The Coleridge Blade from Coleridge, Nebraska • 6

Safe at Second of PICARDY CHAPTER I rfiivi The As epee The safe at Frankie Zoeller takes a flying leap to elude Johnny Jones shortstop who is attempting to tag him out Both are members of the Atlanta Crackers Photograph was made during a practice game Psychology Is Seen in Yankee Contests Inability to beat New York has been Philadelphia's greatest handicap In the last two years Grove invincible against six teams in the Americas league wilts before the attack of the Yankees Grove lost eight games last season and he lost six of them to New York He is a fast ball pitcher and New York is a fast ball hitting team If Grove overcomes the New York hoodoo Philadelphia will have a better chance of winning There is considerable psychology involved and psychology Is hard to beat In baseball or anywhere else in sports for that matter Cubs Using Pitcher to Imitate Enemy in Game Henry Grampp is a fixture on the Chicago pitching staff yet he never pitches a game He is the only major league baseball player who Is neither a regular nor a substitute Nor is he a bat boy batting is title While other big league clubs rotate that job among regular and relief twirlers the Cubs employ Grampp almost exclusively in that role For three reasons Grampp has held his job working every day His favorite stunt is to Imitate the opposing pitcher for the day If Alexander is hurling for the Cardinals Grampp will throw as Alex does If Carl Mayes is pitching for the Reds Hank will feed underhand tosses to Cub batters Grampp finishes his labors before his mates start to earn their pay By three of any afternoon he is washed up for the box score never Includes his name VD1AMDNDY APICK-UPSA of me I could not picture this womai with the face of an angel dealing tn murder I could not Imagine her In any sort of Intrigue yet the evidence lay all against he 1 steeled myself for an ordeal Gascon merely Jests said I you and be should have spoken of me at all puts me deeply in your debt a debt that 1 find myself III prepared to rfr pay for 1 come to you on an official me a message from his majesty a Her face went white for an Instant and the slim shoulders drooped can what can Maxi milian want with she faltered "Better that he should deliver tt senorita" encouraged Cupido Lestrange Lestrange would have gone to your house with a squad of soldiers while Captain Francois She reached out a hand for the summons a hand that trembled a little To have given It up there would have meant the loss ot my rendezvous a message from his mujesty senorita be delivered thus on a public The sweet eyes hardened and the tender childish curves around her mouth took on an iron rigidity Even the music went out of her voice: an alley would more fittingly meet the methods of your em have no reason senorita to love his majesty for he has done you an evil turn yet it seems father she broke tn passionately a good patriot and a man greatly beloved In Mexico He had put no obstacle in tlie way of Maximilian yet charges were brought against him charges which could not because of their inherent falsity have been proved but they found him and shot him Must 1 love him for any said 1 wrongs are committed I believe that his majesty does not approve popularity of Maximilian has been lost because of promiscuous she said ambition had not blinded him he should have seen if long ago He is done in Mexico and when the great trial comes he will find the world against him Some day senor Maximilian will face a firing thing beyond my powers of 1 answered am serving him and France opinions are not for me If I may tie permitted to deliver this summons to you at your home The smile she gave me had much in it besides a courteous acquiescence 1 wondered If she were visualizing that duelist cousin of hers and I hoped in my heart that she was "If it is your desire Captain Vigny you may come MA flOOSSL ByAed McLaughlin Copyrlfht by i The Bobba-MerrlU Co 2 XT Service President who has put up so stub bom a resistance against the gasped Lestrange be promised me Immunity and honors when Mexico shall have woo Its Independence from Maximilian and the power of Franca 1 fold him that 1 served one master and that master is course" said Neville "go Cupido continued: be swore a great and potent oath one of the kind that must have been brewing for centuries and he built around me a living wall of steel Such swords mansblp was a thing beyond my dreams 1 was a helpless babe before him and I think La Anita must have been touched either by the worship she had seen in my eyes or by my helplessness