Evening star., 1922-03-26

suspicion. slight at its beginning.
but growing stronger every hour.
In those night hours I watched the
dawn spreading over the roofs OF
Paris. I never dreamed of what had
really been in progress. or the true
, extent of that diabolical conspiracy
into which l had so innocently fallen.
= !. x
THE genesis of the affair which was
now so fresh in my mind had oc-
! Cured about two years before. One
August day was travelling doTn the
Danube by steamer from Belgrade to
the Iron Gates" beyond Orsova. On
board we had merry crowd of dark
skinned holiday folk, mostly people
from Budapest or Vienna. together
with sprinkling of men travelling for
business to Rumania or Turkey. A
day on board a Danube steamer is al
ways enjoyable. especially in summer,
for every turn of the great river
opens forth fresh vistas of mountain
and plain, Of high rocks and sleepy,
whitewashed villages.
| Among my feIlow-passengers I no'
ticed tall, dark-haired. distin-
guished-looking man in white soft
felt hat with q dark-green band, and
wearing suit Of 1ight-grey CASH
mere. Accompanying him was a
woman slightly younger than him
self, very smartly dressed in cream
gabard:ne, a large black straw hat,
and the nattiest shoes 1 ever saw upon
! n o71S u
! the best-dressed pair on board. and
p! they were evidently persons of dis
; tinction, for they occupied the best
private cabin, where, as I looked
through the window, saw big bowl
| of fresh roses.
The man, who spoke French to his
companion. wore pale grey suede
gloves, which he never removed. In
deed, the fact that he had eaten his
breakfast in them first called my at
tention to that peculiar idiosyncrasy.
| AS they walked the deck I watched
them, and something set me wonder
ing. The young woman wore a we'd
ding ring. and it was evident from
| the attention her companion paid to
| her that they were newly wed.
! At noon we entered the hill district
! of the Southern Carpathians. wild,
mountainous country. greatly resem-
| bling the remote parts of the Scottish
| Highlands, and having touched; at the
i little pier at Bazias. where some cat
| tie were taken on board, we steamed,
with many windings. on to Omo1dova,
| a little village where halt is always
i made fer q couple Of hours.
! The attraction Of the little place is
a weird one, namely, the great cavern
Of Golumbacs, which recedes into the
ing boats took US across to IT, and in
the same boat as myself was the man
with the gloved hands and his merry,
laughing companion.
| While we rowed across the great
river we struck up acquaintance. The
man remarked upon the glorious day,
/ and afterward we chatted as We en-
tered the great dark cavern and rowed
about upon it's swirling waters, from
which. according to popular legend,
come those deadly poisonous flies
which are in spring so destructive to
the cattle all over Hungary.
81 X X
| CIX of us were in the boat. and after
~ exploring the wonderful cavern
for it was really wonderful-we re-
turned to the steamer and, later on,
resumed our voyage down the broad
stream through the gorgeous defile Of
Kazan, where the river three hundred
feet deep is confined in a width of a
hundred and fifty yards by high, pre-
! cipitous, yet wooded cliffs on either
i side-one of the grandest sights in all
! eastern Europe.
/ With the pair stood on the deck
| of the steamer. gazing at and. COM
| menting upon the wonderful road
which runs beside the river bank, the
road constructed by Tfajan hundred
years after the Christian era. The
path. seven feet wide, runs little
above the highest level Of the great
- a-''t - ? - w. g.