Evening star., 1938-02-20

That vouM appear 10 be one too many for the
complete success Of what You propose. So 60
forthuith. insult him so that he snacks your face,
and then YOU challenge him TO a d,el'
Then, my Georges, one of two things hap
pens One of two very desirable things. Either
he leaves me alone in future and eats his heart
out that he has been tricked and trapped and
ridiculed; or else he goes through with the mat
ter challenges you and you shoot him through
the heart"
And I'll shoot the dog between the eyes,
will most assuredly kill him.
mo. Rather will he have killed himself"
corrected Adele, through making love to me,
and thus having to challenge you. Suicide For
to kiss and foully to insult your wife is to COM
nit suicide
"Yes, he will kill himself" she repeated, her
eyes hard and her lips thin.
And that night the brazen-t tongued bugles
suddenly blew their clamorous call, waking
sleeping men to the knowledge that in nine
minutes they must get from bed to barrack
square, fully dressed and completely equipped
for an African campaign with everything they
possessed upon their backs.
Georges and Adele Duchesne, after one long
embrace, parted he nearer to tears than was
she, with long kisses and brief words
Upward at the window of their quarters
gazed Captain Alphonse Mallieu for minute,
and as on the window blind he saw their two
shadows become one he spat, and softly he
swore Through twisted lips he swore that at
least one man of that battalion should not re-
turn to the base, one officers wife should be-
come widow, and in black rage of wounded
vanity, and insane egoism his hand went up to
the breast pocket of his tunic, wherein reposed
the tiny phial that never left it.
For Captain Maeu had seen too many of
the mangled bodies of French wounded, who
had fallen into the hands of the Arabs and
been indescribably tortured to death by their
women Not for him should be such death.
In the phial that he carried as invariably as he
carried his water bottle, field glasses and re-
volver, were tiny tablets, each strong enough to
kill the strongest man in a minute or two. If
ever he were wounded and left, a couple of
those would cheat the Arabs of their sport and
rob death of its sting if not the grave of its vic
tory.
And there are no post mortems on active
service no coroner's inquests on dead bodies,
during a campaign. If this irritating Captain
Georges Duchesne were found dead in his
bivouac when reveille blew one morning, why,
that would be just too bad. Heart failure or
some such thing.
And if on the day that Duchesne died. there
had been no fighting, and funny old Medecin
Majeur Chanel had nothing better to do than
poke his nose into the contents of dead Off
Ger s stomach, and did discover huge quantities
of hydrocyanic acid, why, it would obviously
be a case of suicide Yes it would be quite clear
that the unfortunate officer had had enough
of the campaign, had got cold feet and had
taken his life - before the Arabs took it.
Captain Alphonse Mallieu smiled pleasantly
as he fingered the phial, and glanced again at
the united shadows on the blind.
Awaiting his opportunity and declining
many in which a certain amount of danger
lurked Captain Malieu seized upon safe
one The desert camp was dark and noisy with
the shouts of men, the neighing and braying
of horses, mules and donkeys.
Duchesne was at dinner in the bivouac mess
his kit and accoutrements in the shelter of his