THE REDOUBTABLE DANGLOSS
Beverly's eyes showed her astonishment. Baron Dangloss courteously
placed a chair for her and asked her to be seated.
"We were expecting you, Miss Calhoun," he explained. "Her royal highness
left St. Petersburg but a few hours after your departure, having
unfortunately missed you."
"You don't mean to say that the princess tried to find me in
St. Petersburg?" cried Beverly, in wonder and delight.
"That was one of the purposes of her visit," said he brusquely.
"Oh, how jolly!" cried she, her gray eyes sparkling. The grim old
captain was startled for the smallest fraction of a minute, but at once
fell to admiring the fresh, eager face of the visitor.
"The public at large is under the impression that she visited the Czar
on matters of importance," he said, with a condescending smile.
"And it really was of no importance at all, that's what you mean?" she
smiled back securely.
"Your message informing her highness of your presence in St. Petersburg
had no sooner arrived than she set forth to meet you in that city, much
against the advice of her counsellors. I will admit that she had other
business there but it could have waited. You see, Miss Calhoun, it was a
great risk at this particular time. Misfortune means disaster now. But
Providence was her friend. She arrived safely in Ganlook not an hour
since."
"Really? Oh, Baron Dangloss, where is she?" excitedly cried the
American girl.
"For the night she is stopping with the Countess Rallowitz. A force of
men, but not those whom you met at the gates, has just been dispatched
at her command to search for you in the lower pass. You took the most
dangerous road, Miss Calhoun, and I am amazed that you came through in
safety."
"The Russians chose the lower pass, I know not why. Of course, I was
quite ignorant. However, we met neither brigands nor soldiers, Axphain
or Graustark. I encountered nothing more alarming than a mountain
lion. And that, Baron Dangloss, recalls me to the sense of a duty I have
been neglecting. A poor wanderer in the hills defended me against the
beast and was badly wounded. He must be taken to a hospital at once,
sir, where he may have the proper care."
Whereupon, at his request, she hurriedly related the story of that
trying journey through the mountains, not forgetting to paint the
courage of Baldos in most glowing colors. The chief was deeply
interested in the story of the goat-hunter and his party. There was an
odd gleam of satisfaction in his eyes, but she did not observe it.
"You _will_ see that he has immediate attention, won't you?" she
implored in the end.
"He shall have our deepest consideration," promised he.
"You know I am rather interested, because I shot him, just as if it were
not enough that his legs were being torn by the brute at the time. He
ought not to walk, Baron Dangloss. If you don't mind, I'd suggest an
ambulance," she hurried on glibly. He could not conceal the smile that
her eagerness inspired. "Really, he is in a serious condition. I think
he needs some quinine and whiskey, too, and--"
"He shall have the _best_ of care," interrupted the captain. "Leave
him to me, Miss Calhoun."
"Now, let me tell you something," said she, after due reflection. "You
must not pay any attention to what he says. He is liable to be delirious
and talk in a terrible sort of way. You know delirious people never talk
rationally." She was loyally trying to protect Baldos, the hunted,
against any incriminating statements he might make.
"Quite right, Miss Calhoun," said the baron very gravely.
"And now, I'd like to go to the princess," said Beverly, absolutely sure
of herself. "You know we are great friends, she and I."
"I have sent a messenger to announce your arrival. She will expect you."
Beverly looked about the room in perplexity.
"But there has been no messenger here," she said.
"He left here some minutes before you came. I knew who it was that came
knocking at our gates, even though she traveled as Princess Yetive of
Graustark."
"And, oh! that reminds me, Baron Dangloss, Baldos still believes me to
be the princess. Is it necessary to--to tell him the truth about me?
Just at present, I mean? I'm sure he'll rest much easier if he doesn't
know differently."
"So far as I am concerned, Miss Calhoun, he shall always regard you as a
queen," said Dangloss gallantly.
"Thank you. It's very nice of you to--"
A man in uniform entered after knocking at the door of the room. He
saluted his superior and uttered a few words in his own language.
"Her royal highness is awaiting you at the home of the countess, Miss
Calhoun. A detail of men will escort you and your servant to her place."
"Now, please, Baron Dangloss," pleaded Beverly at the door, "be nice to
him. You know it hurts him to walk. Can't you have him carried in?"
"If he will consent," said he quietly. Beverly hurried into the outer
room, after giving the baron a smile he never forgot. Baldos looked up
eagerly, anxiously.
"It's all right," she said in low tones, pausing for a moment beside his
chair. "Don't get up! Good-bye. I'll come to see you to-morrow. Don't be
in the least disturbed. Baron Dangloss has his instructions."
Impulsively giving him her hand which he respectfully raised to his
lips, she followed Aunt Fanny and was gone.
