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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mad King, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The Mad King
+
+Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+Release Date: November, 1995 [eBook #364]
+[Most recently updated: December 21, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Judith Boss
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAD KING ***
+
+
+
+
+The Mad King
+
+by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+
+Contents
+
+ PART I
+ I. A RUNAWAY HORSE
+ II. OVER THE PRECIPICE
+ III. AN ANGRY KING
+ IV. BARNEY FINDS A FRIEND
+ V. THE ESCAPE
+ VI. A KING’S RANSOM
+ VII. THE REAL LEOPOLD
+ VIII. THE CORONATION DAY
+ IX. THE KING’S GUESTS
+ X. ON THE BATTLEFIELD
+ XI. A TIMELY INTERVENTION
+ XII. THE GRATITUDE OF A KING
+
+ PART II
+ I. BARNEY RETURNS TO LUTHA
+ II. CONDEMNED TO DEATH
+ III. BEFORE THE FIRING SQUAD
+ IV. A RACE TO LUTHA
+ V. THE TRAITOR KING
+ VI. A TRAP IS SPRUNG
+ VII. BARNEY TO THE RESCUE
+ VIII. AN ADVENTUROUS DAY
+ IX. THE CAPTURE
+ X. A NEW KING IN LUTHA
+ XI. THE BATTLE
+ XII. LEOPOLD WAITS FOR DAWN
+ XIII. THE TWO KINGS
+ XIV. “THE KING’S WILL IS LAW”
+ XV. MAENCK BLUNDERS
+ XVI. KING OF LUTHA
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+
+
+I.
+A RUNAWAY HORSE
+
+
+All Lustadt was in an uproar. The mad king had escaped. Little knots of
+excited men stood upon the street corners listening to each latest
+rumor concerning this most absorbing occurrence. Before the palace a
+great crowd surged to and fro, awaiting they knew not what.
+
+For ten years no man of them had set eyes upon the face of the boy-king
+who had been hastened to the grim castle of Blentz upon the death of
+the old king, his father.
+
+There had been murmurings then when the lad’s uncle, Peter of Blentz,
+had announced to the people of Lutha the sudden mental affliction which
+had fallen upon his nephew, and more murmurings for a time after the
+announcement that Peter of Blentz had been appointed Regent during the
+lifetime of the young King Leopold, “or until God, in His infinite
+mercy, shall see fit to restore to us in full mental vigor our beloved
+monarch.”
+
+But ten years is a long time. The boy-king had become but a vague
+memory to the subjects who could recall him at all.
+
+There were many, of course, in the capital city, Lustadt, who still
+retained a mental picture of the handsome boy who had ridden out nearly
+every morning from the palace gates beside the tall, martial figure of
+the old king, his father, for a canter across the broad plain which
+lies at the foot of the mountain town of Lustadt; but even these had
+long since given up hope that their young king would ever ascend his
+throne, or even that they should see him alive again.
+
+Peter of Blentz had not proved a good or kind ruler. Taxes had doubled
+during his regency. Executives and judiciary, following the example of
+their chief, had become tyrannical and corrupt. For ten years there had
+been small joy in Lutha.
+
+There had been whispered rumors off and on that the young king was dead
+these many years, but not even in whispers did the men of Lutha dare
+voice the name of him whom they believed had caused his death. For
+lesser things they had seen their friends and neighbors thrown into the
+hitherto long-unused dungeons of the royal castle.
+
+And now came the rumor that Leopold of Lutha had escaped the Castle of
+Blentz and was roaming somewhere in the wild mountains or ravines upon
+the opposite side of the plain of Lustadt.
+
+Peter of Blentz was filled with rage and, possibly, fear as well.
+
+“I tell you, Coblich,” he cried, addressing his dark-visaged minister
+of war, “there’s more than coincidence in this matter. Someone has
+betrayed us. That he should have escaped upon the very eve of the
+arrival at Blentz of the new physician is most suspicious. None but
+you, Coblich, had knowledge of the part that Dr. Stein was destined to
+play in this matter,” concluded Prince Peter pointedly.
+
+Coblich looked the Regent full in the eye.
+
+“Your highness wrongs not only my loyalty, but my intelligence,” he
+said quietly, “by even so much as intimating that I have any guilty
+knowledge of Leopold’s escape. With Leopold upon the throne of Lutha,
+where, think you, my prince, would old Coblich be?”
+
+Peter smiled.
+
+“You are right, Coblich,” he said. “I know that you would not be such a
+fool; but whom, then, have we to thank?”
+
+“The walls have ears, prince,” replied Coblich, “and we have not always
+been as careful as we should in discussing the matter. Something may
+have come to the ears of old Von der Tann. I don’t for a moment doubt
+but that he has his spies among the palace servants, or even the guard.
+You know the old fox has always made it a point to curry favor with the
+common soldiers. When he was minister of war he treated them better
+than he did his officers.”
+
+“It seems strange, Coblich, that so shrewd a man as you should have
+been unable to discover some irregularity in the political life of
+Prince Ludwig von der Tann before now,” said the prince querulously.
+“He is the greatest menace to our peace and sovereignty. With Von der
+Tann out of the way there would be none powerful enough to question our
+right to the throne of Lutha—after poor Leopold passes away.”
+
+“You forget that Leopold has escaped,” suggested Coblich, “and that
+there is no immediate prospect of his passing away.”
+
+“He must be retaken at once, Coblich!” cried Prince Peter of Blentz.
+“He is a dangerous maniac, and we must make this fact plain to the
+people—this and a thorough description of him. A handsome reward for
+his safe return to Blentz might not be out of the way, Coblich.”
+
+“It shall be done, your highness,” replied Coblich. “And about Von der
+Tann? You have never spoken to me quite so—ah—er—pointedly before. He
+hunts a great deal in the Old Forest. It might be possible—in fact, it
+has happened, before—there are many accidents in hunting, are there
+not, your highness?”
+
+“There are, Coblich,” replied the prince, “and if Leopold is able he
+will make straight for the Tann, so that there may be two hunting
+together in a day or so, Coblich.”
+
+“I understand, your highness,” replied the minister. “With your
+permission, I shall go at once and dispatch troops to search the forest
+for Leopold. Captain Maenck will command them.”
+
+“Good, Coblich! Maenck is a most intelligent and loyal officer. We must
+reward him well. A baronetcy, at least, if he handles this matter
+well,” said Peter. “It might not be a bad plan to hint at as much to
+him, Coblich.”
+
+And so it happened that shortly thereafter Captain Ernst Maenck, in
+command of a troop of the Royal Horse Guards of Lutha, set out toward
+the Old Forest, which lies beyond the mountains that are visible upon
+the other side of the plain stretching out before Lustadt. At the same
+time other troopers rode in many directions along the highways and
+byways of Lutha, tacking placards upon trees and fence posts and beside
+the doors of every little rural post office.
+
+The placard told of the escape of the mad king, offering a large reward
+for his safe return to Blentz.
+
+It was the last paragraph especially which caused a young man, the
+following day in the little hamlet of Tafelberg, to whistle as he
+carefully read it over.
+
+“I am glad that I am not the mad king of Lutha,” he said as he paid the
+storekeeper for the gasoline he had just purchased and stepped into the
+gray roadster for whose greedy maw it was destined.
+
+“Why, mein Herr?” asked the man.
+
+“This notice practically gives immunity to whoever shoots down the
+king,” replied the traveler. “Worse still, it gives such an account of
+the maniacal ferocity of the fugitive as to warrant anyone in shooting
+him on sight.”
+
+As the young man spoke the storekeeper had examined his face closely
+for the first time. A shrewd look came into the man’s ordinarily stolid
+countenance. He leaned forward quite close to the other’s ear.
+
+“We of Lutha,” he whispered, “love our ‘mad king’—no reward could be
+offered that would tempt us to betray him. Even in self-protection we
+would not kill him, we of the mountains who remember him as a boy and
+loved his father and his grandfather, before him.
+
+“But there are the scum of the low country in the army these days, who
+would do anything for money, and it is these that the king must guard
+against. I could not help but note that mein Herr spoke too perfect
+German for a foreigner. Were I in mein Herr’s place, I should speak
+mostly the English, and, too, I should shave off the ‘full,
+reddish-brown beard.’”
+
+Whereupon the storekeeper turned hastily back into his shop, leaving
+Barney Custer of Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S.A., to wonder if all the
+inhabitants of Lutha were afflicted with a mental disorder similar to
+that of the unfortunate ruler.
+
+“I don’t wonder,” soliloquized the young man, “that he advised me to
+shave off this ridiculous crop of alfalfa. Hang election bets, anyway;
+if things had gone half right I shouldn’t have had to wear this badge
+of idiocy. And to think that it’s got to be for a whole month longer! A
+year’s a mighty long while at best, but a year in company with a full
+set of red whiskers is an eternity.”
+
+The road out of Tafelberg wound upward among tall trees toward the pass
+that would lead him across the next valley on his way to the Old
+Forest, where he hoped to find some excellent shooting. All his life
+Barney had promised himself that some day he should visit his mother’s
+native land, and now that he was here he found it as wild and beautiful
+as she had said it would be.
+
+Neither his mother nor his father had ever returned to the little
+country since the day, thirty years before, that the big American had
+literally stolen his bride away, escaping across the border but a scant
+half-hour ahead of the pursuing troop of Luthanian cavalry. Barney had
+often wondered why it was that neither of them would ever speak of
+those days, or of the early life of his mother, Victoria Rubinroth,
+though of the beauties of her native land Mrs. Custer never tired of
+talking.
+
+Barney Custer was thinking of these things as his machine wound up the
+picturesque road. Just before him was a long, heavy grade, and as he
+took it with open muffler the chugging of his motor drowned the sound
+of pounding hoof beats rapidly approaching behind him.
+
+It was not until he topped the grade that he heard anything unusual,
+and at the same instant a girl on horseback tore past him. The speed of
+the animal would have been enough to have told him that it was beyond
+the control of its frail rider, even without the added testimony of the
+broken bit that dangled beneath the tensely outstretched chin.
+
+Foam flecked the beast’s neck and shoulders. It was evident that the
+horse had been running for some distance, yet its speed was still that
+of the thoroughly frightened runaway.
+
+The road at the point where the animal had passed Custer was cut from
+the hillside. At the left an embankment rose steeply to a height of ten
+or fifteen feet. On the right there was a drop of a hundred feet or
+more into a wooded ravine. Ahead, the road apparently ran quite
+straight and smooth for a considerable distance.
+
+Barney Custer knew that so long as the road ran straight the girl might
+be safe enough, for she was evidently an excellent horsewoman; but he
+also knew that if there should be a sharp turn to the left ahead, the
+horse in his blind fright would in all probability dash headlong into
+the ravine below him.
+
+There was but a single thing that the man might attempt if he were to
+save the girl from the almost certain death which seemed in store for
+her, since he knew that sooner or later the road would turn, as all
+mountain roads do. The chances that he must take, if he failed, could
+only hasten the girl’s end. There was no alternative except to sit
+supinely by and see the fear-crazed horse carry its rider into
+eternity, and Barney Custer was not the sort for that role.
+
+Scarcely had the beast come abreast of him than his foot leaped to the
+accelerator. Like a frightened deer the gray roadster sprang forward in
+pursuit. The road was narrow. Two machines could not have passed upon
+it. Barney took the outside that he might hold the horse away from the
+dangerous ravine.
+
+At the sound of the whirring thing behind him the animal cast an
+affrighted glance in its direction, and with a little squeal of terror
+redoubled its frantic efforts to escape. The girl, too, looked back
+over her shoulder. Her face was very white, but her eyes were steady
+and brave.
+
+Barney Custer smiled up at her in encouragement, and the girl smiled
+back at him.
+
+“She’s sure a game one,” thought Barney.
+
+Now she was calling to him. At first he could not catch her words above
+the pounding of the horse’s hoofs and the noise of his motor. Presently
+he understood.
+
+“Stop!” she cried. “Stop or you will be killed. The road turns to the
+left just ahead. You’ll go into the ravine at that speed.”
+
+The front wheel of the roadster was at the horse’s right flank. Barney
+stepped upon the accelerator a little harder. There was barely room
+between the horse and the edge of the road for the four wheels of the
+roadster, and Barney must be very careful not to touch the horse. The
+thought of that and what it would mean to the girl sent a cold shudder
+through Barney Custer’s athletic frame.
+
+The man cast a glance to his right. His machine drove from the left
+side, and he could not see the road at all over the right hand door.
+The sight of tree tops waving beneath him was all that was visible.
+Just ahead the road’s edge rushed swiftly beneath the right-hand
+fender; the wheels on that side must have been on the very verge of the
+embankment.
+
+Now he was abreast the girl. Just ahead he could see where the road
+disappeared around a corner of the bluff at the dangerous curve the
+girl had warned him against.
+
+Custer leaned far out over the side of his car. The lunging of the
+horse in his stride, and the swaying of the leaping car carried him
+first close to the girl and then away again. With his right hand he
+held the car between the frantic horse and the edge of the embankment.
+His left hand, outstretched, was almost at the girl’s waist. The turn
+was just before them.
+
+“Jump!” cried Barney.
+
+The girl fell backward from her mount, turning to grasp Custer’s arm as
+it closed about her. At the same instant Barney closed the throttle,
+and threw all the weight of his body upon the foot brake.
+
+The gray roadster swerved toward the embankment as the hind wheels
+skidded on the loose surface gravel. They were at the turn. The horse
+was just abreast the bumper. There was one chance in a thousand of
+making the turn were the running beast out of the way. There was still
+a chance if he turned ahead of them. If he did not turn—Barney hated to
+think of what must follow.
+
+But it was all over in a second. The horse bolted straight ahead.
+Barney swerved the roadster to the turn. It caught the animal full in
+the side. There was a sickening lurch as the hind wheels slid over the
+embankment, and then the man shoved the girl from the running board to
+the road, and horse, man and roadster went over into the ravine.
+
+A moment before a tall young man with a reddish-brown beard had stood
+at the turn of the road listening intently to the sound of the hurrying
+hoof beats and the purring of the racing motor car approaching from the
+distance. In his eyes lurked the look of the hunted. For a moment he
+stood in evident indecision, but just before the runaway horse and the
+pursuing machine came into view he slipped over the edge of the road to
+slink into the underbrush far down toward the bottom of the ravine.
+
+When Barney pushed the girl from the running board she fell heavily to
+the road, rolling over several times, but in an instant she scrambled
+to her feet, hardly the worse for the tumble other than a few
+scratches.
+
+Quickly she ran to the edge of the embankment, a look of immense relief
+coming to her soft, brown eyes as she saw her rescuer scrambling up the
+precipitous side of the ravine toward her.
+
+“You are not killed?” she cried in German. “It is a miracle!”
+
+“Not even bruised,” reassured Barney. “But you? You must have had a
+nasty fall.”
+
+“I am not hurt at all,” she replied. “But for you I should be lying
+dead, or terribly maimed down there at the bottom of that awful ravine
+at this very moment. It’s awful.” She drew her shoulders upward in a
+little shudder of horror. “But how did you escape? Even now I can
+scarce believe it possible.”
+
+“I’m quite sure I don’t know how I did escape,” said Barney, clambering
+over the rim of the road to her side. “That I had nothing to do with it
+I am positive. It was just luck. I simply dropped out onto that bush
+down there.”
+
+They were standing side by side, now peering down into the ravine where
+the car was visible, bottom side up against a tree, near the base of
+the declivity. The horse’s head could be seen protruding from beneath
+the wreckage.
+
+“I’d better go down and put him out of his misery,” said Barney, “if he
+is not already dead.”
+
+“I think he is quite dead,” said the girl. “I have not seen him move.”
+
+Just then a little puff of smoke arose from the machine, followed by a
+tongue of yellow flame. Barney had already started toward the horse.
+
+“Please don’t go,” begged the girl. “I am sure that he is quite dead,
+and it wouldn’t be safe for you down there now. The gasoline tank may
+explode any minute.”
+
+Barney stopped.
+
+“Yes, he is dead all right,” he said, “but all my belongings are down
+there. My guns, six-shooters and all my ammunition. And,” he added
+ruefully, “I’ve heard so much about the brigands that infest these
+mountains.”
+
+The girl laughed.
+
+“Those stories are really exaggerated,” she said. “I was born in Lutha,
+and except for a few months each year have always lived here, and
+though I ride much I have never seen a brigand. You need not be
+afraid.”
+
+Barney Custer looked up at her quickly, and then he grinned. His only
+fear had been that he would not meet brigands, for Mr. Bernard Custer,
+Jr., was young and the spirit of Romance and Adventure breathed strong
+within him.
+
+“Why do you smile?” asked the girl.
+
+“At our dilemma,” evaded Barney. “Have you paused to consider our
+situation?”
+
+The girl smiled, too.
+
+“It is most unconventional,” she said. “On foot and alone in the
+mountains, far from home, and we do not even know each other’s name.”
+
+“Pardon me,” cried Barney, bowing low. “Permit me to introduce myself.
+I am,” and then to the spirits of Romance and Adventure was added a
+third, the spirit of Deviltry, “I am the mad king of Lutha.”
+
+
+
+
+II.
+OVER THE PRECIPICE
+
+
+The effect of his words upon the girl were quite different from what he
+had expected. An American girl would have laughed, knowing that he but
+joked. This girl did not laugh. Instead her face went white, and she
+clutched her bosom with her two hands. Her brown eyes peered
+searchingly into the face of the man.
+
+“Leopold!” she cried in a suppressed voice. “Oh, your majesty, thank
+God that you are free—and sane!”
+
+Before he could prevent it the girl had seized his hand and pressed it
+to her lips.
+
+Here was a pretty muddle! Barney Custer swore at himself inwardly for a
+boorish fool. What in the world had ever prompted him to speak those
+ridiculous words! And now how was he to unsay them without mortifying
+this beautiful girl who had just kissed his hand?
+
+She would never forgive that—he was sure of it.
+
+There was but one thing to do, however, and that was to make a clean
+breast of it. Somehow, he managed to stumble through his explanation of
+what had prompted him, and when he had finished he saw that the girl
+was smiling indulgently at him.
+
+“It shall be Mr. Bernard Custer if you wish it so,” she said; “but your
+majesty need fear nothing from Emma von der Tann. Your secret is as
+safe with me as with yourself, as the name of Von der Tann must assure
+you.”
+
+She looked to see the expression of relief and pleasure that her
+father’s name should have brought to the face of Leopold of Lutha, but
+when he gave no indication that he had ever before heard the name she
+sighed and looked puzzled.
+
+“Perhaps,” she thought, “he doubts me. Or can it be possible that,
+after all, his poor mind is gone?”
+
+“I wish,” said Barney in a tone of entreaty, “that you would forgive
+and forget my foolish words, and then let me accompany you to the end
+of your journey.”
+
+“Whither were you bound when I became the means of wrecking your motor
+car?” asked the girl.
+
+“To the Old Forest,” replied Barney.
+
+Now she was positive that she was indeed with the mad king of Lutha,
+but she had no fear of him, for since childhood she had heard her
+father scout the idea that Leopold was mad. For what other purpose
+would he hasten toward the Old Forest than to take refuge in her
+father’s castle upon the banks of the Tann at the forest’s verge?
+
+“Thither was I bound also,” she said, “and if you would come there
+quickly and in safety I can show you a short path across the mountains
+that my father taught me years ago. It touches the main road but once
+or twice, and much of the way passes through dense woods and
+undergrowth where an army might hide.”
+
+“Hadn’t we better find the nearest town,” suggested Barney, “where I
+can obtain some sort of conveyance to take you home?”
+
+“It would not be safe,” said the girl. “Peter of Blentz will have
+troops out scouring all Lutha about Blentz and the Old Forest until the
+king is captured.”
+
+Barney Custer shook his head despairingly.
+
+“Won’t you please believe that I am but a plain American?” he begged.
+
+Upon the bole of a large wayside tree a fresh, new placard stared them
+in the face. Emma von der Tann pointed at one of the paragraphs.
+
+“Gray eyes, brown hair, and a full reddish-brown beard,” she read. “No
+matter who you may be,” she said, “you are safer off the highways of
+Lutha than on them until you can find and use a razor.”
+
+“But I cannot shave until the fifth of November,” said Barney.
+
+Again the girl looked quickly into his eyes and again in her mind rose
+the question that had hovered there once before. Was he indeed, after
+all, quite sane?
+
+“Then please come with me the safest way to my father’s,” she urged.
+“He will know what is best to do.”
+
+“He cannot make me shave,” insisted Barney.
+
+“Why do you wish not to shave?” asked the girl.
+
+“It is a matter of my honor,” he replied. “I had my choice of wearing a
+green wastebasket bonnet trimmed with red roses for six months, or a
+beard for twelve. If I shave off the beard before the fifth of November
+I shall be without honor in the sight of all men or else I shall have
+to wear the green bonnet. The beard is bad enough, but the bonnet—ugh!”
+
+Emma von der Tann was now quite assured that the poor fellow was indeed
+quite demented, but she had seen no indications of violence as yet,
+though when that too might develop there was no telling. However, he
+was to her Leopold of Lutha, and her father’s house had been loyal to
+him or his ancestors for three hundred years.
+
+If she must sacrifice her life in the attempt, nevertheless still must
+she do all within her power to save her king from recapture and to lead
+him in safety to the castle upon the Tann.
+
+“Come,” she said; “we waste time here. Let us make haste, for the way
+is long. At best we cannot reach Tann by dark.”
+
+“I will do anything you wish,” replied Barney, “but I shall never
+forgive myself for having caused you the long and tedious journey that
+lies before us. It would be perfectly safe to go to the nearest town
+and secure a rig.”
+
+Emma von der Tann had heard that it was always well to humor maniacs
+and she thought of it now. She would put the scheme to the test.
+
+“The reason that I fear to have you go to the village,” she said, “is
+that I am quite sure they would catch you and shave off your beard.”
+
+Barney started to laugh, but when he saw the deep seriousness of the
+girl’s eyes he changed his mind. Then he recalled her rather peculiar
+insistence that he was a king, and it suddenly occurred to him that he
+had been foolish not to have guessed the truth before.
+
+“That is so,” he agreed; “I guess we had better do as you say,” for he
+had determined that the best way to handle her would be to humor her—he
+had always heard that that was the proper method for handling the
+mentally defective. “Where is the—er—ah—sanatorium?” he blurted out at
+last.
+
+“The what?” she asked. “There is no sanatorium near here, your majesty,
+unless you refer to the Castle of Blentz.”
+
+“Is there no asylum for the insane near by?”
+
+“None that I know of, your majesty.”
+
+For a while they moved on in silence, each wondering what the other
+might do next.
+
+Barney had evolved a plan. He would try and ascertain the location of
+the institution from which the girl had escaped and then as gently as
+possible lead her back to it. It was not safe for as beautiful a woman
+as she to be roaming through the forest in any such manner as this. He
+wondered what in the world the authorities at the asylum had been
+thinking of to permit her to ride out alone in the first place.
+
+“From where did you ride today?” he blurted out suddenly.
+
+“From Tann.”
+
+“That is where we are going now?”
+
+“Yes, your majesty.”
+
+Barney drew a breath of relief. The way had become suddenly difficult
+and he took the girl’s arm to help her down a rather steep place. At
+the bottom of the ravine there was a little brook.
+
+“There used to be a fallen log across it here,” said the girl. “How in
+the world am I ever to get across, your majesty?”
+
+“If you call me that again, I shall begin to believe that I am a king,”
+he humored her, “and then, being a king, I presume that it wouldn’t be
+proper for me to carry you across, or would it? Never really having
+been a king, I do not know.”
+
+“I think,” replied the girl, “that it would be eminently proper.”
+
+She had difficulty in keeping in mind the fact that this handsome,
+smiling young man was a dangerous maniac, though it was easy to believe
+that he was the king. In fact, he looked much as she had always
+pictured Leopold as looking. She had known him as a boy, and there were
+many paintings and photographs of his ancestors in her father’s castle.
+She saw much resemblance between these and the young man.
+
+The brook was very narrow, and the girl thought that it took the young
+man an unreasonably long time to carry her across, though she was
+forced to admit that she was far from uncomfortable in the strong arms
+that bore her so easily.
+
+“Why, what are you doing?” she cried presently. “You are not crossing
+the stream at all. You are walking right up the middle of it!”
+
+She saw his face flush, and then he turned laughing eyes upon her.
+
+“I am looking for a safe landing,” he said.
+
+Emma von der Tann did not know whether to be frightened or amused. As
+her eyes met the clear, gray ones of the man she could not believe that
+insanity lurked behind that laughing, level gaze of her carrier. She
+found herself continually forgetting that the man was mad. He had
+turned toward the bank now, and a couple of steps carried them to the
+low sward that fringed the little brooklet. Here he lowered her to the
+ground.
+
+“Your majesty is very strong,” she said. “I should not have expected it
+after the years of confinement you have suffered.”
+
+“Yes,” he said, realizing that he must humor her—it was difficult to
+remember that this lovely girl was insane. “Let me see, now just what
+was I in prison for? I do not seem to be able to recall it. In
+Nebraska, they used to hang men for horse stealing; so I am sure it
+must have been something else not quite so bad. Do you happen to know?”
+
+“When the king, your father, died you were thirteen years old,” the
+girl explained, hoping to reawaken the sleeping mind, “and then your
+uncle, Prince Peter of Blentz, announced that the shock of your
+father’s death had unbalanced your mind. He shut you up in Blentz then,
+where you have been for ten years, and he has ruled as regent. Now, my
+father says, he has recently discovered a plot to take your life so
+that Peter may become king. But I suppose you learned of that, and
+because of it you escaped!”
+
+“This Peter person is all-powerful in Lutha?” he asked.
+
+“He controls the army,” the girl replied.
+
+“And you really believe that I am the mad king Leopold?”
+
+“You are the king,” she said in a convincing manner.
+
+“You are a very brave young lady,” he said earnestly. “If all the mad
+king’s subjects were as loyal as you, and as brave, he would not have
+languished for ten years behind the walls of Blentz.”
+
+“I am a Von der Tann,” she said proudly, as though that was explanation
+sufficient to account for any bravery or loyalty.
+
+“Even a Von der Tann might, without dishonor, hesitate to accompany a
+mad man through the woods,” he replied, “especially if she happened to
+be a very—a very—” He halted, flushing.
+
+“A very what, your majesty?” asked the girl.
+
+“A very young woman,” he ended lamely.
+
+Emma von der Tann knew that he had not intended saying that at all.
+Being a woman, she knew precisely what he had meant to say, and she
+discovered that she would very much have liked to hear him say it.
+
+“Suppose,” said Barney, “that Peter’s soldiers run across us—what
+then?”
+
+“They will take you back to Blentz, your majesty.”
+
+“And you?”
+
+“I do not think that they will dare lay hands on me, though it is
+possible that Peter might do so. He hates my father even more now than
+he did when the old king lived.”
+
+“I wish,” said Mr. Custer, “that I had gone down after my guns. Why
+didn’t you tell me, in the first place, that I was a king, and that I
+might get you in trouble if you were found with me? Why, they may even
+take me for an emperor or a mikado—who knows? And then look at all the
+trouble we’d be in.”
+
+Which was Barney’s way of humoring a maniac.
+
+“And they might even shave off your beautiful beard.”
+
+Which was the girl’s way.
+
+“Do you think that you would like me better in the green wastebasket
+hat with the red roses?” asked Barney.
+
+A very sad look came into the girl’s eyes. It was pitiful to think that
+this big, handsome young man, for whose return to the throne all Lutha
+had prayed for ten long years, was only a silly half-wit. What might he
+not have accomplished for his people had this terrible misfortune not
+overtaken him! In every other way he seemed fitted to be the savior of
+his country. If she could but make him remember!
+
+“Your majesty,” she said, “do you not recall the time that your father
+came upon a state visit to my father’s castle? You were a little boy
+then. He brought you with him. I was a little girl, and we played
+together. You would not let me call you ‘highness,’ but insisted that I
+should always call you Leopold. When I forgot you would accuse me of
+lese-majeste, and sentence me to—to punishment.”
+
+“What was the punishment?” asked Barney, noticing her hesitation and
+wishing to encourage her in the pretty turn her dementia had taken.
+
+Again the girl hesitated; she hated to say it, but if it would help to
+recall the past to that poor, dimmed mind, it was her duty.
+
+“Every time I called you ‘highness’ you made me give you a—a kiss,” she
+almost whispered.
+
+“I hope,” said Barney, “that you will be guilty of lese-majeste often.”
+
+“We were little children then, your majesty,” the girl reminded him.
+
+Had he thought her of sound mind Mr. Custer might have taken advantage
+of his royal prerogatives on the spot, for the girl’s lips were most
+tempting; but when he remembered the poor, weak mind, tears almost came
+to his eyes, and there sprang to his heart a great desire to protect
+and guard this unfortunate child.
+
+“And when I was Crown Prince what were you, way back there in the
+beautiful days of our childhood?” asked Barney.
+
+“Why, I was what I still am, your majesty,” replied the girl. “Princess
+Emma von der Tann.”
+
+So the poor child, besides thinking him a king, thought herself a
+princess! She certainly was mad. Well, he would humor her.
+
+“Then I should call you ‘your highness,’ shouldn’t I?” he asked.
+
+“You always called me Emma when we were children.”
+
+“Very well, then, you shall be Emma and I Leopold. Is it a bargain?”
+
+“The king’s will is law,” she said.
+
+They had come to a very steep hillside, up which the half-obliterated
+trail zigzagged toward the crest of a flat-topped hill. Barney went
+ahead, taking the girl’s hand in his to help her, and thus they came to
+the top, to stand hand in hand, breathing heavily after the stiff
+climb.
+
+The girl’s hair had come loose about her temples and a lock was blowing
+over her face. Her cheeks were very red and her eyes bright. Barney
+thought he had never looked upon a lovelier picture. He smiled down
+into her eyes and she smiled back at him.
+
+“I wished, back there a way,” he said, “that that little brook had been
+as wide as the ocean—now I wish that this little hill had been as high
+as Mont Blanc.”
+
+“You like to climb?” she asked.
+
+“I should like to climb forever—with you,” he said seriously.
+
+She looked up at him quickly. A reply was on her lips, but she never
+uttered it, for at that moment a ruffian in picturesque rags leaped out
+from behind a near-by bush, confronting them with leveled revolver. He
+was so close that the muzzle of the weapon almost touched Barney’s
+face. In that the fellow made his mistake.
+
+“You see,” said Barney unexcitedly, “that I was right about the
+brigands after all. What do you want, my man?”
+
+The man’s eyes had suddenly gone wide. He stared with open mouth at the
+young fellow before him. Then a cunning look came into his eyes.
+
+“I want you, your majesty,” he said.
+
+“Godfrey!” exclaimed Barney. “Did the whole bunch escape?”
+
+“Quick!” growled the man. “Hold up your hands. The notice made it plain
+that you would be worth as much dead as alive, and I have no mind to
+lose you, so do not tempt me to kill you.”
+
+Barney’s hands went up, but not in the way that the brigand had
+expected. Instead, one of them seized his weapon and shoved it aside,
+while with the other Custer planted a blow between his eyes and sent
+him reeling backward. The two men closed, fighting for possession of
+the gun. In the scrimmage it was exploded, but a moment later the
+American succeeded in wresting it from his adversary and hurled it into
+the ravine.
+
+Striking at one another, the two surged backward and forward at the
+very edge of the hill, each searching for the other’s throat. The girl
+stood by, watching the battle with wide, frightened eyes. If she could
+only do something to aid the king!
+
+She saw a loose stone lying at a little distance from the fighters and
+hastened to procure it. If she could strike the brigand a single good
+blow on the side of the head, Leopold might easily overpower him. When
+she had gathered up the rock and turned back toward the two she saw
+that the man she thought to be the king was not much in the way of
+needing outside assistance. She could not but marvel at the strength
+and dexterity of this poor fellow who had spent almost half his life
+penned within the four walls of a prison. It must be, she thought, the
+superhuman strength with which maniacs are always credited.
+
+Nevertheless, she hurried toward them with her weapon; but just before
+she reached them the brigand made a last mad effort to free himself
+from the fingers that had found his throat. He lunged backward,
+dragging the other with him. His foot struck upon the root of a tree,
+and together the two toppled over into the ravine.
+
+As the girl hastened toward the spot where the two had disappeared, she
+was startled to see three troopers of the palace cavalry headed by an
+officer break through the trees at a short distance from where the
+battle had waged. The four men ran rapidly toward her.
+
+“What has happened here?” shouted the officer to Emma von der Tann; and
+then, as he came closer: “Gott! Can it be possible that it is your
+highness?”
+
+The girl paid no attention to the officer. Instead, she hurried down
+the steep embankment toward the underbrush into which the two men had
+fallen. There was no sound from below, and no movement in the bushes to
+indicate that a moment before two desperately battling human beings had
+dropped among them.
+
+The soldiers were close upon the girl’s heels, but it was she who first
+reached the two quiet figures that lay side by side upon the stony
+ground halfway down the hillside.
+
+When the officer stopped beside her she was sitting on the ground
+holding the head of one of the combatants in her lap.
+
+A little stream of blood trickled from a wound in the forehead. The
+officer stooped closer.
+
+“He is dead?” he asked.
+
+“The king is dead,” replied the Princess Emma von der Tann, a little
+sob in her voice.
+
+“The king!” exclaimed the officer; and then, as he bent lower over the
+white face: “Leopold!”
+
+The girl nodded.
+
+“We were searching for him,” said the officer, “when we heard the
+shot.” Then, arising, he removed his cap, saying in a very low voice:
+“The king is dead. Long live the king!”
+
+
+
+
+III.
+AN ANGRY KING
+
+
+The soldiers stood behind their officer. None of them had ever seen
+Leopold of Lutha—he had been but a name to them—they cared nothing for
+him; but in the presence of death they were awed by the majesty of the
+king they had never known.
+
+The hands of Emma von der Tann were chafing the wrists of the man whose
+head rested in her lap.
+
+“Leopold!” she whispered. “Leopold, come back! Mad king you may have
+been, but still you were king of Lutha—my father’s king—my king.”
+
+The girl nearly cried out in shocked astonishment as she saw the eyes
+of the dead king open. But Emma von der Tann was quick-witted. She knew
+for what purpose the soldiers from the palace were scouring the
+country.
+
+Had she not thought the king dead she would have cut out her tongue
+rather than reveal his identity to these soldiers of his great enemy.
+Now she saw that Leopold lived, and she must undo the harm she had
+innocently wrought. She bent lower over Barney’s face, trying to hide
+it from the soldiers.
+
+“Go away, please!” she called to them. “Leave me with my dead king. You
+are Peter’s men. You do not care for Leopold, living or dead. Go back
+to your new king and tell him that this poor young man can never more
+stand between him and the throne.”
+
+The officer hesitated.
+
+“We shall have to take the king’s body with us, your highness,” he
+said.
+
+The officer evidently becoming suspicious, came closer, and as he did
+so Barney Custer sat up.
+
+“Go away!” cried the girl, for she saw that the king was attempting to
+speak. “My father’s people will carry Leopold of Lutha in state to the
+capital of his kingdom.”
+
+“What’s all this row about?” he asked. “Can’t you let a dead king alone
+if the young lady asks you to? What kind of a short sport are you,
+anyway? Run along, now, and tie yourself outside.”
+
+The officer smiled, a trifle maliciously perhaps.
+
+“Ah,” he said, “I am very glad indeed that you are not dead, your
+majesty.”
+
+Barney Custer turned his incredulous eyes upon the lieutenant.
+
+“Et tu, Brute?” he cried in anguished accents, letting his head fall
+back into the girl’s lap. He found it very comfortable there indeed.
+
+The officer smiled and shook his head. Then he tapped his forehead
+meaningly.
+
+“I did not know,” he said to the girl, “that he was so bad. But come—it
+is some distance to Blentz, and the afternoon is already well spent.
+Your highness will accompany us.”
+
+“I?” cried the girl. “You certainly cannot be serious.”
+
+“And why not, your highness?” asked the officer. “We had strict orders
+to arrest not only the king, but any companions who may have been
+involved in his escape.”
+
+“I had nothing whatever to do with his escape,” said the girl, “though
+I should have been only too glad to have aided him had the opportunity
+presented.”
+
+“King Peter may think differently,” replied the man.
+
+“The Regent, you mean?” the girl corrected him haughtily.
+
+The officer shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“Regent or King, he is ruler of Lutha nevertheless, and he would take
+away my commission were I to tell him that I had found a Von der Tann
+in company with the king and had permitted her to escape. Your blood
+convicts your highness.”
+
+“You are going to take me to Blentz and confine me there?” asked the
+girl in a very small voice and with wide incredulous eyes. “You would
+not dare thus to humiliate a Von der Tann?”
+
+“I am very sorry,” said the officer, “but I am a soldier, and soldiers
+must obey their superiors. My orders are strict. You may be thankful,”
+he added, “that it was not Maenck who discovered you.”
+
+At the mention of the name the girl shuddered.
+
+“In so far as it is in my power your highness and his majesty will be
+accorded every consideration of dignity and courtesy while under my
+escort. You need not entertain any fear of me,” he concluded.
+
+Barney Custer, during this, to him, remarkable dialogue, had risen to
+his feet, and assisted the girl in rising. Now he turned and spoke to
+the officer.
+
+“This farce,” he said, “has gone quite far enough. If it is a joke it
+is becoming a very sorry one. I am not a king. I am an American—Bernard
+Custer, of Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S.A. Look at me. Look at me closely.
+Do I look like a king?”
+
+“Every inch, your majesty,” replied the officer.
+
+Barney looked at the man aghast.
+
+“Well, I am not a king,” he said at last, “and if you go to arresting
+me and throwing me into one of your musty old dungeons you will find
+that I am a whole lot more important than most kings. I’m an American
+citizen.”
+
+“Yes, your majesty,” replied the officer, a trifle impatiently. “But we
+waste time in idle discussion. Will your majesty be so good as to
+accompany me without resistance?”
+
+“If you will first escort this young lady to a place of safety,”
+replied Barney.
+
+“She will be quite safe at Blentz,” said the lieutenant.
+
+Barney turned to look at the girl, a question in his eyes. Before them
+stood the soldiers with drawn revolvers, and now at the summit of the
+hill a dozen more appeared in command of a sergeant. They were two
+against nearly a score, and Barney Custer was unarmed.
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+“There, is no alternative, I am afraid, your majesty,” she said.
+
+Barney wheeled toward the officer.
+
+“Very well, lieutenant,” he said, “we will accompany you.”
+
+The party turned back up the hillside, leaving the dead bandit where he
+lay—the fellow’s neck had been broken by the fall. A short distance
+from where the man had confronted them the two prisoners were brought
+to the main road where they saw still other troopers, and with them the
+horses of those who had gone into the forest on foot.
+
+Barney and the girl were mounted on two of the animals, the soldiers
+who had ridden them clambering up behind two of their comrades. A
+moment later the troop set out along the road which leads to Blentz.
+
+The prisoners rode near the center of the column, surrounded by
+troopers. For a time they were both silent. Barney was wondering if he
+had accidentally tumbled into the private grounds of Lutha’s largest
+madhouse, or if, in reality, these people mistook him for the young
+king—it seemed incredible.
+
+It had commenced slowly to dawn upon him that perhaps the girl was not
+crazy after all. Had not the officer addressed her as “your highness”?
+Now that he thought upon it he recalled that she did have quite a
+haughty and regal way with her at times, especially so when she had
+addressed the officer.
