The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-07-10
remained in the house.
I'm sorry. O'Brien," he replied, "but

i I'm sorry, . Brlen, he replied, but
! I'm afraid you will have to get along
! as best you can. When / brought you
! your breakfast this morning | took
desperate chance. If had been dis
/ covered by one OF the German soldiers
/ entering this house with food in my
! possession, would not only have paid
the penalty myself. but you would have
! been discovered, too. Ii is too danger
Gus q proposition. Why don't you 90
out by yourself and buy your food at
fidence and you'll need plenty of it
when you continue your journey TO the
border"
There was good deal of truth in
what he said and / really could not
| blame him for not wanting to take any
chances to help me in view Of the rela-
tons between us.
very WELL" said; 1--WE gone with
out food for many hours at a time be-
fore and / suppose / shall be able to
do so again. l shall look for you to-
morrow evening""
The next evening he came and l ac-
companied him to another house not
very far from the one in which I had
been staying and not unlike it in ap-
| pearance. 1t, too, was substantial
dwelling house which had been unten-
anted since the beginning save perhaps
for such occasional visits as Huyliger
and his associates made to it.
Huyliger let himself in and con-
! Quoted me to room on the second
! floor, where he introduced me to two
men. One, I 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.
1 think l saw through their game
right at the start, but listened pa
tiently to what they had to say.
"Of course, you will 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" I
replied, IF the new passport is all you
claim for it. VIII you let me see it?"
There was considerable hesitation on
the part of Huyliger's brother and the
other chap at this.
"Why, 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 that fair enough?"
ut may be fair enough, my friends"
retorted, seeing that it was useless to
conceal further the fact that I was
fully aware Of their whole plan and
why had been brought to this house.
1T may be fair enough, my friends"
said. 'but you will get the passport
that have here" patting my side and
indicating my inside breast pocket,
"only of my dead body!"
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 one would ever have
been the wiser, but had gone through
SO much and was feeling so mean to-
wards the whole world just at that
moment that l was determined to sell
my life as dearly as possible.
Il have that passport here" l re-
piled, "and am going to keep it. If
you gentlemen think you can take it
from me You are welcome to try!'
To tell the truth, l was spelling for
a fight, and l 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 1 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 q man
out as neatly as possible and as there
was lots Of pottery and only three men,
I believed had an excellent chance of
holding my own in the combat which l
had invited.
1 had already picked out in my mind
what was going to use, and got up,
stood with my back to the wall and
told them that II they ever figured on
getting the passport then would be
their best chance.
Apparently they realized that I
meant business and they Immediately
began to expostulate at the attitude |
was taking.
One of the men spoke excellent
English. In fact, he told me that he
could speak five languages, and If he
could lie in the others as we'll as
knew he did in my own tongue, he was
not only an accomplished linguist, but
a most versatile liar into the bargain.
my dear fellow" said the linguist.
ut is not that we want to deprive you Of
the passport. Good heavens! If it will
aid you in getting out of the country,
T ich csx~