Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-02
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS
Thrilling Nopet of By FRANCIS BEEDING
International Intrigue uo,shs 1925 BY Little
By FRANCIS Bleeding
Copyright, 1925. by Little. Brown q CO..

everything by which he had set
store in ruins about him, ] gloweo
with admiration to perceive that his
indomitable will was still master.
Our conversation veered again pres
emily to lighter subjects. and Luden-
burg spoke of the old days with my
father duck shooting in East Prussia
in the marshes Of Posen.
I found he was keA.. sporrsnI1a
and had all his lie taken every op-
portunity % shoot. He talked of old
forgotten hunts and battues, in which
he had hunted the wild boar and the
fallow deer at Blankenburg in the
Harz Mountains and at MoSukau. He
was in the midst Of a story about duck
fighting on the Masurian Lakes. in
which my father had apparently
played a part, when Kenrich. his sec
rotary, returned.
His face was very grave.
THE paper you require, SIR he
said, placing the document, together
with the transcription Of it's meaning,
on the table beside LudeuburC.
Ludenburg picked up the decipherea
message and read it slowly through.
watched him narrowly, striving
hard to keep all expression out Of my
countenance. l did not know whether
l was expected 10 be aware of the con
tents Of the document or not, and Il
was obviously my safest plan 10 adopt
the purely official attitude Of his sec
rotary.
Prese---, nc rose from the table
and paced the room two or three
times, the copy Of the decided ines
sage gripped in his right hand.
DO you know what is in this mes
sage?" he said suddenly, turning and
fixing me with d steady gaze.
did not know what to answer. but
| ! felt l must not show any hesitation.
Not its exact terms sir" / said,
''only its general bearing. / was not
| present when il was drafted
He leaned across the table and
handed the transcript TO me.
| Read he said
And this is what I read. I repro
duce it in German and English:
Wiz die Siebenschlafer uberzeuEt,
! dass DeutsChlands Feinde i'm Begriffe
sind seine vollstandige Zerspritterung
! vollzufrehren verpiiichten uns heir
! durch, ale SIGH aus etwaigem gegen
! F'rankreich Grossbritannien, Italien
oder irgendeine andere den Versail-
! Ter Friedensve rtrag unterZeichnende
! Macht eingetretenen FeldZug NIT Zus-
timmung ind Genehmigung der
Reichsregierung, ergebenden AuslaGen
fur den Zeitlauf Won mindestens sechs
Monaten zu decken.
! Diese Verpflichtung gilt jedock nur
NIT der Massgabe, dass die Letting
! des ganZen erWdhnteu Feldzuges dem
| F'reiherrn General F'eldmarschalI Paul
Won Ludenburg Ungeteilt uberlifert
| sci, der yum Beweis, dass cr diese1
| felerlichen PLIGHT annimmt. neben den
! unseren auch SEMEN Namen auf
desc Urkunde neidergeschrieben hat
| tgezeichneU
Won ARMIN
! MULHAUSE
HERZLER
| CREFELDT
STEINHART
Won BJHLEN
Won STATIL
! We. the seven sieepers. convinced
| that the enemies of Germany are on
| the point Of accomplishing her com
piete destruction, hereby undertake to
meet for d minimum period of six
months all financial charges incurred
| with the sanction and approval Of
the government OF the Reich on ac-
count of military operations against
| France. England. Italy or any other
sailles.
This undertaking is subject to the
condition that the entire conduct OF
all the said military operations be in
trusted to Field Marshal Paul Won
| Ludenburg, who, in token of his ac-
ceptance of this solemn duty, has set
his name beside our own TO this
| document.
| (Signed)
Won ARA1IN STEINHART
| MOLHACSEN Won BUHLEN
| HERZLER Won STAHT,
| CREFELDT
! 1 had to read il through twice be
fore / coud thoroughly grasp it's en-
tire significance. Then. when its fun
force was brought home to me. l sat
aghast at what l had in my hand
| certainly up to that moment. desnite
| the forebodings of Rehmy. and the
| lmplacabie manner in which the Pro
lessor and his subordinates had pur
sued US since the document had come
| INTO my possession, ! had never fully
| realized the magnitude of the con
| splracy. Here was the proof in nv
| hand. naked and una shamed. was
frankly appalled, at the enormous re-
sponsibility which had been thrust
, upon me, and which was now. for
the first time, fully brought home.
must have sat staring at the
| document for some time, when NV
reflections were broken into bv the
harsh voice of Ludenburg.
Continued in Tomorrow Star7