Under
Fire
Bu RICHARD PARKER
4
Bind on tb ditmt of
ROI COOPER MEGBUB
Author of "Undu Cover" ind co-tnthot
of "It Pus to Advertise"
Uuprilglit, iultt, it j 'lot arliwnniiay Ounp&u.
SYNOPSIS.
2
Georgy Wagstaft, daughter of Sir
George, 0f the British admiralty, hlntn at
a liaison between her governess, Ethel
Wiuoughby, and Henry Streetman. Ethel
denies It. Henry Streetman calls on Ethel
and while waiting for her talkB to Brews
ter, Sir George's butler, who Is a German
spy, about his failure to get at admiralty
papera In Sir George's possession. He
phones to German secret Bervlce head
quarters. MrtrCrCrtrCrCrtrirtrtrtrtitrhtrtritt
. A fine young Englishwoman
Is caught In the net of Interna
tional plotting and Is made the
victim of circumstances tragic
circumstances. She becomes In
nocently involved with an ene
my of her country and he pro
ceeds to use her as a tool. How
she is cornered and prodded, as
boys might tease a wounded
wild animal, Is told vividly In
this Installment.
WWWWWWW'JWW')
Streetman, the German spy, and
Roeder (alias Brewster, the butler),
are discussing the possibility of war,
CHAPTER II Continued.
"Yes, yes! Of course!" Streetman
agreed hastily, ns If he would forestall
any patriotic exhibition. "Still, one
would like to Mve with the luxuries
of life. One day I shall make the
grand coup; and then to cease all
this" He broke off suddenly, for he
heard Miss WlUoughby stirring on the
other side of that closed door, "Sssh!
To the door!"
"Very good, Brewster!" Mr. Street
man said In a clear, firm voice, which
be intended to carry well beyond that
closed door. "I'll wait here for Miss
WlUoughby."
And ten Fir George's butler bowed
and left the room.
CHAPTER III.
A Foe In the Household.
Brewster had hardly closed the doors
behind him before Ethel WlUoughby
appeared.
"Oh, Henry! You surprised me," she
said.
"I came be:'ore the others," Street
man explained, "because there is some
thing you must do for me at once."
"About the fleet, I suppose," she
said, somewhat wearily, ns she turned
away from hiin.
"How did you know?" Ho shot the
question at her almost too quickly for
caution. But for the moment he ex
perienced something approaching
alnrm. But her answer reassured him.
"Nowadays It is only of the fleet
you ask," she told him. And she re
garded him with eyes that were pa
thetic, if not reproachful. Once It had
seemed to her that Honry Streetman
was Interested in her. But of late she
had been obliged to admit to herself
that that Interest had quickly waned.
Her handsome caller paid no atten
tion to the obvious complaint that lay
In Ethel's answer. In the most matter-of-fact
fashion he proceeded
straight to the business that was up
permost in his mind.
"You must learn at once from Sir
George where the ships at Spithead
are going," he announced bluntly.
"Find out if they sail together, or if
they will disperse and how."
As she faced him again there was
beseeching in her voice, her eyes, her
whole manner.
"Walt, Henry, wait!" she begged.
"Before we go Into that, tell me
when are you going to let people know
we're married?"
Streetman remembered then that he
had a many-sided role to play. And
thereupon he went up to the girl; and
taking one of Ethel's hands in his,
while he put an arm around her, he
looked down at her in a most loverlike
fashion.
"Ah, my dear! I'd let them know
now this minute if I only could!" he
exclaimed.
"But we must announce our mar
riage at once," she said quickly,
"Announce our marriage why?"
"Georgy Wagstaft told me just a
few minutes ago that when I said I
was in Brighton a friend of hers saw
you and me together in Tarls," she re
plied In tragic tones.
"You did not explain?" be asked.
"That we were on our honeymoon?
Nol I kept my word to you. I said
I was In Brighton." She looked at
him in a puzzled way as he left her
then and paced the floor in a nervous
fashion.
"Of course, It's easily proved that I
was not in Brighton," Ethel continued.
