THE STORY SO FAR: Intelligence
Officer Bennlng’t warning that 200,000
foreign troops were poised In Mexico
tor an attack on the United States
caused grave concern in army head
quarters, but the people branded the
statement as “war mongerlng." He had
Just returned from Mexico City whwre
M At *
INSTALLMENT TEN
he had acted as a spy and gained the
confidence of Flncke and Bravet, two
enemy officer*. Suddenly four large
southern cities were attacked from Un
air; Washington was bombed and the
President killed. National forces were
ordered mobilized, but they were 111
equipped for Immediate %ctlon. General
Brill, commander of the army in Texas,
reported to General Hague at Washing
ton that be was opposed by greatly su
perior forcvs but was ordered to resist
at all costs. General Mole, division com
mander, prepared to make the best of a
desperate situation.
Now continue with the story.
(• * *
CHAPTER X—Continued
As the commanders scattered to
ward their station wagons and mili
tary sedans, the bright sky festered
Into a hideous hiss of sound. It
came crashing in out of the dis
tance. The ear could trace its course
as it settled toward the earth.
An instant’s silence and the ground
trembled under the impact of high
explosive. A geyser of muddy brown
earth shot skyward, the air filled
with the mighty detonation.
The departing commanders gave
an anxious look at the spout of dirt,
but changed neither gait nor pos
ture. General Mole calmly touched
a match to the stub of his cigar
and gave several vindictive puffs.
“Well, there’s the first shot,” he
muttered. “Sounded to me like a
long-range baby — probably from
twenty or thirty miles.”
An observation plane radioed in
the information. Van* Hassek’s
heavy artillery had set up north of
the Nueces. Mole offered no com
ment. There was nothing he could
do about it until the enemy came
within range of his howitzers. His
own 105-millimeter cannons, good
for fifteen miles, had yet to be mold
ed, mounted, tested, and delivered
to the Army.
As for his airplanes, there was
no taking further risks over Van
Hassek’s moving columns. It didn’t
matter that the air service had sent
In the Mrack combat groups from
all three of its powerful wings. Nor
that American pilots and gunners
had proved themselves this morning
much more than a match for the
Van Hassek airmen.
The American squadrons had paid
* heavy price for their swoops
against Van Hassek’s invaders. Into
one anti-aircraft trap after another
the Americans had fallen.
The first big shell fell in an empty
field well back from the Second’s
front lines. A second shot followed
quickly, and the business of long
range cannonading settled down Into
glum, racking routine. From a
range of approximately twenty-two
miles, observation reported. The Van
Hassek columns were still rolling
forward in a great, tortuous martial
•erpent whose tail reached far back
across the Rio Grande into Mexico.
The ten thousand men of the divi
sion worked feverishly through the
hot afternoon, deepening and extend
ing their trenches, adjusting gun po
sitions. They pretended indifference
to the roar of Van Hassek's artil
lery, to the frequent spurting foun
tains of earth that rose hideously
about them. In mid-afternoon one
shell caught a full squad of men
who in a flash were shreds of flesh.
A stark reminder of what was to
come. But the men who saw this
tragedy went stubbornly on with
their work.
Out of the distance came the rum
ble of light American artillery.
The firing came from the Frio Riv
er, which meant that Major Randt,
commanding, was potting at the head
of the main attack force. The sound
of Van Hassek’s counter-battery as
sault wafted in fifteen minutes lat
er. It rose in volume. The artil
lery duel went on, growing in vio
lence, which told the whole Second
Division that the intrepid Randt was
forcing the Van Hassek advance
guard to extend itself.
Firing broke out to the north and
south on the extreme flanks. At the
■division command post Mole and his
staff waited on these actions with
tense nerves. Three o’clock was
near. If Van Hassek’s invaders
could be delayed much longer, they
would not be able to deliver their
attack in force against the Second
before daybreak.
General Mole and his staff made
an estimate of the situation. Mole’s
jaded face brightened in a moment’s
exultation as his staff unanimously
agreed with his own deduction. The
Van Hassek commanders would not
be able to attack now until morn
ing. Their advanced divisions had
not even started into assembly areas
for battle deployment.
