THE NA88AU POST, FREEPORT N.. Y., THUR&OAY, JANUARY 21, 1915
The Last Shot
(Continued from Page 6.)
matic ravenously and fearsomely — «¦!_"
"It is all simply arranged. The.-e ie time for me to use the telephone before the Grays arrive. I shall tell Lanny why you took charge of tho gun."
"I've changed my mind! Exit gar¬ dener! Enter gunner! I'm going Uith you!" he cried in a jubilant voice that arrested the attention of every one on the grounds. '
( cheek. War's fnmace fl&mee seemed I to have tanned him; 'war seemed to I be breathing from his deep chest; his I big nose waa war's promontory. But I the unexposed space of his forehead I seemed eiingularly white wben he took I off bis cap aa Minna came in answer . to his knock. Ker yielding lips were parted, her eyes were bright v ith in¬ quiry and eusplclon, her chin was I firmly set. y
I "I came to see if you would let" me ' kiss your hand-again," aaid .Stransky,
quick! We are losing valuable time!" be announced, rounding bia men to¬ ward the door with commanding ges¬ tures. "We are going in pursuit!"
Marta. who had observed the latter part of the scene from the shadows of' the hall, knew that she should never forget Hugo's face as he turned on Pil¬ zer, while his voice of protoet struck a singing chord in her jangling nerves. It was the voice of civilization, of one who could think out of the orbit of a whirlpool of nassionate barbarism.
squinting thrbugh his brows wistfully. \ she could see that he was about to
CHAPTER XIII.
From Brown to Gray.
"You, Mart;i—you are still there!" I^anstron exclaimed In alarm when ho heard her voice over the tunnel tele- Iilione. "But safe!" he added in re¬ lief. "Thank God for that! It's a mighty load off my mind. And your mother?"
"Safe, too."
"Well, you're through tho worst of It. There won't be any more fighting around the house, and certainly West¬ erling will be courteous. But where is Gustave?"
"Gone!"
"Gone!" he repeated dismally.
"Wa,it until you hear how he went," Marta said. With all the vividness of her impreeslons, a partisan for the mo¬ ment of him and 15*llarme, ahe sketched Feller's part witft the auto¬ matic.
As ho listened, Lanstron's spirit was twenty again.
¦ "1 can see him," he said. "It was a full breath of fresh ajr to the lungs cf a suffocating man. I—"
^.larta was off In Interruption in the full tide of an appeal.
"You niu«?t—I promised—you must let him have the uniform again!" she !!i>f;ged. "You must let him keep his I'Utoniatic. To take it awLLy would i,e like separating mother and child; like separating Minna from Clarissa ' her mother's k.:
Indignation br she started
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'¦['.(•tfcr than an nutomatic—a bat-1 l"ry of guns!" replied Liuistron. "This ! is whr-ro 1 will use any influence I , have with Partow for all it is worth. | Ves, and he shall have the iron cross. It is for euch deeds as his that tbe i iron cross was meant." j
"Tliank you.' oho said. "It's worth ; something to 'nak^ a man as happy as | >ou will make him. Yes, you are real flesh and blood to do this, Lanny."*
Her point won with surprising ease, when she had feared that military form and law could not be circum¬ vented, she leaned against the wall in reaction. For twenty four hours i^lie had been without sleep. The in¬ terest ot her appeal for Feller had kppt up her strength after the excite¬ ment of the tight for the redoubt was over. Now there seemed nothing left to do.
"That's fine of you, Lanny!" she said. "You've taken it like a good stoic, this loss of your thousandth chance. Vou really beliaved in. !t» didn't you?"
"Forgotten already, like th« many other thousandth chancer that have failed," he replied cheerfully. "One of the virtues of Partow's steel au¬ tomatons Is that, being tearless as well HS passionless, they never cry over spilt milk. And now," he went j
oa soberly, "we must be saying good¬ by."
"Goodby, Lanny? Why. what do you mean?" She wae startled.
"Till the war is over," he said, "and longer than that, perhaps, it La Tir remains in Gray territory."
"You speak as If you thought you were going to lose!"
"Not while many of our soldiers are alive, if they continue to show tbe spirit that they have shown so far; not unless two men can crush one man in the automatic-gun-recoil age. Rut La Tir is in a tangent and already In the Grays' possession, w^hile we act on the defensive. So I should hardly be flying over your garden again."