"Georgy seemed to think you and
I . . . Well! you can imagine what
she must have thought. Oh! why must
there be this secrecy? I loathe It."
She sank upon the settee and stared
moodily at the floor a most unhappy
picture of a pretty bride.
Streetman roused himself and, bent
over her.
"My dear! We must wait until I
can arrange matters with, my family,"
he explained in his most plausible man
ner, "Until I can come into my own
again we should starve. Soon it will
all be arranged," And once more be
turned tway from her this time with
an air of finality as if there were
really no argument against his vague
protestations. , .
"Soon? You have said that for a
month," Ethel reminded him. "You've
said it ever since we were married."
"Next week, then!" he agreed in des
peration. "I promise! And you will
learn tonight about the fleet?" he
added In the same breath.
"But, Henry, if I do ask Sir George
and he tells me, isn't it rather a shab
by thing to do then to come to you
and"
"No, no, no as I've often told you!"
he interrupted. It seemed to him that
her objections were Interminable.
And under the stress of the urging
from his superiors his forbearance was
fast reaching its end. To hide his
anxiety and his Irritation, ho stepped
to the window and looked out.
"But Sir George trusts me," Ethel
resumed. Streetman stifled a mouth-
filling German oath while he listened
to her. "When he answers my ques
tions," she continued, "he does so be
cause he thinks I'm just idly curious.
He never dreams I'd repeat what he
says to anyone. It all puts me in a
beastly position. Sir George Is a loyal
Englishman, and If he thought "
Streetman would not let her finish.
He wheeled about and said sharply, to
forestall even the merest mention of
such a thing as an informer let alone
spy
"And you are a loyal Englishwoman
and I am loyal to France."
"Then why do you pass yourself off
as an Englishman?"
"Because it Is the wish of my em
ployers, the French secret service. It
Is the wish of France," he declared in
a grand manner, which he Intended to
carry conviction with It.
"It's all quite beyond me," she said
with a hopeless air. They had had
many such discussions. And never
yet had she been able to understand
the reasons that Streetman put forth
with unvarying gllbness. "Why should
France wish to know about our fleet?"
"Ah! that I do not know," he re
plied. "The secret service gives me
their instructions. It is for me to fol
low, not to question them. It is my
work my future." He drew nearer
to her, and his masterful eyes gazed
full into hers. "It is our future,
Ethel!" Tie cried with apparent emo
tion. "But isn't France England's ally?"
she asked. "I can't understand why
she should need this information."
"In times like these it Is best for
each country to know nil possible
about every country," he explained.
"You will be doing no wrong to Eng
land when you get me the facts I
desire." He sat down besjde her, and,
placing his arm about her, he drew her
close to him. "You will find out to
night about the fleet?" he pleaded.
But there was something about his
persistent wheedling that made Ethel
WlUoughby or Mrs. Streetman sus
picious. "I can't "help feeling that there is
something behind all this something
you are not, telling me," she said
slowly.
Despite his confident air, Streetman
could not easily look into her 'search
ing . eyes, no was uncomfortable.
"Nol All That Is Over," She Said.
And he rose abruptly and took a few
quick, restless steps about the room.
"Why what an Imagination!" he
exclaimed, forcing a laugh at last.
"Really, Ethel, you're quite absurd!"
"But always, before we were mar
ried, you were so kind, so thoughtful.
You talked only of pretty things. But
now, always it is the fleet the navy.
Yon seem Interested only In their
plans, their secrets. , . . Is it for
that you married me?"
Streetman's patience had reached
the breaking point. And at the ques
tion he flew into a sudden rage. He
turned a face like a thundercloud upon
her.
"And on my side I ask why you mar
ried me? For love? ... I think
not!" he sneered.
His quick anger brought Ethel to
her feet.
"But, Henry"
He waved her answer aside as If It
were not worth his listening to.
"Once, perhaps, I thought so," he
said, talking her down like a common
brawler. "But now I hear It was
another man whom yon really loved
a young Irishman who vent away
without doing you the honor of asking'
you to marry him." In his words
there was, as he intended there should
be, a taunt that implied more than
he actually said.
