EVENING LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1917 Pictorikl Betition, 19 "Russia is essentially Ihc land where imperial favorites play a role, artd Soon the whole country was not only respecting Rasputin, but was trying to make up to him and to obtain, through him, all kinds of favors and material advantages." - (Copyright, 101T. Publlo ledger Companv. All rlghta retcncd ) Although the Princess Radziwill Gained an Ink ling Into the Extent of Rasputin's Power as a Result of Her Interview With Him, She Was Still Unable to Account for the Reason of His Sway Over Men and Women of Undeniably Strong Character The Group of Men Led hu Witte and Rasputin Represented Those Forces in Russia Who Were Working to Line Their Own Pockets, and They Had No Objections if in Order to Do This They Would Have to Align Them selves With the German Government CHAPTER IV Continued AS J was going down the stairs I met an old man slowly climb ' Ing them, with a little girl whom he was half carrying, half drugging along with him. He stopped me with the question: "Do you happen to know whether the blessed Gregory receives visitors?" I replied that the "prophet" was at home, but thnt I could not m My whether he would receive any one or not. "It is for this innocent I want to see him," moaned the man. "She Is bo ill and no doctor can cure her. If only the blessed Greg cry would pray over her, I know that she would be well at once. Do you think that he will do so, Barinia?" the man added anxiously. ''I am sure he will," I replied, more because I did not know what 'to say rather than from the conviction that Rasputin would receive this new visitor. I saw the old creature continue his ascent up the staircase, and the whole time ho was repeating to the child, "You shall get well, quite well, Mania; the Blessed One shall make you quite well." Visitors for the "Blessed Gregory" On the last steps before the stairs ended on the landing two men were busy talking. They were both typical Israelites, with hooked nose and crooked finger. They were discussing most ener getically some subject which evidently was absorbing their atten tion to an uncommon degree, and discussing it in German, too. "You are quite sure that we can offer him 20 per cent?" one was saying. "Quite sure, the concession is worth a million; the whole thing is to obtain it before the others come on the scene." "Who are the others?" asked the first of the two men. "The Russo-Asiatic Bank," replied the second. "You see the whole matter lies in the rapidity with which the thing is made. The only one who can persuade the minister to sign the paper is the old man upstairs," and he pointed toward Rasputin's apartment. There upon the two in their turn started to mount the steps. My first interview with Rasputin, all the details of which I wrote down in my diary when I got home, gave me some inkling as to the different intrigues which were going on around this remark- T3 i mmwjjmiMif y-mi "I saw the old creature continue his ascent up the staircase, and the whole time he was repeating to the child, 'You will get well, quite wclL Mania. The Blessed One shall make you quite well.'" able personage. It failed, however, to make me understand by what means he had managed to acquire, if he really acquired, n fnct of which I still doubted, the strong influence which ho liked to give the impression he exercised. It was quite possible that he hnd con trived through the magnetic gifts with which he was endowed to subdue to his will the hysterical women, whose bigotry and mys tical tendencies he had exalted to the highest pitch possible. But how could he, a common peasant, without any education, knowledge of the world or of mankind, have imbued ministers and statesmen with such a dread that they found themselves ready to do anything nt his bidding and to dispense favors, graces and lucrative appoint ments to the people whom he called to their attention. There was evidently something absolutely abnormal in the whole thing, and it was the reason for this abnormality that I began to seek. This search did not prove easy at first, but in time, by talking with persons who saw a lot of Rasputin and of the motley crew which surrounded him, I contrived to form some opinion as to the cause of his success. It seemed to me that he was the tool of a strong though small party or group of men, desirous of using him as a means to attain their own ends. There is nothing easier in the world than to make or to mar a reputation, "and it is sufficient to say everywhere that a person is able to do this or that thing, to instill into the mind of the public at large