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ATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 TfIELdSTSHOT- In this story Mr. Psimer, the noted war correspondent, has paint ed war as h# has seen It on many battlefields, and between many na tions Hla Intimate knowledge of armies and armaments has enabled him to produoe a graphic ploture of the greatest of all wars, and hie knowledge of conditions has led him to prophesy an end of armed conflicts- No man Is bettsr quali fied to write the story of the final world war than Mr. Palmer, end he has handled his subject with a master hand. (Continued from Yesterday.) Between him and tbe faces of the Browne—-yes, the actual, living, terrl- We Browns —above the glint of their rifle barrels, was no obstacle that could stop a bullet, though not more than three feet away was a crater ■»de by a shell burst. The black cir cle of every muzzle on the crest seemed to be pointing at him. When were they going to shoot? When was he hp be executed? Would he be shot In many placee and die thus? Or would the very first bullet go through his heed? Why didn't they fire? What were they waiting for? The suspense wee unbearable. The desperation of overwhelming fear driving him in irre sponsible impulse, he doubled up his legs and. with a cat’s leap sprang for the crater. A blood-curdling burst of whistles passed over his head as a dozen rifles cracked. This time he was surely killed! He was in some other world! Which was It, the good or the bad? p A Blood-Curdling Burst of Whistles Passed Over His Head. The good, for he had a glimpse of blue sky. No. that could not be, for he been alive when he leaped for the crater, and there he was pressed against the soft earth of its bottom. He burrowed deeper blissfully. He was the nearest to the enemy of any man of the 128th, and he certainly had passed through a gamut of emo tions in the half-hour since Eugene Aronson had leaped over a white post. • *•***. “Confound it! If we'd kept on we'd have got them! Now we have to do it all over again!" growled Fracaese distractedly as he looked around at the faces hugging the cover of the shoulder —faces asking, What next? each in its own way; faces blank and white; faces with lips working and eyes blinking; faces with the blood rushing back to cheeks in baffled an ger. One, however, was half smiling— Hugo Mallln's. "You did your share of the running, I’ll warrant, Mallin!” said Ffacasse excitedly, venting his disgust on a particular object. “Yes, sir,” answered Hugo. “It was very hard to maintain a semblance of dignity. Yes, sir, I kept near you all the time. Wasn’t that what you wanted me to do, sir?” Three or four men burst Into a hys terical laugh as if something bad bro ken In their throats. Everybody felt better for this touch of drollery except the captain. Yet, possibly, it may have helped him in recovering his poise Sometimes even a pin-prick will have this effect. “Silence!” he said In his old man ner. “I will give you something to joke about other than a little setback like this! Oet up there with your rifles!" He formed the nucleus of a flrlng llne under cover of the shoulder, and then set the remslnder of his com pany to work with tbelr spades mak tng a trench The second battalion of the 12*tb, which faced the knoll, was also digging at the base of the slope, snd another regiment In reserve was deploying on the plain. After the fail ure to rush the knoll the Gray com mander had settled down to the busi ness of a systematic approach. And what, of those of Fracasse’s men who had not run but had dropped in their tracks when the charge halt ed? They were between two lines of fire. There was no escape. Some of the wounded had a mercifully quick end, others suffered the consciousness of being hit again and again: the dead were bored through with bullet holes. In torture, the survivors prayed for death; for all had to die except Peter kin, the pasty-faced little valet’s son. Peterkin was quite safe, hugging the bottom of the shell crater under a swarm of hornets. In a surprisingly short time he became accustomed to the situation and found himself raven ously hungry, for the strain of the last 12 hours had burned up tissue. He t;pok a biscuit out of his knapsack and began nibbling It, as became a true rodent. CHAPTER X. Marta’s First Glimpse of War. As Marta and the children came to the door of the chapel after the reci