The day went on, fatiguing, distressing in its length and its

happenings. Progress was necessarily slow, the perils of the road

increasing as the little cavalcade wound deeper and deeper into the

wilderness. There were times when the coach fairly crawled along the

edge of a precipice, a proceeding so hazardous that Beverly shuddered as

if in a chill. Aunt Fanny slept serenely most of the time, and Baldos

took to dreaming with his eyes wide open. Contrary to her expectations,

the Axphainians did not appear, and if there were robbers in the hills

they thought better than to attack the valorous-looking party. It dawned

upon her finally that the Axphainians were guarding the upper route and

not the one over which she was traveling. Yetive doubtless was

approaching Ganlook over the northern pass, provided the enemy had not

been encountered before Labbot was reached. Beverly soon found herself

fearing for the safety of the princess, a fear which at last became

almost unendurable.

Near nightfall they came upon three Graustark shepherds and learned that

Ganlook could not be reached before the next afternoon. The tired,

hungry travelers spent the night in a snug little valley through which a

rivulet bounded onward to the river below. The supper was a scant one,

the foragers having poor luck in the hunt for food. Daybreak saw them on

their way once more. Hunger and dread had worn down Beverly's supply of

good spirits; she was having difficulty in keeping the haggard,

distressed look from her face. Her tender, hopeful eyes were not so bold

or so merry as on the day before; cheerfulness cost her an effort, but

she managed to keep it fairly alive. Her escort, wretched and

half-starved, never forgot the deference due to their charge, but strode

steadily on with the doggedness of martyrs. At times she was impelled to

disclose her true identity, but discretion told her that deception was

her best safeguard.

Late in the afternoon of the second day the front axle of the coach

snapped in two, and a tedious delay of two hours ensued. Baldos was

strangely silent and subdued. It was not until the misfortune came that

Beverly observed the flushed condition of his face. Involuntarily and

with the compassion of a true woman she touched his hand and brow. They

were burning-hot. The wounded man was in a high fever. He laughed at her

fears and scoffed at the prospect of blood-poisoning and the hundred

other possibilities that suggested themselves to her anxious brain.

"We are close to Ganlook," he said, with the setting of the sun. "Soon

you may be relieved of your tiresome, cheerless company, your highness."

"You are going to a physician," she said, resolutely, alive and active

once more, now that the worst part of the journey was coming to an

end. "Tell that man to drive in a gallop all the rest of the way!"




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