Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-01-11
GRAUSTARK s:
-. BY -.
GEORGE BARR M'cUTCHEON
Copyright. 1901, bB Herbert S. Stone


vouchsafed Lorry. very truthfully.
I'll accept the amendment" said |,
Anguish. Then he proceeded to take a |
snapshot of the castle from the middle |
Of the street He also secured a DtHn- |
Der of views of the mountain side, OF |
some odd little dwelling houses and |
two or three interesting exposures Of
red ROBBED children. Everybody. from
the children up, wore loose robes, some
red. some black. some blue, but all in
solid colors Beneath these robes were
baggy trousers and blouses among the
men. short skirts among the women.
All wore low boots and a sort of tur-
ban. These costumes, Of course, were
confined to the native civilians. At the
hotel the garb of the aristocrats was
vastly different The women were
gowned after the latest Viennese pat
terms, and the men, except those of the
army, wore clothes almost as smart as
those which covered the Americans.
Miss Guggenslocker-Or whatever her
name might be-and her carriage COM
paniOn were as eXquisitely gowned as
any women to be seen on the boule-
wards or in Hyde park of an afternoon.
1t was late in the afternoon when
they returned to the hotel. After din
ner, during which they were again OBJ
jects of interest, they strOlled off to-
ward the castle, smoking their cigars
and enjoying the glorious air. Being a
stranger in a strange land, LOrry acted
on the romantic painters advice and
also stuck a revolver in his pocket. He
laughed at the suggestion that there
might be use for the weapon in such
quiet, model, we'll regulated town, but
| Anguish insisted
I've seen a lot of these fellows
| around town who look like genuine
brigands and cutthroats. and l think it
| Just as we'll that we be prepared" as
serted lie positively. and his friend
! gratified what he called a whim.
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 slumbered at II. 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 barrackward, now and then belat-
ed citizens moved through the dense
shadows on the sidewalks. but the
Americans saw still life in 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 avenue near the main gate and
looked down the dark, deserted street.
Far away could be seen the 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.
think of Paris or New York at II
O'clock" said Lorry. a trif1e awed by
the solitude of the sleeping city.
Its as dead as a piece of prairie
land" said his friend. Cad it 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 a night to be
lost in Sleep" urged Norry, whose
heart was light over the joys of the
day to come. Il can dream just as
we'll here, looking at that dark old cas-
tie, with it's one little tower light, rs
could if l tried to sleep in hard
bed down at the hotel
Anguish, who was more or less of 8
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 a.
it neared the castle grounds. For hall
an hour they talked by fits and starts
one thinking of the face he had seen
the other picturing in his artist eye tn,
painting he had vowed to create from
the moonlit castle of an hour ago.
''Some one coming" murmured thu
painter, half rising to his elbow at
tentively.
Soldiers" said the other briefly
: They'll not disturb u.s."
They'll not even see u.s. | shoult
= say. It's as dark as Egypt under thi
hedge. They'll pass if we keep quiet.
e The figures of two men could be seer
approaching from the city, dim ant
ghostly in the semiblackness of tn
night. Like two thieves the Ameri
cans waited for them to pass. I
), their exceeding discontinue, however
the pedestrians halted directly in from
of their resting place and seated them
J. selves leisurely upon a broad, fla
stone at the roadside. 1t was too dar
TO see if they were soldiers, notwitf
standing the fact that they were les
than fifteen feet away.
HE should be here at r." said or
of the newcomers in low voice an
in fairly good English. The othe
'' merely grunted. There was a silenC
of some duration, broken by the fir:
speaker.