Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-07-28

launeG Dy Wlnu aliC sun YOU
had the impression that bis
skin ,,.lGlG feel like leathe, if lo2
could aiFect tho impertirerce to ties: it
by the sense of touch. His clothes fitted
him loosely anG yet We're craciously
devoid Of the bagginesg which char
octerizes the appee ance of extremely
young men whose frames are not fully
Ret and whose joints are still parading
through the last stages Of college de-
Jelopment.
This tall young mar in the panama
hat ard gray lanrels was Truxton
King. elLEsyo globe trotteI and search
er afte: 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 him-a homo
which TruXton had not seen in two
years or more. 1t is worthy Of pass
ing notice, and that Is all, that his
father was manufacturer, more this l.
that. he waa something of power In
the fiEAacial work. His mother was
not strict. Il social qucen in the great
metropolis bus sh. was what we
might safely call one Of the first ia
dies in waiting" which is quNe good
enough for the wife of a manufact ur-
er, especially when one records that
her husband was a manufacturer Of
steel. 1t Is also a matter of no little
consequence that TruXton's mother
was moro or less averse to the steel
7 J-t,
Be it understood here and now that
she intended Truxton for the diplo-
matte service.
But neither Truxtons father who
wanted him to he manufacturing
Croesus, nor TruXton's mother, who
expected him to become a social Solo
mon. appears to have taken the young
mans private inclnations into con.
siderntion.
Young Mr.. King believed in ro-
nance. He grew up with on ever in.
crcasing bump Of Imagination. con-
tguous to which, strange to relate,
there was properly developed bump
pf industry and application; hence II
is not surprising that he was willing
to go far aficld in search Of the things
that seemed more or less worth while
10 young gentleman who had SUI.
Tered the Ill fortune to be born in the
nineteenth century instead Of the sew.
enteenth.
We come upon him at last-hckily
'or us we were not actually following
him-after two years OF wonderful but
Father disillusionlng adventure In mid
Asia and all Africa. He had seen the
Kongo and the Euphrates, the Ganges
Ind the Nile, the Yangtsekiang and
The Yenisci; he had climbed noun
aims in Abyssinia, in Siam, in Tibe,
and Afghanistan; he had shot biz
yanle In more than one jungle and had
been shot at By small brown men II
more than one forest, to say nothing
Of the llttlo encounters he had had II
most unoccidental towns and cities.
For twenty days he had travelled by
caravan across the Persian uplands
through Herat and Meshhed and 30
khara, striking OF with his guide alon,
toward the sea Of Aral and the east
ern shores Of the Caspian. thence
through the Ural foothills to the ole
Roman highway that led down int
the sweet green valleys OF n land hi
had thought Of as nothing more thar
the creation Of a harcbraincd flctionist
Somewhere out in the shimmerlnl
east he had learned, to his homes
amazement, that there was such +,
land as Graustark. At first he woult
not believe, but the English bank IL
Meshhed assured him that he would
come to 1t II he Travelled long enough
and far enough into the north an(
west and II he were not afraid Of tn,
hardships that most men abhor. I'll,
dying spirit Of romance famed up IL
his heart. His blood grew quick agail
and eager. Ie would not go hom
until he had sought out this land o
fair women and sweet tradition. Ant
30 he traversed the wild and danger
ous Tartar roads for days and days
like the knights of Schehcrazade Il
the times Of old, and came Mt last +
the gates o. Edelweiss.
Not until he sat down TO rare din
ner IN the historic Hotel Regenget
was he able to realize that he wa
~, bnt IN n