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Show I SECRET HISTORY OTtoESy) I I VIII THE ABDICATION OF FRANCIS-JOSEPH II am now going to relate the Story of what Is, perhaps, the most extraordinary mission on whloh i have ever been em-ployed. em-ployed. It will, I think, com'- as a surprise sur-prise to many of the best-Informed politicians poli-ticians on the Continent, including the highly placed personages whose schemes 1 waa the means of detecting and defeating. de-feating. It was during the war between the Rrltlwh anri Boers In South Africa, nl :i period which 1 do not care to specify more particular 1 that I had the honor to receive a request to proceed without loss of time to Petersburg and vmi u i.m M Wltte It Is Chiefly this Ministers nnju6t dismissal that has proVoked mo to make this disclosure. I was particularly gratified ot being sent for hv the great Russian Minister, because his action was a demonstration of the high confldt m i r post ( In my loy-.-i it v- Although I was known to be a Pole by descent, find th favorite and onfidant of the German Emperor, who hid constantly employed m to combat Russian Intrigues yet M. Wltte f. it no fear In Intrusting m- with the secrets of Russian statei raft. i The moment 1 arrived In Petersburg, I v enl without wnltliiK to change or refresh re-fresh myself to wait on my client Our Interview took plnce. not at the Ministry of Finance where M. Wltte would have been surrounded by spies, '".t at n small private house in a suburb Of the Russian . ipital The Finance Minister received me in a small study, iho walls of which were lined with works mi political economy and Kindred subjei i "I have unk il you to meet me here," 1 1 II i " 'Will you permit me to ask you,' he said politely, 'if you have ever done any business on behalf of the Emperor Em-peror of Austria-HungaryP' " H th Minister explained afi soon as I had H seated myself, and lighted the cigar H which he pressed upon me, "because I H ilnn't wish the fact that we are In com- H inunlcation to be known to a single per son In the Russian Empire In partlc-II partlc-II ular. It must be kept a Strict secret from J the Minister of v'ur It Is against him J that you will be acting really, and I I shall have to aak you to pledge yoUT- if thai in c.ie of ;our proceedings at-H at-H tractlng his attention, you will lead him H to suppose that you have been com- l miaaloned bs some foreign power " That will be easy," 1 replied. "Russia H has plenty of watchful enemies. Phall j i say Great Britain?" M Wltte shook his head thoughtfully. You would not bo believed. No one v ill credit the British Government with I intelligence enough to acquire knowledge of its enemies' Intentions. But that is a point which I can eafely leave to your discretion If the occasion should arise " I contented myself with bowing, and Vf waited for the Minister to proceed. j Will you permit ma to ask you," he 1 paid politely, "If you have ever done- any business on behalf of the ICmperor of Austria-Hungary?" "1 have been engaged by his Majesty on two occasions," I responded. "It was I 1 who succeeded in suppressing the f0 t$ 4'. i ncernlng the death of the Crown Prince , 1 Kudolf, and In establishing the currency I of the version which has now been ac- 1 epted as serious history. The truth.' I added, "will never be known to any one j . outside the Innermost circle of the Haps- i i lirg famllv, and I dare not tell It even , J ' your Excellency. The other occasion H 1 am not at Ubertv to mention." I "Perhaps I can guess It, though,'.' the Ruaalan Minister returned with a shrewd smile "However, the Important thing Is 't Chat ou are already personally known ,A the Emperor. It follows from that I act that ho has learned to respect and ' 4 trust you " I I thanked M. Wltte or this compliment J I by a low bow. At the same time I was ' -j a little on my guard 'sj'V'.-l "You know so una h of what goes on In '-Vvj' Europe, M V ," he resumed, 'that .. ".- perhaps It will be no news to you 'h.it I y.ftR J "lands Joseph has decided to abdicate '.v 'lie dual crown" eS This announcement In fact came as 'ifl H complett; surprise to me. Fortunately, i'..''asj J had time to prepare t.. receive It calmly. I fJM "I will not pretend that it is nap I $9 t is my response; ' but I am uiwas glad J1 to have my own information confirmed I yeS ' shaJl be grateful for auything you may '.fa1 tell me on the subje, t " ' :vTfil ' an) not Kolng to keep anything from ''J8- V"u." said the Minister "T! Emperor .' .-Ja has made a private announcemi nt of his ,,fAca Intention to my own master, the Caai 'ir9 Asking for his ofilccs on behalf ' rXm Tne Archduke Ferdinand ''' I put In ..''