Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-09-24
D4ILY STORY
A SERIOUS
TRES PASS.
IOriginal ]

j
Keep straight on till you come to
| the coast. Farther on you will pass
through a detile with towering cliffs on
| either side. DO not on any account as
cend the rocks on the right, for up
there is Livadia, the summer palace of
| the car.
| The words We're spoken to Frank
Huxford of Chicago, globe trotter,
mountain climber. grain operator, club
man, horse jockey, anything, every
thing that versatile American is ca
| pable of taking up, though how he
managed TO crafty so many tastes ia
| one lifetime no one could find out. He
| had asked the way of a man who had
answered in the Russian tongue, but
| HuXford understood never word, so
he proceeded in the direction the man
| pointed, trusting to luck to find his
way. He soon struck a dense wood,
| from which he emerged in the defile
| mentioned by the man of whom he had
| inquired. On either side We're cliffs,
and his climbing instinct led him to
| attack an almost perpendicular ascent
| on his right. 1t looked plain enough
from below, but on the route he was
| in the midst of dense scrubby trees
| and could neither see nor be seen by
any one.
He emerged at last on 4 plateau,
where he stood wiping the perspiration
from his face and enjoying the view.
Presently he IoweredShis eyes, and Mt
! the foot of the cliff where 4 section of
| the road was visible he saw Il soldier
leaning laziIy on his gun. On another
| exposed section he saw several senti-
nels posted at short distances from one
another.
Walking inward from the edge of
| the cliff, he came to a finely finished
road and in another moment heard the
patter of a pony's feet on the hard
surface, and Il phaetOn containing Il
young woman and two little girls came
round a point of rocks. Tho lady was
| driving and. seeing HuXford, refined
in the pony and asked him some
thing III Russian which he did not
understand. He took off his hat and
made I bow i'll true American fashion
and replied in English. FOR, his jaws
not having been fashioned i'll infancy
to utter bone cracking sounds, he had
not learned the Russian language. The
young woman burst into laugh and
said in English, with a British accent:
4 asked you whether you have seen
the Count Ehminoff so by here"
Il have seen no one go by here. l
have just climbed up from below
The Iady's face grew grave. DO YOU
mean,'' she said, that you have en-
tered here except by the gateway"
II came from the road down there"
The lady paled. but how did you
pass the guard?'
THAT accounts for chain of sol
diers 1 saw below. L didn't know
there was guard
Great heavens. You are in the
cars grounds. How reckless my
countrymen are
I'm not your countryman unless you
are an American
americans are just as foolish as
our Englishmen. Do you know that
you are in frightful position?'
"Oh. I've climbed the Matterhorn!
This is nothing. Do you suppose l
can't get down where L have come
up"
You passed the guard by one chance
in hundred. You can't expect to win
that chance again"
Il will apologize to his majesty for
trespassing"
You will not see his majesty. You
will be arrested and treated as a would
be assassin"
Both paused in the conversation, and
both did a great deal of thinking in Il
very short space of time, at the end of
which the lady said:
Get in here quick
The children were on the back seat,
and ItuXford got up in front beside the
lady. He had scarcely done SO when
there was clatter of horses hoofs
coming, and gentleman on horse
back, followed by Il groom, met them.
Both he and the lady drew rein.
"Ah, count she said in Russian, 81
feared we had lost you. The children
would have been greatly disappoint- |
cd
Il would Join you, but see you are |
full, replied the count, looking inquir |
ingly at Huxford
This Is my cousin, just from Eng |
land, the Hon. Hubert Granger" Then |
in English she introduced Huxford to |
the count.
What further she said was in Rus |
sian, and Huxford did not know what |
it was till he saw the count dismOunt |
and by pantomime offer him his horse.
The lady told HuIford that she had
expressed his wish to visit the oppo
site cliffs, and the count had offered
his horse, with his groom to point the
way. Huxford. having alighted, made
an American bow to the count,
French bow that he had learned in
Paris to the lady and mounted the
counts steed. Then, having made two
or three more bows of different nation
alities, he galloped away.
AT the gateway the guard scrutinized
'the Hon. Mr.. Granger" but, seeing
Count Ehminoff's groom following him,