Show A aa S A A Story of 01 TRUXTON KING By BYGe Barr Gr Graustark 8 Copyright bt 1909 1009 bv by George Barr Harr McCutcheon Copyright ht 1909 b by Dodd Mend Mead k Co I S S i l t I. I CHAPTER V. V The Tho To Committee of Ten Teu S It I has been said before belore that Truxton Il I ing in was the tho unsuspecting object of in iu interest in terest to two sots sets of oC watchers Tho The I fact fatt that he was under tho the surveillance I of the is not surprising i government police poJo thoroughness thor thoro ing when we consider tJ the ei evident nt s of that department but but- that he should be bc continually watched b by persons of a more Ioro sinister Minister cast suggests I a mystery which can cn bo lie cleared cleard up by bp I I visiting a 3 certain underground room scarce 81 arte two blocks from tho tower of Graustark It I goes without sain saying that r corporeal admittance to this room was not to be obtained casi easily In Iii fact ono one must belon belong to a certain band of individuals indi and in or order cr to belong to that thai band hand one otic must have o taken a vcr very solemn sol sal mn pledge of eternal and a primal primaT pr mal maT oath oth to devote his lifo to certain purposes good or evil ovil according to his conscience By means menns of the friendly I Sesame that has las opened the tho way for forus forus or orI us to the gentler genter secrets we aro permitted permitted permit permit- I ted to enter this forbidding orbi ding apartment and listen in safety to tho the ugly u ly business lof I of tho committee of of ten There Thero were two ways Ws of reaching this t windowless room with wih its is low ceilings I land and dank airs airA If I one had hind tho the secret secre I un in his possession he could go down I through b the mysterious trap door JO in in theS the S of ot William S to the tlC crown or he ho might ht come up upS through a hidden aperture in tho the walls wals S of tho great government sewer which ran directly parallel with wih an and far below be be- low ow tho thu w walls Us of ot the quaint old ohl build build- jn mug ing Ono could take h his choice of direction direction di in approaching this hole lle in in the Jingo sewer he could come up from the river half n a mile mio awa away or he lie could come collie COIO down from irom the thc b hills s above if he lie e ao lad had the courage to drop through b one of the intakes It I is of special significance that the trap door in workshop was waG re reserved ro rc- rc served for use b by too the and his this more fastidious comrades comrades of comrades f of whom three were wore wom women n and ald one an nn established functionary in iii il the royal house house- hold One should not expect ladies to traverse a sewer if oth other r ways are open to them The manner mauner of reaching the workshop was as not eo so simple gimple however n ns as you Jon might suppose Tho The street door was out of the question queston with wih on tin the watch day and ri night ht As much can be bc said for the rear door It I was necessary therefore that the favored few should hould approach tho the sh shop p b by extraordinary ex cx- paths F For r instance two of the tho women came came camp through frien friendly H. but unknown doors looTs in the ba basements of adjoining houses reaching tho thio workshop by the narrow narro stairs leading up from froma a cobwebby cobwebby wine wino cellar celar next door and ana and Ol Olga a of course were wre at homo horno in the place e. e All Al of which mn may go go to prove pro t that hat while ten persons comprised U the e committee at nt least as 38 man ninny many more of the tho shopkeepers in n that particular neighborhood were in with wih secret operations o cleverly clever W wore were JC all al these moans of approach concealed and ld BO so stealthy the Jo movements of the committee that the existence of at this underground room room far ar farbelow below the tho street level len was wa as yet ye unsuspected by the police More Ioro than that the thc existence of the committee of te ten as nil arf n or organization was unknown to time the tle department de de- de notwithstanding tho the fact that mt- mt had been working quiet quietly for moro than a year The Tho committee of ten represented the brains and the thc act activity iv of a rabid coterie cotone co co- co tone terie in in Edelweiss Edelweiss' among themselves styled the Part Party of Equals In plain language e. e they tho were ere Reds Reds Less than fifty persons persona in Graustark were with this particular community of anarchists For more than a car Si- Si 1 1 Jor year hn n. n i fin rp 1 s. s n u. LII Ji Ilai in i VC against the all nl important hour for public pub pub- lie lic declaration Their ranks had haa been augmented by b occasional occa recruits from other lands land's their literature was wa circulated stealthily their operations were as secret as S the grave re so o far as the outside world worM was concerned And so 50 the poison sprung up tip and thrived d unhindered un un- hindered in the tho room below the they t growing in in virulence and power ower under the very verv noses of of the tho vaunted police of Edelweiss slowly developing loping into a power that would some day assert itself with diabolical fury Thero There were men