Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-09-06

knew Huyliger would not dare to de-
liver me to the authorities because of
the fact that 1 had the tell-tale pass
port, which would be his deathknell as
well as my own.
Accordingly 1 said I would be quite
willing to go with him whenever he
was ready, and he suggested that we
go the next evening.
l pointed out to him that 1 was en-
tirely without food and asked him
whether he could not arrange to bring
or send me something to eat while I
remained in the house.
"Tm sorry, O'Brien," he replied, "but
I'm afraid you will have to get along
as best you can. When 1 brought you
your breakfast this morning I took
a desperate chance. If I had been dis
covered by one of the German soldiers
entering this house with food in my
possession, I would not only have paid
the penalty myself, but you would have
been discovered, too. 1t is too danger
Gus a proposition. Why don't you go
out by yourself and buy your food at
the stores? That would give you con-
fdence and you'll need plenty of it
when you continue your journey to the
border"
There was a good deal OF truth IN
what he said and I really could not
blame him for not wanting to take any
chances to help me in view of the rela-
tons between us.
every WE'LL" 1 said; 1--WE gone with
out food for many hours at a time be-
fore and 1 suppose 1 shall be able to
do so again. l shall look for you to-
morrow evening"
The mex evening he anne and l &C.
companied him to another house not
very far from the one in which 1 had
been staying and not unlike it in ap-
pearance. 1t, too, was a substantial
dwelling house which had been unten-
anted since the beginning ave perhaps
for such occasional visits as Huyliger
and his associates made to it.
HIyliger let himself in and con-
Quoted me to a room on the second
floor, where he introduced me to two
men. One, / could readily see by the
resemblance, was his own brother.
The other was a stranger.
Very briefly they explained to me
that they had procured another pass
port for me-a genuine one-which
would prove far more effective in help
ing to get me to the frontier than the
counterfeit one they had manufac-
tured for me.
I think I saw through their game
right at the start, but 1 listened pa
tiently to what they had to say.
"Of course, you win have to return
to US the passport we gave you before
we can give you the real one," said
Huyliger's brother.
II haven't the slightest objection" l
replied, 'if the new passport is all you
claim for it. Will you let me see it?"
There was considerable hesitation IN
the part of Huyliger's brother and the
other chap at this.
"Why 1 don't think that's necessary
at all, Mr.. O'Brien," said the former.
"You give us the old passport and we
will be very glad to give you the new
one for it. Isn't hat fair enough?"
SIT may be fair enough, my friends"
I retorted, seeing that it was useless to
conceal further the fact that / vas
fully aware of their whole plan and
why I had been brought to this house.
at may be fair enough, my friends" 1
said, "but you will get the passport
that I have here" patting my side and
sn n aa% nv snof1o hrnnct nnnlTnf
"only off my dead body!"
1 suppose the three of them could
have made short work of me then and
there if they had wanted to go the
limit, and no n would ever have
been the wiser, but 1 had gone through
so much and 1 was feeling so mean to-
wards the whole world just at that
moment that / was determined to sell
my life as dearly as possible.
II have that passport here" / re-
piled, land am going to keep it. If
you gentlemen think you can take it
from me you are welcome to try!"
To tell the truth, 1 was spelling for
a fight, and I half wished they would
start something. The man who had
lived in the house had evidently been
a collector of ancient pottery, for the
walls were lined with great pieces of
earthenware which had every earmark
Of possessing great value. They car
tainly possessed great weight. l fig
ured that if the worst came to the
worst that pottery would come in
mighty handy. A single blow with one
of those big vases would put a man
out as neatly as possible and as there
was lots of pottery and only three men,
/ believed I i had an excellent chance of
holding my own in the combat which l
had invited.
had already picked out in my mind
what 1 was going to use, and l got up,
stood with my back to the wall and
told them that if they ever figured on
getting the passport, then would be