Graustark

by George Barr McCutcheon

  XX. THE APPROACHING ORDEAL

  "The American has escaped!" was the cry that spread through Edelweissthe next morning.

  It brought undisguised relief to the faces of thousands; there was notone who upbraided Baron Dangloss for his astounding negligence. Neverbefore had a criminal escaped from the Tower. The only excuse, utteredin woebegone tone, was that the prison had not been constructed ormanned for such clever scoundrels as Yankees--good name for audacity.But as nobody criticised, his explanation was taken good-naturedly andthere was secret rejoicing in the city. Of course, everybody wonderedwhere the prisoner had gone; most of them feared that he could notescape the officers, while others shrewdly smiled and expressedthemselves as confident that so clever a gentleman could not be caught.They marveled at his boldness, his ingenuity, his assurance.

  The full story of the daring break for liberty flashed from lip to lipduring the day, and it was known all over the water-swept city beforenoon. Baron Dangloss, himself, had gone to the prisoner's cell early inthe morning, mystified by the continued absence of the guard. The doorwas locked, but from within came groans and cries. Alarmed at once, theCaptain procured duplicate keys and entered the cell. There he found thehelpless, blood-covered Ogbot, bound hand and foot and almost dead fromloss of blood. The clothes of the American were on the floor, while hisown were missing, gone with the prisoner. Ogbot, as soon as he was able,related his experience of the night before. It was while making hisrounds at midnight that he heard moans from the cell. Animated by afeeling of pity he opened the slab door and asked if he were ill. Thewretched American was lying on the bed, apparently suffering. He saidsomething which the guard could not understand but which he took to bea plea for assistance. Not suspecting a trick, the kindly guard unlockedthe second door and stepped to the bedside, only to have the sick manrise suddenly and deal him a treacherous blow over the head with theheavy stool he had secreted behind him. Ogbot knew nothing of whatfollowed, so effective was the blow. When he regained consciousnesshe was lying on the bed, just as the Captain had found him. The poorfellow, overwhelmed by the enormity of his mistake, begged Dangloss toshoot him at once. But Dangloss had him conveyed to the hospital wardand tenderly cared for.

  Three guards in one of the offices saw a man whom they supposed to beOgbot pass from the prison shortly after twelve, and the mortified Chiefadmitted that some one had gone through his private apartment. As theprisoner had taken Ogbot's keys he experienced little difficulty ingetting outside the gates. But, vowed Dangloss stormily, he should berecaptured if it required the efforts of all the policemen in Edelweiss.With this very brave declaration in mind he despatched men to searchevery street and every alley, every cellar and every attic in the city.Messengers were sent to all towns in the district; armed posses scouredthe valley and the surrounding forests, explored the caves and brushheaps for miles around. The chagrin of the grim old Captain, who hadnever lost a prisoner, was pitiful to behold.

  The forenoon was half over before Harry Anguish heard of his friend'sescape. To say that he was paralyzed would be putting it muchtoo mildly. There is no language that can adequately describe hissensations. Forgetting his bodyguard, he tore down the street toward theprison, wild with anxiety and doubt. He met Baron Dangloss, tired andworn, near the gate, but the old officer could tell him nothing exceptwhat he had learned from Ogbot. Of one thing there could be no doubt:Lorry was gone. Not knowing where to turn nor what to do, Anguish racedoff to the castle, his bodyguard having located him in the meantime. Hewas more in need of their protection than ever. At the castle gates heencountered a party of raving Axphainians, crazed with anger over theflight of the man whose life they had thirsted for so ravenously. Hadhe been unprotected, Anguish would have fared badly at their hands, forthey were outspoken in their assertions that he had aided Lorry in theescape. One fiery little fellow cast a glove in the American's faceand expected a challenge. Anguish snapped his fingers and sarcasticallyinvited the insulter to meet him next winter in a battle with snowballs,upon which the aggressor blasphemed in three languages and three hundredgestures. Anguish and his men passed inside the gates, which had beenbarred to the others, and struck out rapidly for the castle doors.

