THE VALE OF ARAGON ‘By FRED McLAUGHLIN v Author of “The Blade of Picardy” v Copyright by Bobba-Merrill Co, {(WNU Bervice.) THE STORY city of 1821, old At New nightfall, In the Orleans, in the Year Loren Garde, recently an officer under General Jackson, Is aur prised by the appearance of three figures, in ancient Spanish tume, two men and a woman whose beauty enchants him. Re senting the arrogance of the elder of the two Garde fights a duel with with swords, and won CON men, ws CHAPTER I—Continued wnt — cirele had closed In who of The gathering to attend the wounded man, I judged from the volume his groans—had not received a mortal thrust “Who is his majesty, Senor?” 1 asked “Adolfo Spanish army under La ‘I -L) in the who is de Fuentes, colonel orre, governor of Vene “Then you g¢ zuela?’ efor a huge warn heah shouldered FLes dey come! A narrow fed it with gens dar wait, whil I foun clasp fo the Senorit “Assuredly, “Then—adios.” “Adios, and | turned the curious moon-wraith™ he whispered around and broke thre crowd Two of path in the che and over the evade barred (ine armed lid rfOrm Ee a periori other point-bl which the gen Now and gav of silet roared eastware into Rue deeper passed v a knew, concealed uaint mansions and beautiful As I ran I kept an eye searching an ads to nti ion enlitious one of the street itself offered no refuge vy, a grilled g my touch, led had ited in 1 ¢ a8 SOUnas of low | to i wa arch so to stone head enter Ys 1 SHA ad the the of in chase had had a char ing events of this mad nigh i fancy 1 heard again the musie of the woman's laugh, and | hands that sel upon her b that cry of * "Dolfo beat consciousness, and a of fool took sion of me, ce to view the slin sw n pres [Om le spairnng my trembling mio” fit fret into izh POSREeY the of to the light that street, hut I started for oval showed the wi stopped when figures, turning in from the paved walk, blocked the passage 1 heard the rasping scratch of a key in the lock of the iron gate and re warily, seeking the friendly shades as four men advanced upon me along the gloomy passage, I came, anon, to a tiny courtyard, in the middle of which a table stood, bearing glasses, silver and a decanter or two, Over the table swung a huge brass lamp, yet the light it furnished was hardly brighter than that of the brilliant moon, 1 knew, of course, that the house would afford me no safety, so I flattened my tall body in a narrow, protecting apse in the brick wall that made up wo sides of the courtyard. Standing straight and mo- fonless, In grotesque mimicry of some saint who had doubtless occupied this space in time long past, 1 held my breath as the four figures went by. One was a swarthy, heavy-bodled brute who seemed to have the look of the sea about him: another had the square shoulders and the alert man- ner of a soldier: while the third was evidently a merchant and a man of means, for his manner and the sleek smoothness of his well-nourished fig. ure held the complacency of mental and physical ease, The fourth man gained, and contin. ued to hold my closest attention, There was latent power ia the poise of his lithe body, a look of the eagle In me treated his eve, a rich resonance in the com- manding tones of his voice, The suave host filled four glasses with an amber fluld and, proffering one to each of his guests with a light laugh, said: “This garden is ours, Senores, where flowers of intrigue may bloom in safety. Therefore, Francisco mio—" He bowed to him of the com- manding poise, Whereupon Francisco raised his glass. “To Simon Bolivar,” he sald, his deep vibrant voice intoning a sort of benediction, “the Liberator of our people!” They drank reverent slowly, standing, and after a murmured, “Yiva, viva,” and again, “Viva!” Simon Bolivar? I had heard of him: who hadn't, Already they were ealling him the George Washington of Sonth this amazing soldier, statesman and patriot who, when only a vouth, had plumbed the depths of despair in the loss of a youRg and benutiful vide, and had devoted his life thereafter to the service of his mother country, Venezuela. I gasped, and held my breath again for fear they would discover me, Nothing but the gloom of the apse hid me; % I forward one yard I should have come within the glowing eircle of the lamp and the silver light of the moon that fitered through the foliage. So 1 continued the Imitation of a saint while the men finished three bottles of Latour's best, It loosened their that the of this midnight