Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1911 — The Knight of the Silver Star [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Knight of the Silver Star

A l&emEbs ©if

By PERCY BREBNER

CHAPTER XXV. EHE brave woman in my arms uttered no sound as we went downward, slowly at first, but quickening our pace almost immediately. 1 felt her arms Hghten round me a little, that was all. We so held each other that practically we fell extended to full length. I do not remember whether I was conscious of striking the top of the rocky Incline or not, but I believe 1 was. We must have struck it at an angle which saved our limbs. I was conscious of being still whole in body. My arm protected Daria’s head. My own, 1 suppose, I had sense enough to raise a little. The way was rough and uneven. I have thought since that this shaft was originally a stratum of softer material in the heart of the rock and that those who bad originally made this death way had followed it, since the working was easy. It is the only explanation I can find for the fact that after Talling almost sheer for the first-few feet it should suddenly change Down—down faster and faster! Still feet first, I believe. Some moments I feel sure I was conscious, at others I was not. I seem to remember that our speed increased, that loose dust got into my fast closed eyes. I seemed to cling closer to Daria as if in some way she were protecting me. I seem to remember hearing the sound of the swirling water coming nearer and nearer until it roared like continuous thunder, and then a swift plunge to death. Then came a blank. I have no recollection whatever of what happened from the moment we plunged into the water until I awoke suddenly out of a faint, it may have been, to feel a cold wind upon my face and to draw into my lungs half a dozen long breaths of It They were drawn tn rapid succession, and then 1 felt the water close over my head again. I put out my arms to struggle, and a weight began to slip from me. 1 was fully conscious In a moment and closed one arm again only just in time to prevent Daria slipping from my grasp. I turned upon my back and with considerable difficulty shifted Daria’s position until she lay upon my chest With one hand I steadied her and with the other and my legs I struck out for shore close beside the rock. Fortunately for us the waters on this side, though running rapidly, had no swirling current In them. I had but to keep afloat and steer myself with my free arm and feet I approached close to the bank, and there, straining at the painter, was a boat the water lapping noisily from its bows. I had to use force to unclasp Daria’s arms from my neck. Perhaps 1 hurt her a little, for she sighed again Standing in the water, I lifted her into the boat then, working my hands along the gunwale to the stern, I got in myself. It was a comparatively easy matter to wrench the rope from its fastening on the bank, and the next moment we were drifting sharply down the stream. Not yet had 1 time to attend to Darla. I seized the oars and worked hard to get across, making slow headway, but drifting a great deal. > Of immediate pursuit I had no fear Probably they would not go to my dungeon until the morning. It was Count Vasca they sought, and those who attempted to follow after him. aven if they knew the way he was to take, would have to fight their way out of the city. O’Ryan had told me that friends were watching over the count’s safety that night That some one had betrayed Vasca would probably only precipitate The revolution by a few hours. Strange that the success with which the count had arranged his plans should be the means of our safety. . \ I lifted Darla from the boat and laid her on the bank. Then I let the boat go downstream. It had served me well. It would be ill if Its presence should tell tales of me at dawn tomorrow. Then I looked to Daria, and even as I bent over her she opened her eyes. “My love,” I whispered, “we are safe.” I should never have reached the woods had I had to carry her all the way. She. roused up presently, which Is hardly to be wondered at, what with the cold and the jolting. I set her on her feet. She must have been less bruised than 1, for she walked more easily than I did. “Clinton!” “Darla!”

We went on In silence, our hands clasped. The rest of the journey to the woodcutter’s hut she helped me far more than I helped her. I should have fallen from sheer exhaustion and slept had she not been with me. there is some one in the woods close to gs.” Darla whispered suddenly. I I was alert in a moment. Approaching danger aroused me as nothing else could. There was a shout. “Vasca!” For one moment I hesitated. Then I answered. “O’Rvan!”

g?'L.*—* . e ■/'..'J. There was a crackling of the branches, and the Irishman stood in the path before us. “You have been long.” “We are here." I answered. “Why. man, that is not like your voice. What has happened?” And he caught hold of me. “Wet too. The boat was there.” “Yes* but we did not eome-tfie way we intended. Give me some wine. 1 am thoroughly done. A little rest and I shall be all right,” Tsaid. “Rest must wait We cannot stay here. Your highness is wet too.” And O’Ryan offered her the flask. “Must we start at once?" “Yes. at once.” The wine did me good. I took a longer draft of ft than would have been good for me at any other time. It drove the cold out and the blood began to leap through my veins again. In the saddle I felt a new man. and. with Daria between us. we began our journey. _• The day' dawned as we galloped onward. We did not talk. Neither Darla nor I had inclination to do so. and O’Ryan. I think, kept his eye upon both of us lest we should become exhausted and fall from our saddles. The sun was hot as we began to climb the lower hills, and then O’Ryan called a halt - “An hour’s sleep for you both and then we will go on again. See, yonder is Yadasara; the sun catches the ramparts on the rock summit I will watch while you sleep.” When O’Ry an succeeded in rousing me 1 found that Daria was sitting beside me looking almost herself again, though in a somewhat draggled condition. “I said one hour. You have slept three.” said O’Ryan. “I awoke the princess more easily.” “1 am a new man.” 1 said, rising. “Her highness has told me how you came last night Faith, it is a marvel that you are here now. Come with me.” I followed him. He pointed toward Yadasara. A great cloud hung .over the plain, and as I looked a flame shot up from the midst of the cloud and then another. “Fire,” 1 said. “They are too busy to think of you this day. The revolution has commenced.”

