The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-01-10

spy mess at Eighth Corps Area
Headquarters"
Better bring him back to WASH
ington at once" General Hague de-
cided. Instruct corps area to ship
him by fast plane. Benning must
sail from New York for France with
out delay. That's all, Flagwill."
Captain Allan Benning, in civilian
clothes, sat waiting in battered old
coupe just outside Fort Sam Hous-
ton. For two weeks past he had
been following one of those slender
threads OF investigation that were in
tended to connect local espionage ac-
Invites with the Van Hassek army
in Mexico.
Important secrets had been stolen
from southern military headquarters
at the fort. Not least of these was
the secret tables of organization of
the proposed new American fighting
division. Gone, too, was the file copy
OF army mobilization plans.
Benning's suspicion had conferred
promptly on a staff sergeant, Gau-
jos. Not by reason of any action
on the part Of the sergeant, but be-
cause OF an eloquent intangible, the
palpable inconsistency of Gaujos'
background, personality, and intelli-
gence with his present occupation.
GauJos was a man of forty, a
Frenchman by birth, had served as
a combat pilot with the French air
corps during the World War. Three
years ago he had taken out papers
as an American citizen and enlisted
in the army.
At headquarters Gaujos' superiors
swore by him. He was highly COM
petent as an administrative clerk
having supervision over half a doz-
en- typists. To the casual observer
Gaujos might have appeared sat-
urnine, stolidly satisfied man who
had given up the struggle for higher
success and settled happily into his
present little groove. His face was
long, lean, and angular and with
small, level black eyes in which
there was no friendliness.
With Benning, it had been a mat
ter OF batting a trap. He had fabri-
Gated a secret report that American
reserves were being sent to the bor-
der and had it placed, the night be-
fore, where Gaujos would find it in
the course Of his duty today. Now
Benning was waiting for Gaujos to
leave the fort when the headquar-
tiers crew knocked off work for the
day.
The suspected man took a bus into
San Antonio and had dinner at
hotel. He engaged a taxicab and
headed south out of the city. It was
dusk when Gaujos left his taxicab
and proceeded down the road on foot
from a point south of the old county
poor farm. Benning parked his own
coupe by the roadside and held the
trail from q discreet distance. The
suspected masquerader turned sud-
denly OF the road into a field. Ben
ming recognized it as a field that did
service on occasion as an emergency
landing-place for student fiiers from
Randolph Field. A fringe Of willows
lay along the road, and through
these Gaujos plunged with the de-
cisiveness Of q man who knows
where he Is going.
But Benning learned a few mo-
ments later that Gaujos was not off
ms guard. As the captain eased into
the willows, a stab Of flame blinded
his eyes, the bark Of a pistol clapped
his ears. He dove to the ground. his
right hand whipping his own service
pistol into splay and sent q bullet
driving at the spot whence had come
the attack. Then he lay tensely wait
ing.
The grim silence that followed was
broken shortly by the kicking-oyer of
q propeller out In the field, followed
by the easy purr of q high-powered
engine tuning for a take-off.
As Benning leaped to his feet. his
eyes made out, in the vague light, a
figure zigzagging at high speed into
the Held. Aiming carefully he sent
one bullet after another driving after
the fugitive until a metallic click
ted him his weapon was empty.
The runner made the plane, vault
ed inside. Benning, now helpless
TO act, saw the shadowy plane wad-
Ole down the stubble and roar into
the sky. In a twinkling it was swal-
lowed up in the void of a Texas
twilight.
Benning swore under his breath
at his i'll luck, returned to his coupe,
and drove to his hotel in San An
tonic. There was burn at his neck
which told him of q close call with
death. He examined it critically. de-
cided 1t was not serious enough to
require an anti-tetanus treatment.
and called the corps area CO Off
Ger, Lieutenant Colonel Bart, on the
telephone.