  The Princess Yetive was sleeping' soundly, peacefully, with a smile onher lips, when her Prime Minister sent an excited attendant to informher of the prisoner's escape. She sat up in bed, and, with her handsclasped about her knees, sleepily announced that she would receive himafter her coffee was served. Then she thought of the wild, sweet ride tothe monastery, the dangerous return, her entrance to the castle throughthe secret subterranean passage and the safe arrival in her own room.All had gone well and he was safe. She smiled quaintly as she glancedat the bundle of clothes on the floor, blue and black and red. They hadbeen removed in the underground passage and a loose gown substituted,but she had carried them to her chamber with the intention of placingthem for the time being in the old mahogany chest that held so many ofher childhood treasures. Springing out of bed, she opened the chest,cast them into its depths, turned and removed the key which had alwaysremained in the lock. Then she summoned her maids.

  Her uncle and aunt, the Countess Dagmar (whose merry brown eyes wereso full of pretended dismay that the Princess could scarcely restraina smile), and Gaspon, the minister of finance, were awaiting herappearance. She heard the count's story of the escape, marveled atthe prisoner's audacity, and firmly announced that everything possibleshould be done to apprehend him. With a perplexed frown on her brow anda dubious twist to her lips, she said;

  "I suppose I must offer a reward."

  "Certainly!" exclaimed her uncle.

  "About fifty gavvos, uncle?"

  "Fifty!" cried the two men, aghast.

  "Isn't that enough?"

  "For the murderer of a prince?" demanded Gaspon. "It would be absurd,your Highness. He is a most important person."

  "Quite so; he is a most important person. I think I'll offer fivethousand gavvos."

  "More like it. He is worth that, at least," agreed Uncle Caspar.

  "Beyond a doubt," sanctioned Gaspon.

  "I am glad you do not consider me extravagant," she said, demurely."You may have the placards printed at once," she went on, addressing thetreasurer. "Say that a reward of five thousand gavvos will be paid tothe person who delivers Grenfall Lorry to me."

  "Would it not be better to say 'delivers Grenfall Lorry to the tower'?"submitted Gaspon.

  "You may say 'to the undersigned,' and sign my name," she said,reflectively.

  "Very well, your highness. They shall be struck off this morning."

  "In large type, Gaspon. You must catch him if you can," she added. "Heis a very dangerous man and royalty needs protection." With this wisebit of caution she dismissed the subject and began to talk of the storm.

  As the two young plotters were hastening up the stairs later on,an attendant approached and informed the Princess that Mr. Anguishrequested an audience.

  "Conduct him to my boudoir," she said, her eyes sparkling with triumph.In the seclusion of the boudoir she and the Countess laughed likechildren over the reward that had been so solemnly ordered.

  "Five thousand gavvos!" cried Dagmar, leaning back in her chair, toemphasize the delight she felt. "What a joke!"

  Tap, tap! came a knock on the door, and in the same instant it flewopen, for Mr. Anguish was in a hurry. As he plunged into their presencea pair of heels found the floor spasmodically.

  "Oh, I beg pardon!" he gasped, as if about to fly. "May I come in?"

  "Not unless you go outside. You are already in, it seems," said thePrincess, advancing to meet him. The Countess was very still and sedate."I am so glad you have come."

  "Heard about Lorry? The fool is out and gone," he cried, unable torestrain himself. Without a word she dragged him to the divan, and,between them, he soon had the whole story poured into his ears, thePrincess on one side, the Countess on the other.

  "You are a wonder!" he exclaimed, when all the facts were know
n to him.He executed a little dance of approval, entirely out of place in theboudoir of a princess, but very much in touch with prevailing sentiment."But what's to become of me?" he asked, after cooling down. "I have noexcuse for remaining in Graustark and I don't like to leave him here,either."

  "Oh, I have made plans for you," said she. "You are to be held ashostage."

  "What!"

  "I thought of your predicament last night, and here is the solution.This very day I shall issue an order forbidding you the right to leaveEdelweiss. You will not be in prison, but your every movement is tobe watched. A strong guard will have you under surveillance, and anyattempt to escape or to communicate with your friend will result in yourconfinement and his detection. In this way you may stay here until thetime comes to fly. The Axphain people must be satisfied, you know. Yourfreedom will not be disturbed; you may come and go as you like, but youare ostensibly a prisoner. By detaining you forcibly we gain a point,for you are needed here. There is no other way in which you can explaina continued presence in Graustark. Is not my plan a good one?"

