The Washington times., 1919-03-02

dcate what had become Of the five armed sailors Lebaudy
had left to guard the site of his future imperial capital
Nowhere in any direction were to be any
tves Lebaudy however decided that the best way to
ascertain what had happened in his absence to cap
ture 9 native Arab and wiring the truth from him.
Several scouting squads, heavily armed were sent
out up and down the beach and into the interior with
orders capture alive native. As the setting
the Emperor withdrew to the comforts of his cabin
the Frasquita but left considerable armed force
shore ntrenehed behind circle of fifteen machine
While Lebaudy was being served with his imperial
breakfast the next morning orderly arrived board
the flagship with message from his commanding general
in the camp shore The messenger brought the vel
come news that one of the scouting parties during the
night had succeeded in capturing wandering Arab.
Sending for his interpreter Lebaudy instructed him
make every effort to ascertain what had happened at
the camp during Lebaudy absence and especially to find
out whether his five armed sailors had been killed or
were being held in captivity.
If the interview with the Arab prisoner indicated that
the five sailors were still alive Lebaudy instructed the in
terpreter to turn the captive loose with promise OF
handsome reward if he would get word the capOrs Of
the missing sailors and tell them that the Emperor would
be glad to discuss the terms of ransom.
Very little information wrung from the Arab
prisoner but enough was learned make it certain that
Lebaudys missing sailors had been captured alive and
had been carried off into captivity into the wllds of the
piled with food and started off over the desert sands
promising to find the chief of the nomad tribe who held
possession of the missing sailors
Evidently the hiding place of these Arabs not far
away At dawn the next day the Arab prisoner returned
to claim his reward and with him came considerable
force of picturesque Arabs armed with spears and ancient
long barreled rifles AS evidence of good faith and
TO prove that they the captOrS of Lebaudy missing
they had brought with them one of the prisoners
Standing off at a respectful distance and surrounded
by the Misunderstanding trbesmen stood Pierre Picard
the bOatswain of the Frasduita Picard the Le
baudy had selected to command his little guard which
left behind protect the site of the future imperial
capital, Troja
With dsheveled hair unwashed face and hands and
bound round and round with heavy cords the bOatswan
looked wistfully toward the camp.
The willy Arab chief sent word that he did desire
to approach within range of the machine guns of Lee
baudys encampment. He desired that negotiations
If the Emperor would command his forces to remain within
their camp and would send the interpreter to discuss
matters from of the small boats of the Frasqua the
chief would be we'll satisfied
Otherwise at the first sign of any activity on the part
of the in the armed camp the chief would be obliged
TO kill BOatswan Picard and betake himself and his fol
lowers to their headquarters in the desert where they
would promptly dispatch the remaining four sailors.
Under the circumstances Lebaudy considered it wise
to accept the terms offered by the Arab and his inter
prefer, rowing away from the camp, pulled in to
the beach, The Arab chief explained that no harm had
to the prisoners and that they would be turned
to Lebaudy the following day upon receipt of 200
francs in French gold for each prisoner
After completing the terms for the the inter