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•1i' * j»£f f/V , **7/- i?g| „ j£v^\ rS:S^..:?^>'itf$ jfa '^ '•V..,M,^--.. KjL,.r, •-•-•. M " " " - * v£ 1# hhik • - f *• ;-• #** iMSs s&etiisii sf£» si , * ?, s S* .y<V •'- si*®??'* -PtAHfDEAtTBR. MeHBNRT, ttt. £ fc.*. A Thrilling Story df German Intrigue Among the Fierce Hillmen of India During the War Copyright by *h* Bobbjh-MerrUl Compaq? C 'it' Vt̂ ' *< fS • ^ KING FACES THE BIGGEST ADVENTURE OF HIS CAREER SO FAR WHEN HE COMES TO THE ENTRANCE OF KHINJAN CAVES AND PROVES HIM­ SELF A MURDERER. Synopsis.--At the beginning of the world war Capt. Athelstan King of the British Indian army and of its secret service, is ordered to Delhi to meet Yasmini, a dancer, and go with her to Kinjan to meet the outlaws there who are said by spies to be preparing for a Jihad or holy war. On his way to Delhi King quietly foils a plan to j&sassinate him and gets evidence that Yasmini is after him. He meets Rewa Gungft, Yasmini's man, who says she has already gone north, and at her, town house witnesses queer dances. Ismail, an Afridl, be­ comes his body servant and protector. He rescues some of Yasmiiii's hillmen and takes them north wtth him, tricking the Ran gar into going ahead. The Rangar deserts him at a dangerous time. He meets his brother at Ali Masjid fort. The disguise he assumes, there fools even the sharp-eyed cutthrt>at& composing his guard. jry; CHAPTER X. /] . Even with the man with the stom- $ ach ache mounted on the spare horse lor the sake of extra speed (and he & ,was not suffering one-fifth so much as he pretended); with Ismail to urge, %nd Kjng to coax, and the fear of ^ ^contain death on every side of them, Jhey were the part of a night and a • |#ay and a night and a part of another ijlay in reaching Khinjan. *-t J At night and at noon they slept flt- fcn ;1 Jolly at the chance-met shrine of some V aoly man. The "Hills" are full of fc. . • < them, marked by fluttering rags that r* , -lean be seen for miles away; and i ^ %ough the Quran's meaning must be t"<" ?' ^ jbtretehed to find excuse, and hillmen fc; ^CJAiBre adept at stretching things and hold Ki. - . * those shrines as sacred as the book It- \ felf. Men who would almost rather i$P'- %ut throats than gamble regard them .!§• sanctuaries. So a man may rest I K, .fa temporary peace even on the road I ' to Khinjan, although Khinjan and ^eace have nothing whatever in com- "" * faon. Ji.l j. \" it was at such a slirine, surrounded >' 1 W tattered rags tied to sticks, that & "*• fluttered in the wind three or four %' ,' thousand feet above Khyber level, that a* f•* King drew Ismail into conversation, W ^^i':af*nd deftly forced on him the role of ' questioner. „ "How can'st thou see the caves!" he r f ' N t ' i ; asked, for King had hinted at his In- " [ tendon; and for answer King gave him, £,/ ' a glimpse of the gold bracelet. T •' >. "Aye! Well and good! But even m, j$^&|gfl)e dare not disobey the rule. Khinjan p "f, V" -Was there before she came, and the fnle was there from the beginning, ' , *?. . t • ly when the first men found the caves! > ; pome--hundreds--have gained admis- lilon, lacking the right. But who ever j * ^ |aw them again? Allah I I, for one, < Would not chance It!** .>, • "Thou and I are two men!" answered King. "I shall see the caves." ?,&•'"Aye! But listen! How many In* <, . dlan servants of the British Raj have feet oat to se$ the caves? Many, many - . • » i: •^fho Are YouT^* Howled • Human Being, Whose Voice Was 80 Like a Wolf's That the Words at First Had No Meaning. --aye, very many! Some, having got by Khinjan, entered the caves. None < ever came out again!" •i-ZfW' "Then, what is my case to thee?" King asked him. "If I cannot come out again and there is a secret, then the ®ecret will be kept, and what is the trouble?" "I love thee," the Afridl answered «lmply. "Thou art a man after mine ^ _ own heart. Turn I Go back before It 4s too late!" . King shook his head. t ""I was in Khinjan once before, my friend! I know the rule! I failed to reach the caves that other time be­ cause I had no witnesses to swear they had seen me slay a man in the teeth Of written law. I know !" "Who saw thee this time?" Ismail asked, and