LJLjHHESSr
I
“Kelly field In flames.”
INSTALLMENT FIVE
THE STORY SO FAR: Colonel Flag
Will, acting chief of G-2, U. S. military
intelligence department, estimated there
were 200,000 European troops In Mexi
co preparing for an attack on the Unit
ed States. Posing as Bromlitx, an Amer
ican traitor captured in Paris, Intelli
gence Officer Benning went to Mexico
City where be was unsuspectingly ac
cepted as an officer by Van Hassek,
leader of the foreign armed forces In
Mexico. Fincke, another enemy officer,
It .
soon took him Into his confidence. Ben
ning was Joined in Mexico City by Lu
cette Ducos, a French spy, who told
him that Bromlitz had escaped. He re
turned to Washington after learning Van
Hassek’s plant for an invasion of the
United States. Acting on the basis of
this Information the President sent an
ultimatum to Mexico demanding an im
mediate explanation of the foreign troops
on her toil.
Now continue with the story.
... „
CHAPTER VI—Continued.
“I read a news flash on the Presi
dent's ultimatum in the San Antonio
papers last night before I took off
for Washington, sir,” Benning said.
“If my opinion is worth anything,
Colonel, Ruiz will merely stall
around in a play for time. He’s con
trolled wholly by Van Hassek.”
“We’re getting ready to mobilize
the army and National Guard, Ben
ning.” Flagwill rubbed a torment
ed hand across his brow. “Gad,
what a headache if it finally comes
to that!
“We’ll be lucky if we get any
thing mobilized before Van Hassek
hits us,” Benning predicted. “I
mean if we wait much longer.”
“Wait? Wait? What else can we
do but wait? The people just sim
ply refuse to believe we’re vulnera
ble, Benning. Late yesterday a
prominent senator dressed down the
President for sending an ultimatum
to Ruiz. Said the present troubled
time is not one to rock the boat—
intimated the President was play
ing politics. The press gave that
statesman almost as much space
as it gave the ultimatum. But now
you get busy and type out your re
port in detail, Benning. General
Hague has called a General Staff
conference for eight o’clock. Hague
has been at his desk constantly since
your report came in yesterday—no
one around here has had any sleep.
I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Benning dictated to a confidential
clerk his report covering his move
ments and observations from the
day of his arrival in Paris.
This done, he reproduced from
memory the Van Hassek operations
map with its numerous sinister red
arrows indicating points of possible
invasion of the United States by a
major land force supported by war
ships and aircraft.
Colonel Flagwill came in from
staff conference, his face gravely
tense.
“What’s fretting the President is
his next move. G-2 has canvassed
public opinion throughout our nine
corps areas and finds the public isn't
very much excited over the Mexi
can situation. The President's ulti
matum stirred up more curios
ity than alarm in the country. Too
many newspapers treat the matter
apathetically, or question the vigor
and finality with which the Presi
dent went after Ruiz."
A stenographer brought in Ben
ning's complete report and Flag
will seized it avidly. His brows met
as he came to the scene in Van
Hassek’s quarters at the Palacio
Nacional.
•‘Ycj say, Benning, you caw a
black flag with crossed sabers with
your own eyes—and all the officers
saluted it?” he asked sharply.
"Yes, sir."
“You didn't tell me that in your
verbal account. Man, that’s vital
information! That same flag has
been showing up in Europe among
the armies of the Coalition Powers.
It's also been reported in Tokio and
China. Reports have leaked out that
the militarists are rallying behind
that flag, hell-bent on taking mat
ters in their own hands if necessary.
Of course, that’s a subterfuge for
Coalition governments to maneu
ver behind while they keep up a
pretense of peace negotiations. But
the presence of that flag in Van
Hassek's headquarters iB highly sig
nificant. I’ll take your report at
once to General Hague.”