+
+Of course she might be mad, after all, and possibly the bandit, too,
+but it seemed unbelievable that the officer was mad and his entire
+troop of cavalry should be composed of maniacs, yet they all persisted
+in speaking and acting as though he were indeed the mad king of Lutha
+and the young girl at his side a princess.
+
+From pitying the girl he had come to feel a little bit in awe of her.
+To the best of his knowledge he had never before associated with a real
+princess. When he recalled that he had treated her as he would an
+ordinary mortal, and that he had thought her demented, and had tried to
+humor her mad whims, he felt very foolish indeed.
+
+Presently he turned a sheepish glance in her direction, to find her
+looking at him. He saw her flush slightly as his eyes met hers.
+
+“Can your highness ever forgive me?” he asked.
+
+“Forgive you!” she cried in astonishment. “For what, your majesty?”
+
+“For thinking you insane, and for getting you into this horrible
+predicament,” he replied. “But especially for thinking you insane.”
+
+“Did you think me mad?” she asked in wide-eyed astonishment.
+
+“When you insisted that I was a king, yes,” he replied. “But now I
+begin to believe that it must be I who am mad, after all, or else I
+bear a remarkable resemblance to Leopold of Lutha.”
+
+“You do, your majesty,” replied the girl.
+
+Barney saw it was useless to attempt to convince them and so he decided
+to give up for the time.
+
+“Have me king, if you will,” he said, “but please do not call me ‘your
+majesty’ any more. It gets on my nerves.”
+
+“Your will is law—Leopold,” replied the girl, hesitating prettily
+before the familiar name, “but do not forget your part of the compact.”
+
+He smiled at her. A princess wasn’t half so terrible after all.
+
+“And your will shall be my law, Emma,” he said.
+
+It was almost dark when they came to Blentz. The castle lay far up on
+the side of a steep hill above the town. It was an ancient pile, but
+had been maintained in an excellent state of repair. As Barney Custer
+looked up at the grim towers and mighty, buttressed walls his heart
+sank. It had taken the mad king ten years to make his escape from that
+gloomy and forbidding pile!
+
+“Poor child,” he murmured, thinking of the girl.
+
+Before the barbican the party was halted by the guard. An officer with
+a lantern stepped out upon the lowered portcullis. The lieutenant who
+had captured them rode forward to meet him.
+
+“A detachment of the Royal Horse Guards escorting His Majesty the King,
+who is returning to Blentz,” he said in reply to the officer’s sharp
+challenge.
+
+“The king!” exclaimed the officer. “You have found him?” and he
+advanced with raised lantern searching for the monarch.
+
+“At last,” whispered Barney to the girl at his side, “I shall be
+vindicated. This man, at least, who is stationed at Blentz must know
+his king by sight.”
+
+The officer came quite close, holding his lantern until the rays fell
+full in Barney’s face. He scrutinized the young man for a moment. There
+was neither humility nor respect in his manner, so that the American
+was sure that the fellow had discovered the imposture.
+
+From the bottom of his heart he hoped so. Then the officer swung the
+lantern until its light shone upon the girl.
+
+“And who’s the wench with him?” he asked the officer who had found
+them.
+
+The man was standing close beside Barney’s horse, and the words were
+scarce out of his month when the American slipped from his saddle to
+the portcullis and struck the officer full in the face.
+
+“She is the Princess von der Tann, you boor,” said Barney, “and let
+that help you remember it in future.”
+
+The officer scrambled to his feet, white with rage. Whipping out his
+sword he rushed at Barney.
+
+“You shall die for that, you half-wit,” he cried.
+
+Lieutenant Butzow, he of the Royal Horse, rushed forward to prevent the
+assault and Emma von der Tann sprang from her saddle and threw herself
+in front of Barney.
+
+Butzow grasped the other officer’s arm.
+
+“Are you mad, Schonau?” he cried. “Would you kill the king?”
+
+The fellow tugged to escape the grasp of Butzow. He was crazed with
+anger.
+
+“Why not?” he bellowed. “You were a fool not to have done it yourself.
+Maenck will do it and get a baronetcy. It will mean a captaincy for me
+at least. Let me at him—no man can strike Karl Schonau and live.”
+
+“The king is unarmed,” cried Emma von der Tann. “Would you murder him
+in cold blood?”
+
+“He shall not murder him at all, your highness,” said Lieutenant Butzow
+quietly. “Give me your sword, Lieutenant Schonau. I place you under
+arrest. What you have just said will not please the Regent when it is
+reported to him. You should keep your head better when you are angry.”
+
+“It is the truth,” growled Schonau, regretting that his anger had led
+him into a disclosure of the plot against the king’s life, but like
+most weak characters fearing to admit himself in error even more than
+he feared the consequences of his rash words.
+
+“Do you intend taking my sword?” asked Schonau suddenly, turning toward
+Lieutenant Butzow standing beside him.
+
+“We will forget the whole occurrence, lieutenant,” replied Butzow, “if
+you will promise not to harm his majesty, or offer him or the Princess
+von der Tann further humiliation. Their position is sufficiently
+unpleasant without our adding to the degradation of it.”
+
+“Very well,” grumbled Schonau. “Pass on into the courtyard.”
+
+Barney and the girl remounted and the little cavalcade moved forward
+through the ballium and the great gate into the court beyond.
+
+“Did you notice,” said Barney to the princess, “that even he believes
+me to be the king? I cannot fathom it.”
+
+Within the castle they were met by a number of servants and soldiers.
+An officer escorted them to the great hall, and presently a dark
+visaged captain of cavalry entered and approached them. Butzow saluted.
+
+“His Majesty, the King,” he announced, “has returned to Blentz. In
+accordance with the commands of the Regent I deliver his august person
+into your safe keeping, Captain Maenck.”
+
+Maenck nodded. He was looking at Barney with evident curiosity.
+
+“Where did you find him?” he asked Butzow.
+
+He made no pretense of according to Barney the faintest indication of
+the respect that is supposed to be due to those of royal blood. Barney
+commenced to hope that he had finally come upon one who would know that
+he was not king.
+
+Butzow recounted the details of the finding of the king. As he spoke,
+Maenck’s eyes, restless and furtive, seemed to be appraising the
+personal charms of the girl who stood just back of Barney.
+
+The American did not like the appearance of the officer, but he saw
+that he was evidently supreme at Blentz, and he determined to appeal to
+him in the hope that the man might believe his story and untangle the
+ridiculous muddle that a chance resemblance to a fugitive monarch had
+thrown him and the girl into.
+
+“Captain,” said Barney, stepping closer to the officer, “there has been
+a mistake in identity here. I am not the king. I am an American
+traveling for pleasure in Lutha. The fact that I have gray eyes and
+wear a full reddish-brown beard is my only offense. You are doubtless
+familiar with the king’s appearance and so you at least have already
+seen that I am not his majesty.
+
+“Not being the king, there is no cause to detain me longer, and as I am
+not a fugitive and never have been, this young lady has been guilty of
+no misdemeanor or crime in being in my company. Therefore she too
+should be released. In the name of justice and common decency I am sure
+that you will liberate us both at once and furnish the Princess von der
+Tann, at least, with a proper escort to her home.”
+
+Maenck listened in silence until Barney had finished, a half smile upon
+his thick lips.
+
+“I am commencing to believe that you are not so crazy as we have all
+thought,” he said. “Certainly,” and he let his eyes rest upon Emma von
+der Tann, “you are not mentally deficient in so far as your judgment of
+a good-looking woman is concerned. I could not have made a better
+selection myself.
+
+“As for my familiarity with your appearance, you know as well as I that
+I have never seen you before. But that is not necessary—you conform
+perfectly to the printed description of you with which the kingdom is
+flooded. Were that not enough, the fact that you were discovered with
+old Von der Tann’s daughter is sufficient to remove the least doubt as
+to your identity.”
+
+“You are governor of Blentz,” cried Barney, “and yet you say that you
+have never seen the king?”
+
+“Certainly,” replied Maenck. “After you escaped the entire personnel of
+the garrison here was changed, even the old servants to a man were
+withdrawn and others substituted. You will have difficulty in again
+escaping, for those who aided you before are no longer here.”
+
+“There is no man in the castle of Blentz who has ever seen the king?”
+asked Barney.
+
+“None who has seen him before tonight,” replied Maenck. “But were we in
+doubt we have the word of the Princess Emma that you are Leopold. Did
+she not admit it to you, Butzow?”
+
+“When she thought his majesty dead she admitted it,” replied Butzow.
+
+“We gain nothing by discussing the matter,” said Maenck shortly. “You
+are Leopold of Lutha. Prince Peter says that you are mad. All that
+concerns me is that you do not escape again, and you may rest assured
+that while Ernst Maenck is governor of Blentz you shall not escape and
+go at large again.
+
+“Are the royal apartments in readiness for his majesty, Dr. Stein?” he
+concluded, turning toward a rat-faced little man with bushy whiskers,
+who stood just behind him.
+
+The query was propounded in an ironical tone, and with a manner that
+made no pretense of concealing the contempt of the speaker for the man
+he thought the king.
+
+The eyes of the Princess Emma were blazing as she caught the scant
+respect in Maenck’s manner. She looked quickly toward Barney to see if
+he intended rebuking the man for his impertinence. She saw that the
+king evidently intended overlooking Maenck’s attitude. But Emma von der
+Tann was of a different mind.
+
+She had seen Maenck several times at social functions in the capital.
+He had even tried to win a place in her favor, but she had always
+disliked him, even before the nasty stories of his past life had become
+common gossip, and within the year she had won his hatred by definitely
+indicating to him that he was persona non grata, in so far as she was
+concerned. Now she turned upon him, her eyes flashing with indignation.
+
+“Do you forget, sir, that you address the king?” she cried. “That you
+are without honor I have heard men say, and I may truly believe it now
+that I have seen what manner of man you are. The most lowly-bred boor
+in all Lutha would not be so ungenerous as to take advantage of his
+king’s helplessness to heap indignities upon him.
+
+“Leopold of Lutha shall come into his own some day, and my dearest hope
+is that his first act may be to mete out to such as you the punishment
+you deserve.”
+
+Maenck paled in anger. His fingers twitched nervously, but he
+controlled his temper remarkably well, biding his time for revenge.
+
+“Take the king to his apartments, Stein,” he commanded curtly, “and
+you, Lieutenant Butzow, accompany them with a guard, nor leave until
+you see that he is safely confined. You may return here afterward for
+my further instructions. In the meantime I wish to examine the king’s
+mistress.”
+
+For a moment tense silence reigned in the apartment after Maenck had
+delivered his wanton insult.
+
+Emma von der Tann, her little chin high in the air, stood straight and
+haughty, nor was there any sign in her expression to indicate that she
+had heard the man’s words.
+
+Barney was the first to take cognizance of them.
+
+“You cur!” he cried, and took a step toward Maenck. “You’re going to
+eat that, word for word.”
+
+Maenck stepped back, his hand upon his sword. Butzow laid a hand upon
+Barney’s arm.
+
+“Don’t, your majesty,” he implored, “it will but make your position
+more unpleasant, nor will it add to the safety of the Princess von der
+Tann for you to strike him now.”
+
+Barney shook himself free from Butzow, and before either Stein or the
+lieutenant could prevent had sprung upon Maenck.
+
+The latter had not been quick enough with his sword, so that Barney had
+struck him twice, heavily in the face before the officer was able to
+draw. Butzow had sprung to the king’s side, and was attempting to
+interpose himself between Maenck and the American. In a moment more the
+sword of the infuriated captain would be in the king’s heart. Barney
+turned the first thrust with his forearm.
+
+“Stop!” cried Butzow to Maenck. “Are you mad, that you would kill the
+king?”
+
+Maenck lunged again, viciously, at the unprotected body of his
+antagonist.
+
+“Die, you pig of an idiot!” he screamed.
+
+Butzow saw that the man really meant to murder Leopold. He seized
+Barney by the shoulder and whirled him backward. At the same instant
+his own sword leaped from his scabbard, and now Maenck found himself
+facing grim steel in the hand of a master swordsman.
+
+The governor of Blentz drew back from the touch of that sharp point.
+
+“What do you mean?” he cried. “This is mutiny.”
+
+“When I received my commission,” replied Butzow, quietly, “I swore to
+protect the person of the king with my life, and while I live no man
+shall affront Leopold of Lutha in my presence, or threaten his safety
+else he accounts to me for his act. Return your sword, Captain Maenck,
+nor ever again draw it against the king while I be near.”
+
+Slowly Maenck sheathed his weapon. Black hatred for Butzow and the man
+he was protecting smoldered in his eyes.
+
+“If he wishes peace,” said Barney, “let him apologize to the princess.”
+
+“You had better apologize, captain,” counseled Butzow, “for if the king
+should command me to do so I should have to compel you to,” and the
+lieutenant half drew his sword once more.
+
+There was something in Butzow’s voice that warned Maenck that his
+subordinate would like nothing better than the king’s command to run
+him through.
+
+He well knew the fame of Butzow’s sword arm, and having no stomach for
+an encounter with it he grumbled an apology.
+
+“And don’t let it occur again,” warned Barney.
+
+“Come,” said Dr. Stein, “your majesty should be in your apartments,
+away from all excitement, if we are to effect a cure, so that you may
+return to your throne quickly.”
+
+Butzow formed the soldiers about the American, and the party moved
+silently out of the great hall, leaving Captain Maenck and Princess
+Emma von der Tann its only occupants.
+
+Barney cast a troubled glance toward Maenck, and half hesitated.
+
+“I am sorry, your majesty,” said Butzow in a low voice, “but you must
+accompany us. In this the governor of Blentz is well within his
+authority, and I must obey him.”
+
+“Heaven help her!” murmured Barney.
+
+“The governor will not dare harm her,” said Butzow. “Your majesty need
+entertain no apprehension.”
+
+“I wouldn’t trust him,” replied the American. “I know his kind.”
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+BARNEY FINDS A FRIEND
+
+
+After the party had left the room Maenck stood looking at the princess
+for several seconds. A cunning expression supplanted the anger that had
+shown so plainly upon his face but a moment before. The girl had moved
+to one side of the apartment and was pretending an interest in a large
+tapestry that covered the wall at that point. Maenck watched her with
+greedy eyes. Presently he spoke.
+
+“Let us be friends,” he said. “You shall be my guest at Blentz for a
+long time. I doubt if Peter will care to release you soon, for he has
+no love for your father—and it will be easier for both if we establish
+pleasant relations from the beginning. What do you say?”
+
+“I shall not be at Blentz long,” she replied, not even looking in
+Maenck’s direction, “though while I am it shall be as a prisoner and
+not as a guest. It is incredible that one could believe me willing to
+pose as the guest of a traitor, even were he less impossible than the
+notorious and infamous Captain Maenck.”
+
+Maenck smiled. He was one of those who rather pride themselves upon the
+possession of racy reputations. He walked across the room to a bell
+cord which he pulled. Then he turned toward the girl again.
+
+“I have given you an opportunity,” he said, “to lighten the burdens of
+your captivity. I hoped that you would be sensible and accept my
+advances of friendship voluntarily,” and he emphasized the word
+“voluntarily,” “but—”
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+A servant had entered the apartment in response to Maenck’s summons.
+
+“Show the Princess von der Tann to her apartments,” he commanded with a
+sinister tone.
+
+The man, who was in the livery of Peter of Blentz, bowed, and with a
+deferential sign to the girl led the way from the room. Emma von der
+Tann followed her guide up a winding stairway which spiraled within a
+tower at the end of a long passage. On the second floor of the castle
+the servant led her to a large and beautifully furnished suite of three
+rooms—a bedroom, dressing-room and boudoir. After showing her the rooms
+that were to be hers the servant left her alone.
+
+As soon as he had gone the Princess von der Tann took another turn
+through the suite, looking to the doors and windows to ascertain how
+securely she might barricade herself against unwelcome visitors.
+
+She found that the three rooms lay in an angle of the old, moss-covered
+castle wall.
+
+The bedroom and dressing-room were connected by a doorway, and each in
+turn had another door opening into the boudoir. The only connection
+with the corridor without was through a single doorway from the
+boudoir. This door was equipped with a massive bolt, which, when she
+had shot it, gave her a feeling of immense relief and security. The
+windows were all too high above the court on one side and the moat upon
+the other to cause her the slightest apprehension of danger from the
+outside.
+
+The girl found the boudoir not only beautiful, but extremely
+comfortable and cozy. A huge log-fire blazed upon the hearth, and,
+though it was summer, its warmth was most welcome, for the night was
+chill. Across the room from the fireplace a full length oil of a former
+Blentz princess looked down in arrogance upon the unwilling occupant of
+the room. It seemed to the girl that there was an expression of
+annoyance upon the painted countenance that another, and an enemy of
+her house, should be making free with her belongings. She wondered a
+little, too, that this huge oil should have been hung in a lady’s
+boudoir. It seemed singularly out of place.
+
+“If she would but smile,” thought Emma von der Tann, “she would detract
+less from the otherwise pleasant surroundings, but I suppose she serves
+her purpose in some way, whatever it may be.”
+
+There were papers, magazines and books upon the center table and more
+books upon a low tier of shelves on either side of the fireplace. The
+girl tried to amuse herself by reading, but she found her thoughts
+continually reverting to the unhappy situation of the king, and her
+eyes momentarily wandered to the cold and repellent face of the Blentz
+princess.
+
+Finally she wheeled a great armchair near the fireplace, and with her
+back toward the portrait made a final attempt to submerge her unhappy
+thoughts in a current periodical.
+
+When Barney and his escort reached the apartments that had been
+occupied by the king of Lutha before his escape, Butzow and the
+soldiers left him in company with Dr. Stein and an old servant, whom
+the doctor introduced as his new personal attendant.
+
+“Your majesty will find him a very attentive and faithful servant,”
+said Stein. “He will remain with you and administer your medicine at
+proper intervals.”
+
+“Medicine?” ejaculated Barney. “What in the world do I need of
+medicine? There is nothing the matter with me.”
+
+Stein smiled indulgently.
+
+“Ah, your majesty,” he said, “if you could but realize the sad
+affliction that clouds your life! You may never sit upon your throne
+until the last trace of this sinister mental disorder is eradicated, so
+take your medicine voluntarily, or otherwise Joseph will be compelled
+to administer it by force. Remember, sire, that only through this
+treatment will you be able to leave Blentz.”
+
+After Stein had left the room Joseph bolted the door behind him. Then
+he came to where Barney stood in the center of the apartment, and
+dropping to his knees took the young man’s hand in his and kissed it.
+
+“God has been good indeed, your majesty,” he whispered. “It was He who
+made it possible for old Joseph to deceive them and find his way to
+your side.”
+
+“Who are you, my man?” asked Barney.
+
+“I am from Tann,” whispered the old man, in a very low voice. “His
+highness, the prince, found the means to obtain service for me with the
+new retinue that has replaced the old which permitted your majesty’s
+escape. There was another from Tann among the former servants here.
+
+“It was through his efforts that you escaped before, you will recall. I
+have seen Fritz and learned from him the way, so that if your majesty
+does not recall it it will make no difference, for I know it well,
+having been over it three times already since I came here, to be sure
+that when the time came that they should recapture you I might lead you
+out quickly before they could slay you.”
+
+“You really think that they intend murdering me?”
+
+“There is no doubt about it, your majesty,” replied the old man. “This
+very bottle”—Joseph touched the phial which Stein had left upon the
+table—“contains the means whereby, through my hands, you were to be
+slowly poisoned.”
+
+“Do you know what it is?”
+
+“Bichloride of mercury, your majesty. One dose would have been
+sufficient, and after a few days—perhaps a week—you would have died in
+great agony.”
+
+Barney shuddered.
+
+“But I am not the king, Joseph,” said the young man, “so even had they
+succeeded in killing me it would have profited them nothing.”
+
+Joseph shook his head sadly.
+
+“Your majesty will pardon the presumption of one who loves him,” he
+said, “if he makes so bold as to suggest that your majesty must not
+again deny that he is king. That only tends to corroborate the
+contention of Prince Peter that your majesty is not—er, just sane, and
+so, incompetent to rule Lutha. But we of Tann know differently, and
+with the help of the good God we will place your majesty upon the
+throne which Peter has kept from you all these years.”
+
+Barney sighed. They were determined that he should be king whether he
+would or no. He had often thought he would like to be a king; but now
+the realization of his boyish dreaming which seemed so imminent bade
+fair to be almost anything than pleasant.
+
+Barney suddenly realized that the old fellow was talking. He was
+explaining how they might escape. It seemed that a secret passage led
+from this very chamber to the vaults beneath the castle and from there
+through a narrow tunnel below the moat to a cave in the hillside far
+beyond the structure.
+
+“They will not return again tonight to see your majesty,” said Joseph,
+“and so we had best make haste to leave at once. I have a rope and
+swords in readiness. We shall need the rope to make our way down the
+hillside, but let us hope that we shall not need the swords.”
+
+“I cannot leave Blentz,” said Barney, “unless the Princess Emma goes
+with us.”
+
+“The Princess Emma!” cried the old man. “What Princess Emma?”
+
+“Princess von der Tann,” replied Barney. “Did you not know that she was
+captured with me!”
+
+The old man was visibly affected by the knowledge that his young
+mistress was a prisoner within the walls of Blentz. He seemed torn by
+conflicting emotions—his duty toward his king and his love for the
+daughter of his old master. So it was that he seemed much relieved when
+he found that Barney insisted upon saving the girl before any thought
+of their own escape should be taken into consideration.
+
+“My first duty, your majesty,” said Joseph, “is to bring you safely out
+of the hands of your enemies, but if you command me to try to bring
+your betrothed with us I am sure that his highness, Prince Ludwig,
+would be the last to censure me for deviating thus from his
+instructions, for if he loves another more than he loves his king it is
+his daughter, the beautiful Princess Emma.”
+
+“What do you mean, Joseph,” asked Barney, “by referring to the princess
+as my betrothed? I never saw her before today.”
+
+“It has slipped your majesty’s mind,” said the old man sadly; “but you
+and my young mistress were betrothed many years ago while you were yet
+but children. It was the old king’s wish that you wed the daughter of
+his best friend and most loyal subject.”
+
+Here was a pretty pass, indeed, thought Barney. It was sufficiently
+embarrassing to be mistaken for the king, but to be thrown into this
+false position in company with a beautiful young woman to whom the king
+was engaged to be married, and who, with the others, thought him to be
+the king, was quite the last word in impossible positions.
+
+Following this knowledge there came to Barney the first pangs of regret
+that he was not really the king, and then the realization, so sudden
+that it almost took his breath away, that the girl was very beautiful
+and very much to be desired. He had not thought about the matter until
+her utter impossibility was forced upon him.
+
+It was decided that Joseph should leave the king’s apartment at once
+and discover in what part of the castle Emma von der Tann was
+imprisoned. Their further plans were to depend upon the information
+gained by the old man during his tour of investigation of the castle.
+
+In the interval of his absence Barney paced the length of his prison
+time and time again. He thought the fellow would never return. Perhaps
+he had been detected in the act of spying, and was himself a prisoner
+in some other part of the castle! The thought came to Barney like a
+blow in the face, for he realized that then he would be entirely at the
+mercy of his captors, and that there would be none to champion the
+cause of the Princess von der Tann.
+
+When his nervous tension had about reached the breaking point there
+came a sound of stealthy movement just outside the door of his room.
+Barney halted close to the massive panels. He heard a key fitted
+quietly and then the lock grated as it turned.
+
+Barney thought that they had surely detected Joseph’s duplicity and had
+come to make short work of the king before other traitors arose in
+their midst entirely to frustrate their plans. The young American
+stepped to the wall behind the door that he might be out of sight of
+whoever entered. Should it prove other than Joseph, might the Lord help
+them! The clenched fists, square-set chin, and gleaming gray eyes of
+the prisoner presaged no good for any incoming enemy.
+
+Slowly the door swung open and a man entered the room. Barney breathed
+a deep sigh of relief—it was Joseph.
+
+“Well?” cried the young man from behind him, and Joseph started as
+though Peter of Blentz himself had laid an accusing finger upon his
+shoulder. “What news?”
+
+“Your majesty,” gasped Joseph, “how you did startle me! I found the
+apartments of the princess, sire. There is a bare chance that we may
+succeed in rescuing her, but a very bare one, indeed.
+
+“We must traverse a main corridor of the castle to reach her suite, and
+then return by the same way. It will be a miracle if we are not
+discovered; but the worst of it is that next to her apartments, and
+between them and your majesty’s, are the apartments of Captain Maenck.
+
+“He is sure to be there and officers and servants may be coming and
+going throughout the entire night, for the man is a convivial fellow,
+sitting at cards and drink until sunrise nearly every day.”
+
+“And when we have brought the princess in safety to my quarters,” asked
+Barney, “what then? How shall we conduct her from the castle? You have
+not told me that as yet.”
+
+The old man explained then the plan of escape. It seemed that one of
+the two huge tile panels that flanked the fireplace on either side was
+in reality a door hiding the entrance to a shaft that rose from the
+vaults beneath the castle to the roof. At each floor there was a
+similar secret door concealing the mouth of the passage. From the
+vaults a corridor led through another secret panel to the tunnel that
+wound downward to the cave in the hillside.
+
+“Beyond that we shall find horses, your majesty,” concluded the old
+man. “They have been hidden in the woods since I came to Blentz. Each
+day I go there to water and feed them.”
+
+During the servant’s explanation Barney had been casting about in his
+mind for some means of rescuing the princess without so great risk of
+detection, and as the plan of the secret passageway became clear to him
+he thought that he saw a way to accomplish the thing with comparative
+safety in so far as detection was concerned.
+
+“Who occupies the floor above us, Joseph?” he asked.
+
+“It is vacant,” replied the old man.
+
+“Good! Come, show me the entrance to the shaft,” directed Barney.
+
+“You will go without attempting to succor the Princess Emma?” exclaimed
+the old fellow in ill-concealed chagrin.
+
+“Far from it,” replied Barney. “Bring your rope and the swords. I think
+we are going to find the rescuing of the Princess Emma the easiest part
+of our adventure.”
+
+The old man shook his head, but went to another room of the suite, from
+which he presently emerged with a stout rope about fifty feet in length
+and two swords. As he buckled one of the weapons to Barney his eyes
+fell upon the American’s seal ring that encircled the third finger of
+his left hand.
+
+“The Royal Ring of Lutha!” exclaimed Joseph. “Where is it, your
+majesty? What has become of the Royal Ring of the Kings of Lutha?”
+
+“I’m sure I don’t know, Joseph,” replied the young man. “Should I be
+wearing a royal ring?”
+
+“The profaning miscreants!” cried Joseph. “They have dared to filch
+from you the great ring that has been handed down from king to king for
+three hundred years. When did they take it from you?”
+
+“I have never seen it, Joseph,” replied the young man, “and possibly
+this fact may assure you where all else has failed that I am no true
+king of Lutha, after all.”
+
+“Ah, no, your majesty,” replied the old servitor; “it but makes
+assurance doubly sure as to your true identity, for the fact that you
+have not the ring is positive proof that you are king and that they
+have sought to hide the fact by removing the insignia of your divine
+right to rule in Lutha.”
+
+Barney could not but smile at the old fellow’s remarkable logic. He saw
+that nothing short of a miracle would ever convince Joseph that he was
+not the real monarch, and so, as matters of greater importance were to
+the fore, he would have allowed the subject to drop had not the man
+attempted to recall to the impoverished memory of his king a
+recollection of the historic and venerated relic of the dead monarchs
+of Lutha.
+
+“Do you not remember, sir,” he asked, “the great ruby that glared,
+blood-red from its center, and the four sets of golden wings that
+formed the setting? From the blood of Charlemagne was the ruby made, so
+history tells us, and the setting represented the protecting wings of
+the power of the kings of Lutha spread to the four points of the
+compass. Now your majesty must recall the royal ring, I am sure.”
+
+Barney only shook his head, much to Joseph’s evident sorrow.
+
+“Never mind the ring, Joseph,” said the young man. “Bring your rope and
+lead me to the floor above.”
+
+“The floor above? But, your majesty, we cannot reach the vaults and
+tunnel by going upward!”
+
+“You forget, Joseph, that we are going to fetch the Princess Emma
+first.”
+
+“But she is not on the floor above us, sire; she is upon the same floor
+as we are,” insisted the old man, hesitating.
+
+“Joseph, who do you think I am?” asked Barney.
+
+“You are the king, my lord,” replied the old man.
+
+“Then do as your king commands,” said the American sharply.
+
+Joseph turned with dubious mutterings and approached the tiled panel at
+the left of the fireplace. Here he fumbled about for a moment until his
+fingers found the hidden catch that held the cunningly devised door in
+place. An instant later the panel swung inward before his touch, and
+standing to one side, the old fellow bowed low as he ushered Barney
+into the Stygian darkness of the space beyond their vision.
+
+Joseph halted the young man just within the doorway, cautioning him
+against the danger of falling into the shaft, then he closed the panel,
+and a moment later had found the lantern he had hidden there and
+lighted it. The rays disclosed to the American the rough masonry of the
+interior of a narrow, well-built shaft. A rude ladder standing upon a
+narrow ledge beside him extended upward to lose itself in the shadows
+above. At its foot the top of another ladder was visible protruding
+through the opening from the floor beneath.
+
+No sooner had Joseph’s lantern shown him the way than Barney was
+ascending the ladder toward the floor above. At the next landing he
+waited for the old man.
+
+Joseph put out the light and placed the lantern where they could easily
+find it upon their return. Then he cautiously slipped the catch that
+held the panel in place and slowly opened the door until a narrow line
+of lesser darkness showed from without.
+
+For a moment they stood in silence listening for any sound from the
+chamber beyond, but as nothing occurred to indicate that the apartment
+was occupied the old man opened the portal a trifle further, and
+finally far enough to permit his body to pass through. Barney followed
+him. They found themselves in a large, empty chamber, identical in size
+and shape with that which they had just quitted upon the floor below.
+
+From this the two passed into the corridor beyond, and thence to the
+apartments at the far end of the wing, directly over those occupied by
+Emma von der Tann.
+
+Barney hastened to a window overlooking the moat. By leaning far out he
+could see the light from the princess’s chamber shining upon the sill.
+He wished that the light was not there, for the window was in plain
+view of the guard on the lookout upon the barbican.
+
+Suddenly he caught the sound of voices from the chamber beneath. For an
+instant he listened, and then, catching a few words of the dialogue, he
+turned hurriedly toward his companion.
+
+“The rope, Joseph! And for God’s sake be quick about it.”
+
+
+
+
+V.
+THE ESCAPE
+
+
+For half an hour the Princess von der Tann succeeded admirably in
+immersing herself in the periodical, to the exclusion of her unhappy
+thoughts and the depressing influence of the austere countenance of the
+Blentz Princess hanging upon the wall behind her.
+
+But presently she became unaccountably nervous. At the slightest sound
+from the palace-life on the floor below she would start up with a
+tremor of excitement. Once she heard footsteps in the corridor before
+her door, but they passed on, and she thought she discerned the click
+of a latch a short distance further on along the passageway.
+
+Again she attempted to gather up the thread of the article she had been
+reading, but she was unsuccessful. A stealthy scratching brought her
+round quickly, staring in the direction of the great portrait. The girl
+would have sworn that she had heard a noise within her chamber. She
+shuddered at the thought that it might have come from that painted
+thing upon the wall.
+
+What was the matter with her? Was she losing all control of herself to
+be frightened like a little child by ghostly noises?
+
+She tried to return to her reading, but for the life of her she could
+not keep her eyes off the silent, painted woman who stared and stared
+and stared in cold, threatening silence upon this ancient enemy of her
+house.
+
+Presently the girl’s eyes went wide in horror. She could feel the scalp
+upon her head contract with fright. Her terror-filled gaze was frozen
+upon that awful figure that loomed so large and sinister above her, for
+the thing had moved! She had seen it with her own eyes. There could be
+no mistake—no hallucination of overwrought nerves about it. The Blentz
+Princess was moving slowly toward her!
+
+Like one in a trance the girl rose from her chair, her eyes glued upon
+the awful apparition that seemed creeping upon her. Slowly she withdrew
+toward the opposite side of the chamber. As the painting moved more
+quickly the truth flashed upon her—it was mounted on a door.
+
+The crack of the door widened and beyond it the girl saw dimly, eyes
+fastened upon her. With difficulty she restrained a shriek. The portal
+swung wide and a man in uniform stepped into the room.
+
+It was Maenck.
+
+Emma von der Tann gazed in unveiled abhorrence upon the leering face of
+the governor of Blentz.
+
+“What means this intrusion?” cried the girl.
+
+“What would you have here?”
+
+“You,” replied Maenck.
+
+The girl crimsoned.
+
+Maenck regarded her sneeringly.
+
+“You coward!” she cried. “Leave my apartments at once. Not even Peter
+of Blentz would countenance such abhorrent treatment of a prisoner.”
+
+“You do not know Peter, my dear,” responded Maenck. “But you need not
+fear. You shall be my wife. Peter has promised me a baronetcy for the
+capture of Leopold, and before I am done I shall be made a prince, of
+that you may rest assured, so you see I am not so bad a match after
+all.”
+
+He crossed over toward her and would have laid a rough hand upon her
+arm.
+
+The girl sprang away from him, running to the opposite side of the
+library table at which she had been reading. Maenck started to pursue
+her, when she seized a heavy, copper bowl that stood upon the table and
+hurled it full in his face. The missile struck him a glancing blow, but
+the edge laid open the flesh of one cheek almost to the jaw bone.
+
+With a cry of pain and rage Captain Ernst Maenck leaped across the
+table full upon the young girl. With vicious, murderous fingers he
+seized upon her fair throat, shaking her as a terrier might shake a
+rat. Futilely the girl struck at the hate-contorted features so close
+to hers.
+
+“Stop!” she cried. “You are killing me.”
+
+The fingers released their hold.
+
+“No,” muttered the man, and dragged the princess roughly across the
+room.
+
+Half a dozen steps he had taken when there came a sudden crash of
+breaking glass from the window across the chamber. Both turned in
+astonishment to see the figure of a man leap into the room, carrying
+the shattered crystal and the casement with him. In one hand was a
+naked sword.
+
+“The king!” cried Emma von der Tann.
+
+“The devil!” muttered Maenck, as, dropping the girl, he scurried toward
+the great painting from behind which he had found ingress to the
+chambers of the princess.
+
+Maenck was a coward, and he had seen murder in the eyes of the man
+rushing upon him. With a bound he reached the picture which still stood
+swung wide into the room.
+
+Barney was close behind him, but fear lent wings to the governor of
+Blentz, so that he was able to dart into the passage behind the picture
+and slam the door behind him a moment before the infuriated man was
+upon him.
+
+The American clawed at the edge of the massive frame, but all to no
+avail. Then he raised his sword and slashed the canvas, hoping to find
+a way into the place beyond, but mighty oaken panels barred his further
+progress. With a whispered oath he turned back toward the girl.
+
+“Thank Heaven that I was in time, Emma,” he cried.
+
+“Oh, Leopold, my king, but at what a price,” replied the girl. “He will
+return now with others and kill you. He is furious—so furious that he
+scarce knows what he does.”
+
+“He seemed to know what he was doing when he ran for that hole in the
+wall,” replied Barney with a grin. “But come, it won’t pay to let them
+find us should they return.”
+
+Together they hastened to the window beyond which the girl could see a
+rope dangling from above. The sight of it partially solved the riddle
+of the king’s almost uncanny presence upon her window sill in the very
+nick of time.
+
+Below, the lights in the watch tower at the outer gate were plainly
+visible, and the twinkling of them reminded Barney of the danger of
+detection from that quarter. Quickly he recrossed the apartment to the
+wall-switch that operated the recently installed electric lights, and
+an instant later the chamber was in total darkness.
+
+Once more at the girl’s side Barney drew in one end of the rope and
+made it fast about her body below her arms, leaving a sufficient length
+terminating in a small loop to permit her to support herself more
+comfortably with one foot within the noose. Then he stepped to the
+outer sill, and reaching down assisted her to his side.
+
+Far below them the moonlight played upon the sluggish waters of the
+moat. In the distance twinkled the lights of the village of Blentz.
+From the courtyard and the palace came faintly the sound of voices, and
+the movement of men. A horse whinnied from the stables.
+
+Barney turned his eyes upward. He could see the head and shoulders of
+Joseph leaning from the window of the chamber directly above them.
+
+“Hoist away, Joseph!” whispered the American, and to the girl: “Be
+brave. Shut your eyes and trust to Joseph and—and—”
+
+“And my king,” finished the girl for him.
+
+His arm was about her shoulders, supporting her upon the narrow sill.
+His cheek so close to hers that once he felt the soft velvet of it
+brush his own. Involuntarily his arm tightened about the supple body.
+
+“My princess!” he murmured, and as he turned his face toward hers their
+lips almost touched.
+
+Joseph was pulling upon the rope from above. They could feel it tighten
+beneath the girl’s arms. Impulsively Barney Custer drew the sweet lips
+closer to his own. There was no resistance.
+
+“I love you,” he whispered. The words were smothered as their lips met.
+
+Joseph, above, wondered at the great weight of the Princess Emma von
+der Tann.
+
+“I love you, Leopold, forever,” whispered the girl, and then as
+Joseph’s Herculean tugging seemed likely to drag them both from the
+narrow sill, Barney lifted the girl upward with one hand while he clung
+to the window frame with the other. The distance to the sill above was
+short, and a moment later Joseph had grasped the princess’s hand and
+was helping her over the ledge into the room beyond.
+
+At the same instant there came a sudden commotion from the interior of
+the room in the window of which Barney still stood waiting for Joseph
+to remove the rope from about the princess and lower it for him. Barney
+heard the heavy feet of men, the clank of arms, and muttered oaths as
+the searchers stumbled against the furniture.
+
+Presently one of them found the switch and instantly the room was
+flooded with light, which revealed to the American a dozen Luthanian
+troopers headed by the murderous Maenck.
+
+Barney looked anxiously aloft. Would Joseph never lower that rope!
+Within the room the men were searching. He could hear Maenck directing
+them. Only a thin portiere screened him from their view. It was but a
+matter of seconds before they would investigate the window through
+which Maenck knew the king had found ingress.
+
+Yes! It had come.
+
+“Look to the window,” commanded Maenck. “He may have gone as he came.”
+
+Two of the soldiers crossed the room toward the casement. From above
+Joseph was lowering the rope; but it was too late. The men would be at
+the window before he could clamber out of their reach.
+
+“Hoist away!” he whispered to Joseph. “Quick now, my man, and make your
+escape with the Princess von der Tann. It is the king’s command.”
+
+Already the soldiers were at the window. At the sound of his voice they
+tore aside the draperies; at the same instant the pseudo-king turned
+and leaped out into the blackness of the night.
+
+There were exclamations of surprise and rage from the soldiers—a
+woman’s scream. Then from far below came a dull splash as the body of
+Bernard Custer struck the surface of the moat.
+
+Maenck, leaning from the window, heard the scream and the splash, and
+jumped to the conclusion that both the king and the princess had
+attempted to make their escape in this harebrained way. Immediately all
+the resources at his command were put to the task of searching the moat
+and the adjacent woods.
+
+He was sure that one or both of the prisoners would be stunned by
+impact with the surface of the water, and then drowned before they
+regained consciousness, but he did not know Bernard Custer, nor the
+facility and almost uncanny ease with which that young man could
+negotiate a high dive into shallow water.