  He gazed in admiration at her flushed cheeks and glowing eyes.

  "It is beyond comparison," he said, rising and bowing low. "So shrewdis this plan that you make me a hostage forever; I shall not escape itsmemory if I live to be a thousand."

  And so it was settled, in this pretty drama of deception, that HarryAnguish was to be held in Edelweiss as hostage. At parting she said,seriously:

  "A great deal depends on your discretion. Mr. Anguish. My guards willwatch your every action, for they are not in the secret,--exceptingQuinnox,--and any attempt on your part to communicate with GrenfallLorry will be fatal."

  "Trust me, your Highness. I have had much instruction in wisdom to-day."

  "I hope we shall see you often," she said.

  "Daily--as a hostage," he replied, glancing toward the Countess.

  "That means until the other man is captured," said that young lady,saucily.

  As he left the castle he gazed at the distant building in the sky andwondered how it had ever been approached in a carriage. She had nottold him that Allode drove for miles over winding roads that led to themonastery up a gentler slope from the rear.

  The next afternoon Edelweiss thrilled with a new excitement. PrinceBolaroz of Axphain, mad with grief and rage, came thundering into thecity with his Court at his heels. His wrath had been increased until itresembled a tornado when he read the reward placard in the uplands. Notuntil then did he know that the murderer had escaped and that vengeancemight be denied him.

  After, viewing the body of Lorenz as it lay in the sarcophagus of theroyal palace, where it had been borne at the command of the PrincessYetive, he demanded audience with his son's betrothed, and it was withfear that she prepared for the trying ordeal, an interview with thegrief-crazed old man. The castle was in a furore; its halls soonthronged with diplomatists and there was an ugly sense of trouble in theair, suggestive of the explosion which follows the igniting of a powdermagazine.

  The slim, pale-faced Princess met the burly old ruler in the grandcouncil chamber. He and his nobles had been kept waiting but a shorttime. Within a very few minutes after they had been conducted to thechamber by Count Halfont and other dignitaries, the fair ruler came intothe room and advanced between the bowing lines of courtiers to the spotwhere sat the man who held Graustark in his grasp. A slender, gracefulfigure in black, proud and serious, she walked unhesitatingly to the oldman's side. If she feared him, if she was impressed by his power, shedid not show it. The little drama had two stars of equal magnitude,neither of whom acknowledged supremacy in the other.

  Bolaroz arose as she drew near, his gaunt face black and unfriendly.She extended her hand graciously, and he, a prince for all his wrath,touched his trembling lips to its white, smooth back.

  "I come in grief and sadness to your Court, most glorious Yetive. Myburden of sorrow is greater than I can bear," he said, hoarsely.

  "Would that I could give you consolation," she said, sitting in thechair reserved for her use at council gatherings. "Alas! it grieves methat I can offer nothing more than words."

  "You are the one he would have made his wife," said the old Prince,sitting beside her. He looked into her deep blue eyes and tears sprungto his own. His voice failed him, and long moments passed before hecould control his emotion. Truly she pitied him in his bereavement.

  Then followed a formal discussion of the crime and the arrangement ofdetails in connection with the removal of the dead Prince from Graustarkto his own land. These matters settled, Bolaroz said that he hadheard of the murderer's escape and asked what effort was being madeto re-capture him. Yetive related all that had happened, expressinghumiliation over the fact that her officers had been unable toaccomplish anything, adding that she did not believe the fugitive couldget away from Graustark safely without her knowledge. The old Princewas working himself back into the violent rage that had been temporarilysubdued; and at last broke out in a vicious denunciation of thecarelessness that had allowed the man to escape. He first insisted thatDangloss and his incompetent assistants be thrown into prison for lifeor executed for criminal negligence; then he demanded the life of HarryAnguish as an aider and abettor in the flight of the murderer. In bothcases the Princess firmly refused to take the action demanded. Shewarmly defended Dangloss and his men, and announced in no uncertaintones that she would not order the arrest of the remaining American.Then she acquainted him with her intention to detain Anguish as hostageand to have his every action watched in the hope that a clue to thewhereabouts of the fugitive might be discovered, providing, of course,that the friend knew anything at all about the matter. The Duke ofMizrox and others loudly joined in the cry for Anguish's arrest, but shebravely held out against them and in the end curtly informed them thatthe American, whom she believed to be innocent of all complicity in theescape, should be subjected to no indignity other than detention in thecity under guard, as she had ordered.

