1938-03-14 — Page 22

Th&FIREFLY

alsey Rene

Copyright_\#37~Loew's Int.

What Han Hareaved Titus Fan! Nina Asara, “beautiful young singer, known as "The Brefly) la impolled by patriotic real to act as spy for the Spanish government." Evading handsome Don Diego, who has been paying court to her, she goes scorolly across the French bardor 10 Bayonne. Hers sho apain meots Diego, who has followed her; sho realises she loves him, but bega him not to asak out her company again until they are book in "Afadrid, She learns of Napoleon's plans to take King Ferdinand of Spain into custody, through á firtation with Major de Rouge- ment, one of Napoleon's aidos. Preparing to send a message of warning by carrier pignon, shu discovers that some counter-ipy han substituted another bird for her own. In desperation sho hastons to Diego's house. There, tohen she askë Diego to taka á message for her, she is inter- rupted by a member of the French Intelligence Service, who informs her that Dispa is really Captain Andro, of the Fronch Police.

Chapter Six

|ly, commanding him to bring a member of the Intelligence Servise. As the door opened to admit him, Nina saw that it was Don Diego! Thoy 'stared at each other. Diego fearfully realizing the cause of his own presença there. Ordered to do. codo the message, bo compiled.

"Vorify this map and return. W wiit attack on the twenty-first,” wnd" the mensago,

Commanding that Nins ho placed under arreal, do Rougement swung, (into action. The little onet Nina used' I was rannacked, and n carrier plącon discovered. Diego was ordered to [send a-roply in the same code, jstating that these were indeed the French positions, Thon dạ Rouge- ment ordered all French iinen 10 ba changed. He was well plonsed withi this stroke of strategy. Now let the Spanish and Engiisli attack empty positions!

As he watched the pigeon mal- ing is way straight Loward the English lines, a sudden resolve

came to Diego. He made his way hurriedly to the low building trans- formed into a temporary Jail.

"I'm going in to speak to the prisoner," he said to the guard, who looked at him curiously.

Nina's heart bent wildly as the door opened. She was willing to die ...but a moment of panic overenmo her pa ako realized the time might bo near. Whoo abe onw it was Diego, she managed; to gain com- ploto control of hersolf. She looked at him, couly, defiantly. Diego spoko gently.

"I have only a moment. I had to speak to you alone."

"Why?" "Nina demanded. "You've dune your duty. Your conselence in clear."

Nina know that her mission to save Bpain was now ended; but this realization was overshadowed by the stunning shock of Don, Diego'a trtio position. He belonged to France, to the enemy country.......... Hor one chance was that through aheer bravado, she could pass off the codo message in her possession "My conscience?" Diego Daid na harmlesY.

[**] quietly. “As if I cared about my "I don't know what you're talkigg|conscience! All these youre I've about," she told St. Claire, as he dreamed of you. Of the time whon! started to read the parchment ke this terrible war would be over." Haj

broke off, unable to continue for a

had taken from her.

"I have only a moment.

alone."

I had to speak to you

finally said. "Didn't you know you'd be recognized? That it meant death if you wore caught?"

At that moment, a great booming of cannon resounded. The battle had startedl

"Reserve one table alone...pider | moment. "Why did you do thin?" ba Oke flaming omelette. F'. be with you tomorrow." The officer, reading aloud, knitted his brows. He could not hold her on the strength of this. "You have till nine o'clock to love the country," he said grimly, Nina drew her lips together. Hold- ing her head high, she left the room. She caught just a feeling glimpse of Don Diego's tortured face as she passed him .ee

Napoleon's coup d'etat wAS SUUCIJU ful. Within a tortnight his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, had been instal led an Spanish ruler in place of the lawful Ferdinand.

The people were bitterly resent ful. When the now monarch ar rived in Madrid he was greeted with brooding allenco in some quar iers, opon insulta la others.

The aftermath was inevitable. A stray shot...retallation by a French soldier...open rebellion.. brutality

.. massacre...and a fierce do fonso by the tremendously outnum bered loyal Spaniards. The only hope, it appeared, was Wellington and his English army,

Nina, trying ineffectually to ban- leh Don Diego from her islnd, had been living for the day when sho could once again be of some service to her stricken land. The moment was here at last. Garbing herself in the carefron gypsy ralment of the Basque country, sho stole norons the border to Frerich headquarters in

vittoria.

Seated with some other dancers bos'le a campfire, on the outskirts of the town, hor heart began to pound wildly as she caught sight of

Nina's face suddenly ligbled up with hope. "The battle for Vittorin," she said in a low voico.

Diego was puzzled by the tone she had adopted Another burst of can- non came, this time rauch closer.