+
+Nor did he know that upon the floor above him one Joseph was hastening
+along a dark corridor toward a secret panel in another apartment, and
+that with him was the Princess Emma bound for liberty and safety far
+from the frowning walls of Blentz.
+
+As Barney’s head emerged above the surface of the moat he shook it
+vigorously to free his eyes from water, and then struck out for the
+further bank.
+
+Long before his pursuers had reached the courtyard and alarmed the
+watch at the barbican, the American had crawled out upon dry land and
+hastened across the broad clearing to the patch of stunted trees that
+grew lower down upon the steep hillside before the castle.
+
+He shrank from the thought of leaving Blentz without knowing positively
+that Joseph had made good the escape of himself and the princess, but
+he finally argued that even if they had been retaken, he could serve
+her best by hastening to her father and fetching the only succor that
+might prevail against the strength of Blentz—armed men in sufficient
+force to storm the ancient fortress.
+
+He had scarcely entered the wood when he heard the sound of the
+searchers at the moat, and saw the rays of their lanterns flitting
+hither and thither as they moved back and forth along the bank.
+
+Then the young man turned his face from the castle and set forth across
+the unfamiliar country in the direction of the Old Forest and the
+castle Von der Tann.
+
+The memory of the warm lips that had so recently been pressed to his
+urged him on in the service of the wondrous girl who had come so
+suddenly into his life, bringing to him the realization of a love that
+he knew must alter, for happiness or for sorrow, all the balance of his
+existence, even unto death.
+
+He dreaded the day of reckoning when, at last, she must learn that he
+was no king. He did not have the temerity to hope that her courage
+would be equal to the great sacrifice which the acknowledgment of her
+love for one not of noble blood must entail; but he could not believe
+that she would cease to love him when she learned the truth.
+
+So the future looked black and cheerless to Barney Custer as he trudged
+along the rocky, moonlit way. The only bright spot was the realization
+that for a while at least he might be serving the one woman in all the
+world.
+
+All the balance of the long night the young man traversed valley and
+mountain, holding due south in the direction he supposed the Old Forest
+to lie. He passed many a little farm tucked away in the hollow of a
+hillside, and quaint hamlets, and now and then the ruins of an ancient
+feudal stronghold, but no great forest of black oaks loomed before him
+to apprise him of the nearness of his goal, nor did he dare to ask the
+correct route at any of the homes he passed.
+
+His fatal likeness to the description of the mad king of Lutha warned
+him from intercourse with the men of Lutha until he might know which
+were friends and which enemies of the hapless monarch.
+
+Dawn found him still upon his way, but with the determination fully
+crystallized to hail the first man he met and ask the way to Tann. He
+still avoided the main traveled roads, but from time to time he
+paralleled them close enough that he might have ample opportunity to
+hail the first passerby.
+
+The road was becoming more and more mountainous and difficult. There
+were fewer homes and no hamlets, and now he began to despair entirely
+of meeting any who could give him direction unless he turned and
+retraced his steps to the nearest farm.
+
+Directly before him the narrow trail he had been following for the past
+few miles wound sharply about the shoulder of a protruding cliff. He
+would see what lay beyond the turn—perhaps he would find the Old Forest
+there, after all.
+
+But instead he found something very different, though in its way quite
+as interesting, for as he rounded the rugged bluff he came face to face
+with two evil-looking fellows astride stocky, rough-coated ponies.
+
+At sight of him they drew in their mounts and eyed him suspiciously.
+Nor was there great cause for wonderment in that, for the American
+presented aught but a respectable appearance. His khaki motoring suit,
+soaked from immersion in the moat, had but partially dried upon him.
+Mud from the banks of the stagnant pool caked his legs to the knees,
+almost hiding his once tan puttees. More mud streaked his jacket front
+and stained its sleeves to the elbows. He was bare-headed, for his cap
+had remained in the moat at Blentz, and his disheveled hair was tousled
+upon his head, while his full beard had dried into a weird and tangled
+fringe about his face. At his side still hung the sword that Joseph had
+buckled there, and it was this that caused the two men the greatest
+suspicion of this strange looking character.
+
+They continued to eye Barney in silence, every now and then casting
+apprehensive glances beyond him, as though expecting others of his kind
+to appear in the trail at his back. And that is precisely what they did
+fear, for the sword at Barney’s side had convinced them that he must be
+an officer of the army, and they looked to see his command following in
+his wake.
+
+The young man saluted them pleasantly, asking the direction to the Old
+Forest. They thought it strange that a soldier of Lutha should not know
+his own way about his native land, and so judged that his question was
+but a blind to deceive them.
+
+“Why do you not ask your own men the way?” parried one of the fellows.
+
+“I have no men, I am alone,” replied Barney. “I am a stranger in Lutha
+and have lost my way.”
+
+He who had spoken before pointed to the sword at Barney’s side.
+
+“Strangers traveling in Lutha do not wear swords,” he said. “You are an
+officer. Why should you desire to conceal the fact from two honest
+farmers? We have done nothing. Let us go our way.”
+
+Barney looked his astonishment at this reply.
+
+“Most certainly, go your way, my friends,” he said laughing. “I would
+not delay you if I could; but before you go please be good enough to
+tell me how to reach the Old Forest and the ancient castle of the
+Prince von der Tann.”
+
+For a moment the two men whispered together, then the spokesman turned
+to Barney.
+
+“We will lead you upon the right road. Come,” and the two turned their
+horses, one of them starting slowly back up the trail while the other
+remained waiting for Barney to pass him.
+
+The American, suspecting nothing, voiced his thanks, and set out after
+him who had gone before. As he passed the fellow who waited the latter
+moved in behind him, so that Barney walked between the two.
+Occasionally the rider at his back turned in his saddle to scan the
+trail behind, as though still fearful that Barney had been lying to
+them and that he would discover a company of soldiers charging down
+upon them.
+
+The trail became more and more difficult as they advanced, until Barney
+wondered how the little horses clung to the steep mountainside, where
+he himself had difficulty in walking without using his hand to keep
+from falling.
+
+Twice the American attempted to break through the taciturnity of his
+guides, but his advances were met with nothing more than sultry grunts
+or silence, and presently a suspicion began to obtrude itself among his
+thoughts that possibly these “honest farmers” were something more
+sinister than they represented themselves to be.
+
+A malign and threatening atmosphere seemed to surround them. Even the
+cat-like movement of their silent mounts breathed a sinister secrecy,
+and now, for the first time, Barney noticed the short, ugly looking
+carbines that were slung in boots at their saddle-horns. Then, prompted
+to further investigation, he dropped back beside the man who had been
+riding behind him, and as he did so he saw beneath the fellow’s cloak
+the butts of two villainous-looking pistols.
+
+As Barney dropped back beside him the man turned his mount across the
+narrow trail, and reining him in motioned Barney ahead.
+
+“I have changed my mind,” said the American, “about going to the Old
+Forest.”
+
+He had determined that he might as well have the thing out now as
+later, and discover at once how he stood with these two, and whether or
+not his suspicions of them were well grounded.
+
+The man ahead had halted at the sound of Barney’s voice, and swung
+about in the saddle.
+
+“What’s the trouble?” he asked.
+
+“He don’t want to go to the Old Forest,” explained his companion, and
+for the first time Barney saw one of them grin. It was not at all a
+pleasant grin, nor reassuring.
+
+“He don’t, eh?” growled the other. “Well, he ain’t goin’, is he? Who
+ever said he was?”
+
+And then he, too, laughed.
+
+“I’m going back the way I came,” said Barney, starting around the horse
+that blocked his way.
+
+“No, you ain’t,” said the horseman. “You’re goin’ with us.”
+
+And Barney found himself gazing down the muzzle of one of the wicked
+looking pistols.
+
+For a moment he stood in silence, debating mentally the wisdom of
+attempting to rush the fellow, and then, with a shake of his head, he
+turned back up the trail between his captors.
+
+“Yes,” he said, “on second thought I have decided to go with you. Your
+logic is most convincing.”
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+A KING’S RANSOM
+
+
+For another mile the two brigands conducted their captor along the
+mountainside, then they turned into a narrow ravine near the summit of
+the hills—a deep, rocky, wooded ravine into whose black shadows it
+seemed the sun might never penetrate.
+
+A winding path led crookedly among the pines that grew thickly in this
+sheltered hollow, until presently, after half an hour of rough going,
+they came upon a small natural clearing, rock-bound and impregnable.
+
+As they filed from the wood Barney saw a score of villainous fellows
+clustered about a camp fire where they seemed engaged in cooking their
+noonday meal. Bits of meat were roasting upon iron skewers, and a great
+iron pot boiled vigorously at one side of the blaze.
+
+At the sound of their approach the men sprang to their feet in alarm,
+and as many weapons as there were men leaped to view; but when they saw
+Barney’s companions they returned their pistols to their holsters, and
+at sight of Barney they pressed forward to inspect the prisoner.
+
+“Who have we here?” shouted a big blond giant, who affected extremely
+gaudy colors in his selection of wearing apparel, and whose pistols and
+knife had their grips heavily ornamented with pearl and silver.
+
+“A stranger in Lutha he calls himself,” replied one of Barney’s
+captors. “But from the sword I take it he is one of old Peter’s
+wolfhounds.”
+
+“Well, he’s found the wolves at any rate,” replied the giant, with a
+wide grin at his witticism. “And if Yellow Franz is the particular wolf
+you’re after, my friend, why here I am,” he concluded, addressing the
+American with a leer.
+
+“I’m after no one,” replied Barney. “I tell you I’m a stranger, and I
+lost my way in your infernal mountains. All I wish is to be set upon
+the right road to Tann, and if you will do that for me you shall be
+well paid for your trouble.”
+
+The giant, Yellow Franz, had come quite close to Barney and was
+inspecting him with an expression of considerable interest. Presently
+he drew a soiled and much-folded paper from his breast. Upon one side
+was a printed notice, and at the corners bits were torn away as though
+the paper had once been tacked upon wood, and then torn down without
+removing the tacks.
+
+At sight of it Barney’s heart sank. The look of the thing was all too
+familiar. Before the yellow one had commenced to read aloud from it
+Barney had repeated to himself the words he knew were coming.
+
+“‘Gray eyes,’” read the brigand, “‘brown hair, and a full,
+reddish-brown beard.’ Herman and Friedrich, my dear children, you have
+stumbled upon the richest haul in all Lutha. Down upon your
+marrow-bones, you swine, and rub your low-born noses in the dirt before
+your king.”
+
+The others looked their surprise.
+
+“The king?” one cried.
+
+“Behold!” cried Yellow Franz. “Leopold of Lutha!”
+
+He waved a ham-like hand toward Barney.
+
+Among the rough men was a young smooth-faced boy, and now with wide
+eyes he pressed forward to get a nearer view of the wonderful person of
+a king.
+
+“Take a good look at him, Rudolph,” cried Yellow Franz. “It is the
+first and will probably be the last time you will ever see a king.
+Kings seldom visit the court of their fellow monarch, Yellow Franz of
+the Black Mountains.
+
+“Come, my children, remove his majesty’s sword, lest he fall and stick
+himself upon it, and then prepare the royal chamber, seeing to it that
+it be made so comfortable that Leopold will remain with us a long time.
+Rudolph, fetch food and water for his majesty, and see to it that the
+silver plates and the golden goblets are well scoured and polished up.”
+
+They conducted Barney to a miserable lean-to shack at one side of the
+clearing, and for a while the motley crew loitered about bandying
+coarse jests at the expense of the “king.” The boy, Rudolph, brought
+food and water, he alone of them all evincing the slightest respect or
+awe for the royalty of their unwilling guest.
+
+After a time the men tired of the sport of king-baiting, for Barney
+showed neither rancor nor outraged majesty at their keenest thrusts,
+instead, often joining in the laugh with them at his own expense. They
+thought it odd that the king should hold his dignity in so low esteem,
+but that he was king they never doubted, attributing his denials to a
+disposition to deceive them, and rob them of the “king’s ransom” they
+had already commenced to consider as their own.
+
+Shortly after Barney arrived at the rendezvous he saw a messenger
+dispatched by Yellow Franz, and from the repeated gestures toward
+himself that had accompanied the giant’s instructions to his emissary,
+Barney was positive that the man’s errand had to do with him.
+
+After the men had left his prison, leaving the boy standing awkwardly
+in wide-eyed contemplation of his august charge, the American ventured
+to open a conversation with his youthful keeper.
+
+“Aren’t you rather young to be starting in the bandit business,
+Rudolph?” asked Barney, who had taken a fancy to the youth.
+
+“I do not want to be a bandit, your majesty,” whispered the lad; “but
+my father owes Yellow Franz a great sum of money, and as he could not
+pay the debt Yellow Franz stole me from my home and says that he will
+keep me until my father pays him, and that if he does not pay he will
+make a bandit of me, and that then some day I shall be caught and
+hanged until I am dead.”
+
+“Can’t you escape?” asked the young man. “It would seem to me that
+there would be many opportunities for you to get away undetected.”
+
+“There are, but I dare not. Yellow Franz says that if I run away he
+will be sure to come across me some day again and that then he will
+kill me.”
+
+Barney laughed.
+
+“He is just talking, my boy,” he said. “He thinks that by frightening
+you he will be able to keep you from running away.”
+
+“Your majesty does not know him,” whispered the youth, shuddering. “He
+is the wickedest man in all the world. Nothing would please him more
+than killing me, and he would have done it long since but for two
+things. One is that I have made myself useful about his camp, doing
+chores and the like, and the other is that were he to kill me he knows
+that my father would never pay him.”
+
+“How much does your father owe him?”
+
+“Five hundred marks, your majesty,” replied Rudolph. “Two hundred of
+this amount is the original debt, and the balance Yellow Franz has
+added since he captured me, so that it is really ransom money. But my
+father is a poor man, so that it will take a long time before he can
+accumulate so large a sum.
+
+“You would really like to go home again, Rudolph?”
+
+“Oh, very much, your majesty, if I only dared.” Barney was silent for
+some time, thinking. Possibly he could effect his own escape with the
+connivance of Rudolph, and at the same time free the boy. The paltry
+ransom he could pay out of his own pocket and send to Yellow Franz
+later, so that the youth need not fear the brigand’s revenge. It was
+worth thinking about, at any rate.
+
+“How long do you imagine they will keep me, Rudolph?” he asked after a
+time.
+
+“Yellow Franz has already sent Herman to Lustadt with a message for
+Prince Peter, telling him that you are being held for ransom, and
+demanding the payment of a huge sum for your release. Day after
+tomorrow or the next day he should return with Prince Peter’s reply.
+
+“If it is favorable, arrangements will be made to turn you over to
+Prince Peter’s agents, who will have to come to some distant meeting
+place with the money. A week, perhaps, it will take, maybe longer.”
+
+It was the second day before Herman returned from Lustadt. He rode in
+just at dark, his pony lathered from hard going.
+
+Barney and the boy saw him coming, and the youth ran forward with the
+others to learn the news that he had brought; but Yellow Franz and his
+messenger withdrew to a hut which the brigand chief reserved for his
+own use, nor would he permit any beside the messenger to accompany him
+to hear the report.
+
+For half an hour Barney sat alone waiting for word from Yellow Franz
+that arrangements had been consummated for his release, and then out of
+the darkness came Rudolph, wide-eyed and trembling.
+
+“Oh, my king?” he whispered. “What shall we do? Peter has refused to
+ransom you alive, but he has offered a great sum for unquestioned proof
+of your death. Already he has caused a proclamation to be issued
+stating that you have been killed by bandits after escaping from
+Blentz, and ordering a period of national mourning. In three weeks he
+is to be crowned king of Lutha.”
+
+“When do they intend terminating my existence?” queried Barney.
+
+There was a smile upon his lips, for even now he could scarce believe
+that in the twentieth century there could be any such medieval plotting
+against a king’s life, and yet, on second thought, had he not ample
+proof of the lengths to which Peter of Blentz was willing to go to
+obtain the crown of Lutha!
+
+“I do not know, your majesty,” replied Rudolph, “when they will do it;
+but soon, doubtless, since the sooner it is done the sooner they can
+collect their pay.”
+
+Further conversation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps without,
+and an instant later Yellow Franz entered the squalid apartment and the
+dim circle of light which flickered feebly from the smoky lantern that
+hung suspended from the rafters.
+
+He stopped just within the doorway and stood eyeing the American with
+an ugly grin upon his vicious face. Then his eyes fell upon the
+trembling Rudolph.
+
+“Get out of here, you!” he growled. “I’ve got private business with
+this king. And see that you don’t come nosing round either, or I’ll
+slit that soft throat for you.”
+
+Rudolph slipped past the burly ruffian, barely dodging a brutal blow
+aimed at him by the giant, and escaped into the darkness without.
+
+“And now for you, my fine fellow,” said the brigand, turning toward
+Barney. “Peter says you ain’t worth nothing to him—alive, but that your
+dead body will fetch us a hundred thousand marks.”
+
+“Rather cheap for a king, isn’t it?” was Barney’s only comment.
+
+“That’s what Herman tells him,” replied Yellow Franz. “But he’s a close
+one, Peter is, and so it was that or nothing.”
+
+“When are you going to pull off this little—er—ah—royal demise?” asked
+Barney.
+
+“If you mean when am I going to kill you,” replied the bandit, “why,
+there ain’t no particular rush about it. I’m a tender-hearted chap, I
+am. I never should have been in this business at all, but here I be,
+and as there ain’t nobody that can do a better job of the kind than me,
+or do it so painlessly, why I just got to do it myself, and that’s all
+there is to it. But, as I says, there ain’t no great rush. If you want
+to pray, why, go ahead and pray. I’ll wait for you.”
+
+“I don’t remember,” said Barney, “when I have met so generous a party
+as you, my friend. Your self-sacrificing magnanimity quite overpowers
+me. It reminds me of another unloved Robin Hood whom I once met. It was
+in front of Burket’s coal-yard on Ella Street, back in dear old
+Beatrice, at some unchristian hour of the night.
+
+“After he had relieved me of a dollar and forty cents he remarked: ‘I
+gotta good mind to kick yer slats in fer not havin’ more of de cush on
+yeh; but I’m feelin’ so good about de last guy I stuck up I’ll let
+youse off dis time.’”
+
+“I do not know what you are talking about,” replied Yellow Franz; “but
+if you want to pray you’d better hurry up about it.”
+
+He drew his pistol from its holster on the belt at his hips.
+
+Now Barney Custer had no mind to give up the ghost without a struggle;
+but just how he was to overcome the great beast who confronted him with
+menacing pistol was, to say the least, not precisely plain. He wished
+the man would come a little nearer where he might have some chance to
+close with him before the fellow could fire. To gain time the American
+assumed a prayerful attitude, but kept one eye on the bandit.
+
+Presently Yellow Franz showed indications of impatience. He fingered
+the trigger of his weapon, and then slowly raised it on a line with
+Barney’s chest.
+
+“Hadn’t you better come closer?” asked the young man. “You might miss
+at that distance, or just wound me.”
+
+Yellow Franz grinned.
+
+“I don’t miss,” he said, and then: “You’re certainly a game one. If it
+wasn’t for the hundred thousand marks, I’d be hanged if I’d kill you.”
+
+“The chances are that you will be if you do,” said Barney, “so wouldn’t
+you rather take one hundred and fifty thousand marks and let me make my
+escape?”
+
+Yellow Franz looked at the speaker a moment through narrowed lids.
+
+“Where would you find any one willing to pay that amount for a crazy
+king?” he asked.
+
+“I have told you that I am not the king,” said Barney. “I am an
+American with a father who would gladly pay that amount on my safe
+delivery to any American consul.”
+
+Yellow Franz shook his head and tapped his brow significantly.
+
+“Even if you was what you are dreaming, it wouldn’t pay me,” he said.
+
+“I’ll make it two hundred thousand,” said Barney.
+
+“No—it’s a waste of time talking about it. It’s worth more than money
+to me to know that I’ll always have this thing on Peter, and that when
+he’s king he won’t dare bother me for fear I’ll publish the details of
+this little deal. Come, you must be through praying by this time. I
+can’t wait around here all night.” Again Yellow Franz raised his pistol
+toward Barney’s heart.
+
+Before the brigand could pull the trigger, or Barney hurl himself upon
+his would-be assassin, there was a flash and a loud report from the
+open window of the shack.
+
+With a groan Yellow Franz crumpled to the dirt floor, and
+simultaneously Barney was upon him and had wrested the pistol from his
+hand; but the precaution was unnecessary for Yellow Franz would never
+again press finger to trigger. He was dead even before Barney reached
+his side.
+
+In possession of the weapon, the American turned toward the window from
+which had come the rescuing shot, and as he did so he saw the boy,
+Rudolph, clambering over the sill, white-faced and trembling. In his
+hand was a smoking carbine, and on his brow great beads of cold sweat.
+
+“God forgive me!” murmured the youth. “I have killed a man.”
+
+“You have killed a dangerous wild beast, Rudolph,” said Barney, “and
+both God and your fellow man will thank and reward you.”
+
+“I am glad that I killed him, though,” went on the boy, “for he would
+have killed you, my king, had I not done so. Gladly would I go to the
+gallows to save my king.”
+
+“You are a brave lad, Rudolph,” said Barney, “and if ever I get out of
+the pretty pickle I’m in you’ll be well rewarded for your loyalty to
+Leopold of Lutha. After all,” thought the young man, “being a kind has
+its redeeming features, for if the boy had not thought me his monarch
+he would never have risked the vengeance of the bloodthirsty brigands
+in this attempt to save me.”
+
+“Hasten, your majesty,” whispered the boy, tugging at the sleeve of
+Barney’s jacket. “There is no time to be lost. We must be far away from
+here when the others discover that Yellow Franz has been killed.”
+
+Barney stooped above the dead man, and removing his belt and cartridges
+transferred them to his own person. Then blowing out the lantern the
+two slipped out into the darkness of the night.
+
+About the camp fire of the brigands the entire pack was congregated.
+They were talking together in low voices, ever and anon glancing
+expectantly toward the shack to which their chief had gone to dispatch
+the king. It is not every day that a king is murdered, and even these
+hardened cut-throats felt the spell of awe at the thought of what they
+believed the sharp report they had heard from the shack portended.
+
+Keeping well to the far side of the clearing, Rudolph led Barney around
+the group of men and safely into the wood below them. From this point
+the boy followed the trail which Barney and his captors had traversed
+two days previously, until he came to a diverging ravine that led
+steeply up through the mountains upon their right hand.
+
+In the distance behind them they suddenly heard, faintly, the shouting
+of men.
+
+“They have discovered Yellow Franz,” whispered the boy, shuddering.
+
+“Then they’ll be after us directly,” said Barney.
+
+“Yes, your majesty,” replied Rudolph, “but in the darkness they will
+not see that we have turned up this ravine, and so they will ride on
+down the other. I have chosen this way because their horses cannot
+follow us here, and thus we shall be under no great disadvantage. It
+may be, however, that we shall have to hide in the mountains for a
+while, since there will be no place of safety for us between here and
+Lustadt until after the edge of their anger is dulled.”
+
+And such proved to be the case, for try as they would they found it
+impossible to reach Lustadt without detection by the brigands who
+patrolled every highway and byway from their rugged mountains to the
+capital of Lutha.
+
+For nearly three weeks Barney and the boy hid in caves or dense
+underbrush by day, and by night sought some avenue which would lead
+them past the vigilant sentries that patrolled the ways to freedom.
+
+Often they were wet by rains, nor were they ever in the warm sunlight
+for a sufficient length of time to become thoroughly dry and
+comfortable. Of food they had little, and of the poorest quality.
+
+They dared not light a fire for warmth or cooking, and their light was
+so miserable that, but for the boy’s pitiful terror at the thought of
+being recaptured by the bandits, Barney would long since have made a
+break for Lustadt, depending upon their arms and ammunition to carry
+them safely through were they discovered by their enemies.
+
+Rudolph had contracted a severe cold the first night, and now, it
+having settled upon his lungs, he had developed a persistent and
+aggravating cough that caused Barney not a little apprehension. When,
+after nearly three weeks of suffering and privation, it became clear
+that the boy’s lungs were affected, the American decided to take
+matters into his own hands and attempt to reach Lustadt and a good
+doctor; but before he had an opportunity to put his plan into execution
+the entire matter was removed from his jurisdiction.
+
+It happened like this: After a particularly fatiguing and uncomfortable
+night spent in attempting to elude the sentinels who blocked their way
+from the mountains, daylight found them near a little spring, and here
+they decided to rest for an hour before resuming their way.
+
+The little pool lay not far from a clump of heavy bushes which would
+offer them excellent shelter, as it was Barney’s intention to go into
+hiding as soon as they had quenched their thirst at the spring.
+
+Rudolph was coughing pitifully, his slender frame wracked by the
+convulsion of each new attack. Barney had placed an arm about the boy
+to support him, for the paroxysms always left him very weak.
+
+The young man’s heart went out to the poor boy, and pangs of regret
+filled his mind as he realized that the child’s pathetic condition was
+the direct result of his self-sacrificing attempt to save his king.
+Barney felt much like a murderer and a thief, and dreaded the time when
+the boy should be brought to a realization of his mistake.
+
+He had come to feel a warm affection for the loyal little lad, who had
+suffered so uncomplainingly and whose every thought had been for the
+safety and comfort of his king.
+
+Today, thought Barney, I’ll take this child through to Lustadt even if
+every ragged brigand in Lutha lies between us and the capital; but even
+as he spoke a sudden crashing of underbrush behind caused him to wheel
+about, and there, not twenty paces from them, stood two of Yellow
+Franz’s cutthroats.
+
+At sight of Barney and the lad they gave voice to a shout of triumph,
+and raising their carbines fired point-blank at the two fugitives.
+
+But Barney had been equally as quick with his own weapon, and at the
+moment that they fired he grasped Rudolph and dragged him backward to a
+great boulder behind which their bodies might be protected from the
+fire of their enemies.
+
+Both the bullets of the bandits’ first volley had been directed at
+Barney, for it was upon his head that the great price rested. They had
+missed him by a narrow margin, due, perhaps, to the fact that the
+mounts of the brigands had been prancing in alarm at the unexpected
+sight of the two strangers at the very moment that their riders
+attempted to take aim and fire.
+
+But now they had ridden back into the brush and dismounted, and after
+hiding their ponies they came creeping out upon their bellies upon
+opposite sides of Barney’s shelter.
+
+The American saw that it would be an easy thing for them to pick him
+off if he remained where he was, and so with a word to Rudolph he
+sprang up and the boy with him. Each delivered a quick shot at the
+bandit nearest him, and then together they broke for the bushes in
+which the brigand’s mounts were hidden.
+
+Two shots answered theirs. Rudolph, who was ahead of Barney, stumbled
+and threw up his hands. He would have fallen had not the American
+thrown a strong arm about him.
+
+“I’m shot, your majesty,” murmured the boy, his head dropping against
+Barney’s breast.
+
+With the lad grasped close to him, the young man turned at the edge of
+the brush to meet the charge of the two ruffians. The wounding of the
+youth had delayed them just enough to preclude their making this
+temporary refuge in safety.
+
+As Barney turned both the men fired simultaneously, and both missed.
+The American raised his revolver, and with the flash of it the foremost
+brigand came to a sudden stop. An expression of bewilderment crossed
+his features. He extended his arms straight before him, the revolver
+slipped from his grasp, and then like a dying top he pivoted once
+drunkenly and collapsed upon the turf.
+
+At the instant of his fall his companion and the American fired
+point-blank at one another.
+
+Barney felt a burning sensation in his shoulder, but it was forgotten
+for the moment in the relief that came to him as he saw the second
+rascal sprawl headlong upon his face. Then he turned his attention to
+the limp little figure that hung across his left arm.
+
+Gently Barney laid the boy upon the sward, and fetching water from the
+pool bathed his face and forced a few drops between the white lips. The
+cooling draft revived the wounded child, but brought on a paroxysm of
+coughing. When this had subsided Rudolph raised his eyes to those of
+the man bending above him.
+
+“Thank God, your majesty is unharmed,” he whispered. “Now I can die in
+peace.”
+
+The white lids drooped lower, and with a tired sigh the boy lay quiet.
+Tears came to the young man’s eyes as he let the limp body gently to
+the ground.
+
+“Brave little heart,” he murmured, “you gave up your life in the
+service of your king as truly as though you had not been all mistaken
+in the object of your veneration, and if it lies within the power of
+Barney Custer you shall not have died in vain.”
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+THE REAL LEOPOLD
+
+
+Two hours later a horseman pushed his way between tumbled and tangled
+briers along the bottom of a deep ravine.
+
+He was hatless, and his stained and ragged khaki betokened much
+exposure to the elements and hard and continued usage. At his
+saddle-bow a carbine swung in its boot, and upon either hip was
+strapped a long revolver. Ammunition in plenty filled the cross belts
+that he had looped about his shoulders.
+
+Grim and warlike as were his trappings, no less grim was the set of his
+strong jaw or the glint of his gray eyes, nor did the patch of brown
+stain that had soaked through the left shoulder of his jacket tend to
+lessen the martial atmosphere which surrounded him. Fortunate it was
+for the brigands of the late Yellow Franz that none of them chanced in
+the path of Barney Custer that day.
+
+For nearly two hours the man had ridden downward out of the high hills
+in search of a dwelling at which he might ask the way to Tann; but as
+yet he had passed but a single house, and that a long untenanted ruin.
+He was wondering what had become of all the inhabitants of Lutha when
+his horse came to a sudden halt before an obstacle which entirely
+blocked the narrow trail at the bottom of the ravine.
+
+As the horseman’s eyes fell upon the thing they went wide in
+astonishment, for it was no less than the charred remnants of the once
+beautiful gray roadster that had brought him into this twentieth
+century land of medieval adventure and intrigue. Barney saw that the
+machine had been lifted from where it had fallen across the horse of
+the Princess von der Tann, for the animal’s decaying carcass now lay
+entirely clear of it; but why this should have been done, or by whom,
+the young man could not imagine.
+
+A glance aloft showed him the road far above him, from which he, the
+horse and the roadster had catapulted; and with the sight of it there
+flashed to his mind the fair face of the young girl in whose service
+the thing had happened. Barney wondered if Joseph had been successful
+in returning her to Tann, and he wondered, too, if she mourned for the
+man she had thought king—if she would be very angry should she ever
+learn the truth.
+
+Then there came to the American’s mind the figure of the shopkeeper of
+Tafelberg, and the fellow’s evident loyalty to the mad king he had
+never seen. Here was one who might aid him, thought Barney. He would
+have the will, at least, and with the thought the young man turned his
+pony’s head diagonally up the steep ravine side.
+
+It was a tough and dangerous struggle to the road above, but at last by
+dint of strenuous efforts on the part of the sturdy little beast the
+two finally scrambled over the edge of the road and stood once more
+upon level footing.
+
+After breathing his mount for a few minutes Barney swung himself into
+the saddle again and set off toward Tafelberg. He met no one upon the
+road, nor within the outskirts of the village, and so he came to the
+door of the shop he sought without attracting attention.
+
+Swinging to the ground he tied the pony to one of the supporting
+columns of the porch-roof and a moment later had stepped within the
+shop.
+
+From a back room the shopkeeper presently emerged, and when he saw who
+it was that stood before him his eyes went wide in consternation.
+
+“In the name of all the saints, your majesty,” cried the old fellow,
+“what has happened? How comes it that you are out of the hospital, and
+travel-stained as though from a long, hard ride? I cannot understand
+it, sire.”
+
+“Hospital?” queried the young man. “What do you mean, my good fellow? I
+have been in no hospital.”
+
+“You were there only last evening when I inquired after you of the
+doctor,” insisted the shopkeeper, “nor did any there yet suspect your
+true identity.”
+
+“Last evening I was hiding far up in the mountains from Yellow Franz’s
+band of cutthroats,” replied Barney. “Tell me what manner of riddle you
+are propounding.”
+
+Then a sudden light of understanding flashed through Barney’s mind.
+
+“Man!” he exclaimed. “Tell me—you have found the true king? He is at a
+hospital in Tafelberg?”
+
+“Yes, your majesty, I have found the true king, and it is so that he
+was at the Tafelberg sanatorium last evening. It was beside the
+remnants of your wrecked automobile that two of the men of Tafelberg
+found you.
+
+“One leg was pinioned beneath the machine which was on fire when they
+discovered you. They brought you to my shop, which is the first on the
+road into town, and not guessing your true identity they took my word
+for it that you were an old acquaintance of mine and without more ado
+turned you over to my care.”
+
+Barney scratched his head in puzzled bewilderment. He began to doubt if
+he were in truth himself, or, after all, Leopold of Lutha. As no one
+but himself could, by the wildest stretch of imagination, have been in
+such a position, he was almost forced to the conclusion that all that
+had passed since the instant that his car shot over the edge of the
+road into the ravine had been but the hallucinations of a fever-excited
+brain, and that for the past three weeks he had been lying in a
+hospital cot instead of experiencing the strange and inexplicable
+adventures that he had believed to have befallen him.
+
+But yet the more he thought of it the more ridiculous such a conclusion
+appeared, for it did not in the least explain the pony tethered
+without, which he plainly could see from where he stood within the
+shop, nor did it satisfactorily account for the blotch of blood upon
+his shoulder from a wound so fresh that the stain still was damp; nor
+for the sword which Joseph had buckled about his waist within Blentz’s
+forbidding walls; nor for the arms and ammunition he had taken from the
+dead brigands—all of which he had before him as tangible evidence of
+the rationality of the past few weeks.
+
+“My friend,” said Barney at last, “I cannot wonder that you have
+mistaken me for the king, since all those I have met within Lutha have
+leaped to the same error, though not one among them made the slightest
+pretense of ever having seen his majesty. A ridiculous beard started
+the trouble, and later a series of happenings, no one of which was
+particularly remarkable in itself, aggravated it, until but a moment
+since I myself was almost upon the point of believing that I am the
+king.
+
+“But, my dear Herr Kramer, I am not the king; and when you have
+accompanied me to the hospital and seen that your patient still is
+there, you may be willing to admit that there is some justification for
+doubt as to my royalty.”
+
+The old man shook his head.
+
+“I am not so sure of that,” he said, “for he who lies at the hospital,
+providing you are not he, or he you, maintains as sturdily as do you
+that he is not Leopold. If one of you, whichever be king—providing that
+you are not one and the same, and that I be not the only maniac in the
+sad muddle—if one of you would but trust my loyalty and love for the
+true king and admit your identity, then I might be of some real service
+to that one of you who is really Leopold. Herr Gott! My words are as
+mixed as my poor brain.”
+
+“If you will listen to me, Herr Kramer,” said Barney, “and believe what
+I tell you, I shall be able to unscramble your ideas in so far as they
+pertain to me and my identity. As to the man you say was found beneath
+my car, and who now lies in the sanatorium of Tafelberg, I cannot say
+until I have seen and talked with him. He may be the king and he may
+not; but if he insists that he is not, I shall be the last to wish a
+kingship upon him. I know from sad experience the hardships and burdens
+that the thing entails.”
+
+Then Barney narrated carefully and in detail the principal events of
+his life, from his birth in Beatrice to his coming to Lutha upon
+pleasure. He showed Herr Kramer his watch with his monogram upon it,
+his seal ring, and inside the pocket of his coat the label of his
+tailor, with his own name written beneath it and the date that the
+garment had been ordered.
+
+When he had completed his narrative the old man shook his head.
+
+“I cannot understand it,” he said; “and yet I am almost forced to
+believe that you are not the king.”
+
+“Direct me to the sanatorium,” suggested Barney, “and if it be within
+the range of possibility I shall learn whether the man who lies there
+is Leopold or another, and if he be the king I shall serve him as
+loyally as you would have served me. Together we may assist him to gain
+the safety of Tann and the protection of old Prince Ludwig.”
+
+“If you are not the king,” said Kramer suspiciously, “why should you be
+so interested in aiding Leopold? You may even be an enemy. How can I
+know?”
+
+“You cannot know, my good friend,” replied Barney. “But had I been an
+enemy, how much more easily might I have encompassed my designs,
+whatever they might have been, had I encouraged you to believe that I
+was king. The fact that I did not, must assure you that I have no
+ulterior designs against Leopold.”
+
+This line of reasoning proved quite convincing to the old shopkeeper,
+and at last he consented to lead Barney to the sanatorium. Together
+they traversed the quiet village streets to the outskirts of the town,
+where in large, park-like grounds the well-known sanatorium of
+Tafelberg is situated in quiet surroundings. It is an institution for
+the treatment of nervous diseases to which patients are brought from
+all parts of Europe, and is doubtless Lutha’s principal claim upon the
+attention of the outer world.
+
+As the two crossed the gardens which lay between the gate and the main
+entrance and mounted the broad steps leading to the veranda an old
+servant opened the door, and recognizing Herr Kramer, nodded pleasantly
+to him.
+
+“Your patient seems much brighter this morning, Herr Kramer,” he said,
+“and has been asking to be allowed to sit up.”
+
+“He is still here, then?” questioned the shopkeeper with a sigh that
+might have indicated either relief or resignation.
+
+“Why, certainly. You did not expect that he had entirely recovered
+overnight, did you?”
+
+“No,” replied Herr Kramer, “not exactly. In fact, I did not know what I
+should expect.”
+
+As the two passed him on their way to the room in which the patient
+lay, the servant eyed Herr Kramer in surprise, as though wondering what
+had occurred to his mentality since he had seen him the previous day.
+He paid no attention to Barney other than to bow to him as he passed,
+but there was another who did—an attendant standing in the hallway
+through which the two men walked toward the private room where one of
+them expected to find the real mad king of Lutha.
+
+He was a dark-visaged fellow, sallow and small-eyed; and as his glance
+rested upon the features of the American a puzzled expression crossed
+his face. He let his gaze follow the two as they moved on up the
+corridor until they turned in at the door of the room they sought, then
+he followed them, entering an apartment next to that in which Herr
+Kramer’s patient lay.
+
+As Barney and the shopkeeper entered the small, whitewashed room, the
+former saw upon the narrow iron cot the figure of a man of about his
+own height. The face that turned toward them as they entered was
+covered by a full, reddish-brown beard, and the eyes that looked up at
+them in troubled surprise were gray. Beyond these Barney could see no
+likenesses to himself; yet they were sufficient, he realized, to have
+deceived any who might have compared one solely to the printed
+description of the other.
+
+At the doorway Kramer halted, motioning Barney within.
+
+“It will be better if you talk with him alone,” he said. “I am sure
+that before both of us he will admit nothing.”
+
+Barney nodded, and the shopkeeper of Tafelberg withdrew and closed the
+door behind him. The American approached the bedside with a cheery
+“Good morning.”
+
+The man returned the salutation with a slight inclination of his head.
+There was a questioning look in his eyes; but dominating that was a
+pitiful, hunted expression that touched the American’s heart.
+
+The man’s left hand lay upon the coverlet. Barney glanced at the third
+finger. About it was a plain gold band. There was no royal ring of the
+kings of Lutha in evidence, yet that was no indication that the man was
+not Leopold; for were he the king and desirous of concealing his
+identity, his first act would be to remove every symbol of his
+kingship.
+
+Barney took the hand in his.
+
+“They tell me that you are well on the road to recovery,” he said. “I
+am very glad that it is so.”
+
+“Who are you?” asked the man.
+
+“I am Bernard Custer, an American. You were found beneath my car at the
+bottom of a ravine. I feel that I owe you full reparation for the
+injuries you received, though it is beyond me how you happened to be
+found under the machine. Unless I am truly mad, I was the only occupant
+of the roadster when it plunged over the embankment.”