began to cackle with the cruel humor of the "Hills," that sees amusement in a man's undoing, or in tjie destruction of his plans. "Be warned and go back I" ^Come with mc, tben." "Nay, I am her man. 8he waits for me!" "I imagine ste waits for me!" laughed King. "Forward! We have rested in this place long enough!" It was ten of a blazing forenoon, and the sun had heated up the rocks until It was pain to walk on them and agony to sit, when they topped the last es­ carpment and came in sight of Khln- Jao'i walls, across a mile-wide rock ravine--Khinjan the unregenerate, ̂ lr ,1 ̂ • <>ky\ tm It was midday when at last they stood on bottom and swayed like men in a dream fingering their bruises and scarcely able for the heat haze to see the tangled mass of stone towers and mud-and-stone walls that faced them,- a mile away. They were nearly across the valley, hunting for shadow where none was to be found, when a shotted salute brought them up all-standing In a cluster. Six or eight nickel-coated bullets spattered on the rocks close by, and one so narrowly missed King that he could feel its^vind. Up went all theia hands together, and they held them so until they ached. Nothing whatever happened. Their arms ceased aching and grew numb. They advanced another two hundred yards and another volley rattled among the rocks on either hand, frightening one of the mules so that it stumbled and fell and had to be helped up again. When that was done, and the mule stood trembling, they all faced the wall. But they were too weary to hold their hands up any more. Thirst had begun to exercise its sway. One of the men was half delirious. "Who are ye?" howled a human be­ ing, whose voice was so like a wolf's that the words at first had no meaning. He peered over the parapet, a hundred feet above, with his head so swathed in dirty linen that he looked like a bandaged corpse. "What will ye? Who comes unin­ vited into Khinjan?" King bethought him of Yaslmlnl's talisman. He held it up, and the gold band glinted in the sun. Yet, although a Ilillmsn's eyes are keener than an eagle's, he did not believe the thing could be recognized at that angle, and from that distance. Another thought suggested Itself to him. He turned his head and caught Ismail in the act of signaling with both hands. "Ye may come!" howled the watch­ man on the parapet, disappearing In­ stantly. King trembled--perhaps as a race­ horse trembles at the starting gate, though he was weary enough to trem­ ble from fatigue. But that passed. He was all In hand when he led his men up over a rough stone causeway to a door In the bottom of a high battte- mented wall and waited for somebody to open The great teak doof looked as If It had been stolen from some Hindu tem­ ple, and he wondered how and when they could have brought It there across these savjage intervening miles. High above the door was a ledge of rock that crossed like a bridge from wall to wall, with a parapet of stone built upon it, pierced for riflr-fire. As they approached a Rangar tur­ ban, not unlike King's own, appeared above the parapet on the ledge and a voice he recognized hailed him good- humoredly. "Salaam alelkoum!" "And upon thee be peace T King an­ swered in the Pashtu tongue, for the "Hills" are polite, whatever the other principles. Rewa Gunga's face beamed down on him, wreathed in smiles that seemed to Include mockery as well as triumph. Looking up at him at an angle that made hi$ neck ache and dazzled his eyes. King could not be sure, but It seemed to him that the smile said, "Here you are, my man, and aren't you In for it?" He more than half sus­ pected he was Intended to understand that. But the Rangar's conversation took another line. "By Jove!" he chuckled. "She ex­ pected you. She guessed you are a hound who can hunt well on a dry scent, and she dared bet you will come I in spite of all odds! But she didn't expect yon in Rangar dress! No, by jove! You jolly well will take the wind out of her sails! King made no answer. For one thing, the word "hound," even In English, Is not essentially a compliment. But he had a better reason than that. "Did you find the way easily?" the Rangar asked; but King kept silence. "Is he parched? Have they cut