"No, no!" Ethel cried. "It isn't
true. It was just a flirtation a few
dances a theater or two!"
"Oh! That was all!" he retorted.
"And yet they told me you had known
him all your life."
"I don't know whom you're talking
about," she said in desperation.
"Nor do I," he rejoined. "It was
some man in the army a captain, I
think. I do not know his name; but
I shall find it out, and then perhaps
I shall learn if you cared for me at
all or if It was Just that I caught you
on the rebound."
"What do you mean?" She faced
him tensely. Such scenes were new
to her. Trouble, of a sort, she had
known. But never anything like this.
It had been hard enough to see her
resources dwindling steadily, without
the means of replenishing them, and
with actual penury staring her in the
face. But now Ethel knew that that
was as nothing compared with the
situation In which she had unwittingly
placed herself. To be tied for life to
a man who did not love her who
seemed an absolute brute that was
worse, a thousand times, than nny
mere financial difficulties.
Streetman did not at once reply to
her. For a few moments be regarded
her balefully, as if she were already
a hateful thing in his eyes.
"I wonder, my dear," he said at last,
"I wonder If today It Is only I that
count with you or if you have memo
ries. . . . We shall see."
"No, no, Henry!" she protested.
"I'm I'm very fond of you," she said
brokenly.
"Fond?" The smile that he gave
her was nothing if not cruel. "Come,
then! Kiss me!" And he attempted
to embrace her. But she pushed him
away from her.
"No! All that Is over. Not until we
can let people know. This secrecy
makes me feel as if 1 were not your
wife. What Georgy said is enough to
make me believe, almost, that it has
all been Just some horrible Intrigue."
"Nonsense; nonsense!" he scoffed.
"If I promise you now that next week
we make our marriage public, will
you believe me?"
"Yes, Henry! I will!" she said In a
voice In which there rang renewed
hope.
- He stepped quickly to her side again.
Henry Streetman was not the sort of
man to miss any opportunity that of
fered. "But to do that," he stipulated, "I
must secure for France this informa
tion concerning the fleet. That will
mean promotion for me money
much money! And with that I need
no longer wait on my family. You
understand?" he asked her.
"Yes, Henry! I do!"
"Good! That's settled. And you
will take the first opportunity to speak
to Sir George?" He was filled with
elation at the happy turn of affairs.
But he was doomed to quick disap
pointment. "You will?" ho persisted.
"No!"
"What?" he exclaimed, scarcely be
lieving his ears.
"I understand that for some reason
you are trying to bribe mo with these
promises of yours to betray Sir
George's confidence. But I'm sick of
this deception. I won't do it any
longer; and you oughtn't to ask it of
me."
"Indeed!" he said, with a vicious
show of scorn. "And if it should hap
pen to come to Sir George anonymous
ly" he stressed the word "that you
had already 'betrayed his confidence,'
what would your position be here?"
He watched her narrowly, to see what
effect his threat might have upon her.
"You wouldn't do that?" she ex
claimed, as a sudden fear gripped her.
All at once it struck Ethel that her
position had Indeed become desperate.
She had not dreamed that she would
find herself In such an impasse and
at the hands of her husband, of all
people.
"I should not like to do it," Street
man replied. "But I intend to learn
I shall learn about the fleet tonight:
and through you!" he declared, with
undisguised determination.
She turned upon him like some
hunted wild thing then, ready to fight
desperately in one last, mad effort.
"Oh! -, So that's what your love, your
affection, amounts to, la it?"
"Put it any way you choose," was
his callous answer. "But I must have
this information. . . . Come! What
do you say?"
"What is there for me to say?"
"Exactly!" he retorted. "I am glad
to see that at last you appreciate the
sltuution." They both started then at
the sound of voices. "It is Sir George,"
Streetman said. "I shall leave pres
ently. But I Bhall some back in an
hour. , . . And you will have found
out about the fleet?"
"Oh! I suppose so!" she replied.
"But it makes me hate myself and
you!"
"Really? What a pity!" he said with
mock sympathy.
CHAPTER IV.
