 'nimbly ver three or foul
Ilansua~ es, offered their companion
| ship to those who needed company
| with their drink. But Billy Capper
ignored the music and closed his ears
to the sirens; he knew who was his
best cup companion. "
The thin green blood Of the worm
wood dripped down on to the ce In
Capper's glass, coloring it with a rlme
like moss. He watched 1T, asclnated
and when he slipped the cold slcKiy
sweet liquor he was eager as a cnllo
to see how the pictures the abslntn
drew on the ice had been changed by
the draft. a. Sip-sip; a soothing
numbness came to the tortured
nerve Sip-sip; the clouds OF doubt
and self pity pressing down on his
brain began to shed away. He saw
things. clearly now; everything was
sharp and clear as the point OF an
icicle, So, - ,i--a -,
He reviewed with new zest his re-
cent experiences from the night he met
Louisa in the Cafe Richie up to his
interview with Doctor Koch. Louisa
that girl with the face OF a fine ami.
nal and a heart as cold as carved
AMETHYST: why had she been so will
ing to intercede for Billy Capper with
her superiors in the Wilhelmstrasse
and procure him a number and a mis-
sion to Alexandria? For MS 1ntor-
nation regarding the Anglo-belglah
understanding? But she paid ior
that the. deal was fairly closed Win
three hundred marks. DID Louisa GO
further and list him in the
strasse out of the goodness OF ner
heart, or for old memory's cap
Der smiled wryly over his ,absinth.
There was, no goodness in Loulsas
heart and the strongest memory she
had was how nearly Billy Capper hao
dragged her down with him in the
scandal of the Lord Fisher letters:
: How the thin green blood of the
vormwood cleared the mind-made 1t
leap to logical reasoning!
WHY had Louisa instructed him to
leave Marseilles by the steamer touch
ing at Malta when a swifter a
scheduled to go to Alexandria direct
was leaving the French port a few
hours later? Was it that the girl In
tended he should get no further man
Malta: that the English there snoulo
Gamer laughed like the philosopher
who has lust discovered the absolute
of life's futility. The ticket-hls uck-
OF from the Wilhelmstrasse which
Louisa had procured for him; Louisa
wanted that for other purposes, and
used him as the dummy to obtain 1t.
She wanted it before he could arrive
at Maitland she got it before he LETT
Marseilles. Even Louisa, he wise
had played without discountlng the
double O on the wheel-fate's percent
age in every game; she could not know
the Vendee would be warned from
lingering at Malta because of the exl-
gency of war, and that Billy Capper
would reach Alexandria, after all.
The green logic in the glass carried
Gamer along with mathematical ex,
actness of deduction. AS he slipped,
his mind became a thing aetacneu
and, looking down from
high above earth, reviewed n DUN
dering course of Billy Cappers BODY
from Berlin to Alexandria-the poor
deluded body of a dupe. With this
gertrude Of logic came the beginnings
of resolve. Vague at first and intan'
! gible. then, helped by the absinth to
focus. was this new determination
Capper nursed it, elaborated on 1t,
took pleasure in forecasting it's out
come, and viewing himself in the new
light of a humble hero. 1t was near
morning and the Tavern of Thermopy'
lac was well-nigh deserted when Cap
| per paid his score and Numbered
! through the early morning crowd Of