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The Last Shot FREDERICK PALMER SYNOPSIS. At their home on the frontier between the Brown* ami Grays Mart* Galland anil her mother, entertaining Colonel Wester ling of the Grays, sue Captain Lanatron "of the Browns Injured by a fall In' his Aeroplane. Ten years later. Weaterllng, nominal vice but r«al chief of staff, re-en forces South I.H Ttr and meditates on war. Marts tells him of hsr teaching children the follies »f war'and martial patriotism, and begs him to prevent war while he Is chief of staff. Lanatron cslls on Marta at her home Rhe tetla I*nstron that she believes Feller, the gardener, to be a spy. Lane iron confesses It Is true and shows hsr a telephone which Keller has con cealed In a secret passage under the tower for use to benefit the Browna in war emergencies. Lanstron declares his love for Marta Westerllng and the Gray pre mier plan to use a trivial international affair to foment warlike patriotism and atriks before declsring wsr. I'artow, Brown chief of staff, reveals his plans to made vie* chlsf. The Gray army crossee the border Una and attacks The Browns check them. Artillery, In fantry, aeroplanes and dirigibles engage Marta has her first glimpse of war In Its modern, cold, scientific, murderous bru tality. The Browns fall back to the Gal land house Marts sees a night attack. The Grsys attack In f"r«e, Keller leaves his secret telephone snd goes back to his guns. Hsnd to hand fighting. The Browns nil back again. Marta asks Lanstron over the phone to appeal to I'artow to stop ths fighting Vandalism In the Gsllsnd house, westerllng and his stafT occupy the Gal land house and he begins to woo Mnrta, who apparently thrown her fortunes with the Grays ami offers valuable Information flhe calls up I.anHtron on the secret tele phone and plans to give Westerllng Infor mation that will trap the dray army. CHAPTER XV— Continued, "Yea?" the monosyllable was de tached, dismal, labored. "A woman can be that!" she exclaimed In an un certain tone, which *rew Into the dls traction of clipped words and broken sentences. "A woman play-acting -a woman acting the most revolting hy pocrisy—Influences the Issue between two nations! Her deceit deals In the lives of sons precloue to fathers and toothers, the fate of frontiers, of lnstl . tutlona! Think of It! Think of ma chines costing countless millions —ma- chines of flesh and blood, with their destinies shaped by one little bit of lying Information! Think of the folly of any civilization that stakes lt« tri umphs on such a gamble! Am I not right? Isn't It true? Isn't It?" "Yes, yes, Marta! llut—I —" If •he were weakening It was not Ills place to try to strengthen her purpose. "It will the sooner end fighting, won't It, Lanny?" she asked In • ■mall, tense voice. "Yes." • I "And the only real end that means real peace Is to prove that the weak can hold back the strong from their threshold?" "Yes." I Even now Westerllng might be on the veranda, perhaps waiting for news that would enable him to crush the weak; to prove that the law of five pounds of human flesh against three, and Ave bayonets agulnst three, is the Uw of civilisation. **•4 "Yes, yes, yes!" The constriction was gone from her throat; there was a drum beat In her soul. "Depend on me, Lanuy!" It was Keller's favorite phrase spoken by the one who was to take his place, "Yes, I'm ready to make any sacrifice now. For what am I? What Is one woman compared to •uch a purpose? I don't care what la •aid of me or what becomes of me If we can win! flood by, Lanny, till I call you up again! And (Sod with us!" "God with us!" as Partow had aald, over and over The saying had come to be repeated by hard-headed, agnos tic staff-officers, who believed that the deity had no relation to the efficiency of gun fire. The llrown Infantrymen even were beginning to mutter It In the midst of action. Waiting on the path of the second terrace for Westerllng to couie, Marta realized the full meaning of her taak. I*y in and day out she was to have suspense at her elbow and the horror of hypocrisy on her conscience, the while keeping her wits nicely bal anced. When she saw Westerllng ap pear on the veranda and start over the lawn she felt dizzy and uncertain of her capabilities "I have considered all that you have •aid for my guidance and I have de cided," she began. She heard her own voice with the relief of a singer In a debut who, with knees shaking, finds that her notes are true. She was looking