"Hut there's the telephone, Lanny, and here we are talking-over it this very minute!" sho expostulated.
"You must remove it," he said. "If the Grays should discover It they might form a suspicion that would put you in an unpleasant position."
The telephone had become almost a familiar institution in. her thoughts. I Its secret had something of the fasci¬ nation for her of magic.
"Nonsense!" she exclaimed. "I am going to be very lonely. I want to learn how Feller is doing—I want to chat with you. So I decide not to let it be taken out. And, you see, I kav* tho tactical situation, as you soldiers call It, all In my favor. The work of removal must be done at my end of the line. You're quite helpless to enforce your w-ishes. And, Lanny, if I ring tbe bell you'll answer, won't you?"
"I couldn't help It!" he replied.
"Until then! Ycu've been fine about everything today!"
"Until then!"
When Marta left the towereheknew only that ^he was weary with tbe mind-weariness, the body-weariness, the nerve-wearinesa of a spectator v/ho haa shared tbe emotion of every actor in a drama of death and finds tbe ex¬ citement that has kept her tenee no longer a sustaining force.
As she went along the path, stepe uncertain frora sheer fatigue, her sen- sibiUties livened again at the sight of a picture. War, personal war. in the form of the giant Stranaky. was knock¬ ing at the kitchen door. His two-days- old bear(] was matted with dust and there were dried re^ sgattera on his
"I see your nose has been broken once. You don't want it broken a sec¬ ond time. I'm stronger tlian you think!" Minna reJorted, and h"id out her hand carelessly as if it pleased lier to humor him.
lie was rather graceful, despite his I size, as he touched his lips to her fin¬ gers. Just as he raised his head a buret of cheering rose from the yard. "So you've found that we havp gone, you brilliant intellects!" he shouted, and glared at the wall of the house in the direction of the cheers.
"Quick! You have no time to lose!" Minna warned him. "Qntekl rHckl" «rl«« Marta. Stransky paid no attention to the urgings. He had something more to say to Minna.
"I'm going to keep thinking of you and seeing your face—the face of a good woman—while I fight. And when the war is over, may I come to call?" he asked.
His feet were so resolutely planted on the flags that apparently the only way to move them was to consent.
"Yes, yee!" said Minna. "Now, hurry!"
"Say, but you make me happy! Watch me poke it into the Grays for you!" he cried and bolted. ,
Within the kitchen Mrs'. Galland was already slumbering soundly in her chair. Overhead Marta heard tho exclamations of male voices and thi' tread of what was. literally the heel of the conqueror—guests that had <'omG without askinu! IntptftJ^rs that had entered v:'' ! y proce.-!S of
law! Would tl '1 the house,
' u room? sh strength yfairs. Tho head of the •flight gave on to a dark i j)art of the hail. Thei'e she paused, | held by the scene thut a store or j more Gra\ ^oldil¦rs, who had riotously ' ! crowded into the dining-iooin, were ' i enacting. They were members of j ; Fracasse's cotnpany of the Grays \ j w hom Marta had seen from her win-.] I dow the ni^ht before rushing across ! I the ro'rtd into the garden. |
! When, finally, they burst into the | I redoubt after it was found lliat the i I Hiowns had gone, all, even the judge's I Kon. were the war demon's own. The I veneer had been warped and twisted | i and burned off down to the raw anL- j mai flesh. Their brains had the fever ! itch of callouses forming. .Not a sign | ! of brown there in the yard; not a sign j of any tribute after all they had en- i dured! They had not been able to lay I hands on tiie murderous throwers of ! hand-grenades. Far away now was j iiarrack-rocm g( niality: in oblivion were the ethics-rlV .an inherited civill- saJtiaa twicllt br mothers, teachers and church.
Hut here was a house—a house of the Browns; a big. fine house! They would see what they had won—this was the privilege of baffled victory. What they had won was theirs! To the victor the spoils! Pell-mell they
spring and her prayer went with his leap. She gloried in the impact that
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They Saw Pilzer Go Down.
felled the great brute with the liver patch ou his cheek, which was like a birthmark of war. ¦
Then a staff-ollicer appeared in the doorway. \\"Lien he saw a wotnan eii- ter the room he frowned. He had rid¬ den from tlie town, wliich was empty of women, a fact tliat he regarded as a blessing. If she bad been a mnid servant he would have keiit on his cap. Seeing that she was not, he re¬ moved it and found hiniiielf m want of words as their eyes met ailer she hud made a gesture to the broken ghis.s on the floor and the lacerated table top, which said toe plainly:
"Do you admire your v.-ork?"
