ns; two others were on the forts to right and left of the Blue
Mouth; another was posted at the entrance to the Great Tunnel which runs
from the water level right up through the mountains to the plateau, where
the mines and factories are situate; another had the privilege of a place
on an aeroplane, which went everywhere and saw everything. This
aeroplane was driven by an old Special Correspondent of _Free America_,
who had been a chum of our Special in the Japanese and Russian War, and
who 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 the
Land of the Blue Mountains began to arrive. The earlier comers were
mostly the journalists who had come from almost over the whole inhabited
world. King Rupert, who does things well, had made a camp for their
exclusive use. There was a separate tent for each--of course, a small
one, as there were over a thousand journalists--but there were big tents
for general use scattered about--refectories, reading and writing rooms,
a library, idle rooms for rest, etc. In the rooms for reading and
writing, which were the work-rooms for general use, were newspapers, the
latest 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 capable
servants 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 Federating
Monarchs had a camp of his own, in which he had erected a magnificent
pavilion. For the Western King, who had acted as Arbitrator in the
matter of the Federation, a veritable palace had been built by King
Rupert--a sort of Aladdin's palace it must have been, for only a few
weeks ago the place it occupied was, I was told, only primeval
wilderness. King Rupert and his Queen, Teuta, had a pavilion like the
rest of the Federators of Balka, but infinitely more modest, both in size
and adornments.

Everywhere were guards of the Blue Mountains, armed only with the
"handjar," which is the national weapon. They wore the national dr