Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-18
THE DAY OF WRATH
A STORY OF 1914
BY Louis Tracy

prise. We've caught you mapping while
Britain was ruling the sen we Germans
nave been experimenting with II. our vis-
lple Meet is good, but not good enough, 80
We allowed your naval superiority to keep
you quiet until we had perfected our in
visible fleet. We are ready now. We pos
scss three submarines TO your one and can
huiId more and bigger and better under
sea boats than you DO you realize what
hat means? Already We have sunk four
Of your best cruisers and they never saw
th' vcFsel thot destroyed them We are
playing havoc with your mercantile marine
Britain is girdled with mines and torpe-
does. No ship can enter or leave any of
your ports without mourning the almost
unavoidable risk Of"
rat scampered across one of the speak
er's feet. and startled him.
He swore dropped the cigarette and
lighted another, the third. Like every
Junior officer Of the German corps d'elite
he had seduously copied the manners and
| bearing Of the commissioned ranks In the
British army. But your true German Is
neurottc; the rat had scratched the veneer.
Meanwhile the rope rose quickly half way
to the trapdoor; it fell again when Won
Halwig donned the prophets mantle once
! more.
I'VE cannot only ruin and starve you"
| he said cNutantly. but we have guns which
| Will beat a way for our troops from Calais
| 70 Dover against all the ships you dare
!
! in every way. Each German company takes
| the field with more machine guns than a
! British regiment. We have high explosives
! you never heard Of. While you were play
! ing polo and golf our chemists were busy
| in their laboratories"
His voice rose as he rceled off this litany
| OF war His perfect command of English
| was not proof against the cultural clanlJ
| and crash of German lie became a veri-
| table German talking English. rather than
| an accomplished linguist using a foreign
| tongue. Oddly enough his next TRADE
! showed that he was half-aware of the
change. "Old England is done, Captain
! Dalroy," he Chanted. Young Germany is
about to take her place. The world must
learn to speak German, not English Six
months from now I'll begin to forget your
| makeshift language Six months from now
the German Eagle will fiaunt in the breeze
as securely in London as it flies today In
| Berlin and Brussels, and, 1t may be, in
Paris, If I'm lucky, and get through the
! war Gott in Hmm"
With sudden vicious swoop the moose
settled on Won Halwig's shoulders, and was
ierked taut. A master hand made that cast
| No American cowboy ever placed lasso
more neatly on the horns of unruly steer.
At one instant the rope was swinging
back and forth noiseessly; at the next
rising under the impetus Of a gentle flick
| 1t whirled over the Prussian's head and
frightened around his neck. lie tore madly
at it with both hands, but was already
lifted off his feet, and in process of being
hauled upward with an almost incredible
rapdity. There was a momentary delay
when his head reached the level of the
trap-dOOr but Dalroy distinctly saw two
hands grasp the struggling arms and heave
the Guardsman's long body out Of sight
An astounding feature of this truEfc cpl
sode was the absence of any outcry on
the victims part. He uttered no sound
other than a stined Eurgle after that half
completed exclamation was stilled, Possi-
bly, his dazed wits concentrated on the
one frantic endeavOr--to get rid Of that
horrible choking thing which had ClutChed
AT him from out Of the surrounding OBJ
| sCurity.
And now thick knotted rope pumped
down until its end lay on the floor and
a rough-looking fellow, clothed like Maertz
or Dalroy himself, descended with the ease
and agility Of a monkey. He was just the
kind of shaggy goblin one might expect
to emerge from any such hiding-pace but
ne carried a slung rife and the bewildered
prisoner, taking a few steps forward TO
greet his rescuer realized that the weapon
was a Lee Enfield Of the latest British
army pattern.
Arr mo- SIR" gurgled the newcomer
I'm a husky and cheerful whisper. "Pll
old the rope till the next of abr little knot
as Skinned dahn. Then I'll cut yer loose
an we'll get the wind up ahtside Didjever
ear such a gas-baE as that bloomin' Jar
man? Lord luv a duck, q couldn't 'arf
torkl But Shiney Black, one of AIRS, as
Just showed a bynit through is gizzard, so
that cock won't crow ag'ine :"
Dalroy owned only a readers knowledge
Of colloQuial coclSney, lie inferred, rather
than actually understood that several
British soldiers were secreted in the loft
! and that one Of them. named "Shney
Black" had closed Won Halwigs career in
the twinkling Of an eye.
Copyright Edward J Code)
CONTINUED TOMORROW