The Lady of the Shroud

"Why not?" said Rupert, in his direct way. "It is a thing for us all tobe proud of; the nation has already adopted it as a national emblem--ouremblem of courage and devotion and patriotism, which will always, I hope,be treasured beyond price by the men and women of our Dynasty, theNation, that is--of the Nation that is to be."

Later on in the evening we had a strange endorsement of the nationalwill. A "People's Deputation" of mountaineers, without any officialnotice or introduction, arrived at the Castle late in the evening in themanner established by Rupert's "Proclamation of Freedom," wherein allcitizens were entitled to send a deputation to the King, at will and inprivate, on any subject of State importance. This deputation wascomposed of seventeen men, one selected from each political section, sothat the body as a whole represented the entire nation. They were of allsorts of social rank and all degrees of fortune, but they were mainly "ofthe people." They spoke hesitatingly--possibly because Teuta, or evenbecause I, was present--but with a manifest earnestness. They made butone request--that the Queen should, on the great occasion of the BalkanFederation, wear as robes of State the Shroud that they loved to see herin. The spokesman, addressing the Queen, said in tones of ruggedeloquence:

"This is a matter, Your Majesty, that the women naturally have a say in,so we have, of course, consulted them. They have discussed the matter bythemselves, and then with us, and they are agreed without a flaw that itwill be good for the Nation and for Womankind that you do this thing.You have shown to them, and to the world at large, what women should do,what they can do, and they want to make, in memory of your great act, theShroud a garment of pride and honour for women who have deserved well oftheir country. In the future it can be a garment to be worn only byprivileged women who have earned the right. But they hope, and we hopewith them, that on this occasion of our Nation taking the lead before theeyes of the world, all our women may wear it on that day as a means ofshowing overtly their willingness to do their duty, even to the death.And so"--here he turned to the King--"Rupert, we trust that Her MajestyQueen Teuta will understand that in doing as the women of the BlueMountains wish, she will bind afresh to the Queen the loyal devotionwhich she won from them as Voivodin. Henceforth and for all time theShroud shall be a dress of honour in our Land."

Teuta looked all ablaze with love and pride and devotion. Stars in hereyes shone like white fire as she assured them of the granting of theirrequest. She finished her little speech:

"I feared that if I carried out my own wish, it might look arrogant, butRupert has expressed the same wish, and

now I feel that I am free to wearthat dress which brought me to you and to Rupert"--here she beamed onhim, and took his hand--"fortified as I am by your wishes and the commandof my lord the King."

Rupert took her in his arms and kissed her fondly before them all,saying:

"Tell your wives, my brothers, and the rest of the Blue Mountain women,that that is the answer of the husband who loves and honours his wife.All the world shall see at the ceremony of the Federation of Balka thatwe men love and honour the women who are loyal and can die for duty.And, men of the Blue Mountains, some day before long we shall organizethat great idea, and make it a permanent thing--that the Order of theShroud is the highest guerdon that a noble-hearted woman can wear."

Teuta disappeared for a few moments, and came back with the Crown Princein her arms. Everyone present asked to be allowed to kiss him, whichthey did kneeling.

THE FEDERATION BALKA.

_By the Correspondents of_ "_Free America_."

The Editors of _Free America_ have thought it well to put in consecutiveorder the reports and descriptions of their Special Correspondents, ofwhom there were present no less than eight. Not a word they wrote isomitted, but the various parts of their reports are placed in differentorder, so that, whilst nothing which any of them recorded is left out,the reader may be able to follow the proceedings from the various pointsof view of the writers who had the most favourable opportunity of moment.In so large an assemblage of journalists--there were present over athousand--they could not all be present in one place; so our men, inconsultation amongst themselves, arranged to scatter, so as to cover thewhole proceeding from the various "coigns of vantage," using their skilland experience in selecting these points. One was situated on the summitof the steel-clad tower in the entrance to the Blue Mouth; another on the"Press-boat," which was moored alongside King Rupert's armoured yacht,_The Lady_, whereon were gathered the various Kings and rulers of theBalkan States, all of whom were in the Federation; another was in a swifttorpedo-boat, with a roving commission to cruise round the harbour asdesired; another took his place on the top of the great mountain whichoverlooks Plazac, and so had a bird's-eye view of the whole scene ofoperations; two others were on the forts to right and left of the BlueMouth; another was posted at the entrance to the Great Tunnel which runsfrom the water level right up through the mountains to the plateau, wherethe mines and factories are situate; another had the privilege of a placeon an aeroplane, which went everywhere and saw everything. Thisaeroplane was driven by an old Special Correspondent of _Free America_,who had been a chum of our Special in the Japanese and Russian War, andwho has taken service on the Blue Mountain _Official Gazette_.