and women from fromi Ax Ax- and in in n this see seed circle cir dr cle cl l. l that made Edelweiss its Hi spreading I ground They Thc were Reds of tho the most dangerous ous type type silent silent voiceless s. s craf crafty men n and trl women who built buit well without noise and who gave out nothing to the tho world rl from which the they expected to to take so 80 much The nominal leader was William he lie who had a n son in the princes prince's household Julius the tho master of arms ainis Far off of in in the th hills bills his his' above o tho Danube there lived hived the real leader of this deadly group the group the Iron Count Mar Mar- laux oxie from the land lane of hi his birth hated and execrated b by every loyal loval hating bating and nd everS execrating in return with wih a tenfold greater venom r tho the man who had been dr driven en n. n from wealth and mind power b bv by the tho sharp edict of Prince Robins Robin's f 16 mother tho the la lamented In In- m in in the days of her most glorious this reign this man man deep deem in his raging heart was in in complete accord with tho the desperate esp rate band hand of Reds Reas who preached equality and planned disaster Olga Platanova was the latest ac- ac to this select circle V S word con concerning erin Jur her sho ho was as the daughter of Professor g r Platanova ano a. a one time Jime oculist and sociologist in a large arge German university uni unit lie le had bad been beon one of or the thic tlC most Jost brilliant men mn in Europe and a n member of n a oble family There was welcome for lor him in the thc homes of the nobility he lie hobnobbed l 50 so to speak with wih the lending leading men of the empire The Plata Plata- n nova no li home A in in Warsaw ta TI vr-n vr A A of t 11 was wa ono one the tho most inviting and exclusive iii il that S great Teat ct city The Professors Professor's cut enthusiasm hu I I carried him from the con conservative conserva er a tive in which he lie had paths path ieh walked atter at af after ter r bo ho had bad pa passed ed his fiftieth h year he lie became an avowed leader r amon among tho anarchists and arni revolutionists r in Poland his c fit state ate Less than n it year yur before before be be- fore forc tho the opening of this talc tale ho was oxe exe I for tre treason son and against th the empire His ISis daughter Olga Olea was recognized a as one of the tIme most mORl beautiful and cultured cul cuI women in Warsaw Her ner suitors sailors seemed to be he without number nor were ere they confined to the tho student and untitled classes a with ib whom sho she was natural naturally thrown by hy force of circum circum- stance More than thau one ono lordly advert cn adventurer in the tho l lists ts of love lovo paid aid homage o 0 her grace grce and braut beauty Finally there thoro t came ono one who ho conquered and was wa be be- loved loed He lie was tho limo son of a mighty might I duke a n prince of tho blood It I wa wan wal true hove lovo for both bolh of them Tho prince pledged himself to marry her despite all opposition n lm ho was read ready to give up his noble inheritance titmice tance for lor tho the sake of love lo c. Rut But there thero were wro other othe forces greater than a young mans man's love loc at work The all powerful p erful ruler of or an empire learned of this proposed pro pro- rioted posed nice alliance e and was horrified Tro Two weeks week afterward the prince was called Tho TIme will wi of the tho crown was WIS made mado known to him and and he he obeyed Olga Piat-anova Piat was cast cust aside but not for for- gotten I e 1 He lie b became amo the husband of an nn 11 unloved cd scrawny lady of diadems tho tho situation became mo more moro than ho could lear bear he blew ble out his brains brains s When hen Olga heard the tho news of his death sho sho wets was not stricken h by grief She Sho ho cried out her joy to a n now coudle cloudless sk ky sky for he bad had justified tho the great love lovo I that had been heen theirs and would bo be theirs to toC the tho end of time From a passive pass c believer bel ver in the doc doe tines Trifles of her father and hi hh his circle sho became at once their mi most mORt hl impassioned exponent Over night she changed from froma fromI a t gentle h hearted girl cirl rl into a woman whose whoso gente breast flamed with wih n a 1 lust for vengeance against t a class from which r death alone could free cas her lover Jo She Sho threw herself heart and soul Boul into the deliberations and transactions of the time great red circle her father understood and yet vet et was amazed Then he was put to death ileath by tho class claw Bho bo had to hate One moro more stone in tho the sepulcher sep of her tender girlish ideals When the time came she traveled to Graustark in response to the tho call of if tho tIme committee of ten she came cal prep prepared to kill ki the thc creature creaturo she would be asked to kill ki And vet yet down downin in woul her ber heart she was WS sore afraid She was there not to kill ki a man grown old in wron wrongs g to her people but butto butto butto to destroy the lifo life of a gentle gente innocent bo boy bov of 7 t There were times when hen her heart heart shrank from tho unholy deed she had been selected to perform she even e prayed that