the conviction that such is the case. This was precisely what occurred with Rasputin. Count Witte, who was one of the cleverest political men in his generation and perhaps the only real statesman that Russia has known in the last twenty-five years, ever since his downfall had been sighing for tho day when he should be recalled to power. He knew very well all that was going on in the imperial family, and it was easier for him than for any one else to resort to the right means to introduce an outsider into that very closed circle which surrounded the Czar. So long as he had been a minister and had under his control the public exchequer it had been relatively easy for him to obtain friends, or rather tools, that had helped him in his plans and ambitions. When this faculty for persuasion failed him he bethought himself to look elsewhere for an instrument through which he might still achieve the ends he had in mind. He was not the kind of man who stopped before any moral consideration. For him every means was good, provided it would prove eflcctie. When he 'aw that certain ladies in the entourage of the sovereigns had become imbued with the Rasputin mania, ho was quick to decide that this craze might, if ptonerly managed, prove of infinite value to him. He therefore not only encouraged it so far as was in his power by pretending himself to be impressed by tho prophetic pow ers of the "Blessed Gregory," but he also contrived very cleverly to let the fact of the extraordinary ascendancy which Rasputin was rapidly acquiring over the minds of powerful and influential per sons become known. Very soon everybody talked of the latter-day saint who had suddenly appeared on the horizon of the social life of St. Petersburg, and the fame of his reputation spread abroad like the flames of some great conflagration. Russia is essentially the land wheic imperial favorites play a role, and soon tho whole country was not only respecting Rasputin, but was trying to make up to him and to obtain, through him, all kinds of favors and material advantages. Together with Count Witte a whole political party was working, without the least con sideration for the prestige of the dynasty which it was discrediting, to' show up the rulers as associated with the common adventurer and sectarian, who, under other conditions, would undoubtedly have found himself prosecuted by tho polico authorities for his conddet. They had other thoughts In their heads than the interests of tin dynasty, theso money-seeking, money-grubbing, ambitious mt. They represented nothing beyond the desire to become powerful and wealthy. What they wanted was Important posts which would glvs) them tho opportunity to Indulgo In various speculations and more or less fraudulent business undertakings they contemplated. Rasputin and the German Government Russia nt the time was beginning to bo seized withr that frenzy ,. for stock-exchange transactions, sharo buying and sflllng, railway concessions and mining enterprises which reached its culminating point before the beginning of the war. Men without any social standing, nnd with more than shady pasts, were coming forward nnd acquiring the reputation of being lucky speculators capable la caso of necessity of developing Into" clever statesmen. These raca began to seek their Inspirations In Berlin, and through the numer ous German spies with which St. Petersburg abounded they entered into relations with the German Intelligence Department, who interests they made their own, because they believed that a war might put an end to the Industrial development of the country, ar.A thus interfere with their various speculations. The French alliance was beginning to bore those who had got out of It nil that they had ever wanted; It was time something new should crop up, and the German and Russian Jews, in whose hands the whole industry and commerce of the Russian Empire lay concentrated, began to preach the necessity of nn understanding with tho great state whose nearest neighbor it was. A rapprochement between tho Hohcnzollerns and the Romanoffs began to be spoken of openly as a political necessity, and it was then that, thanks to a wholo scries of Intrigues, the Czar was induced to go himself to Berlin to attend the nuptials of the only daughter of the Kaiser, the Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, with the future Duke of Brunswick. This momentous journey to Berlin was undertaken partly on nccount of the representations of Rasputin to the Empress, whoso love for peace was very well known. Europe had just gone through the anxiety caused by the Balkan crisis, and it was repeated