.yB Shi' I . M Wltte, dreA- himself up and gave me a suspicious glanr . '-'m "You are too subtle. M ' ." he r sa,fl cold,y- "I havii no doubt that rX, """V. perfects well thai It Is lb.- ..ui. Aithduko Karl whom the Emperor has fSi ' liulltn to succeed him " ' 75 I thought it b ll r to l,e HUM.ei t-il of J ''ig, subtlety than nescience, and apologized I "1 ought not have spoken 1 beg .-.Ja your Excellency to continue." "Whut I arn going to ask vou may sound rather extraordlnar . I want bu il a . to go to Vienna, see his Majeaty. of . tourae without letting him know that HjjjJ 1 have Ik en In communication aH!i tcB me, and tell him that you suspect the Russian Government Is playing hlrn false. Then persuade him to ernply yuu to find ftJoH, out what 1- in the wind " 1 sUlI"(1 ut M Wltte In some bewilder- tsM ment. Then I answered cautiously j"'--o9' "lo I understand you. sir., to propose ''AijSA lhat I am really to enter the service of "i;f Emperor? Or am I to be your agent iVafli ,n the business''" "I want you to do both," was the an- , swer, Wiftca "I am to deceive the Emperor, It ap- .Tat pears?" I said, with rlsliiK indignation. .rSi "Not In the least. You will accept his aJin commission to ascertain the secret In-lentlons In-lentlons and purposes of the Qovern- '-'S ment of Russia, and ou will execute that commission exactly as If vou and " - . 1 had never held this conversation." "38 - 4 Ml Wltte. 1 must beg you to be plain . vSfl with me. I never consent to act In the !vieg dark. What Is your true motive in rnak- tn'3 strange proposal to ma?" vjHi think I. have already told you." the '.vlfW Minister returned with perfect coolness JmBI "The man whom I am combating is &S Count Lamsdorfl .'" Jfflffll "Your colleftKiK ?' -fej "Exactly. My colleague, the ar Hi Minister." fillBi "Let me seo If T clearlv understand t tfBB your Excellency. The Emperor of Aus- SiH trla ha given the Czar private notice of iir&M nls Intention to abdicate0 The Czar has 'SfH promlned to preserve a friendly attitude? rW Ncverthclc3. the war party in the Mln- Istry, with or Without the Csar's connivance, con-nivance, are secretly preparing to take advantage of the situation In some who ? Vour ETXCCllency, knowing this and disapproving dis-approving of their plans desires to put tin1 Austrian Emperor on his Kuard, In order that the scheme may miscarry?" M Wltte punctuated this speech with a series of nods "And why?" I demanded, bluntly, throwing myself back in my ehnlr. The Russian statesman looked at m for a minute, as though trying to make up his mind whether it would bo of any use to affer me a false excuse, l prepared pre-pared to listen to something about tfic Obligations of international honor and good faith. "Suppose I were to tell yon that 1 am acting under the confidential Instructions of my own Emperor, who lacks coura to put his veto on the policy of the Grand Dukes'"' "In that case your object can be attained at-tained much more slmpl Procure me a line in the handwriting of Nicholas ll to Francis-Joseph, and i will undertake to deliver it. and to burn it afterwards With mj own hand " The Russian heaved a sigh of amused resignation. "You nre too deep for me. M. V . Very well tin a I will tell you " He bent forward and lowered bis voice, Russia is not ready to strike. A war now would mean ;!ic bankruptcy of the' empire. The others will not believe this, but I know it. i will not hove mj carefully care-fully laid plans Shattered by them, foi the Bake of a miserable province like Galicla, "1 am a slalesman. not a pettifogger. with my railways i am reaching forward to clutch the great empires of Asia China Is already within mj grasp India is being be-ing drawn closer year by year, when o thousand millions of men obey the sceptre of the Ts ir, these petty European States will fall like ripe plums Into our lap ' i be Russian spoke wth real emotion If i stni retained any faini misgiving, It was not enough to re::ti-aln me from acceptlnp the service required of me. within three days i found my self In the palace of Bchonbrunn. Of all my clients Francis-Joseph l the most unapproachable Modem Ideas of democratic equality find uttie encouragement encourage-ment In the Austrian court. After the friendly bonhomie of the German Kaiser, and the tactful kindness of the King of England the Austrian sovereign" manner man-ner affects one disagreeably; it is iik touching a lump of ice. Yet, according to his lights, the Emperor Is gracious and even cordial especially to those who approach ap-proach him In ids private hours. I found him in his favorite I'OOm overlooking