his tongue but on the rend? That question was In Pashtu, direct ed at Ismail and the others, but King answered it. "Oh, as for that," he said, salaaming again in the fastidious manner of a na tive gentleman, "I anow no other tongue then Pashtu and my own Ra jasthani. My name Is Knrram Khan, ask admittance." He held up his wrist to show the gold bracelet, and high over his head the Rangar laughed like a bell "Shabash!" he laughed. "Well done Enter, Kurram Khan, and be welcome, thou and thy tnen. Be welcome In her name!" Somebody pulled a rope and the, door yawned wide, giving on a kind of courtyard whose high walls allowed no that has no other human habitation within a march because done dare 1 view of anything but not blue sky. | Through a gap under an arch la a far ..iiC corner df the courtyard came a one- eyed, lean-looking villain in Airidi dress who leaned on a long gun and stared at them under his hand. After a leisurely consideration of them he rubbed his nose slowly with one finger, spat contemptuously, and then used! the finger to beckon them, crooking it queerly and turning on his heel. He did not say one word. "King led the way after him on foot, for even In the "Hills" where cruelty is a virtue, a man may be excused, on economic grounds, for showing mercy to his beast. His men «tugged the weary animals _ along behind him, through the gap under the arch and along an almost Interminable, smelly maze of alleys whose sides were the walls of square stone towers, or some­ times of mud-and-stone-walled com­ pounds, and here and there of sheer, slab-sided cliff. Like Old Jerusalem, the place could have contained a civil war of a hundred factions, and still Have opposed stout resistance to an outside army. Alley gave on to courtyard, and fllthyj square to alley, until unexpectedly at last a seemingly blind passage turned sharply and oi&ned on a straight street, of fair width, and more than half a mile long. It Is marked "Street of the Dwellings" on the secret army maps, and it has been burned so often by Khinjan rioters, as well as by expe­ ditions out of India, that a man who goes on a long journey never expects to find it the same on his return. It was lined on either hand with motley dwellings, out of which a mot- lier crowd of people swarmed to stare at King and his men. There were Hin­ dus--sycophants, keepers of accounts and writers to the chiefs (since lit-* eracy is at a premium In these parts). In proof of Khinjan's catholic taste and indiscriminate villainy, there were women of nearly every Indian breed and caste, many of them stolen Into shameful slavery, but some of thetn there from choice. And there were lit­ tle children--little naked brats with round drum tummies, whg squealed and shrilled and stared with bold eyes. Perhaps a thousand souls came out watch, all told. Not an eye of them all missed the government marks on King's trappings, or the govern­ ment brand on the mules, and after a minute or two, when the procession as half-way down the street, a man reproved a child who had thrown- a stone, and he was backed up by the others. They classified King correct­ ly, exactly as he meant they should. As hakim--a man of medicine--he could fill a long-felt want; but by the brand on his accoutrements he walked an openly avowed robber, and that , made him a brother in crime. Somebody cuffed the next child who picked up a stone. He knew the street of old, although had changed perhaps a dozen times since he had seen it. It was a cul-de- sac, and at the end of it, just as on his previous visit,' there stood a stone mosque, whose roof leaned back at a steep angle against the mountainside. It was a famous mosque in its way, for the bed sheet of the Prophet is known to hang in it, preserved against the ravages of time and the touch of Infidels by priceless Afghan rugs be­ fore and behind, so that it hangs like great thin sandwich before the rear stone wall. King had seen it. Toward the mosque the one-eyed ruf­ fian led the way, with the long, leisure- ly-seemlng gait of a mountaineer. At the doof, in the middle of the end of the street, he paused and struck on the lintel three times with his gun butt. And that was a strange proceeding, to