everywhere in St. Petersburg that a demonstration of some kind had to be made in favor of peace in general nnd also to prove to tho world that the great Powers were determined not to .allow quarrels in Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece to trouble the security of the world. The marriage festivities of which Berlin became the theatre at the time seemed a fit opportunity for this demonstration. The bureaucratic circles in the Russian capital nnd the influence of Rasputin were used to bring about this trip'of the Czar. Rasputin was thus fast becoming a personage, simply because, it suited certain people the pro-German party, to use the right word at last to represent him as being important. They pushed things so far that many Ministers and persons in high places refused on purpose certain things which were asked of them and which were absolutely easy for them to perform simply because they wished Rasputin to ask for them for those who were weary of always meeting with a non pos sumus In questions for which they required the help of the Administration. Rasputin's various intermediaries, through whom one had to. pass before one could approach him, sold their help for more or less large sums of money, and thus began a period of, vulgar agiotage, to use tho French expression, of which Russia was the stage, and Rasputin, together with the men who used him, the moving spirits. I very nearly said the evil spirits. But of this, more later on, . (CONTINUED TOMORROW) RAINBOWS END By REX BEACH S? Author of "The Spoilers," "The Barrier," "Heart ofrthc Sunset" &- A novel of love, hidden treasure and rebellion in beautiful, mys terious Cuba during the exciting days of the revolt against Spain. - Convrlght, 1017. Harper I Bros THK BT0RY THl'R FAR HON KSTKIIAN VARONA. one of Ihe wmlthlrnt Hpanlnrd In Culm, Ima hoarded. the jewel nnd gold acquired through the xnle I nlMrn nnd the profit drrhed from III ex ,$enlte ugr plantation In n hecret cham ber at the bottom of n well. Rumor of hi treanure hate enrend throughout the land and after the death of hi ilrt wife, the crafty, scheming Inubel finally becomes the trend Dunn Vnrona. ... HKHASTIAN. Katebnn'a mot triinted lne, l the only one to ahare the erret or the hoarded wealth, and Innbe! lulnly trie to get Information from the black. She eyen eek to Bet nt Sebaatlun by augmenting that r.te ban aell the alnie'a daughter bvnngellna. Tut- ih. . htrtilfnMilv refimeN to da until one night, after he ha become drank In attempting to enraue hi wife' nugglng. he fiiarra r.tunaruuu us ihc . -- - - . ...i... , .1.. MIMA and ENTKllrtN. lllf i rniiureii lttreed planter and hi flrt wife. leare their bed. nnd appear In the room before their father to beg that Erangellna. their nuree. be retn ned. nut their uraer .are n .-n i i..n u.t.i.1 .m niMiria ulth hla inna- t ter not to let hi.' daughter go. Don Mrtjn, J InfnriateJ. turn, upon the ;lae and for the nm time in nia me nim uw .!. tt a window grating nnd flogged. 8ebtlan Is dying from thlmt and the tor tore of the file upon hU Moundn when I""." Dneara at the window nnd aaka him ugaln if there In a treneure. He finally aaja jc. CHAPTER II (Continued) t pOD! You have seen it?" Isabel was vX trembling as if with an ague. "What is it like? How much is there? ; Cood Sebastian, I'll Bive you water, I'll l have you set free tt you tel me. "How much? I don't know. But thero 'is much pieces of Spanish gold, silver I Coins In casks and In little boxes the f boxes are bound with Iron and have liasns nnd stanles: -bars of nieclous metal and little paper packages of gems, alt i tied up and hidden in leather bags, bo- bastlan could hear his listener panting, 'her bloodless fingers were wrapped tightly around the bars above his head. "Yes! Go in." "Thorn irn nrnnmflllts. tOO. God knOWS they, must have come from heaven, they are so beautiful; and pearls ftom tne Caribbean as large as plums." "Are you speaking the trutlU" "Every neso. every bar, every knlck- P'Vnack I have handled with my own hands. Did I not make the hiding place HI alone? Senora, everything is thero Just as I tell you and more. The grants of title from the Crown for this qulnta . and the sugar plantations, they are mere, too. Don Esteban used to fear the Gov ernment ofllcials, so he hid his papers securely. Without them the lands belong .. . -. ' A 111 iu no one. iou unaorsuwiui "Of course! Yes. ye! But the Jew- . els . nod! where are they hidden?" "Ynn M.niiM n.v.r BMieas!" Sebastian's Voice gathered strength. "Ten thousand men in ten thousand years wouia never find the place, and nobody knows th t lecret but Don Esteban and