THE STORY SO FAR: Mora than
100,000 foreign troops secretly assembled
In Mexico by Van Hassek suddenly In
vaded the United States. Vastly superior
In numbers and equipment to tlw Amer
ican forces which opposed them, Van
Hassek's troops pushed relentlessly for
ward. The U. S. army was not pre
INSTALLMENT NINETEEN
pared for this sudden attack, and could
only retreat In the face of overwhelming
force. Expeditionary forces set sail from
both the Mediterranean and the Far
East. The (1. S. Pacific fleet began the
long trip around Cape Horn to protect
the Atlantic seaboard when the Panama
Canal was destroyed by dynamite-laden
ships. Aided by a heavy fog, troops
from the Orient established bridgeheads
on the Pacific Coast. Intelligence Offi
cer Bennlng was assigned the grim task
of reporting developments to his su
perior, Colonel Flagwtll. who was sta
tioned In Washington.
Now continue with the story.
CHAPTER XX—Continued
Benning took off to the east in
late afternoon. He decided on
Boise as the point of vantage from
which to observe final developments
In the occupation of the Pacific
coast. There he would find no diffi
culty in making his daily wire re
ports to FlagwilL
Enemy divisions had landed at the
mouth of the Columbia River on the
Oregon coast, taken the antiquated
coast forts from the rear with a
few platoons of infantry, and were
proceeding up the river toward Port
land. A submarine base was report
ed established at Tongue Point at
the mouth of the Columbia.
Other Invader divisions had land
ed on the undefended coast north
of San Francisco and were march
tag into the Sacramento Valley. Van
Hassek’s Guaymas motorized col
umns had taken Los Angeles and
were well north toward San Fran
cisco to effect a junction with their
Oriental allies. By tomorrow all
coast naval bases would be in the
hands of the enemy.
CHAPTER XXI
Each night for a week past, Ben
ning had gone to sleep with a joy
ous, rhythmic throbbing in his brain,
the echo of what to him was a glo
rious music. It was the music of
marching feet and of rolling trains
and caissons, music that conjured
up visions of a great day yet to
come.
What time he could find to himself
away from his duties at GHQ of
late afternoons, he spent on the
roads at the edge of Salt Lake listen
ing to that same refrain as it beat
from the heavy field shoes of march
ing infantry on their way to the
westward trains.
A beautiful sight were those
bronzed, strong bodies of men who
marched with slanted muskets or
sat upright in trucks behind their
rolling caissons. They showed their
long hard months of training, these
rugged youngsters; and their faces
were gravely radiant with a sol
dier’s high morale as they faced the
west at last on the great adventure.
Texas and the Pacific states had
suffered unspeakable cruelties and
hardships under the heavy heels of
the invader. What wealth’ they had
was stripped to the bone, what en
ergies they had were harnessed
against their own country to aid
their armed oppressors.
There had been those months of
a reign of terror when cities within
range of the Atlantic were shelled.
Bombers rained the country’s great
cities with death, carrying their as
saults in the dark of the night far in
land to such cities as Chicago and
St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Cin
cinnati, Indianapolis.
Then had come the Van Hassek
demand. President Tannard him
self had insisted that Van Hassek be
allowed to present to the whole
country his terms of peace. Over
all the networks, Van Hassek had
spoken for the Coalition Powers.
Peace could he had at the price
of Alaska, Hawaii, the right of un
restricted immigration, renunciation
of the Monroe Doctrine, internation
alization of the Panama Canal.
Tannard’s voice came ringing
back now in Benning’s memory. An
answer to go down in history.
“The United States asks no terms.
We mean to destroy the armies that
have invaded our shores and then
we will hold to an accounting those
predatory powers that are responsi
ble for international brigandage.
That is our last word to our ene
mies, until you come before us on
your knees in the humility of utter
defeat!"
There had been glorious days as
well, as the months drifted by.
There had been that day of two
months ago when the Third Army,
reorganized, reinforced, and invinci
ble, crashed down across Texas to
drive the invader south of the Rio
Grande.