say the least, In a land where the mosque Is public resting place for homeless ones, and all the "faithful" have a right to enter. A mullah, shaven like a mummy for some unaccountable reason--even his eyebrows and eyelashes had been re­ moved--pushed his bare head through the door and blinked at them. There was some whispering and more star­ ing, and at last the mullah turned his back. i The door slammed. The one-eyed guide1 grounded his gun-b\itt on the stone, and the procession waited, watched by the crowd that had lost its Interest sufficiently to talk and joke. In two minutes the mullah returned and threw a mat- over the threshold. It turned out to be the end of a long nar­ row strip that he kicked and unrolled In front of him all across the floor of the mosque. After that It was not so astonishing that the horses and mules were allowed to enter. Which proves I was right after all!" murmured King to himself. In a steel bot at Simla is a mem­ orandum, made after his former visit to the place, to the effect that the entrance Into Khinjan caVes might possibly be Inside the mosque. No­ body had believed it likely, an^d he had not more than half favored It himself; but It is good, even when the next step may lead Into a death-trap, to see one's first opinions confirmed. * J3e nodded to himself as the outer door slammed shut behind them, for that was another most unusual circum­ stance. A faint light shone through slitlike windows, changing darkness Into gloom, ai)d. little more than vaguely hinting at the Prophet's bed sheet. But for a section of white virall to either side of It, the relic might have seemed part of the shadows. The mullah sfcootl- with his back to it and beckoned king nearer, lie approached until he could see the pattern on the covering rugs, and the pink rims round the mullah's lashless eyes. "What Is thy desire?" the mullah asked--as a wolf might ask what a Iamb wants. "Audience with her !* King aj > swered, and showed .the gold braceii on his wrlni. The red eye-rims ot th<> mullah blinked a time or two* and though he did not salute the bracelet, as others had Invariably done, his manner un­ derwent a perceptible change. "That Is proof that she knows thee. What Is thy name?" "Kurram Khan, hakim." "We need thee In khinjan .cares! But noney enter who have not earned right to enter! There is but one key. Name it!". , King drew in his breath. He had hoped Yasmlnl's talisman would prove to be key enough. The nails of his left hand pearly pierced the palm, but he smiled pleasantly. "He who would enter must slay a Pt-AtTtW v»v fr/OT7<vC "I 8lew an Englishman 1" WW?* >• • "im:. ML Ms s's&i man before witnesses lp the teeth of written law!" he said. "And thou?" , "I slew an Englishman!" The boast made his blood run cold, but his ex­ pression was one of sinful pride. "Whom? When? Where?" "Athelstan King--a British arrficer -rsent on his way to these 'Hills' to spy!" « It was like having spells cast on himself to order I "Where ls his" body?" • "Ask the vultures! Ask the kites!" "And thy witnesses?" Hoping against hope, King turned and waved his hand. As he did so, being quick-eyed, he saw Ismail drive an elbow home Into Darya Khan's ribs, and caught a quick interchange of whispers. "These men are all known to me,1' said the mullah. "They have right to enter here. They have right to tes­ tify. Did ye see him slay his man?" "Aye!" lied Ismail, prompt as friend can be "Aye!' lied Dai^ya Khan, fearful of Ismail's elbow. "Then enter!" said the priest re­ signedly, as one who admits a com­ municant against his better judgment. He turned his back on them so as to face the Prophet's bed sheet and the rear wall, and in that minute a hairy hand gripped King's arm from behind, and Ismail's voice hissed hot- breathed in his «»r. "Ready of tongue! Ready of wit I Who told thee I would lie to save thy skin? Be thy kismet as thy courage, t h e n -- b u t I a m h e r s , n o t t h y m a n ! Hers, thou light of life--though God knows I love thee!" The .mullah seized the Prophet's bed sheet and Its • covering rugs In both hands, with about as much reverence as salesmen show for <vhut they keep In stock. The whole lot sll<l to one side by means of noisy rings