The Lady of the Shroud

King Rupert, holding his steering levers, sat like a man of marble.Behind him his beautiful wife, clad in her Shroud, and holding in herarms the young Crown Prince, seemed like a veritable statue.

The aero, guided by Rupert's unerring hand, lit softly on the after-deckof the Western King's yacht; and King Rupert, stepping on deck, liftedfrom her seat Queen Teuta with her baby in her arms. It was only whenthe Blue Mountain King stood amongst other men that one could realize hisenormous stature. He stood literally head and shoulders over every otherman present.

Whilst the aeroplane was giving up its burden, the Western King and hisQueen were descending from the bridge. The host and hostess, hand inhand--after their usual fashion, as it seems--hurried forward to greettheir guests. The meeting was touching in its simplicity. The twomonarchs shook hands, and their consorts, representatives of the foremosttypes of national beauty of the North and South, instinctively drew closeand kissed each other. Then the hostess Queen, moving towards theWestern King, kneeled before him with the gracious obeisance of a BlueMountain hostess, and kissed his hand.

Her words of greeting were:

"You are welcome, sire, to the Blue Mountains. We are grateful to youfor all you have done for Balka, and to you and Her Majesty for giving usthe honour of your presence."

The King seemed moved. Accustomed as he was to the ritual of greatoccasions, the warmth and sincerity, together with the gracious humilityof this old Eastern custom, touched him, monarch though he was of a greatland and many races in the Far East. Impulsively he broke through Courtritual, and did a thing which, I have since been told, won for him forever a holy place in the warm hearts of the Blue Mountaineers. Sinkingon his knee before the beautiful shroud-clad Queen, he raised her handand kissed it. The act was seen by all in and around the Blue Mouth, anda mighty cheering rose, which seemed to rise and swell as it ran far andwide up the hillsides, till it faded away on the far-off mountain-top,where rose majestically the mighty Flagstaff bearing the standard of theBalkan Federation.

For myself, I can never forget that wonderful scene of a nation'senthusiasm, and the core of it is engraven on my memory. That spotlessdeck, typical of all that is perfect in naval use; the King and Queen ofthe greatest nation of the earth {3} received by the newest King andQueen--a King and Queen who won empire for themselves, so that the formersubject of another King received him as a brother-monarch on ahistory-making occasion, when a new world-power was, under his tutelage,springing into existence. The fair Northern Queen in the arms of thedark Southern Queen with the starry eyes. The simple splendour ofNorthern dress arrayed against that of almost peasant plainness of thegiant King of the South. But all were eclipsed--even the thousand yearsof royal lineage of the Western King, Rupert's natural dower of stature,and the other Queen's bearing of royal dignity and sweetness--by theelemental simplicity of Teuta's Shroud. Not one of all that mightythrong but knew something of her wonderful

story; and not one but feltglad and proud that such a noble woman had won an empire through her ownbravery, even in the jaws of the grave.

The armoured yacht, with the remainder of the signatories to the BalkanFederation, drew close, and the rulers stepped on board to greet theWestern King, the Arbitrator, Rupert leaving his task as personal hostand joining them. He took his part modestly in the rear of the group,and made a fresh obeisance in his new capacity.

Presently another warship, _The Balka_, drew close. It contained theambassadors of Foreign Powers, and the Chancellors and high officials ofthe Balkan nations. It was followed by a fleet of warships, each onerepresenting a Balkan Power. The great Western fleet lay at theirmoorings, but with the exception of manning their yards, took noimmediate part in the proceedings.

On the deck of the new-comer the Balkan monarchs took their places, theofficials of each State grading themselves behind their monarch. TheAmbassadors formed a foremost group by themselves.

Last came the Western King, quite alone (save for the two Queens),bearing in his hand the vellum scroll, the record of his arbitration.This he proceeded to read, a polyglot copy of it having been alreadysupplied to every Monarch, Ambassador, and official present. It was along statement, but the occasion was so stupendous--so intense--that thetime flew by quickly. The cheering had ceased the moment the Arbitratoropened the scroll, and a veritable silence of the grave abounded.

When the reading was concluded Rupert raised his hand, and on the instantcame a terrific salvo of cannon-shots from not only the ships in theport, but seemingly all up and over the hillsides away to the verysummit.

