Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 289, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1913 — The League of Lost Causes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The League of Lost Causes

By H. M. EGBERT

Being the Romantic Adventures of Pan! Lane, American Millionaire

The Pilot of the Fleet

(Copyright, 1913, by W. G. Chapman.)

KGSNY, western secretary to the League of Lost Causes, was back in Paris. He had been compelled to close the offices of the organization owing to a lit-

tle matter of politics, but the difficulty had soon been adjusted. -.lt was not hard for the League to settle Its disagreements with governments, for It numbered kings and chancellors among its adherents, and, being devoted to the maintenance of the principle of monarchy, it found disciples and friends even in republics. Rosny was as imperturbable as ever when Paul Lane reported to him, by appointment. The young American noticed that the “To Let" sign, which he had seen in the window on the occasion of his last visit to headquarters, had been taken down, the furniture was back again, and Rosny had just been writing on the identical piece of torn blotting paper which Paul had seen when he was there before. The Frenchman rose and gripped Paul's hand warmly. “I congratulate you with all my heart," he said. “So you have at last succeeded in discovering the identity of the mysterious lady who brought you from New York and induced you to place your services and your millions at our disposal!" He spoke in accents of light irony, but watching Paul keenly and with wrinkled brows meanwhile. In truth he was at his wits' end. He could not afford to lose Paul and his millions; yet Rosny was shrewd enough to realize that the American would not consent to play the part of a tool much-longer without being taken into the League’s confidence. And that was Just what Rosny was himself unable to effect. Kings do not meet on terms of equality, even with American millionaires. His trump card he was holding back—not up his sleeve, but In the anteroom. Then Paul, clearing his throat nervously, settled down to Bay exactly what Rosny had anticipated, and said it with as much emphasis aB courtesy would allow, so that his meaning was altogether unmistakable. “Now, my dear Paul," said Rosny, when he had concluded, laying’ his hand affectionately upon his shoulder, “In what have we played you false?. I assured you that you should meet the lady in question and you did meet her—” "Yes, and lost her for the third time,” Paul cried- "No more, Rosny. I realize that you cannot well be held responsible for the treatment which has bebn meted out to me; nevertheless, I have been duped to the limit and my ultimatum Is—" "One moment," said Rosny blandly. "I have a friend in the next room. If you will pardon me—" He opened the door and disappeared for a moment, to emerge bearing the princess Clothilda upon his arm. At the sight of her Paul staggered back, every nerve in his body tingling. For the time he could not find speech. “Now, Paul," said Rosny, “suppose that you talk over your troubles with her highness herself. I am sure you will reach a satisfactory adjustment.” He departed, smiling, and, entering the anteroom, closed the door softly upon them. Paul was silent through shame, but in every nerve he felt the thrill of indignation. Again be had been fooled, and in that melodramatic way which had characterized all his dealings with the League. .Yet, when, with her arms extended, the princess came softly to his side, clasped his hands, and held them, be knew to his dishonor that his unhappy love for her was weaving the old magical spells round him again. “How very tragical you seem, monsieur!" said the princess archly. “And is It all on my account?",. “No,” muttered J>aul. "I feel that I—that I have not been fairly treated. You —" “We take your money and—" x "It is not my money,” he answered. "You are welcome to that. But I came here to serve you, and I am used and flung aside. What do I know of the League? I demand to be told who are its leaders, what it is accomplishing, where are its headquarters." “Rosny himself does not know that,” answered the princess. "But, Paul, let me satisfy you as far as I may. The League is not the outcome of any one man’s brain. It was imagined first by Dvornak, of Prague university, who conceived of allying the rulers and ruling classes of all countries against the mobs that now control all modern states. He converted me and others, and through our influence half the rulers of Europe became converts to the idea. But, once started, an idea cannot be- checked. The movement speedily became one for the restoration of broken dynasties: Bourbons, Bonapartes, Vasas—all joined in it to aid their own causes. Consequently we have wheels within wheels, and innumerable divergent and often opposing societies, yet all professing allegiance to Dvornak’s theories and claiming affiliation with the League. And against us, standing solidly for the preservation of the ex-