+
+“It is very simple,” replied the man upon the cot. “I chanced to be at
+the bottom of the ravine at the time and the car fell upon me.”
+
+“What were you doing at the bottom of the ravine?” asked Barney quite
+suddenly, after the manner of one who administers a third degree.
+
+The man started and flushed with suspicion.
+
+“That is my own affair,” he said.
+
+He tried to disengage his hand from Barney’s, and as he did so the
+American felt something within the fingers of the other. For an instant
+his own fingers tightened upon those that lay within them, so that as
+the others were withdrawn his index finger pressed close upon the thing
+that had aroused his curiosity.
+
+It was a large setting turned inward upon the third finger of the left
+hand. The gold band that Barney had seen was but the opposite side of
+the same ring.
+
+A quick look of comprehension came to Barney’s eyes. The man upon the
+cot evidently noted it and rightly interpreted its cause, for, having
+freed his hand, he now slipped it quickly beneath the coverlet.
+
+“I have passed through a series of rather remarkable adventures since I
+came to Lutha,” said Barney apparently quite irrelevantly, after the
+two had remained silent for a moment. “Shortly after my car fell upon
+you I was mistaken for the fugitive King Leopold by the young lady
+whose horse fell into the ravine with my car. She is a most loyal
+supporter of the king, being none other than the Princess Emma von der
+Tann. From her I learned to espouse the cause of Leopold.”
+
+Step by step Barney took the man through the adventures that had
+befallen him during the past three weeks, closing with the story of the
+death of the boy, Rudolph.
+
+“Above his dead body I swore to serve Leopold of Lutha as loyally as
+the poor, mistaken child had served me, your majesty,” and Barney
+looked straight into the eyes of him who lay upon the little iron cot.
+
+For a moment the man held his eyes upon those of the American, but
+finally, under the latter’s steady gaze, they dropped and wandered.
+
+“Why do you address me as ‘your majesty’?” he asked irritably.
+
+“With my forefinger I felt the ruby and the four wings of the setting
+of the royal ring of the kings of Lutha upon the third finger of your
+left hand,” replied Barney.
+
+The king started up upon his elbow, his eyes wild with apprehension.
+
+“It is not so,” he cried. “It is a lie! I am not the king.”
+
+“Hush!” admonished Barney. “You have nothing to fear from me. There are
+good friends and loyal subjects in plenty to serve and protect your
+majesty, and place you upon the throne that has been stolen from you. I
+have sworn to serve you. The old shopkeeper, Herr Kramer, who brought
+me here, is an honest, loyal old soul. He would die for you, your
+majesty. Trust us. Let us help you. Tomorrow, Kramer tells me, Peter of
+Blentz is to have himself crowned as king in the cathedral at Lustadt.
+
+“Will you sit supinely by and see another rob you of your kingdom, and
+then continue to rob and throttle your subjects as he has been doing
+for the past ten years? No, you will not. Even if you do not want the
+crown, you were born to the duties and obligations it entails, and for
+the sake of your people you must assume them now.”
+
+“How am I to know that you are not another of the creatures of that
+fiend of Blentz?” cried the king. “How am I to know that you will not
+drag me back to the terrors of that awful castle, and to the poisonous
+potions of the new physician Peter has employed to assassinate me? I
+can trust none.
+
+“Go away and leave me. I do not want to be king. I wish only to go away
+as far from Lutha as I can get and pass the balance of my life in peace
+and security. Peter may have the crown. He is welcome to it, for all of
+me. All I ask is my life and my liberty.”
+
+Barney saw that while the king was evidently of sound mind, his was not
+one of those iron characters and courageous hearts that would willingly
+fight to the death for his own rights and the rights and happiness of
+his people. Perhaps the long years of bitter disappointment and misery,
+the tedious hours of imprisonment, and the constant haunting fears for
+his life had reduced him to this pitiable condition.
+
+Whatever the cause, Barney Custer was determined to overcome the man’s
+aversion to assuming the duties which were rightly his, for in his
+memory were the words of Emma von der Tann, in which she had made plain
+to him the fate that would doubtless befall her father and his house
+were Peter of Blentz to become king of Lutha. Then, too, there was the
+life of the little peasant boy. Was that to be given up uselessly for a
+king with so mean a spirit that he would not take a scepter when it was
+forced upon him?
+
+And the people of Lutha? Were they to be further and continually robbed
+and downtrodden beneath the heel of Peter’s scoundrelly officials
+because their true king chose to evade the responsibilities that were
+his by birth?
+
+For half an hour Barney pleaded and argued with the king, until he
+infused in the weak character of the young man a part of his own
+tireless enthusiasm and courage. Leopold commenced to take heart and
+see things in a brighter and more engaging light. Finally he became
+quite excited about the prospects, and at last Barney obtained a
+willing promise from him that he would consent to being placed upon his
+throne and would go to Lustadt at any time that Barney should come for
+him with a force from the retainers of Prince Ludwig von der Tann.
+
+“Let us hope,” cried the king, “that the luck of the reigning house of
+Lutha has been at last restored. Not since my aunt, the Princess
+Victoria, ran away with a foreigner has good fortune shone upon my
+house. It was when my father was still a young man—before he had yet
+come to the throne—and though his reign was marked with great peace and
+prosperity for the people of Lutha, his own private fortunes were most
+unhappy.
+
+“My mother died at my birth, and the last days of my father’s life were
+filled with suffering from the cancer that was slowly killing him. Let
+us pray, Herr Custer, that you have brought new life to the fortunes of
+my house.”
+
+“Amen, your majesty,” said Barney. “And now I’ll be off for Tann—there
+must not be a moment lost if we are to bring you to Lustadt in time for
+the coronation. Herr Kramer will watch over you, but as none here
+guesses your true identity you are safer here than anywhere else in
+Lutha. Good-bye, your majesty. Be of good heart. We’ll have you on the
+road to Lustadt and the throne tomorrow morning.”
+
+After Barney Custer had closed the door of the king’s chamber behind
+him and hurried down the corridor, the door of the room next the king’s
+opened quietly and a dark-visaged fellow, sallow and small-eyed,
+emerged. Upon his lips was a smile of cunning satisfaction, as he
+hastened to the office of the medical director and obtained a leave of
+absence for twenty-four hours.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+THE CORONATION DAY
+
+
+Toward dusk of the day upon which the mad king of Lutha had been found,
+a dust-covered horseman reined in before the great gate of the castle
+of Prince Ludwig von der Tann. The unsettled political conditions which
+overhung the little kingdom of Lutha were evident in the return to
+medievalism which the raised portcullis and the armed guard upon the
+barbican of the ancient feudal fortress revealed. Not for a hundred
+years before had these things been done other than as a part of the
+ceremonials of a fete day, or in honor of visiting royalty.
+
+At the challenge from the gate Barney replied that he bore a message
+for the prince. Slowly the portcullis sank into position across the
+moat and an officer advanced to meet the rider.
+
+“The prince has ridden to Lustadt with a large retinue,” he said, “to
+attend the coronation of Peter of Blentz tomorrow.”
+
+“Prince Ludwig von der Tann has gone to attend the coronation of
+Peter!” cried Barney in amazement. “Has the Princess Emma returned from
+her captivity in the castle of Blentz?”
+
+“She is with her father now, having returned nearly three weeks ago,”
+replied the officer, “and Peter has disclaimed responsibility for the
+outrage, promising that those responsible shall be punished. He has
+convinced Prince Ludwig that Leopold is dead, and for the sake of
+Lutha—to save her from civil strife—my prince has patched a truce with
+Peter; though unless I mistake the character of the latter and the
+temper of the former it will be short-lived.
+
+“To demonstrate to the people,” continued the officer, “that Prince
+Ludwig and Peter are good friends, the great Von der Tann will attend
+the coronation, but that he takes little stock in the sincerity of the
+Prince of Blentz would be apparent could the latter have a peep beneath
+the cloaks and look into the loyal hearts of the men of Tann who rode
+down to Lustadt today.”
+
+Barney did not wait to hear more. He was glad that in the gathering
+dusk the officer had not seen his face plainly enough to mistake him
+for the king. With a parting, “Then I must ride to Lustadt with my
+message for the prince,” he wheeled his tired mount and trotted down
+the steep trail from Tann toward the highway which leads to the
+capital.
+
+All night Barney rode. Three times he wandered from the way and was
+forced to stop at farmhouses to inquire the proper direction; but
+darkness hid his features from the sleepy eyes of those who answered
+his summons, and daylight found him still forging ahead in the
+direction of the capital of Lutha.
+
+The American was sunk in unhappy meditation as his weary little mount
+plodded slowly along the dusty road. For hours the man had not been
+able to urge the beast out of a walk. The loss of time consequent upon
+his having followed wrong roads during the night and the exhaustion of
+the pony which retarded his speed to what seemed little better than a
+snail’s pace seemed to assure the failure of his mission, for at best
+he could not reach Lustadt before noon.
+
+There was no possibility of bringing Leopold to his capital in time for
+the coronation, and but a bare possibility that Prince Ludwig would
+accept the word of an entire stranger that Leopold lived, for the
+acknowledgment of such a condition by the old prince could result in
+nothing less than an immediate resort to arms by the two factions. It
+was certain that Peter would be infinitely more anxious to proceed with
+his coronation should it be rumored that Leopold lived, and equally
+certain that Prince Ludwig would interpose every obstacle, even to
+armed resistance, to prevent the consummation of the ceremony.
+
+Yet there seemed to Barney no other alternative than to place before
+the king’s one powerful friend the information that he had. It would
+then rest with Ludwig to do what he thought advisable.
+
+An hour from Lustadt the road wound through a dense forest, whose
+pleasant shade was a grateful relief to both horse and rider from the
+hot sun beneath which they had been journeying the greater part of the
+morning. Barney was still lost in thought, his eyes bent forward, when
+at a sudden turning of the road he came face to face with a troop of
+horse that were entering the main highway at this point from an
+unfrequented byroad.
+
+At sight of them the American instinctively wheeled his mount in an
+effort to escape, but at a command from an officer a half dozen
+troopers spurred after him, their fresh horses soon overtaking his
+jaded pony.
+
+For a moment Barney contemplated resistance, for these were troopers of
+the Royal Horse, the body which was now Peter’s most effective personal
+tool; but even as his hand slipped to the butt of one of the revolvers
+at his hip, the young man saw the foolish futility of such a course,
+and with a shrug and a smile he drew rein and turned to face the
+advancing soldiers.
+
+As he did so the officer rode up, and at sight of Barney’s face gave an
+exclamation of astonishment. The officer was Butzow.
+
+“Well met, your majesty,” he cried saluting. “We are riding to the
+coronation. We shall be just in time.”
+
+“To see Peter of Blentz rob Leopold of a crown,” said the American in a
+disgusted tone.
+
+“To see Leopold of Lutha come into his own, your majesty. Long live the
+king!” cried the officer.
+
+Barney thought the man either poking fun at him because he was not the
+king, or, thinking he was Leopold, taking a mean advantage of his
+helplessness to bait him. Yet this last suspicion seemed unfair to
+Butzow, who at Blentz had given ample evidence that he was a gentleman,
+and of far different caliber from Maenck and the others who served
+Peter.
+
+If he could but convince the man that he was no king and thus gain his
+liberty long enough to reach Prince Ludwig’s ear, his mission would
+have been served in so far as it lay in his power to serve it. For some
+minutes Barney expended his best eloquence and logic upon the cavalry
+officer in an effort to convince him that he was not Leopold.
+
+The king had given the American his great ring to safeguard for him
+until it should be less dangerous for Leopold to wear it, and for fear
+that at the last moment someone within the sanatorium might recognize
+it and bear word to Peter of the king’s whereabouts. Barney had worn it
+turned in upon the third finger of his left hand, and now he slipped it
+surreptitiously into his breeches pocket lest Butzow should see it and
+by it be convinced that Barney was indeed Leopold.
+
+“Never mind who you are,” cried Butzow, thinking to humor the king’s
+strange obsession. “You look enough like Leopold to be his twin, and
+you must help us save Lutha from Peter of Blentz.”
+
+The American showed in his expression the surprise he felt at these
+words from an officer of the prince regent.
+
+“You wonder at my change of heart?” asked Butzow.
+
+“How can I do otherwise?”
+
+“I cannot blame you,” said the officer. “Yet I think that when you know
+the truth you will see that I have done only that which I believed to
+be the duty of a patriotic officer and a true gentleman.”
+
+They had rejoined the troop by this time, and the entire company was
+once more headed toward Lustadt. Butzow had commanded one of the
+troopers to exchange horses with Barney, bringing the jaded animal into
+the city slowly, and now freshly mounted the American was making better
+time toward his destination. His spirits rose, and as they galloped
+along the highway, he listened with renewed interest to the story which
+Lieutenant Butzow narrated in detail.
+
+It seemed that Butzow had been absent from Lutha for a number of years
+as military attache to the Luthanian legation at a foreign court. He
+had known nothing of the true condition at home until his return, when
+he saw such scoundrels as Coblich, Maenck, and Stein high in the favor
+of the prince regent. For some time before the events that had
+transpired after he had brought Barney and the Princess Emma to Blentz
+he had commenced to have his doubts as to the true patriotism of Peter
+of Blentz; and when he had learned through the unguarded words of
+Schonau that there was a real foundation for the rumor that the regent
+had plotted the assassination of the king his suspicions had
+crystallized into knowledge, and he had sworn to serve his king before
+all others—were he sane or mad. From this loyalty he could not be
+shaken.
+
+“And what do you intend doing now?” asked Barney.
+
+“I intend placing you upon the throne of your ancestors, sire,” replied
+Butzow; “nor will Peter of Blentz dare the wrath of the people by
+attempting to interpose any obstacle. When he sees Leopold of Lutha
+ride into the capital of his kingdom at the head of even so small a
+force as ours he will know that the end of his own power is at hand,
+for he is not such a fool that he does not perfectly realize that he is
+the most cordially hated man in all Lutha, and that only those attend
+upon him who hope to profit through his success or who fear his evil
+nature.”
+
+“If Peter is crowned today,” asked Barney, “will it prevent Leopold
+regaining his throne?”
+
+“It is difficult to say,” replied Butzow; “but the chances are that the
+throne would be lost to him forever. To regain it he would have to
+plunge Lutha into a bitter civil war, for once Peter is proclaimed king
+he will have the law upon his side, and with the resources of the State
+behind him—the treasury and the army—he will feel in no mood to
+relinquish the scepter without a struggle. I doubt much that you will
+ever sit upon your throne, sire, unless you do so within the very next
+hour.”
+
+For some time Barney rode in silence. He saw that only by a master
+stroke could the crown be saved for the true king. Was it worth it? The
+man was happier without a crown. Barney had come to believe that no man
+lived who could be happy in possession of one. Then there came before
+his mind’s eye the delicate, patrician face of Emma von der Tann.
+
+Would Peter of Blentz be true to his new promises to the house of Von
+der Tann? Barney doubted it. He recalled all that it might mean of
+danger and suffering to the girl whose kisses he still felt upon his
+lips as though it had been but now that hers had placed them there. He
+recalled the limp little body of the boy, Rudolph, and the Spartan
+loyalty with which the little fellow had given his life in the service
+of the man he had thought king. The pitiful figure of the fear-haunted
+man upon the iron cot at Tafelberg rose before him and cried for
+vengeance.
+
+To this man was the woman he loved betrothed! He knew that he might
+never wed the Princess Emma. Even were she not promised to another, the
+iron shackles of convention and age-old customs must forever separate
+her from an untitled American. But if he couldn’t have her he still
+could serve her!
+
+“For her sake,” he muttered.
+
+“Did your majesty speak?” asked Butzow.
+
+“Yes, lieutenant. We urge greater haste, for if we are to be crowned
+today we have no time to lose.”
+
+Butzow smiled a relieved smile. The king had at last regained his
+senses!
+
+Within the ancient cathedral at Lustadt a great and gorgeously attired
+assemblage had congregated. All the nobles of Lutha were gathered there
+with their wives, their children, and their retainers. There were the
+newer nobility of the lowlands—many whose patents dated but since the
+regency of Peter—and there were the proud nobility of the highlands—the
+old nobility of which Prince Ludwig von der Tann was the chief.
+
+It was noticeable that though a truce had been made between Ludwig and
+Peter, yet the former chancellor of the kingdom did not stand upon the
+chancel with the other dignitaries of the State and court.
+
+Few there were who knew that he had been invited to occupy a place of
+honor there, and had replied that he would take no active part in the
+making of any king in Lutha whose veins did not pulse to the flow of
+the blood of the house in whose service he had grown gray.
+
+Close packed were the retainers of the old prince so that their great
+number was scarcely noticeable, though quite so was the fact that they
+kept their cloaks on, presenting a somber appearance in the midst of
+all the glitter of gold and gleam of jewels that surrounded them—a
+grim, business-like appearance that cast a chill upon Peter of Blentz
+as his eyes scanned the multitude of faces below him.
+
+He would have shown his indignation at this seeming affront had he
+dared; but until the crown was safely upon his head and the royal
+scepter in his hand Peter had no mind to do aught that might jeopardize
+the attainment of the power he had sought for the past ten years.
+
+The solemn ceremony was all but completed; the Bishop of Lustadt had
+received the great golden crown from the purple cushion upon which it
+had been borne at the head of the procession which accompanied Peter up
+the broad center aisle of the cathedral. He had raised it above the
+head of the prince regent, and was repeating the solemn words which
+precede the placing of the golden circlet upon the man’s brow. In
+another moment Peter of Blentz would be proclaimed the king of Lutha.
+
+By her father’s side stood Emma von der Tann. Upon her haughty,
+high-bred face there was no sign of the emotions which ran riot within
+her fair bosom. In the act that she was witnessing she saw the eventual
+ruin of her father’s house. That Peter would long want for an excuse to
+break and humble his ancient enemy she did not believe; but this was
+not the only cause for the sorrow that overwhelmed her.
+
+Her most poignant grief, like that of her father, was for the dead
+king, Leopold; but to the sorrow of the loyal subject was added the
+grief of the loving woman, bereft. Close to her heart she hugged the
+memory of the brief hours spent with the man whom she had been taught
+since childhood to look upon as her future husband, but for whom the
+all-consuming fires of love had only been fanned to life within her
+since that moment, now three weeks gone, that he had crushed her to his
+breast to cover her lips with kisses for the short moment ere he
+sacrificed his life to save her from a fate worse than death.
+
+Before her stood the Nemesis of her dead king. The last act of the
+hideous crime against the man she had loved was nearing its close. As
+the crown, poised over the head of Peter of Blentz, sank slowly
+downward the girl felt that she could scarce restrain her desire to
+shriek aloud a protest against the wicked act—the crowning of a
+murderer king of her beloved Lutha.
+
+A glance at the old man at her side showed her the stern, commanding
+features of her sire molded in an expression of haughty dignity; only
+the slight movement of the muscles of the strong jaw revealed the
+tensity of the hidden emotions of the stern old warrior. He was meeting
+disappointment and defeat as a Von der Tann should—brave to the end.
+
+The crown had all but touched the head of Peter of Blentz when a sudden
+commotion at the back of the cathedral caused the bishop to look up in
+ill-concealed annoyance. At the sight that met his eyes his hands
+halted in mid-air.
+
+The great audience turned as one toward the doors at the end of the
+long central aisle. There, through the wide-swung portals, they saw
+mounted men forcing their way into the cathedral. The great horses
+shouldered aside the foot-soldiers that attempted to bar their way, and
+twenty troopers of the Royal Horse thundered to the very foot of the
+chancel steps.
+
+At their head rode Lieutenant Butzow and a tall young man in soiled and
+tattered khaki, whose gray eyes and full reddish-brown beard brought an
+exclamation from Captain Maenck who commanded the guard about Peter of
+Blentz.
+
+“Mein Gott—the king!” cried Maenck, and at the words Peter went white.
+
+In open-mouthed astonishment the spectators saw the hurrying troopers
+and heard Butzow’s “The king! The king! Make way for Leopold, King of
+Lutha!”
+
+And a girl saw, and as she saw her heart leaped to her mouth. Her small
+hand gripped the sleeve of her father’s coat. “The king, father,” she
+cried. “It is the king.”
+
+Old Von der Tann, the light of a new hope firing his eyes, threw aside
+his cloak and leaped to the chancel steps beside Butzow and the others
+who were mounting them. Behind him a hundred cloaks dropped from the
+shoulders of his fighting men, exposing not silks and satins and fine
+velvet, but the coarse tan of khaki, and grim cartridge belts well
+filled, and stern revolvers slung to well-worn service belts.
+
+As Butzow and Barney stepped upon the chancel Peter of Blentz leaped
+forward. “What mad treason is this?” he fairly screamed.
+
+“The days of treason are now past, prince,” replied Butzow meaningly.
+“Here is not treason, but Leopold of Lutha come to claim his crown
+which he inherited from his father.”
+
+“It is a plot,” cried Peter, “to place an impostor upon the throne!
+This man is not the king.”
+
+For a moment there was silence. The people had not taken sides as yet.
+They awaited a leader. Old Von der Tann scrutinized the American
+closely.
+
+“How may we know that you are Leopold?” he asked. “For ten years we
+have not seen our king.”
+
+“The governor of Blentz has already acknowledged his identity,” cried
+Butzow. “Maenck was the first to proclaim the presence of the putative
+king.”
+
+At that someone near the chancel cried: “Long live Leopold, king of
+Lutha!” and at the words the whole assemblage raised their voices in a
+tumultuous: “Long live the king!”
+
+Peter of Blentz turned toward Maenck. “The guard!” he cried. “Arrest
+those traitors, and restore order in the cathedral. Let the coronation
+proceed.”
+
+Maenck took a step toward Barney and Butzow, when old Prince von der
+Tann interposed his giant frame with grim resolve.
+
+“Hold!” He spoke in a low, stern voice that brought the cowardly Maenck
+to a sudden halt.
+
+The men of Tann had pressed eagerly forward until they stood, with
+bared swords, a solid rank of fighting men in grim semicircle behind
+their chief. There were cries from different parts of the cathedral of:
+“Crown Leopold, our true king! Down with Peter! Down with the
+assassin!”
+
+“Enough of this,” cried Peter. “Clear the cathedral!”
+
+He drew his own sword, and with half a hundred loyal retainers at his
+back pressed forward to clear the chancel. There was a brief fight,
+from which Barney, much to his disgust, was barred by the mighty figure
+of the old prince and the stalwart sword-arm of Butzow. He did get one
+crack at Maenck, and had the satisfaction of seeing blood spurt from a
+flesh wound across the fellow’s cheek.
+
+“That for the Princess Emma,” he called to the governor of Blentz, and
+then men crowded between them and he did not see the captain again
+during the battle.
+
+When Peter saw that more than half of the palace guard were shouting
+for Leopold, and fighting side by side with the men of Tann, he
+realized the futility of further armed resistance at this time. Slowly
+he withdrew, and at last the fighting ceased and some semblance of
+order was restored within the cathedral.
+
+Fearfully, the bishop emerged from hiding, his robes disheveled and his
+miter askew. Butzow grasped him none too reverently by the arm and
+dragged him before Barney. The crown of Lutha dangled in the priest’s
+palsied hands.
+
+“Crown the king!” cried the lieutenant. “Crown Leopold, king of Lutha!”
+
+A mad roar of acclaim greeted this demand, and again from all parts of
+the cathedral rose the same wild cry. But in the lull that followed
+there were some who demanded proof of the tattered young man who stood
+before them and claimed that he was king.
+
+“Let Prince Ludwig speak!” cried a dozen voices.
+
+“Yes, Prince Ludwig! Prince Ludwig!” took up the throng.
+
+Prince Ludwig von der Tann turned toward the bearded young man. Silence
+fell upon the crowded cathedral. Peter of Blentz stood awaiting the
+outcome, ready to demand the crown upon the first indication of
+wavering belief in the man he knew was not Leopold.
+
+“How may we know that you are really Leopold?” again asked Ludwig of
+Barney.
+
+The American raised his left hand, upon the third finger of which
+gleamed the great ruby of the royal ring of the kings of Lutha. Even
+Peter of Blentz started back in surprise as his eyes fell upon the
+ring.
+
+Where had the man come upon it?
+
+Prince von der Tann dropped to one knee before Mr. Bernard Custer of
+Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S.A., and lifted that gentleman’s hand to his
+lips, and as the people of Lutha saw the act they went mad with joy.
+
+Slowly Prince Ludwig rose and addressed the bishop. “Leopold, the
+rightful heir to the throne of Lutha, is here. Let the coronation
+proceed.”
+
+The quiet of the sepulcher fell upon the assemblage as the holy man
+raised the crown above the head of the king. Barney saw from the corner
+of his eye the sea of faces upturned toward him. He saw the relief and
+happiness upon the stern countenance of the old prince.
+
+He hated to dash all their new found joy by the announcement that he
+was not the king. He could not do that, for the moment he did Peter
+would step forward and demand that his own coronation continue. How was
+he to save the throne for Leopold?
+
+Among the faces beneath him he suddenly descried that of a beautiful
+young girl whose eyes, filled with the tears of a great happiness and a
+greater love, were upturned to his. To reveal his true identity would
+lose him this girl forever. None save Peter knew that he was not the
+king. All save Peter would hail him gladly as Leopold of Lutha. How
+easily he might win a throne and the woman he loved by a moment of
+seeming passive compliance.
+
+The temptation was great, and then he recalled the boy, lying dead for
+his king in the desolate mountains, and the pathetic light in the eyes
+of the sorrowful man at Tafelberg, and the great trust and confidence
+in the heart of the woman who had shown that she loved him.
+
+Slowly Barney Custer raised his palm toward the bishop in a gesture of
+restraint.
+
+“There are those who doubt that I am king,” he said. “In these
+circumstances there should be no coronation in Lutha until all doubts
+are allayed and all may unite in accepting without question the royal
+right of the true Leopold to the crown of his father. Let the
+coronation wait, then, until another day, and all will be well.”
+
+“It must take place before noon of the fifth day of November, or not
+until a year later,” said Prince Ludwig. “In the meantime the Prince
+Regent must continue to rule. For the sake of Lutha the coronation must
+take place today, your majesty.”
+
+“What is the date?” asked Barney.
+
+“The third, sire.”
+
+“Let the coronation wait until the fifth.”
+
+“But your majesty,” interposed Von der Tann, “all may be lost in two
+days.”
+
+“It is the king’s command,” said Barney quietly.
+
+“But Peter of Blentz will rule for these two days, and in that time
+with the army at his command there is no telling what he may
+accomplish,” insisted the old man.
+
+“Peter of Blentz shall not rule Lutha for two days, or two minutes,”
+replied Barney. “We shall rule. Lieutenant Butzow, you may place Prince
+Peter, Coblich, Maenck, and Stein under arrest. We charge them with
+treason against their king, and conspiring to assassinate their
+rightful monarch.”
+
+Butzow smiled as he turned with his troopers at his back to execute
+this most welcome of commissions; but in a moment he was again at
+Barney’s side.
+
+“They have fled, your majesty,” he said. “Shall I ride to Blentz after
+them?”
+
+“Let them go,” replied the American, and then, with his retinue about
+him the new king of Lutha passed down the broad aisle of the cathedral
+of Lustadt and took his way to the royal palace between ranks of
+saluting soldiery backed by cheering thousands.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+THE KING’S GUESTS
+
+
+Once within the palace Barney sought the seclusion of a small room off
+the audience chamber. Here he summoned Butzow.
+
+“Lieutenant,” said the American, “for the sake of a woman, a dead child
+and an unhappy king I have become dictator of Lutha for forty-eight
+hours; but at noon upon the fifth this farce must cease. Then we must
+place the true Leopold upon the throne, or a new dictator must replace
+me.
+
+“In vain I have tried to convince you that I am not the king, and today
+in the cathedral so great was the temptation to take advantage of the
+odd train of circumstances that had placed a crown within my reach that
+I all but surrendered to it—not for the crown of gold, Butzow, but for
+an infinitely more sacred diadem which belongs to him to whom by right
+of birth and lineage, belongs the crown of Lutha. I do not ask you to
+understand—it is not necessary—but this you must know and believe: that
+I am not Leopold, and that the true Leopold lies in hiding in the
+sanatorium at Tafelberg, from which you and I, Butzow, must fetch him
+to Lustadt before noon on the fifth.”
+
+“But, sire—” commenced Butzow, when Barney raised his hand.
+
+“Enough of that, Butzow!” he cried almost irritably. “I am sick of
+being ‘sired’ and ‘majestied’—my name is Custer. Call me that when
+others are not present. Believe what you will, but ride with me in
+secrecy to Tafelberg tonight, and together we shall bring back Leopold
+of Lutha. Then we may call Prince Ludwig into our confidence, and none
+need ever know of the substitution.
+
+“I doubt if many had a sufficiently close view of me today to realize
+the trick that I have played upon them, and if they note a difference
+they will attribute it to the change in apparel, for we shall see to it
+that the king is fittingly garbed before we exhibit him to his
+subjects, while hereafter I shall continue in khaki, which becomes me
+better than ermine.”
+
+Butzow shook his head.
+
+“King or dictator,” he said, “it is all the same, and I must obey
+whatever commands you see fit to give, and so I will ride to Tafelberg
+tonight, though what we shall find there I cannot imagine, unless there
+are two Leopolds of Lutha. But shall we also find another royal ring
+upon the finger of this other king?”
+
+Barney smiled. “You’re a typical hard-headed Dutchman, Butzow,” he
+said.
+
+The lieutenant drew himself up haughtily. “I am not a Dutchman, your
+majesty. I am a Luthanian.”
+
+Barney laughed. “Whatever else you may be, Butzow, you’re a brick,” he
+said, laying his hand upon the other’s arm.
+
+Butzow looked at him narrowly.
+
+“From your speech,” he said, “and the occasional Americanisms into
+which you fall I might believe that you were other than the king but
+for the ring.”
+
+“It is my commission from the king,” replied Barney. “Leopold placed it
+upon my finger in token of his royal authority to act in his behalf.
+Tonight, then Butzow, you and I shall ride to Tafelberg. Have three
+good horses. We must lead one for the king.”
+
+Butzow saluted and left the apartment. For an hour or two the American
+was busy with tailors whom he had ordered sent to the palace to measure
+him for the numerous garments of a royal wardrobe, for he knew the king
+to be near enough his own size that he might easily wear clothes that
+had been fitted to Barney; and it was part of his plan to have
+everything in readiness for the substitution which was to take place
+the morning of the coronation.
+
+Then there were foreign dignitaries, and the heads of numerous domestic
+and civic delegations to be given audience. Old Von der Tann stood
+close behind Barney prompting him upon the royal duties that had fallen
+so suddenly upon his shoulders, and none thought it strange that he was
+unfamiliar with the craft of kingship, for was it not common knowledge
+that he had been kept a close prisoner in Blentz since boyhood, nor
+been given any coaching for the duties Peter of Blentz never intended
+he should perform?
+
+After it was all over Prince Ludwig’s grim and leathery face relaxed
+into a smile of satisfaction.
+
+“None who witnessed the conduct of your first audience, sire,” he said,
+“could for a moment doubt your royal lineage—if ever a man was born to
+kingship, your majesty, it be you.”
+
+Barney smiled, a bit ruefully, however, for in his mind’s eye he saw a
+future moment when the proud old Prince von der Tann would know the
+truth of the imposture that had been played upon him, and the young man
+foresaw that he would have a rather unpleasant half-hour.
+
+At a little distance from them Barney saw Emma von der Tann surrounded
+by a group of officials and palace officers. Since he had come to
+Lustadt that day he had had no word with her, and now he crossed toward
+her, amused as the throng parted to form an aisle for him, the men
+saluting and the women curtsying low.
+
+He took both of the girl’s hands in his, and, drawing one through his
+arm, took advantage of the prerogatives of kingship to lead her away
+from the throng of courtiers.
+
+“I thought that I should never be done with all the tiresome business
+which seems to devolve upon kings,” he said, laughing. “All the while
+that I should have been bending my royal intellect to matters of state,
+I was wondering just how a king might find a way to see the woman he
+loves without interruptions from the horde that dogs his footsteps.”
+
+“You seem to have found a way, Leopold,” she whispered, pressing his
+arm close to her. “Kings usually do.”
+
+“It is not because I am a king that I found a way, Emma,” he replied.
+“It is because I am an American.”
+
+She looked up at him with an expression of pleading in her eyes.
+
+“Why do you persist?” she cried. “You have come into your own, and
+there is no longer aught to fear from Peter or any other. To me at
+least, it is most unkind still to deny your identity.”
+
+“I wonder,” said Barney, “if your love could withstand the knowledge
+that I am not the king.”
+
+“It is the MAN I love, Leopold,” the girl replied.
+
+“You think so now,” he said, “but wait until the test comes, and when
+it does, remember that I have always done my best to undeceive you. I
+know that you are not for such as I, my princess, and when I have
+returned your true king to you all that I shall ask is that you be
+happy with him.”
+
+“I shall always be happy with my king,” she whispered, and the look
+that she gave him made Barney Custer curse the fate that had failed to
+make him a king by birth.
+
+An hour later darkness had fallen upon the little city of Lustadt, and
+from a small gateway in the rear of the palace grounds two horsemen
+rode out into the ill-paved street and turned their mounts’ heads
+toward the north. At the side of one trotted a led horse.
+
+As they passed beneath the glare of an arc-light before a cafe at the
+side of the public square, a diner sitting at a table upon the walk
+spied the tall figure and the bearded face of him who rode a few feet
+in advance of his companion. Leaping to his feet the man waved his
+napkin above his head.
+
+“Long live the king!” he cried. “God save Leopold of Lutha!”
+
+And amid the din of cheering that followed, Barney Custer of Beatrice
+and Lieutenant Butzow of the Royal Horse rode out into the night upon
+the road to Tafelberg.
+
+When Peter of Blentz had escaped from the cathedral he had hastily
+mounted with a handful of his followers and hurried out of Lustadt
+along the road toward his formidable fortress at Blentz. Half way upon
+the journey he had met a dusty and travel-stained horseman hastening
+toward the capital city that Peter and his lieutenants had just left.
+
+At sight of the prince regent the fellow reined in and saluted.
+
+“May I have a word in private with your highness?” he asked. “I have
+news of the greatest importance for your ears alone.”
+
+Peter drew to one side with the man.
+
+“Well,” he asked, “and what news have you for Peter of Blentz?”
+
+The man leaned from his horse close to Peter’s ear.
+
+“The king is in Tafelberg, your highness,” he said.
+
+“The king is dead,” snapped Peter. “There is an impostor in the palace
+at Lustadt. But the real Leopold of Lutha was slain by Yellow Franz’s
+band of brigands weeks ago.”
+
+“I heard the man at Tafelberg tell another that he was the king,”
+insisted the fellow. “Through the keyhole of his room I saw him take a
+great ring from his finger—a ring with a mighty ruby set in its
+center—and give it to the other. Both were bearded men with gray
+eyes—either might have passed for the king by the description upon the
+placards that have covered Lutha for the past month. At first he denied
+his identity, but when the other had convinced him that he sought only
+the king’s welfare he at last admitted that he was Leopold.”
+
+“Where is he now?” cried Peter.
+
+“He is still in the sanatorium at Tafelberg. In room twenty-seven. The
+other promised to return for him and take him to Lustadt, but when I
+left Tafelberg he had not yet done so, and if you hasten you may reach
+there before they take him away, and if there be any reward for my
+loyalty to you, prince, my name is Ferrath.”
+
+“Ride with us and if you have told the truth, fellow, there shall be a
+reward and if not—then there shall be deserts,” and Peter of Blentz
+wheeled his horse and with his company galloped on toward Tafelberg.
+
+As he rode he talked with his lieutenants Coblich, Maenck, and Stein,
+and among them it was decided that it would be best that Peter stop at
+Blentz for the night while the others rode on to Tafelberg.
+
+“Do not bring Leopold to Blentz,” directed Peter, “for if it be he who
+lies at Tafelberg and they find him gone it will be toward Blentz that
+they will first look. Take him—”
+
+The Regent leaned from his saddle so that his mouth was close to the
+ear of Coblich, that none of the troopers might hear.
+
+Coblich nodded his head.
+
+“And, Coblich, the fewer that ride to Tafelberg tonight the surer the
+success of the mission. Take Maenck, Stein and one other with you. I
+shall keep this man with me, for it may prove but a plot to lure me to
+Tafelberg.”
+
+Peter scowled at the now frightened hospital attendant.
+
+“Tomorrow I shall be riding through the lowlands, Coblich, and so you
+may not find means to communicate with me, but before noon of the fifth
+have word at your town house in Lustadt for me of the success of your
+venture.”
+
+They had reached the point now where the road to Tafelberg branches
+from that to Blentz, and the four who were to fetch the king wheeled
+their horses into the left-hand fork and cantered off upon their
+mission.
+
+The direct road between Lustadt and Tafelberg is but little more than
+half the distance of that which Coblich and his companions had to
+traverse because of the wide detour they had made by riding almost to
+Blentz first, and so it was that when they cantered into the little
+mountain town near midnight Barney Custer and Lieutenant Butzow were
+but a mile or two behind them.
+
+Had the latter had even the faintest of suspicions that the identity of
+the hiding place of the king might come to the knowledge of Peter of
+Blentz they could have reached Tafelberg ahead of Coblich and his
+party, but all unsuspecting they rode slowly to conserve the energy of
+their mounts for the return trip.
+
+In silence the two men approached the grounds surrounding the
+sanatorium. In the soft dirt of the road the hoofs of their mounts made
+no sound, and the shadows of the trees that border the front of the
+enclosure hid them from the view of the trooper who held four riderless
+horses in a little patch of moonlight that broke through the opening in
+the trees at the main gate of the institution.
+
+Barney was the first to see the animals and the man.
+
+“S-s-st,” he hissed, reining in his horse.
+
+Butzow drew alongside the American.
+
+“What can it mean?” asked Barney. “That fellow is a trooper, but I
+cannot make out his uniform.”
+
+“Wait here,” said Butzow, and slipping from his horse he crept closer
+to the man, hugging the dense shadows close to the trees.
+
+Barney reined in nearer the low wall. From his saddle he could see the
+grounds beyond through the branches of a tree. As he looked his
+attention was suddenly riveted upon a sight that sent his heart into
+his throat.
+
+Three men were dragging a struggling, half-naked figure down the gravel
+walk from the sanatorium toward the gate. One kept a hand clapped
+across the mouth of the prisoner, who struck and fought his assailants
+with all the frenzy of despair.
+
+Barney leaped from his saddle and ran headlong after Butzow. The
+lieutenant had reached the gate but an instant ahead of him when the
+trooper, turning suddenly at some slight sound of the officer’s foot
+upon the ground, detected the man creeping upon him. In an instant the
+fellow had whipped out a revolver, and raising it fired point-blank at
+Butzow’s chest; but in the same instant a figure shot out of the
+shadows beside him, and with the report of the revolver a heavy fist
+caught the trooper on the side of the chin, crumpling him to the ground
+as if he were dead.
+
+The blow had been in time to deflect the muzzle of the firearm, and the
+bullet whistled harmlessly past the lieutenant.
+
+“Your majesty!” exclaimed Butzow excitedly. “Go back. He might have
+killed you.”
+
+Barney leaped to the other’s side and grasping him by the shoulders
+wheeled him about so that he faced the gate.
