Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-11-25

try it. The frontier is closed for them.
1 was offered my life only two hours
ago If l arrested them"
jan" cried Leontine, indignantly.
IT'S true. Why should tell lie?
didn't understand then the sort of game
the Pruss.ans are playing. Now that
I Know
Miss Beresford." broke in Dalroy.
emphatically. .'if these good people will
leave them to their fate"
DO come, NJ Joos," said Irene. speak
ing for the first time since the trag-
edy: by remaining here you risk
your life to no purpose.
we are coming now, ma'm'selle."
Suddenly the miller's alert eye was
caught by spasmodic movement in the
limbs of the last man whom Dalroy
follow isn't finished with yet"
He was making for the PROSTATE
form with that terrible fork when Dali
roy ran swiftly, and collared him.
stop that" came the angry command.
murder. Out you get now, or I'll throw
YOU out!"
Joos laughed. You're making a mis-
take. monsieur" he said. These Prus-
you just for the fun of the thing If you
were tied hand and foot. But let the
rascal live If it pleases you. AS for
this one." and he spurned Busch's body
l.,
him? He squealed like a pig"
Dalroy was profoundly relieved when
the automatic pistols and ammunition
were collected. the lamp extinguished,
had passed through garden and or
chard to the gloom of the ravine. The
hour was about halfpast O'Clock.
Twenty-four hours earlier he and Irene
were about to leave Cologne by train,
believing. with some degree OF con-
fidence. that they might be allowed to
cross the frontier without let or him
drance! Life was then conventional,
with spice of danger Now 1t had de-
scended in the social scale until they
ranked on a par with the dog that had
gone mad and must be slain at sight.
The German code of war is a legal
paraphrase of the trickster's formula.
Heads 1 win. tails you lose" The ar
mics of the fatherland are ordered to
practice 'frightfulness," and SO ter
rorze the civil population that the in
habitants of the stricken country will
compel their rulers to sue for peace on
any terms. But woe to that same civil
population If some small section of its
members resists or avenges any act of
"frightfulness." Soldiers might murder
the Widow Jacquinot and ravish her
bestial orgy in the miller's house; but
Dalroy and Joos and MaertZ, in punish
ing the one set of crimes and prevent
ing another, had placed themselves out
cared a farthing rushlight about the
moral consequences of that deadly
struggle in the kitchen. but Dalroy
was in different case. He knew the
heart was heavy and his brow scanned.
His own fate was of slight concern,
since he had ceased to regard life as
worth more than an hours purchase at
any time from the moment he leeped
down into the station yard at Aix-la
Chapelle. But ii was hard luck that
the accident of mere association should
have bound up Irene Peresford's for
tunes so irrevocably with his. Was
there no way out of the maze in which
they were wandering? What, for in
stance. had I - Maertz meant by his
cryptic statements?
I'VE must halt here" Dalroy said.
authoritatively, stopping short In the
shadow of small c'ump of trees on
the edge of the ravine, a place whence
there was fair field of view, yet SO
close to dense brushwood that the best
of cover was available instantly If
needed.
"Why? demanded Joos 81 know
every inch of the way
II want to question MaertZ," said
Dalroy. shortly. But don't let me de-
lay you on that account. Indeed, l adj
wise you to go ahead. and safeguard
Nine Joos and your daughter, I would
even persuade, If l can, Mile. Beresford
to go with Won"
'I don't mind listening to JAMS yarn
myself" grunted the miller. "And
isn't 1t time we had some supper?
Killing Prussians is hungry work. Did
YOU hear Busch? He squealed like q
pig. Leontine, cut some chunks of beef
and bread. and open one of these bot
ties of wine"
There was solid sense in the old mans
crude rejoinder. Criminals about to
suffer the death penalty often enjoy
good meal. These six people, who had
Just escaped death. or-where the wom-
en- were concerned-a degradation
feet the grave might yawn wide and
deep at once and without warning, were
nevertheless greatly in want Of food.
SO they ate as they talked.
Maertz's story was coherent enough