Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-14
THE MAN WITH THE CLUB FOOT
y VALENTINE WILLIAMS
By VALENTINE WILLIAMS

through busy stations with glmpsrS of sid
lngS full Of trucks loaded to the brn. past
towns whose very outlines blurred by
the mrk Of smoke from hundred factory
chimncys, my thoughts were busy with that
swaThy cripple. had broken away from
him with one portion Of highly priced
uo'umeht' Yet he had made no attempt to
have me arrested at the frontier Clearly
Lh'il' he must still look upon me as ally
ana must therefore be yet in ignorance Of
the identity of the dead man lying in my
chamber at the Hotel Sixt. The friendly
guide had told me that the party "comb!ng
cut the station at Rotterdam for me did not
appear TO know what | looked like
Was it possible then that CIubfoot did
not know Scmlin by sight?
IN" fact that Srmlin had only recently
crossed the Atlantic seemed to confirm this
5uppOSitiCn.
mad the other half? Surely Clubroot
'lubIoot who was to have called at the hot el
thai morning to receive what | had brought
from England. Perhaps. after all. my ran
dom declaration to the hOelkerprr had not
been so far wrong ; ''lubfOOt wanted to take
the whole document to Berlin and reap all
IN" laurels at TIL" co Of half the danger and
labor That would explain his present
silence. He suspected Semlin of treuchery
not to the common cause. but to him
1t looked as if | might have a free run
until Clubfoot could reach Berlin. That
unIess he also took a special could not be
,' '''' ~
untll the next evening at earliest. But. more
lSN""o'''o'e c nan Hl'e'"s WIN the man
, ,,. CIV" ;,E' ".,''N' ''E mus oNt' me an
o., t. ~ s'''i'''',i me ,htsIN'e" "hlcl
journey the interview at which I must
render an account of my mission
Evening was falling as we ran through the
,,in ,h"t i,, pi' u anu @ ""ter anu
diminished speed through the trim suburbs.
skirted the city, whose tall buildings the
e'eE,rIr ,i sNs ,S,snS MrI1 ALREADY Deslnnlng to
~ lT'HG' ~, r'",''ou @ H'anHS over vast network
rs ai i, th ,r' tia,, ''iin,u', tneh tore
It,In ~ ,ol a'' ,'ts ", "i'''S' III d
,i,a' thTomo% uTi "6"'mi we were run
,iarIro.s o6a,d y Ia,,oru ,,!o, o.'l ~ tI'S
tI., troi,, stn,''ad r.i,h ,r,. T",eu "a. US ana
ti ~ - "' " n'''e way,
it1 G,s ni S'''S W %,' a'i"|' ~ tdIi,
ou,u ,. 1iii,,,, Sp'N'u S ne'net ana
80 800 ''', 20 =, ,,,,, I.oou ~ SolitarF
e. 'oo,i IT, c,'oi tme ntele pla'Lorth'
."e ea1 " "'EN' .,'S gas lamp
,aa,s (" III '''' po''S'eu top
,,,, w 49,. -. to-, -, i,
'eIe we are a. l"S' sa'u my companion
"'epPeu o"' ~ '"yV' 10y i"'e'
m ,.
nc Houns ,'O".C""HN was r'siu al the
"aL",e peio,e t"F 's"'c ." 'he platiofln.
! heard me enu OF sentence as alighted
=, the gentleman was 10 meet, Excel
'eICS @ , ,-,-,
me o!'eI IooNet a. me- re was Dig
man win crimson '"'e, lie haue no at
tempt al sree''ns' p"t S"'u III hoarSe voice
rave 'le soouhess 10 come WIN me- Ihe
orderhes VIII aetehu TO your thlhgS' And,
with cnhklhs SPURS ne strode out through
some Dig kIhd OF ahteroom' s"ntned in wrap
pings INTO Nard beyond where a big
limousine was throbblng gently.
He stood ASIDE TO let me get in, then
mounted himself Followed, rather to my sur
prise, prise, py tne YOUNG count, , whose responsi-
delivering the goods" My surprise was of