directly at Westerllng In profound seriousness. Though knees shook. Hps and chin could aid eyes In revealing the pain ful fatigue of a battle that had raged In the mind of a woman who went •way for half an hour to think for herself. "I hare concluded." she went on, "that It Is an occasion for the sac rifice of private ethics to a great pur pose, the sooner to end the slaugh ter" "All true!" whispered an Inner ▼olee. Its tone was Lanny's, in the old days of their comradeship. It gave her strength. All true! "Yes, an end—a speedy end!" said Westerllng with a fine, inflexible em phasis. "That Is your prayer and nine and the praysr of all lovers of humanity." It Is little that I know, but such as lt la /ou »hall have U." she timn. conscious of his guarded scrutiny. (When she told him of Bordir, the peak point in ths first line of the (Copyright. 1914. tor Uurld Scnbrmr'i Sons) lirowns' defense, she noted no change in hla ateady look; but with the men tion of Kngadlr In the main tine abe detected a gleam in bla eyes tj»at had the roerclleas delight of a cutting edge of ateel. "I have made my aac rlflce to aome purpose? The infor mation ia worth eoroething to you?" aha asked wiatfully. "Yea. yea! Yea, It promlaea that way," be replied thoughtfully. Quietly he began a conalderate cate chlam. Soon abe waa subtly unfler atanding that her anawera lacked the convincing details that be aougbt. Hhe longed to avert her eyea from bla for an inatant, but ahe knew that tbla would be fatal. She felt the force of him directed in prctfeaalonal channels, free of ail personal relatlona, beat ing aa a strong light on her bare state ments. How could a woman ever have learned two such vital secrets? How could It happen that two euch critical points as Hordir and Engadlr should go undefended? No tactician, no engineer but would have realized their strategic importance. Did she know what she was saying? How did she get her knowledge? These, she understood, were the real questions that underlay Westerling's polite in direction. "Hut 1 have not told you the sources of my Information! Isn't that like a woman!" she exclaimed. "You Bee, It did not concern me at all at the time I heard It. 1 didn't even realize ltn Importance and I didn't hear muc)y,y she proceeded, her Introduc tion giving time for Improvisation. "You see, Partow wan Inspecting the premises with Colonel Lnnstron. My mother had known Partow In her younger day# when my grandfather was premier. We had them both to luncheon." "Yes?" put In Westerllng, betraying his eagerness. I'artow and Lanstron! Then her source was one of authority, not the gosßlp of subalterns! "And It occurs to me now that, pxeo while he wus our guest," rjected In sudden Indignation "that even while he was our guest Partow was planning to make our grounds a redoubt!" "After luncheon I remember Partow saying, 'We are going to have a look at the crops," and they went for a walk out to the knoll where the fight ing began." , "Yes! When was this?" Westerllng asked keenly. "Only about six weeks ago," an swered Martu. "loiter, I came upon them unexpect edly after they hnd returned," she went on. "They were sitting there on that seat concealed by the shrubbery. I was on the terrace steps unobserved "I'm Going on My Experlenoe as a and I couldn't help overbearing them. Their voices grew louder with the In terest of their discussion. I caught something about appropriations and aeroplanes and Bordlr and Engadlr. and saw that Lanstron was pleading with his chief. He wanted a sum ap propriated for fortifications to be ap plied to building planes and dtrtglblea. Finally, Partow consented, and I re call his exact words: 'They're shock ingly archaically defended, especially Engadir,' he said, 'but they can wait until we get further appropriations In the fall!'" She was so far under the spell of her own Invention that ehe believed the reality of her words, re flected In her wide-open eyes which seemed to have nothing to hide. "That la all," she exclaimed with a shudder—"all my eavesdropping, all my breach of confidence! If—lf It" — and her voice trembled with the In tensity of the one purpose that was shining with the light of truth through the murk of he* deception—"lt will Soldier." THE ENTERPRISE, WTLLIAMSTON, NORTH CAROLINA. only help to end the slaughter!" She held out her hind convulsively In parting m if she would leave the rest with him. "I think it will," he said soberly. "I think it will prove that you have done a great aervice," he