A MODERN KNIGHT-ERRANT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19698, 26 July 1927, Page 16

A MODERN KNIGHT-ERRANT.

BY ROLAND PERTWEE.

CHAPTER XllL—(Continued.) From a close study of maps, Nikko knew that from the summit of the pass to the frontiers of Sciriel was a matter of three or four miles- But miles are deceptive on tliose circling mountain roads, and a very little distance had been covered before, at a sharp bend, he found himself looking down on tho roof of a rough stone barrack against whoso walls lounged some soldiery. Tiny specks they looked viewed from above —too remote even to be able to discern what manner of uniform they wore—but Nikko could see the light flashing 011 a bayonet and through the clear air the sound of their voices and tho clink of cooking pots rose up to him. The little station was situated on a wide shelf on the mountain side. After the station the road looped into a hairpin bend and spiralled downward in a series of zigzags built out of or cut into the precipitous rock. Nikko had ridden fully a quarter of an i<our before the; station came in view again —this time further off but more nearly on the same level. Between him and it was a wide ravine spanned by a narrow bridge whoso protecting parapets had fallen away. As Nikko rode over the bridge a double bright light flashed for an instant in his eyes. Field glasses. His coming had been obnerved. "Then a, scarp of rock blotted out the post and under its lee he continued his journey for two hundred yards or more. At the next bend Nikko was considering the advisability of hallooing, when something hit the rock a few feet above his head. There was a faint pop. He was being fired at from the post. Nikko Cheyne had been under fire too often in the last five years to take unnecessary risks. Spurring his horse he rode swiftly onward and did not pause until once more the natural formation of the country offered him shelter Although out of sight he was now level with the post at a spot where a hundred and fifty sheer feet beneath him was another section of the road, which Nikko realised must be beyond the post itself. From the sample the frontier guard had given him of their hospitable intentions, it seemed certain that, even if allowed to enter Sciriel, they would confiscate any arms or money of which he might bo in possession. It was not, however, part of Nikko's plan to enter a foreign country penniless and without means of self-protection. The road below offered a solution. As swiftly as possible he transferred an automatic pistol, some ammunition and a great pile of. notes to a small satchel, leaving iiimself only enough money to ensure popularity. Dropping the satchel over the low parapet he had the satisfaction of seeing it fall into a thicket of prickly pear on the road below. I They did not fire again as Nikko rounded the last bend, but four soldiers . ■were presenting their rifles and a gaunt i officer in charge was brandishing an enormous revolver, when Nikko reined up before the white wooden bar that spanned the road. " Who are you and what do you want ?" demanded the officer. ~' Nikko dismounted. " A drink, citizen officer." he said. "A Brink." t " Count yourself lucky you did not drink lead back there at the bend." " There is no luck in these matters," said Nikko. " A man shoots straight or otherwise, according to his sk;lL But then a Scirien was ever more famous for his handling of a sword than a rifle." " That is true," said the officei, " but what do you know of Sciriens and their ways, you who are a foreigner." " Less than I hope to know, after I have tasted the freedom Sciriel has so lately won." " A fair answer," granted one of the