The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1910-09-29


skin would feel like leather II you
could affect the impertincnce to test IL
By the sense OF touch. His clothes fitted
him loosely and yet were graciously
devoid OF the bagginess which char
acterizes the appearance OF extremely
young men whose frames are not fully
set and whose joints are still parading
through the last stages OF college de-
velopment
This tall young man In the panama
hat and gray nannels was Truxton
King. embryo globe trotter and search
o. after the treasures OF romance.
Somewhere up near Central park, In
one OF the fashionable cross streets.
was the home OF his father and his
fathers father before hiin-a home
which Truxton had not seen In two
years or more. II is worthy OF pass
ing notice, and that is all that his
father was a manufacturer; more than
that. he was something Of a power in
the financial world. His mother was
not strictly a social queen In the great
metropolis. but she was what we
might safely call one OF the first Ia
dies In waiting" which is quite good
enough for the wife Of a ranufactur-
er, especially when one records that
her husband was a manufactures OF
steel. II Is also a matter Of no little
consequence that Truxton's mother
was more or less averse 10 the steel
business as a heritage for her son
Be Il understood here and now that
she intended TruXton for the diplo-
matte service.
But neither Truxton's father. who
wanted him 10 be a manufacturing
Croesus. nor Truxton's mother. who
expected him TO become q social Solo
mon. appears 10 have taken the young
mans private inclinations into con-
sideration-
Young Mr.. King believed In ro-
nance. He grew up with an ever in
creasing bump OF Imagination. con
tiguous TO which. strange TO relate.
there was a properly developed bump
Of industry and application: hence IL
II not surprising that he was willing
10 20 far afield In search OF the things
that seemed more OF less worth while
70 a young gentleman who had suf-
fered the III fortune to be born In the
nineteenth century instead Of the sew
enteenth-
We come upon him at last-luckily
f0r rs we were not actually following
him-after two years of wonderful bIn
rather disillusioning adventure in mid
Asia and all Africa He had seen the
Kongo and the Euphrates, the Gauges
and the Nile, the Yangtsekfang and
the Yenisei: he had climbed noun
tains In Abyssinia, In Siam. In Tibet
and Afghanistan; he had shot big
game IN more than one jungle and had
been shot at by small brown men In
more than one forest. TO say nothing
OF the little encounters be had had In
most unoccdenfal towns and cities.
For twenty days be had travelled by
caravan across the Persian uplands.
through Herat and Meshhed and Bo-
khara. striking or with his guide alone
toward the sea Of Aral and the east
ern shores OF the Caspian. thence
through the Ural foothills to the old
Roman highway that led down into
the sweet green valleys Of a hnd ke
had thought OF as nothing more than
the creation Of a harebraiDed hctlOnist
Somewhere out In the shimmering
east he had learned. TO his honest
amazement, that there was such a
land as Graustark. At first he would
not believe, but the English bank In
Meshhed assured him that be would
come to It II he Travelled long enough
and far enough into the north and
west and II he were not afraid OF the
hardships that most men abhor The
dying spirit Of romance famed up In
his heart. His blood grew quick again
and eager. He would not 20 home
until he had sought out this land Of
fair women and sweet tradition. And
80 be traversed the wild and danger
Gus Tartar roads for days and days,
like the knights Of Scheherazade In
the times OF old. and came at last TO
the gates OF Edelweiss.
Not until he sat down to a rare din
ner In the historic Hotel Regengetz
was he able to realize that he was
truly In that tabled, mythical land OF
Graustark, a quaint, grim little prlnci-
patty In the most secret pocket OF the
earth's great mantle. This was the
land OF his dreams, the land OF his
fancy. He had not even dared TO
hope that 1t actually existed
And now It becomes my deplorable
duty to divulge the fact that 1ruxton
King. after two full days and nights
I'm the city OF Edelweiss. was quite
ready 10 pass on to other fields. com.
pletely disillusioned In his own mind
and not litke disguised with himself
for having gone TO the trouble to visit
the place.
Where were the beautiful women
he had read about and dreamed of
ever since be left Teheran? On his
soul, he had not seen half "A dozen
women In Edelweiss who were more
than passably fair % look upon. True