THE KAISER'S DEATH MESSENGER—ROBERT FAY
A deathly calm hung over the trenches. After a day made hideous by the thunder of artillery and shriek of shells an unearthly peace had settled over the desolate stretch of shell-torn battleground. In the German trenches a sergeant leaned against the sandbag fortifications. The light from his cigarette glowed fitfully in the darkness as he puffed at it nervously, while he waited for the men he had chosen to accompany him in an attack on the French trenches. Soon he would be crawling out over the shell-pitted stretch of No Man's Land with a haversack filled with hand grenades. His proficiency in handling them had brought him fame in the ranks of the Kaiser's army. Fame! He tossed the cigarette butt aside contemptuously and then stamped on its glowing end. Fame! What was it compared to life? Why should he, for the sake of a few days of glory and a name for being successful in carrying out these bombing attacks, risk his life—his life which could be used for stopping the whole terrible business and bringing the war to a close in which Germany would be victorious? He clenched his fist in the darkness and struck at the sandbag. If his plans could be used he would stop in three months the munitions supply of the Allies and soon for want of munitions they would sue for Peace.
He reached for his watch. Its faint phosphorescence pointed the hour to him. He heard the tramp of footsteps. His men were coming. Soon he would be out there crawling through the darkness toward that other line of trenches, dodging wire entanglements, playing possum beneath the light of flares. Perhaps this raid would be his last. Perhaps in a day or so a cross would be raised for him,
"Sergeant Robert Fay, Died for Fatherland."
The footsteps drew nearer. The sergeant raised himself in preparation for taking command—and then he stopped. Out of the darkness his superior officer's voice came to him in guttural accents:
"Sergeant Fay, you are to report at once to Cologne for promotion and other duty."
Fay received the announcement with the stolidity born of long military training, but a moment later the meaning of the words transformed his features.
"My plans have been approved!" he gasped.