Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-09-19

In the bottom of each car lay at
least five modern magazine rifles.
Timing their progress to reach a GER
tain point at a certain moment, they
moved sedately through the twilight
and the darkness, attracting no atten-
ton.
Between seven and eight these cars
came together in a lonely stretch of
countryside adjoining the valley of
Powder Town. The driver of each re-
ported to Kato personally, then parked
his car in the fields by the roadside.
Checking off each arrival on a COM
pact tally sheet, Kato at length extin-
guished the pocket fiash-lamp by which
he had worked, and-having consulted
his watch-gaye the word to march.
At precisely twenty minutes to eight
O'Clock the last file of armed japanese
trotted past him and disappeared in
the gloom.
He delayed before following only
long enough to plant a small rocket in
the earth and touch a match to its
fuse
Spearing up into the night on a
course which kept it invisible to the
/ inhabitants of Powder Town, the rocket
broke at an elevation which permitted
it to be seen from the valley of the
trestle.
At sight of it, Baron Huroki, stand
ing on the porch of the japanese farm
house, uttered an inarticulate sound of
satisfaction, pocketed his binOcular,
and. going into the house, took up the
telephone and gave the number of the
Ritz-Cnrlton in New York.
At eighteen minutes to eight Patrla
Claiming paused in the act of COM
pleting her toilette for dinner to an
swer the telephone.
"Yes!" she called. This is Miss
Claiming. Who are your"
Out of the mystery of the night a
voice responded in accents oddly ia
miliar yet oddly unacceptable:
"Your men have mutinied in Powder
Town. They are riotine and shooting
up the town. Captain Parr and others
are besieeed in the office building of
Mill Number Five, in nomentary dam
ger of being blown up"
The voice ceased abruptly. There
was the cliEk of a receiver hung up.
The girl'E distracted efforts to get the
connection renewed failed utterly. In
panic she threw the instrument from
her and began to tear off her frock.
Fetch me a travelling suit" she or
| dered her maid. "Then call up the
railroad and tell them to have my train
ready for immediate service. I'm GO
| ing out to Powder Town as quickly
as I can"
Twenty-three minutes later she
boarded her special at Jersey City.
AS the train pulled out of the yard
a furtive little japanese lodged away
between the tracks, left the yard, and
seeking the first saloon addressed him
self to the telephone.
Having received definite word that
Patria was on the way, Baron Hurokl
hung up, left the Japanese farmhouse,
and superintendent the setting off of a
| great rocket.
| This last, rising to a great height
at high speed, was plainly visible in
Powder Town when it exploded.
| Kato saw it-he had been waiting
for precisely that signal-and scram-
bled to his feet. Applying a whistle
to his lips, he blew a single blast. In.-
mediately the field in which he had
been lying at length became peopled
with the shadowy shapes of his coun-
! trymen.
A second blast set them in motion.
In utter silence but for the rattle of
accoutrements and the thudding of
/ their feet, they bore down at double
quick on the unsuspiciOus little town
which they had surrounded in the
| darkness.
In three minutes more the vanguard
of the raiders debouched in the main
street of Powder Town and charged up
it, shooting and bayonetting all in
their path.
Taken completely off their guard
who had. for that matter, no reason
to anticipate anything of the sort, the
terrorized inhabitants fed before this
| general assault like leaves before a
| great wind.
In five minutes the Japanese were
in complete and undisputed possession
of the town and were firing its houses.
The glare of those flames against
| the sky was synchronous with the call
| ing of bugle in the main yard of the
/ Claiming factories. The first refugees
had just arrived and begun to gasp