Almost immediately Baldos was requested to present himself before Baron
Dangloss in the adjoining room. Refusing to be carried in, he resolutely
strode through the door and stood before the grim old captain of police,
an easy, confident smile on his face. The black patch once more covered
his eye with defiant assertiveness.
"They tell me you are Baldos, a goat-hunter," said Baron Dangloss,
eyeing him keenly.
"Yes."
"And you were hurt in defending one who is of much consequence in
Graustark. Sit down, my good fellow." Baldos' eyes gleamed coldly for an
instant. Then he sank into a chair. "While admitting that you have done
Graustark a great service, I am obliged to tell you that I, at least,
know you to be other than what you say. You are not a goat-hunter, and
Baldos is not your name. Am I not right?"
"You have had instructions from your sovereign, Baron Dangloss. Did they
include a command to cross-question me?" asked Baldos
haughtily. Dangloss hesitated for a full minute.
"They did not. I take the liberty of inquiring on my own
responsibility."
"Very well, sir. Until you have a right to question me, I am Baldos and
a goat-hunter. I think I am here to receive surgical treatment."
"You decline to tell me anything concerning yourself?"
"Only that I am injured and need relief."
"Perhaps I know more about you than you suspect, sir."
"I am not in the least interested, Baron Dangloss, in what you know. The
princess brought me into Ganlook, and I have her promise of help and
protection while here. That is all I have to say, except that I have
implicit faith in her word."
Dangloss sat watching him in silence for some time. No one but himself
knew what was going on in that shrewd, speculative mind. At length he
arose and approached the proud fellow in rags.
"You have earned every consideration at our hands. My men will take you
to the hospital and you shall have the best of care. You have served our
princess well. To-morrow you may feel inclined to talk more freely with
me, for I am your friend, Baldos."
"I am grateful for that, Baron Dangloss," said the other simply. Then he
was led away and a comfortable cot in the Ganlook hospital soon held his
long, feverish frame, while capable hands took care of his wounds. He
did not know it, but two fully armed soldiers maintained a careful guard
outside his door under instructions from the head of the police.
Moreover, a picked detail of men sallied forth into the lower pass in
search of the goat-hunter's followers.
In the meantime Beverly was conducted to the home of the Countess
Rallowitz. Her meeting with the princess was most affectionate. There
were tears, laughter and kisses. The whole atmosphere of the place
suggested romance to the eager American girl. Downstairs were the royal
guards; in the halls were attendants; all about were maidservants and
obsequious lackeys, crowding the home of the kindly countess. At last,
comfortable and free from the dust of travel, the two friends sat down
to a dainty meal.
"Oh, I am so delighted," murmured Beverly for the hundredth time.
"I'm appalled when I think of the dangers you incurred in coming to
me. No one but a very foolish American girl could have undertaken such a
trip as this. Dear me, Beverly, I should have died if anything dreadful
had happened to you. Why did you do it?" questioned the princess. And
then they laughed joyously.
"And you went all the way to St. Petersburg to meet me, you dear, dear
Yetive," cried Beverly, so warmly that the attentive servant forgot his
mask of reverence.
"Wasn't it ridiculous of me? I know Gren would have forbidden it if he
had been in Edelweiss when I started. And, more shame to me, the poor
fellow is doubtless at the conference with Dawsbergen, utterly ignorant
of my escapade. You should have heard the ministry--er--ah--" and the
princess paused for an English word.
"Kick?" Beverly supplied.
"Yes. They objected violently. And, do you know, I was finally compelled
to issue a private edict to restrain them from sending an appeal to
Grenfall away off there on the frontier. Whether or no, my uncle
insisted that he should be brought home, a three-days' journey, in order
that he might keep me from going to St. Petersburg. Of course, they
could not disobey my edict, and so poor Gren is none the wiser, unless
he has returned from the conference. If he has, I am sure he is on the
way to Ganlook at this very minute."
"What a whimsical ruler you are," cried Beverly. "Upsetting everything
sensible just to rush off hundreds of miles to meet me. And Axphain is
trying to capture you, too! Goodness, you must love me!"
"Oh, but I _did_ have a trifling affair of state to lay before the
Czar, my dear. To-morrow we shall be safe and sound in the castle and it
will all be very much worth while. You see, Beverly, dear, even
princesses enjoy a diversion now and then. One wouldn't think anything
of this adventure in the United States; it is the environment that makes
it noticeable. Besides, you traveled as a princess. How did you like
it?"
And then the conversation related particularly to the advantages of
royalty as viewed from one side and the disadvantages as regarded from
another. For a long time Beverly had been wondering how she should
proceed in the effort to secure absolute clemency for Baldos. As yet she
had said nothing to Yetive of her promise to him, made while she was a
princess.