  "I insist that this man be cast into prison at once," snarled thewhite-lipped Bolaroz.

  Her eyes flashed and her bosom heaved with anger.

  "You are not at liberty to command in Graustark, Prince Bolaroz," shesaid, slowly and distinctly. "I am ruler here."

  The heart of every Graustark nobleman leaped with pride at this daringrebuff. Bolaroz gasped and was speechless for some seconds.

  "You shall not be ruler long, madam," he said, malevolently,significantly.

  "But I am ruler now, and, as such, I ask your Highness to withdraw frommy castle. I did not know that I was to submit to these threats andinsults, or I should not have been kind enough to grant you an audience,Prince though you are. When I came to this room it was to give you mydeepest sympathy and to receive yours, not to be insulted. You have losta son, I my betrothed. It ill becomes you, Prince Bolaroz, to vent yourvindictiveness upon me. My men are doing all in their power to capturethe man who has so unfortunately escaped from our clutches, and I shallnot allow you or any one else to dictate the manner in which we are toproceed." She uttered these words cuttingly, and, at their conclusion,arose to leave the room.

  Bolaroz heard her through in surprise and with conflicting emotions.There was no mistaking her indignation, so he deemed it policy tobottle his wrath, overlook the most offensive rebuke his vanity had everreceived, and submit to what was evidently a just decision.

  "Stay, your Highness. I submit to your proposition regarding the otherstranger, although I doubt its wisdom. There is but one in whom Iam really interested,--the one who killed my son. There is to be nocessation in the effort to find him, I am to understand. I have aproposition. With me are three hundred of my bravest soldiers. I offerthem to you in order that you may better prosecute the search. They willremain here and you may use them in any way you see fit. The Duke ofMizrox will linger in Edelweiss and with him you and yours may alwaysconfer. He, also, is at your command. This man must be retaken. I swear,by all that is above and below me, he shall be found, if I hunt theworld
over to accomplish that end. He shall not escape my vengeance! Andhark you to this: On the twentieth of next month I shall demand paymentof the debt due Axphain. So deeply is my heart set on the death of thisGrenfall Lorry that I agree now, before all these friends of ours, thatif he be captured, and executed in my presence, before the twentieth ofNovember, Graustark shall be granted the extension of time that wouldhave obtained in the event of your espousal with the man he killed. Youhear this offer, all? It is bound by my sacred word of honor. His deathbefore the twentieth gives Graustark ten years of grace. If he is stillat large, I shall claim my own. This offer, I believe, most graciousYetive, will greatly encourage your people in the effort to capture theman we seek."

  The Princess heard the remarkable proposition with face deathly pale,heart scarcely beating. Again was the duty to Graustark thrust cruellyupon her. She could save the one only by sacrificing the other.

  "We will do all in our power to--to prove ourselves grateful for yourmagnanimous offer," she said. As she passed from the room, followed byher uncle, she heard the increasing buzz of excitement on all sides, theunrestrained expressions of amazement and relief from her own subjects,the patronizing comments of the visitors, all conspiring to sound herdoom. Which way was she to turn in order to escape from herself?

  "We must catch this man, Yetive," said Halfont, on the stairway. "Thereis no alternative."

  "Except our inability to do so," she murmured. In that moment shedetermined that Grenfall Lorry should never be taken if she couldprevent it. He was innocent and it was Graustark's penalty to pay.

  The next day, amidst pomp and splendor, the Prince of Axphain startedon his journey to the land of his forefathers, to the tombs of hisancestors, all Edelweiss witnessing the imposing procession that madeits way through the north gates of the town. Far up on the mountaintop a man, looking from his little window, saw the black, snakelikeprocession wind away across the plain to the northward, losing itself inthe distant hills.