The Washington times., 1915-07-25

is resolute." demurrcd one Of the band.
This may mean pursuit"
First ne must know where we aro.
We must keen under cover. Should the
Kings troops find us-well. perhaps ~
may be able to use some argument or
some answer-perhaps we may buy our
safety. No one knows what may be the
purchasing power OF this bit Of metal
yonder."
Now. while these thieves Of the city
were holding their little conference.
their bolder brethren OF the desert. not
SO far away In their own rendezvous,
were gathered for an evenings converse
"a dozen or more of Landozi's band OF
desert riders. hail fellows well met,
friends of the Kings troops and enc
mics. as they boasted. of none but the
rich. Their Headquarters. as was gem
orally known. lay little way back
between the two kingdoms of Grahaf-
| fen and Grctzhoffen. which crossed mid
way of the neutral lands.
When Kitty fled after the thief Blake.
her own: hut she had not gone far be-
fore she realized that atone she could
accomplish little against such men as
he: and she doubted not that he was
on his way to Join his comrades. What
| then was there to do? Who could aid
her?
There Is an old adge which says, Set
| thief to catch thief" Poor Kitty
was obliged now to use such weapons
| as Law at hand. As has been Indicated
| she had no hope in the resource Of the
| law-on the contrary, must look to law
| lessness itself to help her in the quest
upon which she was now SO desperately
bound. Who then could help her-not
Count Frederick-not Count Sachi-not
| even Roleau. now helpless in the hands
| of his enemies.
, Even as she rode the thought came
| to Kitty's mind Of the debonair bandit
leader. Landozi, the same who had SO
gallantly freed her and escorted her to
the citys gates but short time before.
| She was woman enough to know the
| impression she had made on the bandit
thief-and shrewd enough also to hit
upon him as an ally in her own plans.
fast as not to leave abundant bits Of
| paper on the trail so that Roleau might
be able to track her-it was not to-
ward any citadel Of the law-not to
| capital OF lack of law; the rendezvous
Of the ragged banditti Of the desert.
| They sat, these rude and careless folk,
| i'll clad, ragged, yet not i'll content un-
their lair or den on the cross-road in
the neutral lands. Cooking, eating.
drinking. they spent the time as persons
Of no more mentality than theirs would
spend LICKING. conversing, talking. OF
what they had done, vaporing Of what
they were about to do Most promi-
nently in their minds seemed to linger
the memory of their little expedition In
! which they had taken prisoner the
Count Frederick and the beautiful
| And the chief let that prize go"
grumbled one "Out OF the whole enter
prise we got nothing. absolutely moth.
ing. What the count gave us would
| ~ hnN Nyn 40 tvu,o It~A av~tn lid
fairly among our band The main prize
the young woman-we got nothing for
for ransom!"
had ,,Tpsn; mnno,! How i, do you know that she
Not necessary" said the other sage.
with beauty such as hers she had
friends-be sure Of that! Yes. she has
rich friends. Besides, did you not hear
her servitor say she was an excellency
a princess Of America-perhaps a queen
OF that country come to visit amongst
US! Ransom?-hear me, my brothers
not such chance as that will come to
us us. again SaiI, for for many years And saw you
Acknowledgements of all the ladies in the
land below here-he danced attendance
on her as though he had never seen q
fair face before In all his life. My
faith. she cast a spell upon him. Ran.
som-'twas she could have got ransom
from him insteadr
We'll. 1t comes Of not taking time
by the forelock. my friends" remarked
another. Such a chance does not como
often. But I wonder where the CHIEF
himself Is tonight. And are the pickets
out down the road? In these times We
cannot be too careful. for they say thai
between the two Kingdoms war may
come, and If SO 1t would be but oul
luck for one of the armies to ask VI
to recruit with them"
GO, you fellows, two of you in
structed one who seemed to be some
sort of lieutenant. step out and
scout down the road a bit"
1t was not long after this that tho
men left at the rendezvous heard II