“That means we’ve delayed them
one day without a fight,” Mole ex
claimed. “It gives us a real chance
of getting through tomorrow with
out getting blown out of our shoes.
After that—we will see what we will
see. But what a hell of a pounding
we’re in for tonight, without any
anti-aircraft and long-range artil
lery!”
When the hot Texas sun slipped
down to the horizon through the haze
in the west, a furious roar of mo
tors swept the Second Division. The
flight of enemy attack planes, flying
an altitude of less than five hun
dred feet, struck with the sharp bite
of forked lightning.
Over the 9th Infantry’s sector the
attack planes appeared close enough
to be hit with a hand-grenade. Men
gaped after the apparition, or
ducked into their holes in the ground
against the menace of fragmenta
tion bombs. But there came no ex
plosion. The enemy had not opened
up with their machine guns.
“Gas!”
The warning outcry rose In vol
ume from two thousand throats. Ter
ror froze on men's faces. Officers
barked orders, noncoms raged at
their men.
Stay put! Discipline slowly but
surely prevailed over the hot im
pulse of self-preservation. Men dove
into their trenches to bury their
faces in the earth, or ripped off their
cotton shirts, and wound them,
doused with water, about their faces.
Gas—and not a gas mask in the
entire regiment—only ninety in the
whole division and those for demon
stration purposes in training tests.
What type of gas had the Van
Hassek barbarians put down? Ob
viously not a mustard or persistent
gas. The Van Hassek infantry would
not want the sector contaminated
in the morning when they launched
their attack to blast the Americans
out of position. A noncom caught
the answer as his eyes burned into
tears
"Tear gas I” he shouted.
The sector commander cursed
again and trotted off to the left, im
parting a show of deliberation to
his gait. Gas officers were making
their calculations of what appeared
a new gas. Scores of men, afflicted
with a lachrymation and burns that
might extend over several days,
would have to be evacuated to the
hospital at San Antonio for treat
ment
Overhead the American aviation
was redoubling its efforts. The 33d
Pursuit Squadron was hawking over
the sector. The 77th Pursuit Squad
ron was patrolling to the front. That
audacious attack flight of Van Has
sek’s had used its heels to get away
Mole’s Jaded face brightened.
intact The American pilots were
sharply alert against a second such
surprise. Reinforcements flew up
from Kelly Field.
Overhead the American aviation
was redoubling its efforts. Pursuit
and observation squadrons had flown
in from Louisiana and Virginia. Oth
er planes were en route from Cali
fornia.
At the division command post,
General Mole and his staff grimly
watched the fading light of day.
There was a tightening of tension
throughout the sectors as dusk slow
ly engulfed them and deepened into
night. Long-range artillery pounded
away laconically, tearing great cra
ters in the Second’s artillery area
and hitting near the division’s main
line of resistance, and back in the
bivouacs of the reserves. This told
Mole that enemy observation planes
had photographed his positions in
detail—and confirmed the hint of
what must be expected during the
night.
Evident It was, as the enemy pur
pose unfolded itself, that Van Has
sek did not mean to brook delay.
With the preponderance of force held
by his main Laredo column he had
no need to wait. For that matter it
hardly made sense, within the Van
Hassek line of military reasoning,
that the Second Division would com
mit the brash audacity of a serious
fight in front of San Antonio. With
drawal would be only the logical
course for the Americans, and Van
Hassek had no reason to expect
anything more than a few holding
battalions at daybreak, resistance
that would roll up in a hurry and
scatter before his massed assault
waves.
"Bombers flying in, altitude be
tween eight thousand and ten thou
sand feet!”
The warning came in from an ob
servation plane a few minutes after
nine o’clock. It merely confirmed
Mole’s fears. Fast on the heels of
the warning came the devastating
roar of a heavy bomb. The earth
churned under the roar uf succes
sive explosions. A squadron of nine
bombers, air service reported, us
ing an estimated three-hundred
pound bomb which would have a
NEXT WEEK
A14oaU*9 SmUUmmt
fragmentation and shock effect. A
second enemy squadron was report
ed flying In.
