Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-17

lHe court OF NASSAU, an able man whose
reputation rested mainly on the successful
performance of missions of a delicate ma
ture, added to the tension of the moment.
so you say they are getting steam UP in
Maasau? said Hollywood again. Il have
been out in the wilds for the last six
months, and don't know so much about
| events as 1 might"
Steam up?" growled Counsellor Steam
enough to wreck Europe! I almost wish I'd
never godfathered you into this blessed lit
tie stoke hole. Why the deuce didn't you
enlist at home instead of coming here?''
course"
you to fight imp"
IF it was only that!-I could fight in the
ranks. God knows, but couldn't parade in
| then
What's gone wrong with 1t now7 I
should have thought you would have got
used to 1t by this time observed Coun-
sellor with the air of the older man. 1t
was not the first occasion on which he had
prayed the part of elderly relative toward
hollywood during the course of their queer
rough-grained Friendships friendship of a
type which exists only between man and
man, and even then is sufficiently rare
Precisely, I'm too internally used to if,
IL was not half bad as long 9s the new
ness lasted. but can't stand 1t any longer,
IN ~ SICK SICK OF the monotony. Do you know
old f1tzadams criticism on the service
! mere? Dust and drill, drill and dust. and
! I'LL In the chfnks with homicidal maneuy-
, ers."
Nassau only apes its betters. These
continental armies devote themselves very
aSSiouously TO rehearsals, and there is no
end of waste about the process remarked
the Chancellor. They rehearse In summer
ana get sunstroke; then they rehearse in
winter with rheuma tisms and lung trou-
pies growing on every bush. The bill for
blank cartridges alone is enormous, And
all because they have no India and no At
RIGA. as We have. where we can give our
| fellows taste of the real thing any day
IN the week We carry on a small war with
regiment, or dispatch a youngster with
hal1 company 10 teach manners and hon
esty to 10000 niggers. The popularity of
our army Is that 1t is always at war. In
this way We escape the dangers of theory
and get practice with something for our
money into the bargain
our plan has its advantages" agreed
Hollywood lazily. Il saw in South Africa
what a little active service does for a man.
The first time he is under fire he is per-
suaded that he Is going to be killed, and
that every shot must hit him. But after a
| trial or two he begins to think that the
odds are in his favor and he becomes a
much more effective fighting machine"
necessarily he does. We don't half re-
alize the value of our colonies yet-as
training ground for soldiers The Brit
ish army is the smallest in Europe, but it
remains to be seen what account it will
give Of itself if 1t is ever brought into con-
tact with these huge, peace-trained con-
script monsters"
When the duke dies began Rally
wood, barking back to the former topic of
conversation.
The door was softly opened, and waiter
advanced into the room, bearing a letter
for Hollywood, who took 1t and laid it down
on the table beside him. then looked at
Counsellor for an answer to his half-spoken
ers.
Who can tell?' he replied. meanwhile
take the gifts the gods have sent you to-
day. and he pointed to the long heavily
LODI l1.NVNe In,-
bow Selpdorf, l see, already has his fin
ger upon you"
Hollywood broke the great seals, and,
having read. he tossed the paper into the
others hands.
He wishes to see me at $50 What can
he want with me?" he asked.
Probably he has heard you intend to cut
the service. 1t appears to me, Hollywood,
that your chance has come out to meet
you"
How could he have heard that [ meant
10 go? And what can it matter to any one
If | do?'' went on Hollywood increduIousIy
counsellor shook his head, but made no
other reply.
"A lieutenant of the frontier cavalry" re-
sumed Hollywood, lis merely a superior
make of excise officer"
You will be something more or some
thing else before 10, l expect. AS for what
ne wants with you, that is for you to find
outfit you cam
1T is to be hoped he may feel moved to
let me nave my arrears of pay" said Rally
wood relapsing into his usual tone of in
difference; that is the chief consideration
with US on the frontier Just now"
He probably will if it suits him-or rat
perhaps II you suit him. Come over and
dine with me presently at the Continental
Iheres generally decent dinner to be had
there"
John Hollywood, one of the old Lincoln
shire RallywoCds, had been born to a for
tune, and moreover with an immense ca
pacity for enjoying it after a wholesome
fashion. Queens Fafn had fallen in to HIM
while still an infant upon the death of a
great-uncle, and with the old place were
connected all those hundred untranslatable
ties and associations which go to make up
a boys dreams. He was a man of sup
pressed, perhaps half unconscious but never
theless deep-roOted enthusiasms; hence
when the blow fell which deprived him
not only Of his inheritance. but also cut
short the life of his mother. the unexpect-
ed. almost intOlerable anguish he silently
endured had left a deep defacing scar upon
his personality.
Up to twenty-five the record Of his life
if not striking. had been clean and manly
He had passed through Sandhurst and
Joined a dragon regiment for something
over a year, when an older branch OF the
family, supposed for a quarter of a CEN
fury TO be extinct. suddenly presented it
self very much alive in the person of a
midd!e-aged midde-class American. With
in three months the mans claim was sub
stantiated. and estate. fortune. position and
home-as far as John Hollywood was con-
cerned-had melted into thin air
During this period of disruption and trou-
BILE Counsellor. who happened to be dis
family connected with him, came into his
life. They did not meet very often and
spoke little when together. but mutual
knowledge and liking resulted. Friendship
is living thing; 1t cannot be made; 1t
grows.
Hollywood. when he turned to seek the
means of livelihood, found himself as he
said long afterward standing in the cor
ridor of life with all the doors shut and no
key to open them.
His tastes and training alike led in the
direction of a military career, and present
ly he went out to the Cape. where he spent
yeal or two in a police force which was
in time disbanded. and he returned to Eng
land once more at a loose end.
At this juncture Mai. Counsellor suggest
ed to him the possibility of obtaining a
commission in the little army of the duchy
of Nassau. This hint set him on the right
track. The regiments of Nassau though
few in number carried splendid traditions.
Their ranks were drawn from a stolid
silent peasantry, and Differed by a wire
strung. high-tempered aristocracy, born of