The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-09-29

! VII, 90 against him. And she hooked
at Santos encouragingly.
| eve will go against him. ne 70
/ peated.
"Ail we need, now, is the casus
belli.'" remarked the chancellor
| "That is simple enough. Request
the peace committee to allow al stand
inc army for Huropaan nations." said
Rositta
1--WE will see,' said the chancellor,
and started to leave. He felt doubt
full of his course. He had vague, I'M
formed fears that haunted him. But
nothing happened. His American spies
reported that Napoleon could not be
located
Two weeks later he received news
| that there was some uneasinessa felt IN
Washington in regard to the inexpll-
cable absence of Napoleon Edison.
These reports were repeated day after
day.
What did this mean? The Count
Won Werdenstein was unable to think
of reason for the absence, but he
was not the only one who was puzzled.
There were many who would have CIV
en- much to know what had become OF
Napoleon Edison.
His absence at first had been unno-
| ticed, as Astra felt that he would re-
turn at any hour, and turned aside
the questions. But when the third
week began, and still they had no
word from him, she could not bear 1t
any longer. The gray-haired mother,
who suffered even more than Astra,
soothed her and said she would come
to the Crystal Palace at once, to be
with her.
That evening Mrs. Edison arrived,
and embracing the wife of her son
she whispered: BE strong and brave,
my dear girl You know just as well
as l do that he will come as soon an
he can. | fear he has had an acci-
dent to his aerodromone, but my heart
tells me he is in no danger Above
all, we must have trust in Cod"
At Astras request the various pa
pers treated the matter lightly
ROSETTA was one who was really
baffied by the heightened absence OF
Napoleon. She and Santos talked
about it seriously, but the little count
was as puzzled as she. This disap-
pearance had not fitted into her plans
She wanted to gain victory over Ma
poleon, not over America.
Her ambitions were great, but one
of the greatest was to humble Napo-
leon. She had figured out devilish
plan to destroy his base of supplies,
Ciryne. Even her husband shuddered
when she told about It, He thought
of the many days he had spent among
the men there, and the pleasant COM
panions that he had left behind.
A tremendous bomb was to be con-
structed bomb of such size that Its
explosion would cause genuine earth
quake. Great quantities of the high
est grade explosives we're to be placed
in large metal shell, which you'd be
dropped on the Island Of CiTbne and
blow it into space.
Ciryne was Napoleon's latPratory;
there were his aerodr from Sept.
and if these were destroyed, he never
would be able to gain the victory. The
fact that Napoleon's mother and all
his mechanics were to be destroyed
did not influence Rositta's plans In the
least.
Seven weeks went by. The situation
was the same, except that the hotilla
Of twenty aerodromones was ready at
Suemeg and it's crew was practicing
maneuvers day after day. They were
working on one more machine, as Ro
sitta was superstitious, believing that
the number twenty-one was her lucky
J one
b The European monarchs had al
signed a decree demanding the righ'
of restoring standing army, and this
demand had been sent to the peace
committee in Washington
, This request was couched in re
spectful terms, but conveyed the infor
nation that in case the same was re
fused the European countries woult
act according to their own convictions
= No mention was made of the aerodro
none feet, but American score
agents had discovered the existence 0
4 this fleet and a shrewd reporter OF
+ the Hourly Stylograph managed T.
gain the information. Whole page
advertised the fact that it was read,
T. to swoop down upon the America
d continent and conquer it. Then tn
n rival papers took it UP and vivid far
cies were printed; some declared tina
Napoleon Edison was held prisoner
and would be compelled to Join tn
European forces to save his life.
In the meantime the congress an
the peace committee considered tn
European demand
Amrosio Hale, Vice-president, delty
cred great address, urging the unto
to isolate the American continen
again.
CTo BE CoNTINUED.1