The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-25
CHAPTER III.
zine Gentlemen OF the Guard.

Members of great families frequently
regard themselves as submerged in
diyidualities. They wilfully sink all
identity of their own in the traditions
handed down to them, and live as mere
representatives of a line which bears IN
common a noble name. This principle,
which has something TO recommend It,
was adopted long ago into the system
of the Guard of Nassau, the officers OIL
which were first gentlemen Oh the
guard and afterward men in the prl-
waite and ordinary sense of the term
There were nine of them-a colonel-ln-
chief whose position became honorary
after his elevation to that rank; col
onel, upon whom devolved the active
command; a second in command, whose
title of oVer-captain may be translated
major; three captains, and as many
subalterns And every individual was
drawn from the noblest blood in the
country.
Thus it will be seen that Hollywood
was about to enter the best company in
Revonde.
On a lofty cliff above the gorge from
which the Kofn issues to curve round
the palace gardens, and exposed to the
four winds of heaven, stands an impos-
ing square block of gray buildings.
These contain the permanent quarters
of the guard. One whole side of the
courtyard within is taken up by the
domed meSsroom. with its necessary
adjunctS and offices.
Here on the day following Rally
woods interview with Selpdorf, three
men lounged over their lunch. Any one
of them, had he cared to take the reg
mental rolls from their brass-bound
coffee in the ante-room, could have read
his own name repeating itself down the
columns as generation after generation
lived through its identical life in the
same surroundings. and died, most of
them going to the devil with a fine in
herited pride and even gracefully.
Nearly every man who had crossed
the page of the Maasaun annals had
dined in that historic room, and each
one of the men who now held the right
to dine there had a hereditary interest,
and in many cases a. hereditary charac-
teristic, to maintain. There was old
walrus-faced Wallenloup; the thin,
dark, reckless Colendorp; Adiron,
whose great bulk behind a cavalry
sword was a sight for the gods. and so
on the three lieutenants following close
ly in the footsteps of the three lieuten-
ants who had been before them; men
who went to the rendezvous of a duel
in all comfort, affecting to be infinitely
more afraid of catching cold than of
being killed: men who kissed the wife
anu dispatched the HuSDdIlu WITH equal
skill and as little noise as might be:
men who We're feared by a rough
staggering. raucous soldierly whom
they only knew through the hard-faced
sergeantS: men, in fact, who lived out
their debonair. picturesquely evil lives
to the satisfaction of themselves and Of
few others.
the commandant. was not present or
him it was told that while still a lieu
Tenant he had been offered. as re-
ward for services rendered to the
crown, the command of any MaaSaun
regiment he might choose to select and
he had replied that he would rather be
n lieutenant of the guard than a field
marshal elsewhere. And so he remained
10 flavor the mess with his somewhat
blOod-and-iron jokes. The messroom
was a spacious hall, and though only
three men sat at the table. the place
seemed full of life and color from the
black polished floor to the carved and
Vaulted ceiling. from which hung in
tattered folds the old banners of the
regiment. Red hangings partially
draped the dark walls. and over all,
from the stained dome. the light fell
in rich tones of color, while through the
talk of the men ran the one'i
weird sound that never ceased about
those walls, the whimpering of the
wind.
Suddenly the door opened, and a
young man, small and thin, with a
faint down upon his upper lip entered ,
quickly.
-'Unziar has won,'' he cried.
won what?" asked Adiron, the |
senior man present, as he poured out |
another glass of wine.
won his second match against Aben- |
feldt with seven to spare"
AdirOn cfVafC.he5 his laorS nd |
back; his figure was well adapted for |
leaning back.
My good Adolf, explain yourself"
Hadn't you heard of it? Why. they |
it last night at Countess Sa-
cams"
''Abenfeldt fancies himself as a shot, |
out he forgot he had to do with I'm |
ziar." laughed Captain Adiron.
"Abenfeldt bet that he could shoot |
more swallows in half an hour before |
breakfast than any man in Revonde. |
That was in September, you know, and |
Unfair took him up-with service re-
shot fifteen. winning east
". Abenfeldt can't get over it. and
him to a shooting match
again last night. I say" Adolf broke
off. and his face altered; he thrust out a
little foot and surveyed the spurred !
boot that covered it critically I've /
just ridden back from Brale. That new
charger of mine bolted down the hill
by the paling. went to see Snsermann;
they had not been able to move him,
you know
"wen?" urged all three voices at
,nce.
'Insermann's dead. He died last night
at dinner time"
The mems eyes shot for a second at
lnsefmann's empty place, which he was
never to occupy again.
All, l told him that scooping pass of
his was a mistake" commented Adiron.
And the worst of it is that his death
breaks the line Of the Xanthal Inser-
MAINS. Poor old Insermann, he was
the last of a good stock. and for one,
don't like new blood. What have you
10 say about that pass now Colendorp?
If 1 am not mistaken. you defended ito"
"Insermann was by three inches too
tall" replied the individual addressed.
For a short man one would be hard
put 10 IL to discover a more useful
5ullo"
The folding doors had been flung open
With a crash. and a man of 30 or there
lbouts, dressed in the gorgeous green
md gold of the guard, strobe in tenn
1estuously. He was short and heavily
quilt. with a weather-red face and a
,oarse. overhanging mustache. which
gave him rather the expression of an ,
ingry walrus. So angry, indeed. was
lie that his words came volleying out ,
narticulately. In his hand he held a ,
,rumpled sheet of parchment
The men rose as he took his place at /
he head of the table.
''Insermann's dead and Selpdorf saws !
=" The coloneFs choked CALCULATIONS !
)roke, his voice failed him, and he sent ,
he paper fiuttering from his hand 5