Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-02-15

of launches established lanes of COM
munication; khaki Of the Rocks de-
tenders and blue of the fleets officers
met, passed and repassed. In ward
room and club lounge glasses were
touched in pledges to the united ser
vice. The high commander of the
Mediterranean fleet paid his official
visit to the governor of Gibraltar, and
the governor. in turn, was received
with honors upon the quarterback OF
the flagship. But under the super
fetal courtesies of fanfare and present
arms the stern business of coallng
fleet progressed at high tension. 1t
was necessary that all of the fighting
machines have their bunkers filled by
noon Of the following day. Every min
ute that the Channel up under the
murky North sea fogs lay without full
strength Of her fleet protection was
added danger for England.
| That morning, Captain Woodhouse
went on duty in the signal tower.
Major Bishop, his superior, had sum-
moned him to his Office Immediately
after breakfast and assigned him to
his tasks there. Sufficient proof,
Woodhouse assured himself, with Ella
| ton, that he had come through the fire
| in General Crandall's library, tested
and found genuine. Through this pre-
| text and that, he had been kept Off
duty the day before, denied access to
the slender stone tower high up on
the Rocks crest which was the motor
center of Gibraltars ganglia of de-
! tense. .- r.r --.~-~~r.-e~ -
/ The small office in which Wood
{ house was installed was situated at
! the very top of the tower-a room
glassed on four sides like the lantern
room of a lighthouse, and provided
with telescope, telephone switch
board. range finders, and all the CON-
plicated machinery Of gunfire control.
| On one side were trestle boards sup
porting charts Of the ranges-fgured
areas represented every square yard
| of water from the nearer harbor be-
low cut to the farthest reaching dis.
lance of the monster disappearing
guns. A second graphic sheet show
ed the harbor and anchorages and the
entrance to the straits; this map was
thickly spotted with little, red, num-
bered dots-the mines. Sown like a
| turnip field with these deadly capsules
of destruction were all the waters
| whereabouts; their delicate tendrils
led under water and through conduits
| in the Rock up to this slender spire
called the signal tower. AS he climb
ed the winding stairway to his newly
assigned post, Woodhouse had seen
painted on a small wooden door just
below the room he was to occupy the
single white letter 3D."
Room D-where the switches were,
where a single sweep Of the hand
could loose all the hidden death out
there in the crowded harbor-it lay
directly below his feet.
Captain Woodhouses duties were
not arduous. He had as single COM
panion a sergeant of the scignal SER
vice, whose post was at the window
overlooking the harbor. The ser.
geant read the semaphore message
from the slender signal arm on the
fagship's bridge-directions for the
coal barges' movements, businesslike
orders to be transmitted to the quar-
termaster in charge of the naval stores
ashore, and such humdrum Of routine.
These Woodhouse recorded and for
warded to their various destinations
over the telephone.
He had much time for thought-and
much to think about.
Yesterdays scene in the library of
Government House-his grilling by the
two suspicious men, when a false an
swer on his part would have been the
first step toward a firing squad Yes,
and what had followed between him.
self and the little American-the girl
who had protected and aided him
ali, the pain of that trial was hardly
less poignant than had been the ter
ror of the one preceding 1t. She had
asked him to prove to her that he
was not what she thought him. Be-
| fore another day was past she would
be out of his life and would depart,
| believing-yes, convinced-that the
task he had set himself to do was a
dishonorable one She could not know
that the soldiers of the Hidden Army
have claim to heroism no less than
they who join battle under the sun.
But he was to see Jane Gerson once
more; Woodhouse caught at this cir.
cumstance as something precious. To-
night at Government House Lady
Crandalls dinner to the refugee
Americans on the eve of their depar.
ture would offer last opportunity
How could he turn it to the desire of
his heart?
| One more incident of a crowded yes
terday gave Woodhouse a crust for
rumination-the unmasking Of jain
ihr Khan, the Indian, had elected for
himself at that critical minute when
| il Law in his power to betray the