Benning spent morning and after
noon checking over the G-2 reports
on complications and developments
the world over. Notes of ambassa
dors, consuls, army and navy at
taches in foreign capitals, and sum
maries of press clippings all reflect
ed the unrest and tension that
gripped the world.
Europe continued a maelstrom of
rumor. Germany, Italy, Spain, and
their allied Balkan states were shut
off by rigid censorship. On the plea
of internal necessity they had closed
their frontiers to foreigners, denied
aliens all use of mails and wire
communications. Similar action had
been taken by Japan. Unverified
renorts came from China of heavy
troop concentrations north of Shang
hai together with concentration of
transport fleets. Russia had drawn
off to herself behind an unbreakable
curtain of censorship. Diplomacy ad
mittedly had broken down the world
over, fretted capitals waited in the
grip of fear for the next moves in
a world gone mad.
Only in the United States was
there tranquillity left, a lack of fear
and tension. G-2 reports gave the
same story from over the country.
There was lively interest but little
tension. War was something on re
mote horizons, isolated by broad
seas. America wanted nothing to
do with it, wished only to be left
alone with her peaceful intentions.
Therefore no harm could come. The
war scare was jingoistic poppycock
promoted by militarists in their
quest of heavier appropriations for
armaments. Just as though recent
millions pledged to them were in
sufficient. As for those mercenary
troops in the Mexican army, our
own army could gobble them up in
a jiffy if they were senseless enough
to start anything.
During the day Benning saw little
of Flagwill. Endless staff confer
ences were being held, the whole
War and Navy Departments a bee
hive of strained activity. A new
plan was hot in the making, a tor
tured, impossible plan, out of which
the best must be drawn.
It was a plan to meet the one
emergency for which the United
States was wholly and utterly un
prepared. the emergency of sudden
- invasion.
At Fort Sam Houston, on the out
skirts of San Antonio, Lieutenant
Colonel Bart, Corps Area G-2 Chief,
received a disturbing bit of informa
tion late in the day. Shortly after
sunset a formation, identified as
bombers, had passed over the Rio
Grande at a point west of Browns
ville, headed north.
Bart had telephoned the villages
of Kingsville, Gregory, Skidmore,
Beeville, and Kennedy to the north
of the border, in Texas, without
picking up any further report of the
flight, from which he concluded that
the bombers must have taken out
across the Gulf of Mexico.
He had alerted Galveston and New
Orleans, but as the evening passed
no reports came from those cities.
Neither Kelly Field nor Randolph
Field had any planes out. A query
to Washington brought the response
that no American bombers were
known to be in the lower Texas re
gion or along the Gulf of Mexico.
The reported bomber expedition
had followed a series of reports dur
ing the afternoon that had put Gen
eral Brill and the whole corps area
on the jagged edge. A Mexican had
brought into Laredo the report that
heavy motorized divisions were
spending the day in screened biv
ouacs in Coahuila and Nueva Leon.
Half an hour later came news
from Colonel Denn that was not to
be ignored.
‘‘Four flights have passed over La
redo within the past fifteen min
utes,” Denn said. ‘‘If my ears know
an American plane these were not
American. They were headed about
due north, and traveling high and
fast.”
General Brill calmly made his own
estimate of the situation. Parked In
the grounds of Fort Sam Houston
were the sixteen hundred shining
new trucks of the Second Division,
together with the division’s materi
al and supplies. The Second, alert
ed and with all leaves suspended,
was in barracks and camp ready
for emergency. At Kelly and Ran
dolph Fields, near-by, were the
planes and supplies used in training
a small new army of pilots for an
expanded air service.
“Have the Second Division get
their trucks out of here as soon as
possible,” he directed his chief of
staff. “They’ll also disperse their
artillery. Notify the mayor of San
Antonio and suggest that he have
NEXT WEEK
AluosJUna D*ulaU*M*U
*11 lights cut off. Notify the flying
fields of our information. Notify Ea
gle Pass and Fort Bliss.”