tation of the oath, she saw the civil population moving along the street In the direction of the range. There was nothing for Ma-’a to do but start homeward. The bought that her mother was alone . de her hasten at a pace much more than the pro cession of people, whose talk and ex clamations formed a monotone audi ble In Its nearness, despite the continu ous rifle-fire, now broken by the pound ing of the guns. "It’s all done to beat tbe Grays, Isn’t It, Miss Qalland? They are trying to take our land,” said Jndky Werfher as Marta parted from him. ’’Yes, It is done to beat the Grays," she answered. “Good luck, Jacky!” Yes, yes, to beat the Grays! The same Idea —the fighting nature, the brute nature of man—animated both sides. Had the Browns really tried tot peace? Had they, in the spirit of her oath, appealed to justice and reason? Why hadn’t their premier before all the world said to the premier of the Grays, as one honest, friendly neigh bor to another over a matter of dis pute: “We do not want war. We know you outnumber us, but we know you would not take advantage of that. If we are wrong we will make amends: if you are wrong we know that yon will. Let us not play tricks in secret to gain points, we civilized nations, but be frank with each other. Let us not try to Irritate each other or to in fluence our people, but to realize how much we have In common and that our only purpose Is common progress and happiness.” At the turn of the road In front of the castle she saw the gunners of the batteries making an emplacement tor their guns In a field of carrots that had not yet been harvested. The roots of golden yellow were mixed with the tossing spadefuls of earth. A shadow like a great cloud In mad flight shot over the earth, and with the gunners she looked up to see a Gray dirigible. Already It was turning homeward; already It had gained Its object as a scout. On the fragile plat form of the gondola was a man, seem ingly a human mite aiming a tiny toy gun. His target was one of the Brown aeroplanes. “They’re in danger of cutting their own envelope! They can’t get the an gle! The plane Is too high!” ex claimed the artillery commander. Both he and his men forgot their work In watching the spectacle of aerial David against aerial Goliath. “If our man lands with his little bomb, oh, my!” he grinned. “That’s why he is so high. He’s been waiting up there.” “Pray God he will!" exclaimed one of the gunners. “Look at him volplane—motor at full speed, too!” “Into it! Making sure! Oh, splen— O!" cried the artillery commander. A ball of lightning shot forth sheets of flame. Dirigible and plane were hidden in an ugly swirl of yellowish smoke, roiling out into a purple cloud that spread into prismatic mist over the descent of cavorting human bodies and broken machinery and twisted braces, flying pieces of tattered or burning cloth. David hae taken Goliath down with him In a death grip. An aeroplane following the dirigible as a screen, hoping to get home with Information If tbe dirigible were lost, had escaped the sharpshooters In the church tower by flying around the town. However. It ran within range of the automatic and tbe sharpshooters on top of the castle tower. They failed of tbe bull’s-eye, but their bullets, rim ming the target, crippling tbe motor, and cutting braces, brought the crum pling wings about the helpless pilot The watching gunners uttered "Aha!” of horror and triumph aa they saw him fall, gliding this way and that, In the agony of slow descent. “Come, now!” called the artillery commander. "We are wasting pre cious time.” entering the grounds of tbe Galland house, Marta bad to pasa to one side of the path, now blooked by army wagons and engineers' materials and tools. Soldiers carrying sandbag* THE AUGUSTA HERALD, AUGUSTA, GA were taking the shortest cut, tram pling the flowers on their way. “Do you know whose property this Is?" she demanded in a burst of au ger. “Ours—the nation’s!” answered one, perspiring freely at his work. “Sor ry!” he added on second thought. Already parts of the first terrace were shoulder-high with sand-bags and one automatic had been set in place, Marta observed as she turned to tbe veranda. There her mother sat in her favorite chair, hands relaxed as they rested on Its arms, while she looked out over the valley In the supertran quility that comes to some women under a strain —as soldiers who have been on sieges