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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Lost Countess Falka
 
 Lost Countess Falka 
 
 A Story of the Orient 
 
 By 
 Richard Henry Savage, 
 
 Author of "My Official Wife," "Checked 
 Through/' "The Masked Venus," etc. 
 
 Chicago and New York : 
 Rand, McNally & Company. 
 
 Publishers.
 
 Copyright. 1896, by Richard Henry Savage. 
 All Rights Reserved.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 PAYING OFF OLD SCORES. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE . 
 
 I _From the Dead! After the Opera, at the Stefan's 
 
 Keller. A Recognition. The Wrong Man !. . . 5 
 II A Vanishing Pasha! The Masked Ball at Falken- 
 
 stein! A Sinister Unbidden Guest! Ilma's Tryst, 25 
 
 III Lost Countess lima! Paul Denton's Life Quest! 
 
 Faroe Moses' Friend on the Turkish Yacht! Too 
 Late! 47 
 
 IV The League on the Bosporus. The Indo-European 
 
 Telegraph Company's General Agent. A Slender 
 
 Clue, 68 
 
 V The Pavilion on the Hill. A Gallant Frenchman! 
 
 The Red Handkerchief ! Mustapha's Last Score ! 88 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 THE PEARL OF A THOUSAND PURSES. 
 
 VI A Forlorn Hope. Ilma's Dream. The Transforma- 
 tion, in 
 
 VII The American Missionary Doctor at Trebizond! In 
 
 the Storm on the Black Sea! The Signal! . . .131 
 VIII To the Rescue! Colonel Soltykoff's Dispatches, . .151 
 IX A Moslem Caravan ! Three Pilgrims to the Halls of 
 
 the Lion and the Sun! 170 
 
 X Friend and Foe Baffled! The Pearl of the Harem! 
 
 The Shah's Andarun in the Shimran Hills, . . 189 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CLOSING THE ACCOUNT. 
 
 XI Vanished! The Magic Change! "Hands Off! lam 
 
 an Englishwoman!" 209 
 
 XII A Lost Pearl of Price! Mustapha's Peril! No 
 
 Thoroughfare! 229 
 
 XIII The Doctor's Hegira! Betrayed! A Moslem Fanatic! 248 
 XIV Kassim's Warning ! At Bay in the Tower of Silence ! 268 
 XV Soltykoff's Coup de Main! Kassim, the Super- 
 cargo! "'Tis the Olga!" In the Negaristan! 
 At Moscow! The Song of the Bells! . . . . .289 
 
 2061985
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 BOOK I. Paying Off Old Scores. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PROM THE DEAD! AFTER THE OPERA AT THE 
 
 STEFAN'S KELLER A RECOGNITION 
 
 THE WRONG MAN! 
 
 "Fideles Wien!" sighed Colonel Soltykoff of the 
 Paul Regiment. "When shall I see you again?" He 
 turned, heavy-hearted, to rejoin his friend Fraser Den- 
 ton, who was gazing spellbound from the entrance of 
 the foyer, at the opera box they had just quitted. It 
 was a Lohengrin night, and the perfumed air trem- 
 bled still with the delicious vibrations of the "Schwan- 
 nenlied." 
 
 "All that's best of dark and bright!" murmured Den- 
 ton, as the handsome Russian paused for a moment 
 at his side. "She is certainly the handsomest woman 
 in Europe!" cried the tall Muscovite, his fingers, 
 gemmed with turquoise luck rings, tugging at his 
 tawny mustache. 
 
 "Which one, Serge? Mother or daughter?" replied 
 Denton, with a backward glance at the box where 
 that golden young beauty, Countess lima Falka, shone 
 out beside the peerless Grafin Magda. "Don't ask
 
 6 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 such a question of a poor devil who leaves Wien, the 
 very brightest spot on earth, to vegetate on the sandy 
 shores of Odessa, as chief aide to an old bear of a 
 Governor! By Jove, I would rather go back to An- 
 nenkoffs staff at Tashkend, than to be pent up among 
 those low 'boutiquiers,' at that mongrel market town, 
 Odessa. I have thrown my whole life away in the 
 service! I swear, Denton, I will resign and then come 
 back here !" 
 
 "Then, Countess Falka will soon re-enter society?" 
 The American's voice was trembling with an eager 
 interest! "Never!" gloomily rejoined Soltykoff, "un- 
 less your brilliant diplomat nephew makes the Repub- 
 lic richer, by a beautiful citizeness, that star of stars, 
 lima! No! Denton. Grafin Magda has her secret 
 reasons! She will never marry!" 
 
 "De Taudace! Toujours de 1'audace!" smiled Den- 
 ton. "Remember Ruy Gomez!" "Mon ami," deject- 
 edly said the Russian. "Since I came back from Asia, 
 in my two years tour here as Military Attache, I ha\ne 
 only learned a part of the sad story which keeps the 
 woman whom I love a close recluse at Falkenstein!" 
 
 "Bela Batthyani has promised to tell me if Arpad 
 Falka will give him leave! But, I leave here to-mor- 
 row for Odessa, and I have found out that a woman's 
 'Nay' may, for once, not be gainsaid!" The hand- 
 somest cavalier of all the glittering throng in the 
 splendid galleries of the Hof-Oper, Serge Soltykoff, 
 heeded not the flashing glances of the swan-necked 
 Viennese women! "Ah!" queried Denton, "you will 
 not wait for the hunt and the masked ball! Do you 
 not go to Presburg?" "I have had my answer an 
 answer final, irrevocable!" groaned the Russian no- 
 bleman. 
 
 "How about Paul and Arpad Falka! You surely 
 will say good-bye to them?" The American pitied 
 the unhappy soldier. "Have they already left Vi- 
 enna?" said Soltykoff, with a start 
 
 "Arpad is down there, now, busied with hound,
 
 LOST COUNTESS FAUCA. 7 
 
 horn and huntsmen, and my nephew is to be Master 
 of Ceremonies at the ball! They have already been 
 two days at Falkenstein. Come down there with me, 
 and see them!" Fraser Denton laid his hand upon 
 Soltykoff's. shoulder in a friendly familiarity. "I tell 
 you what I will do, Denton!" mused the Colonel. "I 
 must go over now, and see Madame rAmbassadrice. 
 A single word from her lips to our chief is a com- 
 mand! I will ask for two days' delay, and then, wait 
 at Budapest, for Paul and Arpad! We will have a 
 jolly good-bye dinner at the Margarethen-Insel! 
 Meet me at the Stefanskeller, after I have taken the 
 ladies home, and then we will fix it up! I dare not 
 trust myself, again, with Countess Magda Falka at 
 Presburg. I might finish the work that Turcoman 
 ball did so clumsily at Geok-Tepe!" And the soldier 
 diplomat threaded the throng where the gilded youth 
 of Wien envied the man whose passing brought a 
 smile to a score of the dainty mobile faces of the mu- 
 tine Viennoises. 
 
 "What is the bar? Poor Soltykoff is hard hit ! Has 
 she really given him the coup-de-grace at last?" Den- 
 ton glanced back at the box he had quitted. There, 
 a half dozen cavaliers were bending over the fair 
 women in the loge. An Esterhazy was murmuring 
 airy nothings to the fair-faced Hungarian blossom li- 
 ma, while Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador bent 
 over Grafin Magda Falka's hand. Captain Stein, a 
 bronzed model of Uncle Sam's light cavalrymen, was 
 busily recalling "the Point," to Miss Aida Denton, 
 "la belle Americaine." "I must have Paul interrogate 
 Arpad!" mused Denton. "There must be a way to 
 bring together these two lovers, 'held tenderly apart!' 
 While there is life there is hope!" he decided. "There 
 are ways, through night to light !" And, gazing across 
 the splendid scenario, he sighed for the vanished 
 mother of his own dear child, a human blossom in 
 this world's rose garden of Wien ! a lovely girl, and, 
 a beauty!
 
 8 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "Shipmate ahoy!" rang out a cheery cry at his very 
 elbow, as the astounded American was vigorously ac- 
 costed by a rubicund old English veteran of an un- 
 mistakably salty flavor. "Mclvor Pasha, by all 
 that's holy!" cried Fraser Denton, in delight. "Where 
 in the world did you come from?" 
 
 "London!" coolly said the old sailor. "And I'm 
 bound again to the cloudless glow of eastern skies. 
 To Egypt, where we two first met, twenty odd years 
 ago. See here! I must see you; but I leave to-mor- 
 row morning for Constantinople! I shall stay a 
 month there, and first run up to Sebastopol, then sail 
 down through the Greek Sea, to 'bask' again in the 
 shadows of the Pyramids! What have you got to 
 show for all these years? Where have you been?" 
 
 The American led the stalwart old Admiral to the 
 nearest dow! "I have been selling arms and cannon 
 to continental governments since I doffed the fez! 
 Russia, Austria, Germany, France, have been my 
 stamping ground, as we Yankees say! Do you see 
 that young girl in the second box, front row, the one 
 in white, with violets? My Aida is all I have to show 
 you, now! Come around to the Stefanskeller, after 
 the opera! I shall take supper there with Soltykoff, 
 the Russian Military Attache! We will then swop 
 'logbooks!'" 
 
 "So! That's your girl! She is a beauty!" heartily 
 cried the old man-o'-warsman. "And her mother?" 
 He dropped his eyeglass hastily, as Denton sadly an- 
 swered, "She lies sleeping in Pere la Chaise, these 
 many years and we two are at home here in Vienna. 
 My brother's widow takes care of Aida. Her son is 
 Second Secretary of the United States Legation here!" 
 "And you?" "Oh! I've been bowsing around the 
 world since I retired from the Egyptian navy at poor 
 old Ismail's downfall. They have made me a part of 
 'the British Debt,' and, I am going back to where 
 the breeze of Araby the blest draws down the Shou- 
 brah Road. Come over there, and sell some of your
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 9 
 
 guns and revolving cannons! We will beat up all 
 the old haunts!" 
 
 'There goes the bell!" laughed Denton. "The 
 British Lion's paw has 'wiped the eye' of the Ameri- 
 can eagle in Egypt! Coals to Newcastle, now! Be 
 sure to cast anchor after the opera at the Stefan's Kel- 
 ler!" The jolly old sea dog nodded an assent and 
 forged away, his broad bulk parting the waves of the 
 Viennese "show" society, leaving a rippling wake in 
 these shallows of this beautiful Vanity Fair! There 
 was the magnetic thrill of a thousand hearts bound- 
 ing in passion a thousand pairs of eyes gleaming 
 in mocking Austrian witchery and Fraser Denton was 
 borne backward on the tide of the rushing years! It 
 seemed but a little span of life! The quarter of a cen- 
 tury, when he, once the boy captain of a Rhode Island 
 battery, sought fame and fortune in the service of Is- 
 mail Pasha, the great Khedive. "Eheu fugaces! 
 Gone scattered ! The strange motley court gathered 
 around Ismail ! What a change from sixty-eight to 
 ninety!" and, Fraser Denton's eyes were clouded with 
 the mists of other days, as he wended his way back 
 to the box to listen to the mimic anguish of Ortrud 
 and Teiramund. There was a glow of triumph in 
 Serge SoltykofFs eyes as he stole back into the box, 
 having escaped from his vivacious countrywoman, 
 Princess Mouravief. "Compliments of Madame 
 1'Ambassadrice to the three graces!" he whispered to 
 the one woman of the whole world, the seething world, 
 of his tortured heart. "Princess Mouravief truly says 
 that the whole house is 'regardant!'" 
 
 "Have you, too, learned to flatter, Serge? I thought 
 that you were above such a weakness!" Grafin Falka 
 then dropped her fan in a strange confusion, as her 
 dark eyes rested for a moment on the face of the court- 
 ly Russian. "I am above nothing that would lead me 
 to your feet, Magda !" he whispered. The entreaty was 
 not lost upon Fraser Denton, who muttered, "Poor 
 devil! He is bound to the rack! something bars his
 
 10 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 way. He is unhappy, and I only stand mutely wait- 
 ing at the sealed tomb of the past waiting for the 
 last bugle call, Lights out! For the dead never 
 come back!" Fraser Denton, erect and soldierly still, 
 at fifty, gazed out gloomily at the painted unrealities of 
 the stage, while the third act dragged its mimic sor- 
 rows away. 
 
 He was conscious that there were batteries of lor- 
 gnettes levelled upon them. Even the Imperial loge 
 deigned to notice the three superb women of Solty- 
 koff's last opera party. Scores of the dashing aristo- 
 crats knew of the steadfast passion of the romantic 
 Russian cavalier for the patrician young widow who 
 had not graced gay Vienna's balls since Gabor Falka's 
 tragic death left her alone in the world! There were 
 bright eyes challenging that merry dare devil cousin 
 Bela Batthyani, the curled darling of the "Queen's 
 Own," who, forgetting all, chatted in easy familiarity 
 with the sparkling lima, and light hearts beat ner- 
 vously under swelling silks and laces to wonder where 
 on this night of nights was Arpad, the last Count 
 Falka, whose place as Captain of the Hungarian Body 
 Guard led him into the august circle of the most ex- 
 clusive court of Christendom the only one now 
 closed to "Brummagem" and "Boodle!" But the Aus- 
 trian men, with fierce glittering eyes, fixed their hawk- 
 like glances on Magda Falka's queenly form ! Seated, 
 a very queen of night, in black lace and silver, the 
 flashing diamond stars on her brow only accentuated 
 her dark beauty. It was a sad, noble face, with the ex- 
 quisite tints of her pale cheek, there lit up with the 
 dark, gleaming, mournful eyes. These eyes had lost 
 their passion, but their sweetness lingered still. The 
 Falka pearls were clasped around the neck of this pas- 
 sive Venus de Milo, and her lips only parted in a 
 smile, when she whispered in answer to Serge Solty- 
 koff's veiled entreaty! The agony of a good-bye 
 which might be eternal! For, womanlike, she would 
 not have him go, and yet she dared not bid him stay!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 11 
 
 And, this tragedy was real. lima Falka's golden hair 
 was her legacy of love from the father she had never 
 seen, but the eyes of the peerless mother were her 
 natal gift to the pearl of Hungary. At eighteen, in 
 the "primavera della vita," lima Falka's impassioned 
 beauty was a startling foil to the sad serenity of the 
 lovely mother, whose widowhood had given her a sis- 
 tership of sorrow with the richest heiress of proud 
 Hungary. The daughter of Columbia, rapt in the en- 
 trancing melodies of the master singer, gazed out upon 
 the princely stage with her beautiful brown eyes veiled 
 in a mist of unshed tears ! Her exquisite face was glor- 
 ious in the bright promise written there; there were 
 nobles who envied the Russian violets, rising and fall- 
 ing upon the fleecy muslin folds of her corsage. It was 
 a strangely cemented friendship, sorrow's seal, which 
 led grave Fraser Denton to the side of Magda Falka. 
 Their children, nymphs of the morning of life, were 
 already companions of the heart, and the soldier, still 
 steadfast to the memory of the loved and lost, was far 
 nearer to Magda Falka's sleeping heart than the 
 haughty cold-faced Austrian magnates, who wooed in 
 vain the beautiful Lady of Falkenstein. Countess 
 Magda Falka's hand trembled as Soltykoff led her out 
 into the laughing throng crowding the splendid stair- 
 cases, and the open loggia, where knots of lovers lin- 
 gered, now making trysts there under the stars dancing 
 in the blue heavens ! All Vienna thronged the superb 
 Renaissance fane on the Opernring. The winged 
 horses, high in air above them, seemed ready to soar 
 away in the land of light loves and happy laughter. 
 Fraser Denton, uneasy at heart, watched keenly every 
 movement of the princely pair, whose life path was to 
 part here under those silent stars! For this parting 
 was no sweet sorrow. The Russian had drawn Grafin 
 Magda aside for a moment, and his blue eyes blazed 
 like the wintry pole star, when he murmured: "I shall 
 not see you again. Have you not a single word, after 
 all these years, Magda?"
 
 12 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "What can divide them?" was Denton's inward 
 query Soltykoff is of the oldest boyars! A superb 
 soldier! His fortune is of a barbaric Russian opu- 
 lence! The chosen friend of the Czarevitch!" He 
 gazed while pretty Aida Denton's eyes now ruefully 
 followed Bela Batthyani, soon lost in the departing 
 waves of fashion, with his precious charge, the daz- 
 zling lima. 
 
 "Will she let him go without a word of hope? Ah! 
 Magda! It is only the dead who cannot come back!" 
 Denton sprang forward with sudden alarm, as Grafin 
 Falka suddenly uttered a smothered shriek. A burly 
 stranger brushed past the father, and the frightened 
 daughter, too, was at his side, when, his face as pale 
 as marble, Serge Soltykoff bore the senseless woman 
 into the open door of the nearest loge. Denton, quick- 
 witted and alert, his senses tuned to the crash of bat- 
 tle and the 'scapes of the field, had caught the startled 
 cry, "My God! That man here!" and he sprang quick- 
 ly down the sculptured staircase in search of the tall 
 intruder who had seemed to menace the Austrian 
 beauty. There was only a single glimpse of a bearded 
 giant, clad in the costume of a Turkish diplomat ! The 
 red fez was lost to view at the first turn of the stairs, 
 but Fraser Denton noted the jewelled orders and the 
 sweeping soldierly mustache, giving a European finish 
 to the flowing golden beard. 
 
 "A strange Turk!" he muttered, darting back, as 
 Soltykoff's voice reached him in appealing accents! 
 "See to the carriage, Denton! Quick! And bring 
 Batthyani here!" There was a crowd of obsequious 
 attendants ready to aid, as the Lady of Falkenstein 
 slowly descended the staircase at last! 
 
 "Do not leave me! Not an instant! I beg of you! 
 Let us hasten to lima !" were the faltered words which 
 greeted Bela Batthyani's excited questions. And, 
 clinging to the two strong men, Magda Falka shivered 
 in abject terror, until her daughter clasped her in her 
 arms, safe at last in the waiting carriage. "Drive on!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 13 
 
 I will follow with Miss Aida," cried Bela, as the two 
 elder men entered the carriage. The Opera Ring was 
 all deserted as the carriage rolled away, and Fraser 
 Denton gazed anxiously out of the window, while Sol- 
 tykoff's whispers alone broke the silence. The mad- 
 dening parting moment came all too soon, when the 
 splendid town house of the Falkas was reached! It 
 was Serge Soltykoff who alone aided the Countess 
 to mount the marble steps, guarded by huge bronze 
 lions, bearing the quartered shields of the proud patri- 
 cian house. Denton waited, his heart beating in sym- 
 pathy with the luckless lover. 
 
 "Come to me with the news as soon as you can, at 
 the Stefans keller!" hoarsely muttered Soltykoff, who 
 came reeling back from the lighted drawing room, as 
 one who had received his sudden order to lead a for- 
 lorn hope. Denton bowed with a sorely stricken heart, 
 for he had caught but the one farewell whisper, "I will 
 telegraph daily, and if you need me, a single word will 
 bring me back from Odessa!" There had been no 
 spoken word in answer, and Fraser Denton knew too 
 well that his friend was going out into a world now 
 a desert to him. The old story of hopes that failed, 
 of a hungry and sorrowing heart. 
 
 "This is more than strange," mused the American, 
 a half hour later, when Batthyani joined him in the 
 waiting carriage. "The young ladies will both re- 
 main with the Countess!" said the bewildered young 
 officer. "Countess Magda has had a sudden shock 
 of the gravest nature ! She seems to be in some mortal 
 terror! You know that we Hungarians are a strange 
 race! Fiery, ardent, superstitious and mercurial. It's 
 useless ! I offered all my services ! I even proposed to 
 telegraph to Arpad! The Countess only shook her 
 head and demanded Josef, her house intendant. 'We 
 leave here to-morrow as early as possible!' she 
 said, and then in Magyar, she bade him closely guard 
 the house during the night I can make nothing of 
 it, for all Countess Magda would say was, 'I have
 
 14 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 seen some one whom I had long numbered with the 
 dead! Dead for many years! A hideous vision !"' 
 
 "So!" muttered Denton, "the dead do come back! 
 This bodes no good to Soltykoff, poor fellow!" The 
 young soldier appealingly cried, as the coupe rolled 
 on toward the Stephans platz, "What do you make 
 of it, Major Denton?" "I make this of it, Bela!" reso- 
 lutely said the American, "I can answer you if you will 
 now tell us of this past mystery of the Falkas! Arpad 
 is the head of your house! He is away! Here are 
 Soltykoff and myself! You should either call Arpad 
 and Paul up by telegraph, or else take the lead your- 
 self! It is a grave responsibility!" 
 
 "You are right!" gloomily rejoined the young 
 guardsman, "I will tell Soltykoff and you all that I 
 know promise or no promise! I will get leave and 
 escort Countess Magda and lima down the Danube 
 to-morrow. She also expects you to go with her! and 
 she says that she only feels safe now at Falkenstein! 
 There's an end of our family's life at court! Did you 
 see this strange fellow who seems to have called up 
 some old sorrow? I wish that I had him up before 
 me at ten paces !" and the fiery young magnate ground 
 his teeth in a helpless rage. 
 
 "Was it the Turk? That fellow's face seemed 
 strangely familiar!" anxiously brooded Denton. "He 
 rushed down the stairs by me like a bull of Bashan! 
 I've seen that brutal face before!" "I will leave you to 
 your supper, after I have seen Soltykoff, and then gal- 
 lop over to Barracks, and wake up the Adjutant. I 
 can get a two days' leave! I will come back to you 
 and then sleep at the house! I told Josef so! You 
 can there confer alone with the Colonel! By heav- 
 ens! I wish that Countess Magda would marry Sol- 
 tykoff and go away to Russia. He has a royal old 
 place at Moscow, and I have hunted bears at his place 
 in Tambov! It is a dream of savage grandeur! And, 
 Soltykoff has served his sad probation!" "How about 
 Countess lima? Don't you see the social awkward-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 15 
 
 ness?" gravely said Major Denton. Bela Batthyani 
 burst out laughing. "My dear Major! You are a 
 wonder as to cannons and small arms, but blind in 
 Cupid's warfare! If Paul Denton is the man I take 
 him for, he will soon lead my beautiful cousin far 
 away from Presburg! Perhaps that event would give 
 Soltykoff his innings ! He is of the Libro d'oro, and 
 as fine a soldier as ever drew sword! But, here we 
 are at the Stephans Keller!" "I think that I see day- 
 light ahead!" cried Denton, springing from the coupe. 
 "But I must first learn the secret of the past! There 
 is some ground apparently for Countess Magda's se- 
 clusion!" The young soldier paused at the door. 
 "Major!" he said earnestly, "make Arpad himself tell 
 you the whole story! Tell him that I feel forced to 
 confide in you to-night! I can not let these two dear 
 women of our house face their secret enemies un- 
 guarded! I would die for them!" The boy's bright 
 face was glowing with generous bravery. "So would 
 I!" said Denton, solemnly, as the great bell of the 
 Stephans Dom boomed out twelve, far above them, 
 where the exquisite spire pierced the thin blue night 
 air! The darkling shadows wrapped the vast old 
 gothic pile, and a black mantle hid the wondrous 
 tracery of fretted stone, as they entered the modest 
 doorway of the famous haunt of the Wiener bon vi- 
 vants. "Two gentlemen waiting for you, Herr Major!" 
 gutturally cried Ernest, the autocratic Oberkellner of 
 Vienna's "Trois Freres," when the friends passed in 
 through the narrow hall of the unpretentious three- 
 story habitat of the modern Brillat Savarins, "I've 
 saved you the very best table !" The steward bowed, 
 rattling his silver chain of office, as he pocketed a 
 double florin. Major Denton, bewildered in the glare 
 of the brilliantly lit rooms, gazed at the laughing mid- 
 night congerie of the lightest hearted people on earth. 
 The officer gazed in wonder as the portly British sailor 
 seized Denton in his bear hug, twisting him round! 
 "Now, I've got you, old comrade!" Mclvor shouted. 
 2
 
 16 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "Quick! Quick! Denton! Look there! Don't you 
 know that chap? But I'm a lubber if he has not 
 swapped his skin !" 
 
 "Where?" gasped Denton, as the Admiral pointed to 
 a throng of men squeezing out of the narrow pas- 
 sage. There were arch women faces, beaming lan- 
 guishing invitation from their wicked Wiener eyes, 
 as the carriages bustled away. "Hello! What's up?" 
 blurted out Mclvor Pasha, as Denton quickly sprang 
 out of his grasp and rushed out bareheaded into the 
 gloomy Stefan Platz! Lieutenant Bela Batthyani ner- 
 vously twirled his hussar mustache, and gazed in won- 
 der at Serge Soltykoff, who had darted after Denton. 
 "It's the devil's own night, a Walpurgis nacht! Every 
 one seems tarantula bitten!" growled the junker. 
 
 "By God ! I lost him ! He got away in a carriage !" 
 groaned Eraser Denton, as he returned with Solty- 
 koff. There were dozens of eyeglasses and several 
 dainty pince-nez centered upon the "crazy American." 
 "Lost who, for God's sake?" demanded Bela. 
 
 "That Turkish scoundrel who alarmed the Coun- 
 tess!" growled Denton, "and I know I have seen that 
 brute before!" "Right you are! I boarded him, too, 
 and he denied his name!" fumed stout old Mclvor. 
 "Don't you remember Becker Bey at Cairo?" Eraser 
 Denton's face grew fixed and stern. "Give us a pri- 
 vate room at once !" he abruptly said to the astonished 
 steward; and then he addressed himself to the formal- 
 ity of introductions! But, though Colonel Soltykoff 
 and Admiral Mclvor Pasha fell into instant reminis- 
 cence of a hundred mutual friends, the dashing Lieu- 
 tenant of the Queen's Own had vanished. "It's a devil 
 of a night! Bring the Graf Batthyani up to us, Ernest, 
 and send up the best supper you ever cooked, for 
 four!" 
 
 "Mind that yellow seal Chambertin! Now, gen- 
 tlemen ! I want you both behind closed doors !" Den- 
 ton found time to whisper to Soltykoff, "Silence as to 
 the affair at the opera! I wish to draw the old Ad-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. IT 
 
 miral out!" The Russian nodded as they entered the 
 room. They had tried but one round of the famous- 
 brown beer that even Imperial personages dare not 
 disdain, when Bela Batthyani rattled into the rooml 
 His sabre clanked and his jacket was slung from h ; s- 
 shoulder. "I've not much time to spare, Major Den- 
 ton, my horse and jager are here! But I have tipped 
 the head waiter! That fellow, the big Turk, is Mus- 
 tapha Pasha, who has been a guest at the Ottoman 
 Embassy here for a fortnight ! He is a money spinner,. 
 fond of the little soupers a deux, above." The giddy 
 Batthyani blushed, conscience stricken, "And, knows 
 his Vienna to a charm ! Felix tells me that he shows 
 up mostly at night, and the devil of it is, he chatters in 
 Magyar, like an old Honved!" 
 
 There was a roar from the old sea dog! "Mustapha 
 Pasha be damned ! He is only our old chevalier d' in- 
 dustrie, Waldemar Becker Bey transformed!" Serge 
 Soltykoff delayed the introduction of the young Hussar 
 to the irate Admiral by springing up and upsetting a 
 half dozen beer seidels ! "There's a devil's witch dance 
 going on somewhere! I've never seen him! But 
 there was a famous soldier of fortune of that name in. 
 our Guard once! A present from the lower Danube! 
 He had been in our secret service in Roumania! When 
 he left our Guard he took away an old general's pret- 
 ty second wife and left his heir, a young ensign of 
 Ours, dying from a ball in his lungs ! A smooth, versa- 
 tile scoundrel!" "See, here, Major!" whispered Bat- 
 thyani, "I will gallop over and get my leave! Keep a 
 bit of supper for me ! I will not leave Countess Magda. 
 till she is safe at Presburg! This thing looks very 
 strange! Arpad alone knows all the old story. Now 
 you can sound the old Egyptian Admiral! Keep him; 
 in the dark! I will be back in two hours, and I would 
 rather not have Soltykoff here! If he comes into our 
 family later, then well and good! I know that Paul 
 and lima are souls destined for each other, and you; 
 were my foster father, almost, at the Cadet haus."
 
 18 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "Then we can leave it to Arpad himself to post Col- 
 onel Soltykoff!" Denton nodded and the handsome 
 Hussar lad sprang down the stair! In an instant the 
 clatter of hoofs told that the wild Balthyani was on his 
 matchless charger! 
 
 It was a goodly table whereat Admiral Mclvor 
 Pasha, retired, late of the Khedive's navy, did the 
 honors by virtue of seniority. His round, red face 
 shone out above a vast plateau of snowy napkin as he 
 spliced the main brace and reeled off a plain "spun 
 yarn!" "You are safe speaking in English here!" 
 laughed Soltykoff. "Tell us now of your own ren- 
 contre !" 
 
 "He has the devil's own brass! This chap!" sput- 
 tered Mclvor Pasha. "You know, Denton, Gordon 
 and the English regime sent all your twenty-four 
 American officers flying just after you resigned. Of 
 the foreign army contingent there was left only Stone, 
 Purdy (on leave), Colonel Mason and Major Fechet, 
 with one or two more closing up their service, or scat- 
 tered far away over Darfour and Abyssinia. But I 
 hung on to my own Red Sea naval command, under 
 the aegis of stout old Mother Britannia. 
 
 "But Stanton, our Consul General, told me that 
 several continental foreign equerries and officers still 
 clung on with despairing clutch. There was Ali Bey 
 Italiani and an English chap, a discarded Guardsman, 
 and a little coterie of flatterers who hung around Cherif 
 Pasha, and apparently slaved for Ismail Khedive, 
 while really spying on him ! Now, if you remember, 
 this Waldemar Becker Bey used to train a huge hori- 
 zontal mustache and haunt the green rooms of the 
 Grand Opera! He was Master of Pleasures in general 
 to Cherif and other Moslem bon vivants. He was a 
 sort of Monsieur Parolles. I despised his smug face 
 and the thin white fingers covered with ladies' rings, 
 in fact, his whole 'chessycat' exterior! If you remem- 
 ber, there were some ugly stories about that Greek 
 roulette game on the Esbekiehl There was the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 19 
 
 young Arab officer, too, who was butchered in that 
 midnight sword duel! A brave self-sacrifice, for the 
 poor fellow was purblind!" Mclvor Pasha then slaked 
 his rising indignation with a huge hock and seltzer. 
 "Well! When I went back to settle about my retire- 
 ment and pension, it was long after the bombardment 
 of Alexandria ! I found that our sneaking elegant had 
 really turned Mussulman, and gone off in Ismail's 
 train as a sort of military Leporello! But he left a 
 shining track behind ! The poor fellows who stuck to 
 their guns at Ras-el Tin fort, waited vainly to see the 
 English ironclads rise in the air! Lay and Beverly 
 Lennon had a splendid torpedo system laid down and 
 I'm told that this fellow, Becker Bey, stole all the 
 secret plans, sold them to the English, and removed 
 the butterfly valves and springs from all the White- 
 heads in stock ! All was useless ! Hobart Pasha, my 
 old shipmate, told me later this fellow had been re- 
 warded and promoted, and was a secret spy of the 
 Sultan, watching over Ismail in his gilded Nirvana 
 of luxurious harem prison life! You remember Fal- 
 ladeen, the Holder of the Girdle of Beautiful Forms! 
 Well! This fellow became immensely rich, and 
 changed into a sort of all round man milliner on the 
 Bosporus! To-night I ran plump across him here 
 in the Stefans Keller! I had an idea he was fighting 
 a little shy ! So I walked up and hit him a whack be- 
 tween the shoulders! 'Hello, Becker!' I hailed him! 
 'I knew him well, though he's taken on proud 
 flesh, lots of it! The beggar only looked me square 
 in the eye ! He fumbled for a card case and then mut- 
 tered, 'Istambol!' shamming Turk! There's the 
 card!" cried Mclvor, fishing a crumpled pasteboard 
 from a capacious vest pocket. " 'Istambol be blowed!' 
 say I, as he then wagged his head, and whispered to a 
 fat little squab of a Turk with him, 'There's that fleuret 
 mark still on your temple, my boy, and you've got the 
 big sapphire and diamond ring on yet that you won of 
 poor Sparrow Purdy that night at Marie de Rohan's
 
 20 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 supper party!' Would you believe it, he scuttled off 
 then like a fiddler crab, and you ran right over him 
 as he cut his hawser! Now, what's he masquerading 
 around here for?" The old veteran glared around, ob- 
 livious of the gravity of the two elder men. He re- 
 turned to his liquid solace, panting and indignant! 
 
 "Mustapha Pasha Istambol!" slowly read off Col- 
 onel Serge Soltykoff, as he deciphered the visiting card, 
 whose back also bore the same title in Turkish char- 
 acters! "See here, Denton!" said the Russian, "I will 
 have to ask you to excuse me! I'll run around and 
 wake up Dragmiroff, our First Secretary! He will 
 sound the Dragoman of the Turkish Embassy about 
 this fellow's business. I will expect you at the Sud 
 Bahn, for my train leaves at ten. The Dragoman is 
 a sly Armenian, and one of our spies," he faintly smiled, 
 "and thus I'll have Mustapha's livre de service ex- 
 plored! Dragmiroff will warn you at once, and I will 
 wait two days at Budapest Grand Hotel Hungaria. 
 Don't forget! I know that you want to talk over your 
 old Nile days with the Pasha here." He saluted and 
 sped away! Denton and Soltykoff stood a moment 
 with clasped hands outside the door. "Fraser! I 
 leave her to you! For God's sake! watch over Mag- 
 da! There is some sinister influence here! You and 
 Batthyani must put Arpad on his guard! It is a hell 
 on earth to me that I must leave this woman, who is 
 all of earth's brightness now! Come early to the sta- 
 tion! Tell me all there. I must report at Odessa! No- 
 blesse oblige! A soldier's honor! But if Magda 
 Falka needs me, you must telegraph to the Cercle de 
 Noblesse, Odessa. I'd throw up the Czar's favor if 
 that woman -would only open her arms! By God! I 
 will win her yet! Think of my lonely life! 'You have 
 your daughter! I am only an exile from Paradise! 
 Send Arpad and Paul to me! Come yourself also if 
 there is any danger!" 
 
 "Trust to me, Serge!" said the soldierly American. 
 "'You may yet unlock the mystery! Away to Drag- 
 miroff 1 I'll meet you!"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 21 
 
 The minutes slipped rapidly away as the two old 
 comrades, once serving under Egypt's star and cres- 
 cent, wandered back into the clouded past of Ismail's 
 secretly planned movement to throw off the Turkish 
 yoke. Each had gained a high vantage ground in 
 life, and, warmed by the matchless wine of the Stef- 
 ans Keller, they spoke of the ardent spirits who had 
 tempted fortune in those heyday years of the great 
 Ismail Pasha! The brave and bright and good had 
 succumbed ! Only the traitors and adventurers seemed 
 to have flourished there in the world's greatest hot 
 house of intrigue. They toasted the fallen in life's 
 bitter fight! And 
 
 "Full many a friend in battle slain, 
 And, all the war that either knew, 
 Was called up, once, again!" 
 
 "It's time to sling hammocks now!" cried the cheery 
 old Admiral, as two o'clock boomed out from Meister 
 Wenzla's grand old gothic fane. "Only the boys and 
 these diamond-eyed witch devil girls here can stand the 
 'dog watch!' See here, Denton, I'll secretly post Lof- 
 tus, our Ambassador at Constantinople, about this 
 lubber, Mustapha Becker! Look out for him! He's 
 an ugly devil! Did you ever have any trouble with 
 him? You were a bit gay, my boy, in those old 
 Cairene days!" Eraser Denton laughed uneasily. "Oh! 
 no! We got on well enough after he found I could 
 not miss the bell at twenty paces with a revolver!" 
 
 "Well! He's got it in for somebody!" growled Mc- 
 Ivor Pasha. "Tell your Russian friend to look out 
 for himself! Soltykoff is a fine fellow! I remember 
 his father, Prince Soltykoff, on Mentchikoffs staff at 
 Sebastopol ! They all came down to take a look at me 
 when the Nicholas fort blew my little gunboat to 
 pieces! Come to think of it, the Turk and your Rus- 
 sian friend were glaring fiercely at each other when 
 I 'called him down!' Did they have a row at the 
 opera? If there's any fight, have Soltykoff choose pis- 
 tols and get the beggar close up ! He's a regular wiz-
 
 22 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ard with the sword! I'll go you a five pound note 
 there's a woman at the bottom of this row ! You see, 
 Eraser, you and I are on the 'retired list' now! Now 
 mind you 'Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo.' To think of that 
 beggar turning up again jack in the box!" 
 
 Major Denton returned to the "banquet hall desert- 
 ed," and nervously strode up and down the lonely 
 room ! His spare, neat soldierly figure was as trim and 
 erect as in the days when he lit hand grenades with his 
 cigar and tossed them over into the ditch of Fort San- 
 ders at Knoxville ! Close cropped gray hair, a bronzed 
 face, a prominent nose, and two steady steel colored 
 eyes, he was yet of athletic mould, and a dangerous 
 customer to tackle! He nervously puffed his cigar. 
 "So! The dead can return! What can that heavenly 
 woman have to hide from Serge Soltykoff? Sorrow 
 may have touched her, but shame never! And yet 
 these old princely houses have their skeleton closets! 
 Is there any legal bar to her union with Serge? God 
 help the man who comes between them now! One 
 thing is clear! Bela and I must get both the ladies 
 quietly, out of town ! By Jove, the steamer! Yes! If 
 there is any chance of a rencontre, any spying, it would 
 be on the train! I'll speak to Bela! Ah! Le voici!" 
 The sound of springing feet was heard, and the lithe 
 Lieutenant came bounding up the stairs! "Here! Jo- 
 hann!" he cried. "A flask of seltzer! Your best 
 cognac! The night air is chill! Now, Major Den- 
 ton, let us make our plan ! We are alone !" He tossed 
 his hussar jacket and sabre on a divan. Denton 
 nodded, and silently watched the agitated boy as he 
 rolled a couple of cigarettes. "I hate to speak of the 
 old matter!" cried the youth, pushing away his glass. 
 "Basta! We have no time to fool away. When Gabor 
 Falka brought Magda Stahremberg home to Schloss 
 Falkenstein, a bride at eighteen, she was the most 
 thrilling and impassioned beauty of her time. Count 
 Falka had been transferred from the 'Queen's Own' 
 and given the command of a regiment of the wildest
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 23 
 
 Honveds, whom no one else could handle! He was a 
 model soldier, a gallant sportsman and a passionate 
 lover. You know the family pride of the Falkas! 
 
 "Sternly loyal, Count Gabor could not forget in wear- 
 ing Austrian facings that his own mail clad ancestors 
 had ridden in the princely ring when Hungary's mon- 
 arch challenged the world from the summit of the 
 Konigshtigel ! When not on regimental duty he dis- 
 dained the splendid dalliance of the court of the Haps- 
 burgs and kept open hall at Falkenstein, going far 
 away into the wildest fastnesses of the Carpathians in 
 the chase! A mighty hunter and a princely host! Only 
 old Matthias, the head forester, lives to-day at Pres- 
 burg, to recall the days of Count Gabor's splendid 
 rule. It may be that young Magda Stahremberg pined 
 for the merry mummeries of Wien ! If she did, then her 
 gentle dignity veiled it! Still, she was lonely, and 
 at last one mad fool dared to presume upon her wifely 
 patience! 
 
 "The Adjutant of Falka's regiment, a wild young 
 blood, one of those devilish insouciant lady killers, was 
 mad enough to throw himself at her feet, with true 
 Hungarian vehemence ! Arpad at this time was a two 
 years' sturdy lad, and poor lima was born later, a fath- 
 erless child. Then it was the one silver lock was 
 whitened in my cousin's head as by a sword cleft! For 
 Magda Falka, affrighted at the mad lover's insolence, 
 screamed for help, and the fierce house retainers threw 
 the wild Kinsky into the depths of the old stone round 
 tower there on the hill! A man rode out as the 
 fiends of hell ride, and Gabor Falka sped homeward 
 with bloodshot eyes! He waited not to clasp his sob- 
 bing wife to his arms, but he strode away to the tower 
 with his huntsmen ! They tore off the brute's uniform, 
 and in the open court the wretch was lashed by the 
 maddened huntsman till his flesh hung in ribbons! 
 
 "The Count stood with folded arms and never 
 changed a muscle! When the suffering captive 
 howled for mercy he coldly cried, 'Turn him loose T
 
 24 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 and then the maddened hounds chased the semblance 
 of humanity afar!" 
 
 Bela Batthyani sighed. He caught Dentons eye, 
 and muttered, "I will be brief! After four years, Gabor 
 Falka brought Magda back from Italy. His proud 
 spirit yet rankled under the insult and he rode far into 
 his forests, lonely and abstracted. One night the 
 Count's riderless horse returned alone! The forest 
 was soon lit up with the torches of the searchers, and 
 in a dell by a spring, where he had dismounted, they 
 found his body stark and cold! He had been shot from 
 ambush, but a dagger also transfixed his nerveless 
 breast! A scrawl in Magyar bore the words, 'Death 
 and shame, forever, to the accursed Falkas !' " 
 
 Batthyani rose and paced the room. "It is nearly 
 nineteen years since his murder! Magda hovered be- 
 tween life and death, when lima came as a gleam of 
 sunshine! It may be that Falka knew his doom! The 
 Kinsky blood was as boiling as any Magyar strain, 
 and Janos Kinsky has been lost to men's mind for 
 many a long year! Be it as it may, Countess Magda 
 has feared the shadowy enemy since that fatal day! 
 Arpad knows all! Perhaps more, for Matthias fears 
 even now to speak! But I am sure that our darling 
 lima is unaware of the gloomy inheritance! Now as 
 to my cousin's alarm! This strange encounter in the 
 opera house! Was there a shadowy resemblance? She 
 fears even the sound of the drifted leaf! Not for her- 
 self! But for Arpad and for lima! The Kinsky s never 
 forget! They bear the murderer's horseshoe the 
 Tartar seal of violent death, and of the black code of 
 
 revenge ! 
 
 "It's a gloomy story," solemnly said Denton. "Ride 
 over to the house! Do not leave Countess Magda a 
 moment till I return hum seeing Soltykoff at the Sud- 
 bahn!" Fraser Denton tossed upon a restless pillow 
 until the morning red awakened him. He was eager 
 in his questioning glance, as he singled out the Rus- 
 sian guardsman in the busy throng at the station. Sol-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 25 
 
 tykoff was haggard and his brow was dark. He drew 
 Denton aside. "Watch over Magda like a she wolf 
 guarding her litter! The Dragoman swears that this 
 fellow is an impostor! There is no Mustapha Pasha 
 known at the Legation!" and their faces grew graver 
 until the parting came, as they talked in whispers 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A VANISHING PASHA! THE MASKED BALL AT 
 FALKENSTEIN! A SINISTER UNBID- 
 DEN GUEST! ILMA'S TRYST. 
 
 Fraser Denton stood for a moment irresolute, as the 
 "Constantinople special" tore away out of the Sud 
 Bahn ! He had fought off a last burning desire to tell 
 Soltykoff the whole story. For the Russian was also 
 eager to trace out the history of the man in the red 
 fez! "Did you learn aught from Mclvor, or from 
 Bela?" the Colonel persisted. The Major hesitated a 
 moment. "There are a thousand scoundrelly fez wear- 
 ers knocking around the Danube always, Soltykoff!" 
 replied Denton. "Spies, voluptuaries, renegades, har- 
 em officials on vile missions, and secret Turkish agents ! 
 It looks as if we had annoyed the wrong man! As 
 for Countess Magda, there is the emotional woman 
 nature and the thrall of Wagner's wonder picture in 
 song, to account for her seizure! And, Serge, you 
 have been pressing her hard! Perhaps it was only a 
 'prise des nerfs !' We can tell little till Bela goes over 
 the whole ground with Arpad, and I have Paul down 
 there to aid me!" 
 
 "You are right, Fraser!" mournfully said the Rus- 
 sian, wringing his hand in parting. "Every other 
 man from Buda to Galatz is a fez wearer, and the
 
 26 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 honors are easy as to their brutality ! Only remember 
 this, you guard my life in watching over Magda. She 
 was certainly very exaltee ! I wait at Budapest for some 
 turn of the tide! 
 
 "Don't forget, if the Countess should wish to com- 
 municate, Hotel Hungaria!" The blue-eyed Russian's 
 great heart beat fondly under the hidden handkerchief 
 he had stolen in loving duplicity the night before ; and, 
 a knot of violets which had fallen from her breast now 
 lay crushed therein! His own nerves still tingled, for 
 he had borne the precious burden of her loveliness in 
 his sinewy arms! "By God!" the son of Rurik cried, 
 "If I only had her down in my Kherson stronghold 
 I would plant Tartar lances on every grave mound to 
 the far horizon and hide her from a host of foes! All 
 the world could not harm her there!" 
 
 "Wait and hope! Your time may come!" said Den- 
 ton, pitying the anguish in the despondent lover's 
 eyes. 
 
 "I think that I'll hunt up Mclvor Pasha now and 
 say good-bye!" mused Denton, as he called a droschky. 
 "The old sea dog always keeps an eye to windward!" 
 and as he sped on to the Hotel Imperial he pondered, 
 "Shall I question the Countess?" He could not re- 
 solve the problem. The story of the last night lin- 
 gered in his mind ! He well knew that the Stahremberg 
 blood was as proud and wild as the Falka or even the 
 mad Kinsky strain! "Had she stooped to conquer? 
 Was it a case of chateau qui parle?" He well knew 
 the fiery philtre of Venus coursing in the veins of the 
 fair faced children of old Vidobona, where woman's 
 witchery once brought Maximilian I.'s realms proof 
 against the Austrian sword! And the fiery pulses of 
 the daughters of Arpad had thrilled to his own boyish 
 touch! Witch women, delicate and defiant, changing 
 as the many hued sea, fond in their light loves, fierce 
 in their revenge! "Was this Kinsky vagabond, or vic- 
 tim?" He sighed as he drew up at the hotel. "I will 
 drift with the tide of events !" he decided. His spirits
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 27 
 
 rose as Mclvor Pasha, huge in tweeds, belted with 
 glass and red book, suddenly bore down upon him 
 from the breakfast room! 
 
 "Ha! Denton! How kind of you ! Here, one mo- 
 ment! My boat is on the shore, so to speak!" The 
 mariner towed him into the deserted smoking room. 
 "I -was just over at the bank and I turned out Wynd- 
 ham, my old chum at the Embassy, too! There is a 
 mystery about this big Moslem! Two straws I have 
 picked up! The secret controller of Ismail's pleasures 
 at Dolma-Baghtche has been up here a fortnight and 
 has handled immense sums of gold, using the ex- Khe- 
 dive's own signet ring! You know what that means! 
 Several bright particular stars of opera and stage have 
 quickly vanished behind this golden cloud! The local 
 Jupiter winks at these little skirmishes under the flag 
 of Venus! The banker won't talk! I taxed him with 
 'Mustapha Pasha.' He only smiled and silently of- 
 fered me his best cigars!" The old Admiral keenly 
 eyed the clock hands crawling along! 
 
 "Now! Wyndham tells me that people here have 
 bought the whole plans of the torpedo defenses and 
 hidden war plant on the Bosporus and at the Darda- 
 nelles from a chap who used to be in the Egyptian 
 service. It's a deal that our people have been vainly 
 having a shy at for many long years ! You know that 
 the sick man may have a last paroxysm at any time! 
 Well, when I suggested the name of Waldemar Becker 
 Bey, and recalled Alexandria, Wyndham just grinned 
 a sickly grin and then asked me to send him two dis- 
 patch bags full of cigarettes from Cairo! Now I'm 
 sure the beggar knows, d'ye see? He won't tell! It's 
 too risky!" 
 
 "Yes, and he will keep on knowing!" replied the 
 Yankee artilleryman. "Old friend! If you and I wish 
 to get at the roots of this thing, we must dig deep and 
 dig alone! It would be just like our precious scalla- 
 wag of olden days. I can see him as he was! The 
 slim rascal, with his Koorbash handle set in dia-
 
 28 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 monds and blinking at the Passing Show in Cairo 
 with those lazy, devilish blue eyes of his! I believe 
 it really was that military autolycus, Becker Bey! He 
 may have blossomed into a Pasha, by the Devil's adop- 
 tion! A smart two handed stroke, to serve both Mars 
 and Venus here ! To sell out, both friend and foe, and 
 fill his remarkably baggy pockets!" The old Admiral 
 listened and snorted his adieu. 
 
 "Now, my boy! Mind your eye. Remember that 
 this devil is a dangerous pioneer in the dark! Where 
 shall I address you?" The ancient mariner weighed 
 anchor, for his man, "Scrubbs," rosy of hue, stood wait- 
 ing at the door, with the regulation bundle of alpen- 
 stocks, cricket bats, hockey clubs, canes and tennis 
 paddles, which Britons of rank lug around with them 
 all over the world! It was high time to set out! 
 
 "Anglo-Austrian Bank, Stephans Platz 2," cried 
 Denton. "They reach me all over the world, by wire 
 or letter! As for me, if I am thrown up against Beck- 
 er Bey, I will do him 'to the Queen's taste!' Fortiter 
 in re, you know." 
 
 "I've got it in for him, too, a little old grudge!" 
 ejaculated the doughty Admiral, as he forced his man- 
 ly brawn into a quaking carriage, and the old sailor 
 glowered fiercely at his invisible foe ! Denton laughed 
 in spite of all his cares, as the Admiral was borne out 
 of his sight. "Was it his good golden Turkish 
 pounds, or some modern Cleopatra of uneasy tenure, 
 that Becker filched from him? It must have been 
 some shrewd turn of villainy !" and Denton at last de- 
 cided upon "personally conducted" roulette as the 
 "casus belli." On his way back to the lion-guarded 
 town house the American weighed all the stories of the 
 past. "I have it! If it is really Becker Bey, the 
 ubiquitous, then he may have been startled at recog- 
 nizing stern old Mclvor, and later running up plump 
 against me ! His discomfiture was capped by the sec- 
 ond encounter with our party at the Stephans Keller." 
 Denton slowly ascended the steps, where the gold
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 29 
 
 banded yagers were already in waiting. He concluded 
 his survey of the whole incident. "Under whatever 
 name he might masquerade, Becker would surely fear 
 Mclvor's presence, and also shun a recognition by 
 me. Both his deeds of darkness here needed secrecy, 
 for the sale of these secret plans might cost him his 
 head!" 
 
 "The light flesh and corrupt blood, too, must be 
 gingerly handled to avoid public scandal here. I'll 
 wager that he has cut out and they have prudently 
 ignored him at the Ottoman Embassy. The catspaw 
 of Ismail Pasha's jaded lusts a secret spy on the 
 whole clique of Egyptian state prisoners on the Bos- 
 porus this rascally soldier of fortune must needs 
 cheat all his masters, and his first care would naturally 
 be to avoid all old Egyptian officials! The memories 
 of the Alexandria deal might have spoiled this Bos- 
 porus bargain, and also cost him his head ! And as to 
 the Countess! Her nerves simply broke down under 
 the strain of the parting from Soltykoff ! The vanish- 
 ing Pasha was probably only getting out of our way! 
 Still, it was a strange affair!" The young beauties in 
 the great drawing room were visibly pouting, as Major 
 Denton entered. He had hardly received a fatherly 
 greeting from Miss Aida when Lieutenant Batthyani 
 appealed to him for aid. "I have been trying to recon- 
 cile these ladies to a week's delay in the masked ball 
 at Falkenstein ! The doctor, while permitting Countess 
 Magda nay, ordering her, to go to Presburg strict- 
 ly requires a few days of quiet!" 
 
 "We will miss half our Vienna friends!" mourned 
 the golden-haired lima. "Never mind!" cried Bela, 
 "I will return and rally them all!" Denton was over- 
 joyed to see that neither of the laughing girls had di- 
 vined any sinister event of the "sortie de 1'opera." 
 Bela found time to whisper, "We are to say nothing 
 absolutely nothing!" as Countess Magda descended 
 the grand stair ready for her journey. 
 
 Fraser Denton's reverential greeting was accepted
 
 30 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 with a meaning smile, as the family cortege passed 
 out of the doors guarded by the assembled house re- 
 tainers. Denton noted the armed yager on the box of 
 the first carriage, and he saw, too, with a secret pleas- 
 ure, that Batthyani's orderly rode at the window, 
 where the fair face of Countess Magda gazed out on 
 the curious throngs passing down the Canal Quai. 
 The Major, too, was armed at all points ; his latest de- 
 velopment of American revolver ingenuity was ready 
 at hand in his breast pocket! There was the sound 
 of merry girlish laughter ringing out gaily from the 
 second carriage, as the great Victoria trundled over the 
 Franzens briicke ! A cable's length away lay the dainty 
 Danube pleasure craft of the Countess, and there the 
 attendants waited, cap in hand, at the gangway. As 
 Major Denton stepped out of the carriage he heard a 
 faint appeal ! "Quick, there ! That man, again !" He 
 sprang around the carriage and had just one mo- 
 mentary glimpse of a scarlet fez, flashing around the 
 angle of a side street! 
 
 With a smothered oath, Denton aided the trembling 
 patrician to alight! In another moment he was hurry- 
 ing her down to the cabin, where the blue silk cur- 
 tains shaded the plate glass windows! "For God's 
 sake, do not show yourself again till we are out on the 
 Danube!" he said, with a sudden emotion. "If you 
 are being followed, we will trap the brute later. I 
 will tell Arpad of this as soon as I see him!" The 
 Lady of Falkenstein then clutched Denton's arm con- 
 vulsively and whispered, "For God's sake! not a 
 word! Arpad must not know! I will take all the 
 proper steps myself! For I am safe at Falkenstein!" 
 
 "But you will tell me of your trouble! What do you 
 fear?" anxiously cried Denton, who had surely recog- 
 nized again the sturdy back and sweeping- eolden 
 beard of the burly Turk! 
 
 "Send me the captain! Not a word to Bela! I will 
 tell you all at Presburg! We must hasten away!" 
 
 The tall American walked the deck in a grave un-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 31 
 
 rest, as the beautiful boat sped down along the Donau 
 Canal, and passed out by the Prater Quai! He eyed 
 the Budapest boat about to start. It was crowded 
 with passengers! There were scores of the passengers 
 who wore the red fez! "Pshaw!" he muttered, biting 
 his cigar. "To be startled by a strolling vagabond! 
 There may be another secret! What is it that Magda 
 would hide from her children? The secret which di- 
 vides her from Soltykoff a man of men! Loyal en 
 tout!" Denton swore a deep oath. "If I run against 
 Mustapha Pasha Becker Bey I will call up the past 
 if I have to drag his flimsy character to tatters! He 
 will never get away from me! It may be some low- 
 minded blackmail! Some sad family secret!" 
 
 "I'm glad, however, that the ball is delayed! I'll 
 send Arpad off to Budapest, and while he is away 
 with Soltykoff I will await the Countess' disclosure!" 
 He stole Batthyani away from the two bright-eyed 
 tyrants long enough to learn that he was absolutely 
 in the dark. The gay Lieutenant was easily reassured! 
 "The doctor tells me that it is only over-exertion ! Mag- 
 da was always a mercurial nature! We have tele- 
 graphed Arpad and the ball is postponed; that's all! 
 We'll get up a rattling hunt for you! There's never 
 a Turk can storm Falkenstein! I think it was only 
 the sheer break-down of the Soltykoff parting! Poor 
 old Serge! He's a rare good fellow!" Bela hastened 
 away to the sweet laughing maids awaiting him! 
 
 Nothing is lighter than the heart of youth, and Den- 
 ton smiled to see the three young people so oblivious 
 of the past and all heedless of the morrow! The soldier 
 fixed his eyes on wooded Lobau with Aspern and Ess- 
 ling masked behind its deadly fringe of graveyard 
 trees! The theatre of Napoleon's most splendid bat- 
 tle passion plays! Away sped the swift yacht, its en- 
 gines throbbing to the imprisoned steam demon's im- 
 pulse, gliding down past Fischament, and beautiful 
 Schonau, on beyond Ellend, past Regelsbrunn and the 
 splendid domain of Count Tramer at Petronel.
 
 32 LOST COUNTESS FALXA. 
 
 "The Countess has ordered full speed !" proudly said 
 the captain. "See what the 'Lorelei' is doing! But 
 we don't leave that fellow much !" Denton turned his 
 eyes in a vague uneasiness and saw a gliding shadow 
 stealing along behind them on the swift blue Danube! 
 It was a powerful boat, and it was rushing on like the 
 wild huntsmen's steeds! A dark pursuer! 
 
 "Company's boat?" queried the American. The 
 yacht captain lowered his glasses. "That's the 'Sul- 
 tanieh/ the Ottoman Embassy's boat! She holds the 
 record to Galatz! There! You can see the red flag! 
 Well, she may beat us; she was built on torpedo boat 
 lines, and only fitted with a pleasure deck! She is a 
 wonder for speed!" 
 
 "Now I wonder!" growled Denton, as they swept 
 on past the Hiitelberg, "if the missing stars of Wien 
 are racing down to the Point du Serail! Here the 
 Turks turned and gave up forever from the conquest 
 of Europe; here at the Hiitelberg! May the devil con- 
 voy Mustapha if that is his exit! Hainburg and ruined 
 Rollenstein flitted by, crowning the superb stream 
 where every turn disclosed "some fresher beauty vary- 
 ing round !" The moody American soon forgot all his 
 cares at the merry challenge to the table, for already 
 the March was before them! There, on the hill, the 
 yawning ruins of Theben told of the work of the fierce 
 Frenchmen's petards in the gloomy year of 1809. "We 
 are in Hungary once more! Thank God!" cried Coun- 
 tess Magda, the rose color flushing her fair cheek as 
 she blew a kiss to the distant peaks of the Gemsenburg. 
 She was in her own kingdom once more! Love's gar- 
 den! 
 
 The soldier left the merry party, busied now chant- 
 ing, quaint, dreamy old Magyar love songs, and soon 
 stood alone rapt at the lovely scene where the vine 
 clad slopes of the Carpathians rose far above them in 
 the glowing skies! Presburg lay before them there, 
 nestling below the old kingly palace on the Schloss- 
 berg. The burnished Danube wound far away, wind-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 33 
 
 ing away beyond them like a glittering snake, and far 
 off Karlsburg and Keltsee, nestled under the old feu- 
 dal keep of Wolfsthal! They had now left Theben 
 far behind, and the fair Countess Magda, sparkling- 
 eyed, cried "Eljen!" in glee, as the old gray turrets 
 of Falkenstein came at last into view, with the little, 
 fluttering flag of the Falkas streaming bravely out on 
 the crystal air! 
 
 "Where is our rival?" questioned Denton. The cap- 
 tain pointed down the stream to where a long column 
 of black smoke cast its opaque shadow on the singing 
 river! "Passed us like a flash, as if devil driven!" 
 muttered the crestfallen navigator. "Beasts of Turks! 
 They are dirty dogs, all of them!" 
 
 "I am glad that the Countess saw nothing!" re- 
 joined Denton, as the "Lorelei" swung daintily around 
 to her landing at the boat bridge! There was a sud- 
 den chorus of feminine shrieks as handsome Arpad 
 Falka, in full hunting panoply, leaped over the nar- 
 rowed water chasm, and passing his blooming sister, 
 with true brotherly insouciance, tenderly clasped his 
 beautiful mother in his arms! Paul Denton, diplomat- 
 ically sedate, awaited the placing of the gang plank, 
 and with a general round-robin salutation, then gravely 
 placed his offering of flowers in the dainty gloved 
 hands of Countess lima! Their eyes met in silence, 
 and Arpad's voice was the first lifted up! "Hello! 
 What's this? Where's Soltykoff?" 
 
 "Off for Odessa, my boy!" quickly responded Eraser 
 Denton, shaking the young officer's hand. "He will 
 wait a couple of days at Budapest to see you ! He re- 
 ceived the most imperative telegraphic orders!" 
 
 "By Jove! See him! I'll see him if I have to swim 
 down! There's only one Serge Soltykoff in the 
 world! Why did you let him go?" Arpad turned to 
 the stately Countess, whose cheeks now wore a richer 
 red than the native roses, blushing near her! Strange- 
 ly, the Lady of Falkenstein found no ready words to 
 answer and Fraser Denton bit his lip, as he murmured, 
 
 3
 
 34 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "By Jove! She has her little secret all her own! 
 One woman, one mystery !" he growled, and then look- 
 ing at the black floating shadow on the silver Danube 
 far below, he hoped the fleet boat had borne it away 
 out of their lives forever! But there were no shadows 
 on the faces of the merry party as they were whisked 
 away to the domain of Falkenstein. Major Denton 
 felt himself just a bit de trop! Paul had glided into 
 the wagonette with that young Hebe, Countess lima; 
 Bela Batthyani was chattering with the brown-eyed 
 nymph, Aida Denton, and the spirited Arpad was crit- 
 ically surveying the lovely mother, whose fame had 
 gone far and wide as the "Veiled Beauty of Falken- 
 stein !" 
 
 "They told me that you were ill! I was even re- 
 called from the hunting scout! But I find you are 
 simply adorable!" the gallant young Magyar cried. "I 
 need 'rest, Arpad ! You know that I only live when 
 back at Falkenstein! Here in the glowing heart of 
 Hungary!" The fair widow's eye met the glances of 
 Fraser Denton in one last appeal. 
 
 "What a loyal child of Arpad!" laughed the heir of 
 Falkenstein, "Compliments from my kingly ancestor!" 
 They were a royal picture, this mother and son ! "And 
 even her mother love can dissemble!" mused Denton, 
 and so, he mourned one more lost ideal! "What is 
 this invisible barrier between Serge and this lovely 
 mystery?" They were, all gathered on the grand ter- 
 race, at Falkenstein before Denton could see the way 
 to shape his plan of action! "Shall I wait for her to 
 speak? Shall I speak first to Arpad? He must see 
 Soltykoff, and as for the rest I must trust to luck, or 
 to fate! What lies before us all now?" 
 
 Major Denton eyed the assembled retainers as the 
 graceful Countess paused in their midst, bowing right 
 and left, in a gracious recognition. There was no mis- 
 taking old Matthias, the head forester in his gray 
 jerkin, faced with Lincoln green, his silver-mounted 
 belt and buckhorn-hafted hanger! The old retainer
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 35 
 
 bowed his knee, as he doffed his cap, with its Carpathian 
 eagle plume. As he bent over Magda's slender hand, 
 the old hunter murmured a few broken words! The 
 laughing girls had passed in under the great portal 
 with the Falka arms carved high above them, and 
 Arpad, with his diplomatic guest, had quickly fol- 
 lowed. The seniors lingered alone a moment! Turn- 
 ing to her guest, Countess Falka murmured, "Remem- 
 ber! Not a single word!" Then, raising her voice, 
 she cried in her spirited musical accents, "You are 
 welcome to Falkenstein !" The American's eyes fol- 
 lowed the Magyar beauty, as her son led her up the 
 grand staircase. He did not fail to note old Matthias, 
 following in dog-like fidelity. Turning his delighted 
 eyes back to the Danube, the whole enchanting pan- 
 orama of the Little Carpathians lay before him. 
 
 The purpled mountains swept far away to the east 
 and the south, with their wooded crests, surmounted 
 by silver-capped Tatra, and the afternoon sun flashed 
 its golden lances on the far Transylvanian peak of 
 Butschelje. The vast old turreted pile of Falkenstein, 
 buttressed upon its gray rocks, was bowered in splen- 
 did gardens, sweeping down to the murmuring river 
 there below! A splendid close of tall ilex trees en- 
 closed the plaisaunce garden, where knight and dame 
 had watched the river so long with love-lit eyes. A 
 noble flight of marble steps led down to the waves, 
 whence the water nixies wooed the shimmering mid- 
 night stars! To the left, the Wolf's Glen led up to the 
 mighty crags above them, and far behind the vineyards 
 nestled in the swelling slopes of the rounded hills. 
 Down below them storied old Presburg lay, with its 
 four quartered environs. The Rathhaus, St. John's 
 Chapel, the Martin Cathedral, and the great flagged 
 Batthyani platz silently glowed in the golden flood 
 tide. There were drifting sails, too, gleaming white 
 on the rushing river, where the sound of merry song 
 floated back from the crystal tide, and the far away 
 tinkling herd bells were drowned in the hollow clang
 
 36 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 of the joy bells of the home coming! Denton's eye 
 sought out the stern old round tower, where the mad 
 Kinsky had been chained like a beast! As he noted 
 the ivy grown ruin, old Matthias emerged from the 
 sombre richness of the castle hall! He approached 
 the veteran, cap in hand. "I am to show you 
 all the grounds. Herr Major! My lady says 
 that you must accept me as guide! I will wait 
 here until you have broken your fast! I pray you 
 enter!" Denton started, as a huge raven, soar- 
 ing out from the round tower's gloom, winged its 
 way along, croaking harshly till it was only a black 
 shadow borne on strong pinions, far away down the 
 Danube! 
 
 "The old huntsman must tell me the story of the 
 murder and show me the Count's spring! But, has 
 she sealed his lips?" 
 
 Major Denton joined the happy circle in the great 
 dining hall, where smoke browned trophies of the dead 
 master's chase still hung! It was the very bower of 
 lingering old romance! Before the huge fireplace, 
 where Gabor Falka's cuirass, helmet and crossed 
 swords still hung the young chief of the house wel- 
 comed his chief guest. The Magyar chasseur costume 
 could not hide the "service" tokens of Arpad Falka's 
 well knit, athletic figure. Tall, bronzed, spare and 
 lithe as a Styrian chamois, his eagle eye, overhanging 
 brow, and air of mingled resolution and bonhomie be- 
 spoke the Magyar race! The supple movement, 
 winning voice, and quick, alert movement betrayed the 
 man who danced the Czardas, scaled the Falconberg, 
 tamed the wildest Croatian steed, and flashed into 
 poetry or song with all the headlong abandon of Hun- 
 gary! A modern Bayard! "Wait! Wait! Major Den- 
 ton! When I return from Budapest I will show you 
 the Hungarian's whole world, from the Wolf's Peak! 
 I must run down to-morrow to see Soltykoff once 
 again. Who knows but that one of Russia's whirl- 
 wind wars may claim him?
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 37 
 
 "I will leave Paul here to show you all the musty 
 glories of our old castle. In scanning our old den, 
 you can imagine what Hungary was when we held the 
 whole world at bay here under the Rhaetian Alps! 
 Now, the cup of welcome!" And then, laughingly, 
 Denton drank of the melted gold of the old Tokay, 
 brimming the antique gemmed flagon, which Sobies- 
 ki had once drained "to Hungary" in the glorious past! 
 
 "I must send a letter off to Soltykoff!" gravely said 
 Denton, and it seemed to him as if the silent Countess 
 standing there, with cheeks suddenly paling, moved 
 the trembling lips to frame the w r ord, "Remember!" 
 For her heart was with her absent lover, too! 
 
 "Would she call him back?" Major Denton found 
 time for a few words to greet his sturdy diplomatic 
 kinsman, Paul! I will do the ghost chambers and all 
 the picture gallery's glories to-night! I am your 
 'prey' after dinner! The ladies are tired out and we 
 can then have a 'war talk!' I am under the orders 
 of Matthias now!" 
 
 The beautiful chatelaine bowed her head! "I see 
 that you are a loyal subject, Major Denton, and have 
 already learned the soldier's crowning duty obe- 
 dience! Come! Arpad, I claim you now!" 
 
 "Will she tell him aught?" mused Denton. "Why 
 does she bear her burden alone? Will Arpad carry 
 Serge's life sentence to him?" 
 
 "We are going in for some music, Major!" hastily 
 remarked Paul Denton, as Bela Batthyani proudly bore 
 away the younger beauties. "Aida is simply radiant; 
 and it's a waste of time to ask you any family ques- 
 tions! You are as fit as a Derby winner!" Paul Den- 
 ton at twenty-five was the fellow of his Hungarian 
 host of equal age! His elegant "pekin" garb gave 
 no hint of soldiering, but his clear, bright eye, round- 
 ed muscle and splendid brawn told of the old Yale days 
 spent straining the ash and struggling in the Olympic 
 battles of the foot ball field! A couple of years of 
 globe trotting, with a few dashes at the elk and big
 
 38 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 horn, stray interviews with "ursus ferox," and "bos 
 bison Americanus," had shaken all the nonsense out 
 of him! A decent fortune had enabled Paul to in- 
 dulge in a brilliant post-graduate course at Berlin, and 
 his later entry into the placid diplomatic life of the 
 American abroad, led him to the feet of that brilliant 
 Magyar demoiselle, Countess lima Falka! His sworn 
 comradeship with her brother, Arpad, had easily opened 
 mess and club to him, and, moreover, his official post- 
 office address was more frequently "Presburg" than 
 Vienna, for reasons "not altogether within his own 
 control!" For, Paul was no laggard lover! Fraser 
 Denton had curiously wondered if Paul would bear off 
 as his bride the rarest blossom of the Magyar garden, 
 for gentle Magda Falka as yet knew America only as 
 a peopled waste! The gray-eyed young diplomat 
 spent hours over this "coming international complica- 
 tion" with much artful strategy expended in hastening 
 slowly. His crisp brown locks covered an "old head," 
 as men go, and the waiting game had enabled him 
 to fend off so far all the shoals of proud Grafs and 
 haughty nobles, who wished to quarter the Falka arms 
 in heraldic curtesy. The son of Columbia feared only 
 Countess Magda's pride. 
 
 The silver dinner gong had sounded long before 
 Fraser Denton threaded the darkened garden shades 
 on his return! "It is a mountain Paradise, a gallant 
 eyrie, here perched in the Danube barrier!" The 
 American was no wiser than before he went out, for 
 old Matthias only crossed himself and mumbled a 
 prayer when Denton asked for "the Count's spring!" 
 "'He can keep all the secrets of time, this loyal old 
 huntsman!" was Denton's admiring comment. The 
 stubborn old huntsman was silent and deaf. 
 
 It was easy to discern that Countess Magda ruled 
 there in medieval absolutism, for neither in the night 
 vigil with Paul, nor when Arpad Falka waved a merry 
 adieu from the "Lorelei" next day, was there any ref- 
 erence to the untoward incident of the opera. The
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 39 
 
 grim Turk was ignored! "Shadows that pass!" mut- 
 tered Denton, and yet, he noted the gentle decision with 
 which Magda Falka vetoed the presence of the young 
 ladies at the great forest hunting drives! "There is 
 always some sad accident possible!" she murmured, 
 "The lord to the chase, the dame to her place!" 
 laughed the chatelaine. "We will avenge ourselves 
 later at the masked ball!" There was already great 
 spoil of ancient gear unearthed for the grand ball, 
 which was to signalize the bringing home of boar and 
 chamois, wolf and bear! And the whole country side 
 was bidden! 
 
 Denton and Paul roved over the castle, and in- 
 spected the faded glories of picturesque old Presburg, 
 while the three graces were dispatching Countess 
 Magda's biddings to the Batthyanis, the Trauns, the 
 Schaffgolsch, the Zichys, the Palffys, the Esterhazys, 
 and all the magnates who ruled the March of the 
 Empire. 
 
 When Fraser Denton had curiously peered into the 
 gloomy recesses of the raven tower, on the morrow 
 of Arpad's departure for Budapest, he turned to old 
 Matthias, his stalwart cicerone, "I once knew the 
 Kinskys!" he said, "many years ago! Are they of your 
 neighborhood here?" 
 
 The American was fairly startled at the convulsion 
 of the old huntsman's stern features! "Name them 
 not! Herr Major! An accursed race! They are all 
 dead, passed away, blotted out! The wolf howls over 
 their cold hearthstone, far away yonder! Transyl- 
 vanian devils ! Never name them here ! The Kinskys 
 are our foes, wherever the devil drives them! Out- 
 casts, wanderers! They betrayed their own land with 
 the accursed Gorgey! The finger of Death followed 
 them !" 
 
 "So the wound still rankles!" mused Denton. "Did 
 Bela really tell me all? Does he know all? There 
 will be surely no Kinsky face at this merry masking 
 in the old Schloss! And yet I have seen the dead
 
 JO LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 come back! These border feuds are Corsican here, 
 and it is true that the Magyar is the Circassian of Eu- 
 rope ! They never forget or forgive !" But, Major Den- 
 ton threw himself into the merry entertainment of the 
 passing hours! Paul, as volunteer equerry, dragged 
 his relative from kennel to stable, from chalet to where 
 the beaters were now being mustered! "You do the 
 trick as if to the manner born, Paul !" laughed the old 
 soldier. "I must break myself in," replied the astute 
 young diplomat. "Thy people shall be my people, 
 you know!" They were strolling down to greet Arpad, 
 for the returning "Lorelei" was signaled, when the 
 Major absently queried, "What of Arpad's father? 
 Did he die in service?" 
 
 "It is a family sorrow, I believe!" lightly replied 
 Paul! "Count Gabor, I'm told, was killed in the Bos- 
 nian war, after a most heroic, soldierly career. He was 
 greatly distinguished at Solferino, where a battalion of 
 the white coats died there grimly on the hill, defying a 
 whole French army !" And then the youngster yodled 
 a frantic welcome to the brother of his self-elected 
 bride! "So he knows nothing!" grimly mused Fraser 
 Denton. "What is this old story? Amourette or ven- 
 detta?" He was struck with Magda Falka's feverish 
 gayety at regaining her own home ! She seemed now 
 to have put away all shadows, and the woman, so pale 
 and broken at Vienna, seemed to shine with a newer 
 life! "Can it be that Arpad brings back Soltykoff?" 
 thought Denton! "Or is he only waiting until Paul 
 has conquered the frosty Austrian pride of caste? Per- 
 haps he will be rewarded later! It's all woman's mys- 
 tery!" 
 
 But, Arpad Falka was alone and his brow was 
 gloomy! He led his elder guest aside! "I must have 
 a talk with you about Soltykoff," he said, giving Den- 
 ton a letter. "I never saw him so cut up! Perhaps 
 your letter may explain! I begged him to come back 
 with me for the hunt and ball! He says that he is 
 peremptorily ordered to Odessa. There is some new
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA 41 
 
 racket on the Armenian border, or over on the Tash- 
 kend road! He has been for years the head of the 
 secret staff, planning the coming Russian advance on 
 Asia Minor and the Persian Gulf! He seems gloomy 
 enough! I tried to get something out of him! He 
 only said that he would first report, as a soldier should, 
 and if there is no war, then throw up his commission 
 and go into retirement on his Ukraine estates! Why, 
 not even my mother's letter would move him! He has 
 written to her that he will come back for the late hunt- 
 ing if he goes 'en retraite' ! It can't be money ! He is 
 a magnate, immensely rich, and he can have an aide 
 de camp's place with the Emperor at the merest hint! 
 But he is no court dangler! I wonder that he has 
 never married!" 
 
 "So you are side-tracked also, my young friend!" 
 mused Fraser Denton! "Everyone but you can see 
 Soltykoff's despairing love for the silent Countess!" 
 He left the young men to join the trinity of waiting 
 beauty on the terrace, and threw himself down on an 
 old rustic bench! Breaking the seal of Serge Solty- 
 koff's letter, he growled in a vain rage, as he ran over 
 the lines. "I must look to this! By God! There is 
 some damned deviltry hatching out! The raven is on 
 the Danube ! Oh ! for one glimpse of the truth ! Dare 
 I warn her? I will watch night and day! If there is a 
 sorrow of to-day, once a shame of the past, how can I 
 force myself into a woman's locked up heart? What 
 could I know that Arpad must not know? Is our old 
 enemy Soltykoff's rival of the past, and the partner of 
 Magda Falka's secret? 
 
 "She must know of this! After the guests are gone 
 I will warn her by carelessly letting her read Solty- 
 koff's letter! Women have a thousand wiles where 
 men only walk the straight path!" 
 
 And he again read over the words which brought 
 to him a fresh alarm, "I have made Arpad the bearer 
 of what I would not trust to any one else!" wrote the 
 Russian, "for he knows nothing of my love, my hopes,
 
 42 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 my fears! You must write me every day, addressed to 
 Odessa, until I reply! There is some hidden danger 
 lurking near Magda! Do sound Arpad and Bela on 
 the story of the old times! I have already found out 
 that the captain knows little! But his old servants 
 would surely tell him all ! You must guard Magda! It 
 is honor alone which makes me go forward! I shall 
 telegraph to you from Odessa! If all is well reply by 
 wire, 'Coast clear.' Now, here's the mystery! I ran 
 against Faroe Moses, the great diamond dealer of Con- 
 stantinople, at Hungaria. He came up with jewels 
 for the Szechenyi wedding. I knew him of old on the 
 Golden Horn. Our Ambassador, Ignatief, used him 
 as a chief spy there, for Moses has the entree of all 
 the harems of Istambol! Now, he remembers you 
 very well in Cairo, where he was the chief dragoman 
 and king of the bazaars in your time! 
 
