THROUGH THE GANLOOK GATES
By this time they were passing the queer little huts that marked the
outskirts of a habitable community. These were the homes of shepherds,
hunters and others whose vocations related especially to the
mountains. Farther on there were signs of farming interests; the homes
became more numerous and more pretentious in appearance. The rock-lined
gorge broadened into a fertile valley; the road was smooth and level, a
condition which afforded relief to the travelers. Ravone had once more
dressed the wounds inflicted by the lion; but he was unable to provide
anything to subdue the fever. Baldos was undeniably ill. Beverly,
between her exclamations of joy and relief at being in sight of Ganlook,
was profuse in her expressions of concern for the hero of the Hawk and
Raven. The feverish gleam in his dark eyes and the pain that marked his
face touched her deeply. Suffering softened his lean, sun-browned
features, obliterating the mocking lines that had impressed her so
unfavorably at the outset. She was saying to herself that he was
handsome after a most unusual cast; it was an unforgetable face.
"Your highness," he said earnestly, after she had looked long and
anxiously at his half-closed eyes, "we are within an hour of Ganlook. It
will be dark before we reach the gates, I know, but you have nothing to
fear during the rest of the trip. Franz shall drive you to the sentry
post and turn over the horses to your own men. My friends and I must
leave you at the end of the mountain road. We are--"
"Ridiculous!" she cried. "I'll not permit it! You must go to a
hospital."
"If I enter the Ganlook gates it will be the same as entering the gates
of death," he protested.
"Nonsense! You have a fever or you wouldn't talk like that. I can
promise you absolute security."
"You do not understand, your highness."
"Nevertheless, you are going to a hospital," she firmly said. "You would
die out here in the wilds, so what are the odds either way? Aunt Fanny,
_will_ you be careful? Don't you know that the least movement of
those bags hurts him?"
"Please, do not mind me, your highness. I am doing very well," he said,
smiling.
The coach brought up in front of a roadside inn. While some of the men
were watering the horses others gathered about its open window. A
conversation in a tongue utterly incomprehensible to Beverly took place
between Baldos and his followers. The latter seemed to be disturbed
about something, and there was no mistaking the solicitous air with
which they regarded their leader. The pseudo-princess was patient as
long as possible and then broke into the discussion.
"What do they want?" she demanded in English.
"They are asking for instructions," he answered.
"Instruct them to do as I bid," she said. "Tell them to hurry along and
get you a doctor; that's all."
Evidently his friends were of the same opinion, for after a long
harangue in which he was obdurate to the last, they left the carriage
and he sank back with a groan of dejection.
"What is it?" she anxiously demanded.
"They also insist that I shall go to a surgeon," he said hopelessly. His
eyes were moist and he could not meet her gaze. She was full of
exultation.
"They have advised me to put myself under your protection, shameless as
that may seem to a man. You and you alone have the power to protect me
if I pass beyond the walls of Ganlook."
"I?" she cried, all a-flutter.
"I could not thrust my head into the jaws of death unless the princess
of Graustark were there to stay their fury. Your royal hand alone can
turn aside the inevitable. Alas, I am helpless and know not what to do."
Beverly Calhoun sat very straight and silent beside the misguided
Baldos. After all, it was not within her power to protect him. She was
not the princess and she had absolutely no influence in Ganlook. The
authorities there could not be deceived as had been these ignorant men
of the hills. If she led him into the city it was decidedly probable
that she might be taking him to his death. She only could petition, not
command. Once at Yetive's side she was confident she could save the man
who had done so much for her, but Ganlook was many miles from Edelweiss,
and there was no assurance that intervention could be obtained in
time. On the other hand, if he went back to the hills he was likely to
die of the poisonous fever. Beverly was in a most unhappy state of
mind. If she confessed to him that she was not the princess, he would
refuse to enter the gates of Ganlook, and be perfectly justified in
doing so.
"But if I should fail?" she asked, at last, a shiver rushing over her
and leaving her cold with dread.
"You are the only hope, your highness. You had better say farewell to
Baldos and let him again seek the friendly valley," said he wearily. "We
can go no farther. The soldiers must be near, your highness. It means
capture if we go on. I cannot expose my friends to the dangers. Let me
be put down here, and do you drive on to safety. I shall fare much
better than you think, for I am young and strong and--"
"No! I'll risk it," she cried. "You must go into the city. Tell them so
and say that I will protect you with my own life and honor."
Fever made him submissive; her eyes gave him confidence; her voice
soothed his fears, if he possessed them. Leaning from the window, he
called his men together. Beverly looked on in wonder as these strange
men bade farewell to their leader. Many of them were weeping, and most
of them kissed his hand. There were broken sentences, tear-choked
promises, anxious inquiries, and the parting was over.