on a rod, and a wall lay bare, built of crudely cut but well laid blocks. It appeared to reach unbroken across the whole width of the mosque's Interior. On the floor lay a mallet, a peculiar thing of bronze, cast in one piece, handle and all. The mullah took It In his hand and struck the stone floor sharply once--then twice again--then three t|mes--then a dozen times In quick succession. The floor rang hol­ low at that spot. After about a minute there came one answering hammer stroke from beyond the wall. Then the mullah laid the mallet down find though King ached to pick it up and examine It he did not dare. His business' was to at­ tract as little attention to himself as possible; and to that end he folded his hands and looked reverent, as if entering some Mecca of his dreams. Through his horn-rimmed spectacles his eyes looked far away and dreamy. But it would have "been a mistake to suppose that a detail was escaping hinA The Irregular, lines In the masonry began to be more pronounced. All at once the wall shook and they gaped by an Inch or two, as happens when an earthquake has shaken buildings without bringing anything down. Theu an irreguiur section of wall began to move quite smoothly away from In front of him,^ leaving a gap through which eight men aNreast could have •parched--a tunnel, split in two to right and left. Judging by the angle of the two divisions they became one again before going very far. The mullah stood aside and mo­ tioned King to enter. But the one- eyed thrust hijnself between Darya Khan and Ismail, pushed King aside apd took ^the lead. , "Nay!" he said, "I responsible ro her." yL was the first time ha had spoken ssuii he appeared to resent the waste of words. The tunnfel was pierced in twenty places in the roof for rifle fire; a score of men with enough ammunition could have held It forever against an army. The guide led, and King followed him, .filled with curiosity. "Many have entered If sank ihe lashless mullah In a sirlg-sohg chant. "More have sought to enter! Some who remained without; were wisest! I count them! I keep count! Many went In! Not all came out again by this road!" "Lead along, Charon I" King grinned. He needed some sort of pleasantry td* steady his nerves. But, even so, he wondered what the nerves of India would be like if her millions knew of this plate. CHAPTER XI. The gap closed up behind them and the tunnel began to echo weirdly. Over their heads, at Irregular Intervals, there were holes that if they led as King presumed Into caves above, left not an Inch of all the long passage that could not have been swept by rifle fire. It was Impregnable; for no artillery heavy enough to pound the mountain into pieces could ever be dragged within range. Whatever hiding place this entrance guarded could be held forever, given food and cartridges! The tunnel wound to right and left like a snake, growing lighter and light­ er after each bend; and soon their own din began to be swallowed in a greater one that entered from the farther end. After two sharp turns they came out unexpectedly Into the glaze of blue day, nearly stunned by light and sound. A roar came up from below like that of an ocean in the grip of a typhoon. When his wits recovered from the shock, King struggled with a wild de- Sire to yell, for before him was what no servant of British India had ever seen and lived to tell about, and that Is an experience more potent than,,un- broken rum. They had emerged frdm a round- mouthed tunnel--It looked already like a rabbit-hole, so huge was the cliff be­ hind--on to a ledge of rock that formed a sort of road along one side of a mile-wide chasm. Above him, it seemed a mile up, was blue sky, to which limestone walls ran sheer, wlti scarcely a foothold that could be seen. Beneath, so deep that eyes could not guess how deep, yawned the stained gorge of the underworld, many-colored, smooth and wet. And out of a great, jagged slit in the side of the cliff, perhaps a thousand feet below them, there poured down Ipto thunderous dimness a waterfall whose breadth seemed not less than half a mile. It spouted seventy or eighty yards before It began to curve, and Its din was like the voice of all cre­ ation. ; Ismail came and stood My King in silence, taking his hand, as a little child might. Presently he stooped and picked up. a stone and tossed It over. "Gone!" he said simply. 