before this modem Bayard for she cried out as his rapier stung my said ts as tail as you are Monsieur le Comte his shoulders are as broad and his body Is even more powerfully muscled Ue possesses a wrist ot steel the movements of his body have the quickness of a cat and the facll Ity of his swordsmanship is second not even to thine own moo cap! talne" said 1 with some heat for he had touched me on a tender and knew IL op portunity will offer whereby a test shall be made to find out which of as Is the Inferior blade You and Duroc and Bescancon and Leroux have failed It is high time that some man of France shall prick this paragon who secures himself behind the skirts of a lady Perhaps the Blade of Picardy wouldn't" cried Neville Is Just because of the emperor that I said 1 life Is enough to sacrifice If this men ace to his security may be removed I continued fear me that the charms have blinded the eyes of our courageous Gascon and have brought a palsy to his very efficient as her charms might also mon caplfnlne" Jeered Cupido thine own and bring a palsy to that dexterous wrist ot "Her charms strait have that chance" I boasted shajj make Sixteen-Year-Old Girl Successor to Suzanne Mile Leila Anet aged sixteen is being hailed as the tennis player capable of filling the vacancy left by Suzanne Lenglen the former amateur tennis champion Suzanne admits that she expects to marry Baldwin Baldwin of California and that even now her tennis days are over Mile Anet has been playing tennis ever since she was strong enough to hold a racquet and scoring victories over older adversaries since she was thirteen years old She is the daughter of Claude Anet well-known author He fully sympathizes with her ambition to become a court star and gives her the benefit of his amateur success just as the late Lenglen trained Suzanne Mile Anet attracted little attention by her early successes but experts began to talk about her as the new hope when she recently won the eri-terium de lawn tennis in a sensational victory over Mile Adamoff an Armenian star She is playing regularly in Paris and on the Riviera Yale Grid Captain 1 born In my own brain came from that of Colonel bis majesty leans entirely apon Colonel said Neville most able vowed Lea trange the emperor makes no mistake In the faith he puts tn him A brilliant far-sighted I arose and extended a hand to Lestrange will relieve you monsieur of the unpleasant and possibly dangerous task of presenting that summons to the fair Anita (t offers me entree It gives me every opior tunity I require to cross swords with Monsieur Lestrange grinning drew the heavy folded paper from a pocket and handed It to me owe you a drink Monsieur le Comte for relieving me of a thankless errand After you have delivered to the lovely la Anita the summons for her appearance before the emperor you are free to pursue any mad venture that your quixotic temperament may lead yon Into Monsieur te Capitaine but until that summons is delivered you are on his "Trust said I you will comes breathed Cupido He got to his feet In unseemly haste stepped quickly to the curb and waited cap In hand She sat with an elderly lady in a graceful open barouche drawn by two magnificent bays and driven by a broad-shouldered mozo whose dnrfe face held the stony Impassivity of the Sphinx The Gascon at the curb turned and winked an eye at me said Lestrange I looked at Neville who shook his head Monsieur Bayard has finished with he said with a smile will take him your chance will never said I stepping from the curb and approaching tlie carriage which dory-like with every move of the occupants your shoulder she said Her rich musical voice carried a note of genuine anxiety Cupido gulped Truly the Gascon carries his heart upon his sleeve I think I have never seen a face so exquisitely lovely nor a form more graciously fashioned Tlie clear olive of her skin seemed almost transpar ent Her lashes were long and black and her full red lips belied the thin high arch of eyebrows Hers was a face of contrasts for the Gascon had rightly termed her steel and Some of his mad worship fired mv brain of he had said a Well! Beau tiful? Of a truth she was beautiful And believe me I have seen beauty in women for the courts of Vienna and of Paris know me well voice came to me from a vague and misty distance I heard only a portion of what he was say Ing: to present my best friend le Comte de Vigny Captain I caught the slim fingers raised them awkwardly to eager lips and I found myself as In a dream to the music of her voice The very air seemed suddenly charged with new and spiritual