Behind the passes of the Rockies
there was formed this great army
whose fighting reserves now
marched into the west. Long, pa
tient months this had taken, months
that had tried the courage and re
sources of the country.
Benning turned from his reflec
tions to the realities of headquar
ters. Dusk was falling, the skies
were filling with planes, planes that
pointed their noses to the west. The
vast caravan of men and guns
moved on in its endless rhythm as
it emptied the huge training camps
of the Salt Lake Valley of their half
million men.
At headquarters he checked his
personal effects, musette bag, belt
and pistol, map-case, field-glasses,
raincoat, steel helmet. The buzzer
from Flagwill's desk rang at eight
o’clock. Flagwill was now a two
star general with the assignment
of chief of staff of the western group
of field armies.
“Smells to me like a crush note,”
Flagwill said, sniffing at a small lin
en envelope and handing it to Ben
ning. "But since it came from Paris
in the diplomatic pouch and was
shot here from Washington by air
courier, it may have some impor*
tance."
Benning slit the envelope open
with a paper-knife. A message on a
single slip of paper, which bore no
signature, read:
"Mon Capitaine, I presume you
may know already that M. Bravot
is in your country under masquer
ade in the hope of redeeming him
self in Van Hassek's favor."
Benning passed the note to Gen
eral Flagwill and said, with a
thoughtful smile: "That note from
our little French girl startles me,
sir. Rather a coincidence to re
ceive this just when Bravot has been
on my mind today. I’ve had a
hunch the fellow might be around
somewhere.” *
Flagwill stood up and took from
the pocket of his coat a pair of sil
ver oak leaves. He handed them to
Benning and said: “Here’s your new
insignia of rank. Colonel, with my
affectionate best wishes.”
Shortly before nine o’clock, Ben
ning wound his way in Flagwill’s
sedan through the endless troop con
voys to the landing-field. In his dis
patch case were the secret orders
that would put Holling’s Fourth
Army into the attack. Four planes
were lined up at the field to carry
as many field-officer couriers with
orders that would put the group of
four field armies into action.
Benning’s pilot, stiff and erect at
attention beside his fuselage, salut
ed punctiliously. In his present pre
occupation it was only Benning’s
long habit of sharp observation that
picked up the minor inconsistency
of a pilot with goggles fixed over
his eyes before he climbed to the
cockpit.
As Benning searched the pilot, he
saw the officer’s body stiffen. Ben
ning’s hand drove to his holstered
service pistol as he picked out in
the moonlight his fellow’s profile.
The masquerader flashed into action
at the same instant. With swift,
even deliberation Benning leveled
his weapon and pressed the trigger.
Bravot sank to the ground.
Pilots and ground crew rushed
up. Benning leaned over the fallen
man and stripped off the goggles.
Floodlights were switched on, a hur
ried search made for Captain
Trench, pilot of the plane. Trench’s
body was found in the shadow of a
near-by hangar, a knife thrust
through his heart.
Benning hastily searched Bravot’s
uniform. In a canvas dispatch case
he found cleverly counterfeited or
ders for a prompt withdrawal of
three divisions from an important
salient in enemy lines east of Sac
ramento.
In the small hours of the morning,
Benning’s plane put him down at
Carson City. A military automo
bile took him north around Lake Ta
hoe, thence west into the slopes of
the Sierras.
Columns plodded on, silent shad
ows in the night, an endless cara
van of men moving to the front.
Daybreak was close at hand when
he reached the Fourth Army’s ad
vance command post.
The army commander took the
dispatch from Benning. broke the
seal, and read with a visible tighten
ing of jaws.
“Very good,” he said. "This Is
just what I’ve been waiting for—my
army is itching to jump off.”
From the distance heavy artillery
grumbled at the dawn, its vibra
tions tossed from mountain to moun
tain in a dull, ominous monotone of
sound.
