LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

not eat dere. Dey wouldn’t let a railroad guard inside de feedin’ pen. Why, nothin’ but royal guys eat dere when dey’re down town shoppin’ or exposin’ demselves to public gaze.”

      True to his word, when they reached Edelweiss late that afternoon Sitzky, their friend of uncertain origin, hurriedly finished his work and joined the travelers in the station. Lorry and Anguish were deeply interested in all they saw, the strange people, the queer buildings, the odd costumes and the air of antiquity that prevailed. Once upon the narrow, clean street they saw that Edelweiss was truly a city of the mountain-side. They had expected something wonderful, but were not prepared for what they found. The city actually ran up into the clouds. There was something so grand, so improbable, so unusual in the spectacle confronting them that they stared like children, aghast and stupefied. Each had the startling impression that a great human-dotted mountain was falling over upon his head; it was impossible to subdue the sensation of dizziness that the toppling town inspired.

      “I know how you feel,” observed Sitzky, laughing. “I was just d’ same at first. Tomorrow you walk a little ways up d’ side of d’ mountain an’ you’ll see how much of d’ city dere is on level ground down here. Dem buildings up dere ain’t more’n one-fiftieth part of d’town. Dey’re mostly summer homes. It gets hot as blazes down here in d’ valley in d’ middle of d’ summer and d’ rich ones move up d’ mountain.”

      “How in thunder do people get up to those houses?” demanded Anguish.

      “Mules,” answered Sitzky, specifically. “Say! See dat little old feller comin’ on horseback—wid d’ white uniform? Well, dat’s de chief of police, an’ d’ fellers behind him are police guards. ’At’s old Dangloss himself. He’s a peach, dey say.”

      A short, grizzly-faced man, attired in a white uniform with red trimmings, followed by three men similarly garbed, rode by, going in the direction of the passenger station. Dangloss, as Sitzky had called him, was quite small in stature, rather stout, gray-bearded and eagle-nosed. His face was keen and red, and not at all the kind to invite familiarity. As he passed them the railroad guard of American citizenship touched his cap and the two travelers bowed, whereupon the chief of police gave them a most profound salutation, fairly sweeping his saddleskirts with his white cap.

      “Polite old codger,” observed Anguish.

      “His company manners. Just let him get you in d’ sweatbox, if you t’ink he’s polite.”

      “Ever been there?”

      “Well,” a little confusedly, “I pasted a Graustark baggage-smasher down in d’ yards two weeks ago, an’ dey had me up. I proved d’ feller insulted a lady, an’ old Dangloss let me off, sayin’ I’d ought to have a medal. Dese guys are great on gallantry when ladies is concerned. If it hadn’t been fer dat, I’d be in d’ lock-up now. An’ say, you ought to see d’ lock-up! It’s a tower, wid dungeons an’ all dat sort of t’ing. A man couldn’t no more get out ’n’ he could fly up to d’ monastery. Dey’re great on law an’ order here, too. D’ Princess has issued strictest kind of rules an’ everybody has to live up to ’em like as if dey was real gospel. I t’ought I’d put you next, gents, so’s you wouldn’t be doin’ anyt’ing crooked here.”

      “Thanks,” said Lorry, drily. “We shall try to conduct ourselves discreetly in the city.”

      Probably a quarter mile farther down the narrow, level street they came to the bazaars, the gaudy stores, and then the hotel. It was truly a hostelry to inspire respect and admiration in the mind of such as Sitzky, for it was huge and well equipped with the modern appointments. As soon as the two Americans had been given their rooms, they sent for their luggage. Then they went out to the broad piazza, with its columns and marble balustrades, and looked for Sitzky, remembering their invitation to drink. The guard had refused to enter the hotel with them, urging them to allow him to remain on the piazza. He was not there when they returned, but they soon saw him. On the sidewalk he was arguing with a white-uniformed police guard, and they realized that he had been ejected from sacred precincts.

      They promptly rescued him from the officer, who bowed and strode away as soon as they interceded.

      “Dese fellers is slick enough to see you are swells and I’m not,” said Sitzky, not a bit annoyed by his encounter. “I’ll bet my head ’at inside ten minutes old Dangloss will know who you are, where you come from an’ what you’re doin’ here.”

      “I’ll bet fifty heads he won’t find out what we’re doing here,” grinned Anguish, looking at Lorry. “Well, let’s hunt up the thirst department.”

      They found the little apartment in which drinks were served at tables, and before they said good-by to Sitzky in front of the hotel, a half hour later, that worthy was in exceeding good humor and very much flushed in the face. He said he would be back in two days, and if they needed him for any purpose whatever, they could reach him by a note at the railway station.

      “Funny how you run across an American in every nook and corner of the world,” mused Lorry, as they watched the stocky ex-man-o’warsman stroll off towards his hotel.

      “If we can run across the Guggenslockers as easily, we’ll be in luck. When shall we begin the hunt? Tonight?”

      “We can make a few inquiries concerning them. They certainly are people of importance here.”

      “I don’t see the name on any of the brewery signs around town,” observed Anguish, consolingly. “There’s evidently no Guggenslocker here.”

      They strolled through the streets near the hotel until after six o’clock, wondering at the quaint architecture, the pretty gardens and the pastoral atmosphere that enveloped the city. Everybody was busy, contented, quiet and happy. There was no bustle or strife, no rush, no beggars. At six they saw hundreds of workingmen on the streets, going to their homes; shops were closed and there came to their ears the distant boom of cannon, evidently fired from different points of the compass and from the highland as well as the lowland.

      “The toy army is shooting off the good-night guns,” speculated Anguish. “I suppose everybody goes to bed now.

      “Or to dinner,” substituted Lorry, and they returned to the Regengetx. The dining hall was spacious and beautiful, a mixture of the oriental and the mediaeval. It rapidly filled.

      “Who the dickens can all these people be? They look well,” Anguish whispered, as if he feared their nearest neighbors might understand his English.

      “They are unquestionably of the class in which we must expect to find the Guggenslockers.”

      Before the meal was over the two strangers saw that they were attracting a great deal of attention from the other guests of the house. The women, as well as the men, were eyeing them and commenting quite freely, it was easy to see. These two handsome, smooth-faced young Americans were as men from another world, so utterly unlike their companions were they in personal appearance. They were taller, broader and more powerfully built than the swarthy-faced men about them, and it was no wonder that the women allowed admiration to show in their eyes. Toward the end of the dinner several officers came in, and the Americans took particular pains to study them. They were cleanly-built fellows, about medium height, wiry and active. As a class, the men appeared to average five feet seven inches in height, some a little taller, some a little shorter. The two strangers were over six feet tall, broad-shouldered and athletic. They looked like giants among these Graustark men.

      “They’re not very big, but they look as if they’d be nasty in a scrap,” observed Anguish, unconsciously throwing out his chest.

      “Strong as wildcats, I’ll wager. The women are perfect, though. Have you ever seen a smarter set of women, Harry?”

      “Never, never! A paradise of pretty women. I believe I’ll take out naturalization papers.”

      When the two strangers left the dining-room they were conscious that every eye in the place was upon them. They drew themselves to their full height and strode between the tables toward the

Скачать книгу