When the cheering which followed the salute had somewhat toned down,those on board talked together, and presentations were made. Then thebarges took the whole company to the armour-clad fort in the entrance-wayto the Blue Mouth. Here, in front, had been arranged for the occasion,platforms for the starting of aeroplanes. Behind them were the variousthrones of state for the Western King and Queen, and the various rulersof "Balka"--as the new and completed Balkan Federation had become--_dejure_ as well as _de facto_. Behind were seats for the rest of thecompany. All was a blaze of crimson and gold. We of the Press were allexpectant, for some ceremony had manifestly been arranged, but of alldetails of it we had been kept in ignorance. So far as I could tell fromthe faces, those present were at best but partially informed. They werecertainly ignorant of all details, and even of the entire programme ofthe day. There is a certain kind of expectation which is not concernedin the mere execution of fore-ordered things.

The aero on which the King and Queen had come down from the mountain nowarrived on the platform in the charge of a tall young mountaineer, whostepped from the steering-platform at once. King Rupert, having handedhis Queen (who still carried her baby) into her seat, took his place, andpulled a lever. The aero went forward, and seemed to fall head foremostoff the fort. It was but a dip, however, such as a skilful diver takesfrom a height into shallow water, for the plane made an upward curve, andin a few seconds was skimming upwards towards the Flagstaff. Despite thewind, it arrived there in an incredibly short time. Immediately afterhis flight another aero, a big one this time, glided to the platform. Tothis immediately stepped a body of ten tall, fine-looking young men. Thedriver pulled his levers, and the plane glided out on the track of theKing. The Western King, who was noticing, said to the Lord High Admiral,who had been himself in command of the ship of war, and now stood closebehind him:

"Who are those men, Admiral?"

"The Guard of the Crown Prince, Your Majesty. They are appointed by theNation."

"Tell me, Admiral, have they any special duties?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," came the answer: "to die, if need be, for the youngPrince!"

"Quite right! That is fine service. But how if any of them should die?"

"Your Majesty, if one of them should die, there are ten thousand eager totake his place."

"Fine, fine! It is good to have even one man eager to give his life forduty. But ten thousand! That is what makes a nation!"

When King Rupert reached the platform by the Flagstaff, the RoyalStandard of the Blue Mountains was hauled up under it. Rupert stood upand raised his hand. In a second a cannon beside him was fired; then,quick as thought, others were fired in sequence, as though by oneprolonged lightning-flash. The roar was incessant, but getting less indetonating sound as the distance and the hills subdued it. But in thegeneral silence which prevailed round us we could hear the sound asthough passing in a distant circle, till finally the line which had gonenorthward came back by the south, stopping at the last gun to south'ardof the Flagstaff.

"What was that wonderful circle?" asked the King of the Lord HighAdmiral.

"That, Your Majesty, is the line of the frontier of the Blue Mountains.Rupert has ten thousand cannon in line."

"And who fires them? I thought all the army must be here."

"The women, Your Majesty. They are on frontier duty to-day, so that themen can come here."

Just at that moment one of the Crown Prince's Guards brought to the sideof the King's aero something like a rubber ball on the end of a string.The Queen held it out to the baby in her arms, who grabbed at it. Theguard drew back. Pressing that ball must have given some signal, for onthe instant a cannon, elevated to perpendicular, was fired. A shell wentstraight up an enormous distance. The shell burst, and sent out both alight so bright that it could be seen in the daylight, and a red smoke,which might have been seen from the heights of the Calabrian Mountainsover in Italy.

As the shell burst, the King's aero seemed once more to spring from theplatform out into mid-air, dipped as before, and glided out over the BlueMouth with a rapidity which, to look at, took one's breath away.

As it came, followed by the aero of the Crown Prince's Guard and a groupof other aeros, the whole mountain-sides seemed to become alive. Fromeverywhere, right away up to the farthest visible mountain-tops, dartedaeroplanes, till a host of them were rushing with dreadful speed in thewake of the King. The King turned to Queen Teuta, and evidently saidsomething, for she beckoned to the Captain of the Crown Prince's Guard,who was steering the plane. He swerved away to the right, and instead offollowing above the open track between the lines of warships, went highover the outer line. One of those on board began to drop something,which, fluttering down, landed on every occasion on the bridge of theship high over which they then were.