over-looking i In park Ills Majesty did not Invite me to he seated in his presence, an omission which Indicated no unfriendliness. unfriend-liness. "I am pleased to receive you. monsieur." mon-sieur." he said in a clear, stately voice "The services you have rendered me en title you to oak for an audience, and, and I have no doubt your reason for Becking It Is a proper one. Be good enough to state It." "I have taken the liberty of asking for this audience In order that 1 might offer your Majesty certain Information about your forthcoming abdication. ' The Emperor could not repress a slight start. Lifting his eyebrows he gazed at me steadily In the fat e "I have communicated my desire to abdicate. ab-dicate. ' he said with a significant intonation, in-tonation, 'to six persons only. Two of them ate brother sovereigns; two are members of my own family: the other two are the Chancellor of the Empire and the I 'tine Minister of Hungary Through which of ilirm did you receive your Information"' "Not one of the persons In your Majesty's Maj-esty's confidence has th slightest Idea that I have heard auy thing whatever on the subject. I must respectfully beg your Majesty not to press mc further.' The aged Emperor was evidently much dlsturhed. "If what you say Is true and T do not doubt your word the Information must have reached you through an intermediary. interme-diary. That Is to say, my purpose is known to at least eight persona In short, to the whole world " I held my tongue. t s the art by which I havo learned most of my secrete After a few minutes sil nt consideration considera-tion during which the frown on his f:4. . steadily deepened, his Majesty looked at mo again. "What do you wish to tell me?" "1 wish to put your Majesty on your guard." "You have done that already, most, effectually." ef-fectually." he Interrupted '1 have come to beg you to distrust the assurances you ha e received, no matter from what quarter, that your Majosfj u abdication win pass off quietly. Ami if i should in -io fortunate as to possess your confidence, I would further request your Majesty to empl.c. nn- on the service Of ascertaining what the Intentions of youi neighbors really are Ttv Kmpi roi perceived that I was k' ping som tinng back, "In what direction do your suspicions point?" he Inquired Bternlj "Chiefly to Russia," 1 answered with Intentional In-tentional vagueness ' You are mistaken, I believe. You cannot can-not know the nature- of the assurances I have received Besides, I am well acquainted ac-quainted with the position of Russia. M. Wltte Is the man who counts In the Russian Rus-sian Government, and he is all for peace. He needs time to develop his plans The eountr Is nearly lnsolvi nt. However much the war party may desire to make a snatch at Galicla, they will not be allowed al-lowed to do so ' "Will mir Majestv pardon me If I venture ven-ture n. make a proposition" I will undertake under-take to ascertain the actual state of things at my own risk If 1 am able to report that my suspicions are unfounded, your MaJi-eUc shall make nn no aiknowl-t aiknowl-t dgrncnt whatever ' Erancls-Joseph threw me a displeased look 'I regret that you should have permitted permit-ted yourself to speak to me In that way, monsieur Be good enough to remember who I am I do not employ servants without paying them. Your former ser- ii es give you a claim to consideration J your position and haracter entitle you to be treated seriously, and I am not going to reject our present request. You may consider yourself retained to tn. ike this Investigation Have vou anything else to fay?" This acceptance of my offer, glacial though it was. consoled me for the rebuke by which it was Accompanied Nevertheless, Neverthe-less, BS I left the Emperor's presence. 1 regretted that he had not been more frank with m' It was no doubt my own reticence which provoked this corresponding correspond-ing reserve on his Majesty's part But the result might have been unfortunate. It will be notice,! particularly that although al-though the Emperor had practically admitted ad-mitted that It was til-- Intention to vacate the throne he had refrained from giving nn the smallest hint as to the date of the abdication I took my way toward the Gallclah frontier In the character of a Ilritlsli tourist armed with a sheaf of the coupons cou-pons "f Messsrs Cook I was aware that this disguise would Bervfl bejtter than any other as a cloak for prying and Impertinent Imperti-nent questioning. Galicla, I need hardly say, Is that part Of Poland which fejl to the share of Austria Aus-tria in the famous partition of the eighteenth eight-eenth century Bitterly as the Robs hate the Russians, tile two people are allied In language and blood, and Russia has al ways looked forward to Incorporating the whole of the ancient realm of the Iage-lons Iage-lons In her own dominions In course of time Th.