"Something'a wrong" Diego unid, quickly stepping to the window. "They're not attacking the center." "We never intended to attack through the center,” answered! Nina, "But we wanted to make you think that we were going to do so that you would weaken your wide positions. That's why I came up here with that map. I wanted to be caught. My orders wore to be dis covered with that map. But nover send it. We left that 'strategy' for you"

tbo

Gradually Diego grasped meaning of her words.

"You mean -- that carrier pigeon they know wo were the ones who sent 17"

"Yes!"

Diego called for the guard and rushed from the cell, Nina's taunt- ing laugh followed him.

The next moment she realized he might have rushed to his death: Ho was running toward the bridge. When he reached it, a abell struck. Aa Nina watched, horriflad, he' pitched to the ground. She scream- cd, calling his name again and

gain.

The battle wan soon over. Thanks

who finally found Nina in her call, safe but alony-eyed, Am14 great choors, she was led from the fall.

do Rougement (now wearing the to Nina's bravery, the Branch had' Inalgain of a general). It so, did he boon fooled into changing their know her roal identity? Would be strong position for a much weaker recognito har? Bho ross and began one. it was the Marquis himself to wave back and forward in a provocativa bucolle dance.

De Rougemont halted his horse.

The courtyard had been turned He watched the group. His puzzled eyes were fixed on Nian. As Nine into a first-aid station. Nina looked began to elog, his face lighted up. around desperately. Her eyes went He gave a torse, whispered com swiftly from man to man. He was mand to an adjutant, then rode off. #one...no...in a corner she BLW The orderly hurried over to Nino, Diego lying on a bed of straw, lany- who stood walling, ball in exaltally bandaged about the arm, chest

and shoulders. Bbo rushed to him. Uon, half in dread.

ho said..

Hi oyes were closed, his faco Come to the general's roomie," turned from her. She took his hand, De Rougement was overjoyed to murmuring softly, almost in a

whisper:

"I'm here, Diego, I'm hore.”

Diego's eyes opened. For a brief moment, he stared; then his face lighted up. "Giannin)," he whispor ed. "Don't leave.me... don't go."

208 her, und Nina pretended to be elated at the reunion, As he turned for a moment to dismiss the at- tendant, Nina ripped open the band of her coat collar, taking from there a small piece of paper. Turning, da Rougement saw her and sternly ho "I won't. I won't... ever,” Nina demanded the paper. It wta a soap, | gald, kneeling to kiss him. obviously of the French llasst

De Rourement recalled the order-]

THE END.

COUNT THE

"TELEGRAPHS"

EVERYWHERE

THE HONGKONG, TELEGRAPH.

MARCH

1938.

"Bloodiest Struggle In History" Recalled By Anniversary

JAPANESE VICTORY

IN MUKDEN

BATTLE

"Towns

By W.G.G.

without people, ten

tines took

And ten times left, and burned

at last.

And starving dogs that came to

Look,

For owners when the column

passed."

4

fusion and an unnamed dread rested on all, intensified by the strange and ominous darkness.

That evening the gates of Mukden were not shui,·lest-some-straggler should spend the night in the outer darkness in which anything could happen. And within the walls the entire population was hypnotised with terror.

Leader Outwitted

SLAUGHTER

THAT KNOWS NO EQUAL

their

supplies,

During the night the wind in- ereased to gule force and moaned across the Manchurian plains. It

sluns, so far from was as the groaning of the spirits were short of munitions. One course of the slaughtered.

alone was possible. Kuropatkin took it. On the evening of March 19

"A sound

As of the...trailing skirts of hegan the roliroment.

Destiny:

Passing unseen to some Immill.

Probably the greatest victory in the whole of that war was the mastered

goble end With her grey henchman-Death." agony of that munitionless retreat At midnight under the protection of the Russian forces, who two days before were confident of victory. But of that gale of dust, the Japanese the stars in their courses had fought crossed the Sha-ho and the main against Sisera."

army moved from the centre to join

The Japanese, following Oyama, the forces of Nodzu in the South, entered Mukden. The Russo-Japan- Here the altocic Was prepared. Kuropatkin, who expected it from ese War was over.

Statistics of the slaughter vary, the centre and had his armies drawn Thursday was the great festival of up in readiness, was to be out but it would seem that those nearest

the to real estimate are: Japanese, the Japanese Army. Since 1005 this witted. day has been observed as "Army At daybreak the Japanese ad- 47,152 killed, 11,424 died of wounds, of disease. The last Commemoration Day," with great vanced and then began that "blood- 21,002 died religious and military rites, as a jest struggle in history." Like demons figures are signiücant as indicating thanksgiving for victory at the Battle who saw in the skies the beckoning the effect of rotting bodies outside These figures were com- of Mukden,

faces of their ancestors the Japanese Mukden. When the Japanese army entered fought, hacked their way through piled by the Statistical Bureau of the

Japanese Army. The Russian esti that city, in 1905, the Russo-Japan- masses of flesh and blood.

