Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-05-11

OCSdA ~ Ad1 Jul 0pOhSV ah1 6oaHo
bandages on the glass topped table by
the operating chair:
you see, I did not tell you of this
because-well, that fellow Capper's
coming last night looked bad. Even
your explanation did not altogether
convince. So | thought we'd ave this
little surprise for you. If you were
an Englishman you'd show it In the
face of this-you couldn't help 1t, eh?"
POSSIBLY not" the captain youch-
safed. but what is your plan, doc
tor? What are you going to do with
this Captain Woodhouse to insure his
being out of the way while / am in
Gibraltar? hope no violence-unless
necessary"
Nothing more violent than a violent
headache and some fever" Koch an
swered. He was busy fumbling in the
unconscious mans pockets. From the
breast pocket of the uniform jacket he
withdrew a wallet, glanced at its con-
tents and passed it to the captain.
"Your papers, eaptain-the papers of
transfer from Wady Halfa to Gibral-
tar. Money too. l suppose we'll have
W amt lndl, uiSO. " liant dpBtdA-
ances perfect-robbery following as
sault on the wharves."
Woodhouse pocketed the military pa
pers in the wallet and laid it down,
the money untouched. The two white
aids of DIR. Koch, who were standing
by the folding doors, eyed the leather
folder hungrily. Koch meanwhile had
stripped off the jacket from the Eng
lishman and was rolling up the right
sleeve of his shirt. That done. he
brought down from the top of the glass
instrument case a wooden rack COLI
tanning several test tubes, stoppled
with cotton. One glass tube he lifted
out of the rack and squinted at its
clouded contents against the light.
"a very handy little thing-very
handy" Koch was talking to himself
as much as to Woodhouse. "A sweet
little product of the MAN Man coun-
try down in Belgian Kongo. Natives
think no more of 1t than they would
of a water fy's bite, but the white
man is
"a virus of some kind" the other
guessed.
''Of my own isolation" DR.. Koch
answered proudly. He scraped the skin
ON the victims arm until the blood
came, then dipped an ivory spatula
into the tube of murky gelatin n
transferred what it brought up to the
raw place In the flesh.
'"The action is very quick and may
be Violent" he continued. "Our friend
here won't recover consciousness for
three days, and he will be unable to
stand on his feet for two weeks at
least dizziness, intermittent fever,
clouded memory. He'll be pretty sick"
"But not too sick to communicate with
Others Woodhouse suggested. "Sure-
ly"-
Maybe not too sick, but unable to-
communicate with Others" DR.. Koch
interrupted, with a booming laugh.
This time tomorrow night friend
will be well out on the Libyan desert,
with some ungentle Bedouins for con
pany. He's bound for Fezzan, and II
will be a long way home without mon
ey. Who knows? Maybe three months"
Very deity Koch bound up the abra-
sion on the Engllshman's arm with
gauze, explaining as he worked that
the mans desert guardians would have
instructions to remove the bandages
before he recovered his faculties. There
would be nothing to tell the luckless
prisoner more than that he had beer
kidnapped, robbed and carried away by
tribesmen-a not uncommon occurrence
in lower Egypt. Koch completed his
work by directing his aids to strip of
the rest of the unconscious mans uni.
form and clothe him In a nondescript
civilian garb that Caesar brought into
the consultation room from the mys-
FERROUS upper regions of the house.
Exit Captain Woodhouse Of the sig.
nal service" the smiling doctor ex-
claimed when the last button of the
misft jacket had been tipped into its
~buttonhole, "and enter Captain Wood
house Of the Wilhelmstrasse." Turn
ing, he bowed humorously to the lean
faced man beside him. He nodded his
head at Caesar. The latter dived into
a cupboard at the far end of the room
and brought out a squat flask and
glasses, which he passed around. When
the liquor had been poured DR.. Koch
lifted his glass and squinted through
it with the air of a gentle satyr.
Gentlemen, we drink to what will
happen soon on the rock of Gibral-
tar" All downed the toast gravely.
Then the master of the house jerked
his head toward the unconscious man
on the operating chair. Caesar and
the two white men lifted the limp body
and started with it to the door, DIR.
"a AM