o steal it. I could not tell you the number of attempts
that have been made to get possession of this world-wonder. No one could
tell you. Day after day Englishmen, disguised even as German gentlemen,
thronged the museum, all asking the way to the bust. We were continually
on our guard. Attendants patrolled the room day and night. Our efforts
were successful.'

"He paused again and looked at me in triumph.

"'Yes,' he resumed, 'the bust remained where it was. England, in
despair, then decided that a supreme effort must be made, and began to
arm and mobilize. The art faction got hold of Sir EDWARD GREY--nobbled
him, as you say. It was upon learning of this treacherous preparation
and its dastardly motive, that our sublime KAISER took the action he
did. I say it with conviction, there would have been no war but for
England's mad desire to possess again the LEONARDO wax bust.'

"'But what about the violation of Belgium?' I asked.

"'Ah!' he said darkly. 'It was England's intention to march through
Belgium to Berlin to get the bust. Fortunately we knew that. We
therefore marched through Belgium first.'

"With these words the famous virtuoso sat back in his chair.

"'If you will consent to be blind-folded for a part of the journey--a
necessary precaution which I am sure you will appreciate,' he remarked a
moment or so later,--'I will show you the priceless masterpiece in its
hiding-place. Then you will understand. Also I should like the world to
know how Germany reveres and guards its choicest treasures."

"Naturally I consented, and a bandage being bound over my eyes I took
the hand of my companion and was led away.

"You may wonder that after everything that has been happening recently I
was willing thus to entrust myself to a German, but you must remember
that so far as he knew I was an American, a member of a country whose
goodwill has been angled for with every conceivable bait. It is not as
if I had been a cathedral or a French priest or a Belgian mother.

"For how far I was led I cannot say, but we seemed to descend an
incredible distance into the earth and then pass along interminable
passages. At last my eyes were unbound and I discovered myself to be in
the midst of a company of soldiers armed to the teeth, obviously
underground, and I saw opposite me, in the light of an electric torch, a
massive iron gate, which the supreme expert proceeded to unlock.

"We entered a gloomy cavern and again were confronte