meeting stood revealed o me. 1 was aghast, for, although this new republic of the United States might have a very tender feeling and a definite sympathy for the struggling South American colonies, 1 knew it would not countenance a revolutionary its boundaries, all the complacent merchant, “Wit of silence, Amerie: stepped fOngues so purpose ' { ita within “It was too easy, Senores”™ Diego was speaking in the long, carefully iste coils tobacco are guns; tw Long Arm Came Down Swiftly. the kegs ship will in i the «s than tobac it will explod One barrel corn has Hons knives of and my tor wy Kus mouth. t nature art to be a leader, I felt the of his cold over of his wine glass, "How Irie he asked then, other saint in the place re ong for Kan Isidro? He had found me; of his had run, and if the house, in my 134] wn whom the edge eves long since dear “have you put an served so | those sharp eves Should 1 There was only ha me out! sought SO, W here? and the yall too high for unassisted seal garden surrounded Should 1 offer resistance to these wn, three of whom were doubt. or should 1 surrender It seemed certain that the had acquired concerning their intent would be my death warrant: they could not let me go and then continue further with their plan of revolution. While 1 considered thus Diego an swered: “1 have put no saint in the place reserved for San Isidro; you Jest, amigo.” “Sinner or saint, Diego mio,” Fran- cisco insisted, “there is a figure in the less armed, peaceably? knowledge 1 apse. The figure Is taller by a shou! der than San Isidro, and he is garbed a8 the modern dandy of New Orleans His hair, too, is not the dark hair of the Mexican patron, but light,” He laughed shortly, and came to his feet “He is an American saint, Diego which is strange, for I had always be lieved that the pagan Americano had no saints." He must have had the eyes of n lynx, and in hig volce lay murder. As the swarthy sailor came toward mj hiding place, the soldier drew a gleam ing pistol, “Not here—rnot in here!” Diego eried, “You eannot kill a man in my garden, Take him-—take him alive and him to the river, Drown him, but do not shoot him in my gar den!” Senor Sailor, his bloodshot ey staring stupidly, thrust his dark face within range of my fist, and I swung swiftly. It eaught him fair upon the point of a heavy chin. Tumbling backward, he fell with sharp violence against table, which overturned with a resounding crash of glass catching the soldier in its fall, pre tipitating him to his hands and knees The fighting blood of my sturdy Norse father raced shrough my veins filling me with the lust for battle, 1] out of my retreat and, striking found the soft face of Diego which my fist sank sufficiently He went down heavily the ment the courtyard Madness seized me again, and 1 langhed adoud The was up again, 1 took his upon the and him all 1 had with straight right, then 1 turned the adversary, Francisco, long arm came down swiftly, and =» in his hand struck my unpro tected head. The trees and the hang move 0s the shot wildly, into to pave of soldier glancing blow gave but HISL pistol S60 1 groped blindly, flagstones, CHAPTER II The Santa Lucrecia in a land of dreams where formle fi typ figures ard naved cabin ap A be there wn 1 2 1 Rane over me own ar my was closes] jarger by far wl a crooked Wry wil face™ 1 asked returned grin Now bent Oy n the gar er drop such could a mome though nt. “You you love to though sometimes, it iz he blood of my f ia had a thousand * he said. and the flam burned in his independence found nothing to say went on, deep anxiety “In your spoke often to ‘Her Mai shining ever “she out in HNCONSCILOUNeSK, Seems (0 possess and purple moonlight in ‘an we have made so vast the t« head, 1 lnughed again, "The majesty, of the lady of ms dreams, lies only in her beauty; I saw her coming from a bal masque, and she was garbed as a queen, You have taken no prince incognito-—only an American who has spent one mad night.” 