The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1918-11-14

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The king had passed a bad night,
and Haeckel was still missing. The
chancellor's heart was heavy.
The chancellor watched the crown
prince, as he sat mt the high desk,
laboriously writing. II vas the hour
OF English composition, and Prince
Ferdinand William Otto was writing
n theme.
about dogs" he explained. "T've
seen n great many, you know. I could
do 1t better with n pencil. My pen
sticks In the paper"
He wrote on, and Mettlich sat and
watched. He caught Miss Braith-
waite's glance, and he knew what was
In her mind. For nine years now had
come, once n year, the painful ami
versary of the death of the late crow
prince and his young wife. For nine
years had the city mourncd. with flags
at half mast and the bronze statue OF
the old queen draped I'm black. And
for nine years had the day of grief
passed unnoticed by the lad on whom
hung the destinies of the kingdom.
Now they confronted Il new sit
uation. The mex day but one was the
anniversary again. The boy was older.
and observant. II would not be pos
sible to conceal from him the
significance of the procession march
ing through the streets with mufrled
drums.
They could not continue to lie to
the boy. Truthfulness had been one
of the rules of his rigorous upbring-
ing. And he waG now of IN age to re-
member. So the chancellor sat and
waited, and fingered his heavy watch
chain.
Prince Ferdinand William Otto put
his attention TO the theme, and finished
It. Then, flushed with authorship, he
looked up. "May I read you the last
line Of III" he demanded Of the
chancellor.
~ shall be honored, h~ighness." Not
often did the chancellor say "high-
ness" Generally he said lotto" or
my child"
Prince Ferdinand william Otto read
aloud. with dancing eyes, his last line:
"'I should like to w a dog !
thought" he said wistfully, that l
might ask my grandfather for one"
II see no reason why you should not
have a dog" the chancellor observed.
mot one to be kept ut the stables"
Otto explained. zone to stay with me
all the time. One to sleep on the foot
Of the bed"
But here the chancellor threw up
his hands. Instantly he visualized all
the objections to dogs, from fieas to
rabies. And he put the difficulties
chancellor when SO minded. He was
n master Of style. Of arrangement, Of
logic and reasoning. He spoke at
length, even, at the end, rising and
pacing a few steps up and down the
room. But when he had concluded,
when the dog, SO to speak. had fed
yelping to the country Of dead hopes.
Prince Ferdinand William Otto merely
gulped, and said:
"well I wish I could have n dog!"
The chancellor changed his tactics
by changing the subject. II was won.
dering this morning. as I crossed the
park, II you would enjoy IN excursion
soon. Could II be managed, Miss
Braithwaitei"
II dare say" said Miss Braithwa.te
dryly. although I must say. II there
Is no improvement In punctuation and
capital letters"
what sort Of excursion?" asked his
royal %highness, guardedly. He did not
care for picture galleries.
"Out-of-dOors, to see something In
teresting. A real excursion, up the
river"
"To the fortf I do want to see the
new fort"
As n matter Of truth, the chancellor
had not thought Of the fort. But like
many another before him, he accepted
the suggestion and made II his own.
ITO the fort, Of course" said he.
"And take luncheon along. and eat
II there, and have Hedwig and Nikky7
And see the guns"
But this was going too fast. Milky,
OF course, would go. and II the princess
cared to, she too. But luncheon! II
was necessary TO remind the crown
prince that the officers at the fort
would expect to have him join their
mess. There was n short barley over
this, and II was finally settled that the
officers should serve luncheon, but that
there should be no speeches.
"Then that's settled" he said at last.
I'm very happy. This morning I shall
apologize TO NJ. P%uauI.",
During the remainder Of the morn
ming the crown prince made various
excursions to the window 10 see II the
weather was holding good. Also he
asked. during his half hours intermis-
sion, for the great box Of lead soldiers
that was locked away In the cabinet.
II shall pretend that the desk Is a
fort, Miss B~raithwaite." he said. "Do
You mind being the enemy, and pre-
tending TO he shot now and them"
But Miss B%raithwaite was correcting
papers. She was willing to be a passive
enemy and be potted at, but she drew
the line at falling over. Prince Ferdi-
nand william Otto did not persist. He
wal far too polite. But he wished In