The Washington times., 1924-09-22

and should be known as Sir Max
milan du Guelph,
At last came the. moment0us
day Of our departure. The battle
ments Of the gate were crowded
with retainers, many Of them in
tears at losing MY young Lord,
the Count" Public opinion In
Castle Hapsburg unanimously con-
demned the expedition, and ] was
roundly abused Tor what was held
to be my part in the terrible mis-
take. Such an untoward thing
had never before happened In the
House OF Hapsburg. Its annals
nowhere revealed q journey Of an
heir into the contaminating world.
The dignity Of a house was i'm
paired beyond remedy, and all by
the advice Of q foreigner. There
was no lack Of gT'unbling; but Of
course the dukes will was law.
II he wished to hang the count,
he might do so; therefore the
grumbling reached the dukes ears
only from a distance.
The good mother had made
bundle for her son that would
have brought smile to my lips
had it not brought tears to my
eyes. There were her homely
balsams to cure Max's ailments;
true, he had never been i'll, but
he might he.
There was a pillow Of down for
his head, and a lawn kerchief to
keep the wind from his delicate
throat. Last, but by no means
least, was the dear old mothers
greatest treasure, a tooth of 81.
Martin, which she firmly believed
would keep her sons heart pure
and free from sin. OF that amulet
Max did not stand In need.
We followed the Save for many
leagues, and left its beautiful
banks only to journey toward vi
emma. At that city I drew my
slender stock of gold from the
merchant that had been keeping
1t for me, and bought. a beautiful
chain coat for Max.
He already had a good, though
plain, suit Of steel plate which his
father had given him when he re-
cetved the accolade. owned .
good plate armor and the most
perfect chain coat have ever
seen. ! took It from a Saracen
lord one day in battle, and gave
him his own life In payment. Max
and each bore long sword, q
short sword. and q mace. We
carried no lance. That weapon ia
burdensome. and we could get one
at any place along our Journey.
was proud Of Max the morn
ing we rode out OF Vienna, true
knights.errant. with the greatest
princess in Europe as our OH
jective prize. Truly, we were in
no wise modest; but the God
OF heaven, the god sof Luck, and
the god Of Love all favor the man
that is bold enough to attempt
the impossible.
NY stock OF gold might, with
ffugality, last us three months,
but after that we should surely
have to make our own way or
starve. We hoped that Max
would be successful In filling on.
purses with prize money and
ransoms, should we fall in with
a tournament now and then; but.
lacking that good fortune, we
expected to engage ourselves as
escorts to merchant caravans.
BY this kind Of employment we
hoped to be housed and fed upon
our travels and to- receive at
each journeys end a good round
sum of gold for our services. But
we might find neither tourna.
ment nor merchant caravan.
Then there would be trouble and
hardship for us, and perhaps.
, at times. an aching void under
our belts. / had often suffered
the like.
Ours, you see, was not to be a
flower-strewn journey of tinselled
prince to uncovered princess. be-
fore our return to. Syria, Max
would probably receive what he
needed to make q man OF him
hard knocks and trough blows in
the real battle OK life. Above all,
he would learn to know the people
of whom this great world ID COM
posed, and would return to Haps-
burg Castle full OF all sorts OF
noxious hefesies, to the everIast-
ing horror OF the duke and the
duchess. They probably would
never forgive me for making n
real live man of their son, but
/ should have my reward IN Max.
70 Mex. OF course. the future
was rosy.hued. Caravans were wait.
ing for our protection, and princes
were preparing tournaments for
our special behOof. We ws>Aat for