me." "I believe vou. I knew all the um . U was here. Well? Where Js Jt?" Bebaitian hesitated and said plteously, : "I am dying " label could scarcely contain neraeir, I'll slve vou water, but first tell me , Where whsret nnd in heaven! Can't ou see that I, too, am perishing?" i must have a drink. ' "Tell me first." (SJthe speaker's eyes, laughed hoarsely, n tne sound Ot nls unnatural inerr fcnt Isabel recoiled as if stung. She ,-ffM at the slave's face in amazement i ,ipn In fury. She stammered Jnco- Wty "Tou yu hv b) JyiMr greatest treasure In all Cuba, but you shall never know where It is. I'll see to that. It was you who sold my girl; it was' you who brought me to this; It was your hand that whipped me. Well, I'll tell Don Esteban how you tried to bribe his secret from mel What do you think he'll do then? Eh? You'll feel the lash on your white back " "You fool!" Dona Isabel looked mur der. "I'll punish you for this; I'll make you speak If I have to rub your wounds with salt." Sebastian's Curse But Sebastian closed his eyes wearily. "You can't make me suffer more than I have suffered," he said. "And now I curse you. May that treasure be the death of you. May you live in torture like mine the rest of your days; may your beauty turn to ugliness Buch that men will spit at you; may you never know peace again until you die In poy- erty and want " But Dona Itabel, being superstitious, fled with her fingers In her ears; nor did she undertake to make good her bar barous thieat, realizing opportunely that it would only serve to betray her des perate Intentions and put her husband further on his guard. Instead she shut herself Into her room, where she paced the floor, racking her brain to guess where the hiding place could be or to devlso some means of silencing Sebastian's tongue. To feel that she had been over matched, to know that there was indeed a treasure, to think that the two who knew where It was had been laughing at her all this time, filled the woman with an agony approaching that which Sebas. ttan suffered from his flies. As the sun was sinking beyond the farther rim of the Yumurl and the valley was beginning to fill with shadows, Este ban Varona rode up the hill. His tem per was more evil than ever, If that were possible, for he had drunk ngaln in an effort to drown the memory of his earlier actions. With him rode half a dozen or more of his friends, coming to dine and put in another night at his expense. There were Pablo Peza and Mario de Castano once more; Colonel Mendoza y Linares, old Pedro Mlron, the advocate, and others of less consequence, wnom Esteban had gathered from the Spanish Club. The host dismounted and lurched across the courtyard to Sebastian. "So, my fine fellow." he began. "Have you had enough of rebellion by this time?" .... .. "Why did you have him flogged? the advocate inquired. Esteban explained briefly, "He dared to raise his hand in anger against one of my guests." The Animal Passion Sebastian's face was working as he turned upon his master to say: "I would be lying if I told you that I am sorry for what I did. It is you have done wrong. Your soul is black with this crime. "Where is my girl?'' "The devllt To hear you talk one would think you wore a free man." The planter" eyes were bleared and. he bran dished M riding whip threateningly. "I do as I ! wllK my teVM : to'11 ' Tr ivu w ow - the house of Salvador, Don Pablo's co chero, where she belongs. I've warned him that he will have to tame her unruly spirit, as I have tamed yours." Sebastian had hung sick and limp against the grating, but at these words he suddenly roused. It was as If a cur rent of electricity had galvnnlzed him. He strained at his manacles and the bars groaned under his weight. His eyes began to roll, his lips drew back over his blue gums. Noting his expression of ferocity, Esteban cut at his naked back with the riding whip, crying: "Ho! Not subdued yet, eh? You need another flogging." "Curso you and all that is yours," roared the maddened slave. "May you know the misery you have put upon me. May you rot for a million years in hell." Tho whip was rising nnd falling nou. for Esteban had lost what little self-control the liquor had left to him. "May your children's bodies grow filthy with disease; may they starve; may they " Sebastian was yelling, though his volcu was hoarse with pain. The lash drew blood with every blow. Meanwhile, he wrenched and tugged at his bonds with the fury of a maniac. "Pablo! Your machete", qulckl" panted the slave owner. "God's blood! I'll make an end of this black fiend, once for all." Vengeance Esteban Varona's guests had looked on at the