'That down there Is Earth's Drink!" "And this is the 'Heart of the Hills' men boast about?" "Nay l It is not!" snapped Ismail. "Then, where--" But the one-eyed guide beckoned Im­ patiently, and King led the way after him, staring as hakim or prisoner or any man had right to do on first ad­ mission to such wonders. Not to have stared would have been to proclaim himself an Idiot. They soon began to pass the mouths of caves. Some were above the road, now and then at crazy heights above It, reached by artificial steps hewn out of the stone. Others were below, reached from the road by means of lad­ ders, that trembled and swayed over the dizzying waterfall. Most of the caves were, inhabited, for armed men and sullen women came to their en­ trances to stare. Ears grow accustomed to the sound of water sooner than to almost any- "Be contant to rest heroi* pointing. " '% v "Thy cave?" asked King. "Nay. God's I I am the caretaker !** The "'Hills" are very pious and po­ lite, between the acts of robbing and shedding blood. \ "Allah, then, reward thee, brother P answered King. "Allah give sight t<1 thy blind eye! Allah give thee chil­ dren ! Allah give thee peace, and to all thy house!" ' The guide salaamed, half-mockingly, half-wondering at such eloquence^ I mused In the passage to point Into the side caves that debouched to either hand, turned on his heel and stalked out of the cavern. It was the last King ever saw of him. King turned back and looked into the other caves--saw the weary horse and mule fed, watered and bedded down--took note of the running water that rushed out of a rock fissure and gurgled out of sight down another one --examined the servants' cave and saw that they had been amply provided with blankets. There was nothing lack­ ing that the most exacting traveler could have demanded at such a dis­ tance from civilization. There was more than the most exacting would have dared expect. "Ismail!" he shouted, and jumped at the revolver-cracklike echo of his voice. Ismail came running. "Make the men carry the mule's packs into this cave, You and Darya Khan stay here and help me open them. Remember, ye are both assist­ ants of Kurram Khan, the hakim!" "They will laugh at us! They will laugh at us!" clucked IsmaH, but he hurried to obey, while King wondered who would laugh. Within an hour a delegation came from no less a person than Yasmlnl herself, bearing her compliments, anj hot food savory enough to make brass Idol's mouth water. By this time King had his sets of surgical instru­ ments and drugs and bandages all laid out on one of the beds and covered from view by a blanket. It was only one more proof of th$ British army's everlasting Itick that one of the men, who set the great brass dish of food, on the floor near King, had a swolien cheek, and that he should touch the swelling clumsily as he lifted his hand to shake back a lock of greasy hair. There followed an oath like flint struck on steel ten times in rapid succession. "Does it pain thee, brother?"' asked Kurram Khan the hakim. f As a famous medicine man, King holds his first clinic among the suffering natives of the Khin­ jan country, and hears some Im­ portant news. KNEW THE BIBLE . c -* .'4 "Father Nealean Evangelist of :, .^Itivashiiigton's time. • t ̂ * Advised Young Preachers to Commit ' th« Holy Writ to Memory, He Did. #s n« ura. 'f • j* ' V**- . J In these days when Billy Sunday oc-t 1 :';t cuples public attention, we recall an evangelist preacher of Washington's r*j| ^ time, says an exchange. It was late?" »-•. in life when "Father Neale" was con- " ' verted and so great was his zeal thatr'.. v he embraced every possible chance to« ' * preach, and then preached as long fhe people would stay to hear him. Full of anecdotes and fond of humor-<„V^ ous stories, be amused th? crowds thalj^^3|;;J gathered around him and often con-1 * 3 r| verted some wandering "Sheep. He wasE^^'*'" « a carpenter by trade, and when he wasw , ».* not preaching he was working, fcjr he\'J. flAVDV i-Anlr nnir Vila an. -a *1 . rye."