The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1917-06-21
r NEtContinued.)
IT- ~--1-TT-"s 7f-9H -V9-lF9-T- |T- T--T1-T-lT0-T5--Ig
& Americans burst ia Brissor

Americans ~ burst in Brisson.
bah! They are not Americans!
Germans, perhaps, or Austrians
but Americans, no! Those men,
Gabrielle, have something to con-
.ceall and Brisson, froWning
darkly, went back into the house.
Meanwhile the two pedestrians
made their way rapidly along the
dark and silent street without ex-
changing a word. There was IN
their faces a strange excitement,
and they stared straight ahead, as
though they dared not meet each
Others eyes. AT the end Of a few
moments, they zane out upon the
quays. Here the darkness Of the
narrow street gave place to the
gray Of the approaching dawn,
and one Of them took his watch
from his pocket and looked at it.
Nine minutes!'' he said in gut
tural English, and in a voice
strangely thick, as with some deep
and barely repressed emotion.
The other nodded, and with
common accord they turned to the
right toward the great basin,
where three or four men-of-war
lay at anchor. The light increased
from minute! to minute, the horri-
lion turned from gray to pearly
white, and over the hills to the
east a golden halo marked the
spot where the sun would rise.
They stopped to look at it, and
then, stepping back into the recess
of a doorway, directed their gaze
toward a great battleship, an
chored perhaps 300 yards away,
AS the minutes passed, they
seemed scarcely to breathe, and
their lips were twitching with
nervous. excitement.
Suddenly over the trees shot a
long ray Of yellow light, gliding
the house tops, gliding the mast
heads of the vessels in the harbor
and then, as though in answer te
a signal, came a muffled roar from
the anchored battleship. There
was an instanst's silence, then the
shrill voices Of sentries sounding
the alarm, the whirring Of a gone
y
"A second roar drowned all less
er sounds, and then the high, THU
notes of a bugle echoed acros.
the water. The deck Of the shiI
was alive with men; from he
open ports wisps Of angry smok'
swirled upward into the mornins
air
Above the babble Of excitet
voices, rose q shout Of command
the bugle shrilled HSauve gu
peut! Salve qui peut! Sauve gu
peut! and the crew began leap
ing over the side; and ther
straight in front Of where stoo'
the breathless watchers, a might,
column Of black smoke leape'
high into the air, mushroomed an
drifted slowly away before tn
breeze. At the same instant cam
a frightful, rending crash, whic
seemed to shake the earth, and
foam capped wave swept acros
] the harbor and dashed angril
against the quay. For one tens
instant, all nature held her breath
and then came the splash and cla1
!, ter Of debris falling into the waite
: and on the rocks, the rattle 9
broken glass from the house
along the quay; and finally, qui,
j ering through the air, rose tn
$ shril, inhuman cry Of men in mo-
e tai anguish.
= The smoke, drifting lazily ava.
disclosed a mass Of twisted wrecl
J age, where, a moment before, I
!. Liberte, the pride Of the Frenc
navy, had swung at anchor.
: Zach Colt! Els list doch wahr!
/ breathed n Of the men, an
q stared rigid, fascinated; but tt
: other laid a trembling hand upo
: his arm.
= : 1--WE must hasten!0 he viii
E pered. I'VE must not stay here!
3 aTrue!!" agreed the other, an
. with a last glance at the wrec.
strobe away along the quay.
Already the city was aWak'
already frightened faces we
9 peering from shattered window
half clothed men were bursting /
J to the streets, and voices shrl
with fear we're demanding
i know what had occurred. But OF
travellers Needed them not. I
+he first corner they separate