- break-up of tin dual monarchy would naturally be the signal for Russls to execute her design o:i the Tollh province prov-ince of t he I labsbni'L'R In i, all. la Itself lound everv thing In a stale ,f i he most profound peace and security. se-curity. There was I he UHUOl frontier garrison, gar-rison, but the i. imps showed no igns of special activity i toured along the frontier fron-tier almost ii om end io end, in a motor which I had ordt red from Paris and I came upon great Btrctches of country, several miles in extent, where a whole Russian army corps could have crossed the lire without being Observed, fur less opposed. Al tiic end of this Inspection which' lasted .iho.it a week, l crossed over i the Russian side. I found myself rcco'lyed without apparent appar-ent distrust. The legend ,,r the mad Englishman En-glishman on his motoi car had no doubt pre ei,i me Tie Russians do not 1 i like Englishmen, as individuals, in inc way they dislike Germans. At ail events I hail no difficulty in making friends with many of the officers in command of frontier fron-tier posts They offered me hospitality, and showed no resentment at my somewhat some-what daring xploratlon of their frontier. At the tirst blush, everything Bet med as peaceful on this side as on tin other. The number of troops under arm - was not ex-ccsslvc, ex-ccsslvc, and the men showed nop.- of those signs ni suppressed excitement which warn an experienced ye thai some movt meni J:; in contemplation. Presently, however, I began to remark an extraordinary number ol telegraphic dispatches arriving al the various poStB "spi cial nn jti'tiu'i i i i n n d l m and go with u frequency that hardly seemed necessary in time of peace At I ist, one night, I was roused trom sleep by a sound which my ears were snick to recognise, it was the muffled rumble of an arflllcrj train passing over the rough paving stones Of the small tOWnS In Whit h I had stopped for i he night l got up, softly drew back the curtain of the window, and cautiously peeped out There, in the moonlight, rolled bj gun after gun, followed by the caissonj and ail the supplementary outfit of a park of artillery 1 lifv were heading southward, and the frontier lay only three miles awn v . I counted vix batteries thirty-six runF--the equipment of an army corps. Wht n all had gone by I retired to r.OSl again I rose at break of day. took out my car. and followed In the route r.r the cannon. can-non. The road conducted me without a turning straight to the frontier po-st, where l found a sleepy Russian sentry exchunglng friendly greeting.-, with i still drowsier Austrian one. A short way beyond be-yond stood the Austrian guard house, with the men lounging on a bench outside out-side the door in tin sunlight, walling for their coffee. Everv thing was as If my v ision of the night before had been a dream. I turned my car round, and drove back slowly, scrutinizing eVerj hedge and tree along both StdSB of the road. Less than a mile from the post my attention was caught by a place on the left hau l bide, when the hedge appeared to have been mended or n planted I ought to explain that the road was bordered at this point by a thick wood apparently Impenetrable to anything bigger than a stoat. I stopped the car, got clown, and ap- 'The Empeior could n ot repress a slight stai t." prnached the hedge examining every Inch of tie ground The Orel dU u erj i mjade was that th road Itself had been recently mended, i reases in ibe surface, like tin ruts mui bj heavy wheeli In turning, had been Ailed up, and the dust from other parts of the road carefully raked over (he spot. Then, looking ClOselv at the In dge, 1 perceived that the bushes were no longer growing in their place, The entire hedge had been cut awav level with the ground for a space of Beverfil y ards, and tin u replaced, re-placed, tin matted bushes being wired together to-gether so as to form a sort qf gate or hurdle, like the furze hurdles In common use In England and Other countries. The leaves wen already beginning to droop from want of the nourishment supplied by Hie roots. I drew up my car close to the hedge, and mounting upon It, managed to B ramble over Into the wood, at the cost of some scratches. I found mse!f In the midst of a pile Ol brushwood whl' h extended for some puces, completely covering the soil from view Immediately beyond ame a gap In the trees, not In front, but