isting order, lest their fate become worse, are the conservative rulers of all western countries. Now, monsieur, you ask to be initiated into the councils of the League. There is no League, or, rather, there are igahy leagues. Rosny here knows only the French branch; I am affiliated with that of Eastern Europe. There is but one man who has his hand on all the plums in the pie, and that is the kaiser. And where he stands nobody kftows. Are you satisfied. Monsieur Lane?" If Paul did understand he cared nothing for it all. The blood was boiling in his temples. He caught the princess In his arms and drew her into his embrace. "Princess, I pledged my allegiance to you," he said, triumphantly. “I will obey no league but yours. I love you. Answer me, as you love truth — do you love me-, or was your pledge upon the sands of Tripoli but a jest?” She did not resist him. She dropped her head, with its wealth of heavy hair, upon his shoulder. He bent over hqr and their lips met. "I love- you only, Paul,” she whispered. “Do not think me untrue. But just now I dare not think of love, there is so much to be done. Paul, will you trust me a little longer, and wait?” “A thousand years!” he cried exultantly—and just then Rosny came in. Paul discerned a .meaning glance which the Frenchman shot at Clothilde. It puzzled him; but still his mind was dormant under the force of the mighty passion in his heart. "Paul," said the princess calmly, “will you undertake another mission for the League?" “For your League,” answered Paul. “Yes, and it will be the strongest test of your devotion,” she answered with Intense seriousness. “We mean to strike a blow at the heart of democracy—can you guess where? In your own country. "Listen, Paul. America is ripe for monarchy. That great people, groaning under the corruption of her government, has come to understand that a king is necessary to a nation, if it is to prosper and be honored. But the democracy controls the state. It must be broken. Only after a defeat in war can America be liberated and come into her own. “Listen again, Paul. His majesty, the emperor of Japan, is planning to strike home at the republic. That is weH known to your president and public men. It is admitted that a hundred and fifty thousand Japanese could seize California, Washington, Oregon, all the Pacific coast states, and hold them forever; no force of equal strength could ever be transported, without bases of supplies, over the deserts of the west. Japan is now threatening Magdalena bay in Lower California. That 1b a feint. She aims really at Alaska. But first the. American navy must be destroyed, and that is the only obstacle which lies between Japan's aspirations and their accomplishment. Do you follow me, Paul?" He nodded, for he could not speak. He saw her through a red cloud, and a thousand tumultuous passions hammered upon his heart. She stood quite close to him, her breath waß warm against his cheek; she was almost shamelessly oblivious of the presence of Rosny, who watched cynically from the opposite corner of the office. “Then, Paul, |ou are to be the means whereby this blow shall be delivered. You are an expert yachtsman. You have summered, you told me once, off the Alaskan coaßt in your own yacht, in those days when your father controlled the corporation and you looked forward to a life of leisure and plenty. “Next month the American fleet, engages in target practice off the Alaskan coast. We have secured the Information of the exact locality. The fleet will put in at the roadstead between the newly formed volcanic islands called the Pyloffs, thrown up last year, and as yet hardly charted. The pilot, one of their most trusted men, whose duty it is to. lead the flagship through the narrow pass, is in our pay. It is your money that has paid him, Paul; you are deeply implicated in the affair already, you see. You shall take his place, lead the flagship to ruin upon the rocks —we have a chart of them—and all the following vessels will be swept to destruction likewise. Thus Japan will obtain her opportunity. And In the confusion you will easily esoape. There will be little loss of life. Then, your reward, the reward for which you have asked—" She could say no more. The agitation which possessed her was greater than Paul’s. It was her most 'desperate cast for victory. And Paul, staring at her eyes, the only thing now visible through the thick, blood-like haze that floated before his face, understood that she was offering herself as the price for his treachery. He clenched bis fists until the nmtia of his fingers pierced the flesh. All that he valued most, all that made life tolerable/* his love, was balanced against his duty; and the scales swung low. They hesitated, trembled — 7»nd suddenly the mist cleared away.

