Evening star., 1925-04-12


All this I explained in a confused
way. and my new friends nodded SYM
pathetically, helping me out with
those little turns and phrases of the
French language which are quite in
evitable, but which express so much
better than any other form Of human
speech our stumbling emotions.
Anyhow" said Rehmy. your i'm
mediate help is essential to us. You
say you left the document with NJ.
Lavelle, in the offices of the secre-
tariat of the League of Nations?'
Yes" I replied. He promised to
take care of it. and I was to ring him
up after dinner IL ! could. Oh, and
that reminds me-" l added thinking
of Jerry, II was also to dine with a
friend of mine at the Plat dor. but
I'm afraid that will be impossible
Quite impossible" agreed de
Blanchegarde, Social engagements
are at a discount just now. You'd
better send him message or ring
him up"
This document" Rehmy began;
you say that your friend at the
secretariat had begun to decipher It..
How much of il did he make out?"
Three words" answered.
Which were?' queried Rehmy.
"Wir, die Siebenschlafer," l replied
The two Frenchmen looked at one
another, and de Blanchegarde emitted
a low whistle.
Nom de Dieu" he muttered "The
gang that murdered poor Raoul Du-
plessy"
You know all about them then?"
l asked.
Il wish to heaven we did" said
Rehmy. I'VE know enough about
them to realize that this whole affair
is probably ten times more serious
than either you or your friend, NJ
Lavelle, can possible realize"
There and then he told me a tale
which, had 1T been recounted to me
"a hours earlier. 1 should have judged
10 be impossibly fantastic. 1t SEEM
ed that the French Intelligence Serv-
ice had received information some
months previously of an effort on the
part of several of the more important
German secret societies and murder
clubs to amalgamate. There had been
a good deal Of negotiation between
the heads of these societies, and three
big financiers, Won Buhlen, Kaufman
and Won Stahl, were known to be in
volved. 1t was at this point that a
French agent, one Raoul Duplessy,
had succeeded in getting on the track
referred to as Die Siebenschlafer."
But he had never been able to divulge
whatever information he might have
obtained. for he had been found mur-
dered and h.deously mutilated in the
streets of Munich few weeks previ-
ously. His last message to headquar-
ters had been to the effect that he
had come into contact with a little
Jew of the name of Adolf Baumer,
q fri hod 70
find Baumer and to endeavor to ex-
tract information from him
They had come upon his traces in
Munich, but at the last moment he
had slipped through their fingers, and
they had then pursued him to Geneva.
They were all the more eager TO cap
ture him. as, while in Munich, they
had discovered him to be in posses
sion of an important document, which
was to be transmitted to a certain
Capt. z. This, of course. was the
document which had been thrust into
my hands at the Moulin Rouge.
My description of the gang IN the
Rue Etienne Dumont confirmed them
in the belief that they were on the
track of operations of international
Importance. Schreckermann was
known to them as prominent
buyer for the German government
during the war, and the professor,
whose name was Anselm Kreutze-
mark. was, it seemed, a figure
notorious in the archives of every
intelligence service in Europe. De
Blanchegarde could scarcely contain
his fury when the man was mentioned
1T was he that tortured Raoul,"
he said, I'm sure of it. Among
other things, he is one of the finest
chemists in Germany and response
BILE for a dozen foul inventions. He
it was who discovered yellow cross
gas, though, like many of the really
important men in Germany, his
identity was kept secret
WELL" 1 said, "one thing seems
pretty clear. You'll want all the help
you can get, and you must let me go