Part 52 (2/2)
”Here!” Hannah exclaiitive froe for her I cannot tell Come with me I will show you a means of escape should the worst happen--a stout door which will hold back pursuers for a long time It opens from a room which shall be yours for the time The key shall be in your possession Study to look innocent, Hannah, when you are questioned, and in a crucial moment you may prove a far better defence than a dozen armed h the city there were many people in the streets The cafes were still full, and there were no signs of any unusual excitement A few may have discussed Princess Maritza over their coffee, liquor, or syrup, but in most cases it ith casual interest, or with a reht walk down to the Southern Gate to see her enter” What had her fate to do with theo their way to-morrow as they had done to-day, as they would every day until their own small circle of interest were touched They had as little syitator as they had with the Govern to affect the only because there was no temptation to be otherwise, perhaps, finished their coffee and went horew quieter, and, with the closing of the cafes, darker The city gates were shut, and if a few soldiers appeared at the corners of streets, they caused little interest to the people going hoenstrasse, it was only right that the city should be well guarded
The soldiers the was their trade, and they were discontented at being made a city watch Beyond a late reveller or two no one was out after ht What was the use of all this precaution? In the sreater silence
Where one ht have expected to find whatever dissatisfaction existed in the city, there was only the greater peace Hardly a light shone out fros, no one lurked in shadowy corners, and although the soldiers had been ordered to be especially careful tonight, there seemed to be even less than usual to demand their attention They believed that the Princess Maritza was to enter the city at dawn
At the guard-house of the Southern Gate the o their officer had told them as to happen, and the neas presently conveyed to the soldiers at the corners The officer of the guardroo minutes, while outside the city a small army had approached under cover of the darkness
Without and within there was silence Yet wakeful and watching hout the day a man had passed from one narrow street to another with quick and stealthy steps Into this house he went,the stairs swiftly, and disappeared for a few ain, and, gliding up alleys and half-deserted streets, entered one little cafe after another, and erly to his words andbefore darkness had fallen upon Sturatzberg there were , which, nevertheless, were croith
Such a croaited in the long room at the rear of the Toison d'Or
The athered there one by one, as they had done that night when they came to drink with the soldiers who had been found dead in the Bergenstrasse nextMany of the same men were in the crowd, many also of those who had once chased Ellerey so furiously through the garden of that other tavern where was the door in the wall They greeted each new arrival with a nod, and for the most part were silent or spoke only in whispers
”At what hour?” asked one
”Two hours after ht”
”Are our numbers sufficient?”
”Quite sufficient,” answered another ”At a dozen places I have had our brothers gathered, close to the spot from which they will make their rush upon the troops The attack will come from all sides at once, and the soldiers will be taken by surprise We cannot fail”
”Does the Princess know, Dumitru?”
”Not certainly, but she will be expectant and ready You understand whose conal?”
The men about him nodded and smiled with quiet confidence, while Dumitru passed on to others to answer siht They felt that he was but the mouthpiece of the Princess, that she was their real leader, that the time they had waited for and plotted toward had really co them who calculated what the price of failure would be, and had planned what they ht do for their own safety in such an event; but the majority of them were enthusiasts who rejoiced that the hour of action had arrived at last
”After to-night, Du back,” whispered oneon a chair, had called for the toast to Maritza on that night fatal to the deserting soldiers ”The next few days will h the world, and our deeds strike terror into the heart of the nation”
Duer watch upon the tiuardhouse
The crowd became more excited and restless as the hands of the clock crept farther and farther froht ”Surely it is time now,” they whispered at intervals And the leaders had so them As it was in the Toison d'Or, so it was in
Froate as sent to the officer that the prisoner had co back upon their hinges It was a large body of ure
The ht and left, and only a few, coenstrasse With the city full of troops what chance of escape had that lonely prisoner, who spoke no word, yet furtively glanced to this side and that, and studied the attitude of the men nearest to her? She noted that soldiers stood at attention at street corners, a few here, a few there; that of all other signs of life the streets were eht in at an unexpected hour, and the silence over the city fell upon her soul Hopelessness and despair seized her, and a wild thought proht come, but such a death was preferable to the fate which htened on the reins, when the silence was suddenly broken, and, with a swift hiss, a streak of light cut through the darkness skyward, paused a lobes of light which floated doard The foremost of the troop reined in their horses sharply at the unexpected flight of the rocket, causing so those behind Then came a quick coreat shout which rent the air on every side--
”For Grigosie! Grigosie!”
Had the cry been for Maritza the soldiers ht possibly have understood better what this sudden stopping of their progressmass was upon them before they had time to draw their weapons The attack was so fierce, so sudden and overwhelhly dawned upon the soldiers, they had enough to do to protect theht to their prisoner There was hardly a trooper as not in amob, whose one object seemed to be to force the soldiers apart and prevent any concerted action
The ring of steel and the crack of revolvers roans and curses and sharp cries which blades thrust hoing its rider head foreing charger, dexterouslycame from a distance, as the soldiers froenstrasse to the assistance of their comrades, and, since they ran coave way before the horse cleared a path before hiht and left as he came, and shouted: ”To the prisoner! Secure the prisoner!” and desperately he struggled toward the sli crowd At his shout the crowd threw itself er see about him, and steel struck at him from every side