“Vasca was to be king today.” “Aye. His followers are probably wondering why he does not come to lead them.” “Is it time to mount? It would be hard to be captured now.” Darin’s soft voice and her clinging arm recalled me to the present “It is time.” “In your country we will forget this.” “I shall never forget it” I answered. “You will be with me. How shall 1 ever forget?" We mounted and sped onward again, and then I remembered another person in Drussenland. “O’Ryan, where is Bridget?” “In Yadasara.” “You would not bring her?” “She would have been unhappy away from the house by the walls.” The princess looked at me and was silent But she never quite forgave O’Ryan. He had deserted a woman, she declared. She did not know how capable Bridget was of looking after herself. So we rode on, and no one followed us. And the farther we went the more our spirits lightened. It was Car in the afternoon when we reached the spot, where I had first entered Drussenland, where O’Ryan had cried “Halt!” so stentoriously and where I had found that the legend of this country was true. I showed Darla the spot where I had fallen from the mountain pass, the straight black line, though it did not look so now. over which poor Mustapha had shot out to find a new country—not the one he h(id for years dreamed of. but a better one. I trust The road we were traveling ended almost abruptly. A rocky barrier was before us. into the foot of which the river rushed noisily. A narrow path went up around the side of the rock.

"IS THIS YOUB COUNTRY, CLINTON?” DABIA WHISPERED. -J “The water rushes through the rock to somewhere. The path should lead us somewhere, too,” said O’Ryan. “We will try it,” I said, dismounting. I helped Daria from her horse and we began the ascent. “I see no way out here,” said O’Ryan, “and it’s a noisy place to spend the night in.” ‘T see no way either,” I answered.

“There is one consolation. If they come after us they will hardly follow us here." So far as we could judge we were standing midway between where the water leaped from the rock to where it touched the ground below. Darla had not spoken. Now she drew my attention to the fact that the water fell clear of the rock from which it sprang. “May there not be a way behind it?” she suggested. “T remember how close it sounded when into Drussenland.” said O’Ryan excitedly. “Your highness may be right.” “Were you mounted when you came?” 1 asked. “No: on foot but there were horses. We were led up a path, and then our eyes were bandaged. I remember it was a short journey after that” “This must be the entrance to Drussenland.” said Darla. “Faith, it’s the way out we r re after." O’Ryan returned. Further search showed us a cavern which was hidden by the jutting rock. It turned and twisted for a few yards and then opened upon a narrow pathway which crossed the rock behind the falling water. I say a narrow path. So it was. I have traversed narrower, but with sheer rock on one side and falling water for a wall on the other any path would look too narrow for safety. “This is the way, Clinton.” said Darla. There was a catch in her breath as she spoke. I did not wonder at it “The longer we think about it the harder it will become,” said O’Ryan practically. “I’ll lead the way. If I pitch over you must decide whether it is worth while to chance the crossing.” He was right Looking at a difficulty never made it easier. He took his horSe firmly by the bridle and started. Daria went next, and I followed. It was a perilous journey, more perilous by reason of the horses. But we accomplished it, and a short climb brought us out upon the path where Mustapha and I had commenced our journey to this land of‘legend. “Is this your country. Clinton?” Daria whispered. “No, my love. We have a long journey yet before us, but there are no dangers here. Those are past.” We mounted our horses and clattered along the road to Brayle. It was strange entering the low door of the inn. The familiar scene made the time seem short since the first time I had entered it A wood fire was crackling On the hearth, and round the table, drinking their thin wine, sat three men.

They rose as I entered, a scared look upon their faces. “We thought you were dead—killed perhaps by that madman Mustapha,” said the landlord. “No; 1 am alive, you see, and hungry. Have you entertainment for three hungry travelers?” “And Mustapha?” questioned one of his companions. ? I recognized him. “Ah, my friend, you do not know all the paths upon the mountains. The legend was true. Supper first, the tale afterward." “Better leave the tale until tomorrow.” said O’Ryan. “Faith, it’s not only supper I want, but a bed." There was bustle ’’fn the inn that night, but shortly I told them the tale before I went to bed. “But the treasure?" said the landlord. with glistening eyes, as I finished. He would not have understood had I told him of Darla, so I answered shortly as I rose from the fireside with a yawn: “Treasure! There was no treasure!” Did I not say when I commenced this history that I should hardly i • Ileve it myself had I not one incon testable proof of the truth of it al ways before me? If I doubt, as indeed I almost do sometimes. I have only to look at my wife How else would Daria be wtth me had I not passed through these adventures in Drussenland?

Daria! My little wife! How well she fits her English home! Yet how strange it was to her at first! It took her long to learn that In England I was only a private gentleman, that she was only Mrs. Clinton Verrall, a person of some importance certainly, but not a princess. She could not understand why my queen should think so little of such a brave knight as 1 was. And then her wonder at all she saw! On this theme I could write a sequel to this history. It had been strange enough slipping from civilization into the middle ages, but of the middle ages we have read in books. What must it have been for one leaping from the middle ages to civilization? There were no books to help Daria. But the sequel will not be written, 1 fancy. It could only be humorous, and even were I capable of writing such a history, with a smile in every line of it, I should not do so. I could not have my little wife laughed at 1 have laughed at her myself sometimes, it is true—l did when she saw her first train steaming into a statiori, but then I am a privileged person. Of O’Ryan 1 have seen little since we parted with him in London. Twice only, I think, has he been to visit us. and he is the only one who persists in addressing Daria as “your highness.” He has not forgotten Drussenland. Nor have we quite. It was a fancy of Daria’s, and I humored her. In my library hangs a picture of myself clad in armor, which I had to borrow from a costumer for the occasion, and underneath is a little tablet fixed into the bottom of the frame. Some day the reader and I may become acquainted, and I will show it to him. And the legend on the tablet runs thus: “Sir Verrall, Knight of the Silver Star." THE END.