at one side, so that H was quite Invisible from tho road Turning sharply toward tie- frontier, fron-tier, and running almost parallel with tho high road, was a grassy drive or lane, about ten feet wide, and sufficiently sufficient-ly free from undergrowth to admit tho passage of an army With my heart thumping against my ribs, and almost holding my breath In my excitement, I stole along this path, which revealed, bv a hundred hun-dred token, that It had recently been used for heavy trafllc. I followed Its Windings for I should think a mile and n half, when I found mvself brought up abruptly by a post and rail fence the posts being painted yellow on the side which faced me and black on the reverse. re-verse. This fence was tho boundary between tin two empires. A narrow' footpath bordered It on each side, SO that tin patrol pa-trol might pass -ilong It each day on his rounds As for the artillery. It seemed to luivo disappeared, to have, been swallowed up by the enrth. I looked round me in all directions. The woodland road by which I had reached the frontier Stretched awav on the other side of the fence. This was In Itself a suspicious sign It scarcely seemed likely like-ly that two Independent drives would have been constructed so as to meet in the heart of the forest, unless there was some traffic meant to pass that way All at onre the explanation burst upon me. It was a smugglers route! The high tariffs' of the Russian and Austrian empires have fostered on Important Im-portant contra band traffic The soldiers who patrol the frontier are easily bribed by share In tile gains of the smuggler What the Russian War office bad done was to bribe the smugglers In their turn to act as Its allies In tills strange Invasion. I have used the word Invasion 1'nless ni" deductions were wholly fulse. the thirty-six guns which I had 'seen passing p I "I rode right ever him.'' my window In the night were bv this time actually planted on the soli of Austria. I sprang oor the fence and hurried forward on the still clearlv revealed track At the end of ar. hour from my first entrance Into the forest, my ear caught a low murmur which warned me that I was drawing near to some kind of encampment encamp-ment Striking from the lane into the wood. I advanced, creeping from tr, to tree. But I have hud few opportunltl s of learning woodcraft, and there were keener ears and more stealthy footsteps than mine In the forest. Suddenly I felt a powerful hand gripping my throat dark cloth descended over my eyes, and I was thrown violently to the ground. I did not loss consciousness, while I was lifted up by the feet and shoulders and carried a distance wnlch I calculated at 200 paces, After some twisting and turning 1 wus set down, and the cioth was taken off my head. 1 sat up antl h oked round. I found myself In a small hut or wigwam wig-wam of bough'' and woven rushes, surrounded sur-rounded by half a dozen dark-faced nn :i who sipiat'e I bftween me and the door-Way, door-Way, the only opening bv which light was admitted One glance at my captors sat-rSfled sat-rSfled me that they Were neither Boldlers r.or Russians. Reassured on this point. I prepared to defend myself boldly, The head man of the party appeared to be an old fellow with a short grey beard, who might havo passed equally well In the uncertain light for a Wallach. a Slo-ne. Slo-ne. a Gypsy or a Jew', but certain!', not for an honest man of any race. Addressing Ad-dressing my Sell to the chief the smugglers, smug-glers, as 1 conceived him to be. In Polish, I asked "Why have vou dared to treat me like tilts?" "He in a Pole'" The mutered exclamation exclama-tion .solved mv doubt as to On- lace of the BmUggli is. Tlie language they used bi tween th-inselvi s was Romany. ' W hat were vou doing In our wood?" tn.- old Gypsy asked threateningly. Before i had time rejrii the old man's eye suddenly lighted up. Hv' took a step toward mc, uttered an amazed ejaculation, ejacula-tion, and then, before I knSW V.liit was happening, Cell on his knees before me and, seizing my right band, respectfully kissed a ilug on the Utile finger. Al the same lime thC other members of tho party crowded round, evidently Impatient to follow hla exdmsle The ring which excited this extraordinary extraordi-nary demonstration was one which l had worn so long that 1 had forgotten all about it. it had lie u given mc seventeen yars before, in Ragdad. by an ..Id woman wom-an i had Bayed from the bastinado ut the hands of a BairagG Pasha. she was a Gypsj i now remembered; .'