"At any rate, I'm sure the goat-hunters would not have been so faithful
and true if they had not believed me to be a princess," said Beverly,
paving the way. "You haven't a man in your kingdom who could be more
chivalrous than Baldos."
"If he is that kind of a man, he would treat any woman as gently."
"You should have heard him call me 'your highness,'" cried Beverly. "He
will loathe me if he ever learns that I deceived him."
"Oh, I think he deceived himself," spoke Yetive easily. "Besides, you
look as much like a princess as I."
"There is something I want to speak very seriously about to you,
Yetive," said Beverly, making ready for the cast. "You see, he did not
want to enter Ganlook with me, but I insisted. He had been so brave and
gallant, and he was suffering so intensely. It would have been criminal
in me to leave him out there in the wilderness, wouldn't it?"
"It would have been heartless."
"So I just made him come along. That was right, wasn't it? That's what
you would have done, no matter who he was or what his objections might
have been. Well, you see, it's this way, Yetive: he is some sort of a
fugitive--not a criminal, you know--but just some one they are hunting
for, I don't know why. He wouldn't tell me. That was perfectly right, if
he felt that way, wasn't it?"
"And he had fought a lion in your defense," supplemented Yetive, with a
schoolgirl's ardor.
"And I had shot him in the arm, too," added Beverly. "So of course, I
just had to be reasonable. In order to induce him to come with me to a
hospital, I was obliged to guarantee perfect safety to him. His men went
back to the hills, all except old Franz, the driver. Now, the trouble is
this, Yetive: I am _not_ the princess and I cannot redeem a single
promise I made to him. He is helpless, and if anything goes wrong with
him he will hate me forever."
"No; he will hate _me_ for I am the princess and he is none the
wiser."
"But he will be told that his princess was Beverly Calhoun, a supposedly
nice American girl. Don't you see how awkward it will be for me? Now,
Yetive, darling, what I wish you to do is to write a note, order or
edict or whatever it is to Baron Dangloss, commanding him to treat
Baldos as a patient and not as a prisoner; and that when he is fully
recovered he is to have the privilege of leaving Ganlook without
reservation."
"But he may be a desperate offender against the state, Beverly."
plaintively protested Yetive. "If we only knew what he is charged with!"
"I'm afraid it's something dreadfully serious," admitted Beverly
gloomily. "He doesn't look like the sort of man who would engage in a
petty undertaking. I'll tell you his story, just as he told it to me,"
and she repeated the meagre confessions of Baldos.
"I see no reason why we should hesitate," said the princess. "By his own
statement, he is not a desperate criminal. You did quite right in
promising him protection, dear, and I shall sustain you. Do you want to
play the princess to Baldos a little longer?"
"I should love it," cried Beverly, her eyes sparkling.
"Then I shall write the order to Dangloss at once. Oh, dear, I have
forgotten, I have no official seal here."
"Couldn't you seal it with your ring?" suggested Beverly. "Oh, I have
it! Send for Baron Dangloss and have him witness your signature. He
can't get away from that, you see, and after we reach Edelweiss, you can
fix up a regular edict, seal and all," cried the resourceful American
girl.
Ink and paper were sent for and the two conspirators lent their wisdom
to the task of preparing an order for the salvation of Baldos, the
fugitive. The order read:
To BARON JASTO DANGLOSS, COMMANDING THE CIVIC AND MILITARY POLICE OF
GRAUSTARK:
"You are hereby informed that Baldos, the man who entered the city
with Miss Calhoun, is not to be regarded as a prisoner now or
hereafter. He is to be given capable medical and surgical attention
until fully recovered, when he is to be allowed to go his way in peace
unquestioned.
"Also, he is to be provided with suitable wearing apparel and made
comfortable in every way.
"Also, the members of his party, now in the hills (whose names are
unknown to me), are to be accorded every protection. Franz, the
driver, is to have his freedom if he desires it.
"And from this edict there is no recourse until its abatement by royal
decree.
"YETIVE."
"There," said the princess, affixing her signature "I think that will be
sufficient." Then she rang for a servant. "Send to Baron Dangloss and
ask him to come here at once."
Fifteen minutes later the chief of police stood in the presence of the
eager young interpreters of justice.
"I want you to witness my signature, Baron Dangloss," said the princess
after the greetings.
"Gladly," said the officer.
"Well, here is where I signed," said Yetive, handing him the paper. "I
don't have to write my name over again, do I?"
"Not at all," said the baron gallantly. And he boldly signed his name as
a witness.
"They wouldn't do that in the United States," murmured Beverly, who knew
something about red tape at Washington.
"It is a command to you, baron," said Yetive, handing him the document
with a rare smile. He read it through slowly. Then he bit his lip and
coughed. "What is the matter, baron?" asked Yetive, still smiling.
"A transitory emotion, your highness, that is all," said he; but his
hand trembled as he folded the paper.