Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-06-12
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0osr,sht. 1904. " Dodd.
Md "a 6ouipaM


and 1t was necessary for the party to
make an early start. Yetive rode with
Harry Anguish and his wife the count
ess, while Beverly's companion was the
gallant Colonel Quinnox. Baldos, rele-
gated to the background. brought up
the rear with Haddan.
For week or more Beverly had been
behaving toward Baldos In the most
cavalier fashion. Her friends had
been teasing her, and, to her own in
tense amazement, she resented it. The
fact that she felt the sting of their sly
taunts was sufficient to arouse in her
the distressing conviction that he had
become important enough to prove en-
barrassing. While confessing to her.
self that 1t was bit treacherous and
weak she proceeded to ignore Baldos
with astonishing persistency. Apart
from the teasing, it seemed to her Of
late that he was growing shade too
sonf1dent.
he occasionally forgot his deferential
air and relaxed into avery pleasing but
highly reprehensible state of friendli-
ness. A touch Of the old jauntiness crop
ped out here and there, q tinge of the old
irony marred his otherwise perfect mien
as soldier. Ills laugh was freer, his
eyes less under subjugation, his entire
personality more arrogant. 1t was
time, thought she resentfully, that his
temerity should meet some sort of
check.
And, moreover. she had dreamed of
him two nights in succession.
How well her plan succeeded may
best be illustrated by saying that she
now was in most uncomfortable
frame of mind. Baldos refused to be
properly depressed by his misfortune.
He retired to the oblivion she provided
and seemed disagreeably content. Ap-
parently 1t made very little difference
to him whether he was in or out of ia
vor Beverly was In high dudgeon and
low spirits,
The party rode forth at an early hour
IN the morning. It was hot in the city,
but 1t looked cold and bleak on the
heights. Comfortable wraps were talk
en- along, and provision was made for
luncheon at an Inn halfway up the
slope. Quinnox RECALLED Beverly with
stories in which Grenfall Lorry was
the hero and Yetive the heroine. He
told her Of the days when Lorry, fu-
gitive with price upon his head,
charged with the assassination of
Prince Lorenz, then betrothed to the
princess lay hidden in the monastery
while Yetive's own soldiers hunted
high and low for him. The narrator
dwelt glowlngly upon the trip from the
monastery to the city walls one dark
night when Lorry came down to sur
render himself in order to shield the
woman he loved, and Quinnox himself
piloted him through the underground
passage into the very heart of the cas-
tie, Then came the exciting scene in
which Lorry presented himself as a
pfisoner, with the denouement that
saved the princess and won for the
gallant American the desire Of his
heart.
what q brave fellow be was" cried
Beverly, who never tired Of hearing
the romantic story.
| "Ah, he was wonderful, Miss Cal
houn. I fought him to keep him from
surrendering. He beat me, and was
virtually his prisoner when we appear
ed before the tribunal"
*1t's no wonder she loved him and
married him."
"He deserved the best that life could
give. Miss Calhoun"
"You had better not call me Miss
Calhoun, Colonel Quinnox," said she,
looking back apprehensively. 81 am a
highness once In awhile, don't you
know?"
II lmplore your highness' pardon"
said he gayly.
The riders ahead had come to a
standstill and were pointing off into
the pass to their right. They were
eight or ten miles from the city gates
and more than halfway up the winding
road that ended at the monastery gates.
Beverly and Qulnno4 came up with
them and found all eyes conferred on a
small company Of men encamped in the
rocky defile hundred yards from the
main road.
| 1t needed but glance to tell her
who comprised the unusual company
The very raggedness Of their garments
the unforgettable disregard for conse.
quences, the impudent ease with which
they faced poverty and wealth alike
belonged to but one set of men-the
vagabonds of the Hawk and Raven
Beverly went shade winter Her in.
terest In everything else tagged, and
she was lost in bewilderment VIVA,
freak Of fortune had sent these men
out Of the Businesses into this danger.
ously open place?
She recognized the ascetic Ravone
with his students face and beggar's
garb. Old Franz was there, and SC
We're others whose faces and hetero
geneous garments had become so ia
miliar to her In another day. The tai
leader with the red feather, the rak
ish hat and the black patch alone was
missing from the picture.
"It's the strangest looking crew I've
ever seen," said Anguish. "They lool
like pirates"
"Or gypsies," suggested Yetive. "Wh(
are they, Colonel Quinnox? What are
they doing here?"
Qulnnox was surveying the vaga
bonds with critical suspicious eye.
"They are not robbers or they would
be off like rabbits" he said reflective
ly. "Your highness. there are man,
rowing bands in the hills, but confess