repeated as he caught both her hands, which ware cold from her ordeal. His own were warm with the strong beating of bis heart stirred by the promise of what be had Jflst beard. But he did not prolong the grasp. He was as eager to be away to his work as she to be alone. "I think It will. You will know In the morning," he added. His steps were sturdier than ever In the power of five against three as he started back to the house. When he reached the veranda, Bouchard, the saturnine chief of intelligence, ap peared in the doorway of the dining room; or, rather, reappeared, for be had been standing there throughout the Interview of Westerling and Marta, whose heads were Just visible, above the terrace wall, to his hawk eyes. "A little promenade In the open and my mind made up," said Westerling. clapping Bouchard on the shoulder. "Something about an attack to night?" asked Bouchard. "You guess right. Call the others." Five minutes later he was seated at the head of the dining-room table with hie chiefs around him waiting for their chairman to speak. He aaked some categorical questions almost per functorily, and the answer to each was, "Ready!" with, In some instances, a qualification—the qualification made by regimental and brigade command ers that, though they could take the position In front of them; the cost would be heavy. Yes, all were willing and ready for the first general assault of the war, but they wanted to state the coets as a matter of professional self-defense. ' Westerling could pose wAen It served his purpose. Now be rose and, going to one of the wall maps, Indi cated a point with his forefinger. "If we get that we have the most vital position, haven't we?" Home uttered a word of assent; some only nodded. A glance or two of curiosity was exchanged. Why should the chief of staff ask so ele mentnry a question? Westerling was not unconscious of the glances or of their meaning. They gave dramatic value to his next remark. "We are going to mass for our main attack In front at Hordlr!" "Hut," exclaimed four or five offl cors at once, "that Is the heart of the position! That Is —" "I behove It Is weak —that It will fall, and tonight!" "You have Information, then, infor mation that I have not?" asked Bou chard. "No more than you," replied Waster ling. "Not as much If you havs any thing new." "Nothing!" admitted Bouchard wry 1 jr. He lowered hie head under Wester ling's penetrating look In the con sciousness of failure. "I am going on a conviction—on putting two and two together!" Wee terllng announced. "I am going on my experience aa a aoldler, aa a chief of staff, If I am wrong, I take the re sponsibility. If I am right, Hordlr will be ours before morning. It la aettled!" "If you are right, then," exclaimed Turcaa —"well, then It's genius or—" He did not finish the sentence. Ha had been about to say coincidence; while Westerling knew that if he ware right all the rising skepticism in cer tain quarters, owing to the delay In his program, would be silenced. His prestige would be unassailable CHAPTER XVI Marking Tims. Boon after dark the attack began. Plashes from gun mouths and glow ing sheets of flame from rifles made ugly revelry, while the beams of search-lights swept hither and thither. This kept up till ahortly after mid night, when it died down and. where hell's concert had raged, allent dark ness shrouded the hills. Marta knew that Bordlr was taken without havtng to ask Lanstron or wait for confirma tion from Westerling. She was seated in the recess of the arbor the next morning, when ahe heard the approach of thoee regular, powerful steps whose character had become aa distinct to her as thoee of a member of her own family. Five against three! five against three! they were saying to her; while down the paaa road and the castle road ran the stream of wounded from last night's alaughter. Posted In the drawing-room of the Qalland house were the congratula tions of the premier to Westerling, who had come from the atmosphere of a staff that accorded to him a mili tary inaight far above the analysla of ordinary standards. But he was too clever a man to vaunt his triumph. He knew how to carry his honors. He accepted success as his due, In a matter-of-course manner that must ln splre confidence la further success. "You were right," he said to Marta easily, pleasantly. "We did It—we did It —we took Bordlr with a loss of only twenty thousand men!" Only twenty thousand! Her revul sion at the bald statement was re lieved by the