Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-23

IL -,
Err trudged wearily through the
somber aisles of the dark forest.
Sweat rolled down his bullet head
and stood upon his heavy jowls and
bull neck. His lieutenant marched
beside him, while Unterleutnant Won
Gosse brought up the rear, follow
ing with a handful of Askaris, the
tired and all but exhausted porters,
whom the black soldiers, initiating
the example of their white officer,
encouraged with the sharp points of
bayonets and the metal-shod butts
Of rifles.
There were no porters within
reach of Hauptmann Schneider, and
SO he vented his Prussian speen
upon the Askaris nearest at hand,
yet with greater circumspection,
since these men bore rifles and
bandoleers of cartridges-and the
three white men were alone with
them in the heart of Africa,
Ahead of Hauptmann marched
half his company, behind him the
other half; thus were the dangers
of the savage jungle minimized
for the German captain. At the
forefront of the column staggered
two naked savages, fastened to one
another by a neck-chain. These were
the native guides impressed into the
service of Kultur, and upon their
poor, bruised bodies Kultur's brand
was revealed in divers cruel wounds
and bruises.
Thus even in darkest Africa was
the light of German civilization be-
ginning to reflect itself upon the
undeserving natives just as at the
same period, the fall of 1911, it
was shedding its glorious effulgence
upon benighted Belgium.
It is true that the guides had led
the party astray; but this is the
way of most African guides. Nor
did it matter that ignorance rather
than evil intent had been the cause
of their failure. 1t was enough for
Hauptmann Fritz Schneider to
know that he was lost in the Afri-
can wilderness and that he had at
hand human beings less powerful
than he who could be made to suffer
by torture. That he did not kill
them outright was due to faint
hope that they might eventually
manage to extricate him from his
difficulties.
The poor creatures led on through
4 dismal forest along a winding
game-trail trodden deep by the feet
of countless generations of the
savage denizeps Of the jungle.
Here Tantor, TIE elephant, took his
long way from dust-wallow to
water. Here Buto, the rhinoceros,
blundered blindly in his solitary
majesty, and by night the great
cats paced silently upon their pad
ded feet beneath the dense canopy
of overreaching trees toward the
broad plain beyond, where they
knew they would find the best hunt
ing.
1t was at the edge of this plain
which came suddenly and unex-
pectedly before the eyes of the
guides that their poor hearts beat
with renewed hope. Here the
Hauptmann drew a deep sigh OF
relief, for after days of hopeless
wandering through almost i'm
penetrable jungle, the broad vista
of waving grasses dotted here an.
there with open parklike woods and
in the far distance the winding line
of green shrubbery that denoted a
river, appeared to the European a
veritable heaven.
The Hun smiled in his relief,
passed a CHEEKY word with his lieu
tenant and then scanned the broad
plain with his field-glasses. Back
and forth they swept across the
rolling land until at last they came
to rest upon a point near the center
of the landscape and close to the
green fringed contours of the river
"We are in luck" said Schneider
20 his companions. "Do you see
it?" The lieutenant, who was gaz-
ing through his own glasses, finally
brought them to rest upon the same
spot that had held the attention OF
his superior.
"Yes," he said, "an English
farm. 1t must be Greystoke's, for
there is none other in this part OF
British East Africa. God is6 with
us, Herr Captain"
1--WE have come upon the Englisn
swinehound long before he can have
learned that his country is at wal
with ours" replied Schneider. Let
him be the first to suffer from the
iron fist of Germany"
ALet us hope that he is at home''
aaid the lieutenant, that we may
take him with us when we repor'
10 Kraut at Nairobi. 1t will g
we'll indeed with Herr HauptmanT