The Arvada enterprise., 1917-10-18

but she shook her head with little
smile.
"Not here" she begged. mot here,
Don denr-while there's moonlight In
the patio!"
Catching his hand she drew him
with her through the doorway.
The patio was very still and peace.
full and deserted. The moonlight sill.
vered It exquisitely. Its air was sweet
with the scent Of flowers. In the
shadow Of the old well in Its center.
Patria released Donald's hand, and
turned to him. lifting up her face to
his lips
Perhaps for the last time
How she found It possible to let him
go. in the end. she never understood.
With q sense of the unreallty of It all
she watched his soldierly figure, in its
khaki field uniform, stride away
through the chiaroscuro Of milk-whlte
moonlight and inky shadow, till he
disappeared In the passageway lead
ing to the front of the house.
And for long time after he had
gone she stood clnsping the hands
upon which his parting kisses had
been pressed, and staring ut the spot
where she had last seen him.
1t seemed 10 hideously wrong that
these things could be. that this world
SO beautiful could be made the slaugh-
ter-pen Of embattled humanity. She
thought Of France. the land she knew
and loved 10 well; her last night in
France had been q summers night.
moonsmltten and warm and sweet
even as this night. She had sailed
for New York the next day; and a
week Inter the great war had broken
out. And now all northern France
was the theatcr Of horrors unspeak-
able.
And tomorrow would see the incep-
ton Of an effort to render her own
United States counterpart Of
France
The most she could hope for was
that the preparations she had made
would check temporarily the invading
forces, give the country time to real
lie Its peril and arm against 1t. For
the invasion. once launched, would
never be stayed but by overwhelming
force. II checked where the Chan
ming property met the border, 1t would
only recoil to strike q new and more
effective blow. Even assuming the i'm
posslble-that the Claiming ranch
should prove an impregnable obstacle
In Its path-it would need only to
sweep round 1t In order to reach q
peaceful and defenseless land and
blacken 1t with the infamy Of war.
turn 1t Into place Of death and terror
and torment and hideous waste. make
It Q sister to Belgium.
And all because q purbllnd people
refused to see that the one why to
stave of the sin Of war was to make
the country 10 strong for defense that
no invader would ever dare set foot
across its borders.
Slowly the girl ascended to her bed
chamber.
Its windows overlooked the south ;
she stood In one Of them for long
time staring incredulOusly at the
mysterious distances that lay beyond
the boundary line between the two
countries, the Swallowed enigma of
Mexico that rested SO quietly there In
the fnce Of the moon.
Somewhere out there. somewhere
between the border md those scrrnted
mountains that walled In the southern
horizon. thousands upon thousands Of
men. armed and equipped. were
marching nOrthwnrd; troops Of caval-
ry were marching with them; trains
OF ammunition. companies Of artil-
icry. maclInc-gun corps. all the d.
visions of modern military service,
were astlr. under the cloak Of the
night.
Her Imagination conceived that
nrmy Of invasion In the gulse Of q
great serpent crawling through the
shadows TO strike at the heart Of q
sleeping giant. lOathy. deadly,
vicious thing that squirmcd foully
upon Its why to do a deed Of inexcus-
able trcnclcry md cruelty.
The vision Of That great serpent
haunted all her dreams. She slept III,
Htfully. Between maps she lay awake,
staring wiic.cycd into the darkness,
every sense alert. strninlng to hear
my sound TINT might be the over
ture to tomorrow's tragedy. fancy
Ing that she heard the confused hut
rhythmic shufllc Of those thousands Of
marching feet.
Towards dawn she fell into a pro.
found and dreamlcss slumber Of tx
haustion, from which she wna awnk
cned In broad daylight by the sound
Of distant firing.
LeapinK FROM her bed she seized
binoculars and RIM to the window.
But the glasses showed her nothing
nj FIRST. The sounds Of firing persist
cd-grcnt thuddinR detonntions &C
compnnicd by the screaming Of shrap
mel In the mir md shnttcring cxplo
sicns as the shells found their billets
hut nothing In the face Of the lnnd
beyond the border revealed the source
| NJ the Hf4nR m hetrn vs,d the fart thai