PLAZAC, _June_ 30, 1909.

Two days before the time appointed for the ceremony the guests of theLand of the Blue Mountains began to arrive. The earlier comers weremostly the journalists who had come from almost over the whole inhabitedworld. King Rupert, who does things well, had made a camp for theirexclusive use. There was a separate tent for each--of course, a smallone, as there were over a thousand journalists--but there were big tentsfor general use scattered about--refectories, reading and writing rooms,a library, idle rooms for rest, etc. In the rooms for reading andwriting, which were the work-rooms for general use, were newspapers, thelatest attainable from all over the world, Blue-Books, guides,directories, and all such aids to work as forethought could arrange.There was for this special service a body of some hundreds of capableservants in special dress and bearing identification numbers--in fact,King Rupert "did us fine," to use a slang phrase of pregnant meaning.

There were other camps for special service, all of them well arranged,and with plenty of facility for transport. Each of the FederatingMonarchs had a camp of his own, in which he had erected a magnificentpavilion. For the Western King, who had acted as Arbitrator in thematter of the Federation, a veritable palace had been built by KingRupert--a sort of Aladdin's palace it must have been, for only a fewweeks ago the place it occupied was, I was told, only primevalwilderness. King Rupert and his Queen, Teuta, had a pavilion like therest of the Federators of Balka, but infinitely more modest, both in sizeand adornments.

Everywhere were guards of the Blue Mountains, armed only with the"handjar," which is the national weapon. They wore the national dress,but so arranged in colour and accoutrement that the general air ofuniformity took the place of a rigid uniform. There must have been atleast seventy or eighty thousand of them.

The first day was one of investigation of details by the visitors.During the second day the retinues of the great Federators came. Some ofthese retinues were vast. For instance, the Soldan (though only justbecome a Federator) sent of one kind or another more than a thousand men.A brave show they made, for they are fine men, and drilled to perfection.As they swaggered along, singly or in mass, with their gay jackets andbaggy trousers, their helmets surmounted by the golden crescent, theylooked a foe not to be despised. Landreck Martin, the Nestor ofjournalists, said to me, as we stood together looking at them:

"To-day we witness a new departure in Blue Mountain history. This is thefirst occasion for a thousand years that so large a Turkish body hasentered the Blue Mountains with a reasonable prospect of ever getting outagain."

_July_ 1, 1909.

To-day, the day appointed for the ceremony, was auspiciously fine, evenfor the Blue Mountains, where at this time of year the weather is nearlyalways fine. They are early folk in the Blue Mountains, but to-daythings began to hum before daybreak. There were bugle-calls all over theplace--everything here is arranged by calls of musicalinstruments--trumpets, or bugles, or drums (if, indeed, the drum can becalled a musical instrument)--or by lights, if it be after dark. Wejournalists were all ready; coffee and bread-and-butter had beenthoughtfully served early in our sleeping-tents, and an elaboratebreakfast was going on all the time in the refectory pavilions. We had apreliminary look round, and then there was a sort of general pause forbreakfast. We took advantage of it, and attacked the sumptuous--indeed,memorable--meal which was served for us.

The ceremony was to commence at noon, but at ten o'clock the whole placewas astir--not merely beginning to move, but actually moving; everybodytaking their places for the great ceremony. As noon drew near, theexcitement was intense and prolonged. One by one the various signatoriesto the Federation began to assemble. They all came by sea; such of themas had sea-boards of their own having their fleets around them. Such ashad no fleets of their own were attended by at least one of the BlueMountain ironclads. And I am bound to say that I never in my life sawmore dangerous craft than these little warships of King Rupert of theBlue Mountains. As they entered the Blue Mouth each ship took herappointed station, those which carried the signatories being closetogether in an isolated group in a little bay almost surrounded by highcliffs in the farthest recesses of the mighty harbour. King Rupert'sarmoured yacht all the time lay close inshore, hard by the mouth of theGreat Tunnel which runs straight into the mountain from a wide plateau,partly natural rock, partly built up with mighty blocks of stone. Hereit is, I am told, that the inland products are brought down to the moderntown of Plazac. Just as the clocks were chiming the half-hour beforenoon this yacht glided out into the expanse of the "Mouth." Behind hercame twelve great barges, royally decked, and draped each in the colourof the signatory nation. On each of these the ruler entered with hisguard, and was carried to Rupert's yacht, he going on the bridge, whilsthis suite remained on the lower deck. In the meantime whole fleets hadbeen appearing on the southern horizon; the nations were sending theirmaritime quota to the christening of "Balka"! In such wonderful order ascan only be seen with squadrons of fighting ships, the mighty throngswept into the Blue Mouth, and took up their stations in groups. Theonly armament of a Great Power now missing was that of the Western King.But there was time. Indeed

, as the crowd everywhere began to look attheir watches a long line of ships began to spread up northward from theItalian coast. They came at great speed--nearly twenty knots. It was areally wonderful sight--fifty of the finest ships in the world; the verylatest expression of naval giants, each seemingly typical of itsclass--Dreadnoughts, cruisers, destroyers. They came in a wedge, withthe King's yacht flying the Royal Standard the apex. Every ship of thesquadron bore a red ensign long enough to float from the masthead to thewater. From the armoured tower in the waterway one could see the myriadof faces--white stars on both land and sea--for the great harbour was nowalive with ships and each and all of them alive with men.