.lie had forced the ring upon me against my will, an I had urged na never to take It oft night or day, assuring me In the most solemn manhi r thai it would One c'ay b- the means of saving my life. This prophecy, which 1 had laughed at as a vain boast and quickly foi gotten, was ci mlns true at last. Riesling the old lady with till my heart, and Inwardly apologizing to her lot my past skepticism, l put on the ah of one who was accustomed ac-customed to. und expected, tin homage hv was receiving. "That will do. my friends," r said, when each man had sainted the magi, ling In turn it was angrav.ed with a pentagram. Now, if i give you some money, how long win it take you to procure some bottles of good wine0'' A grunt of pleasure welcomed this Inquiry, In-quiry, l beard a word which sounded like- canteen. Then on.- of the men iu in obedience to a nod from the chief. "Chen! will fetch it in live mlnuti ," Said tin old man I placed a double handful of gold in his outstretched palms a perfect i iivo of approving cries greeted this munificence. While we were waiting for tin- win to appear 1 offered an account of myself which appeared to be quite satisfactory. I said l was a Pole, of gypsy descc nl through my mother, that I was engaged In a plot to bring about a general rising In the event of war between Austria and Russia and that I Was Bp( dally engaged to secure the support of the numerous !: pi les along the frontier, who were to watch the movements of the two great belligerents on our behalf, a service for which they would be handsomely paid. The arrival of six bottles of Ihst-rato Tokay gave all the confirmation to my words that was required. As the wine vanished down their throats the gypsies laid aside all rest rve. and freely Imparted to me what Information they possessi d They told mo. In the tlrst place, that tho six batteries I was tracing were wlih-ln wlih-ln a few yards of us. skillfully hidden among the trees Their arrival brought the force designed for tho occupation of Galicla up to a total strength of BO.OOO men and seventy-two guns, all of whom hnd been secretly brought across the frontier at different polnin during the I i t f. :v days, and were now ready to move In concert as soon as the signal was given, and overrun tho unprepared provlnt e. Vast convoys of provisions were being held In readiness on the Russian side of the frontier ami a second army of 120,000 men vva.s to be secretly mobilized In and around Warsaw, ready to come to the support of the first. In the event of serious resistance on the part of the Austrian G-overnmc.nt This lut Item rented on hearsay, but i h. presence of two army corps on Gall-clan Gall-clan soli was a fact for which my informants in-formants were able to vouch from their own observation. The fact v.;us known to every smuggler along tho Gall. Ian frontier, and yet, so profuso wero the bribes they had received, and so perfect was their sn rccy. that not tie; slightest hint had been miiITi n-d to reach any ofllclal of the Austrian (lovernment. 1 spent some hours of the most agonizing agoniz-ing Espouse I have ever known, In the company of these drunken outlaws, be- fore I dared to risk an effort to get avvav 'I heir suspicions, or rather their natural dlstrustfulnes caused them to raise all sorts of obtectlons to my departure. depar-ture. It was only by swearing on the v. . red pentagram that no hair of their heeds should cv-er lie imperilled by any action of mine, that I was able to b ar myself away. When I got out on to the high road again, at trie spot Where I had left my h OfOr, I found as 1 bad feared, that It was no longer there I turned at haphazard hap-hazard In the direction of tho frontier post. As soon as I came in sight of the Russian guardhouse I saw to my delight, my car Htnndlng on the road In the front of the door, with a group of Interested soldiers curiously Inspecting every part of It Now the rar happened to be a Pan-hard, Pan-hard, of the most powerful construction vet turned out by the famous Ereiich firm. I strolled up carelessly, greeted the astonished soldiers in broken Russian, and asked them If they were familiar with tin- machine. The Lieutenant of the post, a man In education and Intelligence iieiow the level of an English sergeant, bustled out ami began questioning me, with tlie evident Intention of ordering my arrest. 