"Where are they going?" Beverly whispered, as they moved away in the
dusk.
"Back into the mountains to starve, poor fellows. God be kind to them,
God be good to them," he half sobbed, his chin dropping to his
breast. He was trembling like a leaf.
"Starve?" she whispered. "Have they no money?"
"We are penniless," came in muffled tones from the stricken leader.
Beverly leaned from the window and called to the departing ones. Ravone
and one other reluctantly approached. Without a word she opened a small
traveling bag and drew forth a heavy purse. This she pressed into the
hand of the student. It was filled with Graustark gavvos, for which she
had exchanged American gold in Russia.
"God be with you," she fervently cried. He kissed her hand, and the two
stood aside to let the coach roll on into the dusky shadows that
separated them from the gates of Ganlook, old Franz still driving--the
only one of the company left to serve his leader to the very end.
"Well, we have left them," muttered Baldos, as though to himself. "I may
never see them again--never see them again. God, how true they have
been!"
"I shall send for them the moment I get to Ganlook and I'll promise
pardons for them all," she cried rashly, in her compassion.
"No!" he exclaimed fiercely. "You are not to disturb them. Better that
they should starve."
Beverly was sufficiently subdued. As they drew nearer the city gates her
heart began to fail her. This man's life was in her weak, incapable
hands and the time was nearing when she must stand between him and
disaster.
"Where are these vaunted soldiers of yours?" he suddenly asked, infinite
irony in his voice.
"My soldiers?" she said faintly.
"Isn't it rather unusual that, in time of trouble and uncertainty, we
should be able to approach within a mile of one of your most important
cities without even so much as seeing a soldier of Graustark?"
She felt that he was scoffing, but it mattered little to her.
"It is a bit odd, isn't it?" she agreed.
"Worse than that, your highness."
"I shall speak to Dangloss about it," she said serenely, and he looked
up in new surprise. Truly, she was an extraordinary princess.
Fully three-quarters of an hour passed before the coach was
checked. Beverly, looking from the windows, had seem the lighted windows
of cottages growing closer and closer together. The barking of roadside
dogs was the only sound that could be heard above the rattle of the
wheels. It was too dark inside the coach to see the face of the man
beside her, but something told her that he was staring intently into the
night, alert and anxious. The responsibility of her position swooped
down upon her like an avalanche as she thought of what the next few
minutes were to bring forth. It was the sudden stopping of the coach and
the sharp commands from the outside that told her probation was at an
end. She could no longer speculate; it was high time to act.
"The outpost," came from Baldos, in strained tones.
"Perhaps they won't know us--you, I mean," she whispered.
"Baron Dangloss knows everybody," he replied bitterly.
"What a horrid old busy-body he--" she started to say, but thought
better of it.
A couple of lanterns flashed at the window, almost blinding her. Aunt
Fanny groaned audibly, but the figure of Baldos seemed to stiffen with
defiance. Uniformed men peered into the interior with more rudeness and
curiosity than seemed respectful to a princess, to say the least. They
saw a pretty, pleading face, with wide gray eyes and parted lips, but
they did not bow in humble submission as Baldos had expected. One of the
men, evidently in command, addressed Beverly in rough but polite
tones. It was a question that he asked, she knew, but she could not
answer him, for she could not understand him.
"What do you want?" she put in English, with a creditable display of
dignity.
"He does not speak English, your highness," volunteered Baldos, in a
voice so well disguised that it startled her. The officer was staring
blankly at her.
"Every officer in my army should and must learn to speak English," she
said, at her wits' end, "I decline to be questioned by the fellow. Will
you talk to him in my stead?"
"I, your highness?" he cried in dismay.
"Yes. Tell him who we are and ask where the hospital is," she murmured,
sinking back with the air of a queen, but with the inward feeling that
all was lost.
"But I don't speak your language well," he protested.
"You speak it beautifully," she said. Baldos leaned forward painfully
and spoke to the officer in the Graustark tongue.
"Don't you know your princess?" he demanded, a trifle harshly. The man's
eyes flew wide open in an instant and his jaw dropped.
"Th--the princess?" he gasped.
"Don't stare like that, sir. Direct us to the main gate at once, or you
will have cause to regret your slowness."
"But the princess was--is coming by the northern pass," mumbled the
man. "The guard has gone out to meet her and--" Baldos cut him off
shortly with the information that the princess, as he could see, had
come by the lower pass and that she was eager to reach a resting-place
at once. The convincing tone of the speaker and the regal indifference
of the lady had full effect upon the officer, who had never seen her
highness. He fell back with a deep obeisance, and gave a few bewildered
commands to his men. The coach moved off, attended by a party of
foot-soldiers, and Beverly breathed her first sigh of relief.
