Omaha daily bee., 1899-07-02

can hit man at, say twenty PAGES" Rally
wood spoke deliberately.
The whole group of men listened in
silence. Then Unziar leaned toward Rally
wood, with a smile.
1--WE can but try, Captain Rallywood," he
said, gently.
Although every one In their immediate
neighborhood was listening, from the other
side of the hall they looked, no doubt like
a group Of tail men engaged in the ordinary
conversation and common amenities of So
clety, the only noticeable difference being
that Unziar was a little more deprecating
and low-voiced than usual. Elmur, stand
ing near by, filled his glass and drank, with
a silent nod at Unfair
Il shall be delighted to assist you in set
tling the question:" returned Rallywood; ;
then, consulting his card, he added, 4" find
/ Lave an engagement for the last dance,
some twenty minutes hence. May rec
ommend the interval to your consideration? %
The two frontier men stepped forward
simultaneously to offer their services to
Rallywood. He thanked them and was
about to accept when Captain Adiron inter-
posed.
"If either of these gentlemen will resign
in my favor l shall feel 1t an obligation,
as can then offer myself to Captain Rally
wood as one OF his seconds"
Courtesy demanded that Rallywood and
his friends should fall in with this proposal,
and Rallywood, replying to Adron, added:
"You have heard exactly what passed be-
tween Lieutenant Unfair and myself and
am sure / cannot do better than leave the
matter in your hands in conjunction with
my friend, Colonel Jenard."
Colendorp and Adolf, as representing
Unfair, accompanied Rallywood's seconds
to make the necessary arrangements.
Meanwhile Rallwood strolled back to the
gallery above the ball room and looked
down at the dancers He could not see
Valerie, but he remembered Selpdorf and
his injunctions to avoid a quarrel and
smiled as he thought over the words, since
| the chancellor must have been perfectly
aware that he had pushed an unwelcome
| foreigner into a position that could only
be held by force of arms, even in the case
of a Massaun candidate of noble blood. At
| that moment he saw his own position
| clearly. He knew himself to be an un-
considered unit in the big game of diplomacy
that was being played over his head and he
remembered that the day of human sacrl-
| fees Is not yet, as many suppose, quite a
thing of the past. The gods are changed or
called by other names and the high priest
| no longer dips his hands In the actual blood
Of the victim, but the whole deadly drama
goes on repeating itself as 1t always must
while the generations of men have their
| being under various notifications OF the
primeyal system OF the strong hand. That
his life might be deliberately requisitioned
by selpdorf to forward some secret policy Of
his own was by no means an impossible
suposition. Rallywood glanced at the clock.
| In another quarter of an hour he must
either be dancing with Valerie Selpdorf or
| lying dead in the famous coister OF St,
Anthony, which overlooked the river. and
where many another man had died under
much the same circumstances.
! Rallywood laughed again and turned on
his heel. At that period It did not seem to
matter greatly which way II ended. but
he was going to carry the undertaking
through with what credit his wits afforded
/ him.
] In the meantime the cloister OF ST. An
thpny had been lit up from end to end with