+
+“There, Butzow,” he cried, “there is your king, and from the looks of
+it he never needed a loyal subject more than he does this moment.
+Come!” Without waiting to see if the other followed him, Barney Custer
+leaped through the gate full in the faces of the astonished trio that
+was dragging Leopold of Lutha from his sanctuary.
+
+At sight of the American the king gave a muffled cry of relief, and
+then Barney was upon those who held him. A stinging uppercut lifted
+Coblich clear of the ground to drop him, dazed and bewildered, at the
+foot of the monarch he had outraged. Maenck drew a revolver only to
+have it struck from his hand by the sword of Butzow, who had followed
+closely upon the American’s heels.
+
+Barney, seizing the king by the arm, started on a run for the gateway.
+In his wake came Butzow with a drawn sword beating back Stein, who was
+armed with a cavalry saber, and Maenck who had now drawn his own sword.
+
+The American saw that the two were pressing Butzow much too closely for
+safety and that Coblich had now recovered from the effects of the blow
+and was in pursuit, drawing his saber as he ran. Barney thrust the king
+behind him and turned to face the enemy, at Butzow’s side.
+
+The three men rushed upon the two who stood between them and their
+prey. The moonlight was now full in the faces of Butzow and the
+American. For the first time Maenck and the others saw who it was that
+had interrupted them.
+
+“The impostor!” cried the governor of Blentz. “The false king!”
+
+Imbued with temporary courage by the knowledge that his side had the
+advantage of superior numbers he launched himself full upon the
+American. To his surprise he met a sword-arm that none might have
+expected in an American, for Barney Custer had been a pupil of the
+redoubtable Colonel Monstery, who was, as Barney was wont to say, “one
+of the thanwhomest of fencing masters.”
+
+Quickly Maenck fell back to give place to Stein, but not before the
+American’s point had found him twice to leave him streaming blood from
+two deep flesh wounds.
+
+Neither of those who fought in the service of the king saw the
+trembling, weak-kneed figure, which had stood behind them, turn and
+scurry through the gateway, leaving the men who battled for him to
+their fate.
+
+The trooper whom Barney had felled had regained consciousness and as he
+came to his feet rubbing his swollen jaw he saw a disheveled,
+half-dressed figure running toward him from the sanatorium grounds. The
+fellow was no fool, and knowing the purpose of the expedition as he did
+he was quick to jump to the conclusion that this fleeing
+personification of abject terror was Leopold of Lutha; and so it was
+that as the king emerged from the gateway in search of freedom he ran
+straight into the widespread arms of the trooper.
+
+Maenck and Coblich had seen the king’s break for liberty, and the
+latter maneuvered to get himself between Butzow and the open gate that
+he might follow after the fleeing monarch.
+
+At the same instant Maenck, seeing that Stein was being worsted by the
+American, rushed in upon the latter, and thus relieved, the rat-faced
+doctor was enabled to swing a heavy cut at Barney which struck him a
+glancing blow upon the head, sending him stunned and bleeding to the
+sward.
+
+Coblich and the governor of Blentz hastened toward the gate, pausing
+for an instant to overwhelm Butzow. In the fierce scrimmage that
+followed the lieutenant was overthrown, though not before his sword had
+passed through the heart of the rat-faced one. Deserting their fallen
+comrade the two dashed through the gate, where to their immense relief
+they found Leopold safe in the hands of the trooper.
+
+An instant later the precious trio, with Leopold upon the horse of the
+late Dr. Stein, were galloping swiftly into the darkness of the wood
+that lies at the outskirts of Tafelberg.
+
+When Barney regained consciousness he found himself upon a cot within
+the sanatorium. Close beside him lay Butzow, and above them stood an
+interne and several nurses. No sooner had the American regained his
+scattered wits than he leaped to the floor. The interne and the nurses
+tried to force him back upon the cot, thinking that he was in the
+throes of a delirium, and it required his best efforts to convince them
+that he was quite rational.
+
+During the melee Butzow regained consciousness; his wound being as
+superficial as that of the American, the two men were soon donning
+their clothing, and, half-dressed, rushing toward the outer gate.
+
+The interne had told them that when he had reached the scene of the
+conflict in company with the gardener he had found them and another
+lying upon the sward.
+
+Their companion, he said, was quite dead.
+
+“That must have been Stein,” said Butzow. “And the others had escaped
+with the king!”
+
+“The king?” cried the interne.
+
+“Yes, the king, man—Leopold of Lutha. Did you not know that he who has
+lain here for three weeks was the king?” replied Butzow.
+
+The interne accompanied them to the gate and beyond, but everywhere was
+silence. The king was gone.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+ON THE BATTLEFIELD
+
+
+All that night and the following day Barney Custer and his aide rode in
+search of the missing king.
+
+They came to Blentz, and there Butzow rode boldly into the great court,
+admitted by virtue of the fact that the guard upon the gate knew him
+only as an officer of the royal guard whom they believed still loyal to
+Peter of Blentz.
+
+The lieutenant learned that the king was not there, nor had he been
+since his escape. He also learned that Peter was abroad in the lowland
+recruiting followers to aid him forcibly to regain the crown of Lutha.
+
+The lieutenant did not wait to hear more, but, hurrying from the
+castle, rode to Barney where the latter had remained in hiding in the
+wood below the moat—the same wood through which he had stumbled a few
+weeks previously after his escape from the stagnant waters of the moat.
+
+“The king is not here,” said Butzow to him, as soon as the former
+reached his side. “Peter is recruiting an army to aid him in seizing
+the palace at Lustadt, and king or no king, we must ride for the
+capital in time to check that move. Thank God,” he added, “that we
+shall have a king to place upon the throne of Lutha at noon tomorrow in
+spite of all that Peter can do.”
+
+“What do you mean?” asked Barney. “Have you any clue to the whereabouts
+of Leopold?”
+
+“I saw the man at Tafelberg whom you say is king,” replied Butzow. “I
+saw him tremble and whimper in the face of danger. I saw him run when
+he might have seized something, even a stone, and fought at the sides
+of the men who were come to rescue him. And I saw you there also.
+
+“The truth and the falsity of this whole strange business is beyond me,
+but this I know: if you are not the king today I pray God that the
+other may not find his way to Lustadt before noon tomorrow, for by then
+a brave man will sit upon the throne of Lutha, your majesty.”
+
+Barney laid his hand upon the shoulder of the other.
+
+“It cannot be, my friend,” he said. “There is more than a throne at
+stake for me, but to win them both I could not do the thing you
+suggest. If Leopold of Lutha lives he must be crowned tomorrow.”
+
+“And if he does not live?” asked Butzow.
+
+Barney Custer shrugged his shoulders.
+
+It was dusk when the two entered the palace grounds in Lustadt. The
+sight of Barney threw the servants and functionaries of the royal
+household into wild excitement and confusion. Men ran hither and
+thither bearing the glad tidings that the king had returned.
+
+Old von der Tann was announced within ten minutes after Barney reached
+his apartments. He urged upon the American the necessity for greater
+caution in the future.
+
+“Your majesty’s life is never safe while Peter of Blentz is abroad in
+Lutha,” cried he.
+
+“It was to save your king from Peter that we rode from Lustadt last
+night,” replied Barney, but the old prince did not catch the double
+meaning of the words.
+
+While they talked a young officer of cavalry begged an audience. He had
+important news for the king, he said. From him Barney learned that
+Peter of Blentz had succeeded in recruiting a fair-sized army in the
+lowlands. Two regiments of government infantry and a squadron of
+cavalry had united forces with him, for there were those who still
+accepted him as regent, believing his contention that the true king was
+dead, and that he whose coronation was to be attempted was but the
+puppet of old Von der Tann.
+
+The morning of November 5 broke clear and cold. The old town of Lustadt
+was awakened with a start at daybreak by the booming of cannon. Mounted
+messengers galloped hither and thither through the steep, winding
+streets. Troops, foot and horse, moved at the double from the barracks
+along the King’s Road to the fortifications which guard the entrance to
+the city at the foot of Margaretha Street.
+
+Upon the heights above the town Barney Custer and the old Prince von
+der Tann stood surrounded by officers and aides watching the advance of
+a skirmish line up the slopes toward Lustadt. Behind, the thin line
+columns of troops were marching under cover of two batteries of field
+artillery that Peter of Blentz had placed upon a wooden knoll to the
+southeast of the city.
+
+The guns upon the single fort that, overlooking the broad valley,
+guarded the entire southern exposure of the city were answering the
+fire of Prince Peter’s artillery, while several machine guns had been
+placed to sweep the slope up which the skirmish line was advancing.
+
+The trees that masked the enemy’s pieces extended upward along the
+ridge and the eastern edge of the city. Barney saw that a force of men
+might easily reach a commanding position from that direction and enter
+Lustadt almost in rear of the fortifications. Below him a squadron of
+the Royal Horse were just emerging from their stables, taking their way
+toward the plain to join in a concerted movement against the troops
+that were advancing toward the fort.
+
+He turned to an aide de camp standing just behind him.
+
+“Intercept that squadron and direct the major to move due east along
+the King’s Road to the grove,” he commanded. “We will join him there.”
+
+And as the officer spurred down the steep and narrow street the
+American, followed by Von der Tann and his staff, wheeled and galloped
+eastward.
+
+Ten minutes later the party entered the wood at the edge of town, where
+the squadron soon joined them. Von der Tann was mystified at the
+purpose of this change in the position of the general staff, since from
+the wood they could see nothing of the battle waging upon the slope.
+During his brief intercourse with the man he thought king he had quite
+forgotten that there had been any question as to the young man’s
+sanity, for he had given no indication of possessing aught but a
+well-balanced mind. Now, however, he commenced to have misgivings, if
+not of his sanity, then as to his judgment at least.
+
+“I fear, your majesty,” he ventured, “that we are putting ourselves too
+much out of touch with the main body of the army. We can neither see
+nor accomplish anything from this position.”
+
+“We were too far away to accomplish much upon the top of that
+mountain,” replied Barney, “but we’re going to commence doing things
+now. You will please to ride back along the King’s Road and take direct
+command of the troops mobilized near the fort.
+
+“Direct the artillery to redouble their fire upon the enemy’s battery
+for five minutes, and then to cease firing into the wood entirely. At
+the same instant you may order a cautious advance against the troops
+advancing up the slope.
+
+“When you see us emerge upon the west side of the grove where the
+enemy’s guns are now, you may order a charge, and we will take them
+simultaneously upon their right flank with a cavalry charge.”
+
+“But, your majesty,” exclaimed Von der Tann dubiously, “where will you
+be in the mean time?”
+
+“We shall be with the major’s squadron, and when you see us emerging
+from the grove, you will know that we have taken Peter’s guns and that
+everything is over except the shouting.”
+
+“You are not going to accompany the charge!” cried the old prince.
+
+“We are going to lead it,” and the pseudo-king of Lutha wheeled his
+mount as though to indicate that the time for talking was past.
+
+With a signal to the major commanding the squadron of Royal Horse, he
+moved eastward into the wood. Prince Ludwig hesitated a moment as
+though to question further the wisdom of the move, but finally with a
+shake of his head he trotted off in the direction of the fort.
+
+Five minutes later the enemy were delighted to note that the fire upon
+their concealed battery had suddenly ceased.
+
+Then Peter saw a force of foot-soldiers deploy from the city and
+advance slowly in line of skirmishers down the slope to meet his own
+firing line.
+
+Immediately he did what Barney had expected that he would—turned the
+fire of his artillery toward the southwest, directly away from the
+point from which the American and the crack squadron were advancing.
+
+So it came that the cavalrymen crept through the woods upon the rear of
+the guns, unseen; the noise of their advance was drowned by the
+detonation of the cannon.
+
+The first that the artillerymen knew of the enemy in their rear was a
+shout of warning from one of the powder-men at a caisson, who had
+caught a glimpse of the grim line advancing through the trees at his
+rear.
+
+Instantly an effort was made to wheel several of the pieces about and
+train them upon the advancing horsemen; but even had there been time, a
+shout that rose from several of Peter’s artillerymen as the Royal Horse
+broke into full view would doubtless have prevented the maneuver, for
+at sight of the tall, bearded, young man who galloped in front of the
+now charging cavalrymen there rose a shout of “The king! The king!”
+
+With the force of an avalanche the Royal Horse rode through those two
+batteries of field artillery; and in the thick of the fight that
+followed rode the American, a smile upon his face, for in his ears rang
+the wild shouts of his troopers: “For the king! For the king!”
+
+In the moment that the enemy made their first determined stand a bullet
+brought down the great bay upon which Barney rode. A dozen of Peter’s
+men rushed forward to seize the man stumbling to his feet. As many more
+of the Royal Horse closed around him, and there, for five minutes, was
+waged as fierce a battle for possession of a king as was ever fought.
+
+But already many of the artillerymen had deserted the guns that had not
+yet been attacked, for the magic name of king had turned their blood to
+water. Fifty or more raised a white flag and surrendered without
+striking a blow, and when, at last, Barney and his little bodyguard
+fought their way through those who surrounded them they found the
+balance of the field already won.
+
+Upon the slope below the city the loyal troops were advancing upon the
+enemy. Old Prince Ludwig paced back and forth behind them, apparently
+oblivious to the rain of bullets about him. Every moment he turned his
+eyes toward the wooded ridge from which there now belched an almost
+continuous fusillade of shells upon the advancing royalists.
+
+Quite suddenly the cannonading ceased and the old man halted in his
+tracks, his gaze riveted upon the wood. For several minutes he saw no
+sign of what was transpiring behind that screen of sere and yellow
+autumn leaves, and then a man came running out, and after him another
+and another.
+
+The prince raised his field glasses to his eyes. He almost cried aloud
+in his relief—the uniforms of the fugitives were those of artillerymen,
+and only cavalry had accompanied the king. A moment later there
+appeared in the center of his lenses a tall figure with a full beard.
+He rode, swinging his saber above his head, and behind him at full
+gallop came a squadron of the Royal Horse.
+
+Old von der Tann could restrain himself no longer.
+
+“The king! The king!” he cried to those about him, pointing in the
+direction of the wood.
+
+The officers gathered there and the soldiery before him heard and took
+up the cry, and then from the old man’s lips came the command,
+“Charge!” and a thousand men tore down the slopes of Lustadt upon the
+forces of Peter of Blentz, while from the east the king charged their
+right flank at the head of the Royal Horse.
+
+Peter of Blentz saw that the day was lost, for the troops upon the
+right were crumpling before the false king while he and his cavalrymen
+were yet a half mile distant. Before the retreat could become a rout
+the prince regent ordered his forces to fall back slowly upon a suburb
+that lies in the valley below the city.
+
+Once safely there he raised a white flag, asking a conference with
+Prince Ludwig.
+
+“Your majesty,” said the old man, “what answer shall we send the
+traitor who even now ignores the presence of his king?”
+
+“Treat with him,” replied the American. “He may be honest enough in his
+belief that I am an impostor.”
+
+Von der Tann shrugged his shoulders, but did as Barney bid, and for
+half an hour the young man waited with Butzow while Von der Tann and
+Peter met halfway between the forces for their conference.
+
+A dozen members of the most powerful of the older nobility accompanied
+Ludwig. When they returned their faces were a picture of puzzled
+bewilderment. With them were several officers, soldiers and civilians
+from Peter’s contingency.
+
+“What said he?” asked Barney.
+
+“He said, your majesty,” replied Von der Tann, “that he is confident
+you are not the king, and that these men he has sent with me knew the
+king well at Blentz. As proof that you are not the king he has offered
+the evidence of your own denials—made not only to his officers and
+soldiers, but to the man who is now your loyal lieutenant, Butzow, and
+to the Princess Emma von der Tann, my daughter.
+
+“He insists that he is fighting for the welfare of Lutha, while we are
+traitors, attempting to seat an impostor upon the throne of the dead
+Leopold. I will admit that we are at a loss, your majesty, to know
+where lies the truth and where the falsity in this matter.
+
+“We seek only to serve our country and our king but there are those
+among us who, to be entirely frank, are not yet convinced that you are
+Leopold. The result of the conference may not, then, meet with the
+hearty approval of your majesty.”
+
+“What was the result?” asked Barney.
+
+“It was decided that all hostilities cease, and that Prince Peter be
+given an opportunity to establish the validity of his claim that your
+majesty is an impostor. If he is able to do so to the entire
+satisfaction of a majority of the old nobility, we have agreed to
+support him in a return to his regency.”
+
+For a moment there was deep silence. Many of the nobles stood with
+averted faces and eyes upon the ground.
+
+The American, a half-smile upon his face, turned toward the men of
+Peter who had come to denounce him. He knew what their verdict would
+be. He knew that if he were to save the throne for Leopold he must hold
+it at any cost until Leopold should be found.
+
+Troopers were scouring the country about Lustadt as far as Blentz in
+search of Maenck and Coblich. Could they locate these two and arrest
+them “with all found in their company,” as his order read, he felt sure
+that he would be able to deliver the missing king to his subjects in
+time for the coronation at noon.
+
+Barney looked straight into the eyes of old Von der Tann.
+
+“You have given us the opinion of others, Prince Ludwig,” he said. “Now
+you may tell us your own views of the matter.”
+
+“I shall have to abide by the decision of the majority,” replied the
+old man. “But I have seen your majesty under fire, and if you are not
+the king, for Lutha’s sake you ought to be.”
+
+“He is not Leopold,” said one of the officers who had accompanied the
+prince from Peter’s camp. “I was governor of Blentz for three years and
+as familiar with the king’s face as with that of my own brother.”
+
+“No,” cried several of the others, “this man is not the king.”
+
+Several of the nobles drew away from Barney. Others looked at him
+questioningly.
+
+Butzow stepped close to his side, and it was noticeable that the
+troopers, and even the officers, of the Royal Horse which Barney had
+led in the charge upon the two batteries in the wood, pressed a little
+closer to the American. This fact did not escape Butzow’s notice.
+
+“If you are content to take the word of the servants of a traitor and a
+would-be regicide,” he cried, “I am not. There has been no proof
+advanced that this man is not the king. In so far as I am concerned he
+is the king, nor ever do I expect to serve another more worthy of the
+title.
+
+“If Peter of Blentz has real proof—not the testimony of his own
+faction—that Leopold of Lutha is dead, let him bring it forward before
+noon today, for at noon we shall crown a king in the cathedral at
+Lustadt, and I for one pray to God that it may be he who has led us in
+battle today.”
+
+A shout of applause rose from the Royal Horse, and from the
+foot-soldiers who had seen the king charge across the plain, scattering
+the enemy before him.
+
+Barney, appreciating the advantage in the sudden turn affairs had taken
+following Butzow’s words, swung to his saddle.
+
+“Until Peter of Blentz brings to Lustadt one with a better claim to the
+throne,” he said, “we shall continue to rule Lutha, nor shall other
+than Leopold be crowned her king. We approve of the amnesty you have
+granted, Prince Ludwig, and Peter of Blentz is free to enter Lustadt,
+as he will, so long as he does not plot against the true king.
+
+“Major,” he added, turning to the commander of the squadron at his
+back, “we are returning to the palace. Your squadron will escort us,
+remaining on guard there about the grounds. Prince Ludwig, you will see
+that machine guns are placed about the palace and commanding the
+approaches to the cathedral.”
+
+With a nod to the cavalry major he wheeled his horse and trotted up the
+slope toward Lustadt.
+
+With a grim smile Prince Ludwig von der Tann mounted his horse and rode
+toward the fort. At his side were several of the nobles of Lutha. They
+looked at him in astonishment.
+
+“You are doing his bidding, although you do not know that he is the
+true king?” asked one of them.
+
+“Were he an impostor,” replied the old man, “he would have insisted by
+word of mouth that he is king. But not once has he said that he is
+Leopold. Instead, he has proved his kingship by his acts.”
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+A TIMELY INTERVENTION
+
+
+Nine o’clock found Barney Custer pacing up and down his apartments in
+the palace. No clue as to the whereabouts of Coblich, Maenck or the
+king had been discovered. One by one his troopers had returned to
+Butzow empty-handed, and as much at a loss as to the hiding-place of
+their quarry as when they had set out upon their search.
+
+Peter of Blentz and his retainers had entered the city and already had
+commenced to gather at the cathedral.
+
+Peter, at the residence of Coblich, had succeeded in gathering about
+him many of the older nobility whom he pledged to support him in case
+he could prove to them that the man who occupied the royal palace was
+not Leopold of Lutha.
+
+They agreed to support him in his regency if he produced proof that the
+true Leopold was dead, and Peter of Blentz waited with growing anxiety
+the coming of Coblich with word that he had the king in custody. Peter
+was staking all on a single daring move which he had decided to make in
+his game of intrigue.
+
+As Barney paced within the palace, waiting for word that Leopold had
+been found, Peter of Blentz was filled with equal apprehension as he,
+too, waited for the same tidings. At last he heard the pound of hoofs
+upon the pavement without and a moment later Coblich, his clothing
+streaked with dirt, blood caked upon his face from a wound across the
+forehead, rushed into the presence of the prince regent.
+
+Peter drew him hurriedly into a small study on the first floor.
+
+“Well?” he whispered, as the two faced each other.
+
+“We have him,” replied Coblich. “But we had the devil’s own time
+getting him. Stein was killed and Maenck and I both wounded, and all
+morning we have spent the time hiding from troopers who seemed to be
+searching for us. Only fifteen minutes since did we reach the
+hiding-place that you instructed us to use. But we have him, your
+highness, and he is in such a state of cowardly terror that he is ready
+to agree to anything, if you will but spare his life and set him free
+across the border.”
+
+“It is too late for that now, Coblich,” replied Peter. “There is but
+one way that Leopold of Lutha can serve me now, and that is—dead. Were
+his corpse to be carried into the cathedral of Lustadt before noon
+today, and were those who fetched it to swear that the king was killed
+by the impostor after being dragged from the hospital at Tafelberg
+where you and Maenck had located him, and from which you were
+attempting to rescue him, I believe that the people would tear our
+enemies to pieces. What say you, Coblich?”
+
+The other stared at Peter of Blentz for several seconds while the
+atrocity of his chief’s plan filtered through his brain.
+
+“My God!” he exclaimed at last. “You mean that you wish me to murder
+Leopold with my own hands?”
+
+“You put it too crudely, my dear Coblich,” replied the other.
+
+“I cannot do it,” muttered Coblich. “I have never killed a man in my
+life. I am getting old. No, I could never do it. I should not sleep
+nights.”
+
+“If it is not done, Coblich, and Leopold comes into his own,” said
+Peter slowly, “you will be caught and hanged higher than Haman. And if
+you do not do it, and the impostor is crowned today, then you will be
+either hanged officially or knifed unofficially, and without any choice
+in the matter whatsoever. Nothing, Coblich, but the dead body of the
+true Leopold can save your neck. You have your choice, therefore, of
+letting him live to prove your treason, or letting him die and becoming
+chancellor of Lutha.”
+
+Slowly Coblich turned toward the door. “You are right,” he said, “but
+may God have mercy on my soul. I never thought that I should have to do
+it with my own hands.”
+
+So saying he left the room and a moment later Peter of Blentz smiled as
+he heard the pounding of a horse’s hoofs upon the pavement without.
+
+Then the Regent entered the room he had recently quitted and spoke to
+the nobles of Lutha who were gathered there.
+
+“Coblich has found the body of the murdered king,” he said. “I have
+directed him to bring it to the cathedral. He came upon the impostor
+and his confederate, Lieutenant Butzow, as they were bearing the corpse
+from the hospital at Tafelberg where the king has lain unknown since
+the rumor was spread by Von der Tann that he had been killed by
+bandits.
+
+“He was not killed until last evening, my lords, and you shall see
+today the fresh wounds upon him. When the time comes that we can
+present this grisly evidence of the guilt of the impostor and those who
+uphold him, I shall expect you all to stand at my side, as you have
+promised.”
+
+With one accord the noblemen pledged anew their allegiance to Peter of
+Blentz if he could produce one-quarter of the evidence he claimed to
+possess.
+
+“All that we wish to know positively is,” said one, “that the man who
+bears the title of king today is really Leopold of Lutha, or that he is
+not. If not then he stands convicted of treason, and we shall know how
+to conduct ourselves.”
+
+Together the party rode to the cathedral, the majority of the older
+nobility now openly espousing the cause of the Regent.
+
+At the palace Barney was about distracted. Butzow was urging him to
+take the crown whether he was Leopold or not, for the young lieutenant
+saw no hope for Lutha, if either the scoundrelly Regent or the cowardly
+man whom Barney had assured him was the true king should come into
+power.
+
+It was eleven o’clock. In another hour Barney knew that he must have
+found some new solution of his dilemma, for there seemed little
+probability that the king would be located in the brief interval that
+remained before the coronation. He wondered what they did to people who
+stole thrones. For a time he figured his chances of reaching the border
+ahead of the enraged populace. All had depended upon the finding of the
+king, and he had been so sure that it could be accomplished in time,
+for Coblich and Maenck had had but a few hours in which to conceal the
+monarch before the search was well under way.
+
+Armed with the king’s warrants, his troopers had ridden through the
+country, searching houses, and questioning all whom they met. Patrols
+had guarded every road that the fugitives might take either to Lustadt,
+Blentz, or the border; but no king had been found and no trace of his
+abductors.
+
+Prince von der Tann, Barney was convinced, was on the point of
+deserting him, and going over to the other side. It was true that the
+old man had carried out his instructions relative to the placing of the
+machine guns; but they might be used as well against him, where they
+stood, as for him.
+
+From his window he could see the broad avenue which passes before the
+royal palace of Lutha. It was crowded with throngs moving toward the
+cathedral. Presently there came a knock upon the closed door of his
+chamber.
+
+At his “Enter” a functionary announced: “His Royal Highness Ludwig,
+Prince von der Tann!”
+
+The old man was much perturbed at the rumors he had heard relative to
+the assassination of the true Leopold. Soldier-like, he blurted out his
+suspicions and his ultimatum.
+
+“None but the royal blood of Rubinroth may reign in Lutha while there
+be a Rubinroth left to reign and old Von der Tann lives,” he cried in
+conclusion.
+
+At the name “Rubinroth” Barney started. It was his mother’s name.
+Suddenly the truth flashed upon him. He understood now the reticence of
+both his father and mother relative to her early life.
+
+“Prince Ludwig,” said the young man earnestly, “I have only the good of
+Lutha in my heart. For three weeks I have labored and risked death a
+hundred times to place the legitimate heir to the crown of Lutha upon
+his throne. I—”
+
+He hesitated, not knowing just how to commence the confession he was
+determined to make, though he was positive that it would place Peter of
+Blentz upon the throne, since the old prince had promised to support
+the Regent could it be proved that Barney was an impostor.
+
+“I,” he started again, and then there came an interruption at the door.
+
+“A messenger, your majesty,” announced the doorman, “who says that he
+must have audience at once upon a matter of life and death to the
+king.”
+
+“We will see him in the ante-chamber,” replied Barney, moving toward
+the door. “Await us here, Prince Ludwig.”
+
+A moment later he re-entered the apartment. There was an expression of
+renewed hope upon his face.
+
+“As we were about to remark, my dear prince,” he said, “I swear that
+the royal blood of the Rubinroths flows in my veins, and as God is my
+judge, none other than the true Leopold of Lutha shall be crowned
+today. And now we must prepare for the coronation. If there be trouble
+in the cathedral, Prince Ludwig, we look to your sword in protection of
+the king.”
+
+“When I am with you, sire,” said Von der Tann, “I know that you are
+king. When I saw how you led the troops in battle, I prayed that there
+could be no mistake. God give that I am right. But God help you if you
+are playing with old Ludwig von der Tann.”
+
+When the old man had left the apartment Barney summoned an aide and
+sent for Butzow. Then he hurried to the bath that adjoined the
+apartment, and when the lieutenant of horse was announced Barney called
+through a soapy lather for his confederate to enter.
+
+“What are you doing, sire?” cried Butzow in amazement.
+
+“Cut out the ‘sire,’ old man,” shouted Barney Custer of Beatrice. “this
+is the fifth of November and I am shaving off this alfalfa. The king is
+found!”
+
+“What?” cried Butzow, and upon his face there was little to indicate
+the rejoicing that a loyal subject of Leopold of Lutha should have felt
+at that announcement.
+
+“There is a man in the next room,” went on Barney, “who can lead us to
+the spot where Coblich and Maenck guard the king. Get him in here.”
+
+Butzow hastened to comply with the American’s instructions, and a
+moment later returned to the apartment with the old shopkeeper of
+Tafelberg.
+
+As Barney shaved he issued directions to the two. Within the room to
+the east, he said, there were the king’s coronation robes, and in a
+smaller dressingroom beyond they would find a long gray cloak.
+
+They were to wrap all these in a bundle which the old shopkeeper was to
+carry.
+
+“And, Butzow,” added Barney, “look to my revolvers and your own, and
+lay my sword out as well. The chances are that we shall have to use
+them before we are ten minutes older.”
+
+In an incredibly short space of time the young man emerged from the
+bath, his luxuriant beard gone forever, he hoped. Butzow looked at him
+with a smile.
+
+“I must say that the beard did not add greatly to your majesty’s good
+looks,” he said.
+
+“Never mind the bouquets, old man,” cried Barney, cramming his arms
+into the sleeves of his khaki jacket and buckling sword and revolver
+about him, as he hurried toward a small door that opened upon the
+opposite side of the apartment to that through which his visitors had
+been conducted.
+
+Together the three hastened through a narrow, little-used corridor and
+down a flight of well-worn stone steps to a door that let upon the rear
+court of the palace.
+
+There were grooms and servants there, and soldiers too, who saluted
+Butzow, according the old shopkeeper and the smooth-faced young
+stranger only cursory glances. It was evident that without his beard it
+was not likely that Barney would be again mistaken for the king.
+
+At the stables Butzow requisitioned three horses, and soon the trio was
+galloping through a little-frequented street toward the northern, hilly
+environs of Lustadt. They rode in silence until they came to an old
+stone building, whose boarded windows and general appearance of
+dilapidation proclaimed its long tenantless condition. Rank weeds, now
+rustling dry and yellow in the November wind, choked what once might
+have been a luxuriant garden. A stone wall, which had at one time
+entirely surrounded the grounds, had been almost completely removed
+from the front to serve as foundation stone for a smaller edifice
+farther down the mountainside.
+
+The horsemen avoided this break in the wall, coming up instead upon the
+rear side where their approach was wholly screened from the building by
+the wall upon that exposure.
+
+Close in they dismounted, and leaving the animals in charge of the
+shopkeeper of Tafelberg, Barney and Butzow hastened toward a small
+postern-gate which swung, groaning, upon a single rusted hinge. Each
+felt that there was no time for caution or stratagem. Instead all
+depended upon the very boldness and rashness of their attack, and so as
+they came through into the courtyard the two dashed headlong for the
+building.
+
+Chance accomplished for them what no amount of careful execution might
+have done, and they came within the ruin unnoticed by the four who
+occupied the old, darkened library.
+
+Possibly the fact that one of the men had himself just entered and was
+excitedly talking to the others may have drowned the noisy approach of
+the two. However that may be, it is a fact that Barney and the cavalry
+officer came to the very door of the library unheard.
+
+There they halted, listening. Coblich was speaking.
+
+“The Regent commands it, Maenck,” he was saying. “It is the only thing
+that can save our necks. He said that you had better be the one to do
+it, since it was your carelessness that permitted the fellow to escape
+from Blentz.”
+
+Huddled in a far corner of the room was an abject figure trembling in
+terror. At the words of Coblich it staggered to its feet. It was the
+king.
+
+“Have pity—have pity!” he cried. “Do not kill me, and I will go away
+where none will ever know that I live. You can tell Peter that I am
+dead. Tell him anything, only spare my life. Oh, why did I ever listen
+to the cursed fool who tempted me to think of regaining the crown that
+has brought me only misery and suffering—the crown that has now placed
+the sentence of death upon me.”
+
+“Why not let him go?” suggested the trooper, who up to this time had
+not spoken. “If we don’t kill him, we can’t be hanged for his murder.”
+
+“Don’t be too sure of that,” exclaimed Maenck. “If he goes away and
+never returns, what proof can we offer that we did not kill him, should
+we be charged with the crime? And if we let him go, and later he
+returns and gains his throne, he will see that we are hanged anyway for
+treason.
+
+“The safest thing to do is to put him where he at least cannot come
+back to threaten us, and having done so upon the orders of Peter, let
+the king’s blood be upon Peter’s head. I, at least, shall obey my
+master, and let you two bear witness that I did the thing with my own
+hand.” So saying he drew his sword and crossed toward the king.
+
+But Captain Ernst Maenck never reached his sovereign.
+
+As the terrified shriek of the sorry monarch rang through the interior
+of the desolate ruin another sound mingled with it, half-drowning the
+piercing wail of terror.
+
+It was the sharp crack of a revolver, and even as it spoke Maenck
+lunged awkwardly forward, stumbled, and collapsed at Leopold’s feet.
+With a moan the king shrank back from the grisly thing that touched his
+boot, and then two men were in the center of the room, and things were
+happening with a rapidity that was bewildering.
+
+About all that he could afterward recall with any distinctness was the
+terrified face of Coblich, as he rushed past him toward a door in the
+opposite side of the room, and the horrid leer upon the face of the
+dead trooper, who foolishly, had made a move to draw his revolver.
+
+Within the cathedral at Lustadt excitement was at fever heat. It lacked
+but two minutes of noon, and as yet no king had come to claim the
+crown. Rumors were running riot through the close-packed audience.
+
+One man had heard the king’s chamberlain report to Prince von der Tann
+that the master of ceremonies had found the king’s apartments vacant
+when he had gone to urge the monarch to hasten his preparations for the
+coronation.
+
+Another had seen Butzow and two strangers galloping north through the
+city. A third told of a little old man who had come to the king with an
+urgent message.
+
+Peter of Blentz and Prince Ludwig were talking in whispers at the foot
+of the chancel steps. Peter ascended the steps and facing the
+assemblage raised a silencing hand.
+
+“He who claimed to be Leopold of Lutha,” he said, “was but a mad
+adventurer. He would have seized the throne of the Rubinroths had his
+nerve not failed him at the last moment. He has fled. The true king is
+dead. Now I, Prince Regent of Lutha, declare the throne vacant, and
+announce myself king!”
+
+There were a few scattered cheers and some hissing. A score of the
+nobles rose as though to protest, but before any could take a step the
+attention of all was directed toward the sorry figure of a white-faced
+man who scurried up the broad center aisle.
+
+It was Coblich.
+
+He ran to Peter’s side, and though he attempted to speak in a whisper,
+so out of breath, and so filled with hysterical terror was he that his
+words came out in gasps that were audible to many of those who stood
+near by.
+
+“Maenck is dead,” he cried. “The impostor has stolen the king.”
+
+Peter of Blentz went white as his lieutenant. Von der Tann heard and
+demanded an explanation.
+
+“You said that Leopold was dead,” he said accusingly.
+
+Peter regained his self-control quickly.
+
+“Coblich is excited,” he explained. “He means that the impostor has
+stolen the body of the king that Coblich and Maenck had discovered and
+were bringing to Lustadt.”
+
+Von der Tann looked troubled.
+
+He knew not what to make of the series of wild tales that had come to
+his ears within the past hour. He had hoped that the young man whom he
+had last seen in the king’s apartments was the true Leopold. He would
+have been glad to have served such a one, but there had been many
+inexplicable occurrences which tended to cast a doubt upon the man’s
+claims—and yet, had he ever claimed to be the king? It suddenly
+occurred to the old prince that he had not. On the contrary he had
+repeatedly stated to Prince Ludwig’s daughter and to Lieutenant Butzow
+that he was not Leopold.
+
+It seemed that they had all been so anxious to believe him king that
+they had forced the false position upon him, and now if he had indeed
+committed the atrocity that Coblich charged against him, who could
+wonder? With less provocation men had before attempted to seize thrones
+by more dastardly means.
+
+Peter of Blentz was speaking.
+
+“Let the coronation proceed,” he cried, “that Lutha may have a true
+king to frustrate the plans of the impostor and the traitors who had
+supported him.”
+
+He cast a meaning glance at Prince von der Tann.
+
+There were many cries for Peter of Blentz. “Let’s have done with
+treason, and place upon the throne of Lutha one whom we know to be both
+a Luthanian and sane. Down with the mad king! Down with the impostor!”
+
+Peter turned to ascend the chancel steps.
+
+Von der Tann still hesitated. Below him upon one side of the aisle were
+massed his own retainers. Opposite them were the men of the Regent, and
+dividing the two the parallel ranks of Horse Guards stretched from the
+chancel down the broad aisle to the great doors. These were strongly
+for the impostor, if impostor he was, who had led them to victory over
+the men of the Blentz faction.
+
+Von der Tann knew that they would fight to the last ditch for their
+hero should he come to claim the crown. Yet how would they fight—to
+which side would they cleave, were he to attempt to frustrate the
+design of the Regent to seize the throne of Lutha?
+
+Already Peter of Blentz had approached the bishop, who, eager to
+propitiate whoever seemed most likely to become king, gave the signal
+for the procession that was to mark the solemn bearing of the crown of
+Lutha up the aisle to the chancel.
+
+Outside the cathedral there was the sudden blare of trumpets. The great
+doors swung violently open, and the entire throng were upon their feet
+in an instant as a trooper of the Royal Horse shouted: “The king! The
+king! Make way for Leopold of Lutha!”
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+THE GRATITUDE OF A KING
+
+
+At the cry silence fell upon the throng. Every head was turned toward
+the great doors through which the head of a procession was just
+visible. It was a grim looking procession—the head of it, at least.
+
+There were four khaki-clad trumpeters from the Royal Horse Guards, the
+gay and resplendent uniforms which they should have donned today
+conspicuous for their absence. From their brazen bugles sounded another
+loud fanfare, and then they separated, two upon each side of the aisle,
+and between them marched three men.
+
+One was tall, with gray eyes and had a reddish-brown beard. He was
+fully clothed in the coronation robes of Leopold. Upon his either hand
+walked the others—Lieutenant Butzow and a gray-eyed, smooth-faced,
+square-jawed stranger.
+
+Behind them marched the balance of the Royal Horse Guards that were not
+already on duty within the cathedral. As the eyes of the multitude fell
+upon the man in the coronation robes there were cries of: “The king!
+Impostor!” and “Von der Tann’s puppet!”
+
+“Denounce him!” whispered one of Peter’s henchmen in his master’s ear.
+
+The Regent moved closer to the aisle, that he might meet the impostor
+at the foot of the chancel steps. The procession was moving steadily up
+the aisle.
+
+Among the clan of Von der Tann a young girl with wide eyes was bending
+forward that she might have a better look at the face of the king. As
+he came opposite her her eyes filled with horror, and then she saw the
+eyes of the smooth-faced stranger at the king’s side. They were brave,
+laughing eyes, and as they looked straight into her own the truth
+flashed upon her, and the girl gave a gasp of dismay as she realized
+that the king of Lutha and the king of her heart were not one and the
+same.
+
+At last the head of the procession was almost at the foot of the
+chancel steps. There were murmurs of: “It is not the king,” and “Who is
+this new impostor?”
+
+Leopold’s eyes were searching the faces of the close-packed nobility
+about the chancel. At last they fell upon the face of Peter. The young
+man halted not two paces from the Regent. The man went white as the
+king’s eyes bored straight into his miserable soul.
+
+“Peter of Blentz,” cried the young man, “as God is your judge, tell the
+truth today. Who am I?”