In front of them the Invader held
the superiority of strength in the
present moment But Van Hassek's
air force no longer commanded the
skies and his espionage system east
of the Cascades and Rockies had
been snuffed out by firing squads.
Benning worked feverishly to ac
quaint himself with the intimate de
tails of enemy strength, morale, and
dispositions. In five days a million
men would be ready to attack. Be
hind that m'ghty cavalcade of
trained fighting men, another half
million were In the final stages of
seasoning for battle, and could be
pushed forward when the need for
them arrived.
The Fourth Army was shaping it
self to attack to the south and west
Whatever the cost it was to push its
way past Sacramento and cut the
Van Hassek forces in twain. Simul
taneously the First Second, and
Fifth Armies would press forward
with a vigor that would prevent Van
Hassek from centering his reserves
against the Fourth. Upon the ad
vantages of the first few weeks of
action would depend the final
massed attacks that were aimed
to sweep the invader into the
Pacific.
Dawn of the day of attack came
with a roar of artillery that shook
the skies down a three-hundred-mile
front Old-timers vowed that not
even the Argonne witnessed such
volcanic wrath of artillery. Light
medium, and heavy artillery pound
ed the Van Hassek trenches for an
hour and in its wake came the in
fantry waves pushing relentlessly
ahead in the first red welter of the
tortuous miles to the sea.
On a day, after crimson weeks,
that Benning flew in reconnaissance
over Sacramento, the first Ameri
can waves were at last on the edge
of the city. A heavy pall of smoke
told that the invader had abandoned
the city in flames, indication that he
meant to hold farther to the west
rather than trust here to counter
attacks. That told Benning, too,
that the Van Hassek lines to the
north and south would be drawn
back.
Benning’s pulse surged as he
viewed from the skies heavy enemy
columns marching to the west from
Sacramento to take up some new
strategic disposition. The spectacle
seemed to vitalize Hague’s prophe
cy, bring nearer the day of fulfill
ment.
Dark months lay ahead; many,
many men yet must die, and the
country’s stamina would be tested
to the last fiber of its strength. But
for Benning there were no doubts.
The dawn would come, that glorious
dawn of the day when he had vowed
for himself a glorious adventure.
On that day he meant to wing his
way to the north again whence had
come those fierce shadows in the
fog. There he would see their sur
vivors as they melted back into the
Pacific before the mighty vengeance
of our massed valor.
[THE END]
■SELECTED FICTION
by GIFTS!* AUTHORS
A
T
SSpftl I
U. S. Engineers
To Help China
Build Factories
Small ‘Pocket Industries’
Nullify Bombings
By Japanese.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
NEW YORK.—Plans to in
crease American technical
aid to war tom China by
sending a voluntary crew of
American engineers to the
Orient have been disclosed
by John Garfield, Hollywood
actor and leader of a group
of relief workers on the west
coast. His organization is
collaborating with the movie
colony group, headed by Dave
Selznick, member of the Na
tional United China Relief
committee.
"If we are the arsenal of democ
racy,” stated Garfield, "then China
should have our support in full.”
The actor went on to describe pres
ent-day conditions and summarized
their plans to defeat the purpose of
Japanese air raids by spreading and
isolating manufacturing units into
mountainous and sparsely settled
territories. The engineers, who are
scheduled for early departure, plan
to introduce and increase more mod
ern technique in industrial produc
tion, allied with small units of space
and equipment. A major objective
will be the operation of motor repair
stations along the important Burma
road, over which most of the sup
plies for war reaches China.
The United China Relief campaign
is now engaged in the task of raising
JOHN GARFIELD
"China will be victorious"
$5 ,000,000 for war relief and to main
tain the 3,000 midget industries al
ready established and to provide for
thousands more.
Many Factories Moved.
An engineering feat of moving
more than 400 complete factories
containing 3,000 tons of machinery,
wholly with human labor, was con
summated in early spring, when
thousands of coolies fled the war
devastated coastal region, carrying
the factories and equipment, piece
meal upon their backs, into the in
terior sections of their country. It
was pointed out that the program
served the double purpose of produc
ing needed defense and civilian ma
terial and absorbing refugees in re
building for the new China.
