Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-05-10

ltGuLcHdutt dSkSQ Liz ElHt vt& LIE AEaA
seat plaintiveIy, even bumbly. The
man was very deliberate with his
English. He had been recommended
to her as the best linguist IN the serv-
Ice at Radovitch, and he had a repu-
tation to sustain.
6 It another hour is but yet, he man
aged to inform her, with confident
smile.
ooh, DEAR she sighed, "a whole hour
OF this!''
We soon be dar, Miss Bev'ly. Jes'
yo' max up yo' min to res easy-like,
an we But the faithful old colored
wornan's advice was lost in the wrath
fill exclamation that accompanied an
other dislodgment of bags and boxes.
The wheels of the coach had dropped
suddenly into a deep rut. Aunt Fan
ny's growls were scarcely more potent
than poor Miss Beyerly's means.
ut is getting worse and worse ex-
claimed Aunt Fannys mistress petu-
lantly. I'm black and blue from head
to foot, aren't you, Aunt Fannyf"
ssAh CAIN say as to de blue, Miss
Bey'ly Hits a mos monstrous bad
road, sho nough. Stay up dar will
yo'? she concluded, jamming bag
into an upper corner.
Miss Calhoun, tourist extraordinary,
again consulted the Iinguist in the sad
die. She knew at the outset that the
quest would be hopeless, but she could
think of no better way to pass the next
hour than to extract mite Of informa-
ton from the officer.
Now for a good old chat" she said,
beaming smile upon the grizzled Rus
sian Is there a decent hotel in the
| viIlageY she asked.
They were ON the edge of the village
before she succeeded in finding out all
that she could, and it was not great
deal either. She learned that the town
of Balak was in Axphain, scarcely
mile from the Graustark line. There
was an eating and sleeping house on
| the main street, aud the population Of
/ the place did not exceed 300.
| When Miss Beverly awoke the next
morning, sore and distressed, she look
| that sleep had been kind enough to in
| terrupt only at intervals. The wretched
hosiery lived long in her secret cata-
logue Of terrors. Her bed was not a
| bed; it was torture. The room, the
table, the-but 1t was all too odious for
description Fatigue was her only
| friend in that miserable hole Aunt
Fanny had slept on the floor near her
mistress cot, and it was the good old
colored woman's grumbling that aWoke
Beverly. The sun was climbing up the
mountains in the east, and there was
an air of general activity about the
| place. Beverly's watch told her that it
was past o'clock.
/ Good graciousT' she exclaimed.
Its nearly noon, Aunt Fanny. Hurry
along here and get me up. We must
leave this abominable place in ten min
utes.' She was up and racing about
excitedly.
aBefo' breakfas' r. demanded Aunt
Fanny weakly.
Goodness, Aunt Fanny, is that all
you think about p
well, honey, yo'll be thinkin'
moughty serious bout breakfas' long
toahds 'leben o'clock. Dat lii tum-
my O. yournll be pow'ful mad cause
yo' didn' -
Every well, Aunt Fanny, you can
run along and have the woman put up
a breakfast for us, and We'll eat it on
the road. positively refuse to eat
another mouthful in that awful dining
room. Ill be down in ten minutes.
She was down in less. Sleep. no
matter how hard earned, had revived
her spirits materially. She pronounced
herself ready for anything. There VS.
a wholesome disdain for the E:
the coming ride through T.
iii the way she gave g. ~
start The Russian oflie ~.
Just outside the entrance 70 l,,s rs.
He was less English than ever, hi -
eventually gave her to understand THAI
he had secured permission to escort
her as far as Ganlook, a town in
Graustark not more than fifteen miles
from Edelweiss and at least two days
from Balak. Two competent Axphain-
ian guides had been retained and the
party was quite ready to start. He
had been warned of the presence of
brigands in the wild mountainous
passes north of Ganlook. The Rus
slams could go no farther than Gam
look because Of royal edict from,
Edelweiss forbidding the nearer ap
proach of armed forces. At that town,
however, he was sure she easily could
obtain an escort Of Graustarkian sol
diers.
AS the big coach crawIed up the
mountain road and farther into the
oppressive solitudes Beverly Calhoun
drew from the difficult lieutenant con-
siderable information concerning the
state of affairs in Graustark. She had
been eagerly awaiting the time when
something definite could be learned.