Walnut Grove High School - Yearbook (Walnut Grove, MO)

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Elllll' 'Il' 'Il' 'II' IIIUII' 'IIUII' 'll' ill' 'll' 'IIUIE E Y .- VZ' 1 EIU man had probably taken the water to revive him. Taking a good look at his companion, he saw that he was a tall lean-looking man with iron-gray hair and mustache. He recognized him as the stranger who had visited the school at noon, several weeks before. Where am I? he asked weakly, for his head was throbbing and he ached all over. My son, the man answered, as well as I can tell, you are underneath the building of the W. G. H. S., in the bottom of an old well that the school house is over. But what has happened outside? H Rising to his feet the boy replied that the boiler had bursted and blown up the school house and he had fallen down thru the rent walls to the place where he now was. It was lucky for you that you chanced to strike this well for if you had not the rubbish which came piling down over it would have crushed you to death. But can we get out? asked the boy fearing. Sure we can, and he smiled such a weird, horrid grin that the boy, still more afraid, cried out again. VVho are you? Hoxv came you here? Where are we? I don't understand. I Still smiling the man answered: Be seated on this rock here in the corner and I will tell you I have wanted to talk to some one for a long time. It cannot especially interest you but I will tell,f'you the exact story of how I came to be here. I am General Von Harlemberg of the German army. At the beginning of the present European war, I was serving on the staff of the Kaiser. I was present at a meeting of this staff in which it was determined to take Gibralter from the English. An English officer who had turned traitor a few days before told us that the plans of the fortress were in possession of a retired English general who was living at Scarborough. There are no other plans in the world, for the English guard this place carefully and these are all the plans they have ever allowed drawn off. They guard every possible means by which an outsider might gain intelligence of the place. The Kaiser wished to secure these plans and a German lieet sailed to the English coast. Scarborough was shelled. I was on the fleet and during the shelling I was landed. I easily passed for an Englishman. After landingI began search for this officer. Dis- E. 4- .l m 1:1 llv Ill' 'IF 'll' 'HHH' IIIUIII 'Il' 'II' IIIEIIII 'ly

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EUJJI' 'Il' 'Il' 'll' 'IIUII' IIIUII' 'll' T Ml' 'Il' 'IIUIB Q. E 5 did not appear. The morning of the second day, however, it was Q1 y 1 i L i.. .1 found on a post in the garden by some of the Freshmen. FF Pk ir Pk Pl' 66 Pk It was a warm, sultry morning of Commencement week in early May. The air was oppressive and laden with heaviness, filled with strange, unreasonable forebodings. The sun had risen in a bank of red looking clouds, which had later dispersed, and then, reforming again, now lay protentiously along the horizon in ominous, electrically charged masses. The first pupil to enter the W. G. H. S. building that morning tried to whistle but the inexplicable atmosphere of the place chilled the whistle ere it could develop. On entering the hall, the student noticed Uncle Billy hurrying from one radiator to another. The steam seemed to be on a frolic. The day was really too warm for any furnace heat and the student passed out of the heavy air of the lower rooms to his own, where he began to prepare his lessons. The room was very quiet and very hot. After the lapse of a few moments the student was impressed with the quietness of the room. It was something out of the or- ordinary. Even the radiators had grown still. For several minutes he listened while there was never a sound. Then there was a slamming of doors below, and Uncle Billy ran through the hall shouting something in tones of greatest fear. After that came the explosion. The fioor of the room upheaved like the back of a giant animal: the walls swayed and crumbled and the roof crackled and broke under the strain. For a moment the entire building seemed raised by the power of the steam, then the floor sank and the student amid a chaos of books and desks, felt himself plunging into a yawning abyss and a white cloud of steam from the bursted boiler enveloped all. YVhen the student recovered consciousness he was lying on the ground in the darkness, he could not tell where, while a man with a cloth was stooping over -him, bathing his forehead in water. As he became more accustomed to the darkness, the lad saw he was in an underground chamber, for the wall were of earth. The roof seemed to be a pile of debris over that which had once been the opening to the room he was now in. An underground stream was running thru one side of his prison and it was from this the 1. 41. - ..- 3, gg 1:1 Qlillll 'll' 'll' 'Il' 'IIUII' 'IIUII' 'll' 'll' 'IITDIII 'IW

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FIUII' 'Il' 'II' 'H' 'IIUII' 'IIUII' 'II' Ml' 'll' 'IIUIW covering him I made an attempt to secure the plans but failed. Becoming alarmed for the safety of his prized possessions the Englishman lied to London. He discovered that I was following him and Hed to Canada. I still pursued and he, still Heeing, linally entered the United States. You probably remember Prof. Rodgers of the Wocbdland Business College. That was none other than the man I was pursuing. The day he was here I saw him hide the plans in your Professor's overcoat pocket. That night I burned a glass out of a window with a tube charged with radium and entering, secured the coat. ThenI heard some one coming and lled to the basement to hide. I rushed into a far corner when I stepped on the earth over an old well which the school house had been built over and which had never been filled. Dirt had settled on the top and I could not see the cover. This is the well and hereI have remained ever since. During the daytime Ikeep dirt over the top of the cover to the well so that it will not be seen and at night I go out and get what I can find to eat. I cannot escape the Englishman for he knows where he lost his plans and is guard- ing ever railroad in the vicinity. He has never been able to locate me but he knows I am near the school house somewhere. He has men in his hire at every railroad station that would instantly de- tect me if I should attempt Bight. I have been hiding here for three months waiting for a chance to escape. As the man ceased talking he pulled a bundle from one corner, out of which he took a short, queer looking tube. Then he began talking again. It was probably early morning when the ex- plosion took place. You have been insensible all day. I have heard them at work removing the debris above. But I do not want to be caught here foi tonight I am going to make one last attempt to get back to Germany with my prize. Here is the radium tube of which I spoke and I am now going to show you how it works. The boy sat in the corner speechless and watched this strange man. Turning the tube toward the mass above, a light began to glow, shining over their prison. This grew brighter and brighter, until both had to cover their eyes to save them from blindness. Then the broken desks piled above began to crumble away before the light like burnt paper. It was not long until a hole was made to the clear air above and the man, replacing the tube, crawled up Q El na alla ull: ull: ullnlln ullnlln ell: ull: 'HUM'