Gathering Storm-Clouds,
And then Sir George Wagstaff Joined
them, with his trusted butler, Brew
ster, In his wake, bearing a muffin
tray.
Ethel went gayly to meet her bene
factor. At least, her manner was
blithesome; but her heart was leaden.
"Hello, Sir George!" she said.
"Hello, Ethel!" They were good
pals those two. The daughter of one
of his oldest and dearest friends,
Ethel had always occupied a niche
all her own in Sir George's affections,
Sir George was not of the big type
of Englishman. He was, on the con
trary, not much over the height of
Ethel herself. But he was undeniably
Impressive, with his keen, gray eyes,
his fast-whitening hair, and his ex
quisite manners. And despite the
punctilious polltenesB that Sir George
displayed to everybody, there was
something in his bearing that warned
one that he was no person to trifle
with.
"I just dropped In for a few min
utes because I'd promised to come to
your tea, Ethel; and I try never to
break my word to so charming a
lady."
She made a pretty curtsy.
"Thank you, Sir George!"
"For you, at the admiralty, these
must be troublous times?" Streetman
ventured.
"Bather busy, yes!" was Sir George's
somewhat short nnswer. He was al
ways ready, when at leisure, to enter
"You Think, Then, There Will Be War
Between Russia and Germany?"
upon a discussion of any topic ex
cept such as touched upon bis high
office. And there he was exceedingly
touchy.
"You think, then, there will be war
between Russia and Germany?"
Streetman asked him eagerly. He
could not do otherwise than ignore
Sir George's slightly frigid reply to
his previous question. If he felt any
resentment, he trusted to be able to
pay oft the score in his own way, later.
Sir George lifted his eyebrows ever
so slightly as he glanced at Ethel's
caller.
"That, sir. is a matter I should pre
fer not to discuss," he replied.
"Pardon me, sir, but as a loyal Eng
lishman I am naturally Interested."
And then Ethel stationed herself be
hind the tea table.
"Come! Let's talk of peace and
tea," she said. It made her feel guilty
to sit there and bear Streetman try to
pry Information out of Sir George be
neath his own roof. And it seemed
that the least she could do to repay
him for his many kindnesses was to
protect him as best she might from
Mreetman's indefatlgublo curiosity,
They had no sooner taken their cups
from her when Georgy Wagstaft burst
into the room.
Hello, everybody!" she greeted
them. "Here's Guy nnd his mother."
Close behind her followed Mrs. Ste
phen Falconerand her good-looking son,
" no was, ns everybody knew, more
lhan devoted to Sir George Wagstaff's
vivacious daughter. "We'd have been
here earlier," Georgy explained, "but
-Mrs. Falconer and Guy hud gone to
a matinee."
"Silly ehow!" the blase Guy added
In a bored drawl. "The eternal tri
angle or some such nonsense!'1
"Very tiresome!" his mother agreed.
"And so noisy! Full of shots and
pistols and mostly about some poor
creature who'd sinned and repented."
"lhats the sort of play I disap
prove of, particularly for my daugh
ter," Sir George commented from his
place on the settee. "I am glad,
Georgy, that you were not there.
"Oh, I saw It last week." said
Georgy with mischievous satisfaction,
"And you oug.it to go, father. You'd
weep over the heroine. Frightfully
damaged lady wasn't she, Guy?"
"OH, frightfully!" said Guy. "Com
pletely beyond repair!"
"I knew the minute she walked on
she wasn't a good woman. She was
so pale nnd circle-y, and so beautifully
dressed," Georgy explained, ns she
watched her father squirm. Shocking
her respectable parent was one of
Gcorgy's favorite diversions,
"You mustn't talk this silly cyni
cism," Ethel reproved the two young
people.
"Don't worry!" Georgy retorted,
"Father knows I don't get that sort
of chat from my very proper gover
ness. It's just hereditary from him,
I express what he feels but doesn't
dare say."
But Sir George refused to he an
noyed by his daughter's hectoring.
-ii least i aeserve cretiit tor my
modesty, he observed dryly.
..
Will Ethel get the damaging
naval Information from Sir
George and will she refuse to
pass It along? Or will Sir
George, suddenly suspicious of
unexplained actions, refus to
talk to the girl?