He paused to receive another re
port from Bart
“Sir, Third Army Headquarters
just called in from Atlanta. They’ve
a report from Charleston of bomb
ers flying high over that city at
ten-seventeen o’clock, heading north
by east.”
Outside there was orderly commo
tion. Troops were pouring out of bar
racks and bivouac camps already,
the first drivers were moving their
trucks out of the fort
Another report from Colonel Denn.
The colonel's voice now crackled
with intensity. One of his intelli
gence scouts, disguised as a Mexi
can peon, had the word from friend
ly Mexicans that a heavy motor
column was moving north from the
vicinity of Palo Blanco. Another
column was reported moving by
night through Tamaulipas toward
Brownsville and a third was said
to have passed Mesquite, in Coahui
la, headed in the direction of Eagle
Pass.
An hour later the Second Divi
sion’s trucKS, filled with men, were
whirring out of the fort; rubber
tired artillery was shifting its light
and medium cannon out of the zone
of possible danger.
An aide, whom General Brill had
sent out into the garrison to ob
serve, burst into headquarters,
breathless, his face stripped of
color.
“Sir, airplanes!" he panted. “Fly
ing high—but you can hear them
coming!"
General Brill left his staff at their
allotted jobs and went outside with
his aide. The garrison was dark,
headquarters worked behind drawn
shades.
The roar of motors filled the air
as trucks and artillery continued to
roll out of the garrison. But above
that he caught the sharp whine of
higher-powered engines far over
head.
The 69th Anti-Aircraft Artillery
had got its guns in position, but was
withholding its searchlights pending
development. Suddenly a small
plane zoomed down over the garri
son and dropped a flare that turned
night into day.
Brill stood calmly observing. He
knew that flare was the first violence
of an invasion of the United States.
He knew that in a few minutes the
bombers would circle over their tar
get of Fort Sam Houston and let
drive. He knew, too, that there was
nothing he could do to prevent what
was to follow.
A hissing shriek caught his ears.
Involuntarily he raised himself on
his toes and placed his finger-tips
at his ears. A savage flash of yel
low flame leaped from the earth into
the heavens. The ground under him
shook with volcanic intensity from
the savage wrath of a heavy bomb.
Long fingers of light leaped into
the sky from the 69th’s searchlights.
A heavy demolition bomb detonated
in the field from which the trucks
were whirring. Brill caught, in the
momentary flash of light, the grim
tragedy of shattered men and ma
terial. Above the din he heard the
cries of wounded men. Another
bomb crashed and another. His anti
aircraft regiment began crackling,
but his handful of guns were al
most lost in the din of titanic thun
der that crashed from the sky.
Incendiary bombs rained down,
bringing an irresistible heat that ate
its way into all combustible parts of
barracks. General Brill turned back
into his headquarters, sat down at
his desk stricken by his utter help
lessness, but maintaining his self
control.
His staff, their bloodless faces
drawn and lined, worked coolly, out
wardly oblivious to the danger.
Information kept coming in, reports
that had to be appraised until the
whole picture of attack and dis
aster had been assembled and ap
praised as the basis for whatever
later action was to be taken.
The wooden hangars at Kelly
Field were in flames. Randolph
Field was being hammered. San
Antonio was in a mad panic which
had got out of all police control.
People were flooding the streets,
rushing about in a mad frenzy in
their efforts to escape the city.
Roads were choked with passenger
vehicles.
But the Van Hassek bombers were
confining their major fury to Fort
Sam Houston and the flying fields,
which told General Brill that the
attack presaged a crossing of the
Rio Grande by mobile troops during
the night or at daybreak.
From New Orleans and Galveston
came reports of raids that were still
in progress. Hundreds were killed
in the streets. No other details.
Shortly after midnight the violence
suddenly ceased, the bombers and
their accompanying attack ships
sailed off to the south. Colonel Denn
called in again from Laredo. The
head of a motorized column had
halted at Nuevo Laredo just south
of the Rio Grande. His intelligence
patrols had verified this with their
own eyes.