The warning buzzed out over the
field wire to the sectors. Men were
to take cover as best they could.
More long-range artillery opened up.
Night became another volcanic bed
lam, the Second's position a raging
inferno that drove men huddling into
their holes to claw frantically under
a maddening Impulse to dig their
way down, down out of it all. At
tack flights roared over, released
fragmentation bombs attached to
parachutes—small bombs that ex
ploded on coming to earth.
It confirmed Mole’s theory that
Van Hassek expected an American
withdrawal. This enemy blow fell
at exactly the hour the Second would
be pulling out if such had been its
intention.
In the 20th Infantry sector a bomb,
estimated a six-hundred-pounder,
fell in rear of a company position
with a devastating force that re
duced seventeen men to speechless,
trembling impotence, though no man
was wounded. Later they were re
ported slowly recovering their wits
from the shock and were not evacu
ated.
Van Hassek’s planes were operat
ing without lights. American pur
suit hawks buzzed about, but were
ineffective in,the darkness. Van Has
sek’s fury rose and fell intermit
tently, then slowly dwindled away
into a mere barking of some long
range artillery that was pounding
the roads into San Antonio.
The clash of musketry far out in
front brought an anticlimax to the
crimson hurricane. Van Hassek pa
trols were pressing the American
outposts, seeking information of an
American withdrawal that had not
occurred. Half a dozen Van Hassek
riflemen were gobbled up by the 9th
Infantry outpost and shunted back
for question.
Over the field wire, Mole’s staff
checked casualties at eleven o’clock.
The bombardment had killed only
71 men, wounded 142. Another 80
were numbed by shock. Three had
been stripped of their wits and sent
back, in driveling madness, for
evacuation.
Mole nodded his head approvingly
at this small toll. It did not sur
prise him that he had lost so few
men to the Van Hassek strafing.
This was not Mole’s first battle. In
France he had learned how frugal
can be the night’s harvest of artil
lery and bombardment.
“I’ve been talking to Brill at San
Antonio,” Mole told his assembled
staff when he had completed his
newest estimate. "Fort Sam Hou
ston took another air beating to
night Our air service has been
forced to abandon Kelly and Ran
dolph Fields. Galveston got a dose
of mustard gas tonight after our
69th Anti-Aircraft Regiment there
shot down an enemy bomber. It’s
all unspeakably horrible—but my
mind has had so many jolts I just
can’t feel things any longer.”
General Mole staggered but
caught himself. The light in his un
quenchable eyes burned steady
through the toxins of fatigue. There
had been a lapse in his memory, now
he picked up the gap.
“Put the Guard infantry in reserve
just south of San Antonio. Also keep
the mechanized cavalry out to look
after our flanks. I am going to turn
in for some sleep, but don’t hesitate
to call me if anything important de
velops. Otherwise call me when the
enemy preparation fire puts down on
us in the morning. Good night, gen
tlemen.”
CHAPTER XI
First Lieutenant Boynton, 9th In
fantry, lay sprawled on the ground,
his eyes strained into the first gray
ing light of approaching dawn
Above the thunder of the enemy ar
tillery preparation he could feel the
pounding of his heart against the
drums of his ear.
Behind that curtain of fire and
thunder Boynton knew the Van Has
sek infantry was moving forward to
the assault. From his position out
in front of the American outpost line
it was Boynton's job to discover
the attack and fall back to the out
post with twenty riflemen of his who
lay immediately behind him.
Boynton’s eyes caught an instant’s
glimpse of infantry, men silhouetted
against the sheet-lightning of artil
lery flashes. Not more than a hun
dred yards away he estimated the
enemy infantrymen. He slipped the
safety lock of his service automatic
and lifted the weapon in front of
his face. His men, long tense and
ready, fitted the butts of their new
semi-automatic rifles against their
shoulders and waited.
Like a ship looming suddenly out
of a thick fog there came into view
the weaving shadows that were the
flesh and blood of moving Infantry.
