The Minneapolis journal. [volume], July 26, 1906, Fiction Supplement, Page 3, Image 19

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motley crowd that only a comic opera
could Jhave reproduced it. Gypsies
chiefly, the firelight flashed upon sallow
faces which a man might see in an evil
dream upon arms that a medieval
age should have forged upon limbs
that forest labor had trained to hardi
ness. Crying together in not unmusical
exclamations., the raiders appeared in no
way desirous of injuring their man, but
only of disarming him. One of their
number lay prone already, hugging a
wounded thigh and muttering impreca
tions which should have brought the
heavens upon his heada second had
the Englishman by the legs land would
not be beaten oftv while of the rest,
the foremost aimed heavy blows at the
extended pistol and demandedits deliv
ery in sonorous German. Such was the
scene which the picture presented to
Gavin as he awoke. He was on his feet
before the full meaning of it could be
comprehended.
"Halt!" he cried, for lack of any
other word to serve. His tone, his
manner, drew ail eyes toward him.
"What do you want?" he continued,
with the same air of authority. Twenty
voices answered him, but he could
make nothing of their reply. He was
about to speak for the third time
when rough hands pinioned his arms
and feet from behind and instantly de
prived him of the power to move a step
from the place where he stood.
"To conduct your excellency to the
castle of Oknawe have come for that,
excellency."
"You are aware that I am an Eng
lishman?"
The gipsy pointed smilingly to his
wounded friend.
"We are perfectly aware of it, ex
cellency.
"Then you jknow the consequences
of that which you are doing?"
"Pardon, excellencythere# are no
consequences in the mountains. Iiet
your friend be wise and put up his
pistol. We shall shoot him if he does
not."
Gavin, doubting the nature of the Bit
nation no longer, shrugged his shoul
ders and invited Kenyon by a gesture
to put up his pistol.
"We can do nothing, Arthur, let
the have their way."
I beg your pardon, Gavin I could
make holes in two or three of them."
"It would not help us. They are
evidently only agents. Let's hear what
the principal has to say.''
"Very well, if you think so. It's
poor fun, thoalmost like shooting
sheep in the Highlands. But, of course,
I bow to wisdom."
He held out his hands to the gipsy,
who bound them immediately with a
leather thong taken from the saddle
bow of the excellent pony he had rid
den. Silently and methodically now,
the men- secured their prisoners and
produced their gyves of heavy rope.
To resist would have 'been just that
madness which Gavin nanied itand
but for Evelyn the scene had been one
to jest at.
"Do.you treat all your guests at the
eastle of Okna in this way?" he asked
the leader of the men suddenly.
The reply was delivered with a
guavUv delightful to hear.
"When they come to us with soldiers
and Turks, then we speak plainly to
them, excellency.''
"True, I had forgotten the soldiers.
Where are those noble men now?"
Half way back to Slavitesti, excel
lency."
"And the muleteer?"
"Oh, my friends are warming his
feet for him. We are not fond of
Greeks, here in the mountains, excel
lency.
Gavin started as the man spoke, for a
wild shriek broke upon his ears and
becoming louder until it sounded like
some supreme cry of human agony,
ended at last in a fearful sobbing, as it
were the weeping of a child in pain.
When he dared to look, he saw the
gipsies had dragged the wretched Greek
to the camp fire and pouring oil from
a can upon his bare feet, they thrust
them into the flames and held them
there with that utter indifference to
human suffering which, above all oth
ers, is the -characteristic of the people
of the BalkaThs. Worming in their em
brace his eyes starting from his head,
his voice par^yzed by the fearful cries
he raised, lie wretched man suddenly
fainted and lay inanimate in the flame.
Then, and not until then, they drew
him baek and left him quivering upon
the green grass.
"He was warned,".the gipsy leader
muttered sullenly "he should have
known better."
But Arthur, showing Gavin his bleed
ing wrists, said with a shrug:
I think very little of wisdom, Ga-
vin."
The rope had cut the flesh almost to
the bone in his efforts to go to the help
of the wretched Greeks
CHAPTER XXV
The House Above the Torrent.
Some one upon the outskirts of the
wood whistled softly and the gypsies
stood with ears intent listening,'
alarmed, to the signal. When it had
been twice repeated, they appeared to
become more confident, and, untether
ing their ponies, or calling, with low,
whining voices, those that grazed, they
turned to their prisoners and bade them
prepare to march.
"To the castle of Okna. excellen
cy
A shout of- laughteT greeted the say
ing, and Gavin, had he been credulous
until this tkita, -would- have remained
38#mtl&"l s%j?T-ifit
&?i
-.ThureSyT July 26, 1906, THE MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL.
credulous no more. A philosopher al
ways, he shrugged his shoulders and
pointed to the ropes which bound him.
