The Red Cloud chief., 1907-02-22

scended to his solitary breakfast with
the pleasant sensation Of having put
last night out of consideration by the
turning over Of n new leaf. but scarce
ly had he opened Chilcote's letters,
scarcely had he taken n cursory glance
at the mornings newspaper than 1t was
borne i'm upon him that not only a new
leaf. but Il whole sheaf Of new leaves. had
been turned iii his prospects by Il had
infinitely more. powerful and arbitrary
than his own. He realized within the
space of a few moments that the lei.
sure Eve might have Obliged. !iIe lei
sure he might have been tempted to de
vote to her. was no longer his to dig.
pose Of. being already demanded Of
him from n quarter that allowed of M
refusal.
For the first rumbllug Of the political
earthquake that was to s'"ke the co,lG
try made itself audible beyond denla'
on That morning OF March 27 when the
news spread through lGnglard that. In
Wow OF the d~iSorganiTed state OF the
Persian army and ~" shah's conse.
,lIcnt inability 10 suppress the open In.
i1rrcction If shc border tribes IN the
northeastern Districts or MC'';eJ ""a
sla, with a great show of ~magnanlmity,
had come 10 the rescue by dispatching
q large armed force from her military
station at Merry across the Persian
frontier to the SCI of the disturbance.
To many hundreds of Englishmen
who read their papers on that morning
this announcement conveyed but little.
That there is such Il country as Persia
we all know. that English interests pre-
dominate In the south and Russian in
tercStS in the north we have all super
iicially understood from childhood, but
in this knowledge. coupled with the
fact that Persia is comfortably far
away, we are apt 10 rest content. 1t is
only to the eyes that 500 through long
distance glasses. the minds that regard
the present as nothing more or less
than an inevitable link joining the III
ture to the past. that tbs distant, de-
batablc land stands out in is true 20.
litical Significance.
TO the average reader OF news the
statement Of l.rSS..'S move seemed
scarcely more important tAan hGd the
first report OF the border risiHgs in
January. but II the Inc who had
watched the growth Of the disturbance
it came charged with portpntOus mean
ing. Through the entire RANKS Of tie
opposition. from Fvaidc himself down
ward. it caused n thrill of expectation
that peculiar prophetic sensation that
every politician has experienced at
some moment of his career.
In no member of his party did this
feeling strike deeper root than in Loder.
\ Imbued with IL lifelong interest in the
eastern question, specially equipped by
personal knowledge to hold and pro
claim an opinion upon Persian affairs,
he read the signs and pOrtcnts with in
stinctive insight. Seated at Chilcotc's
table. surrounded by Chilcote's letters
and papers, he forgot the breakfast
that was slowly growing cold. forgot
the interests and dangers, personal or
pleasurable, of the night before, while
his mental eyes pcrsistently coujured
up the map Of Persia, travelling with
steady deliberation from Merry to Me
shed. from Meshcd to Herat, from Her
Mt to the empire of India. For II was
not the fact that the Hazaras had risen
against the shah that occupied the
thinking mind, nor was it the fact that
Russian and not Persian troops were
destined to subdue them, but the deep
ly important consideration that an
armed Russian force had crossed the
frontier and was encamped within
twenty miles of Meshed-Aleshed. up
Oh which covctous Russian eyes have
rested ever since the days of Peter the
Great.
So Ioder's thoughts ran as lie read
and reread the news from the varying
political standpoints, and so they con,
tinued to run when, some hours later,
an urgent telephone message from the
st. Georges Gazette asked him to cal
at Lakcley's Office.