The Dolores star., 1918-08-30
the Forged Passport.
CHATTER xls.

Tne Forged Passport.
For obvious reasons, I cannot de-
scribe the man to whom applied for
the passport nor the house In which
he lived. While. in View of what sub
sequentiy happened. would not be
very much concerned IL he got into
trouble for having dealt with me.
re9lixe that the hardships he had en-
dured in common with the other In
habitants Of that conquered city may
possibly have distorted his idea OF
right and justice. and shall not de-
llberately bring further disaster on
him by revealing his identity.
This Aman-we will call him Huy-
Tiger because chat is rs unlike his
naAle as II IL mlne-was very kind TO
me on that memorable night when I
aroused him from his sleep and In n
few words Of explanation told him Of
my plight.
He invited me inside. prepared some
food for ne and. putting ON a dress
ing gown. came and sat by me while
ate. listening with the greatest inter-
est to the short account Of my adven-
tures. l.fE.E.......
He could speak English fluently. and
he Interrupted me several times to ex-
press his sympathy for the sufrerings
had endured. 3
"OBrien." he said, after i had con-
cluded my story. II am going to help
yoa. It may take several days-per-
i,nps as A0ng as two weeks-but event
uaily we w provide the means to en-.
able you to get to Holland"
I thanked him q thousand times and
told him that I didn't know how l
could possibly repay him.
Don't think Of that" he replied;
"the satisfaction Of knowing that l
have aided in placing one more victim
of the Huns beyond their power to
harm will more than repay me for all
the risk / shall run In helping you.
You'd better turn In now. O'Brien. and
In the morning I'll tell you what plan
to do"
As I removed my clothes and noticed
that my, knees were still swollen to
twlce their normal size. that my left
ankle was black and blue from the
wrench had given 1t when jumped
from the train and that my ribs showed
through my skin, I realized what lot
I had been through. As a matter Of
fact. could not have weighed more
than one hundred and fifty pounds ut
that tltne. whereas had tipped the
scales at one hundred and ninety when
I was with my squadron I'm France.
4 lost no time In getting into bed
and still less In getting to sleep. I
don't know what I dreamed of that
night, but had plenty Of time to 60
through the experiences Of my whole
life. for when was aroused by a
knock on the door and Huyliger en-.
tered in response to my invitation to
cater. he told me that it was nearly
nooni I had slept for almost twelve
hours. --. -----.-...-,- .--.- -,.-.~-----....
I cannot say that the thought did
not run through my head that per-
haps after all was living In u FOOLS
paradise. and that when Huyliger re-
appeared 1t would be with couple of
German soldiers behind him. but dis
missed such misgivings summarily, re-
allzing that was doing Huyllger an
injustice to let such things enter my
lead even for an instant. had no
right to doubt his sincerity and 1t
would do me no good to entertain such
suspicious. II he was going to prove
treacher0us to me. was powerless
any why to cope with him.
In few moments my bost reap
peared with q tray containing my
breakfast. don't suppose shall ever
forget that meal. 1t consisted Of a
cup Of coffee-real coffee, not the kind
had had at Courtrai-several slices Of
bread. some hot potatoes and dish
of scrambled eggs. l
Every ,mouthful. of that meal tasted
like angel-food to me and Huyliger
sat on the edge of the bed and watched
me enjoying It. at the same time out
lining the plans he had made for my
escape.
In brief. tho scheme was to conceal
me In convent until conditions were
ripe for me. to make my way to the
border. In the meanwhile was to be
dressed In the garb of priest, and
when the time came for me to leave
the city was to pretend that was a
Spanish sailor. because could speak a
little Spanish. which had picked
up on, the coast. To attempt to play
the part Of q Belgian would become in
creasingiy difficult. he pointed out. and
would bring Inevitable disaster in the
event that I was called upon to speak.
Huyliger said would be given suf-
ficient money to bribe the German
guards at the Dutch frontier. and he
assured me that everything would work
out according to schedule.
sEours u not the first case. O'Brien.
We have handled successfully" he de-
clared. sOnay three weeks ago I heard
from an English merchant who hsd
escapsd AFsa'a German detentioa camp