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lodgings free."

"Pretty poor food for the S.A.; and besides, there are all the levies, which take half what

anybody earns. Our lads were made to expect so much, but now all the talk is that the Reich

is so poor. The propaganda line has changed; Herr Doktor Goebbels travels over the land

denouncing the Kritikaster and the Miessmacher and the Nörgler and the Besserwisser—"

Hugo gave a long list of the depraved groups who dared to suggest that the Nazi Regierung

was anything short of perfect. "In the old days we were told there would be plenty, because

we were going to take the machinery away from the Schieber and set it to work for the benefit

of the common folk. But now the peasants have been made into serfs, and the workingman

who asks for higher pay or tries to change his job is treated as a criminal. Prices are going up

and wages falling, and what are the people to do?"

"Somebody ought to point these things out to the Führer," suggested Lanny.

"Nobody can get near the Führer. Göring has taken charge of his mind—Göring, the

aristocrat, the friend of the princes and the Junker landlords and the gentlemen of the steel

Kartell. They are piling up bigger fortunes than ever; I'm told that Göring is doing the same—

and sending the money abroad where it will be safe."

"I've heard talk about that in Paris and London," admitted Lanny; "and on pretty good

authority. The money people know what's going on."

VI

They were high up in the foothills, close to the Austrian border. Auf die Berge will ich

steigen, wo die dunkeln Tannen ragen! The air was crystal clear and delightfully cool, but it

wasn't for the air that Lanny had come, nor yet on account of Heine's Harzreise. They sat on an

outdoor platform of a little inn looking up a valley to a mountain that was Austria; Lanny saw

that the slopes about him were not too precipitous, nor the stream in the valley too deep. He

remarked to his companion: "There's probably a lot of illegal traffic over these mountain

paths."

"Not so much as you might think," was the reply. "You don't see the sentries, but they're

watching, and they shoot first and ask questions afterward."

"But they can't do much shooting on a stormy night."

"They know where the paths are, and they guard them pretty closely. But I've no doubt some

of the mountaineers take bribes and share with them. The Jews are running money out of

Germany by every device they can think of. They want to bleed the country to death."

That didn't sound so promising; but Lanny had to take a chance somewhere. When they

were back in the car, safe from prying ears, he said: "You know, Hugo, you're so irritated with

the Jews, and yet, when I hear you talk about the ideals of National Socialism, it sounds exactly

like the talk of my friend Freddi Robin whom I've told you about."

"I don't deny that there are good Jews; many of them, no doubt; and certainly they have

plenty of brains."

"Freddi is one of the finest characters I have ever known. He is sensitive, delicate, considerate,

and I'm sure he never had a vice. He was giving all his time and thought to the cause of social

justice, exactly as you believe in it and have explained it today."

"Is he still in Dachau?"

"I want to talk to you about him, Hugo. It's so important to me; I can't have any peace of

mind while the situation stands as it is, and neither can anybody who knows Freddi. I'd like to

take you into my confidence, and have your word that you won't mention it to anybody else,

except by agreement with me."

"I don't think it'll be possible to get me to take an interest in the affairs of any Jew, Lanny. I

don't even care to know about him, unless I can have your word that you won't tell anybody

that you have told me."

"You certainly can have that, Hugo. I have never mentioned your name to anyone except my

wife, and this time I didn't even tell her that I was planning to meet you. I've told everybody I

was coming for the purpose of buying some pictures from Baron von Zinszollern."

On that basis the young Aryan athlete consented to risk having his mind sullied, and Lanny

told him he had positive information that Freddi was being tortured in Dachau. Lanny

intimated that this news had come to him from high Nazi sources; Hugo accepted this,

knowing well that the rich American had such contacts. Lanny drew a horrifying picture, using

the details which Göring had furnished him; Hugo, a fundamentally decent fellow, said it was

a shame, and what did they expect to accomplish by such proceedings? Lanny answered that

some of the big Nazis had learned that Lanny's wife had a great deal of money, and were

hoping to get a chunk of it—money they could hide in New York, and have in case they ever

had to take a plane and get out of Germany. Irma had been on the verge of paying; but Lanny's

English friend, Rick, had said No, those men were betraying the Socialist movement of the

world, and nobody should furnish them with funds. It had occurred to Lanny that he would

rather pay money to some of the honest men in the movement, those who took seriously the

second half of the party's name, and would really try to promote the interests of the common

man.

In short, if Hugo Behr would spend his vacation helping to get Freddi out of Dachau, Lanny

would pay him five thousand marks at the outset, and if he succeeded would pay him another

five thousand, in any form and any manner he might desire. Hugo might use the money for

the movement he was building, and thus his conscience would be clear. Lanny would be glad

to put up whatever additional sums Hugo might find it necessary to expend in order to interest

some of the proletarian S.A. men in Dachau in bringing about the escape of a comrade who had

the misfortune to have been born a Jew. They, too, might use the money to save National

Socialism.

"Oh, Lanny!" exclaimed the young sports director. "That's an awfully serious thing to be

trying!"

"I know that well. I've been hesitating and figuring it for a year. But this news about the

torturing decided me—I just can't stand it, and I'm willing to run whatever risk I have to. It's

something that ought to be stopped, Hugo, and every decent Nazi ought to help me, for the

good name of the party. Is that guard you told me about still there?"

"I'd have to make sure."

"I don't ask you to tell me anything you're doing, or thinking of doing. I have complete

confidence in your judgment. It'll be up to you to make some friends in the camp and decide

who are the right ones to trust. Don't mention me to them, and I won't mention you to anybody,

now or later. We'll carry this secret to our graves."

"There'll be the question of getting your man over the border."

"You don't have to bother about that part of it. All I ask is for you to deliver Freddi to me on

some dark night at a place agreed upon, and without anybody to stop me or follow me. I don't

want to rush you into it—take your time, think it over, and ask me all the questions you want

to. Let's have a complete understanding, so that you'll know exactly what you're getting in

for, and each of us will know exactly what we're promising."

VII

Hugo did his thinking right there in the car. He said it was a deal; but when Lanny asked him

how he wanted his first payment, he was afraid to take the money. He said he wouldn't dare

to carry such a sum on his person, and he had no place to hide it; he was a poor man, and