 "I cautiously brought up this 'Mustapha Pasha' fel- 
 low's name! The old mahogany-colored island Jew 
 scanned me very closely. 'Is he a friend of yours or 
 an enemy?' cautiously said he. 'Look here, Moses!' I 
 answered. 'You may need a good turn for one of your 
 Hebrew guild over at Odessa! I shall soon be Moura- 
 vief's second in command there! Tell me the whole 
 truth! He is my enemy!' 
 
 "'Then look out for him!' answered Moses, after 
 peering around to see that we were safe. 'Tell your 
 friend Denton to be also on his guard! The Major 
 once stopped him from killing poor little Lord Wood, 
 an English lad at Cairo, in a row over 'the Pozzoni !' 
 This Mustapha is a self-promoted Pasha! Names are 
 nothing to him! He was Waldemar Becker Bey in 
 Egypt! Major Denton will remember him! Spy, 
 pander, gambler and slave girl huckster! He was a 
 renegade from Russia, whither he had drifted from 
 Roumania or Bulgaria.' Now what the devil he is after 
 up here he would not say! 
 
 "But the yacht captain told me of a lovely rein- 
 forcement for Ismail Pasha's harems of Dolma
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 43 
 
 Baghtche ! 'You are all right, Colonel !' said the timid 
 old Jew trader, 'but, bid Major Denton beware! This 
 Becker Bey is a born Magyar, and he knows every 
 inch of Hungary.' 'His true name?' I queried. 'Ah! 
 That I know not,' said Moses, 'but he is a Magyar. 
 He is an all round spy, and has just run down several 
 loads of women out of Austria for Constantinople! 
 Once beyond the Iron Gate, he is safe! Any woman 
 lured into his hands would be murdered at the first 
 sign of escape ! Roumania and Bulgaria are only feed- 
 ing grounds for these Turkish dogs! It is the shame 
 of Europe!' 
 
 "Now, Denton, I have promised Faroe Moses to get 
 him passports for any Hebrew partner he sends under 
 his sign manual to see me! In return Moses will post 
 me at Odessa as to all this wretch's whereabouts. If 
 you find him lurking around Countess Magda shoot 
 him down like a dog! You will save me the trouble, 
 and it may save your own life ! Now, dare you, dare I 
 break in upon Countess Magda's proud reserve? You 
 might lose a friend; I might lose the woman who is 
 the whole world to me! Watch, guide and guard! If 
 there is aught suspicious, warn her openly and tell 
 her this whole story! If any strange event occurs, 
 telegraph to me at Odessa! I have already slaked all 
 my youthful ambitions; if love is denied to me, then 
 there is always vengeance! I have not dared to shat- 
 ter Arpad's faith in his entire knowledge of his moth- 
 er's heart!" 
 
 Major Denton gazed at the clean cut signature, 
 "Serge Soltykoff," a dozen times before he slept that 
 night! Three days of the wild romantic mountain 
 chase brought the old soldier home tired and weary. 
 Yet, he dared not speak to Arpad to alarm lovely lima 
 nor to break in upon the stately chatelaine's silent in- 
 trospection! Only once, at the great hunting feast, 
 the Lady of Falkenstein turned to her guest of honor, 
 "You have not spoken to any one of my fright at the
 
 44 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Fraser Denton gravely shook his head. "It is well, 
 my friend!" said Countess Magda, throned in her robes 
 of princely state. "It was only my disordered nerves! 
 A mere vision! For the dead do not return! I was 
 only haunted by an old sorrow ! And it was a stranger 
 face that brought it back ! Here in my mountain home 
 I can laugh at the world! There are stout hearts in 
 Magyar land! And these are all my own, my loving 
 subjects!" 
 
 Fraser Denton, walking in his splendid chamber on 
 the morning of the great masked ball, watched with a 
 curious eye the merry groups scattered over lawn and 
 "My Lady's Garden!" The great halls below echoed 
 to the sound of ringing laughter. Groups of gay 
 cavaliers and equipages thronged the splendid park! 
 The American was, however, reminded of his anxious 
 correspondent by a telegram from Odessa signed 'Sol- 
 tykoff.' He had answered it briefly, and pen in hand, 
 was now busied in framing a letter in answer to the 
 Russian's warnings! 
 
 Denton was puzzled! "When we scatter, when 
 Paul goes back to Vienna, when Arpad and Bela re- 
 join their regiments, and I am called away on my 
 tours, here are these two women without a single man 
 to guide or any cool adviser! There seems to be no 
 way to cut this Gordian knot!" There was a strange 
 uneasy feeling haunting him that the air was fraught 
 with danger! 
 
 "Hello, Uncle!" gaily cried Paul Denton, breaking 
 in on the veteran's seclusion. "What are you up to? 
 They miss your presence!" "Only writing to Solty- 
 koff!" said Denton, offering his cigar case. Paul 
 strolled to the window, and then turning suddenly said, 
 "I wonder if he has received his conge! If he would 
 only marry the Countess! But the whole world seems 
 to be at cross purposes!" 
 
 Major Denton rose and laid his hand on the young 
 man's shoulder. "What do you mean, Paul?" 
 
 "I would then be free to take lima Falka away as
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 46 
 
 my wife !" The young diplomat was gloomy. "Arpad 
 tells me that Soltykoff has departed finally! And lima 
 will not leave her mother alone ! We can wait, but the 
 whole thing is at a deadlock! I am not intimate 
 enough with Colonel Soltykoff to broach this ! He is 
 as proud and as untamable as Peter the Great himself! 
 You know these headlong Russians!" 
 
 "Paul, my boy!" cried the startled veteran! "You 
 can end the whole thing right here on this visit! Sol- 
 tykoff is at the present wavering as to throwing up his 
 appointment! His heart is here! Now if you will 
 bring lima to her mother as your affianced then Arpad 
 will surely sanction it! There will be surely no em- 
 barrassment! Then the mother is free to call Serge 
 back! I will post him by telegraph! I see it all now! 
 How blind I have been! Countess Magda would not 
 encourage the Russian until her daughter was first a 
 bride! I have been blind! Speak to lima! Speak to 
 her to-night!" 
 
 Paul laughed, "You do not know these spirits of fire 
 and flame! lima will be bewitched with the dance, 
 the loveliest bacchante, to-night! No! To-morrow! 
 I'll make an early morning tryst with her in the gar- 
 den, and if I can win her, as you are the head of our 
 family, we will join forces and try to gain Countess 
 Magda's consent ! Say nothing to Arpad ! I will bring 
 his sister to him! She can win him over at a touch! 
 Then you can at once summon Soltykoff to return if we 
 carry the day ! I believe that you are right ! Serge is 
 a gallant fellow. He will win, especially if he would 
 offer to retire and let Countess Magda have her sum- 
 mers here at Falkenstein. She would have her old 
 realm around her. The loss of lima would not be a 
 serious one, as I am soon to be First Secretary and good 
 for another four years at Vienna! Now, to-morrow 
 morning you take Arpad away on a long ride and give 
 me the whole morning alone in the garden with lima! 
 The guests will not leave us until the afternoon!" Paul 
 was radiant and confident!
 
 46 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "Success, my boy! Success to you!" cried the hap- 
 py soldier. This will cut the Gordian knot and Coun- 
 tess Magda will have a noble partner for life!" 
 
 Fraser Denton was the lightest hearted black domi- 
 no of the motley crowd of maskers when the great 
 Schloss blazed out with lights that night! Two hun- 
 dred revellers thronged the vast halls and the mirrors 
 reflected under the glow of the wax sconces, blushing 
 beauty and manly bravery in wild attire, in medieval 
 armor, or clad in Renaissance riches in courtly guise. 
 Countess Magda, as Anne of Austria, was the queen 
 of the night. An Esterhazy followed her as a sump- 
 tuous Buckingham ; Arpad, a glorious Andreas Hofer, 
 rivaled that princely caballero, Paul Denton! Bela 
 Batthyani was a dashing Don Carlos, and he chival- 
 rously guarded Aida Denton, who as the Bohemian 
 girl, was a piquant foil to the crowning vision of love- 
 liness, lima Falka as Lurline! 
 
 There is no wailing music as sweet as the witching 
 waltzes of the Tziganes, no dancers lighter of foot than 
 the courtly Magyars. Beauty born of murmuring 
 sound thrilled in the faces of the impassioned merry- 
 makers! Wafted perfumes, happy laughter, the ring- 
 ing of silver and crystal, the merry sounds borne on 
 the love laden atmosphere, all made up a witching 
 dream of ecstatic gayety! 
 
 Fraser Denton, gazing down on the splendid scene 
 from the grand picture gallery, was dreaming of the 
 double wedding festival to come ! He had sent a let- 
 ter, artful in its veiled consolation, to the ardent Rus- 
 sian! "All's well that ends well ! To-morrow will turn 
 the golden key!" he murmured. The ball was now at 
 its culmination of merry abandon! Suddenly a hand 
 clasped his own roughly! He started! It was Count 
 Arpad, still clad in his Tyrolian bravery. "Quick! 
 Quick! The very man! Take this pistol! Come! 
 Some fellow, some low intruder has stolen into the 
 house, probably for robbery! He has blundered clum- 
 sily into my father's rooms! They have been locked
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 47 
 
 ap ever since his death ! Now guard this portal ! Stop 
 ^ny one, even at the risk of life! Old Matthias saw 
 nim sneak out of the hall when the signal to unmask 
 was given! The other door was left open to allow the 
 rooms to be illuminated! I'll go in at the other end! 
 Never mind me! I'm armed! And, Matthias watches 
 the stair below ! He tracked the stranger there !" The 
 merry music of the dancers was wafted up from below, 
 as Fraser Denton waited breathless, with the heavy 
 army revolver cocked and at a ready! There was no 
 sound within the closed door! But soon, Arpad Fal- 
 ka's springing feet sounded returning down the long 
 hall! He then led the astonished American into the 
 dimly lighted, deserted chambers! "Gone! Tricked!" 
 he gasped! "See that, Major Denton!" he said grave- 
 ly, pointing to a little turret door still standing open ! 
 The night air drew in chill and fresh through the nar- 
 row aperature. "That door was known only to my 
 father! Some one has been here for a sinister pur- 
 pose! Some scoundrel who has mingled with the 
 guests! The fellow who prepared that way of escape 
 knew long years ago of its existence! Let this be your 
 secret and mine ! I must not alarm my mother ! Here ! 
 What's this?" The young Count then stooped and 
 picked up a red fez!* 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LOST COUNTESS ILMA! PAUL DENTON'S LIFE 
 
 QUEST! FAROE MOSES' FRIEND ON THE 
 
 TURKISH YACHT TOO LATE! 
 
 While the startled men eyed each other, the flourishes 
 of the grand Magyar national hymn called the revel- 
 ers below to the banquet. For all masks were off and 
 the sound of merry challenges rang out on the vibrant 
 air! "I must go!" cried Arpad. "Keep this a secret! 
 
 *Fez, a red Turkish cap.
 
 48 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 I dare not excite my mother! Doctor Eschenbach 
 wrote me from Wien that her heart action was greatly 
 enfeebled ! I must lead the supper march ! My mother 
 waits for me. I will have Matthias post two well armed 
 men at every entrance of the Schloss! Come up to 
 ny rooms when the ball breaks up!" 
 
 The young Count locked the only door which had 
 never been opened since the murdered Count Gabor 
 lay there, slain in his prime! The old head yager 
 stood by mutely and shuddered as the rusted key 
 creaked in the old lock! Fraser Denton gazed at the 
 old man in silence as Arpad hastily communed in the 
 Magyar tongue with the ober forester. 
 
 "Now, come on, Denton!" said Arpad, as he sprang 
 down the rear staircase. But Matthias laid his heavy 
 hand on Denton's arm! He whispered "Come back 
 to me! You saw the raven leave the Round Tower! It 
 is a sign of ill omen ! The dead came back to-night !" 
 Denton held the fez in his right hand. He held it up, 
 "Do you know this?" he said. The old man started 
 back! "Yes! There was a Turk, who changed his 
 garb several times! The Black Mask! Go you! I will 
 now search the rear passage! But come back to me 
 here! For there has been a man hidden in the Round 
 Tower, and he knew all the secrets of the Schloss!" 
 
 "He! Who? Speak?" demanded Fraser Denton, 
 as the old man moved away. "The dead Kinsky ! He 
 alone knew ! For, Count Gabor was a secret conspir- 
 ator, and Kinsky always led those whose heads might 
 fall in here at night! The rising failed after the 
 Count's death, for the Government had the secret 
 plans! I will search the passage now!" 
 
 Fraser Denton slowly descended the stair and stood 
 a moment at the door of the banquet hall, gazing on 
 the blushing loveliness there and all the Magyar chiv- 
 alry assembled around the lovely Magda. 
 
 "I must tell Arpad to-morrow! He must warn his 
 mother. The Schloss must be guarded ! For now, I 
 know why Kinsky fled to Russia! The spy sold his
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 49 
 
 master to the Austrian! Ke would have enjoyed the 
 Countess and her wealth would have been his own, 
 when Austria's vengeance struck! The noble Steplen 
 Sczechenyi died a prison starved maniac ! Count Louis 
 Batthyani's last cry, "Eljen a haza!" was stilled by the 
 bullets of the firing platoon of Haynau! But Kinsky's 
 passion could not wait! And so, murder saved the 
 Austrian hangman his rope! The wild libertine, 
 chased out from Russia after his second sale of mas- 
 ters, bloomed out as Waldemar Becker Bey, the 
 Egyptian officer! It is he! Now rich, powerful, 
 thirsting for revenge, he comes back as Mustapha 
 Pasha to plot against the woman who once repulsed 
 him! Yes! I will take Arpad to the forest while Paul 
 seeks his fate at Ilma's hands! Shall I urge Soltykoff 
 to come back? The daughter wedded, and in Paul's 
 sturdy keeping, the mother must at once find a pro- 
 tector in the princely Russian ! For in Moscow's palaces 
 Mustapha's schemes will be baffled forever! The rene- 
 
 fade would never dare to face the ban which drove 
 im from Russia, and the secret police will watch this 
 scoundrel's every movement! Soltykoff's strong arm 
 is needed here now. I will invite him to come on at all 
 hazards! For the fates must not be tempted! 
 
 "Arpad shall know all! He must now divide his 
 mother's fears!" and, around the old soldier, the light 
 laughter of love swelled in a happy chorus! The grave 
 American sat moodily at the feast, where bright eyes 
 challenged him and love and laughter reigned! It 
 was easy for him to leave the hall after a last meaning 
 
 lance at Arpad, gallantly ruling the midnight feast! 
 uperb in her loveliness there, Countess Magda shone 
 among her patrician guests, the queen of a summer 
 night! Ilma's dark eyes flashed out a greeting over the 
 jeweled cup, and Aida Denton forgot the passing of 
 her father in the murmured entreaties of Bela Batthy- 
 ani ! They were of one mind ! The night breeze scarce- 
 ly moved the trembling leaves, the river shone blue 
 under the twinkling stars, and great fantastic black
 
 50 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 shadows quivered on the velvet shaven lawn, as Fraser 
 Denton followed old Matthias out into the crisp night. 
 A little door, hidden behind the projecting angle of a 
 tower, soon admitted the two men, and Matthias' 
 lantern dimly lit up the winding stair, not a yard wide, 
 hidden from sight in the projecting masonry of the 
 great western tower of the grand portal. 
 
 Matthias halted in a circular grotto through which 
 the sinister, unbidden guest had fled from the dead 
 Count's private apartments! He flashed his lantern 
 around and then grunted as he tripped over several 
 cast off garments! "The scoundrel used several dis- 
 guises!" cried Denton, as he held up a Capuchin's 
 robe, then a great black domino, and marveled at a 
 common forester's suit, as well as a Magyar peasant 
 costume. "What the devil would he do with these 
 last?" grumbled Denton. They were travel stained 
 and soiled! The floor was covered with half burned 
 matches and Denton stooped and picked up an empty 
 paper case. It was marked "Osmanli Tabac-Regie 
 Constantinople." There was a rough boat cloak lying 
 under their feet, as if it had been thrown down in 
 flight! The men stood there in wonder! 
 
 "Some one has been hiding here!" stoutly said old 
 Matthias, as he held up a leathern wallet! There was 
 bread and meat still therein and a half emptied brandy 
 flask. "Now, I know why the Round Tower shows that 
 some wanderer had nested there recently. This fellow 
 watched us from there by day and hid here at night! 
 And these dresses would do for the country villages, or 
 the river! God protect our noble mistress!" The old 
 forester's voice sounded hollow in the silent vault! 
 Fraser Denton stood there, pistol in hand. "He 
 might come back and be trapped here!" "Ah! No! 
 He is too shy a bird! We will hear no more till he 
 is ready to strike again! After the Countess is left 
 alone!" "Matthias!" Denton faced the old servitor as 
 he spoke, "does the young Count know that his father 
 conspired against the Hapsburgs?"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 51 
 
 The old man solemnly said "No! Only the Count, 
 I and Kinsky knew! The Countess was a simple girl 
 and easily hoodwinked! The secret gatherings were 
 held here, the guests then were masked later as gen- 
 tlemen hunters! I am the last survivor!" "And who 
 was Kinsky?" Denton's voice trembled in eagerness. 
 "He was the Adjutant of Gabor Falka's Honved Regi- 
 ment, and it was his hand that struck the dead man 
 at the Count's spring!" 
 
 "Now I must go! Hear me!" cried Denton. "Keep 
 your lips sealed as to the past, till I bid you speak! 
 But, sleep not! Have the armed men posted at every 
 door of the Schloss, and you must guard this door 
 yourself! Count Arpad alone must know of what we 
 have found ! Leave all here just as we found it !" 
 
 The gray-headed forester bowed assent! "I will 
 sleep in front of this door! My son, the under forester, 
 alone shall be with me! I wait for you and the Count 
 Arpad !" and the old man looked to his pistol and hunt- 
 ing sword. 
 
 "Good!" cried Denton, as he stepped out in the 
 night, pistol in hand! But as his left hand clutched 
 the emptied cigarette pacquet, he muttered, "Strange 
 that Soltykoff and I should have to run down Walde- 
 mar Becker Bey! I must telegraph to Mclvor Pasha 
 at Constantinople! He must know of this at once!" 
 
 The lights were dim in the great banquet hall, but 
 graceful shadows still flitted across the casements of 
 the long line of guest chambers above! The Tzigane 
 music was mute, and serf and lord, maid and patrician 
 beauty were alike forgetting the cares or raptures of 
 this night of nights! Only from below, in the servants' 
 hall, rang out the murmured echo of the feast of the 
 night! 
 
 "Go the rounds, Matthias! Watch and sleep not!" 
 said the American veteran. 
 
 "I guard my dear lady's life with my own!" sol- 
 emnly answered the old henchman ; and so the masked 
 ball was over, the splendid pageant of a happy night!
 
 52 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Arpad Falka's orderly waited in the vaulted grand cor- 
 ridor for the American. "This way, my lord !" he whis- 
 pered. "The Count expects you!" Denton sighed as 
 he mounted the stair! He had seen the roofs of the 
 old Diet Hall of Hungary sparkling there below, while 
 above the crescent moon hung over the ruin where St. 
 Stephen had worn the purple mantle, and the crown 
 of Sylvester II. Nine hundred and ninety years had 
 rolled by, and yet the restless Magyar heart still plotted 
 against Fate's stern decrees! "The dead Count a 
 rebel! Was Kinsky not an Austrian mouchard? Did 
 he strike for revenge, that outraged Love had foiled his 
 plot to betray Gabor Falka to the Austrian hangman, 
 and enjoy wife and the confiscated estates?" 
 
 The resolute American had already decided upon his 
 course, when he noiselessly entered Arpad's private 
 rooms. 
 
 "He must never know! Let him only think the past 
 tragedy was the result of a blood feud ! The great con- 
 spiracy is dead forever, for Austria's Emperor is now 
 Hungary's anointed and lawful king, and the Magyar 
 land is restored to her autonomy! I will only hasten 
 Paul's marriage and Soltykoff's return! Till then, Ar- 
 pad must guard his mother with the eye of the Car- 
 pathian eagle!" 
 
 The two men were alone! Arpad strode up and 
 down as Major Denton described the discoveries of 
 the grotto! "What do you make of it all?" said the 
 American. The young man threw himself into a chair. 
 "Thank God! My mother knows nothing! I will have 
 the Schloss doubly guarded till the guests depart! Then 
 a thorough search must be made of the whole do- 
 main! We will examine every nook of the hun- 
 dred old lumber rooms of the Schloss! Our Magyar 
 wits are sharp! If I find any scoundrel lurking here I 
 will throw his carcass to our hounds ! Here I am mas- 
 ter! My voice is law!" 
 
 "Arpad!" said the American, "have you any blood 
 feud? Any dangerous intrigue? Is there any danger
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 53 
 
 menacing your mother? Has she said aught to you 
 since her return? Anything to alarm you?" Denton 
 bid for the young Count's confidence. "Not a word!" 
 cried Falka. "I have no enemies on my track! There 
 are no local quarrels! I fear that this may be some 
 device of the river bandits to linger and steal my moth- 
 er's jewels, or perchance, in secret, to rob the plate 
 vaults ! I might leave an easy opening for this fellow 
 to return! I could have the outer secret door watched I 
 The inner one he has burst loose ! Let us meet early 
 to-morrow ! You and I will take a turn in the wald and 
 talk it over! I will see Matthias and leave him to watch 
 in the grotto while we are away ! I will station his son 
 on watch in the closed up rooms! These men are as 
 mute as the werewolf! We own them, body and 
 soul! I do not wish to alarm my mother! Remember, 
 the doctor's warning! But when the guests are gone 
 I will confer guardedly with her! If this menaces any 
 one, it is my mother! And she never leaves her own 
 apartments till after I have visited her rooms! So to- 
 morrow morning we will set our trap! The fez, of 
 course, was just a bit of disguise! This scoundrel must 
 have a thorough knowledge of the ground, and has 
 probably some confederates! For neither Matthias 
 nor I ever dreamed that the secret door was known to 
 others!" 
 
 Count Arpad himself conducted Major Denton back 
 to his rooms ! The men clasped hands in parting. "All 
 is safe for the night, and to-morrow night, I will have 
 concealed watchers in the shrubbery!" Arpad's last 
 word was, "This is for you and I alone as yet! Not a 
 word to Bela! To any one! There is no present dan- 
 ger!" 
 
 Major Denton gazed after the proud young noble 
 as he disappeared. A horrible misgiving suddenly 
 filled his mind. "Countess Magda is but a woman! 
 Has she stooped to disgrace? Is there some old con- 
 nection, some mad intrigue that she dare not own to 
 her princely heirs? Is there a desperate lover who has
 
 54 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 followed her here? The discovery of the secret pas- 
 sage, the unbidden guest's presence at the ball! Was 
 it the freak of some one of the mad gallants of a land 
 where blood is molten fire? Was Soltykoff's long 
 pressed suit barred by a deadly impediment?" The 
 generous blood surged back to his heart "No! I 
 will risk my life on her honor!" mused Denton. "Mag- 
 da Falka wears no mask! And to her, I will speak! 
 Thank God! Paul will know his fate before we re- 
 turn! Then the eclaircissement! Arpad and the Coun- 
 tess consenting, I will tell all to Magda and she, Ar- 
 pad and myself must guard the future! Yes! It is 
 the golden' key! Ilma's *y es ' will make us relatives 
 to be ! And so Paul, sly dog, stole away and has glad- 
 ly made his tryst! ' It will be all over when we return!" 
 
 Yet for all his sage conclusions, Fraser Denton 
 tossed uneasily on his couch. He found himself bolt 
 upright for once, for he had sprung from his couch! 
 It seemed to him that the tall Turk, he of the opera, 
 the man of the Stefans Keller, the fez wearer of the 
 Franzens briicke, was stealing upon him in the silent 
 night! The veteran grasped his ready pistol! 
 
 "I am getting old!" muttered Denton, as he lay down 
 again. He was ashamed to be startled at the vague 
 shadows of the night or conjured up visions of a tired 
 brain, for he had sat his horse unmoved while the 
 shells of the Louisiana Light Artillery duplicated 
 around him the havoc of his own ringing guns! A 
 case of "give and take" to the bitter death! 
 
 The old soldier was astir long before any other 
 guest! The morning mists still veiled the Carpathians 
 and hung over the great hill where the ruined palace 
 spoke of other days! The household in the inverse 
 order of rank moved around the old Schloss, jaded 
 and heavy of eyes. To Fraser Denton's secret delight 
 as he entered the breakfast hall, where Arpad Falka 
 awaited him, Paul Denton joined them for a cup of 
 coffee! "Whither away?" merrily challenged the host! 
 "I am off for a freshener, a morning walk!" said the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 55 
 
 diplomatist, telegraphing his "All's well" to his uncle! 
 "Let us take a turn on the road, Major?" answered 
 Arpad, with affected carelessness ! Join me at the sta- 
 bles! I'll get a pair of ponies out!" 
 
 As the American veteran sauntered out he paused 
 at the great portal to light his cigar. There was old 
 Matthias ready to greet him ! "I have seen the Count!" 
 the sturdy old man said. "To-night we will catch him, 
 or when he comes again ! See ! Here are many good 
 places to hide our watchers here!" 
 
 Denton eyed the protecting shrubbery and noted 
 Paul striding off over the lawn with upturned glances 
 at Countess Ilma's windows! The keen-eyed old sol- 
 dier caught the glimpse of a fluttering signal there, for 
 love's signal was a kerchief which was waved, the very 
 oriflamme of love and hope! 
 
 "I am not needed here!" laughed the Major, as he 
 wandered away to where a smart wagonette was await- 
 ing him at the stables. Away up the Wolf's Glen, un- 
 der the spreading forest branches, fragrant in the scent- 
 ed morning, the wild Croatian steeds sprang away! The 
 black cock whirled across their pathway and the shy 
 red deer bounded out of the copses with elastic strides ! 
 Blue sapphire skies domed over the far purpled moun- 
 tains, and fleecy pearl clouds parted in the golden glo- 
 ries of the coming day! The friends were soon deep in 
 every consideration of the unwelcome nocturnal visit! 
 Denton warily guarded his conclusions, mentally re- 
 joicing. "This afternoon I will tell them all! For 
 they must both know now, mother and son!" The 
 clouds had vanished from the gallant Hungarian's 
 brow. "It may have been only some mean marauder! 
 Even a kitchen intrigue ! You know this great estate 
 needs a firm hand! I am an absentee and my moth- 
 er's graceful hand is very light!" He sought manfully 
 to reassure himself! But, Eraser Denton sighed heav- 
 ily! 
 
 "Perhaps an interrupted love masquerade of some 
 one of your gay guests!" smiled Denton, whose heart
 
 66 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 was light, knowing that Paul was keeping Ilma's tryst! 
 "Could Arpad really be so long deceived?" 
 
 "No! Denton! It was more serious!" answered Ar- 
 pad. "The man's disguises for inside and outside work 
 would rather hint at an attempted robbery of my moth- 
 er's famous jewels! For the Sczechenyi's, the Batthy- 
 anis and the Falkas were once of almost regal splendor 
 of living! A sly maid, some plotting steward, perhaps! 
 Well, we will see! Here's for home! It's nearly eleven, 
 and the great stirrup cup bout awaits us ! The guests will 
 be moving!" The flying steeds were suddenly drawn 
 up, as Paul Denton's lithe form was seen strutting 
 along the road a half mile from the old Schloss, as they 
 neared the sparkling river! It's swift current bore 
 along sloop and shallop, with rushing steam launches 
 and long lines of towed barges, and now from the 
 passing pleasure boats merry music was wafted 
 ashore! All nature seemed to laugh in the summer 
 sunshine! 
 
 "Jump in, Paul!" cried the Count. "We are due for 
 the dejeuner soon!" And the Major smiled as he saw 
 the light of happiness in the young athlete's eyes ! Den- 
 ton, minor, had easily vaulted into the wagon. His 
 triumphant eyes told the story, and the Major tele- 
 graphed back his congratulations! "It's a rare morn- 
 ing!" said the gleeful Paul. "A morning I will never 
 forget! Your stronghold here is an earthly Paradise, 
 Arpad!" "There's no land like it, this Danube coun- 
 try! 'Hearts so true, eyes so blue!'" sang the young 
 chief as he swung the smoking team up to the great 
 arched doorway, where the flower of Magyar land was 
 gathered around Countess Magda on the great ter- 
 race! The wanderers were waited for! Arpad sprang 
 from the wagonette, and, doffing his hunter's bonnet, 
 bent over his mother's slender hand ! "Welcome Madre 
 mia!" he laughed. "Pardon your runaways!" The 
 Major and Paul had hardly finished their greeting 
 when Countess Magda turned her eyes anxiously upon
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 57 
 
 Arpad! She spoke with some little concern in her 
 eager voice. 
 
 "Where is lima? Did she not ride with you?" Paul 
 Denton's glances were suddenly fixed upon a railway 
 train rushing along the sculptured shores of the farther 
 river bank ! His crimsoned face told its story to Fras- 
 er Denton alone! The lovely, glowing girl had fled 
 away to her rooms to hide her secret happiness, until 
 it could be told on a mother's breast! The veiled se- 
 cret of a first love ! Paul was silent ! 
 
 "The Major and I have had a run up the road! We 
 picked up Paul! I have not seen lima yet!" said Ar- 
 pad, as a steward approached the Countess, bowing 
 low. 
 
 "I saw the Grafin go down through the garden to 
 the boat house by the river an hour ago, your excel- 
 lency!" said the retainer. 
 
 "Please summon the Countess! Waldeck!" said the 
 stately chatelaine, and then, preceding her son, she 
 passed on into the assembly room, followed by laugh- 
 ing Aida Denton, who had found time to whisper to 
 her soldier father her own morning greetings. 
 
 "Such a happy night! The masked ball was simply 
 exquisite!" The brown-eyed American had stolen a 
 glance at guilty Bela Batthyani, who had spoken the 
 night before! But, Eraser Denton was obtuse! His 
 mind was still full of the discovery in the grotto ! 
 
 In the ceremonial salutations of the gathering guests 
 no one noticed the return of the steward, who simply 
 said, "Excellence! I can not find Grafin lima! She 
 must have returned !" 
 
 Arpad Falka then left his mother's side and bounded 
 up to the beautiful boudoir of his truant sister. "lima!" 
 he called! "We are all waiting!" and a vague misgiving 
 chilled his heart, as the Magyar maid curtsied low! 
 "Her excellency has not returned since she left the 
 Schloss for her morning walk ! She must be still down 
 by the river!" 
 
 In an hour the alarm bell was pealing out wildly
 
 58 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 from the old turret of the Schloss ! There were fierce- 
 eyed riders spurring along the forest paths. The vil- 
 lagers summoned by the frightened attendants were 
 sweeping along through coppice and grove, and anx- 
 ious crowds searched every nook of the rivers cav- 
 erned banks! No sign! The Countess was missing! 
 The guests who came in gladness were departing with- 
 out ceremony, save the eager cavaliers who were ex- 
 citedly urging on the search for lost Countess Falka! 
 And still, no tokens! 
 
 In her darkened chambers of state Magda Falka lay 
 feebly breathing, her face pale and haggard on its 
 silken pillows ! By her side, the frightened Aida Den- 
 ton watched the flickering of the fluttering tide of life ! 
 The grave-faced attendants cast anxious glances at the 
 bevy of physicians who had been brought up from 
 Presburg at a life and death speed ! There were great 
 ladies clustered in silent knots, who awaited the first 
 news of the search parties. The river! Ah! the dan- 
 gerous river! But, on the track of the missing girl, Ar- 
 pad Falka, with Batthyani, the Major, and the half-de- 
 mented Paul were madly urging along the excited 
 seekers! Not a sign of the vanished beauty! Not a 
 trace of the proudest heiress of the Danube! In vain, 
 Paul Denton tried to make Arpad Falka listen to his 
 story! "Hasten! Hasten!" was the brother's cry. "We 
 must find her, dead or alive ! lima! My lima !" Even 
 cool Fraser Denton could not succeed in holding Arpad 
 back ! It was Bela Batthyani who rode like a demon 
 to Presburg to summon the river police, and to warn 
 all the authorities of the nearest towns! And far and 
 near the rumor of a mysterious tragedy ran on, while 
 Fraser Denton beat his breast, in his vain rage! "My 
 God! I thought only of the mother! And this ven- 
 geance has stricken the innocent child! The Turk! 
 Has he murdered her?" 
 
 He called up Batthyani, as he rode back on his ex- 
 hausted steed, and in a few words imparted to him one 
 awful growing fear! "She has been carried off! Down
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 59 
 
 the river!" For, an awful possible vengeance now 
 came to his mind! 
 
 Batthyani bade him speak ! And then, vaulting- on a 
 fresh steed, he rode away to the telegraph office! 
 "There is but one hope to use the Imperial power at 
 the Iron Gates, and search everything passing on the 
 river! I will telegraph to the minister of justice at 
 Vienna to send his orders to all our frontiers and to 
 dispatch a squad of his best men here ! It is horrible ! 
 horrible!" 
 
 The frowning buttressed mountains overhanging the 
 Danube threw their gloomy funereal shadows on the 
 blue flood below, and the owl called from the Wolf's 
 Glen, before the last straggling searchers returned! 
 There was not a sign of a struggle at the boat house ! 
 Not a stray token of the vanished heiress! Fraser Den- 
 ton awaited the last conference of the household be- 
 fore his departure from Falkenstein. The veteran had 
 acted with a quick decision! "This sweeps away the 
 last obstacle! Pride has no place here!" So in this 
 thought he had telegraphed to Colonel Soltykoff, by 
 way of Lemberg to Odessa. 
 
 "That will bring him to the Golden Horn at 
 once!" muttered Denton, as he scanned the words: 
 
 "Countess lima kidnapped. Meet me at Constanti- 
 nople. I go to-night via Budapest. See Faroe Moses 
 as to our old acquaintance. Bela stays here in charge." 
 
 It was but four hours before Denton's heart leaped 
 up at the words of the gallant Russian's answer. 
 
 "Have six months leave. Meet me Russian Em- 
 bassy, Istambol. Sail to-morrow steamer 'Princess 
 Olga.'" 
 
 "It is like Serge! He may earn his heart's reward 
 after all! Now, for Arpad, Paul and a plan!" 
 
 The telegraph had summoned Paul Denton's wid- 
 owed mother from Vienna, under the escort of Doctor 
 Eschenbach, who was hastening to the side of the 
 prostrated Lady of Falkenstein! When Arpad Falka 
 slowly left his mother's room on his return, his face
 
 60 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 had aged ten years! In his own room he gazed over 
 the table at Major Denton, Batthyani and the dis- 
 tracted Paul. 
 
 "We must have a plan, some plan of action !" hoarse- 
 ly said the young noble, whose trembling voice and 
 bloodshot eyes betrayed his helpless rage. "I shall 
 hold Eschenbach responsible for my mother! The 
 Schloss will be garrisoned by ten men of my own regi- 
 ment. I have already my Colonel's leave for three 
 months! The Imperial Minister begs me to come to 
 Vienna to confer, and promises the whole secret forces 
 of the Empire! How shall we go to work?" They 
 were silent till Eraser Denton spoke! 
 
 "See here! Arpad! You must see the Minister and 
 have a full conference with Countess Magda before 
 you start! Let Paul go to Vienna with you! Bela 
 stay here in charge! Granting there has been no ac- 
 cident it would be futile for any one to try and hide 
 lima Falka in Hungary, or to move to Germany, Italy, 
 Switzerland or Russia with her! There is but one 
 open road, down the Danube to the Principalities, or," 
 he groaned, "to Turkey!" "Now, Soltykoff waits me 
 at Constantinople before I can arrive. I may detain 
 Mclvor Pasha there! I have telegraphed to the Brit- 
 ish Embassy. I will go to Buda by boat, and down 
 the river to Galatz and Kustendje! From there I will 
 take the steamer to Constantinople and join Soltykoff 
 at the Russian Embassy in Constantinople ! I will have 
 a Roumanian visa to my passport! 
 
 "You can come with Paul along the railroad to 
 Constantinople and go direct to the Austrian Em- 
 bassy. In this way we will have two search parties! 
 We will search thus the railroad and the river!" 
 
 "Your plan is the right one, Denton!" quickly said 
 Arpad Falka! "I will give you Matthias' son, Janos, 
 who was my yager in my orient tour two years ago, 
 and every Austrian consul will have a cipher dispatch 
 to aid you! I will bring a secret service agent on from
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 61 
 
 Vienna and at Constantinople, our Ambassador can 
 use his cipher. Can you go with me, Paul?" 
 
 The young American leaped to his feet! "I have 
 nothing to live for but to find her! I have telegraphed 
 my application for leave to our Minister, with a con- 
 ditional resignation! For, Arpad, we are brothers 
 now! When your sister left the ball last night she 
 had promised to be mine for life! She was to meet 
 you this very day to beg you to go with her to your 
 mother and to plead for me ! I may not win her hand, 
 but this is my life quest ! To find the woman I love, I 
 swear that I will follow it to the death!" 
 
 Arpad Falka's head was bowed and the tears 
 streamed through his clenched hands! "You did 
 not tell me, Paul!" he sobbed. "Poor darling!" 
 cried Paul. "She would have tried her gentle arts on 
 you alone! I left her in the garden waiting for you, 
 to steal upon your confidence before her mother's eyes 
 should read the secret!" 
 
 "Brothers forever!" cried Arpad! "Let us be up and 
 doing!" He turned to Bela, "What think you, Bela?" 
 "It is the only plan to separate now and fight your hid- 
 den enemy later, Arpad!" The young officer's face 
 grew strangely pale. "There is but one who can now 
 give us the clue we seek! Before you go on your way 
 your mother must tell you all! We can have no se- 
 crets between us four! I am your kinsman! Bid her 
 tell you of her last days in Vienna! She would have 
 spared you! For I know now she thought the blow 
 would fall on herself alone! But it was this innocent 
 white-souled child who has been carried off to slake 
 some damnable revenge! It is too horrible! God 
 help us all!" 
 
 "Paul!" cried the young Count! "Let us make 
 ready ! We can return from Vienna to-morrow night, 
 and then I will speak to my mother! Eschenbach will 
 be here ! I will take Matthias with us and to-morrow 
 night we will take the midnight train, following down 
 Major Denton !" cried the agonized brother. "Let me
 
 62 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 have a dispatch from you at the police bureau of each 
 stopping place, on the Grand Oriental train. Bela will 
 answer your dispatches here, and send all to the Rus- 
 sian Embassy at Constantinople. 
 
 One half hour of fatherly commune with his moth- 
 erless child steeled Fraser Denton to go out on his 
 forlorn hope expedition. The girl who clung to her 
 father's neck trembled at the loneliness of the Schloss. 
 "If there should be more villainy attempted!" she 
 murmured, hiding in her father's bosom. "Ah! My 
 dearest!" cried the veteran, "the troops are already 
 posted around the chateau, and an armed yager rides 
 every path on the estate ! A lieutenant and ten men of 
 Arpad's own company will be stationed here until we 
 return with lima, alive or " 
 
 The sentence was not finished, for the old soldier 
 broke down. He dared not yet tell any one but Solty- 
 koff of the hideous fate he feared for the golden-haired 
 patrician with the midnight eyes! There were a score 
 of gruesome tales of the past which painted horrors 
 unspeakable before the soldier's mental vision! One 
 burning desire possessed Fraser Denton's heart! To 
 hound Mustapha Pasha to his lair! To bring him to 
 bay! To see the renegade's corpse trampled under 
 his feet! 
 
 In the night, as the steam launch sped away, he 
 strained his eyes to see Arpad, Bela and Paul there 
 at the landing following the first one off to the rescue! 
 Beside him the young forester stood, brave and alert, 
 with gleaming eyes seeking to read, in the rippling 
 waters boiling in their wake, the story of that blind 
 trail on the Danube! Fraser Denton's first goal was 
 Budapest! 
 
 "If 'Faroe Moses' should be still at the 'Hungaria' 
 I may learn news of the 'Sultanieh !' Perhaps Soltykoff 
 and I may run the beast to bay before Arpad can reach 
 Istambol !" The soldier saw Schloss Falkenstein fade 
 behind him in the night! The September air was crisp 
 and cool upon the river! Lights burned in happy
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 6J 
 
 homes far above and below him ! The scattered river 
 towns gleamed in lines of light, far behind the Schloss 
 was left with the picket fires of the Honveds gleaming 
 around it, red flashes in the forest shades ! On cliff and 
 lofty point a single ray showed where the peasants' hut 
 clung to the mountain side! Humble happiness! "Hap- 
 piness, perhaps, in the cottage, with heart-break in the 
 high hall! The bitter way of the world!" mused 
 Denton. 
 
 The tall soldier paced the deck as the launch leaped 
 along! "It is a seven hours' trip, Herr Major, to Buda!" 
 said the captain. "I will do it in five if we do not 
 break down!" and so along the crystal flood, Fraser 
 Denton carried his burden of horrible misgivings to 
 the possibility of an awful realization! 
 
 He had counted up the chances of success, and his 
 heart sickened at the thought of the odds against them ! 
 
 "Ransom! Impossible!" he mused. "Every Mag- 
 yar heart would be steeled to tear the negotiators to 
 shreds of mangled flesh ! What good would this girl's 
 death avail to any one? It would not bring wealth or 
 succession to any secret enemy ! She can not be long- 
 concealed in continental Europe; her singular loveli- 
 ness would betray her! 'Mistress of all the languages, 
 a word would bring a fortune to the nearest stranger 
 who would help her!' And again, the phantom of some 
 baffled intriguer, seeking revenge for an olden slight, 
 returned! 'Would any one dare to try to sway the 
 mother by menacing the child? To what end?'" As 
 the launch followed the path of the "Sultanieh," the 
 warning of Faroe Moses came back to affright the 
 American father. "Once beyond the Iron Gates he is 
 safe! 'Roumania and Bulgaria are only feeding 
 grounds for these Turkish dogs!'" 
 
 Straining his eyes to see the Blocksberg rise over 
 the divided city, Denton dared not ask himself, "Has 
 the spoiler passed the Iron Gate?" and the fleet "Sul- 
 tanieh had two days' start now !" 
 
 "What are your orders, Herr Major?" said the 
 
 5
 
 64 LOST COUNTESS FAT.KA. 
 
 launch captain as the Citadel of Ofen shone out, with 
 its red sally port lamps blazing far above them on the 
 grim hill so often slaked with Turkish, German, Aus- 
 trian and Magyar blood! The old fortress hovered 
 there, the seal of Hungary's honor, the brand of Gorg- 
 ey's eternal shame! Denton's ready mind was made 
 up on his movements now! 
 
 "Can you run me down to the Iron Gates? I wish 
 only to stop here for an hour!" earnestly replied the 
 American. 
 
 "Yes! But we must wait till morning for fuel! We 
 cannot get away before nine o'clock. It will take two 
 hours to coal !" the captain sadly said. "The river boat 
 leaves at eight, but, we are faster! It is the best I can 
 do!" 
 
 "My God! It is a life and death matter, captain!" 
 groaned Denton, as the boat swung into the eddies of 
 the ferry landing of Pesth! He grasped the sailor in 
 an eager hand clutch, and his prayer for haste was 
 broken off as both were thrown violently on the deck! 
 The steamer drifted helplessly against the bank! 
 Dusky forms sprang out of the ferry sheds with wild 
 cries as the captain sprang away! 
 
 When the hubbub was over, Denton realized a 
 crowning misfortune! A floating log caught in the 
 screw had snapped off the main shaft! Helpless now! 
 The first ominous misfortune! With a soldier's quick 
 decision, he cried, "Throw off all our effects, Janos! 
 Wait here in the ferry house! We must take the morn- 
 ing boat!" and then he groaned, "A whole night lost! 
 The devil fights for his own!" 
 
 "Herr Major Denton!" said a tall stranger at his 
 lbow. "I have a carriage here! I am the Chief of 
 Police ! I have orders !" he whispered, "from the Min- 
 isterium at Wien to aid you in all ! It is now half past 
 two! What would you?" The soldierly official added, 
 "I will see the boat taken care of! I have Count Ar- 
 pad's orders to use carte blanche !" 
 
 "Drive me to the Hungaria Hotel!" cried the ex-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 65 
 
 cited Denton! "Do you know if Faroe Moses is yet 
 there, the millionaire jewel merchant of Constantino- 
 ple?" 
 
 "Yes!" answered the chief. "His passports are still 
 at the office, but already visad fora return. He leaves for 
 Belgrade to wait on the Princess Esme, who is there 
 under treatment of the medical faculty. "Thank God!" 
 cried Denton! "Has the 'Sultanieh' returned here?" 
 "Not since she passed below a few days ago," said the 
 chief, as they entered the carriage. "The Austrian au- 
 thorities pass her under diplomatic courtesy, as she 
 always flies the legation flag! And they are mean 
 smugglers, those Turks!" 
 
 Denton sprang out at the grand entrance of the 
 Hungaria. "Please have the carriage wait for me! I 
 would rather not have you go with me ! I do not know 
 how far I can trust to this Faroe Moses! For his for- 
 tune is under Moslem rule, and, many a man's heart is 
 in his purse!" 
 
 "I will await you at the ferry landing!" said the chief. 
 "Can you get me a boat to run to the Iron Gate?" said 
 the discouraged American. "Alas! Not to-night, our 
 Budapest river men are sleepy heads! The morning 
 boat at eight lands you in Belgrade in twenty-three 
 hours, and is a dozen times more powerful than any 
 yacht!" 
 
 "Where does your frontier end?" demanded Denton. 
 "At Orsova, below the Iron Gates!" was the reply I 
 "All hope is lost!" cried Denton! "But you can tele- 
 graph now and find out where the 'Sultanieh' is!" The 
 chief bowed and sprang into the carriage. 
 
 A sleepy head porter roused up, grumbled as he led 
 the tired American to the rooms of Faroe Moses, 
 the great Dragoman jeweller! In the broad hall a 
 great nubian negro lay asleep on a rug before the He- 
 brew jewel vender's door! He sprang up, and after 
 a brief parley, grumblingly admitted Denton to where 
 the astonished Moses stood, roused and shaking in 
 fear! The mahogany-colored face of the old Faroe 
 
 5
 
 66 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 islander relaxed into a happy grin as he shuffled for- 
 ward, casing his gaunt form in a flowing gown! 
 
 "Ah! Denton Kaimarkan! My old, old friend! You 
 here! What has happened?" He pressed the soldier's 
 hand to his lips, his forehead and his heart! "Speak! 
 Can I do aught for you?" 
 
 "When have you seen that renegade Becker Bey?" 
 said Denton, waving the attendants out of the room. 
 "Has he attacked you? I feared his deviltry! He has 
 been hanging around here! I told Soltykoff!" 
 
 "Cease! Tell me, where is he?" cried Denton; he 
 easily saw that the Jew was honest! For, fear made 
 him so! The Austrian police have sharp fangs! Faroe 
 Moses trembled, and stroked his gray beard. "God 
 of Jacob! You are the same, always so impetuous! 
 Mustapha Pasha, as he calls himself, came up here with 
 the Princess Esme, who visited Vienna incognito to 
 see the great doctors, and went back to Belgrade a 
 week ago! But, I always feared Becker. He brought 
 the 'Sultanieh' back to Mahacs, three days ago, and 
 has visited several river towns in the yacht's steam 
 launch! He forced me to give him secret letters to all 
 the Jewish money lenders as far asPresburg! I was here 
 with some rich goods for the 'Sczechenyis/ Becker 
 has power; I am a stranger, and he has the Sultan's 
 firnian, Khedive Ismail's signet ring, and the Embassy 
 at Vienna has secretly helped him in all his schemes! 
 Thank God, he is gone! Avoid him! He hates you! 
 He spoke your name with curses! He saw you at 
 Vienna with our old friend, Mclvor!" 
 
 "I must find him!" sternly cried Denton, his eyes 
 flashing! "By the God of my fathers! Seek him not!" 
 begged Moses. "He is all powerful in Servia, Rou- 
 mania and Bulgaria ! He is chief of the secret harem 
 service, and his European birth and knowledge of lan- 
 guages aid his deviltry! The river is one nest of cut- 
 throats from Semlin to the Three Mouths, and he has 
 some dark designs! He sent for me to go down to 
 Mohacs! I went down by train! He threatened me
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 67 
 
 with breaking off my business with the Sczechenyis! 
 I went to him on the 'Sultanieh !' He forced me to tell 
 him where Mclvor Pasha was voyaging, if Soltykoff 
 had gone from Buda, and he demanded also to know 
 all of your residence at Vienna! I leave to-morrow 
 night! I fear this devil! I have taken all my monies 
 in London drafts and I shall take the train to Con- 
 stantinople! I will not leave the oriental express for 
 an instant! But, I will warn Soltykoff at once! If I 
 have trouble at Istambol, Soltykoff has promised to 
 give me refuge on a Russian steamer and take me to 
 Odessa by private permission of the Russian secret 
 service! Becker is all powerful at Dolman Baghtche, 
 for Turkey, England and Russia are all watching old 
 Ismail! Even the French fee Becker, for he is Minis- 
 ter of Pleasures to Abdul Hamid, to Ismail and even 
 to the Shah of Persia! Beware! There is death on 
 his track! Go not alone to Constantinople!" 
 
 Denton sprang up. "Swear to me, Faroe Moses that 
 you will go direct to Soltykoff at the Russian Em- 
 bassy! Meet me there! I go down the river! I will 
 make Colonel Soltykoff hide you in the Embassy, but 
 be true!" 
 
 "Jehovah be praised! There I am safe!" Major Den- 
 ton strode out through the dark streets to the landing! 
 He gazed over the rocky fastness where Attila, Arpad 
 and St. Stephen once ruled! "What a world of shame 
 and brute intrigue! Of crime and cowardly oppres- 
 sion! The Danube's banks reek with unspeakable 
 miseries !" For, Becker's dark design was now plain at 
 last! As he stepped into the boat house the chief 
 handed him an official dispatch. He read by the lan- 
 tern there: "The 'Sultanieh" passed Semlin an hour 
 ago at full speed, going down the river!" Denton 
 groaned, "Too late!"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE LEAGUE ON THE BOSPORUS THE INDO EURO- 
 PEAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY'S GENERAL 
 AGENT! A SLENDER CLUE. 
 
 Major Denton's agony of mind touched the official's 
 heart! "Cheer up!" he said, "I will send one of my 
 men with my cipher down to Semlin with you! At 
 Kalocsa, Mo'hacs, Draneck, Combos and Neusatz he 
 can call me on the wire! At five in the morning, you 
 will reach Semlin. There you will have my dispatches 
 and you will also have the help of all our frontier of- 
 ficials who will have reports as far as Galatz for you! 
 Let me take you to my house! Your man can stay 
 here at the Polizei station! There is nothing to be 
 done, save for me to solemnly warn you that after you 
 pass our frontier you are not safe until you reach the 
 Russian Legation at Stamboul! Give up all lingering 
 after my man leaves you at Semlin! Watch, spy and 
 study! Keep your own counsel! Remember that the 
 Principalities are the moral charnel house of Europe! 
 But once in Constantinople, our Ambassador can com- 
 municate by his Dragoman and there even the Turks 
 fear to offend the Powers! As an individual, you can 
 do simply nothing!" There was no gainsaying the 
 wisdom of the official ! 
 
 "It is a gloomy outlook!" muttered Denton, as he 
 gave his last directions to Janos ! And, heavy-hearted, 
 he slept. 
 
 Fraser Denton opened his weary eyes three hours 
 later in the guest chamber of the chiefs house! He 
 mbbed his eyes as the chief reluctantly shook him 
 up! 
 
 ""You have just an hour for coffee, toilet and to reach 
 the boat! My man goes on the boat! He will attend 
 to all! I have made your own man known to him! 
 Go to your cabin at once! He will join you there!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA 69 
 
 Avoid him on deck! Now here is Moses waiting for 
 a last word! I go to the telegraph office to wait till 
 the last moment! I will come to the boat! I get ofl 
 at Ofen! So, good-bye till then! I guard you to Or- 
 sova! After that! Beware 1" 
 
 Denton eyed old Faroe Moses keenly as the tall 
 Jew, clad in a frayed gaberdine, approached him ! He 
 wore the humble garb of a Galician Hebrew money 
 changer. But, the keen, brilliant eyes shone out with 
 the experience of sixty years in the Levant! The 
 world's college of pastmasters in human duplicity. 
 "What is it?" the soldier cried, proceeding to an un- 
 ceremonious toilet! 
 
 "I came," slowly said Moses, "to put my life in your 
 hands! Colonel Soltykoff has promised me one pass- 
 port in and out of Russia, as an Armenian, for any 
 agent I may name. It may be worth a million pias- 
 tres to me, for money can not buy the Czar's seal! I 
 will now trust to him and you! 
 
 "When I went to Mohacs, I found all the retinue 
 of the Princess Esme on the 'Sultanieh.' I know the 
 Aga of the eunuchs well! We have dealt together 
 in the harems! He whispered to me that the Princess 
 Esme had already secretly left Belgrade for Rustchuk, 
 Shumla and Varna, where a yacht awaits her! The 
 Turkish agent at Belgrade effected this incognito de- 
 parture under pretense of a summer excursion of his 
 own! He has his own river boat and Imperial Irade 
 of Free Navigation! But the attendants and train of 
 the Princess Esme are on the 'Sultanieh.' This wild 
 man devil has all the papers and 'laissez passer' of the 
 Princess! 
 
 "It would be worth my head if Mustapha should find 
 this out! Beware! He may entrap you, murder you,. 
 and escape under the safe conduct of the pretended 
 royal passenger! I could not sleep! I rose and sought 
 out the Rabbi and our chief banker here! I have 
 learned to-night what I knew not before ! This scoun- 
 drel was once mixed up in revolutions here! His
 
 70 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 friends were sold, betrayed, and he may have stolen 
 back to secure some buried treasure, old papers or plun- 
 der that he dared not remove in his former flight ! For 
 the Magyar avengers drove the traitor from the Dan- 
 ube! So, beware! I have bidden these men com- 
 municate in Hebrew with all our friends along the 
 whole river! They will trace him, and I shall know 
 all at Istambol! For the news will follow by mouth 
 to mouth! We, the despised Israelites, dare not 
 write our secrets. The telegraph is denied to us! So 
 tell Soltykoff I have earned my reward! I will earn 
 it again! But, my own life hangs on a thread ! Mus- 
 tapha would see me die by inches if he knew that I 
 had warned you!" 
 
 "The name of this wretch! You said that he was a 
 Magyar!" Fraser Denton's heart beat in an agony 
 of suspense. "Janos Kinsky !" whispered the timid old 
 Jew. "An adjutant of Honveds! And seven of his 
 fellow officers were shot, or walled up in Olmutz by 
 his cowardly betrayal ! The whole Magyar nobility was 
 endangered by his sale of his only birthright. Magyar 
 loyalty to the foreign Austrian tyrant! There are 
 brighter days ; perhaps, as Hungary has now its whole 
 fabric rebuilt, he might placate the avengers of blood ! 
 But, even the Aga knew not why he has secretly re- 
 turned! He went in disguise to Presburg, and or- 
 dered the 'Sultanieh' to await him there at Mohacs! 
 Now by the God of my fathers I beg you beware ! You 
 now know all! I have heard nothing! I leave to-day 
 and will meet you as you have said ! My life is in your 
 hands; yours in mine! I must away! For, if he would 
 know of my visit to you my body would float in the 
 Bosporus, the bloody mark of his rage !" 
 
 When Major Denton saw the splendid palaces of 
 Pesth fade away behind him and Buda's hills slowly 
 disappear he then unfolded the papers thrust in his 
 hand by the chief, as he sprang off at Ofen! Two dis- 
 patches were there. One from Mclvor. The bluff old 
 sea dog's message was a ray of light, "Waiting at Brit-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 71 
 
 ish Embassy!" The other said simply, "Following; 
 nothing new yet!" In that, spoke out the tortured 
 heart of Arpad Falka! 
 
 The American dared not breathe the hated name of 
 the bloody wretch, the name of Janos Kinsky, as he 
 gazed out of his cabin window at the dreary lower 
 river reaches and its scattered hamlets! But, in his sad 
 heart, he knew that the secret of the dread vengeance 
 rested in the noble mother's untold story of the past! 
 "Will she unveil her heart to her son?" He writhed 
 in bitter agony to know that only, all too late, their 
 eyes were opened! "lima, beautiful, stainless one, to 
 be dragged away to untold shame by her father's mur- 
 derer!" and then, the American wondered if an Aus- 
 trian political vengeance had not stricken the great no- 
 ble dome ! "Kinsky as a craven Judas might have been 
 far away !" And all these thoughts were bootless ! 
 
 It was five in the afternoon when the face of his 
 henchman darkened the cabin door. He handed to 
 the Major a folded paper, as the great Danube boat 
 rushed past the old battlefield where Hungary's crown 
 was once lost in the bloody swamps ! There was not a 
 gleam of hope left to him, when Denton read the pen- 
 ciled words: 
 
 "Orsova 
 
 "The Turkish yacht 'Sultanieh' with the Princess 
 Esme on board passed the Iron Gates an hour ago!'' 
 
 "She is now lost to us forever!" groaned Denton. 
 "We have but one forlorn hope! To waylay Mus- 
 tapha at the Golden Horn and to discover where he 
 has hidden the woman whom he has stolen away! One 
 false step and there would be no evidence left of this 
 beast's foul deed! I see it all! It is disgrace for dis- 
 grace; shame for shame! Soltykoff alone can aid us 
 now, for they fear the Russ at the Golden Horn! Mus- 
 tapha Becker is out of all Austrian jurisdiction now, 
 and he has two hundred miles the lead! We must fol- 
 low him now, from the other end of the journey! And 
 Moses only can find him!"
 
 72 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Major Denton's eyes had wearied with the monotony 
 of the flat Hungarian plain! He dared not mingle 
 with the passengers and he noted the secret agent of 
 the Budapest chief wandering over the boat with un- 
 relaxing vigilance. Janos, the yager, by order avoided 
 his master! It was already morning when the steamer 
 stopped at Belgrade! A knock aroused Denton, who 
 read the news that Arpad Falka and Paul would leave 
 by rail in the night! "An Israelite came aboard, who 
 told me you would hear from Moses at Rustchuk!" 
 
 "When do we reach the Iron Gate?" wearily demand- 
 ed the soldier. "At eleven to-night!" the secret agent 
 answered. "Remain in your cabin! I will have you 
 passed through the customs all right! But if you have 
 aught to say to my chief have it ready. I take the rail 
 from Orsova back to Buda !" 
 
 "My God, there is nothing to say!" groaned Den- 
 ton, "save that we are too late! Too late!" 
 
 Denton gazed gloomily on the rapids of the Dan- 
 ube as the boat in the afternoon shadows swung into 
 the Defile of Kazan! The huge cliffs hung high over 
 the rushing torrent, two hundred feet in depth! The 
 slender road carved by Trajan a hundred years before 
 the Savior's birth, still gashed the mighty rocks! 
 
 Every cave and gorge hidden hamlet spoke to the 
 American of the thousand hiding places available to 
 the protean renegade. 
 
 "If aught is ever found here it will be but her poor 
 bruised body, dashing around in these black whirl- 
 pools! But better even that, than the infamous degra- 
 dation of the gilded harem hells, guarded by the blub- 
 ber lipped eunuchs P He writhed in his helpless 
 rage. It was a fearful fate! Heavy-hearted, the vet- 
 eran passed the storied cavern of the heroic Veterani, 
 who stopped a Turkish horde, a bloody host, with four 
 hundred heroes, cave-hidden there! And far above him, 
 on the hill of Gradma, the giant inscription of Trajan 
 still told how bold were Roman hearts two thousand 
 years before! They swung along to the Iron Gates!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALrKA. 73 
 
 "There is nothing! Not a word to say! I will tele- 
 graph my arrival in Rustchuk through the Austrian 
 consul!" said Denton as the secret agent left him at 
 Orsova! There was not a sign of the pursued vessel, 
 but the agent told him of the strong arm stretched 
 out in vain! "If he had only known," he mourned! 
 "The Ministry had telegraphed to stop and search the 
 'Sultanieh' for kidnapped Austrian subjects ! The boat 
 was a half mile down the river before the lazy Rou- 
 manians sent the order down! And now, the black 
 eagle is powerless! Beware of assassination! Go on 
 to Rustchuk, there take the rail to Varna, and an Aus- 
 trian Lloyds steamer to Stamboul! Do not leave die 
 ship till the dragoman of the Russian Embassy 
 brings his boat alongside. You will be always watched 
 by a dozen hungry eyes ! You are now going into the 
 realm where Turkish gold covers every villainy on 
 earth!" 
 
 Fraser Denton wearily walked the deck of the steam- 
 er as Orsova's lights faded away and eyed the motley 
 horde of deck passengers of every nationality. In the 
 main saloon there was drinking, feasting and a saturn- 
 alia of pleasure! "I will play the sick man!" he mut- 
 tered, "and so, dodge these spies!" 
 
 Two weary days brought him to Rustchuk, and fol- 
 lowed by his servitor, he eagerly sprang ashore, and 
 haikd a droschky driver to hurry him to the Varna 
 railway station! Fortune favored him, for the train 
 left in an hour! There was a secret friend awaiting 
 him. 
 
 "Let me be your guide!" said a smooth-shaven 
 young fellow, who pressed to his side. Though clad 
 in Mussulman garb, he whispered "Faroe Moses sent 
 me! The Austrian consul waits you there in the car! 
 I will lead you to him!" Muffling his face in his Ty- 
 rol cape, Denton eyed the domes of the mosques, 
 rising high over the hills of Rustchuk, with their sky- 
 piercing minarets! The laden fruit trees filled the 
 gardens that smiled around, and the mighty Danube,
 
 ?4 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 two miles wide, spread its blue lakelike sheet far over 
 to Giurgovo! Everywhere were scowling faces, loud 
 curses followed the giaour dog, and even the wayfarer 
 and beggar spat in the dust after them! Every second 
 passer-by was a Mohammedan ! 
 
 "No help here !" growled Denton. "He was on the 
 enemy's picket line!" The young disguised Hebrew 
 pushed through the noisy throng and with a glance of 
 his gleaming, soft Semitic eyes, signaled Denton to a 
 reserved compartment! There was a grave faced of- 
 ficial there, who drew the curtains as the two attend- 
 ants watched the door outside! "I have chartered this 
 compartment, Major!" said the anxious consul. "I 
 shall watch outside and put my dragoman in here with 
 you at the last moment. Your man and this young 
 Israelite will be the only other travelers allowed to en- 
 ter! You are armed?" Denton smiled as he showed 
 two revolver butts projecting under his cloak. "Then 
 say nothing to any one. The Hebrew and my drago- 
 man understand all the languages. The Jewish boy 
 will go on to Stamboul with you! My man comes 
 back from Varna! The Embassy's launch will take you 
 off the ship!" 
 
 "And, the 'Sultanieh?'" hoarsely whispered Denton. 
 "Left here forty hours ago, under full racing speed! 
 The Princess Esme embarked here in a Pasha's barge 
 and no one was allowed to board the yacht, which only 
 slowed up in the stream! My dragoman will have all 
 the refreshments you need. Do not leave the car or 
 speak to a single stranger till you are at Varna! Once 
 there instantly drive to the Austrian steamer! Do not 
 leave it even for an instant! and beware of treachery! 
 You have nothing in your luggage to betray your 
 identity?" 
 
 "Not a single scrap of paper but my passport and 
 letter of credit, and they are here !" Denton tapped his 
 broad breast ! 
 
 "Then auf Wiedersehen ! God guard and guide you !" 
 cried the consul, as he motioned Denton back, while
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 75 
 
 he glided from the car! "I have provided all your tick- 
 ets! The Jew will arrange all with the dragoman!" 
 
 There was not a word spoken above a whisper until 
 the train rolled into Varna in the gray of the morning! 
 There, on the low sand bank, the dirty town huddled 
 with the shallow Black sea stretching far out to north- 
 east and south! The low red-tiled houses clustered 
 around the dingy mosques and kiosks, and the wild 
 shouts of the Moslem throng woke the drowsy echoes 
 of the dirty streets ! Huge clumps of cypresses marked 
 the resting place of the thousands of French and Eng- 
 lish who died here that the Turkish rule might spread 
 its unspeakable horrors on the hither side of the Bos- 
 porus ! 
 
 When safely over the side of the stout steamer,"Tege- 
 thoff," Denton swept the open sea with his eye! There 
 was the trackless blue waste, over which lima Falka, 
 the daughter of a princely line, was to be wafted away 
 to the scene of her hideous death in life! 
 
 Denton pressed the hand of the dragoman in adieu, 
 and murmured a blessing on the friend in need who 
 had made the dangerous way smooth ! His heart beat 
 in a tumult as the great ship swept on far to the south, 
 where low fog banks veiled the narrow Euxine pass of 
 the Bosporus ! Filthy pilgrims, greasy Jewish beggars, 
 swarthy Armenians and knavish Greeks screamed and 
 jostled on the open deck forward! The cabins were 
 empty and, a half hour after leaving, a ship's steward 
 summoned the American voyager to the captain's cab- 
 in. "You are my guest!" said the sturdy sailor. "I 
 have orders from the Embassy. Pray join me here 
 and leave your man on watch in your room! No one 
 must see you!" 
 
 Denton bowed, while his grave face lightened, as 
 the veiled friendship touched his heart! 
 
 "When do we enter the Bosporus, Captain?" he 
 asked. "To-morrow at dawn! I'll have you roused 
 up!" the mariner answered. "We reach Stamboul at 
 noon! I have telegraphed your presence already! I
 
 76 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ask but one favor! Do not show yourself on deck at 
 Stamboul till the launch comes for you." 
 
 Denton was roused from his uneasy sleep in the 
 captain's cabin long before daylight, as a bellowing 
 gun greeted the steamer's lights with the order of the 
 Turk to heave the steamer to! It was seven o'clock 
 before the fog lifted, and the "TegethofF stood into the 
 silver strait, which showed its great walled fortress 
 camp on the low point to the west, and the morning 
 sun streamed through the staring windows of the old 
 dismantled castellated towers to the east! Hidden in 
 the cliffs were huge red batteries and far below at the 
 water line, the grinning Krupps lay, great black war 
 dogs in readiness, and the blood red flag, with its 
 white crescent, waved above the ramparts, whence the 
 wild, barbaric bugles sang the Turkish reveille ! At half 
 speed the "Tegethoff" entered the superb strait which 
 for seventeen miles winds through the Thracian moun- 
 tains. In the varying beauty of its seven bays, no 
 other inlet of the world has the pictured beauty of the 
 one outlet of the Euxine, where lo, as a cow, stemmed 
 the silver tide. Before the great embattled fort on the 
 east side of the sea outlet, the "Tegethoff" halted until 
 a boarding officer gave practique. As a line of foreign 
 vessels slowly followed in their wake, Eraser Denton 
 scanned the hills where once the spears of the Var- 
 angians shone. Covered ways, camps, forts and masked 
 batteries dotted the slopes where ruined castle, modern 
 kiosk, fairy chateau and water overhanging gardens 
 filled up a scene of the wildest witchery ! Suddenly he 
 turned and grasped the captain's arm! 
 
 "What boat is that?" he cried, as a rakish yacht in 
 black and gold sped by, her great full-sized cabin win- 
 dows all draped in silken curtains! There were but one 
 or two sailors on deck, but the boat passed like a vis- 
 ion, at full speed, the red banner with Mahomet's dread 
 crescent symbol flowing out in a crimson streak! 
 
 "That is Princess Esme's yacht, the 'Sultanieh !' My
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 77 
 
 God!" cried the hardy sailor, as Denton reeled and 
 then staggered to a seat! 
 
 The veteran's eyes were glazed as in a convulsion. 
 His lips moved and yet no sign of speech came forth ! 
 Only a hollow groan of baffled rage, the agony of a 
 strong man's heart! The yacht was already out of 
 sight behind the nearest turn of the strait ! 
 
 "It is nothing! I'm all right now!" gasped Denton. 
 "Can't we overtake that boat?" 
 
 The captain mournfully shook his head! "We for- 
 eigners are forced by direst penalty to go through at 
 half speed, so the 'Sultanieh' will be well off Seraglio 
 Point before we reach Darius' old boat bridge crossing, 
 half way through! And, that same boat has torpedo 
 boat engines. She can do eighteen to twenty knots 
 and she was doing it to-day ! She has come down from 
 the mouth of the Danube!" 
 
 Major Denton sought the prow, but his field glasses 
 never showed him the Sultanieh again! His face was 
 as stern as a Pawnee on the war path, and he never 
 smiled, save when the flags on the foreign legation 
 houses at Buyukdere caught his eye! There was the 
 signal of the forlorn hope! Ilma's last chance! The 
 all powerful Foreign Embassies! 
 
 On past beautiful Therapia, Beicos Palace and then 
 Tcheragan, Beylerbey and the great Genoese castle at 
 Roumelie Hissar, where the chain was once swung 
 over the strait, the vessel forged slowly along, Denton 
 noting the American college perched high above, with 
 the star flag floating there! It thrilled the old soldier 
 to the very marrow. 
 
 "I will rescue her! So help me God! and the mem- 
 ory of my dead mother!" he swore, as he lifted his 
 hat in adoration of his country's flag of stars ! 
 
 He shivered as the captain sought him out at last 
 and touched his arm. "There, there is your boat! Fires 
 out now!" and the soldier saw the lean "Sultanieh" 
 lying swinging idly on the glassy waves, before the 
 mile length of palace splendor where Ismail Pasha held
 
 78 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 his foul revels, outvying the classic hideousness of 
 Tiberius. 
 
 'That is Dolma-Baghtche !" the sailor whispered. 
 "Go into my cabin now! Do not show your face! We 
 will be at anchor in an hour! I will give your men 
 their orders!" 
 
 From the windows of the deck cabin, Denton saw 
 the unrivaled panorama of Constantinople gleam out 
 before him in the setting sun! "Thank God, at last!" 
 he cried, as sweeping by the hills of Pera he saw the 
 Russian Embassy, perched high on the hill, under the 
 shadow of the matchless tower of the Genoese! He 
 was dreaming in the glamour spell when the burly cap- 
 tain threw open the door! He cried, "Quick! Quick! 
 The legation launch is here, and a hundred caiques 
 are hovering around! Hold this sun umbrella over 
 your face! Good-bye! No thanks! God bless you!" 
 
 Springing down the companionway, Denton en- 
 tered the cabin of the launch, behind which a great blue 
 and white St. Andrew's cross floated, drooping to the 
 water! It was the Imperial war flag of mighty Russia! 
 In the darkness of the cabin he could not see the man 
 who grasped him in a bear's hug, for all the windows 
 were darkened, but the ringing voice of Soltykoff cried : 
 
 "Now for our quest first, then vengeance!" They 
 were at the custom's landing before Denton found 
 voice to learn aught but that Arpad and Paul were 
 in waiting! 
 
 "And, Faroe Moses and Mclvor Pasha?" he cried. 
 "Both here and we have formed our plan of action !" 
 
 "How is Arpad?" faltered Denton. 
 
 "On the verge of insanity, but as alert as a panther! 
 God help him ! God help Magda !" answered Soltykoff ! 
 Seizing Denton by the hand he almost shrieked, "Tell 
 me, Fraser, does she love me?" 
 
 Denton gazed in the Russian noble's eyes. "Serge !" 
 he solemnly said, "behind the cloud which has kept 
 you apart, you will find your goddess yet with her open 
 arms stretched toward you and her heart aflame!"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 79 
 
 Soltykoff laughed, even in his misery, "I will follow 
 Mustapha to the gates of hell and I will have that 
 girl, stainless and alive! I swear it! By the cross of 
 Christ!" 
 
 As the closed carriage picked its way along the 
 thronged alleys of Galata, where a dozen nations min- 
 gled, the hoarse cries of the street venders drowned Sol- 
 tykoffs voice, when he hoarsely muttered, "Have you 
 learned aught?" Denton drew him toward him and 
 whispered, "The 'Sultanieh' anchored an hour ago off 
 Dolma-Baghtche Palace! She passed our steamer at 
 the Pratique station!" 
 
 Soltykoff shuddered! "We must never be seen to- 
 gether even for a single moment! There are fifty 
 kiosks and harem haunts spread around the guarded 
 wilderness of the clustered palaces on the European 
 bank here! They are guarded by the fiercest merce- 
 naries and the flinty -hearted eunuchs! We must bur- 
 row in the dark! One false step and poor Ilma's head- 
 less corpse would be consigned to the gloomy burrows 
 of this vast walled tract! This hell on earth here cov- 
 ers some thousands of acres, and five regiments of 
 brutes guard the wall, besides myriad spies!" 
 
 The carriage slowly picked its way along the inclines 
 leading up to Pera, avoiding the clustered brown dogs 
 blinking there in lazy knots. "Have you formed a 
 plan?" whispered the American. "Yes!" quickly an- 
 swered Soltykoff. "The Russian and Austrian am- 
 bassadors, the American missionaries, the Austrian and 
 French banks, the whole corps of diplomatic drago- 
 men, the steamboat officials, and all the chiefs of the 
 Indo-European Telegraph Company, know that an un- 
 told reward awaits the daring man who will discover 
 to us poor Ilma's place of hiding!" 
 
 "But, none of these can enter the harem walls?" sad- 
 ly replied Denton ! His face was seamed with the lines 
 of despair. 
 
 "True!" rejoined Soltykoff. "I have brought Gover- 
 nor Mouravief's word of honor to Faroe Moses, that he 
 
 6
 
 80 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 shall have any use of the Russian passport that he ever 
 craves if he will work upon the court barbers, the har- 
 em attendants, the Armenian peddlers, the jewel and 
 trinket sellers and bring us news! 
 
 "To Moses himself, I have offered half my estates 
 should he be able to penetrate the line of her bloody 
 guardians, and open communication with her! We 
 have but one slight hope of final success! The re- 
 markable beauty of this golden-haired, dark-eyed Hun- 
 garian would excite wonder, even among the childish 
 inmates of these gilded cages! We have other possi- 
 ble allies! There are fifty renegade Europeans who 
 hold various stations of rank here! The harems, too, 
 are filled with Austrian, German, French and Italian 
 dancers and singers who have been lured here by men 
 like Mustapha! 
 
 "Many of these stay willingly, for their life of li- 
 cense, unfitting them for further artistic careers, is a 
 strange aid to the harem career, these substantial Cleo- 
 patras finding strange favor with these Turkish devils! 
 Descending from' the Serail of the Sultan to the great 
 Pashas, these women, loosely guarded, at last find 
 means through attendants, to link their fortunes to the 
 base foreign adventurers who prey upon the Sultan, 
 even under the shadow of the bloody swords of the 
 Nubian guards! Some of these women, mistresses of 
 all the languages, may be safely approached! Last 
 of all, the head eunuchs! They are misers, and all are 
 covetous of gold! Now, Arpad will make a colossal 
 present to the sly Aga, who may listen to Faroe Moses' 
 honeyed tongue!" 
 
 "They were already driving into the solid walled en- 
 closure of the Russian Embassy when Denton said, 
 "A demand of the foreign ministers jointly!" "Ah!" 
 sighed Soltykoff, "she would be quietly spirited away 
 at night! There is Smyrna, Salonique, guarded Les- 
 bos and Mitylene, with Trebizonde! There is Damas- 
 cus, Bagdad, even Teheran! All the harem women 
 travel guarded and isolated! They force the veil and
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 81 
 
 costume on timid captives and even the willing Mes- 
 salinas! A single sleeping potion, an opiate would 
 baffle the poor child's watchfulness! No! It is our 
 policy to wait with beating hearts in silence and not 
 frighten them into hiding her far beyond any Euro- 
 pean aid! At our slightest public action, Ilma's life 
 would be forfeited! But, here we are! Arpad waits 
 for you! He says that he must first see you, then to 
 Paul and myself he will give his mother's story in 
 your presence! Poor Arpad! He is but the wreck of 
 himself!" 
 
 As the American was ushered up into an apartment 
 on the second floor Soltykoff said, "I will join you 
 with Paul the moment Arpad calls us ! Your two men 
 will be taken care of below! This Embassy is at once 
 a fortress, palace, hotel and hiding place! No Moslem 
 ever enters the residence wing ! We are sealed up from 
 the world here!" 
 
