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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1946-10-17, Page 8Page 8 THE TIMES-APVOCATE, EXETER, ONTARIO, THURSPAY MORNINS, OCTOBER 17th, 1946 gelle Region By WALLACE IC NORMAN 3OE3OI The story thus far; Dismissed from West Point by the perjured testimony of Curt Sawyer, Bill Harvey, alias Xerxes' Benedict, is naw a lieutenant in the •French Foreign Region, stationed in Tlaba. Trouble is ‘anticipated from the native chief, Abeu-el-Akr, Constance Barteau, an American igirl, is in Tlaba with her brother Raoul. Xerxes sees her with Sawyer. To his questions about Sawyer she gives evasive answers. They are am- bushed outside Tlaba, but escape, Xerxes realises he loves Constance. An airplane delivers orders for Capt, Berouge to take half the force to El* Gl’imgau, leaving Xerxes at Tlaba. Next evening Constance sends word for him to meet her away from camp, Re does, and she warns of an attack. She locks him in a hut as the attack begins, CHAPTER IX For three hours after Constance Barteau had locked him in the old Spanish jail Xerxes clawed at the thick mud walls with • his fingers and the butt of his pistol. Burrowing and heaving, he finally rammed this fist through the last layer of dried mud. The rest was easy. One lunge of his shoulder sent ihim sprawling put into the open. •Soaked with perspiration, plas­ tered with dust, he clambered to his feet. Pitchy darkness enveloped him. Low; black clouds scudding •across the sky obscured the moon. The village around him was silent as death. He knew wthy. The in­ habitants had all joined in the bat­ tle. Gun in hand, he stepped to the front of the jail, out into the waver­ ing street. His horse was gone. Constance Barteau and Curt Sawyer' quite naturally were gone. Ten minutes before Xerxes had broken through the jail wall the crash and roar of battle had ter­ minated abruptly. High and pierc­ ing, like the distant gobbling of a horde of turkeys, native yells rang down from Tlaba. A sickened, icy feeling clawed at the pit of Xerxes’ stomach. That screeching, blood-curdling howl meant only one thing. ILeaderless, surprised by an overwhelming force, the Legionnaires of the third company had been defeated. Mas­ sacred; cut to pieces; the wounded tortured, the dead horribly muti­ lated. And why? Because their commanding officer ihad been duped into leaving them. Xerxes groaned, his fists clinch­ ed savagely. Inconceivable as it seemed, Constance Barteau was in league with the natives! How, or wihy, he was utterly unabled to fathom. But that was beside the ooint. She was, and if she was in league with the natives, so was Curt Sawyer. But for the moment Xerxes was not interested in Sawyer. Con­ stance. who had lured him away from his men and locked him in the hut," was the on in -whom he was interested “Lieutenant!” The word, coming softly through the dark, caused Xerxes to spin like a top'. Behind him in the shadows of the iajl stood Senior Sergeant Klau- mer. Other figures, moving silently, welled, up in the ’background. Xerxes moved forward hastily, his throat suddenly dry. Reaching the sergeant, >he stopped. Klaumer’s face was covered with blood and his right arm dangled useless. “How does it go, sergeant?” was all Xerxes found to say. “Badly, lieutenant, badly.” Klau- mer staggered and braced (himself against the side of the jail. “They came on us like a thunderbolt. The dogs were swarming through the barbed wir© before we .knew what had hit us.” .More Legionnaires came slipping up through the darkness. There was a moment of brittle silence In which Xerxes could feel the ac­ cusing eyes of his men boring into him. Klaumer finally coughed scratchily. “It would have gone better if you had been there, lieutenant.” The ‘ stolid German reeled and sat down. Xerxes squatted beside him, shame and -ange’r driving into him like Chleuh daggers. “How many were lost, sergeant?” ihe adked me­ chanically. “I don’t know, sir. I don’t even know how we got aw.ay. They cut the camp in two—we kept fighting like ’hell, and they kept pushing us back until we were almost to the first village. AU aj, once they quit and sailed back .for the camp again. Before we could get started I heard