The Tale of Yeldorado — Part Three (Vol. 1, Issue 18)

(Editor’s Note: The Commentator takes pleasure in presenting the last installment of the manuscript discovered by a Commentator reporter in the wilds of Asia during the summer of 1935.—A continuation from the previous issue.)

Matters in Yeldorado were rapidly drawing to a head. The rank and file of the country were beginning to murmur against the leaders of the nationalist party for the continual delay in the decision regarding the case of Prime Minister Silas.

The leaders answered that the Cabinet Investigation Commission was proceeding as quickly as it could, and that a decision could be expected shortly. But a deep-seated conviction persisted among the natives that they were merely being led on to keep their silence.

The reasons for their attitude were not difficult to discover. First of all, they distrusted Prime Minister Silas thoroughly. The longer the commission took in convicting him, the greater became their suspicion that Silas had succeeded in making some arrangement whereby he could remain in office on condition that he change his policies in the future.

Of such a settlement the natives of Yeldorado lay in constant dread. Never would they submit to such a supine settlement, for to them there was only one issue involved and that consisted in a national knowledge of the total unfitness of Silas to hold office. 

The only decision, therefore, according to the native population, could be the total elimination of Silas from the government. He could remain in Yeldorado, but under no condition would they allow him to be deprived of his office as prime minister only to be allowed to retain some other state position. From their viewpoint, it was a question of choice between Silas and Yeldorado, and the common feeling concurred in the clear-cut conviction that if the Yeldorado government insists on giving an executive position it would be far better not to have any Yeldorado at all.

A rumor had been current in the land during this time that Prime Minister Silas’ daughter, living in a far-off land, was gravely sick. Suddenly, a day before Silas was to appear before the Cabinet Commission, he left to see his daughter, obtaining the permission of even the Cabinet Commission on the claim that he had just received a message to come immediately.

A group of nationalists, who suspected strongly as did many others, that Silas was exaggerating merely to keep himself from being called before the Investigation Commission got in touch with the personal doctor of the daughter and, before Silas’ arrival, questioned him closely as to her condition. He replied that her presence in the hospital was for a periodic checkup, that she was perfectly normal for her condition, that she was expected to leave in a few days, and that no call had been made to the parents for “there is absolutely no reason for it.” 

Amazed at the implications of the doctor’s statements, the group immediately submitted the case as evidence to the Nationalist Investigation Committee, which, in turn, presented it to the Cabinet Commission. 

In the meanwhile, Silas had won over the sympathy of a large group of the population because of their belief that his daughter was so sick. Needless to say, when they discovered that Silas had again duped them, they were convinced forever.

But Silas had again fooled ao one but himself, for the final decision of the Cabinet Investigation Commission took all his scheming into account when they finally decreed with the royal seal of King Roger that........

Here the manuscript breaks off

THE END