The Vagrant Duke

sun gilding the upper half of the castellated towers which rose from a sea of moving shadows, it seemed a dream city, the fortress of a fairy tale. His fingers tingled to e

own some, Pete, si

not moved by concord of sweet sounds. "The

" questioned

the church--And that must be the Woolworth Building yonder.

!" mutter

tackle single-hand

ht was passing through Pete

a job," he

say, don't you hear 'em-people that never saw a servant in their own home town. Pretty occupation for an old war horse like me or a globe-trotter like you. No. None for me. I'll fry my fish in a bigger pan. Allons! Pete. I like you. I

together, Jim.

if I can see you balancin' di

ur on deck had struck, for a final meal was to be served and they went be

e simple expedient of his going ashore under cover of the darkness and not coming back to the ship-this at a

ic signs and marveling at everything. The more Coast drank the deeper was his cynicism but Peter grew mellow. This was a wonderful new wor

over the coffee and eggs when Coast asked him what his

ough the smoke of his c

'-you and me--Bah! It's easy if you'll use your headpiece. If the w

you goin

Half the people in the world takes what the other h

the other half, Jim Co

modore? In a month you'll be waitin' on me. It'll be Mister Coast for you then, mon gar?on, but you'

ry, Jim.

orth. First he bought a second-hand suit case in Seventh Avenue, then found a store marked "Gentlemen's Outfitters" where he purchased ready-made clothing, a hat, shoes, underwear,

at he had chosen. His room was on the eighteenth floor, to which and from which he was shot in an enameled lift operated by a Uhlan in a monkey-cap. He found that it required a rather nice adjustment of his muscles to spring forth at precisely the proper moment. There was a young lady who presided over the destinies of the particular shelf that he occupied in this enormous cupboard, a very

. There was a telephone beside his bed which rang at inconvenient moments and a Bible upon the side table proclaimed the religious fervor of this extraordinary people. A newspaper was sent in to him every morning whether he rang for it or not, and every time he did ring, a lesser Uhlan brought a th

ing up his own attainments he felt that he was qualified as a teacher of the piano or of the voice, as an instructor in languages, or if the worst came, as a waiter in a fashionable restaurant-perhaps even a head-waiter-which from the authority he observed

Almost everybody spoke to everybody without the slightest feeling of restraint. He learned the meaning of the latest American slang but found difficulty in applyi

ure and adaptability which quickly made Peter Nichols some friends of the better sort. If he had been willing to drift downward he would have cast in his lot with Jim Coast. Instead, he followed decent inclinations and found himself at the end of six weeks a part of a group of

. But one clever girl whom he met out at dinner rat

ols," she said quizzically, "but I've

her I am to consider that as flatter

you're entirely too much intereste

rea

mptuous. You're neither. And there's

't t

Dick says you're a man of mystery. I've solved it," she

hed and tr

l in the mustard," he

for a moment and the

leading anywhere. The efforts that he made to find positions commensurate with his ambitions had en

York there now remained to him less than two hundred. He was beginning to believe that he had played the game and lost and that within a very few wee

rd," aware of Peter's plight, had stumbled across the useful bi

once had something to do with

loyed in the reafforestation

McGuire, has a big place down in the wilderness of Jersey-thousands of acres and he wants a man to take charge-sort of fo

ed that the argot fell so aptly from his lip

straight goods, Nicho

of the greasy dishe

aimed delightedly

es in the market. That's where Dad met him. Crusty old rascal. Daughter. Living down i

d his friend

uld look an angel

nk you can

Whom shall I

on. You'd better come down to the

over and asked him questions and t

s but himself and the Treasury Department. Does a good deal of buying and selling through this office. A hard man in a deal but reasonable in other things. I've had his acquaintance for five years, lunched with him, dined w

delighted,"

ce hurriedly, shut the door behind him, locked it-and sank into a chair, puffing hard, his face the color of putty. He wouldn't answer any questions and put me off, t

perhaps," ve

You're strong, Mr. Nichols? Er-and courageous? You're not addicted to 'nerves'? You see I'm telling you all these things so that you'll go down to Black Rock with your eyes open. He also asks me to engage other men as pri

Peter with a bow.

lary begins now. Fifty i

don. If you will give me the

had turned to his desk and was writing upon a sl

re," he said as he rose, brusquely

unes. Sheldon, Senior, had not meant to be abrupt. He was merely a business man relaxing for a moment to do a service for a friend. When Peter Nichols awoke

survey the splendid proportions of the waiting room where the crowds seemed lost in its great spaces. In Europe such a building would be a cathedral. In America it was a

which this was a part. He hadn't the slightest doubt that he would be able to succeed in the work for which he had been recommended, for apart from his music-which had taken so many of his hours-there was nothing

had an excellent memory for faces, was sure that he had never seen the man before, but after he had taken a few steps, it occurred to him that in the stranger's eyes he had noted the startled distention of surprise and recognition. And so he stopped and turned, but as he did so the fellow dropped his gaze suddenly, and turned and walked away. The incident was curious and rather interesting. If Peter had ha

on the outskirts of the cities, which brought to his mind other communities in a far country whose physical evidences of prosperity were no worse, if no better, than these. Then there came a catch in his throat a

ent with ornate mirrors and crystal pendant chandeliers; of diamond coronets, of silks and satins and powdered flunkies. And then other visions of gray figures crouched in the mud; of rain coming out of the dark and of ominous lights over the profile of low hills; of shrieks; of shells and cries of terror; of his cousin, a tall, bearded man on a horse in a ravine waving an imperious arm; of confusion and m

the perspective of this modern civilization what had been passing before his

n built around an ideal. If he could bring this same ideal back to Russia! In his heart he thanked God for Americ

he length of the station and as he did so a man in a gray suit disappeared around the corner of the building. But Peter Nichols did not see him, and in a moment, seated in his new train

lth and damp of the sandy loam. He saw, too, tea-colored streams idling among the sedges and charred wildernesses of trees appealing mutely with their blackened stumps like wo

tion. Rather stiffly the traveler descended with his bag and stood upon the small platform looking about him curiously. The baggage man tossed out a

ntaining, as he could see, a telegraph instrument, a broken chair with a leather cushion, a shelf and a rack containing a few soiled slips of paper, but the office had no occupant and the door was locked. This perhaps explained the absence of the automobile which Mr.

ure. The road wound in and out, up and down, over what at one time must have been the floor of the ocean, which could not be far distant. Had it not been for the weight of his bag Peter would have enjoyed the experience of this complete isolation, the fragrant silences broken only by the whisper of the leaves and the scurrying of tiny wild things

ge character of his employer and the evident fear he had of some latent evil which threatened him. But Peter Nichols had accepted his commission with a sense of profound relief at escaping the other fate that awaited him, with scarc

g to believe that there was no such place as Black Rock, no such person as Jonathan K. McGuire and that Sheldon, Senior, and Sheldon, Junior, were engaged in a conspiracy against his peace of mind, when above the now familiar whisperings of the forest he heard a ne

e clearly now. It was an air with which he was unfamiliar, but he knew only that it was elemental in its simplicity and under these circumstances startlingly welcome. He waited another long moment, listen

from beneath which the birdlike notes were still emitted, but as the figure paused at the sight of him, th

ure, after a moment,

ntal manner. You see he, too, was a little startled by the apparition, which proclaimed