The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1904-01-13


oil til. romantic painters advice and
also stuck Il revolver In his pocket. He
laughed ut the suggestion that there
might be use for the weapon in SUCH q
quiet, model, well regulated town, but
Anguish insisted: =
"Pye seen II lot of these fellows
around town who look like genuine
brlgands and c~utthroats, and 1 think 1t
Just as we'll that we be prepared" as
serted lie positively, and his friend
gratl1ed what he called II within.
At 10 o'clock the slender moon
dropped behind the mountain, and the
valley, which had been touched with
its tender light, gradually took on the
somberness and stiffness OF a starlit
night. The town s%lumbered at IL, and
there were few lights to be seen in the
streets or in the houses. Here and
there strolled the white uniformed po-
lice guards, occasionally soldiers hur-
RED barrackward, now and then belat-
ed citizens moved through the dense
shadows on the sidewalks, but the
Americans saw still life I'm it's reality.
Returning from their stroll beside the
castle walls far to the west of where
they had entered the grounds that aft
ernoon, they paused in the middle of
Castle e. near the main gate and
looked down the dark, deserted street.
Far away could be seen tho faint glare
from their hotel. One or two street
lamps burned in the business part of
the city. Aside from these evidences OF
life there was nothing but darkness,
silence, peacefulness, about them ev-
erywhere.
'"rhink of Paris or New York at IL
O'clock" said Lorry, q tride awed by
the solitude Of the sleeping city.
TITS as dead as n piece Of prairie
land" said his friend. "Gad, it makes
me sleepy to look down that street. It's
a mile to the hotel, too, Lorry. @We'd
better move along"
Lets lie down near the hedge,
smoke another cigar and wait till mid
night. 1t is too glorious a night to. be
lost in Sleep" urged Lorry5 whose
heart was light over the Joys Of the
day to come. ~ can dream just rs
well here, looking at that dark old cas-
tie, with its N little tower light, as
I could lie 1 tried to sleep In a hard
bed down at the hotel"
Anguish, who was more or less of q
dreamer himself, consented, and after
Zig 'dng fresh cigars they threw them
sc res on the soft, dry grass near the
tall hedge that fenced the avenue as
1t neared the castle grounds. For half
an hour they talked by fits and starts,
n thinking of the face he had seen,
the other %picturing in his artist eye the
painting he had vowed to create from
the moonlit castle Of an hour ago..
"Some one coming" murmured the
painter, half rising to his elbow at
tentively.
Soldiers" said the other briefly.
"TheyIl not disturb u.s."
"They'll not even see us, I should
say. It's as dark as Egypt under thts
hedge. They'll pass if we keep quiet"
The figures Of two men could be seen
approaching from the city, dim and
ghostly in the semiblackness Of the
night. Like two thieves the Ameri-
cans waited for them to pass. To
their exceeding discontinue, however,
the pedestrians halted directly in front
Of their resting place and seated them
selves %leisurely upon n broad, fiat
stone at the roadside. 1t was too dark
to see If they were soldiers, notwith-
standin: the fact that they were less
than fifteen feet away.
III should be here at 10" said one
Of the newcomers in n low voice and
In fairly good English. The other
merely grunted. There was q silence
Of some duration, broken by the first
speaker.
"If this job fails and you are caught,
1t Will mean years of s%eryitude."
But In that case we are to have 1O,-
600 gavvos apiece for each year we lie
In prison. It's fair pay-not only for
our failure, but for our silence" said
the other, whose English was more
difficult to understand.
Anguish's fingers gripped Lorry's leg,
but there was no sound from either Of
h thoroughly aroused dreamers. "A
plot, as I live" thought each, with a
thrill.
wv must be careful to speak only in
English. There are not twenty people
in Edelweiss who understand it, but
the night has ears. 1t is the only safe
tongue. Geddos speaks it we'll. He
should be here" 1t was the first speak
Sh WIN ultSIcu lucSc WOTuS, llltlc KNOW
ing that he had listeners other than the
man to whom he spoke. ~ q
a dark figure shot across the road
way, and, almost before the Americans
were aware Of 1t, the party numbered
three.
"Ah, Geddos, you are punctual.'
II have found it ever a virtue,o re.
sponded the newcomer.
"Have you secured your menP"
II have, your''-
"Sh! Call me Michael, on your lifei
They are ready and willing to under
take the venture?" ~
eyes, but they do not understand the
true conditions. / have told them that
we are to rob the castle. and carry the
booty to Ganlook before mornihg.'~ g.,
"Thoy do not know the real object of
the raid, then. That is us 1 desired. Are
they trusty and experienced menY"
"The best-or the worst--that / could
find In Vienna. Not one understands
Ii laiiguago, and they are so ignorant
of our town that they arc entirely de-
pendent OH me. They know nothing
whatever of the princess, Michael, and
will do only as they are told, realizing
that if caught they will be guillotincd.
1 have told them it is the royal palace
we arc to rifle. Ostrom here ard L are
the only ones except yourself and the