Arizona republican., 1912-04-12

Impetus toppled him over onto ms back on the sand Pollyooly came down too, bu; E0t on the sand; she came down onto the Prince and far more heavily than her fragile air war ranted. Or ever he could collect any scattered wits he may have chanced to have, she was sitting astride him,
 with painful. grinding knee on either of his arms, and skipping his face.
 The Honorable John Rufin walked briskly down from the sea-wall with a smile of profound pleasure on his face. The perfumed Baron had not | yet perceived his charges plight. Pollyooly did not smack very hard | at first for she was resisting the wrig | gling of the Prince; but once she had | dug her toes firmly into the sand, she
 gave her mind to delivering each
 smack with the full swing of her arm;
 and the Prince began to below. Then | the Baron saw the terrible, reasonable indignity the hope of the House of Lippe-Schweidnitz was enduring. He | broke into a curious toddling run, | uttering odd short shrieks of the last | horror as he came.
 The Honorable John Ruffin placed
 himself athwart the course of the tod
 ding deliverer and said, Don't hurry, | Pollyooly: but smack him hard"
 smile of understanding wreathed
 Pollyooly's flushed but angel face; and
 she did smite harder. The Honorable
 John Ruffin's back was turned to the
 headlong Baron; but his head was bent little sideways; and as the all | ready breathless rescuer made his final | squirting rush. he' moved sharply to II the left It was unfortunate (but since he had not eyes in the back of
 his head, it could not be helped) that the left shoulder of the Honorable
 John Rufin, jerking upwards hard
 should have caught the onrushing
 right shoulder of the deliverer. The Baron left the firm earth, twirled in
 the air in a fashion which would have
 won him the plaudits of the most ex- acting vaudeville audience came down on his back on the sand with vio- lenee which shook all the breath out of his body. and lay gasping in a , darkened world.
 It was full two minutes before the believing of his sufficiently besmacked charge came again. dimly, to his com
 pretending ears. Then he grew aware,
 also dimly, that the Honorable John
 Rufin was standing over him and ask ing loudly, with every appearance Of just indignation, what he meant by not looking where he was going. The Baron was strongly or the opinion that the interposed shoulder had been
 no accident; but he was much too busy
 with his breathing to say so. Then when his breath came more easily and he had the power to say so, he had no | f1.. flo l. nrKfl edge of the terrible position in which he stood, or rather lay. had flashed on him; he. a Prussian officer, had been knocked down by civilian and was forever disgraced.
 Poliyooly continued to smack the believing Prince; the Honorable John Ruffin continued to ask the Baron
 what the devil he meant by it; and ;ne poor wits of the panting nobleman continued to work on his dreadful problem. Then flash of inspiration
 showed him the saving solution; he
 could accept his noisy questioner's view that his fall had been an acci- l dent He sat up and sulkily apo!o- gized for having been knocked down. The hands of Pollyooly were sore from smacking Prince Adalbert, but not so sore as his royal cheeks: and | still she smacked on. She interjected between the smacks requests for an assurance that he would cease 10 an nov the children on the beach. His fine Prussian determination not to be
 robbed of his simple pleasures pre-
 vented him from giving it. He pre- ferred to below But there are limits { even to royal endurance: and as the { Baron rose shakily to his feet, the 3 Prince howled the assurance she de- 2 manded.
 { And mind you do, or I'll smack { you again" said Pollyooly.
 She rose to her feet, flushed and tri- : umphant, and rubbed gently together her stinging hands. The Prince lay
 where he was, still believing. Ten yards away Mrs. Gibson stood t holding the. hand of the Lump, who 4 eazed at the scene in placid wonder; N and she was laughing gently. Ten N wards away. on her right, stood a ] dozen children, surveying their bel n lowing pest with joyful, vengeful eyes. Behind them distractedly hoyered \ three shocked nurses, quivering with l horror at the upheayal of the Social < | edifice.
 y The Baron slowly took in the hu , | initiating significance or the scene, ne
 saw that the glory of a royal house { had been leveled to the dust, or rather { to the sand He caught his blubber ing charge by the arm, jerked him to his feet, and led him away by one ! large ear
 & q congratulate you. Pollyooly. An excellent piece of work. The naughty ] foreigner will trouble us no more. said the Honorable John Rlffin; and : be laughed quietly and joyfully.
 He was right. The royal progress
 the next morning was very different matter. The Baron Von Habelschwer' > still perfumed the air as he walked but it was no longer the air of con
 ouered country. His mustache wa; t less fierce, his stride less proprietary n Indeed. he might easily have been mis n taken, by those to whom his name ant y dignities were unknown, for an inof |. fensive keeper of a delicatessen shop [, Prince Adalbert of ippe-Schweidniti s was also changed. He no longer II roamed afield; he kept within six fee d of his protective equerry. Hs d slouched less; and he had ceased tt l. scowl arrogantly on the children, wht I no longer fled at his approach He re
 garded little English girls with re
 spectful, not to say timid eye, ant
 a.,oad olncnr- fo the Rar0n ag hp mass