Sunday Post - 22.12.1940, Blaðsíða 4

4
SUNDAY POST
SPANISH SERENADE
The boy leaned against a snow- j
‘Covered stump and stared
through field glasses at the gray
troops efficiently filling the train
in the small station far below
him. He shook his head dully.
He did not understand.
Yesterday the troops had not
been there. Yesterday his country
had been at peace. ‘Yesterday he
had milked his oow and eaten
his black bread and dreamed a-
bout his fair-haired girl. There had
been no faint suspicion of this
catastrophe that had descended
upon them from the air, from
the sea, to spread out over the
rugged land like an infection.
He took the glasses from his
eyes, and they left red rims of
cold on his face. He pulled the
•woollen cap farther down ov-
er his ears, and then picked his
rifle up from the frozen ground.
He sighted it over the fallen tree
at the tiny dot h|e knew was
an officer in front of the third
car. He did not pull the trigger,
because he knew 'it was useless.
He had found that out the first
time he tried to fire it the day
before. The bolt action refused
to work. :
That was what puzzled him —
what puzzled all of them — in
addition to the other questions
that no one oould answer. How
was it possible for the invaders
to be down there in the little
station he knew so well? How
was this possible without a shot
having been fired, with no resis-
tance having been offered? This
was what he had wondered —
what the others had wondered,
too — as they retreated back
into the hills, into the snow-clad
mountains. !
Somewhere among them was
one who had slipped down in
the night and left the door wide
open for the thief to enter, some-
one had rendered the guns harm-
less, even if the men should dare
disobey the fraudulent orders
which forbade them to fire.
It was about this, also, that
had puzzled, as they left their
homes and turned to nature’s
protection against the implements
of war manufactured by man.
that was little more than a cave
scooped out of the hard ground.
The boy held aside the branches
that camouflaged the entrance,
anrl the officer stooped as he)
went into the darkened hole in
the side of the mountain.
The boy stopped inside and
threw his rifle to the dirt. He
scraped away earth and revealed
two gleaming copper wires that
looked like metal roots growing
out of the ground. “If I touch
the two wires together, the train
and the station will be blown
up, the invaders with it,“ he ex-
plained matter-of-factly.
The Major looked at the wires
so cunningly concealed in the
earth, so quiet and innocent ly-
ing side by side.
“How was this done?" he ask-
ed.
“It was not difficult", the boy
said. “Last night the strange
soldiers were not overcautious.
They did not have to be. Every-
thing has been made so easy
for them. There could be only
one thing they would want in
our little town — the railroad.
I knew that eventually they must
ly, a smile that twisted his mouth
until it was no longer a smile.
His hands came out of his
greatcoat, and in one of them
was a heavy service revolver. He
spoke quietly to the boy: “You
were very brave and most clever
— too clever.”
He fired from such c'ose range
that the boy’s body spun around
oompleely before it hit the
‘ ground. Then the Major fired
J aga'n and again deliberately, un-
til there were no more cartridges
in his gun.
He stared coldly at the twisted
body. “Fool” he said.
Then he turned quickly, for a
shadow fell across the earth as
someone entered the dugout, then
many shadows, as the other men
followed.
The Major held hiipself erect.
“This man confessed to me that
he was the one who betrayed
our cause to the enemy.”
The first man in the group
came forward silently. He
glanced briefly at the boy lying
so still on the earth, and a flicker
of emotion raced over his face,
through his eyes. He looked at
AITOR
Here they would wait until as- Sgs
sistanoe reached them, aud here '
they would be safe from the
invaders. But, wherever they went
nowhere could they be safe from
the traitor among them, for he
went with them, day in, day
out.
The Major had warned them
that they must be careful, that they
must watch one another, even as
they watched the enemy, for it
might any one of them.
The boy heard feet crunching
on the dry, powdery snow. He
turned and saluted as the Major
approached with some of the oth-
er men.
The Major saluted shortly.
“These men tell me you have
something vital to show me“
The boy hesitated looked stol-
idly at the others, boys like him-
self. They melted back into the
woods, and the boy was alone
with his superior. He pointed sil-
ently down into the valley where
the invaders were gathered a-
round the train, where they filled
the small station.
“Yes“, the Major grunted. “I
have seen them all day, and still
they oome“. /
The boy nodded. “I can stop
them".
The Major stared at him in-
tently. “How?“
The boy dragged his rifle over
the ground, and the Major follo-
wed him to the dugout
by FRANCIS SWANN
come to the station. After it be-
came dark last night I crept
down the hill to the railroad
bracks. I mined under them, and
at hundred-foot intervals I placed
charges of dynami e. These I con-
nected with the electric line that
was run up into the hill last fall
to the sawmill. I had broken
the connection just beyond the
dugout here. When these two
wires are touched ■ together, the
circuit will be completed, and
soon we can go back to our
feomes. I thought it would be best
to wait until all the invaders
were at the station."
“Yes“, the Major whispered.
“You did well to wait.” He patted
the boy on the shoulder. “Who
assisted you in your hazardous
task?” he asked.
The boy shook his head. “No
one. I did it by myself, secretly.
I was afraid the others would
not be patient —- they might want
to blow up the train before it
was full.”
The Major nodded. “They are
not easily restrained.” He came
closer to the boy. “So you and I
are the only ones who know of
this?”
„Yes, sir.” The boy stood up
and faced the older man.
The Major smiled at him queer-
the Major. “He was my brother,”
the man said.
“I am sorry then that he was
the one,” the Major said stiffly.
“He was not the one,” the man
insisted quietly. “Major, touch
those two wires together.”
The Major hesitated only for a
moment, then he knelt down and
firmly joined the two thick
strands of copper. He held his
breath, hut there was no an-
swering roar of destruction from
the valley be’ow. There was only
silence and the heavy breathing
of angry men.
He pulled on the wires, and
they came away easily in his
hands. He stood up, staring stu-
pidly at the short pieces.
The younger man spoke: “My
brother said he had a plan to
find out who the traitor was.”
The Major looked into the ex-
pressionless face. “He — he lied
to me — there was no dynamite
— it was a trap!” He licked his
dry lips. „I demand to be brought
before the proper authorities. I
demand a trial — I —His
voice broke in a nerveless shriek.
The men approached him with
the rifles that he had made
faulty, but that did not matter.
They were carrying them like
clubs.