Evening star., 1917-12-23

V
"wHAT DO YOU SUGGEST,
branch in the other-Germany Will
wide knee-deep in Belgian an French
ber-lud SO as to and you the double
Nelson. BY land an sea an pawcels
your pore thick 'ead. What ave you
done. you'd like ter know? Wot aven't
YOU done? Aren't you alive? Wot
crime can ekal that when the keyser
said. Puff! aht-tallow candle. Ach,
pig-dorg. I shpit on yer.'
You go an wash yer fee once more,
Smithy." said Shiney. forcing a word in
edgeways. 9TH improve your looks,
per'aps. I dunno"
warming to his theme. That's Just
yer narsty. scoffin' British wy O
speakin' to quiet, respectable Germans.
That's wot gets US mad. I'm surprised
at yer. .shiney. Yer latitude, brings
you've card abr beautiful Ian
"I ave. indeed" interrupted shiney.
But none o. 1t ERE. me lad. There's a
reel born lydy In one O. them bed
rooms"
I'm not torkin' O. the kind of tosh
you understand" retorted Smithy.
I'm alludin' to the sweet-sahndin'
card 1t hoffen enuf from the sorft
movies O. yewlans. On'y larst night
YOU card 1t spoke by that stawr hactor,
Won 'Allwig, of the Potsdam Busters,
Yet you can git nothink orf yer chest but
a low-dahn cockney wheeze wen ben
efactor's givin' yer the strife tip. Pore
shineyl Ye think yer goin' back to
HenBland, 'one, an beauty-to the
barrick- square. buliy-beef an booze.
an. plenty O. it. Dontcher believe it!
Mt yotrfr in ia q q ~ .ayy "a n
kultur. Wen yer ships been torpe-
doed fourteen times between Hostend
an Dover. wen yer Southeastern trine
as bumped inter a biker's dozen O.
different sorts o. mines, wen you re
Zepped the minnit you crorse the
Strend to the nearest pub, you'll begn
ter twig wot the Hemperor Of All the
'uns is ackshally a-doin' of. It's hall
hup wiv yer. shineyl You've ether got
ter lie dahn an dol. er learn German.
Nah. witch is it ter be? Go west wiv
yer benighted country. or go nap on
the keyser?'
'Torking O. pubs reminds me-" yawn-
ed Shiney "I couldn't get any for
horfcers gev us. In one O. them yew-
lans pawketbooks there was five
French ouid. Wot abart a bottle o.
beer~
what abart it?" agreed sm,thy. in
stantly.
The soap was drying on Dalroy's
face. but he thrust his head out Of the
window to look at two of Britain's $
first line staggering through the gate
long. long way to Tipperary." Smith
and Shfney were true types of the
somewhat cynical but ever ready-wit-
ted and laughter-loving Londoner,
who makes such frst-rate fighting
man. They were just couple Of ordi-
nary 'Tommfes." The deadly fury of
Mons. the daily and nightly peril of
the march through a land stricken by
a brutal enemy. the score of little bat
amazing skill and hardihood-these
phases OF Immortality troubled them
not at all. An eye-rolling and saber-
rafting emperor might rock the social
braggart henchmen destroy that which
they could never rebuild, his frantic
gang of poets and professors indite
hymns of hate and blasphemous catch
words like 'Gott strafe England: but
smithies and SHINES of the British
army would never fail to cock n hu-
morous eve at the vaporers, and saw
sarcastically. We'll. an wot abart 1t
there was hitch in the naval pro-
gram devised by the Deutscher Mari
neamt. The Belgian packet boat
Princess Clementine steamed from Os-
tcUQ TO DOVer tnTOuGn a sfIiIlHB sea,
unvexed by Krupp or any other form
OF kultur. Warshtps, big and little,
were there in squadrons; but gaunt su-
perdreadnaught and perky destroyer
alike was aggressively British.
England, too. looked strangely un-
perturbed. There had been sad scenes
on the quay at the Belgian port, but a
policeman on duty at the shore end of
the gangway at Dover seemed TO indi-
cate by a majestic calm that any per
son causing an uproar would be given
the alternative of paying 10 shillings
and costs or doing" seven days.
The boat was crowded with refugees.
but Dairoy. knowing the Witness of
stewards. had experienced slight diff
Guilty in securing two chairs already
loaded with portmanteaus and wraps
He heard then. for the first time, why
Irene fed SO precipitately from Berlin.
She was a guest in the house of a min
lister OF state. and one of the Hohen-
zollern princelfngs came there to
August.
He had invited himself, though he
must have been aware that his pres
ence WAS an insult and an annoyance
to the English girl, whom he had pes
tered with his attentions many times
already. He was excited. drank heav-
lily. and talked much. Irene had ar
ranged to travel home next day, but
the wholly unforeseen and swift de-
velopments in international affairs, no
less than the thinly-veiled threats of
a royal admirer. alarmed her into an
immediate departure. AT the twelfth
hour she found that her host. father OF
Two -gtrA OF heE-own-age-the- school