Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-07-12

Il
What desire is a chance to serve our
Ecause, and, II might make a request.
% would be that 1 should be assigned to
Eduty here"
B General" said Vera. my desire is
30 grant this request VIII you assign
Colonel Korna to dutyY
Il would welcome him upon nv
Estan." said the general, whereupon
korna made proper acknowledgements.
ana the Incident seemed happily closed.
II AS to the Russian force now lying
Ebetween us and Gredskov." said Kor.
kna, Il have certain Information. but
Mr.. Darrell has much more, so that |
hesitate to speak before he has been
heard"
This judieious remark brought Oar,
rell back to the center OF the stage. and
bis report was eagerly received. IL ap-
{ peared Immediately that his informa.
ton was far more accurate than any
that had previously been brought IN.
His estimate OF the Russian force. with
sketches Of its position. made the stu
alton seem far more serious than II
had hitherto been considered. Ii was
obvious that the Russians must expect
to cooperate with a force moving down
from the north and that the plan was
to annihllate the little CircassIan army
! In VladikaukaS
4 The position which they have tax
en-" said Darrell, lis merely that Of
the greatest advantage In case your
orce should attempt voluntary move
ment toward Gredskov. At the proper
N lima fhoV will aAx
4 city closely upon the south. but they
90 not wish to do II prematurely be-
cause they are not strong enough to
take the place by assault. nud an in
kdecisive action might result I'm bring
fling up Prince Kilziar's army i'm their
rear. Clearly there has been some
Shitch In their plan. for tho thing vas
Ito have been done quickly: otherwise
sthis flying column OF Russians night
Fbe caught by Kilziars advance and be
In bad place. Something has delay
4 ed their larger force that was 20 move
down from the north or yoC would
salready be engaged with II. They GER
tainly must have expected to take VIA
,dikaukas this morning."
! "hilziar's scouts should have report
1 ed the presence OF this force" said
Vera, and he should already be nd
evancing"
1--WE have no knowledge that such is
the case" said the general. I'VE can
not assume that the priHee is I'm Dos
session of Information equal to ours.
The immediate need il TO send word to
him. He is probably In the same posi-
ton that we were in before Mr.. Oar.
relrs arrival, aware. OF course that the
communications had been cat. but In
ignorance that II had heen done by n
force sufficient 20 menace seriously our
position here"
Let the messengers be chosen AZ
oncei" exclaimed Vera y will prepare
the orders. We will catch these sds-
slams like gDat IN 4 glove"
And she made q very graceful xes-
ture to enforce tbs metaphor.
Il will attend TO this matter In per
son." said the general. with the as
sistance OF Colonel ko-ua In the
meantime il may be that Mr.. Darrell
will prepare duplicate maps OF tie
Russian position "a he saw IT, They
VIII be carried by our nlea and will AS
N@NN N@NAA' - cNNAAhS a AAtG AAAAtS.
Darrell bowed as the general and
Korna left the room. Vera made
place for him az the table beside her.
and he began his work without n word.
Sentries paced the vsranda outside the
windows, and two We're on guard In the
hall, but no one was within hearlng.
The noises OF the camp came very
family. and the sound OF Darrelrs pen
Gil was audible I'm the room.
II trust that you conveyed my thanks
and my apologies to Mr.. and Mrs Cor
don," said Vera suddenly.
Darrell passed his hand ACROSS his
forehead as cue does who would steady
his wits
II was not authorized to speak for
you" he said, but / know that they
fully understood. OF course your sud
den departure gave US great anxiety.
We were afraid that In escaping from
the police yeu had run into the hands
of the cars agents 1t was for that
reason that 1 went TO Stavropol, re-
Numbering thst you had said you
might be taken thera."
bot told you where was going!~
she exclaimed "T gave you word for
Mr.. and Mrs. Gordon. / gave you the
means OF seeing me again In Paris"
Darrell slowly shook his head
81 know nothing Of this" he said.
ut was afl-All IN your hat she
cried, stammersng prettiIy IN her ex-
citemeAt
"An in my hatT' he echoed II real
~ beg your pardon
II could not find yoa that hast night"
she said hurriedly. your hat was Iy-
ing on the table. wrote a note and
put it under the band inside, so that
you must ind It when you put the hat
on"
IL haven't seen II from that day TO
this" said Darrell "A servant must
have taken II to nay room"
They sat looking into each others
face In silence for at least a minute,
each thinking Of the pain OF mind that
this trivial accident had caused.
81 heard that yoa had gene to Stavro-
mol aafH Va s1Ns.A -