Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-09-08
/ Ch~pter
! Iwentynine


relief. although of kind more con
genial to the cynic than the admirer
of humanity, from the tragedy Of
love In Volseni to the comedy Of poll
tics which began to develop itself In
Slavna from the hour of the proclama
ton of young Alexis.
The first result of this suspicious
event. following so closely on the issue
Of Captain Mistitchs expedition. was
to give all the diplomatists bad colds.
Some took to their beds. others went
for change Of air. but one and all had
such colds as would certainly prevent
them from accepting royal invitations
or being present at state functions.
| Young Alexis had cold too. and was
consequently unable to issue royal In
vitations or take his part in state func-
lions. Countess Ellenburg was even
more affected-she had lumbago-and
even General Stenovics was advised to
keep quite quiet for few days.
Only Colonel Stafnitzs health seem
ed proof against the prevailing cpl
demic. He was constantly to be seen
about, very busy at the barracks. very
busy at Suleiman's tower very gay and
cheerful on the terrace of the Hotel de
Paris, but then he. of course. had been
in no way responsible for recent events.
He was a soldier and had only obeyed
orders. Naturally his health was less
affected. He was In fact. in very good
temper except when he touched on poor
Captain Hercules laundering. violent
ways. "Not the man for delicate
mission" he said decisively to Captain
Markart. The captain forbore to re-
mind him how it was that Mistitch had
been sent on one. The way In which
the colonel expressed his opinion made
it clear that such reminder would not
be welcome.
The coterie which had engineered the
revolution was set at SKIES and sevens
by its success. The destruction Of their
common enemy was also the removal
of their common interest Sophy at
VolSeni did not seem peril real enough
or near enough to bind them together.
Countess Ellenburg wanted to be re-
gent. Stenovics was for a council. with
himself In the chair. StafnitZ thought
himself the obvious man to be COM
mandant of Slavna. Stenovics would
have agreed-only it was necessary to
keep an eye on Volseni! Now. if he
were to be commandant, while the
colonel took the field with a small. but
picked. force! The colonel screwed up
his mouth at that make Praslok your
headquarters and you'll soon bring the
| oh {r fhaiv
advised insidiously. Stafnitz preferred
headquarters at Suleiman's tower. he
was not sure that coming back from
Praslok with small force. however
picked, would be quite as easy as go.
ing there.
In the back of both mems minds there
was bit of news which had just come
to hand. The big guns had been de
livered and We're on their way to Slav
They were consigned to the command
ant. Who was that important Office,
now to be?
When thieves fall out honest mer
come by their own. The venerable say
ing involves one postulate-that there
shall be honest men to do it. In higt
places In Slavna this seemed to be {
difficulty, and 1t is not so certain tina
Kravonia's two great neighbors to cas-
and west quite filled the gap. These
powers We're exchanging views now
They were nightly shocked at til.
way Kravonia had been going on
Their ministers had worse colds thar
any of the other ministers. and theil
I press had great deal to say abou
civilization and such like topics. Kra
vonia was rich country. and its geo
graphical position was important TIL,
history Of the world seems to show
that the standard Of civilization ant
morality demanded of country de
ponds largely on Its richness and tn
Importance of Its geographical position
The neighbor on the west had plent,
\ of mountains. but wanted some fertil
plains. The neighbor on the east ha,
fertile plains adjacent to the Kravonial
j frontier and would like to hold tn
mountain line as a protection to them
: A sfarseeing statesman would have dis
cerned how important correct behavio
was to the interests Of Kravonia! TIL
\ great neighbors began to move In tn
matter. but they moved slowly. The
had to see that their own keen sense Q
morality was not opposed to the kee
sense of morality Of other great ne
tions The right to- feel specially out
ragged is matter for diplomatic negc
tiations, often, no doubt, of great del
cacy.
So in the meantime Slayna was LEI
to its own devices for little longer
to amuse itself in its light hearted. Ill
! remorseful. extremely unconscientiou
way, and to frown and shake a distar
fist at grim. gray. sad little VolSeni l
the hills With the stern and faithfl
= band who mourned the dead prince ne
Their Stenovics nor Stafnitz seemed fc
!: the moment inclined to try conclusion
though each would have been glad to Sc
the other undertake the enterprise. In
military regard. moreover, they wei
right. The obvious thing. If Sophy sti
held out, was to wait for the big gun
When once these We're In position til
old battlements Of Volseni could stan
scarcely longer than the walls of Jer
cho. And the guns were at the hea
Of navigation on the Krath now. wal
ing for an escort to convoy them
Slavna Max Won Hollbrandt-too II
significant person to feel called upo
to have cold-moved about Slavn
much amused with the situation an