Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-08-01
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John Bull.
Neeland had plenty of leisure to
| think as he sat there in his heavy
chair which vibfated but did not
sway very much; and his mind was
fully occupied with his reflections,
for, so far, he hid not had time to
catalogue, index and arrange them
in proper order, so rapid and so start
! ling had been the sequence of events
since he had left his studio in New
| York for Paris, via Brookhollow
London, and other points east.
One thing in particular contin-
ued to perpleX and aStoniSh him: the
| identity of q member of parliament,
known as Charles Wilson, suddenly
revealed as Karl Breslau, an interna-
| tional spy.
The widest flight of fancy of an
| irresponsible novelist had never Gre
ated such a character in penny
| dreadful fiction. 1t remained incom-
! prehensible almost incredible to
! Neeland that such a thing could be
! true.
| Also, the young man had plenty of
food for reflection, if not for lunch
con, in trying to imagine exactly
| how Golden Beard and Ali Bahia, and
that strange, illogical young girl, llse
| Dumont, had escaped from the VOL
| hynia.
| Probably, in the darkness, the fish
I
signalled in some way or other. No
| doubt the precious trio had taken
| to the water in their lifejackets and
had been picked up even before armed
sailors on the Volhynia descended to
| their empty staterooms and took pos
session of what luggage could be dis
covered and of the three bombs with
their charred wicks still soaking on
the sopping bed.
And now the affair had finally end
ed, Neeland believed, in spite Of Cap
tain Vests warnings. For how could
three industrious conspirators in
fishing smack off the Lizard do him
any further damage?
If they had managed to relay in
formation concerning him to their
friends ashore by some set, of precon-
certed signals, possibly the regular
steamer train to and out or LONDON
might be watched.
Thinking of this, it presently oc-
Cured to Neeland that friends in
France, also, might be stirred up in
time to offer MIN their marked at
tentions. This, no doubt, was what
considered the possibility as the fly
ing train whirled him toward the
Channel.
He asked if he might smoke, and
was informed that he might; and he
lighted a cigarette and stretched out
lack of luncheon, a rrifle tired from
lack of sleep, but, in virtue of his
vigorous and youthful years, COM
Portable, contented, and happy.
Never, he admitted, had he had
such good time in all his. life, de,
spite the fact that chance alone, and
not his own skill and alertness and
perspicacity, had saved his neck.
No, he could not congratulate him
self on his cleverness and wisdom;
sheer accident had saved his skin
and once the complex and unaccount-
able yagary of a feminine mind had
saved him from humiliation so utter
that it slightly sickened him to re-
member his position in Use Dumonts
stateroom as she lifted her pistol and
dead-shot But he forced himself to
'@@ Good % Iord!;' he thought to him
self. "Was ever q man in such hell
ish position, except in melodrama?
And what movie that would nave
proved herself to be! Certainly she
could have killed me there at Brook
hollow! She could have riddled me
before 1 ducked, even with that
nickel-pIated affair about which L
was ass enough to taunt herr
Lying in his chair, cheek on arm,
he continued to ponder on what had
happened, until the monotonous VI
bration no longer interfered with his
inclination for hap. On the con-
trary, the slight, rhythmic Jolt1ng
soothed him and gradually induced
slumber; and he slept there on the
rushing train, his feet crossed and
resting on the olive-wood box.
4 hand on his arm aroused him;
the sea wind blowing through
the open doors of the MAILMAN DASH
ed in his face like a splash of cool
~ n
him.
AS he descended from the van an
officer of the freight packet greeted
him by name; a sailor piled his lug
gage on a barrow; and Neeland
walked through the vista of covered
docks to the pier.
There was a lively wind whipping
that VIGOROUSLY bad-mannered streak
of water known as the English Chan,
mel Possibly, had it been christened
the French Channel its manners
might have been more polite. But
there was now nothing visible about
it to justify it's sentimental pseu-
donym of Silver Streak.
It was dirty color, ominous of
| ll-temper beyond the great break
water to the northward; and it fret
| ted and fumed inshore and made
white and CHASTITY faces from the
open sea.
But Neeland, dining from a tray
in a portholed pit consecrated to the
use of a casual supercar~o, rejoiced
because he adored the sea, inland
lubber that he had been born and
where the tides of fate had stranded
him. For, to a New Yorker, the sea
seems far away-as far as it seems
to the Partisan. And on1v when
! chance business takes him to the
Battery does a New Yorker realize
| the nearness of the ocean to that
vast volume of ceasless dissonance
| ca lied New York.
| Neeland ate cold meat and bread
and cheese, and washed it down with
bitters.
He was nearly asleep on his sofa
when the packet cast off.
He was sound asleep when, some
where in tie raging darkness of the
Channel, he was hurled from the sofa
against the bunk opposite-into
which he presently crawled and lay,
still half asleep. mechanically rub
| bling maltreated shin.
Twice more the bad-mannered
British Channel was violently rude
to him; each time he crawled back
to stick like a limpet in the depths
of his bunk.
Except when the Channel was too
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