can tell you—that some psychologists interpret 'one way and some another, none knowing even their own wives. "Marta, did any of the children come?” Mrs. Galland asked in her usual pleasant tone. So far as she was concerned, the activity on the terrace did not exist. She seemed ob livious of the fact of war. Marta’s monosyllable absently an swering the question was expressive of her wonder at her mother. Most girls do not know their mothers much better than psychologists know their wives. “Marta, whatever happens one should go regularly about what be considers his duty,” said Mrs. Galland. “They have been as considerate aa they could, evidently by Colonel Lan stron’s orders,” ehe proceeded, nod ding toward the Industrious engineers. "And they’ve packed all the paintings ! 'i' ' , She Looked Up to See a Gray Dirigible. and works of art and put them in the cellar, where they will be safe.” The captain of engineers In com mand, seeing Marta, hurried toward her. "Miss Galland, isn’t it?” he asked. "1 have been waiting for you. I —I — well, I found that I could not make the situation clear to your mother.” “He thinks me in my second child hood or out of my head,” Mrs. Galland explained with a shade of tartneas. “And he has been so polite In trying to conceal his opinion, too,” she added with a comprehending smile. The captain flushed In embarrass ment. “I* —I can't speak too strongly,” be declared when he had regained his composure. "Though everything seems to be safe here now, It may not be in an hour. You must go, all of you. This house will be an inferno as eoon as the 63d falls back, and I can't pos sibly get your mother to appreciate the fact, Miss Galland.” "But I said ttfat I did appreciate it and that the Gallands have been in Infernos before—perhaps not as bad as this one that Is coming—but, then, the Gallands must keep abreast of the times,” replied Mrs. Galland. “I have asked Minna and she prefers to re main. I am glad of that, i am glad now that we kept her, Marta. She Is as loyal as my old maid and the butler and the cook were to your grand mother in the last war. Ah, the Gal landa had many servants then!” "This Isn't like the old war. This place will be shelled, enfiladed! And you two ” the captain protested des perately. “1 became a Galland when I mar ried," said Mrs. Galland, “and the Galland women have always remained with their property in time of war Naturally, I shall remain!” "Miss Galland, It was you—your In fluence I was counting on to—” The captain tuned to Marta In a final ap peal Mrs Galland was watching her daughter's face Intently. "We stay!" replied Marta, and the captain aaw la the depths of her eyes, a cold bhie-blaek, that further argu ment was useless. ______ __ Now came the sweep of a rising roar from the sky with the command to at tention of the rush of a fast express train past a country railway station. Two Gray dirigibles with their escort of aeroplanes were bearing toward the pass over the pass road. The auto matic and the riflemen In the tower banged away to no purpose, but the central sections of the envelope of the rear dirigible had bean torn in shreds; it was buckling. Clouds of blue shrap nel smoke broke around its gondola. A number of field-guns joined forces with a battery of high-angle guns in a havoc that left a drifting derelict; the remainder of the squadron had com pleted its loop and was pointing toward the plain. From a great altitude, literally out of the blue ( of heaven, high over the Gray lines, Marta made out a Brown squadron of dirigibles and planes de scending across the track of the Grays. The Gray dirigibles, stern on, were little larger than umbrellas and the planes than swallows; the Brown diri gibles, side on, were big sausages and their planes specks. To the eye, this meeting was like that of two small flocks of soaring birds apparently un able to change their course. But imagination could picture the fearful clash of forces, whose wounded would find the sufccor of no hospital except impact on the earth below. Marta put her hands over her eyee for only a second, she thought, before she withdrew them in vexation— hadn't she promised herself not to be cowardly?