Suddenly, without any direct cause, the white masses becameeclipsed--everyone had turned round, and was looking the other way. Ilooked across the bay and up the mountain behind--a mighty mountain,whose slopes run up to the very sky, ridge after ridge seeming likeitself a mountain. Far away on the very top the standard of the BlueMountains was run up on a mighty Flagstaff which seemed like a shaft oflight. It was two hundred feet high, and painted white, and as at thedistance the steel stays were invisible, it towered up in lonelygrandeur. At its foot was a dark mass grouped behind a white space,which I could not make out till I used my field-glasses.

Then I knew it was King Rupert and the Queen in the midst of a group ofmountaineers. They were on the aero station behind the platform of theaero, which seemed to shine--shine, not glitter--as though it wereoverlaid with plates of gold.

Again the faces looked west. The Western Squadron was drawing near tothe entrance of the Blue Mouth. On the bridge of the yacht stood theWestern King in uniform of an Admiral, and by him his Queen in a dress ofroyal purple, splendid with gold. Another glance at the mountain-topshowed that it had seemed to become alive. A whole park of artilleryseemed to have suddenly sprung to life, round each its crew ready foraction. Amongst the group at the foot of the Flagstaff we coulddistinguish King Rupert; his vast height and bulk stood out from andabove all round him. Close to him was a patch of white, which weunderstood to be Queen Teuta, whom the Blue Mountaineers simply adore.

By this time the armoured yacht, bearing all the signatories to "Balka"(excepting King Rupert), had moved out towards the entrance, and laystill and silent, waiting the coming of the Royal Arbitrator, whose wholesquadron simultaneously slowed down, and hardly drifted in the seethingwater of their backing engines.

When the flag which was in the yacht's prow was almost opposite thearmoured fort, the Western King held up a roll of vellum handed to him byone of his officers. We onlookers held our breath, for in an instant wassuch a scene as we can never hope to see again.

At the raising of the Western King's hand, a gun was fired away on thetop of the mountain where rose the mighty Flagstaff with the standard ofthe Blue Mountains. Then came the thunder of salute from the guns,bright flashes and reports, which echoed down the hillsides innever-ending sequence. At the first gun, by some trick of signalling,the flag of the Federated "Balka" floated out from the top of theFlagstaff, which had been mysteriously raised, and flew above that of theBlue Mountains.

At the same moment the figures of Rupert and Teuta sank; they were takingtheir places on the aeroplane. An instant after, like a great goldenbird, it seemed to shoot out into the air, and then, dipping its head,dropped downward at an obtuse angle. We could see the King and Queenfrom time waist upwards--the King in Blue Mountain dress of green; theQueen, wrapped in her white Shroud, holding her baby on her breast. Whenfar out from the mountain-top and over the Blue Mouth, the wings and tailof the great bird-like machine went up, and the aero dropped like astone, till it was only some few hundred feet over the water. Then thewings and tail went down, but with diminishing speed. Below the expanseof the plane the King and Queen were now seen seated together on the tinysteering platform, which seemed to have been lowered; she sat behind herhusband, after the manner of matrons of the Blue Mountains. That comingof that aeroplane was the most striking episode of all this wonderfulday.

After floating for a few seconds, the engines began to work, whilst theplanes moved back to their normal with beautiful simultaneity. There wasa golden aero finding its safety in gliding movement. At the same timethe steering platform was rising, so that once more the occupants werenot far below, but above the plane. They were now only about a hundredfeet above the water, moving from the far end of the Blue Mouth towardsthe entrance in the open space between the two lines of the fightingships of the various nationalities, all of which had by now their yardsmanned--a manoeuvre which had begun at the firing of the first gun on themountain-top. As the aero passed along, all the seamen began to cheer--acheering which they kept up till the King and Queen had come so close tothe Western King's vessel that the two Kings and Queens could greet eachother. The wind was now beginning to blow westward from themountain-top, and it took the sounds towards the armoured fort, so thatat moments we could distinguish the cheers of the various nationalities,amongst which, more keen than the others, came the soft "Ban Zai!" of theJapanese.