The Cossacks on their horses mate of their losses at the Battle of ese war ended. To-day, in count- dashed as "piercing knives of hell" Mukden was 45,700 killed and 110,000 less shrines and temples, soldiers in in and

out

of the Japanese ranks, died of wounds and disease.

This is the victory and the trl- full military dress will render thanks It was camage described later by to Kojin Sama, the God of War, and the brilliant Japanese Chief of Staff, umphal entry Into Mukden that the ancestral spirits. The High General Kodama, 115 "an awful Japan will celebrate to-day. Command whil attend Yusakuni slaughter that soaked the ground

For following weeks the plain be- Shrine

at Toranomon, Tokyo.

fore Mukden became one great fune- with blood." Sir Ian Hamliton has said that the At least 250,000 men were fighting ral pyre, where the bodies of the Battle of Mukden (the World War hand to hond. Even Tamerlane, who fallen Japanese were burned, while rotwithstanding) was "the bloodiest built in Asia his pyramid of 70,000 throughout Japan there was the un- struggle in history." Certainly there human skulls, might well have shud- ending roll of funeral drums as the the have been battles where more com- dered at this landscape splashed with countless rickshaws followed batants took the field, but for de- blood.

ashes of the brave to their resting moniacal figliting and carnage his-

But it did not last long. The Rus- places. tory can record no equa).

Russian

Retreat

The words of Admiral Togo to the flect that stormed Port Arthur in 1904 became the battle-cry of the great host that was landed on the mainland of Asia and explains the ferocity of the fighting. Those words

were the enemy is ahead. Advance

and slaughter him. If you should dic, then a ready welcome awaits you among your ancestors." Fired with this assurance of glory, whether winning or losing, the Jap

into Manchuria. anese advanced They swept in triumph everywhere. The advanced host of the Russians retreated, leaving half-empty towns They for the Japanese to infest. were falling back on Mukden.

From February 19 to March 10 a series of battles took place on a great curve, 100 miles in extent, the centre passing in front of the town of Mukden. It is stated that at times half a million men were en- gaged and at no time were there less than a quarter of a million in the field.

The Japanese sought to hasten Bre-issue as they had constant sup- plies of new troops coming up. The Russians, on the other hand, so far from their base and connected with il by a single line of rail, endeavoured to delay the decisive struggle until a large reinforcing army arrived. This would not arrive for at least three weeks. Meanwhile Kuropatkin fought with strategy and cunning.

False Confidence

Till March 9, the vantage was on the side of the Russluns. So con- Adent were they that, relying on the arrival of the Baltic Fleet, they had actually named the day when they would march In triumph through Tokyo. Thine after time the Japanese armics mushed themselves against the Russian wall, which proved ad- amant. It refused

yield,

At the northern end of the curve the Japanese under Kuroki followed attack by attack, the advancing army marching over the bodies of those slaughtered in the preceding bottle. But

never an inch was given without Kreat losses. In the extreme south the Japanese General Nodzu tried en- circling lactles, but he was no more successful. Eventually he retreated to the river Sha-ho, and there was temporary qulet in the south.

The centre, where the main army was held in reserve ander Oyama, leader of the campaign, and his bril- lant Chief of Staff, Kedama, was watched day and night by Russlan scouts, for Kuropatkin expected the greatest attempt to be made there. He had assembled his Cossack cav. ulry ready to meet this advance,

That it was not made bewlidered him, although it fitted in well with the strategy he himself was relying on the arrival of the fresh Russian Nimy.

"Heaven's Vengeance"

On the afternoon of March D, the unexpected happened. A strong wind spring up from the south, and e blinding dust storm enveloped Manchuria. A British wag corres- pondent in Mukden declared that the dust was so thick that it darkened all the land, and from the window of his hotel a wall 18 feet away was not visible. The Chinese residents of the city became panic-stricken, and cried out "Surely Heaven is on the side of the Japanese,"

Into the city poured the affrighted country people, who saw in tho storm a vengeance from Heaven. Along the old stone streets rumbled all that afternoon and evening farm carts of overy description, drawn, by horses, mules, and cows,

Men walked one after the other with poles on their shoulders from which were suspended all their worldly belongings... Women with children in their arms sought refuts In corners and wherever a silent spot

ENYK

LINE

TELEPHONE 30291.

(t Cargo only)

San Francisco via Japan Ports & Honolulu.

Tatsuta Maru (From Kome) Tues, 22nd March Tĺtibu Maru

Sat., 9th Apr.

Seattle & Vancouver (Starts from Kobe).

