The Detroit times., 1909-05-26
The Man
Who Stole
The Earth"
By W. Holt Whife
CHAPTER LxvI.-(continued)


The blood rushed To his face. and
then receded again
NO." he said 10 himself slowly, Il
cannot do that. War on men IS one
thing. but war on women and children
is another"
Then he cell 10 reasoning with him
self. and. as was customary with him.
he argued his conscience down. He
proved that the end JUSTIFIED the
means. He satisfied himself that in
kidnapping the czarevitch he would be
justified, inasmuch as II would in
reality be the saving OF immense
bloodshed and the saving OF immense
treasure which would otherwise be
spent ON war.
None the less, it seemed a heartless
and cold-blooded thing to do.
To steal the baby czarevitch, the
/ boy for whose birth there had been
offered up million prayers, the boy
on whom was conferred the hopes and
! happiness OF one OF the greatest rulers
of mankind. II was ruthless plan.
II IS a hard thing for father to
lose a son. Ii is infinitely harder for
king TO lose an heir; though this is
fact sometimes lost sight of by
ordinary folk.
Yet he would do IL, He would do II 4,
He shut his teeth on 1T.
He would be as gentle as he could
| in the matter. He would see to il that
there was no unnecessary cruelty
but X must be done
Once the czarevitch was in his pos
session. the rest would be simple The
armies Of Russia would melt away
from his frontiers, and II the armies
OF Russia melted away, so would the
armies OF France in like manner dis
appear.
Thar only left Germany TO be reck-
ioned with.
1t was an astonishing thing. but
true. that a baby would hold the bal
ance Is the wo-1s. 3s&wr ar peace Is
was an astonishing" thing. but very
human: and one that Oh the imagiHa-
tive side appealed to Strong I'M
mensely.
| Yes-he argued his conscience
steadily down-it seemed a cowardly
thing to do. II was like hitting below
1.-THE belt
But he argued with himself the
more. and killed entirely the last
scrap of lingering scruple.
The question now was In what man
ner the daring theft should be accom-
plished. And here his knowledge OF
the life OF st. Petersburg came read
lily to his aid
II was Sunday, and he could be IN
St Petersburg within an hour. In an
hours time the cars children. dress
ed in white furs, would be taking their
Sunday drive along the bank OF the
Neva
A thousand eyes would watch their
progress. At every yard there would
be a policeman in disguise-men In
civilian dress with revolvers in their
pockets.
Some way ahead OF the sleigh carry
Ing the royal children there would be
three Cossacks. Three Cossacks
would ride behind.
But there would be convenient
distance between the Cossacks and
the sleigh The Russian government
system has an eye TO effect. The
children's drive was To a large extent
engineered with an eye to effect.
II looked so safe. SO childlike. so en-
: NiItlg
And yet, while the poor little mites
drove NJ and down the bank OF the
Neva OH a Sunday afternoon. two
royal parents suffered an agony OF
fear, and the minds OF the greater OF.
ncials in the capital OF the Russian
empire were III at ease.
II was possible. OF course, that as
Strong had been I'm st. Petersburg in
I the morning, the drive would be can
celled. But this was doubtful. be-
cause OF the Russian officialdom eye
/ for effect
From that standpoint it would be a
magnificent thing To send the chill.
dren. all unconscious of the risks they
ran. upon their Sunday drive. In order
TO reassure the public mind
ITO He Coptinued.I