d a rustling sound behind them, and saw, close by, a newspaper
blown towards them by the light summer breeze.

Bob put out his hand and caught it. "It's to-day's paper," he said.
"I haven't looked at mine to-day."

He read it almost mechanically. Neither dreamed that this paper,
carelessly dropped by a man who had come to see the famous rock,
contained news on which depended not only the future of their own
lives, but which altered the destinies of nations, and which turned a
great part of Europe into a shambles.

CHAPTER III

This is what he read:

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN BOSNIA.

ASSASSINATION OF THE HEIR PRESUMPTIVE TO THE
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN THRONE.

BOMB THROWN INTO THE CAR OF THE ARCHDUKE
FERDINAND AND HIS CONSORT, THE DUCHESS OF
HOHENBERG.

OVERWHELMING INDIGNATION IN VIENNA.
GRIEF OF THE AGED EMPEROR.

These were the staring headlines which riveted the gaze of both, and
for the moment made them silent.

"Good heavens, how terrible!" cried Nancy presently.

"Ghastly beyond words," was Bob's reply. "It has come like a
thunderbolt. As I told you, I did not look at my paper this morning,
and, as I have not been to St. Ia to-day, I saw no announcements."

"And our papers were late this morning. I have not seen them,"
rejoined Nancy. "Fancy the grief of the poor old Emperor! Who did
it?--and why was it done?"

"Evidently it was done by two young men, both anarchists, and both said
to be Servians."

"Aren't these anarchists terrible? No king or queen in Europe seems to
be safe."

"This doesn't appear to have been done by anarchists in the usual sense
of the term after all," said Bob, who hastily scanned the paper. "It
seems there are suspicions of political causes. This paper suggests
that these fellows were agents of the Servian Government, who have a
special grudge against the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, who was
heir-presumptive to the Austrian Throne. Are you interested in
European politics, Nancy?"

"Not a bit. I always skip foreign news."

"If it is as this paper suggests, it might lead to serious
complications. You see, it was hoped by the Servians that at the close
of the Balkan War they would be able to obtain a naval port on the
Adriatic, and it is said they would have got it but for the Archduke.
It is also commonly believed that a School of Servian Patriots have for
years been struggling to make Bosnia and Herzegovina part of Greater
Servia, owing to