A spurt of flame leaped from the
muzzle of Boynton’s pistol. It re
leased the pent-up rage of twenty
Garand rifles which sent a stream
of lead pouring into those shadows of
the night. f
(TO BE CONTINUED>
This Year’s Easter Fashions
To Be Dainty, Very Feminine
By CHEKIE NICHOLAS
ALL signs point to a lovely and
colorful array of sweetly fem
inine fashions for Easter. This is
definitely a year when emphasis
is on “pretty lady” trends.
There is big news, in color, es
pecially in the pastels for suits,
coats and ensembles. The whole
fashion world is expressing enthusi
asm for the new monotone wools in
light beiges, misted greens, the very
new violet and mauve tones, muted
pinks and pale grayish blues. Seen
in fashion-first Easter costumes,
they are ideal, especially for the
long-coat costumes as shown in the
illustration.
Fresh flowers add chic to these
attractive Easter outfits. Beaux
please take notice! The lady of
your heart will be queen of the Eas
ter parade if yqu send a corsage of
fresh white freestas to match the
bouquet on her hat (note the model
in the center of the picture).
If she is sophisticated, any beau
may win her heart with a modern
istic corsage of fresh gardenias. If
you’re away she will appreciate
your wiring her local florist to in
clude an extra gardenia or two to
tie on her wrist bracelet fashion as
illustrated to the right.
The newest idea of American de
signers is that fragrant flowers
should match the motif of gay print
dresses with which they are worn.
This Easter, romantic arrangements
of roses, violets and lilies-of-the-val
ley will vie with orchids, gardenias,
flaming hibiscus and camellias. Sil
vered and gilded leaves are a nett
and distinctive Easter fashion with
appeal to those seeking the out-of
the-ordinary.
Speaking/of flowers, milliners ev
erywhere declare that myriads ol
flattering little flower hats are sell
ing in unprecedented numbers. Ths
significant message about these
adorable little flowery confections ii
that you may wear them as cor
rectly with your prim little tailor
suit as you can with your dressi
est dress-up costumes. (Quite a de
parture from the old idea which ex
acted a tailored hat with a tailored
suitl)
The thought that is prevalent
throughout this season’s style pro
gram is that one should wear al
luringly feminine and flattering ac
cessories. This applies not only to
flowery hats and colorful whimsical
veils but also to “hankies,” which
are of the pretty-pretty type.
It is just such flower-bedecked
hats as the one shown above (to
the left in the illustration) that are
lending "endearing young charms”
to the Easter fashion picture this
spring. Note the dainty handker
chief, designed by Burmel, which
so artfully plays up a dainty petit
point garland encircling an embroid
ered full blown rose. You can get
these "hankies" with violets or
daisies or whatever flower you may
choose. The other flower chapeau
is typically an Easter bonnet It is
a shiny straw in bon bon pink,
trimmed with cherry blossoms,
full-blown roses and wide green rib
bons. The veil matches the straw.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Fruit Buttons
Look to fashions for a new yield
of vitamins! Fruit has become an
outstanding inspiration for design in
the apparel field. Many of the
smartest new prints are patterned
with colorful fruit motifs: hats are
trimmed with realistic looking
fruit; lapel gadgets are replicas of
fruit, and buttons that fasten our
dresses and blouses, coats and jack
ets, are copies of fruits. The beige
wool sport jacket here pictured is
"vitamized” with fruit buttons, new
this spring! A miniature dish of
polished wood gives the button
form. There’s good news for tired
clothes at your nearest button
counter!
These novelty buttons are durable,
as well as attractive. Vieing for
honors with the fruits are vegeta
bles—carrots, onions, lettuce, etc.
Fads and Fancies
Young moderns are all enthusi
astic over fringed play shoes that
take their cue from Western cow
boy fashions.
The inverted pompadour is a "last
word” hair-do that is exciting much
interest. The hair is brought down
over the forehead, the ends turned
under, which, when deftly done,
gives every appearance of bangs.
Not only is this ever so flattering,
but it is very practical, for it stays
neatly “put,” with minimum care.
