CHAPTER XI
BETRAYED
The next few days were crowded ones for me. The
organisation of our conspirators went forward with
astonishing success—the fruit, of course, of the previous
efforts of Zoiloff and those working with him; and
when we held our first big meeting to inaugurate our
new "Club," we had nearly three hundred splendid
young fellows zealous to pledge themselves to the
finger-tips in the cause of the Princess Christina.
Each of them had been presented privately to me, and each promised unreservedly to follow my leadership. All were animated by the most patriotic enthusiasm, and many of them were in a position to influence considerable numbers of their compatriots.
The scheme of the Gymnasium Club evoked great praise, and I was surprised by the ardour with which they threw themselves into the task of athletic training. All the details of this were managed by Zoiloff and a few carefully chosen men under him; and after the first meeting these leaders supped with me, and many were the exuberant anticipations of success that found expression. Zoiloff himself threw aside his customary reserve, and led on the rest to praise me.
"It is the finest movement ever started in Bulgaria, Count," he said to me when Spernow and he and I were alone. "And it will spread like a heath on fire, from here to every town and centre in the country.
