The Washington times., 1918-12-07
CHATTER III.
rhe cIpher WIN the InvoIee.

The Ctphef WIN the invoice.
s. Red Tabs, sphinx-Iiks des!aratian
Mas no riddle 10 me-. knew az
l0nee that FTenels zaas se zsn 5sEySs.
service in the eneniy;s country. snd
that country Germany, MY bFotii+
ers extraordinary knoWledgs OF the
Germans. their customs, life and
dialects. rendered him Ideally suit.
able for any slfh psTiioSs guissi6n.
Francis always haF an sxtfzortifn-
ary talent Tor languages: he seen-
ed to acquire them all without any
mental effort, but In German he
was supreme During the year that
he spent at Consistoriai-Rat Won
Maybufg's house at Bonn, he rap
Idly outdistanced me. and though.
at the end of our time, I could speak
German like German, Francis was
able, in addition, to speak Bonn
and Cologne patols like a native
OF those ancient cities-ay and he
could drill n squad OF recruits in
their own language like the smart
est lieutenant" ever fledged from
Gross-Lichterfelde.
He never had any difficulty in
passing himself or as a German
Well 1 remember his delight when
he was claimed as = fellow REein-
lander by a German off:ser we net.
one summer before the war.-com-
bining golf with n little ussful
espionage az Cromer.
don't think Francis had any
ulterior motive in his study Cs Ger
man. He simply found he had This
initiative faculty: philology had al
fufh
he had gone into the motor trade,
he used to amuse himself on bust
ness trips TO Germany by acquir-
ing new dialects. ---..
His German limitations Msrc eN-
traordinaTily funny. One or his
star turns" was a noisy sitting OF
the ReiChstag with speeches by
Prince Bulow and August Bebel
and interruptions" another. pa
triotic grafton by an old PrussiaH
general at a Kaiser's birthday din
ner. Francis had a marvellous
faculty not only of seeming Ger
man, so absolutely was he able to
slip into the skin OF the part.
Yet never in my widest moments
had I dreamt that he would try
and get into Germany in wartime,
into that land where every citizen
from the cradle. But Red Tabs
oracular utterance had made every
thing clear to me. Why. q mission
to Germany would be the very
thing that Francis would give his
eyes to be allowed to attempt,
Francis with his utter disregard
of danger. his love of taking risks.
his impish delight in taking a rise
out of the Stodgy Hun why.
il there were Englishmen brave
enough to take chances Of that
kind. Francis would be the first TO
volunteer.
Yes. il Francis were on a mis-
sion anywhere it would be To Ger
many. But-what prosect had he OF
ever returning with the frontiers
closed and ingress and egress Prac-
ticalIy- barred even to prO-German
neutraIs: Many a night in . the
trenches ! had mental vision OF
Francis. so debonair and so fear
less. facing a firing squad of PruS-
sian privates.
From the day of the luncheon at
the Faith Club to this very after
noon had had no further inkling
OF my brothers whereabouts or
fate The authorities at home pro-
fesSed ignorance. as I knew, in
duty bound. they would. and had
to hang any theory on ~
un,il Dicky Allerton's letter came.
Ashcroft ~ the =. O. fixed up my
~ s.rr.rE S"r "Ne and ] lost no
IT,, .~ sv"''.,aEil . line Write gups
nm sd NJ. or Cornr-Sli for the
>. -'. i-'- nd Trim can1ls Of yFfol-
Ito Be Continued Monday.