Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-07-14

Tone
The prince looked again. He seemed
even more disguised than angry now.
He thought Mistitch drunk : more
drunk than In truth he was.
Return to barracks at once and re-
port yourself under stringent arrest.
will deal with you tomorrow"
And not tonight, Sergius Stefano-
vitch?" At least he was being as good
as his word-he was acting up to the
yaunts he had thrown out SO boldly in
the great hall of the Golden Lion.
Tomorrow we shall both be cooler"
He was almost up to Mistitch now.
"Stand out Of my way, sir!'
Mistitch did not bulge. ''There's
room for you to pass by" he said. 81
won't hurt you. But the middle Of the
road belongs to me tonight"
Ills voice seemed to grow clearer
with every word. The critical en-
counter was SOLDERING him. Yet with
sobriety came no diminution of def.
ance. Doubtless he saw that he was in
for the worst now, that forward was
the word and retreat impossible. Proba-
bly, from this moment he did not intend
the prince to pass alive. Well, what he
Intended was the wish Of many. He
would not lack shelter, friends or par.
tisans If he dared the desperate ven.
lure.
For moment after the big mans
taunt the prince stood motionless. Then
he drew his scimiter. 1t looked a poor
weak weapon against the sword which
rprang In answer from Mistitch's scab-
bard
"a duel between gentlemen" the cap
tain cried.
The prince gave a short laugh. "You
shall have no such plea at the court
martial" he said. Gentlemen don't
waylay one another In the streets.
Stand aside!''
Mistitch laughed, and in an instant
the prince sprang at him. Sophy heard
the blades meet. Strong as death was
the fascination for her eyes-aye, for
her ears, too, for she heard the quick
moving feet and the quicker breathing
of mortal combat. But she would not
loOk-she tried not even to listen. Her
eyes were for man she could not see,
her ears for man she could not hear
She remembered the lean fellow hid
den In the porch, straight under her
window. She dared not call to warn
the prince of him. A turn of the head,
moment of inattention, would cost
either combatant his life. She took the
man in the porch for her own adver-
sary, his undoing for her share in the
fight.
Very cautiously, making no sound,
she took the heavy lamp-the massive
bronze figure Of the glrl-raised 1t
painfully In both her hands and poised
1t halfway over the window sill. Then
she turned her eyes down again to
watch the mouth of the porch. Her
rat was in that hole! Yet suddenly the
prince came into her view. He circled
halfway around Mistitch, then sank on
one knee. She heard him guard the
captains lunges with lightning quick
movements of his nimble scimiter. He
was trying the old trick they had prac-
ticed for hundreds of years at yolseni
Ito follow his parry with IN upward
ripping stroke under the adversary's
sword. to strike the inner side of his
forearm and cut the tendons of the
wrist. This trick big Captain Mistitch,
a man of the plains, did not know.
A janglc-a slither-a below of pain,
!, Of rage! The prince had made his
stroke; the hill men of yolseni were
justified of their pupil. Mistitch's big
sword clattered on the flags. Facing