 Denton caught but one glance of the royal pano- 
 rama of Scutari and the Sea of Marmora, with the far 
 off snow-clad Mount Olympus rising far on the Asian 
 shore, when Arpad Falka sprang into the room! He 
 locked the door and started back, as Denton cried in 
 horror: 
 
 "My God! Arpad! You have aged twenty years!" 
 The Magyar soldier's eyes blazed with a wild fire from 
 sunken sockets, and his quivering lips trembled as he 
 said, "Waste no time, Major! Listen to me! Every 
 moment oh! my God! My sister! My lima!" He 
 threw himself in a chair. 
 
 "How is your mother?" said Denton, trying to di- 
 vert the half crazed man. "Barely alive!" groaned 
 Arpad. "It is of her that I would speak ! I hold you 
 as of our house, for I have a letter for you from Aida ! 
 Bela and her are my mother's children now! Her 
 guardians! We are to be of one family! Hear me 
 first!" The young noble paced the room with tiger- 
 like strides! "All is well at Falkenstem! Paul brought 
 his mother there! Doctor Eschenbach will stay till
 
 2 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 the worst is known, or we have found lima! Bela is 
 assigned to command the secret guard, a company at 
 theSchloss! 
 
 "Now there is Soltykoff, gallant, noble, headlong 
 soul! I know his delicacy, and you can see why my 
 mother has so long held apart from her the love which 
 has been her only hope! Fool! I was so blind! 
 Wrapped up in my water fly pleasures of the moment !" 
 He sighed heavily and resumed, "I tell you the story 
 and we must not wound Soltykoff's pride! You can 
 relate to him what you will, for to-night Faroe Moses 
 will be here with a report! Put me in where there is 
 the most danger! For, remember this renegade has 
 never seen me! He knows all the rest of you! My 
 mother called me to her, on my return and said, 'Ar- 
 pad ! Here is the whole story of my fears, of my past 
 trials ! There is but one who must not know it all ! 
 That man is Serge Soltykoff! But you and Major Den- 
 ton must judge me alone ! I was a lonely high spirited 
 girl when Gabor Falka brought me to the Schloss! 
 Our perfect happiness ndured until this scoundrel was 
 made Adjutant of your noble father's regiment! I 
 knew this masquerading villain only as Count Janos 
 Kinsky! I will not speak of him save to say that he 
 had all the arts ai* ' graces! He was, to all appear- 
 ance, a perfect soldier! So, he soon gained your fath- 
 er's confidence ! I put away, as a loving wife, the veiled 
 entreaty of Kinsky's bold glances, and fearful of your 
 father's vengeance, affected not to notice the growing 
 passion of the handsome Adjutant. I wondered at your 
 father's strange intimacy with this would-be traitor, 
 until I learned by many trials, that the assemblies of 
 the nearest nobles at the Schloss had other aims than 
 feudal hospitality, or the chase ! For, the ladies of the 
 great families came not with these gatherings, which 
 were held often, at night! There were forest trysts, 
 and in time, strange men of rank from all quarters of 
 Hungary came and went by stealth! Kinsky, en- 
 throned in the Count's private rooms, was busied with
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 83 
 
 papers and details, and my maids soon informed me of 
 the ingress and egress of friends, strangers, couriers, 
 and even disguised secret agents, all using the secret 
 entrance in the tower! Fear made me silent! I was 
 young and had no one to advise ! At first I was madly 
 jealous and then the truth flashed upon me! There 
 was a budding conspiracy ! Left with you, a mere prat- 
 tling boy, as my sole companion, it was Kinsky alone 
 who was always near to brighten the days of gloom! 
 Your father made many secret trips afar, as well as his 
 usual military inspections! It was all in vain that I 
 proudly kept my rooms, and thus avoided Kinsky, 
 while he remained behind at the Count's bidding to 
 guard the secrets of the central conspiracy ! He forced 
 himself upon me ! It was in the second year of these 
 strange occurrences that, emboldened at last by my 
 fatal silence as to his covert advances, he threw off the 
 mask! I dared not bring your father's head to the 
 block! For even the hangman's halter had been the 
 instrument of Austria's cold vengeance. Kinsky, cold 
 and pitiless, veiling his villainy in warm and romantic 
 pleadings, painted the secret joys of being always near 
 me, of breathing the air of my home! I feared for my 
 husband, I feared for you, my son ! For your father's 
 life, for your rank and your birthright! Count Gabor 
 was a reckless political enthusiast, and I saw his brow 
 daily become sterner. We were alienated by his plots, 
 and by my fears! I clad myself in an icy reserve! And 
 so I avoided Kinsky's pursuing wiles! But the day 
 came at last when the crafty scoundrel felt that he held 
 the very lives of the Magyar nobles in his hands! 
 Whether power or a mad passion emboldened him, I 
 know not! But his brutal advances were violent! I 
 screamed in terror! Your father had returned sud- 
 denly at a summons of others, for a sudden confer- 
 ence! The retainers had heard my loud alarm! Then 
 the scales fell from my husband's eyes when they 
 showed him the false friend caged in the round tower! 
 You know of your father's headlong vengeance! The
 
 84 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 brute was chased away from the lands of his fathers, 
 but after four years the vile assassin glutted his re- 
 venge! I had never dared to tell your father of Kins- 
 ky's continued insolences ! Even in my girlish widow- 
 hood I saw that some hostile influence pursued the 
 circle who had held the secret of the tower entrance, 
 the gallant men of the midnight juntas! Some dis- 
 graced, some sent to exile, several ounished for fan- 
 cied offenses, a cold remorseless hatred seemed to be 
 hounding them all down! Now, I ;<now that my sad 
 widowhood, your poor sister's coming and the high 
 loyalty of the Stahrembergs may have saved the head- 
 less clan of the Falkas! But, though Kinsky never 
 reappeared, his voice alone must have denounced the 
 baffled patriots! I shut myself up! I avoided society, 
 and I longed to see you, my son, a high officer of the 
 reorganized Austro-Hungarian monarchy!'" Arpad 
 paused as Denton interrupted, "I see now why your 
 mother has held Soltykoff aloof! She feared some fur- 
 ther vengeance! She has lived in terror during all 
 these years! Poor Magda!" The Count bowed grave- 
 ly, "You are right! The rest is brief! When I was 
 away at the manoeuvres this summer, in my ab- 
 sence this scoundrel Kinsky, in the guise of a Turkish 
 official of rank, has several times shown his murder- 
 ous face near my mother in Vienna! In several art- 
 ful letters, he renewed his suit! He ignores my fath- 
 er's tragic fate! But he boasted of wealth and power! 
 It seems that his passion is undying! He craved, 
 begged, even threateningly demanded, an interview! To 
 all this, the reply was silence! My poor mother, fear- 
 ful for her son, hastened to leave Vienna for our seem- 
 ingly impregnable home! The brute had his own 
 means of watching her! He reckoned but too well, 
 upon my mother's timid pride, her fear of scandal, and 
 her solicitude for Ilma's marriage and my high place 
 at court! This beast failed not to threaten that having- 
 recovered all the original papers of the conspiracy, he 
 would denounce my mother as the accomplice of my
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 85 
 
 father, and so work Ihna's disgrace and my own down- 
 fall ! Perhaps even the escheat of our estates and the 
 attainder of our title and blood ! Rumor had linked my 
 mother's name with Colonel Soltykoff, as a prospec- 
 tive wife, the situation at the opera party confirmed 
 his fears, and I know not what brutal menace the rene- 
 gade used, but my poor mother's fortitude gave way! 
 This coward cur vaunted his Turkish immunity ! 'You 
 shall never be another's!' he wrote! 'You sacrificed 
 your husband ! If you would save your name, fortune, 
 your children's welfare, their rank, then, let me throw 
 myself at your feet! If you do not, beware, for I will 
 strike you to the heart!'" 
 
 "Ah!" groaned Denton. "Now I see the fatal mis- 
 take! Your poor mother feared to risk your life in a 
 duel, perhaps to endanger your princely house! She 
 read the villain's threat as directed against herself ! He 
 planned but too craftily ! And so, with a mother's self- 
 sacrifice, she took the risk in silence, kept you in ig- 
 norance and has held poor Soltykoff aloof! The rid- 
 dle is read! Has Faroe Moses told you all?" 
 
 "Yes! Soltykoff, Paul and I heard him last night!" 
 answered the haggard noble! "Now, I will send Serge 
 to you! What will you tell him?" 
 
 "I will tell him only that you and lima were threat- 
 ened with disgrace and the forfeiture of your birth- 
 right as the result of a father and mother's unpunished 
 political crimes! That Mustapha Becker Kinsky had 
 once gained the ear of the Austrian secret service! 
 Shall I tell him of your mother's feelings? Soltykoff 
 risks his life now for her! He will go on to the end 
 quand meme!" 
 
 Arpad gave Major Denton a sealed letter! "My 
 mother bade me give you this letter for Colonel Sol- 
 tykoff, after I had told you all! I think that he will 
 learn his fate therein! Now I go! Do as you would 
 with what you know! We must be at work! For this 
 is my darling's first day on the Golden Horn! Moses 
 has his spies everywhere thrown out over Stamboul!
 
 86 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 The whole network of Jews and Armenians are his 
 secret agents!" 
 
 Colonel Soltykoff sprang into the room as Arpad s 
 footsteps died away! "A letter for me from Magda?" 
 he gasped! Eraser Denton handed him the note in 
 silence, and then walked away to the window. He 
 turned his head as the Russian sprang toward him with 
 a transfigured face! There were but two aching hearts 
 on God's footstool who knew the purport of the few 
 lines which sealed them forever as brothers to eternity. 
 The woman Soltykoff had made his goddess traced 
 only these words: 
 "My Serge! 
 
 "Find lima and I am, while life lasts, yours, 
 
 "MAGDA." 
 
 The recital of Arpad's story was a brief one, for a 
 new life seemed to be leaping from So'tykoff's bound- 
 ing heart through his pulsing veins. His eyes told 
 the story which Denton refrained from seeking! "here 
 was a reward in store for the loyal Russian! ; erge 
 listened in silence and only swore a terrible oath vhen 
 Denton abruptly finished. 
 
 "The coward cur! To trade upon a woman's mother 
 heart! One word to Arpad and the gallant boy and I 
 would have dragged the brute to bay, and left him 
 lifeless at her feet! To sacrifice only herself, she has 
 offered up lima unwittingly! Ah! God! We must 
 act now!" A knock at the door interrupted them! Sol- 
 tykoff sprang to the rencontre, with a warning wave of 
 the hand! 
 
 "The Ambassador would see Colonel Soltykoff on 
 the instant!" said a grave-faced secretary! 
 
 Fraser Denton's eyes wandered over the matchless 
 panorama below! Seraglio Point, with its silver and 
 azure domes and minarets, its fretted kiosks rising 
 from cypress clump and tender green tracery of the 
 garden bowers, far away Prinkipo, a blue cluster of 
 floating islands on the fair Marmora; stately Scutari, 
 teeming Galata below, and the palace bordered straits
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 87 
 
 far sweeping to the Euxine, clasped in sculptured hills ! 
 He thought of the dear, defenseless head, and then his 
 soldier heart gave way in one great sob, "May God 
 bless and bring her back to us !" In another moment 
 Soltykoff burst into the room. "A clue ! A clue !" he 
 excitedly cried. Denton sprang to his side. "The 
 Indo-European Telegraph people have an absolute 
 laissez-passer of all the Orient. Now, only the Austrian 
 and Russian ambassadors will get the secret reports of 
 these men, the Greek and Catholic clergy, and the 
 steamboat men, as well as the foreign bankers! For 
 no man's life would be safe who conferred with us! 
 By a strange accident, the chief of the Indo-European 
 ran up to the mouths of the Danube to see about the 
 Turkish secret cable system to the Euxine end of the 
 Bosporus, which from St. George's mouth, Kustendji 
 and Varna is joined to the secretly sunken telegraph 
 line from Ismail! At Kustendji, coming back in his 
 launch, he passed on his way to his own steamer a state 
 barge returning to the 'Sultanieh' two days ago ! There 
 was some danger of a collision in the gray of the early 
 morning and Grafton called out his orders to his 
 steersman in English ! Then a voice rang out from the 
 barge, a woman voice! 'Help! Help! They are carry- 
 ing me off!' There was a woman's name which Graf- 
 ton did not distinguish as the boats drifted apart! The 
 sturdy Englishman chased the barge to the steamer 
 which had run in alongside of his telegraph boat, the 
 'Faraday.' When he neared the new arrival, the gilded 
 cabin windows of the 'Sultanieh' told him it was one of 
 the Sultan's royal yachts ! Then, even a bulldog Eng- 
 lishman was forced to halt ! For nothing but an Eng- 
 lish battleship or a Russian royal cruiser would have 
 dared to search that pleasure steamer, bearing Abdul 
 Hamid's own bloody flag! Grafton reported at once 
 to the British Ambassador, who sent his first secretary 
 over here to us, as agreed in our secret plan ! Now for 
 our conference! They will serve us our dinner in our 
 own private room ! My man and Arpad's yager alone
 
 88 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 will enter! We must send for Moses! We must ex- 
 plore the secrets covered by the great palace walls, 
 which shut in the whole enceinte of the Sultan's mimic 
 wilderness here! The poor girl whom we seek is con- 
 cealed there to-night!" 
 
 And, late into the night the group of four men lis- 
 tened to Faroe Moses' frightened whispers ! Paul Den- 
 ton's eyes gleamed in a burning fire of love's agony; 
 gallant Soltykoff eyed the haggard Arpad, while Fras- 
 er Denton, stern and soldierly, drank in every word as 
 if taking orders for a forlorn hope! 
 
 Not a league from them, her face buried in the cush- 
 ions of a divan, lima Falka's heart sobs mingled with 
 her cries to the God of the fatherless! Crouching at 
 the inner door of a little pavilion, on a jasmine-scented 
 knoll of the Sultan's garden, two hideous Nubians, 
 with drawn scimetars, watched the friendless girl! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PAVILION ON THE HILL A GALLANT FRENCH- 
 MAN! THE RED HANDKERCHIEF! MUS- 
 TAPHA'S LAST SCORE! 
 
 It was long after midnight when Serge Soltykoff 
 forced Paul Denton to conduct the frantic Arpad and 
 Major Denton to their rooms in the great Embassy, 
 at once barrack and palace! "If you cannot sleep we 
 can at least separate, to think !" said the only man who 
 now retained a moiety of self-control! The Russian 
 soldier sought his room, where before his mirror, a por- 
 trait of Magda Falka gleamed out of the exquisite 
 tracery of a chiseled Moscow silver frame! The god- 
 dess had spoken at last! 
 
 "My own darling, mine at last!" he cried, as he 
 pressed the words she had penned, to his burning lips! 
 His heart leaped up in one wild oath, "Foi garde, hon-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 89 
 
 neur defend, silence a la mort!" A tap at his door 
 called him ! He sprang to the threshold ! There Paul 
 Nelidoff, the Czar's courtly Ambassador, stood, with 
 a warning finger raised! The Czar's representative 
 had been suddenly roused from his sleep! "Follow me!'' 
 he whispered, and he led the way into his bedroom! 
 There, burly Arthur Grafton, the British telegraph 
 magnate, sat eyeing his old friend, Mclvor Pasha! Nel- 
 idoff motioned to the wine beaufet and drew up the 
 smoking tray. "I am going to send a courier off to 
 Vienna, Colonel," he said, "and, any documents you or 
 your friends may wish delivered, you may give to me 
 in the morning! My courier is at your orders, for you 
 cannot trust here even the sealed legation bags! The 
 Turks take them to pieces deftly !" There were a hun- 
 dred fond messages of love which sprang into bloom 
 in Soltykoff's happy heart! For his gracious love had 
 spoken, and though afar, he knew that he was the king 
 of her glowing heart! 
 
 "My friend Grafton has promised to leave to aid me 
 here one of his confidential men, who can work the 
 Indo-European Company's secret code, and so reach 
 every key clicking in the orient ! The whole two hun- 
 dred offices have had this secret alarm sent them al- 
 ready, and a full description of the missing lady! The 
 operators have also notified every missionary head- 
 quarters to simply report to any European operator 
 any suspicious fact! Grafton kindly connects his own 
 recorder with the instrument here in the Embassy ! The 
 banks, steamboat agents, and loyal foreign houses all 
 have the same tip! Mclvor Pasha here will move 
 around the capital on the 'Faraday,' and thus watch 
 every sailing of the Imperial yachts ! We always know 
 when a harem is transferred, by the steamer companies 
 giving up the whole deck for the tented shelter of the 
 guarded beauties! Now can you suggest anything 
 more? I am of the opinion that the poor child is now 
 hidden somewhere in the vast maze of royal palaces 
 between here and Buyukdere! The chance of Chris-
 
 90 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 tian intrusion is almost nothing within this great walled 
 labyrinth! Since an Italian secretary of legation was 
 butchered for clambering over the wall here, five years 
 ago, no foreign gallant has dared to brave the hidden 
 swordsmen! From this vast garden, palace, seraglio 
 and hunting ground the poor child can be spirited 
 away from a dozen landings, or carried off to Adrian- 
 ople or the interior! It is a devilish revenge ! For you 
 tell me that the little Countess never even saw this 
 brutal enemy whom you now pursue !" Soltykoff bowed 
 assent! "Why not make a public joint demand of the 
 ambassadors?" he queried. "Ah, Colonel, the Turk 
 has fanatically guarded his harem for centuries and has 
 always ignored every such inquiry ! They regard women 
 as simply passive instruments of pleasure! No! I am 
 now going to bid your circle to watch the cafes, the 
 clubs and the bazaars! Let Moses work all his con- 
 cealed wires! The promise of gold will loosen many 
 a tongue! Let him work in secret! He must not fol- 
 low Mustapha Becker! Only make a search for a gold- 
 enhaired beauty with black eyes, who is treated like a 
 queen! Do you see now why the renegade Kinsky 
 will not let poor Countess lima know her impending 
 fate, nor know who he really is, nor why she is dragged 
 here to this hell on earth, whose lights twinkle here 
 below! Only the foot of the Sultan must break her 
 rest! No one dares to ask whence the victim has been 
 decoyed, or who she may have been in the outer world, 
 from which she has disappeared! So, the Ottoman 
 Government can easily certify that no such person is 
 in their dominion! A lazy reference to the passport 
 lists, then a sealed lie. 'She whom you seek is not 
 here!' But, once in the harem, ignorant of even her 
 captor's name, there is no protection for the innocent 
 lamb but the mercy of God! And, God sleeps some- 
 times!" 
 
 Nelidoff tore away the curtain and showed him the 
 silver Bosporus far below, with the red masthead lights 
 of the anchored ships! Like golden fireflies, the watch
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 91 
 
 lamps of the harem shone out below them, there 
 twinkling in the perfumed groves of Beylerbey! "That 
 hell on earth of Turkish beastliness! When will the 
 blue and white cross sweep this scum into the waters, 
 where their helpless victims have floated? When it is 
 death before dishonor, here death is brutal, even if 
 merciful! I saw the gleaming body of a headless 
 woman drawn up from the waters below, by the screw 
 of my own yacht, here, this very year, near Buyukdere ! 
 Oh, for one day of dead Skobeleff, and our victorious 
 troops at San Stefano !" 
 
 "Now all your friends are to search and let Mus- 
 tapha Becker alone! I will trace him if I sink my 
 whole allowance of secret service money for a year! 
 Listen! Soltykoff, now! Do you remember Pozziani, 
 the great Viennese dancer, 'the spirit of the air/ so 
 called, who strangely disappeared from Cairo, when 
 Verdi went over and brought out Aida?" The Czar's 
 minister was speaking to the old Admiral! "Yes! Yes!" 
 cried the sailor! "There was a great outcry! We 
 thought that she had Volunteered!'" "Not so!" an- 
 swered the Ambassador. "Cherif Pasha stole her 
 away at night bodily for Ismail! The pursuit was hot! 
 There was a clamor in Cairo, and Ismail Pasha, only 
 a Khedive, feared the wrath of the French, and the 
 Suez Canal was his dream then ! So as Verdi made a 
 gre^t hue and cry, the Khedive sent the 'Pozziani/ an 
 unwilling victim, over here as a present to Abdul 
 Medjid! She lives still, though neglected, and has 
 never forgotten her wrongs, nor forgiven either Pasha, 
 Khedive or Sultan! Abdul Medjid has passed away, 
 and the poor woman, the witch girl of twenty years 
 ago, has to-day, a pavilion on the hill there, where the 
 road winds out to San Stefano, above Beylerbey! My 
 colleague, the French minister, was a young attache 
 at Cairo when poor Pozziani was the peerless star of 
 Vienna's dancers! She is mistress of the Turkish and 
 Arabic tongues, and now, at forty-five, she has the 
 freedom of the whole enclosure of Beylerbey! Her
 
 92 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 taste and arts, her graces and kindliness endear her to 
 the diamond-eyed younger queens of this hundred Sul- 
 tana harem! All seem to have forgotten that she is 
 a foreigner! Her French, German and Italian make her 
 useful to the harem women, as an interpreter. She is a 
 favorite with the reigning beauties! Now the gallant 
 Frenchman has for years plotted her escape ! He waits 
 only for his own departure that he may take her away 
 disguised as one of his retinue! It is, alas, easy 
 enough! She is a wreck! No one would know the 
 spirit of the air! Every Sunday he rides out to dine 
 with the chief of the Credit Lyonnais, here, at his villa 
 beyond the walls! And there is often a signal floating 
 from the pavilion on the hill ! His poor prisoned sup- 
 pliant knows several angles of the wall, where they can 
 exchange a few words, or her cipher letters, thrown 
 over the enclosure, reach him! He has found one 
 faithful woman slave whom Pozziani befriended, who 
 can bring him messages, but no letters, for they are 
 all searched on going out. Life would be the penalty 
 of discovery, the lives of both the women! Now this 
 brave Frenchman has promised me to have Pozziani 
 visit this week every single kiosk in the whole city of 
 pleasure there! Do not tell your friends this! There 
 must be no recklessness! Even if the French minis- 
 ter only picked up a scarf thrown down from above he 
 would be recalled, and our last chance of communicat- 
 ing with lima would be lost forever! For they would 
 ship her to Syria or Anatolia, or hide her in a prison, 
 if they did not kill her, and bury her mangled body!" 
 Soltykoff bowed his head. "I promise! For her poor 
 life depends upon it!" "Yes!" gloomily said the Am- 
 bassador. "Even the last Venus and Psyche in the 
 museum here are headless! The Frenchman has al- 
 ready sent for the woman slave. He will work every 
 art and report only to me! He must be left entirely 
 in my hands! And before a week we will know what 
 there is to know! Do you busy yourself with Moses. 
 We will watch all external communications and the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. $3 
 
 brave Pozziani will risk her life to save her unsoiled 
 sister! For, I have promised my French colleague that 
 if the dancer escapes, she shall return to her friend 
 from an apparent residence in Russia, in comfort, and 
 so be spared the indignity of general compassion ! Tell 
 Moses that I will give him any boon he asks, anything 
 that is not treasonable, if he finds a way to reach the 
 helpless girl we seek! Now, remember, not one of 
 your four men must be seen outside of this Embassy 
 with any other of your search party! My dragoman 
 will give to each one of you a different attendant when 
 you sally forth alone, and I will have him provide each 
 day a different coach ! Go always well armed, and nev- 
 er venture out at night! But for you to be seen speak- 
 ing to each other in Stamboul, Pera or Galata is sim- 
 ply to invite a death trap for both ! Alone, under con- 
 duct of an official cavasse, you are safe enough in the 
 day ! One thing is certain ! Mustapha will try to avoid 
 the public eye here! If he moves around it will be 
 only by night, or on the Bosporus! He will, however, 
 watch the Austrian Embassy from afar and that is why 
 you are my guests ! We may throw him off the track ! 
 Now, good night, or rather, good morning!" Serge 
 Soltykoff seized his superior's hand, "God bless you, 
 General ! You are making lion-like efforts !" 
 
 "For this poor girl! Heaven help her!" sighed Neli- 
 doff, as he sent his two English guests away in his own 
 carriage! It was not unusual, for night is as day in 
 Constantinople, where from the low revel of the sail- 
 ors' drinking booths to the dalliance of the crystal lit 
 chambers of the Seraglio, pleasure and sin chase each 
 other in the watches of the night! A dance of death! 
 
 The stars were low in the west, when Serge Solty- 
 koff sealed his letter to Countess Magda Falka! His 
 brain was thronged with a hundred visions of hope 
 and fear, but his tender heart was all aflame! 
 
 "She will at least know how I love her, that I know 
 of her own awakened love, and that I will serve her 
 to the death!" said the soldier, as he affixed his father's
 
 94 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 seal to the message in readiness for Nelidoff's courier! 
 Though no words had been spoken, the Ambassador 
 well knew that love alone led Soltykoff across the dark 
 Euxine to the dangers of this quest perilous ! And so 
 he had delicately ordered a trusty courier to be the 
 means of bringing the lovers nearer to each other in 
 this time of agony ! The wild bugles were singing from 
 the Caserne du Taxim, on Pera hill, long before Solty- 
 koff awoke ! He sprang to his feet as the Ambassador 
 touched his arm! 
 
 "All ready, I see, Serge!" the diplomat smiled, as he 
 picked up the envelope. "I have gathered your friends' 
 letters and Sabouroff will wait at Schloss Falkenstein 
 for my cipher orders ! Now I am going to send each 
 one of your friends on a round of the city to-day, in 
 different paths! Suppose you run up alone to Buyuk- 
 dere in my launch ! They will receive you there at the 
 summer station of the Embassy! From there, my peo- 
 ple will send you round the city's walls home in a car- 
 riage, and you can thus reconnoitre the city of death 
 in life from all its sides ! My own cavasse will show 
 you poor Pozziani's pavilion on the hill ! For the sake 
 of her you seek to find, show no apparent interest in 
 anything! The sooner you replace your Wiener vi- 
 vacity by the dull apathy of the Turk, the better for 
 acting out your assumed character of a dangling at- 
 tache!" Soltykoff eagerly departed on his first recon- 
 noissance. The day seemed a year long to the ardent 
 Russian, who gazed out into the high walled gardens 
 of the harem enclosure with a soldier's eye, as the little 
 steam launch threaded the swift current,sweeping along 
 the very shore! Beautiful wooded hills, where all the 
 graceful animals of the east wandered at will, dells and 
 groves, flowery closes, palaces of enchantment, great 
 parks, fairy kiosks, pavilions peeping from fragrant 
 bowers, and marble mosques with penciled minarets, 
 made up a fairy land panorama! 
 
 Builded down to the very water's edge, fantastic 
 palatial summer abodes gleamed there, side by side
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 95 
 
 with the dozens of windowless, deserted houses, there 
 where the swift, clear waters hurried away to the sap- 
 phire bosom of the Sea of Marmora ! Far away Stam- 
 boul, with the distant isles of Prinkipo, gleamed like 
 the vision of a summer night, beyond the gleaming 
 waters, crowded with stately steamers, flitting shal- 
 lops, the bird-like white-sailed yachts and hundreds of 
 swiftly darting caiques ! The drowsy calls of the Turk- 
 ish fisher boys lulled him! It was only in riding back 
 alone around the ruined walls from Roumelie Hissar 
 that Soltykoff's soldier heart leaped up at the sight of 
 the Seven Towers of the old knightly Christian days, 
 and the stately aqueduct of Valens, builded when By- 
 zantine ruled the East, and long before the thunders of 
 the Vatican shook the civilized world! It was while 
 driving down a deep cut road toward the. shore, near 
 Beylerbey, that the cavasse pointed to a pavilion 
 perched on a hill a hundred feet above them to the 
 north! The scarped wall was broken down here and 
 there, and now and then, a gleaming veil could be seen 
 for a moment, far above them. The cavasse touched 
 the soldier's arm significantly. "There !" he whispered, 
 To the south, a stream ran in a deep ravine below the 
 road, and in a rolling, broken tangle of little gardens 
 and clearings, could be seen the nests of many of the 
 commercial foreigners of Pera! A Turkish gardener 
 here and there tilled his half acre, and great clumps 
 of cypress, myrtle, maple and yew hung over the wind- 
 ing, shaded road ! 
 
 The defile was over two miles long, the carriage 
 road, in side cutting, following the irregular enceinte 
 of the harem enclosure! "Bandits and bad men come 
 here!" muttered the cavasse, seated on the box in all 
 the glory of silver staff, scimetar and pistols and his 
 brave Albanian garb! It was a gloomy, lonely road, 
 the way scarce wide enough for a single carriage, and 
 the splendid foliage of the Sultan's gardens swept far 
 down over the walls in graceful masses! 
 
 "An active man might easily get in there!" mused 
 
 7
 
 96 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Soltykoff ! "Ah! Yes! I can see that a desperate lover 
 might find a way here! But, what dangers lurk over 
 the wall for a hardy giaour! The first challenge would 
 betray the bold foreigner, even if he mingled in the 
 throng, well disguised! Ah! The Minister is right! 
 The French diplomat may easily catch a note tied to 
 a pebble and cautiously tossed over! But, there is a 
 dead line drawn, fatal to the mad man who enters! We 
 must trust to Moses' spies and to the Pozziani on the 
 inside! For here, any rash bravery would be only fu- 
 tile madness, and it would seal Ilma's death warrant!" 
 
 Tired and weary, Soltykoff regained the Embassy 
 on the hill! A message bidding him to drive alone 
 with the Ambassador gave him a secret hope! But 
 the gloomy faces of Paul Denton, the Major and Ar- 
 pad told him only of the ravages of their burning anx- 
 iety! "Nothing, not a single word, or even a hint from 
 Moses!" was Arpad's barren answer to his query! 
 There was that in Count Falka's eye which caused Sol- 
 tykoff to bid the American veteran watch over the dis- 
 tracted brother in secret! "He is on the verge of in- 
 sanity or suicide!" whispered the Russian. "I fear 
 that his secret agony will cause some outbreak liable 
 to ruin us all!" And Paul Denton's face, too, was as 
 the face of the condemned! It was a dreary and boot- 
 less day's work! For, the lost Countess was facing her 
 ordeal alone! 
 
 The little dinner of his excellency, Paul Nelidoff, 
 was served on this evening in his study, and it was left 
 for Madame la Princesse Nelidoff to matronize the 
 "cercle intime" of the Czar's diplomatic family, in the 
 great dining hall! For, of all the world's great cities 
 Constantinople presents the greatest difficulties to the 
 housekeeper! To live "en prince" is safe and pleasant, 
 but at what expense of wasted gold? To be a house- 
 less beggar is easy and practicable, yet even the myriad 
 brown curs who cover the sidewalks in their lazy 
 Nirvana, live easier than the homeless Turkish poor!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 97 
 
 For the average "bourgeois life" of European com- 
 fort is there unknown! Even the foreign clerks, who 
 live in clubs, the European agents and merchants have 
 their stately pleasure houses out of the limits of Pera 
 and Galata, and the "hardy, self-denying" missionaries- 
 are forced to seclude themselves in the palatial splen- 
 dor of Robert's College at the beautiful summit of 
 Roumelie Hissar! 
 
 It is to the credit of the "Children of Light" that the 
 Sultan, yielding to Admiral Farragut's plea for a gift 
 of land, kept his word when the sly preachers picked 
 out the most splendid coign of vantage on the whole 
 Bosporus! It will be an active "son of Belial" who 
 ever gains a point on the American missionaries of 
 Turkey, Syria and Egypt! 
 
 In the words of the festive cowboy, they "are no 
 slouches!" 
 
 Paul Nelidoff passed the Cyprus wine and then lit a 
 huge Cleopatra "papyrus" after the second course! He 
 tried to show a certain confidence. "I now put you on 
 your word of honor, Serge!" he slowly said. "For, a 
 man's life hangs on your prudence now! A distin- 
 guished man, a man whose loss would bring the whole 
 allied fleets here. Yet even that would not protect my 
 gallant French colleague! Your comrades are all 
 nerved up to desperation, and they seem half demented! 
 I trust to you alone! Young Falka is capable of any 
 sheer madness now! Paul Denton only sees the situation 
 with a lover's hungry eyes. He and the Major are 
 Americans, cool and brave, but, they are unused to the 
 damned wiles of these beasts of Turks! You and I 
 know that woman is but a passive pack slave here, a 
 bearer of burdens, the degraded instrument of man's 
 lust in the orient! 
 
 "By the holy Vladimir Monomach! It makes my 
 blood boil to think of Christian England upholding 
 this blood-stained flag, the badge of lust, murder and 
 nameless shame!
 
 S8 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "Wait, wait till we hurl ourselves on these brutes, 
 when the Czar's time has come! Old as I am, I could 
 be the first stormer in the breach! What unutterable 
 human villainy these beauty haunted shores have wit- 
 nessed! 
 
 "Now listen to me! I will back you with the Lega- 
 tion's whole force, money, men and prestige! You 
 alone shall know of the whereabouts of lovely lima 
 Falka ! You alone shall rescue her, if we decide to try 
 a coup de main! For once alive and stainless back in 
 our hands, her rank and identity would be a protec- 
 tion, even against Abdul Hamid's polluting hand. But 
 one sudden suspicion, one single alarm, and the poor 
 child's tender body would be thrown out in fragments 
 as carrion to their dogs! Else degraded, dishonored, 
 she would be sent off to be the sport of some brutal 
 Pasha, such as the beastly Vali of Erzeroum! 
 
 "Trust to me, Nelidoff!" cried Serge, starting up. 
 "My heart beats in the bosom of that girl's mother! 
 My last drop of blood is vowed to this quest!" 
 
 "Serge! Serge!" sadly said the princely diplomat, 
 "I call for your brains, your matchless nerve, not your 
 blood now! I call for the thousand arts, the matchless 
 patience, the powers of dissimulation that took you 
 safely over Armenia, Anatolia, Persia and Kurdistan, 
 to far Kashgar and Cashmere, without a single Mos- 
 lem eye piercing your disguise!" 
 
 "What I did for the White Czar I can do for Magda 
 Falka's sorrowing heart! The Czar owns mv sword, 
 but the woman I love owns my heart while it beats, 
 my soul's adoration to eternity! Trust me and try 
 me!" 
 
 "You will promise to be guided by me in every step?" 
 cautiously said Nelidoff. "I know our Russian hearts 
 of fire under the ice ! and yours, is love kindled !" 
 
 "I swear obedience to your Excellency!" gravely 
 cried Serge Soltykoff, kissing the little medal he had 
 taken from a dear dead mother's bosom when cold in 
 death!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 9& 
 
 "Then know that Vicomte de la Tour has at last 
 heard from the tortured Pozziani! Her heart bounds 
 to aid in saving lima Falka from the shame which 
 blighted her peerless loveliness, and ground her heart 
 under these dogs' feet! There is to-day a golden- 
 haired girl with flashing black eyes, a carefully guard- 
 ed stranger in a kiosk, not far from the Pozziani's pa- 
 vilion ! 
 
 "The Pearl of a Thousand Purses !" so-called, "and 
 she is guarded by the Aga of Abdul Hamid's own eu- 
 nuchs! To locate her, to open a safe communication 
 is the Pozziani's task for a whole week! In the mean- 
 time, de la Tour will arrange with me for a body of 
 picked men to be concealed near the house on the hill 
 where Pozziani is loosely guarded now. To get lima 
 Falka into Pozziani's pavilion and to make a dash for 
 the wall is the best plan! There both women will be 
 met by de la Tour and myself! I will have all my men 
 hidden in the house of the resident of the Credit Ly- 
 onnais. In that long cut road, we will secrete some of 
 each party. Once out of that enclosure, the two women 
 will be hurried away in our two carriages, an Ambas- 
 sador in each, to this Embassy, and when here they 
 will be safe, for the Turkish dogs dare not claim them 
 back for a life of unutterable shame ! But, death lurks 
 all along the path! I will trust to you to accompany 
 me ! The others can be taken by the route of the wall 
 to the French bankers, and I will give young Falka 
 and the Dentons a chance to fight for Christian woman- 
 hood, as I know they will! But they must be kept in 
 ignorance to the very last moment ! I will provide all ! 
 Arms, vehicles, and all requisites, even disguise for 
 the two women, now clad in this detested harem livery 
 of hell! Not even when they go to the rendezvous 
 must they know! I will be there to bid them come 
 on!" 
 
 Serge Soltykoff trembled with helpless rage! "My 
 God! So near and, we are so helpless!" "It is the 
 only plan !" replied his friend. "You see I will not per-
 
 100 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 mit even you to leave me until a night has calmed you! 
 Then you can carry deep in your heart your secret, 
 and later do your duty to God, your fellowmen and 
 your own true heart!" 
 
 "How can Pozziani work her schemes?" murmured 
 Serge. "With gold, with the arts of twenty years of 
 harem prison life, and her own long assumed apathy! 
 For, de la Tour has always prevailed on her to hide her 
 own dreams of escape under a mask of easy content- 
 ment! If any woman who ever entered that enclosure 
 can reach lima Falka it is the ex-dancer! 
 
 "She, a Viennese, has the Magyar tongue to aid her, 
 she has graduated downward in splendor from every 
 degree of state in that maze of palaces! She knows 
 them all., their every turn, and as to the use of gold, 
 well, human nature is human nature, even in a harem ! 
 Two tilings only are universal, the lust of gold, the love 
 of pleasure! 
 
 "As for the power of gold, age can not wither it, 
 nor custom state its infinite variety! Avarice rules a 
 willing world! Gold is your modern cure-all! Old 
 Lycurgus was right when he banished gold from Spar- 
 ta! Tis gold that makes the modern world but a 
 mart, a cheapened mart, for man's honor and alas, for 
 woman's chastity! 
 
 "Remember!" said Nelidoff at parting. "Not a soul 
 but you and I, must know of de la Tour's visits! He 
 will prudently reach the Pozziani by the means of let- 
 ters thrown over the friendly wall, and the slave girl's 
 messages !" 
 
 "How about Mustapha?" feverishly cried Serge. 
 "Ah! The captor of the Pearl of a Thousand Purses' 
 lurks somewhere within this human Golgotha. For 
 Becker has two infamous royal bidders for this peer- 
 less treasure. Abdul Hamid, the Sultan, might yield 
 to the English gold hoarded by Ismail Pasha! And 
 Mustapha, renegade, pander and spy, lurks hidden in 
 Dolma-Baghtche, or wanders around Hamid's mazes 
 there till his infamous best bargain is secure! My se-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 101 
 
 cret agents tell me that he has a sort of floating in- 
 fluence, stretching from Morocco to Cairo, from 
 Smyrna to Trebizond, and even to Ispahan. He is 
 known from Salonique to the Golden Horn and Vien- 
 na! No! He will hide! He is a star of the political 
 and military renegades, spies, panders and villains 
 who swarm in the orient! There's not a plan of de- 
 fense, an arms contract, a loan, a naval construction or 
 a monopoly scheme that is not bled by these allied hu- 
 man vampires, who are an infamous table round on 
 the Golden Horn. 
 
 "The rejected scum of the continental nations turn 
 their glib tongues and quick wits to profit here ! Be- 
 hind them the Moslem voluptuary hides, bloody, bru- 
 tal, pitiless and linked to a thousand nameless crimes! 
 Now, Soltykoff, absolutely insist that no mention be 
 made of this sly scoundrel! Not even a careless in- 
 quiry in gambling haunt, pleasure club, cafe or music 
 garden! He has his busy network of spies! He must 
 not know of the presence of Arpad Falka here ! Above 
 all, Falka must only go out disguised at night till we 
 need him! And only under my special permission!" 
 
 Soltykoff's iron nerve stood him in good stead when 
 he rejoined the Dentons and Arpad Falka! The young- 
 Count was as fretful as a chained tiger, for with them 
 the brown-faced Faroe Moses was already secreted in 
 a grave conference! 
 
 "Have you news news of her?" hungrily demand- 
 ed Falka. "I have here telegrams, secret ciphers, a 
 full report from the Austrian ministry! They can tell 
 me nothing nothing! My God! to be helpless here!" 
 The friendly circle sought in vain to soothe the half- 
 crazed brother's fury! "What have you to tell?" "I 
 have nothing!" gravely answered Serge, "but the Am- 
 bassador has now a thousand avenues opened to our 
 secret friends !" Major Denton's grave voice answered, 
 "Moses has discovered Mustapha Pasha lurking in his 
 usual dalliance, around Ismail Pasha, the broken-down 
 Khedive, at his royal prison palace ! But, the spies say
 
 102 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 that the disguised Kinsky has never come to Pera, 
 Galata or Stamboul since the arrival of the 'Sultanieh !' 
 
 "The Jews report that Mustapha was seen at Tcher- 
 navoda and Kustendjieh! The scoundrel then came 
 down along Trajan's old wall, and so avoided risking 
 his captive in the long voyage around by Galatz and 
 the mouths of the Danube! This confirms Grafton's 
 report of the strange happening up there! We are 
 all of the opinion that our missing sister has been or is 
 here, but she is clearly in other hands now than his!" 
 As the mournful accents died away Falka sprang to 
 his feet. "Ah! My God! Spare me !" he cried. "Those 
 other hands! Would that I could die to free her! 
 lima! My lima! My own darling!" 
 
 "Patience! Patience! I have Mustapha under watch! 
 I have many friends at work, all the jewel merchants 
 in the palaces! They will track him soon! And then 
 we can act!" Mindful of the young Count's growing 
 desperation, Serge Soltykoff had effected the transfer 
 of Arpad and Paul Denton to a double chamber! "If 
 no one will aid me I will break away and go on my 
 search alone!" cried the brother, as at last they broke 
 off a thousand useless queries and gropings after the 
 truth. "You would be but a useless sacrifice, Arpad ! 
 We must trust to the whole circle now working 
 through Nelidoff!" said the Russian Colonel with a 
 stern decision. And even gray old Moses nodded, 
 "That is wisdom !" as they separated. 
 
 While the restless rescuers vainly sought sleep, a 
 man muffled up, darted out of a carriage which had 
 sought the most infamous of the midnight dance halls 
 of Galata! A private door admitted the burly incognito, 
 who threw off his robes as he reached a private room ! 
 He was followed by an armed cavasse! "Go out and 
 fetch me the head steward !" was the order. And Janos 
 Kinsky, in the plain, dark dress and fez of a Turk of 
 rank, rolled a cigarette, while his brutal eyes gleamed 
 in a cruel pleasure. "To catch Mr. Sly Boots! Ah! 
 What a score! The last score! No! The mother
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 103 
 
 waits ! She shall be struck later ! Or, would it not be 
 well to let her linger? The white-faced prude! Damn 
 her! I would drag her at my horse's tail if I had her 
 in Anatolia!" He laughed mockingly! "Will she 
 come down to find Mademoiselle lima? By heaven! I 
 would like to see the meeting after lima has passed a 
 week in the Red Pavilion! There's no baby nonsense 
 there! What is good for the master is good for the 
 man! Yes! It would be a merry meeting! 
 
 "Ah! Hochholzer!" sharply said Mustapha, as a 
 pudgy maitre de ceremonie came in, bowing and scrap- 
 ing. 
 
 "Send me in some wine, quick, Tokayer! and Cham- 
 pagne! Your best! And that Capell meisterrin of 
 yours ! The lily faced devil with the blue eyes ! Quick ! 
 By the way, bring her yourself! My man Hassan is 
 on guard at the door, and he is apt to make awkward 
 mistakes with his weapons!" Mustapha chuckled, "If 
 I trap this young fool, will my luck hold with the moth- 
 er? She might travel ! By God ! If I could get her in 
 the Tyrol or down on the Adriatic there is Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina! I might use this devil girl Marie! An 
 imagined escape from a harem! With a likely story! 
 Wait! Wait!" 
 
 He sprang up and welcomed a slim, graceful girl 
 who came bounding in! "Well! Bel Demonio! Order 
 what you wish!" he said, carelessly, as the girl's lithe 
 arms twined around him! She was clad in faultless 
 vestal robes of white, her burning red lips and cool 
 malignant blue eyes shining out under a brow of seem- 
 ing girlish innocence! 
 
 Her ophidian countenance of lurking deviltry was 
 wreathed in glowing smiles! "Bon soir! auf Wieder- 
 sehen! Monsieur, the Devil's Brother!" she carolled! 
 In five minutes, the feast was spread! 
 
 "A nous deux !" toasted the declassee Viennese beau- 
 ty! They were alone! "Tell me what you wish!" 
 "Come here!" gurgled Mustapha, as he held up a flash-
 
 104 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ing diamond. "Tell me the truth, and earn this, with 
 a hundred guineas more as pin money !" 
 
 The wanton was sitting on his knee, as he impera- 
 tively said, "How did you meet this young fool, Arpad 
 Falka?" The music girl had the diamond in her slen- 
 der hand when she said, "He came in here the other 
 evening with an agent of the Russian Embassy! One 
 of my lovers, one of my slaves!" she pouted! "Go on! 
 No nonsense!" shouted the brute renegade! "No fool- 
 ery now!" She answered, "They lingered a half hour! 
 I knew Count Falka! I had played for his regiment 
 at a supper fete in Vienna, long before our orchestra 
 came down here! I made the mouchard fellow tell 
 me all! Count Arpad is here on some secret busi- 
 ness, and he is in hiding at the Russian Embassy! 
 That's all! He did not recognize me! I was afraid 
 that he would, but I set all the girls at him ! He flung 
 them some guineas, and then, the two men went 
 away!" 
 
 "Will this Russian fool, who is your dupe, do your 
 bidding?" "He would swim the Bosporus at my 
 nod!" the vicious woman proudly boasted! 
 
 "Hark then! Miss Marie, the Devil! Get one of 
 your own trusty scoundrels here to call that companion 
 of Falka's to you to-morrow early! Send him to Fal- 
 ka, with the packet I will give you ! Then do you come 
 at once to me at the gateway of Dolma-Baghtche ! Get 
 yourself up like a Turkish lady!" he grinned. "I will 
 give you a jolly afternoon! Bring Falka's answer to 
 me just as you get it! There is another diamond and 
 two hundred guineas if you succeed! You can bid 
 your Russian adorer come back here to supper with 
 you after the concert! In this room I want to see who 
 he is! And so, neither you nor he will play me false!" 
 The renegade's face was livid with satisfied passion. 
 "It is the stroke of a lifetime! The last score! For the 
 proud mother shall live to be mine! This she wolf 
 here can play the ingenue ! She is the one in a million 
 for me!" He muttered his joy and carelessly kissed
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 105 
 
 the woman's curving lips. "I will be your purse bear- 
 er if you serve me well!" The siren murmured, "Only 
 tell me what to do!" There were empty flagons and 
 scattered roses on the table when Mustapha left her! 
 The oblique serpent eyes of the girl quivered a moment 
 as the renegade said, "If you bungle this, by God, I'll 
 throw you to the fishes! Make yourself sure of your 
 lumbering Russian dupe!" "He shall be crazed with 
 his own blind nonsense! I can twist him around my 
 finger like a hair!" The reckless girl's eyes gleamed 
 with the fires of hell! 
 
 "Here now! Mark me! This handkerchief! Just 
 as it is! This letter you will write! Seal it up, and 
 then bring me his response!" 
 
 The girl trembled as she read: 
 
 "She whom you seek sends you this ! I am a woman 
 friend who dare not leave the harem garden! But you 
 were seen in Galata and followed to your home with 
 the Russians! I can bring her to the wall of the cut 
 road in the valley south of Beylerbey! Come alone! 
 You will not be signaled if any one else is in sight! 
 Come to-morrow, when the shadows are on the cut 
 road ! Ride up alone ! If you wear a red handkerchief 
 around your neck, an old Turkish farmer will hand 
 you a paper! You will know the name! lima Falka! 
 But no one else must know! Then I can watch for 
 you as you ride up the road! You shall speak to her, 
 and she will tell you how to conceal your friends when 
 you can carry her off! There are two or three hidden 
 places where one can safely speak over the wall! Re- 
 member, come alone, or you will never see the farm- 
 er, nor the one you seek. The place is abreast of the 
 Red Pavilion! Alone f Only alone! 
 
 "A Christian Captive and Your Friend." 
 
 The dissolute girl threw the diamond on the table! 
 "You would butcher him ! That beautiful young man ! 
 Never ! I will not !" Her breast was heaving, her eyes 
 flashed defiance. "Anything, anything, but that!" 
 
 "Fool !" howled the renegade, as his hand closed on
 
 106 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 her throat, and he bore her backward upon a divan! 
 A gleaming knife pricked her swelling bosom! "I'll 
 drive this into your heart if you dare to murmur! I 
 will have my fellow Hassan here wait and watch you ! 
 Old Hochholzer will bring you, bound hand and foot, 
 to me at my villa at Prinkipo! Do you remember 
 Lena Hartman? She, too, made a mistake ! I'll send 
 you to ask her if she regrets it! There's no baby play 
 at Prinkipo!" 
 
 "Mercy! Mercy! I'll do anything!" the struggling 
 girl pleaded. "Anything you bid me!" "There!" grunt- 
 ed Mustapha, casting her away! "Now you have had 
 your lesson! Pour out some wine! Don't be a fool! 
 What's this junker to you? Play your arts on your 
 Russian! I'll shower gold on you! I have a year's 
 luxury waiting you! Ah! I see that I can trust you!" 
 The girl was cowed and her eyes told of her self-sur- 
 render 1 "It's a pretty trifle!" she said, as she gazed 
 curiously at the handkerchief. It was marked with a 
 coronet and a monogram. "Whose?" 
 
 "He will know; that's enough!" growled Mustapha! 
 He rose and quickly called the minister of pleasures. 
 The low-browed wretch came back with a double roll 
 of gold! "Pin money!" said Mustapha. "Earn it and 
 more!" "I will!" cried the wanton. "I swear!" "Yes! 
 I will watch you, too!" growled the renegade. "Now! 
 Marie the Devil! You know your whole part! Send 
 Hassan to me the moment that your Russian fool 
 promises! Come to me in the afternoon when he re- 
 ports that he has given the Count his cue! You shall 
 have a day as Sultana, and also, see the harem world !" 
 
 In another moment, the burly scoundrel was closely 
 muffled and left the room, his warning finger held up! 
 The girl with the serpent eyes picked up the diamond. 
 
 "Poor fellow!" she murmured, and then, draining 
 the champagne bottle, followed Hochholzer out to the 
 hurly-burly of the dance hall! She shuddered as she 
 noted Hassan's ferocious eyes following her in the 
 dance!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 107 
 
 "I must not fail him! Some other would do his 
 
 bidding, and I " she thought of missing Lena 
 
 Hartman! Her fate was no secret! The girl knew 
 Mustapha's deadly work too well! 
 
 "I have done a good stroke of business!" growled 
 Mustapha, as his steam launch sped along the glassy 
 Bosporus ! The girl is well frightened ! I will ply her 
 with wine and gold! Women's cure-alls! But, the 
 little joke of the red handkerchief!" He laughed, as 
 he lay back on the cushions, a devilish ringing laugh, 
 for the striped scars on his back, made by Gabor 
 Falka's brawny huntsmen, were now burning in a dull 
 fire! 
 
 "By God! I'll train this white-faced devil up to 
 steal the mother! This is the last score, but then, 
 then only the score will be wiped out!" 
 
 Two days later, the Russian embassy was filled with 
 eagerly excited men, running to and fro, as with a 
 sinking heart Serge Soltykoff vainly demanded Arpad 
 Falka. The Ambassador was absent at the ministry of 
 foreign affairs, and Faroe Moses had led both the 
 Dentons away to question some of his spies hidden in 
 his own great commercial bazaar, when the grave in- 
 tendant answered: "I can not find the Herr Graf 
 Falka! He is not in the Legation!" Serge's heart 
 sank within him! He bounded to the Austrian's 
 room. It was empty! "Has he killed himself!" was 
 the first fearful thought! "Alas! He has broken 
 away !" For cloak, pistols, Alpine hat, all were gone ! 
 
 "My God!" groaned Serge! "He has taken some 
 demented notion of a lonely quest into his head!" 
 Then Serge gnashed his teeth in rage. "I dare not 
 leave till Nelidoff, till the others, come ! And, if I went 
 out where would I seek for him?" It was dark when 
 the Ambassador drove into his high walled courtyard ! 
 His face paled as Soltykoff hurried him into the nearest 
 waiting room! "This is ruin to our last hopes! Falka 
 may have tried some desperate scheme ! He paced the 
 room alone last night, Denton told me, after sheer
 
 108 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 exhaustion had closed his own eyes! Perhaps he is 
 with the others, and Moses ! We must wait till then !" 
 Something chilled Soltykoff's heart! "Has there been 
 foul play?" He smothered his fears and waited in 
 gloomy misgivings ! No one had seen the young Mag- 
 yar noble leave the Embassy enclosure! He had been 
 moody and restless all the morning, shut in his room, 
 and busied in writing a letter to his mother, which 
 still lay sealed upon the center table! It seemed 
 ominous of farewell! 
 
 "Can he have killed himself?" was Serge's self-tortur- 
 ing fear! "Great God! It would fill Magda's cup 
 of bitterness to overflowing! My own bright, brave 
 darling!" And yet, he waited with a timid hope for 
 the return of the others! 
 
 They came, but with them no Arpad Falka! "There 
 has something happened of the gravest character! I 
 fear the worst, gentlemen!" said the Ambassador, as 
 he hurried his secret agents out in every direction! 
 
 "You can do nothing but wait! I only hope this 
 brave youth has not madly sacrificed his sister's life 
 and his own!" 
 
 The gloomy cypress clumps of Beylerbey were 
 throwing long black shadows to the east, under the 
 last glimmer of a setting sun, as an athletic young rider 
 spurred his horse along the harem wall bordering the 
 cut road in the gulley! "Don't you want a runner? 
 That's a lonely place up there," said the valet de place 
 who pocketed Arpad Falka's gold at the steamer land- 
 ing. The runner who had ridden the horse up along 
 the shore from Galata, lazily eyed the young giaour! 
 "Let him wait here! I may need your horse again! 
 I will go back on the boat to the customs landing! I 
 will be back in an hour! Here are your two guineas!" 
 The interpreter slowly walked away as he watched the 
 young noble disappear. "Rides like a soldier! What 
 the devil is he up to? There is no fooling with the 
 Moslem girls here! Perhaps he has friends on the 
 hill among the trade millionaires !" The stable attend-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 109 
 
 ant squatted down at the corner of a wall, and lazily 
 produced his tobacco box! His watch was the num- 
 ber of burned cigarette ends! And, he had a good 
 backsheesh promised. When Arpad Falka had left 
 the shore a few hundred yards, he loosely knotted a red 
 silk handkerchief around his neck! Slowly skirting 
 the wall, winding along the picturesque ravine, the 
 red scarf flamed out like blood in the glancing rays of 
 the setting sun where the last beams slanted over the 
 western hill! The brother's heart was bounding in 
 his breast, and his eye noted every turn of the road, 
 every winding of the wall, where a reentrant angle, or 
 a drooping tree gave cover for a brief parley ! There 
 were shattered rifts where a faint glimpse could be 
 had of the graceful wealth of trees within. The faint 
 note of the nightingale was heard, and the breeze 
 wafted a thousand odors! Never lover kept tryst, 
 with a heart beating as high in a strained expectancy 
 of ecstasy. Once or twice, the spirited horse swerved 
 at a shadow and then, Falka's hand sought his revolver 
 butt! And the grim Fates were spinning! But all 
 was silent as the grave, there was no one in sight! He 
 eyed the wall, from beyond which the distant strain 
 of a band floated to his listening ear! The tinkle of 
 bells borne by gazelle or the pet sheep of the wealthy 
 Moslems sounded drowsily! The Bosporus shim- 
 mered far below in the dying sun, like a lake of fire! 
 "My God! Is it a mocking failure?" he whispered, 
 with burning lips ! "And yet her name, the crest and 
 broidered name !" That handkerchief was on his heart 
 now! The last mute appeal of a sister for aid! The 
 mystic token of womanhood's presence! Ilma's hand- 
 kerchief! Her dear lips had pressed it! Her tears 
 had bedewed it! And the brother rode on into the 
 gathering shadows! He raised his head as an old 
 man extended his arms, appearing suddenly from a 
 clump of trees by the northern side of the road ! The 
 hillock rose up a score of feet, and the wall on its 
 sloping line was but ten feet high above! There were
 
 110 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 tangled vines and brambles falling over the wall, and 
 a growth of stunted trees, where wind blown seeds 
 had been swept over the barrier from the witching 
 gardens beyond! Falka's cry of joy was muffled as the 
 steed leaped forward. The old Turk stood there, his 
 hand touched forehead and breast in salute, and then 
 he gravely extended a little folded paper! 
 
 Pointing to the deeper angle of the bend, Arpad saw 
 at a glance, that it was cut off from any view down the 
 glen! 
 
 His eyes were flashing in joy as they followed the 
 mute old Turk's pointing ringer, for a rounded arm 
 was thrust through a cranny in the wall! A woman's 
 hand, holding a letter, appeared for a single mo- 
 ment! To spring from his horse, as the old Turk 
 seized the bridle was the work of one last moment of 
 suspense! 
 
 Arpad Falka sprang up the bank to where a veiled 
 head appeared, for one instant, at the lowest point of 
 the crumbling barrier! He pushed aside the tangled 
 vines to reach a pyramid of stones fallen from the 
 coping! 
 
 One more step and the letter was within reach! 
 "lima! lima! Ah, God! Darling sister!" There 
 was a smothered groan as the scimitar flashed in the 
 dying day behind him! The proud noble's body then 
 rolled headlong to the road below ! There was no old 
 Moslem farmer there, but a riderless horse clattered 
 wildly down the glen! "Finish! Finish!" yelled a 
 bearded man who had sprung on the wall! Two 
 swarthy brutes leaped out of the shrubbery, and leaned 
 over the senseless body! With one wave of the arms 
 they disappeared in the glen below! There was silence, 
 save for a mocking laugh, for a man was now hastily 
 riding around the turn below ! The Count de la Tour 
 reined up, by the body of Arpad Falka lying there, 
 with a Kurdish dagger through his heart!
 
 BOOK II. The Pearl of a Thousand Purses. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FORLORN HOPEI-ILMA'S DREAM-THE TRANS- 
 FORMATION. 
 
 The two Dentons were closeted with Soltykoff at 
 dinner, when His Excellency Paul Nelidoff entered 
 hastily ! Soltykoff sprang up' as he saw the ashen pal- 
 lor of his superior's face! The two Americans, with 
 sinking hearts, listened to Nelidoff's stern voice pour- 
 ing out a few Russian sentences! Then, Serge Solty- 
 koff turned to Major Denton. "I am asked by His 
 Excellency to beg your word of honor that neither of 
 you will leave the Embassy till he permits! The last 
 glimmer of hope for lima hangs now on your heroic 
 self control, for " 
 
 "Arpad!" cried the two Americans. "Will never 
 return!" said Soltykoff as he buckled on his revolver 
 belt and slipped a Circassian dagger in its sheath ! "His 
 mangled body lies even now at the French Embassy! 
 He was found dead in the road, near Beylerbey Palace! 
 He must have tried some mad scheme ! We go to the 
 Embassy! Your word?" 
 
 "We swear!" said the Americans. Paul Nelidoff 
 laid his hand on Major Denton's arm! "The steamer 
 leaves at daybreak for Trieste! Be ready!" 
 
 "Ready for what?" faltered the veteran! "For the 
 hardest task of your life, Denton! I know your rec- 
 ord! General Berdan told me of Denton's battery at 
 Gettysburg! But, while Paul and Soltykoff follow
 
 112 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 this quest, you must go back and watch over Countess 
 Magda Falka! For, Bela Batthyani will be the Count 
 of Falkenstein and your own daughter will reign in 
 the Schloss! If lima Falka be ever rescued there is 
 a double relationship uniting you in the days to come! 
 Can you be brave and go? You must!" It was a 
 shock to the brave old soldier. Major Fraser Denton 
 gazed from one face to the other. "To quit a forlorn 
 hope !" "Ah ! Go ! my friend ! You have the hardest 
 battle! Now, only Russian craft ever matched Turk- 
 ish slyness! Soltykoff will lead the chase! You see 
 what Arpad's rashness has cost us all! Serge will fol- 
 low Mustapha now!" 
 
 "Yes! to the death," cried Serge! "Denton! Tell 
 Magda she will never see me again, if I do not find 
 that girl! and Paul will go with me!" "Into hell itself, 
 with you for Ilma's sake! For poor Arpad!" almost 
 shrieked the young athlete ! Nelidoff bade them listen. 
 "Now!" said the Ambassador, "we will learn the facts 
 of the murder and return at once! I have called the 
 French Minister up to the English Legation to meet 
 us! And we go disguised! I fear some sad story! 
 Even now, lima Falka may be dead, or has been al- 
 ready spirited away! It is a forlorn hope all round! 
 Treachery, madness, imprudence, or bandits, some 
 fatal curse follows the House of Falka!" 
 
 The two Russians left the Embassy by a secret 
 entrance, and in a street carriage gained the English 
 Legation in Moslem garb, with muffled faces. There 
 were armed servants riding at their side. 
 
 As the droschky rolled along, Nelidoff said sadly: 
 "Serge! But one thing will now save this girl! Her 
 life hangs on a single hair!" Serge turned his flashing 
 eyes upon him in a dumb agony. "It is her extraor- 
 dinary beauty, and the time, the display, the 'setting 
 off,' needed to market the Pearl of a Thousand Purses ! 
 If Mustapha acts from pure revenge, then the daugh- 
 ter of a hundred Counts is even now dead or worse 
 than dead to-night! This mystery of Arpad's deser-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 115 
 
 tion? What is it? Was he crazed?" "De la Tour 
 alone can fathom it," groaned Soltykoff as they reached 
 the Legation. Nelidoff and his friend were quickly 
 shown into a private room on the second floor of the 
 English Legation. The window was open, and far 
 below the ships' lights twinkled, the thousand lamps 
 of the street gleamed like braided fireflies, and the 
 music of a dozen Tzigane bands floated up on the 
 autumn air! ''Hell's own whirlpool!" cried Nelidoff I 
 There was a sound of shuffling feet and a man's quick 
 tread ! 
 
 When the door opened Armand,Vicomte de la Tour, 
 looked as one who had seen the return of the dead! 
 He led by the hand a timid black Nubian woman slave, 
 her face slashed with the three diagonal cuts of her 
 Moslem captors! The poor wretch trembled like a 
 leaf in the storm. "What is this, Armand? You are 
 ill?" cried the Russian diplomat, grasping the French- 
 man's ice cold hands ! La Tour sank into a seat! The 
 woman seated herself on the floor, and her salt tears 
 fell through her black fingers ! 
 
 "It is a night of horror!" began the Frenchman! 
 His hollow voice startled them ! "You know I was to 
 have ridden out to meet Pozziani! My heart beat 
 high in hope, for this woman, Ayesha, came down to 
 the strand, where I had a spy in a fisher boat, to tell me 
 that Pozziani, poor, brave devoted one, had found out 
 lima Falka's gilded prison nest, and soon would have 
 communication with her, through one old aga of the 
 eunuchs, who strangely had conceived a violent pen- 
 chant for my poor prisoner, who had cured him when 
 ill nigh unto death! The simple old brute had no fear 
 of letting a woman approach The Pearl of a Thou- 
 sand Purses'! Alas! It was my mail day! I was 
 late. I sent my horse up to the landing below Beyler- 
 bey, and rode smartly across some vacant gardens to 
 the cut road! I was over half an hour late at my tryst r 
 but I feared nothing, for Pozziani was always allowed 
 to roam at will in the limits of that great Seraglio Park r
 
 114 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Poor and middle aged, her ornaments and jewels taken 
 away for younger favorites, she had neither gold to buy 
 friends, nor beauty to allure lovers now ! So, I watched 
 the road to see her signal momentarily floating at the 
 Red Pavilion a white scarf from her upper window, 
 indicating that she was walking near the wall! Sud- 
 denly I saw a man, in European garb, ride slowly along 
 the winding cut road, only a few turns above me ! As 
 he passed a point, I saw he wore a red neck handker- 
 chief floating out in the breeze behind him! Red is the 
 Moslem signal for death! Fearing that it was only 
 some blundering tourist, I spurred my horse up! I 
 had two reasons, as I galloped along pistol in hand! 
 I wished to warn the stranger and also, to turn him 
 back so that I could meet Pozziani ! I wished to warn 
 him of the dangers of the sinister emblem he wore! I 
 feared some bandit lure! Some trollop siren's snare! 
 But, while I lost him from sight, as I gained the cut 
 road in pursuit, I suddenly saw a man on a knoll 
 across the ravine, wildly waving a red handkerchief! 
 He was either signaling to some one on the road, or 
 -else over the wall. Before I could ponder as to retrac- 
 ing my steps, a riderless horse came madly galloping 
 down past me! And I had lost the stranger from sight! 
 Desperate now, I spurred on, and in the road, at a 
 clump of trees under the wall, I saw poor young Falka 
 lying dead in the road ! His neck was nearly severed 
 by a scimitar cut from behind, and a dagger was thrust 
 in his heart! There was no one in sight, but thanks to 
 God, the rattle of wheels announced a coming car- 
 riage. It was a jolly party of French clerks who were 
 riding into town for the cafe concerts, their nightly 
 haunt ! 
 
 "We quickly lifted poor Falka, and one of the 
 young fellows rode my horse ! We drove like the wind 
 down to the second landing, where my own Legation 
 launch waits for me every evening! A dozen stout 
 arms soon lifted him in, and the young fellows, by my 
 order, rode away, without a single word to the Turkish
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 115* 
 
 police! Now, I reverently searched young Falka's, 
 body! To my horror, I found these!" 
 
 Nelidoff and Serge shuddered as the pale French- 
 man laid before them the handkerchief of lima Falka,. 
 with its dainty crest and the word ''lima." It was 
 blood stained, and a brother's heart's blood dyed it I 
 "Here is the cursed red handkerchief, the signal of 
 death ! Here is the lying letter, a woman's letter, that 
 lured him to it!" The gallant Frenchman sobbed. 
 "And, clutched in his dead hand was this little paper 
 with the name 'lima Falka!' Some devil lured him. 
 to his death. But, who?" Soltykoff read the blood 
 dabbled letter and then handed it back to Nelidoff in. 
 silence. The Ambassador gazed at Serge ! Then their 
 voices broke out in a hollow groan: "Mustapha's 
 deviltry! He trapped him to his death!" But, a 
 woman ! How could Falka yield to a woman's arts 
 a low intrigue, at such a time!" The Frenchman was 
 incredulous! "Impossible!" 
 
 "You do not know Becker Bey's arts!" said Solty- 
 koff! He must have discovered Arpad Falka's hiding 
 place and he divined our pursuit! But how in God's 
 name could he reach Falka, with such a clumsy snare 1 
 He must have tracked him here from Vienna, through 
 spies, and then used some Seraglio girl or some hell- 
 damned woman renegade, to pretend to lead Falka to 
 his sister! Where is the body?" 
 
 "At the Legation, in my chapel, with our priest in- 
 charge!" bitterly said la Tour. "Stop! You have not 
 heard all! Falka was armed. He must have been 
 lured up to the wall, and then struck from behind, 
 while parleying. The woman who wrote the letter did 
 that, and then, gave the signal to the swordsmen hid- 
 den in that clump of bushes! 
 
 "Now, I was busy with disposing of the Count's re- 
 mains, and with planning this meeting when this poor, 
 shapeless thing, poor Ayesha, Pozziani's humblest 
 truest friend in adversity, tottered into the Legation by 
 the servants' door! My maitre d'hotel always had his
 
 116 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 secret orders. He admitted her at once. When 
 brought to me she fell in a faint of fear and broke out 
 afterwards a burst of hopeless grief! ^or she sought 
 her mistress when the darkness came, and at last found 
 her, where she, poor victim, had waited in vain forme! 
 Pozziani was lying by the wall, stone dead, a heavy red 
 silk handkerchief knotted around her throat! A knife 
 stab told of the sudden onslaught. It was a desperate 
 blow between the shoulders!" La Tour stopped ab- 
 ruptly, and then buried his face in his hands! "I had 
 sworn that she should end her days in freedom! She 
 died vainly for lima Falka, and now, we are baffled! 
 It is a blind trail now ! What a death trap, this hole !" 
 
 Serge Soltykoff had gravely listened as if each word 
 was his own death sentence. "I have this fellow's 
 deadly scheme worked out backward ! It was Becker 
 Bey himself, this Kinsky brute, who was the man an- 
 swering the signal of the waving red handkerchief! 
 He had posted that outlying spy on the watch across 
 the ravine! The road can not be seen from the wall! 
 But, he allowed the false friend to call or signal poor 
 Falka, who dismounted, and was then struck from 
 behind, while parleying! May God eternally damn 
 the wretch in lakes of fire !" And the Russian groaned 
 "Magda! My Magda!" 
 
 "But, Pozziani! Poor, friendless waif of fortune," 
 mourned la Tour! "Ah!" said Soltykoff, "from his 
 place of concealment this arch fiend, Mustapha, must 
 have seen her stealing down to the wall! He then 
 hid himself, and, your riding up the road explained 
 the fact of her lurking there! Or else the poor woman 
 may have witnessed Falka's murder! To steal upon 
 her, to stab her, and then to still her cries with the 
 signal kerchief he held, was the work of the wild rage 
 of that discovery!" 
 
 "Yes! It is all clear! Too clear! Too plainly 
 written!" The two other men bowed their heads in 
 assent! "I must now hide this poor slave and smug- 
 gle her away from Constantinople!" said la Tour!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 117 
 
 "And, lima Falka?" solemnly said Nelidoff. "Is lost 
 forever, but for the grace of Almighty God," was Serge 
 Soltykoff's low reply ! "My God ! It is too horrible ! 
 Arpad! Arpad! Your self-sacrifice has slain your 
 sister! For, she is lost to us now! Becker will either 
 strangle her to-night, and hide her forever, or she will 
 be spirited away to Asia! But Arpad Falka's death 
 must not go unavenged! The Seraglio here will not 
 be Ilma's prison. For she must live, for their vile 
 uses, and her place of suffering will be far from here!" 
 
 While they spoke in whispers of the dead, far below 
 them in the private cabinet of the Hochholzer cafe 
 chantant, Mustapha was pledging the white robed 
 music girl with the serpent eyes in the sparkling wine ! 
 There was a chain of diamonds shining now on her 
 neck! The renegade whispered: "You shall only 
 sing and play for me, for me alone, now ! To-morrow 
 you go with me to Dolma-Baghtche ! You shall have 
 a year of roses and rosy wine! Of every pleasure ! I 
 go to Bagdad, to Damascus, but I will come back to 
 you, and you shall earn your weight in yellow gold!" 
 
 The girl's arms were twined around his neck, as she 
 whispered, "You have found then, that Marie the Devil 
 could be true to you! Tell me, only tell me, your 
 wishes! For I will go with you, and be your capell 
 meisterrin!" And they reveled in their hidden haunt, 
 laughing over the sparkling wine ! 
 
 There was a lonely pavilion in the guarded shades 
 of Beylerbey where a sobbing girl started in her un- 
 easy sleep as the long night wore away! A poor 
 white-faced watcher of the night, who eyed the two 
 hideous Nubian eunuchs lying on a Persian carpet at 
 her door! Their belts bore pistol, Kurdish dagger 
 and the crooked sabre ! While one slept the other eyed 
 her with the brutal indifference of his sexless condition! 
 At the slightest sound, the maiden started from her 
 couch with the instinctive protest of womanhood, fear- 
 ing the delayed horrors to come! For, though she 
 well knew the brutal face of the red bearded captor,.
 
 118 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 he had only roughly controlled her by the interposition 
 of two Moorish afrites, old women, mere gibbering 
 brutes, and instruments of his will! And the long 
 night wore on, her chamber dimly lit by a swinging 
 silver lamp. lima Falka, under God's mercy, dreamed 
 not of the ultimate crown of her sorrows. Her 
 thoughts were far away, by the beautiful blue Danube, 
 and once more her mother's golden smile beamed upon 
 her! Once more Arpad's brotherly arms were clasped 
 around her! Once again Paul Denton, in the lilac 
 walks of "My Lady's garden," spoke, with burning 
 eyes of love, to eyes that spoke again! And her gal- 
 lant brother had died for her, not a rifle shot from her 
 hiding place. 
 
 In the Russian Embassy, there was a saddened 
 group of men gathered around the table in Fraser 
 Denton's rooms as the huge hall clock below struck 
 two with its silver chimes! The Dentons had listened 
 in horror to Soltykoff's sad relation, and were bowed 
 down as if under the stroke of the assassin's sabres! 
 In a corner Faroe Moses, his silvered head bent, fear- 
 fully whispered his sage advice to Paul Nelidoff! 
 "What are your plans?" slowly said Major Denton to 
 Soltykoff! The Russian soldier gazed sadly at the 
 American veteran! "I will be frank with you, Major! 
 We have all learned the fearful penalty of imprudence! 
 You must know only this, that Arpad Falka's body 
 will be secretly embalmed and sent on to Trieste by the 
 Austrian Ambassador, who will take charge of all the 
 secret reports to his government ! We knew that the 
 Austrian Legation would be watched. Prince Nelidoff 
 and Count la Tour can confer at the English Embassy 
 with the Austrian ! I shall leave it to my superior here 
 to instruct you as to what you must communicate to 
 Countess Magda Falka! It is only a pious mercy to 
 lead her later to believe that her gallant son has fallen 
 a victim to the treacherous climate of the orient! It 
 is vital to us now to conceal this murder! Justice is a 
 mere mockery, a vain fantasy, here. The dogged
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 119 
 
 Porte would, of course, institute the usual investiga- 
 tion! Arpad's death would be officially laid at the 
 door of the convenient 'robbers'! No man rides here 
 beyond the limits of the Pera plateau without one or 
 two armed guards and a Moslem interpreter! We have 
 had to officially ignore Ilma's kidnapping, and so we 
 are powerless to intervene in this officially. No ! You 
 must go back to Vienna! . 
 
 "Prince Nelidoff will give you his written instruc- 
 tions, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Vienna 
 will later have our cipher reports to give to you! The 
 one task before you is to remain at the Schloss, to aid 
 Bela and your daughter in buoying up the mother for 
 the coming sorrow! 
 
 "You will be placed on the Austrian Lloyd's boat 
 secretly! Silence, self-devotion and passive watchful- 
 ness are your duties! Paul and I " 
 
 ''Will hunt this wolf to the death!" cried the young 
 American. "Ah! Arpad! Arpad!" he groaned. "It 
 was a fatal desertion, even though led by love, and it 
 has ruined our one chance to save lima here! Poor 
 Pozziani! Her blood also was shed because of his 
 fatal gallantry! To go out alone! Into the very jaws 
 of death! What mad folly!" 
 
 The Ambassador approached the table! "Gentle- 
 men !" he said, "Moses agrees with me, that the captive 
 will be at once hurried away to Asia Minor or even 
 beyond! Our one faithful friend in the harem, upon 
 whom we could have counted, is cold in death! A 
 child might know that the hidden guards of the grand 
 Seraglio enclosure will now be doubled! We must 
 show no public sign of our sorrow, no coterie of 
 watchers must linger here under the eyes of the 
 wily Turks! They are now fully on the alert! 
 Faroe Moses has pledged me to notify every Jew of 
 note from Java to Bagdad, from Beyrout and Aleppo 
 to Smyrna, Trebizond, Erzeroum and Teheran! 
 
 "I alone must be the medium of the secret orders, 
 for, we have found that we can not trust, even a
 
 120 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 brother's love, in this dangerous quest! The head 
 must be cool indeed to follow these vile dogs! The 
 way of this innocent victim has been trodden before 
 by many poor, helpless ones! I can trust Colonel 
 Soltykoif to lend his coolness to you, Paul, and now I 
 pledge the whole force of the Russian secret service in 
 Asia Minor, on the Caspian, in the Black Sea and here, 
 to aid our two champions! Major Denton! Come 
 with me! I will have both your friends roused to say 
 good bye!" 
 
 "Will you write?" said the veteran to the two men 
 he was leaving. 
 
 "Better let Countess Magda Falka think that we 
 were all away together on the quest, and that you were 
 recalled on some fancied clue found at Vienna! The 
 Ambassador will have my letters to forward to the 
 Countess by our own secret courier at the right 
 time?" Paul Denton bowed in assent to Soltykoff's 
 self-denying precaution! 
 