?! never took any money ffom his au­ diences. His bnly book was the Bible,: (TO BE CONTINUED.) SING TQ SETTLE QUARRELS Eskimos Have Peculiar Manner of Adjusting Their Grievances--En­ emy Must Listen. 4 " I The Eskimos, who live In the Ice* bound, barren .Northland, have a way of settling quarrels which seems very strange and amusing to those who live in a land of policemen and courts of Justice. There, when quarrels arise* the man who has a grievance writes * song In which he tells the wrongs that; have been done him. When this hart been composed to his satisfaction, hfl invites his enemy to come and bear him sing It. This the enemy must dOi and he brings with him all his rela­ tives and many of his friends, while the singer also has gathered his friends and relatives for- the occasion, which Is considered something of a general entertainment by the people of the vll« lage in which the men live. Then, while other men of the Tillage pound madly on huge drums, the song of wrongs Is begun. When It is fin­ ished, if the audience expresses ap­ proval, the singer Is considered to have won and to "have a just cause of com­ plaint. But If dissatisfaction is ex­ pressed, that Is considered sufficient punishment. After the song everyone dances and the party , breaks up In great good humor. 'Sfc ' y,* ,* * ahd when he found a young preacher " ,* ; using a Concordance to aid him In find- j log texts he Would say: A, h" v "Do as I do, study the Etlble till ^ know It by heart." And he had studied£^|;^|! ,lt so thoroughly that he knew the least " « Incidents recorded In it, and could cite J ^ * j them whenever they would come In play. Once he heard a minister trying . ,v^*i to prove fhat the people could not have been Immersed In the Jordan because that river was so small that a man rould dam It up with his foot. At the close of the sermon Father Neale gol op and said: "I don't pretend to have any greal book learnln', but there's one book 1 do know, and that's the Bible. That's my book. Now, our brother here says the Jordan Is so small that you maj stop It with your foot. His books may tell him so, but my book tells me an­ other story. I read In the Bible how David, when he was flying from Absa­ lom, and wanted to cross-that same river, had to hire a bqat to carry him over! That's what my book tells me!" Some of Father Neale's recollections of Washington are little known to the readers of today, and some have never been published. Here Is an anecdote found In an old Journal: "One of Washington's habits he mentioned as brought to Mount Ver­ non from the camp where everything was sacrificed to dispatch. 'Whenever Washington received a note by a priv­ ate messenger, he never asked the bearer into the house, but usually took the letter himself at the front door and read it standing with his head bare In the yopen air. If It required a verbal -reply -he. gave it, and dismissed the bearer ; or If he must write* he re­ tired to his o&ce, wrote the answer, and bringing It out, delivered It to the messenger with his own hand.'" Father Neale states "that he was once engaged doing some carpenter work on one of the northeast windows that opens upon the front piazza of the mansion at Mount Vernon, and several ladles were taking tea on the collonade. Washington was walking op and down joining in the conversa­ tion. One of the ladles asked him his opinion of some of the battles of Na­ poleon, the fame of which was then ringing through the world, Washing­ ton's reply, as heard by Father Neale, was In these words: 'Something more than the art of man achieved those battles."* * Spud Is Important. "The humble potato Is destined t«» play an important part In the present world war. We are warned that as much depends upon bread as bullets, but owing to the scarcity of bread an<fi an overabundance of potatoes, 111 would seem that more attention musk be given to the storing and preserving of this crop. "Scientists used to say that thert* was "but little food value In the po» tato. But recently they have learn • ed with others that a little learn* lng Is a dangerous thing. Now wi» are told that there Is almost a bal» anced ration to be found la a boun* tlful meal of potatoes. At any ratw It has been amply proved that them Is no single vegetable that brighten* so many homes, or feeds so many peo » pie as the potato.