memory of Lanny's word over the telephone after breakfast that the Browns had lost only five thou aand. Four to one was a wide ratio, she was thinking. "Then the end —then peace Is so much nearer?" she asked. "Very much nearer!" he answered earnestly, as he dropped on the bench bealdQ her. ' ' . ■ : He stretched his arms out on the back of the seat and the relaxed atti tude, unusual with him, brought into relief a new trait of which shs had been hitherto obttrtous. The con queror had become simply a compan ionable man. Though be was not sit ting close to her, yet, as his eyea met hers, she had a desire to move away which she knew would be unwise to gratify. She was conscious of a cer tain softening charm, a magnetism that the had sometimes felt In the days when she first knew him. She realised, too, that then the charm had not been mixed with the indescribable, intimate quality that it held now. "In the midst of congratulations after the position waf taken last night," he declared, "I confess that I was thinking less of success than of Its source." He bent on her a look that was warm with gratltuda. She lowered her lashes bwft*r# It; before gratitude that made bet part appesr in a fresh angle of misery. "There seems to be a kind of fa tality about our relations," be went on. "I lay awake pondering it last night" "I'm Not a Human Being." Hl* tone held more than gratitude. It had the elation of discovery. "He Is going to make it harder than I ever guessed!" echoed her own thought, in u flutter of confuaion. "Yea, it wan atrange our meeting on the frontier In peace and then in war!" she exclaimed at random. The Bound of th« remark atruck her as too sub dued; aa expectant, when her purpose waa one of eareleaa deprecation. "1 have met a great many women, aa you may have Imagined," he pro ceeded. "They have paaaed in review. They were simply women, witty and frail or dull and beautiful, and one meant no more to me than another. Nothing meant anything to me except my profeaalon. But I never forgot you. You planted something In mind: a memory of real companionship." "Yea, I made the prophecy that came true!" she put In. This ought to bring him back to hlmaelf and hi* ambitions, she thought. "Yea!" he exclaimed, hla body stif fening free of the back of the seat. "You realised what was In me. You foresaw the power which waa to be mine. The fate that first brought us together made me look you up In the capital. Now It brings us together here on this bench after all that baa paaaed In the last twenty-four hours." She realised that he had drawn per ceptibly nearer. She wanted to rise and cry out: "Don't do thia! He the chief of staff, the conqueror, crushing the earth with the tread of Ave against three!" It waa the conqueror whom she wanted to trick, not a man whose earnestness was painting her deceit blacker. Far from rising, she made no movement at all; only looked at .hei* hands and allowed him to go on, con scious of the force of a personality that maatered men and armies now warm tnd appealing In the full tide of another purpose. "The victory that I waa thinking of last night waa not the taking of Bor dir. It was finer than any victory In war. It was sslfish—not for army and country, but born of a human weakneas triumphant; a human weak ness of which my career had robbed me," he continued. "It gave me a joy that even the occupation of the Browns' capital could not give. I had come as an Invader and I had won your confidence." "In a cause!" she Interrupted hur riedly, wildly, to stop him from going further, only to find that her intona tion was such that It was drawing him on. "That fatality seemed to be working Itself out to the soldier so much older than yourself In renewed youth. In another form of ambition. I hoped (hat there was more than the cause that led you to truat me. I hoped—" Was he testing her? Was he play ing a part of his own to make certain that she was not playing one? Bhe looked up swiftly for answer. There was no gainsaying what she saw In his eyes. It was beating into hers with the power of an overwhelming masculine passion and a maturity of intellect as his egoism admitted a com rade to Its throne. Such is ever the way of a man in the forties when the clock strikes for him. But who could know better the craft of courtship than one of Westerllng's experience? He was fighting for victory; to gratify i rtsslrs , -. ~ .» "1 did not expe«t this—l—" the words. escaped tnmnltuously and chok ingly. He vli banding so close