Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-01-12

'
1t was late in the afternoon when
they returned to the hotel After din
ner during which they We're again OBJ
jects of interest, they strolled off to-
ward the castle. smoking their cigars
and enjoying the glorious air. Being
stranger in strange land. Lorry acted
OH the romantic painters advice and
also stuck revolver in his pocket He
laughed ut the suggestion that there
might be use for the weapon in such
quiet, model. well regulated town, but
Anguish insisted:
Eve seen Il lot of these fellows
around town WHO look like genuine
brigantls and cutthroats. aud think it
just as well that We he prepared" as
serted lie positively. and his friend
gratitied what he called 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 slu.nbeed 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-
ried harrackward, now and then belat
ed citizens moved through the dense
shadows on the sidewalks. but TIE
Americans saw still life in its 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 avenue near the main gate ard
looked down the dark. deserted street
Far away could be seen the faint glare
from their hotel. One or two stree;
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.
think of Paris or New York at Ii
o'clock" said Lorry, trifle awed by
the solitude of the sleeping city.
Its as dead as piece of prairie
land,' said his friend. Cad. 1t makes
! me sleepy to look down that street. It's
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 night to be
lost in sleep" urged Lorry. whose
heart was light over the joys OF the
day to come. II can dream just as
well here. looking Mt that dark old cas-
tie, with its one little tower light, MS
could If tried to sleep in hard
bed down ut the hotel.'
Anguish. who was more or less of n
dreamer himself. consented. and after
lighting fresh cigars they threw them
selves on the soft, dry grass near the
tall hedge that fenced the avenue as
it neared the castle grounds. For half
an hour they talked by fits and starts.
one 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.
"They'll not disturb u.s."
"They'll not even see us. I should
say. It's as dark as Egypt under this
hedge. They'll pass II we keep quiet"
The figures Of two men could be seen
approaching from the city, dim and
ghostly in the senliblackness of the
night. Like two thieves the Ameri-
cans waited for them to pass. 10
their exceeding discontinue. however.
the pedestrians halted directly in trout
of their resting place and seated them
i selves leisurely upon broad, fiat
stone Mt the roadside. 1t was too dark
to see il they were soldiers, notwith-
standing the fact that they were less
than fifteen feet away.
HE should be here at r." said one
lof the newcomers in low voice and
in fairly good English. The other
merely grunted There was silence
of some duration, broken by the first
speaker.
ST this Job fails and you are caught,
1t will mean years Of servitude."
but in that case we are to have TO-
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 grtpped Lorry's leg,
i but there was no sound from either of
the thoroughly aroused dreamers. "a
plot. MS I live" thought each, with a
thrill.