Something new for the bridal
gown—white Nylon velvet, said to
be very charming to the eye, and
highly satisfactory in that it drapes
beautifully and yields pleasingly to
fabric manipulation.
Very new for spring are navy
coats or capes that have small
shapely collars of white caracul,
broadtail or similar fabriclike fur.
Other models in navy have simply a
cluster of white ermine tails at the
throat. White hat and accessories
worn with these coats and capes key
to the white of the fur.
To wear with your spring and
summer print dresses, look up bead
or flower necklaces, bracelets and
clips that pick up one or more colors
of the print.
1911 Jeweled Gadgets
Romantic, Whimsical
You must wear a jeweled "gadg
et” of some sort on your lapel. It
may be as romantic and sentimental
as your mood dictates, or it may
be humorous and delightfully whim
sical. In every event, however, it
will be a masterpiece of good work
manship, for even the novelty types
are exquisitely wrought One of the
amusing sort that is extremely pro
vocative is a huge question mark
all set in brilliants, with a dazzling
solitaire rhinestone suspended from
the base.
You might wear a glittering gold
fish, a spray of colorful flowers
worked out In elaborately set stones
or a bright patriotic emblem.
Shaking Liver
Good Exercise
For Mind, Body
By DR. JAMES W. BARTON
(Released by Western Newspaper Untan.)
A FRIEND asked me to
look at an “exerciser”
for which he had taken the
agency. It consisted of a
square box on
which he asked
me to sit or
stand. I stood
on the box; he
touched a but
ton and immediately the box
and I began to vibrate.
I told him that this was the same
idea as the mechanical horse found
on shipboard or in a gymnasium
which "shook up
the whole body.
What about these
mechanical seats or
horses? Can they
help the body?
There is no ques
tion but that the vi
brating of the entire
body in this manner
is helpful. Move
ment of all kinds is
stimulating which is
Dr. Barton just what many busi
ness men and others
need after sitting for hours at a time
at their desk.
For a long time I wondered how
these men with country estates kept
as well physically as they did, de
spite the fact that they were often
very heavy eaters. It was only
when I remembered that so many
of them did a lot of riding that I
found the answer. The jogging of
the horse was just what was needed
to stir up their liver, empty the gall
bladder, and stimulate bowel action.
For years it was believed that ex
ercise that shook up or squeezed the
liver would make the bile flow and
this was proven a few years ago
by research workers at McGill uni
versity. In fact, I recently came
across a rhyme in a little book, “By
ways to Health” by Wood and Dans
dill, as follows:
“A jaundiced young gent in an attic
Once thought he had trouble hepat
ic (liver)
He bought him a flivver
Which shook up his liver
And now his mentality’s ecstatic."
Fonthose that are unable or unwill
ing to ride, and for those who are
unable to take active exercise, any
thing that will shake up the liver will
help them mentally and physically.
For the vast majority of the
middle-aged who do not play golf or
other games, a daily walk at a brisk
pace, some bending exercises with
knees straight, and not eating heavy
meals should keep liver and bowels
active and the mind free from de
pression.
• • •
Vaccines of Value
In Preventing Colds
SOME years ago a survey was
made from the northeast to
southwest port of the United States
(from Maine to California) to see
just what effect the weather had on
causing colds. Taking a strip of ter
ritory some miles wide, It was found
that at certain seasons of the year,
fall and winter, the number of colds
in California was as large as in
Maine.
Now It is not as cold In California
as in Maine, so that cold weather,
in itself, is not a cause of the com
mon cold.
On returning from summer cot
tages it is the “usual" thing for
many individuals to develop head
colds. It is agreed that it is the
leaving of the outdoors to live in
doors whether in Maine or in Cali
fornia that is the cause of a great
number of colds. It is not only los
ing the outdoor moist, fresh, “sun
shine” air, but breathing the still,
dry, dust laden air of the Indoors
that irritates the lining of the nose,
throat, sinuses and bronchial tubes.
You are reading and hearing
more about getting vaccinated
against getting smallpox, hay fever,
diphtheria and scarlet fever. What
about the vaccines for colds? Will
they prevent colds?