glory life all at once became very much worth while I whispered unconscious of the fact that I was speaking dark Bed lips parted in a smile and a light danced in tlie deep amber eyes the Lorelei were fair Is It not so senor?" Cupido looked at me tn blank amazement He touched my elbow Senorita Arrellanos mon he repeated for deaf and dumb and blind to all the world save La Anita 1 had not heard him at first I bowed and only a Frenchman Lorelei to said 1 at last blonde he Ideal is blonde Lorelei of Picardy and wavy a deep faintest hint of twi smoke" cried brightly She turned to Cap! is this the man is this the man and as agile as reputed to be able to consummate skill Is of the courts of deprecated blind me with the then while I you give me a mor you do but make weapons that God verily He has eyes sought mine half a minute and wnere slim while min" she Struggle for National League Pennant Narrow For several seasons it has been agreed and demonstrated that the struggle for the National league pennant lies among four teams with the other four merely in there to make possible a 154-game schedule and to fill up the second division berths New York Chicago St Louis and Pittsburgh are the actual pennant contenders Cincinnati Brooklyn Boston and Philadelphia will fit into their old grooves in the second division The American league despite the supremacy of the New Yankees has witnessed the rise and fall of a number of other clubs so that the first division is not all booked up like a tourist pullman until the season gets well under way Even the Yanks tumbled right down into seventh place when they ceased winning for a CHAPTER II The House of Arrellanos A boy opened the heavy iron gate and directed me to a narrow curving graveled walk that led to the house I swung the bronze knocker lustily and the dark sphinx-faced mozo let me in If he recognized me he gave Greene of Hunting-ton Pa who was elected captain of varsity football team for 1929 Green plays left guard and was the only player to be mentioned as Allgood Is Good and "hake of evening fell' we were wont to drag oar chairs and our tables out to the sidewalk in thf fared dI2UBui noidiK il'iis ol the Alameda and to build us a cor nrtTwWrWfcmTgumi1ee Here 4t lieutenant In majesty Maxi a Gascon lad of proved eour je whom we Stalled beou use of the 'nple sweetness of his beardless face Cupido Lieutenant Neville whose julders were broad whose black tSrfr lay dose against bis mas Le head whose voice was deep and title and whose smiling eyes were je and unafraid Captain Lestrange military aide to the heavy dark saturnine a coldly calculating mental machine of tremendous abil tty and lastly Alfred Francois count de Vigny by grace of the favot of In the French army of occupation In Mexico We were pawns we four in the empire-building game of Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte whose long arm had readied across the ocean to plain a bit of old France In the New world It proved to be a futile Ill-slurred gesture after all for tlie tliiril Napoleou should never have attempted that which tlie Hrst Napoleon had tried to do and failed Looking back now through perspective I find many things to regret and few for which to offer gratitude Habitually we drank too much temperamentally we talked too much Slid the Judgment ot maturer years tells me that our excesses added nothing to the prestige or to the popu larity ot Maximilian But the Frencb aie an arrogant race and Mexico seemed weak and helpless ai our feet So we whiled away the later afternoons the long twilights and ball the crisp cool nights And we either started or finished with the one sub ject that lay nearest us the only crosscurrent in the placid stream ot Maximilians reign in the historic city hut a cross-current so potent so fraught with menace that to disregard It longer would have beeD a piece of inexensnhip stupidity That crosscurrent we called La Anita Like Circe of old she had led men to their doom Of our own Crowe there were Besancon and leroux whi had called to pay their respects had followed the lure ot beauty foi the Frenchman will follow that lure for und bad disappeared as com pletely ns though some Aztec air god had carried them off There was Duroc oue ot Gascony's favored souls who hud gone to worship at the shrine of love und whose body we had found floating In the canal And now Cupido having brought hack a wounded shoulder from that muse of mystery balanced himself precariously with one foot on fie pavement and the other on a chair and voiced In wine-mellowed lones high laudation of this Lorelei ot said he a