Mr. Garfield stressed the fact that
because of the widely separated
points of manufacture and distribu
tion that enemy fliers found it ex
tremely difficult to locate the small
centers and impractical to bomb
them because of the relative amount
of damage as compared to the cost
of the bombs, the differential being
more than 25 times, even when the
objective was a direct hit on the
first attempt. “A $250 bomb is too
much, even for the Japanese, to in
flict $10 worth of damage to the en
emy,” said Mr. Garfield. Money
contributed to the fund, is allotted
by H. H. Kung, minister of finance
in Chungking at the rate of $7.00 per
man for any group of workers will
ing to start a plant. The money is
expended on a loan basis and in ac
cordance with regulations of the old
established central revolving fund
plan. Mr. Garfield stated that pre
vious loans have all been repaid.
Principle and machines never be
fore seen or understood by the Chi
nese have become a vital factor in
the war of supplies.
“We are teaching them to harness
old water wheels to operate small
dynamos, the technique of building
tiny crucible steel and hearth fur
naces, and many other methods of
manufacturing and operating small,
but efficient plants,” said Mr. Gar
field. He voiced the opinion that
with American financial and techni
cal help, China can finally emerge
victorious to take her place with
other democracies.
Chinese Workers Supply Army
While China’s armies are struggling to fight off invading Japanese forces,
civilians are working in "vest pocket industries” in the interior. Chinese women
(left) are making blankets for their nation, while workmen (right) are busy
replacing vital production of occupied regions along the coast.
Brazil Builds ‘Defense Railways’
To Link Ports With Inland Cities
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL.—Is
South America defenseless against
an invasion threat? Military experts
of the U. S. are co-operating with all
Latin countries in a speedy survey
of just what defenses this great con
tinent could muster against bellig
erent attack. Nearly the whole of
South America is east of New York,
bringing it well within the danger
zone of the European conflict.
Defense. surveys indicate that the
combined armies of South America
would be under 2,000,000 men, to
defend the 125,000,000 scattered citi
zens of this whole continent. Togeth
er, these nations have about 1,200
planes and a joint navy of about 175
ships to defend a coastline on two
oceans that is thousands of miles
long.
Brazil is said to be by far the
best equipped in defenses, but Bra
zil is mammoth in size (47 per cent
of South America), and most vul
nerable to attack. If England’s fleet
were destroyed and Gibraltar taken,
the U. S. fleet would be stretched
along the entire Atlantic and Pacific
Wagon Post Office
Yields to Progress
FARGO, N. D.—The smallest and
perhaps most unique post office in
the United States, located 40 miles
north of Bowman in the southwest
corner of North Dakota, gives way
to progress.
If there are smaller buildings be
ing used exclusively for the distribu
tion of mail, they at least would
not appear as diminutive in their
setting as does a sheep wagon at
Ranger where six families are
served by Uncle Sam. The sheep
wagon, with its wheels removed,
nestles in the valley of the Little
Missouri river in the most pictur
esque section of the badlands of
North Dakota.
The sheepwagon has been sold and
the post office at Ranger will be
discontinued this summer. Estab
lished in 1912, the Ranger post office
has been a curiosity for many years.
Natives tell the story that before
the sheep wagon was removed from
its wagon wheels, a post office in
spector sat in the stuffy little shack
when much to his amazement the
post office began to shake violently.
Thoughts of a temblor ran through
his mind as he made for the door to
see what was going on.
The temblor was no more than a
pig scratching its back against one
of the wheels.
“Thus,” as the Bowman County
Pioneer says, “With the discontinu
ance of the Ranger post office, an
other chapter of the pioneering spirit
of the West is brought to a close.
The machine age that a;fords such
fast travel makes it possible for pa
trons to adopt a more modern post
office as their address—Bowman, 40
miles away.”
