United States or Mauritania ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"I'm going to run off with one of your friends, Miss Schweiring," he said, indicating Hal. The others laughed, "Oh, take him and show him about a bit, Frederick," laughed Mrs. Schweiring's husband. "Only be sure that you return him safely." Hal followed the young captain from the house. Half an hour later he found himself in the palatial office of the chief of the German secret service.
There was a crash that resounded throughout the house. When Hal and McKenzie stopped in the entrance way upon finding that the door was locked, Hal took from the little grip he carried a long skeleton key. This had been procured for him by Mrs. Schweiring, and Hal knew that it would unlock almost any door. To gain entrance to the house, therefore, was but the matter of an instant.
Twice now the general had attempted to move on, but Mrs. Schweiring had prevented it. He tried again, and she asked: "What time have you, your excellency?" General Rentzel glanced at his watch. "Half-past eleven," he said. "Surely, it is not that late," said Mrs. Schweiring. "Why, we have only been here a short time." "Madame," said General Rentzel at this juncture, "I must ask you to excuse me.
Hal announced that he would like to see Mrs. Schweiring. "Your card," said the footman, allowing him to enter. "I have no card," said Hal. "You will tell her that Herr Block, of the Dutch newspaper, The Amsterdamer, desires to see her." The footman bowed and departed. A few moments later he returned, followed by a young woman she could not have been more than 18, Hal decided.
Hal glanced sharply about the room. Then he leaned close. "I come from the American expeditionary forces in France," he said quietly. Mrs. Schweiring manifested no surprise. "I had surmised as much," she returned, "I had looked, however, for a man in civil life rather than a military man; also, I had looked for one farther along in years."
Schweiring had provided the three friends with an abundant wardrobe, which included evening clothes. Dinner over, Mrs. Schweiring, her daughter Gladys, and the wife of General Rentzel, the only women present, retired while the men produced cigars and cigarettes. Neither Hal nor Chester smoked, but they felt called upon to accept a cigarette each.
"I need not caution you," said Mrs. Schweiring, as she led the way upstairs and showed to Hal a suite of three comfortably furnished rooms. "A little slip will spoil all. I shall introduce you to my friends as a Dutch war correspondent who, nevertheless, has in him a strain of German, with a little American blood.
You haven't told us yet how you left the house and how you chanced to be discovered." "My adventures don't amount to much," replied Chester. "I left the ball with Mrs. Schweiring. We were somewhat alarmed at Gladys' disappearance, but there was nothing we could do but wait.
Outside she dashed up to the Schweiring automobile and cried to the chauffeur. "To General Rentzel's quarters! Quick!" The machine sprang forward with a lurch. Two minutes later, Gladys, peering from the car, made out as they passed what she took to be General, Rentzel's machine. She urged the chauffeur on even faster.
Schweiring or her daughter at once. I'll pick McKenzie up on the way. Good-bye." "Good luck," said Chester simply. Hal left the room quietly. In the hall he found McKenzie, whom he motioned to follow him. McKenzie did so quietly. Outside Hal found the automobile which had brought them to the ball. He leaped in and McKenzie followed. Hal gave quick directions to the chauffeur to drive them home.
Word Of The Day