The Washington herald., 1917-11-26
BY JOHN LLOYD BALDERsToN.
Copyright la7, by the Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicatel

syndicate)
The major sat in the low camp
chair at his comfortable billet, In no
very pleasant frame of mind. For
the last few weeks he had been en-
gagged In a game in which SO far he
had not scored a single point, while
his opponent had managed to bring
on q successful coup at rather fire.
quent intervals. 1t was no consola-
ton to him that the conditions of the
game were hopelessly unequal or that
his failure was shared by many
agencies not under his own control
He had set out to win. and the fact
that he was apparently no nearer
the goal than when he started de-
pressed him.
The game was a maddenly simple
one. On this particular section Of the
front the Bochs possessed a long
range 36-centimeter gun mounted on
railway truck, with which he per-
sistenuy bombarded towns and viii
lagos well behind our own lines.
"Pershing Percy" this confounded
weapon had been christened, would
trundle along a railway one evening.
make itself at home on some suitable
siding, and fire some twenty rounds
or so into the center Of town that
night. Before it could be spotted. II
would pack up and disappear, to re-
peat the process somewhere else. The
actual military damage it did was
inconsiderable. but it almost always
killed or MANNED several unoffendinG
civilians, and the fat had gone forth
that It must be stopped.
Major Traces Gun.
The major had been selected to
stop II. He commanded a battery of
equally long range guns also on rail-
way trucks, and he and one of his
guns followed Pershing Percy's move
ments, prepared TO open fire on it as
soon as its position could be de-
tected. but this was where the in
equality came in. His opponents
targets were large and stationary,
marked upon every map, the op-
ponent himself was merely a point
whose movements were only limited
by the ramifications OF a network OF
railways, and SO far he had most
successfully evaded detection. No
wonder the majors patience was get
ting exhausted. He beloved gun,
whose huge form he could see
through the window. dim and mysteri-
Gus under its tarpaulins in the waning
light, had never once been in action
since the game began.
Suddenly the telephone on the table
'buzzed olt the majors call. He
picked it up impatieEtly. kite Bal
loon wishes to speak 10 you. sir. I'll
switch you through" said a voice.
1t was the officer in charge. "Awtully
sorry 1 couldn't come to dinner. sir. y
he said. "Iy winch went out of order
and they have only just managed to
haul me down"
"Oh, that's all right" replied the
major. 'Anthing to be seen up
there this time of night?"
Nothing in your line. sir" said
the balloon officer. only the usual
supply trains coming up to the rail-
hCads. You can see their steam
long after you can see nothing else,
1t was mostly right away south. in
25i somewhere. Good night. SIR
The ma jor put down the telephone
and stretched out a hand for his
maps. Map square 25i was long
way out OF his range. and. anyway,
supply trains were not his game. He
ahA4- 1T as "tll ioOh u hp AiOut-lls lilfi z
was nothing else 10 do. He found the
map he sought and looked up the
reference, utterinS a puzzled eXclama-
tion as he did SO. Square "a covered
r tract OF bare, undulating country,
across which wound an unimportant
road. deeply sunken in -laces across
the chalk downs. There were no signs
of a railway within a nile of it. Per-
haps one had been built lately by the
enemy. he thought, and searched
through a Gle OF aeroplane photo
graphs for The one that showed this
region. 1t agreed with the map in
every respect
Finds His Quarry.
IT was curious. The balloon man
must be mistaken. He would ring up
and point the matter out. perha ps
saving his friend from making a
ridiculous error on his official report
He did so, but the observer was con-
vinced OF his accuracy. There was
another of our balloons p. as it hap
pens" he said. His bearings agree
TT MVER ChNN!nATE0