 When the two elders had departed for a last con- 
 ference, Faroe Moses hobbled to the table! "I swear 
 by the God of Jacob that I will go myself to Dolma- 
 Baghtche, and I will have to-morrow night traced this 
 Mustapha! If aught of note has occurred in that 
 great wilderness of palaces I can reach it! They know 
 me, of old! And the Christian maiden shall live! I 
 swear it, even if I offer up mv own life!" The proud 
 Russian grasped the trembling hands of the aged 
 Hebrew jewel vender! "We need your wisdom now, 
 Moses! You shall have what no other man of your 
 race has now, the right of ingress and egress all over 
 Russia! Be wise as the serpent!" 
 
 "Ah! We of Israel know these bloodthirsty dogs 
 but too well!" sighed Moses. "From Arabia Petrea 
 to Basra, from Ararat to Rhodes, we glide through 
 their meshes! Trust to me! For my friends in Asia 
 Minor are wise! They see all, and guard their silent 
 watch !" 
 
 The great Russian Embassy was soon darkened,
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 121 
 
 save where Paul Nelidoff sat late in vigil with Major 
 Fraser Denton! "I see your wisdom, Your Excel- 
 lency!" said the American, as he departed for a two 
 hours' rest before the summons to board the steamer. 
 "I will guard Magda Falka with my life, and sustain 
 her till the coming storm is past! As you say, Paul's 
 face is unknown in the orient, and my visage is too 
 familiar to this renegade's friends from my later oc- 
 cupations !" 
 
 There was a four oared caique darting along over 
 the still waters of the Bosporus as the two men sep- 
 arated! A woman lay on the silken cushions at the 
 stern, idly trailing her jeweled hand in the cool waves! 
 She laughed as she scattered the falling drops which 
 flashed in the starlight like a glittering shower! 
 
 "Diamonds!" she laughed! "A diamond rain!" 
 "Yes! and you go to a bower of roses!" laughed Mus- 
 tapha, as he blew away the fragrant smoke of his peer- 
 less Smyrna cigarette! The renegade, Janos Kinsky, 
 was lolling at ease, and secretly rejoicing at the mid- 
 night escapade of the white robed bacchante! Wine- 
 crazed and folly-led, Marie the Devil nodded gaily 
 when Mustapha had proposed the voyage in the 
 caique! 
 
 "You are mine now!" he craftily said! "Your place 
 in the orchestra will soon be filled by another of our 
 Vienna graduates in deviltry! I will send my own 
 men down for all your belongings. As for Hoch- 
 holzer, one word from him and I would chase him 
 from the Golden Horn! Your lovers? Well," he 
 laughed. "They can wait. I will see you yet with 
 Pashas at your feet, a queen of Terpsichore, the Devil 
 queen of the Night" 
 
 The renegade had simply thrown a boat cloak 
 around her! The music hall costumes furnished forth 
 scarf and Turkish veil! Black silk hood and filmy 
 yashmak completed a disguise, needless now on these 
 lonely star lit waters ! Kinsky smiled a cruel smile, as 
 he eyed the girl's lissom form lying there, her eyes
 
 122 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 flashing with the fiery wine's borrowed light! "It was 
 a master stroke," he mused. "She might change her 
 mind! All women change their minds! A word to 
 that Russian lover and I might be traced ! They will 
 never know now how that fool was trapped! And 
 this wild night-hawk is safely caged forever! For 
 when she goes behind the gilded gate of Dolma- 
 Baghtche, she is mine to do with as I please! If I 
 finish with the Pearl of a Thousand Purses, then I 
 may lure the mother into my hands ! Gods ! I have 
 it! I will play off Marie the Devil as a beauty kid- 
 naped to the labyrinth of love here on the strait! She 
 shall have the run of the harems! I can train her like 
 a mocking bird! I will let her see this ring dove, 
 when I have her all ready for the journey! She shall 
 have every evidence to prove her story! Her rings, 
 her description, her garb, the very book she had in 
 her hand when she was strolling by the Danube ! And, 
 if I can trap the woman who once braved me, then, 
 by heaven, scar for scar, I will scourge her myself! 
 And after, after I have done with her, the slave mar- 
 kets at Aleppo! I have paid my score! Son and 
 daughter! There waits but the last score. And then 
 I am revenged! If this girl only plays her part, the 
 Lady of Falkenstein shall serve her as a menial, on 
 her knees!" 
 
 In a transport of frenzied gloating over the future, 
 the renegade drew the girl to his side, in a passionate 
 embrace. When the gilded caique glided up to the 
 marble steps of Dolma-Baghtche, Kinsky grasped the 
 laughing wanton in his strong arms and bore her 
 across the driveway, to where the myrtles leaned over 
 the iron gate of the secret Seraglio entrance. The gate 
 clashed behind them! Marie the Devil shuddered as 
 the forms of two burly swordsmen towered over her, 
 when the arms of Mustapha Pasha released her. 
 
 At a signal, one of the guards flitted away in the 
 darkness! The laugh died on the bacchante's lips as 
 Mustapha hurried her through a fretted Moorish door
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 123 
 
 carved in the marble walls! "You are mine now! 
 Remember!" he sternly said. "Mine alone, mine to do 
 with as I will! Never forget that my will now is your 
 only title to life !" 
 
 And the nightingales were singing around them, 
 there, while the shadows hid the fairy beauties of the 
 splendid gardens ! It was not a rifle shot to the Pavil- 
 ion on the hill where the hapless lima Falka lay 
 dreaming! "Get your sleep now, Marie!" said Mus- 
 tapha, as he clapped his hands, and an aga of the 
 eunuchs appeared. "I need you to-morrow early, for 
 we will transform that dead fool's sister into a houri 
 of Moslem fashion, a morsel fit for a sultan! None 
 but you shall touch her! She is the Pearl of a Thous- 
 and Purses." 
 
 "What would you do with her?" ventured the music 
 girl! 
 
 "She is going on a long journey a long, long 
 journey!" was the reply. "And you shall decorate her 
 for a royal espousal ! A beauty show to come !" Kin- 
 sky laughed, and then, kissed the woman's burning 
 lips! "They will bring you all you wish! See! Clap 
 your hands ! So ! And all the head attendants speak 
 lingua Franca! Now, good-night! Remember but 
 one thing! There is one remedy for babblers here, 
 for the unwilling and, that is" he drew his hand 
 across his throat! Marie the Devil, standing on tip 
 toe, blew him a kiss from her dainty fingers! "Thank 
 you, Pasha! I'm not curious, and I prefer to keep 
 my head on my shoulders!" He smiled, and pointed 
 to the curtained door! 
 
 The sunlight sparkled on the blue Sea of Marmora 
 merrily as Fraser Denton, standing at the stern of the 
 swift mail packet "Franz Joseph," gazed moodily at 
 the Austrian flag above him! 
 
 In vain did the enchanting panorama of the Pointe 
 du Serai hover on the western shore, he marked not 
 Prinkipo's fairy castled retreats bowered in the lovely 
 gardens of the opulent East! He cast one look back
 
 124 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 at the far shining line of palaces on the European 
 shore, and then groaned, 
 
 "One dead, the other worse than dead, and I, an 
 enforced runaway. Truly a forlorn hope, the bitter- 
 ness of death, the shadow of shame, the gloom of 
 defeat! And, my tidings! What a burden!" He 
 walked the deck, as restless as the sea birds hovering 
 in the foam churned wake! 
 
 "Are there two more victims marked out for 
 betrayal?" He dared not read the future! Fraser 
 Denton had only consented to go away upon Paul 
 NelidofF s word of honor that Bela Batthyani and him- 
 self would be the last reserve. 
 
 "It may be that money would have bought a way to 
 her! The golden key!" sighed Nelidoff! "But, poor 
 Arpad has paid the price! Blood pays all debts! There 
 is no critic who can carp at his self devotion! But, 
 the mystery! How was he trapped?" 
 
 In the dark hour before daylight, Serge Soltykoff 
 and Paul Denton had said good-bye! "Do not fear 
 for us, Major," said the Russian. "I am hardened 
 to oriental intrigue, and Paul here is as silent as a 
 Sioux brave on the warpath. We shall either succeed 
 or die! I have the handkerchief, the last token filched 
 from the woman I seek! Tell Magda Falka that my 
 blood will dye it before I turn back from the chase f 
 Denton!" said the gallant Russian, as their hands met 
 in the last clasp. "Tell her that I love her more than 
 life! She will understand at the last." 
 
 The veteran turned away to hide his feeling, but not 
 till he had whispered, "I see her in the future wait- 
 ing to welcome you ! Go and may God protect you !" 
 
 There was no movement in the Russian Embassy in 
 the long morning of Fraser Denton's secret departure! 
 For, Paul Nelidoff was shaken with a secret alarm! 
 Just how Arpad Falka had been toled out of the safe 
 haven he knew not, but, evidently the horseback jaunt 
 must have been arranged with the aid of others! The 
 letter, the handkerchief of his sister, all these must
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 125 
 
 have secretly been brought into the Embassy! It was 
 at a fearful risk for the traitor! Ah! the Czar's rep- 
 resentative knew not of the guilty tryst of one who 
 only waited the morn now to seek the white armed 
 Briseis who had served the renegade's revenge! A 
 day of forced inaction had been reluctantly deemed 
 vital to the saving of lima Falka's life! "At the slight- 
 est sign of any official foreign clamor, that gentle girl 
 would be slain, and her body destroyed!" said la Tour. 
 "No! I will go my ways with a smiling face! There 
 must be absolute secrecy in the final transhipment of 
 poor Count Falka's remains to Trieste! I will have 
 the Foreign Hospital here get up a set of false death 
 papers which the German Minister can certify! No! 
 We must dine, drive, walk the Pera Park, and so hide 
 our griefs ! 
 
 "By this joint prudence, we may yet hear of the girl 
 alive, in Asia Minor! You have spread all your nets! 
 We will never trace her here! And, Moses and his 
 crafty brethren are your only hope in the Bosporus! 
 Our last star of hope flickered and went out forever 
 when the Pozziani died!" It was sadly true! 
 
 In the marble splendor of Dolma-Baghtche, the 
 music girl sprang to her feet, at morn, when the burly 
 Mustapha grasped her gleaming ivory shoulder! "Here 
 are Turkish dresses!" he said! "You have masquer- 
 aded often! Robe quickly! Never mind vain adorn- 
 ment. I will come to you in an hour! Remember, 
 then, my words! Obedience, silence! Your Galata 
 life has taught you discretion, I fancy! They will 
 bring you food!" 
 
 "Count on me! Not a word will escape me!" said 
 the beautiful harpy! She saw her master's gloomy 
 brow, and wisely essayed no wanton arts! "Good! I 
 will return! Wait for me here!" The serpent eyed 
 Marie saw his tall form disappear in the shaded alleys, 
 as he dashed away with nervous stride! A glimpse 
 from her window showed her a wilderness of beauty, 
 and she laughed shrilly for joy!
 
 126 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 THis is Paradise in Hell !" the bacchante murmured. 
 "But, va bane! I leave nothing behind! Here is lux- 
 ury, pleasure, all that is left to me, now !" 
 
 There was a woman waiting on watch at the door 
 of the pavilion where lima Falka was guarded! An 
 old, wrinkled beldame who smiled most significantly 
 as Mustapha entered the outer chamber and then draw- 
 ing the curtain satisfied himself that the prisoner was 
 still in his power! One brawny slave lay athwart the 
 threshold and the other guard nodded significantly as 
 he sat there, with a drawn scimetar lying across his 
 clumsy knees! Mustapha then kicked the sleeper with 
 his heavy foot, and giving to each a gold piece, 
 motioned abruptly to them to withdraw! At his side, 
 the old beldame pointed in triumph, to the lovely 
 Magyar, lying there, with one moulded arm uncovered, 
 and her beautiful golden hair veiling her snowy breast! 
 The eyes were half opened, but no sound of alarm 
 issued from her lips, as the scoundrel lifted the lovely 
 arm and let it fall ! lima Falka lay there, in a dreamy 
 death in life! "Good!" cried the burly brute, watching 
 to see if his voice aroused the dazed beauty! "When 
 did you give her the potion?" he said, in the Turkish 
 jargon of his last adopted country! "Last night, in 
 the drink, before she slept!" grinned the old crone." 
 "And the visions the dreams how long will they 
 last?" He eyed the hag keenly. "Four days. Four 
 days of blessed joy, of half life! She will remember 
 nothing! Almost nothing! I could have given her 
 more hasheesh, for she is young and strong! But, 
 you would not harm her ! I can bring her out in a few 
 hours, but, she must not be left to herself! She would 
 die without care!" "What would happen?" demanded 
 Mustapha. "She might live, but, she would be a fool, 
 a wandering one !" The old crone then merrily jingled 
 the golden coins he gave! "I am going to take her 
 away! In the evening! Be you ready to go with me! 
 I will send you back from Sinope, and not empty- 
 handed! Watch over her well!" Mustapha turned at
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 127 
 
 the door. "Why do I not?" His brutal passions were 
 stirred. "No! She must live to suffer, to die by 
 inches ! She must be herself to feel the dreaded shame 
 crawling nearer day by day! Live to have her pride 
 humbled into the last descent of menial thraldom ! To 
 be the sport of servants, the slave of slaves, and to with- 
 er in poverty under the blows of the eunuchs ! But, the 
 exquisite torture of her rose in bloom days! I shall 
 witness that ! And so I will not spoil her price ! After, 
 after she has suffered, I will set my heel upon her 
 bruised breast! I swear it! I can not afford the luxury 
 of the Pearl of a Thousand Purses! Now, to have 
 Marie make her hideously beautiful, 'en Turque !' " He 
 motioned to the guards, who took up their lazy watch 
 again there, when the old hag felt the deadened pulse 
 of the drugged and helpless beauty! 
 
 In an hour a dozen women attendants, escorted by 
 Mustapha, entered the pavilion. They bore bundles 
 of robes and all the implements of a sultana's toilet! 
 At his side, now, the Viennese music girl awaited his 
 orders! "Come with me!" he said, speaking in Ger- 
 man, and with one hand on the curtain. "Remember! 
 Obedience on your very life!" A smothered cry es- 
 caped the woman as Mustapha, led her to the couch 
 where the poor snared dove lay helpless! None but 
 the old crone had lingered! "Ah! God! She is so beau- 
 tiful. Her mother is not half " "Have done your 
 
 foolery," cried Mustapha, as the lovely Magyar stirred 
 like a child in her half sleep! "To your work! Remem- 
 ber! You are to pack up and take to your own room 
 every single vestige of her belongings every trifle, 
 however small ! The women here will show you how to 
 robe her! The articles that you take from her will all 
 be sealed up in a chest! We shall want them in our 
 little masquerade with the mother, later! Now, I go 
 to arrange my steamer for departure! Have this all 
 over by noon! For you and I, will then have our 
 breakfast together! I will leave every order for your 
 pleasuring here, till I return! There is a friend of 
 e
 
 128 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 mine in the Palace! He will be your squire while I 
 am away!" Mustapha's leer brought the crimson to 
 the hardened woman's cheek! "Now, hearken!" He 
 whispered some orders, and then calling in the chief 
 tire woman, said aloud, "This is your mistress!" The 
 women crouched one by one and kissed the music 
 woman's hand! Mustapha turned, "There is but one 
 thing you must not forget! At this door the only 
 one of this Bovver of Virtue, these two swordsmen 
 wait! If you even crossed the threshold an inch, they 
 would forget your beauty, Marie, and cut you down!" 
 "I will be ready for the breakfast! Have some good 
 wine there!" pertly cried the lissom witch of sin. 
 Marie, the outcast well knew that every eye bent on 
 her was a spy's distrustful organ! With an easy air of 
 stern command, she dismissed all save the old crone, 
 when the renegade left after a last glance at the help- 
 less Magyar maid! "It's something of a shame to 
 spoil her looks!" he grumbled. "But, she will be a 
 pearl, in Moslem eyes, when you have painted her 
 eyebrows, daubed her nails and fingers with henna, 
 and stained brown that golden hair! No one must 
 know her to be a European when her gear is all on! 
 Fit her slippers pretty snug so she must shuffle along. 
 The Austrian outcast sprang to her work, aided by the 
 crone, who worked for another harvest of Mustapha's 
 golden guineas! The cymar of milk white silk was 
 soon drawn over the form of the helpless prisoner, 
 who had been quickly deprived of her own raiment! 
 But a single moment did the music girl hesitate as she 
 saw the golden cross hanging around the neck of the 
 devoted victim! "It is my life to falter!" she muttered 
 as she tore away the slender chain! "Quick! To note 
 every bodily mark ! Now! The rings!" and the excited 
 woman wondered as she drew off the three rings on 
 the slender fingers of the captive ! "They have drugged 
 her, to stupefaction ! And, against her will !" A sud- 
 den fear possessed the reckless woman! "He could 
 do the same now at will, with me! Oh! God! I must
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 129 
 
 not let him ever be angered!" So, in a frenzy of haste 
 she laid aside, even the veriest trifle of the prisoner's 
 belongings! Then, with a last look, she clapped her 
 hands thrice! The tire women then entered! Mutely, 
 and with deft fingers they sprang to their task! Two 
 of their number supported the helpless girl, with cush- 
 ions piled up around her, while a busy circle plied 
 every art of the Moslem toilet! The old crone brought 
 in two slaves bearing a Turkish coffer! And, then, 
 Marie, the outcast, laid away every bit of the European 
 belongings of the stolen beauty! "That is all!" she 
 murmured. "I will give him the cross and the chain 
 and the three rings, myself!" She bade them then bear 
 away the coffer! With a curious fascination, the music 
 girl saw the transformation of the woman doomed to 
 a gilded slavery! Long before Mustapha returned to 
 pass the "dead line" at the pavilion door, there was 
 nothing left in the superbly adorned Turkish figure 
 there to tell of poor vanished lima Falka! For, even 
 her chiselled features had changed under the disguise 
 of powder and paint, darkened eyelids, blackened eye- 
 brows, and the walnut stained locks, hidden under a 
 fiat green velvet cap, gold embroidered, with heavy 
 bullion tassel ! The black silken hose set off the green 
 velvet slippers, with curling, pointed toes, richly em- 
 broidered in gold and seed pearl ! A magnificent gray 
 brocaded silken tunic fell to the knees, below which 
 the wide, graceful Turkish trousers were gathered at 
 the shapely ankles. 
 
 The tunic, fitting close at the neck, was richly 
 broidered with pearl and gold on the bosom and its 
 flowing sleeves open to the elbow disclosed an under- 
 vest of superb Cashmere "dew of the morning" mus- 
 lin. There was a dainty jacket, a marvel of massive 
 Ottoman needle-work in bullion and pearl, glowing 
 upon the green velvet, whose heavy border was of 
 hand made gold bullion lace! Four strands of superb 
 pearls rivalled the ivory neck in whiteness, and the 
 taper fingers clasped a magnificent round fan with
 
 130 LOST COUNTESS FALKA, 
 
 jewelled handle! The oriflamme of peacocks' feathers 
 was edged with egret plumes ! 
 
 "What is all this masquerade for?" demanded the 
 saucy Marie, as Mustapha's eye met hers approvingly ! 
 
 "Silence! Pile these cushions up behind her!" said 
 the renegade, as he saw the girl's form relax under the 
 potent influence of the drug! The eyes slowly closed 
 as if in a coquettish affectation of slumber! "Could 
 she walk?" roughly demanded Mustapha. "We had 
 to support her!" humbly said Marie, in a wholesome 
 fear! "She seems to be bewitched and lies, nerveless- 
 ly, just as we place her!" 
 
 "Good! That will do! Now, keep her that way!" 
 said Mustapha! He turned and led in a turbaned 
 Moslem, adorned with snowy beard and long, sweep- 
 ing mustache. The stranger's great gown fell over his 
 shrunken arms, he was old and feeble, but a superb 
 aigrette of diamonds gleamed in the muslin folds over 
 his wrinkled brow! His wrinkled hands flashed with 
 superb gems and his sabre girdle was jewelled in lavish 
 richness. 
 
 Mustapha led the gloating stranger up to the unre- 
 sisting girl ! With a tremulous hand, the stranger tore 
 away the filmy muslin shrouding the victim's bosom! 
 He passed his skinny fingers around the beautiful, 
 slender neck, and then bared one taper ankle. 
 
 His eyes shown in a cruel appreciation, as he nodded 
 to Mustapha and then hobbled gravely from the room! 
 A court carriage with a magnificent escort dashed up 
 to the door, and, with abundant salaams, Mustapha 
 saw the stately visitor disappear! He then sprang 
 back into the room, and gave some hurried orders to 
 the old crone, and dismissed all the tire women save 
 one fierce eyed woman of middle age ! Then, turning 
 to the wondering music girl, he laughed and opened 
 his arms to her! 
 
 "Come now! You have done well! Let us test the 
 Dolma-Baghtche cuisine! The wines are waiting! I 
 am pleased with you ! She looked a queen of queens !
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 131 
 
 I am yours till sundown, then I must go and deliver 
 this Pearl, for the thousand purses await me! Her 
 loveliness is marketed!" 
 
 "She would have looked a dozen times better with- 
 out all that fard and henna, and those trappings ! She 
 is a Venus of rarest mould! I never saw a woman 
 her equal!" said Marie, twining herself around Mus- 
 tapha! "There will be none of her charms veiled, 
 when she reaches her royal purchaser," laughed Mus- 
 tapha, "and the garb will not matter soon! Like the 
 sun, she will shine for all, in the land that she goes 
 to ! Come on ! I have good news for you ! The Per- 
 sian Ambassador deigns to take supper with you ! You 
 will find him a diamond mine!" and Mustapha led the 
 happy music girl away! 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY DOCTOR AT TREBI- 
 
 ZOND! IN THE STORM ON THE BLACK 
 
 SEA! THE SIGNAL. 
 
 The stars were glimmering over the Bosporus before 
 the renegade left the table where the reckless music 
 girl laughed over the wine, for a sudden messenger 
 from the palace had held Mustapha in grave con- 
 verse an hour. He had returned at last, and his apart- 
 ment was now thronged with slaves bearing off all the 
 luxurious belongings of Moslem travel! Shawls, cush- 
 ions, rolls of rugs, silken quiltings, jars of wine, sweet- 
 meats and conserves, the gaudy trappings of rank and 
 all the adjuncts of a Pasha of stately wealth! 
 
 Marie was light of heart, for Mustapha had given 
 her a purse of two hundred Turkish guineas! "The 
 aga of my household will admit all the Jewish peddlers 
 to you, and you shall lack nothing in my absence! 
 Only, you can not be alone with them. All your own
 
 132 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 belongings are now here in your rooms ! I leave you 
 with the Persian Ambassador! His friends are my 
 friends! I leave it to your own devil wit to amuse him ! 
 He is old, vain, and rich! Flatter him, for man is a 
 dozen times as vain as your own sex. Teach him to 
 believe that you love him!" laughed the renegade! 
 "You can then dupe him to your heart's content! It 
 will amuse you while I am away!" 
 
 The wine flushed girl had sung to him the olden 
 songs of the Danube, which charmed him still! She 
 had danced as only a Tzigane can, and now, lay on 
 the divan trifling with the dainty conserves in which 
 the Turk is unequalled. Marie's cup was running 
 over! 
 
 "Will you be absent long?" she said, with her flash- 
 ing eyes gleaming in a devilish longing! It flattered 
 even the hardened scoundrel! "There is a devil of a 
 hubbub about that fool who tried to scale the harem 
 wall! Bah! He brought his death on himself! But 
 I must spirit this highbred trash away! She is sim- 
 ply so much money to me nothing more! Tell me, 
 you have seen her! Would anyone know her now?" 
 
 The serpent-eyed girl mused a moment! "How 
 long will the dark dye color her hair?" she queried. 
 "Oh! The tire woman can fix that! It will stay for 
 a month! It can be renewed, or the gold can shine 
 out in a few days! These Turkish attendants are 
 matchless in the toilet arts!" 
 
 The music girl slowly said: "In her absurd guise 
 her hands decorated en Turque with the shuffling 
 gait of those flat, heelless slippers, no one would know 
 her, unless some one of her blood, or else some one 
 
 who loved her! If they would follow her " "They 
 
 would feel the edge of my scimetar!" growled 
 Mustapha ! Besides, this dead fool was the last of his 
 race. It is only in travel that I would have no one 
 recognize her as an European!" Mustapha looked 
 anxious! He was evidently disturbed! 
 
 "You are all right!" laughed Marie! "The pigeon
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 133 
 
 toed shuffle, and your veils and yashmak will class 
 her as a stiff-kneed Moslem! Besides, the girl's like 
 an idiot! She can't talk, and has those staring eyes!" 
 
 Kinsky, the renegade, laughed! "Talk! You can 
 jabber, but in the few days passed since I netted her, 
 her tongue was clattering away all the while! I would 
 have silenced it forever but for those rounded curves, 
 that baby face and those untouched charms of hers! 
 It was all the same to me! She had never seen me 
 before. So, I let her scream away like a young falcon ! 
 I was sorely tempted once or twice to wring her 
 neck, after teaching her a rude lesson! But I have 
 squared an old score, and the thousand purses will 
 pay me well for foregoing Alexander's boasted priv- 
 ilege over the conquered! I am not an idealist about 
 women! You will suit me, for I like your wit, and I 
 can confide in you! I will never lose you now, you 
 devil's chicken! You will be here when I come back!" 
 
 The girl's face paled to an ashen color. 
 
 "You will not wall me up for life here?" Her hard 
 heart was fluttering in fear! The renegade laughed 
 heartily. 
 
 "Oh ! nonsense," roughly said Kinsky. "I will treat 
 you better than you deserve! We Turks have the 
 right system ! Our women are forced to be agreeable, 
 but, even here, in harem walls, you reign, at last, by 
 your clever duplicity! What matters it? You can 
 not go out! You have no home to go to! You are 
 an outcast! What bourgeois life would give you the 
 splendors you shall taste here? You can sport with 
 pashas, generals and great nobles as you will! Your 
 fresh charms bring you royal empire for a time ! And, 
 mark you, you have no care, no labor, no brutality! 
 Jealousy disappears, for treason is impossible! We 
 do not ask feminine fidelity! We insure it! And if 
 not worshipped all your life, you have at least kind- 
 ness, ease and comfort! All the harem women are 
 warm-hearted! They even love each other's children! 
 They aid each other, for no pretty fool pretends to the
 
 134 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ownership, the monopoly of the master's heart here! 
 In the old world that I left, women sport with men! 
 Here, we sport with the women, but they are not cast 
 off as houseless wrecks, to starve and rot, as in your 
 Christian lands! You are all women together, bear 
 the same burden, and gravitate into peace and due 
 submission! You will see that there is more love 
 and a more equal justice in the Moslem harem than 
 the Christian family! 
 
 "But you shall have all your old time books, toys, 
 music and comforts! I like to keep up my Magyar! 
 Now, you will be repaid for your efforts just in pro- 
 portion as you are agreeable, and always be treated 
 better than you deserve!" 
 
 "Can I never leave here?" said the weeping girl, for 
 the excitement of the wine was fast leaving her now. 
 
 "What would you go back to? A music girl's life! 
 A tawdry show existence, an old age of starvation, 
 unless a stab from a jealous lover some day merci- 
 fully came to set you free? I'll be kind to you, if you 
 serve my purpose, and you shall be rich and sport 
 with your fat-witted victims here ! I have already a fu- 
 ture use for your splendid abilities as an actress !" 
 
 Janos Kinsky spoke not unkindly. "This girl, her 
 fate?" she faltered. Marie was, at least, the shadow 
 of a woman. 
 
 "Ah! By God!" he hissed. "She was born to feed 
 my vengeance! To wipe off the score of a life! But 
 that I wish her to know every step of the road of 
 ruin, to feel every pang of womanhood till she sinks 
 to be the common sport of peasant soldiers. I would 
 have first had my will of her, and then toss her in 
 yonder stream!" 
 
 "She will not know! She is silly, a mere soulless 
 body!" said the music girl. 
 
 Kinsky laughed. "I would have saved myself all 
 the trouble on the Danube if I had known of the 
 hasheesh solution! I only wish to blur her mind till 
 she wakes before her royal purchaser! I have bought
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 135 
 
 her cheaply with her brother's blood, and sold her 
 well for a thousand purses! She is a pearl now; you 
 may live to see the wasted shell! No! When her 
 royal adorer receives her, she will gleam out before 
 him, golden-haired and without a blemish, 'en grande 
 dame!' Her mind will be cleared of all these dreamy 
 visions, and she will only know that I have brought 
 her peerless, perfect, to where her coy reluctance will 
 be my life's one triumph! She has been systemati- 
 cally drugged!" 
 
 The loud cry of the muezzin was suddenly heard 
 from the slender minaret hard by! Kinsky clapped 
 his hands thrice. The gray aga of his own eunuchs 
 appeared, bowing low in silence! Speaking in lingua 
 Franca, the renegade said, as the music girl watched 
 them, her bosom panting in fear: "Hassan, this lady 
 is your mistress! Your head shall answer for hers! 
 She is to see any one she wishes! She is to have 
 every desire fulfilled! She is to have all that can be 
 dreamed of in pleasure, and be her own mistress! 
 Only, not to cross that gate! Do you hear me?" The 
 slave stepped forward, and, kneeling, kissed the music 
 girl's robe! For she had attired herself in stately 
 dress to please the renegade, who yearned at heart for 
 the lissom witches of Vienna! 
 
 "Are you not better off here," laughed Kinsky, "free 
 in slavery, than to be a slave, in freedom, like your 
 class on the Danube? You have to sell your beauty- 
 there in any mart, here, your market comes to you!" 
 
 It was ten o'clock, and a messenger thrice sum- 
 moned the noble Mustapha Pasha before he left the 
 woman at his side, now a witch of the Wine Demon ! 
 The music girl had drank deeply of the silver-necked 
 flagons, and her serpent eyes gleamed with a devilish 
 joy! 
 
 "Make all your pleasures real! Wrinkles come 
 soon enough!" said Kinsky, when she had finished a 
 wild Tzigane love song. He then grasped his jeweled 
 sabre, and turned to her in good-bye! "The girl, her
 
 136 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 attendants!" she cried! "All embarked, they wait!" 
 said the alert Pasha! "Remember! Your life, your 
 future, is in your own hands!" "Stay!" the wild-eyed 
 girl faltered. "This golden chain, these three rings! 
 That is all she wore on her body! Take them!" 
 
 The renegade's face was livid! "I will make her 
 
 wear these when Never mind! Auf wiedersehen! 
 
 You will be true, for I trust to Hassan ! Beyond your 
 wandering afar, you are your own mistress! Remem- 
 ber! The Persian comes to supper! Hassan will re- 
 port to me, and send me any letter you care to write !" 
 The curtain fell and Marie the Devil felt her heart 
 chill as his heavy tread was heard on the marble stair! 
 Her lonely room was haunted by Arpad's ghost, and 
 the girl shuddered. 
 
 "He, at least, was a human being! And now I am 
 alone in his gilded den!" The transition from the teem- 
 ing life of Galata's thousand pleasure haunts to these 
 silent garden shades seemed to her to be only a vision 
 of the night. And yet she robed herself in mocking 
 state to sup with the Persian ! 
 
 She cried: "He may be right! I can reign here by 
 my wits!" 
 
 It was near midnight when a few lights twinkled on 
 the decks of the graceful "Sultanieh" as she lay 
 moored in front of the Beylerbey palace! There were 
 first several heavy barges warped out slowly to her 
 shore side, and then a few caiques began to ply 
 around her, graceful as flitting, stormy petrels! 
 A burly man with a night glass stood on the decks of 
 the "Faraday" lying a half mile away! When dense 
 smoke began to pour out the two rakish funnels of 
 the "Sultanieh" the captain of the Telegraph steamer 
 ran quickly into his own cabin! Shaking a sleeper 
 who was alike oblivious of the distant howls of the 
 Constantinople dogs, and the strange wailing cries 
 of the Moslem night, the sailor cried: "Rouse up, Ad- 
 miral! Show a leg! The yacht is swinging round. 
 iWe will have all we can do to keep her in sight!"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 137 
 
 "Where does she head?" sleepily called Mclvor 
 Pasha, as he threw on a robe and sprang out on the 
 deck! 
 
 "Off for the Dardanelles! By Jove!" huskily cried 
 the captain, as the "Sultanieh" pointed her grace- 
 ful swinging prow below Leander's Tower and slow- 
 ly gathered headway, going down at quarter speed, 
 with the six mile current aiding her! 
 
 "By God! They're off for Smyrna!" growled the 
 old Anglo-Egyptian. "Unbank your fires, and then 
 make for the Asian side ! Take a long sweep in ! They 
 will think that you are one of the Italian fruit traders! 
 But, when they are well around the first bend of Mar- 
 mora, take their trail and then, Captain, work your en- 
 gines for all they are worth!" The "Sultanieh" was 
 not masked by Seraglio Point more than five min- 
 utes when the "Faraday's" shackle was slipped on the 
 buoy! 
 
 "Faroe Moses was right!" growled old Mclvor, as 
 he lit a cheroot and watched the "Faraday" gather her 
 headway. The canny Scotch engineers were already 
 plying every trick of the trade! "The big harem goes 
 to Smyrna! They could hide this poor girl at Afioum 
 or Angora, till all had blown over! Of course, they 
 would closely guard her and dress her like a Turkish 
 lady! And who has ever dared to tear off the veil of 
 a Moslem beauty! Not even England's power, backed 
 by the search warrant of its eighty ton guns, has ever 
 violated the sanctity of their 'peculiar institution !' I'll 
 warrant that there are fifty veiled women on that boat ! 
 Poor helpless ones!" 
 
 And, sturdy old Mclvor Pasha was right! There 
 were fifty women, from painted beauty to obsequious 
 attendant, thronging the canopied decks of the "Sul- 
 tanieh," or lazily reposing on the divans bordering 
 her gilded cabins. And there were a half dozen of- 
 ficers and a strong platoon of red fez bearing soldiery 
 camped upon her forecastle! Their heavy Peabody 
 Martinis lay scattered around the deck, in true Turk-
 
 138 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ish abandon! Water jugs, biscuit bags, fruit baskets 
 and rolls of rugs covered the promenade deck, where 
 the zaptiehs puffed the cigarette, with their gold- 
 decked officers gravely pulling at the hubble bubble 
 pipes, and ferociously watching the chattering women ! 
 
 As the "Faraday" swept down through the star-lit 
 strait, Mustapha Pasha stood laughing heartily on 
 the upper balcony of Dolma-Baghtche Palace! He 
 had watched the "Sultanieh" round Seraglio Point, 
 and his heart was light! "If they are on the watch, 
 any of the Christian dogs, or their secret service min- 
 ions, they will surely blunder off to Smyrna! Now, for 
 the flitting! The Pearl must shine in the orient! 
 By daybreak, we will put out on the foggy Euxine! 
 I'll come back, and Marie shall lead the Countess a 
 dance! The game is mine! There is but one trick 
 more to take ! And the honors are easy now !" 
 
 The stout scoundrel dashed the spurs into a 
 Ukraine charger held fretting in the palace court yard, 
 as the escort of a dozen troopers closed up around 
 him! The music girl was listening to the grave old 
 Persian's senile patter, long before Kinsky drew rein 
 at a point a mile above Dolma-Baghtche. Springing 
 from his horse, he leaped on board a heavy steam 
 launch of some fifty tons! It was one of the police 
 patrol boats of the Bosporus! He strode quickly 
 down into the curtained cabin! The old crone who 
 was the Tofana of the unruly beauties of the harem, 
 was watching over lima Falka, who lay extended on 
 a rich divan! 
 
 "Can she stand the voyage?" harshly demanded the 
 renegade, as he saw that the captive was lying in a 
 semi-stupor! 
 
 "Yes, if not too long on the water! The sea, the 
 motion, will drive away the drug's effect!" answered 
 the hag. 
 
 "Give her more, then!" was the rough rejoinder. 
 "I can, but I am afraid !" The old woman tapped her 
 forehead significantly! "I am only going to the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 139 
 
 mouth of the Bosporus to-night! We rest there till 
 the afternoon!" "Good!" mumbled the crone. "I will 
 take care of her!" 
 
 Mustapha Kinsky eyed the disguised prisoner with 
 an air of ferocious triumph; "Sleep, you baby face, 
 and dream of what you will wake to!" He sprang on 
 deck! "Cast off!" he ordered in answer to the Mos- 
 lem captain's low obeisance! And to the twisting of 
 the screw, the stout launch moved up the current of 
 the Bosporus, her throbbing engines keeping time to 
 Kinsky's leaping heart! 
 
 "Hoodwinked! Beaten! Vanquished forever!" he 
 laughed, as he threw himself down on a pile of cush- 
 ions! "They will never suspect a Royal Police boat, 
 for with the flag over me now, and our doubled red 
 lights, we pass all the barriers freely! There are a 
 dozen of these boats on the night patrol, now !" 
 
 In two hours, Kinsky addressed himself to sleep! 
 For the swift launch had swept on by Therapia and 
 Buyuk-dere. There was nothing moving on the 
 guarded strait but a few drifting fishing shallops and 
 the police launches! Out at the fog-guarded mouth 
 of the Bosporus a dozen steamers lay huddled to- 
 gether, waiting the morning gun, and the proud Turk's 
 permission to make the daylight passage, when all 
 had rendered toll to the bloody crescent flag! For the 
 Krupp cannon sealed the strait ! 
 
 "I must handle her with care!" mused Kinsky, as 
 the shadows of sleep drifted over him. "Her beauty 
 must not be faded when the Pearl is delivered, and 
 her mind must not be weakened ! Else my victory is 
 only a barren one! The road is long! A few weeks 
 of rest will bring her splendor of loveliness back! For 
 this afrite disguise must be abandoned! My Pearl of 
 price must glow in all the proud guise of her court of 
 Vienna! Yes! She will be presented, 'presented at 
 court!' And, she never will forget the presentation! 
 The old woman must note her state every hour! But
 
 140 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 one thing would baffle me! Her sickness, the marring 
 of her beauty, or her death!" 
 
 When the renegade Pasha awoke the launch was 
 moored to the shore under the frowning guns of the 
 northern entrance of the Bosporus. As Mustapha lay 
 on his cushioned divan, in the enjoyment of his morn- 
 ing coffee, his obsequious servants crowded around 
 him, Kinsky was happy, as the old crone had hobbled 
 in to report her charge "Sleeping like a child, and as 
 fresh as a rose leaf!" "Hark you!" cried the renegade, 
 "if you bring her to Trebizond as well I will fill your 
 skinny palms with a double handful of guineas! If 
 you fail in your art," he pointed to the green water 
 racing by! The old hag hastened away with trem- 
 bling knees! For she knew but too well of Kinsky's 
 pitiless cruelty around the kidnapped victims of Is- 
 mail Pasha's woman trap! "This feringhee is of 
 princely rank, the others were but beauty rich, the 
 pick of the harvest of the poor!" The old woman shud- 
 dered, for within the wall Beylerbey, all knew who 
 had crouched like a tiger on the knoll when the red 
 handkerchief signal was waved! And the crone had 
 seen the "maimed rites" of poor Pozziani's midnight 
 burial; "Allah! But he is a stony heart!" she mut- 
 tered. And she had seen the grinning swordsmen gath- 
 er in fiendish joy round Mustapha to tell the story of 
 the death of the giaour intruder! They had heartily 
 laughed as they bore away the blood money. The 
 trick was such a neat one! 
 
 A gorgeously decked port officer in a splendid barge 
 soon swept alongside, and shortly was in earnest con- 
 verse with the Pasha. 
 
 "Here is your telegram, Effendi! The 'Abdul Med- 
 jid' will be here at four! I, myself, will conduct you 
 to the Trebizond packet, and so relieve you of the de- 
 tails! All has been made ready for your reception! 
 You have the whole side of the main cabin reserved, 
 and the tent on deck has been dressed for your wom- 
 en! The guard comes, for there are other women sent
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 141 
 
 on for the Vali of Erzeroum!" Mustapha then hand- 
 ed to the visitor his own diamond gemmed chibouk 
 in courtesy. He gazed out of the window at the pro- 
 cession of Austrian, Russian, Italian and English 
 Black Sea steamers slowly passing down to the exam- 
 ination anchorage ground. His quick eye caught the 
 gleam of white caps far beyond the Asian tower, and 
 the open walled camp on the Thracian shore! The 
 fog wreaths had blown away, showing a rolling, brok- 
 en sea, with its angry billows stirred up black from the 
 shallows below! 
 
 "It seems that a storm is brewing!" muttered Kins- 
 ky, in discontent! "As God wills!" mechanically an- 
 swered the port officer. "The Effendi is right! It 
 will be a dark night!" 
 
 Like an eager panther, Mustapha footed the deck 
 of the Police Patrol boat all day, until the old cast off 
 European steamer, "Abdul Medjid," labored up the 
 green, gliding, serpentine current! 
 
 "A miserable old affair!" mused Kinsky, as the stout 
 launch rocked under the stern of the Trebizond steam- 
 er, where the gilded cryptograph, "Abdul Medjid," re- 
 placed the name borne some score of years by the old 
 troop ship. 
 
 It was an hour before the whole following of Mus- 
 tapha's was transferred to the swaying deck of the out- 
 bound vessel. Kinsky's hand was lingering on his 
 heavy revolver, as four slaves followed him, bearing 
 the veiled and hooded prisoner up the companionway ! 
 A score of faces peered curiously over the vessel's side 
 at the Pasha's strange contingent of slaves, eunuchs, 
 frowsy soldiers and the motley women followers! 
 Three shrill blasts from the steam whistle, then, warned 
 the boatmen off, and Kinsky stood in triumph before 
 the great tent of shawls, covered with huge sails and 
 tarpaulins on the main deck! There were guards at 
 each corner, and a score of frightened women cow- 
 ered within the temporary shelter. Out into the angry 
 sea the wheezy steamer pushed slowly along, coast-
 
 142 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ing the rough, brown hills of the Asian shore! "She 
 is safe at last!" muttered the renegade, seeking the 
 poop deck, where a few travelers of the first class eyed 
 the haughty Pasha with respectful envy. Armenian 
 merchants, Turkish officers of rank, a brace of wily 
 Greeks and two or three lonely Europeans exchanged 
 glances of distrust and mutual suspicion as the gath- 
 ering gale drove them down into the great passenger 
 saloon below! Already the salt spray was drenching 
 the two hundred poor steerage passengers who 
 thronged the unsheltered forward deck from forecas- 
 tle to the barrier of cables, guarded by soldiers, where 
 the women of rank were hidden in the improvised 
 marquee! The wild storm howled in the slackened 
 rigging, and the poor peasant Turks, the knots of 
 filthy Jews, the groups of wild Kurds and restless- 
 eyed Armenians lay huddled on deck, their few pos- 
 sessions drenched already by the rising storm. 
 
 But two men, save the officer of the deck, now faced 
 the icy wind which was sweeping over the quarter 
 from the bleak Russian coast, five hundred miles away ! 
 The winds from the icy lands of the White Czar! 
 
 "Damn this foolish nonsense of separating our Mos- 
 lem women!" fiercely growled Kinsky. "This bird of 
 passage is used to Sybaritic luxury! If she should be 
 ill, if the storm heightens, I'll have to hide her in the 
 main cabin! No one will dare to oppose me, and I 
 have a half dozen staterooms! Her beauty is my stock 
 in trade! Her face is my fortune!" grinned the rene- 
 gade! He called the deck officer and haughtily bade 
 the captain attend him below in the great saloon! All 
 knew the rank of the mysterious renegade who car- 
 ried Ismail Pasha's signet ring, and the ample powers 
 of Seraskier! Mustapha Pasha's active mind had eas- 
 ily threaded every intrigue of the army and navy, and 
 his duties to his multiple masters carried him every- 
 where, in fort and fleet! 
 
 As Mustapha left the deck,a bronzed man with crisp, 
 curling black hair and beard, eyed him curiously! The
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 143 
 
 folds of a great hooded cloak covered the form of an 
 active man of thirty-five, who stood there alone and 
 held aloof from the motley aristocrats of the cabin. 
 "That fellow has a military bearing!" mused the 
 stranger. "Some starved out German officer who has 
 sneaked into the fold of Islam! A thorough soldier, 
 perhaps; a thorough blackguard, to be sure! The low- 
 est of the low, these Christian renegades! Tools of 
 the Turks, who despise and spit upon them! I'll give 
 him a wide berth! A parvenu Pasha, it seems!" 
 
 The solitary man made his way below, lingering a 
 moment to see a great Russian liner of the Volunteer 
 Fleet sweep on out into the teeth of the storm, her blue 
 and white St Andrew's cross proudly waving in her 
 wake! "Ah! The Tsaritza!' If we only had had her 
 splendid decks under us I would be surer of getting 
 to Sinope! This Kastamuni coast is an ugly lee shore 
 at night, with an old tub and a mongrel crew !" 
 
 There was a stalwart, soldierly man pacing the deck 
 of the "Tsaritza" who groaned in rage as he saw the 
 Turkish steamer steal away along the brown head- 
 lands to the east. "A week lost!" groaned Soltykoff! 
 "But, the Ambassador may be right! My papers, pow- 
 ers and dispatches must be had from Mouravief ! They 
 will surely be at Odessa when I arrive, and the return 
 steamer for Jaffa will enable me to land at Smyrna if 
 Moses and his friends can track the harem there on its 
 arrival. With my official powers, coming from Jaffa, 
 Beyrout, Aleppo or Smyrna as far as Angora or 
 Kharput, between our many watching friends, I can 
 find her if she is still living! By God! The arm of 
 the White Czar shall reach her! Consuls, missionar- 
 ies, bankers, telegraph men, secret service, her beauty 
 must reach them by some lucky rumor! For women 
 will talk even in a harem! Paul will be waiting to 
 join me, and perhaps he will bring the last news from 
 Schloss Falkenstein. 
 
 "If lima is never found, then I need never retrace 
 my steps to the Danube!" the unhappy lover sighed. 
 10
 
 144 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "Perhaps better so, if I fail, for Bela Batthyani and 
 Denton's fair child will rule at Falkenstein! The 
 Major can watch over Magda! It will not be for long! 
 And I can throw my life away in the next war with 
 these same Turkish dogs!" Soltykoff measured the 
 distance to the receding Turkish coaster! His eye 
 caught sight of the two four-inch rifled guns of the 
 "Tsaritza!" "I could sink that fellow now with one 
 good shot!" he growled. And, as the salt spray 
 drenched him, he went below to "a night of memories 
 and of sighs!" For the way was darkened and the 
 night winds sang only of death! 
 
 "No one has seen my face in Stamboul! I may 
 pick up the thread of the intrigue by this roundabout 
 return. Mustapha is with lima, wherever she is, and 
 no one ever saw me with poor Arpad! Perhaps the 
 blood he has shed has made this tiger drowsy! Oh! 
 for one chance at him, standing at bay!" Soltykoff 
 went below, but his aching heart never told him that 
 there, before his eyes, a helpless captive, the woman 
 Arpad died to save, was being borne away to a shame 
 greater than the world's blackest disgrace! The shrine 
 of Christian womanhood trampled by the brutal in- 
 solence of a Moslem libertine! 
 
 Midnight found the "Abdul Medjid" staggering 
 along under terrific cross seas drifting the old troop 
 ship toward the rock-fanged shores! The yells of the 
 frightened herd penned up forward had reached Mus- 
 tapha, lying at ease in the strongly built poop ! "Only 
 the rabble! Those filthy dogs forward!" growled the 
 renegade! But the staggering ship buried herself 
 deeply, and the main cabin was filled with the fright- 
 ened first-class passengers, where polyglot cries min- 
 gled in a frightened chorus! Kinsky sprang from his 
 room as the shrill screams of wailing women now rose 
 even higher than the wailing storm! He crowded to 
 the starboard windows and then saw the lights of 
 Erekli, not a league away! 
 
 A hoarse voice called him! The captain stood in
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 145 
 
 the cabin door! "Haste! Quick, Excellency! Your 
 women are all drowning!" The renegade dashed to 
 the open door; "The ship may founder! Take them 
 all in! It is life and death! If we can hold out to 
 Sinope we are saved! But I dare not go out to sea!" 
 
 In one moment Mustapha had made his choice! 
 "The Pearl alive or dead shall be mine! He beck- 
 oned to his frightened attendants, and then, holding 
 hard, they crept out on the main deck! There, under 
 the rent fragments of the improvised shelter, the help- 
 less women were huddled, clinging to the nearest ob- 
 jects! 
 
 It was Kinsky's own brawny arms that lifted the 
 unconscious lima Falka and bore her to his lighted 
 stateroom! The dozen other women of the harem 
 tent were dragged into the great saloon, and the other 
 passengers sternly ordered to their staterooms by the 
 excited attendants! The main deck was all awash, 
 and all the costly gear of the Turkish beauties was 
 swept away by the repeated combing waves rolling 
 over the laboring ship! 
 
 With frantic yells the soldiery and officers of the 
 harem guard beat back the panic-stricken deck pas- 
 sengers, who were driven below forward at last to the 
 cattle hold! 
 
 In the main cabin, the escort officers soon concealed 
 the rescued odalisques in the abandoned staterooms! 
 
 Burly Kinsky stood toiling with the tire woman 
 and the old crone in efforts to revive the unconscious 
 prisoner! "Ah!" groaned the two women! "She is 
 dead!" For there was blood drenching the masses 
 of her dishevelled hair! But the pale lips were breath- 
 less! The senseless girl lay in a deadly stupor! Her 
 sculptured arms fell back as heavily as lead ! And there 
 was now but a faint flutter to tell where her trembling 
 heart beat under the tawdry Turkish splendors of her 
 disguise! 
 
 "I can do no more ! Kill me !" howled the old crone ! 
 "If she dies her blood be upon your head! I am no 
 10
 
 146 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 hakim!" Kinsky sprang up! "There may be a doc- 
 tor!" he cried. "Anyone! It is no time for folly ! Be- 
 sides, she can not speak! By heaven! she shall not 
 die!" And so, clinging to the side rails, he sought 
 out the nearest officer to be found! "If I should lose 
 her!" The renegade cursed his fate even while every 
 sickening plunge told him that the old shell might 
 founder at the next unusually heavy sea! The boat 
 was now a Babel of the wildest confusion! While lima 
 Falka lay in a state of deadly exhaustion, watched by 
 the two women spies of the Pasha, the renegade him- 
 self anxiously awaited the report of the ship's "con- 
 troleur," a hybrid between mate, officer of the guard 
 and purser! "Praise be to Allah! Here is a wise ha- 
 kim ! I know of his works at Trebizond, at Erzeroum 
 and at Baiburt! But he is a Frank, of what country 
 I know not!" 
 
 Kinsky's brow clouded! "A spy, a babbler, per- 
 chance an enemy! I must find out his nationality!" 
 he mused. 
 
 "What are you? Of what land?" said the Pasha 
 roughly, as the bronzed companion of his deck watch 
 regarded him gravely! The tall stranger eyed him 
 steadily, answering in a Turkish idiom better than his 
 own. "I am a doctor, and of every land where there 
 is suffering!" 
 
 "Answer me," demanded the renegade. 
 
 "You forget yourself!" gravely replied the stranger. 
 "My mission is to the sick, not to you! I am not your 
 servant! Who are you, yourself? Of what land?" 
 
 The two men glared steadily at each other, and 
 Kinsky's eyes then fell. "It is a woman who demands 
 your aid, and you know our customs!" The tall doc- 
 tor gazed unflinchingly at the renegade whose Euro- 
 pean cast of feature was plainly apparent. "You are 
 not a born Moslem! I do not care to prate to you of 
 Moslem customs!" 
 
 "The woman may be dving even now!" Kinsky said 
 slowly. "Then you may be her murderer, with your 
 absurd pretenses! Call your own slaves! Cure her
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 147 
 
 yourself! You are offensive, and you know it!" The 
 doctor moved away, but Kinsky laid a beseeching 
 hand upon his arm! "Stay! I will tell my women to 
 make her ready for your visit! You are right! A 
 doctor is not a man, in the chamber of suffering!" 
 Alan Randall gazed curiously after the renegade, who 
 hurried back, clutching to the saloon rails as the old 
 ship rocked in the storm! "Come!" he said. "You 
 are my only help! She must not die! I have gold!" 
 
 "I do not seek your gold! Let me see the woman, 
 and leave me with her and her attendant!" The dis- 
 order on the ship was at last partly under regulation! 
 The cabins were crowded with the attendants of the 
 harem beauties now concealed in the staterooms ! Cur- 
 tains and shawls but faintly filled the requirements of 
 the stern Moslem code. 
 
 In the possible contingency of a common whelm- 
 ing in the midnight waves, pride and prejudice quick- 
 ly disappeared! "I go to beg the captain to make for 
 Sinope ! The cape is our only shelter from this storm ! 
 This old bark will not reach Trebizond in this gale! 
 Tell me if I must land her there! This woman must 
 live!" The energetic renegade, aided by two quar- 
 termasters, crawled forward and sought the bridge! 
 A crowd of the frightened voyagers had appealed to 
 the Pasha to demand the captain to run for shelter! 
 They all knew the terrific violence of the Black Sea 
 storms! The shallow inland sea was lashed now to 
 its wildest fury! 
 
 "If that sneaking scoundrel holds this woman dear!" 
 grumbled Doctor Alan Randall, "he is the first of his 
 kind I ever met! He may be only a titled trader in 
 human flesh! A palace sycophant convoying his 
 perishable wares to some great dignitary in the inte- 
 rior!" Eleven years had passed since Alan Randall 
 fell under the nameless charm of the East! And well 
 he knew the unspeakable villainy of these European 
 pretenders to Moslem rank! 
 
 He forgot all as he gazed at the young woman ly-
 
 148 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ing in a profound exhaustion before him; The mar- 
 ble whiteness of her pale face, and the relaxed limbs, 
 told him of a case of the gravest character! The two 
 waiting women eyed him in sullen fear! A giaour 
 dog! The American missionary doctor glanced at 
 the watchful women! "One guardian fury, and one 
 old worn out Hecate !" he mused. And beyond a sim- 
 ple question in Turkish, "How long has she been 
 sick?" he busied himself with the beautiful patient! 
 
 "It is the sea!" mumbled the old woman, "and 
 this!" She lifted the mass of flowing hair and showed 
 a deep cut whence the blood had streamed over the 
 woman's ivory shoulders and stained the piled cush- 
 ions! Alan Randall's eye had followed the exquisite 
 lines of the sufferer's virginal form! "No Moslem 
 lump of fat!" he mused. "A poor degraded child of 
 Europe! Her only capital, 'the beaute du diable!' 
 The golden, unplucked rose of youth ! Is she self-bar- 
 tered, or one of the stolen!" His suspicions were ex- 
 cited, as he felt the faint pulse, merely a flickering 
 throb, to place his hand upon the half-stilled heart un- 
 der her maiden bosom. 
 
 The sullen women glared at the Prankish stranger 
 in a hostile silence! They had their cue from Musta- 
 pha! Only speech was dangerous! The doctor's face 
 grew very stern! He pushed open one fallen eyelid, 
 then the other! He had noted the golden hair gleam- 
 ing below the dye, when he swept away the sweeping 
 tresses from the severe cut! "Ah! This blood-letting 
 may have saved her life! The violence of the storm, 
 the shock of the carrying away of the tent, the copious 
 blood-letting of this wound! Now, to save her life, 
 to outwit them! It is the coma of narcotic poison!" 
 The veteran of the orient hospitals recognized the 
 work of opium, hasheesh, henbane or aconite. He 
 had seen these deadly arts used before. 
 
 The puzzled doctor busied himself with trifling de- 
 tails while his mind was rilled with the mystery of the 
 object of this drugging! "To kill her were a loss to
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 149 
 
 them! To kill herself is to defeat all the purposes 
 of her life! The easy luxury of oriental shame, or the 
 chance of rescue! Is it her own work?" Though the 
 face was painted and fards and dyes disguised her 
 continental beauty, the yellowed palms and finger tips, 
 the Moslem dress could not disguise the unsullied 
 beauty of virginal womanhood! And yet, the young 
 man dissembled. 
 
 "There is a monstrous crime here!" the doctor de- 
 cided, at last, summing all up ! He was conscious that 
 the women were watching him keenly. "She has prob- 
 ably been kidnapped for sale! They would not treat 
 a willing victim so! And now, they may lose their in- 
 vestment, or their prey !" While he sat, watch in hand, 
 he had made his mind up ! And then he quietly turned 
 his head! "Bring the Pasha to me, at once!" he im- 
 peratively said to the younger woman! The doctor 
 stepped out of the stateroom and met the humbled 
 renegade at the door. "Do you wish this woman to 
 live? It is a very serious case!" The American eyed 
 him sternly. "The girl has been abused!" "Howl 
 What is wrong?" eagerly demanded Kinsky! "Some 
 clumsy fool has been giving her opium or hasheesh! 
 It may be the harem women have dosed her with the 
 accursed love pastilles! The 'majoon' of India, the 
 'mapouchari' of Cairo, or the 'dawamese' of the 
 Arabs! She is in a senseless coma! Death is the next 
 step! She must have absolute rest and heroic treat- 
 ment! She is unused to harem life! Where do you 
 take her!" 
 
 The wind then scourged down from Cape Kerempe, 
 making the wheezy old tub reel! "I was conducting 
 her to Erzeroum! To the Vali's palace!" Kinsky 
 frankly said ! "She will not live to see Trebizond with- 
 out rest and intelligent medical aid!" The renegade's 
 voice was beseeching now. "A thousand guineas if 
 you save her life! We will reach Sinope to-morrow 
 evening! There is a good steamer coming on after 
 us in three days ! The captain is afraid of his engines !
 
 150 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 I shall debark there! Can you accompany me to Tre- 
 bizond?" 
 
 Alan Randall saw his advantage! "This wom- 
 an is 'in extremis' now! If you give me ab- 
 solute control, if you keep these chattering fools 
 away, I will fight the battle for you! It will 
 be over before we reach Sinope! She will be 
 dead, or on the road to recovery! But these filthy 
 drugs another administration of them would kill her! 
 She must have absolute silence and repose! Do you 
 consent? I will stay, but only on these terms!" 
 
 The renegade yielded to the cool stranger! "I will 
 give her into your hands! Quick, now! To work! 
 What will you have! I will do as you bid me!" "A 
 gallon of the strongest tea that can be made ! The very 
 strongest! I must undo the work of the poison! She 
 will be unable to speak for days! It is a complete 
 poisoning!" 
 
 Kinsky watched the doctor as he hastened to his 
 stateroom and returned with a compact medicine kit. 
 
 "Now! Get the tea! Call away your women, and 
 leave me with her!" There was nothing but calm pro- 
 fessional ardor in the surgeon's steady eyes! He en- 
 tered the room where lima Falka lay at death's door! 
 "Now!" grimly said Alan Randall, as he locked the 
 door, and his fingers trembled with eagerness. "She 
 has youth and strength to aid her! The cut on the 
 head will keep them well frightened! The storm has 
 prepared my work for me! First, the caffeine. Bar- 
 ing a lovely arm, the bronzed stranger sighed as he pre- 
 pared a hypodermic solution of alcohol and caffeine. 
 "If it brings her out of the coma I will know who 
 she is. And, perhaps I may save her life twice!" 
 When the tea was brought, Alan Randall was on 
 guard at the door! "The color is coming to her 
 cheeks. Her pulse is gaining!" he mused. "They must 
 not see. her!" Through the half opened door, he bade 
 them cool the tea till tepid. "When that has been 
 apparently administered, I will relieve her through
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 151 
 
 the anti-toxines, and there should be consciousness 
 in an hour!" And then, she must feign the weak- 
 ness of death. Their fear may save her life!" The 
 vessel labored around Cape Kerempe at four o'clock 
 in the dog watch. The storm had partly abated. There 
 was a silence in the cabins where the exhausted voy- 
 agers huddled. Alan Randall was watching on his 
 knees beside the girl, whose wondering eyes rested 
 upon his strong, resolute face! The light of reason 
 had returned! "Speak! Tell me who you are!" said 
 the doctor, as he pointed to the door! "Both our 
 lives depend on your self-control now!" And then, 
 he bent his ear to the girl's trembling lips! It was six 
 o'clock in the evening when Alan Randall was hurried 
 ashore at Sinope by the gratified Pasha. "I must get 
 some medicines! Let her sleep," he ordered. But, 
 the young man when on shore, rushed first to the 
 Indo-European telegraph office! 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TO THE RESCUE! COLONEL SOLTYKOFF'S DIS- 
 PATCHES! 
 
 Stalwart Alan Randall elbowed aside the motley 
 crowd loitering at the door of the Indo-European 
 Telegraph Company's office. He had quickly made up 
 his mind to telegraph to the president of Robert's 
 American College at Constantinople. But, his ardor 
 cooled considerably as he resolved the strange dis- 
 closure of the night in his mind. "This young woman 
 may be only a crafty adventuress! It is almost incredi- 
 ble that a woman of rank could be stolen in Austria and 
 reach here in such guise ! She pretends never to have 
 seen her abductor before. To know nothing whatever 
 of his reasons! I may be entrapped, and this Pasha
 
 152 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 would have me butchered!" The young man's heart 
 leaped for joy as he saw an old Trebizond friend, 
 Harry Singleton, at the operating keys. Randall 
 pushed on, into the one back room. "Come here, 
 quickly, old fellow!" he cried. "Give me five minutes, 
 Singleton! This may save one or two lives! No one 
 must see me here!" The doctor's voice was tremulous 
 with excitement. "I may be followed, perhaps even 
 now I am watched!" "I'll soon fix that!" said the cool 
 Englishman, locking his one front door. "How on 
 earth did you get here?" ''Storm-driven steamer, 'Ab- 
 dul Medjid'! Put in on her way to Trebizond! I want 
 you to telegraph to the Golden Horn for me at once, 
 on a life and death matter!" 
 
 "Fire away," cheerily said Singleton. "I'm working 
 the Constantinople circuit for two hours !" He grasped 
 a blank. "But, I don't know who to send it to! A 
 Christian woman's life hangs on my promptness! 
 Never mind my own!" The doctor strode up and 
 down the little room. "I wonder has he the fever!" 
 thought Singleton. "Tell me all and then I'll try and 
 help you!" The operator's face was very grave! He 
 looked uneasily at the locked door. "There's a wo- 
 man on that boat who calls herself Countess lima 
 Falka, a Hungarian noblewoman, who was stolen 
 away," began the visitor. Randall never knew how 
 Singleton managed to drag him to the operating desk, 
 and to talk and listen as well, while the key flew under 
 his bent finger. "Go on, go on. Tell me all!" urged 
 Singleton. And then, the astounded doctor soon fin- 
 ished his story. Singleton jumped up and pushed him 
 toward the door! "Get back and do not leave her for 
 an instant! Keep her under your control as far as 
 Trebizond! Be wary here! They might take her 
 down to Angora and hide her there. The whole 
 Foreign Embassies at Constantinople are now work- 
 ing for the woman's life and for her ultimate rescue, 
 through the Russian Minister, Nelidoff! Go now! See 
 all your missionaries at Trebizond and the Russian
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 153 
 
 Consul! I'll warn the telegraph office there now! We 
 have had a circular cipher from Grafton about her! 
 Stay by her while life lasts ! She is an angel of good- 
 ness and purity ! They would drag her into the harem 
 hell." 
 
 'Thank God! I will follow her, till her friends can 
 be rallied!" the doctor cried. "I see it all! They are 
 sending her " he shuddered. 
 
 "To Teheran.' To the Shah's harem! Go now! 
 I'll soon get a note to you on the ship ! You'll have my 
 full report at Trebizond! Remember! Every office 
 has the cipher orders! They will send on all your re- 
 ports ! Go ! They may spirit her away from the ship ! 
 Be wise and brave ! God bless you ! Think of our own 
 sisters!" There were tears in Singleton's eyes as 
 he pushed Randall to the door! "Hoodwink them, 
 and get the whole story ! It is vital to us now !" Ran- 
 dall hastened to the one chemist's shop and hastily 
 purchased a few piastres' worth of several unfamiliar 
 medicines! Two or three bulky trifles were soon 
 added, and he dashed down to the landing! He was 
 careful to compound a bottle of a formidable looking 
 mixture as the Armenian clerk looked on in wonder! 
 As the boat rowed out to the storm-beaten steamer, 
 Alan Randall gazed at Sinope's placid bay nestling 
 there under the hilly hook. Anatolia's one splendid 
 harbor was now rilled with the "lame ducks" of the 
 wretched Turkish navy! 
 
 The huge dismantled fortifications stretched far 
 around to the hills where yet the classic marbles of 
 the old Milesian Grecian metropolis were builded into 
 the patched-up dwellings of the conquering Moslem! 
 The bay was covered with darting caiques and lazy 
 barges, and all around, the red flag with its gleaming 
 crescent, shone out like a blood stain on fort and 
 tower, on mart and mast! 
 
 "Oh, that the Czar would loose his Black Sea fleet, 
 and sweep this nest of beasts and pirates as on that 
 November day of '53, when the thirteen Turkish fri-
 
 154 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 gates went up in fire and flame!" The stern-faced 
 young man swore an oath as he leaped out of the 
 canoe. "To the death! For the sake of Christian wo- 
 manhood, I will .follow her to the foot of Demavend ! 
 She must be saved!" 
 
 Mustapha, anxious faced, was found seated on guard 
 before the closed stateroom door! The two women 
 crouched lazily on mats at his feet! The cabin was 
 already cleared of the unwilling odalisques who had 
 been driven from the deck, and, luckily, the harem 
 tent was reoccupied, under the care of the guard! The 
 whole ship's company were busied in repairing dam- 
 ages, and the treacherous Euxine now smiled as tran- 
 quilly as a crystal summer lake! In huddled groups 
 the motley third-class passengers were garnering their 
 scanty effects, and drying out their wardrobes of filthy 
 rags! The main cabin was deserted, for the mingled 
 adventurers of the better sort had fled away from the 
 vicinity of the sullen-eyed Pasha, who engrossed all 
 the ship's officers. 
 
 "Have you found the medicines?" meekly demanded 
 Mustapha. Alan Randall bowed his head! "I shall 
 need time to watch her, and note the effect of the new 
 remedies! Has she yet awakened?" "She lies in the 
 same condition!" was the frightened renegade's re- 
 ply. "How long do we remain here?" said the doctor, 
 with an affected concern. "Until to-morrow morning!" 
 the Pasha said. "I must go on shore and pay my of- 
 ficial visit to the Governor! I have arranged that the 
 guard will keep all these people out, until I return 
 to the ship. You, alone, are to remain here with my 
 women ! If you wish anything, speak to the officer of 
 the harem guard!" 
 
 "It is well!" answered the doctor. "The crisis will 
 be probably to-night ! If there is no noise ; if they could 
 all dine in the other saloon, this one night's rest might 
 fit the sufferer to go on to Trebizond !" The Pasha's 
 eyes gleamed! "It is wise! I will give the orders! And 
 I will return for your report!" Alan Randall bowed in
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 155 
 
 silence and escorted the Pasha to the main cabin door! 
 He listened, by a mere professional instinct, as the 
 magnate gave the epauletted harem officer his direc- 
 tions! A few last words reached Randall through an 
 open window, whose silken curtains were drawn ! 
 
 "Watch that Prankish fellow, that he does not talk 
 to the sick woman! You can go into my room and 
 listen there!" "Ah" smiled Alan Randall! "The old 
 harem finesse ! Well, I will have to play you a Yankee 
 trick!" He entered the sick room, and closing the 
 door, shot the bronze bolt back to its place! He sat 
 there watching the sleeping woman, whose eyes slowly 
 opened at the sharp click of the bolt! The doctor's 
 warning finger was upon his lip ! He tore out a leaf 
 of his note book and wrote in plain English script: 
 
 "We are watched ! There is a guard listening in the 
 next room. I will bring you writing material ! Do not 
 speak, or show a single sign of life if any one enters! 
 I will return." 
 
 There was a single grateful gleam of the beautiful 
 dark eyes, for the poor prisoner's heart beat once again 
 in hope! Alan Randall strode down the cabin to his 
 own stateroom, returning with some folios of paper 
 and a medical book. He ostentatiously opened all 
 his travelling medical kit and turned the leaves of the 
 references one by one, as he wrote away at the deserted 
 dining tables, in front of the door! The two women 
 curiously watched his array of gleaming instruments, 
 of bandages and the lines of scattered bottles! The 
 glamour of Prankish magic hung around his every 
 movement! When he had finished a brief relation of 
 the incident of the telegraph, and written his directions, 
 he folded the papers and thrust the blank folios care- 
 lessly in his pocket! 
 
 "I think that I am ready now!" said the American, 
 who had noted the gaudily uniformed officer lurking 
 in the shadows of Mustapha's room. Selecting a large 
 flask of distilled water, the doctor found a convenient 
 light pouring in a window across the cabin. Calling
 
 156 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 the Turkish officer, the sly doctor busied him with the 
 apparently important task of dropping a vial of medi- 
 cine, drop by drop, into the flask, to which he had 
 added one or two ingredients at hazard! "I think 
 that will fix him for twenty minutes, at least!" said Ran- 
 dall, sotto voce, as he bade the two women guard all 
 his outspread stores! "Now, I know why I have 
 studied Turkish and Arabic for eleven long years! 
 Now, I know why the path to Teheran is beaten ground 
 to me. It is the finger of Providence!" mused the 
 missionary doctor! He entered the sick room, and 
 covering the closed door with his body, handed the 
 paper he had written to the feeble prisoner. And then 
 standing in front of the door on the outside, secretly 
 on guard, he busied himself with many gravely exe- 
 cuted manipulations of his medical legerdemain! The 
 proud Turkish officer was, so far, not half way through 
 his formidable task, and had allowed himself several 
 rests for cigarette practice! Medicine bottle in hand, 
 Randall entered the room, and handed to the sick wo- 
 man some blank folios of paper, and a half-dozen pre- 
 pared pencils. Bending over her he whispered, "Write 
 quickly all that you would say! I will secretly telegraph 
 the whole story! I can detain them outside! Hasten 
 for the Pasha may soon return!" There was one 
 gleam of undying gratitude in the girl's liquid dark 
 eyes, and then the cool doctor left her to her task! 
 Her heaving bosom told her strangely met guardian 
 that she knew of the coming attempt at rescue ! It was 
 now Christian against Moslem, in a secret duel of sly- 
 ness! "It is astounding that she seems not to divine 
 the dark purpose of her abduction! Was it only vul- 
 gar gain or some brutal treachery some hideous 
 family secret?" Alan Randall, himself, knew not of 
 the bloody sacrifice of the Red Handkerchief, but, he 
 knew only too well how the Moslem harem haunts 
 are peopled, by fraud, violence and crime, to feed 
 the Turkish appetite for Prankish beauty! And, exist- 
 ing treaties protect this vile traffic. He gravely laid
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 157 
 
 his watch on the table, and standing where he could 
 see the whole port, through the opened cabin dead- 
 lights, he prayed only for time! He had brought his 
 mystic battery of nostrums to the immediate vicinity 
 of the hoodwinked Turkish officer, and the two women 
 were also aiding him in his lengthened preparations. 
 "I will make a great parade of dressing the cut upon 
 her head by and by! They can then have a chance to 
 satisfy their curiosity, and so report that all is going 
 on well to their haughty master!" A look of triumph 
 beamed on Alan Randall's face as he finally emerged 
 from the stateroom with a dozen leaves of pencilled 
 messages and the whole burden of Ilma's story, safely 
 concealed in his inner breast pockets. "She has her 
 cue now, thank God, and I can trust to her wit to carry 
 out my directions as far as Trebizond ! And, after that, 
 we are in God's hands!" When Mustapha's barge 
 swung alongside the ship, two hours later, he strode 
 directly into the cabin. Randall never changed a 
 muscle as the renegade questioned his guard officer! 
 The two women were excitedly voluble in their whis- 
 pered reports, and then the doctor led the returning 
 scoundrel to the door, where Mustapha saw a pale face 
 bandaged with all the unromantic skill of the doctor, 
 to announce the careful dressing of the wound upon 
 the head! The two men walked out together upon the 
 deck! "Tell me, will she live; will she be disfigured?" 
 The Pasha was startled at the grim array of swathing 
 bandages. "I thought that would fetch him," grimly 
 mused Randall, as he noted a young messenger boy 
 signalling him in the crowded deck mob, with his eyes ! 
 'There must be absolute quiet and repose! I will 
 watch her to-night. One of your women can remain in 
 the room at hand, to aid me! The crisis will perhaps 
 be over before we start! But, she must rest for several 
 days at Trebizond !" 
 
 The renegade's face darkened. "The season is late ! 
 I must get over the pass to Erzeroum, and reach Te- 
 heran as soon as possible." Randall's face was un-
 
 158 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 moved as he noted the anxious Pasha's slip. He 
 bowed, and waited till the great man joined the captain 
 in his forward cabin for the solace of chibouques and 
 coffee ! Then, the lad who had watched Randall's every 
 movement, sidled up and gave him a little slip of paper. 
 It bore to him these words of golden cheer: 
 
 "Dispatches received! All friends at work! All 
 news will be waiting for you at Trebizond. All our 
 friends are acting in concert there! Destroy this. Sin- 
 gleton." 
 
 Alan Randall's naturally vehement nature had been 
 toned down by a long residence in Asia Minor, Persia 
 and the far Orient! He knew the ways of the wily 
 Moslem too well to fancy that he was not under a 
 cross-fire of espionage. The renegade Pasha's face 
 wore an habitual smile of easy contentment! "Thank 
 heavens! I have all her story safe, now!" mused Ran- 
 dall, as the watchful Pasha, with stern vigor, directed 
 all his attendants in preparing for the night's comforts. 
 A perfect indifference to the unusual situation of the 
 patient disarmed Mustapha when he approached the 
 Prankish doctor. 
 
 "Do you wish me to call any of our Turkish physi- 
 cians to your aid? What do you require for the 
 night?" said the renegade! Randall gravely eyed the 
 closed door of the sick room. "She needs only perfect 
 repose!" he answered. "The younger and stronger 
 woman might watch over her with me. She requires 
 but little as she has not regained her speech! The 
 drug has paralyzed her whole nervous system ! It will 
 take many days for the effects of this overdose to wear 
 off! But, for the nausea of the violent storm, your 
 charge would have been even now a dead woman! 
 How was such a brutal overdose administered? You 
 surely do not wish to kill her?" 
 
 The Pasha's cold eye fell, for he knew that the reso- 
 lute doctor had easily recognized him as a European, 
 a mere mock-Mohammedan! 
 
 "It is the usual jealousy of the inmates of the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 159 
 
 harem!" growled Mustapha. "I suppose some favorite 
 found the secret means to try and poison her, thinking 
 she might, in time, be a dangerous rival! No one 
 knew she would be taken away !" 
 
 Alan Randall played his trump card quietly. "It will 
 be some weeks, however, before this young woman 
 will be in ordinary health ! Any excitement, or over- ' 
 exertion would surely kill her! Rest, quiet, fresh air 
 and kindness may restore her." 
 
 "Can she travel?" anxiously said the renegade. "Yes, 
 if she is treated with extreme consideration! But, you 
 see, she is yet at death's door! I will watch her through 
 the night! I can speak with authority at daybreak!" 
 
 "My officer of the guard will be in attendance, and 
 he will aid you," said Mustapha. "I confide her to 
 you!" He moved away, and Alan Randall dropped his 
 head in his hands in apparent fatigue. "You have 
 some sly scheme, my renegade friend!" said the doc- 
 tor, as he revolved the whole situation. "My profes- 
 sional duties will be made very light, after our arrival. 
 But, I shall see you later, if I have to follow you to 
 Cashmere!" The easy self-confidence of the Pasha 
 was a sign that he had quietly arranged his secret pro- 
 gramme while on shore! "He could easily telegraph 
 to Trebizond," mused the doctor. "The Moslems 
 have their own military line! Yes! That's the trick! 
 He will hide her quickly, when once there." 
 
 Before the cabin lights were extinguished, the doc- 
 tor led Mustapha Pasha to the door of the sick wo- 
 man's cabin! On a cushioned locker, the sullen tire 
 woman lay on watch, her eyes never quitting the pris- 
 oner's form! Just a slight rise and fall of the silken 
 coverlid indicated that the semi-unconscious woman 
 still lived. Her once beautiful face was swathed in the 
 artistic bandages of her stranger guardian ! The Pasha 
 called his woman watcher out, and conversed, in a low 
 tone! Then, at last, signalling the doctor, he said, 
 "Food! She seems so weak!" 
 