"You did it beautifully," she whispered to Baldos, and he was
considerably puzzled by the ardor of her praise. "Where are we going
now?" she asked.
"Into the city, your highness," he answered. It was beginning to dawn
upon him that she was amazingly ignorant and inconsequential for one who
enjoyed the right to command these common soldiers. Her old trepidation
returned with this brief answer. Something told her that he was
beginning to mistrust her at last. After all, it meant everything to him
and so little to her.
When the coach halted before the city gates she was in a dire state of
unhappiness. In the darkness she could feel the reproachful eyes of old
Aunt Fanny searching for her abandoned conscience.
"Ask if Baron Dangloss is in Ganlook, and, if he is, command them to
take me to him immediately," she whispered to Baldos, a sudden
inspiration seizing her. She would lay the whole matter before the great
chief of police, and trust to fortune. Her hand fell impulsively upon
his and, to her amazement, it was as cold as ice. "What is the matter?"
she cried in alarm.
"You trusted me in the wilds, your highness," he said tensely; "I am
trusting you now." Before she could reply the officer in charge of the
Ganlook gates appeared at the coach window. There were lights on all
sides. Her heart sank like lead. It would be a miracle if she passed the
gates unrecognized.
"I must see Baron Dangloss at once," she cried in English, utterly
disdaining her instructions to Baldos.
"The baron is engaged at present and can see no one," responded the
good-looking young officer in broken English.
"Where is he?" she demanded nervously.
"He is at the home of Colonel Goaz, the commandant. What is your
business with him?"
"It is with him and not with you, sir," she said, imperious once
more. "Conduct me to him immediately."
"You cannot enter the gates unless you--"
"Insolence!" exclaimed Baldos. "Is this the way, sir, in which you
address the princess? Make way for her."
"The princess!" gasped the officer. Then a peculiar smile overspread his
face. He had served three years in the Castle Guard at Edelweiss! There
was a long pause fraught with disaster for Beverly. "Yes, perhaps it is
just as well that we conduct her to Baron Dangloss," he said at
last. The deep meaning in his voice appealed only to the unhappy
girl. "There shall be no further delay, _your highness!_" he added
mockingly. A moment later the gates swung open and they passed
through. Beverly alone knew that they were going to Baron Dangloss under
heavy guard, virtually as prisoners. The man knew her to be an impostor
and was doing only his duty.
There were smiles of derision on the faces of the soldiers when Beverly
swept proudly between the files and up the steps leading to the
commandant's door, but there were no audible remarks. Baldos followed,
walking painfully but defiantly, and Aunt Fanny came last with the
handbag. The guards grinned broadly as the corpulent negress waddled up
the steps. The young officer and two men entered the door with the
wayfarers, who were ordered to halt in the hallway.
"Will your highness come with me?" said the officer, returning to the
hall after a short absence. There was unmistakable derision in his voice
and palpable insolence in his manner. Beverly flushed angrily. "Baron
Dangloss is very _curious_ to see you," he added, with a
smile. Nevertheless, he shrank a bit beneath the cold gleam in the eyes
of the impostor.
"You will remain here," she said, turning to Baldos and the
negress. "And you will have nothing whatever to say to this very
important young man." The "important young man" actually chuckled.
"Follow me, your most royal highness," he said, preceding her through
the door that opened into the office of the commandant. Baldos glared
after them in angry amazement.
"Young man, some day and _soon_ you will be a much wiser soldier
and, in the ranks," said Beverly hotly. The smile instantly receded from
the insolent fellow's face, for there was a world of prophecy in the way
she said it. Somehow, he was in a much more respectful humor when he
returned to the hall and stood in the presence of the tall, flushed
stranger with the ragged uniform.
A short, fierce little man in the picturesque uniform of a Graustark
officer arose as Beverly entered the office. His short beard bristled as
though it were concealing a smile, but his manner was polite, even
deferential. She advanced fearlessly toward him, a wayward smile
struggling into her face.
"I daresay you know I am not the princess," she said composedly. Every
vestige of fear was gone now that she had reached the line of
battle. The doughty baron looked somewhat surprised at this frank way of
opening the interview.
"I am quite well aware of it," he said politely.
"They say you know everyone, Baron Dangloss," she boldly said. "Pray,
who am I?"
The powerful official looked at the smiling face for a moment, his bushy
eyebrows contracting ever so slightly. There was a shameless streak of
dust across her cheek, but there was also a dimple there that appealed
to the grim old man. His eyes twinkled as he replied, with fine
obsequiousness:
"You are Miss Beverly Calhoun, of Washington."