The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-24
THE
F OF THE TIGER
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED BY -
lei DE MATTOS


and superhuman joy; an idyl Of
hunger and thirst, of total defeat
and dazzling victory. :.
MY 60 trusty followers threw
themselves into their work with
might and main. Oh, what men .
You know them Monsieur lie Pres
ident du Conseil! You've had
them to deal with, Monsieur lie
Project de Police. The beggars!
Tears come to my eyes when l
think of some of them.
"There were Charolais and his
son, who distinguished themselves
in the case of the Princessc de
Laballe's tiara. There were Marco
who owed his fame to the Kessel-
bach case, and Auguste, who was
your chief messenger, Monsieur lie
President. There were the Grow
Ter and the Washer, who achieved
such glory in the hunt for the
crystal stopper. There were the
brothers Bonneville, whom / used
to call the two Ajaxes. There
were Philippe d'Antrac, who was
better born than any Bourbon,
and Pierre lie Grand and Tristan
lie Roux and Joseph lie Jeune."
And there was Arsene Lupin"
repeated Don Luis.
He nodded his head, smiled,
and continued, in a very quiet
voice:
81 will not speak of him, Mon
sieur lie President. | will not
speak of him, for the simple rea-
son that you would not believe
my story. What they tell about
him when he was with the For
eign Legion is mere child's play
beside what was to come later.
Lupin was only a private soldier.
In South Morocco he was a gen.
eral. Not till then did Arsene
Lupin really show what he could
do. And, l say it without pride,
not even / foresaw what that was.
The Achilles of the legend per-
formed no greater feats. Hanni-
bal and Caesar achieved no more
striking results.
"All | need tell You is that, in
Is months, Arsene Lupin con-
quered a kingdom twice the size of
France. From the Berbers of Mo-
rocco, from the indomitable
Tuaregs, from the Arabs Of the
extreme south of Algeria, from
the negroes who overrun Senegal,
from the Moors along the Atlantic
coast, under the blazing sun, in
the flames of hell, he conquered
half the Sahara and what we may
call ancient Mauretania.
"A kingdom Of deserts and
swampsf Partly, but a kingdom
all the same, with GASES, wells,
rivers, forests, and incalculable
riches, a kingdom with 10000, 900
men and 100000 warriors. This
is the kingdom which l offer to
France, Monsieur lie President du
COnseil."
Yalenglay did not conceal his
amazement. Greatly excited and
even perturbed by what he had
learned, leaning over his extra
ordinary visitor, with his hands
clutching at the map Of Africa,
he whispered:
Explain yourself; be more
precise"
Don Luis answered:
Monsieur lie President du Con-
sell, | will not remind you of the
events of the last few years.
France, resolving to pursue a
splendid dream of dominion over
North Africa, has had to part
with a portion of the Congo. 1
propose to heal the painful
wound by giving her 80 times as
much as she has lost. And | turn
the magnificent and distant
dream into an immediate certain
tv by Joining tho emaH. - 2
Morocco which you have con
quercd to Senegal at n blow.
To-day, Greater France in AZ
RIGA exists. Thanks to me, it is
a solid compact expanse. Millions
OF square miles of territory and a
coastline stretching for several
thousand miles from Tunis to the
Congo, save for a few insignifi-
cant Interruptions"
Its a Utopia, Ealcnglay
protested.
Its a reality"
Nonsense! 1t will take up 20
years fighting to achieve"
1T will take you exactly five
minutcs!" cried Don Lnis. with
irresistible enthusiasm. "What |
offer You is not the conquest of
an empire, but a conquered en-
pire, duly pacified and administ-
cred, i'll full working order and
full of life. My gift is a present.