(TO BH CONTINUED.)
Lember
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ex.. . '
6THELT SCENE
WHEN the fortifications of
the inner city of Lemberg
were dismantled in 1811 and
lilt? CyULB Yl U1L1I lllVf uvxu-
pied was converted into promenades
for the prosperous citizens of this
modern Gallclan capital of 200,000 in
habitants, it was doubtless assumed
by many that, having suffered "the
sling and arrows of outrageous for
tune" for the five centuries of its
municipal existence, fate would allot
it a surcease from siege and capture,
says the bulletin of the National Geo
graphic society.
Lying 60 miles almost due east of
Przemysl, and more than IfiO miles
northeast of Vienna, Lemberg is sit
uated on the banks of the Peltew river,
an affluent of the Bug. It nestles in a
small valley which opens to the north,
and is surrounded by hills, the
most picturesque being the well-wood
ed Franz-Josef Berg to the northeast.
To the east, a distance of 7 miles, is
Tnrnopol, nenr the Russian border,
one of the first points of nttuck when
the Muscovites pushed beyond the
Gallclan frontier.
A description of the modern city of
Lemberg as it existed In August, 1914,
requires many modifications today, for
the scars of war are to be found In Its
many handsome homes; Its broad, well
paved streets; its Roman Catholic
cathedral, a handsome gothlc structure
completed In 1480 ; Its Greek cathedral.
completed in 1779; its Armenian
cathedral in the Byzantine style, dat
ing back to 1437, nnd Its magnificent
monuments to such Polish patriots as
King John III Sobleskl who, utter
having saved Lemberg from the Turks
a few years previously, In 1(583 saved
all Europe from Mohammedan inva
sion by routing an army of 800,000
Turks encamped nbout Vienna, his own
force numbering only 70,000.
Nearly 700 Years Old.
Called Lwow in the Polish tongue
and Leopolis in Latin, Lemberg was
founded by a Rutheninn prince in 12.r0.
Nearly a hundred years Inter it was
added to the domain of Casimlr the
Great, who bestowed up-jn the city
Hie charter and privileges widely
known during the middle ages as the
Magdeburg Right.
Following the fall of Constantinople.
Lemberg enjoyed a revival of Irnde
with the East, but it was caught In the
maelstrom of rebellion and pillage
which swept over the Ukraine mi.l h
part of Poland during the last half of
the seventeenth century, when the Cos
sack hetinan, Chmielnicka, was direct
ing the infamies of the "serfs' fury."
Lemberg was one of the Polish cities
to full before the arms of Charles XII
of Sweden when the ill-advised Au
gustus II was drawn Into the Great
Northern war, which devastated cen
tral Europe for the first 20 years of the
eighteenth century. In 1772, upon the
first partition of Poland, Lemberg be
came nn Austrian possession, und 12
yenrs after this event Joseph II es
tablished the University of Lemberg
which, nt the time of the outbreak of
the present war, had more than 2,000
students.
One of the most attractive parks of
Lemberg, nnd a favorite promenade,
hears the name of the Polish patriot,
Jan KillnskI, a humble little shoe
maker, who fought bravely in 1708,
was captured und tuken to St. Peters
burg. After his release he returned
to his shoemaker's bench and in ids
leisure hours wrote his recollections, a
valuable record of this period of his
country's history.
Since the establishment of the Ga
llclan diet In ItiOl Lemberg has en
joyed increasing prosperity. Its manu
factures Include machinery nnd Iron
ware, matches, candles, liqueurs,
chocolate, leather, bricks and tiles,
while its commerce Is largely In linen,
flax, hemp, wool and oil.
In 1907 two Interesting finds were
made in the vicinity of tills city by
laborers boring for oil. The bodies of
tin elephant and a rhinoceros were un
earthed in n remarkable state of pres
ervation, even (lie hides being Intact,
due, probably, to the preservative qual
ities of the "oily soil In which they were
burled.
Brody a Commercial Center.