men. " He has courage, too," sa'id another. " You would' like to see my passport before allowing me to go through," said Nikko. " We have no truck with foreign passports," said the officer. " What is your business in Sciriel ?" " It is a place I have not seen, and I am a wanderer, filled with curiosity, also I .conform to rules, of the company ih which I find myself." " All in Sciriel must work for the State, as the State demands." " It is a fair condition." " Nor can anyone who enters Sciriel leave without State authority." " What of that ?" said Nikko. "It is a fair country. A man could be as happy here as elsewhere/' "Maybe. It,is further set down that a foreigner entering must be without money and without arms." Nikko did not think it advisable to show too much enthusiasm for this condition. He rubbed his chin. " Is this necessary ?" "It is the law." " Then I must abide by it. I have no arms and doubtless I may bo afforded the opportunity of destroying what little money is in my wallet." " Come in here," said the officer, and led the way into the guard house. , The officer did not allow Nikko to cast his bundle of notes upon the wood tire. That, he declared, was not the proper procedure. All moneys collected at the frontier were dispatched to the treasury for disposal in bulk. Nikko was photographed for the Record Department and given identity papers, a book of dated food coupons and instructions where to report when he arrived at the. capital. "You are now," said the officer, "temporarily a citizen of Sciriel and as such you will do well to guard your tongue and obey orders that may be given to you. The penalty for disobedience is sharp and summary. 1 would further advise you to say nothing of the money I have confiscated. If it were known that you had brought so much you might be suspected of capitalistic tendencies." " As you have been so generous with your advice to me—may I now advise you." " Proceed," .said the officer. " It is a pity" that the treasury should waste good money. Why not spend some of it over the frontier yonder?" Between ourselves, monsieur, 1 intend to do so. But—" Your confidence is sale enough with me." Nikko was invited to the midday meal. In conformity with the new order, officers and men messed at a single table, where ail distinctions of rank were laid aside. Only in the exercise of his duty was an officer allowed to take precedence over his men. At the table they were one. The fare was frugal, consisting of grey sourdough bread and a mess of vegetables with here and there a small gobbet of meat, the whole being washed down with watered wine. During the meal, Nikko learnt much that was valuable about the conditions of I lie country. He was told he need never bother about food, as under tho new rule lie had but to present a coupon at any house or cottage to be granted a place at their tables. It, was a punishable offence to refuse hospitality to a coupon holder. "Is the food eaten by a traveller afterwards made up to his nost by the State?" Nikko inquired. , " In theory—yes," replied tho officer, " although in practice it does not always work out so. You see, comrade, the coupons are dated,, and it is an offence to present them after the date for which they are issued. Only between the hours of eleven and twelve each day are the food depots open, and it is not always possible to reach them in time. It usually happens, therefore., that the visitor's coupon is torn up and tho householder bears the brunt of the entertainment."' Nikko took leave of his hosts, mounted, and rode away, pausing for a moment'to collect the satchel from the spines of tho prickly pear and redispose its contents in yarious pockets.