1 handed him my passport to read, a process Which takes some time with an Illiterate Russian officer, and went on explaining ex-plaining the mechanism of the air to the Inquisitive soldiers finally I came to the driving pow er. "And now. mv friends," I said "f will show- you hOW ''K' ?ar Is propelled Stand i.a. k dear of I he wheels. If you please. You see tins lever. I place my hand on It so " 'Stay!" shouted the Officer divining the danger In this demonstration. lb- spoke tOO late. As my hand grasped the lever i vafilted inn. the car, and be fore tho excited soldiers rcaiiz. d that it was under Way, the Panhanl was tearing towaid tlie boundary line at tho rate of twenty-five miles an hour. Tho Rnsnlan sentry ran out Into the middle of tin- road io slop me, He was a poor peasant, perhaps from the banks of the Volga, who must have thought that the Evil One himself was upon him. I saw his face blanch, and almost heard the chattering of his teeth but he did not-flinch not-flinch from Ids duty I rode right over him. nnd I am sorry to say that 1 believe ha was killed 1 he Austrian sentry simply fired j off his gun an a warning to his comrades nt the guardhouse furthir along the road Thej swarmed out. and I pulled up the machine. I had put tho brak.- on Immediately after crossing Into Austrian territory "In the Emperor's name'" I whispered to the Austrian officer of the guard, 'i om not an Englishman hut a member of the Austrian S i ret 3 rvlce, By allowing me to pass without delay you will render the Government a vital service." "You have just killed a man." the officer offi-cer objected, pointing to tho blood on my VV heels "1 am afraid so The fact that I killed a Russian send In order to crofw the frontier should convince you that I am In deadly earnest " The officer, by some rare chance, was Intelligent enough to believe mc "Pass on, sr." he said 1 pressed th b ver. and set out on mv mad race a rnMS an empire to Vienna I had nothing to eat Or drink I had no shbids for my eyes: the Russian soldiers must inn e removed them while the ir was in their hands I was utterly unprepared un-prepared foi my terrible Journey. But some intuition warned me that e.,rv moment was precious, and I kept my splendid machine at full pressure for the whole five hundred miles. I will not attempt to describe that nightmare ride. Late in the evening of i ii.- following day, i alighted at the gate of the palace of Schonbrunn, worn out. my fact and hands chapped and bleeding, my eyes half blinded with dust, and my Strength nenrly gone. "The Emperor' Take me to the Em-pi Em-pi ror!" I gasped to ibe llrit person I met "it Is life or death!'' 1 wus COhdUCtSd Into the presence of a chamberlain, who sought to Impose all sorts of obstacle?). "Vou cannot seo hla Majesty now. I dai not Intrude upon him. He Is clOS-et clOS-et d with tlie Archdukes It s a Huhs-bnrL' Huhs-bnrL' famllv COUndl " "Mv God." 1 cried out. "You have given me ten thousand reasons for Insisting' Insist-ing' If it costs ni life, l must Inter-rupl Inter-rupl his Majesty." Mv violence cowed the ofllclal. He conducted me, or. In fact, supported me. for I was almost too weak to stand, to the doer of the Council chamber. "Go In. If you must," he said. "For my part. 1 dare not announce you." I turned the handle of the door, and staggered Into tho room W M Tin spectacle whloh nictnT dazzling. Jn a blruro of y?Jt fy - ' eh. hikes of the il.n.erlTl V. 1 Ing their uniforms aV.d ' robXt .I'"' nnmp,; ;l semlrlrrl? i iron, ,, whl, h the repr,e'fl the Caesara was seated b, M mantle, wearing the great , ciown of Austruu IMv.r.. him 51 I stool knelt a handsome lad 0rV$ I had no dlfiiculty recoil f.:eCUroneKarl- th-'-tinecl At tho moment I burst In t 1 M rorable Emperor rals,. hi, kAI ' -'I' lift up the imperbu1 mwnl th-; huge diamonds and L pb res sparkled like founts of old It poised In the alrvVhltf kinsman s bet head. ln '.JJT it would hav., rested on to'r019 J":,",,,, W"UlU v "Pardon!" V My voice rang out like riP scream of a drur.kard I tott- , I fell on n v koer, whibli' I" roi half rose from his thrSsF gr. splng the great crown In botl "Pardon Pro! At this houraW army of mum. men is r.ncarnDed 4-soil 4-soil of Austria'" il Trancls Joseph sank back ont! and mechanically replaced the OF his own head Tho explanations which follfl tw.-n the two t b.verrunents werel"1 rnunlcaied I., m- But I leameiJs my friends the Ovpshs that thl'lTi ery of the motor and my subseciur gave the .irm to the RussfanV1' H e Die Invading Toreo reu stealthily as it had come, and all t of It having crossed the frorvdr so speedlh effaced that If r-oujaV dorif fell back on a denial of (Tl It Is probable that the Austrlantl ment found Itself unable to uj" coarse v So the evil day has been posttl iii n- long as Francis Joseph rei U, the dual mnnarehv Russia will Si tent to bide hrr time. In thi meanwhili I have heenJ P1 that a warrant ha been isSUM th in" in the Russian courts for der of the sentry whose fate Tmtl Mil bed. jp- (Copyright. lQel by the PparsoKi ing C omriany. ) |