 "Ah! You may not be aware that these narcotics 
 11
 
 160 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 destroy all appetite! Trust to me! To-morrow, she 
 shall be nourished!" The confident manner of the 
 Frank imposed upon the renegade Kinsky. "I am not 
 unused to your women ! Mirzah Pasha of Trebizond 
 trusted his mother's life to my knife, and Abbas, the 
 great Vali of Erzeroum, sent to the coast an express 
 to bring me there to save his favorite wife! You are 
 a Moslem of rank! You can ask them!" The rene- 
 gade winced and walked away. These were the real 
 Osmanli dignitaries; he was a pretender but a spy, 
 pander, political mouchard and renegade! He dared 
 not brave the petted friend of Mirzah and Abbas! 
 
 As the night wore on, the American doctor was left 
 alone at the table, under the swinging light in the de- 
 serted cabin! The Turkish officer sat blinking and 
 cross-legged in a corner, and he plied the chibouque 
 with a due disregard of all around him! Randall had 
 designedly placed himself where Mustapha Pasha, 
 from his own pile of silken bed cushions, could watch 
 his every movement, through the open stateroom door! 
 Surrounded with his books, vials, and medical stock in 
 trade, he noted his watch, and made regular half-hourly 
 visits to the sick room ! The sullen eyes of the woman 
 on watch regarded him as he bent over the invalid, 
 to whom his touch was only a renewed signal for si- 
 lence, and an omen of good cheer! The night wore 
 on in quiet! 
 
 Seated by the swinging light, the missionary read 
 the pencilled leaves wherein the girl had traced the 
 last lines which might ever reach her friends! Ran- 
 dall's stern face grew stern and pitiless as he read the 
 strange record! He pondered over the situation! "I 
 might give him a medicament! No! It would only 
 sacrifice both our lives! I could strangle the brute 
 with my hands! And, she does not even know him! 
 One lapse, a single indication that I suspect the kid- 
 napping, and I would be at once made way with and 
 she simply strangled and secretly committed to the 
 deep! There is but one course; it is to ignore the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 161 
 
 strange surroundings of this woman! At Trebizond 
 I will have all my friends' secret help! But, she will 
 never be left for a single, moment in my hands there I 
 Others must save her! My presence would only mean 
 her murder, or her future imprisonment under foulest 
 outrage!" The doctor's tired head fell at last in slum- 
 ber! He had directed the officer to call him every hour 
 after he had locked away his precious story of the 
 doomed! "I understand Singleton's prudent silence!" 
 mused Randall. "I would have been dogged, and he, 
 perhaps, assassinated, after I had disappeared, on my 
 way back to the ship ! This wary scoundrel has set all 
 his traps." Tall, of giant frame, raw-boned and mus- 
 cular, the young missionary doctor was cast in the 
 mould of a stalwart man at arms. His dark eyes, black 
 hair and twisted, wiry, black beard gave a somewhat 
 military air to the broad brow, the heavy, firm under- 
 face and that prominent nose which Napoleon always 
 looked for in his men of action! It was the stern, 
 rugged manhood of the militant soldier of the cross 
 that led him to the arduous labors of the active life of a 
 missionary doctor in the Orient! He had found out 
 his own peculiar field, and in every station of the "work- 
 ers," from Stamboul to the Caspian, Alan Randall had 
 made a name in the eleven years since he had quitted 
 "Fair Harvard," to serve humanity and religion in the 
 burning East! But, the one romance of his high ca- 
 reer had come to him at last! The dawn came blush- 
 ing over the sea and Alan Randall was glad of all the 
 confusion of departure, for the "Abdul Medjid" was 
 well out of the harbor before the veiled game of wits 
 began again! Pasha against physician! 
 
 Two precious days alone remained, and Randall 
 knew that he would be under fire every moment ! He 
 saw the hills of Sinope fade away in their wake, and 
 he passively waited on deck for Mustapha Pasha to 
 open the game ! Randall had held himself aloof from 
 all the others, and he now only awaited the appear- 
 ance of the renegade upon deck after breakfast. The 
 u
 
 162 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 magnate approached finally with a troubled brow! 
 When he had heard the report of the night, he un- 
 easily said, "Can I not remove her into the harem 
 tent forward? There is great scandal to our religion, 
 in this woman's situation." 
 
 "Her life is in your hands!" calmly said the doctor. 
 "The chatter of the noisy inmates there, would throw 
 her into fever, and perchance lead to her death ! It is 
 impossible!" Mustapha was powerless to refute this 
 assertion. "Has she spoken yet?" he demanded, eying 
 Randall with furtive suspicion! "Only a few incoher- 
 ent murmurs!" placidly answered the doctor. "What 
 is her native tongue? You surely communicate with 
 her?" Mustapha felt his awkward cornering, when the 
 physician added, "I have only addressed her in Turk- 
 ish, and she did not seem to understand ! At least she 
 did not answer!" The renegade paused in his walk, 
 and said fiercely: "She speaks no Turkish!" "How 
 do you converse with her?" calmly said the doctor?" 
 "She is not of my household !" angrily said Mustapha. 
 "I have to speak German to her!" "Then, I am power- 
 less!" sadly said the doctor, "for, I do not speak Ger- 
 man ! You must interpret for me, if she is well enough 
 to be questioned, as to her dangerous symptoms!" 
 "Do you not speak the languages of Europe?" sus- 
 piciously said the Pasha. "I came here many years 
 ago! Only English and Turkish are my slender store! 
 I will notify you if I wish you to speak for me! At 
 present it would be imprudent! But, before we reach 
 Trebizond, she must be prepared for landing!" 
 
 "That is my affair!" gruffly said the Pasha, as he 
 walked away. "Call me when you want me! I shall 
 have to watch over her myself, I fear!" This parting 
 concession to courtesy was not lost upon Randall. "A 
 man without a country probably a runaway officer," 
 he said, as he went below to take up his mute watch. 
 
 It was a ceaseless contest of wits between the two 
 men a silent game of chess played for the exposure 
 of one or both, which strained every nerve of the young
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 163 
 
 missionary, while the "Abdul Medjid" slowly crawled 
 along the great mountains of the valeyet of Trebizond! 
 The Pasha's manner was always watchfully courteous, 
 but, Randall soon found himself addressed by the mot- 
 ley passengers in every known tongue! His uniform 
 replies, in Turkish, at length, disarmed the plotting 
 renegade's suspicions! With a watchful provision, 
 Randall had dropped into the sign language with his 
 patient, to whom food and simple restoratives were 
 now being sparingly administered! But not one single 
 moment of privacy could the ardent missionary steal 
 from Mustapha's officious watch, or the glittering eyes 
 of the two women. The wooded slopes of Trebizond 
 hung over the rocky citadel of the great walled city, 
 a score of miles beyond them, when Mustapha, with af- 
 fected interest, called the physician away from his 
 watch! "I must now speak to her! The Sultan's busi- 
 ness waits not for a sick woman! See! Yonder is 
 Trebizond! I will relieve you of the care of your pa- 
 tient here! Is there anything that you wish me to say 
 to her, about her future treatment?" "Her life and 
 death are in your hands ! She will need rest, intelligent 
 care and an absence of all excitement! With her 
 wounded head, and the effects of this poison still in her 
 system, she is in a grave condition !" The young doc- 
 tor foresaw Mustapha's probable behavior at Trebi- 
 zond, and while his blood boiled, he was forced not to 
 betray the slightest personal interest! He thus con- 
 tented himself with saying, "It will be some months 
 before she will regain her appearance, and usual 
 strength, to say nothing of her beauty!" The Pasha's 
 brow darkened, and then the burly renegade passed 
 into the sick room alone. Alan Randall walked slowly 
 to his own stateroom, for already the walled gardens of 
 Trebizond now shone out before them, with its fifty 
 thousand dwellers clustering there, around fort and 
 palace, mosque and Greek church, squalid hut and 
 princely harem enclosure. The simple personal kit of 
 the doctor was soon made and he was soon again at
 
 164 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 his post, watching the door where Mustapha still lin- 
 gered in charge of the woman, doomed to a fate worse 
 than death! The cabin was now crowded with the 
 overjoyed voyagers, merrily shouting and loudly 
 wrangling over their preparations to depart, as they 
 were all summoned to face the customs. At last, Mus- 
 tapha emerged from the sick room! Clapping his 
 hands he called to the women and gave them his stern 
 orders in vigorous language. "She seems to be strong 
 enough. She is, after all, a young woman," said the 
 renegade. "Do you wish to see her?" With an un- 
 moved face Alan Randall followed the Pasha into the 
 stateroom. He gravely drew out his watch and then 
 clasped the girl's slender wrist! 
 
 There, under the eyes of the watchful renegade, the 
 helpless woman mutely said adieu to the man who had 
 saved her life! There was a world of thankfulness in 
 her sad, searching glances, but, in her heart, was thrill- 
 ing the secret signals of the man who held her pulse 
 under his finger! She knew that, to the death, he was 
 vowed a knight in her service! Their hearts silently 
 spoke to each other in the parting clasp of the slender 
 wrist! "There is no time to lose!" gruffly said Mus- 
 tapha. "She must be now dressed for removal! We 
 are already going into the harbor!" A glance from 
 Randall's eyes as he quickly turned his head, showed 
 him a great official barge sweeping out to meet them! 
 And in another moment, the anchor rattled down! 
 Suddenly the girl spoke in German to her stern mas- 
 ter! "Tell him that I never shall forget his kindness! 
 I owe my life to him !" The words were slowly faltered, 
 as if a death bed good bye ! "She says she thanks you 
 much! That is all!" gruffly said Mustapha, as he 
 pointed significantly to the open door! Alan Randall 
 turned and then cast back one last glance! "Tell her 
 that I am thankful for her kind words," he said, and 
 then he silently crossed the threshold, without looking 
 back. Randall's heart was frozen within him, with 
 rage and helpless terror, when a half hour later a half
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 165 
 
 dozen blacks bore a muffled and veiled woman down 
 the gangway to the great gilded harem barge, now 
 warped alongside! 
 
 He sprung out to the main deck. The harem tent 
 standing there was now empty! The odalisques and 
 attendants had all been bundled on the barge and 
 Mustapha's busy attendants, with frantic haste, were 
 tossing all the Pasha's effects down on the deck of the 
 barge! But, the fretting passengers were mournfully 
 huddled around the crowded decks, there in sullen 
 dismay! Randall spoke to an officer of the boat! 
 "You will be landed in three hours, when we get 
 pratique!" carelessly said the sailor. Suddenly Mus- 
 tapha Pasha, his sabre swinging at his rich belt, strode 
 back from the gangway! "Let me see your passport!" 
 he gruffly said! "I will leave a purse for you at the 
 Custom House!" And then, Alan Randall knew that 
 lima, Countess Falka, was left to face her dreadful fate 
 alone! He madly longed to strike the scoundrel to 
 the deck, and yet the issue of Ilma's life and death 
 depended on his quiet nerve ! Without a spoken word, 
 he extended his passport! "You will be treated with 
 every courtesy! I have given all the orders!" was the 
 renegade's reply. 
 
 Then, without a word, he strode down the ladder 
 swinging at the ship's side ! The barge moved rapidly 
 away, amidst the protesting howls of the delayed 
 crowd. 
 
 Though a hundred screaming boatmen hovered 
 around them, not one dared to approach the ship till 
 the barge swept away toward the distant landing, 
 where the sabre bearing eunuchs waited for the barge 
 at the marble steps of the harem landing, high-walled 
 from vulgar gaze ! It was the Pasha's privilege of high 
 courtesy to land when he chose! Alan Randall stood 
 there, stunned and his eyes followed the great barge as 
 it sped away! Then he turned and sought his deserted 
 stateroom ! His eyes were filled with blinding tears as
 
 166 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 he prayed there, alone, to the God of the fatherless to 
 shield the defenseless girl ! 
 
 For, now, he knew the crafty ruse of the cowardly 
 renegade, and he silently sorrowed, for he feared that 
 he should see lima Falka's face no more! The harem 
 gates were ajar! "How long, oh God! How long 
 shall earth see this infamy, blotting out the foot-prints 
 of the Apostles! The brutal reign of blood and lust!" 
 The American only raged in vain! He went out to 
 mingle with the motley crew in their passive waiting, 
 for he well knew the reach of Mustapha's spies! His 
 face was unmoved now, though his manly heart was 
 convulsed! "I will follow on while life lasts!" he 
 vowed! And he thanked God that in the absence of 
 the brute kidnapper he had carefully given to the girl 
 all the plans now being moulded for her rescue! "Oh! 
 To meet my friends; to reach the telegraph!" he mur- 
 mured, and yet, he was outwardly calm! But it was 
 long hours after, in the darkness of night, that a friend- 
 ly hand clasped his own on the landing quay! "Come 
 to the Hotel de France ! We are all in waiting there !" 
 whispered a comrade's voice. "Useless!" groaned 
 Randall. "We are outwitted, baffled! She has been 
 taken away three hours ago on a palace barge. She is 
 lost forever!" "Not so!" was the cheering response! 
 The Russian Consul has already a friendly spy on that 
 barge, and we can reach her, even in the Vali's 
 harem! We will follow, and save her!" The darkness 
 of the night came drifting down on hut and harem, 
 and a sweeping glance only showed the faint lines of 
 the overhanging hills, and the battered old "Abdul 
 Medjid," gleaming with light, there on the tranquil 
 waters ! The passengers had all scattered, and lima 
 Falka's foot had trodden for the first time the shore of 
 Asia ! The daughter of a hundred Counts was now but 
 a poor, disguised woman slave, crouching in tears, on 
 the cushions of a divan, there, behind harem walls 
 where the cry of innocence is but the sport of the Mos- 
 lem brute!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 167 
 
 "They may be watching! You must not be seen with 
 me!" whispered Randall to his friend. "I have to pass 
 the Customs, so wait there at the hotel for me ! Let 
 a room be ready! They may track me!" "All right!" 
 said the agent of rescue, as he vanished in the gloom ! 
 When the porters bore Alan Randall's belongings to 
 the barrier of the Douane, three lazy Turkish field of- 
 ficers eyed his passport with an unusual interest! With 
 a courteous wave of the hand, the senior dismissed 
 the bearers of Randall's luggage! Then, as a junior 
 inscribed many hieroglyphics on the doctor's pass, 
 the officers led him into an inner room! 
 
 "Please to count this money, Effendi!" said the col- 
 onel in charge, handing out a compact little bag. 
 "There should be two hundred guineas!" "From 
 whom?" gravely questioned Randall! "For you from 
 one who is grateful! Never mind the name! Money 
 is always welcome!" The old Turk laughed, as Ran- 
 dall hastily counted the gold! 
 
 The American set up three little piles of ten guineas 
 each! "For the poor!" he said, touching his forehead, 
 and breast, in the salaam of Moslem courtesy! He 
 then strode out into the night, and walked, pistol in 
 hand, toward the Hotel de France! "They have had 
 their usual backsheesh, but a scimetar slash from be- 
 hind might indicate a desire for more!" The doctor 
 could see the twinkling yellow lights far away across 
 the blue, throbbing bay, lighting the prison-paradise 
 where lima Falka was immured ! 
 
 He vanished from sight the moment the hotel por- 
 ters seized his belongings, and was led into an upper 
 chamber, where a dozen men awaited him! The pres- 
 ence of Kostrominoff, the Russian Consul, Walton, of 
 the Indo-European, three of his missionary guild, and 
 the Austrian Consul, told him of careful preparation! 
 They started eagerly up to meet him! "Tell us all!" 
 said the Russian, after the door was carefully locked. 
 "Be brief! Time has a life and death value now!" The 
 eager circle drew around Randall as he related the oc-
 
 168 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 currence of the voyage ! There were moist eyes when 
 he finished, and handed the Russian Consul lima 
 Falka's pencilled message! The two consuls drew 
 apart and bent over the precious leaves, while Alan 
 Randall was busied with the others! The Englishman 
 was eager in the cause of the entrapped girl! "We 
 have the fullest instructions from Constantinople, and 
 a rescue party will be at once made up ! The case is the 
 same here as at Constantinople ! Any attempt at pub- 
 lic demand, or ill advised action here, would only lead 
 to her murder, or the death of those trying to reach 
 her. Does she know yet of her brother's murder?" 
 The telegraph agent paused, gazing at Randall. 
 
 "She does not even know who her abductor is r 
 whither she goes, nor of the vile purpose of her kid- 
 napping! I feared to cause her to attempt her own 
 life! She thinks that she is only held for a ransom! 
 For the brave girl is honest, and unsuspicious of the 
 final shame!" The two consuls called the assembly 
 together! "We will need you, Walton!" said Kostrom- 
 inoff, "all night, at the telegraph instrument ! And we 
 must scatter at once! You, Dr. Randall, and your 
 friends, must travel openly over to Ezeroum, as usual, 
 and go direct to the American mission there! Take 
 no thought of the girl till you arrive there, for the 
 Russian Consul there will advise you of all! He will 
 be warned, and will know of your arrival! Now, re- 
 member! You will be watched day and night on the 
 road! Strive to have no air of haste or preoccupation 
 hanging over you on your journey." The Consul 
 paused. "I have made all the road arrangements for 
 you," said the leading missionary, and, while I stay 
 here, Sloane and Randolph will go on with you ! They 
 can return at their leisure! You must leave to-mor- 
 row, with all due parade of the expedition !" 
 
 "And who will watch over this defenseless woman?" 
 cried Randall, with flashing eyes! "I would die to save 
 her!" "Don't be too rash, Doctor!" said the caln
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 169 
 
 Russian official. "I am going to give you a chance to 
 save her, perhaps even to risk your life in her defense !" 
 
 "Explain!" begged the excited missionary, who saw 
 once more the mutely pleading eyes of the Magyar 
 maiden, in that eternal farewell, the speechless part- 
 ing. "This scoundrel Mustapha evidently destines this 
 girl for a secret sale! Your report tells us that at least 
 three months are needed to restore her beauty! Now, 
 Paul Nelidoff, our Ambassador at Stamboul, is the 
 one head of the rescue movement, and the Austrian 
 Ambassador and Consuls wisely leave it to us! Mus- 
 tapha, sly scoundrel, will watch all the Austrians ! We 
 are a secret league of all the foreign officials of the East! 
 This renegade will get the girl out of here at once! 
 There is but one road, by Baibourt, to Erzeroum. 
 
 "There he can hide her in any of the great harems, 
 and have her cure effected by the renegade foreign 
 physicians there! His route from there will determine 
 her fate! Down the Tigris, means Bagdad, but over 
 the Taya Pass, surely means Teheran ! There are too 
 many Europeans here and at Erzeroum to keep her 
 long concealed! She would either have to be quietly 
 put out of the way or else sent on farther! The object 
 of Mustapha would be defeated in either case! I have 
 sent out secret agents on the Erzeroum road, and have 
 trusty men to watch at Bitlis and Kharpoot! My Con- 
 sul colleague at Tabreez is warned by cipher dispatch! 
 My one hope is that the Shah's European voyage has 
 made a market for continental beauty at Ispahan and 
 Teheran! Mustapha will perhaps conduct her there, 
 will hide her, wait and restore her beauty in rest and 
 comfort, and then make his infamous bargain there!" 
 
 "But, who will rescue her?" demanded Randall. 
 "Ah!'' said the Consul, "Kassim, an undeclared 
 secret service spy, is now on that barge and will follow 
 her steps. There is a fortune in sight for him ! Colonel 
 Serge Soltykoff, the Burnaby of the Russian Trans- 
 Caspian army, left Odessa yesterday for Tiflis. He 
 has the Czar's Imperial commission as special bearer
 
 170 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 of dispatches, and the most unlimited powers as to 
 money, escort and secret service. An American, Paul 
 Denton, too, has left Stamboul for Batoum, direct to 
 join Soltykoff ! The moment Mustapha sets out from 
 Erzeroum, you are to follow him in secret, and you 
 three, mark me, will meet at Teheran!" "And there?" 
 hoarsely cried Randall. "The Russian and English 
 power united will back you, if we can only get lima 
 Falka out of the harem enclosure, to save her from 
 the hell of their infamy! For, the timorous Shah would 
 yield, where the Turk would kill her, and then lie about 
 the murder! They have butchered her noble brother!" 
 "I will give my life to the quest!" cried the doctor! 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A MOSLEM CARAVAN! THREE PILGRIMS TO THE 
 HALLS OF THE LION AND THE SUN! 
 
 In an hour after Alan Randall's arrival, the conclave 
 had broken up, its members stealing away one by one ! 
 It was reserved for Walton to spend the long night 
 sending on over the clicking key the narrative of lima 
 Falka to Paul Nelidoff, at Stamboul, and to Colonel 
 Soltykoff, at Tiflis. The servants of the Hotel de 
 France were busied with Randall's preparations for the 
 two weeks' road journey to Erzeroum! 
 
 "I will be the first away, and that fact will, perhaps, 
 lull this scoundrel's suspicions!" mused the doctor, 
 as his head fell in slumber. "But wait, wait, till we 
 are face to face in the open!" 
 
 Long before lima Falka was awakened by the hoarse 
 cry of the muezzin, the three missionary comrades 
 drew away from the Hotel de France, perched high 
 upon their piled-up cushions and underlying baggage 
 in a rude, unwieldy "fourgon," a long wagon without 
 springs; two zaptiehs, an ostentatious escort, rode 

 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 171 
 
 lazily ?long In front as they climbed the headland, 
 where Trebizond was clustered above the yellows and 
 beyond which the blue Euxine broke in long, creamy 
 surges! The road led up a long ascent toward the 
 headwaters of the Surmel, and the many-colored houses 
 of Trebizond gleamed red tiled below them in the 
 sun. Their servants mounted on stout asses lingered 
 along in the khans and cafes of the road. Loath to 
 leave the figs and cypresses, the flowers and gardens 
 of Trebizond for the snowy plateaus of Armenia and 
 the rugged mountain passes of Kurdistan ! 
 
 Neither of the missionaries had seen a tall man, 
 muffled in a Persian caftan, his face heavily hooded, 
 who spat upon the dust as they drew away from the 
 hotel. When Mustapha turned away, he mingled with 
 the busy crowd of Greeks, Armenians and trading 
 Jews! "Evidently that fellow was well satisfied with 
 his money ; he probably fancied that she was only some 
 theater character, or a beautiful dancing girl, selling 
 herself! He could never have exchanged a word with 
 her, and he speaks no Continental languages! They 
 are all lazy; a set of hypocrites, and he is off to his 
 easy comfort at Erzeroum! I will send on a couple 
 of riders to follow them, secretly! But, the fool knows 
 nothing! He took a zaptieh escort, and they would 
 simply cut his throat if he broke Moslem harem laws ! 
 No! He did not suspect! The fellow is a good doctor, 
 however, and I must mind his injunctions! This baby 
 face shall be treated with every comfort until I have 
 her safe at Teheran ! She must be in the full bloom of 
 beauty when " 
 
 He smiled and signaled a droschky. "I can get her 
 soon ready for the road! But I must keep her con- 
 tented! There's always one thing! The fool might 
 kill herself if she knew what awaits her!" Mus- 
 tapha knew the Falka blood of old! 
 
 When once within the walls, Mustapha threw aside 
 his shrouding disguise, and pointed to the gleaming 
 harem walls, shining out far beyond the grim fortified
 
 172 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 stone barrier, enclosing the main town and the smiling 
 gardens! He eyed the strong forts on the walls, the 
 grim citadel perched on its high rock, and gazed at 
 the wooded heights far above him. "I have thrown 
 them off the scent!" laughed Mustapha. "They are 
 now blundering around Smyrna, a thousand miles 
 away, looking for the Pearl of a Thousand Purses!" 
 He sighed. "She does not look up to her market value 
 now! I must hoodwink and flatter her, until she is 
 safe at Teheran! My revenge shall come after the 
 Lord of the Lion and Sun has thrown the Pearl away !" 
 No robber of Lazistan ever scowled blacker murder 
 than Kinsky, as he turned into the harem gate. "If 
 Marie is quick-witted, and I can ever get the mother 
 in my clutches, then I will have settled all the old 
 scores! The last of the Falkas!" 
 
 All the long day, while Alan Randall toiled slowly 
 along the beautiful banks of the Surmel, toward the 
 far Zigaria mountain, Mustapha Pasha was busied in 
 organizing a splendid caravan suited to his rank! He 
 smiled as he proudly prophesied, "Once beyond Er- 
 zeroum, she has put her old life behind her, forever. 
 For, there beyond the Moslem is king of earth, air, fire 
 and water, and these meddling dogs only live by our 
 sufferance!" And so many rich schemes awaited him 
 there! His friend, the Persian ambassador, would aid! 
 It was a new world to conquer. It was a proud boast. 
 Yet at Platena, three leagues to the west, the Russian 
 and Austrian Consuls had met, on their afternoon ride ! 
 While Mustapha arranged his retinue for the road, 
 the Christian officials conferred in safe whispers! The 
 talking wires had assured them of the movement of 
 the rescue party! "It is quite clear," said Kostrominoff 
 that our friends will be the first at Teheran, if Mustapha 
 moves on leisurely, and this Randall is a game fellow! 
 He will follow him like a wolf on the track of the 
 hunter! We must appear to be absolutely indifferent 
 here!" 
 
 The streets of old Trapezus were thronged with
 
 LOST COUNTESS VALKA. 173 
 
 long caravans arriving from and departing to Anatolia, 
 Syria, Armenia, Kurdistan and Persia! As the two 
 Consuls rode back through the semi-European marts 
 and factories, only the scowling Moslem soldiers and 
 the far-shining palace walls told of the deathlike clutch 
 of the Turk! For there were churches as well as 
 mosques in the vast human beehive, and the three 
 American wayfarers far above them, were riding along 
 past scattered Greek villages smiling in the beautiful 
 landscapes, their own churches shining out on the 
 knolls. 
 
 Kostrominoff sighed as he bade his colleague adieu. 
 "We have now done all that we can! Kassim will 
 report to me the very moment of this brute's depart- 
 ure! I will surely have Soltykoff's dispatches by to- 
 morrow night! You will then learn all from me! I 
 will come to you secretly! For our hopes, our fears, 
 our whole burden of loving solicitude, is now hidden 
 there, behind the harem gates! Once the guard of 
 these . blood-thirsty eunuchs vanishes, then the veiled 
 villainy of the Moslem is impossible! Great God! That 
 a Christian woman should be borne away to shame 
 before our very eyes!" "Alas! my friend!" sighed the 
 Austrian! "It is only by prudence, by our silent 
 agony, that we may hope to save her life! It is the 
 guarantee of the Christian powers that upholds the 
 bloodiest infamy of the nineteenth century!" 
 
 "But, the day will come when the White Czar will 
 sweep away the stain which has rested on European 
 manhood since the Byzantine Empire went down in 
 flame and blood, before the crescent. Fourteen hun- 
 dred and fifty-three is the date of the birth of this Chris- 
 tian shame! Even here, the Emperor of Trebizond 
 held up the cross for nine years after Mohammed II. 
 gazed on the head of Constantine Paleogus. He 
 was abandoned to his fate. It is for Russia alone to 
 deliver the world from this crowning infamy and, at 
 last, to break down the gate of the harem! It is the 
 very cause of manhood, of womanhood, of the violated
 
 174 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 laws of the Fatherhood of God and of the Brotherhood 
 of Man!" "The day will come!" said the Russian, de- 
 voutly crossing himself! "Let us be redeemed from 
 the common shame in saving this poor girl!" "Amen!" 
 said his saddened colleague, as he rode on in a gloomy 
 silence! 
 
 It was two nights later, and Alan Randall was far 
 away in the narrow valley of the Karshut, when Mus- 
 tapha Pasha's caravan master reported all in order for 
 the road ! The renegade was lying at ease in his splen- 
 did chamber, and he had passed the gayest hours of 
 dalliance with the gazelle-eyed women of the Trebizond 
 Palace ! "Have the riders returned?" said the renegade. 
 "The Christian dogs are far beyond the summit!" was 
 the obsequious answer. "Then we leave two hours be- 
 fore daybreak!" sternly said Mustapha! "There is not 
 a thing lacking?" "My lord shall travel like a king!" 
 the attendant murmured, crossing his arms and bend- 
 ing low! 
 
 "Good! Let my aga know and I will have all the 
 women ready! The road is easy!" Mustapha added. "No 
 one must see our departure !" "It is a splendid carriage 
 road as far as Erzeroum. The Franks have no better! 
 
 After that " "It does not matter after that! Go!" 
 
 said the Pasha! "And now, for the girl!" He rose and 
 clapped his hands thrice! "Prepare the women for my 
 coming!" said the mock Pasha, as the aga of his 
 eunuchs bowed and fled away. 
 
 Pacing slowly on, robed in the splendor of his rank, 
 Janos Kinsky's hand toyed with his diamond-hilted 
 sabre. "Why do I not leave her here?" he mused, as he 
 threaded the marble passages. "The Vali wants her! 
 He would pay the same splendid price! And, my long 
 journey would be spared!" He paused, even as a 
 slave held aside the crimson silk curtain of an arched 
 door beyond! "No! It is too near! There are too 
 many Europeans! The story of her beauty would be 
 soon noised abroad ! And my Stamboul affairs might 
 suffer! I might be disgraced, cast out, if they followed
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 175 
 
 her here! And then the future! To play upon the 
 mother's credulity! There must be time ! Yes! Then 
 that she devil, Marie, may do her work as an escaped 
 inmate! I would be forced to kill this girl to save my- 
 self! For once out of my hands here I dare not at- 
 tack her! No! The road lies before me ! And Persia 
 will be a gold mine to me! My friend, the Ambassa- 
 dor " And even in his successful villainy, Janos 
 
 Kinsky knew not whither that road led him ! For fate 
 is ever silent, and mortals blind! 
 
 The renegade entered the room where lima Falka 
 lay upon a divan, under the watchful eyes of the two 
 women of his train! He approached softly and saw 
 her gentle eyes steadily fixed upon him! The beauti- 
 ful face was still pale and the bandages still disguised 
 her identity! "No one would fancy her to be an Euro- 
 pean !" thought the delighted renegade ! He stood gaz- 
 ing down upon her, and then spoke in the language of 
 her far away land ! 
 
 "I am taking you to an interior city, where you will 
 have rest and comfort! I can not tarry here! The 
 women will aid you ! We leave two hours before day. 
 You will have the Pasha's own carriage! Will you be 
 ready? There shall be every care taken!" The captor 
 was astounded at her calmness, for she simply bowed 
 her head and moved her lips in a passive assent! "Get 
 all the rest you can ! They will give you anything you 
 wish! The tire woman will interpret for you! She 
 speaks all the tongues of the Levant!" And the rene- 
 gade wondered that she reproached him not! But she 
 had learned by heart the lessons of Alan Randall's cau- 
 tious advice! 
 
 As Mustapha slowly walked away he marvelled still 
 at the passive calmness of the proud Hungarian ! But 
 lima Falka, lying on the cushions there, knew that the 
 women's eyes were always fixed upon her! The blessed 
 two hours with her mysterious guardian had told her 
 that on the long road hidden friends would follow un- 
 seen, and that a hundred devoted ones would toil for 
 12
 
 176 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 her deliverance! And so, clinging to the faith born 
 of Randall's earnest prayers, she closed her eyes and 
 simulated a natural slumber, and its blessed mantle cov- 
 ered her. It was in her sleep that she dreamed again 
 of her mother's outstretched arms ! She saw once more 
 Arpad, her gallant brother; Paul Denton, his eyes blaz- 
 ing with love's ardent flame; soldierly Soltykoff; Bela 
 Batthyani, the playfellow of her childhood, and the 
 grave-faced American Major! 
 
 They were all with her again in her dreams! For 
 Dreamland is freedom ! They hovered around her, her 
 mother's arms were opened to clasp her, she was wan- 
 dering again in the flowery mazes of "My Lady's Gar- 
 den," when a hand grasped her wrist! She awoke 
 startled, under the swinging silver lamps, to see the 
 leathern-faced old crone bending over her, while the 
 tire woman sharply said: "It is the time! Arise now! 
 We go forth!" And then, the bitter tears flowed fast 
 in her sad awakening while the Moslem women robed 
 her for a night journey over unknown ways, to a 
 strange land! Her eyes were fixed upon the door, 
 where the burly renegade stood awaiting the quick dis- 
 patch of his frightened attendants! 
 
 Friendless, hoping against hope, with one last silent 
 prayer to God for mercy, the prisoner went out then 
 into the night! Her knees scarce supported her to the 
 great marble archway leading to the perfumed garden ! 
 When she sank back in the carriage her feeble forces 
 failed her, and it was only a fainting, senseless woman 
 who was swiftly driven through the streets of sleeping 
 Trebizond! But even this, favored Mustapha's game 
 of concealment! 
 
 There was a man, booted and spurred for riding, 
 seated at a table that gloomy morning in far away 
 Tiflis. Serge Soltykoff's face was deeply seamed with 
 lines of care as he bent over telegrams and dispatches! 
 It was in the headquarters of the Governor-General of 
 the Caucasus that the soldier awaited the one signal 
 which was his summons to take the road I "Denton
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 17T 
 
 will be here in two days ! They will hurry him on after 
 me to Baku! I can have all ready! If the scoundrel 
 does not leave Erzeroum, our official people there will 
 move secretly to her rescue ! If he starts for Teheran, I 
 can get to Tabreez and meet him, by the Caspian, or be 
 in Teheran before him! He has seen me but twice, 
 but when next we meet, he will know me! I swear it 
 by my mother's grave ! I can have all ready when Paul 
 Denton arrives! Ah! Magda! Magda! Will it be 
 two deaths you are to mourn or only one !" The sol- 
 dier studied a dispatch from Vienna, signed by Eraser 
 Denton. "He has not dared to tell her yet of Arpad's 
 death! And so, Magda lives on in false hope! Alas! 
 We all do ! It is the way of poor humanity !" The sol- 
 dier walked the room in an agony of suspense till an 
 orderly entered with a dispatch ! Soltykoff tore it open ! 
 
 "Here! Let my whole party be got ready! Go down 
 and tell the trainmaster that I will be there in half an 
 hour!" His face was beaming in exultation as he read: 
 
 "They start for Erzeroum in an hour! She is safe, 
 as yet !" 
 
 The soldier cried, "Bravo! Kostrominoff! Now, for 
 our own hand at the game!" And he seized his belt, 
 thrust his revolver in its sheath, buckled on his sabre., 
 and, seizing his cap and cloak, went out into the gray 
 of the breaking dawn! "It is a life for a life, you 
 bloody dog!" cried Soltykoff! "Yours or mine, for 
 Magda Falka's sake!" 
 
 Mustapha Pasha reclined alone in his light fourgon, 
 watchfully eyeing his caravan as the daylight lit up the 
 road sweeping up the Sumel Valley! He eyed the 
 Greek villages with suspicion. "Some Christian fel- 
 low might easily communicate with this woman ! These 
 Greeks speak all the tongues!" Calling his aga, he 
 bade the driver halt for a moment. The winding road 
 had hidden Trebizond's walls and the reaches of the 
 blue Euxine from their eyes! The motley caravan 
 toiled along before him, with two zaptiehs riding ahead, 
 followed by the servants mounted on asses, the 
 12
 
 178 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 eunuchs on Persian horses, and a dozen patient camels, 
 which bore the heavy burdens! A dozen fierce swords- 
 men under the aga watched over the two carriages! 
 There was no sound from the great vehicle where the 
 hostile women watched over the Pearl of a Thousand 
 Purses! "Where is the guide?" demanded Mustapha! 
 In a moment Kassim, the Kurd, trotted up on his 
 wiry pony. "Is the road plain? Do the zaptiehs know 
 where we tarry for the night?" The lean rider bowed 
 and said: "They have my orders! We make three 
 sleeps to the summit of the Zigaria!" "And do these 
 Greek villages border the road for a long distance?" 
 "For two days' march, Your Highness!" said the guide. 
 The renegade bent his head a moment in thought! 
 He saw the crowds of peddlers, children and merchants 
 of fruit and small wares sallying forth at every cafe and 
 tea house. 
 
 "She might recognize a friendly voice; these wily 
 Greeks are all fanatic Christians, and they might eas- 
 ily spy upon me, or else gather to effect a rescue !" Mus- 
 tapha was troubled, for he was now upon a strange 
 road! "The women are useless to watch her!" he 
 grumbled. "Hark ye ! Kassim !" sharply said the Pasha. 
 "Give your horse to one of the men in the baggage 
 wagons ! There is room there for the two women ser- 
 vants in the other carriage ! You shall ride in that car- 
 riage and watch this Prankish woman of mine ! Until 
 we are well past the Greek villages! If any one tries 
 to speak to her or to approach her, lop off their hand 
 or head, as you choose, with your sabre! You know 
 the road to Teheran?" 
 
 ^"It is my path by night and day!" proudly said the 
 Kurd! The Vali of Trebizond (may Allah preserve 
 him) has sent me a dozen times to Erzeroum, to Ta- 
 breez, to Bitlis, Kharpoot, Aleppo, Bagdad, Ispahan 
 and Teheran! For, I am of the Kurdish mountains!" 
 
 "Nothing shall be denied to you if this woman is 
 kept well and happily delivered over at Teheran! There- 
 fore, these two days bide you in her carriage ! When
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 179 
 
 we pass the Greek villages you can ride at the wagon's 
 side! I will have no meddling! Remember! Death 
 to any meddling Greek!" 
 
 "The Franks are dogs! My sword has drank deep 
 the blood of the cross-bearing Armenians! I have 
 stamped my heel on their women's bosoms! I go to 
 obey you ! I shall answer with my head for my faith !" 
 The Kurd's eyes gleamed fiercely! 
 
 In a few moments the caravan crawled along on its 
 leisurely way ! For a stretch of fifteen miles a day con- 
 stituted the movement of a traveling Pasha ot rank. 
 Mustapha Pasha leaned back in reassured comfort, as 
 he saw the coast line finally disappear. "No one knows 
 of our departure ! It is well ! For even the Vali seemed 
 to fear foreign spies! The power of Frankish gold! 
 "Now I'm safe! The road is open .to Teheran! Once 
 past Erzeroum, the gates have closed forever behind 
 lima Falka! This fellow Kassim is a jewel! He shall 
 be rewarded! He can bring me back by Bagdad and 
 Aleppo! I will have gained secrets of value when I 
 come to Stamboul! So far I am safe, for the fool 
 knows me not! When she does know me she will be 
 long past the power of chattering! There is no escape 
 from Teheran! And Marie shall lead the mother off 
 to meet her daughter in the Greek sea !" And he gloat- 
 ed in his hour of triumph! 
 
 Mustapha soon wearied of following the carriage of 
 his captive, his eyes drooped heavily in the morning 
 sun, and he slumbered in peace, while the drivers took 
 frequent rests in the fragrant forests, broken with the 
 fruit-laden orchards and the red-tiled, deep-eaved cot- 
 tages! "I have the Vali's own guide! A Kurd of the 
 Kurds, the deadliest enemy of the Christians! And 
 this doctor is two marches ahead of us! There is no 
 one to follow!" The Pasha was content and relaxed his 
 anxious watch. 
 
 Kassim's rude, harsh voice awakened the captive girl 
 as he sent the chattering women away, and then 
 perched himself on the front seat of the carriage, where
 
 480 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 lima Falka lay upon thick piled cushions! The cur- 
 tains were let down on her side of the vehicle, and the 
 frightened Christian woman watched the fierce intruder 
 with a beating heart! It was only when the driver led 
 his steeds down to water at a brook, leaving them 
 alone, that Kassim leaned forward and humbly kissed 
 the girl's hand! The hawk-eyed Kurd had seen Mus- 
 tapha's team led down to the brook two hundred yards 
 above! The renegade was still comfortably asleep! 
 There was no one near them! The heavier wagons all 
 lumbered along a half mile in the rear! With one 
 hand Kassim gently pressed the girl's wrists down as 
 she essayed to rise! She was speechless with terror! 
 Her lips were parted to scream! "Hush, lady," he 
 whispered, "I am your friend! Colonel Soltykoff's 
 man! Secret service! There are friends following!'' 
 The Kurd eagerly soothed the affrighted girl. 
 
 "You, my friend!" the gasping girl murmured, mar- 
 velling at his words, spoken in fairly good French! 
 
 "Yes! I was taken in arms, a mere boy, at the siege 
 of Erzeroum, in the war! I was mercifully saved! I 
 have been to Mero with General Annenkoff! I am in 
 secret service with Kostrominoff at Trebizond!" 
 
 The driver came rattling up the bank with his horses! 
 "Fear me not!" he whispered. "I shall be with you two 
 days! After that, to ride at your side! Never speak 
 or look at me ! I will find the way ! Soltykoff is now 
 at Tiflis, following with your friend, the American Den- 
 ton ! And, the doctor will be soon near you ! He went 
 on yesterday and will follow us from Erzeroum ! Fear 
 nothing! You shall be saved! Remember, I must ap- 
 pear to be rough with you!" And lima gasped, and 
 held her peace! 
 
 The horses were yoked to once more, and Kassim 
 glared fiercely at his captive when the driver, at last, 
 mounted the box. Long before the train halted at 
 sundown, lima Falka knew the reassuring pressure of 
 Kassim's hand, stealing under her flowing Turkish
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 181 
 
 sleeves! And Randall's prophecies of help were now 
 coming true! 
 
 They had halted for a midday meal, and lima, veiled 
 and encumbered with her swathing bandages, could 
 hardly note the face of the burly renegade as he di- 
 .rected the aga to serve the repast to the women in 
 Ilma's own carriage! The tire woman obsequiously 
 waited upon the captive, while Kassim's fierce-eyed 
 followers, with drawn sabres, walked around the circle 
 surrounding the Pasha and his captive! There was a 
 new hope budding in the lonely girl's heart! In the 
 blessed exhaustion of nature's reaction, the enfeebled 
 girl lay dreaming of rescue, of friends and home, untii 
 the carriage rolled within the high stone walls of a 
 Moslem Khan. The brooding night came peacefully 
 down! But, guarded by her women, the Magyar 
 maiden slept in a secret peace that night, for she saw 
 Kassim, the watchful Kurd, lying on the rug before the 
 curtained door! His Persian peaked cap of lamb'\ 
 fleece lay where it had fallen from his head, his lean, 
 brown face, with the sweeping mustache, was bandit^ 
 like in harshness! His shaven head proclaimed his na- 
 tal creed, and there, belted with his cartridges, he lay 
 before her, his sinewy hands clasping the heavy sabre ! 
 In the well-knit strength of thirty years the young man 
 lay there couchant, like a panther in the path ! At the 
 slightest sound the head was raised, and the fierce 
 black eyes glared around ! And yet, his presence was 
 a blessed guarantee now! 
 
 lima Falka prayed to her God for the power to as- 
 sume the stolid vacuity of the oriental baby face ! For 
 she dared not now meet Kassim's eyes in the daylight 
 lest the unwitting kindness of her glance might betray 
 her! And, now she knew that friends were gathering 
 around her, only waiting till the moment might favor 
 for a rescue! The sly Kurd had found time to tell her 
 of the friendly Jews who would bear the messages of 
 her rescuers, and of the Trebizond comrades of brave 
 Alan Randall, with the silent help of the Indo-Euro-
 
 182 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 pean telegraph! "One single fatal error and all our 
 lives would be lost! Wait, watch yourself, and trust 
 to Soltykoff! He is a king among men! He knows 
 all our movements by the telegraph now !" 
 
 And so the girl, surrounded by foes, slept in peace, 
 for the Star of Hope was shining down at last into her 
 darkened heart! There was but one mystery left in her 
 mind! "Arpad! Has he forgotten the sister of his 
 heart?" Alas! she knew not that the gallant boy had 
 already given his life up for her in vain! The doom 
 of the Red Handkerchief was the fatal earnings of his 
 headlong bravery! 
 
 The second day of travel over the exquisite green 
 slopes of the Surmel brought the content of Moslem 
 patience into all eyes. The night brought the caval- 
 cade to the beautiful Greek village of Hamzikenj, 
 where far above the winding glens and ravines clad 
 with gloomy pines and beeches, led up to the summit 
 of great Zigaria Mountain! There had been a 
 dozen opportunities for secret converse during the day 
 and lima Falka now secretly awaited the arrival at 
 Erzeroum, with a dawning hope! For perhaps Col- 
 onel Soltykoff would be near her there, and Paul Den- 
 ton, the scarcely recognized lover of her heart! And 
 always the face of Arpad, bright, brave, headlong and 
 tender, rose up before her! Her brother would be 
 at her side ! 
 
 Mustapha Pasha was secretly delighted at the grow- 
 ing strength of his beautiful prisoner! The two wom- 
 en reported to him the bettered condition of the cap- 
 tive, for, rich in youth, the Magyar girl's brave nature 
 rose up, renewed with the hopes of nearing her friends 
 at Erzeroum! "Will they try to help me there?" she 
 demanded of Kassim, with a shuddering hope! 
 
 "Ah! Erzeroum is the Moslem hell for Christians! 
 No, we must wait; farther on! I will hear all the plans 
 there ! The Jews will come secretly to me ! They are 
 everywhere! And the Russian Consul will guard us! 
 But, Erzeroum is the lion's den! The country is far
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 183 
 
 easier beyond ! For the Caspian stretches away to Rus- 
 sian soil at Baku! The brave Soltykoff will have a wise 
 plan ready." 
 
 When the train drew out from the Greek village and 
 the sullen drivers began to lead the horses slowly up 
 the long ascent toward the Zigaria, Kassim sprang out 
 and neared the contented renegade! "Highness," said 
 he, "we have passed the last Greek village now ! Shall I 
 take the head of the train?" 
 
 Mustapha gazed at the great pine forests clothing 
 the blue peaks above them! "I have sent my own aga 
 and four men to the front! There may be some danger 
 on the mountain defile! Yours is the heaviest car- 
 riage! Guard the woman! Stay there! For the two 
 servants are mere fools! Do not leave her a single 
 moment!" 
 
 Kassim silently touched his forehead and took his 
 place in the covered carriage! Onward they plodded, 
 the renegade always watching his advance guard, and 
 the rear well closed up by the throng of armed retain- 
 ers swinging along on foot! There, in these hours of 
 rest and hope, lima Falka blessed the protecting Mos- 
 lem veil and Alan Randall's artfully arranged band- 
 ages! In the closed carriage there was no one to spy 
 upon her, the driver on foot leading his patient swing- 
 ing team of the four docile carriage horses! The cap- 
 tive girl even learned to look with interest at the splen- 
 did scenery, with its far snow-clad summits, a minia- 
 ture Switzerland! There were homelike looking cha- 
 lets, bravely perched among the walnuts, and on, ever 
 on, past torrents and ravines blue with gloomy pines, 
 they toiled upward, until the summit was at last 
 reached in the evening shades! And so far, there was 
 no shadow of suspicion! Ilma's heart rose up! 
 
 High above the Levantine paradise they had left, 
 seven thousand feet in air, the travelers camped. Ilma's 
 carriage was soon enveloped in a Persian tent, and 
 draped with rugs and shawls ! Outside it, ruddy watch 
 fires burned, and the two score of Moslems bivouacked
 
 184 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 closely around their lord and his mysterious charge* 
 It was in good keeping with the renegade's assumption 
 of Pashalic rank that he deigned not to address the 
 woman he was leading into slavery! His own attend- 
 ants marvelled not, for the Moslem never bends to 
 court or dally with the submissive women of his house- 
 hold! 
 
 lima Falka learned to admire the wonderful address 
 of the oriental caravan attendants, as they swept on 
 down the Zigaria Mountain over the famed Kupru 
 Bridge and entered the region of mongrel hovels and 
 filthy roadside khans ! The halting place once reached, 
 then, in a half hour, tents, fires, comfortable viands and 
 all the elements of the luxurious Persian tent life were 
 noiselessly arranged! The armed guard patrolled at 
 night, but, wrapped in his great Persian sheep-herder's 
 coat, Kassim slept, sword and pistols girded on, at the 
 very door of her tent-covered carriage ! And so, day by 
 day, they plodded down the picturesque Karshut gorge 
 on beyond Kala to beautiful Varzahan, and rested a 
 day at picturesque Baiburt! It was here, while Mus- 
 tapha spent the day of rest with the Moslem dignitaries 
 of the handsome city, that Kassim freely mingled with 
 the denizens of mart and bazaar! The captive Coun- 
 tess was glad to wander, in freedom, in the beautiful 
 harem gardens and gaze upon the superb panorama of 
 the three valleys where the splendid citadel, crowned 
 with its square and round towers, the huge lion-like 
 yellow rock around which the city lay in tiers. Some- 
 thing in her heart now whispered of hope, of freedom 
 waiting, and of future joys to come! lima was seated 
 on a bench in the garden, her Turkish garb making her 
 a mere repetition of a dozen similar loungers, when 
 Kassim approached, clad in all his gala bravery! 
 
 "His Highness demands you both!" he cried to the 
 two waiting women, who waddled away to hear Mus- 
 tapha's commands. 
 
 "There is good news!" furtively whispered Kassim. 
 "The Russian Consul has sent a Jew to me with a mes-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 185 
 
 sage. Colonel Soltykoff is at Baku now with his party, 
 and is only waiting our news from Erzeroum! The 
 Frankish doctor and his friends will watch for our ar- 
 rival there, and when we leave Erzeroum, the rescuers 
 will follow at once to meet us on the road, whither we 
 depart! The Consul has telegraphed to Soltykoff that 
 you are alive and well, and that I am watching over 
 you !" 
 
 "Praise be to God!" cried the delighted girl! "Ah! 
 lady!" Kassim fearfully murmured. "Remember! 
 Your face is covered, but your eyes shine like dia- 
 monds! Beware of Mustapha! He has the tiger's heart! 
 One false step! I would be instantly banished from 
 your side, and he would hew us both to pieces with his 
 sabre if he discovered our friendship!" 
 
 "Tell me! Tell me! Why does he drag me away? 
 My friends would ransom me! They would even pay 
 a fortune!" They were approaching the harem door 
 as the Kurd gazed fearfully up and down the walk! 
 "The Shah will give a thousand purses for the lovely 
 Frank, once in his harem walls! They call you the 
 Pearl of a Thousand Purses !" And then, for the first 
 time, the girl knew the foulness of Mustapha's brutal 
 scheme! She reeled and fell back in the strong arms 
 of the frightened guide! By a miracle of God's mercy 
 the Russian spy was unseen as he supported her to a 
 bench to rest until she could totter to the shelter of the 
 room where now the presence of the two women, poor 
 and degraded as they were, seemed to be her only pro- 
 tection! And no one had marked her agony! 
 
 "Are not all the Frankish women sold?" said the 
 simple Kassim, as he marvelled at her sorrow! "It is 
 always the way of the orient !" For, he understood not 
 the badge of shame. 
 
 All that night, dry-eyed and with the noble rage of 
 her race in her heart, lima Falka lay awake, gazing at 
 the shadows flickering on the fretted ceiling as the sil- 
 ver lamp swung on its twisted chain! "Death can 
 come to be my best friend, then!" she groaned! "For
 
 186 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 I will brave him to kill me ! He shall never sell me to 
 a vile dishonor!" In her exhausted sleep the brave, res- 
 olute face of Soltykoff seemed to shine down upon her, 
 his lips crying, "Wait!" and her lover, Paul Denton's, 
 eyes beamed a signal, "I am coming!" while Arpad's 
 arm seemed lifted to strike down her foe! Pale faced, 
 but with the nerved heroism of the martyr, the Magyar 
 maiden at last saw Baiburt disappear behind, and then 
 their train drew out toward Erzeroum, where her fate 
 awaited her! But her eyes were now opened to her 
 fate! 
 
 In the dreary days of the long march to Erzeroum, 
 lima Falka sank into a passive lassitude. Her wearied 
 eyes noted the wild hordes of armed wayfarers, the lum- 
 bering arabas, the dreary mud hovels, the crimson red 
 fez wearers piloting the long strings of nodding camels, 
 with proudly tasseled heads! There were fierce look- 
 ing Kurds, squads of sly Armenians and bands of yel- 
 low Persians thronging the great highway as they 
 crawled out of the long valley of the Tchoruk and 
 climbed the rugged Kop Dagh, entering the watershed 
 of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The sullen renegade 
 seldom approached his captive to converse, but his sul- 
 len eyes watched Kassim ever, as he kept his guard! 
 Kassim, in secret, pressed lima Falka's slender fingers, 
 whispering "Wait! Be of good heart! Only wait!" 
 There was a ferocious dejection visible on the brow of 
 Mustapha, who had lingered long at Baiburt in grave 
 converse with the cross-legged Pashas who had sum- 
 moned him! The adventurer was leaving daily his 
 own theater of past triumphs, and his eyes hardened as 
 he marked the form of his human merchandise! "Wait! 
 Wait!" ne growled, with his hand upon his dagger 
 hilt! There was powdery snow on the Kop Dagh, as 
 the wearied caravan crossed it. It was the warning 
 of the waning September days! "Hasten! Hurry on!" 
 growled Mustapha, and he hurried all until the Eu- 
 phrates led them, stone bridged in its windings by 
 Ashkala, to Elijeh.
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 187 
 
 It was on the last day of the month that they toiled 
 along the reedy Frat and saw Erzeroum lying on its 
 fortified slopes overhanging the great plain six thou- 
 sand feet above the sea level! lima Falka peered out at 
 the great town which might be either her prison or her 
 grave ! There were miles on miles of huge earthworks 
 with huge forts hung high over them on the surround- 
 ing hills ! The great rampart and ditch loomed before 
 them, with the bloody crescent flag drooping on a 
 score of tall staffs! The great cultivated plain was 
 broken with thousands of graves, and as they dragged 
 along, a party of soldiers, led by a bedizened officer, 
 rode briskly out and surrounded them! Kassim 
 sprang down from the carriage with a last warning 
 glance, as the officer dashed up to Mustapha's vehicle ! 
 With scant ceremony, the visitor handed the renegade 
 a sealed letter! In another moment, the stranger had 
 taken Kassim's vacant seat, facing the startled pris- 
 oner! With grave courtesy, the stranger saluted in 
 the oriental fashion! lima Falka' heart was chilled, 
 till she saw Kassim proudly riding at the side of the 
 vehicle. She had a new master now! Then, entering 
 the works through a granite drawbridge, they threaded 
 narrow streets with overhanging houses and drew up 
 in the courtyard of a walled harem. 
 
 Courteously ushered into splendid apartments, the 
 Magyar maiden was assisted by her two women ser- 
 vants, but, though she waited expectant in her lonely 
 luxury, neither Mustapha Pasha nor Kassim were visi- 
 ble! And her heart beat in a vain tumult! And then 
 the horrible thought smote upon her brain, "Was this 
 to be the journey's end? Was the soldiery only a 
 guard of honor, or the fierce watchers of the royal 
 purchaser?" 
 
 lima Falka waited for the dawn, and conned over 
 in secret, her own last dreadful resolve of self-destruc- 
 tion! "In five minutes, my silken girdle can free me 
 from the touch of dishonor!" she mused, with hag- 
 gard eyes. The muezzin had called twice from the
 
 188 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 high minarets before Kassim appeared! There were 
 two swarth eunuchs squatted at the door on watch, 
 as the Kurdish servitor bore in, presents of the fruits 
 and flowers of the Euphrates valley! "The wagon 
 road ends here," he .whispered. "They are now mak- 
 ing mule litters, and camels are being prepared ! The 
 Pasha is enraged, for he is no longer the master! But 
 your own friends will follow ! I have seen the Prankish 
 doctor, and I know now, that we leave in three days! 
 Be wise! Be wary! You will be well treated!" 
 
 In the life and death of captivity the three days 
 crawled away! When the women robed lima Falka 
 in plain Moslem guise, for her long journey, she was 
 led out into the courtyard, where a splendid litter, 
 borne by two of the superb asses of the East, re- 
 ceived her! There was a lithe Persian lad leading each 
 of the animals, and mounted on a splendid charger, the 
 silent Mustapha Pasha now rode alone at the head 
 of a long cavalcade! The wondering maiden closed 
 her eyes as they passed out of the great gates, and it 
 was only by the clash of arms that she was rudely 
 awakened to see a strong company of barbaric troop- 
 ers formed up in a strong guard of an advance and 
 rear platoon! They had turned away toward the ris- 
 ing sun, and the cavalcade plodded on in silence 1 
 The mists of morning slowly lifted from the plain, 
 and the sunlight sparkled gaily on the richly fruited 
 gardens they passed. At the noon day halt it was 
 again Kassim who waited upon the dejected prisoner I 
 The lovely prisoner of rank feasted alone, and twenty 
 yards away Mustapha, with a sullen brow, reclined 
 upon his rugs, and sullenly smoked his chibouque, 
 speaking rarely to the gorgeous young escort officer 
 beside him! There were a few moments of unobserved 
 leisure, while the servants packed up the rich camp fur- 
 niture and the animals leisurely grazed! Kassim stood 
 on guard, near lima, his ready sabre in his hand! 
 
 "Listen!" he whispered, "we go now to the Taya 
 Pass, to Tabreez and on to Teheran ! This officer is of
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 189 
 
 the Shah's own court, for in four days more we are on 
 Persian soil! SoltykofFs party are now at Astara, and 
 will go in twos and threes, disguised, by Reshd, to 
 Teheran! They will be there before us and on 
 watch! The Frankish doctor left two days ago for 
 Tabreez! He will leave messengers at Sultanieh to fol- 
 low on with us to Teheran! There all preparations 
 will be made! You will be rescued! Your friends 
 are at work, far and near!" 
 
 "And why not help me in this lonely road?" the 
 maiden whispered. "Because of the hundred soldiers, 
 and to find a hiding place for you in Teheran till you 
 can be smuggled out of Persia! Soltykoff is the last 
 hope! And the missionary will help him! There 
 are three pilgrims vowed to rescue you or die!" 
 
 "The Pasha?" murmured lima. "Is under daily 
 watch, and you are safe from him! The court officer 
 guards you with his head as a forfeit! Sleep, be happy 
 in hope! I am to wait on you for the whole moon's 
 travel!" 
 
 Then the march began again, to unroll the long pan- 
 orama of rocky pass, rugged headland, great Ararat's 
 buttressed cone of snow, and the villages of hill, plain 
 and river valley, till, a fortnight later, the train drew 
 into the gardens of Tabreez. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FRIEND AND FOE BAFFLED! THE PEARL OF THE 
 
 HAREM! THE SHAH'S ANDARUN IN THE 
 
 SHIMRAN HILLS! 
 
 Colonel Serge Soltykoff was moody as he paced 
 up and down before his tent on the sandy shore of 
 the Caspian, a half mile on the Russian side of the 
 desert boundary line which separates the Russian do- 
 main from the Persian kingdom at Astara. 
 
 He eyed, for the hundredth time, the dozen tents
 
 190 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 of his half company of Tartar Cossacks! The men 
 were squatted closely around the camp fire, as the 
 chill breeze swept down from the silver cone of Ara- 
 rat, fifty miles away! The hardy Don ponies were 
 bunched together, cropping the salt marsh grass, and 
 the fitful wind gusts now ruffled the shallow Caspian ! 
 A dozen miles away, a little Russian steamer was en- 
 gaged running sounding lines off shore, and the mud 
 huts of Astara gleamed out in a golden brown haze, 
 in the rays of the setting sun! Soltykoff's white cap 
 shone out like silver, and his undress uniform set off 
 every line of his manly form! 
 
 "By God! I wish I had remained at Baku," he 
 growled. "There we had at least the telegraph to 
 Erzeroum, and had our daily news from Stamboul and 
 Vienna ! Here it is only the hell of waiting for a mes- 
 senger who never comes! Perhaps the man has been 
 waylaid. Battles have in past days been lost by 
 trusting to a single messenger! The caravan should 
 have reached Tabreez long ago, and it's only a hun- 
 dred miles from here, and for ten days' march, their 
 caravan will pass along near us, passing down the 
 Kizil Uzen! This is the place to strike across their 
 path !" 
 
 Soltykoff turned and called to his under officer. 
 "The horses," he said, "at once!" Striding to the door 
 of a tent, he called out, loudly, "Denton! Let us 
 ride over to Astara again! We will see the Jewish 
 merchant! I think that I will have him send out 
 runners, even if they go over to Bayub!" Paul Den- 
 ton grasped his revolver belt, and sprang out of the 
 tent, arrayed in full hunter's garb. The young Ameri- 
 can's face was seamed with the lines of care! He had 
 aged twenty years since that adieu in "My Lady's Gar- 
 den!" 
 
 "What will you do, Colonel, if we miss our secret 
 messengers here?" The anxious lover's face was hope- 
 less in its sorrow. "It seems that the vengeance of 
 hell itself falls upon the innocent! We have lost all
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 191 
 
 track of the captive! Arpad's blood has flowed in 
 vain! And the Major's dismal budget! Countess 
 Magda in a hopeless melancholy! Italy, change of 
 scene, seems to be the one forlorn hope against in- 
 sanity!" 
 
 "There's but one thing left to do!" slowly answered 
 Soltykoff, as they mounted and rode away, followed 
 by an armed orderly! "We must retrace our steps to 
 Baku, and you and I from there, can get down to 
 Teheran, disguised! This steamer and the brave 
 troops here are all useless if lima does not pass near 
 our way! Sending the steamer down to Lisan, if we 
 could make a forced march over to Mijana, then in two 
 days, marching by night and hiding by day, one dash, 
 and we could get her aboard the 'Olga!' If that 
 devil has delayed, or changed his march, of what use 
 are our ready troops, or even the steamer? We can 
 only follow on our quest by going alone to Teheran! 
 At Baku, we could have definite news by telegraph 
 from Tabreez! There's a missionary station there, 
 and this gallant fellow, Alan Randall, promised to 
 have the Anglo-Indian agent there answer any of our 
 cipher dispatches! If she should be sick, or have been 
 betrayed to Mustapha by this fellow Kassim, or have 
 given way under the journey, then there may be no 
 one to rescue!" 
 
 "Then both our lives are wrecked forever!" groaned 
 Paul Denton. "The mother half crazed, the child per- 
 haps to share Arpad's fate! But we must follow the 
 quest to the death! Neither Nelidoff at Stamboul, 
 nor all the proffered help at home can aid us ! On us 
 is the innocent blood of helpless lima if she perishes! 
 And, you must choose!" 
 
 "Paul! It is a terrible responsibility for me to de- 
 cide !" answered Soltykoff. "Of course, I can keep the 
 party and this steamer dallying here for months, with- 
 out attracting attention! No one knows us, and our 
 Russian frontier forces are always hovering around 
 here! But, to cross my troopers and move down to 
 
 13
 
 192 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Sultanieh, then I must make myself known as an of- 
 ficial bearer of dispatches to pass the Persian military 
 posts. This dog, Mustapha, may know me, but, thank 
 God, he does not know you!" 
 
 "He evidently studied my face at the opera, and at 
 the Stephans Keller! Don't forget that we have loved 
 the same woman! If he should catch sight of my face 
 on Persian territory it would be the sentence for llma's 
 instant death! The concealment of her body would 
 clear him of all possible trouble. I do not dare to make 
 this dash unless we can get in and hide before they get 
 along on the road! Disguised as desert robbers, we 
 could quickly master his weak caravan! As Russian 
 troopers, we could then openly recross the frontier! 
 But, if she is not on the road, then Teheran is our only 
 point to reach, and to get there we must go back to 
 Baku! May God guide me!" 
 
 "Amen !" cried Denton, as they rode down the long 
 straggling street of Astara! Soltykoff reined up his 
 horse before a long mud hovel, where two or three 
 lounging Jews, in flowing gaberdines and twisted ring- 
 lets, watched over their petty wares! It was the prin- 
 cipal emporium of the poor village! An old Israelite, 
 in a velvet skull cap, hobbled to the door! He made 
 a signal to Soltykoff, who quickly dismounted and en- 
 tered the mean dwelling. Paul Denton followed him, 
 and the orderly led the horses away to shelter! As the 
 tall American bowed to avoid the beams of the low, 
 flat roof, Soltykoff drew him quickly along into a little 
 inner room ! There before them lay an exhausted man, 
 with the Israelitish women of the household minister- 
 ing to him! It was the missing messenger! The old 
 Jewish merchant was gazing at the sufferer, who was 
 clad in a common Persian herdsman's garb! With a 
 warning finger on his lip, he whispered in Russian: 
 "The man is two days late! He was bitten by the dead- 
 ly Persian insect, the red and black bug the terror of 
 the mountain wayfarer! He was off his road, and wan- 
 dering around half crazed when some kindly sheep
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 193 
 
 herders found him! They gave him doses of the oily 
 camels' and asses' milk ! It saved him ! And then they 
 brought him here to the Cadi. For the lunatic and 
 idiot are sacred here! He has a message from our 
 faithful Jewish people! Here is a letter for you! In 
 an hour he can, perhaps, talk to you !" 
 
 By the one lamp Soltykoff read the letter, and Paul 
 Denton watched the veins knot upon his forehead! "It 
 is the torture of the damned!" he cried! "There is a 
 strong picked company of Persian Cossacks now in 
 charge of our poor darling! And an officer from Te- 
 heran has been sent to escort her in safety to the Halls 
 of the Lion and the Sun ! Randall will follow on close- 
 ly, but our last chance of success now is to meet her 
 there! Only an open battle would free her from this 
 officer's clutch! His troop is heavily armed with good 
 weapons, and it is double ours in number! So, all our 
 cherished hopes are vain! Even Mustapha himself 
 has no control of her now. She is the destined prey of 
 the Lion of Persia! They do not trust the renegade!" 
 
 "And, are we not men? Can we not fight for her?" 
 cried Paul! "Ah! Read the letter!" cried Soltykoff. 
 "Our attack would simply mean her murder! Even 
 if we overpowered her guard the whole country would 
 rise in a wild mob against us ! The rich valley is very 
 populous from Mijana to Sultanieh! No one can hope 
 to surprise a picked company of the First Persian Regi- 
 ment ! They are heavily armed with modern repeating 
 weapons, and they are also uniformed exactly like our 
 Cossacks! They call it, in pride, the Cossack Guard! 
 No, Denton! It is not to be! God has cursed us! 
 And so she passes by our border here, for ten days 
 almost within our reach!" 
 
 The brave Russian groaned in his helpless agony! 
 
 "There may have been some sudden quarrel about 
 her. Some strange happening! Let us wait and ques- 
 tion the man!" cried Denton! "There is the letter! 
 Read it!" said Soltykoff in despair! "We are baffled! 
 
 13
 
 194 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Baffled by fortune! I will never return to Russia if I 
 can not save this child!" 
 
 Paul Denton slowly read Alan Randall's careful let- 
 ter, and he waited anxiously while Soltykoff watched 
 the unmoved face of the old Jew who labored with the 
 exhausted messenger! 
 
 There was a gloomy silence, and the night closed 
 down darkly around them before the old merchant rose 
 at last and led Soltykoff up to the messenger. "He 
 will speak to me in my own tongue and I will tell you 
 all in Russian ! The brandy has restored his strength ! 
 It is Kassim, the guide, who tells you this! The doctor 
 had gone on, fearful of seeing Mustapha at Tabreez, 
 before our man could find out Kassim and gain his 
 story! Listen!" And the sick man feebly muttered 
 his relation, while the old merchant, turning, told the 
 message of Kassim! The two rescuers listened with 
 bated breath: 
 
 "The woman whom you seek is well, and the jour- 
 ney to Bayazid was most fortunate ! The march in the 
 Taya Pass was difficult, and so, Kassim had great op- 
 portunity to be with the one you seek! But at Bayazid 
 at the Persian frontier, the officer of the troops quar- 
 relled long with the Pasha! The Persian Pasha Gov- 
 ernor at Bayazid would not let Mustapha's beautiful 
 captive pass until the officer showed a royal order, and 
 he only gave back the pass to the Persian officer! Then 
 Mustapha called up Kassim, who had the passport of 
 the Vali of Trebizond, and the Vali of Erzeroum ! He 
 demanded the control of the woman ! 
 
 " 'You are in Persia, now !' answered the Governor, 
 'and you have no papers for Persia! This slave be- 
 longs to the Shah's officer!' 
 
 "When the march began, after a half day's bitter 
 wrangle, there was another fierce quarrel between 
 Mustapha and the Persian! Mustapha would speak 
 alone to the beautiful woman of the Shah's harem, and 
 then the Persian, drawing his sabre, would surely have 
 cut him in two but for Kassim's prayers!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 195 
 
 " 'I have the orders of the Persian Ambassador in 
 Stamboul!' cried the officer. 'You may come to Te- 
 heran to get your gold! But the woman is mine till 
 I take her within the harem gates at Teheran! It is 
 my head now or yours ! The women may wait on her, 
 the guide can watch over her, but you are only a sim- 
 ple traveler! If you dare to even lift her veil my men 
 shall shoot you dead! This woman belongs to the 
 Lord of the Lion and the Sun !' " 
 
 The old merchant paused, while Soltykoff and Den- 
 ton gazed at each other ! "The scoundrel may lose her 
 and lose his head, as well as the price of his villainy!" 
 muttered Denton. "His own hands are tied now!" 
 
 "Yes, Paul! Friend and foe are both baffled now! 
 Go on! Go on!" cried Soltykoff. "We must be soon 
 away! I see the light breaking! I have my plan all 
 ready !" 
 
 "Kassim prays you not to follow the caravan ! The 
 troops watch over her like lions in the path! There 
 are too many to fight! But, he begs you to go on with 
 all speed by Reshd to Teheran, and to try and get there 
 to wait the coming of the woman! He will watch over 
 her every moment! The Prankish doctor, too, will 
 know all, and he will wait, disguised, at the end of the 
 Austrian Company's road outside of Teheran ! He will 
 have all his friends of the American missionaries to 
 help him! If you are wise you will be the first there! 
 Kassim and the American missionary will then find 
 out where she is taken! There will be time, ample 
 time, to make plans, and perhaps the Russian and the 
 English Ministers at Teheran can help you ! For, the 
 Pasha Mustapha has no longer any power over her! 
 Mustapha simply hides his head and speaks to no 
 one!" 
 
 "Is that all?" said Soltykoff! "Yes!" slowly replied 
 the merchant! "They will push on fast, for Mijana is 
 the worst infested place on the road. The home of the 
 deadly bug which kills, and they will rest long at Sul- 
 The Frankish doctor has telegraphed to you
 
 196 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 from Tabreez to Baku! You may depend upon this 
 man's truth! I know him well!" 
 
 Soltykoff was already on his feet! He gave a hun- 
 dred rouble note to the old Jew. "Let this faithful 
 man be brought in a wagon over to my camp to-night! 
 He will be taken over to Baku ! I will give him a home 
 and a place there! Come, Paul! We must break 
 camp and be away at daybreak ! I must get back and 
 signal to the steamer!" 
 
 "Where do we go now?" said the astonished Paul! 
 "You will learn all when we are afloat ! I wish to take 
 this man away ! I will leave my own Cossack with him 
 on watch!" In ten minutes the steeds were racing 
 back to Soltykoff 's camp! 
 
 The Russian spoke but once! He cried out, as in 
 anguish: "I will save her or die in the harem gates 
 fighting to reach her!" 
 
 The Russian and the American sat late into the 
 night in commune, while every man of the fifty Cos- 
 sacks in the temporary camp was busied with the prep- 
 arations for an embarkation at daybreak! Down on 
 the beach, a half mile distant, a bright beacon fire 
 burned, and it blazed high, fed with bundles of dried 
 grass, until the Russian steamer lying far out beyond 
 the salty, reedy shallows threw up three answering sig- 
 nal rockets! 
 
 "There goes our return signal!" said Soltykoff. "I 
 will send the command down to the nearest point where 
 there is deep water at three o'clock! My lieutenant 
 says that our messenger is now able to travel, and 
 the poison of the Mijana bug has yielded to the powers 
 of cognac and vodki, ad libitum!" 
 
 "And ourselves!" cried the impatient Denton! 
 
 "We will all hasten back to Baku!" slowly answered 
 Soltykoff. "I will send the whole Cossack squad, un- 
 der Lieutenant Petrovitch, instantly down to Balfrush! 
 The command will be fitted out for a forced march! 
 Petrovitch can easily play off my character of 'Bearer 
 of Dispatches,' and report at once to the Russian Min'
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA, 197 
 
 ister at Teheran. I will take all his papers with me! 
 He can receive orders from the Minister to reach our 
 frontier at the line of Turkestan, at the mouth of the 
 Jarian River! In this way the detachment will have 
 an official right to go out of Persian territory at will! 
 At Baku I can easily notify the Russian Minister by 
 telegraph! If our own men reach there worn out, we 
 can leave them and take the Minister's Cossack guard! 
 Petrovitch will be there ten days before Mustapha's. 
 caravan reaches Teheran!" 
 
 Paul Denton began to see the light, and to divine 
 Soltykoff's daring plan. "Ourselves!" he breathlessly 
 cried! "We will take three or four well armed, chosen 
 attendants from our Baku garrison! They will be of 
 the Turanian Persians from Turkestan, who are abso- 
 lutely the same in appearance as the Iranians! I will 
 be a Persian merchant returning from Astrakhan, and 
 you my servant! We will hasten to Reshd and push 
 on to Teheran, by Nodeh and Berijan! We can get 
 through the Elburz Mountains and be at Teheran in 
 time to meet this missionary, Doctor Randall, before 
 either the troops or Mustapha's caravan arrives! I will 
 hide in the Legation till you need me! For, remember, 
 Mustapha knows my face! You and the doctor, with 
 our friends, can find where lima is hidden. Then we 
 must carry her off at the risk of every man's life, and 
 hide her till we can get her out in the best way !" 
 
 "It is a fearful chance! All depends on the tele- 
 graph!" murmured Denton. 
 
 "Paul!" said Soltykoff. "I have been four times as 
 far as Teheran in the last twelve years! We have all 
 the Czar's plenary powers! The Minister will do all 
 to aid us, but he can not act openly! Remember! An 
 open demand would mean Ilma's murder! And we 
 have also at our back the Teheran Jews, the mission- 
 aries, the Anglo-Indian people! As for the telegraph, 
 we follow the line down when we strike the Kiyeh Val- 
 ley! There is a station every twenty-five miles, and 
 each one has an English operator. There are one
 
 198 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 thousand cipher telegrams daily passing over that line ! 
 All are handled by the twenty electricians at Teheran, 
 and the Director there has Arthur Grafton's own or- 
 ders from Constantinople! It is the line used by the 
 English, and I have known dispatches sent out to In- 
 dia, from London, and answered in an hour and a 
 half, over the nineteen hundred miles of the Anglo- 
 Indian! From Baku we will arrange to have 
 daily reports of Mustapha's caravan sent to the Lega- 
 tion at Teheran, and to be given to us wherever we 
 strike the line!" 
 
 "Thank God for the telegraph!" cried Denton, as 
 he lay down to rest! But the excited American was 
 sleepless and eagerly waited for the dawn! Before him 
 rose up lima Falka's pale face, her eyes appealing to 
 heaven, with her arms stretched to her far away lover! 
 
 But, stern Serge Soltykoff, his dreams haunted bv 
 the dead face of Arpad, and the suffering woman far 
 away on the Danube, dreamed only of vengeance, a 
 vengeance to come at last! 
 
 Before it was light the whole command was assem- 
 bled at the point where the "Olga" lay in readiness, 
 and long before noon the horses were embarked and 
 the steamer's black smoke was fading far away to the 
 north as she rushed along over the smooth surface of 
 the greatest salt lake in the world! The grimy engi- 
 neer knew they were racing for a human life for a 
 helpless Christian captive doomed to shame and death ! 
 Before the sun rose the boat was lying under the 
 guns of the frowning forts of Baku ! Petrovitch and 
 his men were straining every nerve for the rapid out- 
 fitting, and before the sun set Serge Soltykoff whis- 
 pered his last secret orders to his gallant subordinate.' 
 
 "Your fortune is made if you save that girl's life! 
 And if you play your part like a man ypu are my broth- 
 er to the death !" The bronzed soldier saw the love and 
 anguish struggling on his chiefs face! 
 
 "Colonel! We will save her or die together!" he 
 said, as he crossed himself. "Remember! Report by
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 199 
 
 telegraph, and so follow up the line! The Minister 
 will have all our own news!" cried Soltykoff, as the 
 "Olga" swung around slowly and the men gave a wild 
 "Hourra" when her prow was pointed toward distant 
 Balfrush! 
 
 The transport captain had promised to land his men 
 in forty hours! The "Olga" sped away, bird-like, on 
 its mission of rescue, and Soltykoff, with Denton at his 
 side, cried: "Now for the telegraph office! And as 
 soon as night falls we will steal out of the harbor and 
 our own boat will land us at Reshd before the "Olga" 
 reaches Balfrush! In three days we will be on the sum- 
 mit of the Elburz, ready to break down into the valley ! 
 We will head them off yet!" 
 