1 knew that they would have killed me after our fight if they had intended to kill me at all, so I as sumed that, for the present at least, I was safe. “Where do we go, Fran cisco, and what, may [I ask, are your plans concerning me?” (TO BE CONTINUED.) riure of my and in feed spite of wou laughed groaned, and Senor, Buttons Now Obsolete luttons placed on the underside of men's coat sleeves, says a correspond. ent of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, were there to fasten the long lace cuffs while the wearers rode horse back or had occasion {0 reach across the table for another helping of jour ney cakes, better known as johnny cakes. For similar rejssons, namely to fasten up the lace, butions were placed along the sides of Knee breeches to facilitate ease In horse. back riding. Buttons placed in the generu! vielnity of the small of the back on couts were there to fasten the cont tails while horseback riding, Throughout Connecticut there are still to he found seme of these old Colonial nnsisnin Once Did Real Service conts and knee breeches with the lace and coatdanil buttons still intact. 1 have seen cont tails made with but ton beantifully sewn. This bears the coat-tail button theory, and 1 have also seen beautiful lace culls with adequate buttonholes worked in, 1 have not seen knee breeches lace with buttonholes worked In, but it Is quite logical to believe that such lace ogists or existed, holes, out We Knew It! A correspondent writes that a tensor is that part of a quaternion that alters the length of a vector, We had suspected it right along.-Minne- apola Journal urrent Hearing all the looked on interest HILE world Ww with anxious Germany was plunged into a financial crisis that threatened the country wi economic collapse and ith uniter made possible even the subversion of the government. Delay in of Hoover moratori France had in the withdrawal o from the German banks, conversion funds Into and its removal from accept ance George W. McGarrah YARL su resulted { ns the of these foreign currency the eountry. he und primarily e of heavy tained the failu many's largest wool-combing concern Dr. Hans Lut lent of the telchsbank, wd from Berlin to Paris, seek Londo thence to Darmstaedter its losses sus Lig National bank closed doors, becan of Ger and French government refused to the Reichs would regarded agree Hans Luther the Ger conferen iy and Sur ite from other nations bel tior Bruenir Foreign Mi feign Serre ry reaon of Germany Fi of Eng ¥ po | hy the Britis) govern To represent the United States latter President Hoover de i Stimson and Mel retaries understood they would with and Mr § lained that themselves wropenn polities, alrea had ernment could not participate in a loan any, that matter Pesting entirely with the federal reserve amd private banks, President Hoover kept in close touch with the German situation but it was the official view in Washing: ton that Germany must help herself by strong measures and that in the matter of outside assistance Europe must take the lead. Mr. Hoover took the position that in bringing about the moratorium he had done all that he legitimately and properly could do, France refuses to be abashed by the attacks on her apparent harshness toward Germany. She holds that ber demands are fully justified and that they tend to promote the cause of world disarmament and to assure se. curity for Europe In general and France in particular. Stimson ds Xl this gov- to Liern HARLES G. EDWARDS, Democrat, representative in congress of the First Goorgla distriet, died suddenly of cerebral hemmorhage in Atlanta, He was fifty-three years old and his hone was In Bavannah, Mr, Edwards death restores to two the Republican majority in the house, lle was the geventh member of that body to die since the election. The Republicans now have 215 members to 213 for the Democrats and one Farmer-Laborite. There are only six vacancies for that caused by the death of Aswell of Lou. i islana has been filled by the election of, another Democrat, John Overton. | NVESTIGATION was ordered by Sec- of Lamont charges made by Dr. Ray O. Hall ti from the artment for protesting against falsi- fication of the recently issued the “balance of international Hall, who prepared most of of the report, alleged figures were jug- gied and deletions made to suit “politi cal expediency.” He sald particularly that a comment to the effect that im- pending tariff legislation possibly was in part for imports holding up relatively well first half of tted in the publica. Commerce he had been dismissed de report on pay- ments.” merchandise dur. f the fiscal year responsible ine the ing the to he said, was of ship- quantities of nt he endeavored and wi viis that, oi 8 had ich, in rates later, sent greater anticipation foreign this country during the first fiscal year than otherwise sn the case, I AILWA Y official rsa dropped 20 per cen are down 1o re i it rates are rel; iny products taxes and road 3 to the cons CORR farmer