to her that she fait his breath on h« -fceek burn ing hot, and she was sickeningly con scious that he was looking her over In that point-by-point manner which she had felt across the tea-table at the hotel. This horrible thing in his glance she had sometimes seen in strangera on her travels, and it had made her think that she was wise to carry a little revolver. She wanted to strike him. "Confess! Confess!" called all her own self-respect. "Make an and to your abasement!" "Confession, after the Browns have given up Bordlr! Confession that makes Lanny, not Westerling, your dupe!" came the reply, which might have been telegraphed into her mind from the high, white forehead of Par tow bending over his mapa. "Confes sion, betraying the cause of the right against the wrong; the three to the conquering five! No! You are In the thing. You may not retreat now." For a few seconds only the duel of argument thundered in her temples —seconds In which her lips were part ed and quivering and her eyes dilated with an agitation which the man at her side could Interpret as he pleased. A prompting devil—a devil roused by that thing in his eyea—urging a finesse In double-dealing which only devils understand, made her lips hyp notically turn in a smile, her eyes soften, and sent her hand out to Wes terling In a trancelike gesture. For an instant It rested on his arm with tell ing pressure, though she felt It burn with shame at the point of contact. "We must not think of that now," she said. "We must think of nothing personal; of nothing but your work until your work is done!" The prompting devil had not permit ted a false note In her voice. Her very pallor. In fixity of Idea, served her purpose. We«terllng drew a deep breath that seemed to expand his whole being with greater appreciation of her. Yet that harried hunger, the hunger of a beast, was still In his glance. (TO HE CONTINUED.) SAVING THE VENUS OF MILO Extraordinary Precautions Tsken to Guard Art Treasure Impos sible to Replace. When, during the war of 1870, the German army drew near the French capital, one of the first measures the Parisians took was to place the art treasures of the Louvre In safety. The paintings of Raphael, Titian. Paolo, Veronese, Rembrandt and Rubens were carefully packed and ahlpped to Hrest. There they could, if necessary, be put on shipboard and taken from the country. It was not so easy to save the pieces of marble statuary, for their weight and fragility made them difficult to handle; but the French determined that the famous Venus of MUo, at least, should not fall into the hands of the Prussians. So they took her down from her ped estal and laid her in a casket carefully padded and wrapped. At night the casket was taken out through a secret door and hidden secretly In the cellar of the police prefecture, at the end of a certain passageway. They walled In the casket and clev erly gave the wall an appearance of great age and dilapidation. In front of this wal] they laid a number of val uable public documents, so that if they should happen to be found their Im portance would lead the discoverers to think there was nothing else hid den there. In front of the papers they built another wall. Here the Venas of Mllo remained, much to the distreea of those patriotic Parisians who dH not know where she was and supposed that she had been stolen, through the siege of the city by the Oermans and through the disorders of the commune. One day the prefecture caught Ore and was pretty completely destroyed. The dlstreaa of those who knew that the Venus was concealed there eu be imagined. As soon as the fire wee extinguished they hastened to the sink ing ruins and after some digging found the caaket, buried in heaps ef dirt and stones, but uninjured. It is understood that the Venus hM gone into hiding again this year, not to reappear until peace is restored and Paris Is free from danger of the in vader.