Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-27
CHAPTER III-Uontinued)

UT REMEMBER now" she murmured
L YOU left me under the hedge while
you crept forward to investigate, and was
silly enough to go off in a dead faint. Did
you carry me to the shed?'
What bother | must have been. But
the finding Of rife doesn't explain a can
Of milk
cow" he said lightly. "Now, young lady,
II YOU can talk you can walk. We have a
little farther 10 20"
Have -" she retorted. bravely emulat-
ing his self-ControI II am glad you have
fixed on our destination. It's quite reliet
TO he in charge Of n man who really knows
what he wants. and sees that he gets it
He led the way she followed He had
an eve for all quarters. because daylight
was coming now with the flying feet OF
Aurora But this tiny section Of Belgium
was free from Germans. for the very good
reason that their cohorts already held the
right bank of the Meuse at many points
and their engineers were throwing pontoon
bridges across the river al Wise and Argen-
teau,
From the edge Of the wood Dalroy looked
down on the river, the railway. and the little
town itself He saw instantly that the
whole district south of the Meuse was
strongly held by the invaders, Three arches
NJ n fne stone bridge had been destroyed,
evidently by the retreating Belgians; nut
pontoons were i'm position TO take It's place.
Twice already had Belgian artillery de-
stroyed the enemys work. and not even a
professional soldier could guess that the
guns OF the defense were only awaiting a
better light 10 smash the pontoons a third
time In fact. barely half mile to the
right OF the wood, a battery Of four 5|s
was posted on high ground, in the hope that
the Belgian guns Of smaller calloer might
TarsnNa
while the two stood looking down into the
valley. sputtering rifle fire broke out
across the river three hundred yards wide
at the bridge and the volume OF musketrN
stsadiIv increased. Men, horses, wagons
and motors swarmed on the roadway or
sheltered behind warehouses on the quays,
As soldier. Dairoy was amazed at the
sraed and annihilatinG completeness of the
German mobilization. Indeed he was
chaErined by il, it seemed so admirable,
so thoroughly thought out in each detail,
SO unapproachable by any other nation in
its pitiless efficiency, He did not know
then that the vaunted Prusslan-made mill
tarv machine depended for its motive power
largely on treachery and espionage, To-
ward the close Of July. many da's before
war was declared, Germany had secretly
massed 900. 900 men on the frontiers Of
Belgium and the Duchy OF Luxembourg,
Her armies, therefore, had gathered like
feln
I'm the persons Of thousands of German
ofHcers domiciled in both countries in the
guise of peaceful traders
SinRle-minded person that he was, Dali
ro, al once focused his thoughts on the
immediate problem, small stream leaped
down from the wood to the Meuse. Short
Of a main road bridge its turbulent course
was checked by a mill dam, and there was
some reason 10 believe that the mill might
he Jooss. The building seemed a prosper
Gus place, with its two giant wheels on dtf-
ferent levels its ample granaries, and sub
stantial house. 1t was intact too, and
somewhat apart from the actual line OF
hattie. At any rate, though the transition
was the tlme-honored one from the frying
nan 10 the ire, in that direction lay food
shelter and human beings other than Ger
mans. so he determined TO go there without
further delay. His main purpose now was
to lodge his companion with some Belgian
family until the tide Of war had swept far
10 the west For himself he meant tc
cross the enemys lines by hook or crook OF
lose his life in the attempt,
'One more EFFORT he said. smiling con-
ndently into irene's somewhat pallid lace
Your uncle lives below there, fancy
Were about to claim his hospitality
nt bid ths rlhs. bsyonet and cartridges