woman! All the 1 it tie grace of a panther is In the gestures of that exquisite tmiiy of hers site Is chilled Steel and fire site is deep glacial lake and laughing mountain rill she is dignity regal poise and sweet re serve Her eyes are a stiff and velvety limpid amber her hair has that mysterious smoky purplish brown of desert twilight and her lie waved a left arm in suddenly muted impotence we pray thee Lestrange laughed but it was a laugh ot tie lips only his eyes remained cold Steadfast murderous thrust from the lady's escort and he comes back to us with pean9 of praise of the charm upon his foolish lips" Lest range's saurian face hardened Know you not that many a Frencb officer has followed tlie lure of a lovely senoritn only to find a ren dezvous with death?" a grave ot glory" quoth Cupido the dreamer Ignoble life Besides she kissed me" "Did you ask her Cupido what has become of Besancon and of Leroux and hy what evil chance the body of Duroc found Its way into the canal a body with a sword thrust In the heart did she tell you what happened to those brave sons of France?" did answered Cupido did nof ask her Besides" he Con tinued and a dreamy look fell like a soft mantle Umn his smooth boyish face she kissed them they must have died happy" "It's murder" said Lestrange premeditated murder and his majesty said Cupido anything I xivas tlie aggressor True I did not tlke his manner and doubt less no more did he care for mine lit gave me my choice however of weatons pistols across the table or ope of two light rapiers that hung crossed over tie mantel" gasped Lestrange the un Imaginative the fable I cold blooded mused Neville a few feet of shining mahogany! A man of daring He thought a moment Besancon and and Duroc must have chosen the duel was quite to my liking said Cupido the curved grip of a rapier finds a welcome home In my hand And to fight before Anita is his name?" I questioned matter a mere said Mlronsac had no ears for the mnn 1 wasted oo glances on him while I was privileged to look tnto the amber eyes of La Anita yon got only a thrust in the growled Lestrange are fortunate offered me my life" continued the Gascon said Neville light said that Benito Juarez needed men of courage be offered me a com mission to the army of the erstwhile Sporting jQuibs Cumberland (Md) fans have bought the ball club from Jim McGuire George Susco scrappy catcher of the Phillies is a product of the sand-lots of Belefont Pa Woods with the New York Yankees Is rated by most players as the best trainer in baseball Hugo Bezdek of Penn State conches both football and baseball and has three grid stars in his outfield The Middle Atlantic league has abandoned the split-season schedule Last year there were 15 leagues with the split Omaha has announced the sale of Pitcher Herman Sparks to Wichita Both clubs are members of the western league Fritz Maisel thinks Augusta Ga Is hot enough for baseball training He was laid up five days with a bad case of sunburn £1 Patrick owner of the Los Angeles club is offering a suit of clothes to every player on his team who hits a home run Bob James the young shortstop from Omaha of the Western league is making quite a name for himself with the Boston Braves Bob Shawkey former New York Yankee pitcher says Dale Alexander should be one of the sensations of the year in the American league Ernie Koob who once pitcher a no-hit game while with the St Louis Browns is pitching for the Mobile Southern association club this season Eddie Gill seventeen hit a baseball high into the air at Laporte Ind It hit a sparrow Both fell The bali was caught Eddie was out So was the bird Mike Kelley manager of tlie Minneapolis team of the American association turned over First Baseman Jim Oglesby to Des Moines of the Western league Johnny Byrnes has been signed to manage the Cumberland team of the Middle Atlantic league Byrnes has been first baseman of the team for several seasons Leo Norris infielder and Fred Kin-derman outfielder have been sent hack to Vicksburg of the Cotton States league by the New Orleans club of the Southern league Ross Lyail well known as a shortstop in minor league circles has been named manager of the Phoenix club of the Arizona State league Iyall played with Phoenix last season Only three big-league ball players Pete Donohue Luke Sewell and Ted Lyons have been with the same club throughout their professional careers All made the grade upoD leaving college Connie Mack who at the age of sixty-six is the oldest big league manager In the history of baseball began his professional diamond career 45 years ago as catcher