Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-16
A Story Of 1914
By LOUIS TRACY

OF his men and horsss to inelement
weather. Moreover, how easy 1t was
for the corporal to convey polite hint
to Won Haiwig by asking II the chauf-
feur should not turn the car in readi-
ness for his departure!
All this. and more, cascaded through
Dalroy's brain while his enemy was
in the plight of shipwrecked sailor
clinginE to a sinking craft. who saw
1ffeboat approaching, yet dared neither
look at nor signal to It. He must bend
all his energies now to the task OF
keeping Won Haiwig occupied. What
around the orators neck? Would IL
tighten with SUFFICIENT rapidity to
choke cry for help? Would It fall
awkwardly. and warn him? Were any
could see into that section OF the barn.
and thus witness their officer's ex-
traordinary predicament? Who could
tell? How might man form any sort
of opinion as TO the yea or nay Of a
juggier's feat which savored of black
magic?
Dalroy gave up the effort TO guess
what the next half-mirute might bring
forth. Those mysterious beings up
there needed the best help he could Of
fer. and his powers in that respect
were strictly limited to two channels
he must egg on the talker--he must
not watch that rope.
II am ready to admit Germany's
strength on land" he said. resoiutely
fixing his eyes on an iron cross at
tacaed to the Prussian's tunic above
the top button. That lis a reasona BILE
claim. How futile otherwise would
have been your twenty years OF prep
araticn for this very war. But my
mind is far too dense TO understand
how you can disregard the English
channel"
'@rhe English CHANNEL" scoffed Won
Haswig. The impudence of you YER
daramt---. No. it's foolish to lose
really important part of the English
channel is about to become German.
For little time we leave you the sur
face. but Germany will own the rest.
Your navy is about to receive a horri-
bic surprise We've caught you nap
ming. While Britain was ruling the
sea we Germans have been experiment
ing with 1t. Our visible feet is good.
but not good enough, so We allowed
auiet until we had perfected our In
cisible fleet We are ready now. We
possess three submarines to your one
and can build more, and bigger, and
better undersea boats than You. Do
YOU realize what that means2 Already
we have sunk four of your best cruis-
ers. and they never saw the vessel that
destroyed them. We are playing havoc
with your mercantile marine. Britain
Is girdled with mines and torpedoes.
No ship can enter or leave any of your
ports without mourning the almost un-
avofdabie risk Of
A rat scampered across one of the
speakers feet. and startled him.
He swore. dropped the cigarette, and
lighted another, the third. Like every
Junior ofIscer of the German corp.
d'eIite. he had sedulousIy copied the
manners and bearing of the commits
stoned ranks in the British army. But
YOUR true German Is neurotic: the rat
the rope rose quickly halfway to the
trapdoor; il fell again when Won Hal
wig donned the prophets mantle once
more.
I'VE cannot only ruin and starve
you." he said. exu1tantly, but we have
guns which will beat a way for our
troops from Calais to Dover against
all the ships you dare mass in those
waters. We have you bested in every
way. Each German company takes
a British regiment. We have high ex-
plosives you never heard of. While
YOU were playing polo and golf our
chemists were busy in their labora-
tories"
His voice rose as he reeled off this
litany of war. His perfect command
of English was not proof against the
cultural clank and crash of German
He became veritabie German talk
ing English. rather than an accom-
plished linguist using a foreign
tongue. Oddly enough. his next TRADE
showed that he was half aware of the
change. "old England Is done, Capt
Dalroy," he chanted Young Germany
is about to take her place. The world
must learn to speak German, not En-
glish. Six months from now I'll begin
to forget your makeshift language
Six months from now the German eagle
will flaunt in the breeze as securely In
London as il flies today IN Berlin and
Brussels. and. it may be, In Paris. II
I'm lucky. and get through the war
Colt in Hmm"
With a sudden vicious swoop the
moose settled on Won Halwig's Shout
ders. and was jerked taut. A master
hand made that cast. No American
cowboy ever placed lasso more neatly
on the horns of unruly steer. At one
instant the rope was swinging back
and forth noiseiessly: at the next, ris-
ing under the impetus of a gentle flick.
it whirled over the Prussian's head
and frightened around his neck. He
tore madly at it with both hands, but
was already lifted off his feet, and in
process of being hauled upward with
an almost incredible rapidity. There
was momentary delay when his head
reached the level of the trapdoor: but
Dalroy distinctly saw two hands grasp
the struggling arms and heave the
guardsman's long body out of sight.
An astounding feature of this tragic
episode was the absence of any outcry
on the victims part. He uttered no
sound other than a stifed gurgle after
that half completed exclamation was
stilled. Possibly, his dazed wits con-
centrated on the One frantic endeavor-
to get rid of that horrible choking
thing which had ciutched at him from
out of the surrounding obscurity
And now thick knotted rope
pumped down until it's end lay on the
clothed like Maertz or Dalroy himself
descended with the ease and agility of
monkey. He was just the kind of
shaggy goblin one might expect to
emerge from any such hiding place /;
but he carried slung rife, and the be-
wildered prisoner, taking few steps
forward to greet his rescuer. realized
that the weapon was a Lee Enfield of
the latest British army pattern.
"'Arf a mo-. SIR, gurgled the new
conner in husky and cheerful whisper
"fl1 old the rope till the next of abr
little knot as Skinned dahn. Then i'll
cut yer loose, an we'll get the wind up
ahtside. Didjevsr ear such gas-bag
as that bloomin' Jarman? Lord luv'
duck. e couldn't 'arf torlI, But Shiney
Black. one of AIRS, as just showed
bynit through is gizzard. so that cock
won't crow ag'ine.
Dalrov owned only readers knowl-
red rather than actually understood,
that several British soldiers were Sc
creted in the loft. and that one of them,
named -'Shiney Black" had closed Won
career in the twin King of an
eye.
BY this time another man had reached
the ground. He seized the rope and
90 sI IL