scene with tho same mild in terest they would display at the whipping of a balky horse; and, now that the ani mal threatened to become dangerous, It a'os In their view quite the proper thing to put It out of the way. Don Pablo Peza stepped toward his mare to draw the machete from its scabbord. But ho did not hand It to his friend. He heard u shout, and turned In time to see a won derful and a terrible thing. Sebastian had braced his naked feet against the wall; he had bowed his back and bent his massive shoulders a back and a pair of shoulders that looked as bony and muscular as those of an ox end he was heaving with every ounce or strength in his enormous body. As Pablo stared he saw the heavy grating come away from Its anchorage In tho olid masonry, as a shrub Is uprooted from soft ground. The rods (bent and twisted; there was a clank and rattle and clash of metal upon the flags and then Sebastian turned upon his tormentor, a free man, save only for the wide iron bracelets and their connecting chain. He was quite Insane. 'Ills face was frightful to behold; It was apelike In its animal rage, and he toWered above his master like some fabled creature out of the African Jungle' of his forefathers Sebastian's fists alone would have been formidable weapons, but they were ar mored and weighted with the old-fashioned, hand-wrought irons which Pancho Cueto had locked upon them. Wrapping (he chain In hi fingers, the slave leaped at Esteban and struck, once. The sound of the blow was sickening, for the whole bony structure of Esteban Varona's head gave way. There was a horrified cry from the other white Don. FaWo Pes ff fTrVnl, sheuttat). He awuac Ms ma chete, but Sebastian met him bcfoie the blow could descend, nnd they went down together upon the hard stones. Again Sebastian smote, with his masshe hands wrapped in tho chain and his wrists In cased in steel, and this time it waH us if Don Pablo's head had been caught be tween a hammer nnd an anvil. The negro's strength, exceptional at all times, was multiplied tenfold; he had run amuck. When he arose the machete was in his grasp and Don Pablo's brains were on his knuckles; It all happened in far less time than it takes to tell. The onlookers had not yet recovered from their first consterna- He vented his fury upon whatever came within his teach; ho struck at men and unlmals alike, and tho shrieks of wounded horses udded to the din. It was a frightful combat. It seemed Incredible that one man could woik such dreadful havoc In bo shoit a time. Varonn nnd two of IiIh friends were dead; two moro were badly wounded, n.nd n Peruvian stallion lay kicking on the flagging when Colonel Mendoza y Linares finally man aged to get a bullet homo In tho black man's bruin. Those who came running to learn the cause of the hubbub turned away slrU nnd pallid, foi tho pacd yard wu a land were hidden with the rest, where 10.000 men In 10,000 years could never And them. Impressed by her manifestations of grief, Esteban's friends reasoned that the widow must have loved her husband dearly. They told one another they had wionged her. CHAPfER III "THE O'REILLY" AGE and easy living caused Don Mario . de Castano, the sugar merchant, to take on weight. He had, In truth, become so fat that he waddled like a penguin when he walked, and when he rode, the m HPiL y frill M iMfflitl H idflliflU B , cilMHvtfv Sfl J VRmLsS III w JMMtWJnt 'gj- IP-?aaaaCtJlCa1WMSSgfaiate - Jsf L fjt "It was a frightful combat. Colonel BIcndoza y Linares finally managed to get a bullet home in the black man's brain." Hon; in fact, they were still fumbling and 'tugging at whatever weapons they carried when Sebastian came toward them, brandishing the blade on high. Pedro Mlron, the advocate, was the third to fall. He tried to scramble out of tne negro's path, but, being an old man, his limbs were too stiff to serve him and he went down shileking. By now the horses had caught the scent of hot blood and were plunging furiously, the clatter of their hoofs min gling with the blasphemies of the riders, while Sebastian's bestial roaring made the commotion even more hideous. Esteban's guests fought as much for their lives as for vengeance upon the. slayer, for Sebastian was like a gorilla; he seemed intt-nt upon filling them all, shambles. Pancho Cueto called upon tho slaves to help him, .hut they slunk back to their quarters, dumb with terror and dismay. All that night people from the town below came and Went and the qulnta re sounded to sobs and lamentations, but of all tho relatives of the dead and wounded, Dona Isabel took her bereavement hard est. Strange to say Bhe could not be