 "If God wills!" said the haggard American! 
 
 "This will be our last appearance in our own char- 
 acters until we have met that devil face to face !" mur- 
 mured Soltykoff. "My dispatches to Teheran and 
 Tabreez will tell the Legation of the departure of both 
 our parties! Then we depend on our noble Minister 
 at Teheran! He has already signalled back 'All 
 right!'" 
 
 Soltykoff grudged the half hour he spent at the tele- 
 graph office, and then he hastily conducted Denton 
 to the rooms in the Governor's house where the ser- 
 vants awaited them, ready with their camp equipage 
 and their Persian disguises! The make-up was easy 
 in a town one-third Persian! 
 
 "That Division Superintendent at Tabreez is a hero, 
 Paul !" cried Serge Soltykoff, as he threw down a fold- 
 ed paper! "He has ordered his two linemen on every 
 twenty-five miles, as far as Teheran, to look out for us, 
 and also to report the passage of the caravan! They 
 ride the line night and day! Here is the last from the 
 Minister at Teheran, and from Nelidoff, as well as your 
 uncle! Mclvor Pasha is back from Smyrna, and of 
 course he found nothing there. He goes on to Cairo 
 soon! Major Denton says that Magda begins to be-
 
 200 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 lieve that both her children are dead! Ah! My God! 
 Even if we succeed we may be too late ! 
 
 Soltykoff paced the room a moment in a last silent 
 agony. "Now I go to the Governor! He has given 
 me his own launch and a veteran dragoman ! 1 go to 
 Teheran, apparently, to buy carpets for the Imperial 
 household of Russia, and all this official notice will 
 give me state and consideration ! I will now hand you 
 over to the attendants! One half hour and then we 
 are off!" 
 
 Paul Denton was a changed man when Soltykoff 
 dashed into the room again ! His mustache had van- 
 ished! His hair was cropped in peasant fashion, and 
 the humble brown garb of a domestic attendant well 
 fitted his stained face and hands! "Bravo! No one 
 would know you!" The Colonel smiled, however, as 
 he held up the diplomat's hands. "Off with your 
 rings! All our personal articles are left here with the 
 Governor! Now I will join you in ten minutes!" He 
 darted off for his own transformation. 
 
 Paul Denton stared when Soltykoff, in red fez with 
 green turban, flowing gown, with broidered jacket and 
 flowing trousers, joined him. A girdle with ink horn 
 and writing implements gave a most mercantile char- 
 acter to the man whose soldierly mustache had also 
 vanished in a trice! 
 
 "The sun and tan will brown our own stained faces 
 deeper. All that you have to do is to be mute! The 
 servants have all our effects ready! Now, aboard! 
 aboard ! It is dusk enough for our disguise to go as 
 the real thing! At Reshd, our dragoman will do the 
 parleying for us! The Consul there will provide the 
 horses at once, and our arms and supplies are of the 
 Governor's own selection! We can trust to him!" 
 
 They drove down through the busy, smoky citv on 
 the Apsheron peninsula, whose countless millions 
 treasured in the greasy oil springs are a richer har- 
 vest for the Czar than the great gold fields of Siberia 
 or all the unmined gems of the Ural! Dozens of
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 201 
 
 sooty oil works, shabby streets of booths, and noisy 
 dance halls, great ship ways and huge forts testified 
 to the feverish mushroom activity of the mongrel town! 
 Asiatics, Europeans, soldiers, nobles, dissolute men 
 and women adventurers, fierce Kurds, sly Armenians 
 and bold-eyed Circassians thronged the crowded 
 streets where gain and pleasure are the onlv objects 
 of life! 
 
 Even the greasy waters of the Caspian were stained 
 with the iridescent bubblings of sub-aquatic oil wells 
 as the voyagers were rowed out to the snaky-looking 
 government launch. With one dip of the flag to the 
 watching Governor afar off in his stately mansion, the 
 double-screwed yacht leaped swiftly along, as the 
 steersman laid her course direct for Reshd! The two 
 friends stood together gazing out on the lonely waste 
 of waters which stretches nine hundred miles in length 
 by two hundred in width! 
 
 "Paul!" said Soltykoff. "This Caspian Sea is the 
 watery jewel of the Russian crown! Every command- 
 er on the farther shore now has our mission of rescue 
 at heart, and over this same lake we bring her back, 
 or else leave our bones beyond the Elburz! There is 
 no turning back now!" 
 
 And the eager American, gazing on the tideless sea 
 lying there, dropped four hundred feet below the level 
 of ocean, joyously watched the foaming wake behind! 
 Every throb of the screw lightened his heart, for they 
 were now racing on to be the first at the tryst! 
 
 "Alan Randall, Soltykoff and I, with Petrovitch, we 
 ought to make a strong enough bodyguard! If we 
 can only succeed in reaching her!" mused Denton! 
 "Thank God for this sudden quarrel between Musta- 
 pha and the Persian ! The renegade may be forced into 
 the shelter of the Turkish Embassy at Teheran ! Has 
 he been really outwitted? Does the wily Persian Am- 
 bassador at Stamboul want now to trick him out of the 
 infamously earned gold? The thousand purses! If they 
 seclude lima to await the pleasure of the Lord of the
 
 202 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Lion and the Sun! Nasr-ed-Din then Mustapha is 
 just as helpless as we are! For, they tell me, no out- 
 side man may enter a Persian andarun, and the Shah, 
 alone, has the right to see the unveiled face of every 
 woman under Persian control! If we are helpless now, 
 Mustapha, himself, may be baffled, perhaps even 
 robbed of the price of his infamy, for he dare not seek 
 the official aid of the Turkish Embassy in such a mis- 
 sion! For Persia fears both Briton and Russ!" 
 
 The rising breeze of night roughened the lonely 
 waters bearing the sturdy "Olga" and the swift launch 
 on their southward way! Denton gazed for an hour 
 at the silent sea and went below, longing for the morn! 
 To see the Persian shore rise up to the southward! 
 
 Four days after the disguised rescue parties sped 
 southward from Baku, the wearied caravan of the 
 Pearl of the Harem slowly crawled into mountain-en- 
 circled Mijana! lima Falka counted the long days, now 
 only by her stolen interviews with Kassim, the faith- 
 ful! For, heavily veiled, and shut in between the cur- 
 tains of her litter, it mattered not whether salty plain, 
 gravelly waste, bare brown hills or rocky denies passed 
 by in the dreary panorama of the slow march toward 
 Teheran! It was easy for the captive to see that the 
 burly renegade Pasha had at last dwindled into a mere 
 passive fellow traveler! For the tire woman and the 
 old crone now vied with each other in flattering her 
 with their slavish attentions! They, too, were quick 
 to note the humbling of Mustapha ! The sleek wanton 
 who had been a tyrant over lima at Stamboul, now 
 abased herself to kiss the helpless girl's hand ! The old 
 crone gazed back at the frightful gorges of Khoi, the 
 ominous ranges of the Elburz rising before them, and 
 the piled up peaks to the north and west, and she tim- 
 idly mourned for the vanished Bosporus! The Persian 
 officer, always grave and courteous, was perfectly pow- 
 erless to communicate with his charge, and now the 
 glad Kassim was the ever ready interpreter, who gave 
 to the Shah's representative the answers gained
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 203 
 
 through the tire woman's broken French patois ! His 
 secret was safely guarded! 
 
 "Stay with her! Watch over her with your 
 very life, here at Mijana!" ordered the Shah's 
 courtier! "It is here that the dreadful, dead- 
 ly insect kills man and beast alike!" When 
 the great tents of the caravan were pitched at 
 squalid Mijana, a dozen strong arms lifted the helpless 
 lima to a raised platform builded high up above the 
 ground. She was now bundled up in the black Persian 
 shroud-like web and her face swathed with the quad- 
 rupled white veil ! It was Kassim, invulnerably booted 
 to the knee, who stood on guard in her tent, where she 
 was watched by the two helpless women, cowering 
 upon piled up chests! For death lurked around them 
 there in the infested soil of Mijana! The Magyar 
 maiden wondered in secret at Mustapha's downfall. 
 For never, in the two weeks since they had crossed the 
 frontier, had her brutal abductor dared to approach 
 her litter, or even to enter the tent now nightly spread ! 
 A cowardly captor! But she soon knew the secret! 
 
 "There is the bitterness of death between the two 
 men!" whispered Kassim. "The Pasha, unless care- 
 ful, may never see Stamboul again!" The Kurdish 
 guide made a significant movement, showing the sweep 
 of a headsman's sword. "Wait in hope ! In four days 
 we will be at Sultanieh! And the Telegraph Bureau 
 will surely have news for us there. We rest there for 
 two days!" 
 
 By the first streakings of the morning light the re- 
 joicing caravan sped out of the Mijana defile toward 
 the broadening, muddy valley sweeping down to Sul- 
 tanieh and opening into the cheerless wastes of the 
 great Persian plain! They had passed safely the or- 
 deal of the dreaded and deadly insect! 
 
 In far away Tabreez, an anxious man now waited in 
 these last long, dragging days for the click of the tele- 
 graph recorder answering to the finger of the operator 
 at Sultanieh. This loyal Englishman already had
 
 204 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 agents scouring the great bazaars of the old walled 
 city! Every one of the seven gates was also watched, 
 and he betook himself to daily conference with the 
 missionary colony! In vain he had searched the pub- 
 lic gardens, and the place of the beautiful "Blue 
 Mosque" for any new comers who might be the secret 
 messengers of the Caspian rescue party! His sus- 
 pense weighed upon him. The secret agent was fear- 
 ful of some disaster to Soltykoff's disguised party, as 
 he had waited in vain many days for news! The only 
 signals that he had received were from the lonely ad- 
 vance guard, Alan Randall! The doctor was now 
 nearing Teherarf! "This is a town of Turks, and of 
 strong Turkish sympathy," mused the operator! "Per- 
 haps this renegade, Mustapha, has skilfully spread his 
 nets and the daring rescuers have been waylaid !" He 
 groaned in his agony. "My God! if it be true, Randall 
 can do nothing alone, and, day by day, this girl nears 
 her vile doom!" Even the Jews, the faithful spies of 
 great Faroe Moses, had scoured the gold and silver 
 bazaars, the vast arcaded caravanseras of the ancient 
 Tauris, in vain! But, at last, while he was seated alone 
 in the watches of the night, in the mystic old city of 
 Zobeide, the pearl of Haroun al Raschid, there came 
 rattling away on the recorder the clicking signals of 
 brightening hope from far away Teheran. 
 
 "By Jove! Soltykoff is a hero!" cried the English- 
 man, as he began to pick out the recorded cipher! 
 
 "Strong party already landed at Balfrush! Friends, 
 too, on the way from Reshd! Telegraph all this news 
 to the operator at Sultanieh to meet the caravan there. 
 Missionary and parties already here on watch around 
 the city. Soltykoff is to be at Casveen in three days !" 
 
 "They may succeed! It is one chance in a hun- 
 dred!" cried the operator! "Now to get this news on 
 to Kassim at Sultanieh! Soltykoff is already stealing 
 over the Elburz and he will be safe in Teheran and 
 ready to act on the arrival of the train! A headlong 
 Russian, and a gallant fellow!"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 205 
 
 It was two weeks after the two scowling principals 
 had left Mijana in mutual bitterness, that the caravan, 
 nearing Teheran, dragged into Sultanieh ! lima Falka 
 counted the lapse of time in her mind every day, and 
 knotted up her grim calendar on the gold-fringed black 
 shroud now enveloping her! "Another fortnight!" the 
 desperate girl cried, "and the gates of the Shah's an- 
 darun will open for me! The last chance is Kassim's 
 eagle-eyed hunt for my rescuers! Failing that, death 
 must then be my silent deliverer! My dark friend! His 
 merciful wings must bear my soul away in triumph!" 
 
 The girl was worn with desert travel ! The Persian 
 court officer had closely watched her veiled figure in 
 the long, weary march down into the Persian plain! 
 Jealous only of Mustapha, the renegade, the Persian 
 now forced the captive Pearl of the Harem to wander, 
 in search of exercise, around the daily encampments, 
 under the guard of Kassim! The wearied women 
 slaves from Starnboul lazily eyed the captive stranger 
 from a distance, as Kassim, sabre in hand, led her 
 apart from the common herd for rest and the fresh air! 
 The fall was closing rapidly down and the streets of 
 the muddy villages were now thickly strewed with fall- 
 en leaves! When the domes of Sultanieh's mosques at 
 last loomed up, Kassim approached the captive! 
 "Watch over yourself doubly here! I shall have im- 
 portant news for you! I must manage to steal away 
 from the train ! Your European friends must be very 
 near us now!" Mustapha Pasha, jaded and fierce-eyed, 
 relied on Kassim's daily reports entirely as to the cap- 
 tive's condition! "If she should fall ill, I may be de- 
 layed here in Teheran till the snows have blocked the 
 passes!" raged the baffled scoundrel! And it then 
 flashed over him that the Persian Ambassador at Stam- 
 boul had skilfully trapped him! "He has Marie, the 
 music girl, in his power! She knows of the decoying 
 and murder of this baby faced fool's brother! The 
 Austrian's rank and wealth make that crime a great 
 public offense! The young Count was slain on the
 
 206 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 high road! If they should secretly inform the Austrian 
 Ambassador I might be degraded, delivered up and 
 punished, for I am here, under a simple Persian pass- 
 port, and even if I get the money I may be secretly 
 followed on my road and robbed ! I am in this scoun- 
 drel's power! He may take Marie the Devil away, and 
 he may claim the thousand purses!" It was with a 
 growing fear and trembling the renegade saw his prey 
 glide out of his hands with the price still unpaid! He 
 managed only his own retinue, but a new solicitude for 
 Ilma's health and beauty daily harassed him! Calling 
 Kassim, as they wound down into Sultanieh, Mustapha 
 bade him ransack the bazaars for fruits and flowers, 
 and for every cate and dainty! 
 
 "It is well, Highness!" said the artful Kassim. "Only 
 the beautiful Frank has been three weeks cooped up 
 in the litter! She suffers under the rough travel, the 
 heavy veil, and it will be many moons before she is fit 
 to be unveiled before the Lord of Lords!" 
 
 "Go you, and spare not my gold!" cried Mustapha. 
 With a light heart Kassim galloped ahead into the 
 town ! Their tents were soon spread in a pleasant gar- 
 den to which the Governor's officers had conducted 
 them, and all was in order when Kassim returned, fol- 
 lowed by several asses laden with spoil! He had 
 brought the choicest fruits and flowers of the village 
 himself to the captive. As he arranged the impromptu 
 feast he whispered: "I have already seen the tele- 
 graph operator! Your friends have passed Casveen 
 four days ago, and they will soon meet the Prankish 
 doctor, who is already at Teheran! We will be fol- 
 lowed to our resting place, and they will all be ready to 
 act at once ! The foreign ministers, too, are working 
 with them! Trust to me! I will find them out. They 
 will have men on watch for me without the walls of 
 the city!" 
 
 The cautious Kurd avoided the near vicinity of the 
 girl during the night's rest at Sultanieh! The Shah's 
 cautious officer was busied late at night with the Gov-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 20T 
 
 ernor, and the escort was hurried out, at morn, next 
 day, to reach the great walled metropolis of Teheran 
 before a winter storm! 
 
 lima Falka eyed the endless desert as the caravan 
 swept on over the bleak plains! The iron telegraph 
 poles marked the long line of march, stretching out 
 to Casveen, whence a carriage road a hundred miles in 
 length led to their journey's end! Kassim daily not- 
 ed the eagerness of the Persian escort officer, the veiled 
 unrest and pent-up ferocity of Mustapha! The whole 
 party now seemed to be actuated by some hidden fear 
 of each other, when, at Casveen, two carriages were 
 found waiting, with an added escort of troops. lima 
 Falka, from her carriage window, saw only a desert 
 plain, whitened with the bones of dead animals, and 
 great ranges of brown hills hovering o'er them! The 
 women servitors were her companions as they hurried 
 on, but Kassim rode at the door of her carriage ! She 
 had noted him with a secret joy in anxious converse 
 with the two armed riders patrolling the telegraph 
 line, when they daily passed them! In her heart the 
 frightened girl bore but one last, cheering hope! "The 
 friends had all arrived at Teheran !" 
 
 The morning came, when before the caravan loomed 
 up the great range of the Shimran Hills, with giant 
 Demavend, a huge silver cone piercing the pale green 
 skies sixty miles away! There were now frequent 
 returning. travelers on the road, and troops, caravans 
 and vehicles were all mingled in a noisy press along the 
 narrow causeway ! At the last noonday halt the Pearl 
 of the Harem saw far before her a line of outlying gar- 
 dens and mud huts, a walled enclosure over which rose 
 dome and tower and minaret! There was a vast un- 
 known city there before her, its outlying suburbs 
 stretching far away to the deep gulleys of the forest 
 fringed Shimran Hills! It was the place of her doom! 
 The vast halls of the Shah's palaces loomed up before 
 her! The Ark of Nasr-ed-Din, the Lord of Lords, 
 with its hundred palace halls, and far away, his pleas- 
 
 14
 
 208 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ure haunts in the Shimran! There was the clatter of 
 hoofs and a dozen troopers suddenly rode up sur- 
 rounding a handsome court carriage! An officer with 
 drawn sword led them, and upon the box of the car- 
 riage a gorgeous cavasse, in the red fez and arms of 
 the Turkish Embassy, sat proudly displaying his sil- 
 ver staff of office! 
 
 "I have seen one of your friends!" whispered Kas- 
 sim, slyly, stealing his chance, and he then sprang 
 away from the Magyar captive's side, as a fearful clam- 
 or of quarrel arose! It was led noisily by Mustapha 
 Pasha, who was sternly motioned to the carriage by the 
 Persian commander, his scimetar flashing in the sun! 
 "To the Turkish Embassy!" he cried, in a voice of 
 thunder! "It is the order of the Minister! Your own 
 train and followers will be sent to you ! My path lies 
 elsewhere!" There was a splendid court official at the 
 officer's side, when the raging renegade was whirled 
 away! At a leisurely pace the captive, followed only 
 by the two women slaves and Kassim, was carefully 
 conducted through the wild medley of Teheran's crowd- 
 ed human Babel, to a splendid palace yard! Kassim 
 had found time only to whisper: "To-morrow we go 
 out to the Shah's own private palace in the Shimran 
 Hills, twenty miles away! The Shah is now far away 
 on a hunting tour for six weeks! You are safe till 
 then! And I will be near you day and night! You 
 shall be saved!"
 
 BOOK III. Closing the Account. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 VANISHED! THE MAGIC CHANGE ! "HANDS OFF! I 
 
 AM AN ENGLISHWOMAN!" 
 
 lima Falka only caught a few confused glimpses of 
 the wild medley of the streets of Teheran after their 
 cortege had entered under the Kazbin gate, and crossed 
 the great market place. They plodded on, past shops, 
 wine houses, tea booths, bazaars and shabby Euro- 
 pean establishments! The muddy streets were ring- 
 ing with discordant cries, and the black and violet 
 uniformed police most obsequiously aided the runners 
 in cleaning a way for the court cortege! The busy 
 tram car line and the lone line of European residences 
 of the Boulevard des Ambassadeurs showed a preten- 
 tion to civilization! There were horsemen, footmen, 
 camels, asses, mule litters, stately carriages and hack- 
 ney coaches all mixed in a crushing throng! All 
 were bespattered with the knee-deep mud, now trod- 
 den to paste by the hoofs of the beasts of burden! 
 
 The captive girl was in a wild whirl of wonder and 
 apprehension. Her bodily fatigue was increased by 
 the reaction of the foul drugging at Constantinople! 
 Her memory was still clouded ! The forty days' semi- 
 confinement had left her with but little idea of the road 
 which she had traversed! She had no further fear of 
 any poison or drugging, for Kassim had related the 
 stern injunctions of the escort officer to her two wom- 
 en! "See to her! See to her comfort! If she ails in 
 aught, your two heads shall grin by the wayside!"
 
 210 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 The women tyrants were now her abject slaves, for 
 the mighty Mustapha had been unwillingly whirled 
 away as a hospitable prisoner! The Pearl of the Harem 
 was out of his hands forever! And as they wound 
 across the two great oblong squares, lima, with won- 
 dering eyes, saw the huge palaces and barracks bor- 
 dering the Tup Maidan, with its parked artillery and 
 huge water tank in the center! The vast Imperial 
 Bank of Persia loomed up before her, and the second 
 great square was thronged with motley troops, slaves 
 and the skirted royal palace attendants, with the fools- 
 cap head dresses! She was possessed by two thoughts 
 only! That whisper: "I have seen one of your 
 friends!" And, those welcome tidings of moment: 
 "The Shah is to be absent for six weeks!" As they 
 left all the mingled splendor and misery of the Boule- 
 vard des Ambassadeurs, the lonely girl's heart sank 
 within her, for the dark purpose of her abductor was 
 now plainly apparent! She knew nothing whatever of 
 the olden family enmity of her burly captor, she still 
 marvelled at the strange voyage to the orient, and, 
 most of all, she mourned over the supineness of Arpad, 
 her only brother, the head of her house! "Strangers 
 risk their lives for me! He, alone, is silent! Where is 
 he?" She could not dream of the dark tragedy of his 
 death, and the sudden need for her transportation far 
 out of European circles! That crime was hidden! 
 Over the great Artillery Square, into the Maidan-i- 
 Shah, the gilded carriage quickly rolled, and she shud- 
 dered as she passed by the great cannon of pearls, and 
 saw the clustered guards thronging around the Shah's 
 grand gateway leading into the Negaristan's gardens, 
 in the vast retreats of the Gulistan, and where the huge 
 Ark, or Citadel, massed within its fifty buildings the 
 treasures and hid the shame of Persia! 
 
 There was a half hour's glimpse of superb gardens, 
 with blue tiled tanks and fountains, richly fruited trees 
 and graceful mazes of foliage! Into a great court, the 
 carriage rolled at last, and through a fretted marble
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 211 
 
 door the daughter of nobles entered the slave pen of 
 Nasr-ed-Din! The long journey was over! 
 
 A cluster of women attendants, aided by her own 
 now willing slaves, conducted the desperate captive 
 into a room where every dream of oriental luxury was 
 realized! The haughty Persian escort officer, a grave, 
 bearded palace official, and the chief of the women of 
 the harem, conferred without, as lima threw herself 
 down in despair upon the great divan in her stately 
 prison room ! She was in the Lion's den at last! Help- 
 less and alone! 
 
 "She goes to Eshretabad to-morrow!" at last slowly 
 decided the old Director of Imperial Pleasures! "The 
 Italian doctor and the French women attendants there 
 understand the foolish ways of these Franks ! For she 
 needs a long rest and repose! It is the only place for 
 her, there in the quiet of the Shimran ! And she must be 
 then made ready for the coming of the King of Kings !" 
 
 While the captured girl slept the sleep of exhaustion 
 that night, Mustapha Pasha raged, vainly, in his splen- 
 did guest chamber at the Turkish Embassy. A wary 
 old Persian Pasha sat cross legged, listening unmoved 
 to the protestations of the renegade! The role of 
 Turkish dignitary sat very uneasily upon Janos Kins- 
 ky, for the cool negotiator from the Shah's court, se- 
 cretly taught, knew well his every cue! There had 
 been colloquy and evasion until Mustapha at last 
 sought the counsel of the Ambassador of Sultan Abdul 
 Hamid! "I care not for your slave! You will be paid 
 well for her! These Frankish women are dogs! They 
 sell themselves and walk with shameless, unveiled 
 faces, in their own lands! You can easily get another! 
 Your pay will come, if the Lord of Lords deigns to 
 notice the thing you have brought! But, if trouble is 
 made for me, I will send you back to Erzeroum at once 
 under an escort guard, without either slave or money ! 
 Why did you venture here?" Then Kinsky was forced 
 to reveal all the secret bargain with the Persian Am- 
 bassador in Constantinople! "Ah!" said the wily Mos-
 
 212 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 lem, "I see now the whole trouble ! This master of the 
 harem would divide the purses with you in time! 
 There will be no gold for any one till the Shah chooses! 
 And the sly Pasha in Stamboul, too, will have his share 
 kept back from your gold by his friend here in good 
 time! Your slave of wonderful beauty is far safer 
 than in Prankish hands, out there at Eshretabad! No 
 man dares to touch the Shah's favorites ! No man ever 
 enters a royal 'andarun' here save the Shah or his 
 three sons ! And even these last not without the queen 
 mother! Go and speak fair to the Pasha! I will ask 
 him to let this Kassim, the Osmanli guide, see the slave 
 every day in the gardens, and he can come and go on 
 your business! So you shall know that she is not taken 
 away from you ! And when she pleases the Shah, you 
 shall have your gold, your share, and I, too, will have 
 mine !" So there was a new vulture pouncing down ! 
 
 Mustapha crept back to the mighty chief of the Im- 
 perial "andaruns," and had quickly learned that he had 
 now three active partners in the division of the thou- 
 sand purses, the price of lima Falka's maiden beauty! 
 
 He had begged, entreated and even threatened the 
 grave visitor! But, the Harem Pasha simply sucked 
 the amber stem of his jewelled chibouque, and vicious- 
 ly stroked his beard! "You shall have news, daily, by 
 your Osmanli guide! The Ambassador tells me that 
 he is trusted by the great Vali of Trebizond, and he of 
 Erzeroum! Fear not for the woman's comfort! She 
 shall be allowed to rest, and be tricked out, later, in 
 her native Prankish raiment! There are a half dozen 
 more such already in the shade of the Shimran Hills! 
 There are women from London, from Paris, Vienna 
 and Italy! Trust to me! It is my affair now! But 
 no man may gaze on the unveiled face of the Shah's 
 slave ! No man, not of his loins, ever crosses the gates 
 of the harem of Eshretabad! She shall be treated as 
 queens are, till the Lord of Lords may choose to give 
 other orders!" When the sly visitor took his leave 
 Mustapha's rage broke out!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 213 
 
 "Duped! tricked! robbed! by these three scoun- 
 drels!" he raved! "Six long weeks before the Shah 
 returns, and, I am penned up here like a mad dog!" 
 For the cautious Moslem Ambassador had flatly for- 
 bidden him to leave the grounds of the Embassy! 
 "There are but three or four hundred people of foreign 
 note here in the two hundred thousand! Every new 
 face is scanned ! These Persians are sly dissimulators ! 
 Your name and face and deeds are known over the 
 orient!" significantly said the Ambassador! "It might 
 not be safe for you, and it would not be safe for me, 
 if you wander alone, openly, around Teheran! We 
 are cut off here, in the foreign quarter, with all the 
 Christian Embassies around us! And the great schools 
 and college and hospitals of the rich and powerful 
 American missionaries are near us. Russia and 
 England clutch each other's throats closely here, 
 but, both rule the timid Shah, who fills his pock- 
 ets basely by the bribes of each! One single rumor of 
 an unwilling Frankish slave in the harem and these 
 two great nations would demand her liberation. She 
 would be swept away, and every other Frankish wom- 
 an now hidden in the Shimran would be butchered! 
 You would then lose your gold! Perhaps your head, 
 too!" significantly said the Ambassador. "There was 
 an occurrence lately in Stamboul the young Austrian 
 Count who was murdered " 
 
 Kinsky grew pale! He muttered: "I am your 
 slave! Effendi! I will obey you!" For he saw now 
 he was girt with fire ! And in his own rooms he cursed 
 the precipitancy of his revenge! "This wily official 
 knows all! Marie has betrayed me to him, through 
 the old Persian Ambassador! I should have made 
 sure of her there! Smyrna or Salonique were better! 
 And the killing of the brother was a blunder! Any 
 thieving Greek would have gladly killed him for me 
 in a chance quarrel ! Ten guineas would have bought 
 him a dozen deaths!" When Janos Kinsky threw him- 
 self on his couch, he began at last to realize the costli-
 
 214 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ness of that bloody revenge which he had found so 
 sweet! "Damn her baby face!" he growled. "I should 
 have had my will of her, and then thrown her in the 
 Danube!" For he knew now he was in the power of 
 men whose tiger hearts had no pity, no greater pity 
 than his own, and whose sleek craft was beyond him! 
 "I am alone among them, a renegade, an adventurer, 
 and in their power!" Then he swore a mighty oath that 
 he would reach the fair Austrian woman who had 
 scorned him in the past, even if it were the labor of 
 years ! The scars of the lash on his back were stinging 
 once again! 
 
 It was near sundown on the second day of his Te- 
 heran interment that Kassim galloped into the court- 
 yard of the Turkish Embassy! The Kurdish guide 
 was servility itself! He quickly made his report. He 
 was Mustapha's one trusted friend! 
 
 "There is every splendor around her at Eshretabad! 
 The two women are with her! She is silent! She 
 wants for nothing! I am to see her once a day in the 
 gardens, and then to report to the Ambassador here, 
 who has already given me his orders, and he will send 
 me back to Asia Minor in a few days with dispatches 
 to Trebizond and Erzeroum ! What is your highness' 
 pleasure? I return now to the Master of the Harem!" 
 And Kinsky realized that his servant was the free man 
 now! 
 
 When Kassim at last galloped away he was laden 
 with an easily earned purse of gold. Mustapha's quick 
 wit had led him to write his wishes to the Stamboul 
 woman attendant in French ! "This fellow can not spy 
 upon me!" the renegade muttered, as he saw him 
 ride away after a half hour spent with the Ambassador! 
 But, neither the renegade nor the sly official would 
 have recognized Kassim after he emerged in an hour 
 from a little wine shop on the Boulevard des Ambas- 
 sadeurs! He was dismounted, and showed up natural- 
 ly in the guise of a Persian merchant of small wares! 
 Hailing a shabby droschky, the sly Kurd carefully.
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 215 
 
 made his way to the great gate of the Russian Lega- 
 tion ! The sentinel on duty there quickly called an offi- 
 cer of the guard and the disguised guide was shown 
 into the servants' quarters of the Legation. 
 
 Kassim dropped all his obsequiousness as he en- 
 tered a room where four men sat around a table, where- 
 on the samovar and cigarette trays spoke of the usual 
 Muscovite comforts! There, still in their Persian dis- 
 guises, the stern-faced Soltykoff, and Paul Denton, sat 
 with Alan Randall and the alert Petrovitch, who wore 
 his Cossack guard uniform! They waited their spy! 
 
 "At last!" cried Colonel Soltykoff, springing up and 
 drawing the guide to a chair beside him. "Speak now ! 
 Tell us all, Kassim! You shall have your weight in 
 gold if we save this girl!" The four men made notes 
 of Kassim's long relation, as he told of the whole situ- 
 ation. It was an hour before he had finished answer- 
 ing all the eager questions of his interrogators! "I 
 won't dare to some here soon again!" said the guide, 
 as he concluded, "but, every evening, at the wine house, 
 I can meet Captain Petrovitch. So, I can have your 
 daily orders! I keep my own horse there! The man 
 who keeps the house is also of the secret service! He 
 is in the pay of your Russian Minister here! We can 
 trust him in life and death!" 
 
 "Good!" cried Soltykoff! "And so we need fear Mus- 
 tapha no more! He dare not go out, and we three 
 must also keep hidden here! But Petrovitch can go 
 anywhere! Now, what do you advise, Kassim! We 
 will send letters to you there, and you will give them 
 at once to the maiden, with materials to write to us! 
 Remember that your own life depends on your care! 
 And, that your reward waits !" 
 
 Kassim smiled! "I have outwitted them a thousand 
 times! Listen!" said the Kurd. "They allow her to 
 freely walk in the gardens ! The walls are high ! There 
 is but one gate! There are many soldiers there, and 
 some secret watchers, too, in the great gardens! But 
 the women are all the time wandering around the gar-
 
 216 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 dens in their white veils and hoods, covered up with 
 die black yashmak! They all look the same, but the 
 Frankish woman has the step of a gazelle! She does 
 not now wear the Turkish slippers! I have exam- 
 ined the best places along the walls! It would be easy 
 to get over with a long rope ladder! You could go out 
 there with some Persian wagons and hide near; and 
 if you could get her over the wall you could bring her 
 away here in disguise! It seems the only way!" 
 
 "She could be hidden here in our American hos- 
 pital!" cried Randall. "Hidden safely for six months! 
 We could cut off her hair and disguise her! But that 
 would not get her out of the country ! Every foreign 
 woman has to have a separate Persian road passport! 
 A Christian woman raises a mob wherever she is seen ! 
 Our own missionary women have to be often disguised 
 as Persians to save them from fierce daily insults! How 
 to get her over the wall, too! People are always 
 thronging on the Shimran roads! Both within and 
 without, if seen, any one scaling the walls would sure- 
 ly be sabred in a moment! All these people are fana- 
 tics! They join in upholding the sanctity of the Mos- 
 lem harem and the Persian andarun! We must work 
 out our plan at once!" cried Denton in agony. "If the 
 Shah should return 
 
 "It might be too late!" gravely said Petrovitch! 
 
 "Listen!" said the artful Kassim. "It must be a 
 woman, or two or three women, who can try with any 
 hope to get into her presence, and then quickly ar- 
 range some plan for escape! Now I have found out 
 that only the Russian and English ladies of the Lega- 
 tions have ever been shown over the 'andarun' of 
 Eshretabad! The queen mother has taken some of 
 these ladies of rank out there, and she has even let 
 them see the ladies of the 'andarun' and the singing 
 women, and the dancers! Now, if the foreign ladies 
 would go out there I could manage to warn the maid- 
 en! The ladies might find a way to get her out! The 
 Russian and English ladies are both feared and hon-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 217 
 
 ored ! The others here count for nothing ! The Kurds 
 say : 'A woman has a thousand ways to meet her lover !' 
 Why could not this maiden be helped out! The great 
 main entrance is the only way for her departure! To 
 try the wall would only mean the certain death of all 
 in sight! She might be taken out smuggled along 
 with the visiting party! Remember, though this maid- 
 en is a great lady in her own land, here she is only 
 one slave in four or five hundred! And, no one would 
 call her beautiful now! They let her roam around at 
 will! 
 
 "She is wasted and worn! It will be two moons be- 
 fore she is worthy to be seen by the Lord of the Lion 
 and the Sun!" 
 
 Denton groaned in rage! "Poor lima!" he cried! 
 "Death is, after all, better " 
 
 "Death for this renegade cur! Life for her!" cried 
 Soltykoff, springing up. "Life and love, yet! I have 
 a plan! Petrovitch, you will take our letters to Kas- 
 sim at daybreak! I must go and see the Czar's Min- 
 ister! There is no lady of high rank in the Russian 
 Legation, but I will ask him to appeal to the ladies of 
 the English Legation ! They alone can save her ! Even 
 if I have to beg the two Ambassadors to go with the 
 party to the harem gates ! If Russia and England act 
 together, the girl would be saved, if she threw herself 
 on the protection of the English ladies, after they had 
 once reached her! Yes, it is the last hope left to us 
 now! They must smuggle her out!" cried Randall! 
 "If they could only get her to the road, even for a 
 moment, if the two Ambassadors were there, Persia's 
 King himself would not dare to brave the Russian 
 and Englishman acting together! But, if even ten 
 minutes passed after the demand, her dead body would 
 be concealed, and they would then smile with lying lips 
 and offer to allow your Legation dragomen to search 
 all over the Palace! If a night intervened, the girl 
 would be then rushed away down to Shiraz, and she 
 never would be seen again! No, it is woman's wit
 
 218 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 alone that will save her! Once out of the harem en- 
 closure, I will stake my life on hiding her success- 
 fully. Mustapha is not on his own ground here! 
 There is but one way! It is this scheme!" 
 
 "I will have the Ambassador take me to the English 
 ladies to-night!" Soltykoff said. "We will find means 
 to hide our whole party out there, and so be at hand 
 to help!" 
 
 Soltykoff rose and led away Paul Denton into the 
 room which they shared together! Randall, Petro- 
 vitch and the Kurdish secret service agent were left 
 seated, plotting over the possibilities of Ilma's escape ! 
 
 Serge Soltykoff started as he noted Paul Denton's 
 face when they were alone! The young American 
 was in a fury of exaltation ! His hands trembled and 
 his teeth chattered as he cried, 'That damned dog is 
 here, near us! By God! I will seek him out, and 
 drive a knife through his heart!" 
 
 "Remember Arpad's mad folly, Paul!" gravely re- 
 plied Soltykoff. "He threw his own life away and 
 brought his sister here! His rashness has driven their 
 mother into a semi-insanity! Would you ruin all now? 
 Let Mustapha wait! He is cooped up now, power- 
 less! And his seclusion is our safeguard!" 
 
 Paul Denton bowed his head humbly! The des- 
 perate lover was terribly worn and haggard! Solty- 
 koff had keenly watched him as they wandered through 
 the shaded streets of Reshd, on the Enzelli lagoon! 
 While surrounded by the hundred Persian officials at 
 their landing, in the official scrutiny at the gloomy old 
 Palace of Reshd, in the camping kahns, at the cara- 
 vanseras, and through the long days spent in the 
 awful defiles of the Khazan Pass, while they scaled the 
 snow-clad Elburz Range, Paul Denton had held his 
 fears aloof in grave silence! He had learned the sub- 
 missive demeanor of the supposed Persian servant, 
 but now, in the near vicinity of the deadly foe, Paul's 
 lover heart madly cried for vengeance on their bloody 
 foe!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 219 
 
 "No, Paul! Safety first for lima! Then you and 
 I will hunt this dog to death, together!" was Solty- 
 koff's last adjuration! "Stay here with our friends! 
 I will go at once to the English Legation with our 
 Minister! If I mistake not, there is some brave wom- 
 an there, who has the wit and nerve to aid us! It 
 must be done at once, or never!" 
 
 Throwing a light gray hooded cloak over his dis- 
 guise, Soltykoff grasped his revolver and sprang to 
 the door, whispering, "Only you and I must know of 
 the time of the attempt! I will give the future orders 
 to the others !" 
 
 The rattle of wheels and the gallop of the Cossack 
 escort told Paul Denton of the departure of the two 
 Russians! It was with astonishment that the door- 
 keepers of the Russian Legation saw the Russian Min- 
 ister and his mysterious guest shown at once into the 
 private rooms of the Minister! The night was splen- 
 did and the vast gardens of the Legation were filled 
 with merrymakers! The moon lit up the perfumed 
 groves where the nightingale trilled to the plash of the 
 water in the marble fountains ! The great palace of the 
 Legation closed up three sides of the vast quadrangle, 
 and far above the splendid campanile rose in the starry 
 night ! 
 
 Prepared for any sudden emergency, in a city where 
 the great Legations are ever ready to resist a native 
 riot or tumult, where Great Britain and Russia always 
 struggle for the secret mastery of the vicious and crafty 
 Persian monarchs, the English Minister immediately 
 hastened to receive his official friend, his secret dip- 
 lomatic enemy! 
 
 Sir Henry Arden's face grew grave and stern, as he 
 listened to the Russian Minister's few words. "I leave 
 the destiny of this innocent girl in your Excellency's 
 hands," said the Russian. "The Austrian Legation can 
 only support us with its influence, if we are driven to 
 open action! We can not make this a diplomatic mat-
 
 220 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 ter! The proofs are in their hands! You know what 
 would follow our public demand !" 
 
 "Too well!" groaned the Englishman. "A horrible 
 murder! A hypocritical submission! The proof that 
 she had vanished ! That we were, of course, wrong in 
 our surmises! And the Turkish Ambassador would 
 aid to screen their lying agents! 'The sanctity of the 
 harem! The inviolability of the andarun!' What 
 shall I do?" 
 
 "Let Colonel Soltykoff plead the case alone before 
 the ladies! It is the cause of womanhood itself! We 
 must not be known in this, you and I, then we can 
 interfere later, at once, to protect the whole party! 
 Our joint Legation guards would suffice! Once that 
 she is safely in our hands, the Shah's Ministers 
 would ignore the girl! But, the whole Mohammedan 
 population, Turks and Persians, are to be feared! We 
 must then smuggle this girl away in secret! You 
 know what Teheran riots are!" 
 
 "You are right," said Sir Henry Arden. "I will 
 have my wife call all the Legation ladies together in 
 her boudoir! As for the visit to the harem, there is 
 no difficulty ! The queen mother has practically given 
 my wife the official courtesies of the whole royal es- 
 tablishment! If we were to give any notice of our 
 visit, the sly harem officials might seclude the poor 
 child, but I will take with me Major Derwent, my 
 military attache, and a few men! I will escort the 
 ladies out to the Shimran pleasure region! We can, 
 as if by hazard, leave the carriages with the ladies at 
 Eshretabad for a visit of inspection! So, if the girl 
 is in the garden, our communication may at once be 
 opened! The larger the party of ladies, the greater 
 chance of some one of them meeting her!" 
 
 "The Czar has directed me to secretly aid Colonel 
 Soltykoff in this matter! He shall hear of your Ex- 
 cellency's noble conduct! He will acknowledge it!" 
 gratefully said the Russian Minister. "It is the cause 
 of humanity!" said the sturdy Englishman, as he hur-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 221 
 
 ried away! In a few moments he returned and led 
 Colonel Soltykoff before his proposed allies. 
 
 It was the eloquence of love in Soltykoff's burning 
 words that waked the hearts of the five English women 
 who heard the story of lima Falka's peril ! Lady Caro- 
 line Arden, grave and composed, paled at the recital 
 of the girl's peril. "Thank God! the Shah is absent! 
 When he is here no one can enter the royal 'andaruns' 
 without his own express command through his sec- 
 retary. But, I have never been denied in my visits to 
 the many royal pleasure houses and palaces! The 
 presence of the official dragoman, the escort of my hus- 
 band, will ensure our immediate entrance! But it 
 might not be possible to repeat it! Can you not man- 
 age to warn this poor child of our coming? We could 
 go out the day after to-morrow and protract for a 
 while our wanderings in the splendid grounds! It 
 will be very easy for us women to linger there sev- 
 eral hours! There is no suspicion whatever of our 
 visits." 
 
 Colonel Soltykoff explained his plans to communi- 
 cate in full through the Kurdish spy. One of the 
 younger women then spoke up heartily. "If you can 
 have her walking in the gardens at any time during 
 our visit,! will see her safely smuggled out of the main 
 gate! I know the grounds! I have been there and 
 sketched them! I have a plan!" Serge Soltykoff 
 gazed at the impassioned speaker! When his eyes 
 rested upon the glowing face of the young English- 
 woman, he muttered, "Just Ilma's figure and a won- 
 derful general resemblance!" It was the wife of Major 
 Horace Derwent, the military attache, who spoke with 
 such generous confidence. "Mary speaks Persian and 
 Turkish, and her Afghanistan and Indian residence 
 make her our Orientalist," mused Lady Caroline, as the 
 young wife repeated, "If you can only get her into 
 the gardens, I know perfectly every turn of the walks. 
 Our party must be a large one, and we must also 
 take some of our women servants! 1 have a permit to
 
 222 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 visit the Eshretabad Palace to sketch and use my Ko- 
 dak! Horace got it for me last season from the Min- 
 ister of the Royal Household !" 
 
 "But, how will you get her out of the gate? There 
 are armed guards on watch?" said the timid Lady Caro- 
 line. "Leave that to me! I will not fail! All I wish 
 to ask, is that the Minister and my husband alone 
 share my secret!" "And our party?" breathlessly de- 
 manded Soltykoff. "Shall we sit with folded hands?" 
 "There are a couple of wine houses and tea houses 
 near the grand entrance !" quickly answered the quick- 
 witted Englishwoman. "You can have your whole 
 party of four well armed men hidden there! Take a 
 covered araba and hide all your arms in it! Your 
 trusted Legation people can go out with your Russian 
 officer, your captain. He can take a half dozen of his 
 Cossacks! It is the usual pleasure ride to the Shim- 
 ran, the one road for exercise rides. He can be near 
 the cafe! And you, Colonel Soltykoff, your own dis- 
 guise is simply perfect! You can watch over our par- 
 ty and be near the gate with your American friend if I 
 succeed in getting your friend past the guards!" 
 
 "But how to bring her away?" was the Russian's 
 last query. "We must hurry her away to a safe place! 
 Not either of the Legations, for they might be watched ! 
 replied Mrs. Derwent. "The American Hospital!" 
 cried Soltykoff, and then he told the circle of eager 
 listeners of Alan Randall's plans. "It is the one place 
 in Teheran of absolute safety!" Mrs. Derwent said. 
 "Now, if Lady Caroline will allow me, my husband 
 will come to you to-morrow at your Legation and give 
 you the last details !" Soltykoff rose and his eyes filled 
 with tears as he pressed the hands of his fellow con- 
 spirators. The wives of the three secretaries of the 
 Legation had crowded around Soltykoff to pledge their 
 every effort! 
 
 When the Russian Colonel rejoined the two Minis- 
 ters, the English representative cried hopefully, "There 
 is the one woman in a thousand! Mary Derwent will
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 223 
 
 surely succeed if there is any road open ! The soul of 
 a soldier father lives again in her gentle bosom! 
 Count on me! And now, good-night! I'll send Der- 
 went to you to-morrow! Go ahead! We must save 
 the girl! It would be the brand of eternal cowardice 
 on us all to abandon her now!" 
 
 Paul Denton and Soltykoff worked until the dawn 
 with the detail of the letters which, an hour later, were 
 hidden in Kassim's bosom, as he galloped away to the 
 Shimran! It was Petrovitch who whispered to the 
 Kurd, "You are a rich man for life if you get these 
 letters through!" Kassim's eyes gleamed as he 
 grinned his mute promise. The stars were shining 
 down upon Teheran's mingled splendor and misery 
 when Petrovitch led the returning Kassim through the 
 guarded gate of the Russian Legation. "Blame me 
 not!" he said. "I had to wait three hours before the 
 maiden could smuggle the letters to me! There are 
 two! I was only allowed to come near her presence, 
 and the two women were also with her ! But she bade 
 the Stamboul tire woman tell me that she will be all 
 day in the gardens to-morrow! They now let her go 
 where she wishes, veiled and wearing the yashmak, for 
 the long journey has sorely wasted her! The two 
 Stamboul slaves only follow her at a distance! The 
 maiden is waiting for you! And she has her own 
 secret ways! The two slaves brought me the letters, 
 which she told them were for Mustapha Pasha!" 
 
 Kassim concluded, "I have made my daily report at 
 the Turkish Embassy, and there Mustapha still lin- 
 gers! He is not allowed to leave the grounds of the 
 Embassy!" 
 
 "Kassim!" solemnly said Soltykoff, as he gave him 
 a purse, "Captain Petrovitch will go back with you to 
 the cafe to-night, and you can keep all in sight, as our 
 party go out to-morrow. We may need you to help 
 us. Your daily visit must be over before we go to 
 Eshretabad! But you can join our own party and 
 ride slowly on behind us on the homeward way !" 
 
 15
 
 224 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "I understand!" the spy answered! "My heart and 
 head are in your service!" 
 
 There were five men waiting in the Russian Minis- 
 ter's private room when Soltykoff and Denton en- 
 tered after reading the hastily scrawled letters which 
 Kassim had brought! "All is understood, gentle- 
 men!" said Colonel Soltykoff. "The Countess will be 
 all day in the gardens and will watch for the party, 
 but she will keep in the most secluded places! All the 
 women in the gardens are dressed exactly alike! But 
 the woman you seek will carry a white handkerchief 
 in her right hand! Now, our party will be at the ren- 
 dezvous, and my friend and I will be lounging at the 
 gates! The nearest vehicle of our party must be the 
 one to hide her! It all rests now upon the mercy 
 of God! The poor girl has the absolute freedom of 
 the gardens, and there are none of the European fav- 
 orites there! They all went in the Shah's train!" 
 "Major Derwent!" said Soltykoff, "tell your wife that 
 she has a woman's life in her hands now!" 
 
 The Russian's voice trembled, as he clasped the 
 young English officer's hand! "I'll not be far away 
 myself," he cheerfully said, as the two Ministers, Ran- 
 dall and Petrovitch left the room, after Soltykoff said, 
 "Denton and I leave at daybreak!" 
 
 "I will have my own party out there before noon!" 
 said the English Minister, as he departed with his col- 
 league. 
 
 As the sun climbed the eastern heavens and lit up 
 the deeply gorged hills of the Shimran range, the ex- 
 cited lima Falka, wandering around her pavilion, 
 feared the betrayal of her own beating heart! For, 
 though she could not see over the massive walls of 
 Eshretabad, the morning visit of Kassim told her that 
 her friends were on the way to the palace! Ah! the 
 help was so near! Her limbs trembled as she moved 
 along. 
 
 Kassim had made his morning visit, and his signifi- 
 cant gesture told her that all was well! He brought
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 225 
 
 an offering of fruits and flowers, and while he waited 
 for the Stamboul slave to bring back her mistress' mes- 
 sage, he stood before her with his turban in his hand, 
 showing the shaven head of the Moslem ! It was the 
 agreed on signal ! lima Falka cast her eyes to far 
 Demavend! The noon-tide shadows were already 
 sweeping round the giant cone to the north! Kassim 
 slowly retreated down the path and then passed out 
 of the main gate of the superb royal lodge! He 
 strained his eyes as he mounted his steed! Far down 
 the road, sloping away, he could see the flash of uni- 
 forms, and behind them three or four carriages! 
 "They are coming!" he cried, as he turned away from 
 the great gates of Kasr-i-Kajar! There a dozen guards 
 were lolling about under the arch, where the Lion and 
 Sun flared in yellow on the green background of the 
 royal ensign of Persia! "Now for the Jewish ped- 
 dlers!" he muttered, as he galloped away, "and, the 
 beggars!" He never drew rein till he reached a shad- 
 ed wine house on the broad avenue, shaded with its 
 willows and poplars. There were two or three arabas 
 drawn up under the shade, with a couple of closed 
 droschkys, and horses were tethered around the yarcj! 
 As Kassim sprang from his horse, he called to an old 
 Jew, pack on back, who was the central figure of a 
 knot of beggars and small merchants. In a low voice, 
 Kassim gave a signal and the motley band then 
 trudged away slowly, as the splendid carriages of the 
 English Legation flashed by ! Kassim watched the cor- 
 tege with its escort of a dozen troopers, Major Horace 
 Derwent gaily leading in all his staff regalia! 
 
 The Kurd approached a tall Persian who was ear- 
 nestly gazing on the splendid sweep of the hills from 
 Vanek to Kamaranieh ! There was a circle of twenty 
 miles of splendid pleasure resorts, palaces, shooting 
 boxes in view, and all the summer homes of the for- 
 eigners and nobles! Kassim touched the man's arm! 
 It was the chief of the rescuers! "They have gone 
 in, at the gates! The escort and first carriage has 
 
 15
 
 226 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 now gone on!" As he spoke, the Russian Minister 
 also swept by in his splendid equipage, followed by 
 twenty Cossacks! It seemed to be a gala day of out- 
 ings! And then Soltykoff, followed by his servant, 
 a watchful shadow, strolled out of the motley throng 
 crowding the rural retreat! In a few moments there 
 were a half dozen queer looking vehicles leisurely 
 crawling along the great battlemented mud walls of 
 the Kasr-i-Kajar. Soltykoff eyed the open entrance of 
 the splendid gardens, where the white marble walls 
 of the "andarun" rose above the trees beyond the gar- 
 den walls! A few laughing soldiers were chaffering 
 with some Jewish peddlers at the gate, and a half 
 dozen beggars hovered around there with outstretched 
 palms! "Faroe Moses' friends are loyal!" muttered 
 Denton, as he clutched SoltykofFs hands in a last eager 
 grasp! He had seen the cross-legged officers of the 
 guard toying with the hubble bubble in their retreat by 
 the walls! A group of ladies, led by a glittering offi- 
 cer, were standing within in the great courtyard, await- 
 ing the women conductors to lead them into the harem ! 
 There were two of the Legation carriages drawn up 
 before the fatal gate in the shade under the frowning 
 walls ! When Soltykoff 's carriage turned after passing 
 a quarter of a mile, and slowly moved back down the 
 road, the two men sat in silence, with their eyes glued 
 on the entrance ! Their concealed arms were in readi- 
 ness, and Soltykoff alone knew that the tall, green 
 turbaned Mollah, lingering with the hangers-on at the 
 gate, was Kassim, his face bound up in a green hand- 
 kerchief. It was but a stone's throw from the entrance 
 that SoltykofFs carriage was stopped for some time by 
 a passing caravan and a throng of varied vehicles! 
 The driver drew out of the road and the two men left 
 the vehicle! 
 
 Paul Denton, in a strained voice, whispered huskily, 
 "All our people are hovering around here now! The 
 ladies have been a half an hour within! Will they 
 never come?" And so, waiting with beating hearts,
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 227 
 
 they prayed God that Mary Dement might succeed 
 in reaching the wanderer in the gardens! 
 
 "If we should fail!" muttered Paul! "Silence!" 
 hisses Soltykoff. "One of the Legation carriages is 
 drawing up to the gateway! Some one is coming 
 out!" 
 
 The stolid-eyed soldiers on watch had dragged up 
 into a lazy line in salute, when the mighty English 
 Minister, preceded by his glittering dragoman, had 
 called for the officer of the guard! There was great 
 hurrying and shouting and clapping of hands, as the 
 half dozen ladies of the Legation party were obsequi- 
 ously shown into the great ante-rooms of the palace, 
 followed by their servants, bearing shawls and all the 
 burdens of Frankish womanhood! "Christian dogs! 
 These giaours go with faces shamelessly unveiled!" mut- 
 tered the captain of the guard, when the chief women 
 of the harem led away the visitors. One of the ladies 
 attracted their lazy glances, as, followed by her English 
 servant bearing a tripod, she disappeared in the flower 
 shaded garden walks, carrying a square mahogany box 
 in her slender hand! The young Englishwoman was 
 most shapely of figure, and her face was modestly 
 veiled with double folds of rose colored gauze! Her 
 long flowing cape ulster covered her from the sullen 
 glances of the officers! "It is the magic picture ma- 
 chine!" said the second officer! "These Franks are 
 very devils!" In the coming and going of the hun- 
 dred servants of the palace, the two officers, drawing 
 in the thin blue smoke of the hubble bubble, leaned 
 back, watching, on their cushions, as the soldiers care- 
 fully scanned each entering new comer! 
 
 There was silence in the splendid tangles of the gar- 
 dens, where the roses, irises and lilies bloomed, as Mary 
 Derwent sped along, with her eager eyes scanning 
 every arbor and tangled vine-shaded nook. Sudden- 
 ly, at a hundred paces from her, a woman's form, 
 shrouded in black, turned the angle of a dense thicket! 
 There was no shuffling, waddling Moslem beneath the
 
 228 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 impervious disguise! For, the stranger sped forward 
 to meet her with a springy step! And, in her hand she 
 held a white handkerchief, gleaming like silver shining 
 out against the dark, shroud-like garment she wore. 
 Mary Derwent sprang forward as swift as Camilla, 
 and one hand drew the stranger into a thick clump of 
 cypress! There was no one in sight! "Quick! quick! 
 for God's sake! Throw off your yashmak and veil!" 
 The Englishwoman had quickly stripped her ulster, 
 and torn of? her hat and veil! "Now, follow my wom- 
 an ! Take this box, and go after her without a glance 
 right or left! Don't speak! God bless you! Go!" 
 
 While the beautiful young English wife was un- 
 veiled for a single moment, her golden hair glittered in 
 the sun! Her blue eyes shone with dauntless bravery, 
 and, standing there alone, it seemed as if her heart 
 would leap out of her bosom! With the practice of 
 many a merry oriental masquerade, she rapidly adjust- 
 ed the long yashmak and twisted the Persian veil 
 around her head. She forgot not to carry the hand- 
 kerchief boldly displayed in her own hand! Then 
 gathering up the flowing end of the black shroud, she 
 hurried, hidden in the shaded edge of the walk, back 
 toward the end of the long avenue, from whence she 
 could see the great gate ! 
 
 There were the two women now approaching it! 
 The sunlight gleamed on the yellow box carried by the 
 taller! The other still held the camera tripod, and 
 they passed under the gate in a moment! Mary Der- 
 went prayed to God as the two distant forms were lost 
 in the great arch! And now, her pulse throbbed as 
 if each heart beat were her last. Her knees trembled 
 as she crouched in the shrubbery, her staring eyes 
 fixed on that yawning gate! All was silence! There 
 was no outcry yet, and it seemed an age until a knot 
 of idle soldiers sauntered in again, their gaudy uni- 
 forms gaily lighting up the semi-circular sweep of the 
 entrance ! The ruse had succeeded ! lima had passed 
 the gate! "Will they never come back," murmured
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 229 
 
 the woman, left alone in these splendid shades! For 
 she waited now only for a trusted companion of her 
 party to find her in the gardens! "They are probably 
 in the harem still! Lady Caroline has promised to 
 send her servants and 'the secretary's wife out to meet 
 me !" As she stood watching suddenly her arms were 
 roughly seized, and a harsh voice cried in lingua 
 Franca, "Come! You are wanted!" It was a fierce 
 eyed woman attendant. Then, throwing off her veil 
 and yashmak, Mary Derwent shook off the intruder! 
 11 Hands off!" she cried. "/ am an Englishwoman!" 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A LOST PEARL OF PRICE! MUSTAPHA'S PERILI- 
 NG THOROUGHFARE. 
 
 The woman servant who had watched over lima 
 Falka for two long months gazed for a moment in 
 blank astonishment at the resolute, glowing face and 
 flashing blue eyes of the young English patrician! 
 Mary Derwent's fighting blood was up, and a beauti- 
 ful scorn lit up her rosy face ! The blue eyes and wav- 
 ing golden hair were to the other a warrant of the 
 powers of witchcraft! "It is the work of Sheitan!" 
 cried the frightened harem slave, as she snatched up 
 the cast-off disguise and fled away to hiding! Her 
 own head was now in peril. Mary Derwent sprang 
 forward eagerly, as one of the English Legation's maids 
 came hurrying down the avenue with burdened arms ! 
 There was no one in sight ! The deed was as yet un- 
 discovered by the guards! "Quick, Betsy, here!" 
 called her mistress, and in a few moments Mrs. Der- 
 went stepped out of the coppice with her head covered 
 with a neat English turban, and a filmy veil covered 
 her features. A long gray wrap gave her quite the 
 air of the Prankish lady again. "Take me to join them,
 
 230 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 quickly! Where are they all?" said the agitated wom- 
 an diplomat, hurrying toward the palace from a side 
 pathway! "They are all now in the court yard of the 
 ladies' harem, ma'am," said the demure English ser- 
 vitress. "Such larky costumes, and such dancing! 
 Those poor heathen women!" 
 
 The Major's wife soon crossed the great area un- 
 perceived and entered the guarded portal where Lady 
 Caroline Arden now waited, her face whitened to 
 ashes. Mary Derwent pressed her friend's hand! 
 "She has a good half hour start!" the brave little wife 
 whispered. "There is no alarm yet! No one was in 
 sight! We must linger here as long as possible! 
 Have you heard from Sir Henry's carriage?" "Not 
 yet," faintly rejoined the frightened Ambassadress. 
 "Oh! if he would only come! I am afraid of these 
 wretches !" 
 
 Then Mary Derwent's eyes flashed fire. "The shad- 
 ow of England's flag is over us all, even here! They 
 would not dare to touch a single hair of our heads!" 
 "Ah! remember Sir Louis Cavagnari and Cabul!" whis- 
 pered Lady Caroline: "Take me around now to see 
 the harem ladies, and delay as much as possible here," 
 was the answer of the undaunted rescuer! She was 
 counting every minute now, for a human life was at 
 stake! 
 
 In a remote corner of the superb park the Stamboul 
 tire woman, hidden in an arbor, was now crouching, 
 thinking, with a sudden terror, only of the safety of 
 her own head! She feared the rage of the sly Persian 
 officials, she feared the bloody revenge of Mustapha, 
 for her heart told her that the girl had escaped ! And 
 also, made wise by years of harem life, she feared the 
 English lady! For the chatter of the visit had reached 
 the whole "andarun!" It had been only an after 
 thought of the mistress of the Shah's harem to recall 
 the strange Prankish girl to her pavilion! The slave 
 reflected on the situation. "No one saw us together! 
 The great English lady surely will not talk! / have seen
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 231 
 
 nothing! That is my story!" Then, with a sudden 
 cunning, she cast the veil and the black shroud-like 
 covering down beside the high park wall, in a distant 
 corner, as if lima had thrown them off in haste. And 
 she did not forget to tread the turf around deeply with 
 many a footprint! "Now I am safe!" she cried, in 
 sudden fright, and then hastened away to deeper re- 
 cesses of the great park! "Others will find these 
 tokens and not I." The sly woman wandered unceas- 
 ing in the shrubbery. It was not long before she saw 
 many hurrying forms gliding around! Loud calls 
 from the searchers began to resound in copse and 
 thicket, and it was a full half hour later that she was 
 finally confronted by a Persian searcher. "I have not 
 found her yet! Has she not returned to the pavilion?" 
 There was no suspicion as yet of the escape of the 
 poor jaded traveler! "She is desired at once!" said 
 the messenger, as he threaded the splendid shades of 
 the great gardens! For all knew that the strange ar- 
 rival could not speak the languages of her guardians! 
 No one had ever escaped from the gloomy enclosure! 
 The guards were all still at their posts ! In the confused 
 throng of menials swarming in the gardens at last, 
 there was not one who dared to dream of an escape 
 from the Shah's guarded stronghold of lazy dalliance! 
 But the Mother of the Maids had suddenly sent even 
 her aga to call the beautiful Prankish slave before 
 her! She must be found, and at last one of the seek- 
 ers stumbled upon the discarded yashmak and veils, 
 the cast-off badges of lima Falka's slavery, and then 
 with fear and trembling they sought the officers of the 
 guard, who were responsible for the safety of the veiled 
 odalisques! The outcry was raised, far and near, and 
 guards dashed along, sabre in hand! Mary Der- 
 went was, however, quietly gazing on the throng of 
 Persian beauties gathered in the court of the marble 
 walled "andarun" and watching the women slaves 
 dancing in groups, or with insidious posture, enacting 
 the realistic love poems of the Turanian bards! The
 
 232 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 spirited Englishwoman gazed at the score of favorites 
 lolling upon divans or clustered in curiosity about the 
 ambassadorial party of Englishwomen. Fresh from 
 perfumed baths, bearing clusters of the richest flowers, 
 a few of the young women still wore the jewels which 
 in time always pass on to other hands, when the im- 
 perial passion has cooled! There were two or three 
 light haired Georgians, but the languishing, dark eyed, 
 heavy limbed beauties predominated. 
 
 Some were in the flower of youth, and none had 
 passed beyond the full flower of young womanhood! 
 Their startling raiment was absolutely shocking in the 
 garish sunlight of the golden noon, as they stood un- 
 der the Moorish arcades, ceiled with angular masses 
 of mirrors set in stucco. The English women ex- 
 changed glances, for nautch girl and bayadere were 
 eclipsed by the abandon of the costumes. Ripe, glow- 
 ing bosoms shown through the single body garment of 
 thin tinselled silk gauze. An enormously spread skirt 
 of flowered brocade rose over stiffened under skirts, 
 rivalling a Viennese prima ballerina's most daring cos- 
 tume! The skirts reached to within eight inches of 
 the knees, and were loosely hung from the hips, the 
 dazzling nakedness of their rounded white limbs ter- 
 minating at the white stockings reaching up to the 
 knee! Persian slippers embroidered in gold were 
 made of velvet, colored to match the coquettish velvet 
 broidered jacket, heavy with bullion. 
 
 "What guys!" murmured Mary Derwent, as she 
 gazed on the painted and powdered faces, whose eye- 
 brows were lengthened to meet over the nose. The eye 
 lashes blackened with kohl, and a blue black band of 
 paint on the forehead, curved down over the eyes, com- 
 pleted the disfigurement of the lovely faces, framed in 
 long straight hair, cut level with the mouth and loose- 
 ly plaited in little strings, hanging down behind. Each 
 expressionless face was capped by a gold and velvet 
 skull cap, with jewelled side aigrette and a square band 
 of silk crepe, fastened under the chin with jewelled
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 233 
 
 pins! Their nails and palms were dyed a hideous 
 yellow red with henna! 
 
 These childlike, expressionless, doll automatons 
 laughed in a silly way over their sweetmeats, sipped 
 the sherbets and shyly exchanged wondering com- 
 ments on the shamelessly unveiled faces of the five 
 English women ! It was simply a battle of the stand- 
 ards of loveliness! The East against the West! It 
 was nearly an hour after the Magyar girl had tremb- 
 lingly passed the fatal threshold when a frightened.' 
 slave approached and, with low salaams, murmured a 
 message to the Mother of the Maids. Mary Derwent, 
 quick-witted and apprehensive, saw the look of wild 
 rage and horror which made the old functionary's face 
 that of a baffled fury! Her nervous, slender hand 
 clasped Lady Caroline's trembling palm, as she whis- 
 pered, "Thank God! Sir Henry is now in the palace 
 court!" and, with a gentle decision, the young dissem- 
 bler led the official party quickly out into the great 
 area, where a throng of guards, functionaries and bi- 
 zarre palace attendants crowded around the dragoman 
 of the English Embassy! 
 
 Mary Derwent's heart rose up in true British pride 
 as she saw Sir Henry Arden, cool and self-possessed, 
 his gray tweeds and fresh linen shining bravely out, 
 as he fixed his monocle and haughtily gazed at a brace 
 of excited Pashas! The Persians were jabbering in a 
 wild rage to the cool dragoman. "They have missed 
 her, at last, " thought the rejoicing author of all this 
 tumult, and she joyed in her own brave secret, a great, 
 priceless secret, all her own, as Sir Henry quietly whis- 
 pered, "Don't mind all this hubbub. Mrs. Arden will 
 keep them here talking for an hour, and give our 
 friends time to get the girl back to town and safe in 
 hiding! It's a good fifteen miles to Teheran, and 
 they're slow about sending their parties out! She's 
 all right, though, for, I saw them get away a good 
 hour or more ago !" 
 
 With grave stateliness, the whole foreign party en-
 
 234 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 tered the state reception room of the great palace. 
 There was a cloud of attendants bringing refreshments, 
 and Mrs. Arden cheerfully noted the curly head and 
 bright face of her husband, seated among his escort r 
 below the palace windows, where the English guard 
 clustered around the carriages! Sir Henry stole up 
 to the window where Mrs. Derwent was exchanging 
 signals with Major Horace! "Stole away, little wom- 
 an!" gaily said the Minister. "Simply be cheerfully 
 unconcerned! The dragoman has my orders to 
 jabber away an hour or so with them! These fel- 
 lows dare not question me directly! I think you de- 
 serve a medal and promotion," he smilingly said. "I 
 hope the Russian soldiers are now between the party 
 and these fiends!" murmured Mary Derwent, as a 
 platoon of Persian swordsmen clattered down the road! 
 "Bless you!" laughed Sir Henry, "there are fifty stout 
 friends in varied disguises around her now, and the 
 whole road is blocked up with wagons, caravans and 
 pleasure parties! The soldiers will take it easy when 
 once out of sight of their officers! The girl is safe 
 enough in Teheran even now, but how to get her away 
 is the problem! They will seal up every entrance to 
 the city and set all their matchless spies at work ! The 
 Persians are the craftiest liars in the whole world!" 
 The visiting party was conducted over the superb 
 marble palace for an hour, little realizing that every one 
 was being scanned by a dozen watchful spies! Even 
 the soldiers, and the carriages, the women servants 
 were now the objects of a greatly enhanced attention! 
 And yet the Persian lion feared the British lion might- 
 ily! Mary Derwent shuddered as she walked with 
 calm face among the frightened attendants! At last 
 an inspiration came to calm her heart! " The woman 
 who found me was probably the one who would be 
 responsible for her loss! And she dares not tell! 
 For she has a head to lose! Poor lima Falka! To 
 owe her one chance of safety to a harem slave's guilty 
 fear of punishment! They dare not charge me with
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 235 
 
 the trick!" And so she thanked God with a happy 
 heart! 
 
 It was indeed true! After an hour the excited 
 Pashas blandly escorted the great English Minister and 
 his party to their carriages! When Sir Henry Arden 
 placed Mary Derwent in her carriage, he gravely whis- 
 pered, "We must never even breathe the girl's name! 
 For while we are in Persia we will be always watched 
 night and day, now! That girl's life depends on our 
 absolute silence! By heaven! you are an angel, and 
 Soltykoff and Denton are gallant fellows! They 
 whipped her away like a flash!" 
 
 There was not a word exchanged, as the anxious 
 women eyed each other, on the long avenue stretch- 
 ing out miles to where Rustem, in blue tiles, was pic- 
 tured slaying his enemies over the great Shimran gate! 
 
 As the Minister's carriage rolled under the great 
 city's portal, Horace Derwent leaned over the side of 
 the carriage and whispered to his wife, "All right, 
 Dolly!" Then Mary Derwent burst into happy tears, 
 as they dashed along in the growing dusk, for Kassim, 
 riding back to the Shimran Palace with an urgent of- 
 ficial message, had made a significant gesture, which 
 told Horace Derwent that a woman's wit had won 
 the day! The Pearl of a Thousand Purses was safe 
 in hiding! And Mustapha, the renegade! He was 
 writhing under the lashing scorn of the Turkish Am- 
 bassador and the Minister of the Household! 
 
 The moment came when Janos Kinsky knew at last 
 that he was in greater peril than the hunted girl, who 
 had fled away from misery and dishonor! The two 
 Moslem dignitaries came back into the room where 
 Mustapha, the renegade, paced the floor like a caged 
 tiger! The eyes of the Persian Minister of the House- 
 hold burned in a ferocious glare as he contemptuously 
 gazed at the parvenu Pasha! 
 
 It was the Turkish Ambassador who strode up to 
 him, and roughly seizing him by the arm, cried out, 
 "Your head answers for this girl's recapture! I will
 
 236 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 send for the guide Kassim and the two women slaves ! 
 You have your own followers! Once across the Shah's 
 threshold, the slave becomes his property forever! At 
 Bayazid, the moment she passed the Persian line, 
 she was no longer yours to sell ! By the beard of the 
 Prophet, you shall never leave Persia till you find her! 
 If you do not you shall be scourged and set at work 
 in chains at the turquoise mines!" 
 
 In vain Mustapha pleaded his innocence! "You are 
 a liar and the son of a dog!" cried the Ambassador. "I 
 know your past! The base part you played in Egypt! 
 Your low cunning! Prankish dog, you were born, 
 and Frankish dog you will die!" Then a deep growl 
 echoed from the angered Minister's bosom. "When 
 the Lord of Lords returns she will be required at my 
 hands! There are two moons yet before his coming'! 
 When I am called into the presence, your head shall 
 be my answer! And your slave Kassim shall lay it at 
 the feet of the Sun of Suns, whom you have robbed!" 
 Turning to the Ambassador, the irate Persian cried, 
 "I will send an officer to bring you the two women! 
 You have the courier in your hands. Question them! 
 Put them to the torture!" And he swept away, leaving 
 Mustapha cowering before the Turkish official, whose 
 passport alone could open the gates of Persia! 
 
 Mustapha threw himself at the official's feet! "Hear 
 me, I beg and pray you, for your own sake! Let but 
 the order be given that no passports shall be given for 
 any foreign woman to leave Teheran and cross the 
 frontiers without personal examination! Give me a 
 band of the Persian Cossacks! I will pursue! I will 
 find her! There is some dark mystery here!" 
 
 The Minister turned away! Then Kinsky handed 
 the angered man his own sabre, as he knelt at his feet! 
 "Strike off my head now if I speak not the truth ! The 
 baby-faced devil has found some secret friends! Let 
 me go forth and find her! Let my head be the for- 
 feit!" Mustapha dreamed of a wild night ride to the 
 coast! "I can bribe Kassim!" he thought "Once
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 237 
 
 out of Teheran, I may escape from these Persian dogs ! 
 Money will buy Kassim! He will aid me to escape 
 them! I can make him rich forever!" 
 
 The Minister was touched by Mustapha's bravery 
 of desperation! "Fool! put up your sword! It is the 
 girl :>nly I want! She must be found! At dawn I will 
 send a dozen of my own men with you! You may 
 search from Serakhs to Bushire, from Kerman to 
 Bayazid! But my men shall lead the search, and the 
 Persian guard shall have orders to strike your head, 
 off, and bring it slung in a sack at a saddlebow if you 
 try to fly! Now, your blood be on your own head! 
 Go!" 
 
 Mustapha, with bowed head, crept away to his 
 splendid prison room. I am lost, unless I find her!" 
 he dejectedly groaned. "Cursed be the blood of 
 Falka!" And again the scars upon his back burned 
 with their olden fire! "She shall meet worse than a 
 thousand deaths ! I will hound her down ! And when 
 she is a cast-off shell she shall die under the lash! I 
 will buy the slave when she is withered! My horse's 
 hoofs shall tread down her corpse in the mire!" And 
 he tossed upon a bed of nettles the livelong night! 
 
 There were three men seated in the most secret room 
 of the Russian Legation that night, when the Turk 
 dismissed the cringing Mustapha! 
 
 The Russian Minister and Sir Henry Arden waited 
 gravely for SoltykofFs recital! The gallant Russian 
 was alone! "Is there any clamor over the escape?" 
 eagerly cried the victorious soldier. "Ah! you little 
 know the deadly Persians!" said the Englishman. 
 "Not a word will escape them, not a gloomy brow 
 will meet any of us! But, myriad spies will night and 
 day watch every European in Teheran! The officials 
 of the smaller cities, the post kahns, the frontiers and 
 the seaports will be all on the watch for every woman 
 who travels under passport! Detention, searching ex- 
 amination and a cruel vengeance will await any poor 
 fugitive ! I have ordered the most absolute official si-
 
 238 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 lence here, even in my family! Countess Falka's life 
 hangs now only on our prudence!" "I have enjoined 
 the same," said the Russian, "and have absolutely for- 
 bidden Soltykoff to dare to signal a word to the 
 friends without, by telegraph! We must not ruin all 
 by any rashness now!" "Her life hangs on a thread, 
 without this added danger," sadly answered Soltykoff! 
 "But Randall and Denton will not leave her for an 
 instant! They alone know her hiding place. Not 
 even those splendid women, the American mission- 
 aries, know who she is, or whence she came. And, 
 alas, she is so worn and changed, her own mother 
 could not recognize her!" Soltykoff' s anguish excited 
 even his cool official listeners. "Tell us of the rescue!" 
 said the hearty English nobleman. "Kassim is a won- 
 derful fellow!" cried the Colonel. "I did not know his 
 many arts until, as Denton and myself watched out- 
 side, the two women unconcernedly approached the 
 guards! I saw by his quick signal that the woman 
 \ve waited for was at last going through the dreadful 
 ordeal! In another instant, a dozen beggars seeking 
 alms dashed into the gateway, and confusedly sur- 
 rounded the two supposed Englishwomen, clamoring 
 loudly! And the merchants of small wares also crowded 
 eagerly around the carriage, pushing and jostling each 
 other! The guard officers had never left their cross- 
 legged Nirvana, and a fierce old sergeant sullenly beat 
 away the rabble! It was in the first Legation carriage 
 that lima now sat, with the maid facing her, as Major 
 Derwent sharply ordered the driver to pass on, and 
 allow her ladyship's own carriage to draw up! With 
 an artful talent, he then grouped his escort around 
 the second vehicle, waiting ceremoniously for the sup- 
 posed coming of the Ambassadress! No one saw the 
 first carriage trundle away. But, before Paul Denton 
 had convulsively grasped my arm, the first carriage 
 had disappeared in safety around the bend and I could 
 see Kassim, in his green turban, quickly trotting 
 along down the road, mounted on a smart mule ! Our
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 239 
 
 own droschky had moved leisurely along, and so, with 
 beating hearts, we cautiously waited till the wall of 
 the Kasr-i-Kajah was left behind us! Then, like the 
 wind, our willing driver raced along, until, in a lonely 
 shadowed place far beyond the wine house, where our 
 own armed followers were concealed, I saw the Brit- 
 ish Legation carriage halted at last. The attendants 
 were apparently busied with the harness ! In twos and 
 threes, Petrovitch's men were now leisurely riding out 
 of the wine house yard, and I then knew that he had 
 seen Kassim's signal to follow and protect our rear. 
 Neither of us dared to speak as our covered droschky 
 halted! It was Paul Denton who thrust the fainting 
 girl into our own carriage, and I was amazed when 
 Kassim sprang in after her! I could not tell you 
 what happened, for lima Falka's arms were clasped 
 around Paul Denton and her broken sobbing was the 
 only sound I heard! Kassim hastily tore off the cloak, 
 veil and bonnet from the girl's head. The man who 
 held his mule quickly passed these articles back to the 
 English maid, and as we rolled along with our cur- 
 tains down, I saw the English servant deliberately en- 
 velop herself in the cast-oft garments of her new mis- 
 tress ! Then the Legation carriage smartly trotted back 
 around the hill to rejoin Sir Henry's official party! 
 There was no dangerous stranger in sight as Kassim 
 deftly enveloped lima in a huge yashmak and then 
 twisted two double veils around her head! 'Be ready 
 now with your arms,' he whispered, as he pulled aside 
 the curtain for a moment and spoke to the disguised 
 Russian driver. The wiry horses made the light car- 
 riage bound along, and I could see through the rear 
 curtain glass that Petrovitch's adroitly scattered troop- 
 ers, now closed up in a solid mass, were smartly prick- 
 ing along behind us. 
 