--Exchange. Big Saving of Meat. "The soldiers at Fort Harrison aiv going to do some feeding," said T. 5^ Conroii, Chicago meat packer, who wain at the Hotel Severln recently, accord* ing to the Indianapolis News. Conron had in his pocket a contract to send to the fort 175,000 pounds of meat. The contract also called for 8,« 000 pounds of butter and 0,000 pound* of best oleomargarine. Conron say# that meat packers are encouraging th<fl public to set aside a meatless day. He estimates that the average family will require two pounds of meat a day, 'Figure it up," he said, "and you wUA find that the American public will sav# In the neighborhood of 10,000,0011 pounds of meat every time they 0l>* serve a meatless day." \- "Does It Pain Thee, Brother1!** Asked Kurram Khan, the Haklm. thing. It was not long-before King's ears could catch the patter of his men's feet following, and the shod clink of the mule. He could hear when Ufoall whispered: "Be brave, little haklm I She loves fearless men 1" last the guide halted. In the mid­ dle of a short steep slope where the path was less than six feet wide and a narrow cave mouth gave directly onto Half Men, Half Goats. 21 and 34:14, where the prophet pre diets the desolation of Babylon. Ifc the passages cited it probably refe1ri< to demons of woods and desert place^ half men and half goats (see L9ft 17:2; Chronicles 11:15. Honest. "I ktioW he's honest** , "What makes yon think so?" "He's always willing to giva his note for any money that ha borrow** Britain's Colonial Traditions. Great Biftaln has the colonial tradi­ tion and her able men will live any­ where--In the African jungle, the Egyptian desert, the Burmese bush on whatsoever heaven forsaken place the colonial office may. choose to send them. Her best young men are brought up with the Idea of adminis­ tering these Isolated and insalubrious spots on the atlas, and such of them as do not die of fever or get killed by the natives are content to come home and retire with a decoration at fifty. This system simplifies the British colonial problem immensely. "Less for­ tunate nations deal with It in differ­ ent ways. Germany administered her colonies with second-class men. be­ cause there were neither traditions nor inducements to draw the first-class men to the job. France is solving the problem in a characteristically French fashion. She Is making the colonies attractive to the first-class man. : r •• -i . Jap Works "Film-Flam" Gankb 0 The captain of the coasting "-"0r"0*" Talun-Maru, lying In dock at Moji, was visited by a man In police uniform, who said he was sent to examine all bank notes on board, says a Japanese correspondent. He gave as a reason that a new counterfeit of excellent ex­ ecution had been put jln .circulation. The captain produced notes for 500 yen ($250), which the alleged officer scrutinized and finally said he would have to call an expert. Meanwhile he apparently placed the money In a jar and sealed it. It was the ancient "flim-flam game." The bogus officer did not return, and there was no money in the jar. Why It Is "Ham Meadow.** Ham meadow is the name given to a field near Dresden, because it was bought from the proceeds of a sale of a ham'. A farmer sold a tourist a ham for $87, and immediately purchased, a five-acre meadow with the money. ThW-* land lias now been christened locally with the name of the "Ham Meadow." "Might one be permitted to lnquire.'^JJ' comments a Berlin Journal, "whether ** the law will have anything to say la 5 fS" this disgraceful piece of usury, or is It only the wretched little hoarders of a few pounds of potatoes who are lshed?" Prosaic Environment, Satyrs are mentioned In Isaiah 18, "Fate plays queer tricks on a man," remarked Mr. Twobble. "No doubt." "I always thought I would propose to the woman I would marry where* there was the sheen of silver and cut " glass, and shaded lights were softly glowing and behind a screen of palma ^ an orchestra was playing a Hungarian2- '< rt waltz." *"V . '** "Yes?** , "4 ^ "As a matter of fact, I proposed airs. Twobble in a Jltpey bus." m '* sT > sfh" . *•