Omaha daily bee., 1922-05-04
The Strange Code Ksthsrins Srove
10 Iassspsss.

TO Iassfpset.
There vss . little pardonable tFi-
umph in ks,hsfins's eyes as she re-
piled TO Illlisas discovery that she
had known the language Of the man
in the HOSPITAL.
Yes. | could understand them. all
right" she said. II thought per-
hsps ! would be able 10 when YOU
told me about them. bu, ! didn't
dare tell YOU for fear OF holding out
false hopes There are 50 many
dialects In ell these tongues, you
know. But-i'ys always had . sor,
Of knsek a. languages, and ia the
hospitals over there ! wss able TO
pick up q. sort Of working knowledge
OF Q number OF them. So II WAS
easy for me TO understand these
chaps. except when their tones were
very low. You see. ! Was careful
10 keep q little distance from them
with my hack turned part OF the time.
and pretend 10 be busy with several
things. I thought YOU would want
me 10 play safe on that score. espee-
tally II am TO 60 on with Joe out
OF the hospital
She psufed and Looked iusuiringiy
At Lillian. who nodded an emphatic
assent
"Of course" she said. That's
the vital thing. to be sure he has no
suspicion OF you. II can once
get you inside OF the home TO which
I'm very sure he's TO be taken I'll
ask nothing else Of fate for At least
three.qusrters Of an hour. But go
on"
They wen, through 4 lot Of pre-.
liminsrv stuff. Anton asking all
about Joe's accident and Joe de-
scribing il in detail. They were
clever enough to do most OF this in
broken English. and were even foxy
enough to explain to ME that they
had to talk in their own language
sometimes. because Anton couldn't
understand very we'll"
That's because Smith wanted to
over-emphasize the fact that he Is
alien," Lillian commented.
II imagined So" Katherine re-
turned. "And then they got down
to business in their own tongue. Of
course. II wss queer to see how
their relations changed the minute
thew stopped speaking what they
called English. Before, they osten-
sibly had been equals. but in their
own tongue It was plainly to he seen
that Anton was in command, Joe.
the vcrv humble subordinate.
"And very arrogant commander,
Anton. or I miss my guess" Lillian
interrupted.
Exactly. In fact, If I hadn't
known what a rascal Joe was I
should have felt sorry for him. An
ton gave him a most thoroughly
raking over for daring to get hurt.
He reminded him that time was
everything. and that this accident
had delayed them a lot. Then he
asked this question-'Did YOU get it,"
Lillian sat tensely forward in her
chair. and I knew that this question,
obscure to me. meant much to her.
Katherine's lips quirked into a lit
tie smile as she went on.
1--WE heard some pretty stiff swear
ing in my time" she said, with men
coming out OF delirium and all, but I
never heard Anton's effort equalied
at Joe's sullen reply to the effect
that the gjrl-evidently Katie-had
the object, whatever it was, that An
ton wished, and had promised to
bring it to him on the evening he
was hurt. Joe added, with some
extra vicious epithets against Katie,
that he knew she still had the object
they both called the thing 'it'-be-
cause she would be afraid to give it
to any one but himself.
"When Anton finished his cruising,
and he uttered it in the lowest, most
silken tones possible-no one who
didn't understand the language would
dream he was angry-he demanded
Kasie's name and address, saying he
would not fail as Joe had. And, hon.
estly, girls, he made my blood run
cold at the smiling way he repeated
Graham when Joe told him where
Katie worked. He certainly has it
in for your family"
The lines around Lillian's mouth
seemed deeper, but she made no COM
ment except to say with a faint trace
Of impatience:
1--WE must start home as soon as
you've finished, Katherine" N|
"The rest OF the interview was the
most unintelligible stuff imaginable"
Katherine said slowly. "I'm sure it
was code mostly, and how I wished l
had Madee there behind a screen.
She could have remembered it, but
all / could do was to interrupt them
when they began it, take Joe's tenn