The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-30

to whom the world may yet give much
Your one chance is being offered to you
i-here-tonight. The men will follow
VIII speak. Colendorp. you are a man
you If you give the word, and Wallen-
loup-well, Wallenloup must upon
that occasion absent himself Use
your influence with the other officers.
They are not to be bribed, of course,
but in the cause of the country each
man would find his services well re-
warded Think before you answer me,
man! Duke Gustav is sunk in pleas
ure and has sold the country over and
/ over again to the highest bidder. and
| only got out of his share of the bargain
I by Selpdorf's Internal cleverness. This
Tune we will play an open game With
Germany to stand by us we have moth
ing to fearl''
And if his highness will not consent
10 these changes?" again demanded
/ Colendorp.
Then"-Elmur laid a hand on the
old mans shoulder, but Sagan shook it
OFT then, Captain Colendorp. he must
go-to make room for another who can
better I'LL his place, Just as Wallen-
loup must go to give room to another
and less obstructive chief"
Colendorp's dark face glared straight
IN 'front.' OF him. Had it been Adiron-
Adiron, as true a man, would have
felgned agreement and blown the plot
afterwards. But never Colendorp He
was narrow minded. poor, embittered,
seeming insult in every careless word;
proud, loyal, desperate. Mentally his
vision was limited; he could see but
one thing at a time but he saw il very
large
SaganS treachery passed by him in
that moment of mad feeling He felt.
and feat only, the deadly affront of
fered to him of all the officers of the
guard-the coarse bride of the colonel
cy dangled before his starving nose.
for he alone of all the guard had been
deemed corruptible. The thought held
more than the bitterness of death.
He looked from wall to wall. and
knew himself an unarmed man, so he
made ready to die as a soldier and a
gentleman. But first he must clear his
furnished honor-tarnished with the
foul proposal made to him by Count ST.
mon of Sagan. He had passed through
life cold and. il his own sense of the
word, an honorable man, disliked, fear
ed and avoided outside his own most
intimate circle. He had been driven
by the irresistible destiny of character
to live lonely man. and now the
strength of a lonely man was his-the
strength that can make an unknown
death a glory for the sake of honor,
not honors. So he spoke.
You were very good, Count Sagan
to make choice of me before all the
guard for-thisr' he said, in his cold
voice; may 1 ask why you so favored
me?"
Because can read a man"
And you read me so? Then hear me.
/ take the place you have given me. l |
take my place as the least staunch of |
all the guard. You have told me so
much. unmasked so clearly what you
intend to do, that, unless / fall in with |
your wishes, l can never hope to leave |
this room, except feet foremost. / say
this. Now see me act as the least |
stanch of the guardr'
Without warning he leaped upon |
Sagan, hurting him backward with the |
force of the sudden impact and buried |
his fingers in the gray. bristling beard |
He had but his bare hands with which !
to Stay the enemy of the duke, and used |
them with the strength of envenomed |
pride. Sagan. under the iron throttling
fingers, snatched at his hunting knife |
and stabbed fiercely upward between
the bent arms at. the guardsman's
throat.
Inside the room the heavy breathing
and struggling of the men on the floor
seemed to Elmur loud enough to alarm
the whole castle, in spite of the furious
screaming of the gale. He SQrang to the |
writhing heap and tried to Dinion Col
endorp, but as he touched him the
wounded man fell back. In a moment
Sagan was on his feet. calling Elmur to
bring the lamp. He seized Colendorp
under the arm and showed him roughly
toward the wall, where. throwing back
curtain, he opened door and thrust
the tottering figure before him down a
short flight of steps. Then another door
was opened, and the tsa swept in with
a wild YELL for moment holding up
right the falling man, who staggered
out on to the snowy terrace, making a
tragic center to the Pickering path of
light cast by the lamp in Elmur's
hand.
For an instant Colendorp stood sway