The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-05-12

drilled persistently and made familiar
with rifle practice"
"In other words, they are being made
into a private army of trained men,
ready to be offered to the country's
service in event of war;"
"Excellency-yes."
81 must see for myself. A dangerous
business, a dangerous precedent;
should many American captains of in
,dustry adopt this scheme, the United
States will have a standing army too
soon, far too Don We must find some
way to discourage this young woman
some way to sterilize her efforts to-
ward preparedness before she can
prove them practicable"
Kato bowed assent. After another
moment Huroki dismissed him upon
his errand. 4
Within ten minutes the two, thor
oughly masked against recognition in
their motoring garments, left the
house and took their places-Kato at
the wheel-in a high-powered motor
car of the roadster type.
Tooling the car along in discreet rec
ignition of traffic regulations as long
as they Travelled city streets, once they
had gained open country KatO drove at
a pace which would have been fool
hardy in a driver less adept.
For a time, n route, their way ran
parallel with railroad tracks. For as
much as a mile the roadster raced a
light special train. Then, admonished
by Huroki's touch on his sleeve, Kato
modified the speed and permitted the
special to draw ahead. AS it did so,
Huroki identified Enthusiastically the
slight, girlish figure that sat alone on
the observation platform.
So Patria Claiming was likewise
bound for Powder Town!
Even had he been without a mask,
the face of the Japanese would have
betrayed no trace of emotion. Yet the
sight of the girl had set astir in him
passions which had for some time lain
dormant-dark passions bred of hatred
and chagrin. For, alone among the
many men and women with whom he
had come in contact in the course Of
a long and active and varied career,
Patria had proved a stumbling-block to
his ambition, stubbornly opposing her
puny strength to ,his-and overcoming
him, persistently thwarting his shrewd-
est schemes-and paying no penalty.
His arrangements were now all
made for a ~furtive, transformations exit
from the country which Patria had
made toe hot to harbor him longer. He
was, in effect, being driven out by this
insignificant wisp of womanhood-out-
lawed, a failure, d~isgraced, in i'll favor
with his emperor.
And he had been prepared to go
without further attempt to balance his
score with Patria. But this accidental
encounter-of which the girl had re-
manned so %serenely unconscious-made
him change his mind. Secretly he de-
termined, before the special had
rounded a bend ahead and vanished
from his view, upon one final essay
to ayenge his wrongs ere he fled.
An hour later it stood empty with
engine idle on a by-road near the sum-
NIT of a hill overlooking the little val
ley in which lay Powder Town. Twen-
ty feet above it, in the cover of a
group of trees on the hilltop, Huroki
and Kato were looking down into the
valley, with the aid of binoculars, the
Japanese reading plain confirmation of
all the newspaper alleged concerning
Patria's activities in the cause of pre-
paredness.
On the open space that lay between
the group of factory buildings and the
town, upwards of five hundred men
in semiuniform and bearing arms were
performing evolutions with a snap and
a precision hat spoke well for Donald
PARIS system of training.
Huroki'S face darkened.
Down the road from the railway sta
ton came a motOr-car. In it sat Patria
Claiming. AS it appeared the men in
training responded quickly to snapped
orders and arrayed themselves in long
ranks for review, presenting arms as
the car came to a pause at a little dis
lance before them.
Alighting, Patria was welcomed by
Captain Parr and a group of officers.
After walking the length of the front
ranks, Patria returned to the motor
car and took from the tonneau an OBJ
ject resembling, at q distance a pole,