—Youth's Companion. Activities of Women. Fifteen women are seeking eeats hi the Washington.legislature. The former sultan of Zanzibar It stranded In Paris with his IS wives. Baku, Caucasus, has a population of 117,855, of whom 93, Ml are women. Under the provisions of the wiir at Mrs. Emily Zoller of New York city, her pet dog is left S2OO for his kegp during the rest of his life. Textile workers In Japaui threaten to go on a strike unless the IS woaaea who were discharged from one ef the milla are reinstated. To avoid the use of the name of a German town s Paris mags sine has opened a competition ahking Preagh girls to find a new name for Cologne. Helping the Youngsters. One of the Chicago municipal coart Judges has established a library for foreign boys in the boys'*court. Ar rangements have been made by hia with the public library to furnish books written in the native tonguee of the nationalities most frequently represented In the court. —The living Church. • Interrupted Communication. "You don't mean to say that this Is the first you've heard of itr* L. "Absolutely." , ~ "Why, it's ths talk of the nelghbe* hood." "Yes, but my wife Is mi on a visit." WHY CMP IS MNGCROUS. *^T' "* "Ji r It nqnlm a good tonic laxative t* keep the body of the patient as »tror« aa poealble to counteract the effect of the poison a created by the (rip bacil* lua_ An expectorant tonic with soma laxative qualities !s tba safest rem edy. Such Is Parana. Mrs. Gentry dates, till First Ave, Ala., writes: 1 had a bad case of grip. I tried Perune and it cured ma. I can safely aay It la a fine medicine." Mr. George E. Law. IS* H. Frank lin St.. Braall. Ind, writes: "I am satisfied that Parana to a wonderful remedy for grip, and I do most heart ily endorse and recommend U." St. Can lava. St Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, was consecrated at the age of seven to the service of religion by St Uermanus, bishop of Auxerre, who chanced to paaa through the village of Nanterre, where ahe lived, about four miles from Paris. She acquired a great reputation for sanclty. The church of St. Genevieve, completed in 1764, was named In her honor. Dur- Ing the revolutionary period it was withdrawn from the service of relig ion and called the Pantheon, but was afterward restored in name and to ecclesiastical uses. TwerlCT OK LIVEFt BOWELS No sick headache, biliousness, , bad taste or constipation by morning. Get a 10-cent box. Are you keeping your bowels, liver, ! and stomach clean, pure and fresh ; with Cascarets, or merely forcing a ! passageway every» tew days with Salts, Cathartic Pills, Castor Oil or Purgative Waters? Stop having a bowel wash-day. Let Cascarets thoroughly cleanse and reg ulate the stomach, remove the sour and fermenting food and foul gases, taks the excess bile from the liver and csrry out of the system all (he constipated waste matter and poisons In the bowels. A Cascaret to-night will make yon feel great by morning. They work while you sleep—never gripe, sicken or cause any inconvenience, and cost only 10 cents~a box from your store. Millions of men and women take a Cascaret now and then and never have Headache, Biliousness, Coated Tongue, Indigestion, Bour Stomach oi Constipation. Adv. Just Punishment. Mrs. Hemmendhaw This paper says a woman burglar was Identified by two missing teeth. Mr. Hemmendhaw —Serves her right for not keeping her mouth shut. Home Medicine Chest Keep your medicines in one place, out of reach of children. Be sure to have Hanford's Balsam of Myrrh on hand for emergency use. It should take the fire out of burns, heal cuts, remove soreness and be worth many times over Its cost Adv. Language was given us that w« might say pleasant things to each oth er.—Bovee. Don't Give Up! Nowadays deaths doe to weak kidneys are 73% more common than 90 years ago, aooordlng to the oeasus. Overwork and worry are the onuses. The kidneys oaa't keep up, and a slight kklney weakness Is usually neglected. If jou have backache or urinary dis orders, don't mistake the oaose. right the dearer. More eare aa to diet, habita, etc.. and the uae of Doaa'a Kidney Pills ought to bring qulok relief. A North Crnlna C HhrAy M L. Haa. T*lr« St., Waldoa. K. C., aajre: "Oris left Bay kMnejre lA. f weak aa* I euffarod in the •MMr'■ email of mr beak. Tjkfll I JM Moralnsa I wee aare 3511.il aa 4 at Iff aa a oouldn't do aur houeewerk. I had hoadachae aal dlaay . epella that Manwd tar aichL Mr aaklee war* awollen and H my ttmha ached ter- Bp rlbly. Ae aoon aa 1 uaed Do*n'a Kidney Ptlle I sot relief and I oonUnaed with vheaa until I wae eared." Cot Doaa'a el Aar Mm, tSe a laa DO AN'S VSOSF POCTWMM WWW CO, BUFFALO. It T. jF YOiJ HAVE Bewele, Daab *A(M, Soar Steaack, ea4 MfWaii VjaarMMeaaeleaeMM* sad yea have no aptxtHs. Tufl's Pills wSI ramady ttae» traatlas. Prioa, 2M nil. BUlId UD With >o rtmr MM ttwTntrn.Bsr Tonlo w. N. u, CHARLOTTE, NO. t-wi.
The Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.)
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Feb. 5, 1915, edition 1
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