U. S. Army Officers Say ‘Goodbye’ to 'Hello’
WASHINGTON.—War regulations
have deprived civilians and soldiers
alike of many things. This time it’s
words. The army is streamlining
its telephone service. No more will
our khaki clad defenders drawl a
“Hello” with the speed of winter
sorghum flowing from a jug, or
breathe a frosty New England greet
ing into the mouthpiece. The luxury
of this old established American cus
tom has been abolished for the dura
tion of the present emergency, in
accordance with instructions recent
ly received from the war depart
ment
According to a bulletin on the sub
ject valuable minutes are lost in the
common exchange of greetings.
Officers making a call will not in
struct a clerk to get his party on
the line, meanwhile disappearing for
ten minutes. Instead he will per
sonally make the call and stay on
the line until his party has been con
nected.
seacoasts of two continents, In de
fense of the Western hemisphere. A
strong block of well-defended Amer
ican nations would be needed.
Chief problem for the defense of
South America is its tremendous
size and the great distances over
which supplies and troops must be
moved. It is admitted that whole
sections of this continent might
crumble defenseless before any
strong concentration of enemy
forces. There is a very real possi
bility of “splitting up” South Amer
ica’s nations, which are in general
isolated from each other by lack of
roads and railroads, as well as dan
ger of Isolating whole areas within
the larger countries, by enemy
forces working from within.
Improve Transportation.
Brazil’s president, Getulio Vargas,
who has already accomplished much
in his program for modernizing and
industrializing Brazil, has now
turned his attention to the problem
of transportation, and the necessity
for spanning Brazil with railways
and roads for defense. More than 520
airports have been built for Brazil's
air defense, travel and communica
tion.
To meet this emergency, Presi
dent Vargas last year nationalized
railroads in Brazil, bringing 15 dif
ferent systems under Union control.
He just recently created the national
department of railways, which will
launch an extensive rail-expansion
program with U. S. financial aid.
More than 3,000 kilometers of tracks
have already been laid, modern
bridges span mountains and rivers,
and many tunnels open ways
through mountains. A nation-wide
highway building program now un
der way, is planned to link Brazil
with all nations touching her bor
ders.
Many of these new developments
will link Brazil by land, air and wa
ter with her neighbor nations, great
ly strengthening Pan-American de
fense. The Brazil-Bolivia railway
now being built will bring in much
needed Bolivian oil supplies, while
giving to Bolivia an outlet to Atlantic
seaports. Crossing the heart of South
America, a transcontinental railway
from Santos, Brazil, to Arica, Chile,
will open vast productive areas for
exploitation.
Principal problem in connecting
South American railways is present
ed by the rocky coastal ranges which
follow each seacoast, cutting off port
cities from rich interior resources.
This brought about building of iso
lated short railways to port cities
only; and now today, Latin coun
tries face the huge expense of build
ing many inter-connecting lines to
connect port cities, as well as to
connect isolated inland cities to each
other.
Purchase New Equipment.
Impressive purchases of new rail
way equipment from the U. S. in
clude 26 locomotives and nearly 500
cars now being delivered.
Highways and good roads are part
of Brazil’s defense program. The
$3,000,000 highway bringing Brazil in
touch with Paraguay, and the net
work of roads from 7 to 10,000 miles
long in Rio Grande of the South,
will link Brazil to Argentina, and
Uruguay. Auto excursions now may
only travel in good weather, but in
creasing auto tourist travel and the
6,000-mile auto races from B. A. to
Peru and back again, last year, has
encouraged building of better roads.
U. S. defense units are rushing
completion of roads in Panama
around the Canal region, and Latin
nations along the West coast are
building roads too although jungles,
swamps and mountains bar the way.
Some day the great Pan-American
highway will complete its 16,847-mile
route, a new “All-American Life
line.” It will cost $150,000,000 to
build, but it will open a vital route
for military supplies, and one that
will attract thousands of tourists in
time of peace.