"All right, gentlemen," Brill told
his staff. “Get the Second Division
together as quickly as possible and
start them moving south toward the
Nueces River! Tell General Mole of
the Second I’ll meet him at Kirk in
three hours with his orders for the
defense of San Antonio. Get Gen
eral Hague on the long-distance
again while I report. We’re going
to do our best in a desperate situa
tion, and I needr’t tell you what
we’re up against! I’ll be ready for
your recommendations in an hour,
gentlemen.”
(TO BE CONTINUED)
From Blue Jays to Dinosaurs
b — — ■ ■ ■■■■■■
Whether it's a bluejay, a dinosaur or a Paleozoic fossil, the No
tional Museum at Washington, D. is glad to get it. Specimens
last year numbered 368.082. These photos show you hmv the taxi
dermist goes about his job.
First the skin and coat of feath
ers are separated from the rest of
the body.
Stout cord is wrapped around
excelsior. The artificial body and
neck must bemadetofit perfectly.
Above: The blue jay’s new
artificial body is inserted in the
feather cloak and sewed inside.
The entire operation takes two
and a half hours.
Right: And we might call for
applause for taxidermist Asche
meier, who makes his appear
ance at this time. Perhaps he can |
be persuaded to stuff a butterfly ?
as an encore.
Say ah! This particular dina- |
saur had terrible teeth. Could ,
have used at least a dozen fillings
and some inlays.
Here is the assembly line. Re
pairers Moran and Boss continue
their work on a screen which can
be turned easily.
WINN AH . . • Dr. Charles W. Gilmore, curator, examines the
finished dinosaur. The framework is of steel. 1 ears of work are re
quired to put this animal together in proper relation to all its parts.
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Revitwtd by
CARTER FIELD
Defense delays caused by
inter -union strife may
bring congressional in
tervention . . . “Alumi
num shortage” caused
by technical limitations.
(Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.)
WASHINGTON. — Feeling about
strikes which impede the national
defense program is rising in con
gress. It is far too soon to predict
what may be the ultimate result,
but it is important to note that pres
idential as well ns congressional pa
tience is beginning to show signs of
giving out.
What fans the flame is that so
many strikes, and threatened
strikes, have nothing whatever to
do with working conditions, pay or
even hours of the workers.
What annoys officials and con
gressmen vitally interested in the
defense program most are die so
called jurisdictional strikes, and
particularly strikes which result
solely from rivalry between the
American Federation of Labor and
the C. I. O.
For instance, right across the
street, practically, from a zinc
smelter in St. Louis it is proposed
to build another zinc smelter. But
immediately it becomes Impossible
to proceed because both the A. F.
of L. and the C. I. O. want their
union members to do the masonry
work! So the defense program will
have to struggle along without
enough zinc, just because of a con
troversy as to which union will have
the franchise for supplying workers
on this particular construction.
SHIPBUILDING VITAL
If anyone thinks that does not
breed sentiment for some curb on
strikes in connection with defense
contracts, the person holding that
opinion has no conception of the
war temper in Washington—for war
temper it is. And while the end is
not in sight, there is a good deal of
truth in that old saying about the
"straw which broke the camel’s
back."
More irritating by far to the av
erage member of congress, particu
larly those of the large majority who
want this country to use every ef
fort available to produce needed sup
plies, are the strikes affecting ship
building. Even the least technical
ly minded of congressmen realize
the vital need for speedy construc
tion of ships to carry supplies to
Britain, in view of the considerable
success which the submarines, dive
bombers, mines and commerce raid
ers have had in destroying bottoms
needed for that purpose.
So when every few days your sen
ator or representative reads of a
new walkout on the part of the
shipbuilders he comes pretty close
to seeing red, whether or not he
voices his views in public—as only
a few have done so far.
Aluminum Forginga
Only Real ‘Shortage*
Is there an aluminum shortage?
