The Holly chieftain., 1902-10-10


His long life in African wilds,
vhsrs dangers in the most astonishing
ard Unexpected guiss waylaid him 1t
every turn. had eminently httsd this
man for inst such situation.
II he failed It would be through no
fault OF his, but because forces Of
which he was in utter ignorance had
entered the llsld.
such q Jones. for Instance.
How should the fiesy Gaul imagine
that this wonderful man. who carried
the future OF Monte Carlo In tho hol-
low Of his hand, and had already twice
broken the famous bank-how should
he dream that this Jones was any
thing but what he represented himself
to be. . shrewd Yankee tourist In
great luck.
Count Leon believed he had the
magazine In condition for exploding,
the train well laid, and that the slow
match had already been ignited.
The very boldness Of his stroke
would paralize al fair France. When
the news reached Paris that the presi.
dent had been kidnapped and that .
Duke Of Orleans was already over the
border at the head Of an army, the old
royalist spirit that had been slumber-
ing so long would burst from its con-
flnement. and the whole country rise
up to welcome its king.
It happened before-it will some
/. day come again, though not without
civil war. fe
Glancing around the scene Of action
the count saw that all seemed well.
His men were within easy call, and
near by the figure of President Car
not could be distinctly seen as he chat
ted with the two gentlemanly aides
who were to serve as his body guard.
Constance was leaning over wall,
with the mystical view of the harbor
before her, and some one close by,
speaking in soft, lover-like tones.
The counts teeth made an ugly
sound as he recognized Merrick-thss
man was forever crossing his path.
and had done so since first they met
in the Transvaal .t IL.
Well knowing what he did, Villebois
could well afford to laugh in = cynical
fashion.
He knew, being = reader of human
nature. just how matters stood, and
that the girl loved Mark; but to a man
Of his calculating nature this did not
stand out Is . terrifying obstacle to
the ultimate success Of his suit.
According to his way of thinking as
Frenchman, there were more ways
than one to win 4 capricious woman's
consent to marriage.
Merrick may nave apparently won
the second heat. but there was anoth-
er to decide the race-and Merrick
was = doomed man, since he carried
secret upon his person that the count
had sworn to possess.
Let the lovers. therefore. bill and
COO while the opportunity remained
let them feast their eyes upon the
beautiful and quaint harbor where the
cleaning of lights told Of the numer-
Gus yachts at anchor-little they
dreamed. poor fools. deep in the in
toxication of their futtering love. that
this night, aye, this very hour, per-
haps. would see them prisoners on
board the steam yacht that bore away
the unhappy president of France, and
that ere the cruise ended the one
would be bride, the other q slave of
some desert tribe. s,
When 1t comes right down to
schemes that are dark and dramatic
the modern playwright need only con-
suit the files Of Parisian papers for
tragedies that have actually occurred
upon the sacred soil of France, where
truth is always stranger than the wild.
est dream of fiction. Other nations
are not In the same class when com.
parison is made.
30 that this anticipated coup, where
by such mighty things were to be ac-
complished. was, after all, very nat
ural development, according to the
light Frenchman had.
At signal from the count the grand
climax would be reached.
Why did he hesitate!
There was an exhilaration In the
very thought that such power rested
in his hands-he experienced the keen
est Of satisfaction In feeling that .
peculiar combination Of circum.
stances, leading up to this dramatic
crisis. had for the moment made him
the arbiter Of nations destiny.
Really. this thought was enough to
pun an ordinary man up with more or
less vanity, and Count Leon might be