—to see one Brown dirigible and two Brown aeroplanes ascending at a sharp angle above a cloud of smoke to escape the high-angle guns of the Grays. "We’ve got them all! No lips sur vive to tell what the eye saw!” ox claimed the engineer captain, his words bubbling with the Joy of water in the sunlight. “As 1 thought," he continued In professional enthusaism and discrimination. With high-power binoculars glued to his eyes, he then led to see If the faint brown line of Dellarme’s men were going to hold or break. If it held, he might have hours in which to complete his task; if it broke, he had only minutes. Marta came up the terrace pnth from the chrysanthemum bed in time to watch the shroud of ehrapnel smoke billowing over the knoll, to visualize another scene in place of the collision of the squadrons, and to note the cap tain’s exultation over Fracasae’s re pulse. "How we must have punished them!” he exclaimed to his lieutenant. "How we must have mowed them down! Lanstron certainly knew what be was doing.” “You mean that he knew how we ■hould mow them down?’’asked Marta. Not until ehe spoke did he realize that she was standing near him. "Why, naturally! If we hadn't mowed them down his plan would have flailed. Mowing them down was the only way to hold them back,” he said; and seeing her horror mode haste to add: "Miss Galland, now you know what a ghastly business war is. It will be worse here than there.” "Yea,” she said blankly. Her color lesa cheeks, her drooping underllp c n vlnced him that now, with a little ■how of masculine authority, he would gain his point "You and your mother most go!” ha ■aid firmly. This was the very thing to whip her thoughts back from the knoll. He was thunderstruck at the transforma tion: hot color in her cheeks, ayes aflame, lips curving around a whirl wind of words. “You name the very reason why I wish to stay. Why do you want to save the women? Why shouldn't they bear their share? Why don't you want them to see men mowed down ? Is It because you are ashamed of your profession? Why, I ask?" The problem of dealing with an angry woman breaking a shell fire of questions over his head had not been ready solved In the captain’s curricu lum like other professional problems, nor was it mentioned In the official Instructions about the defenses of ths Galland bouae. He aimed to amlls soothingly In the helplessneee of man in presence of feminine fury. “It Is an old custom.” he was say ing. but she had turned away. “Lanny's plan—mow them down! mow them down! mow them down!” she went on, more to herself than to him. Was there nothing for her to do? Could she only look on in a fever of restlessnees while action roared around her? The sight of several au tomobile ambulances In the road at the foot of the garden stilled the throbs of distraction In her temples with an answer. The wounded! They were already coming In from the Held. She hurried down the terrace steps. The major surgeon in charge, sur prised to find any woman in the vi cinity, was about to tell her so auto matically; then, in view of her Inten sity, be waited for her to speak. "You will let ue do eometblng for them?" Marta asked. “We will make them some hot soup.” He wae Immediately businesslike. No less than Dellarme or FracasHe or Lanstron or Wssterllng, he had been preparing throughout bis professional career for this hour. The detail of caring for the men who were down had been worked out no less system atically than that of wounding them. “Thank you, no! Ws don't want to waste time," he replied “We must gat them sway with all speed so that the ambulances may return promptly, it’s only a fifteen-minute run to the hospital, where every comfort and ap pliance are ready and where they will be given the right things to eat." “Then we will give them some “Why Do You Want to Save tho Women?” wine!” Marla persisted. "Not If we can prevent It! Not to start hemorrhages! The field doctors have brandy for use when advisable, and there Is brandy in all the ambu lances.” Clearly, volunteer service was not wanted. There wns no room at the immediate front for Florence Nightin gales in the modern machine of war. “Then water?” The major surgeon aimed to be par tleut to an earnest, attractive young woman. "We have sterilized water —we have everything,” he explained. "If we hadn’t at this early stage I ought to be serving an apprenticeship In a vil lage apothecary shop. Anything that means confusion, delay, unnecessary excitement Is bod and unmerciful.” Marta was not yet at the end of her resources. The recollection of the dy ing private who had asked her mother for a rose In tbe lest war flashed