 " There is a half-way house, where fresh horses 
 await us!' Kassim anxiously said. 'Once inside the 
 Shimran gate, then we are safe !' In his Mollah dress, 
 myself in Persian garb, with Denton in Parsee ser- 
 
 16
 
 240 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 vant's guise, and the muffled woman, who was the 
 type of every Moslem woman who goes abroad, we 
 were only the usual pleasure party of well-to-do deni- 
 zens of Teheran! When we stopped at the half-way 
 house, while the horses were being changed, Kassim 
 clambered up to the roof of the wine house. He came 
 gliding down as swiftly as the serpent! A horse's gal- 
 loping hoofs ceased their clatter as Alan Randall drew 
 up beside us! 'Soldiers are in pursuit!' cried the doc- 
 tor! 'Give your horse to the man who came out with 
 our beasts!' cried Kassim. 'Get up on the box! We 
 may have to fight our way yet! I can see the Persian 
 guards, but, they are miles behind, now!' 
 
 "And, as we raced along, the fresh horses sprang 
 forward as if they knew that a human life was theirs 
 to save ! 'There are no horses in Persia like our picked 
 team, the very best of the Foreign Ambassadors Rus- 
 sian trotters!' said Kassim! While Randall, turning 
 his head, cheered us on with the news that nothing was 
 now within sight, the great battlemented mud walls of 
 Teheran, our haven, loomed up, nearer and nearer! 
 lima was whispering in low tones to Paul Denton as 
 we sat with our arms ready to repel any attack! 
 'Thank God! There is no telegraph to the Kasr-i- 
 Kajar!' cried Randall! 'If no fleet horseman overtake 
 us then we are safe!' 
 
 "But, thank God ! there was not even an eyelid lifted 
 in suspicion as we rolled in under the great mosaic 
 of Rustem, mixed up in a great throng of outgoing 
 and incoming travelers! The scowling Persian guards 
 there leaned lazily on their repeating rifles, vainly seek- 
 ing for the passing giaour to curse and spit after! 
 
 "Driving rapidly through the side streets, Kassim 
 now, prudently, leaped out at a corner, where his own 
 horse awaited him, and made his way back with his 
 report! I had only satisfied myself that lima Falka 
 was really alive when Randall and Denton half led, 
 half dragged her through the little private door of the 
 Missionary Hospital enclosure! It was only half an
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 241 
 
 hour until Kassim returned to meet me at the cafe on 
 the Boulevard, whence another droschky brought me 
 back here! Just before I came here, in the safe sha- 
 dows of the evening, he returned to tell me the report 
 of his own spies at the Rustem arch of the Shimran 
 Gate! A platoon of soldiers had dashed up not half 
 an hour later we passed, and every veiled women en- 
 tering after their coming was interrogated and forced 
 to answer in Persian! For no one dares, even in 
 anger, to raise a woman's veil! The sacredness of 
 Islam's badge!" 
 
 "Ah ! It was a narrow escape ! The Countess Ilma's 
 ignorance of the Persian language would have be- 
 trayed her!" said the Englishman! "From this mo- 
 ment, every woman passing in or out of Teheran will 
 be most strictly examined, and, what is far worse, they 
 will telegraph to every outlet of the Teheran Valley! 
 A thousand fanatics will be searching soon for this lost 
 Pearl of the Harem! Now there is nothing before us 
 but to guard an absolute silence! Not one human 
 being must know of the existence of this poor hunted 
 girl ! Even Kassim, the faithful guide, does not know 
 of her hiding place!" Soltykoff had finished his story 
 of the first act! 
 
 The Minister answered: "It is well! Not one of 
 our party must move around Teheran for a few days! 
 This fellow Mustapha will be the head of the grim 
 hunting pack! As he knows you and Randall, you 
 must both lie perdu !" 
 
 "I have thought of that!" said the Colonel! "Ran- 
 dall will keep Paul Denton secluded within his own 
 rooms at the Medical College! There are only Chris- 
 tian Armenians serving there ! He will have personal 
 medical charge of the girl, who is worn and wasted! 
 She could hardly totter into the gate! One of his 
 evangelical brethren will daily bring me their letters! 
 And he can take my responses back! Kassim will 
 closely watch his renegade master! From the Turkish 
 Ambassador's questions it seems he knows the Per-
 
 242 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 sians are officially aware of the evasion ! Kassim, too, 
 will be kept under secret watch, and Petrovitch must 
 go down after nightfall and meet him at the cafe ! Then 
 we are done for the night!" said the English Minister 
 to his colleague! "You and I must now concert some 
 means to smuggle this poor child out of this danger- 
 ous land! The winter snows will soon be falling! She 
 must get away as soon as she can travel! The Cas- 
 pian is the nearest outlet!" 
 
 "Leave that to me! I have a plan to submit to you 
 both!" cried Soltykoff, as the party broke up. "But, 
 Sir Henry, do not fail to tell your gallant country- 
 woman that whether the Magyar Countess lives or 
 not, she shall know herself yet what a Russian's grati- 
 tude means!" 
 
 "Poor darling child!" mused Serge Soltykoff! "To 
 have to lie to her! She must not know of Arpad's 
 death! She has a weary road before her yet! What 
 dangers to face! Once she is safely on the waters of 
 the Caspian, by heavens! I'll hunt every defile in Per- 
 sia till I track that mad wolf, Mustapha, to bay at last! 
 Then! by God!" The soldier's face relaxed as he 
 thought again of lima Falka, brotherless, fatherless, 
 perhaps now motherless! He had told her the first 
 fable that entered his mind. "Arpad was hunting for 
 the lost one in far away Syria, and it would be long 
 weeks before they dared to communicate with him!" 
 
 The Russian Minister returned alone! "Now, Serge! 
 what can I do?" he said. 
 
 "There is but one thing, Your Excellency! That is 
 to telegraph to Baku to have the 'Olga' await your 
 orders at the mouth of the Jarian River! For Denton, 
 Randall, Petrovitch and I will take this girl out by 
 Asterabad! Then, I wish a perfectly reliable courier!" 
 
 "I send the Legation Bag on to Balfrush to-mor- 
 row at dawn, Serge, under the escort of a sergeant and 
 five Cossacks!" 
 
 "Good ! I will then write to the Governor of Baku, 
 and he will send on the dispatches of her rescue over
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 243 
 
 our own Christian territory to Vienna; Major Fraser 
 Denton alone must know of this good news! For joy 
 can kill as well as sudden sorrows!" 
 
 "Soltykoff ! The courier is yours to dispose of!" said 
 the troubled Minister. "But you will never get that 
 girl out of the country as you propose! Every wan- 
 dering Persian will be a spy upon you!" 
 
 "Ah! Wait and see!" said Serge. "We younger 
 men have conned over every point, and don't forget 
 my own perfect knowledge of every mile of these roads, 
 and of the Persian character! Randall's dozen years 
 of experience, too, have made him half a Moslem in 
 cunning!" 
 
 "You may be right! I will do as you decide! Count 
 on me!" said the Muscovite! "They would secretly 
 assassinate every one in the rescuing party if we 
 claimed her openly! The Moslem mob, once raised, 
 it might be another Cabul massacre!" And so, the 
 game old diplomat left Soltykoff to his letters! 
 
 In the vast enclosures of the darkened American 
 Missionary Hospital grounds, hard by the splendid 
 Mission Buildings, there was but one room where the 
 glow of the night lamp cast its warm tide upon the 
 doubled curtains ! Late into the night, while Soltykoff 
 still toiled at his secret letters of good tidings, a won- 
 dering Armenian nurse looked at Doctor Randall in 
 close scrutiny, seated by the curtained bed where lima 
 Falka now lay! Kneeling there at the bedside, Paul 
 Denton, in an ecstasy of sorrow, gazed upon the wast- 
 ed face of the woman he loved ! Randall held the slen- 
 der wrist as his eye followed the watch, while Denton 
 marked the other slender, helpless hand with its palms 
 and fingers stained with the barbarous henna! The 
 girl's beautiful long hair swept down the pillow with 
 its native gold darkly muddied with the harem dyes! 
 The brutal attendants had not dared to mar her pale 
 cheeks with the painted badges of oriental slavery? 
 For even the Mother of the Maids had eyed the Frank- 
 ish sufferer askance! It was only her pitiful broken
 
 244 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 down listlessness which had induced them to allow 
 the Magyar girl to wander freely in the rose gardens! 
 For such a worn wraith was surely no vision of loveli- 
 ness to tempt the leaden-eyed Shah! Nasr-ed-Din's 
 band of bedizened nymphs were simply robust, overfed, 
 brainless automatons! Randall's face was grave as 
 he whispered: "I must go and prepare some meai- 
 cines! Remember! Not for one single moment do 
 you lose her from sight!" 
 
 The grave young missionary was lost in thought as 
 he passed out to the dispensary! No one saw the 
 watcher, seated alone by the scarcely breathing girl, 
 raise the feeble little hand to his burning .lips! His 
 kisses rained down upon the feverish palm, and bend- 
 ing over her his ear could only catch the faintest mur- 
 murs! It was to a beloved mother she spoke in her 
 dreams, and then she stirred her tired arms to whis- 
 per: "Where is Arpad! Why does he not come!" And 
 sweetest of all those whispered words: "'Paul is com- 
 ing! Paul and Soltykofif! They will save me!" And 
 when Randall returned her lover's hands gently raised 
 the poor girl's head ! Paul Denton dared not question 
 the physician till he felt that he could safely speak! 
 There was an infinite tenderness in his voice when, in 
 the coming gray of the morning, Randall led his anx- 
 ious fellow watcher aside! "We may have here a new 
 enemy to fight a deadly enemy, perhaps, Paul! It is 
 a case of utter collapse! Let us pray that it may not 
 turn to brain fever! But she has youth on her side, and 
 her strength may soon return! Itall depends now upon 
 her awakening!" The tired nurse nodded away in a 
 corner and Denton regularly called Randall every two 
 hours, as the morning came brightening over the 
 Shimran Hills! The watcher of love could neither 
 weary nor sleep! Seated there, near the regained idol 
 of his heart, he marked the veriest flutter of her flick- 
 ering breathing! The draped windows shut out the 
 morning sun, and it was long beyond the noon call of 
 the muezzins, when Paul Denton, for the thousandth
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 245 
 
 time, turning his head to scan the sufferer's pallid face, 
 saw her eyes opened and regarding him in mute won- 
 der! In another moment he was on his knees at her 
 side! "Speak to me, lima! You are safe now! It is 
 Paul!" Her ringers closed gently upon his hand. 
 "Why are you so changed! That dress! Ah! You 
 came to save me! Take me away, Paul! Take me 
 away!" Randall had softly stolen in. His quick ear 
 had caught the low murmurs ! As the girl's head fell 
 back, he cried: "Quick! Aid me! The cordials !" And, 
 childlike, the patient submitted to the same gentle 
 touch that had soothed her on the Euxine! 
 
 There was a happy sigh as her head fell back at last, 
 and Randall gently led Denton from the room! "Take 
 your own rest now! I will be near her every moment! 
 If there is no untoward event, then by evening she 
 will begin to rally ! But not a single breath of excite- 
 ment! Wait, Paul! In another day you may learn 
 from her own lips what you already feel in your heart! 
 You are my patient, too! Remember! We have to 
 make a dash for the Caspian!" 
 
 The long day wore away, as lima Falka slept under 
 the influence of the soothing anodynes of the young 
 missionary's artful selection! Before midnight Col- 
 onel Soltykoff at the Legation knew of the turning 
 of the tide! Each blessed moment of peace seemed 
 to steal into the girl's soul with life-giving vigor ! There 
 was not a ripple of excitement in the European colony! 
 Only one secret message boded coming trouble! The 
 sly Kassim had been confronted before the Turkish 
 Ambassador and the haggard-eyed Mustapha, with the 
 two cowering women slaves from Stamboul. But the 
 woman who had discovered Mary Derwent stoutly 
 maintained that never a glimpse of the young fugitive 
 had greeted her eyes since the Pearl of the Harem 
 walked alone down the flowery paths! "Highness!" 
 wailed the woman. "I was no guardian or watch! I 
 was only bidden to wait upon her! Blame the others!" 
 
 And the aged crone, too, bewailed her sad fafe with
 
 246 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 wringing of the hands! "We were given orders to 
 minister to her wants in the Pavilion, Mighty Pashas ! 
 It was not for us to say if the woman should go or 
 come!" There was truth in their simple words! And 
 Kassim! the sly Kassim, bent his head! "I was but 
 your mute messenger! I was conducted by the guards 
 to where I could see the maiden, and bring you the 
 words given to me from these women! To go and 
 to come! I know nothing whatever! These harem 
 people may have hidden the -woman away ! Or else 
 made away with her! Perhaps she has cast herself in 
 some deep well or tank! Who knows the ways of 
 women slaves? How should a poor roadsman know? 
 Do with me as you will ! I never was bidden to watch 
 over the woman after she went within the gates of the 
 Kasr-i-Kajar! The guards were there!" 
 
 Mustapha now turned upon the haughty Turk in de- 
 fence of his servant! "When I was made a poor pup- 
 pet at Bayazid, neither my followers nor myself could 
 lift a finger! Is it not the truth? They speak aright! 
 Some one has hidden her away up there !" And, em- 
 boldened, he whispered to the covetous Ambassador: 
 "The thousand purses ! Neither you nor I will ever see 
 a single golden crown of them! Think you not that 
 they have betrayed us both?" The Turk's beard curled 
 in rage! "It may be so! It may be so, Mustapha! 
 There shall be search! My parties and theirs! I will 
 claim the money for the slave myself at the hands of 
 Nasr-ed-Din! A Moslem must keep faith with 
 a Moslem! They tell me they have already 
 scoured the country for fifty miles! And there is no 
 news! Then, if they lie not, she is still hidden there, 
 or else here in Teheran! I will have justice!" 
 
 "High Excellency!" cried Mustapha. "There are 
 seventeen palaces and 'andaruns' of the Master of the 
 Faithful in the Shimran Mountains! Do you have 
 search made all over these! And I will scour the city 
 with your trusty men !" And this plan pleased Kassim ! 
 But the dragoman had already told the Moslem Am-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 247 
 
 bassador that no passport for a woman would be is- 
 sued to leave Persia until the return of the great Shah 
 to the glittering capital! "The Persian officers will 
 personally examine every foreign woman who seeks to 
 leave the frontiers!" 
 
 "Ah!" growled Soltykoff, as he dismissed Kassim. 
 "Then there is no thoroughfare! Either we must wait 
 out the long winter here or some last desperate chance 
 may be ours to try! Kassim!" he said, as the guide 
 left! "You must go out with Mustapha! I would 
 know daily of his path ! There is a fortune waiting for 
 you at Baku when you at last bring me face to face 
 with him as I would be! But after that you are ours 
 forever! You must not leave the Russian lines again! 
 The Turks would impale you alive!" 
 
 "He shall not escape you! It is a renegade dog!" 
 said the stern-eyed Kurd! "My life is yours! Kassim 
 never forgets!" 
 
 There was an anxious conference that evening in 
 the splendid halls of the Negaristan ! The Minister of 
 the Household had been hastily summoned before the 
 startled Queen Mother, who was supported by her 
 three haughty sons! The agitated harem official 
 quaked in fear as he threaded the splendid maze of pic- 
 ture galleries, mirrored saloons, marble halls, arcades 
 of fretted Persian stucco, and passed out by the vast 
 colonnades, through the dreamy gardens, to the now 
 trebly-guarded royal "andarun" within the walls of 
 the Teheran citadel. The pellucid tanks of rare porce- 
 lain, with their plashing cascades, wooed him not to 
 repose of soul! He saw not the shimmer of the moon- 
 light, nor heard the bulbul's plaintive song! The splen- 
 dor gleamed there on mosque and kiosk and the splin- 
 tered rays lined up in silver the pencilled minarets! 
 Music floating from hidden bowers soothed not his 
 soul, for he only gazed timorously at the darkened 
 windows of the "Strangler's Room," where three Grand 
 Viziers had once died under the knotted cord! Seated 
 on a dais, with her robes one glitter of great diamonds,
 
 248 LOST COUNTESS PALKA. 
 
 her three stalwart sons gleaming out in kingly 
 trappings, beside her, the Queen Mother coldly lis- 
 tened to the frightened Minister's story of the loss of 
 the Pearl of the Harem! There was an ominous 
 pause! The princes whispered with their august 
 mother! "You know the Shah's displeasure! Our 
 Ambassador telegraphed this woman to be a world 
 wonder !" Slowly the woman spoke out then, with un- 
 pitying eyes! "Had you kept the slave here, within 
 the walls, she would not have escaped! You have 
 four weeks to find her ! You know the price of fail- 
 uref" And the humbled man fled away to seek Mus- 
 tapha! "It is his head or mine nowl We must find 
 the girl!" 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE DOCTOR'S HEGIRA! BETRAYED! A MOSLEM 
 FANATIC! 
 
 Two days later there was a secret council of war in 
 the Russian Legation at Teheran! The Minister had 
 assembled all those upon whom the guarding of lima 
 Falka's life now depended! For the snows were al- 
 ready beginning to sift down upon the Shimran, and 
 the wild passes leading to the Caspian would soon be 
 blocked for the winter. The English Minister, too, 
 lent his grave counsels, while Soltykoff, Paul Denton, 
 Alan Randall and Petrovitch awaited the deciding 
 voice of the protecting diplomatists! Sir Henry Ar- 
 den broke the silence, addressing his colleagues. 
 
 "If there is any safe way to spirit this poor girl out 
 of Persia, we should act at once! My secret service 
 agents tell me that the town is swarming now with 
 governmental spies! The fanatic Mollahs have passed 
 the word of alarm in their secret assemblies! Every 
 unknown woman leaving or entering Teheran is de- 
 liberately questioned! Remember that our sly ser-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 249 
 
 vants, too, are all spies! What do you learn? I fear 
 a coming discovery and a wild riot! Of course we 
 would not give her up ! But are we strong enough to 
 save ourselves? You know Moslem fanaticism as to 
 the sanctity of the harem! 
 
 "Kassim reports that Mustapha has been busied all 
 night in conference with the Turkish Ambassador and 
 the Minister of the Household! Parties of Persian 
 Cossacks are even now sweeping over the valley and 
 every port and pass is carefully watched! The only 
 route open to us is the Caspian ! For this wearied girl 
 would die if we tried to smuggle her over to India ! To 
 try to return by Bayazid, Bagdad or the Gulf at 
 Bushire, would be simply madness! And we would 
 be deprived of the aid of the Anglo-Indian Telegraph ! 
 They will watch that now! It is not a case of choice! 
 We must act at once and take the least risks, on the 
 shortest route! I am willing to place my whole force 
 at Colonel Soltykoff's disposal! The first questions 
 are: Is she safe in her hiding place now? Can she bear 
 the fatigues of travel?" 
 
 All eyes were turned to Doctor Randall, who slowly 
 replied: "There is not a single Parsee or Moslem 
 allowed to enter the hospital grounds! Countess 
 Falka is hidden in our private ward for our own mis- 
 sionary sick ! So treachery seems impossible ! I rely also 
 on your promise to defend the mission enclosure with 
 your joint escorts!" The Ministers bowed their as- 
 sent! "I have further taken my own precautions! I 
 have destroyed every article the poor girl brought from 
 her hideous place of captivity! Her beautiful hair has 
 been closely cropped! And to eradicate the henna, 
 kohl and daubing of these women afrites, I have 
 stained her head, arms and feet with a native walnut 
 brown! The devoted woman who nurses her is an 
 Armenian who saw her whole family butchered by 
 these beasts! But, as a further precaution, even she 
 shall not leave the private ward and its walled garden 
 till the Austrian is far over the border 1"
 
 250 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 The two Ministers, in a breath, asked: "Can she 
 stand the rough travel?" 
 
 "Ah!" answered Randall. "There is the gravest 
 question! She is rapidly gaining in bodily strength, 
 but the effects of the long continued drugging linger! 
 Her mind is still confused ! Her long confinement and 
 the distorted glimpses of her strange path have grave- 
 ly unsettled her memory ! I am controlling her excite- 
 ment with medicines, and I fear nothing now but the 
 effect of some sudden shock! She must not know of 
 her mother's condition or of her brother's death ! But 
 in a few days I think that she might be made ready 
 for the road! Could you reach the border in two 
 weeks, Colonel?" 
 
 Soltykoff and Petrovitch exchanged glances! And 
 then the Russian noble spoke with decision. "If she 
 is able to support even ordinary fatigue I can reach 
 the point where the steamer should be in ten days!" 
 
 "Then I will engage to have her ready for you in 
 a week!" said the doctor. "There is but one way for 
 her to travel! Every woman is scanned and scrutin- 
 ized. She must go out in man's attire!" 
 
 "Can you thoroughly disguise her?" anxiously said 
 Sir Henry Arden! "A beautiful young woman!" 
 
 "Ah! There's little beauty left to tempt Shah or 
 Pasha now!" said the doctor. "But as to her dis- 
 guise, Soltykoff and I know every costume and habit 
 of the orient, learned in our years of wandering here! 
 And as we stake our lives on it, you may trust us !" 
 
 "Then we are all of one mind !" said the Briton. "We 
 will leave the whole details to you, and support you in 
 every way in our power!" 
 
 The Russian Minister said: "This must be our last 
 general meeting! The Legations are all secretly 
 watched ! I will send a couple of my couriers out now 
 over the road proposed, and also have a couple of 
 others started backward hither at the same time! Solty- 
 koff has Petrovitch's reliable troops! I will get pass- 
 ports for the whole under pretense of the annual re-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 251 
 
 lieving of my Legation Guard! We can also assem- 
 ble some trusty disguised followers in motley garb, 
 and these four men must not fail in this dash! I have 
 induced the other Foreign Ministers to send their la- 
 dies on visits to the various 'andaruns' here within the 
 walls ! The visit to the Shimran will seem to have been 
 only one of a European woman's curiosity! And once 
 in sight of the Caspian the 'Olga' will land her armed 
 crew to promptly support Colonel Soltykoff. I know," 
 he faintly smiled, "that no subordinate Persian will 
 dare to come into armed collision with the Czar's of- 
 ficials guarded by our own troops!" 
 
 "Count on me for anything I can do !" said the hearty 
 Englishman. "It is better that I know nothing more 
 as to details, for my Legation ladies are all burning to 
 know what I dare not tell them! What man can resist 
 a clever woman's ways? I will await your own per- 
 sonal visit, and strongly advise no outgoings after this 
 of these two principals ! All depends now on you two ! 
 You tell me that this renegade, Mustapha, has famil- 
 iarized himself with the faces of Colonel Soltykoff 
 and Doctor Randall! There is the one danger! These 
 fellows are devils in cunning! And the fierce Persian 
 horde will die in this holy cause if alarmed!" 
 
 "No one shall know of our route or of our time of 
 departure ! We will steal out of the city in small par- 
 ties, and Randall and I will alone disguise the girl, and 
 after that no Moslem shall have a chance to speak to 
 her!" This was Soltykoff's last promise! "It is the 
 only way we can protect her. For detention would 
 ruin us!" 
 
 Two weeks later the palace menials of Teheran were 
 all busied hastily preparing for a magnificent fete of 
 welcome ! For the Lord of Lords and King of Kings 
 was now hastening back from Shiraz! The city of Te- 
 heran was ready to blaze out in gaudy illuminations of 
 rejoicing when the signal guns on the Artillery Square 
 should announce that Nasr-ed-Din was again seated 
 upon the golden pavilion of the Peacock Throne ! The
 
 252 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 pious Mollahs imploring Allah and hoarsely chanting 
 in the mosques gave thanks for the return of the Mas- 
 ter of the Faithful! The motley guards were being 
 mustered for review, and the huge throng of cour- 
 tiers now eyed every movement of the Royal Princes! 
 The Queen Mother awaited her polygamous son and 
 ruler in the splendid "andarun" of the citadel! Al- 
 ready the lissom-limbed houris of the harem were clus- 
 tered waiting in their rosy bowers, and the famous 
 subterranean baths were tenanted by the stars of the 
 odalisques! Tulips and irises decorated the great 
 apartments, and attar of roses was scenting the air in 
 the rooms where the gazelle-eyed slaves awaited the 
 royal wooer! The great open air theater was all ready 
 for the barbaric passion plays of the Imperial mum- 
 mers, and in far Sultanetabad and the Kasr-5-Kajar the 
 busy lackeys were clustered like flies! All Teheran 
 thrilled in the general joy! 
 
 In the great Talar, the pillared porch of white marble 
 with its lion-guarded steps, upbore on its dazzling plat- 
 form the far-famed throne! The generals and courtiers 
 thronged the vast halls of the palaces where the Treas- 
 ure Room, the Porcelain Rooms, the Armory, the Pic- 
 ture Gallery, the Council Chamber and the Room of 
 Offerings exhibited all the hoarded treasures of the 
 Kajar dynasty! Pasha and aga, guard and equerry 
 thronged the illuminated halls! Armed attendants 
 were stationed before each low domed recess, where 
 in the long parallelograms the crystal doors shut off 
 the heaped up glittering spoil of Ormuz and the Ind! 
 For a stern-faced man, a mighty hunter, an imperious 
 despot, a cold-eyed, sensual autocrat was now hasten- 
 ing back to the lazy delights of the vast pavilion of blue 
 tiles, lit up with its swinging silver lamps! The grotto 
 of a Thousand Delights was waiting where the glow- 
 ing naiads were sporting on the marble slide which 
 led their tempting nakedness into the perfumed crys- 
 tal waters! 
 
 The Queen Mother, in a last anxious consultation
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 253 
 
 with the royal princes, was troubled at heart as they 
 sat waiting the Shah's coming in the bowers of 
 the Gulistan! Her three sons were gloomy and de- 
 pressed! The sudden homecoming of the great Shah 
 had defeated their cherished hopes of first recovering 
 the lost Pearl of the Harem the woman whose vaunt- 
 ed beauty was the presumed cause of the Shah's 
 sudden arrival! The "Prince Felicitious," the shadow 
 of the king, his brother; the Lieutenant of the King- 
 dom, and the Heir Apparent, all Sultans in title, se- 
 cretly trembled at the wrath to come! "Allah grant 
 that our Lord and Master go at once to his own 'an- 
 darun' of the Negaristan, and not out to Kasr-i- 
 Kajar!" grumbled the eldest Sultan, who already had 
 felt a father's wrath. "For heads will fall," he said, 
 "if he be angered!" And so they lingered there in 
 fear, not in love, for the appearance of the leaden- 
 eyed debauchee! The Lord of the Lion and the Sun 
 was within two days' march of Teheran, when Kassim 
 had stealthily dodged into the Russian Legation! 
 
 Soltykoff was busied with the mysterious prepara- 
 tions for the flitting! He sprang to his feet as the 
 faithful Kurd announced his own departure for the 
 deserts! "The Shah is even now almost at the gates! 
 Now Mustapha Pasha leaves under orders to-night to 
 search as far as the passes of the Elburz! He is al- 
 most frantic with rage and fear, and he has bidden me 
 go with him ! The rest of his followers he leaves here ! 
 He will have to abandon them ! For I know now that 
 he works only to save his head ! A troop of the Cos- 
 sacks of the Persian Guard go with us! I have divined 
 his plans! He would lead the troops into the denies 
 toward Reshd and Balfrush ! Then his own plan is to 
 secretly escape, for he has offered me gold and jewels 
 to have the Kurds here send out to their mountain- 
 eers and be ready to guide him out of Persia by the 
 Caspian, whence the first boat will bear him away, or 
 else over into the mountains of Armenia at Astara ! He 
 will have false orders sent after him to the troops to
 
 254 LOST COUNTESS FALKA, 
 
 follow on some other fancied clue, while we two men 
 escape alone! But for all this, you must fly at once! 
 For the whole band of Persian officials now fear the 
 Shah's wrath! Now is the time for you to get away 
 in the confusion of the king's return! And I perhaps 
 may see you no more!" mourned Kassim! "I had de- 
 signed to desert to your own body of followers, to 
 change my guise and to never cross into Moslem lands 
 again! I would serve your Czar in Trans-Caucasia! 
 But, now, Mustapha drags me away with him !" 
 
 "That is well, Kassim!" cried Soltykoff, who was 
 still in his Persian garb. "But your best work is to 
 cleave closely to this man ! I would myself follow him 
 later to the death! The Governor of Baku will have 
 my orders concerning you! If you do reach Kurdistan 
 or cross the frontier, the news of where he hides shall 
 then make your fortune! I will have the Russian Gov- 
 ernor at Baku house you there till I can come! You 
 must escape from Mustapha! Now you will find an 
 order waiting there at Baku for the gold I promised! 
 But if we should meet again, if we are driven by pur- 
 suit near you, then steal away at once from Mustapha 
 and come over to us ! He has no real power now, and 
 you can ride as a disguised trooper with Petrovitch in 
 the ranks! We have already all our passports for the 
 whole command! I must now leave you! Remem- 
 ber! Your fortune is in your own hands! Watch 
 over him that he does us no secret harm !" 
 
 The Kurd's eyes glittered ominously! "I will stab 
 him to the heart or poison his cup before he lifts a 
 single hand against you!" said the secret agent! "I am 
 a Russian for life when I am free! I will faithfully do 
 your bidding!" And the guide departed! He waits 
 every moment now for his departure! But at the 
 door he paused, and, running back, whispered: "He 
 would lead them off the scent to Casveen, and then, 
 in secret, float down the Kizil Uzen River and get 
 away by a fisher boat on the Caspian from some vil- 
 lage near Reshd! He fears only for his head!" Kas-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 255 
 
 s:'m bounded away! For he feared the lynx-eyed spies 
 of the angered Mollahs! 
 
 Then, Serge Soltykoff sprang into Denton's room 
 to rouse him. "We must be away at daylight, Paul!" 
 he cried. "As soon as the city gates open! Now, 
 without a word to a single human being, betake your- 
 self to the Hospital! I will give Captain Petrovitch 
 my last orders, and take my leave of the English Am- 
 bassador! The time has come to act! The troops 
 will await us at the city gate!" 
 
 Soltykoff could not go out to the final ordeal with- 
 out a word of adieu to the brave Englishwoman who 
 had braved an instant death to save lima Falka's life! 
 It was eight o'clock when Soltykoff left the English 
 Embassy, and the missionary gardens were shrouded 
 in darkness when the Russian sought out the private 
 ward! Denton awaited him at the door! In an ante- 
 room, Alan Randall watched on guard over the door 
 to the room where lima Falka was hidden ! As the two 
 men entered Randall raised a warning finger! "She is 
 sleeping! She needs all the strength we can give her! 
 All is ready for a start at four o'clock ! We must be 
 out of the Shimran gate before sunrise! Are your 
 troops ready?" 
 
 "All is ready, and I have spoken the last word !" said 
 Soltykoff! "Petrovitch answers for all now, and we 
 have already our own couriers spread out along the 
 line from Demavend Pass to Asterabad! Petrovitch 
 has two splendid riding camels, several extra riding 
 animals for us, and all the stores! Are you ready?" 
 
 "Perfectly!" said Randall! "We have taken the an- 
 nual passports to visit and inspect all our outlying mis- 
 sionary stations! One of the missionaries will go! I 
 will know who at midnight! Probably Doctor Ed- 
 wards, who has never seen Asterabad! The carriage 
 with a cavasse will go with us as far as possible be- 
 yond the Shimran Hills! From there we must trust to 
 the Persian camel litter for Countess lima!" 
 
 17
 
 :56 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 There was soon an anxious silence in the pavilion 
 after Soltykoff had asked one last question. 
 
 "Does your friend Edwards know of our danger- 
 ous charge?" 
 
 Randall frankly said: "I left that for him to find 
 out after we are well over the Elburz! Remember! 
 No one knows of her real character here! I dared not 
 tell them! The local colony are justly timid in such 
 treacherous surroundings! Edwards will have to keep 
 our secret, but, he has yet to find it out! He only 
 knows that I go disguised for fear of the resentment of 
 a great Persian Pasha whom I have unluckily offend- 
 ed!" The stars were paling in the early dawn while 
 the party silently roused up and quickly arrayed them- 
 selves for the road! Soltykoff and Denton noiselessly 
 directed the loading of the packs, as the little train of 
 animals was mustered before the door of the pavilion! 
 In lima Falka's curtained room, the Armenian woman 
 was busied with arranging the maiden's disguise ! Not 
 a moment was lost when the missionary carriage drew 
 up at the door! Alan Randall then led out a muffled 
 form, followed by a seeming Persian attendant! The 
 man mounted and the carriage smartly approached 
 the main gate, hidden in its bosky trees! The attend- 
 ants stood by ready to unbar the heavy doors! "We 
 will pick up Doctor Edwards at the other gate!" said 
 Randall, as the doors swung back! There was a start 
 of surprise as two mounted figures appeared before 
 them! It was just light enough for Soltykoff to dis- 
 tinguish the English wife's bright face, as her husband 
 hastily aided her to dismount! While he gave their 
 horses to his two servants, Mary Derwent sprang in- 
 to the covered carriage! And Paul Denton, gazing in 
 amazement, heard the sobs of the two young women 
 mingling in a last good-bye! It was but a few moments 
 that the carriage was halted, but it told the whole story 
 of the daring Englishwoman's loving devotion to the 
 one who was to run the gauntlet! "We'll ride back 
 later, when the gardens are opened!" said Horace
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 257 
 
 Derwent! "Good luck to you, Soltykoff, and God be 
 with you!" The great gates closed upon them with a 
 clang! The pack train was already a half mile away, 
 and without a word, the missionary companion of the 
 journey seated himself in the carriage as it passed be- 
 fore the residence gates! Then on through the heart 
 of the slumbering city the splendid horses sped away, 
 past the closed Legations, on beyond the European 
 quarter, and was soon mingled in the great throng of 
 mules and asses, panier laden, streaming in through 
 the opened Shimran gate! Soltykoff, Randall and 
 Paul Denton sat as watchful as bandits in waiting for 
 the signal, their arms ready, while a drowsy Persian 
 guard officer fumbled over the papers which the ca- 
 vasse briskly presented! One glance of keen scrutiny 
 within the carriage satisfied the Persian there were no 
 women within! The papers were all in regular order, 
 and the officer gravely pocketed a golden guinea ! The 
 driver lashed his horses up and hastened away in the 
 wake of the gray-coated column of Russian troopers 
 which was now easily jogging along in advance. There 
 was nothing to tempt to conversation, and not even 
 stout Petrovitch, nodding over his chargers ahead, 
 gazed at the vehicle as it swept on, in its easy traveling 
 stride! They were on the road! That long road to 
 the sea! 
 
 Soltykoff rode a Turkish saddle, and was the beau 
 ideal Persian merchant of prosperous standing, as he 
 gravely guided his stout charger steadily on! The 
 sun rose brightly over the blue hills to the east and 
 the deserted road soon began to be alive with the hum- 
 bler village travelers! The Russian Colonel dropped 
 behind his party and Captain Petrovitch ranged up be- 
 side him! 
 
 "So far, so good!" laughed the gallant young cav- 
 alryman! "What are your orders?" 
 
 "Let us move on steadily till we pass the Kasr-i- 
 Kajar, and the last line of country houses on the Shim- 
 ran! The guards there will naturally note your col-
 
 258 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 umn in passing! Let us gain a few hundred yards 
 in the lead there, but once over the hills, then we must 
 cover every mile that we can for the next three days ! 
 Once through the pass of Demavend, I will give you 
 the cue ! For you will surely be followed by their spies, 
 and we must try to throw them off the track ! Let your 
 men straggle along easily till we pass the harem guards 
 at Kasr-i-Kajar!" 
 
 Paul Denton, riding at the side of the carriage, held 
 his breath when the straggling little cavalcade passed 
 the gate from which lima Falka had been smuggled 
 out! There was no unusual feature in the slender pack 
 train, the three nodding camels with the litter and camp 
 equipage, and the half dozen nondescript riders! But 
 the frowsy soldiers clustered around the gate to gaze 
 in wonder at the Czar's horsemen whose men were the 
 very counterpart of their own model regiment! Their 
 Christian enemies! Long gray coat, astrakan turban, 
 diagonally slung sabre, with the gleaming rows of 
 cartridges on their breasts, and high cavalry boots, 
 their Berdan rifles and the heavy Smith & Wesson pis- 
 tols, made them the very double of the picked body 
 guard of Nasr-ed-Din! 
 
 "Where go you?" courteously demanded a Persian 
 officer, as Petrovitch drew up his men, and saluted in 
 passing the proudly flaunted royal ensign! The wily 
 young Russian gravely replied: "To the coast! To 
 Balfrush, or to Reshd, from there! We embark for 
 Baku! We may have a steamer at Balfrush, or take 
 a boat to Reshd! This guard has been relieved and 
 goes to Russia !" 
 
 "Infidel dogs!" cried the officer, as the troops 
 passed on over the knolls which hid Soltykoff's cara- 
 van ! "They should be closely followed ! Spied upon ! 
 Perhaps, they mean us some harm!" But he had 
 learned that they had the proper royal road passports, 
 and he returned to his beads and his narghileh ! 
 
 When Soltykoff rode up to Denton, after the long 
 walls of the harem prison were left far behind, he
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 259 
 
 asked in a low voice: "lima?" "Sleeping, thank God!" 
 cried the American, whose agitated heart began to 
 beat freely, as they lost the danger signal of that Per- 
 sian royal ensign from view! "She is in a singular 
 state!" He did not know of Alan Randall's merciful 
 sedatives, secretly administered. For, there were toils 
 and fatigues unknown and many hidden dangers 
 awaiting them in the rocky passes of Demavend, where 
 the early October winds were whirling down the light 
 powdered snow from the lofty parapets! 
 
 "We will not halt till we are well over the range!" 
 cried Soltykoff ! "Every mile made now is an added 
 guarantee!" And his heart beat high in hope as he 
 turned to see the head of Soltykoffs column following 
 behind within rifle range! There had not been the 
 slightest communication between the straggling cara- 
 van and the Russian troopers! 
 
 They had now left the railroad ending at Shah Ab- 
 dieh far behind. The line of country houses, summer 
 Legation cottages and Persian palaces was veiled from 
 sight on the sunset side of the Shimran long before 
 Soltykoff dared to halt his caravan! There was need 
 to rest at last and feed the jaded animals, while Petro- 
 vitch, with a soldier's eye to his troop horses, made a 
 midday rest down below them in the road! For they 
 artfully kept within plain sight of the strong-armed 
 party ! The mountain road was thronged with crowds 
 of footmen and horsemen ! Caravans of laden camels, 
 their heads proudly decked with tinsel and bells, way- 
 farers on asses, mules and stocky little Persian steeds ! 
 From the passing merchant and soldier to the green- 
 turbaned Mollah, every grade of rags and dress of 
 skin and gaudy stuff was visible as the motley mass 
 poured by, seeking to reach Teheran's gates before 
 nightfall! Astrakan turban, peaked Persian cap, 
 white and green Moslem headgear, the red fez and the 
 brown felt peasant conical hats bobbed along the wind- 
 ing stretches of the mountain road! Soltykoff had 
 found a cool spring in the shade of a grove where he
 
 260 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 gathered up his followers! Doctor Edwards gazed in 
 astonishment at the singular appearance of the silent 
 traveling companion in the carriage. At nightfall, the 
 comfortable conveyance must be sent back, and the 
 surprised missionary easily divined the uses for the 
 empty camel litters of the party ! The responsible head 
 of the party recognized the presence of the Armenian 
 nurse woman in a nondescript disguise! Of the hum- 
 blest village class, she was no object of interest in a 
 land of a thousand varying costumes, and forty differ- 
 ent mingled races and tribes! 
 
 But, there was the tall, slender youth, clad in a long 
 Persian shepherd's sheepskin coat, reaching to the 
 heels! Yellow Persian leather boots and a conical 
 lambskin cap drawn down to the ears finished the 
 dress, belted by a shepherd's twisted girdle! A long 
 brown neck scarf of coarse camel's hair cloth was cast 
 aside by the stranger seated on the grass in the midst 
 of the European travelers! The matter of fact mis- 
 sionary was secretly disturbed at heart! He was not 
 cast in a mould of adventure-loving romance! There 
 was a tell-tale courtesy in the treatment of the mys- 
 terious youth, and when the rough skin gauntlets were 
 removed for a moment the missionary saw the slender 
 and delicate hands of the Magyar patrician girl! 
 
 "He drew Randall aside, as the hasty meal was fin- 
 ished and the carriage animals were put again in har- 
 ness! Soltykoff was urging his party for an immedi- 
 ate departure, as a throng of the wayfarers were gath- 
 ering, waiting in turn to water their animals at the 
 spring! "I dislike all mystery, Randall!" testily said 
 the hoodwinked doctor. "You are taking some dan- 
 gerous risks here! It is easy to see that this young 
 person is a woman! What does it mean?" 
 
 "Hush! For God's sake!" the young doctor an- 
 swered, gripping his arm! "You will see nothing of 
 her after she goes in the camel litter! And in a few 
 days, the whole affair will be explained! It's a matter 
 of life and death! Trust to me!" 

 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 261 
 
 The disconcerted missionary grumbled. "Well, I 
 will wait, but this masquerading puts us in bad odor 
 with the authorities!" 
 
 They hastened to their places as the leading animals 
 drew out! The carriage was already tenanted by the 
 two disguised women and the caravan smartly pricked 
 along the still practicable carriage road! "I wash my 
 hands of all responsibility!" grumbled Edwards, as he 
 glared at the silent form of the slender youth who 
 had again enveloped himself in the fleecy folds of the 
 brown scarf! The troopers of Petrovitch were strag- 
 gling at will along the road, their commander with a 
 knot of picked men purposely lingering below till 
 Soltykoff should have gained a convenient advance ! 
 
 As Soltykoff sprang on his horse Denton and Rash- 
 dall rode up to him for orders! The three men lin-- 
 gered a moment! "Paul! You must not show your 
 tender solicitude for this dear girl!" sharply said the.- 
 Colonel! "Remember our bond! Absolute silence if 
 the safety of all till we cross the Jarian River! Ran- 
 dall, look well to this! One false motion might be- 
 tray us! To-night we camp at the foot of the pass, 
 and then we will send back the carriage in the morn- 
 ing! After lima enters the camel litter she must only 
 dismount when her tent is pitched ! The noonday halts 
 might be dangerous! 
 
 "Our intercourse might betray us! I will see that 
 no one approaches us near enough hereafter to note 
 your involuntary courtesies!" They rode smartly on 
 after the carriage! 
 
 When they had turned the angle of the road, a lean 
 yellow Moslem sprang out from the shaded thicket 
 behind the spring! His green turban showed him of 
 the Prophet's blood and his eyes gleamed with a fero- 
 cious hatred! "Accursed Christian dogs!" he snarled, 
 as he quickly ran across the road to where a lad 
 watched his grazing horse! The last stragglers of 
 SoltykofTs party were just vanishing around the bend! 
 "They go to the Pass of Demavend! They may be
 
 262 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 caught before they reach the coast!" Abdallah, the 
 .Mollah, clapped his hands and frantically urged on the 
 saddling of his horse! "Blessed be the hour of noon- 
 day prayer!" the fierce fanatic cried! "It must be the 
 lost one! I must ride like the wind!" The lithe young 
 fanatic was a Hadji! In his voyage to Bushire and to 
 far Mecca and Medina, he had watched the giaour dogs 
 gathered around their ladies on the decks, while he 
 sat cross-legged in prayer on the decks below! Hid- 
 den apart from the dusty road for his devotions, he had 
 watched this strange party of travelers ! The one per- 
 son in European garb was instantly recognized by him 
 as one of the hated missionaries, but, when the slim 
 young Persian camel boy strode to the carriage the 
 hidden fanatic saw the elastic strides of the graceful 
 youth! A slender hand was uncovered for one fatal 
 moment, and Abdallah had noted Denton's too tender 
 care of the supposed peasant lad! He greatly mar- 
 velled as he crouched upon his praying rug, but the 
 last colloquy betrayed the whole scheme of flight! 
 "These be disguised feringhees! And, the slim youth 
 is surely one of the Prankish women !" A mighty burst 
 of joy swelled in his heart, for he had ridden out as far 
 as the Pass of Demavend to search for tidings of the 
 Lost Pearl of the Harem! As he sprang on his horse 
 he shouted in exultation 'There are soldiers at Kasr- 
 i-Hijar! They shall pursue these dogs and bring them 
 back! For, they are disguised and speak the accursed 
 tongue of the English! But their priest is one of the 
 New World!" His light robes streamed out as he 
 pressed his light Persian steed to the gallop! 
 
 "I can reach Kasr-i-Hijar by nightfall ! And the sol- 
 diers can overtake them in the Pass of Demavend!" 
 
 Away like the wolf on the track of the hunter, the 
 gleaming-eyed fanatic rode, his green turban shining in 
 the afternoon sun! Poised lightly in his saddle, he 
 leaned forward as the fierce swordsmen of Ali thunder- 
 ing down upon the Christian foe! "A hundred purses 
 are mine if it be the Prankish slave ! And vengeance
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 263 
 
 for the breaking into the 'andarun!' It is these beasts 
 of Franks ! They would rob the King of Kings !" And 
 the messenger of vengeance spurred on his horse with 
 bleeding rowels! 
 
 lima Falka had thrown herself down on the piled 
 rugs in the little tent pitched for her and twenty stout 
 hearts watched the little bivouac, pitched in a glen at 
 the farther foot of the Shimran Mountains, when Ab- 
 dallah, the Hadji Mollah, at last rode breathlessly into 
 the great gate of Kasr-i-Hijar! An excited group 
 quickly listened to his story, as he urged the dispatch 
 of soldiers after the fugitives! "It may not be done 
 so!" said the grave commander of the Palace Guard! 
 "These soldiers of the Russians are hovering near to 
 these Franks! And the Cossacks of the Russian Em- 
 bassy go to Balfrush to sail homeward to Baku on the 
 Caspian! There is abundant time! For these Franks 
 you would bring back will part company with them, at 
 Demavend !" He clapped his hands and bade the swift- 
 est carriage be made ready ! "Let this pious Mollah's 
 horse be well cared for, and his boy who comes on 
 after with his mule ! We go to the Ark to see the Min- 
 ister of the Household ! And he will give such orders 
 as pleases our great master! There must not a word 
 be spoken of this! These Franks must be trapped! 
 Let the Russians get once well on their way, and then 
 no one will know ! We will arrest the carriage and ex- 
 amine it when it comes back from the end of the road !" 
 
 The late travelers on the road made way as two swift 
 outriders galloped ahead of the palace carriage where- 
 in Abdallah told his story of the espionage from his 
 place of prayer! "By the Beard of the Prophet! Hadji 
 Mollah!" said the old officer, "the Minister will make 
 you a rich man for life if this be true!" 
 
 The silver moonlight gleamed down on the superb- 
 ly illuminated palaces within the walls of Teheran as 
 they approached! Negaristan's domes and halls stood 
 lined out in living light, and the fairy gardens of the 
 Gulistan were vocal with the voluptuous music of the
 
 264 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 French bands! Springing from the carriage, the of- 
 ficer signed to the fierce Abdallah to hasten! The 
 guards led them at once to the presence of the man 
 who now trembled for his head! Too late the Minis- 
 ter had seen his fatal error in sending Mustapha forth, 
 for the Lord of Lords had now returned, and was even 
 now dallying in the marble "andarun," where the dark- 
 eyed beauties eagerly waited for their Imperial master! 
 
 "There may yet be time!" cried the Minister, as he 
 hastily sent for the official in charge of the Telegraph. 
 "Mustapha and the troops are but one day on the road 
 to Casveen. They shall be recalled by telegraph ! The 
 troops to wait at Kasr-i-Hijar! Let them ride night 
 and day! There will be fresh horses at the palace for 
 them! Mustapha must be ordered to come here with- 
 out drawing rein! He can be sent out to the hills in 
 my carriage! He is the only one who knows this wom- 
 an! They can be easily caught beyond the Pass of 
 Demavend!" The telegraph operator darted away as 
 the Minister's heart beat in a new found happiness! 
 "This will save me !" he mused, "for, the King of Kings 
 will require the woman now at Mustapha's hands! And 
 his head shall answer for her now! I must see the 
 Vali Ahd; he is the Shah's favorite, and he alone, can 
 break his father's storm of wrath!" Bidding the guard 
 officer and the Mollah await his orders in his private 
 apartments, the Minister gave orders for their splendid 
 entertainment! "Abdallah shall lead on the chase with 
 this Mustapha Pasha!" cried the wary Minister, "ilest 
 the renegade dog play us false !" 
 
 The snouts and songs of rejoicing rang around the 
 great palaces of the Negaristan that night, while Mus- 
 tapha Pasha was sweeping back from the first station 
 on the Casveen road with a ferocious glee! "Ride! 
 Ride! Kassim!" he cried. "There is fortune, honor, 
 vengeance before us now!" And, Kassim stealthily 
 plotted in his mind as to the time to strike the fatal 
 blow! "Not yet!" he muttered! "For there are others 
 also on the trail! I will go with him and try to out-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 265 
 
 wit him! For I may warn them, perhaps! I may save 
 them at the last! He shall live till the time decreed 
 by the Fates!" 
 
 While the grim renegade rode back swiftly in the 
 night to take up the chase, and Abdallah, the Mollah 
 dreamed of forfeit Christian heads and of his com- 
 ing riches, the rescued Hungarian girl slept peacefully 
 in the far off defile under the very shadows of Dema- 
 vend, breathing the air of freedom! There was no 
 sound save the neighing of a charger from the camp 
 of Petrovitch hard by, where sentinels walked in the 
 night watches, doubling the force of her own volun- 
 teer body guard ! Paul Denton's lover heart was un- 
 der the stern restraint of discipline ! "Wait ! lima, darl- 
 ing! Wait till we see the sea!" he had whispered, as 
 he stole in to kiss her hand in the silence of their first 
 night of the hegira! 
 
 The three watchful men in the midnight sat around 
 their camp fire with Petrovitch, who had wandered in 
 from his station near by! In low tones they spoke 
 of the road before them and of all its hidden dangers! 
 "I will say nothing of the future march till we are on 
 the Caspian slope!" was Petrovitch's last remark, as 
 he listened gravely to their plans ! "But, I will say that 
 I am in favor of making a dash for Balfrush, the very 
 moment we are clear of the mountains ! I can reach it 
 in three days! There is always some one of our ves- 
 sels there ! Hurry the girl aboard and then put to sea 
 at once, even in one of the Persian boats ! She will be 
 safe there! It's a long march to Asterabad! If we 
 should be followed on that ten days' march, what 
 then?" 
 
 "Fight them to the death!" cried Soltykoff, fiercely! 
 "Ah! That would not save Countess lima Falka!" said 
 the gallant Russian cavalryman as he picked up his 
 sabre, and then strode away, lost in his anxious fore- 
 bodings. 
 
 The watch fires were burning brightly long before 
 dawn before the tents where Soltykoff waited to rouse
 
 266 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 the camp! Long before lima Falka's sleep was brok- 
 en, the carriage was on its way back to Teheran! "If 
 questioned be sure to say that we have gone to Anima- 
 bad, and the south side of the Elburz!" was the Col- 
 onel's last injunction! The camp was ready for the 
 road when lima Falka stepped out of her little tent! 
 Alan Randall's watchful care had provided the morn- 
 ing meal, deftly arranged by the Armenian woman! 
 "Now for the Pass!" whispered Soltykoff, as lima was 
 bestowed in the camel litter! "To-morrow night we 
 sleep at Assur, over the Elburz!" 
 
 They were long miles on the road before the sun 
 leaped up beyond the Elburz, and lima slept wrapped 
 in her light fur coverings, behind the closed coverings 
 of the basket litter! It was lightly balanced on the 
 other side, and a trusty Russian led the splendid camel ! 
 The second animal bore the Armenian woman, while 
 a third rejoiced in freedom, ready to serve at need! 
 
 "Now! Petrovitch!" cried SoltykofT, as the two men 
 rode on watch at the rear. "Let us make every mile 
 that we can in these two days! Once beyond Assur 
 we are safe! Not a human being must approach us! 
 Give your troopers all their secret orders! We must 
 repel intrusion by force!" 
 
 And they were soon swallowed up in the winding- 
 glens leading to the long, lofty ridge which now di- 
 vided them from the Caspian, where the steamer 
 "Olga" waited even now for the fugitives! At five 
 o'clock in the evening, Soltykoff, rising in his stirrups, 
 caught the first glance of the Caspian slopes through a 
 notch in the mountains! "There is our thoroughfare! 
 There is the way homeward ! And there, the blue and 
 white cross waits for us!" Every heart bounded in a 
 mad joy as they hurried on ! 
 
 Paul Denton spurred up his horse to join in the 
 sight! "It is wonderful, Serge!" he cried. "She seems 
 to gain life and vigor with every onward step! To 
 freshen, every mile!" 
 
 Grave Alan Randall joined them. "Not one need-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 267 
 
 less word to excite or distract her! We are still in the 
 enemy's country, remember!" Randall did not impart 
 to his companions the vigorous remonstrances of Doc- 
 tor Edwards, who had already decided not to join the 
 risks of the party beyond Assur! "I have my own 
 fears that you will never get through!" he gloomily 
 said to Randall! "I can make my own way down to 
 Balfrush alone, and go on by sea to Asterabad!" The 
 proposed desertion by the timorous traveler depressed 
 Randall, who had sworn to be faithful to the last! "She 
 shall not go back to slavery! If we are arrested, it is a 
 good time for a man to die ! Fighting for an innocent 
 girl!" 
 
 In far away Teheran, as the sun lit up the marble 
 walls of the Negaristan with a rosy glow, the Minister 
 of the Household bowed low before a stern, hawk- 
 eyed man of nearly sixty ! The hard, lean face was piti- 
 less in the expression of its set lips, shaded with a long, 
 thin, fierce black mustache ! The narrow eyes gleamed 
 under contracted, curving eyebrows! Nasr-ed-Din was, 
 even in age, a splendid figure in his single-breasted 
 dark frock and trousers, bearing a broad golden stripe. 
 General's epaulettes and a broad blue sash gave a mili- 
 tary tone to the dress, set off by forty immense single 
 diamond buttons ! He wore a girdle of diamond clus- 
 ters, and his thin hand grasped a superbly jeweled 
 scimetar. His tall astrakhan cap sloped outwards, bear- 
 ing a magnificent diamond aigrette, surmounted with 
 an egret plume! His sleeves were heavy with the 
 French gold-braided loops of Commander-in-Chief! 
 The face had all the sleeping ferocity of the finer Ital- 
 ian mould, and, trained to the chase, his figure was 
 still light and elegant! There was no one but the 
 trembling functionary listening to the curt sentence of 
 death ! For the Shah's voice trembled in his passion- 
 ate rage! 
 
 "Bid the renegade dog seek her out! Do all as you 
 have planned ! There is no way out for these fugi- 
 tives ! Send one of your best officers on with him, and
 
 268 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 the Mollah ! They are all to be brought back to Kasr-i- 
 Hijar ! If he fails, let his head be the forfeit ! And you ! 
 If you are found remiss, you shall be a slave to the 
 end of your days ! Let them not draw rein! Go no\\ 
 and send them, but one word! These Russian sol- 
 diers are not to be molested, for they journey to the 
 sea with our own permission! The Englishman and 
 the Russian I may not lightly quarrel with! These 
 Franks from the New World are not Russians! Let 
 them be taken ! But, not a single shot is to be fired at 
 the Russians! Their ships of war are even now on our 
 Caspian waters! Let them be all gone before these 
 wanderers are captured! Look to it! Give your se- 
 cret orders to the chief of your soldiers, and not to the 
 renegade! If he try to escape, let him be killed like 
 a dog ! And they must ride night and day to find them ! 
 Bring me the news of the slave!" 
 
 As Mustapha Pasha dashed out of the Shimran gate 
 an hour later in the carriage, he watched the Minister 
 of the Household whispering in Persian to the escort 
 officer! The renegade gazed at Kassim galloping 
 ahead like a messenger of death. He muttered "We: 
 must outwit them! Kassim must lead me to the sea! 
 If I do not find her then it is a race for life! It is now 
 her life or mine!" 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 KASSIM'S WARNING! AT BAY IN THE TOWER OF 
 SILENCE! 
 
 There was never such a pursuit through the Pass of 
 Demavend as the unceasing march of Mustapha 
 Pasha's fierce-eyed troops! The column of Persian 
 Cossacks pressed on, only giving the animals time 
 to bait and taking only a three hours' rest in the middle 
 of the day! Not a ten or single pound of useless lug-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 269 
 
 gage encumbered the pursuers. A dozen spare youths 
 mounted on hardy ponies drove a band of reserve troop 
 horses! The troopers who straggled came in at will 
 at the resting camps while their jaded horses were 
 changed for the fresh animals! 
 
 Mustapha was the very figure of a soldier on duty, 
 and his only confidant was the lean Kassim, ever prick- 
 ing to the front with two chosen troopers! The com- 
 mander of the escort vouchsafed no word to the aston- 
 ished keepers of the Chapar Khanats, as the fright- 
 ened officials brought out grain and food! There was 
 a royal order of "Double Post, on the Shah's Busi- 
 ness!" The wondering keepers of the mud-walled post 
 khanats shook their heads ruefully as they watched 
 this grim command pressing on like a band of fam- 
 ished wolves! Then barring the arched doors of the 
 stations, at once stable and servants' dens below, the 
 officials, mounting to the travelers' rooms above, clam- 
 bered on to the roof of the second story to see the wild 
 riders quickly disappear sweeping along over the bare, 
 gravelly wastes ! It was three days after the departure 
 from Kasr-i-Hijar, when beyond the brown patches of 
 wormwood scrub, and dwarf almonds, hidden with lit- 
 tle gardens of tulip and iris, the little village of Assur 
 shone out nestling in the bleak hills! The wearied 
 command had marched all the long hours of the chilly 
 night and men and animals were benumbed by the 
 October blasts now sweeping coldly down from the 
 Pass of Demavend behind! 
 
 The morning sun had crept out of a bank of low fog 
 to the east, and lit up a wild, gray, stony waste sweep- 
 ing past jutting sand bluffs and rocky knolls down to 
 the low marshes of the Caspian, a hundred and fifty 
 miles away ! The Persian squadron commander rode 
 up to Mustapha Pasha, whose eyes glittered now 
 with a thirsty, unslaked revenge! "They should be 
 here!" he sharply cried! "We have outrun even the 
 jackals, and here, the road divides to Balfrush, and 
 the main road goes on to Puli Sefide, but two days'
 
 270 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 march! These Christian dogs can not outride the 
 Persian horse! Your own guide knows this Frank- 
 ish slave! Let him take two men and cautiously ap- 
 proach the village! They can hold his horse and he 
 can steal quietly in on foot! We will wait here a half 
 hour, and breathe the horses! He can find out if they 
 have turned to the sea, or gone on to Puli Sefide! If 
 they are here, let him then steal back, and we will 
 circle the village, and so, snare the Christian dogs! 
 Remember the Russian troopers must be outwitted! 
 You know our orders!" Mustapha bowed his head. 
 "Shall I not ride forward?" cried the renegade, his 
 hand dropping to his sabre hilt! "You are not to 
 leave my side!" coldly said the Persian! "If we do 
 not find them here, then they have surely gone across 
 to the south of the Elburz! We will rest then at Puli 
 Sefide, and send half our forces after them through the 
 mountains at Dunlatabad! Then we will surely 
 catch them by surprise ! But they should have passed 
 here late last night, if they are not even now in the 
 village!" 
 
 Drawing his men carefully up behind a point of the 
 hills, screened from the blasts, the Persian soldiers 
 loosened girths, and calmly awaited Kassim's recon- 
 noissance ! 
 
 The glittering eyed Kurd bowed in silence, as he 
 attentively listened to his orders! "Find out the road 
 the Russian soldiers took, and also these fleeing 
 giaours! If they have turned off to the right, they 
 are ours! If they have gone to the left with the Rus- 
 sians, we may not dare to fight the Czar's soldiers! 
 Your head answers for your faith!" 
 
 Kassim galloped away, and Mustapha followed him 
 with anxious eyes! "If I were only able to outwit this 
 keen young officer! I might be left here as sick, and 
 gain the sea at Balfrush!" But, he knew now that 
 the Persian soldier had orders to bring him back, dead 
 or alive! He was a hostage for the girl he had stolen ! 
 Kassim threw up his hand in caution as he neared the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 271 
 
 village, and left his own steed in a sheltered hollow! 
 The two troopers watched him as he stole along into 
 the muddy streets, where a few early peasants crawled 
 around their flat roofed hovels! And then he turned 
 into the one principal street, and so, was lost to their 
 view! The horse holders waited his return with no 
 misgivings! The Kurd's heart bounded as he saw two 
 Russian troopers in the street already in the saddle. 
 They were in charge of a fine looking, riderless horse ! 
 He sprang down the street and neared them, recogniz- 
 ing at once the Legation's two mounted couriers! 
 
 Then his face at once brightened! "They can sure- 
 ly tell me where the soldiers are !" He laid a hand on 
 the rein of the first courier, and made himself known 
 in Russian! 
 
 "Where are the troops, and Colonel Soltykoff's lit- 
 tle caravan? Speak! There are a hundred soldiers 
 here waiting to charge the village! It is a matter of 
 life and death! I am a friend of the Secret Service!" 
 "We only wait here to take the old American mission- 
 ary doctor down to Balfrush," cried the soldier ad- 
 dressed! "The Cossack company left here but last 
 night, going down the road as if to the coast, purposely 
 to deceive the villagers here! But, the Colonel is now 
 twenty miles on the road to Puli Sefide!" 
 
 "Then they are lost! For these people will soon 
 follow on, and butcher the whole party ! I know Sol- 
 tykoff and he will fight to the last cartridge !" 
 
 "The soldiers of Petrovitch are to leave the Balfrush 
 road at daybreak and cut back across the plains to join 
 Soltykoff again before night! It was only a ruse to 
 deceive the villagers, if the troops were followed! If 
 they could only be warned! They might reach him 
 in time!" 
 
 Kassim sprang into the saddle of the horse, which 
 was made ready for the missionary! "It is life and 
 death now for all! Which of you has the best horse?" 
 
 "I have!" said the lightest of the two troopers! 
 "Then !" cried Kassim, "you will be as rich as a prince 
 
 18
 
 272 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 for life, if you ride like the wind, and warn Soltykoff 
 that the Persians will surely attack him before night 
 fall ! Let him hide in some strong place ! We will go 
 down the valley and quickly bring up the Cossacks 
 of Petrovitch! If they can come up in time, he is safe! 
 Now! away as you value your life! Tell him that 
 Mustapha Pasha leads on the Persians! He must 
 fight to the death! We will get to the road and fol- 
 low on to save him! They will wait outside here a 
 half hour before they seek for me!" "And, the old 
 missionary?" the second trooper said. "Let him sleep 
 on! He is old and harmless! No one will hurt him!" 
 The dispatch bearer wheeled his horse! "Cut away 
 your saddle!" cried Kassim, as he dashed down into 
 the gardens below the village, followed by the second 
 trooper! The messenger was already three hundred 
 yards away, riding straight toward the point where his 
 desert craft told him he would surely strike Soltykoff's 
 caravan on the road! 
 
 "Do you know where Petrovitch will double 
 around?" cried Kassim, whose own life was now in 
 jeopardy! Too well he knew that Mustapha would 
 flay him alive if he were recaptured! He was a Mos- 
 lem guide no more! Only now a poor follower of the 
 Czar! "Yes!" said the courier, "there, at that high 
 point of the mountain yonder, they were to break off 
 and rejoin Soltykoff ! He has kept five of the troopers 
 with him in disguise, and he will also meet two of our 
 secret couriers to-day in the early afternoon!" 
 
 "Then he may hold out till we can find Petrovitch!" 
 thankfully cried Kassim. "Why did Soltykoff leave 
 the troops?" was the Kurd's query, as they lost the 
 little village of Assur from view! They were riding 
 along swiftly under the shadows of the rolling foot 
 hills, which would screen them from the eyes of Mus- 
 tapha's band until the gray desert shades hid both 
 men and horses! "They feared the treachery of the 
 villagers of Assur, who bitterly hate the Russians, and 
 we found they had sent off couriers to alarm the offi-
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 273 
 
 cials in the night, in several directions! The old mis- 
 sionary became terribly frightened and he would go 
 no farther! So, he kept his own papers and passports, 
 and we were ordered to take him slowly down to Bal- 
 frush to the sea! The soldiers of Petrovitch went out 
 down the road toward the sea with much display, to 
 mislead the villagers!" The trooper gazed anxiously 
 back to note any pursuit! Kassim laughed. "We 
 are safe! The horses of Mustapha's men are all jaded! 
 It will be hours before they can pursue!" 
 
 "Yes, but they might get fresh horses at the vil- 
 lage and send half the men ahead on a run!" fear- 
 fully said the guide! "And so we might be too late 
 with Petrovitch's men, for the Persian Cossack regi- 
 ment is splendidly armed!" 
 
 Kassim groaned as he urged his horse along. "You 
 are right! But, no one saw us leave the village but a 
 few children ! Mustapha may be delayed an hour be- 
 fore he prepares for a dash ! And we will lead Petro- 
 vitch back straight to the road ! If we reach the high 
 road before the Persians get past us, then Soltykoff is 
 safe! If they are but a half hour or so ahead, then 
 we must ride like the wind to the rescue! We can 
 easily tell by the sandy trail if their column has passed !" 
 
 They had ridden three hours along in a grim silence, 
 when Kassim's quick eye at last caught the gleam of 
 carbine barrels and the flash of glittering accoutre- 
 ments down below them, in the sandy valley five miles 
 away! "There they are!" he cried! "Full run now! 
 We must cut them off! If we reach them in an hour 
 then Soltykoff is saved! Ride! Ride!" 
 
 Captain Petrovitch was leading his men smartly 
 along, in a due southeast direction, hiding his com- 
 mand under the northern shade of the foothills, when 
 he called his guide to his side by a wave of his hand ! 
 The trusty Legation followers had ridden the desert 
 road to Reshd, Balfrush and Asterabad a score of 
 times. 
 
 "I wish to come out on the high road an hour or 
 
 18
 
 274 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 so before dark!" said the anxious Russian officer! 
 "Then we will take up an easy hand gallop in the cool 
 of the evening, and soon rejoin our friends. The ani- 
 mals will be fresh then! So far, no one can see our 
 march from the heights of Assur, and when we do 
 strike the road, even if spy's should see us, we will 
 have rejoined Soltykoff long before they could inter- 
 fere! I wish that I had not left him an hour!" 
 
 The guide pointed to a far knoll beyond, some dozen 
 miles away! "The road winds out there beyond that 
 old tower which you can see on that headland! If 
 we strike for that, we will have about an hour of day- 
 light! And we will find our friends not two hours' 
 march beyond that! So we will cover all possible 
 pursuit!" "Good!" cried Petrovitch. "Lead us then 
 directly to that point, for we are masked until we open 
 out on the plain at that spur!" He had been sweeping 
 the far hillside with his field glasses. Suddenly he 
 cried, "There is something wrong! Two men are rid- 
 ing down to cross our advance! And one of them is 
 waving a white signal!" He closed the men up, and 
 the troop soon jingled forward in a quick, rattling 
 trot! The sinking afternoon sun threw its dark shad- 
 ows over the gullies and rocky ravines as the two 
 horsemen neared the troop! 
 
 Petrovitch called his sergeant! "Take four men 
 and ride out and bring these men in! Be wary!" He 
 gave the command, "Slow trot!" and then, "Walk!" 
 Whirling in his saddle, he sternly cried, "Halt!" as he 
 recognized Kassim, whose horse staggered and pitched 
 over heavily, as the nimble Kurd sprang to the 
 ground! Petrovitch gave the exhausted man a dram 
 from his own flask, as he gasped out his story. Pet- 
 rovitch's eyes blazed in wrath! The Russian officer 
 hastily called his sergeant! "Dismount the men! 
 Give me halt the command! The lightest men! The 
 strongest horses! Nothing but their arms and double 
 cartridge belts! Only girths and saddle blankets! You 
 march on steadily to that tower with the rest of the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 275 
 
 command, the pack mules, and bring on all the sad- 
 dles! We will leave a couple of men hidden there to 
 guide you to us if we pass beyond it! From there, 
 send half your men, the freshest, ahead on the run to 
 reinforce me ! Let them go right on at a hand gallop 
 on the road, till you find us! Give Kassim a good 
 horse !" 
 
 "And a carbine!" cried the Kurd. "I have my pis- 
 tols! I want a belt of ammunition!" There was a 
 chorus of eager voices, as the Russian Cossacks 
 sprang to their work! Lithe and lean, the bronzed 
 troopers fell out one by one, ready for a ride for lifef 
 "Now!" yelled Petrovitch. "Not a man must pass me! 
 Follow my lead!" and, with Kassim at his side, the 
 Cossack captain fixed his eyes upon the gray round 
 tower far away at the point of the overhanging stony 
 hills! He set the pace with a cool judgment "What 
 is that tower?" sharply cried Petrovitch, as the squad- 
 ron guide led the way, picking out the best going f 
 The horses, lightened of their heavy trappings, leaped 
 along, merrily tossing their heads! 
 
 "It is the Tower of Silence!" whispered the super- 
 stitious guide, "the eternal home of the dead!" 
 
 In an hour, Petrovitch had lost sight of his reserve, 
 now marching steadily on behind ! They had dropped 
 down into the valley under the shadow of the southerly 
 hills! The officer gazed at his men, well closed up 
 and riding as easily as if trotting over the springy, vel- 
 vet turf of the Don! "We are good for a couple of 
 hours' race yet!" he proudly cried, as he turned to the 
 guide! "How far is it from Assur to this old burial 
 tower by the main road? They can not have already 
 passed!" His words were unanswered, for the guide 
 had galloped off to a knoll, where a great gulley 
 stretched far away to the west! The setting sun 
 streamed down over the mountain crests beyond them 
 a half dozen miles away! Then the guide came rac- 
 ing down, with Petrovitch's glass still in his hand. 
 "Now for the tower on the full run !" he cried. "There
 
 276 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 are horsemen on the crest to the west, in hot chase of 
 some one on the road! I could see the flash of arms! 
 They must be in sight of our party!" Not a word 
 was spoken, as Petrovitch rode out at a hot cross coun- 
 try run! 
 
 "Keep up with me now!" he yelled, and they sped 
 away like the arrow loosed from the bow ! The tower 
 loomed up now not three miles away ! "We have the 
 best going!" cried the guide, "but, some of us must 
 ride out and climb the cliff! It is the key to the whole 
 position!" He pointed to the beetling rocky bluff, 
 from whose exposed shoulder the materials for the 
 rough round tower for the Persian dead had been quar- 
 ried! "A dozen men well posted up there can hold 
 a hundred at bay!" Petrovitch nodded grimly, and 
 rode on, with his dark, fierce eyes watching the un- 
 masking headlands for the first signs of the coming 
 fight! "On! On!" he cried/ "Oh! God! to be in time 
 new/" 
 
 At daybreak, while Kassim cautiously led the ad- 
 vance of the Persians down towards Assur, Serge Solty- 
 koff had called Alan Randall and Denton to his side, 
 as the little caravan pressed forward. Five of the dis- 
 
 Cised Cossacks carefully led the advance, and the two 
 gation couriers, with the three Europeans, watched 
 the rear! The whole command was smartly pricking 
 on, after a five hours' night rest. lima Falka, secure- 
 ly caged in her camel litter, slept bundled in her furs, 
 while the led animal, nodding and gurgling, rocked 
 along with its swaying stride! There was as yet no 
 sign of danger near them ! 
 
 Soltykoff cast many an anxious look behind him as 
 the daylight glimmered around, lighting up the wind- 
 ing hill road behind them! "This is almost too good 
 to be true, Denton," said the Russian, "to get 
 through these dangerous passes, without a skirmish! 
 In this broken country we could easily be picked off 
 by a few resolute fighters! P>ut if we break out of these 
 hills, on the great sandy plain there, then we could
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 277 
 
 stand off five times our number! I wish you, Randall, 
 now to take the head of the column and force the pace ! 
 You, Denton, must stay at Countess Ilma's side and 
 keep the camels well closed up! I will cover the rear! 
 If we should be followed, myself, the guides, and three 
 of the Cossacks will retire alternately, keeping any 
 pursuers off the high ground! Once we are out of 
 these hills, at the Tower of Silence, we can count on 
 Petrovitch certainly being within an hour's march ! I 
 told him to keep his men well concealed, and to send 
 a couple of men up in advance to the Tower of Si- 
 lence, to see if we had passed! Then they were to 
 ride along the Puli Sefide road and take us to his 
 line of march!" 
 
 "It was a gross mistake to let him leave us at all!" 
 gravely said Randall. "We have a very dangerous six 
 hours' march, on a high road, too !" 
 
 "I propose to make a break for the coast when we 
 are near enough the headwaters of the Talar and 
 Tejen rivers to strike across the desert and follow 
 down their banks ! We must have water near us al- 
 ways. In that way, Petrovitch will have turned off any 
 pursuit towards Balfrush, and we will drop off the 
 road one by one, so as to leave no great trail! Then 
 any pursuers would follow on to Puli Sefide! We will 
 go to the north of it and around it! So we will miss 
 any parties traveling hitherwards, and these fellows 
 will search the hills ! For I am sure that the Persians 
 will turn off and follow Petrovitch's troops! I told 
 him to ride in open order and leave no trail when he 
 breaks off the Balfrush road to join us before sun- 
 down ! They will blunder on down to Balfrush!" "If we 
 are attacked?" cried Paul Denton, who had been gloom- 
 ily silent since Petrovitch had departed for his ruse! 
 "Then, one of the guides will lead you right on to the 
 Tower of Silence. Push ahead for that and leave us 
 to do the holding off the enemy! They may envelop 
 us, or get there first!" sadly answered the American! 
 
 "That is the one thing which we must prevent! It
 
 278 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 is for you two men to push on! We will make no 
 nconday halt to-day, for we can easily turn off the 
 road and hide very comfortably in the sand dunes to- 
 night! But, Petrovitch will then have joined us! He 
 knows his work! He is a Ukraine wolf, in all the cun- 
 ning of the steppes!" 
 
 There had been no halt save a brief breathing spell 
 at noon! The jaded animals were regirthed, and the 
 riders relieved them a few moments of their weight, 
 as the anxious principals conferred in secret! Paul 
 Denton alone had stolen away to murmur a few words 
 to the woman who had not, as yet, missed the protec- 
 tion of Petrovitch's troops! The two guides pointed 
 to a jutting point located out to the north far below 
 them, in the broken foothills! "The open desert!" 
 they cried. The gray, dreary desert lay below them 
 there, its drifted hummocks and sandy ridges stretch- 
 ing off like the lines of meeting ocean tides! "In three 
 hours we will surely be there! There lies the Tower 
 of Silence!' said the two Legation couriers, after ori- 
 enting themselves! 
 
 "Fix that knoll in your minds," earnestly cried Sol- 
 tykoff. "Don't lose it from sight! For, Petrovitch 
 will surely direct his march upon that, hiding below 
 these crests! And, now forward, as fast as we can 
 drive along! Thank God! we have been passed so 
 far to-day by no travelers! There is no one to carry 
 along the news ! And there are two or three practica- 
 ble cut-offs to the coast when we strike the plain! 
 After dark we can hide out in the hummocks with per- 
 fect safety! Our guides can easily find Petrovitch! 
 To-morrow night, we will camp way over there!" and 
 the anxious man pointed to where the Caspian lay, not 
 five days' march away! 
 