our automatic rifles .go quiet and I knew they had smothered the rest of the outfit. All we had was our rifles, hnd I knew we didn’t •have a chalice, so I Withdrew. I hope I did right, sir.” The Wounded sergeant's last words Were Unimpeachable, but they carried a barb that pierced Xerxes to the core. The lieutenant stood tip “You did right, sergeant, but We can still go back,” he said savagely. “Those swine’ll be on our trail in a minute anyway.” There was no response from the legionnaires grouped around the hut. Under ordinary circumstances they would have been clamoring to go back and avenge their dead com­ rades. But hot these men. The shat­ tered remnant of the third company had lost faith In their commanding officer. “Would it not be wiser, sir,” Klaunief said in precisely the tone a sergeant should use when speak­ ing to his lieutenant, but with a certain hollowness to ibis voice that belied the tone, “to withdraw coin.’ pletely, if possible? We have many wounded, our ammunition is low, and I believe that if we consolidated with Capt. Berouge in El Grimgau pur situation would improve.” The sergeant’s cleverly put re’ buk© ©piked Xerxes' only possible chance to redeem himself. The Legionnaires had heard it, and as a rule, in battle, what is good enough for a senior sergeant is good enough for a ILegionnaire, Xerxes could have driven them to an at­ tack,. but to do so would have been as foolish as it would have been, futile. A half-hearted -attack in the face of the overwhelming numbers would be suicidal. Xerxes choked down a blistering oath. To the men ringed around him, he realized he was little better than a deserter. He had left them in the face of great danger. Why, they did not -care. He had left them; that was enough. Their pespect and confidence in him were completely shattered. As he stood there in the darkness, with lAli Hadjin’s warriors howling their praise to Allah in the dis­ tance, Xerxes knew he was through. He cast one look at the scudding clouds overhead, and stooped to the wounded sergeant. “You’re right, sergeant,” he ac­ knowledged his defeat. “It would be wiser to consolidate with Capt. Berouge in El iGrimgau, .Let’s go.” Two and a half days later the consolidation was effected. At noon­ time the tattered, bloody remnants of Lieut. Xerxes Benedict’s half of the third company staggered into the Legion encampment in El Grim- gau. Half dead from thirst, the sun- ravaged survivors of the disaster of Tlaba fell upon the canteens of their more fortunate comrades like wild beasts. Within ten minutes Xerxes was in Capt. Berouge’s tent, facing not only Berouge but also a blustering, cold-eyed regimental commander who had come by plane from Sidi- bel-Abbes that morning. Berouge and the colonel heard Xerxes through in .grim, bitter silence. “•So?” 1Q0I. Duroc struck the table before him .a resounding blow with his fist, at the conclusion of Xerxes’ cryptic story. “Is that the way an officer of the Legion conducts him­ self?” “I did only what I thought best, sir," Xerxes replied evenly. “It seemed that this girl, having been in Tlaba for some time, might know something of importance.” “And she did!” Berouge hurled back with stinging sarcasm. “iShe knew when .the natives were to at­ tack, ana she drew you away from your post to make the bloody dogs’ murderous job easier!” Xerxes colored to the roots of his blond hair. “That is true, sir,” he admitted, but then, and for what reason, Xerxes himself did not know, he added defensively: “But she did tell me something of vast importance, sir. She told me Ali Hadjip was going to attack, and had I acted sooner I should have been in camp before he did. It was my fault, captain, not ’hers.” Col. Duroc’s neck 'bulged until his military collar lost itself in.’ the folds of his skin. “Very gallant of you, lieutenant, to thus protect the fair name of your paramour,” he snorted icily. “But did it ever occur to you, that she imight have -been giving you this information as a blind with which to protect herself at some later date?” “At some later date, sir?” Xerxes scowled puzzedly. “At some later date, lieutenant,” Col. Duroc snapped Iback. “It may possibly interest you to know that we have learned that this