of the Meridian team in the Eastern league Babe Ruth has encouraged Manager Bill Carrigan of the Red Sox by telling him that he has picked the Sox to finish last during the league race so that Bill will get more credit if the team finishes higher Jack Holloway of San Antonio who has been seen around first base in a number of class and leagues has been named manager of the new Ballinger club of the West Texas league Sam Agnew has been made man ager of the San Diego team of the new California State league He was under contract to Hollywood but ob tained bis release to handle the little club Zach Wheat has hung up his baseball trappings The veteran outfielder who spent 19 years in the game announced that he had retired and would devote his time to his farm near Polo Mo Manager Johnny Dobbs of BIrming ham has signed Outfielder Jack Kloza and Catcher Bailey Tipton to Montgomery of the Southern league Larry Bettencourt former All-American football star now witli Milwau kee says he gets more thrills playing baseball than he did from football The famous und football combination at Tennessee Hack-man and McEver are now out for baseball sophomores and were outstanding halfbacks Iasi fall The Duel Was Quite to My Liking" Said Cupido opportunity as quickly as possible Our Bayard shall tight one more tight last Leroux and Besancon and Duroc shall be avenged We will see if the ffrst sword of Picardy ts se ond to that of this murderer There will be no pricked shoulders tills time one of us will go out of that house of mystery and death alive the we ieniiit this mad venture mused Neville who knew my gray haired mother In Sl Simon this Bayard serves you as he served Du roc what his majesty will say to os will burn us to a cinder and what he might do to us is a thing i shudder to contemplate" is not that you permit" said can say that I have looked upon the glorious Anita and that In spite of your combined protests and objections I followed the lure of beauty Just as the others have done" "Madness cried Neville entirely added dropped to her lap Lestrange who had smiled at my I hands lav passive knows how to bow the German senorita" In control of myself cause the but the locks of the would be dark brown with the light blue like desert she sleeper do Gascon you toid me about whose wit is as keen the sword he is ply with such this the darling Vienna and of I are unkind you brilliance of divinity am thus helpless tal thrust Still artful use of tiie lias given and favored you in rich Now the amber again held for dropped to her lap Larry Ailgood right-handed iiurier captain of North Carolina State college baseball varsity who is already off with a conspicuous start for Dixie collegiate honors He Is trying to beat his record of last year when he lost only two out of ten games Of 150 big league hockey stars only three were born In the United States The largest sports club in the Argentine has a membership of 12000 athletes Allie Morrison Olympic 135-pound champion was re-elected captain of the Illinois wrestling team With seven men back from last years team the wrestlers of Missouri university see a big season ahead Hans Wagner veteran baseball star has resigned his position as sergeant-at-arms of the house of representatives There are rumors abroad that Miss Florence Klllilea will serve as head of the Milwaukee club until a new owner is found The receipts of the National Amateur Athletic Union basket ball championship tournament run off recently in the convention hail in Kansas City Mo were $17824 The tourney lasted six nights Coach Oakes of the Nebraska football squad had twenty-five candidates for baekfleld positions alone in the spring practice which the corn hnsker eleven held The fall meeting at Dade Park track near Henderson Ky has been authorized by the state racing commission Dates will be September 4 to 11 just preceding the Lexington fall meeting Peter Manning 156 the speediest trotter the world has seen made the fastest mile turned In over a half-mile course In 1928 203 despite the fact the horse has reached the age of twelve Coach Ky Enright of champion varsity crew has a great freshman eight to represent the Golden Bears this year The crew averages 169 pounds In weight and 6 feet inch in height Rifle shooting was the only form of atletics that interested Charles Lindbergh transatlantic hero while he was a student at college A new sports arena to be known as the Garden and costing SSlk'UtKiO is to be huitt at Kensington in the northeastern part of Philadelphia Pa Jim Corbett is credited with having started tlie vogue of public training camps