o 3b3e7475144cf77c

for his services, plus his expenses for two weeks. He was planning to live high;

Hugo Behr returned to Berlin, reporting that he had made contact with an old party

acquaintance who was now one of the S.A. guards in the camp of Dachau. To this man Hugo

had explained that he had a friend who was owed money by a young Jew, and wondered if the

debtor was still alive and if there was any prospect of his coming out. The report had been that

Freddi Robin had been in the camp for four or five months; had been pretty roughly treated

before he came there, and now was kept by himself, for what reason the S.A. man didn't know.

What he had meant by reporting Freddi as "well" was that he was alive and not being

abused, so far as the informant had heard. Nobody was happy in Dachau, and least of all any

Jew.

Hugo added: "We might be able to trust that fellow, because I had a long talk with him

and he feels about events pretty much as I do. He's sick of his job, which isn't at all what he

bargained for. He says there are plenty of others who feel the same, though they don't always

talk. You know, Lanny, the Germans aren't naturally a cruel people, and they don't like having

the most brutal and rowdyish fellows among them picked out and put in charge."

"Did he say that?" inquired Lanny.

"He said even more. He said he'd like to see every Jew put out of Germany, but he didn't see

any sense in locking them up and kicking them around, just for being what they were born. I

told him my idea that the party is being led astray and that it's up to the rank and file to set it

straight. He was interested, and maybe we'll have an organized group in Dachau."

"That's fine," commented the American; "and I'm ever so much obliged to you. I'm going to

Munich pretty soon and perhaps you can come again, and I'll have some other message for

your friend." At the same time he took a little roll of hundred-mark notes out of his pocket and

slipped them into his friend's—a matter of only a few inches as they sat side by side in the car.

XII

To his wife Lanny said: "There might be a possibility of getting Freddi out without waiting

forever on the fat General."

"Oh, do be careful!" exclaimed Irma. "That would be a fearful risk to take!"

"Only as a last resort. But I really think Göring has had time enough to peer into all the

concentration camps in the Reich."

He made up his mind to call up Oberleutnant Furtwaengler and inquire concerning the

promised investigation. But he put it off till the next morning, and before he got round to it

the young staff officer was announced and ushered up to the suite. "Herr Budd," he said, "are

you free for the next two or three days?"

"I could get free."

"Seine Exzellenz has earned a holiday after the strain of his court appearances." The serious

young officer said this without the least trace of a smile, and Lanny assented with the gravest of

nods. "Seine Exzellenz is taking a shooting trip to the estate of Prinz von Schwarzerober in the

Schorfheide, and would be pleased if you would accompany him."

"That is very kind indeed," replied the American, with a carefully measured amount of

cordiality. "I appreciate the honor and will enjoy the opportunity to know the General better."

"Unfortunately," added the other, "this is what you Americans, I believe, call a 'stag' affair."

"A stag affair in two senses of the word," smiled Lanny, who knew about shooting in the

German forests. "My wife won't object to staying here, for she has friends who keep her

entertained."

"Very well, then," replied the Oberleutnant. "The car will call for you at fifteen o'clock

tomorrow."

Later, the young couple went driving and talked over the situation. "He wants something,"

declared the husband. "I suppose I'm going to find out about it now."

"Let him do the talking," cautioned Irma. "You saw that he expects it." She was nine years

younger than her husband, and had met the General only once, but she knew all about his

Prunksucht, his delight in self-display, both physical and mental. "He has to prove that he's

the greatest man in the company, the greatest in the government, perhaps the greatest in the

world. He will do anything for you if you convince him you believe that."

Lanny's mother had been supplying him with that sort of instruction all through his life. He

wondered: had Irma got it from Beauty —or from the Great Mother of them all?

23

All the Kingdoms of the World

I

LANNY in his boyhood had observed the feudal system operating in Stubendorf, and had

found it paternal and pleasant; so he could understand how the Nazis had made the same

discovery. The party was bound for the hunting preserve of one of those great landlords who had

been the friends of Hauptmann Göring in the days when he was an ace aviator, successor to

von Richthofen in command of that famous squadron. These wealthy Junkers had allied

themselves with the Hitler party upon Göring's assurance that they would be properly cared for,