Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-03
THE MAN WITH THE CLUB FOOT
By
BY VALENTINE WILLIAMS

tHere i tnlHK recognize tHe nand thaG has
been against us from the start though who
the man ls and what bis power l, ike you
only know from what he told you himself
The Germans are clever enough as We know
from their communiques. to tell the truth
when It suits their book. I believe that
Clubfoot was telling you the truth in what
he said about his mission that night at tho
Esplanade.
You and I know now that the Kaiser
wrote that letter we also know that IL
was addressed to an influential English friend
Of William H. You have seen the date
Berlin. July 81, 1914 - the eve of the
outbreak Of the world war. Even from this
half in my pocket and you who haye
seen both halves OF the letter will confirm
what / say .. / can inagine what an
effect on the international situation this let
ter would have had il it had reached the
man Tor whom 1t was destined. But II did
not why, we don't know We do
know, however. that the Emperor is keenJv
ANXIOUS 10 regain possession Of his letter
you yourself were a witness of bIs
anxiety and you know that he put the mat
ter into the hands of the man C!ubfoot"
"Well' observed thoughtfully, "Clubfoot.
whoever he is' seems to have made every
enort to keep my escapades dark ."
frecisely.' said Francis. "and lucky for
you too. Otherwise Clubfoot would have had
you stopped at the frontier. But obviously
secrecy Is an essential part of his instrus
tions. and he has shown himself willing to
risk almost anything rather than call in the
aid or the regular police"
But they can always hush thesa tbines
up!" objected ''''''ss
FROM the public. yes, but not from the
court. This letter looks uncommonlv like
one OF williams sudden impulses -. and
i,ttIa ,o;ag sny.nihg OF the kind would get very
i'.,e tolerance in Germany in wartime"
But who Is Clubfoot p questioned
My brother furrowed his brows anxiousv
pes' ne SAID, Il don't know He is GER
Iy AMY not a regular official of the German
Intelligence like Steinhauer and tho otbars
but have heard of a clubfooted C1erman on
TWO occasions = . both vera d,rL ~
inysterious anairs, In both he played a lead
II, ing role and both ended in the violent death
oi one or our men,"
Then Tracy and the others .on
asked. ' o'"eis
victlms OF this man. Des without any
uoupt, my brother answered. He paused a
moment refectively.
NJ. mere Is code of honor in our game, old
man, ne said, and there are lots Of men in
,ne ur German secret service who live up to II
give ana take plenty of hard knocks in
tne fough-and-tumble of the chase. bur am
ousn and assassination are barred"
re LOOK deep breath and added.
game!" play the
FRANCIS, / said, 4 wish I'd known sone-
thihg OF this that night I had him ar NV
no, cs al une Esplanade. He would not have
Diow, There would have been another blow
ior Tracy, one for Arbuthnot, one for tbs
other man until the account was SET
tIeu ana Ia beaten his brains out on the
cis as, please God, we shall, -.
there VIII be no code of honor for him
rat!" ' "' "eo XIII
we clasped hands on It. ~ ''e "'N
Evening was falling and Iebt. ,,,o l.,
the river oahh Oh
We stood for a moment in silence with the
river rushing at our feet Then we turnad
and started to tramp back toward tba oi,,.
Francis linked his arm in mine
And now, Des." he said in his old aneo-
tionate way tell me some more about
Monica !" a'ou'
Out of that talk germinated in NV bsad ,ho
only plan that seemed to offer us a channs
OF escape. S"a'ee
You remember that Monica told me tho
last time had seen her. that she was shortIv
sons 70 senioss Bellevue, a shooting box
belonging to her husband, to arrange some
shoots in connection with the gbyernmentaI
scheme for putting game on the market
Monica. you Will reoollect, had offered IN
take me with her, and l had fully meant
ate persistence in the matter of NV mass
port. '"''-
nov proposed to Francis that we should
avail ourselves OF Monca's offer and make
for Castle Bellevue.
'Itll be none too easy to get across
through the Forest" he said doubtfulIy, cts
very closely patroled. but do know OF one
place where we could lie pretty snug for a
day or two waiting for a chance 10 make
dash But we have no earthly chance cf
getting through at present; our olubfooted
pal viii see to that all right. And l don't
much like the idea of going TO Bellevue
either; IT Will be horribly dangerous for
Monica |"
II don't think So" I said. "The whole
place will be overrun with people, guests,
servants, beaters and the like for these
shoots. Both you and I know German and
we look rough enough; we ought TO be able
to get an emergency job about the place
without embarrassing Monica In the least
don't believe they will ever dream of look
ing for us SO close to this frontier. The
only possible train they can pick up after
me In Berlin leads TO Munich Clubfoot 10
bound to think am making for the Swiss
frontier"
-. -. -. -.-..