I am no acrobat," he said I
eannot ride with a rope about my legs."
"We are about to remove it, excel
lency. Be careful what you domy
men are hasty. If you are wise you
will be followed by so many laughing
angels. If, however, we should find you
obstinate, then, excellency
He touched the handle of a great
knife at his girdle significantly, and
some of the others, as tho understand
ing him, closed about the pony signifi
cantly while Gavin mounted. A simi
lar attention being paid to Arthur Ken
yon was not received so kindly: for
no sooner did they attempt to lift him
roughly to the saddle than he turned
about and dealt the first of them a
rousing blow which stretched the fel
low full length upon the grass- and left
him insensible there. The act was
within an ace of costing him his life.
Knives sprung from sheathes, antique
pistols were flourishedthere were
cries and -counter-cries and then, as
tho miraculously, a louder voice from
some one hidden in the wood command
ing them to silence. In that moment
the gypsy chief flung himself before
Kenyon and protected him with hands
uplifted and curses on his lips.
"Dogs and carriondo forge
whom you obey?'7
he almosyou shriekedt
and then to the Englishman, "You are
mad, mein herrbe wise or I will kill
you."
Kenyon, strangely nonchalant thru it
all, shrugged his shoulders and clam
bered upon the back of the pony. Gavin
turned deadly pale in spite of himself,
breathed a .full breath again and de
sired nothing more of fate than that
they should quit the cursed wood with
out further loss of time. As tho enough
evil had not come to him there, he
espied, as they rode from the place,
the dead body of his servant, the Turk,
face downwards with the knife that
killed him still protruding from his
shoulders. And he doubted# if the
wretched Greek, so brutally maimed in
the fire, still lived or must be numbered
a second vietim of the night.
Had he been a fool to leave England
upon such an errand at aU, or did the
circumstances of his visit .-justify him?
Of this he did not believe that he was
the best iudge. That which he had
done had been done for the sake of one
whose sweet voice seemed to speak
courage even at such an hour1Evelynf
the woman who first had taught him
what man's love could be whose fair
image went with him as he rode, the
stately figure of his dreams, the gentle
Evelyn for whom the supreme adoration
and pity of his life were reserved. If
ignominy were his ultimate reward, he
eared nothingno danger, no peril of
the way, must be set against the happi
nfessf nay, the very soul's salvation, of
her who had said to him, I love you
This had been the whole spirit of his
journey, and it did not desert him now
when the gypsies set out upon the
mountain road and he understood that
he was a helpless hostage in their
hands. As for Arthur Kenyon, he, with
English stolidity, still chose to regard
the whole scene as a jest and to com
ment upon it from such a standpoint.
To him the picturesque environment of
heighf and valley, forests of pine and
sleeping pastures, were less than noth
ing at alL He did not care a blade of
grass for the first roseate glow of
dawn in the eastern sky for the shim
mer of gold upon the maiestic land
scape, or the jewels sprayed by the
stream below them. He had met an
adventure and he gloried in it. Beg
ging a cigaret from the nearest gypsy,
he thanked the fellow for a light, and
so fell to the thirty words of Gefman
bequeathed to him by that splendid
foundation of one William at Winches
ter* There were "havenzie's" and
"Ich Wimschc's" enough to rhaye
served a threepenny manual of travel
er's talk here. Neither understood the
other and each was happy.
"The man's a born idiot," Arthur
said to Gavin at last. I ask him
where the road leads to and he says
Jkalf-an-hour.'
"Meaning we are half-an-hour from
our destination."
"Then why the deuce can't he say so
in plain English?"
"He might ask you why the deuce
youjean ask him in plain Hungarian."
"That's BObut how these fellows
don't break their jawB over this gab
ble, I ean't make out. Well, I sup
pose we shall get breakfast somewhere,
Gavin."
x. "Are you hungry, Arthur?"
"Not much I'm thinking of that
poor devil of a Greek."
"Yes, they are brutes enough. What
could we do?"
"Oh, I knew that! What I am hop
ing is that they will get it hot after
we have told the tale at Bukharest.
The authorities
"Authorities, in tho Balkans Ar
thur! Do you forget our escort
""Oh, those blackguards. They ought
to enter for the mile championship^ at
the L. A. C. In the matter of running
they are a glory to their country."
"They will tell some cock-and-bull
story and make it out that we dis
missed them. Chesny told me not to
put too much reliance upon them. Well,
they're no loss. We can see it thru
without them."
Good-old pronoun. Would you define
that *it' for my benefit?"
"Oh, there I'm beaten. We are go
ing up a mountain and may go down
again. That's evident. Two Jacks
and no Jills to speak of. There's a
house also, I perceiveacross the tor*
rent yonder. That must have been
built when the witches were young. The
flat tiles speak of Julius Cesar, don't
they? I wonder if they know we're
coming?''
