Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-05-28

with their traps they were soon wbir,-
ing through France, bound for cor
'aln great city on the road TO EdeJ.
weiss, one filed with excitement. eeps~.
hess and boyish zeal, the other har-
assed by the somber fcnr that = erave
disappointment was in store for him.
After all, VINO was Miss t,uggcnslockrr
brewer, baker, gardener or sausage
, maker!
Travelling Of course was pleasant at
this time Of the year. and the two
: }mericans saw much that Interested
hcm along the way. Their French.
"specially AnguiSh'S was Of great val
nc TO them. for they found occasion tn
use 1t at all times and in all places.
J Both spoke German fairly well and
look every opportunity to brush up i'm
that language. lorry remembering that
; the GuggcnSlockcrS used many cXprns.
sions that showed preference for the
Trutonic. The blithc Anguish conf.
dent and in high feather. was heart
and soul in the odd expedition of love
ana talked necessarily Of their rcccp-
ton by the PARKWAY hostess their i'm.
pressions and the final result. Ills
camera and skctching materials were
packed away with his traps. 1t was
his avowed intention TO immortalizn
the trip 10y means Of plate, palette and
brush.
At the end Of two days they reached
certain large city. the first chunrn.
and then 700 miles to another. Tho dis
tance from this point to the capital Of
Graustark was 200 miles or more chief
~ through mountainous lands. Some
what elnted by the cheerful Informal
ton there received. they resumed the
journey to Edelweiss. the city of vale.
slope and park--summer. fall and win.
ter. Changing cars at the end of the
second day out, they sat back in the
dusty seats Of their carriage and sighed
with relief.
UNLESS we jump the track this train
will land us in the city We are looking
for said Anguish stretching out his
legs comfortably. "1l admit 1t has
been tiresome Journey. and I'll be
glad when we can step into Decent
Motel, have rub and feel like white
men once more. ! am beginning to feel
y
saw way back there"
There's one thing certain" sid I.or.
~, looking out Of the window. "Tha
people and the habtations are different
and the whole world seems changed
since we left that station. Look at
those fellows on horseback over there"
What did tell you about brigands
and robbers"' exclaimed Anguish. "If
those fellows are not bandits I'll lose
faith in every novel ever read
The train rolled slowly past threa
mounted men whose steedS stood like
statues upon a little knoll to the right OF
the track. men and beasts engaged in
silent contemplation of the cars. The
men, picturesquely attired and looking
fierce carrying long rifles, certainly
bore an aspect that suggested the brig
and. When the guard entered the car.
riage, Anguish asked in German for
some information concerning the rid.
ers.
"Dey're frontier police guards" re-
sponded the man in English, smiling at
their establishment. Roth Americans
rose and shook hands with him.
'By George. its good to hear a man
talk white mans language cried An.
guish.
How do you come TO be holding a
job on this road: An Englishman:"
demanded Lorry. He looked anything
but English.
I'm not an Englishman," said the
guard, flushing slightly. My names
Sticky, an I'm an American, sir"
AN American" exclaimed Lorry.
Sticky grew loquacious.
sure. | used to be sailor on
United States man-o-war. \ couple Of
years ago | got into trouble down at
Constantinople an had to get out OF
de service. After dat | drfted up dis
way and went To railroadin'." He
hadn't exactly the manner of a man-o'-
Warsman.
How long have you been on this
road" asked Grenfall.
Bout q year | should t'ink Been
on dis branch only two months, dough"
Are you pretty we'll acquainted in
Edclweiss?"
"oh, | run in dere every other day
in an out ag'in. Its n fine plsce-pur.
test you ever saw in your life. The
town runs right up the mountain to the
tiptOp, whore the monks are-clear IN
in de clouds, Dey say it SHOWS up deere
almost all de time
Later on from the loQuacious guard
the two Americans learned quite
good Bit about the country and city to
which they We're going. HIS KNOWLEDGE
was somewhat limited along certain
lines but quite clear as to others
Dis GrauStark, s fer as | know. il
ecdcr a sort o. state or somethin' bc-
lonGin TO de umpire, governed by its
own rulers EdelweiSs is de capital;
de big guns OF de land lives dere Two
walked ont an saw de castle where dc
princess an de royalty hangs out. lie
people speak a language of der own,
and can't get next to ting dey say.
Rut once in awhile you find some guy
dat talks French or German. pey've
got little standin' army of two tree
tousand men, an dey'vc got de hottest
uniforms You ever did see-red an
black an gold. | don't see why de Unit
ed states can't get up somethin' foxy
fer her soldiers To wear. Had a war
over here not long ago, | understand
somethin' like ten ar fifteen years ago.