for fighters when he was condl tloning himself for his encounter with John 1 Sullivan A Boy Opened the Heavy Iron Gate no sign He left me in the library a huge deeply carpeted chamber done in walnut with a ceiling twenty feet high and heavy purple hangings over the windows and the doorways Books in magnificent walnut cases ranged the walls 1 had time to note that they were -Spanish and Frencb nnd English and portraits by early Spanish and Mexican artists looked down upon me There was one I remember of Cortes by Hodrlgo de Clfuentes and a virgin of Juan de Rua pupil of Velasquez Several I noted copied the brilliant coloring of Titian and a marvelous re production of the smokepiutued crest of Popocatepetl held me spellbound While I studied fids painting a murmur of voices entire to me One seemed vaguely familiar and 1 moved toward a closed door behind which the sounds originated Two men were talking and although I could not make out the sense of their words they spoke as men speak who know each other well There was an on a confidential note I heard the name of the emperor fol lowed by laugh of gentle raillery (TO BE CONTINUED) Evangelistic Symbol In the Fifth century the Four Beasts which had already been used as 3mblems of tlie Four Archangels and the Four Great Prophets were adopted as symbols of the Evangelists and two centuries Inter these 'Mirtoia creatures were universally miployed as symbolic of these four saints At first they were simply emblems of tlie Evangelists but aftet- St Jerome wrote of the Vision of Ezekiel each of these beasts was assigned to a par ticulnr saint To St Matthew wnf given the cherub or winged human face to St Mark the Hon to Sf Luke the ox and to St John th eagle Baseball Is Waning jtj as Golf Is Growing Leo Del gel champion profes- slonal golfer of America Ca nadian open champion and hold- er of the Massachusetts Mid- die Atlantic and SJan Diego championships thinks the fu ture of golf will mean the de dine of other sports is expanding remen dously It Is giving all othei sports a hard said Leo In particular Is being hit hard and despite its eight decades of popularity soon wilt suffer a loss in gate Critz Now Captain Hughey Critz Is going to be in the middle of things this summer with the Cincinnati Reds Manager Jack Hendricks has announced that the little Cincinnati pepperpot is to be his field captain as well as play second base It looks like a wise move on the part of the meutnr Short or second is the logical spot from which a field captain should function He have to come running In from the out-ileld The whole strategy of pUy revolves around hint boastful outburst La Anita shall be summoned tomorrow before the emperor and the mysterious Bayard will doubtless find a swift and certain death against a wall" said Cupido his smooth face transfixed with horror "the emperor never would his present smiled Lestrange have the summons for La Anita in my pocket even now and Monsieur Bayard will surely be dealt with soon" execution of the father of La said Neville I believe a grievous blunder for he was well beloved in Mexico and If the heavy hand of Maximilian falls upon bis daughter I fear for the cause of France Even a stupid people will stand only so much and Is not strength In Mexico averred Lestrange withstand the power of France The heavy hand Is the only hnndwhal can rule" a while" said 1 the heavy band ts due for certain failure How much Captain Lestrange had you to do with this new purHse of his tnaj esty? A deal swear" He laughed at my question am thinking of the cause of he said portion of the plan Monsieur le Comte which was not said gently to the duenna who sat beside her is Senor Vigny cap tain in the army of Maximilian" The duenna looked down at looked down upon me from vast Illiiii liable heights 1 and she looked away again La Anita smiled a little said she in my own tongue not the resiliency of youth" Is a golden answered thrice blessed when beauty pin- She sobered suddenly "The court of France senor has doubtless taught thee many things Thy do not misjudge me senorita for each word of praise or compll ment that escapes me there are a million others held In check" She spoke to Gupldo who fumbled tils cop with awkward fingers thy blade Senor Mlronsac as deft as the tongue of Captain Vigny I should have lost a worthy cousin You did not tell me the half" can tell It far better than said Cupido grinning practice has ail been Now the mention of tier cousin brought hack to me the object of tny mission: to deliver his sum timng and to cross swords with tha precious cousin of hers For the Ilf.