Into mind. "Yon haven’t any flowers! They won't do any harm, even If they aren’t sterilized. The wounded like flowers, don't they? Don’t you like flowers? Look! We’ve millions 1” "Yes, I do. They do. A good idea. Bring all the flowers yon want to.” The major surgeon’s smile to Marta waa not altogether on account of her suggestion. "It ought to help anybody who was ever wounded anywhere In the world to hßve you give him a flower!” he waa thinking. Hbe ran for an armful of hlosaoma and waa back before the arrival of the first wounded man who preceded the stretctiors on foot. He was holding up a hand bound In a white flmt-aid bandage which had a red spot In tho center. Those hit. In hand or arm. If the surgeon’s glance justified It, were sent on up the road to a potnt a mile distant, where transportation In requi sitioned vehlclen was provided. These men were triumphant In their cheer fulness. They were alive; they had done thetr duty, and they had the proof of it in the coming souvenirs of Bears. Some of the forme on stretchers had peaceful faces in unconsciousness of their oondltkm. Others had a look of wonder, of pain, of apprehension In their consciousness that death might be near. The single word "Shrapnel!” by a hospital-corps corporal told the story of crushed or lacerated features. In explanation of a white cloth cover ing a head with body uninjured. Many of the wounded looked at Marta evem more than at the flowers. It wae good to see the faoe of a wom an, her eyes limpid with sympathy, and It was not what she said but the way she spoke that brought smiles In response to hers. For she was no solemn ministering angel, but high spirited, cheery, of the sort that the major surgeon would have chosen to distribute flowers to the men. Every remark of the victim* of war made Its distinct, and Indelible Impression on the gelatin of her mind. “I like my blue aster better than that yellow weed of yours, Tom!” “You didn't know' Ed Schmidt. got It? Yes, he was right next to me In the line.” “Hay, did you notice Dellarme’s smile? It was wonderful.” “And old Bert Stransky! I heard him whistling the wedding march as he fired." "Miss, I’ll keep this flower forever!” “They say Billy Lister will live —his cheek was shot away!” “Once we got going I didn’t mind. It seemed like as If i‘d been fighting for years!" "Hole no bigger than a lead-pencil. I’ll be back In a week!" “Yes; don’t these little bullets make neat little holes?” "We certainly gave them a surprise when they came up the hill! I won der If we missed the fellow that Jumped Into the shell crater!" "Our company got it worst!” "Not any worse than ours, I’ll wa ger!" "Oh —oh—can’t you go easlsr? Oh-h-h—” the groan ending In a clench ing of the teeth. "Hello, Jake! You here, too, and going In my automobile? And we've both got lower berths!” "Bh-h! That poor chap's dying!” Worst of all to Marta was the case of a shrapnel fracture of the cranium, with the resulting delirium, In which the sufferer’s Incoherence Included memories of childhood scenes, mo ments on the firing-line, calls for his mother, and prayers to be put out of misery. A prod of the hypodermic from the major surgeon, and “On the operating table In fifteen minutes” was the answer to Marta’s question if the poor fellow would live. Until dark, in groups, at Intervals, and again singly, tlie wounded were coming in from a brigado front In the region where the rifles were crackling and the shrapnel clouds were hanging prettily over the hills; and stretchers were being slipped into place In the ambulances, while Marta kept at her post. “We shan’t have much more to do at this station," said the major surgeon when a plodding section of Infantry In retreat arrived. CHAPTER XI. At the Galland House. Every unit engrossed in his own i work! Every man taught how a weak link may break a chain and realizing himself a« a link and only a link! The captain of engineers forgot Marta’B ex istence as an error of his subordinates 1 • aught his eye, and he went to caution the axmen to cut closer to the ground, hb stumpH gave cover for riflemen. For the time being he had no more interest In the knoll than in the wreckage of the- dirigibles which were down and out of the fight. After all, the knoll was only a single point on the vast staff map- only one of many points of a struggle whose progress was bulletined through the siftings of regimental, brigade, divi