The Washington times., 1915-07-05
THE BROKEN COIN.
By EMERSON HoUGH.
CHAPTER x.
Greek Meets Greek.

/
waiting for him, and picked ur
one bearing the crest of Count sachic
OF Grahoffen, u man he had known fol
many years. and with whom, II truth be
told, he had had certain plans which
| neither would have cared to have come
into public knowledge. lie tore open the
envelope.
80, sachio asks me to join him at a
little hunting party at his lodge in the
! ioreet beyond the neutral groundl / be-
ieve I'll CO. After all. II might not be
bad thing to find out a little more
about the condition of those two we left
yonder In the desert. That poor girl
II 1t became known that any evil had
peen done her, and If my name should
be connected with it--weil, | have trou-
PIE enough already. Yes. I'll ride back
the very way l just have come
And as for this little trinket"-for
continually Frederick came round to the
same thought. repeatedly taking from
MS pocket the broken piece of coin and
regarding IL gently-"as for this, what
does 1t mean? What can it not mean
Tor me, Frederick of Gretzhoffen? What
has 1t not cost me already? Jove! l
cannot forget how she looked as she lay
| there, Dead! No., no, that must not be.
here he called servant aside-"Go
tell Grahame to be ready to travel once
more Have the car retitted for a con-
siderable journey"
They were silent, these two when
once more they turned from the city
fore them came The memory of certain
grim scenes. Mile after mile slipped
ribbon beneath their speeding
wheels. Soon they had left behind them
and the fenced fields which lay under
the walls of Gretzhoffen town. 1t was
Grsharne who first detected, far ahead
little dust cloud of advancing travel
laH hn aAN - l.
master.
Glasses, Grahame-find what It is."
Even the stolid Grahame gave a sharp
exclamation. Here come two riding.
It Is the two. both come to life again!
Where have they been meantime and
way7"
Alive! I'll have to become careful
next time. That Internal, faithless ruff
nan has more lives than a cat. But
swear my heart Is lighter to think that
neither was killed-naturally and espe-
cially the young lady. 1t would be bad
enough without more"
Ihey advanced now more slowly and
pulled up at the foot Of a little ravine,
where a cross trail came In from the
into No Mans Land between the two
Kingdoms Of Gretzhoffen and Grahoffen.
Here the depression concealed them.
and they awaited the arrival of the two
travellers.
That came In due course. but With II
almost synchronously Yet other events
sound Of shouting became audible.
To the right, along a curving cross
road Of the desert. there came into
view, riding at top speed whooping
aloud as they spurred forward a rag
ged band Of drunken ruffians-none less
than party OF the banditti which In
those somewhat lawless days infested
this open and little-traveled region, a
sort OF No Mans Land-itself a king
dom OF misrule, or lack OF law. which
lay between the two troubled king
doms.
At sight OF this rabble. coming on
cowardly. reached for the weapons
which hung within the motor car 1t
was Grahame's hand which stopped
him.
Wait; exeellency;" said he. I'VE
throats like so many sheep"
Shouts of laughter broke out among
the banditti now. as there two parties
joined-and as the two seemed scarce
to know what to say to one another.
ables" exclaimed the leader OF these
ruffians. You know me? I am Lam
dozi chief OF the Brotherhood. Ny men
like work none too well. and we must
eat anu 1Our money, please
or we will take 1t whether or not you
please"
.""oblige him. excellency-eive him
all you have" Thus Grahame. at his
ear.
Contemptuously. Count Frederick
reached into his pockets and flung
upon the ground before them such
as he had. Thus passed the
little ring which he had recently OBJ
talned from the king-such bills and
@tr ,t,l.
coins but one-a broken coin. which
he retained. palmed in his own hand.
his pockets for search to the
ruffans. who stood waiting to re-
ceive his valuables.
Well. 1t Is ALL" said he. Give them
man compiled.
The banditti now turned to repeat
this process with the other two
strangers, whom they could not class
they had now found in the motor car. |
what have We here-a woman, and |
a beautiful one!" exclaimed the bandit
chief She wears no Jewels-perhaps
she had not much money for us. But
still. there are other ways. What say
you. my fellows. shall we hold her
for a ransom7"
The man Roleau here raised his
hand and spoke with authority which
could not have been rivalled by that
word would have carried less weight
among these men than that of one of
their own rank of life-for so they
ella ssified Roleau.
My friends" he said. what have
Is little and 1t is yours. for you are
my brothers and I know you must
live as we'll as I. I know your are |
friends of the kings troops-shortly |
we Will ride thtther together, If you |
don't mind. AS for this lady, lay no
hand upon her. / tell you. she is a |
highness of a foreign land. none less |
than America, across the sea"
And why not At for ransom them?"
demanded the bandit chief.
Because. l tell you she is one of the |
ladies of the Kings household-she is |
protected by King Michael II himself, |
no less. She is of his rank in life, |
I tell you. my brothers. What, would |
you invoke his anger now. precisely |
at the time his troops fraternize with |
you. give you free hand as you like ? |
Pay? Yes. we all pay in one way or
another. but since we have given you
freely what we have-and since King |
Michael Is well disposed to wink at