girl, whose charms were sufficient to lure an officer from this post of duty, is a spy! A spy in the employ of the hidden powers fomenting this revolt among the natives. We do not yet know who these mys­ terious powers are, lieutenant, but we do know of this girl—'the spy— and it is only a matter of days un­ til she will be trapped!” Xerxes’ lips parted, 'but he made no reply, There was nothing for him to say. That Oonstance Bar­ teau was a .spy he had long since concluded. “I warned you, Benedict,” Be­ rouge growled ihotly. “But you were too certain of yourself. ‘Ridicu­ lous’, said you; Now half of your command is dead, 'and Aben-el-Akr has a foothold. Re has our guns, our automatic rifles, even a can­ non, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. A blot has been placed on the name of -the .Legion, and now we shall have to spend many lives arid (much money to erase it. Do you think old AbOn-el-Akr will give up Tlaba easily? Indeed he Will not!” We shall buy back every- foot of that soil very dearly, (Lieutenant!” “I realize that, Sir,” Xerxes said, so filled with emotion his throat seemed paralyzed. “Arid if I m-ay make a request. I should like to bu placed in Command of the first at­ tacking party.” There was a moment of peculiar silence, then Col. Duroc strode from behind the table, “Harvey/’ he said, “just what kind of tools do you take us to fee?” XerxCs Started violently. Lips parted, he stared at the colonel In stunned bewllderhient, “Harvey?” he echoed dazedly. “Harvey » « “YeS/‘ Duroc replied. “William Harvey. The name sounds strange to you, eh? It has been a long while since you’ve used it, has it not?” Xerxes grasped the edge of the captain’s table for support. “Yes,” he mumbled. “It—-has beep, a long while,” “Right," The colonel seemed pleased with Xerxexs' bewilderment. “You see, Harvey, while we do not ask questions of those who wish to join the Legion, we know pretty well who they are and what they’ve been. Especially when, as in your case, they are recommended for commission.” Xerxes nodded dumbly, his miud facing back through the years, “We are all well aware of the fact that you were dismissed from the government military academy of youi' own country,” the colonel*went, on. “We knew you were dismissed in disgrace, However, we did not hold that against you, as many times the Legion makes imen of those whose honor has been”—Duroc coughed pointedly-—“whose (honor has been—well, to say the least— doubted. Do you follow me, lieuten­ ant?” Xerxes wiped a hand across his eyes as if to shut out the scene. “I follow you, sir,” he said “You were given youi’ chance,” Duroc snapped. “In you was placed a trust—a trust of which any man could he proud. But you failed that trust, Harvey—or Benedict if you prefer—even as you failed it in. your own country. It would seem you have reverted to type. By tlese’rting your men in the face of danger you have committed th© one (unpardon­ able offense in any army in the world!” Capt. Berouge coughed, his close- cropper mustache bristling violent­ ly, That an officei* of his company should have thus violated the code was more than his pride could stand. (Continued Next Week) Next Week: Once again the name of Bill Harvey has been associated with a disgraceful affair. In next week’s installment he begins the work of winning back his self re­ spect. Want-Ads are black and white- but read all over. Stephen Council The regular monthly meeting of the Council of the Township of .Stephen was held in the Council Rooms, Grediton, on Tuesday, Oct, 1st, 1946, A,D. at one o'clock in the afternoon with the following members of the Council present—- Roy Ratz, Reeve; Arthur J. (Amy, Deputy Reeve; and Councillors Elmer Lawson, J. H. Dalton, and Jno. A, Morrissey. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and adopted on motion of Elmer ILaw- son and J. H. Dalton. Carried. Moved by Elmer Lawson, second­ ed by Jno. A, Morrissey: that the Clerk write our engineer, S. W. Archibald, asking for an early re­ port on the proposed Municipal Drains. Carried. Moved by Elmer Lawson, second­ ed by J. H. Dalton: that By-law No, 645 to repair the Jno. F, Smith Municipal Drain ibe finally passed, Carried. $ Moved by Jno. A. Morrissey, sec­ onded by J. H. IDalton; that By-law No. 647 to authorize the payment of bounty of foxes be passed. Car­ ried. Moved by Jno. A. Morrissey, seconded by J. H. Dalton: that the treasurer be asked to give tihe Council a financial statement at each regular Council meeting. Car­ ried. Moved by Arthur J. (Amy, sec­ onded by Jno. A. Morrissey: that By-law 646 be passed which is a By-law to adopt the assessment on which the taxes shall be levied; to levy the taxes and to provide for the collection thereof. Carried. (Moved by Elunei’ Lawson, second­ ed Iby J. H. Dalton: that the levy of one mill on Police Villages for the payment on the new grader be rebated back to rate payers in the Police Villages. An amendment to tflie motion was made by Arthur J. Amy and sec­ onded by .Jno. A. Morrissey that the above action be delayed for one month. Amendment carried. Moved by J. H. Dalton, second­ ed by (Arthur J. Amy: that the Road Accounts ibe passed for -the month of September for the fol­ lowing amounts: Township of Stephen $220.40; Grand Bend 'P.V. 144.50; total $366.90. MRS. JAMES KELLY Mrs. Julia Kelly widow of James Kelly, died nt her home, Lot 25, concession 8, Biddulph Township, Oct. 10, in her 79 th year. A daughter of Michael and Mary Car­ rol, she was a life-long resident of Biddulph Township, she was a member of the Sacred Heart and of the Conformity of Precious Blood. St. Patrick’s Church. Her son, Very Rev. J. C, Kelly, is chancellor of the Diocese of Lon­ don, Also surviving are four daugh­ ters, Sister M. Angeline, Wallace­ burg; Mrs. William Hogan, Luck­ now; Mrs. Joseph Ryan, Richmond, Mich., and Margaret, at home, four sons, Joseph, of Gratton; jerry, of St. Clair, Mich,; Michael, of St, Catherines, and Very Rev. J, 0, Kelly, of London. Funeral services were held at 'St. Patrick’s Church, Biddulph, at 10 a.m. on Monday. Moved by J. Morrissey, seconded by Arthur J. Amy;’ that the fol­ lowing general accounts be paid: Jack Anderson, serviceman’s grant $12,00; M. C. Swetizer, stamps 60.'0'0; L. B. Hodgson, stamps 5.00; G. E. Faist, stamps 50,'0i0; F. W. Morlock, part salary 75.00; L. B. Hodgson, part salary 112,50; S. W. Archibald, fees for Jno. F, Smith Drain 68,00; W. C. Oestricher, damages to crops 4.00; John- F. Norrey, damages to crops 4.0i0<; Edmund Hendrick, 'damages to crops 8.00; jno. F. Smith,, dam­ ages to crops 24,'0i0; George Eillber, making tile 9.25; George Eilber, inspection of Smith Drain 5.00; F. W. Wickwire, ‘printing 44.28; G. A, (Love, relief 8.00; Municipal World, dog tags 1R06; Times- Advocate, printing 37.26; H. K. Eilber, premium on tax collector’s bond 30,0(0'; 'County of Huron, hos­ pitalization 39.35; L. B. Hodgson, supplies 7.94; Chas. P. Dietrich, part contractors tender for Jno. F. Smith Drain 800.00; M. 'C. Sweit­ zer, inspection of Live Stock 'kill­ ed 2.(010; total $1,416.39. A Special Meeting of the Coun­ cil will be held on Monday eve­ ning, October 21st, 1946 A.D., at 8 o’clock. The regular monthly meeting of the Council will be held on Tues­ day, November 5th, 1946, A.D. at 1 p.m. sharp. L. B. Hodgson, Clerk. “THIS CAN BE YOURS” is the message contained on a facsimile Canada Savings.Bond which Mrs, Sidney Hill of a Cooksville; Ont., rural route found in the mail box early this week, Mrs, Hill, know* ing a good thing when she sees it, declared that she would lose no time in getting to her bank tobuy a real one. ..................•.........",...... Classified Ads Bring Results Offers Welcome Relief From Coughs And Colds To get quick, welcome relief from coughs and colds—try Dr. Wood’s Norway Pine Syrup, This safe and popular household remedy is recommended for the relief of coughs, colds, croupy coughs, sore throats and bronchial troubles. Widely- used for nearly 50 years it embodies the medicinal virtues of the pine and cherry barks. The immediate use of Dr. Wood’s Norway Bine Syrup may check a cold in its early stages. Dry, obstinate coughs quickly yield to its prompt and soothing action. You’ll find this pleasant-tasting, quick-acting remedy on. sale at drug counters everywhere. So specify Dr. Wood’s Norway Pine Syrup Price 35c a bottle; the large family size bottle, 60c. The T. Milburn Co., Limited, Toronto, Ont.