sion and corps headquarters in net re sults to the staff. Bartow and Lau stron overlooked all. Their knowledge made tho vast map live under their eyes. But our concern is with the story of two regiments, and particu larly of two companies, and that is story enough, if you would grasp the whole, multiply the oonflict on the knoll by ten thousand. There had been the engrossment of tmnscoiuleut emotion In repelling the charge. What followed was like some grim and passionless trance with triggers ticking off the slow-imsslng minutes. Dellnrme aimed to keep down tho fusillade from Frucasse’a trench and yet not to neglect the fair target* of the reserves advancing by rushes to the support of the 138th. Hein forced, the gray streak at the bot tom of the slope poured In a heavier fire. Above the steady crackle of bul lets sent and the whistle of bullets re ceived rose the cry of "Doctor! Doc tor I” which meant each time that an other Uro<wn rifle had been silenced. The litter bearers, hard pressed to re move the woundod, loft tho dead. Al ready death was a familiar sight—an article of exchange In which Del lartne’s men dealt freely. The man at Btransky's side had been killed out right. He lay face down on his rifle stock. His cap had fallen off. Stran sky put It back on the man's head, and the example was followed in other cases. It was a good Idoa to keep lip a show of a full line of caps to the enemy. Suddenly, as by command, the tire from the bane of the knoll ceased alto gether. Dellnrme understood at once what this meant—the next step In tho course of a systematic, Irresistible ap proach by superior numbers. It, was to allow the ground scouts to advance. Individual gray spots detaching them selves from the gray streak began to crawl upward In search of dead spaces where the contour of the ground would furnish some protection from the blaze of bullets from the crest. "Over their heads! Don't try to hit them!" Dell nr mo passed the word. "That’s it! Spare one to get a dosen!” said Stransky, grinning In ready comprehension. He seemed to be grinning every time that Dellarme looked In that direction. He was plainly enjoying himself. Hie restless natnre had found sport to its taste. The creeping scouts must have sig naled back good news, for groups be gan crawling slowly after them. “Over their beads! Encourage them!” Dellarme commanded. After they had advanced two or three hundred yards they stopped, shoulders and bauds exposed In silhou ette, and began to work feverishly with their spades. "Oh, beautiful!” cried H Iran sky. “That baby captain of ours has some brains, after all! We'll get them now and we’ll get them when they run!” But they did not run. Unfalteringly they took their punlahment while they turned over the protecting nod In the midst of their own dead and wounded, in a few minutes they had droppvd spades for rifles, and other aectlone either crawled or ran forward pre cipitately and fell to the task of Join ing the Isolated beginnings Into a single trench Again Dellarme looked toward regi mental headquarters, his fixed, cheery smile not. wholly masking the appeal in bln eyes The Gray* had only two or three hundred yards to go when thev should make their next charge In order to reach the crest. But his men had fifteen hundred to go In the val ley before they were out of range. After their brave resistance facing the enemy they would receive a hall of bullets In tbelr backs. This was the time to withdraw If there were to be assurance of a sass retreat. But there was ro signal Until there was, he muet remain. The trench grew; the day wore on. Two rifles to ons were now playing against bis devoted oompany, which bad hgd neither food nor drink since early morning. As he scanned his thinning line he saw a look of blood leanness and hopelessness gathering on the set faces of which he had grown so fond during this ordeal. Some of the men were crouching too much lor effective aim. “See that you Are low! Keep your heads up!” he called. "For you? homes, your country and your Godt! Pass the word along!” Parched throat after pa robed throat repeated the message hoarsely and leaden shoulders raised a trifle and dust-matted eyelashes narrowed sharps ly on the Bights. "For the man in us!” growled Strsn* sky. "For the favor of nature at birth that gave us the right to wear trou sers Instead of skirts! For the Joy of hell, give them hell!” "For our