death might come to her before the tho hour in which sho she was to do this execrable thing in behalf of th humanity she ghe served sered But there thero was from the never a thou thought ht of or receding blood bloody task set Iowa down for her her her-a a task so morbid so horrid that even the tho most vicious of men gloated in iu the satisfaction thou tion that that they had not been chosen in in her tOl place Weeks before she camo to Graustark 01 Olga a Platanova ova had been I cho chosen en by hy lot to bo ho the one to do this diabolical murder Sho Shia did not flinch finch but came resolute and ready Even themen tho the thomen thon men in tho the committee of ten looked upon n the slender dark eyed girl r with an awe awo that that could not be bc conquered She Sho had not the manner of an assassin assassin and yet ot they knew that she sho would not draw back sho she was as as soft of and as sweet as hc he they secretly worshiped and yet et her heart eart was steeled to t a a purpose that appalled tho the fiercest fiercest- of them On a Saturday ni night ht following the thelast last visit isit of fr Truxton I King to the arm arm- the committee of ten met in the time underground room to hear the latest word from one who could not be he with wih I Ithem them in person but was waR always there in in inspirit spirit if spirit if thc they were to believe e bele his most mot zealous utterances TIme The Iron Count professed hat hater of f all al that that was i behind rich and noble was the the time committee of oC ten The a assassination tion of the thc little prince and the o overthrow overthrow over over- throw ton y of the royal family awaited his his' pleasure ho lie was the man who would give ho the time word Not he was ready could anything any any- timing thing be bo done for had promised promised prom prom- thins to put the time committee of ten in control of f this pion pioneer er community when it i came under the dominion of Alas Aas f for r the thc committee of ten rime Ilio wiliest st fox in iii il the history of of the world ord wi was never so wily i as the thc iron c ci count i t. t Some day they were to find out that he ho hovis his choicest was vis using them to pull pul chestnuts front fron the tho frehe lire fire fre Time The committee was seated around the thelong thelong long table in tho stifling breathless room the at nt the head Those who came b by way ay of o the sewer sc r had r cr- cr formed ablutions in iii the queer toilet formel room that once had been a secret vault for fol time the storing of feudal plunder What air sir thero there was came came from the thc narrow narrow ventilator that burrowed its ways was up UI to the shop hop of William or through sh h tim the chimney halo holo 1010 in in 1 tho the ceiling through sh h tim the chimney halo holo 1010 in in 1 tho the ceiling Olga Olga a sat far fr down the silo sub sido in her ber n It mood inscrutable expression dark eyes She sat lt silent and oppressed through all nl tho the acrid hiter discussions i which carried tho the conclave far fal past the midnight hour hour In her heart she knew that these men and women were already I thinking of her as a regicide It I was settled settled settled-it it it was ordained At right lounged Peter Brutus a lawyer cr In fromer secretary to the iron count and now his sole bole tole representative among these people He was a dark faced snaky eyed ed c young man with wih a mop of coarse black hair that hung ominously low over his high re receding edin forehead I This man was the chosen villain iain among all aU the henchmen who came canie at the beck and call of the iron count Julius the tho son a a. a placid Julus young oung man of goodly physical al proportions sat Sit next to Brutus while down tho the table ranged others deep in inthe the consid consideration ration of the tho worlds world's gravest grayest gray grav a est st problems problems- One of the women was Madame whose husband had bad been sent ent to Siberia for life and the theother theother other Anna Cromer a rabid red rd lee lec lecturer lee luer who had been dr driven en from the United States together wih her ber amiable amia arnia- ble husband husban an assassin of sor somo some e distinction distinction dis dis- and many man aliases alases at nt present foreman in charge of ono one of the bridge building crews on the new railroad Every man in the thc party part and there thero were eight for Olga was as not liot a member of the ten tel wore over o er tho loner part of his hig face a false black beard of hugo huge dimensions Not that they the were averse to recognition niton amon among themselves but hut butin butin hutin in fear that by some somo hook or crook Dan or his by agents agent might be bc able to look in upon through them them them through stone stonewalls stonewalls wal walls as it were Tho They were They were cre not men mento to belittle the thc powers of tho the wonderful baron As it it sat in secret conclave the committee of ten was wasa a a sinIster look iu jug group That is isa Brutus was vas as speaking man a asp spy He lie Ie has been brought hero from America h by Talus Sooner or later you JOu will wi find that I am right It HI is best to keep close cose watch on him advised ono of oC tho thomen men U Wo We W kno know that |