-One does not barter principle so easily as that —not one trained as Paul had been. That Is the mistake made by all who would corrupt their fellowmen. He saw the princess' face clearly again, and for the first time he realized that his was the stronger will. He laughed into her face. “This 16 my answer/’ he cried, drawing himself up until he towered over her, a menacing figure of righteous anger. “I will never betray my country for such a reward as you offer me. I would not take the reward yon offer even without the deed. You have duped me too long, Princess Clothilde. I loathe and despise you—and I never wish to see yon or your League again." “Paul! You are mad!” cried Rosny, hurrying toward him. Paul pushed past him toward the door. He turned there and looked back. He saw the princess, white of face, tremulous, broken. "Her hopes, her dearest hopes, all she had staked, forgetful of her pride, were shattered. He saw Rosny agitated, stretching forth his hands in a vain plea for a hearing. Then, laughing savagely, Paul slammed the door in their faces and walked quietly down the stairs. On the next day he caught a boat at Havre for New York, arrived a week later, and hastened to Washington. He proceeded to the White House immediately after his arrival and demanded an audience with the president. His name secured this with'the briefest formality and after only a few minutes’ delay. The president was standing in the middle of the floor in his working room; he was alone, for at that time of the day he elected to read the documents laid before him for signing. Without any introduction Paul entered upon his Stonr. When, flushed with anxiety, he faltered toward the close of it, he perceived that the president was still standing in exactly the same position, apparently immovable, and dangling his eyeglasses in a meditative manner. He watched the younger man for a full half minute without speaking. “Mr. Lane,” he said at last, “your father was known to me very well. He was regarded as one of the most patriotic Americans of his day, in that, without flamboyaqcy, without partisanship, he made his duty the conduct of his . vast business enterprises. He thought of nothing else,, he cared for nothing else. Three of my predecessors in office consulted, him upon important affairs of state and without hesitation laid bare important secrets, confident that his par triotlsm would rise superior to all thought of personal gain and that he had the interests of the nation at heart. You, I believe, do not interest yourself in such affairs at all?” “I have been living abroad, Mr. President,” stammered Paul. "I—” "Precisely, Mr. Lane,” replied the president, with great dignity. “You are content to spend the proceeds of the enterprises which your father established with so much labor and integrity. And now you, sir, an expatriated American, come to me and ask me to believe that you are in possession of some cock-and-bull Becret involving the destruction of our navy, and that motives of patriotism have impelled you to hurry here from Europe to save the nation. Mr. Lane, I decline absolutely to place the slightest credence In your tale.” Paul flushed hotly. In his native land something of the glamor of his adventures had departed; even to him the story seemed more like a dime novel record than a matter of sober fact But, remembering all that he had undergone he could not but believe that the League was powerful enough to attempt, at leaßt, to carry out its purpose. “This chart of the Pyldffs—of course you took the precaution to secure it," the president went on, watching the young man in some amusement. “No, Mr. President,” responded Paul. "I did not.” “Good day, sir,” said the president. “One moment, Mr. President,” cried Paul, vehemently. "You, as commander-in-chief of all the forces, by land and Bea, are at least able to engage recruits. Will you give me a letter to Admiral Blake authorizing him to engage me as a special seaman —I mean to enlist as a seaman—whenever I present it?” "I will do that very gjadly, Mr. Lane," the “president answered. “To serve your country in any capacity will do you a world of good, Mr. Lane. I will write the letter / at once and you may present It as soon as you are able.” He sat down at his desk and wrote a short letter to Admiral Blake, sealed it, and, rising, gave it to Paul with a slight bow which signified that the interview was at an end. Paul walked out into the street feeling as though he had been whipped. For a while he almost abandoned his enterprise. He had offered his services to his country and they had been rejected. He had done all that duty required. Suppose he did no more! Suppose he let the fleet go to its destruction and found his own vindication thereby! Unconscious of his surroundings, he tramped through the streets of the capital, fiercely debating. The sacrifice that he had made -of all he held most dear had thrilled him to a finer sense of patriotism than he had ever attained—and to this end! And in his mind’s eye he saw all the while the face of his false love, she who had betrayed him, she whose dupe he had'been. Had there been no atom of love In those words whispered to him on the hot sands of Tripoli? Suddenly the impact of a pedestrian caused him to reel and clutch for support at a street lamp post. A man wa§ leaving a house to enter a taxt-

