Page:Roy Norton--The unknown Mr Kent.djvu/176

 shouted into the announcer's ear: "Tell them the king has sent his agent to explain what the new conscription amounts to!"

In his gorgeous uniform the announcer again stepped to the front between the trumpeters, gestured them to stop and raised his hand for silence. "Hear Ye! Hear Ye!" he called, and paused until the silence was absolute. "That His People may understand, His Majesty the King has sent to you his personal agent to explain more fully than could be done by royal decree the objects and effects of the new law. Give heed to the king's mouthpiece!"

Kent came forward and studied his audience, that waited ominously.

"Listen to the king's desire," he said, in his big, resonant voice that swept over their heads and through the Market Place. "His Majesty has but one wish, to make Marken and Markenites respected and prosperous. He wishes to make the title of Markenite, all over the world, a proud synonym for honesty, industry, and prosperity."

He paused a moment with his shrewd senses alert, and decided that he was on the wrong track when he tried to arouse them to patriotism. Instantly his facile imagination adopted another course, and a momentary sneer flickered over his lips as he shifted to demagoguery, the fine old method used from the days of Borne to the days [172]