Beverly of Graustark | Page 7

another dislodgment of bags
and boxes. The wheels of the coach had dropped suddenly into a deep
rut. Aunt Fanny's growls were scarcely more potent than poor Miss
Beverly's moans.
"It is getting worse and worse," exclaimed Aunt Fanny's mistress,
petulantly. "I'm black and blue from head to foot, aren't you, Aunt
Fanny?"
"Ah cain' say as to de blue, Miss Bev'ly. Hit's a mos' monstrous bad
road, sho 'nough. Stay up dar, will yo'!" she concluded, jamming a bag
into an upper corner.

Miss Calhoun, tourist extraordinary, again consulted the linguist in the
saddle. She knew at the outset that the quest would be hopeless, but she
could think of no better way to pass the next hour then to extract a mite
of information from the officer.
"Now for a good old chat," she said, beaming a smile upon the grizzled
Russian. "Is there a decent hotel in the village?" she asked.
They were on the edge of the village before she succeeded in finding
out all that she could, and it was not a great deal, either. She learned
that the town of Balak was in Axphain, scarcely a mile from the
Graustark line. There was an eating and sleeping house on the main
street, and the population of the place did not exceed three hundred.
When Miss Beverly awoke the next morning, sore and distressed, she
looked back upon the night with a horror that sleep had been kind
enough to interrupt only at intervals. The wretched hostelry lived long
in her secret catalogue of terrors. Her bed was not a bed; it was a
torture. The room, the table, the--but it was all too odious for
description. Fatigue was her only friend in that miserable hole. Aunt
Fanny had slept on the floor near her mistress's cot, and it was the good
old colored woman's grumbling that awoke Beverly. The sun was
climbing up the mountains in the east, and there was an air of general
activity about the place. Beverly's watch told her that it was past eight
o'clock.
"Good gracious!" she exclaimed. "It's nearly noon, Aunt Fanny. Hurry
along here and get me up. We must leave this abominable place in ten
minutes." She was up and racing about excitedly.
"Befo' breakfas'?" demanded Aunt Fanny weakly.
"Goodness, Aunt Fanny, is that all you think about?"
"Well, honey, yo' all be thinkin' moughty serious 'bout breakfas' 'long
to'ahds 'leben o'clock. Dat li'l tummy o' yourn 'll be pow'ful mad 'cause
yo' didn'--"

"Very well, Aunt Fanny, you can run along and have the woman put up
a breakfast for us and we'll eat it on the road. I positively refuse to eat
another mouthful in that awful dining-room. I'll be down in ten
minutes."
She was down in less. Sleep, no matter how hard-earned, had revived
her spirits materially. She pronounced herself ready for anything; there
was a wholesome disdain for the rigors of the coming ride through the
mountains in the way she gave orders for the start. The Russian officer
met her just outside the entrance to the inn. He was less English than
ever, but he eventually gave her to understand that he had secured
permission to escort her as far as Ganlook, a town in Graustark not
more than fifteen miles from Edelweiss and at least two days from
Balak. Two competent Axphainian guides had been retained, and the
party was quite ready to start. He had been warned of the presence of
brigands in the wild mountainous passes north of Ganlook. The
Russians could go no farther than Ganlook because of a royal edict
from Edelweiss forbidding the nearer approach of armed forces. At that
town, however, he was sure she easily could obtain an escort of
Graustarkian soldiers. As the big coach crawled up the mountain road
and further into the oppressive solitudes, Beverly Calhoun drew from
the difficult lieutenant considerable information concerning the state of
affairs in Graustark. She had been eagerly awaiting the time when
something definite could be learned. Before leaving St. Petersburg
early in the week she was assured that a state of war did not exist. The
Princess Yetive had been in Edelweiss for six weeks. A formal demand
was framed soon after her return from America, requiring Dawsbergen
to surrender the person of Prince Gabriel to the authorities of Graustark.
To this demand there was no definite response, Dawsbergen insolently
requesting time in which to consider the proposition. Axphain
immediately sent an envoy to Edelweiss to say that all friendly
relations between the two governments would cease unless Graustark
took vigorous steps to recapture the royal assassin. On one side of the
unhappy principality a strong, overbearing princess was egging
Graustark on to fight, while on the other side an equally aggressive
people defied