Is the supply of this metal so vital
to airplanes, not only for our own
national defense but for export to
Britain, inadequate?
Some persons say it is. Officials
of the Aluminum Company have
their version. But certainly there
is little popular understanding of the
difficulties involved in supplying alu
minum parts for airplanes.
The most serious shortages, if we
admit the term, are in the supply
of aluminum forgings, rather than
in ingots of the metal. An alumi
num forging is made by hammer
ing aluminum in two dies, one on
the hammer and one on the anvil.
Making the dies for aluminum
forgings is a long and complex proc
ess. Aluminum is forged at a much
cooler temperature than steel and
approximately three times as great
power Is needed to forge it. The
dies must therefore be made of the
hardest known steel. They are the
work of skilled craftsmen.
ONE-SHIFT JOB
Because of the rigid specifications
■)t aircraft forgings, the work of
these men must be perfect. No one
las ever successfully worked out a
method by which more than one
diemaker can work on one die.
Just stop a moment and think
what that means. The art!san works
his allotted number of hours in a
day. Then he goes home. And it is
impossible to put another man on
his job in his absence. Virtually
every time an attempt has been
made to work two or more shifts on
the construction of a particular die,
the whole job has been ruined.
Making a single forging die may
require from « to 24 weeks and the
making of a more complicated die
may require six to eight months.
Many transport planes in service
today have no more than ten or a
dozen forgings. But now that mili
tary planes are being ordered by
the thousand and the cost of the
dies may be spread over a large
number of units, forgings are being
insisted upon. The latest bomber,
for example, of the same general
size as the transport plane with a
dozen forgings, is likely to require
nearer 250 forgings, each one re
quiring a die. Consequently long de
lays are unavoidable.
Pattern No. 2588
rVERYONE’S favorite, these
modem, easy-to-do designs.
Embroider them on towel or pil
low case and let your needlework
score a hit.
• • •
Pattern 2588 contains a transfer pattern
of 12 motifs averaging 4'4 by 6*4 inches:
color schemes; materials required; illus
trations of stitches. Send order to;
Sewing Circle Needlecraft Dept.
82 Eighth Ave. New York
Enclose IS cents in coins for Pat
tern No..,.s.
Name .
Address ..
INDIGESTION
may affect the Heart
flu trmppad In the itumach or lullat mar act Ilka a
hair-trigger on the heart. At the first sign of dlitreaa
smart men and women depend on Ball-am Tablets to
set gas free. No laxative but made of the fastest
acting medicines known for acid Indigestion. If the
FIRST DOSE doesn't prove Bell-ant better, return
bottle to us pod receive DOUBUJ Hooey Back. 3k.
Courage and Faith
There is a courage which is
only another name for faith. Many
a battle is lost before the soldier
leaves his tent. The first step to
victory is to believe that the battle
need not be lost at all.—Hugh
Black.
JUST A
DASH IH F1ATHSSS.._
As Is Enough
Those who seek for much are
left in want of much. Happy is he
to whom God has given, with spar
ing hand, as much as is enough.
—Horace.
Beware Coughs
from common colds
That Hang On
Creomulsion relieves promptly be
cause It goes right to the seat of the
trouble to help loosen and expel
germ laden phlegm, and aid nature
to soothe and heal raw, tender. In
flamed bronchial mucous mem
branes. Tell your druggist to sell you
a bottle of Creomulsion with the un
derstanding you must like the way It
quickly allays the cough or you are
to have your money back.
CREOMULSION
for Coughs, Chest Colds, Bronchitis
s-7actA of}-\
ADVERTISING
• ADVERTISING
represents the leadership oi
a nation. It points the way.
We merely follow—follow to
new heights of comfort, of
convenience, of happiness, j
As time goes on advertis
ing is used more and more,
and as it is used more we
all profit more. It's the way
advertising has —
of bringing a profit to
everybody concerned,
the consumer included