cab which stood waiting for him, and Paul, rushing squarely across his path, had run right into him. Paul looked' up with a scowl—to encounter the angry visage of Captain Von Holzrath. It was their fourth encounter. last had been upon the staircase of the emperor’s palace at Hos berg, where, sword in hand, Paul had matched himself against his enemy and found that he was his inferior. Twice Von Holzrath had spared his life when he held it in the hollow of his hand. Now, at that memory, a blind fury seized on him, and he felt his hands ache to strangle his foe. He rushed forward, his fists clenched, but clutched only emptiness, for Von Holzrath had adroitly eluded him and leaped into the cab. The last that Paul saw of him was his ironical smile as the vehicle whirled away. That it was that decided him. Paul felt that Von Holzrath’s presence in Washington boded ill for his country. For Von Holzrath was a stormy petrel of politics; and where the petrel flies the hurricane follows. What part, then, did Von Holzrath play in this sinister scheme, he wondered. The princess’ revelations as to the nature of the League had convinced Paul that many interests, often opposing, sheltered themselves behind it. Von Holzrath had been the Austrian emperor's confidant; he had been entrusted with the' duty of bringing back Clothilde when she started ou her mission to America. Afterward bis support of Stepan’s abortive insurrection had no doubt brought about his proscription at the Austrian court. .If Von Holzrath had joined the League, which would gladly have welcomed sq illustrious a recruit, his presence in Washington was easily explained. Then he and the captain had changed sides and were destined to continue their duel still until one or the other won a final triumph. Paul took train the same evening for Seattle, where he found'a ship upon the point of sailing for Sitka. He arrived at that Alaskan port worn out with apprehension and anxiety. How soon the attempt was to be made he could not know; but he knew enough of the resolute characters that dominated the League to be assured that, since he had kept his destination no secret, the blow would fall as soon as possible. v The Pyloff islands, which had risen in a week from the depths of the sea, forming a little new territory of the United States, lie five hundred miles northwest of Sitka, over a stormy sfea. A barren tract of lava and scoriae, washed by the eternal waves, they would have been wholly valueless but for the deep-water harbor that afforded anchorage to warships. When Paul inquired for a vessel thither he encountered much quiet amusement on the part of ship captains. The single vessel which sometimes made the trip into those waters—a "whaler —had departed the day before, they told him, bearing a passenger. Paul surmised that this was Von Holzrath, who had thus gained a day’s start on him. Doubtless he had been on his way to the station at the moment of* their encounter in Washington. Two days more passed before Paul, chafing at the delay, discovered a captain willing to attempt the Journey, but finally he was able to set forth in a small yacht, with a scratch crew, after paying an enormous sum in insurance. The yacht, though small, was built for ocean voyaging; rough weather was happily not encountered; In the end, after many an alternation between’ hope and despair, he saw the gaunt shores of the Pyloffs break upon his view of the gray waste of waters. And there, riding at ease upon the face of the waters, were the battleships and cruisers .of the Pacific squadron. No, they were not riding qt ease. For, as his yacht drew nearer, Paul saw, through his glasses, that they were forming in line, the flagship ahead. He knew what that maneuver meant The vessels were about to enter the pass. He was too late. Still he would not abandon hope. The captain drove the yacht forward, heading her, at Paul’s instructions, straight toward the flagship. The race was a close one, for there was the Chance of cutting under the vessel’s bows before she turned her nose inward. But the chance did not depend upon speed. The flagship halted, a warning gun rang out; the yacht put about at the signal, and presently a cutter from the admiral’s vessel came Bkimming through the waves. In a few minutes Paul had stepped into her, and, ten minutes later, he was In the presence of Admiral Blake upon the quarterdeck of the Virginia.* “Your business?” demanded the admiral sternly. "You are about to proceed into the new roadstead,” said Paul, casting a look toward the line of warships, waiting upon the signal of their leader. "Well, sir?" “Your pilot Is in the pay of a hostile power, If you proceed you will be broken upon the rocks.” "Who are you? Have you credentials?" Paul handed the admiral'the president’s letter. He read It with an Ironical smile and handed it back to Paul. “You are undoubtedly acquainted with the' contents of this," he said. "Pray read it" Paul read mechanically: “My Dear Admiral: Here is a young man, the son of a distinguished father, who Is in need of a few months of hard work to tone up bis nerves after a course of dissipation In Europe. At present be is under the belief that the Pacific squadron is in danger at the hands of enemies. His name is Paul Lane, and he is titular head of the house of Lane, Erbfurth A Co. Please enlist him Immediately at a seaman’s

