Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1907-03-12

~ save AAOAB AAlG NNlENaAAiNG VI "a
q army am permitting him to remain
5 your service, ostensibly at least. Fl
8 hours of duty have been changed, hov
2 ever Henceforth he is In the nigl
q guard, from midnight till dawn. l al
3 telling you this, Miss Calhoun. becaus
4 want you to know that in spite of a
z the indlgnity l have suffered you ar
Z more to me than any other being in th
: world, more to me even than my loya
3 ty to Graustark. Do me the honor an
Justice to remember this have sui
5 fered much for you. l am a rough
hardened soldier, and you have mis-
construed my devotion. Forgive tn
harsh words my passion may have in
spired. FAREWELL | must OF to und,
the damage we all lay at the door o
the man you and l are protecting"
He was too wise to give her thu
chance to reply. A moment later ht
: was mounted and off for the eastern
gates, there to direct the movements OF
Colonel Braze and his scouts. Beverly
flew at once to Yetiye with her plea fol
| CLG was COnAlOAlCA by 4
rather sober faced sovereign. The
news of the hour was not comforting
to the princess and her ministers.
"You don't believe he is a spy?" cried
Beverly, stopping just inside the door,
presuming selfishly that Baldos alone
was the cause for worry. She resolved
to tell Yetive of the conflict in the
park
Dear me, Beverly, l am not think
ing of him. We've discussed him joint
ly and severally and every other way.
and he has been settled for the time
being. You are the only one who is
thinking of him, my dear child. We
have weightier things to annoy u.s."
Goodness. how you talk! He isn't
annoying. Oh. forgive me, Yetive, for
I am the silliest, addle patedest goose
in the kingdom! And you are so trou-
bled But do you know that he is be-
ing watched? They suspect him. So
did l at first; I'll admit it. But.
don't-now. Have you read the note
| gave to you out there?"
"Yes, dear. It's just as | expected
He has known from the beginning
He knew when he caught Dagmar and
me spying behind that abominable
curtain. But don't worry me any long
er about him, please. Wait here with
me until we have reports from the
troops. | shall not sleep until | know
what those fires meant. Forget Baldos
for an hour or two for my sake"
"You dear old princess; Pm an awful
brute, sure 'nough. I'll forget him for
ever for your sake. 1t won't be hard
either. He's just mere guard. Pooh!
He's no prince"
WhereupOn, REINFORCED by Mrs. An
guish and the Countess Halfont, she
proceeded to devote herself to the task
of soothing and amusing the distressed
princess while the soldiers of Grau-
stark ransacked the moonlit hills. The
night passed, and the next day was far
on its way to sunset before the scouts |
came in with tidings. No trace of the |
mysterious signalers had been found. |
4AC NAADCAO VI lnC nail uOAGH uEGS
were discovered, but their builders
were gone The search took in miles |
Of territory, but it was unavailing. !
Not even a straggler was found. The |
so called troupe Of actors, around
whom suspicion centered, had been
swallowed by the capacious solitude of |
the hills. Riders from the frontier
posts to the south came in with the |
report that all was quiet in the threat
ened district. Dawsbergen was lying
quiescent, but with the readiness of a
dog.
There was absolutely no solution to
the mystery connected with the fires
on the mountain sides. Baldos was
questioned privately and earnestly by
Lorry and DanglOss. His reply was
simple, but it furnished food for re-
hectiOn and at the same time no little
relief to the troubled leaders.
ut Is my belief, Mr.. Lorry, that the
fires were built by brigands and not
by your military foes. | have seen
these fires in the north, near Axphain
and they were invariably meant to es
tablish communication between sepa-
rated squads of robbers, all belonging
to one band. My friends and | on
more than one occasion narrowly es-
capped disaster by prying into the af-
fairs of these signalers. l take 1t that
the squads have been operating in the
south and were brought together last
night by means of the fires Doubtless
they have some big project of their
own sort on foot"
That night the city looked for a rep
etition of the fires, but the mountains
were black from dusk till dawn. Word
reached the castle late in the evening
from Ganlook that an Axphainian no
bleman and his followers would reach
Edelwelss the next day. The visit was
friendly but an important one The
lobleman was no other than the young
Duke of Mizrox, Intimate friend of the
unfortunate Prince Lorenz who met
his death at the hand of Prince Ga
Jriel and was the leader of the party
which opposed the vengeful plans of
Princess VOlga. His arrival In Edel-
weiss was awaited with deep anxiety, T.
ior 1t was suspected that his news
would be Of the most important char
lcter.
Beverly Calhoun sat on the balcony
With the princess long after midnight
The sky was black with the clouds of
IN approaching storm. The air was
'eavy with fOreboding silence. Twice
rom their darkened corner near the
'illar they saw BaldOs as he paced
teadilY mast the cnstla on nntrnI with