comforted. She wept, she screamed, she tore her hair, tasting tho full nauseous noss of the cup her own avarice had pre pared. Now, when it was too late, she r allied that she had overreached herself, having caused the death of tho only two who knew the secret of the; treasure. Sh, remembered also Sebastian's statement that even the deeds of patent for the springs of his French victoria gave up In despair. They glued themselves to gether, face to face, and Don Mario felt every rut and every rock In the road. Nor was the merchant any less heavy in mind than in body, for he was both very rich and very serious, and nothing Is more ponderous than a rich, fat man who takes his riches and his fatness se riously. In disposition Don Mario was practical and unromantlc; he boasted that he had never had an illusion, never had an In terest outside of his business. And yet, on the day this story opens, this prosalo personage, in spite .of his bulging waist, band and his taut neckband, in spite of his short breath and his prickly heat, was In a very whirl of pleasurable excitement, Don Mario, in fact,-suffered the greatest of all Illusions; he was In' love, and he behoved himself beloved. The object of his adoration was little Rosa Varona, the daughter of his one-time friend Esteban. At thought of her the planter glowed Svith ardor at any rate he took it to be ardor, although it might have been the fever from that summer rash which so afflicted htmand his heart fluttered in a way dangerous to one of Ills apoplectio ten dencies. To be sure, he had met Rosa only twice since her return from her Yankee school, but twice had been enough; with prompt decision he had resolved to do her the hoa-or f mkln her his wlfe,v Jt- 'n t Now, with a person of Don Mario's importance, to decide for himself is to decide for others, and inasmuch as ha kbew that Dona Isabel, Rosa's step mother, was notoriously mercenary and had not done at all well since her hus band's death, it did not occur to him to doubt that his suit would prosper. It was, In fact, to make terms with her that he rode forth In the heat of this particular afternoon. Notwithstanding the rivulets of per spiration that were coursing down every -fold of hla flesh, and regardless of the fact that the body of his victoria was tipped at a drunken angle, as if strug gling to escape the burdens of his 3great weight, Don Mario felt a jauntiness of body and of spirit almost like that of yoUth. He saw himself as a splendid prince riding toward the humble home of some obscure maiden whom he had graciously chosen to be his mate. Isabel's Dejection His arrival threw Dona Isabel into a flutter; the woman could scarcely1 'con tain her curiosity when she camo to meet htm, for he was not the sort of man to Inconvenience himself "by mere social visits. Their first formal greetings over, Don Mario surveyed the bare living room and remarked lugubriously: "I see many changes here." "No doubt," the widow agreed. "Times have been hard since poor Esteban's death." "What a terrible calamity that was! I shudder when I think of It," said he. "I was his guest on the night previous, you remember? In fact, I witnessed his wager of the negro girl, Evangellna the roof of the whole tragedy. Well, wellt Who would have believed that old slave, her father, would have run mad at losing her? A shocking affair, truly, and one I shall never get out Of my mind." "Shocking, yes. But what do you think of a rich man, like Esteban. who -would leave his family destitute? "Who would die without revealing the place where he had stored his treasure?" Dona Isabel, tt was plain, felt 'her wrongs keenly; she spoke with as much Bplrlt as it her husbund 'had permitted himself to be killed purely out of spits toward her. De Castano shook his round bullet head, saying wth some impatience; "You still believe In that treasure, eh? My dear senora, the only treasure Varona left was his adorable children and jour admirable self," Immediately- the speaker regretted his words, forhe remember, too late, that Doria Isabel was reputed to be a trifle unbalanced on this subject f the Varona treasure. "I dojnot believe; I know!" the widow answered, wltn moro than necessary vehemence. "What became of all Est ban's money Jf ho tlld hot )ury ItT M never gave any tq rne, for he was it miser. YoU know, as we)l aa I, that carried on a stupendous business in slaves and sugar? and it "was cjosttayaft knowledge that he hid every aa fer fear of his momirn. 'But wtssm? Wtatrer Tko-t k'wMt-Miinnn".,; . fooKTwtTWe mmmn t" i a ,j 9 ? tHNMNW tftaW, MM flM n - jrffi
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