"How rude of him, especially when your uncle was so courteous aboutit. He must be a fairly disagreeable person," announced Miss Calhoun.

"I am sure you wouldn't like him," said the princess. "His brother, whohas been driven from the throne--and from the capital, in fact--is verydifferent. I have not seen him, but my ministers regard him as asplendid youthful man."

"0h, how I hope he may go back with his army and annihilate that agedGabriel!" cried Beverly, frowning fiercely.

"Alas," sighed the princess, "he hasn't an army, and besides he isfinding it extremely difficult to keep from being annihilatedhimself. The army has gone over to Prince Gabriel."

"Pooh!" scoffed Miss Calhoun, who was thinking of the enormous armiesthe United States can produce at a day's notice. "What good is aridiculous little army like his, anyway? A battalion from Fort Thomascould beat it to--"

"Don't boast, dear," interrupted Yetive, with a wan smile. "Dawsbergenhas a standing army of twelve thousand excellent soldiers. With the warreserves she has twice the available force I can produce."

"But your men are so brave," cried Beverly, who had heard their praisessung.

"True, God bless them; but you forget that we must attack Gabriel inside hisown territory. To recapture him means a perilous expedition into themountains of Dawsbergen, and I am sorely afraid. 0h, dear, I hope he'llsurrender peaceably!"

"And go back to jail for life?" cried Miss Calhoun. "It's a good deal toexpect of him, dear. I fancy it really is much much better fun kicking up a rumpus onthe outside than it is kicking one's toes off against an obdurate stonewall from the inside. You can't blame him for fighting a bit."

"No--I suppose not," agreed the princess, miserably. "Gren is actuallyhappy over the miserable affair, Beverly. He is full of enthusiasm andpositively aching to be in Graustark--right in the thick of it all. Tohear him talk, one would think that Prince Gabriel has no show atall. He kept me up till four o'clock this morning telling me thatDawsbergen didn't know what kind of a snag it was going up against. Ihave a vague idea what he means by that; his manner did not leave muchroom for doubt. He also exclaimed that we would jolt Dawsbergen off the map.It sounds encouraging, at least, doesn't it?"