+
+The legs of the Prince Regent trembled. He sank upon his knees, raising
+his hands in supplication toward the other. “Have pity on me, your
+majesty, have pity!” he cried.
+
+“Who am I, man?” insisted the king.
+
+“You are Leopold Rubinroth, sire, by the grace of God, king of Lutha,”
+cried the frightened man. “Have mercy on an old man, your majesty.”
+
+“Wait! Am I mad? Was I ever mad?”
+
+“As God is my judge, sire, no!” replied Peter of Blentz.
+
+Leopold turned to Butzow.
+
+“Remove the traitor from our presence,” he commanded, and at a word
+from the lieutenant a dozen guardsmen seized the trembling man and
+hustled him from the cathedral amid hisses and execrations.
+
+Following the coronation the king was closeted in his private audience
+chamber in the palace with Prince Ludwig.
+
+“I cannot understand what has happened, even now, your majesty,” the
+old man was saying. “That you are the true Leopold is all that I am
+positive of, for the discomfiture of Prince Peter evidenced that fact
+all too plainly. But who the impostor was who ruled Lutha in your name
+for two days, disappearing as miraculously as he came, I cannot guess.
+
+“But for another miracle which preserved you for us in the nick of time
+he might now be wearing the crown of Lutha in your stead. Having Peter
+of Blentz safely in custody our next immediate task should be to hunt
+down the impostor and bring him to justice also; though”—and the old
+prince sighed—“he was indeed a brave man, and a noble figure of a king
+as he led your troops to battle.”
+
+The king had been smiling as Von der Tann first spoke of the
+“impostor,” but at the old man’s praise of the other’s bravery a slight
+flush tinged his cheek, and the shadow of a scowl crossed his brow.
+
+“Wait,” he said, “we shall not have to look far for your ‘impostor,’”
+and summoning an aide he dispatched him for “Lieutenant Butzow and Mr.
+Custer.”
+
+A moment later the two entered the audience chamber. Barney found that
+Leopold the king, surrounded by comforts and safety, was a very
+different person from Leopold the fugitive. The weak face now wore an
+expression of arrogance, though the king spoke most graciously to the
+American.
+
+“Here, Von der Tann,” said Leopold, “is your ‘impostor.’ But for him I
+should doubtless be dead by now, or once again a prisoner at Blentz.”
+
+Barney and Butzow found it necessary to repeat their stories several
+times before the old man could fully grasp all that had transpired
+beneath his very nose without his being aware of scarce a single detail
+of it.
+
+When he was finally convinced that they were telling the truth, he
+extended his hand to the American.
+
+“I knelt to you once, young man,” he said, “and kissed your hand. I
+should be filled with bitterness and rage toward you. On the contrary,
+I find that I am proud to have served in the retinue of such an
+impostor as you, for you upheld the prestige of the house of Rubinroth
+upon the battlefield, and though you might have had a crown, you
+refused it and brought the true king into his own.”
+
+Leopold sat tapping his foot upon the carpet. It was all very well if
+he, the king, chose to praise the American, but there was no need for
+old von der Tann to slop over so. The king did not like it. As a matter
+of fact, he found himself becoming very jealous of the man who had
+placed him upon his throne.
+
+“There is only one thing that I can harbor against you,” continued
+Prince Ludwig, “and that is that in a single instance you deceived me,
+for an hour before the coronation you told me that you were a
+Rubinroth.”
+
+“I told you, prince,” corrected Barney, “that the royal blood of
+Rubinroth flowed in my veins, and so it does. I am the son of the
+runaway Princess Victoria of Lutha.”
+
+Both Leopold and Ludwig looked their surprise, and to the king’s eyes
+came a sudden look of fear. With the royal blood in his veins, what was
+there to prevent this popular hero from some day striving for the
+throne he had once refused? Leopold knew that the minds of men were
+wont to change most unaccountably.
+
+“Butzow,” he said suddenly to the lieutenant of horse, “how many do you
+imagine know positively that he who has ruled Lutha for the past two
+days and he who was crowned in the cathedral this noon are not one and
+the same?”
+
+“Only a few besides those who are in this room, your majesty,” replied
+Butzow. “Peter and Coblich have known it from the first, and then there
+is Kramer, the loyal old shopkeeper of Tafelberg, who followed Coblich
+and Maenck all night and half a day as they dragged the king to the
+hiding-place where we found him. Other than these there may be those
+who guess the truth, but there are none who know.”
+
+For a moment the king sat in thought. Then he rose and commenced pacing
+back and forth the length of the apartment.
+
+“Why should they ever know?” he said at last, halting before the three
+men who had been standing watching him. “For the sake of Lutha they
+should never know that another than the true king sat upon the throne
+even for an hour.”
+
+He was thinking of the comparison that might be drawn between the
+heroic figure of the American and his own colorless part in the events
+which had led up to his coronation. In his heart of hearts he felt that
+old Von der Tann rather regretted that the American had not been the
+king, and he hated the old man accordingly, and was commencing to hate
+the American as well.
+
+Prince Ludwig stood looking at the carpet after the king had spoken.
+His judgment told him that the king’s suggestion was a wise one; but he
+was sorry and ashamed that it had come from Leopold. Butzow’s lips
+almost showed the contempt that he felt for the ingratitude of his
+king.
+
+Barney Custer was the first to speak.
+
+“I think his majesty is quite right,” he said, “and tonight I can leave
+the palace after dark and cross the border some time tomorrow evening.
+The people need never know the truth.”
+
+Leopold looked relieved.
+
+“We must reward you, Mr. Custer,” he said. “Name that which it lies
+within our power to grant you and it shall be yours.”
+
+Barney thought of the girl he loved; but he did not mention her name,
+for he knew that she was not for him now.
+
+“There is nothing, your majesty,” he said.
+
+“A money reward,” Leopold started to suggest, and then Barney Custer
+lost his temper.
+
+A flush mounted to his face, his chin went up, and there came to his
+lips bitter words of sarcasm. With an effort, however, he held his
+tongue, and, turning his back upon the king, his broad shoulders
+proclaiming the contempt he felt, he walked slowly out of the room.
+
+Von der Tann and Butzow and Leopold of Lutha stood in silence as the
+American passed out of sight beyond the portal.
+
+The manner of his going had been an affront to the king, and the young
+ruler had gone red with anger.
+
+“Butzow,” he cried, “bring the fellow back; he shall be taught a lesson
+in the deference that is due kings.”
+
+Butzow hesitated. “He has risked his life a dozen times for your
+majesty,” said the lieutenant.
+
+Leopold flushed.
+
+“Do not humiliate him, sire,” advised Von der Tann. “He has earned a
+greater reward at your hands than that.”
+
+The king resumed his pacing for a moment, coming to a halt once more
+before the two.
+
+“We shall take no notice of his insolence,” he said, “and that shall be
+our royal reward for his services. More than he deserves, we dare say,
+at that.”
+
+As Barney hastened through the palace on his way to his new quarters to
+obtain his arms and order his horse saddled, he came suddenly upon a
+girlish figure gazing sadly from a window upon the drear November
+world—her heart as sad as the day.
+
+At the sound of his footstep she turned, and as her eyes met the gray
+ones of the man she stood poised as though of half a mind to fly. For a
+moment neither spoke.
+
+“Can your highness forgive?” he asked.
+
+For answer the girl buried her face in her hands and dropped upon the
+cushioned window seat before her. The American came close and knelt at
+her side.
+
+“Don’t,” he begged as he saw her shoulders rise to the sudden sobbing
+that racked her slender frame. “Don’t!”
+
+He thought that she wept from mortification that she had given her
+kisses to another than the king.
+
+“None knows,” he continued, “what has passed between us. None but you
+and I need ever know. I tried to make you understand that I was not
+Leopold; but you would not believe. It is not my fault that I loved
+you. It is not my fault that I shall always love you. Tell me that you
+forgive me my part in the chain of strange circumstances that deceived
+you into an acknowledgment of a love that you intended for another.
+Forgive me, Emma!”
+
+Down the corridor behind them a tall figure approached on silent,
+noiseless feet. At sight of the two at the window seat it halted. It
+was the king.
+
+The girl looked up suddenly into the eyes of the American bending so
+close above her.
+
+“I can never forgive you,” she cried, “for not being the king, for I am
+betrothed to him—and I love you!”
+
+Before she could prevent him, Barney Custer had taken her in his arms,
+and though at first she made a pretense of attempting to escape, at
+last she lay quite still. Her arms found their way about the man’s
+neck, and her lips returned the kisses that his were showering upon her
+upturned mouth.
+
+Presently her glance wandered above the shoulder of the American, and
+of a sudden her eyes filled with terror, and, with a little gasp of
+consternation, she struggled to free herself.
+
+“Let me go!” she whispered. “Let me go—the king!”
+
+Barney sprang to his feet and, turning, faced Leopold. The king had
+gone quite white.
+
+“Failing to rob me of my crown,” he cried in a trembling voice, “you
+now seek to rob me of my betrothed! Go to your father at once, and as
+for you—you shall learn what it means for you thus to meddle in the
+affairs of kings.”
+
+Barney saw the terrible position in which his love had placed the
+Princess Emma. His only thought now was for her. Bowing low before her
+he spoke so that the king might hear, yet as though his words were for
+her ears alone.
+
+“Your highness knows the truth, now,” he said, “and that after all I am
+not the king. I can only ask that you will forgive me the deception.
+Now go to your father as the king commands.”
+
+Slowly the girl turned away. Her heart was torn between love for this
+man, and her duty toward the other to whom she had been betrothed in
+childhood. The hereditary instinct of obedience to her sovereign was
+strong within her, and the bonds of custom and society held her in
+their relentless shackles. With a sob she passed up the corridor,
+curtsying to the king as she passed him.
+
+When she had gone Leopold turned to the American. There was an evil
+look in the little gray eyes of the monarch.
+
+“You may go your way,” he said coldly. “We shall give you forty-eight
+hours to leave Lutha. Should you ever return your life shall be the
+forfeit.”
+
+The American kept back the hot words that were ready upon the end of
+his tongue. For her sake he must bow to fate. With a slight inclination
+of his head toward Leopold he wheeled and resumed his way toward his
+quarters.
+
+Half an hour later as he was about to descend to the courtyard where a
+trooper of the Royal Horse held his waiting mount, Butzow burst
+suddenly into his room.
+
+“For God’s sake,” cried the lieutenant, “get out of this. The king has
+changed his mind, and there is an officer of the guard on his way here
+now with a file of soldiers to place you under arrest. Leopold swears
+that he will hang you for treason. Princess Emma has spurned him, and
+he is wild with rage.”
+
+The dismal November twilight had given place to bleak night as two men
+cantered from the palace courtyard and turned their horses’ heads
+northward toward Lutha’s nearest boundary. All night they rode,
+stopping at daylight before a distant farm to feed and water their
+mounts and snatch a mouthful for themselves. Then onward once again
+they pressed in their mad flight.
+
+Now that day had come they caught occasional glimpses of a body of
+horsemen far behind them, but the border was near, and their start such
+that there was no danger of their being overtaken.
+
+“For the thousandth time, Butzow,” said one of the men, “will you turn
+back before it is too late?”
+
+But the other only shook his head obstinately, and so they came to the
+great granite monument which marks the boundary between Lutha and her
+powerful neighbor upon the north.
+
+Barney held out his hand. “Good-bye, old man,” he said. “If I’ve
+learned the ingratitude of kings here in Lutha, I have found something
+that more than compensates me—the friendship of a brave man. Now hurry
+back and tell them that I escaped across the border just as I was about
+to fall into your hands and they will think that you have been pursuing
+me instead of aiding in my escape across the border.”
+
+But again Butzow shook his head.
+
+“I have fought shoulder to shoulder with you, my friend,” he said. “I
+have called you king, and after that I could never serve the coward who
+sits now upon the throne of Lutha. I have made up my mind during this
+long ride from Lustadt, and I have come to the decision that I should
+prefer to raise corn in Nebraska with you rather than serve in the
+court of an ingrate.”
+
+“Well, you are an obstinate Dutchman, after all,” replied the American
+with a smile, placing his hand affectionately upon the shoulder of his
+comrade.
+
+There was a clatter of horses’ hoofs upon the gravel of the road behind
+them.
+
+The two men put spurs to their mounts, and Barney Custer galloped
+across the northern boundary of Lutha just ahead of a troop of
+Luthanian cavalry, as had his father thirty years before; but a royal
+princess had accompanied the father—only a soldier accompanied the son.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+
+
+I.
+BARNEY RETURNS TO LUTHA
+
+
+“What’s the matter, Vic?” asked Barney Custer of his sister. “You look
+peeved.”
+
+“I am peeved,” replied the girl, smiling. “I am terribly peeved. I
+don’t want to play bridge this afternoon. I want to go motoring with
+Lieutenant Butzow. This is his last day with us.”
+
+“Yes. I know it is, and I hate to think of it,” replied Barney; “but
+why in the world do you have to play bridge if you don’t want to?”
+
+“I promised Margaret that I’d go. They’re short one, and she’s coming
+after me in her car.”
+
+“Where are you going to play—at the champion lady bridge player’s on
+Fourth Street?” asked Barney, grinning.
+
+His sister answered with a nod and a smile. “Where you brought down the
+wrath of the lady champion upon your head the other night when you were
+letting your mind wander across to Lutha and the Old Forest, instead of
+paying attention to the game,” she added.
+
+“Well, cheer up, Vic,” cried her brother. “Bert’ll probably set fire to
+the car, the way he did to their first one, and then you won’t have to
+go.”
+
+“Oh, yes, I would; Margaret would send him after me in that
+awful-looking, unwashed Ford runabout of his,” answered the girl.
+
+“And then you WOULD go,” said Barney.
+
+“You bet I would,” laughed Victoria. “I’d go in a wheelbarrow with
+Bert.”
+
+But she didn’t have to; and after she had driven off with her chum,
+Barney and Butzow strolled down through the little city of Beatrice to
+the corn mill in which the former was interested.
+
+“I’m mighty sorry that you have to leave us, Butzow,” said Barney’s
+partner. “It’s bad enough to lose you, but I’m afraid it will mean the
+loss of Barney, too. He’s been hunting for some excuse to get back to
+Lutha, and with you there and a war in sight I’m afraid nothing can
+hold him.”
+
+“I don’t know but that it may be just as well for my friends here that
+I leave,” said Butzow seriously. “I did not tell you, Barney, all there
+is in this letter”—he tapped his breastpocket, where the
+foreign-looking envelope reposed with its contents.
+
+Custer looked at him inquiringly.
+
+“Besides saying that war between Austria and Serbia seems unavoidable
+and that Lutha doubtless will be drawn into it, my informant warns me
+that Leopold had sent emissaries to America to search for you, Barney,
+and myself. What his purpose may be my friend does not know, but he
+warns us to be upon our guard. Von der Tann wants me to return to
+Lutha. He has promised to protect me, and with the country in danger
+there is nothing else for me to do. I must go.”
+
+“I wish I could go with you,” said Barney. “If it wasn’t for this
+dinged old mill I would; but Bert wants to go away this summer, and as
+I have been away most of the time for the past two years, it’s up to me
+to stay.”
+
+As the three men talked the afternoon wore on. Heavy clouds gathered in
+the sky; a storm was brewing. Outside, a man, skulking behind a box car
+on the siding, watched the entrance through which the three had gone.
+He watched the workmen, and as quitting time came and he saw them
+leaving for their homes he moved more restlessly, transferring the
+package which he held from one hand to another many times, yet always
+gingerly.
+
+At last all had left. The man started from behind the box car, only to
+jump back as the watchman appeared around the end of one of the
+buildings. He watched the guardian of the property make his rounds; he
+saw him enter his office, and then he crept forward toward the
+building, holding his queer package in his right hand.
+
+In the office the watchman came upon the three friends. At sight of him
+they looked at one another in surprise.
+
+“Why, what time is it?” exclaimed Custer, and as he looked at his watch
+he rose with a laugh. “Late to dinner again,” he cried. “Come on, we’ll
+go out this other way.” And with a cheery good night to the watchman
+Barney and his friends hastened from the building.
+
+Upon the opposite side the stranger approached the doorway to the mill.
+The rain was falling in blinding sheets. Ominously the thunder roared.
+Vivid flashes of lightning shot the heavens. The watchman, coming
+suddenly from the doorway, his hat brim pulled low over his eyes,
+passed within a couple of paces of the stranger without seeing him.
+
+Five minutes later there was a blinding glare accompanied by a
+deafening roar. It was as though nature had marshaled all her forces in
+one mighty, devastating effort. At the same instant the walls of the
+great mill burst asunder, a nebulous mass of burning gas shot
+heavenward, and then the flames settled down to complete the
+destruction of the ruin.
+
+It was the following morning that Victoria and Barney Custer, with
+Lieutenant Butzow and Custer’s partner, stood contemplating the
+smoldering wreckage.
+
+“And to think,” said Barney, “that yesterday this muss was the largest
+corn mill west of anywhere. I guess we can both take vacations now,
+Bert.”
+
+“Who would have thought that a single bolt of lightning could have
+resulted in such havoc?” mused Victoria.
+
+“Who would?” agreed Lieutenant Butzow, and then, with a sudden
+narrowing of his eyes and a quick glance at Barney, “if it WAS
+lightning.”
+
+The American looked at the Luthanian. “You think—” he started.
+
+“I don’t dare think,” replied Butzow, “because of the fear of what this
+may mean to you and Miss Victoria if it was not lightning that
+destroyed the mill. I shouldn’t have spoken of it but that it may urge
+you to greater caution, which I cannot but think is most necessary
+since the warning I received from Lutha.”
+
+“Why should Leopold seek to harm me now?” asked Barney. “It has been
+almost two years since you and I placed him upon his throne, only to be
+rewarded with threats and hatred. In that time neither of us has
+returned to Lutha nor in any way conspired against the king. I cannot
+fathom his motives.”
+
+“There is the Princess Emma von der Tann,” Butzow reminded him. “She
+still repulses him. He may think that, with you removed definitely and
+permanently, all will then be plain sailing for him in that direction.
+Evidently he does not know the princess.”
+
+An hour later they were all bidding Butzow good-bye at the station.
+Victoria Custer was genuinely grieved to see him go, for she liked this
+soldierly young officer of the Royal Horse Guards immensely.
+
+“You must come back to America soon,” she urged.
+
+He looked down at her from the steps of the moving train. There was
+something in his expression that she had never seen there before.
+
+“I want to come back soon,” he answered, “to—to Beatrice,” and he
+flushed and smiled at his own stumbling tongue.
+
+For about a week Barney Custer moped disconsolately, principally about
+the ruins of the corn mill. He was in everyone’s way and accomplished
+nothing.
+
+“I was never intended for a captain of industry,” he confided to his
+partner for the hundredth time. “I wish some excuse would pop up to
+which I might hang a reason for beating it to Europe. There’s something
+doing there. Nearly everybody has declared war upon everybody else, and
+here I am stagnating in peace. I’d even welcome a tornado.”
+
+His excuse was to come sooner than he imagined. That night, after the
+other members of his family had retired, Barney sat smoking within a
+screened porch off the living-room. His thoughts were upon a trim
+little figure in riding togs, as he had first seen it nearly two years
+before, clinging desperately to a runaway horse upon the narrow
+mountain road above Tafelberg.
+
+He lived that thrilling experience through again as he had many times
+before. He even smiled as he recalled the series of events that had
+resulted from his resemblance to the mad king of Lutha.
+
+They had come to a culmination at the time when the king, whom Barney
+had placed upon a throne at the risk of his own life, discovered that
+his savior loved the girl to whom the king had been betrothed since
+childhood and that the girl returned the American’s love even after she
+knew that he had but played the part of a king.
+
+Barney’s cigar, forgotten, had long since died out. Not even its former
+fitful glow proclaimed his presence upon the porch, whose black shadows
+completely enveloped him. Before him stretched a wide acreage of lawn,
+tree dotted at the side of the house. Bushes hid the stone wall that
+marked the boundary of the Custer grounds and extended here and there
+out upon the sward among the trees. The night was moonless but clear. A
+faint light pervaded the scene.
+
+Barney sat staring straight ahead, but his gaze did not stop upon the
+familiar objects of the foreground. Instead it spanned two continents
+and an ocean to rest upon the little spot of woodland and rugged
+mountain and lowland that is Lutha. It was with an effort that the man
+suddenly focused his attention upon that which lay directly before him.
+A shadow among the trees had moved!
+
+Barney Custer sat perfectly still, but now he was suddenly alert and
+watchful. Again the shadow moved where no shadow should be moving. It
+crossed from the shade of one tree to another. Barney came cautiously
+to his feet. Silently he entered the house, running quickly to a side
+door that opened upon the grounds. As he drew it back its hinges gave
+forth no sound. Barney looked toward the spot where he had seen the
+shadow. Again he saw it scuttle hurriedly beneath another tree nearer
+the house. This time there was no doubt. It was a man!
+
+Directly before the door where Barney stood was a pergola, ivy-covered.
+Behind this he slid, and, running its length, came out among the trees
+behind the night prowler. Now he saw him distinctly. The fellow was
+bearded, and in his right hand he carried a package. Instantly Barney
+recalled Butzow’s comment upon the destruction of the mill—“if it WAS
+lightning!”
+
+Cold sweat broke from every pore of his body. His mother and father
+were there in the house, and Vic—all sleeping peacefully. He ran
+quickly toward the menacing figure, and as he did so he saw the other
+halt behind a great tree and strike a match. In the glow of the flame
+he saw it touch close to the package that the fellow held, and then he
+was upon him.
+
+There was a brief and terrific struggle. The stranger hurled the
+package toward the house. Barney caught him by the throat, beating him
+heavily in the face; and then, realizing what the package was, he
+hurled the fellow from him, and sprang toward the hissing and
+sputtering missile where it lay close to the foundation wall of the
+house, though in the instant of his close contact with the man he had
+recognized through the disguising beard the features of Captain Ernst
+Maenck, the principal tool of Peter of Blentz.
+
+Quick though Barney was to reach the bomb and extinguish the fuse,
+Maenck had disappeared before he returned to search for him; and,
+though he roused the gardener and chauffeur and took turns with them in
+standing guard the balance of the night, the would-be assassin did not
+return.
+
+There was no question in Barney Custer’s mind as to whom the bomb was
+intended for. That Maenck had hurled it toward the house after Barney
+had seized him was merely the result of accident and the man’s desire
+to get the death-dealing missile as far from himself as possible before
+it exploded. That it would have wrecked the house in the hope of
+reaching him, had he not fortunately interfered, was too evident to the
+American to be questioned.
+
+And so he decided before the night was spent to put himself as far from
+his family as possible, lest some future attempt upon his life might
+endanger theirs. Then, too, righteous anger and a desire for revenge
+prompted his decision. He would run Maenck to earth and have an
+accounting with him. It was evident that his life would not be worth a
+farthing so long as the fellow was at liberty.
+
+Before dawn he swore the gardener and chauffeur to silence, and at
+breakfast announced his intention of leaving that day for New York to
+seek a commission as correspondent with an old classmate, who owned the
+New York Evening National. At the hotel Barney inquired of the
+proprietor relative to a bearded stranger, but the man had had no one
+of that description registered. Chance, however, gave him a clue. His
+roadster was in a repair shop, and as he stopped in to get it he
+overheard a conversation that told him all he wanted to know. As he
+stood talking with the foreman a dust-covered automobile pulled into
+the garage.
+
+“Hello, Bill,” called the foreman to the driver. “Where you been so
+early?”
+
+“Took a guy to Lincoln,” replied the other. “He was in an awful hurry.
+I bet we broke all the records for that stretch of road this morning—I
+never knew the old boat had it in her.”
+
+“Who was it?” asked Barney.
+
+“I dunno,” replied the driver. “Talked like a furriner, and looked the
+part. Bushy black beard. Said he was a German army officer, an’ had to
+beat it back on account of the war. Seemed to me like he was mighty
+anxious to get back there an’ be killed.”
+
+Barney waited to hear no more. He did not even go home to say good-bye
+to his family. Instead he leaped into his gray roadster—a later model
+of the one he had lost in Lutha—and the last that Beatrice, Nebraska,
+saw of him was a whirling cloud of dust as he raced north out of town
+toward Lincoln.
+
+He was five minutes too late into the capital city to catch the
+eastbound limited that Maenck must have taken; but he caught the next
+through train for Chicago, and the second day thereafter found him in
+New York. There he had little difficulty in obtaining the desired
+credentials from his newspaper friend, especially since Barney offered
+to pay all his own expenses and donate to the paper anything he found
+time to write.
+
+Passenger steamers were still sailing, though irregularly, and after
+scanning the passenger-lists of three he found the name he sought.
+“Captain Ernst Maenck, Lutha.” So he had not been mistaken, after all.
+It was Maenck he had apprehended on his father’s grounds. Evidently the
+man had little fear of being followed, for he had made no effort to
+hide his identity in booking passage for Europe.
+
+The steamer he had caught had sailed that very morning. Barney was not
+so sorry, after all, for he had had time during his trip from Beatrice
+to do considerable thinking, and had found it rather difficult to
+determine just what to do should he have overtaken Maenck in the United
+States. He couldn’t kill the man in cold blood, justly as he may have
+deserved the fate, and the thought of causing his arrest and dragging
+his own name into the publicity of court proceedings was little less
+distasteful to him.
+
+Furthermore, the pursuit of Maenck now gave Barney a legitimate excuse
+for returning to Lutha, or at least to the close neighborhood of the
+little kingdom, where he might await the outcome of events and be ready
+to give his services in the cause of the house of Von der Tann should
+they be required.
+
+By going directly to Italy and entering Austria from that country
+Barney managed to arrive within the boundaries of the dual monarchy
+with comparatively few delays. Nor did he encounter any considerable
+bodies of troops until he reached the little town of Burgova, which
+lies not far from the Serbian frontier. Beyond this point his
+credentials would not carry him. The emperor’s officers were polite,
+but firm. No newspaper correspondents could be permitted nearer the
+front than Burgova.
+
+There was nothing to be done, therefore, but wait until some propitious
+event gave him the opportunity to approach more closely the Serbian
+boundary and Lutha. In the meantime he would communicate with Butzow,
+who might be able to obtain passes for him to some village nearer the
+Luthanian frontier, when it should be an easy matter to cross through
+to Serbia. He was sure the Serbian authorities would object less
+strenuously to his presence.
+
+The inn at which he applied for accommodations was already overrun by
+officers, but the proprietor, with scant apologies for a civilian,
+offered him a little box of a room in the attic. The place was scarce
+more than a closet, and for that Barney was in a way thankful since the
+limited space could accommodate but a single cot, thus insuring him the
+privacy that a larger chamber would have precluded.
+
+He was very tired after his long and comfortless land journey, so after
+an early dinner he went immediately to his room and to bed. How long he
+slept he did not know, but some time during the night he was awakened
+by the sound of voices apparently close to his ear.
+
+For a moment he thought the speakers must be in his own room, so
+distinctly did he overhear each word of their conversation; but
+presently he discovered that they were upon the opposite side of a thin
+partition in an adjoining room. But half awake, and with the sole idea
+of getting back to sleep again as quickly as possible, Barney paid only
+the slightest attention to the meaning of the words that fell upon his
+ears, until, like a bomb, a sentence broke through his sleepy
+faculties, banishing Morpheus upon the instant.
+
+“It will take but little now to turn Leopold against Von der Tann.” The
+speaker evidently was an Austrian. “Already I have half convinced him
+that the old man aspires to the throne. Leopold fears the loyalty of
+his army, which is for Von der Tann body and soul. He knows that Von
+der Tann is strongly anti-Austrian, and I have made it plain to him
+that if he allows his kingdom to take sides with Serbia he will have no
+kingdom when the war is over—it will be a part of Austria.
+
+“It was with greater difficulty, however, my dear Peter, that I
+convinced him that you, Von Coblich, and Captain Maenck were his most
+loyal friends. He fears you yet, but, nevertheless, he has pardoned you
+all. Do not forget when you return to your dear Lutha that you owe your
+repatriation to Count Zellerndorf of Austria.”
+
+“You may be assured that we shall never forget,” replied another voice
+that Barney recognized at once as belonging to Prince Peter of Blentz,
+the one time regent of Lutha.
+
+“It is not for myself,” continued Count Zellerndorf, “that I crave your
+gratitude, but for my emperor. You may do much to win his undying
+gratitude, while for yourselves you may win to almost any height with
+the friendship of Austria behind you. I am sure that should any
+accident, which God forfend, deprive Lutha of her king, none would make
+a more welcome successor in the eyes of Austria than our good friend
+Peter.”
+
+Barney could almost see the smile of satisfaction upon the thin lips of
+Peter of Blentz as this broad hint fell from the lips of the Austrian
+diplomat—a hint that seemed to the American little short of the death
+sentence of Leopold, King of Lutha.
+
+“We owed you much before, count,” said Peter. “But for you we should
+have been hanged a year ago—without your aid we should never have been
+able to escape from the fortress of Lustadt or cross the border into
+Austria-Hungary. I am sorry that Maenck failed in his mission, for had
+he not we would have had concrete evidence to present to the king that
+we are indeed his loyal supporters. It would have dispelled at once
+such fears and doubts as he may still entertain of our fealty.”
+
+“Yes, I, too, am sorry,” agreed Zellerndorf. “I can assure you that the
+news we hoped Captain Maenck would bring from America would have gone a
+long way toward restoring you to the confidence and good graces of the
+king.”
+
+“I did my best,” came another voice that caused Barney’s eyes to go
+wide in astonishment, for it was none other than the voice of Maenck
+himself. “Twice I risked hanging to get him and only came away after I
+had been recognized.”
+
+“It is too bad,” sighed Zellerndorf; “though it may not be without its
+advantages after all, for now we still have this second bugbear to
+frighten Leopold with. So long, of course, as the American lives there
+is always the chance that he may return and seek to gain the throne.
+The fact that his mother was a Rubinroth princess might make it easy
+for Von der Tann to place him upon the throne without much opposition,
+and if he married the old man’s daughter it is easy to conceive that
+the prince might favor such a move. At any rate, it should not be
+difficult to persuade Leopold of the possibility of such a thing.
+
+“Under the circumstances Leopold is almost convinced that his only hope
+of salvation lies in cementing friendly relations with the most
+powerful of Von der Tann’s enemies, of which you three gentlemen stand
+preeminently in the foreground, and of assuring to himself the support
+of Austria. And now, gentlemen,” he went on after a pause, “good night.
+I have handed Prince Peter the necessary military passes to carry you
+safely through our lines, and tomorrow you may be in Blentz if you
+wish.”
+
+
+
+
+II.
+CONDEMNED TO DEATH
+
+
+For some time Barney Custer lay there in the dark revolving in his mind
+all that he had overheard through the partition—the thin partition
+which alone lay between himself and three men who would be only too
+glad to embrace the first opportunity to destroy him. But his fears
+were not for himself so much as for the daughter of old Von der Tann,
+and for all that might befall that princely house were these three
+unhung rascals to gain Lutha and have their way with the weak and
+cowardly king who reigned there.
+
+If he could but reach Von der Tann’s ear and through him the king
+before the conspirators came to Lutha! But how might he accomplish it?
+Count Zellerndorf’s parting words to the three had shown that military
+passes were necessary to enable one to reach Lutha.
+
+His papers were practically worthless even inside the lines. That they
+would carry him through the lines he had not the slightest hope. There
+were two things to be accomplished if possible. One was to cross the
+frontier into Lutha; and the other, which of course was quite out of
+the question, was to prevent Peter of Blentz, Von Coblich, and Maenck
+from doing so. But was that altogether impossible?
+
+The idea that followed that question came so suddenly that it brought
+Barney Custer out onto the floor in a bound, to don his clothes and
+sneak into the hall outside his room with the stealth of a professional
+second-story man.
+
+To the right of his own door was the door to the apartment in which the
+three conspirators slept. At least, Barney hoped they slept. He bent
+close to the keyhole and listened. From within came no sound other than
+the regular breathing of the inmates. It had been at least half an hour
+since the American had heard the conversation cease. A glance through
+the keyhole showed no light within the room. Stealthily Barney turned
+the knob. Had they bolted the door? He felt the tumbler move to the
+pressure—soundlessly. Then he pushed gently inward. The door swung.
+
+A moment later he stood in the room. Dimly he could see two beds—a
+large one and a smaller. Peter of Blentz would be alone upon the
+smaller bed, his henchmen sleeping together in the larger. Barney crept
+toward the lone sleeper. At the bedside he fumbled in the dark groping
+for the man’s clothing—for the coat, in the breastpocket of which he
+hoped to find the military pass that might carry him safely out of
+Austria-Hungary and into Lutha. On the foot of the bed he found some
+garments. Gingerly he felt them over, seeking the coat.
+
+At last he found it. His fingers, steady even under the nervous tension
+of this unaccustomed labor, discovered the inner pocket and the folded
+paper. There were several of them; Barney took them all.
+
+So far he made no noise. None of the sleepers had stirred. Now he took
+a step toward the doorway and—kicked a shoe that lay in his path. The
+slight noise in that quiet room sounded to Barney’s ears like the fall
+of a brick wall. Peter of Blentz stirred, turning in his sleep. Behind
+him Barney heard one of the men in the other bed move. He turned his
+head in that direction. Either Maenck or Coblich was sitting up peering
+through the darkness.
+
+“Is that you, Prince Peter?” The voice was Maenck’s.
+
+“What’s the matter?” persisted Maenck.
+
+“I’m going for a drink of water,” replied the American, and stepped
+toward the door.
+
+Behind him Peter of Blentz sat up in bed.
+
+“That you, Maenck?” he called.
+
+Instantly Maenck was out of bed, for the first voice had come from the
+vicinity of the doorway; both could not be Peter’s.
+
+“Quick!” he cried; “there’s someone in our room.”
+
+Barney leaped for the doorway, and upon his heels came the three
+conspirators. Maenck was closest to him—so close that Barney was forced
+to turn at the top of the stairs. In the darkness he was just conscious
+of the form of the man who was almost upon him. Then he swung a vicious
+blow for the other’s face—a blow that landed, for there was a cry of
+pain and anger as Maenck stumbled back into the arms of the two behind
+him. From below came the sound of footsteps hurrying up the stairs to
+the accompaniment of a clanking saber. Barney’s retreat was cut off.
+
+Turning, he dodged into his own room before the enemy could locate him
+or even extricate themselves from the confusion of Maenck’s sudden
+collision with the other two. But what could Barney gain by the slight
+delay that would be immediately followed by his apprehension?
+
+He didn’t know. All that he was sure of was that there had been no
+other place to go than this little room. As he entered the first thing
+that his eyes fell upon was the small square window. Here at least was
+some slight encouragement.
+
+He ran toward it. The lower sash was raised. As the door behind him
+opened to admit Peter of Blentz and his companions, Barney slipped
+through into the night, hanging by his hands from the sill without.
+What lay beneath or how far the drop he could not guess, but that
+certain death menaced him from above he knew from the conversation he
+had overheard earlier in the evening.
+
+For an instant he hung suspended. He heard the men groping about the
+room. Evidently they were in some fear of the unknown assailant they
+sought, for they did not move about with undue rashness. Presently one
+of them struck a light—Barney could see its flare lighten the window
+casing for an instant.
+
+“The room is empty,” came a voice from above him.
+
+“Look to the window!” cried Peter of Blentz, and then Barney Custer let
+go his hold upon the sill and dropped into the blackness below.
+
+His fall was a short one, for the window had been directly over a low
+shed at the side of the inn. Upon the roof of this the American landed,
+and from there he dropped to the courtyard without mishap. Glancing up,
+he saw the heads of three men peering from the window of the room he
+had just quitted.
+
+“There he is!” cried one, and instantly the three turned back into the
+room. As Barney fled from the courtyard he heard the rattle of hasty
+footsteps upon the rickety stairway of the inn.
+
+Choosing an alley rather than a street in which he might run upon
+soldiers at any moment, he moved quickly yet cautiously away from the
+inn. Behind him he could hear the voices of many men. They were raised
+to a high pitch by excitement. It was clear to Barney that there were
+many more than the original three—Prince Peter had, in all probability,
+enlisted the aid of the military.
+
+Could he but reach the frontier with his stolen passes he would be
+comparatively safe, for the rugged mountains of Lutha offered many
+places of concealment, and, too, there were few Luthanians who did not
+hate Peter of Blentz most cordially—among the men of the mountains at
+least. Once there he could defy a dozen Blentz princes for the little
+time that would be required to carry him into Serbia and comparative
+safety.
+
+As he approached a cross street a couple of squares from the inn he
+found it necessary to pass beneath a street lamp. For a moment he
+paused in the shadows of the alley listening. Hearing nothing moving in
+the street, Barney was about to make a swift spring for the shadows
+upon the opposite side when it occurred to him that it might be safer
+to make assurance doubly sure by having a look up and down the street
+before emerging into the light.
+
+It was just as well that he did, for as he thrust his head around the
+corner of the building the first thing that his eyes fell upon was the
+figure of an Austrian sentry, scarcely three paces from him. The
+soldier was standing in a listening attitude, his head half turned away
+from the American. The sounds coming from the direction of the inn were
+apparently what had attracted his attention.
+
+Behind him, Barney was sure he heard evidences of pursuit. Before him
+was certain detection should he attempt to cross the street. On either
+hand rose the walls of buildings. That he was trapped there seemed
+little doubt.
+
+He continued to stand motionless, watching the Austrian soldier. Should
+the fellow turn toward him, he had but to withdraw his head within the
+shadow of the building that hid his body. Possibly the man might turn
+and take his beat in the opposite direction. In which case Barney was
+sure he could dodge across the street, undetected.
+
+Already the vague threat of pursuit from the direction of the inn had
+developed into a certainty—he could hear men moving toward him through
+the alley from the rear. Would the sentry never move! Evidently not,
+until he heard the others coming through the alley. Then he would turn,
+and the devil would be to pay for the American.
+
+Barney was about hopeless. He had been in the war zone long enough to
+know that it might prove a very disagreeable matter to be caught
+sneaking through back alleys at night. There was a single chance—a sort
+of forlorn hope—and that was to risk fate and make a dash beneath the
+sentry’s nose for the opposite alley mouth.
+
+“Well, here goes,” thought Barney. He had heard that many of the
+Austrians were excellent shots. Visions of Beatrice, Nebraska, swarmed
+his memory. They were pleasant visions, made doubly alluring by the
+thought that the realities of them might never again be for him.
+
+He turned once more toward the sounds of pursuit—the men upon his track
+could not be over a square away—there was not an instant to be lost.
+And then from above him, upon the opposite side of the alley, came a
+low: “S-s-t!”
+
+Barney looked up. Very dimly he could see the dark outline of a window
+some dozen feet from the pavement, and framed within it the lighter
+blotch that might have been a human face. Again came the challenging:
+“S-s-t!” Yes, there was someone above, signaling to him.
+
+“S-s-t!” replied Barney. He knew that he had been discovered, and could
+think of no better plan for throwing the discoverer off his guard than
+to reply.
+
+Then a soft voice floated down to him—a woman’s voice!
+
+“Is that you?” The tongue was Serbian. Barney could understand it,
+though he spoke it but indifferently.
+
+“Yes,” he replied truthfully.
+
+“Thank Heaven!” came the voice from above. “I have been watching you,
+and thought you one of the Austrian pigs. Quick! They are coming—I can
+hear them;” and at the same instant Barney saw something drop from the
+window to the ground. He crossed the alley quickly, and could have
+shouted in relief for what he found there—the end of a knotted rope
+dangling from above.