(inly ubout two miles beyond the
Russian border, the (iullclan town of
lirody Is a point of great strategic Im
portance on the eastern wiir front be
cause It controls an important railway
line leading from Dubno, 35 miles to
the northeast, to Lemberg, which Is
only 62 miles to the southwest
m m S&VtJ f -
m. tw
IN LmtJERO
At the beginning of the world war
Brody was a thriving commercial cen
ter with a population approaching 20,-
000, more than two-thirds ot whom
were Jews. Its prosperity was checked
to some extent about 40 yenrs ago,
when, after having enjoyed the privi
leges of a free commercial city for
exactly 100 years, its charter was with
drawn. 1
Less than half a century before
Brody was created a town in the sev
enteenth century it was the scene of
un important battle in which the Poles,
commanded by their famous grund
hetman, Stanislaus Ponleckpolskl, de
feated a Tartar army. This was the
last battle of Ponleckpolskl's dis
tinguished career. For a quarter of a
century he was at war with Turks and
Swedes, his Initiation in military
science being somewhat disastrous, for
he was captured by the Turks in his
first Important engagement and was
held in close confinement for three
years ut Constantinople. Upon his re
lease In 1002 he was placed in Com
mand of the Polish republic's forces
and with a force of 25,000 defeated 60,
000 Tartars at Murtynow. Ills achieve
ments against the army of Gustavus
Adolphus were no less noteworthy than
his long series of victories whereby ho
succeeded la keeping the Ukraine un
der Polish rule.
Brody twice suffered from disas
trous conflagrations during the nine
teenth century. The first, occurring
in 1S01, destroyed 1,500 houses, while
the fire of 1S50 reduced 1,000 homes
und business establishments to ashes.
The upper waters ot the Styr river
form an Irregular arc extending from
the southwest to the north of lirody,
being ten miles distant at Its nearest
point, toward the norlhwopt. Five
miles from the city, just, beyond .the
border on the Dulino-Lemberg ralhvi,
is the Russian town of Umlxlwlluw,
with a population ot about 8,000.
USE ARABS TO FIGHT LOCUSTS
Soldiers Dig Trenches Into Which
Hatching Pests Were Driven
and Destroyed.
Djemnl Pasha put spine thousands
of Arab soldiers nt my brother's dis
position, and these were set to work
digging trenches into which the hutch
ing locusts were driven nnd destroyed.
This Is the only means of coping with
tho situation; once the locusts get
their wings, nothing can he done with
them. It was a hopeless light. Nothing
short of the co-operation of every
farmer In the country could have won
Ihe day; and while the people of tho
progressive Jewish villages struggled
on to the end men, women nnd chil
dren working In the flcldH until they
were exhausted the Arab farmers snt
by with folded hands. The threats ot
the military authorities only stliTed
them to half-hearted efforts. Finally,
after two months of toll, the campaign
was given up und the locusts broke In
waves over the countryside, destroying
everything. As the Prophet Joel said:
"The land is ns the Garden of Eden
before them, and behind them u deso
late wilderness. The field Is wanted;
the land mourneth, for the corn Is
wasted ; the new wine is dried up, the
oil lnngulsheth."
Not only wns every green leaf de
voured, but the very bark was peeled
from the trees, which stood out white
and lifeless, like skeletons. The fields
were striped to the ground, and the
old men of our villages, who had given
their lives to cultivating these gardens
nnd vineyards, came out of the syna
gogues where they hud been praying
and wailing and looked on the ruin
with dimmed eyes. Nothing was
soured. The Insects, in their fierce
hunger, tried to engulf everything in
their wuy. Alexunder Auronsohn, in
Atlantic.
A Horrible Accident.
A popular sportsman, being vastly
conceited nbout his fine figure, wore
corsets to show it off. One day lie
was thrown from- his horse nnd lay
prone on the roucl A farm laborer
ran to render him assistance. The
first-uld nin n began to feel the fallen
one ull over to see If uny bones hap
pened to be broken, und suddenly
yelled out to another laborer:
"Run, Jack, for heuven's suko, fot
ft doctor. Here's a man's ribs runnln'
north and south, Instead o' east and
.west,'