Helan Maru

New York via Panama.

+Kelyo Maru

..Mon., 14th March

Sat., 9th Apr.

South America (West Coast) via Japan, Honolulu.

Hilo, Los Angeles, Mexico & Panama,

Holyo Maru (From Hongkong) Mon., 14th March London, Marseillos, Antwerp & Rotterdam.

Terukuni Maru

................. Fri., 25th March Liverpool via Port Sald, Beyrouth, Istanbul, Piraeus,

and Marseilles.

Sydney & Melbourne via Manila & Ports.

Atsuta Maru

...Sat, 26th March *Neptuna (Via Saigon & Ports) Wed., 16th March Bombay via Singapore, Penang & Colombo. Calcutta via Singapore, Penang & Rangoon, Kobo & Yokohama. (Omitting Shanghai)

Kitano Maru

........ Fri., 18th March Conoral Passenger Agents in the Orient for the CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE.

*Joint Passenger Agents for Gibb Livington Co.

BARBER-WILHELMSEN LINE

·

MONTHLY SERVICE

To

NEW YORK

Via LOS ANGELES & PANAMA CANAL FORTS.

NEXT SAILING

M. V. "TAI SHAN"

on 18th March

⚫ (Calling Shanghai)

Excellent accommodation for 12 passengers

DODWELL & CO., LTD.

Invited. Children roamed about the Hong Bank Bldg.

streets hungry and uncared for, con-

Agents

Telaphona 28021

$1 TIFFINS

Jimmy's

Also A la Carte

China Bldg., Hongkong.

Hankow Rd., Kowloon.

CANADIAN PACIFIC

STEAMSHIPS - HOTELS -

RAILWAYS - EXPRESS

TO MANILA

EMPRESS OF JAPAN

„Fri. Mar. 25.

TO CANADA, UNITED STATES and EUROPE

vis Shanghai, Kobe & Yokobanıs EMPRESS OF RUSSIA

..7.00.a.m. Fri., Mar, 18. EMPRESS OF JAPAN via Honolulu ........Noon, Fri., Apr. 1 EMPRESS OF ASIA

....7.00 am, Prk, Apr. 15.

Air-conditioned equipment on CPR Trans-Continental Trains. Frequent Canadian Pacific Atlantio sailings to European Ports.

MAKE BOOKINGS FOR 1938 EARLY-to enture desirable accommodation.

Canadian Pacific

Telephone

70752

CROSSWORDS

Union

Muilding

OUR BRITISH

ACROSS

1 Has this animal only one arm?

(0).

4 One might make a hash of him

(4).

7 is in military array, this ideal place-but the soldier will not

ree! (8).

8

It might be sunlit (8).

10 The pith of this roll is in the

middle

(8).

13 French town (d),

14 This Spaniard has his head

concealed (7).

15

Where

-

there's fired material and mineral it is solid under- Loot (8).

18 Following with an

should

fit well (7)..

end that

19 It's a wonderful thing to ruin

half a good material (8).

20 This makes things dull (7), 25 Consume (8)

20 This may tank the entrance to

the field (8)..

27 It is seen to terminate an ex- tart feature, but springs from a legend cartier (6).

28 Complicated, and has a tricky

finish (3).

29 Fruit (4).

30 Contalis a common vehicle, but is by no means common (0). DOWN

1 A light deception (0),

2 An edible root (6).

3 Used to change, but very much

put out (8).

5 The greater part of it is last,

but so is all of it (8).

6 There's some use in this species

of burglar alarm (two words--

5, 3).

7 Hend or tail of 18 down may

be drunk (4). Given a trial (6),

11 Existing only in name (7).

12 I do wrong in rowdy be- haviour, but it is not depressing (7).

13 Not in favour, but thero's pro-

ft in it (7);

10 Useful device to Cover that

doubtful spelling (4),

17 This is supplied with a Latin

poet included (8).

18 Bad tempered (8).

21 The kind of metre given to us by William Bickerstaffe (0), 22 Is this fellow loclined to bully?

(0),

23 Capacity for a book (8).

24 This makes a nod better than

a wink (4).

Saturday's Bolution. POSTBC R.1 PT 8 TOP UPA■ELPRB|

PER IL PLATITUDE A ELLE UTBY MARYLAND TOBTI

6 DETECHIATO

PRIMATE TONNEAU

ENBOX** S

ENGLAND PREVA

HABIT RESOLUTE

LAOMTON E EXTRICATE CHEAP sH BN RUB I 8.TEW STONEMASON

COPIES OF

PHOTOGRAPHS

by "Staff Photographer" appearing in the

"SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST"

and

"THE HONGKONG : TELEGRAPH” may be purchased

the Busl Office

Morning