+
+His pursuers were almost upon him when he seized the rude ladder to
+clamber upward. At the window’s ledge a firm, young hand reached out
+and, seizing his own, almost dragged him through the window. He turned
+to look back into the alley. He had been just in time; the Austrian
+sentry, alarmed by the sound of approaching footsteps down the alley,
+had stepped into view. He stood there now with leveled rifle, a
+challenge upon his lips. From the advancing party came a satisfactory
+reply.
+
+At the same instant the girl beside him in the Stygian blackness of the
+room threw her arms about Barney’s neck and drew his face down to hers.
+
+“Oh, Stefan,” she whispered, “what a narrow escape! It makes me tremble
+to think of it. They would have shot you, my Stefan!”
+
+The American put an arm about the girl’s shoulders, and raised one hand
+to her cheek—it might have been in caress, but it wasn’t. It was to
+smother the cry of alarm he anticipated would follow the discovery that
+he was not “Stefan.” He bent his lips close to her ear.
+
+“Do not make an outcry,” he whispered in very poor Serbian. “I am not
+Stefan; but I am a friend.”
+
+The exclamation of surprise or fright that he had expected was not
+forthcoming. The girl lowered her arms from about his neck.
+
+“Who are you?” she asked in a low whisper.
+
+“I am an American war correspondent,” replied Barney, “but if the
+Austrians get hold of me now it will be mighty difficult to convince
+them that I am not a spy.” And then a sudden determination came to him
+to trust his fate to this unknown girl, whose face, even, he had never
+seen. “I am entirely at your mercy,” he said. “There are Austrian
+soldiers in the street below. You have but to call to them to send me
+before the firing squad—or, you can let me remain here until I can find
+an opportunity to get away in safety. I am trying to reach Serbia.”
+
+“Why do you wish to reach Serbia?” asked the girl suspiciously.
+
+“I have discovered too many enemies in Austria tonight to make it safe
+for me to remain,” he replied, “and, further, my original intention was
+to report the war from the Serbian side.”
+
+The girl hesitated for a while, evidently in thought.
+
+“They are moving on,” suggested Barney. “If you are going to give me up
+you’d better do it at once.”
+
+“I’m not going to give you up,” replied the girl. “I’m going to keep
+you prisoner until Stefan returns—he will know best what to do with
+you. Now you must come with me and be locked up. Do not try to escape—I
+have a revolver in my hand,” and to give her prisoner physical proof of
+the weapon he could not see she thrust the muzzle against his side.
+
+“I’ll take your word for the gun,” said Barney, “if you’ll just turn it
+in the other direction. Go ahead—I’ll follow you.”
+
+“No, you won’t,” replied the girl. “You’ll go first; but before that
+you’ll raise your hands above your head. I want to search you.”
+
+Barney did as he was bid and a moment later felt deft fingers running
+over his clothing in search of concealed weapons. Satisfied at last
+that he was unarmed, the girl directed him to precede her, guiding his
+steps from behind with a hand upon his arm. Occasionally he felt the
+muzzle of her revolver touch his body. It was a most unpleasant
+sensation.
+
+They crossed the room to a door which his captor directed him to open,
+and after they had passed through and she had closed it behind them the
+girl struck a match and lit a candle which stood upon a little bracket
+on the partition wall. The dim light of the tallow dip showed Barney
+that he was in a narrow hall from which several doors opened into
+different rooms. At one end of the hall a stairway led to the floor
+below, while at the opposite end another flight disappeared into the
+darkness above.
+
+“This way,” said the girl, motioning toward the stairs that led upward.
+
+Barney had turned toward her as she struck the match, obtaining an
+excellent view of her features. They were clear-cut and regular. Her
+eyes were large and very dark. Dark also was her hair, which was piled
+in great heaps upon her finely shaped head. Altogether the face was one
+not easily to be forgotten. Barney could scarce have told whether the
+girl was beautiful or not, but that she was striking there could be no
+doubt.
+
+He preceded her up the stairway to a door at the top. At her direction
+he turned the knob and entered a small room in which was a cot, an
+ancient dresser and a single chair.
+
+“You will remain here,” she said, “until Stefan returns. Stefan will
+know what to do with you.” Then she left him, taking the light with
+her, and Barney heard a key turn in the lock of the door after she had
+closed it. Presently her footfalls died out as she descended to the
+lower floors.
+
+“Anyhow,” thought the American, “this is better than the Austrians. I
+don’t know what Stefan will do with me, but I have a rather vivid idea
+of what the Austrians would have done to me if they’d caught me
+sneaking through the alleys of Burgova at midnight.”
+
+Throwing himself on the cot Barney was soon asleep, for though his
+predicament was one that, under ordinary circumstances might have made
+sleep impossible, yet he had so long been without the boon of slumber
+that tired nature would no longer be denied.
+
+When he awoke it was broad daylight. The sun was pouring in through a
+skylight in the ceiling of his tiny chamber. Aside from this there were
+no windows in the room. The sound of voices came to him with an uncanny
+distinctness that made it seem that the speakers must be in this very
+chamber, but a glance about the blank walls convinced him that he was
+alone.
+
+Presently he espied a small opening in the wall at the head of his cot.
+He rose and examined it. The voices appeared to be coming from it. In
+fact, they were. The opening was at the top of a narrow shaft that
+seemed to lead to the basement of the structure—apparently once the
+shaft of a dumb-waiter or a chute for refuse or soiled clothes.
+
+Barney put his ear close to it. The voices that came from below were
+those of a man and a woman. He heard every word distinctly.
+
+“We must search the house, fraulein,” came in the deep voice of a man.
+
+“Whom do you seek?” inquired a woman’s voice. Barney recognized it as
+the voice of his captor.
+
+“A Serbian spy, Stefan Drontoff,” replied the man. “Do you know him?”
+
+There was a considerable pause on the girl’s part before she answered,
+and then her reply was in such a low voice that Barney could barely
+hear it.
+
+“I do not know him,” she said. “There are several men who lodge here.
+What may this Stefan Drontoff look like?”
+
+“I have never seen him,” replied the officer; “but by arresting all the
+men in the house we must get this Stefan also, if he is here.”
+
+“Oh!” cried the girl, a new note in her voice, “I guess I know now whom
+you mean. There is one man here I have heard them call Stefan, though
+for the moment I had forgotten it. He is in the small attic-room at the
+head of the stairs. Here is a key that will fit the lock. Yes, I am
+sure that he is Stefan. You will find him there, and it should be easy
+to take him, for I know that he is unarmed. He told me so last night
+when he came in.”
+
+“The devil!” muttered Barney Custer; but whether he referred to his
+predicament or to the girl it would be impossible to tell. Already the
+sound of heavy boots on the stairs announced the coming of men—several
+of them. Barney heard the rattle of accouterments—the clank of a
+scabbard—the scraping of gun butts against the walls. The Austrians
+were coming!
+
+He looked about. There was no way of escape except the door and the
+skylight, and the door was impossible.
+
+Quickly he tilted the cot against the door, wedging its legs against a
+crack in the floor—that would stop them for a minute or two. Then he
+wheeled the dresser beneath the skylight and, placing the chair on top
+of it, scrambled to the seat of the latter. His head was at the height
+of the skylight. To force the skylight from its frame required but a
+moment. A key entered the lock of the door from the opposite side and
+turned. He knew that someone without was pushing. Then he heard an oath
+and heavy battering upon the panels. A moment later he had drawn
+himself through the skylight and stood upon the roof of the building.
+Before him stretched a series of uneven roofs to the end of the street.
+Barney did not hesitate. He started on a rapid trot toward the
+adjoining roof. From that he clambered to a higher one beyond.
+
+On he went, now leaping narrow courts, now dropping to low sheds and
+again clambering to the heights of the higher buildings, until he had
+come almost to the end of the row. Suddenly, behind him he heard a
+hoarse shout, followed by the report of a rifle. With a whir, a bullet
+flew a few inches above his head. He had gained the last roof—a large,
+level roof—and at the shot he turned to see how near to him were his
+pursuers.
+
+Fatal turn!
+
+Scarce had he taken his eyes from the path ahead than his foot fell
+upon a glass skylight, and with a loud crash he plunged through amid a
+shower of broken glass.
+
+His fall was a short one. Directly beneath the skylight was a bed, and
+on the bed a fat Austrian infantry captain. Barney lit upon the pit of
+the captain’s stomach. With a howl of pain the officer catapulted
+Barney to the floor. There were three other beds in the room, and in
+each bed one or two other officers. Before the American could regain
+his feet they were all sitting on him—all except the infantry captain.
+He lay shrieking and cursing in a painful attempt to regain his breath,
+every atom of which Barney had knocked out of him.
+
+The officers sitting on Barney alternately beat him and questioned him,
+interspersing their interrogations with lurid profanity.
+
+“If you will get off of me,” at last shouted the American, “I shall be
+glad to explain—and apologize.”
+
+They let him up, scowling ferociously. He had promised to explain, but
+now that he was confronted by the immediate necessity of an explanation
+that would prove at all satisfactory as to how he happened to be
+wandering around the rooftops of Burgova, he discovered that his powers
+of invention were entirely inadequate. The need for explaining,
+however, was suddenly removed. A shadow fell upon them from above, and
+as they glanced up Barney saw the figure of an officer surrounded by
+several soldiers looking down upon him.
+
+“Ah, you have him!” cried the newcomer in evident satisfaction. “It is
+well. Hold him until we descend.”
+
+A moment later he and his escort had dropped through the broken
+skylight to the floor beside them.
+
+“Who is the mad man?” cried the captain who had broken Barney’s fall.
+“The assassin! He tried to murder me.”
+
+“I cannot doubt it,” replied the officer who had just descended, “for
+the fellow is no other than Stefan Drontoff, the famous Serbian spy!”
+
+“Himmel!” ejaculated the officers in chorus. “You have done a good
+day’s work, lieutenant.”
+
+“The firing squad will do a better work in a few minutes,” replied the
+lieutenant, with a grim pointedness that took Barney’s breath away.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+BEFORE THE FIRING SQUAD
+
+
+They marched Barney before the staff where he urged his American
+nationality, pointing to his credentials and passes in support of his
+contention.
+
+The general before whom he had been brought shrugged his shoulders.
+“They are all Americans as soon as they are caught,” he said; “but why
+did you not claim to be Prince Peter of Blentz? You have his passes as
+well. How can you expect us to believe your story when you have in your
+possession passes for different men?
+
+“We have every respect for our friends the Americans. I would even
+stretch a point rather than chance harming an American; but you will
+admit that the evidence is all against you. You were found in the very
+building where Drontoff was known to stay while in Burgova. The young
+woman whose mother keeps the place directed our officer to your room,
+and you tried to escape, which I do not think that an innocent American
+would have done.
+
+“However, as I have said, I will go to almost any length rather than
+chance a mistake in the case of one who from his appearance might pass
+more readily for an American than a Serbian. I have sent for Prince
+Peter of Blentz. If you can satisfactorily explain to him how you
+chance to be in possession of military passes bearing his name I shall
+be very glad to give you the benefit of every other doubt.”
+
+Peter of Blentz. Send for Peter of Blentz! Barney wondered just what
+kind of a sensation it was to stand facing a firing squad. He hoped
+that his knees wouldn’t tremble—they felt a trifle weak even now. There
+was a chance that the man might not recall his face, but a very slight
+chance. It had been his remarkable likeness to Leopold of Lutha that
+had resulted in the snatching of a crown from Prince Peter’s head.
+
+Likely indeed that he would ever forget his, Barney’s, face, though he
+had seen it but once without the red beard that had so added to
+Barney’s likeness to the king. But Maenck would be along, of course,
+and Maenck would have no doubts—he had seen Barney too recently in
+Beatrice to fail to recognize him now.
+
+Several men were entering the room where Barney stood before the
+general and his staff. A glance revealed to the prisoner that Peter of
+Blentz had come, and with him Von Coblich and Maenck. At the same
+instant Peter’s eyes met Barney’s, and the former, white and wide-eyed
+came almost to a dead halt, grasping hurriedly at the arm of Maenck who
+walked beside him.
+
+“My God!” was all that Barney heard him say, but he spoke a name that
+the American did not hear. Maenck also looked his surprise, but his
+expression was suddenly changed to one of malevolent cunning and
+gratification. He turned toward Prince Peter with a few low-whispered
+words. A look of relief crossed the face of the Blentz prince.
+
+“You appear to know the gentleman,” said the general who had been
+conducting Barney’s examination. “He has been arrested as a Serbian
+spy, and military passes in your name were found upon his person
+together with the papers of an American newspaper correspondent, which
+he claims to be. He is charged with being Stefan Drontoff, whom we long
+have been anxious to apprehend. Do you chance to know anything about
+him, Prince Peter?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Peter of Blentz, “I know him well by sight. He entered
+my room last night and stole the military passes from my coat—we all
+saw him and pursued him, but he got away in the dark. There can be no
+doubt but that he is the Serbian spy.”
+
+“He insists that he is Bernard Custer, an American,” urged the general,
+who, it seemed to Barney, was anxious to make no mistake, and to give
+the prisoner every reasonable chance—a state of mind that rather
+surprised him in a European military chieftain, all of whom appeared to
+share the popular obsession regarding the prevalence of spies.
+
+“Pardon me, general,” interrupted Maenck. “I am well acquainted with
+Mr. Custer, who spent some time in Lutha a couple of years ago. This
+man is not he.”
+
+“That is sufficient, gentlemen, I thank you,” said the general. He did
+not again look at the prisoner, but turned to a lieutenant who stood
+near-by. “You may remove the prisoner,” he directed. “He will be
+destroyed with the others—here is the order,” and he handed the
+subaltern a printed form upon which many names were filled in and at
+the bottom of which the general had just signed his own. It had
+evidently been waiting the outcome of the examination of Stefan
+Drontoff.
+
+Surrounded by soldiers, Barney Custer walked from the presence of the
+military court. It was to him as though he moved in a strange world of
+dreams. He saw the look of satisfaction upon the face of Peter of
+Blentz as he passed him, and the open sneer of Maenck. As yet he did
+not fully realize what it all meant—that he was marching to his death!
+For the last time he was looking upon the faces of his fellow men; for
+the last time he had seen the sun rise, never again to see it set.
+
+He was to be “destroyed.” He had heard that expression used many times
+in connection with useless horses, or vicious dogs. Mechanically he
+drew a cigarette from his pocket and lighted it. There was no bravado
+in the act. On the contrary it was done almost unconsciously. The
+soldiers marched him through the streets of Burgova. The men were
+entirely impassive—even so early in the war they had become accustomed
+to this grim duty. The young officer who commanded them was more
+nervous than the prisoner—it was his first detail with a firing squad.
+He looked wonderingly at Barney, expecting momentarily to see the man
+collapse, or at least show some sign of terror at his close impending
+fate; but the American walked silently toward his death, puffing
+leisurely at his cigarette.
+
+At last, after what seemed a long time, his guard turned in at a large
+gateway in a brick wall surrounding a factory. As they entered Barney
+saw twenty or thirty men in civilian dress, guarded by a dozen
+infantrymen. They were standing before the wall of a low brick
+building. Barney noticed that there were no windows in the wall. It
+suddenly occurred to him that there was something peculiarly grim and
+sinister in the appearance of the dead, blank surface of
+weather-stained brick. For the first time since he had faced the
+military court he awakened to a full realization of what it all meant
+to him—he was going to be lined up against that ominous brick wall with
+these other men—they were going to shoot them.
+
+A momentary madness seized him. He looked about upon the other
+prisoners and guards. A sudden break for liberty might give him
+temporary respite. He could seize a rifle from the nearest soldier, and
+at least have the satisfaction of selling his life dearly. As he looked
+he saw more soldiers entering the factory yard.
+
+A sudden apathy overwhelmed him. What was the use? He could not escape.
+Why should he wish to kill these soldiers? It was not they who were
+responsible for his plight—they were but obeying orders. The close
+presence of death made life seem very desirable. These men, too,
+desired life. Why should he take it from them uselessly? At best he
+might kill one or two, but in the end he would be killed as surely as
+though he took his place before the brick wall with the others.
+
+He noticed now that these others evinced no inclination to contest
+their fates. Why should he, then? Doubtless many of them were as
+innocent as he, and all loved life as well. He saw that several were
+weeping silently. Others stood with bowed heads gazing at the
+hard-packed earth of the factory yard. Ah, what visions were their eyes
+beholding for the last time! What memories of happy firesides! What
+dear, loved faces were limned upon that sordid clay!
+
+His reveries were interrupted by the hoarse voice of a sergeant,
+breaking rudely in upon the silence and the dumb terror. The fellow was
+herding the prisoners into position. When he was done Barney found
+himself in the front rank of the little, hopeless band. Opposite them,
+at a few paces, stood the firing squad, their gun butts resting upon
+the ground.
+
+The young lieutenant stood at one side. He issued some instructions in
+a low tone, then he raised his voice.
+
+“Ready!” he commanded. Fascinated by the horror of it, Barney watched
+the rifles raised smartly to the soldiers’ hips—the movement was as
+precise as though the men were upon parade. Every bolt clicked in
+unison with its fellows.
+
+“Aim!” the pieces leaped to the hollows of the men’s shoulders. The
+leveled barrels were upon a line with the breasts of the condemned. A
+man at Barney’s right moaned. Another sobbed.
+
+“Fire!” There was the hideous roar of the volley. Barney Custer
+crumpled forward to the ground, and three bodies fell upon his. A
+moment later there was a second volley—all had not fallen at the first.
+Then the soldiers came among the bodies, searching for signs of life;
+but evidently the two volleys had done their work. The sergeant formed
+his men in line. The lieutenant marched them away. Only silence
+remained on guard above the pitiful dead in the factory yard.
+
+The day wore on and still the stiffening corpses lay where they had
+fallen. Twilight came and then darkness. A head appeared above the top
+of the wall that had enclosed the grounds. Eyes peered through the
+night and keen ears listened for any sign of life within. At last,
+evidently satisfied that the place was deserted, a man crawled over the
+summit of the wall and dropped to the ground within. Here again he
+paused, peering and listening.
+
+What strange business had he here among the dead that demanded such
+caution in its pursuit? Presently he advanced toward the pile of
+corpses. Quickly he tore open coats and searched pockets. He ran his
+fingers along the fingers of the dead. Two rings had rewarded his
+search and he was busy with a third that encircled the finger of a body
+that lay beneath three others. It would not come off. He pulled and
+tugged, and then he drew a knife from his pocket.
+
+But he did not sever the digit. Instead he shrank back with a muffled
+scream of terror. The corpse that he would have mutilated had staggered
+suddenly to its feet, flinging the dead bodies to one side as it rose.
+
+“You fiend!” broke from the lips of the dead man, and the ghoul turned
+and fled, gibbering in his fright.
+
+The tramp of soldiers in the street beyond ceased suddenly at the sound
+from within the factory yard. It was a detail of the guard marching to
+the relief of sentries. A moment later the gates swung open and a score
+of soldiers entered. They saw a figure dodging toward the wall a dozen
+paces from them, but they did not see the other that ran swiftly around
+the corner of the factory.
+
+This other was Barney Custer of Beatrice. When the command to fire had
+been given to the squad of riflemen, a single bullet had creased the
+top of his head, stunning him. All day he had lain there unconscious.
+It had been the tugging of the ghoul at his ring that had roused him to
+life at last.
+
+Behind him, as he scurried around the end of the factory building, he
+heard the scattering fire of half a dozen rifles, followed by a
+scream—the fleeing hyena had been hit. Barney crouched in the shadow of
+a pile of junk. He heard the voices of soldiers as they gathered about
+the wounded man, questioning him, and a moment later the imperious
+tones of an officer issuing instructions to his men to search the yard.
+That he must be discovered seemed a certainty to the American. He
+crouched further back in the shadows close to the wall, stepping with
+the utmost caution.
+
+Presently to his chagrin his foot touched the metal cover of a manhole;
+there was a resultant rattling that smote upon Barney’s ears and nerves
+with all the hideous clatter of a boiler shop. He halted, petrified,
+for an instant. He was no coward, but after being so near death, life
+had never looked more inviting, and he knew that to be discovered meant
+certain extinction this time.
+
+The soldiers were circling the building. Already he could hear them
+nearing his position. In another moment they would round the corner of
+the building and be upon him. For an instant he contemplated a bold
+rush for the fence. In fact, he had gathered himself for the leaping
+start and the quick sprint across the open under the noses of the
+soldiers who still remained beside the dying ghoul, when his mind
+suddenly reverted to the manhole beneath his feet. Here lay a hiding
+place, at least until the soldiers had departed.
+
+Barney stooped and raised the heavy lid, sliding it to one side. How
+deep was the black chasm beneath he could not even guess. Doubtless it
+led into a coal bunker, or it might open over a pit of great depth.
+There was no way to discover other than to plumb the abyss with his
+body. Above was death—below, a chance of safety.
+
+The soldiers were quite close when Barney lowered himself through the
+manhole. Clinging with his fingers to the upper edge his feet still
+swung in space. How far beneath was the bottom? He heard the scraping
+of the heavy shoes of the searchers close above him, and then he closed
+his eyes, released the grasp of his fingers, and dropped.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+A RACE TO LUTHA
+
+
+Barney’s fall was not more than four or five feet. He found himself
+upon a slippery floor of masonry over which two or three inches of
+water ran sluggishly. Above him he heard the soldiers pass the open
+manhole. It was evident that in the darkness they had missed it.
+
+For a few minutes the fugitive remained motionless, then, hearing no
+sounds from above he started to grope about his retreat. Upon two sides
+were blank, circular walls, upon the other two circular openings about
+four feet in diameter. It was through these openings that the tiny
+stream of water trickled.
+
+Barney came to the conclusion that he had dropped into a sewer. To get
+out the way he had entered appeared impossible. He could not leap
+upward from the slimy, concave bottom the distance he had dropped. To
+follow the sewer upward would lead him nowhere nearer escape. There
+remained no hope but to follow the trickling stream downward toward the
+river, into which his judgment told him the entire sewer system of the
+city must lead.
+
+Stooping, he entered the ill-smelling circular conduit, groping his way
+slowly along. As he went the water deepened. It was half way to his
+knees when he plunged unexpectedly into another tube running at right
+angles to the first. The bottom of this tube was lower than that of the
+one which emptied into it, so that Barney now found himself in a
+swiftly running stream of filth that reached above his knees. Downward
+he followed this flood—faster now for the fear of the deadly gases
+which might overpower him before he could reach the river.
+
+The water deepened gradually as he went on. At last he reached a point
+where, with his head scraping against the roof of the sewer, his chin
+was just above the surface of the stream. A few more steps would be all
+that he could take in this direction without drowning. Could he retrace
+his way against the swift current? He did not know. He was weakened
+from the effects of his wound, from lack of food and from the exertions
+of the past hour. Well, he would go on as far as he could. The river
+lay ahead of him somewhere. Behind was only the hostile city.
+
+He took another step. His foot found no support. He surged backward in
+an attempt to regain his footing, but the power of the flood was too
+much for him. He was swept forward to plunge into water that surged
+above his head as he sank. An instant later he had regained the surface
+and as his head emerged he opened his eyes.
+
+He looked up into a starlit heaven! He had reached the mouth of the
+sewer and was in the river. For a moment he lay still, floating upon
+his back to rest. Above him he heard the tread of a sentry along the
+river front, and the sound of men’s voices.
+
+The sweet, fresh air, the star-shot void above, acted as a powerful
+tonic to his shattered hopes and overwrought nerves. He lay inhaling
+great lungsful of pure, invigorating air. He listened to the voices of
+the Austrian soldiery above him. All the buoyancy of his inherent
+Americanism returned to him.
+
+“This is no place for a minister’s son,” he murmured, and turning over
+struck out for the opposite shore. The river was not wide, and Barney
+was soon nearing the bank along which he could see occasional camp
+fires. Here, too, were Austrians. He dropped down-stream below these,
+and at last approached the shore where a wood grew close to the water’s
+edge. The bank here was steep, and the American had some difficulty in
+finding a place where he could clamber up the precipitous wall of rock.
+But finally he was successful, finding himself in a little clump of
+bushes on the river’s brim. Here he lay resting and listening—always
+listening. It seemed to Barney that his ears ached with the constant
+strain of unflagging duty that his very existence demanded of them.
+
+Hearing nothing, he crawled at last from his hiding place with the
+purpose of making his way toward the south and to the frontier as
+rapidly as possible. He could hope only to travel by night, and he
+guessed that this night must be nearly spent. Stooping, he moved
+cautiously away from the river. Through the shadows of the wood he made
+his way for perhaps a hundred yards when he was suddenly confronted by
+a figure that stepped from behind the bole of a tree.
+
+“Halt! Who goes there?” came the challenge.
+
+Barney’s heart stood still. With all his care he had run straight into
+the arms of an Austrian sentry. To run would be to be shot. To advance
+would mean capture, and that too would mean death.
+
+For the barest fraction of an instant he hesitated, and then his quick
+American wits came to his aid. Feigning intoxication he answered the
+challenge in dubious Austrian that he hoped his maudlin tongue would
+excuse.
+
+“Friend,” he answered thickly. “Friend with a drink—have one?” And he
+staggered drunkenly forward, banking all upon the credulity and thirst
+of the soldier who confronted him with fixed bayonet.
+
+That the sentry was both credulous and thirsty was evidenced by the
+fact that he let Barney come within reach of his gun. Instantly the
+drunken Austrian was transformed into a very sober and active engine of
+destruction. Seizing the barrel of the piece Barney jerked it to one
+side and toward him, and at the same instant he leaped for the throat
+of the sentry.
+
+So quickly was this accomplished that the Austrian had time only for a
+single cry, and that was choked in his windpipe by the steel fingers of
+the American. Together both men fell heavily to the ground, Barney
+retaining his hold upon the other’s throat.
+
+Striking and clutching at one another they fought in silence for a
+couple of minutes, then the soldier’s struggles began to weaken. He
+squirmed and gasped for breath. His mouth opened and his tongue
+protruded. His eyes started from their sockets. Barney closed his
+fingers more tightly upon the bearded throat. He rained heavy blows
+upon the upturned face. The beating fists of his adversary waved wildly
+now—the blows that reached Barney were pitifully weak. Presently they
+ceased. The man struggled violently for an instant, twitched
+spasmodically and lay still.
+
+Barney clung to him for several minutes longer, until there was not the
+slightest indication of remaining life. The perpetration of the deed
+sickened him; but he knew that his act was warranted, for it had been
+either his life or the other’s. He dragged the body back to the bushes
+in which he had been hiding. There he stripped off the Austrian
+uniform, put his own clothes upon the corpse and rolled it into the
+river.
+
+Dressed as an Austrian private, Barney Custer shouldered the dead
+soldier’s gun and walked boldly through the wood to the south.
+Momentarily he expected to run upon other soldiers, but though he kept
+straight on his way for hours he encountered none. The thin line of
+sentries along the river had been posted only to double the preventive
+measures that had been taken to keep Serbian spies either from entering
+or leaving the city.
+
+Toward dawn, at the darkest period of the night, Barney saw lights
+ahead of him. Apparently he was approaching a village. He went more
+cautiously now, but all his care did not prevent him from running for
+the second time that night almost into the arms of a sentry. This time,
+however, Barney saw the soldier before he himself was discovered. It
+was upon the edge of the town, in an orchard, that the sentinel was
+posted. Barney, approaching through the trees, darting from one to
+another, was within a few paces of the man before he saw him.
+
+The American remained quietly in the shadow of a tree waiting for an
+opportunity to escape, but before it came he heard the approach of a
+small body of troops. They were coming from the village directly toward
+the orchard. They passed the sentry and marched within a dozen feet of
+the tree behind which Barney was hiding.
+
+As they came opposite him he slipped around the tree to the opposite
+side. The sentry had resumed his pacing, and was now out of sight
+momentarily among the trees further on. He could not see the American,
+but there were others who could. They came in the shape of a
+non-commissioned officer and a detachment of the guard to relieve the
+sentry. Barney almost bumped into them as he rounded the tree. There
+was no escape—the non-commissioned officer was within two feet of him
+when Barney discovered him. “What are you doing here?” shouted the
+sergeant with an oath. “Your post is there,” and he pointed toward the
+position where Barney had seen the sentry.
+
+At first Barney could scarce believe his ears. In the darkness the
+sergeant had mistaken him for the sentinel! Could he carry it out? And
+if so might it not lead him into worse predicament? No, Barney decided,
+nothing could be worse. To be caught masquerading in the uniform of an
+Austrian soldier within the Austrian lines was to plumb the uttermost
+depth of guilt—nothing that he might do now could make his position
+worse.
+
+He faced the sergeant, snapping his piece to present, hoping that this
+was the proper thing to do. Then he stumbled through a brief excuse.
+The officer in command of the troops that had just passed had demanded
+the way of him, and he had but stepped a few paces from his post to
+point out the road to his superior.
+
+The sergeant grunted and ordered him to fall in. Another man took his
+place on duty. They were far from the enemy and discipline was lax, so
+the thing was accomplished which under other circumstances would have
+been well nigh impossible. A moment later Barney found himself marching
+back toward the village, to all intents and purposes an Austrian
+private.
+
+Before a low, windowless shed that had been converted into barracks for
+the guard, the detail was dismissed. The men broke ranks and sought
+their blankets within the shed, tired from their lonely vigil upon
+sentry duty.
+
+Barney loitered until the last. All the others had entered. He dared
+not, for he knew that any moment the sentry upon the post from which he
+had been taken would appear upon the scene, after discovering another
+of his comrades. He was certain to inquire of the sergeant. They would
+be puzzled, of course, and, being soldiers, they would be suspicious.
+There would be an investigation, which would start in the barracks of
+the guard. That neighborhood would at once become a most unhealthy spot
+for Barney Custer, of Beatrice, Nebraska.
+
+When the last of the soldiers had entered the shed Barney glanced
+quickly about. No one appeared to notice him. He walked directly past
+the doorway to the end of the building. Around this he found a yard,
+deeply shadowed. He entered it, crossed it, and passed out into an
+alley beyond. At the first cross-street his way was blocked by the
+sight of another sentry—the world seemed composed entirely of Austrian
+sentries. Barney wondered if the entire Austrian army was kept
+perpetually upon sentry duty; he had scarce been able to turn without
+bumping into one.
+
+He turned back into the alley and at last found a crooked passageway
+between buildings that he hoped might lead him to a spot where there
+was no sentry, and from which he could find his way out of the village
+toward the south. The passage, after devious windings, led into a
+large, open court, but when Barney attempted to leave the court upon
+the opposite side he found the ubiquitous sentries upon guard there.
+
+Evidently there would be no escape while the Austrians remained in the
+town. There was nothing to do, therefore, but hide until the happy
+moment of their departure arrived. He returned to the courtyard, and
+after a short search discovered a shed in one corner that had evidently
+been used to stable a horse, for there was straw at one end of it and a
+stall in the other. Barney sat down upon the straw to wait
+developments. Tired nature would be denied no longer. His eyes closed,
+his head drooped upon his breast. In three minutes from the time he
+entered the shed he was stretched full length upon the straw, fast
+asleep.
+
+The chugging of a motor awakened him. It was broad daylight. Many
+sounds came from the courtyard without. It did not take Barney long to
+gather his scattered wits—in an instant he was wide awake. He glanced
+about. He was the only occupant of the shed. Rising, he approached a
+small window that looked out upon the court. All was life and movement.
+A dozen military cars either stood about or moved in and out of the
+wide gates at the opposite end of the enclosure. Officers and soldiers
+moved briskly through a doorway that led into a large building that
+flanked the court upon one side. While Barney slept the headquarters of
+an Austrian army corps had moved in and taken possession of the
+building, the back of which abutted upon the court where lay his modest
+little shed.
+
+Barney took it all in at a single glance, but his eyes hung long and
+greedily upon the great, high-powered machines that chugged or purred
+about him.
+
+Gad! If he could but be behind the wheel of such a car for an hour! The
+frontier could not be over fifty miles to the south, of that he was
+quite positive; and what would fifty miles be to one of those machines?
+
+Barney sighed as a great, gray-painted car whizzed into the courtyard
+and pulled up before the doorway. Two officers jumped out and ran up
+the steps. The driver, a young man in a uniform not unlike that which
+Barney wore, drew the car around to the end of the courtyard close
+beside Barney’s shed. Here he left it and entered the building into
+which his passengers had gone. By reaching through the window Barney
+could have touched the fender of the machine. A few seconds’ start in
+that and it would take more than an Austrian army corps to stop him
+this side of the border. Thus mused Barney, knowing already that the
+mad scheme that had been born within his brain would be put to action
+before he was many minutes older.
+
+There were many soldiers on guard about the courtyard. The greatest
+danger lay in arousing the suspicions of one of these should he chance
+to see Barney emerge from the shed and enter the car.
+
+“The proper thing,” thought Barney, “is to come from the building into
+which everyone seems to pass, and the only way to be seen coming out of
+it is to get into it; but how the devil am I to get into it?”
+
+The longer he thought the more convinced he became that utter
+recklessness and boldness would be his only salvation. Briskly he
+walked from the shed out into the courtyard beneath the eyes of the
+sentries, the officers, the soldiers, and the military drivers. He
+moved straight among them toward the doorway of the headquarters as
+though bent upon important business—which, indeed, he was. At least it
+was quite the most important business to Barney Custer that that young
+gentleman could recall having ventured upon for some time.
+
+No one paid the slightest attention to him. He had left his gun in the
+shed for he noticed that only the men on guard carried them. Without an
+instant’s hesitation he ran briskly up the short flight of steps and
+entered the headquarters building. Inside was another sentry who barred
+his way questioningly. Evidently one must state one’s business to this
+person before going farther. Barney, without any loss of time or
+composure, stepped up to the guard.
+
+“Has General Kampf passed in this morning?” he asked blithely. Barney
+had never heard of any “General Kampf,” nor had the sentry, since there
+was no such person in the Austrian army. But he did know, however, that
+there were altogether too many generals for any one soldier to know the
+names of them all.
+
+“I do not know the general by sight,” replied the sentry.
+
+Here was a pretty mess, indeed. Doubtless the sergeant would know a
+great deal more than would be good for Barney Custer. The young man
+looked toward the door through which he had just entered. His sole
+object in coming into the spider’s parlor had been to make it possible
+for him to come out again in full view of all the guards and officers
+and military chauffeurs, that their suspicions might not be aroused
+when he put his contemplated coup to the test.
+
+He glanced toward the door. Machines were whizzing in and out of the
+courtyard. Officers on foot were passing and repassing. The sentry in
+the hallway was on the point of calling his sergeant.
+
+“Ah!” cried Barney. “There is the general now,” and without waiting to
+cast even a parting glance at the guard he stepped quickly through the
+doorway and ran down the steps into the courtyard. Looking neither to
+right nor to left, and with a convincing air of self-confidence and
+important business, he walked directly to the big, gray machine that
+stood beside the little shed at the end of the courtyard.
+
+To crank it and leap to the driver’s seat required but a moment. The
+big car moved smoothly forward. A turn of the steering wheel brought it
+around headed toward the wide gates. Barney shifted to second speed,
+stepped on the accelerator and the cut-out simultaneously, and with a
+noise like the rattle of a machine gun, shot out of the courtyard.
+
+None who saw his departure could have guessed from the manner of it
+that the young man at the wheel of the gray car was stealing the
+machine or that his life depended upon escape without detection. It was
+the very boldness of his act that crowned it with success.
+
+Once in the street Barney turned toward the south. Cars were passing up
+and down in both directions, usually at high speed. Their numbers
+protected the fugitive. Momentarily he expected to be halted; but he
+passed out of the village without mishap and reached a country road
+which, except for a lane down its center along which automobiles were
+moving, was blocked with troops marching southward. Through this
+soldier-walled lane Barney drove for half an hour.
+
+From a great distance, toward the southeast, he could hear the boom of
+cannon and the bursting of shells. Presently the road forked. The
+troops were moving along the road on the left toward the distant battle
+line. Not a man or machine was turning into the right fork, the road
+toward the south that Barney wished to take.
+
+Could he successfully pass through the marching soldiers at his right?
+Among all those officers there surely would be one who would question
+the purpose and destination of this private soldier who drove alone in
+the direction of the nearby frontier.
+
+The moment had come when he must stake everything on his ability to
+gain the open road beyond the plodding mass of troops. Diminishing the
+speed of the car Barney turned it in toward the marching men at the
+same time sounding his horn loudly. An infantry captain, marching
+beside his company, was directly in front of the car. He looked up at
+the American. Barney saluted and pointed toward the right-hand fork.
+
+The captain turned and shouted a command to his men. Those who had not
+passed in front of the car halted. Barney shot through the little lane
+they had opened, which immediately closed up behind him. He was
+through! He was upon the open road! Ahead, as far as he could see,
+there was no sign of any living creature to bar his way, and the
+frontier could not be more than twenty-five miles away.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+THE TRAITOR KING
+
+
+In his castle at Lustadt, Leopold of Lutha paced nervously back and
+forth between his great desk and the window that overlooked the royal
+gardens. Upon the opposite side of the desk stood an old man—a tall,
+straight, old man with the bearing of a soldier and the head of a lion.
+His keen, gray eyes were upon the king, and sorrow was written upon his
+face. He was Ludwig von der Tann, chancellor of the kingdom of Lutha.
+
+At last the king stopped his pacing and faced the old man, though he
+could not meet those eagle eyes squarely, try as he would. It was his
+inability to do so, possibly, that added to his anger. Weak himself, he
+feared this strong man and envied him his strength, which, in a weak
+nature, is but a step from hatred. There evidently had been a long
+pause in their conversation, yet the king’s next words took up the
+thread of their argument where it had broken.
+
+“You speak as though I had no right to do it,” he snapped. “One might
+think that you were the king from the manner with which you upbraid and
+reproach me. I tell you, Prince von der Tann, that I shall stand it no
+longer.”
+
+The king approached the desk and pounded heavily upon its polished
+surface with his fist. The physical act of violence imparted to him a
+certain substitute for the moral courage which he lacked.
+
+“I will tell you, sir, that I am king. It was not necessary that I
+consult you or any other man before pardoning Prince Peter and his
+associates. I have investigated the matter thoroughly and I am
+convinced that they have been taught a sufficient lesson and that
+hereafter they will be my most loyal subjects.”
+
+He hesitated. “Their presence here,” he added, “may prove an antidote
+to the ambitions of others who lately have taken it upon themselves to
+rule Lutha for me.”
+
+There was no mistaking the king’s meaning, but Prince Ludwig did not
+show by any change of expression that the shot had struck him in a
+vulnerable spot; nor, upon the other hand, did he ignore the
+insinuation. There was only sorrow in his voice when he replied.
+
+“Sire,” he said, “for some time I have been aware of the activity of
+those who would like to see Peter of Blentz returned to favor with your
+majesty. I have warned you, only to see that my motives were always
+misconstrued. There is a greater power at work, your majesty, than any
+of us—greater than Lutha itself. One that will stop at nothing in order
+to gain its ends. It cares naught for Peter of Blentz, naught for me,
+naught for you. It cares only for Lutha. For strategic purposes it must
+have Lutha. It will trample you under foot to gain its end, and then it
+will cast Peter of Blentz aside. You have insinuated, sire, that I am
+ambitious. I am. I am ambitious to maintain the integrity and freedom
+of Lutha.