"We might have cabled 'coffee and
the nearest approach to cold grouse.'
Do you like cold grouse for breakfast,
Gavin? There's nothing to beat it on
the list, to my way of thinking. Cold
gTouse and nice, crisp, hot toast. Some
Cambridge squash afterwards, and then
a great big round pipe. That's what
you think of when you've been ten
hours in the saddle and can't find an
inn. I wish I could discern it now, as
the euratc says
Gavin smiled, but his gaze was set
upon the ancient ruin his quick eye
had observed upon a height of the
Seren
ree mountain above them. He won
if the path would carry them by
it, or pierce the hills and leave the cas
tle, for such it plainly had been, upon
their left hands. But for the circum
stances in which he approached it, the
scene had been wild and strange enough
to have awakened all an artist's dor
mant capacities for admiration. They
were well above the pine woods by this
time and could look back upon a fer
tile valley, exquisitely green, and bor
dered by shining nvers. Villages,
churches, farms were so many dolls'
houses planted upon mighty fields,
while midget beasts awakened to the
day. The bridletrack itself wound
about a considerable mountain whose
slopes were glorious with heather and
mountain ash there were other peaks
beyond, rising in a crescendo of gran
deur to the distant vista of the eter
nal snows, where the gods of solitude
had been enthroned and melancholy up*-
lifted an lev sceptre.
Gavin could not but be sensible of
the majesty of this scene nor did he
find the old castle out of harmony with
its beauties. The building, which he
now perceived that they were approach
ing, had been built in a cleft of the
hills, at a point where the torrent fell
in a thunder of silver spray to a deep
blue pool far down in the valley below.
Clinging, as it were, to the very face of
a precipitous cliff, *a drawbridge
spanned the torrent and gave access to
the-mountain road upon the further side
of the pass but so narrow was the river
and so perpendicular the rocks that it
seemed as tho men migh clasp hands
across the abyss or a good horse take
it in the stride of a gallop. For the
rest, the black frowning walls, the iron
sheathed doors, the plut-houses, the bax
bicon, the quaint turrets thrust out here
and there above the chasm, spoke of
many centuries and many artshere of
Saraeen, there of Turk, of the reign of
of the rounded arch, and even of glo
rious Gothic. A building to study, Ga
vin said, to scan with well-schooled eyes
rfom some opposing height, whence ev
ery phase of its changing wonders might
be justly estimated by -him who would
learn and imitate. Even his own pre
dicament was forgotten when his
Suides stopped upon its threshold and
emanded in loud tones that the draw
bridge should be let down.
"This is the place, by Mahomet."
said Arthur dryly and he
added, "What a devil of a house for a
weekend!"
Gavin bade him listen. A voice
across the Chasm replied to the gipsy
hail.
"Don't you recognize that?" he
asked "it's the voiee we heard in tho
wood.'
"When this crowd desired to agitate'
my heirs, executors and assigns
You're right for a ransom. I wonder
if they'll introduce us."
**We shall soon know. Here's the
bridge coming down. What have you
done with your armor, Arthur?"
"Left it in the cab, perhapsdon't
speak, that ancient person yonder en
grosses me. I wonder what Tree would
pay for the loan of his makeup."
"Ill put the question when I re
turn. This evidently is where we get
down. Well, I'm glad of that *any?
how."
It was as he said. The -cavalcade
had come to its'journey's end 'and
there, picturesquely grouped upon the
narrow road, were men and mules and
mountain ponies,--giving more than a
welcome splash of color to the neighbor
ing monotony of rock and shrub, and
right glad all to be once more at their
ease. It now became plain that none
but the gipsy leader was to enter the
eastle with the prisoners and he, when
he had addressed some loud words to
the others (for the roar of the torrent
compelled him to shout), passed first
across the bridge, leading Kenyon *s
pony and calling to the other to follow
him. Just a glance the men could turn
upon the raging waters, here of the
deepest blue, there a spur green, or
again but a boiling, tumbling mass of
writhing foamjust this and the vista
Of the sheer, cruel rocks and the infer
nal abyss then they passed over and
the bridge was drawn up and they stood
within the courtyard, as securely caged
as tho the oubliettes prisoned them and
gyves of steel were about their wrists.
"Exccllents, my master, the cheva
lier* would speak with you."
Thus said the guideand, as he said
it, Gavin understood that he had come
to the houso of Count Odin's father,
the man who -fcad loved Dora
d'Istran, and for love of her had paid
nearly twenty years of his precious lib
erty.
"And this is the"castle of Okna?" he
exclaimed. /n-nx* 4
The guide smiled. 5
"No, excellency," he said, "tho cas-
3
tle of Okna lies many miles from here.
