Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-11-09
FIFTEENTH EPISODE
The COlOnel's Orderly.
It was all over.

~ WA9 ~ 0N1Aa
The Silent Menace was unmasked.
On the roof of the army adminlstra-
don building, helpless, huddled, his
eyes closed, his face partly concealed
in the crook Of his unbroken arm, he
lay in the center of an awed group,
dying.
In this group was Major Thornton
Brent and his wife, Mrs. Thornton
Brent, formerly Miss Bertha Bonn.
Even in that tragic moment a gold
locket was conspicuous at her threat.
At last had Bertha come into her own
and the inscription on the miniature
In the lOcket become a fact, indeed.
Colonel Richard q. Dare and the chief
of the army stsR were also In the
group, %spellbound before the revela-
ton they beheld.
Kneeling beside the dying man,
from whom consciousness had not en-
tirely fed, YVES Miss Pearl Dare and
her fathers orderly and her lover, T.
o. Adams, about whom the shrouds Of
mystery had not altogether been re-
moved.
The flag which the Silent Menace
had attempted to despoil again lut-
tered in its place on the army admins
tration building pole.
The dying man opened his eyes and
gazed upon it in intense hatred. ut
will yet come down" he growled, as
IL foretelling the future.
A gust Of wind shook the flag and
unfurled it's stars and stripes before
the gaze Of the stricken man, as If to
defy and challenge him and the whole
world.
The dying man turned from the
hateful object of his sight and breathed
his last. 1.-THE Silent Menace has not
PerishedW were his departing words.
america, look Outy"
A shudder of horror ran through the
spectators. Pearl Dare and T. o.
adams gave the dead mans face one
indescribable look, rose and walked
away, hand in hand, thinking of many
things, of everything.
The dead man was Toxic.
Toxic, the Dare chauffeur, the faith
full servant, the never suspected or
questioned.
Toxic was the Silent Menace.
Toxic was the leader of the Foreign
Alliance, the master political criminal,
the man Of distinguished Characters
tics of bearing, speech, physical Prov
ess and illimitable power; a ruler, an
international dreamer, superclever
and s~upercunning, a genius in shaping
events, in intrigue, an archplotter for
crowns and sceptres against demOc-
racy and personal freedom.
Toxic, the quiet and unassuming
chauffeur, was all this, the man who
shook America and foiled it to the last
with a thick black muller.
That he died a mailman there was
not the slightest doubt; for no sane
person, no matter how r%evengeful or
desperate, would have hazarded dis
covery when he must have known that
every secret service man in Washing
ton was searching for him. Further
more, his language and appearance in
death indicated that the man had gone
entirely out of his head.
And now a curious change was APP
parent in the department of Il. 0.
Adams. Before leaving the roof with
Pearl he approached Brent and Ber-
tina, briefly congratulated them and,
not as a subordinate addressing his SUI
perior but as an equal, he requested
the major to bring his wife to the
Dares as soon as possible; and he also
asked the colonel if he would try and
arrange to be at home at al early
hOul.
Borh the colonel and Brent took it
that ne had something further to tell
about the Silent Menace and agreed
TO his wishes. Bertha did not know
what to think. A prepOsterous notion
had come into her mind, but it was so
prepOsterous that II was dismissed at
once, leaving her blank,
Adams and Pearl went to the hos
pitOl in which Toxic had been placed
on the day Of the night they became
prisoners On the ship of the Silent
Menace en- route to the canal. Here,
20 their amazement, although they now
clearly understood, they learned that
on the same night Toxic had been taken
from the hospital on a written order
purpOrtlDg to come from Colonel Dare,
nothing strange being thought of that.
This cleared che last but one Of the
only two missing links In the mystery
Of Toxic the other being seemingly i'm
possible of solution.
t was this: How did Toxic learn
that the Canal Defense plans were con-
cealed under the left shoulder strap
and the chemical waters in the watch
fob lOcket of Captain Ralph Payne on
that day in July when the latter left
The secret council chamber Of the gen
ual army stan, the only person outside
~ those In the session to whom this
secret was knOwn2 And was the Ora
nsdian ambassador murdered by To
ko1
"SOmeOne must have hold Toxic %