wages and pot him to work for the aakg'Of his father.” Paof handed back the letter qnietly. He had not expected this reception, hot he was in a measure prepared, since, apparently,' no one would take him seriously. Then the Pacific squadron .must rush to her undoing. “One word,” he Bald. “You do not believe my story, Admiral Blake?" "I believe you believe it,” the admiral answered. "Yonr pilot;” pursued Paul, desperately, "is a man named Von Holzrath —an Austrian, aged thirty-five or so, blonde—” “A tissue of nonsense," exclaimed the admiral impatiently. “My pilot is Mr. Brinn, for forty years one of the most trusted men in the service.” The words recalled the words es the princess. She, too, had spoken of the pilot in that identical way. Paul had' gathered that, though willing to accept a bribe in order to relinquish his trust, Brinn would have no share In the destruction of his nation’s ships. So he had proved more amenable than had been anticipated. “And now, Mr. Lane, if yon are satisfied with having held up the Pacific squadron,” Bald the admiral Ironically, "I shall obey the president's instructions. You may employ the remainder of the day In familiarizing yourself with the ship.” - He called the quartermaster and introduced Paul to him, instructing him to give him the freedom of the vessel for the day. Evidently Admiral Blake interpreted the president’s words liberally; he intended to treat the young man, whose eccentricities he condoned out of the memory of his own youth, more aB a guest than as an enlisted sailor. So Paul left him, and, leaning over the taffrail of the deck below, he presently felt the flagship begin to thrill as her engines started, and saw the gaunt shore of the Pyloffs widen, bend and converge into a reefstrewn, bottle-necked passage beyond which gleamed the calm waters of a magnificent roadstead. They followed in line like stately swans, the vessels of the fleet, their white sides cleaving the opaque waters, the smoke belching from their funnels. Ship after ship followed the Virginia, with not the smallest deviation from her course. The flagship crossed the entrance, leaping beyond the white foam blown back from the jagged rocks on either side of her—crossed safely and threaded her way slowly up the narrow strait. Paul estimated that at the slow speed which the flagship set it-would take about twenty minutes before she reached the critical point, two and a half miles ahead, where a series of swirling eddies Indicated the presence of a barrier of submerged reefs. Looking back he saw that the last ship was entering the passage. She would be well within the strait when the disaster happened; bereft of the flagship’s guidance, even the hindmost could not hope to thread the route to safety again. And a shudder that he could not suppress passed.over him as he realized the fate of all those men, tossed Into the icy, rock-strewn currents of- the Pyloff shores. If any escaped it would be but to die of exposure on those inhospitable shore#. He, top, was fated to die. But he thought little of his own imminent danger. Life had no further .charm for him. He could perhaps have lived without Clothilde, had be been parted by Insurmountable reasons of state, or even by the fact of her fickleness. It was the revelation of her nature that r had appalled him; the treachery with which she sought to bind him to play a traitor’s part by a promise made only to be forgotten. The ship was almost among the rapids now; he could tell, expert sailor that he was, how narrow was the course, from the constant oscillations as the pilot strove with the vessel, making it answer his lightest movement of the wheel. An inch—an inch —now to port, now to starboard; the danger was almost pqst. Was it not here? He braced himself to ffieet it His senses warned him of it an Instant before it came. Then, with a mighty roar, the war ters seemed to be rent asunder. Paul looked down through the brown depths that opened, down through the swirling whirlpools, through the foamtipped rapids to the bare ground that seemed to be Where there had been water there was dry land; then a mighty flood swept forward, a tidal bore, dissolving land and rocks, and the ship leaped and rolled and spun .dizzily, careening now with her bows submerged, so that the water washed the bridge, now stern uppermost; now she was half under, toppling as though she would never emerge; now she had righted again and spun like a top through the surges. A wave dashed him from the taffrail and smothered him with its wash; he struggled and choked and gasped, and found himself huddled against the base of a funnel; another wave caught him and swept him along with all the human flotsam aboard. He bad a vision of twenty ships spinning like tops upon the surface of the sea. Then slowly things were righted; the vessel resumed her poise and rode the seas triumphantly. Paul opened his swimming eyes In amazement. Far-flung across a waste of waters rode the ships of the fleet, unscathed. But where the Pyloff Islands had been there Were now but a few bare peaks, emerging out of the face of the deep. The islands had disappeared; all vestige of the strait wad gone. Nothing but the unbroken see surrounded the ships of the Pacific squadron. Nature, as If in ridicule of man, had intervened to thwart his petty plana. The mighty force which badplucked' the Pyloffs from the depths of the ocean bad drawn them down, and treachery was discomfited and a na-

tion’s base designs frustrated. Paul felt for the "first time In all his adventures the sehse of an overshadowing presence which directed the scheme of human affairs; and, feeling this, he never wholly lost it again.