 An hour before sunset, the Tower of Silence itself 
 was at last visible, a mile below them, for they were 
 within five hundred feet of the level of the plain, slop- 
 ing gently to the north and east! "There!" cried the 
 guide in triumph, "Petrovitch is under the slopes below
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 279 
 
 us to the left!" "Hasten! Hasten!" cried Soltykoff, 
 spurring forward to urge on Randall! "One single 
 hour more and we will be again with our friends!" 
 He rode his horse out to the top of a little knoll and 
 gazed back at the long winding road, following the 
 northern side of the long, sloping ravine they had de- 
 scended for two hours! The setting sun gilded the 
 western saddle of the rolling mountains behind them! 
 The caravan was already out of sight and covered by 
 the lower slopes of the spur, at the foot of which the 
 Tower of Silence lay! 
 
 Serge Soltykoff swept the windings of the road be- 
 hind him, scanning it with his field glass! There was 
 nothing in view, save a few vultures wheeling high in 
 air over a dead camel which they had noted by 
 the roadside! Suddenly he dashed down the road at 
 full speed, for the twinkle of lance heads had appeared 
 on the far away saddle, and there were dark spots 
 quickly moving along over the hills! "Was it the 
 enemy?" 
 
 "It can't be Petrovitch ! He never would climb these 
 mountains! It would be simple madness!" was the 
 stern Russian's last thought, as he galloped up to the 
 side of Randall ! The Tower of Silence was now but 
 eight hundred yards away, and partially unmasked by 
 the sloping rocky point! 
 
 "We are pursued!" he yelled. "Hurry down to the 
 tower! Get your party inside ! Mind and save all the 
 ammunition! Hobble your horses on the other side! 
 Man the walls! Shoot one of the camels and barri- 
 cade the door! I'll hold them back here and fight 
 slowly over the hills and join you!" 
 
 Then Soltykoff quickly chose his five men! The 
 caravan was quickly sweeping away, down the road 
 on a wild run, as the Colonel gave the guide his last 
 orders. "You three men are to hide in the angles of 
 these hills, keeping above these coming men ! Retire 
 along the crest, and keep us well covered! We will 
 delay them here and alternate in retiring with you. If
 
 280 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 they make a rush, we will all join you and go down 
 fighting along the crest of the ridge to the tower! We 
 must hold the bluff above the tower as long as we can! 
 We will ambush them here and drive them down into 
 the ravine! They must not get the high ground! Not 
 a shot till I fire first! Then, make every bullet tell!" 
 Their own steeds had been driven away after the cara- 
 Van, and not a single sign of the presence of man 
 was visible ! 
 
 Soltykoff, with his heavy Berdan at a ready, grimly 
 loosened his doubled cartridge belts, as twenty men 
 came in sight, spurring down the road above them. 
 He had posted his five men strongly now, and each 
 rifleman knew his duty! "The man who throws one 
 cartridge away may lose the day! Remember!" cried 
 the Colonel. 
 
 Soltykoff's heart beat high! The pent up rage of 
 his soul found expression in one growl, "Mustapha! 
 Face to face at last! If the dog is only there! They 
 must have seen our party below !" and he watched like 
 a tiger at bay! It was indeed so, for the score of men 
 clustered together, and waited till double their num- 
 ber joining them were slowly straggling down in plain 
 sight! One single horseman, a burly rider, seemed to 
 direct them, and the score of the advance came now 
 briskly trotting down the winding road below the 
 crest! They were near enough at last to show the 
 well known uniform of the Persian Cossacks, and be- 
 hind them a man in turban and flowing robes wildly 
 waved the second squad onward with a naked sabre! 
 
 The jingle of trappings and patter of the horses' feet 
 broke the silence! The Russian Colonel lay ready to 
 meet his mortal foe! "Now!" yelled Soltykoff i'n a 
 ringing voice to his men, as he threw forward his Ber- 
 dan, and the leading Persian pitched heavily over his 
 horse's head, falling prone and dead. The crack of 
 five heavy rifles sent the advance squad dashing off in 
 a tumult, and floundering wildly down into the ra- 
 vine! Three Persians sprawled in the road and their
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 281 
 
 riderless horses dashed madly along, clattering down 
 the canon! There was a steady fusillade, until the 
 last of the pursuing squad were lost in the scrubby 
 bushes below the road ! 
 
 "I've gained a good half hour!" grimly cried Solty- 
 koff, as he led his hidden men over to the highest crest, 
 and the six men took up a post behind the rocky crags, 
 for the second band of Persians were led out above 
 them on the ridge by the brave horseman in the flow- 
 ing robes! A few random shots whistled down the 
 pass, but SoltykofFs men lay waiting in safety behind 
 the crags! They could now see the scattered horsemen 
 of the advance floundering across the ravine below! 
 "Out of range ! Wait for these fellows !" said the Col- 
 onel. "Don't fire now till I give the word!" A dozen 
 of the second band had dismounted and ran down the 
 ridge with their carbines at a trail, while the rest of 
 the horsemen, divided in two bands, hid under the 
 crest on either side! 
 
 "We'll give them a killing volley from here, and then 
 work down the ridge to the tower! For our own peo- 
 ple are surely safely inside now! Three of you watch 
 that side, and three of us this! The moment of the 
 second attack is near!" 
 
 And, driven on by their shouting officers, the excited 
 Persians came on reluctantly in range! There was 
 nothing visible for them to fire at! The six men lay 
 hidden with true Cossack art behind the high out- 
 cropping rocks! 
 
 SoltykofFs eye ran along his rifle sights! He eager- 
 ly waited for that man with the sabre! "It is your 
 life or mine to-day!" the Russian growled, as he felt 
 for his breast where lima Falka's handkerchief lay! 
 There were some random shots whistling now down 
 the ridge, and Serge could hear the shouting of fierce 
 voices, urging on the men above them ! But there was 
 a new danger to face ! The scattered band in the ravine 
 had now rallied and were riding far away beyond dan-
 
 Z82 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 er, bending their march in safety to the Tower of 
 ilence! 
 
 "They'll get a hot surprise there!" Soltykoff grimly 
 laughed! For, he knew brave Paul Denton's desper- 
 ation! And Alan Randall's stern resolution! Every 
 man under their command, too, was fighting for his 
 own life, as well as for the safety of the Magyar maid- 
 en! 
 
 Soltykoff sought in vain for the form of the tur- 
 baned leader, as a dozen mounted Persians pressed 
 swiftly along the crest of the ridge within eighty yards. 
 They were too near to hesitate! 
 
 "All together! Now! Continue firing!" cried the 
 Colonel, and the ringing rifles woke the echoes! When 
 the smoke drifted away, there was not a horseman in 
 sight, but four men lay writhing on the rocky bench 
 above them! Then, the quick rattle of firing breaking 
 out from below told the forlorn hope that the first band 
 had attacked the tower! lima Falka was facing her 
 deadly foes! 
 
 "Quick! now! To the crest! Follow me!" cried 
 Soltykoff, as he led his men along the brown hillside 
 to the south of the main crest overhanging the Tower 
 of Silence! The cliff ended abruptly, where the face 
 of the jutting rocks had been opened to make an em- 
 placement for the sacred edifice staring open to the sky, 
 where the Persian dead were exposed to the rays of 
 the sun god, and abandoned to the fowls of the air! 
 A ghastly refuge! Soltykoff dropped on his hands 
 and knees and crawled to the edge of the quarry, 
 some fifty feet deep! There, below them, a dozen dis- 
 mounted men of the enemy were trying to drag away 
 a dead camel lying before the narrow door, which 
 was just wide enough to admit a single body! Solty- 
 koff's warning hand brought his followers to his side! 
 
 "Loosen all your revolvers!" he whispered. "After 
 one volley with the rifles, use your pistols!" There 
 were balls vainly whistling down the ridge over their 
 heads, as Soltykoff aimed at the solid mass of men,
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 283 
 
 whose yells and screams rose in fury when one after 
 another of their number staggered away from the nar- 
 row crevice ! There were ringing rifles at work with- 
 in! The pursuers above yelled in triumph! The six 
 men fired a volley into the struggling mass, and, then 
 their revolver shots followed the yelling fugitives! 
 Warring cries broke the silence ! A wild cheer rang out 
 as Petrovitch's troopers dashed around the base of the 
 broken cliff in full view! Soltykoff shouted, "Saved! 
 Saved'" and turning his head, gazed anxiously up the 
 ridge! There was a thickly clustered body of men 
 rushing down upon them, now led by the turbaned 
 sabre wielder. "Load! Load!" yelled Serge! "Stand 
 firm! Face about!" he shrieked, as he slipped in a 
 fresh rifle cartridge. He felt a sharp pain in his left 
 shoulder as he threw his Berdan up, and then fired 
 point blank at Mustapha, not fifteen paces away ! The 
 tall Pasha pitched forward, and his sabre clattered 
 down the rocks, as the writhing body rolled almost 
 to the very feet of the wounded Russian! But, his 
 own brave men dropping on one knee, were now pour- 
 ing shot after shot into the confused mass above ! 
 
 "Over the cliff, over! Get down behind the tower!" 
 gasped Soltykoff, but a wild Russian yell above him 
 told of a sudden change in the situation! A Cossack 
 cheer was heard as Kassim led the late arrivals of Pe- 
 trovitch's troop down over the crest! The Kurd was 
 bounding in advance! He sprang to Soltykoff's side, 
 as the wounded officer faltered, "Cut off their retreat! 
 Hold the road behind them! Quick! quick!" The 
 rout was complete, for twenty of Petrovitch's men were 
 now ranged on guard around the Tower of Silence, 
 and two score more were spurring over the plain, gath- 
 ering up the craven Persians, who had thrown their 
 arms away and scattered in abject flight! The victory 
 was won! 
 
 There was a ringing shout from below, and Alan 
 Randall, pistol in hand, came joyously clambering up 
 the crag!
 
 284 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Soltykoff had sunk down upon a shelving rock and 
 his men were tenderly holding up his wearied head ! 
 
 "How is it?" cried Randall, his face paling at the 
 sight of their wounded chief! 
 
 "Are you all right?" gasped the Russian! "All 
 right! Only Paul has a ball through his right arm! 
 One man killed ! The two women are safe !" 
 
 "Turn that man over!" the Colonel called to the 
 nearest knot of Cossacks! There was a stony smile 
 of grim revenge on Soltykoff's face! 
 
 "It is that damned renegade dog, and I killed him 
 alone in fair fight! This ends the story! Search him 
 at once!" 
 
 Doctor Randall's busy fingers were soon at work at 
 Soltykoff's blood-stained garments! The shoulder was 
 bared! "Hurrah!" the American cried, "only through 
 the muscles! Nothing to keep you back! Wait here 
 till I bring up my case! It's on the dead camel!" 
 Something had dropped at Soltykoff's feet as Randall 
 clambered down the cliff. It was lima Falka's hand- 
 kerchief, the fatal token! 
 
 The Russian painfully bent over and picked it up! 
 His wounded arm gave him the sharpest pain as he 
 leaned over the body of Mustapha Pasha! Then Sol- 
 tykoff deliberately soaked the bit of muslin in Janos 
 Kinsky's blood! 
 
 "Magda! Magda! You are avenged!" he cried, as 
 Petrovitch came bounding down the height! The 
 Cossack commander's face shown in the -light of vic- 
 tory. "I have them all cut off! They have surrend- 
 ered to the last man! The commander owns, too, that 
 they had orders not to fire on us under any circum- 
 stances! What shall I do?" 
 
 "Picket the road and let no one pass on. Send a 
 detail of the prisoners to collect the dead! Gather 
 up all the loose horses! Get the women at once out of 
 that gloomy hole below, and hide our evening camp 
 in here, behind the Tower! We will disarm all these 
 Persian fellows to-morrow, and we will make a straight
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 285 
 
 break for the Tejan River and Farahabad! We will 
 turn these fellows loose by and by, but, dismounted, 
 in the desert! I'll take the commander and ten of 
 them along as hostages, all their arms can be loaded 
 on the captured horses under guard! At Farahabad 
 I'll seize the best boat, and coast around the shore 
 to the boundary ! You can march along to- Asterabad !" 
 
 Soltykoff had now finished the contents of Petro- 
 vitch's flask, and Randall was already bandaging his 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Hurrah for the fighting doctor!" cried the Cos- 
 sacks. 
 
 "But how shall we officially explain this fight?" du- 
 biously said Petrovitch. 
 
 "They opened fire first, led on by this dead scound- 
 rel!" said Soltykoff, "and, we will make the Persians 
 admit it! This dead dog urged the soldiers on! He 
 was in the lead." 
 
 "Here is the man to whom you owe your life," said 
 the Cossack Captain, as Kassim came springing down 
 the ridge. 
 
 "Your fortune is made for life, Kassim !" said Solty- 
 koff. "You have loyally paid back the debt you owed 
 for your own !" 
 
 Soltykoff was closely examining the articles taken 
 from the renegade's body. In a purse he found the 
 little cross and chain and three rings. 
 
 "Ah!" sighed Soltykoff. "The poor child's stolen 
 trinkets! Let us go down. Bring him down there! 
 She must see him cold in death, and I want his whole 
 raiment and trappings kept as an absolute proof!" 
 
 It was a singular scene as the night fell upon them 
 there, on the edge of the vast desert. 
 
 A picket of five trusted men held the pass, and 
 another cordon was spread across the plain below. 
 The dead had all been dragged away, and a dozen 
 bright camp fires were hidden by the great circular 
 tower where the tents were pitched on the shelf be- 
 tween it and the face of the quarry. Within the dismal
 
 286 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 enclosure the wails and cries of the imprisoned Per- 
 sians waked the echoes. At the door four armed troop- 
 ers sternly confined the motley mass within. The 
 body of the slain camel still barricaded the narrow gap. 
 
 The victor Cossacks joked and laughed merrily as 
 they lay in bivouac, around the tent where lima Falka 
 slept, guarded by the men who had so bravely faced 
 death for her. The horses, under a strong guard, 
 nipped away at the bitter prairie herbs, and the wild 
 winds wailed shrilly over the great plain. 
 
 Serge Soltykoff had led the Magyar girl aside to 
 where a sentinel watched over the body of her dead 
 foeman. 
 
 "You must see his face! I slew him to save you, and 
 to avenge your mother!" 
 
 The Lost Countess shuddered as she whispered: 
 
 "It is the man! But why did he hate me?" 
 
 "Ah! My child!" said Soltykoff. "That you must 
 learn from your mother's own lips !" 
 
 The Russian Colonel solemnly gave the girl her 
 three rings and her neck cross. 
 
 "They stole them from me when they drugged me at 
 Constantinople," faltered lima. "And now, you say 
 that I shall soon see my home, my darling mother and 
 Arpad ! Oh ! that you could wing this news to him !" 
 
 Soltykoff sighed. "We have a long road before us. 
 Sleep, my child, and, God be with you!" 
 
 For he dared not tell her of the mother's death in 
 life or of the brother who had died for her. Even the 
 cup of victory has its bitter dregs! 
 
 Petrovitch, Soltykoff, Randall and Paul Denton 
 made themselves a snug retreat near the guarded tent 
 of lima Falka. Kassim was lying on the watch, sabre 
 in hand, before the door. He was now the lion of the 
 hour! For he had led the support up the ridge to chase 
 off the overwhelming odds against Soltykoff. He had 
 the keen eye of the born partisan leader. 
 
 "You made a gallant fight, Colonel," said Denton, 
 whose lacerated arm kept him now from sleep.
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 287 
 
 "Tell me your own story, Paul," said Serge Solty- 
 koff, who lay with his shoulder pillowed high on a 
 bundle of captured furs. The jeweled sabre of Janos 
 Kinsky, the renegade Mustapha Pasha no more lay 
 at his side with other spoils of the day's battle to the 
 death. 
 
 "We pushed quickly down the pass," simply said 
 Denton, "and Randall bravely covered the retreat with 
 four men, as we dashed around the bluff and at last 
 found the entrance to the Tower. I got the women out 
 and hastily dragged them into the Tower. Just then, 
 your first firing was heard sounding up the glen. The 
 men hastily passed in the water skins and all our am- 
 munition packages. They worked like the veterans 
 they are. All the guns were inside, and I was trying 
 to explain our situation to lima, who was nearly frantic 
 with the horrid sights within. Randall and his men 
 were stationed on watch, at the foot of the road and, 
 when he saw the Persians rallying across the canyon, 
 he rushed back to barricade the entrance at once. We 
 had pitched all the lighter baggage within. It was 
 Randall himself, who shot the camel and we had hardly 
 dragged him to the door and filled the orifice up with 
 bundles and loose baggage, when your heavy firing 
 above on the cliff alarmed us all. lima and the Ar- 
 menian woman I had hidden behind the raised mud- 
 walled platforms of the dead, and I had quickly thrown 
 the robes of the camel litters over them to hide the 
 dreadful sights. We ranged ourselves behind the other 
 platforms, ready to open fire when the first hand was 
 laid on our barricade. I was seized by the arm as our 
 men within discharged a first volley into the doorway. 
 It was lima, who claimed one of my pistols. 'Promise 
 me, Paul, as you love me !' she cried, 'if I do not kill 
 myself, you must kill me! I will not fall into those 
 devil's hands again! I am a soldier's daughter!" 
 
 " 'I swear it!' I yelled, as I bade the peasant woman 
 drag her down behind the body platforms, and then 
 the fight went madly on. We were splendidly sheltered 
 
 19
 
 288 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 there behind the earthen parapets of the dead, and 
 every movement of the men crowding at the door cost 
 them a life. I never felt my own wound, for, as your 
 heavy firing began taking them in the rear, we heard 
 also the cheer of Petrovitch's gallant men as they 
 dashed up. I sprang to Ilma's side for I thought the 
 enemy were doubled, but, the courier cried out: 'A 
 Russian cheer! It is Petrovitch!' Randall was the 
 first to spring over our barracks. He is a brick, a fight- 
 ing missionary, and a good doctor." 
 
 "You are a pretty game man yourself, Denton," said 
 Randall, with admiring eyes. 
 
 "Ah ! I had something to fight for," was the young 
 lover's response. 
 
 Soltykoff was silent, but he thought of the beloved 
 woman far away. 
 
 The three brothers in arms clasped hands in silence 
 as they slept on their battlefield. 
 
 With the streakings of the dawn, the whole com- 
 mand was on the alert. Soltykoff entered the gloomy 
 tower where round mud walls, forty feet high, en- 
 closed a circle eighty feet in diameter. There was an 
 inner parapet wall six feet below the upper rim, and a 
 score of raised platforms of varied height, made up of 
 rocks plastered in mud. In these hollowed, coffin-like 
 cups there lay a number of openly exposed bodies. 
 The fowls of the air had plucked out their eyes. The 
 Persian prisoners had recognized those who had 
 gone to eternal bliss as the ones who had lost the right 
 eyes, and those doomed to perdition whose left eyes 
 had been first removed. 
 
 Before noon the bodies of the newly slain were laid 
 away within the gloomy, lonely tower, and, there, Serge 
 Soltykoff took his last grim look of the face of the man 
 who had died by his avenging bullet! The long train 
 had wound out over the sandy plain, the four couriers 
 and Kassim proudly leading. 
 
 "We have reinforced the Persian dead. These fel- 
 lows can hold the fort, now!" gaily said Soltykoff, as
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 28$ 
 
 he left two men behind to block up the entrance with 
 boulders. 
 
 "Strike for Farahabad now, if you kill the horses!" 
 cried Soltykoff. "The Persian officer will lie out of 
 the whole affair to save his head." 
 
 And lima Falka rode on with her lover's kisses fresh 
 on her lips, but she still clung to the pistol which he 
 had given her in the Tower of Silence! 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 SOLTYKOFF'S COUP DE MAIN! KASSIM THE SUPER.- 
 
 CARGO! "'TIS THE 'OLGA'!" IN THE NE- 
 
 GARISTAN! AT MOSCOW! THE SONG 
 
 OF THE BELLS! 
 
 The command journeyed on in an anxious silence 
 until the hour of noon-day rest. Before them a great 
 crescent was formed far away by low wooded hills 
 reaching out into the gray waste like the arms of a 
 giant Zulu impi of black warriors. There was a low 
 ridge beyond melting away in the desert, through 
 which a gap was opened leading to the Caspian, and, 
 marching directly for this, the keen-eyed Kassim led 
 on the advance guard of the command. The Persian 
 prisoners marched a rifle-shot in the rear, under the 
 guard of fifty riflemen. There was a little council at 
 the halting place. 
 
 "I have two objects in view in keeping these fel- 
 lows aloof," said Soltykoff, the central figure of the 
 confidential circle. Only Paul Denton was missing! 
 For he had led lima Falka apart to gaze back at the 
 stern round Tower of Silence now, a mere gray blur 
 upon the dark background, a dozen miles away. 
 
 "First, they will not overhear us, nor recognize the 
 presence of the two women. Second, it would not 
 annoy the Countess if we had to shoot a few of them.
 
 290 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 I have had Kassim warn this officer that if one single 
 man escapes, the rest will be shot and left for that 
 company of free lances of the air." 
 
 He grimly pointed to where the clouds of hungry 
 vultures were wheeling in triumph over the ghastly 
 Tower of Silence. The Bringers of Fate had already 
 swarmed down into the interior of the charnel tower! 
 
 "Right eye, or left eye, there's no mistake about 
 Mustapha Pasha's ultimate destination. The birds need 
 not squabble over him!" remarked Randall. 
 
 "But, can you force a safe passage through the coast 
 settlements?' said the anxious doctor, as he listened to 
 the last of Soltykoff's route directions to Kassim and 
 Captain Petrovitch. 
 
 "Of course, I would not use open force. That would 
 be madness," replied the Colonel. "Here is where the 
 fox's skin pieces out the lion's hide. I sent our two 
 best guides on at daybreak to force their way back to 
 Teheran with a secret dispatch to the Russian Minis- 
 ter. He will soon know that the Persian troops have 
 most unjustifiably attacked us, and he will threaten the 
 Shah himself with the thunders of the Czar's cannon at 
 his unguarded doors. He will, of course, only make a 
 noisy hubbub as to the violation of our 'laissez passer' 
 permission for the march to the sea. That will explain 
 and justify fully any measures which I may take for the 
 safety of the command. No, there will be no more 
 fighting." 
 
 "I am glad of that," cheerfully cried Randall. "For 
 you are hors de combat and Denton is only fit, now, to 
 take care of our young visiting Countess." 
 
 "Let him do it. They have all their lovemaking 
 before them. It will keep his hands full for some time. 
 His cure is certain. He won't trouble the surgeons 
 much." 
 
 "And, you own?" said the young American. "Many 
 a man would throw up the sponge with that 
 shoulder." 
 
 "Oh ! That will get well as soon as I reach Moscow,"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 291 
 
 said Soltykoff, turning away with a curious smile. "All 
 I need now is wit enough to fool the Persians at Fara- 
 habad." 
 
 "Well, Kassim can supply all your deficiencies," said 
 Petrovitch, laughing as he sprang on his horse to lead 
 away the head of the command. 
 
 "I will attend to all the fighting business till we see 
 the blue and white St. Andrew's Cross floating over 
 the 'Olga/ But I can't see how you will get through 
 Farahabad," insisted the Captain. 
 
 "Petrovitch, leave that to me," laughed Soltykoff. 
 "All you have to do is to think about ordering a new 
 major's uniform. You polished off those fellows as 
 neatly as I ever saw a troop work." 
 
 There was a howl of dismay three days later as 
 Colonel Soltykoff sternly turned the main body of his 
 Persian prisoners loose on the headwaters of the 
 Tejen River. The hint that any of them following the 
 command would be instantly shot, served to give light- 
 ness to their leaden heels as they sadly wended their 
 way back on foot towards Assur. Only their com- 
 mander and ten of the prisoners, as hostages, were 
 marched along, under guard, herding all the captured 
 horses laden with the useless arms. For, Soltykoff had 
 gleefully watched the whirlpools of the Tejen swallow 
 up the cartridges of trie prisoners. 
 
 "They are at home. They do not need the means of 
 mischief," soberly said the Russian Colonel. "Do you 
 see," he gaily said, "these fellows will not reach Assur 
 for a week, and not be at Teheran in a fortnight?" 
 
 "Trust to them to weave a web of satisfactory lies. 
 They know that I will execute vengeance on these 
 principal prisoners, if they dare to follow on. And 
 my secret couriers will have arrived at Teheran. Our 
 astute Minister will raise a clamor that will make even 
 the Shah shake hidden in his marble walled pleasure 
 domes. He will be glad to make the humblest official 
 apology now. But, we will be well out of the Land of
 
 292 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 the Lion and the Sun long before that theatrical thun- 
 der storm breaks." 
 
 The increasing cheerfulness of Paul Denton seemed 
 to argue a miraculous recovery for his amendment 
 only kept pace with that of Countess lima Falka. 
 Doctor Randall only found it necessary to limit the 
 tete-a-tetes of the united lovers. 
 
 "They have their whole lives before them," he seri- 
 ously said. "You do not seem to mend as fast, 
 Colonel?" 
 
 "I told you," gravely answered Soltykoff, "I shall 
 not be in good repair till I reach Moscow. It is a holy 
 city, you know," and so they swept down to the sea 
 through the lonely glen. 
 
 It was their last night on the wooded banks of the 
 Tejen, and the two Russian officers had given to Kas- 
 sim a mysterious mission to perform at Farahabad. 
 With two of the official courier guides and two armed 
 followers in Persian garb, the quick-witted Kurd had 
 gaily ridden out ahead in the night. The coast line 
 was familiar to the dispatch bearers who, by boat and 
 shore road, had often journeyed between Balfrush and 
 Asterabad on the White Czar's secret quests. 
 
 But, there was a hidden gloom and doubt in the 
 minds of Randall and even the bold Captain Petro- 
 vitch. The two lovers were wandering in their veiled 
 happiness under the evening star, and Soltykoff had 
 carefully hidden his large command at a fair distance 
 from the road. The few peasants whom they had 
 passed were quite familiar with the uniform of the 
 Persian Cossacks. The timorous herders fled away, lest 
 the fierce swordsmen of their own despotic master 
 might harry them as custom gave a sad privilege. For 
 the troops of Persia took and paid not! 
 
 It was noon when the caravan, which the guide had 
 carefully led along away from the main road, swept 
 around a winding ridge, and Soltykoff shouted merrily 
 to Paul Denton. The young lover's ears were now 
 only attuned to the sounds reaching him through the
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 29S 
 
 dark curtains of the camel litter. When Colonel Serge 
 drew aside the curtain with his own hand, he cried 
 joyfully. 
 
 "Look out now, lima! Here is the Caspian!" And 
 the girl's eyes filled with sudden tears, as the shining 
 waters of the inland ocean glittered before her in the 
 sun, not a mile away. With the extremest care, the two 
 Russians led their command down to a dense grove 
 but a rifle shot from the shore. 
 
 There was a bold bluff veiling the approaches to the 
 little village of Farahabad, a league to the west. 
 
 There were a few tiny fishing boats drawn up on the 
 sand, but nothing else in sight. The peasants were 
 not on the strand. 
 
 Colonel Soltykoff's face fell in a blank disappoint- 
 ment. Petrovitch's orders had already formed the Cos- 
 sacks in a line around the prisoners and the whole 
 command at once addressed itself to the business of 
 refreshment 
 
 "I leave you in command, Randall," moodily said 
 Soltykoff. 'Tetrovitch will ride down to the shore 
 with me." 
 
 The two officers disappeared, followed by a dozen 
 mounted men led by a sergeant. The escort cautiously 
 skirted the low shrubbery while the two officers rode 
 along in advance to the bluff. 
 
 "He can not have failed us," growled Serge. "We 
 could make Asterabad in two days, but, we might be 
 detained there. I hesitate to act with any further vio- 
 lence. Once at sea, we are safe. Where is Kassim?" 
 
 "Look there!" suddenly cried Petrovitch, grasping 
 excitedly his wounded arm. "There is a barge coming 
 around the point !" 
 
 And then Serge Soltykoff gave a cheer, as a double 
 lateen sailed barge swept around the point, its rowers 
 aiding, with their long sweeps, the work of the flutter- 
 ing breeze. A man perched in the prow was waving 
 a white turban as a signal. 
 
 It was Kassim, the supercargo !
 
 294 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 Before the two officers reached the strand, a second 
 barge, and yet a third, dragged lazily around in full 
 view. 
 
 "Now, for the last ordeal!" excitedly cried out Solty- 
 koff. "We must get the crews all ashore. You had 
 better retire and handle the hidden men. Let me meet 
 Kassim. What I wish to do is to get the men of the 
 three crews ashore to aid in embarking the animals 
 of the caravan. The very moment I give you the 
 signal, I wish your men to take and hold the boats. I 
 mean to capture this little navy!" 
 
 Captain Petrovitch watched his wounded superior 
 riding slowly down to the strand where Kassim had 
 already warped in one of the barges. The two others 
 had drawn in outside of the first in order to use the 
 inshore boats as bridges to embark their loads. The 
 three had been hired to transport animals to Astera- 
 bad. 
 
 Kassim was proudly enacting the supercargo, as he 
 led the masters of the three boats at once ashore to 
 meet the anxious Soltykoff. There was some grave 
 haggling about price until the village mariners had 
 adjusted the rates for transferring a whole caravan to 
 Asterabad. It was an event in their maritime lives. 
 A windfall. 
 
 "I will need all your men to help with the camels," 
 said the adroit Kassim. "Hasten them then, now, 
 ashore. We are at prayers in yonder grove. We must 
 be off at once. For, the breeze serves now." 
 
 Colonel Soltykoff sat on his horse watching the 
 lonely blue expanse oi the silent sea before him. 
 The long shore line melted away to the east where a 
 few dark spots marked the promontory of Miyankal. 
 There was a dark, low line hanging over the horizon 
 there. 
 
 "My God, is that the 'Olga's' smoke?" the wornout 
 leader cried, and then, turning in his saddle, he threw 
 up his hand, for Kassim, the artful, had led all the un- 
 suspecting bargemen past the copse where Petrovitch
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 295 
 
 with his guard watched for the signal to come on. 
 Soltykoff threw out his arm, and the troopers came 
 into view, briskly trotting over to the strand. The 
 slumbering sailor left in each barge was affrighted as 
 an armed Cossack sprang upon each barge. Captain 
 Petrovitch, with a couple of well armed troopers, stood 
 by the shore lines at the little cattle landing. Then 
 Soltykoff spurred up his horse and gaily galloped back 
 into the midst of the excited caravan. Every soul was 
 busied with a hasty scramble to the beach. The as- 
 tonished boatmen were quickly reassured by that most 
 genial of supercargoes Kassim the Kurd! It was 
 Soltykoff himself who led lima Falka across the barges 
 to the outer one. A dozen stout Cossacks were soon 
 busied in rapidly passing over Lhe slender belongings 
 of the official party. Before lima Falka could hide 
 herself in the shelter of the little barge cabin, the Rus- 
 sian troop horses, in two long lines, were denuded of 
 their trappings. With shout and song, the rejoicing 
 Russians piled high the prows with their accoutrements 
 and saddle gear. There was a guard of twenty men 
 on the outer barge, and the troop horses were all led 
 aboard the two inner vessels, tied facing each other in 
 double lines in the shallow cattle droghers. The Per- 
 sian commander and his ten men were now drawn up 
 in front of the landing. 
 
 And, Paul Denton, standing at lima Falka's side, 
 watched the freshening breeze and chafed in a vain 
 excitement. 
 
 "Why do we linger?" he cried, watching the last 
 group of their party. And, at his side, her heart beat- 
 ing in a wild tumult, lima Falka's face was fanned by 
 the fresh breeze. Her dancing eyes noting the whirl- 
 ing sea birds in their fearless flight of freedom. The 
 light of liberty was shining on her happy face. Serge 
 Soltykoff was the very last man to leave the strand, 
 and Kassim, the supercargo, stood pistol in hand, at 
 his side, as he cried "Cast off!" The merry Russian 
 soldiers then struck up their wild regimental songs
 
 296 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 as the busy boatmen loosened the lines and the three 
 barges floated free. Kassim and the two guides, with a 
 sergeant, commanded the first. Petrovitch the second, 
 and Colonel Soltykoff's guard of twenty men, with the 
 luggage, trimmed fairly the outside shallop. Willing 
 hands aided the timid boatmen as the great lateen sails 
 were at once loosened. The light barge then gained 
 headway and smartly dashed away over the shallow 
 Caspian. Serge Soltykoff stood in triumph at the prow 
 with folded arms, his eyes strained upon Miyankall 
 Point far away there to the east. He turned to look up- 
 on the two barges dashing along in rear, and his face 
 suddenly lit up with a smile. For there, nestling in 
 the stern of the boat, the Hungarian girl lay with her 
 head resting upon her wounded lover's breast "I will 
 have my own revenge at Moscow" mused Solty- 
 koff, and his heart grew strangely light, as the suburbs 
 of Farahabad faded behind them. The last thing Solty- 
 koff had observed to indicate the presence of his de- 
 feated enemies was the then curling smoke of a camp 
 fire, and the straggling animals wandering at will 
 over the sedgy meadows. "I don't fancy that fellow 
 will hurry back to make his report at Teheran," 
 laughed Soltykoff, as he saw Alan Randall seated by 
 the foremast. The young doctor was philosophically 
 conning over his own future. "I have told this man 
 that if he lies out of his scrape, successfully, and throws 
 che whole blame of the encounter upon that dead dog 
 Kinsky, I will screen him through our ambassador. 
 Otherwise, his head will be in jeopardy." "Trust to 
 him! I know the Persian artfulness in lying deceit," 
 said Randall. 
 
 Soltykoff's heart suddenly smote him. "See here, 
 my dear boy, what shall we do for you? Where do 
 you wish to go?" Alan Randall spoke dreamily. He 
 was warring with himself. "Of course, you know that 
 my return would officially endanger my colleagues. If 
 I should take station again at Trebizond or Erzcroum, 
 I would be slyly assassinated. I think I will make for
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 297 
 
 Odessa, if we escape, and, on a secret report to our 
 chief at Constantinople, go on to America, without 
 crossing the Moslem boundaries. Our people there 
 will close up all my little affairs." Serge Soltykoff eyed 
 the game young fellow curiously. "You will go on 
 by Moscow. I propose to show you what a Russian 
 home welcome is like!" 
 
 The sun was setting as the hawk-eyed Colonel again 
 caught the black smear of dark smoke hovering near 
 the horizon, beyond the point, now only five hours' 
 sail distant. He turned and spoke a few words to the 
 grave Persian who was piloting the barge, signalling 
 his commands briskly to the sailors. And, when he 
 had heard the boatman's answer, he walked back to 
 where Paul Denton was engaged in a mysterious con- 
 versation with lima Falka. The excited girl clasped 
 his hand and drew the tall soldier down to her side. 
 "Did you save my little house that I rode in, and my 
 good, patient camel?" Her voice trembled in eager- 
 ness. "Kassim has the whole affair, camel and all, in 
 his boat." "And, will there be news, good news, to- 
 night?" The anxious woman gazed at the receding 
 shore. The boatmen now spread out the evening re- 
 past of eggs, dried fish and tea, while Denton produced 
 their last simple stores. "Sleep in peace, my darling 
 child," cried the soldier. "I will take you, myself!" 
 The young Countess slept, wrapped in her fleecy fur 
 robes under the watchful eyes of her happy lover. 
 Only once did Paul Denton steal away from his post. 
 It was when Soltykoff laid a hand upon his arm. The 
 Russian Colonel led the young American to the prow 
 of the barge which was gliding steadily along, followed 
 at a mile by the heavier laden boats with the animals. 
 A simple lantern swinging on each mast told of the 
 safety of the convoy. It was long after midnight when 
 the tall form of Serge Soltykoff bent over the poor, 
 hunted child of the woman he loved. And, with his 
 grave, gentle voice, he then gently awakened the Mag- 
 yar girl.
 
 298 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "lima, my darling child!" he said, as he laid a hand 
 upon her arm. The girl sprang up in alarm, as hoarse 
 cries of the night arose. But Paul Denton's voice rang 
 out in chorus with SoltykofFs cry, as a red and green 
 light flashed out before them, blinding them as they 
 all peered into the darkness. lima Falka fell upon 
 her wounded lover's breast, for they had cried "It is the 
 <01ga!' 
 
 And, the woman, whose waking to the joyful sum- 
 mons, had carried her away in a senseless ecstasy, 
 never knew of the ringing cheers sounding out when 
 a dozen stout arms bore the girl into the splendid 
 cabin of the Czar's Caspian patrol boat. Doctor Ran- 
 dall leaned over her couch there, as the Armenian 
 nurse gave the exhausted girl the water in which he 
 had deftly dropped the sleeping potion of mercy. The 
 doctor's work was done! He only feared lest joy 
 might unhinge her reason after the long ordeal. When 
 Colonel Soltykoff next morning was led into the dark- 
 ened cabin, he drew aside the silken curtain and 
 showed to her a mist-covered level horizon, sweep- 
 ing away far behind them. "There is the road you 
 have come, my darling child, and, you have now left 
 all your fears behind. To-morrow night you will sleep 
 in the palace of the Governor General at Baku." No 
 one marvelled that the girl with a glad cry, threw her 
 arms around the neck of the stern soldier, and hid her 
 head in his bosom, sobbing like a child. 
 
 "Come away," gravely said Randall. "There is a 
 joy that kills," and he whispered to the Armenian 
 nurse, while Soltykoff and Paul Denton went out to- 
 gether upon the deck. There, Captain Petrovitch and 
 Kassim were standing, gazing on the blue and white 
 cross, the Czar's flag, streaming out behind. "I am a 
 Russian, now," said Kassim, as he gravely saluted. 
 
 Before the sun sank to rest, gilding the low line of 
 hills far away before them, lima Falka had gazed 
 around from the quarter deck upon the tranquil even- 
 ing skies. "My mother! Arpad!" she whispered to
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 299 
 
 SoltyKoff, "I will telegraph from Baku, for your mother 
 to meet us at Moscow. Major Denton will bring her 
 on with the rest. Your only safe way home is over 
 Russian soil, and, my home shall be your home, till 
 you are rested." The man who had risked his life to 
 save her, dared not tell her of the fate of the gallant 
 brother who had died, almost under the walls of the 
 Red Pavilion! 
 
 When the morning broke over the still Caspian the 
 "Olga" was speeding over the tranquil waters, her 
 course laid directly for the Apsheron peninsula. Noth- 
 ing was visible on the great inland sea but the tri- 
 angular wake of the vessel, bounding forward under 
 the utmost efforts of her engines. A few gulls hovered 
 screaming hoarsely behind, and a fleet of little fish- 
 ing boats dotted the blue expanse on the shallows. 
 
 Colonel Soltykoff was early on deck, and gaily 
 laughed as the officers of the "Olga" offered him a 
 contributed pick up uniform. "No," he smilingly said, 
 "I left Baku in mufti, and I am not anxious yet to 
 disclose my identity." The sympathetic officers dared 
 not pry into the identity of the mysterious woman pas- 
 senger who now, with her strange looking attendant, 
 reigned in the commander's cabin. The bright sun 
 climbed the heavens, and it was late before Doctor 
 Randall emerged from the after cabin. 
 
 Paul Denton's face wore an expression of haggard 
 anxiety. For, he had been so far denied the sight of 
 the face of the woman he loved. When Doctor Alan 
 Randall drew Colonel Soltykoff aside, there were 
 hearty peals of laughter followed by a mysterious con- 
 ference. And then, Serge Soltykoff sought the com- 
 mander for a most interesting private interview. Ran- 
 dall at once dispelled all the fears of the anxious lover. 
 "Cheer up, Denton !" he said. "My patient is making 
 wonderful strides toward recovery. I will tell you a 
 secret. I am going back to America, and the first 
 woman I find who is the double of this brave girl, shall 
 be my wife, if I have to toss physic to the dogs and
 
 300 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 become a languishing lover. I thought she was all 
 heroine. But yet, a woman, for there are many mir- 
 rors in that too gorgeous saloon of the commander!" 
 "Countess lima Falka is tired of the garb of the Persian 
 camel driver, and she knows now that the 'Olga's' guns 
 are her grimly faithful guardians. The Shah has noth- 
 ing more formidable than a cattle barge on the Hyrca- 
 nian Sea. Only the White Czar's war flag flies here on 
 this magnificent lake. You will see Countess lima 
 when they have finished the day's first labors. I left 
 them with a pile of Persian shawls and Commander 
 Katkoff's oriental draperies. I believe when Colonel 
 Soltykoff has furnished forth the sailors' sewing kits, 
 that you will be admitted to their presence." The sud- 
 den discovery of her bizarre appearance tells of the 
 reflex tide of ruling feminine passion. And," he whis- 
 pered, "I would advise you also to masquerade as a 
 Russian officer in undress uniform. You are not a 
 romantic figure in that servant's garb." Denton's face 
 crimsoned. "Noblesse oblige," he said, stoutly. "I 
 will not shed "these muddy vestments which grossly 
 close me in till that gamest of Russians, Soltykoff, leads 
 off. He may not wish to be officially known in this 
 enterprise. But, Randall, go back to her and, tell 
 her," the seal of Venus rests yet upon the burning 
 messages which the bearded Cupid departed with. 
 The doctor laughed, and yet he proved a reliable mes- 
 senger! A sudden thought struck Denton. He 
 crossed the deck to where Soltykoff was exhibiting 
 Mustapha's sabre to the wondering Katkoff. "What 
 became of that Mollah the green turbaned indi- 
 vidual? Kassim tells me that he was missing after we 
 left the Tower of Silence." 
 
 "I am afraid that we lost him on the way!" grimly 
 said Colonel Serge. "The fact is," he whispered to 
 Paul, "Petrovitch just had him shot on general prin- 
 ciples, to discourage his future meddling kind. The 
 Captain owes something to his splendid horses half 
 used up in that rattling ride. It is the fate of the tale
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 301 
 
 bearer." "Ah!" mused Denton. "He got what few 
 men get in this weary world, his just deserts! Do you 
 know, Soltykoff," said Paul, "I would like to leave 
 this tideless sea by the Volga and pass out to the 
 Baltic, by the canal of the Tvertsa and Schlina. What 
 a land is yours, what a power. Your public works are 
 stupendous !" 
 
 "We are not asleep," proudly said Soltykoff. "What 
 we get, we hold. In twenty years, for six months of 
 the season, laden boats can be moved from the Black 
 Sea to the Baltic, and down into the Caspian, without 
 breaking bulk, and from the Pacific to the Arctic ocean, 
 through Siberia, by the Amur and the canals joining 
 our inland rivers there. Then, with the Trans-Siberian 
 Railway connected with our existing roads to Merv 
 and Tashkend, Russia will dominate Asia, control 
 China, and menace India by our wonderful rail and 
 inland waterways. For, the White Czar's flag never 
 goes back. Old Strabo never dreamed of the unborn 
 Colossus of the north when he chronicled the doings 
 of the Rude Caspii. But this is all our own to-day!" 
 He swept the sea horizon defiantly. 
 
 There was the merriest fancy dress dinner ever given 
 on the lonely Caspian when Paul Denton was at last 
 admitted to the presence of the rescued Countess. 
 Draped in Persian shawls and the improvised robes of 
 her sex, with her darkened skin and the crisp short 
 curls still shaded with the dyes of Teheran, lima Falka 
 was again an attractive woman. A strangely beauti- 
 ful woman of a thrilling earnest loveliness. Her eyes 
 rested in fond tenderness on Serge Soltykoff who sat 
 next her in the place of honor, but she dropped her 
 eyes in a strange confusion as Paul knelt reverently 
 and kissed her hand. 
 
 "Princess Nourmahal came back to rule and reign!" 
 he whispered. For well he understood the fond dis- 
 sembling of the girl's heart which built up its battle- 
 ments of womanly pride. It was the shrinking self- 
 protection of her own regained self. For her mind now
 
 302 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 turned fondly back to the pledge given in the rosy 
 mazes of "My Lady's Walk." "Is there really no 
 danger now?" whispered lima, as they drank to the 
 Czar, their Imperial host, on the silent waters. "None, 
 my darling child," said Soltykoff. "Two nights more 
 and you will sleep in Baku. It is two-thirds Persian 
 and Armenian. So, I must smuggle you ashore lest 
 the noble English friends in Teheran be later made the 
 victims of some dastardly revenge. The Governor 
 General's family will provide all for you, and, within an 
 hour from our arrival there, the news will be in Vienna, 
 at Constantinople, and at Schloss Falkenstein! I will 
 have the Governor's own special train, and, with five 
 days' ride through to Vladikaukas, then you shall have 
 your own private car till we all meet at Moscow. No 
 one will know us!" 
 
 "Why meet there?" murmured lima. "Because, the 
 Moslem spies will not know of our reunion, then! We 
 must protect our little circle of loyal friends in Persia! 
 The Russian Minister must play the part of an angry 
 accuser, and thoroughly frighten the Shah's Ministers! 
 Besides, lima," he whispered. "I wish to show your 
 mother my dear old home!" Princess Nourmahars 
 little hand stole into the soldier's palm ! She had been 
 ministering to him, on the one side, and to her 
 wounded lover on the other! "I understand you," she 
 said, with softly shining eyes. "We are not to be 
 strangers ever again! I owe my life to you!" Solty- 
 koff then knew he had gained an ally for life! Com- 
 mander Katkoff always treasured the great gray cloak 
 which he proudly wrapped around lima Falka's pretty 
 shoulders in the silence of the starlit night, when the 
 "Olga" sped into the harbor of Baku! One by one, 
 the gallant officers pressed the hand of their fair un- 
 known guest! It was only next day that the sailors 
 broke into three ringing cheers when a splendid lar- 
 gesse was showered upon them! In a superb silver 
 frame, a portrait of the fairy Princess Nourmahal still 
 ornaments the officers' cabin of the dashing dispatch
 
 LOST COUNTESS PALKA. 303 
 
 corvette "Olga." The simple inscription "To my 
 Brothers," was lima Falka's pledge of gratitude! 
 
 There was clattering of orderlies, and the roll of car- 
 riages echoing around the Governor's Palace till long 
 after midnight, on the evening of the landing! Serge 
 Soltykoff and the Governor sat late in serious con- 
 verse! Randall. and the overjoyed Denton were now 
 restlessly discussing all the victorious quest, when 
 Soltykoff broke in upon them, and led them into the 
 library of the happy official. "Gentlemen!" said the 
 Colonel, "we will leave Baku on our special train the 
 first moment we can rescue Countess lima to-morrow 
 from the ladies of this hospitable family! I have tried 
 to tell them that even a wedding trousseau, can be had 
 at Moscow! It is heaped up with the spoils of the 
 old world, the moyen age, and all the modern glories 
 of Vanity Fair! Our dispatches too have all been 
 answered back! We must be on the road, for else our 
 Vienna party will be there, before us! I have to make 
 room for your mother, Paul. Major Fraser Denton 
 and his daughter, Bela Batthyani and the Countess 
 Magda! I must be there to set my house in order!" 
 The veteran turned his eyes away for Paul Denton read 
 his thoughts! The cure will be a rapid one at Mos- 
 cow! "So, the sleeping cup was drained! It was Den- 
 ton, with tear-dimmed eyes, who cried "To the Czar!" 
 
 "There is Petrovitch, and Kassim!" said Paul. "I'll 
 not see Petrovitch suffer!" genially said His Ex- 
 cellency. "I've made him a major, overnight! Solty- 
 koff here will get him the order for a permanent aide 
 de camp's rank with me ! The Czar will decorate him, 
 and, the young ladies here, will spoil him! For the 
 story of his devotion will lead to his own capture soon ! 
 As for Kassim between Soltykoff and myself he 
 will be chief of the whole native secret service of the 
 border! Look to your own reward, Denton !" the Gov- 
 ernor smiled. "It lies near you at your side, now!" 
 
 And in her stately guest room, the Hungarian 
 maiden slept in peace with a happy heart! For the 
 
 20
 
 304 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 hoarse call of the Russian sentinel under her window, 
 was music far sweeter than ever chanted the nightin- 
 gales of the Danube valley ! There was Liberty around, 
 and Life and Love before her! The waiting circle 
 of her body guard started back in surprise, as the 
 stately beauty was led into the assembly room, where 
 the Russian ladies had furnished her feminine equip- 
 ment for the triumphal voyage to Moscow. "You are 
 more than beautiful, darling," whispered Paul Denton, 
 as he led her to the window for a last glimpse of the 
 dainty steamer "Olga," lying below them in the har- 
 bor! "You are wonderfully beautiful, but." he smiled. 
 "I shall always regret the vanished Princess Nourma- 
 hal !" For, the lady of his love was no longer the Pearl 
 of the Harem! The thousand purses were but fairy 
 gold, and the road so stony for her tender feet was 
 leading her homeward at last ! 
 
 "Remember!" laughed the ladies of Baku in chorus, 
 as the special train whistled its warning, "You owe 
 us a return visit! Else we shall think you, only to 
 have been a sweet dream of the night !" 
 
 The duties of the escort were now limited to the 
 buoyant Major Petrovitch and Kassim, who were to 
 go on with them as far as Vladikaukas. The Major 
 was proudly restless under his new title, but Kassim, 
 bearing the trophy of Mustapha's sabre, was diligent in 
 every assurance as to the future well being of the 
 camel which was to be under his special protection! 
 And, soon the Caspian shores faded far away behind 
 them, their cares falling from their burdened shoulders, 
 even as the wild winds scatter the needles of the sway- 
 ing pines! A stern disciplinarian was Doctor Alan Ran- 
 dall. "I have here three patients! I absolutely forbid 
 all reference to our little escapades over the border! 
 For, if I mistake not, the whole story will be told, for 
 the first time, at Moscow!" Colonel Soltykoff was 
 touched at Randall's delicate prevision! "It will be 
 as well, Colonel, that these two stricken women should 
 never know the dark tragedy of Count Arpad's death !
 
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 305 
 
 Let them find out, later, that he fell a victim to the 
 dangerous climate ! A second shock might be a grave 
 menace to Countess Magda's recovery, and our beau- 
 tiful wanderer must now find brother and husband, in 
 her game and gallant lover!" "It shall be so!" said 
 Serge Soltykoff, sighing, but his heart was sad, when 
 he thought of the bright faced lad who fell under the 
 sabres of the hidden Moslem cowards ! And, his stern 
 soldierly face grew grim, as he saw again, Mustapha 
 Pasha, pitching wildly forward, in the wreathed smoke 
 of the fight to the death ! 
 
 "Blood pays all debts!" mused Serge, as he gazed 
 beyond him, at the far away Kaukas range, with a 
 heart hungering for the unpaid debt of the love of all 
 these long years ! What waited for him beyond those 
 snowy crests? He dared not hope! 
 
 While Paul Denton marvelled at the brevity of the 
 run to Tiflis, Colonel Soltykoff left the young lovers 
 to their growing enchantment. Doctor Alan Randall 
 lent his professional gravity to the council of Major 
 Petrovitch and his gallant chief. Before the train ran 
 down into the basin of Tiflis, Petrovitch was ready to 
 secure the special relay post to whirl them through the 
 gorges of the Caucasus. 
 
 "Let me see!" said Soltykoff. "Four days to Vladi- 
 kaukas! Then four more of rail travel via Rostov- 
 Kharkov, and Koursk, to Moscow ! I had better have 
 Major Denton meet me secretly at Koursk. He can 
 prepare Magda Falka for the return of her daughter! 
 Yes! I will telegraph to him! The whole party shall 
 be met at Moscow by my Intendant and entertained 
 at the Slaviansky Bazaar Hotel! Doctor, you must 
 be responsible for the details of this meeting!" 
 
 "There is but one pious fraud to which we are all 
 bound!" gravely answered Alan Randall! Let the 
 mother and daughter still think that Arpad is far away 
 searching the interior of far off Aleppo and Mesopo- 
 tamia, with Mclvor Pasha! You can easily have Am- 
 bassador Nelidoff later forward a well devised circum-
 
 306 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 stantial account of Count Arpad's death, say sent on 
 from the Russian Consul at Bagdad. Syrian fever 
 will be a very natural danger of his long quest! In this 
 way both of these women will be strengthened by the 
 joys of reunion, and, lima should not delay a union 
 with Denton! You have some claims on both mother 
 and daughter, Colonel! I would insist upon an im- 
 mediate marriage! Travel will soon restore lima 
 Falka's shattered nerves, and the happy anti-climax 
 of the long ordeal is nature's magic heart healer! She 
 must marry, at once!" "I will speak to her mother, 
 and, urge an immediate marriage!" This woman must 
 have all the protection of a loving husband! It will 
 be an excellent excuse that Paul Denton must soon go 
 back to America and arrange for his diplomatic 
 future !" 
 
 "You must not neglect the mother!" anxiously said 
 Randall! "Countess Magda shall have all the benefit 
 of new scenes and a long stay in Russia! I propose to 
 brighten her life!" answered Soltykoff with a curious 
 smile! "She must not be left alone!" As he walked 
 away Alan Randall began to see the drift of the gal- 
 lant Russian's plars at last. "I may be a pretty fair 
 physician," mused Randall, "but I had better be look- 
 ing around now in search of a wife! There seems to 
 be a matrimonial epidemic in the near future! That is, 
 if Soltykoff carries his point, and he is not the man to 
 be denied now!" 
 
 Before the wayfarers arrived at the rendezvous at 
 Koursk, there was a scene of peculiar interest to the 
 timorous Minister of the Household of Nasr-ed-Din 
 enacted in the splendid Palace of the Negaristan, at 
 Teheran! The Shah had recently learned from a per- 
 sonal audience of the Russian Minister that a most re- 
 grettable collision had occurred between the retiring 
 Russian Guards of the Legation and his own troops at 
 Assur! 
 
 The Lord of Lords and King of Kings expressed a 
 cold unconcern as to the severe losses of his soldiers !
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 307 
 
 "The blunderers shall be sorely punished!" he re- 
 marked. "I will send you the head of the command- 
 er!" The happy Russian diplomat gratefully declined 
 this liberal proffer! "Then there are other punish- 
 ments! They shall suffer! And, my ministers shall 
 at once officially apologize and make good all damages 
 to your escort." 
 
 The "incident was not closed," however, when the 
 Russian diplomat departed, for he had the cipher news 
 of the arrival of the happy fugitives at Kharkov. "All's 
 well that ends well!" the Minister muttered. "I will 
 not worry the Lion of Persia! It seems that we are 
 quits, and the honors are ours!" But, seated at his 
 royal table in the Gulistan's halls, the Shah suddenly 
 remembered the dead Mustapha's quest! A dull anger 
 burned then in his sensual eyes! Though superb Sevres 
 and Dresden ware, with rich silver, decorated the table, 
 with its perfumed central fountain and the wines, and 
 liqueurs of the Frank, cheered him, the Shah gazed in 
 a sullen discontent at the lovely women around him. 
 The Pearl of the Harem had vanished forever! In the 
 great room with its superb alabaster dados, its grand 
 Persian fawn colored carpet, the marble pillars holding 
 up its matchless roof of fretted "gatch" stucco work, the 
 King of Kings gave way to a growing resentment! 
 There were a hundred lovely women wanderingaround 
 the sunken gardens, where the music breathed in dying 
 strains, and the inlaid mirrors of the ceiling flashed 
 back all the charms of the languishing beauties near 
 him! "I have been outwitted! They have stolen the 
 girl!" he growled. And then the words of his Am- 
 bassador at Stamboul came back, "She is the day star 
 of all women, and as lovely as the fabled Nourmahal ! 
 A young goddess, with eyes of the gazelle and the form 
 of a houri!" The trembling Minister of the Royal 
 Pleasures bowed before his master! "Tell me of this 
 rumored battle!" sternly said the Shah. 
 
 "It was the accursed Mustapha, dog and renegade! 
 cried the frightened pander, falling on his knees. "He
 
 308 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 led the advance guard of the soldiers into an attack on 
 the Russians! They had captured the guide, Kassim, 
 who alone knew the fugitive! Mustapha was the only 
 other one of the party who could recognize her! The 
 Russian soldiers beat off our men, and they hastened 
 out of Persia by Farahabad! There was no woman 
 with them! Mustapha was killed! The guide has 
 never been seen since! The Russians probably killed 
 him also. The officer waits the royal pleasure. He 
 only supported the attack until he knew the foes were 
 the Russians of the Legation Guard! Then he gave 
 over all further fighting at once!" 
 
 "And, the girl!' the King of Kings growled, with 
 flashing eyes. "Ah! She must have been smuggled 
 out by Balfrush on the Russian steamer to Baku by 
 the missionaries! There was one who reached there 
 in advance of our men ! He had camels and litters ! It 
 is too late !" 
 
 "Let that dog of a commander be beaten and then 
 degraded! Send him to the turquoise mines to work 
 in chains, for life! I would see the two women slaves 
 myself and question them! Let them, then, be then 
 sent back to Stamboul 1" There was a silver lining to 
 the cloud which overshadowed Nasr-ed-Din, whose 
 tastes for European beauty had been whetted by the 
 long visit in which he had drained the Cup of Pleasure 
 in the European capitals! "Lord of Lords! Ruler of 
 Kings!" murmured his Minister. "The Ambassador 
 of Abdul Aziz has informed me that a safe conduct 
 has been granted to your Ambassador at Stamboul, 
 who sends hither a marvelous Prankish music girl, 
 also a witching beauty of the Danube! She has the 
 voice of the bulbul, and the fair slave is a dancer able 
 to thread the single hair bridge of Al Sirat! And the 
 caravan bringing her may daily be expected! Your 
 Ambassador at Stamboul has seen the slave and 
 he has listened to her singing, and marked the witch- 
 ery of her wonderful dancing!" A gleam of vicious 
 curiosity lit the royal debaucher's eye. "Hark you!"
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 309 
 
 he cried. "She comes here to the Gulistan! Send 
 out runners to meet them! Your head will be the 
 gage of any strange accident! Look to it!" And the 
 "Holder of the Girdle of Beautiful Forms" fled the 
 royal presence! 
 
 "We may yet divide the thousand purses!" he glee- 
 fully cried. "For the Osmanli Ambassador will now 
 aid me, and our own Stamboul friend declares that 
 none can surpass her! She shall be arrayed as a 
 queen, and be decked out in jewels! Who knows that 
 she may not surpass this sly Frankish devil who fled 
 away?" The decidedly pleasurable auspices of her 
 debut at the court of Persia, were as yet unknown to 
 the singing girl who was Mustapha's accessory in the 
 murder of Arpad! 
 
 But, beautiful "Marie the Devil" had already learned 
 that a woman's wit can rule, even in harem bowers! 
 Her senile admirer was made her unwilling slave, 
 and the music hall waif went forth light-hearted to 
 the dazzling delights of the Gulistan! No one saw 
 Serge Soltykoff leap off the train as the Moscow 
 bound pilgrims saw Koursk, smiling in its splendid 
 gardens at the junction of the Koura and the Tous- 
 kara! Mountain and valley smiled in peace and plenty, 
 and the cross glittered over a score of splendid 
 churches high above them! "Nearing home!" mut- 
 tered Serge. "Only fifteen hours to Moscow, and 
 
 "Magda!" gasped Serge Soltykoff, when Fraser 
 Denton clasped him in a bear's hug! "She is as beau- 
 tiful as ever!" cried the happy man, "and her heart 
 swells with love and gratitude! lima!" 
 
 "Is in superb health! only we have now made her 
 a Cossack princess! Come away with me, Fraser! We 
 must arrange for your little debut. I told Denton and 
 Randall to keep her out of our sight! They think that 
 I'm busied about the train !" 
 
 "And, is the dog really dead?" anxiously questioned 
 the American veteran. "I've telegraphed all the facts
 
 310 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 to Mclvor at Cairo! But, Bela and I will not believe 
 that Magda is safe until we have your word! Her 
 joy has restored her!" 
 
 "I will show you the sabre I wrenched out of hi* 
 own dead hand! And the rifle that I killed him with! 
 His long account is closed forever!" sternly said Solty- 
 koff. "He fell in fair fight, and by my hand!" 
 
 "There is a reward waiting for you, Serge!" said 
 the American, softly. "There are golden years before 
 you now! For there is no ban of the past resting on 
 Magda now! What do you intend to do?" 
 
 "I shall ask you to aid me to marry off these two 
 young lovers, and then pack them off to America!" 
 slowly answered Soltykoff. "Then I propose to give 
 some time to my own private affairs!" The Russian 
 chevalier blushed even under the desert tan! "I pro- 
 pose to open the Soltykoff mansion again, and if Coun- 
 tess Magda ever crosses its threshold I shall hold her 
 there a prisoner for life! Come into the car now! 
 Remember your role! Betray nothing about Arpad's 
 fate! Don't forget your part!" "It's an easy one!" 
 smiled Denton, "for Bela and Aida only wait for your 
 arrival to be married! Those impetuous young people 
 do not propose to be balked by fate! Bela has been 
 promoted and ordered on palace duty at Vienna. Tell 
 me of Paul. How did he play his part?" 
 
 "Like a man!" said Soltykoff. "He covered the girl 
 he loved with his body after he was wounded and fired 
 twenty shots into the mob at the barricaded door of 
 the tower, while his rifle streamed with his own blood! 
 Kassim says that he is 'Taib Ketir!' which is Arabic 
 for 'way up!' He is game to the last!" 
 
 "There is an attache of the Austrian Embassy al- 
 ready waiting at Moscow to tender all the facilities of 
 the Austro-Hungarian monarchy to Countess Magda 
 Falka and her daughter!" said Major Denton. "Ah! I 
 wish nothing done officially. You see," confirlentally 
 whispered Soltykoff, "it might embroil the Russian 
 and English Ministers at Teheran with the Shah's
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 311 
 
 grovelling Ministers! We owe Ilma's life to that gal- 
 lant little English woman! Let us call the incident 
 closed/ as the French would say!" "You are right!" 
 mused Denton. "The Austrian diplomat tells me that 
 Major Horace Derwent is already gazetted to the va- 
 cant military attacheship at St. Petersburg! That will 
 take his spirited young wife out of the reach of Per- 
 sian revenge! They are already at Trebizond!" "By 
 heavens! I'll capture them on their way and give 
 them such a Russian welcome as they never dreamed 
 of!" cried Soltykoff, as they entered the train. "Wait 
 here! I will bring Paul!" And Soltykoff lured the 
 young American just long enough from the side of the 
 happy Hungarian beauty to have a few words with 
 Fraser Denton before Doctor Randall prepared the 
 rescued girl for her first happy surprise! Serge Solty- 
 koff was busied with the dispatch of various telegrams 
 to the people of his household in Moscow, and his 
 eye brightened when he read his intendant's dispatch: 
 "All your orders have been executed !" 
 
 Alas! for the vanity of manhood! Soltykoff left Fra- 
 ser Denton gently leading lima Falka along the his- 
 tory of the long months veiled to her, and she knew 
 now that her mother was not yet aware of the happy 
 invasion of the long closed Soltykoff mansion! "We 
 must only trust to Colonel Serge and the Doctor as 
 Masters of Ceremony," said the American veteran. 
 "Bela and Aida are busying her with her first glimpses 
 of the City of Four Hundred Churches! Let us trust 
 all to them!" Soltykoff eyed his dingy undress uni- 
 form, the shoulder slashed to relieve his healing 
 wound, and the railway mirror, too, showed him the 
 lines of care on his sunburned visage. His outer man 
 was not the preux chevalier of Viennese palace ball 
 rooms, but only a stern and worn campaigner! "Will 
 she know me?" the soldier mused. "I must take my 
 chances!" He had noted the marvelous rejuvenation 
 of lima and Paul Denton! The Magyar maiden's 
 short, crisp curls were now daily turning to gold once
 
 B12 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 more and her eyes burned in a dark brilliance which 
 astonished even Soltykoff ! The philtre of Love cours- 
 ing in every vein was poured by the hand of youth! 
 And now, with an eager impatience, she counted the 
 very stations as they sped on, and the eager Paul Den- 
 ton found her tender eyes drooping now under his 
 ardent gaze! 
 
 There was a bright sui. danciner on the waters of the 
 Moskwa and glittering on the innumerable domes of 
 the city of the Tsars, as the train sped through the pic- 
 turesque suburbs and rolled into the Koursk depot! 
 It was Serge Soltykoff who led Countess lima to his 
 carriage, while a marshaled band of his retainers, led 
 by the Intendant, quickly placed the remainder of the 
 party. Leaning forward, a burning color upon her 
 cheeks, the girl gazed upon the most wonderful archi- 
 tectural melange of the world! Wealth and poverty 
 side by side, a maze oi palaces, churches, monuments, 
 and superb residences, with the people of every nation 
 and blood streaming through the streets of Russia's 
 Rome. 
 
 With a sweep the leading carriage dashed into the 
 courtyard of a superb mansion in the "white city" 
 of the great metropolis! There were lines of uncovered 
 footmen, and the girl was dazzled by the splendors of 
 the vast hallway! Her heart was beating fast, for Solty- 
 koff had leaned over and tenderly kissed her brow 
 as she crossed the threshold! 
 
 "May God bless you! My own darling!" the soldier 
 whispered. "This is your home, and, you are near 
 your journey's end!" 
 
 The old house butler whispered a word to the mas- 
 ter, whom he had known as a prattling child! 
 
 "Come!" said Serge, and then he led the silent maid- 
 en up the grand stairway! The girl's eyes turned to 
 him in a fond ecstasy as he stood before her with his 
 hand upon a door! 
 
 "My mother's rooms!" he said softly, as he slowly 
 turned the latch! With a wild cry of delight the "Prin-
 
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 313 
 
 cess Nourmahal" sprung through the doorway! For 
 she knew at last the gentle arts of the man who had 
 led her back to her mother's opened arms! 
 
 Colonel Soltykoff, with some little diplomacy, ef- 
 faced himself while the Dentons were also reunited, 
 and Bela Batthyani was called into the state apartment, 
 where lima Falka's head now rested on her mother's 
 throbbing bosom! The splendid hall below was spread 
 with the feast of welcome; and the silver gong had 
 rung out in vain before Serge Soltykoff descended 
 into the grand drawing room to marshal his guests! 
 The Colonel was again the military cavalier of Vienna, 
 with a desert tan. 
 
 There were two only wanting to complete the circle, 
 and Soltykoff hardly raised his eyes as lima laid her 
 light hand upon his arm. Her lips scarcely moved, 
 but her eyes, burning in tender gratitude, told the 
 hidden story! "Some one is waiting for you!" she 
 whispered, as they gained the hall, alone. "You said 
 that this was my home! Then, I must rule it! Come 
 with me!" The soldier's heart was beating wildly 
 now. 
 
 Soltykoff never heard the light foot as it fled away 
 down the stair again, but he saw the girl standing 
 there below him, her face glowing and transfigured 
 with her own happiness! And her rosy finger silently 
 pointed the way where he hesitated! For the man 
 who feared not Mustapha's lifted sabre trembled there 
 at the threshold in the crowning moment! 
 
 There was a woman standing at the window of the 
 great boudoir, and her face seemed turned away from 
 him ! Soltykoff was at her side before she had spoken, 
 and she was tenderly sobbing on his heart before she 
 heard his voice! And neither heard the spoken words 
 as their hearts throbbed on in an exquisite bliss. They 
 were standing under the picture of the gentle and gra- 
 cious woman who had ruled the splendid mansion in 
 the vanished years! 
 
 Soltykoff kissed the trembling lips of the beautiful
 
 314 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 woman, now prisoned in his arms! "Let me lead you 
 down! For this is your own Russian domain! They 
 wait, only for you!" 
 
 "I must tell you the story of the past!" she faltered. 
 "There is nothing to hide now! You have given back 
 to me more than life!" 
 
 "There is nothing to tell, only that you will repay! 
 A life for a life! For you are in Russia now, and you 
 are in my power! When Paul and lima have gone 
 back to Vienna you shall tell me what you will!" The 
 bells of the great city pealed out then in a sonorous 
 clangor as he spoke. "They sound like wedding 
 bells!" said the happy soldier, as he took her gentle 
 hand, and then led her down into the great hall! Be- 
 fore them all he seated Countess Magda in the place 
 which was now to be her very own! The song of 
 the bells was still echoing in every heart, for their 
 sweet message had reached them all ! 
 
 The most artful duplicity of Bela Batthyani succeed- 
 ed in convincing Major Denton and Countess Magda 
 Falka that the presence of the Austrian attache was 
 officially necessary at the weddings of lima and Aida! 
 Batthyani's palace duties called him back, and Doctor 
 Alan Randall artfully aided the young Austrian's spe- 
 cial pleading. "It will be far better to avoid the never- 
 ending stories of the vanished "Princess Nourmahal!" 
 And so, the Russian welcome to all was extended into 
 a double wedding merry making! Paul Denton's fond 
 mother and the Major consented to remain a month 
 as guests of Colonel Soltykoff, after the triumphant 
 departure of the beautiful brides! 
 
 The Smolensk railway station never saw a jollier 
 departure than on the evening when floods of cham- 
 pagne were the last offerings of the escorting wedding 
 guests! The slim, dandified Austrian attache won- 
 dered at the "maimed" rites of the wedding of a daugh- 
 ter of the proud Falkas! But, he accepted Bela's theory 
 of the varied and cogent reasons for this undue haste!
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 315 
 
 And these same flimsy reasons were most satisfactory 
 to the other parties of the double ceremony! 
 
 In fact, the young lovers were on the Danube be- 
 fore Faroe Moses had forwarded two superb pearl 
 necklaces for the vanished brides ! One was the offer- 
 ing of stout old Mclvor Pasha, and the other was the 
 great dragoman's gift! For, Ambassador Nelidoff had 
 kept his word and Faroe Moses had received his cov- 
 eted passport, to enter the Russian dominions, as a 
 "persona grata!" It had been the dream of his life, 
 and, honestly he had earned the special boon. Colonel 
 Soltykoff smiled as he recognized the crafty social 
 work of Batthyani and Doctor Randall, but he was 
 not altogether guileless, himself! It was but a fort- 
 night afterward when Major Fraser Denton found 
 the sudden necessity facing him of conveying Paul 
 Denton's mother back to the genial shelter of Vi- 
 enna! Even that pleasant widow, a matchmaker at 
 heart murmured her fears of the "rigors of a Mos- 
 cow winter." And then Serge Soltykoff's great coup 
 de main was delivered. The visit of an Imperial 
 Grand Duke, who honored the brilliant soldier with 
 his friendship, enabled Serge to astonish his three 
 guests. "I have been tendered the position of Chief 
 Aide de Camp to His Imperial Highness, who will 
 be Governor General of Moscow! It is a superb posi- 
 tion, and one which would enable me to overlook 
 my long neglected family estates." 
 
 Countess Magda's heart beat tumultuously, as she 
 listened to her gallant lover! "There is but one embar- 
 rassment! His Highness goes to the Mediterranean 
 for the winter, and, it would be my duty to accom- 
 pany him, until he returns to relieve General Gpurko." 
 
 "I can not be separated from you, Serge!" whis- 
 pered Magda Falka. "I have no one, now, and it 
 may be months before I hear from Arpad!" "Then," 
 said Soltykoff, drawing her to his heart, "we must 
 be married, before I go! One passport will cover 
 the voyage over the frontiers, and/' he smiled,
 
 81 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 "there will thus be no separation! You would not 
 ruin my military prospects?" The loving woman 
 placed her slender hand in his, while he blushed at 
 his excusable strategy. "When you will!" she whis- 
 pered! To which graceful self-surrender Colonel Sol- 
 tykoff, with cheerful military promptness, answered 
 "To-morrow, then! For I will, in that case, be im- 
 mediately eligible for this staff appointment!" It fell 
 out that the gracious Imperial Highness attended the 
 ceremony, and his superb wedding gift was accom- 
 panied by a burst of confidence! "I may as well tell 
 you, Countess Soltykoff, that I would have given 
 your husband a leave of absence if he had asked for 
 it! He would not have lost his position!" And, then, 
 the Countess Soltykoff realized the sly flank move- 
 ment of her lord and master. "I thank Your Im- 
 perial Highness for your gracious words!" she said, 
 with a deep courtesy, "but, as I have joined the army 
 I would not like to hurt the prospects of my 
 superior officer!" The Grand Duke laughed. "I 
 must steal the words of the unhappy Napoleon III. 
 'C'est magnifique, mais, ce n'est ' pas la guerre!' 
 However, all's fair in Love and War, and I am sure 
 that neither of you will ever regret it! For Soltykoff 
 has gained a loving and lovely wife, and our house 
 has gained a peerless Russian subject!" 
 
 The "staff appointment" and the military measures 
 carried Major Fraser Denton and Paul's mother con- 
 veniently away to the Austrian frontier! "I will have 
 to go on to the East on the affairs of my companies!" 
 soberly said Fraser Denton, to Soltykoff, "and I will 
 correspond with you, at Nice! I will at the time you 
 feel justified, see that the Russian consul at Bagdad 
 sends you on the proper news of poor Count Arpad's 
 demise! It seems a shade on your happiness, but, " 
 the veteran sighed, "I have found in life that Sorrow 
 is the shadow of Joy; that no happiness or success 
 comes without its accompanying trial, and that we 
 pay the price for all we receive here, below! You
 
 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 317 
 
 have paid the price, in advance, and may God grant 
 this to be your only chastening blow!" His own heart 
 throbbed in its lonely love, the saddest of all loves, 
 the love that is a memory, for he thought of the 
 vacant chair that had never been filled in his own 
 home. "Fraser," said Soltykoff, "you will have 
 Bela and Aida to cheer you! You have gained two 
 homes ! For, Schloss Falkenstein must go to Bela, 
 in the future, and you will have another home 
 here, in Moscow!" The happy soldier read the se- 
 cret of the veteran's sad philosophy! The passive en- 
 durance of the one who is left to mourn! And, so, 
 the Major went out again on the path of duty. 
 
 It was a peculiar stroke of good fortune that gave 
 over Major Horace Derwent and his spirited wife into 
 the hands of the Soltykoffs while the Grand Duke 
 made his leisurely preparations for the journey to the 
 Riviera! Madame la Comtesse Soltykoff noted the 
 delay and murmured, "Serge! You married me, a 
 month too soon! It was not a real necessity!" "It 
 could not have been delayed, another day!" gravely 
 replied her gallant husband. "But, let us go now, and 
 pounce down upon these English friends!" When 
 Major Derwent was allowed to escape to the waiting 
 delights of Petersburg, Mrs. Mary Derwent found 
 that a subtle all pervading influence had made her 
 paths strangely pleasant! She understood it, when 
 Magda Soltykoff clasped a superb diamond bracelet 
 on the slender wrist! The words "For Life," told 
 the sto*y of a mother's gratitude! "The Intendant 
 has my orders that you must always use my home 
 when in Moscow!" cried Soltykoff at parting! "Re- 
 member! His dismissal is in your hands!" Magda 
 knew all the story of Mary Derwent's wit and bravery, 
 and, there was but one last parting which brought a 
 pang to the married lovers! For, Doctor Alan Ran- 
 dall was bending his steps again toward^his forgotten 
 American home. The game young missionary was 
 deaf to the splendid offers he received to ally himself
 
 318 LOST COUNTESS FALKA. 
 
 with the Russian Imperial Service. "The fact is," 
 said Doctor Randall, "I have found that the dull re- 
 sistance of Islam makes our Persian mission work 
 almost useless! Our only followers, after all, are Ar- 
 menians, who are native Christians! The 'sick man' 
 must go the way of the doomed, perhaps, of the 
 damned, before we can gain the hearts of his chil- 
 dren, tied down by generations of rooted prejudice, 
 and a bestial system of the degradation of woman- 
 hood! Any nation can be gauged by the worth and 
 standing of its women! The woman of Islam is a 
 child minded puppet, a mere creature to command." 
 "And, we can really do nothing for you?" cried Mag- 
 da Soltykoff, with kindling eyes! Randall was leav- 
 ing Moscow, in great state! His simple nature re- 
 sisted the splendid bribes of kindness! "Yes! You 
 can!" vigorously said Alan, in adieu. "Do not forget 
 me! Keep me in your hearts, warm in your life and 
 love! I am going," he whispered confidentially to 
 the Countess, "to America, in search of a wife! And, 
 should I fail there, I may come back here, to hos- 
 pitable Russia, or to your own witching Vienna, and 
 try and find some one like the 'Princess Nourmahal,' 
 or like yourself!" He kissed the happy woman's 
 hands, and left them, gazing lovingly after him! "A 
 game fellow and a true man !" cried Soltykoff, as they 
 turned away. "He merits what I have found, Mag- 
 da! The one heaven on earth, of a loving woman's 
 heart." 
 
 THE END.
 
 
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