Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-30

and the secret service man walked Of.
When he got home he found waiting
for him the elderly native who had re-
turned the tennis balls. He was
British secret service agent who, f1ve
davs earlier, was supposed to be do
nestle working for Brugmann m the
hills
For the British secret service had nc
been altogether idle: and now the
bringer of the news about Brugmann
was given further Instructions.
Brugmann made his way to the coast
and boarded a small fishing smack tina
had been engaged by him. The crew
consisted of five men, natives IN hir
pay and presumably loyal. Nevertheless.
because he was a methodical man.
Brugmann examined his situation for
weak spots. He did so as a matter Of
particular aroused his suspicious at this
time. But from certain signs, little
psychological indications he would have
missed had he not been on the lookout
he began to wonder whether he could
altogether trust his crew.
Like the careful man he was, Brug-
mann left nothing of importance to
chance, and his mission, his very life,
depended on the chance that the crew
was in the pay of the British. He
figured that II the British had bribed
the crew to turn against him he in turn
could bribe them to turn back to him.
But, being also frugal, Brugmann de-
cided to wait till he could save the
situation by bribing one man instead Of
five.
Of the coast of India the fishing
smack anchored, and Brugmann and
one of the crew got into a rowboat. 1t
was night and Brugmann could not see
the expression on the face of the man
who was rowing him to shore But he
felt he did not need to see 1t.
Listen, you'll" he said to the man at
the oars. Whatever sum anybody NAV
have offered you to serve him I will
double. How much do I have to pay
you?"
The man looked up startled, then
continued rowing without word. From
the voluminous folds of his garments
Brugmann took out purse and shook
1t to make the coins sound. Then he
drew revolver.
Which will you have, lead or gold?"
he demanded.
The boatman decided for gold. Brus-
mann forced from him the confession
that British cavalry patrol was wait
ing for him at the spot where he was
expected to land.
Then I'll tell you where to land"
Brugmann said.
The man turned the nose of the boat
up the coast and landed Brugmann 5
miles distant from the point where the
patrol was inpatiently awaiting him.
Through swamps and desert, through
jungles and In peril of quicksands.
Brugmann made his way to the house
Of q friend.
But the British secret service knew
more about Brugmann than he dreamed.
Soon after his arrival the house was
suddenly surrounded by Indian troops,
and an English officer demanded
Brugmann's host, T. desperation,
called out:
"You cannot enter; women are
in the housed"
"1'll give you five minutes 20 s.. Them
OUT the officer replied.
\ 4 Il
A T the end of five minutes the house
was rushed, the door smashed In
and with drawn weapons the officer and
MS men swarmed into the room where
Brugmann was waiting for them. He
could have shot several before they
could stop him. for a loaded revolver
was on the table by him. Instead he
surrendered quietly, not because he
noped TO gain anything thereby-he
knew what a spy could expect in war
tine-but because he considered himself
so high dignitary in the service of his
country that to shoot mere soldier or
TWO seemed to him only q brawl un-
worthy Of his station.
IN turn the British-after the court
martial had found him guilty as a spy
paid him the tribute Of treating him as
execute. 3shi
Meanwhile in Europe the fortunes of
war were turning against GERMANY.
Her resources were dwindling, the ring
OF enemies was closing in The flow of
gold and ammunition to Wassmuss stop
PED. In their place came bad news,
followed by worse.
When gold stopped coming wassmuss
paid his chiefs and their men with
promises to pay. and they went on
fighting for him Just the same. for thev
mad faith in him and in his power to
bring victory. But what would happen
when they learned that Germ-~- vas
losing?
Wassmuss met the situation n his
own way. On bulletin board &C his
headquarters in Ahram he pinned up
a paper:
German armies have landed in Eng
land! The King of England has been
executed"
For time such desperate measures
did service. But WassmuSs could not
hight the whole war himself and in
evitably the. truth began to spread
through Persia. Finally Wassmuss had
to declare himself penniless. He had
lost his fight. He had no more gold
to bolster his cause.
And the British offer of $4,000 for
his head |still stoodl
What hold the man had acqui -,
over the Persians may be seen frul,I
the fact that when he could no longer
pay them they, in their turn. assigned
him monthly salary of 300 rupees!
And the chiefs joined in a gift of a
beautiful white Arab stallion that Wass-
musS might ride in state.
The fact that not a Persian had
availed himself of the British offer of
reward was a tribute to the esteem in
which he was held and explained why
Wassmuss was not betrayed-so long as
the reward for him was comparatively
small
But when it mounted to 100000 and
up, a new reason appeared Briefly,
the Persians decided that no merely
human being could be worth that much
money to anybody and the offer there
fore could not possibly be made seri-
ouSly.
With the collapse of Germany's fight
Ing in the Orient, Wassmuss disappeared
from the picture. He was never cap
tured by the British. And he never
again emerged into prominence.
THE END.