Evening star., 1933-06-04

He jabbed the knife into his urist -.
The blood trickIed upon the tabletop
."An oath of compares, an oath in
blood! Death to the americans"
That very night he did the trick. But
Pietros plan almost went awry and the Span
lard nearly lost his life. A sentry detected
Diaz, and Pietro had to intercede swiftly.
explaining that We're saving that guy up"
Patience was rewarded. His success in steal
ing the plans whetted Diazs appetite. Next
night he craved more action.
IF our good friend Pietro will once more
borrow that censor's stamp" he said, well
send the plans to the German chief"
Pietro promised. In great humor, Diaz
called for wine. Then, when the bottle was
before him, he whipped out his knife.
LET us take an oath!" he cried. He jabbed
the knife into his wrist. The blood trickled
upon the table top. "An oath of compadres,
an oath in blood! Death to the Americans!"
He snatched Pietro's fountain pen and, with
a gruesome mixture of red blood and black
ink, scrawled it upon a sheet of paper: Death
to the Americans!" Beneath he signed his
name. Then he forced each Of the others to
dip the pen into the goblet Of blood upon the
table top and sign their names. At last, the
wine drunk, he unfolded his new plan.
This was nothing less than to blow up
Beaune.
Huddled over the table, they agreed that
next day the Frenchman should go there to
reconnoiter, while Pietro stole the dynamite
from the American engineers. So he told his
captain later that night.
Espionage was violation of French law,
so arrests were usually made by the French
counter espionage service. So one Of their
high officials came to Beaune. At first he
was skeptical, but when he had talked to the
quiet modest Pietro his doubts were removed.
THAT night they met again in the little bistro:
! the two Spaniards the Frenchman, and
Pietro. They talked for few moments but
that was difficult, for there seemed more GUS
toners than usual-Frenchmen, mostly. Diaz
grumbled about it. They kept drifting into the
back room. One Of them passed behind him.
Suspicion dawned in Diaz's mind. He started
to his feet Then suddenly the roof crashed
down on top Of Diazs head, lights flashed, the
universe roared and whirled
"They had to blackjack him." Pietro re-
ported to his captain, but they got him all
right"
When the war ended the question arose.
how reward Pietro? Neither he nor two other
I. P.'s S>commended for the D. S. M. could
receive it, for they were commissioned
ofhcers-Sergeants. But secret service work,
however gallant, was not combat service, 1t
was held-so they could not receive the D. S.
G. nor Medal of Honor.
So, until the other day when he got the new
decoration of the Purple Heart citation by
Gen. Pershing for meritorious service was
Sergt. Peter de Pasquas only reward for what.
at peril Of his life, he had done as Pietro.
His only official reward, that is. He re-
ceived another that he valued more highly.
Not all his time in Beaune had been taken up
in interpreting, plotting and counter plotting.
Between whiles, he had been courting the
daughter of the owner of the cafe where he
ate his meals, a French girl, quiet, and liked
and respected by all.
She was astonished and delighted when her
Red Cross interpreter appeared at the wedding,
in the uniform of sergeant Of American in
telligence police Pietro knew how to keep
secret service secret.