In air-travel, most significant new
development is the extension of Pan
Air lines into interior cities of Bra
zil, in competition with the German
Condor line’s seven air-routes across
Brazil. More than 520 airports (more
than the U. S. has) are a vital fac
tor in Brazil’s defense. Two big Con
dor planes are stranded in Rio, since
Brazil declined to permit German
trans-oceanic lines "at this inoppor
tune time." But LATI, Italian lines
continue to make their regular week
ly trips to Rome, and recently ex
panded their lines into Argentina.
y^istorical
I
ML <__L
Ltp CJmo Scott WdtdOH
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
A Famous Coon Story
ONE of the classics of early
American humor is the story of
Davy Crockett’s ’’interview” with a
coon. According to the usual ver
sion, this famous Tennessee fron
tiersman was out hunting one day
when he spied a raccoon high up in
a tree. Instantly he leveled his
deadly rifle at the animal, where
upon the coon cried out: “Is that
you, Crockett? Then don’t shoot—
I’ll come down!”
Although this is readily recog
nized as a “tall tale” and a bit of
frontier folklore, it has been repeat
ed innumerable times as a tribute to
Crockett’s unerring marksmanship.
But, like so many other yarns asso
ciated with his name, it is also a
“borrowed story” and another man
was the hero of it when it was first
told.
Visit the historical museum in
Bennington, Vt., and there you will
see a long rifle which, according to
the card beside it, is the ".50 caliber
gun used by Lieut Col, Martin Scott,
native of Bennington and sharp
shooter. It was made at Harper’s
Ferry in 1814 and first used in 1818
in the Fifth Rifle Regiment of the
DAVY CROCKETT
regular army. This gun was often
used by Colonel Scott while at Fort
Howard at Green Bay, Wis., where
he and Captain Merrill were com
mandants, beginning in 1834.” This
is the rifle used by the man who
was the original hero of the famous
coon story.
Scott’s reputation as a mighty
hunter was established while he was
still a boy. At the age of 12 he
killed a notorious bear that had
been preying upon the live-stock
of the farmers around Bennington
and young Scott was brought into
town in triumph astride the carcass
of the bear. During his hunting ex
peditions, he roamed westward into
New York and it was near Lake
Bonaparte in the foothills of the
Adirondacks that a coon in a tree,
seeing him approaching, said: ‘‘Is
that you, Martin Scott? Then don’t
shoot—I’ll come down!”
At least such a yam was printed
in a Utica, N. Y., newspaper in
1837, and when the New York Sun
and other papers reprinted it, it was
given wide circulation. Davy
Crockett had been killed during the
Texan war for independence the
previous year and, as one of the
“heroes of the Alamo," his fame be
came even greater than it had been
while he was an Indian fighter, bear
hunter and congressman from Ten
nessee. So it is easy to see how
some of his admirers, knowing the
widely reprinted story of Martin
Scott’s "interview” with the coon,
appropriated it for their hero and at
tributed the incident to Crockett
Commissioned a captain in the
Fifth Rifle Regiment of the United
States army, Scott’s fame as a
marksman spread rapidly. Once he
demonstrated his sharpshooting
ability by tacking an ace of clubs
on a tree and firing three shots at
it with his muzzle-loading rifle (no
doubt, the one in the Bennington mu
seum) in a minute and 20 seconds.
Col. R. B. Marcy, commander of
the regiment, examined the target
and announced one hit and two
misses. Thereupon Scott called for
an ax, chopped into the tree and
showed three bullets in the single
hole!
Scott’s career ended in 1847 when
he was killed, while leading his
company in the Battle of Molino
del Rey in Mexico in 1847.
Before marching away to the war
In Mexico, Scott visited his boyhood
home in Bennington. He had left it
as a.poor and obscure lad. He came
back rich and famous. According
to a contemporary account, he re
turned in a fine new gig, drawn by.
a superb white horse. Following
him as an outrider was a Negro
slave. Jack, dressed in livery and
mounted on a thoroughbred, and 20
or 30 full-blooded dogs of various
breeds. Scott is said to have paid
$5 a pound for Jack and later freed
him.