homes! For the man In us!” they repeated, swallowing the words as If they had the taste of stimulant. But Dellarme knew that it would not take much to precipitate a break. He himself felt that he had been on that knoll half a lifetime. He looked at his watch and It. was five o'clock. For seven hours they had held on. The Grays’ trench was complete th* breadth of the slope; more reserve* were coming up. The brigade com mander of the Grays was going to make sure that the next charge sua ceeded. At last Dellarme's glance toward regimental headquarters showed tho flag that was tbe signal tor with* drawal. Could he accomplish It? Tbd first lieutenant, with a shuttered arm had gone on a litter. The old aea> geant was dead, a victim of the colon nlal wars. Used to fighting savage eat. emies, he had been too eager In eIN posing himself to a civilized foe. Hd had been shot through the throat "Men of the first, section,” Dellanad called, "you will slip out of line with the greatest care not to let the enenu| know that you are going!” “Going—going! Careful! Men a# the first section going!” the parched throats repeated in a thrilling whlspeik "Those who remain keep increasing their fire!” called Dellarme again-. "Cover the whole breadth of th* trench!” Every fourth man wormed himself: backward on his stomach until he wa# below the sky-line when his stiffens® limbs brought him to hie feet and bn started on a dead run down into thn • alley and toward a cut behind an* other knoll across the road from thg Galland house. The others followed at intervals. Once across a road and up three s» tics of steps of the other garden ter* rice, behind a breastwork of sand bags, the company rested. Most of them had fallen asleep on the ground after finishing their rations, logs of men In animal exhaustion. Some of those awake were too weary to give to each other more than a nod and mile. They had witnessed too much horror that day to talk about it. Bui Stransky foraged. Marta, coming out on the veranda, saw him. "You are tired! You are hungry!” he said with urgent gentleness, "Come in!” Me followed her into the house and dropped on a leather chair before a hilling table In a room |>al:eted with oak, wondering at her and at him?elf. No woman of Marta's world hrd ever spoken In that way to him But It v.as good to eit down. Then a maid with a sad, winsome face and tender eyes brought him wine and bread and cold meat and Jam. He gulped down a glassful of wine; he ate with great mouthfuls In the ravenous call of healthy, exhausted tissues, while th* maid stood by to cut more bread. ’’When It comes to eating after fight • > * Ho looked up when the first pangs of hunger were assuaged. Enormous, ■ roadshouldered, physical, his cheeks ’ashed with v.lne, his eyes opened v.lde and brilliant with the fire that was In his nature —eyes that spoke th* red business of anarchy and war. “Say, but you’re pretty!” Springing up, he caught her hand and made to kiss her In the bras lines* of impulse. Minna struck him a sting ing blow In the face. He received it ns a mu*.tiff would receive a bite from a imp, and she stood her ground, her eyes challenging his fearlessly. "So you are like that!” be said thoughtfully. “It was a good ona, and you meant It, too.” "Decidedly!” she answered. "Tberali more where that came from!” Then little Clarissa Eileen catered and pressed against her mother** skirts, subjecting Stransky to child hood's scrutiny. He waved a finger at her and grinned and drew his eyegf together in a squint at the bridge off hts nose, making a funny taoe that brought a laugh. * “Your child?” Stransky asktd Minnd "Yes.” "Where’s her father? Away Aghft tog?” "T don’t know where he ill” "Oh!” he muaed. “Waa that Mb* for him at the same time as for mef* he pursued thoughtfully. “Yes. for all of your kind.” "Mm-m!" came from between hi* lips as he rose. "Would you mind hold ing out your hand?” he asked with a gentleness singularly out of keeping with hts rough aspect. ’ “Why?” she demanded. “I've never studied any books of ett* quUte of polite society, and I am a poor sort at making speeches, anyhow. But I want to kiss a good women’* hand by way of apology. I never klaaed one In my life, but I’m getting a lot of new experiences today. Will you?” She held out her hand at arm's length and flushed slightly ae ha pressed his Hpe to it _ _ _ (To b* continued Tomorrow ,) y USE HERALD WANT ADS. FIVE