The fact tlie.t he was well • room&d and freshly shaven did not in any wise dissipate in her feminine mind bis connection witli this (jestrnetion. .He had never seen anything like the smile which went with the gesture. Her eyes were two continuing and ciial- lenging flames. Her (hln was held high and steady, and the iiailor cf o::- haustion, with the blackness of h^r hair and eyes, made her strangely commanding. He understood Ihat sho was not waiting for him to speak, but to go.
"I did not know that there was a woman here!" he said.
"And 1 did not know that ollicei's of the Grays were accustomed to enl( r private houses without invitations!" alie replied.
'This Is a little different," he began. She interrupted him. "Hut the law of the Grays is that homes should be left undisturbed, isn't it? At least, it is the law of civiliza¬ tion. I believe you profess, too, to pr-j- tect property, do you not?"
"¦VVby, yes!" he agreed. He wished that he could get a little respite from the steady Are of ber eyes. It was em¬ barrassing and as confusing as the white light of an impracticable logic. "In that case, please place a guard around our house lest some more of your soldiers get cut of control," she went on.
"I can do that, yes," he said. "Bet. i we are to make this a staff head(|uar- I ters and must start at on< e to put Hie , house in readiness." i "General VVesterling's headquar- troductory havoc whetted his appetite j ters?" she inquired
1 He parried the question with a I frown. Staff-oHicers never give irifcr- I mation. They receive information and ; transmit orders.
crowded into the dining-room, Hugo with the rest, feeling himself a straw on the crent of a wave, and Pilzer, most bitter, most ugly of all. his short, strong teeth and gums showing and his liver patch red, lumpy, and trem¬ bling. In crossing the threshold of privacy they committed the act that leaves the deepest wound of war's in¬ heritance, to go on from generation to generation In the history of fami¬ lies.
"A swell dining-room! I like tbe chandeliers!" roared Pilzer.
With his bayonet he smashed the only globe leit intact by the shell tire. There was a laugh as a shower of glass fell on the floor. Even the judge's son, the son of the tribune of law, joined in. Pilzer then ripped up the leather seat of a chair. This In-
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for other worlds of conquest, as the self-chosen leader of the increasing crowd that poured through the door¬ way.
"Maybe there's food!" he shouted. "Maybe there's wine!"
"Food and wine!"
"Yes, wine! We're thirsty!"
"And maybe women! I'd like to kiss a pretty maid servant!" IMlzer added, starting toward the hall.
"Stop!" cried Hugo, forcing his way in front of Pilzer.
He was like no one of tbe Hugos of the many parts that his comrades had seen him play. His blue eyes had be¬ come an inflexibl^gray. He was stand¬ ing half on tiptoe, his quivering muscles in tune witb the quivering pitch of his voice:
"We have no right in here! This is a private house!"
"Out of the way, you white-livered little rat!" cried Pilzer, "or I'll prick the tummy of mamma's darling!"
What happened then was so sudden and unexpected that all were vague about details. They aa.w Hugo In a catapultlc lunge, mesmeric in its swift¬ ness, and they saw Pilzer go down, bis leg twisted under him aud his head banging tbe floor. Hugo stood, half ashamed, half frightened, yet ready for another encounter.
Ftacasse, entering at thig moment, was too intent on h^ mission to c6u- sider the rights of a personal differ¬ ence between two of his company.
"There's work to 4o! Out of here.
"I know General Westerling. You will tell hini that my mother, Mrs. Gal¬ land, and our mtdd and myself are very tired from the enterlainment lie has given us, una.-,kt^d, and wo uecJ sleep to-night. So you will leave -'s until morning and that deer, sir, is the one out into the grounds."
The staff-officer bowed and went out by that door, glad to get away from .Marta's eyes, llin indpectiou of the premises with a view to plans for stait accommodation could wait. Wesie.- ling would not be here for two days at least.
"Whew! What energy sbe has!" h3 thought. "1 never had anybody make me feel so contemptibly unlike a gen¬ tleman lu my life."
(To B« Coatlaued).
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