Dr. L. D. Bristol, New York, in the
American Journal of Public Health,
gives results of treatment of stand
ard stock (cold) vaccines, in six dif
ferent groups of factory workers
(totaling more than 19,000). The
time over which this treatment
against the common cold was avail
able varied from 17 months to five
years.
“On the whole the study shows an
apparent reduction in the severity of
the attacks, their length, and com
plication arising from colds.”
It would appear then that as a
“part” of the treatment for colds
vaccines have some value.
• • •
QUESTION BOX
Q.—Is the presence of sugar in
the body waste always a positive In
dication that one Is suffering from
diabetes?
A.—Sugar could be found In the
water of everybody, at one time or
another. However, if you carry ex
cess weight or there is a history or
diabetes there is always the possi
bility of developing diabetes. It
would certainly be wise to be guided
by your physician who would, of
course, know best how to treat your
particular case.
DAIRY CATTLE
NEED ROUGHAGE
Constitute Important Part
In Balanced Ration.
By DR. W. B. NEVENS
(Chief in Deity Cattle Feeding. Univerxity
of lUinoia College of Agriculture.)
One of the new developments In
dairy cattle feeding is the discovery,
made in recent investigational work,
that the roughage portion of the ra
tion is by far the most important
part. If dairy cows are supplied
with liberal amounts of well-pre
served, high-quality legume rough
ages. the balance of the ration is of
little importance from the stand
point of the character of the nutri
ents.
One of the facts which has led to
this conclusion is the finding that
dairy cattle require vitamins A and
D In large amounts and that these
are supplied by the roughage or sun
light, the concentrated portion of the
ration supplying little or none of ei
ther vitamin. As a rule, either the
other vitamins are supplied in ade
quate amounts in the ration or dairy
cattle have means of synthetlsizing
sufficient amounts.
Not only has vitamin A been found
to be of tremendous importance in
the health of dairy cattle, but dairy
cows have the ability to convert a
considerable portion of the carotene
of the ration into vitamin A and to
secrete this vitamin in the milk. In
view of these facts, it has become
increasingly important to make sure
that roughages fed to dairy cattle
contain large amounts of green
color and that they are in excellent
condition—that is, not moldy or
musty—so that they can be com
pletely consumed.
Sunlight obtained by dairy cows
while at pasture or in their exer
cising yards or sun-cured hay are
ordinarily the sources from which
vitamin D is supplied. However,
even during early spring, sunlight
is very low in its power to impart
vitamin D.
Sun-cured hay is probably the
best source of vitamin D for dairy
cattle large enough to consume at
least 2% pounds of hay daily. Small
calves, as a rule, do not consume
this amount of hay and it has been
found advantageous to supply them
with one teaspoonful of feeding
grade of cod-liver oil in the milk
each day.
Woodland Makes Poor
Pasture, Foresters Claim
“Divorcing” the woods from the
pasture and the pasture from the
woods, has been recommended by
foresters for many years.
One reason is that there's more
danger of live stock being poisoned
from plants in a woods pasture
than in an open pasture.
Woodland offers poor pasture to
cattle. Bluegrass pasture should
yield 3,000 pounds of dry matter an
acre, while woodland pasture yields
only 450 pounds.
The productivity of the woodland
for wood crops is also impaired,
and after several years the area
is devoid of trees or contains only
undesirable species such as persim
mon and hickory.
For these reasons, the combined
value of both woodland and pasture
doesn't approach what the site
would have produced either in
woods or pasture separately.
Grazed woods can be restored to
their original productivity by com
plete removal of live stock, Carroll
concluded.
Tobacco Worms
Small worms which up-root tobac
co plants in beds can easily be con
trolled by an application of naphtha
lene flakes applied at the rate of
1% pounds to each 100 square yards
of bed. Frequently one application
is sufficient.
When more than one treatment is
necessary, the applications should
be placed about a week apart. If a
strong wind comes up shortly after
the flakes are applied, the treat
ment should be promptly repeated.