You must speak to our master Of that.
That is his step, excellency."
They listened and heard the tapping
of a stick upon a stone pavement. It.
approached them laboriously and after\
that which seemed an interminable in
terval, an old white-haired man ap
peared at one of the doors of the quad
rangle and raising^ his voice bade them
welcome. The voice was the one they
recognized as that of the wood but
the face of the speaker sent a shudder
thru Gavin's veins which left him un
ashamed.
"Blind," he muttered, amazed
"the man is blind."
CHAPTER XXVI.
Thru a Woman's Heart.
The blind man felt his way down a
short flight of stairs, and, standing be
fore the prisoners, he said in a voiee in
describably harsh and grating:
"Gentlemen, welcome to Setehevo,"
and so he told them the name of the
place to which their journey had car
ried them.
A man of middle stature, slightly
bent, his face pitted and scarred revolt
ingly, his fine white hair combed down
with scrupulous vanity upon his should
ers, the eyes, nevertheless, remained su
preme in their power to repel and to
dominate. Sightless, they seemed to
search the very heart of him who
braved them. Look where they might,
the Englishmen'8 gaze came back at
last to those unforgettable eyes. The
horror of them was indescribable.
"Welcome to Setehevo, gentlemen. I
am the Chevalier Georges Odin. Yes, I
have heard of you and am glad to see
you. Please to say which of you is Mr.
Gavin Ord."
Gavin stepped forward and answered
in a loud, courageous voice, I am he."
The blind man, passing trembling claws
over the hands and face of the two,
smiled when he heard the voice and
drew still nearer to them.
"You came from England to see
me," he said "you bring me news
from my little son and Ms English
wife."
This was a thing to startle them. Did
he, then, believe that Count Odin, his
son, had already married the Lady Eve
lyn, OT was it but a eoup de theater
to invite them to an indiscretion. Ga
vin, shrewd and watchful, decided in
an instant upon the course he would
take.
I bring no message from your son
nor has he, to my knowledge, an Eng
lish wife. Permit me an interview
where we can be alone and I will state
my business freely. Your method of
bringing us here, chevalier, may be
characteristic of the Balkans but I do
not think it will be understood by my
English friends in Bukharest. You will
be wise to remember that at the out-
set."
Here was a threat and a wise threat
but the old man heard it with disdain,
his'tongue licking his lips and a smile,
vicious and cruel, upon his scarred face.
"My friend," he said, "at the don
jon of Setehevo we think nothing of
English opinion at Bukharest, as you
will learn in good time. I thank you,
however, for reminding me that you
are my guests and fasting. Be good
enough to follow me. The English, I
remember, are eaters-of flesh--at dawn,
being thus but one step removed from
the cannibals. This house-shall gratify
youplease to follow me, I say."
Laboriously as he had descended, the
stairs, he climbed them again, the baf
fling smile still upon his face and the
stick tapping Weirdly upon the broken
stone. The house within did not belie
the house as it appeared from without.
Arched corridors, craeked groins,
moulded frescoes, great bare apart
ments with dismal furniture of brown
oak, the whole building breathed a
breath both chilling and pestilential.
If there were a redeeming feature. Gav
in found it in the so-called banqueting
hnll. a fine room gracefully paneled
with a barrel vault and some antique
mouldings original enough to awaken
an artist's curiosity. The' great buf
fet of this boasted plate was of con
siderable value and no little merit of
design: and such a breakfast as the
chevalier's servants had prepared was
served upon a mighty oak table which
had been a table when the seeond Mo
hammed ravaged Bosnia.
The men were hungry enough and
they ate and drank with good appetite.
Perhaps it was with some relief that
they discovered a greater leniency with
in the house than they had found with
out. Discomfort is often the ally of,
fear and whatever were the. demerits
of the house at Setehevo, the discom
forts-were relatively trifling. As for
'.the old blind chevalier, he sat at the
head of the table just as tho he had
eyes to watch their every movement
and to judge them thereby. -Not un
til they had made a good ng&Tof deli-7
cious coffee and fine white bread, ^with'*
eggs and a dish of Kolesha" in a'stiff t
square lump from tho pannot until it
then did he intrude with a word, or ap-J^
pear in any way .anxious to question?""
them.
"You pay a tribute, to ovr mountain^
air," he exclaimed at Jaat, speaking alt
little to-their astonishment in their own
tongue "that is your English virtue,?
you can eat afcany4fin" A
"And some of us are equally useful^
in the matter of drinking," rejoined Ar-^
thur Kenyon* who ha^begVntto enjoy||
himself- again, and was da&gnted to^t*
hear the EngSflh language.
The ehevafier. however, believed thar^
tr*