(COPYRIGHT.)

CHAPTER XIV. Nikko's first night in Sciriel was spen* in the fens at the cottage of a leech gatherer, a decent, grumbling soul who had little to say. lie told Nikko that the market for leeches had ceased to exist. sinco the revolution, but that, inasmuch as life had no other interest for him, he went on collecting them, ' and would have a fine lot to sell when times changed. He showed his guest tubs and barrels in which he stored his captives, and also an evil pond at tho back of the cottage by a cross-road that led to Plevi Prison, in which ho declared wero thousands of tho creatures. Nikko was not sorry to say good-bye. Before long ho came to a small town, where ho wr.s called upon to produce his papers. After a few minutes of question and answer he was allowed to proceed. Whatever might be said in praise of the newly-found freedom, there could be no doubt that the faces of tho Sciriensj did not rellect it. There were few people in the streets, but those few alike wore an expression compounded of doubt, sullenness and apprehension. The babies on th«jHdoorsteps wero thin, wan and wretcli®. Not one soul seemed at case. At the street corners lounged members of the Civil Guard, their bright scarlet breeches and tunics of horizon blue making brave splashes of colour against the ochre walls. Their heads were crovyned with calpacs of grey fur with scarlet cockades over the right ear. These men were of a Tartar typo and bore 110 physical resemblance to the townsfolk, being larger and of a raw-boned build. Their wide-set eyes were narrow and had a tendency to run upwards at the outer corners—their brows were low and beetling. They carried revolvers in open holsters, worn in front over the left side, while from their right wrists dangled batons, heavily loaded with lead. They gave the appearance of having been much better fed than the civilian population. In the cour.ss of tho day, Nikko passed through several such small towns and villages and everywhere was the same evidence of privation and oppression. The walls of the houses were plastered with orders, edicts and circulars promulgating punishments of the Republic. Across the foot of every sheet was a facsimile of Foscan's signature. One notice which recurred everywhere particularly attracted Nikko's attention. It was to the effect that any person, male or female, found at or near the marsh of Plesna, would be shot summarily or sent to the pits without trial. Unable to restrain his curiosity, Nikko asked a townsman the reason why that district should be proscribed. " Are you a fool to ask such a question ?" " No, a stranger," replied Nikko. " Then it is because Plesna is the centre of the counter-revolutionaries—.the sacre Royalists who, under the Duke of Svorzo, given the chance, would plunge our country once more into ruin." This was news to Nikko. " Why is the hornet's nest not smoked out?" he asked. " That will be done when the swamps drain and harden in July." " I see," said Nikko. " They are protected by the marslT." " By the marsh in front and mountains at the rear." "Is this an a-rmed force?" " Aye, armed with the sword—but nothing else. There will be a fine killing of the old nobility before the harvest moon is at full." Nikko Cheyne mastered a sudden impulse to strike the g/inning mouth with the back of his hand.' Of all men in the world he had the best reason to be grateful to the revolution, yet what little he had seen of its working only served to inspire contempt and anger. Nikko shook his reins and rode on. The last part of his journey was over rising ground. Djevo, the capital, was built upon a plateau and was flanked by a minor range of mountains, shown on the map as Les Alpes de Midi. Through the centre of the town was a deep gorge along whose base a stream ran over rocks. The stream was of glacial origin, flowing from the heights through a series of fertile oases or poljis. At one time there was a thunderous torrent ripping through the gorge, but in the reign of the late king a dam had been constructed • across the lower bulwark of the Polji of Sarsenova, transforming it into a huge reservoir whose waters carried along concrete gutters and through great iron pipes supplied the, main electric-power plant of the country. Beyond the power house, the waters had been switched into one of the terrifying swallow holes for which the Balkans are famous, and thence travelled through echoing galleries hidden in the bowels of the earth to re-emerge twenty miles distant and swell the volume of the river Plesna. Thus, the stream which trickled through the gorge of Djevo was but a faint echo of tlie torrent which in days gone by had given the city the name of " The Town of the Roarinc Waters." It was dusk when Nikko approached the city walls. Djevo had been built in troublous times, and was surrounded by a great battlemented rampart, thirty feet in height and half that number in width. Near the main gate, which was tall, narrow, and flanked on either hand with circular towers, a knot of townsfolk were standing. What first attracted Nikko's attention to them was their intense stillness. They stood with heads bent and eyes fixed in one direction. As he came nearer, Nikko saw that, they were looking jat a pile of bodies that, lay crumpled against the wall The stonework of the wall itself was chipped in many places and splashed with lead and blood at the height of a man's heart. A little distance away, two men were busy with spades. Nikko Cheyne rode through the gate unchallenged, and was in Djevo. His first impression of the city was of neglect and desolation. In the main boulevard was 1 a total absence of traffic, for, by order of tho revolution, private ownership of cars or other vehicles was prohibited. All transport had been subsidised by the State to be used as the State required. The tramway services had been suspended and the overhead wires sagged and stranded from their iron standards The condition of the roads was beyond description. There were pot holes everywhere and cavities deep enough to drown a dog. Shutters banged and clapped against bi-oken walls, and there was scarce a bouse in the whole thoroughfare in whose windows any glass remained. The narres over shops wero the only evidence of the flourishing trade for which Djevo had once been famed. The shops themselves, empfy of wares, had been boarded up or were used as communal dining rooms or stores from which rations were issued. And as in the smaller towns everywhere were posters, edicts, warnings. Nikko rode on until lie camo to a great square, at the far end of which stood what once had been the Royal palace. As he paused in admiration before tho fragile outlines of this exquisite piece of eastern western architecture, a sensation of nearness gripped his imagination. Probably in that white palace Bottany had been born. Her feet had run through those rooms and galleries; which was her window, he wondered; which was her room ? He could not*-have conceived a lovelier setting for his princess. But tho palace was hers no longer. The Royal Standard of Sciriel had been torn down and trampled in tho dust, and against the sky now rode the crimson and black flag of Liberty. iTo bo continued daily.)