The Boy Scouts in Front of Warsaw | Page 4

remember anything they said?"
Ivan stood thinking, the jeweled cane still tapping his boot. "Yes," he said, "when the men came up, they said, 'What have you?' The woman laughed -- evilly, and said, 'All the wine we can drink, and all the bread we can eat, and all the fire we burn for years and years.'"
"The man who had spoken said 'Jewels,' and rubbed his hands. 'That is indeed good! Jewels fit for a king!"
"The woman said, "Jewels now, thou fool! Where can one sell jewels these days when one cannot cross the border, and when the world cracks? No one wants jewels!"
"'Then what?' said the man.
"'Oh, stupid!' said the woman. 'Pick up my sacks carefully and be off."
"Then the other man who had already picked up the larger sack, laughed. 'Better than rubies," he said. 'You are always wise, my woman!"
"And then the other man picked up the other sack and he laughed too, and the woman held hand to them and whined, 'Please give me some money for these poor little refugees are starving!'
"At that they all roared, and hurried on."
Ivan paused. "That was all they said," he added. "It doesn't help, does it?"
The girl Evelyn leaned forward. "Say it again, Ivan," she said excitedly. "Say just what the woman said"
Ivan, repeated the words.
Evelyn whispered them after him. Then a wild cry broke from her lips. She turned to her father who sat holding the package containing the fatal manuscript. She seized his arm and shook him. So great was her emotion that she could not say the words she wanted.
"Father, father, don't you see it now!" she cried. "Oh, oh, father! Oh, what shall we do? Oh, my darling little sister!" she gasped, and the tall boy ran forward and seized her hands.
"Control yourself, Evelyn," he cried. "I never saw you act like this. Tell me what it is."
She looked at him quite speechless. The agony of all that she had witnessed, the terror of the past week, the fright of losing her precious little sister scarcely more than a baby, the blindness of her father, all had combined to send her into state scarcely better than insanity. With a desperate effort to control, herself, she looked into her brother's eyes.
"You see, don't you, Warren?" she begged. "You can't seem to be able say it.
Say you see it too, Warren!"
Then as if she had found some way of giving him her message of doom, she drooped against brother's strong shoulder and fainted quietly away. Warren laid her down, and the governess rushed to her.
"Is she dead?" asked Warren.
"Certainly not," said the woman; "she has fainted."
"What did she try to tell you?" cried Ivan. "Was it something I said?"
"Yes, you told her," said Warren, "and she read it right. I know she is right."
"Well, well, what is it?" demanded the Professor. "This is fearfully upsetting, fearfully upsetting!"
Warren bent tenderly above his sister. She was regaining consciousness.
"It is about as bad as it can be," he said hesitatingly. "The remark about refugees told the whole thing. Our little sister was in one of those sacks, gagged or unconscious. They have been stolen to be used and brought up as beggars."
A deep silence followed. The governess covered her eyes. The wounded soldier slowly shook his head. Professor Morris, Ivan and jack stood with bulging eyes staring at Warren, trying to make themselves understand his speech. Ivan, who knew more of the ways of the half barbaric people of Poland and Russia, nodded his head understandingly. Jack stood with open mouth. The Professor rumpled his hair, though deeply, and laughed.
"Now what would they do that for!" he asked sarcastically. "That sort of thing is not done nowadays."
"Not in the best families," said Warren coldly. "But it is done, I'll bet."
"Oh, yes, it's done," said Ivan, "all the time. I know my father talked a lot about it just before the commencement of the war. He was going to try to stamp out a lot of that sort of thing, especially what affected the women and children. Yes, it is done, Professor."
"Not now," said the Professor stubbornly. "There was recorded a case of that sort in 1793, and even later in the early sixties. Later, there are no records at all bearing on the subject. And if no records, surely there are no instances requiring the attention of thinking people.
"It would be most natural to record any instance of the sort, however small and trifling. In my researches I would have run across the facts. There is no mention of it whatever."
"I know it happens anyhow," said Ivan, sticking to his point.
"Ivan, you forget that I am in a position to know," said the Professor. "My researches have led me, thanks to the presentations of your father and many others, into secret