Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-01-05

CHAPTER X1I.-CONTINUED.
The others of the household were for send
ing out Immediately to search the neighbor
hood and discover some trace of the lost
Princess. All the available males were
accordingly pressed into the service, anG
sent out to Scour the country in every direc
ton. The first objective point, of course
was the road in the vicinity of the pool.
But not the slightest clue could there be
discovered. The heavy rains had obliterated
all the wheel-tracAs made by the wagon
into the wood, where the Princess had first
been carried. Searching far and wide, they
could find positively nothing in the way of a
trace of their lost mistress
Meanwhile, Dimitri returned from an in
tervicw with the carriers, and these individ-
uals all agreed in saying that they had seen
horsewoman emerge from the cliff road
and ride rapidly toward the village on the
public road. From their description of the
woman and her horse, it could be none other
than the Princess herself
They met with no stranger, exceptin g
huntsman who hailed them near the cliff
road, and got them all into some angry
dispute with regard to the land Whereabouts
They, too, observed the loud whistle, but
supposed ii that Of some hunter calling his
dogs.
Ere Dimitri left the inn, q farmer, also
living in the neighborhood, entered.
drenched through and through by the
storm. On his way to st. Malo, he had be-
come alarmed ut the severity of the storm,
and, supposing it an all-night affair, turned
back to the inn of the village.
Dlmltri remembered meeting with him
just after Catherine and himself passed the
pool.
Hero now was clue.
The wagoners were not to be diverted
from their idea that they saw the Princess
going toward the pool
Had this farmer, on the opposite side Of the
pool, seen herl No, he had not He saw
20 one, excepting stranger whom he found
sitting by the roadside. This man and him
self enjoyed long talk about crops-a talk
81 perhaps one quarter of an hour in length
No woman passed them. Of that he was
tuFc-at least no woman excepting the one
with That man," pointing to Dimitri and
referring, of course, to Catherine. He. too
observed the sharp calls of the whistle
Lydia listened quietly to Dimitri's story
here, at last, was trace to Natalie-the
'"ty clue, perhaps, to her disappearance.
send for all the wagoners and the FARM
er, immediately" said she, authoritatiyely.
The dripping band of peasants soon ap-
peared in the hall, little rivulets trickling
down from their drenched garments and
covering the floor with miniature ponds
They stood huddled together, awe-struck
and awkward.
Questioning them, Lydia found that Nata-
lie must have been lost between the wagon
ers on one side of the pool and the farmer
on the other side; and, therefore in the
neaghborhood of, and very probably at, the
pool itself; and that the stranger who
conversed with the farmer and also the
huntsman who disputed with the carriers.
were, undoubtedly, accessories to the alb
'duction-for they both disappeared almost
immediately after the second whistle.
Tho wagoners said that the first call WAS
heard Just before they saw the Princess
The mystery Of Natalie's Disappearance
now became clear to LYDIA
The hrntsman-ah! would she have he.
Heved her cars had she been told who he
was must have been on the watch for the
poor girl The warning signal OF her an
preach toward the abductors was the first
blast OF his whistle. This, too, warned the
outpost on the opposite side of the pool and
both outposts stopped all passengers upon
the road, thus preventing interference with
tho capture OF Natalie.
As soon as the Princess had been secured
her captors, in turn, gave the signal to their
accomplices that the deed was done and the
coast clear.
Unless Metallic was still in the neighbor-
Sood OF the pool-which was highly improb-
soiS-she must have been carried toward
sas saso0ass; for that she and her capters