+
+“For three hundred years the Von der Tanns have labored and fought for
+the welfare of Lutha. It was a Von der Tann that put the first
+Rubinroth king upon the throne of Lutha. To the last they were loyal to
+the former dynasty while that dynasty was loyal to Lutha. Only when the
+king attempted to sell the freedom of his people to a powerful neighbor
+did the Von der Tanns rise against him.
+
+“Sire! the Von der Tanns have always been loyal to the house of
+Rubinroth. And but a single thing rises superior within their breasts
+to that loyalty, and that is their loyalty to Lutha.” He paused for an
+instant before concluding. “And I, sire, am a Von der Tann.”
+
+There could be no mistaking the old man’s meaning. So long as Leopold
+was loyal to his people and their interests Ludwig von der Tann would
+be loyal to Leopold. The king was cowed. He was very much afraid of
+this grim old warrior. He chafed beneath his censure.
+
+“You are always scolding me,” he cried irritably. “I am getting tired
+of it. And now you threaten me. Do you call that loyalty? Do you call
+it loyalty to refuse to compel your daughter to keep her plighted
+troth? If you wish to prove your loyalty command the Princess Emma to
+fulfil the promise you made my father—command her to wed me at once.”
+
+Von der Tann looked the king straight in the eyes.
+
+“I cannot do that,” he said. “She has told me that she will kill
+herself rather than wed with your majesty. She is all I have left,
+sire. What good would be accomplished by robbing me of her if you could
+not gain her by the act? Win her confidence and love, sire. It may be
+done. Thus only may happiness result to you and to her.”
+
+“You see,” exclaimed the king, “what your loyalty amounts to! I believe
+that you are saving her for the impostor—I have heard as much hinted at
+before this. Nor do I doubt that she would gladly connive with the
+fellow if she thought there was a chance of his seizing the throne.”
+
+Von der Tann paled. For the first time righteous indignation and anger
+got the better of him. He took a step toward the king.
+
+“Stop!” he commanded. “No man, not even my king, may speak such words
+to a Von der Tann.”
+
+In an antechamber just outside the room a man sat near the door that
+led into the apartment where the king and his chancellor quarreled. He
+had been straining his ears to catch the conversation which he could
+hear rising and falling in the adjoining chamber, but till now he had
+been unsuccessful. Then came Prince Ludwig’s last words booming loudly
+through the paneled door, and the man smiled. He was Count Zellerndorf,
+the Austrian minister to Lutha.
+
+The king’s outraged majesty goaded him to an angry retort.
+
+“You forget yourself, Prince von der Tann,” he cried. “Leave our
+presence. When we again desire to be insulted we shall send for you.”
+
+As the chancellor passed into the antechamber Count Zellerndorf rose
+and greeted him warmly, almost effusively. Von der Tann returned his
+salutations with courtesy but with no answering warmth. Then he passed
+on out of the palace.
+
+“The old fox must have heard,” he mused as he mounted his horse and
+turned his face toward Tann and the Old Forest.
+
+When Count Zellerndorf of Austria entered the presence of Leopold of
+Lutha he found that young ruler much disturbed. He had resumed his
+restless pacing between desk and window, and as the Austrian entered he
+scarce paused to receive his salutation. Count Zellerndorf was a
+frequent visitor at the palace. There were few formalities between this
+astute diplomat and the young king; those had passed gradually away as
+their acquaintance and friendship ripened.
+
+“Prince Ludwig appeared angry when he passed through the antechamber,”
+ventured Zellerndorf. “Evidently your majesty found cause to rebuke
+him.”
+
+The king nodded and looked narrowly at the Austrian. “The Prince von
+der Tann insinuated that Austria’s only wish in connection with Lutha
+is to seize her,” he said.
+
+Zellerndorf raised his hands in well-simulated horror.
+
+“Your majesty!” he exclaimed. “It cannot be that the prince has gone to
+such lengths to turn you against your best friend, my emperor. If he
+has I can only attribute it to his own ambitions. I have hesitated to
+speak to you of this matter, your majesty, but now that the honor of my
+own ruler is questioned I must defend him.
+
+“Bear with me then, should what I have to say wound you. I well know
+the confidence which the house of Von der Tann has enjoyed for
+centuries in Lutha; but I must brave your wrath in the interest of
+right. I must tell you that it is common gossip in Vienna that Von der
+Tann aspires to the throne of Lutha either for himself or for his
+daughter through the American impostor who once sat upon your throne
+for a few days. And let me tell you more.
+
+“The American will never again menace you—he was arrested in Burgova as
+a spy and executed. He is dead; but not so are Von der Tann’s
+ambitions. When he learns that he no longer may rely upon the strain of
+the Rubinroth blood that flowed in the veins of the American from his
+royal mother, the runaway Princess Victoria, there will remain to him
+only the other alternative of seizing the throne for himself. He is a
+very ambitious man, your majesty. Already he has caused it to become
+current gossip that he is the real power behind the throne of
+Lutha—that your majesty is but a figure-head, the puppet of Von der
+Tann.”
+
+Zellerndorf paused. He saw the flush of shame and anger that suffused
+the king’s face, and then he shot the bolt that he had come to fire,
+but which he had not dared to hope would find its target so denuded of
+defense.
+
+“Your majesty,” he whispered, coming quite close to the king, “all
+Lutha is inclined to believe that you fear Prince von der Tann. Only a
+few of us know the truth to be the contrary. For the sake of your
+prestige you must take some step to counteract this belief and stamp it
+out for good and all. I have planned a way—hear it.
+
+“Von der Tann’s hatred of Peter of Blentz is well known. No man in
+Lutha believes that he would permit you to have any intercourse with
+Peter. I have brought from Blentz an invitation to your majesty to
+honor the Blentz prince with your presence as a guest for the ensuing
+week. Accept it, your majesty.
+
+“Nothing could more conclusively prove to the most skeptical that you
+are still the king, and that Von der Tann, nor any other, may not dare
+to dictate to you. It will be the most splendid stroke of statesmanship
+that you could achieve at the present moment.”
+
+For an instant the king stood in thought. He still feared Peter of
+Blentz as the devil is reputed to fear holy water, though for converse
+reasons. Yet he was very angry with Von der Tann. It would indeed be an
+excellent way to teach the presumptuous chancellor his place.
+
+Leopold almost smiled as he thought of the chagrin with which Prince
+Ludwig would receive the news that he had gone to Blentz as the guest
+of Peter. It was the last impetus that was required by his weak,
+vindictive nature to press it to a decision.
+
+“Very well,” he said, “I will go tomorrow.”
+
+It was late the following day that Prince von der Tann received in his
+castle in the Old Forest word that an Austrian army had crossed the
+Luthanian frontier—the neutrality of Lutha had been violated. The old
+chancellor set out immediately for Lustadt. At the palace he sought an
+interview with the king only to learn that Leopold had departed earlier
+in the day to visit Peter of Blentz.
+
+There was but one thing to do and that was to follow the king to
+Blentz. Some action must be taken immediately—it would never do to let
+this breach of treaty pass unnoticed.
+
+The Serbian minister who had sent word to the chancellor of the
+invasion by the Austrian troops was closeted with him for an hour after
+his arrival at the palace. It was clear to both these men that the hand
+of Zellerndorf was plainly in evidence in both the important moves that
+had occurred in Lutha within the past twenty-four hours—the luring of
+the king to Blentz and the entrance of Austrian soldiery into Lutha.
+
+Following his interview with the Serbian minister Von der Tann rode
+toward Blentz with only his staff in attendance. It was long past
+midnight when the lights of the town appeared directly ahead of the
+little party. They rode at a trot along the road which passes through
+the village to wind upward again toward the ancient feudal castle that
+looks down from its hilltop upon the town.
+
+At the edge of the village Von der Tann was thunderstruck by a
+challenge from a sentry posted in the road, nor was his dismay lessened
+when he discovered that the man was an Austrian.
+
+“What is the meaning of this?” he cried angrily. “What are Austrian
+soldiers doing barring the roads of Lutha to the chancellor of Lutha?”
+
+The sentry called an officer. The latter was extremely suave. He
+regretted the incident, but his orders were most positive—no one could
+be permitted to pass through the lines without an order from the
+general commanding. He would go at once to the general and see if he
+could procure the necessary order. Would the prince be so good as to
+await his return? Von der Tann turned on the young officer, his face
+purpling with rage.
+
+“I will pass nowhere within the boundaries of Lutha,” he said, “upon
+the order of an Austrian. You may tell your general that my only regret
+is that I have not with me tonight the necessary force to pass through
+his lines to my king—another time I shall not be so handicapped,” and
+Ludwig, Prince von der Tann, wheeled his mount and spurred away in the
+direction of Lustadt, at his heels an extremely angry and revengeful
+staff.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+A TRAP IS SPRUNG
+
+
+Long before Prince von der Tann reached Lustadt he had come to the
+conclusion that Leopold was in virtue a prisoner in Blentz. To prove
+his conclusion he directed one of his staff to return to Blentz and
+attempt to have audience with the king.
+
+“Risk anything,” he instructed the officer to whom he had entrusted the
+mission. “Submit, if necessary, to the humiliation of seeking an
+Austrian pass through the lines to the castle. See the king at any cost
+and deliver this message to him and to him alone and secretly. Tell him
+my fears, and that if I do not have word from him within twenty-four
+hours I shall assume that he is indeed a prisoner.
+
+“I shall then direct the mobilization of the army and take such steps
+as seem fit to rescue him and drive the invaders from the soil of
+Lutha. If you do not return I shall understand that you are held
+prisoner by the Austrians and that my worst fears have been realized.”
+
+But Prince Ludwig was one who believed in being forehanded and so it
+happened that the orders for the mobilization of the army of Lutha were
+issued within fifteen minutes of his return to Lustadt. It would do no
+harm, thought the old man, with a grim smile, to get things well under
+way a day ahead of time. This accomplished, he summoned the Serbian
+minister, with what purpose and to what effect became historically
+evident several days later. When, after twenty-four hours’ absence, his
+aide had not returned from Blentz, the chancellor had no regrets for
+his forehandedness.
+
+In the castle of Peter of Blentz the king of Lutha was being
+entertained royally. He was told nothing of the attempt of his
+chancellor to see him, nor did he know that a messenger from Prince von
+der Tann was being held a prisoner in the camp of the Austrians in the
+village. He was surrounded by the creatures of Prince Peter and by
+Peter’s staunch allies, the Austrian minister and the Austrian officers
+attached to the expeditionary force occupying the town. They told him
+that they had positive information that the Serbians already had
+crossed the frontier into Lutha, and that the presence of the Austrian
+troops was purely for the protection of Lutha.
+
+It was not until the morning following the rebuff of Prince von der
+Tann that Peter of Blentz, Count Zellerndorf and Maenck heard of the
+occurrence. They were chagrined by the accident, for they were not
+ready to deliver their final stroke. The young officer of the guard
+had, of course, but followed his instructions—who would have thought
+that old Von der Tann would come to Blentz! That he suspected their
+motives seemed apparent, and now that his rebuff at the gates had
+aroused his ire and, doubtless, crystallized his suspicions, they might
+find in him a very ugly obstacle to the fruition of their plans.
+
+With Von der Tann actively opposed to them, the value of having the
+king upon their side would be greatly minimized. The people and the
+army had every confidence in the old chancellor. Even if he opposed the
+king there was reason to believe that they might still side with him.
+
+“What is to be done?” asked Zellerndorf. “Is there no way either to win
+or force Von der Tann to acquiescence?”
+
+“I think we can accomplish it,” said Prince Peter, after a moment of
+thought. “Let us see Leopold. His mind has been prepared to receive
+almost gratefully any insinuations against the loyalty of Von der Tann.
+With proper evidence the king may easily be persuaded to order the
+chancellor’s arrest—possibly his execution as well.”
+
+So they saw the king, only to meet a stubborn refusal upon the part of
+Leopold to accede to their suggestions. He still was madly in love with
+Von der Tann’s daughter, and he knew that a blow delivered at her
+father would only tend to increase her bitterness toward him. The
+conspirators were nonplussed.
+
+They had looked for a comparatively easy road to the consummation of
+their desires. What in the world could be the cause of the king’s
+stubborn desire to protect the man they knew he feared, hated, and
+mistrusted with all the energy of his suspicious nature? It was the
+king himself who answered their unspoken question.
+
+“I cannot believe in the disloyalty of Prince Ludwig,” he said, “nor
+could I, even if I desired it, take such drastic steps as you suggest.
+Some day the Princess Emma, his daughter, will be my queen.”
+
+Count Zellerndorf was the first to grasp the possibilities that lay in
+the suggestion the king’s words carried.
+
+“Your majesty,” he cried, “there is a way to unite all factions in
+Lutha. It would be better to insure the loyalty of Von der Tann through
+bonds of kinship than to antagonize him. Marry the Princess Emma at
+once.
+
+“Wait, your majesty,” he added, as Leopold raised an objecting hand. “I
+am well informed as to the strange obstinacy of the princess, but for
+the welfare of the state—yes, for the sake of your very throne,
+sire—you should exert your royal prerogatives and command the Princess
+Emma to carry out the terms of your betrothal.”
+
+“What do you mean, Zellerndorf?” asked the king.
+
+“I mean, sire, that we should bring the princess here and compel her to
+marry you.”
+
+Leopold shook his head. “You do not know her,” he said. “You do not
+know the Von der Tann nature—one cannot force a Von der Tann.”
+
+“Pardon, sire,” urged Zellerndorf, “but I think it can be accomplished.
+If the Princess Emma knew that your majesty believed her father to be a
+traitor—that the order for his arrest and execution but awaited your
+signature—I doubt not that she would gladly become queen of Lutha, with
+her father’s life and liberty as a wedding gift.”
+
+For several minutes no one spoke after Count Zellerndorf had ceased.
+Leopold sat looking at the toe of his boot. Peter of Blentz, Maenck,
+and the Austrian watched him intently. The possibilities of the plan
+were sinking deep into the minds of all four. At last the king rose. He
+was mumbling to himself as though unconscious of the presence of the
+others.
+
+“She is a stubborn jade,” he mumbled. “It would be an excellent lesson
+for her. She needs to be taught that I am her king,” and then as though
+his conscience required a sop, “I shall be very good to her. Afterward
+she will be happy.” He turned toward Zellerndorf. “You think it can be
+done?”
+
+“Most assuredly, your majesty. We shall take immediate steps to fetch
+the Princess Emma to Blentz,” and the Austrian rose and backed from the
+apartment lest the king change his mind. Prince Peter and Maenck
+followed him.
+
+Princess Emma von der Tann sat in her boudoir in her father’s castle in
+the Old Forest. Except for servants, she was alone in the fortress, for
+Prince von der Tann was in Lustadt. Her mind was occupied with memories
+of the young American who had entered her life under such strange
+circumstances two years before—memories that had been awakened by the
+return of Lieutenant Otto Butzow to Lutha. He had come directly to her
+father and had been attached to the prince’s personal staff.
+
+From him she had heard a great deal about Barney Custer, and the old
+interest, never a moment forgotten during these two years, was
+reawakened to all its former intensity.
+
+Butzow had accompanied Prince Ludwig to Lustadt, but Princess Emma
+would not go with them. For two years she had not entered the capital,
+and much of that period had been spent in Paris. Only within the past
+fortnight had she returned to Lutha.
+
+In the middle of the morning her reveries were interrupted by the
+entrance of a servant bearing a message. She had to read it twice
+before she could realize its purport; though it was plainly worded—the
+shock of it had stunned her. It was dated at Lustadt and signed by one
+of the palace functionaries:
+
+Prince von der Tann has suffered a slight stroke. Do not be alarmed,
+but come at once. The two troopers who bear this message will act as
+your escort.
+
+It required but a few minutes for the girl to change to her riding
+clothes, and when she ran down into the court she found her horse
+awaiting her in the hands of her groom, while close by two mounted
+troopers raised their hands to their helmets in salute.
+
+A moment later the three clattered over the drawbridge and along the
+road that leads toward Lustadt. The escort rode a short distance behind
+the girl, and they were hard put to it to hold the mad pace which she
+set them.
+
+A few miles from Tann the road forks. One branch leads toward the
+capital and the other winds over the hills in the direction of Blentz.
+The fork occurs within the boundaries of the Old Forest. Great trees
+overhang the winding road, casting a twilight shade even at high noon.
+It is a lonely spot, far from any habitation.
+
+As the Princess Emma approached the fork she reined in her mount, for
+across the road to Lustadt a dozen horsemen barred her way. At first
+she thought nothing of it, turning her horse’s head to the righthand
+side of the road to pass the party, all of whom were in uniform; but as
+she did so one of the men reined directly in her path. The act was
+obviously intentional.
+
+The girl looked quickly up into the man’s face, and her own went white.
+He who stopped her way was Captain Ernst Maenck. She had not seen the
+man for two years, but she had good cause to remember him as the
+governor of the castle of Blentz and the man who had attempted to take
+advantage of her helplessness when she had been a prisoner in Prince
+Peter’s fortress. Now she looked straight into the fellow’s eyes.
+
+“Let me pass, please,” she said coldly.
+
+“I am sorry,” replied Maenck with an evil smile; “but the king’s orders
+are that you accompany me to Blentz—the king is there.”
+
+For answer the girl drove her spur into her mount’s side. The animal
+leaped forward, striking Maenck’s horse on the shoulder and half
+turning him aside, but the man clutched at the girl’s bridle-rein, and,
+seizing it, brought her to a stop.
+
+“You may as well come voluntarily, for come you must,” he said. “It
+will be easier for you.”
+
+“I shall not come voluntarily,” she replied. “If you take me to Blentz
+you will have to take me by force, and if my king is not sufficiently a
+gentleman to demand an accounting of you, I am at least more fortunate
+in the possession of a father who will.”
+
+“Your father will scarce wish to question the acts of his king,” said
+Maenck—“his king and the husband of his daughter.”
+
+“What do you mean?” she cried.
+
+“That before you are many hours older, your highness, you will be queen
+of Lutha.”
+
+The Princess Emma turned toward her tardy escort that had just arrived
+upon the scene.
+
+“This person has stopped me,” she said, “and will not permit me to
+continue toward Lustadt. Make a way for me; you are armed!”
+
+Maenck smiled. “Both of them are my men,” he explained.
+
+The girl saw it all now—the whole scheme to lure her to Blentz. Even
+then, though, she could not believe the king had been one of the
+conspirators of the plot.
+
+Weak as he was he was still a Rubinroth, and it was difficult for a Von
+der Tann to believe in the duplicity of a member of the house they had
+served so loyally for centuries. With bowed head the princess turned
+her horse into the road that led toward Blentz. Half the troopers
+preceded her, the balance following behind.
+
+Maenck wondered at the promptness of her surrender.
+
+“To be a queen—ah! that was the great temptation,” he thought but he
+did not know what was passing in the girl’s mind. She had seen that
+escape for the moment was impossible, and so had decided to bide her
+time until a more propitious chance should come. In silence she rode
+among her captors. The thought of being brought to Blentz alive was
+unbearable.
+
+Somewhere along the road there would be an opportunity to escape. Her
+horse was fleet; with a short start he could easily outdistance these
+heavier cavalry animals and as a last resort she could—she must—find
+some way to end her life, rather than to be dragged to the altar beside
+Leopold of Lutha.
+
+Since childhood Emma von der Tann had ridden these hilly roads. She
+knew every lane and bypath for miles around. She knew the short cuts,
+the gullies and ravines. She knew where one might, with a good jumper,
+save a wide detour, and as she rode toward Blentz she passed in review
+through her mind each of the many spots where a sudden break for
+liberty might have the best chance to succeed.
+
+And at last she hit upon the place where a quick turn would take her
+from the main road into the roughest sort of going for one not familiar
+with the trail. Maenck and his soldiers had already partially relaxed
+their vigilance. The officer had come to the conclusion that his
+prisoner was resigned to her fate and that, after all, the fate of
+being forced to be queen did not appear so dark to her.
+
+They had wound up a wooded hill and were half way up to the summit. The
+princess was riding close to the right-hand side of the road. Quite
+suddenly, and before a hand could be raised to stay her, she wheeled
+her mount between two trees, struck home her spur, and was gone into
+the wood upon the steep hillside.
+
+With an oath, Maenck cried to his men to be after her. He himself
+spurred into the forest at the point where the girl had disappeared. So
+sudden had been her break for liberty and so quickly had the foliage
+swallowed her that there was something almost uncanny in it.
+
+A hundred yards from the road the trees were further apart, and through
+them the pursuers caught a glimpse of their quarry. The girl was riding
+like mad along the rough, uneven hillside. Her mount, surefooted as a
+chamois, seemed in his element. But two of the horses of her pursuers
+were as swift, and under the cruel spurs of their riders were closing
+up on their fugitive. The girl urged her horse to greater speed, yet
+still the two behind closed in.
+
+A hundred yards ahead lay a deep and narrow gully, hid by bushes that
+grew rankly along its verge. Straight toward this the Princess Emma von
+der Tann rode. Behind her came her pursuers—two quite close and the
+others trailing farther in the rear. The girl reined in a trifle,
+letting the troopers that were closest to her gain until they were but
+a few strides behind, then she put spur to her horse and drove him at
+topmost speed straight toward the gully. At the bushes she spoke a low
+word in his backlaid ears, raised him quickly with the bit, leaning
+forward as he rose in air. Like a bird that animal took the bushes and
+the gully beyond, while close behind him crashed the two luckless
+troopers.
+
+Emma von der Tann cast a single backward glance over her shoulder, as
+her horse regained his stride upon the opposite side of the gully, to
+see her two foremost pursuers plunging headlong into it. Then she shook
+free her reins and gave her mount his head along a narrow trail that
+both had followed many times before.
+
+Behind her, Maenck and the balance of his men came to a sudden stop at
+the edge of the gully. Below them one of the troopers was struggling to
+his feet. The other lay very still beneath his motionless horse. With
+an angry oath Maenck directed one of his men to remain and help the two
+who had plunged over the brink, then with the others he rode along the
+gully searching for a crossing.
+
+Before they found one their captive was a mile ahead of them, and,
+barring accident, quite beyond recapture. She was making for a highway
+that would lead her to Lustadt. Ordinarily she had been wont to bear a
+little to the north-east at this point and strike back into the road
+that she had just left; but today she feared to do so lest she be cut
+off before she gained the north and south highroad which the other road
+crossed a little farther on.
+
+To her right was a small farm across which she had never ridden, for
+she always had made it a point never to trespass upon fenced grounds.
+On the opposite side of the farm was a wood, and somewhere beyond that
+a small stream which the highroad crossed upon a little bridge. It was
+all new country to her, but it must be ventured.
+
+She took the fence at the edge of the clearing and then reined in a
+moment to look behind her. A mile away she saw the head and shoulders
+of a horseman above some low bushes—the pursuers had found a way
+through the gully.
+
+Turning once more to her flight the girl rode rapidly across the fields
+toward the wood. Here she found a high wire fence so close to thickly
+growing trees upon the opposite side that she dared not attempt to jump
+it—there was no point at which she would not have been raked from the
+saddle by overhanging boughs. Slipping to the ground she attacked the
+barrier with her bare hands, attempting to tear away the staples that
+held the wire in place. For several minutes she surged and tugged upon
+the unyielding metal strand. An occasional backward glance revealed to
+her horrified eyes the rapid approach of her enemies. One of them was
+far in advance of the others—in another moment he would be upon her.
+
+With redoubled fury she turned again to the fence. A superhuman effort
+brought away a staple. One wire was down and an instant later two more.
+Standing with one foot upon the wires to keep them from tangling about
+her horse’s legs, she pulled her mount across into the wood. The
+foremost horseman was close upon her as she finally succeeded in urging
+the animal across the fallen wires.
+
+The girl sprang to her horse’s side just as the man reached the fence.
+The wires, released from her weight, sprang up breast high against his
+horse. He leaped from the saddle the instant that the girl was swinging
+into her own. Then the fellow jumped the fence and caught her bridle.
+
+She struck at him with her whip, lashing him across the head and face,
+but he clung tightly, dragged hither and thither by the frightened
+horse, until at last he managed to reach the girl’s arm and drag her to
+the ground.
+
+Almost at the same instant a man, unkempt and disheveled, sprang from
+behind a tree and with a single blow stretched the trooper unconscious
+upon the ground.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+BARNEY TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+As Barney Custer raced along the Austrian highroad toward the frontier
+and Lutha, his spirits rose to a pitch of buoyancy to which they had
+been strangers for the past several days. For the first time in many
+hours it seemed possible to Barney to entertain reasonable hopes of
+escape from the extremely dangerous predicament into which he had
+gotten himself.
+
+He was even humming a gay little tune as he drove into a tiny hamlet
+through which the road wound. No sign of military appeared to fill him
+with apprehension. He was very hungry and the odor of cooking fell
+gratefully upon his nostrils. He drew up before the single inn, and
+presently, washed and brushed, was sitting before the first meal he had
+seen for two days. In the enjoyment of the food he almost forgot the
+dangers he had passed through, or that other dangers might be lying in
+wait for him at his elbow.
+
+From the landlord he learned that the frontier lay but three miles to
+the south of the hamlet. Three miles! Three miles to Lutha! What if
+there was a price upon his head in that kingdom? It was HER home. It
+had been his mother’s birthplace. He loved it.
+
+Further, he must enter there and reach the ear of old Prince von der
+Tann. Once more he must save the king who had shown such scant
+gratitude upon another occasion.
+
+For Leopold, Barney Custer did not give the snap of his fingers; but
+what Leopold, the king, stood for in the lives and sentiments of the
+Luthanians—of the Von der Tanns—was very dear to the American because
+it was dear to a trim, young girl and to a rugged, leonine, old man, of
+both of whom Barney was inordinately fond. And possibly, too, it was
+dear to him because of the royal blood his mother had bequeathed him.
+
+His meal disposed of to the last morsel, and paid for, Barney entered
+the stolen car and resumed his journey toward Lutha. That he could
+remain there he knew to be impossible, but in delivering his news to
+Prince Ludwig he might have an opportunity to see the Princess Emma
+once again—it would be worth risking his life for, of that he was
+perfectly satisfied. And then he could go across into Serbia with the
+new credentials that he had no doubt Prince von der Tann would furnish
+him for the asking to replace those the Austrians had confiscated.
+
+At the frontier Barney was halted by an Austrian customs officer; but
+when the latter recognized the military car and the Austrian uniform of
+the driver he waved him through without comment. Upon the other side
+the American expected possible difficulty with the Luthanian customs
+officer, but to his surprise he found the little building deserted, and
+none to bar his way. At last he was in Lutha—by noon on the following
+day he should be at Tann.
+
+To reach the Old Forest by the best roads it was necessary to bear a
+little to the southeast, passing through Tafelberg and striking the
+north and south highway between that point and Lustadt, to which he
+could hold until reaching the east and west road that runs through both
+Tann and Blentz on its way across the kingdom.
+
+The temptation to stop for a few minutes in Tafelberg for a visit with
+his old friend Herr Kramer was strong, but fear that he might be
+recognized by others, who would not guard his secret so well as the
+shopkeeper of Tafelberg would, decided him to keep on his way. So he
+flew through the familiar main street of the quaint old village at a
+speed that was little, if any less, than fifty miles an hour.
+
+On he raced toward the south, his speed often necessarily diminished
+upon the winding mountain roads, but for the most part clinging to a
+reckless mileage that caused the few natives he encountered to flee to
+the safety of the bordering fields, there to stand in open-mouthed awe.
+
+Halfway between Tafelberg and the crossroad into which he purposed
+turning to the west toward Tann there is an S-curve where the bases of
+two small hills meet. The road here is narrow and treacherous—fifteen
+miles an hour is almost a reckless speed at which to travel around the
+curves of the S. Beyond are open fields upon either side of the road.
+
+Barney took the turns carefully and had just emerged into the last leg
+of the S when he saw, to his consternation, a half-dozen Austrian
+infantrymen lolling beside the road. An officer stood near them talking
+with a sergeant. To turn back in that narrow road was impossible. He
+could only go ahead and trust to his uniform and the military car to
+carry him safely through. Before he reached the group of soldiers the
+fields upon either hand came into view. They were dotted with tents,
+wagons, motor-vans and artillery. What did it mean? What was this
+Austrian army doing in Lutha?
+
+Already the officer had seen him. This was doubtless an outpost,
+however clumsily placed it might be for strategic purposes. To pass it
+was Barney’s only hope. He had passed through one Austrian army—why not
+another? He approached the outpost at a moderate rate of speed—to tear
+toward it at the rate his heart desired would be to awaken not
+suspicion only but positive conviction that his purposes and motives
+were ulterior.
+
+The officer stepped toward the road as though to halt him. Barney
+pretended to be fussing with some refractory piece of controlling
+mechanism beneath the cowl—apparently he did not see the officer. He
+was just opposite him when the latter shouted to him. Barney
+straightened up quickly and saluted, but did not stop.
+
+“Halt!” cried the officer.
+
+Barney pointed down the road in the direction in which he was headed.
+
+“Halt!” repeated the officer, running to the car.
+
+Barney glanced ahead. Two hundred yards farther on was another
+post—beyond that he saw no soldiers. He turned and shouted a volley of
+intentionally unintelligible jargon at the officer, continuing to point
+ahead of him.
+
+He hoped to confuse the man for the few seconds necessary for him to
+reach the last post. If the soldiers there saw that he had been
+permitted to pass through the first they doubtless would not hinder his
+further passage. That they were watching him Barney could see.
+
+He had passed the officer now. There was no necessity for dalliance. He
+pressed the accelerator down a trifle. The car moved forward at
+increased speed. A final angry shout broke from the officer behind him,
+followed by a quick command. Barney did not have to wait long to learn
+the tenor of the order, for almost immediately a shot sounded from
+behind and a bullet whirred above his head. Another shot and another
+followed.
+
+Barney was pressing the accelerator downward to the limit. The car
+responded nobly—there was no sputtering, no choking. Just a rapid rush
+of increasing momentum as the machine gained headway by leaps and
+bounds.
+
+The bullets were ripping the air all about him. Just ahead the second
+outpost stood directly in the center of the road. There were three
+soldiers and they were taking deliberate aim, as carefully as though
+upon the rifle range. It seemed to Barney that they couldn’t miss him.
+He swerved the car suddenly from one side of the road to the other. At
+the rate that it was going the move was fraught with but little less
+danger than the supine facing of the leveled guns ahead.
+
+The three rifles spoke almost simultaneously. The glass of the
+windshield shattered in Barney’s face. There was a hole in the
+left-hand front fender that had not been there before.
+
+“Rotten shooting,” commented Barney Custer, of Beatrice.
+
+The soldiers still stood in the center of the road firing at the
+swaying car as, lurching from side to side, it bore down upon them.
+Barney sounded the raucous military horn; but the soldiers seemed
+unconscious of their danger—they still stood there pumping lead toward
+the onrushing Juggernaut. At the last instant they attempted to rush
+from its path; but they were too late.
+
+At over sixty miles an hour the huge, gray monster bore down upon them.
+One of them fell beneath the wheels—the two others were thrown high in
+air as the bumper struck them. The body of the man who had fallen
+beneath the wheels threw the car half way across the road—only iron
+nerve and strong arms held it from the ditch upon the opposite side.
+
+Barney Custer had never been nearer death than at that moment—not even
+when he faced the firing squad before the factory wall in Burgova. He
+had done that without a tremor—he had heard the bullets of the outpost
+whistling about his head a moment before, with a smile upon his lips—he
+had faced the leveled rifles of the three he had ridden down and he had
+not quailed. But now, his machine in the center of the road again, he
+shook like a leaf, still in the grip of the sickening nausea of that
+awful moment when the mighty, insensate monster beneath him had reeled
+drunkenly in its mad flight, swerving toward the ditch and destruction.
+
+For a few minutes he held to his rapid pace before he looked around,
+and then it was to see two cars climbing into the road from the
+encampment in the field and heading toward him in pursuit. Barney
+grinned. Once more he was master of his nerves. They’d have a merry
+chase, he thought, and again he accelerated the speed of the car. Once
+before he had had it up to seventy-five miles, and for a moment, when
+he had had no opportunity to even glance at the speedometer, much
+higher. Now he was to find the maximum limit of the possibilities of
+the brave car he had come to look upon with real affection.
+
+The road ahead was comparatively straight and level. Behind him came
+the enemy. Barney watched the road rushing rapidly out of sight beneath
+the gray fenders. He glanced occasionally at the speedometer.
+Seventy-five miles an hour. Seventy-seven! “Going some,” murmured
+Barney as he saw the needle vibrate up to eighty. Gradually he nursed
+her up and up to greater speed.
+
+Eighty-five! The trees were racing by him in an indistinct blur of
+green. The fences were thin, wavering lines—the road a white-gray
+ribbon, ironed by the terrific speed to smooth unwrinkledness. He could
+not take his eyes from the business of steering to glance behind; but
+presently there broke faintly through the whir of the wind beating
+against his ears the faint report of a gun. He was being fired upon
+again. He pressed down still further upon the accelerator. The car
+answered to the pressure. The needle rose steadily until it reached
+ninety miles an hour—and topped it.
+
+Then from somewhere in the radiator hose a hissing and a spurt of
+steam. Barney was dumbfounded. He had filled the cooling system at the
+inn where he had eaten. It had been working perfectly before and since.
+What could have happened? There could be but a single explanation. A
+bullet from the gun of one of the three men who had attempted to stop
+him at the second outpost had penetrated the radiator, and had slowly
+drained it.
+
+Barney knew that the end was near, since the usefulness of the car in
+furthering his escape was over. At the speed he was going it would be
+but a short time before the superheated pistons expanding in their
+cylinders would tear the motor to pieces. Barney felt that he would be
+lucky if he himself were not killed when it happened.
+
+He reduced his speed and glanced behind. His pursuers had not gained
+upon him, but they still were coming. A bend in the road shut them from
+his view. A little way ahead the road crossed over a river upon a
+wooden bridge. On the opposite side and to the right of the road was a
+wood. It seemed to offer the most likely possibilities of concealment
+in the vicinity. If he could but throw his pursuers off the trail for a
+while he might succeed in escaping through the wood, eventually
+reaching Tann on foot. He had a rather hazy idea of the exact direction
+of the town and castle, but that he could find them eventually he was
+sure.
+
+The sight of the river and the bridge he was nearing suggested a plan,
+and the ominous grating of the overheated motor warned him that
+whatever he was to do he must do at once. As he neared the bridge he
+reduced the speed of the car to fifteen miles an hour, and set the hand
+throttle to hold it there. Still gripping the steering wheel with one
+hand, he climbed over the left-hand door to the running board. As the
+front wheels of the car ran up onto the bridge Barney gave the steering
+wheel a sudden turn to the right, and jumped.
+
+The car veered toward the wooden handrail, there was a splintering of
+stanchions, as, with a crash, the big machine plunged through them
+headforemost into the river. Without waiting to give even a glance at
+his handiwork Barney Custer ran across the bridge, leaped the fence
+upon the right-hand side and plunged into the shelter of the wood.
+
+Then he turned to look back up the road in the direction from which his
+pursuers were coming. They were not in sight—they had not seen his
+ruse. The water in the river was of sufficient depth to completely
+cover the car—no sign of it appeared above the surface.
+
+Barney turned into the wood smiling. His scheme had worked well. The
+occupants of the two cars following him might not note the broken
+handrail, or, if they did, might not connect it with Barney in any way.
+In this event they would continue in the direction of Lustadt,
+wondering what in the world had become of their quarry. Or, if they
+guessed that his car had gone over into the river, they would doubtless
+believe that its driver had gone with it. In either event Barney would
+be given ample time to find his way to Tann.
+
+He wished that he might find other clothes, since if he were dressed
+otherwise there would be no reason to imagine that his pursuers would
+recognize him should they come upon him. None of them could possibly
+have gained a sufficiently good look at his features to recognize them
+again.
+
+The Austrian uniform, however, would convict him, or at least lay him
+under suspicion, and in Barney’s present case, suspicion was as good as
+conviction were he to fall into the hands of the Austrians. The garb
+had served its purpose well in aiding in his escape from Austria, but
+now it was more of a menace than an asset.
+
+For a week Barney Custer wandered through the woods and mountains of
+Lutha. He did not dare approach or question any human being. Several
+times he had seen Austrian cavalry that seemed to be scouring the
+country for some purpose that the American could easily believe was
+closely connected with himself. At least he did not feel disposed to
+stop them, as they cantered past his hiding place, to inquire the
+nature of their business.
+
+Such farmhouses as he came upon he gave a wide berth except at night,
+and then he only approached them stealthily for such provender as he
+might filch. Before the week was up he had become an expert chicken
+thief, being able to rob a roost as quietly as the most finished
+carpetbagger on the sunny side of Mason and Dixon’s line.
+
+A careless housewife, leaving her lord and master’s rough shirt and
+trousers hanging upon the line overnight, had made possible for Barney
+the coveted change in raiment. Now he was barged as a Luthanian
+peasant. He was hatless, since the lady had failed to hang out her
+mate’s woolen cap, and Barney had not dared retain a single vestige of
+the damning Austrian uniform.
+
+What the peasant woman thought when she discovered the empty line the
+following morning Barney could only guess, but he was morally certain
+that her grief was more than tempered by the gold piece he had wrapped
+in a bit of cloth torn from the soldier’s coat he had worn, which he
+pinned on the line where the shirt and pants had been.
+
+It was somewhere near noon upon the seventh day that Barney skirting a
+little stream, followed through the concealing shade of a forest toward
+the west. In his peasant dress he now felt safer to approach a
+farmhouse and inquire his way to Tann, for he had come a sufficient
+distance from the spot where he had stolen his new clothes to hope that
+they would not be recognized or that the news of their theft had not
+preceded him.
+
+As he walked he heard the sound of the feet of a horse galloping over a
+dry field—muffled, rapid thud approaching closer upon his right hand.
+Barney remained motionless. He was sure that the rider would not enter
+the wood which, with its low-hanging boughs and thick underbrush, was
+ill adapted to equestrianism.
+
+Closer and closer came the sound until it ceased suddenly scarce a
+hundred yards from where the American hid. He waited in silence to
+discover what would happen next. Would the rider enter the wood on
+foot? What was his purpose? Was it another Austrian who had by some
+miracle discovered the whereabouts of the fugitive? Barney could scarce
+believe it possible.
+
+Presently he heard another horse approaching at the same mad gallop. He
+heard the sound of rapid, almost frantic efforts of some nature where
+the first horse had come to a stop. He heard a voice urging the animal
+forward—pleading, threatening. A woman’s voice. Barney’s excitement
+became intense in sympathy with the subdued excitement of the woman
+whom he could not as yet see.
+
+A moment later the second rider came to a stop at the same point at
+which the first had reined in. A man’s voice rose roughly. “Halt!” it
+cried. “In the name of the king, halt!” The American could no longer
+resist the temptation to see what was going on so close to him “in the
+name of the king.”
+
+He advanced from behind his tree until he saw the two figures—a man’s
+and a woman’s. Some bushes intervened—he could not get a clear view of
+them, yet there was something about the figure of the woman, whose back
+was toward him as she struggled to mount her frightened horse, that
+caused him to leap rapidly toward her. He rounded a tree a few paces
+from her just as the man—a trooper in the uniform of the house of
+Blentz—caught her arm and dragged her from the saddle. At the same
+instant Barney recognized the girl—it was Princess Emma.
+
+Before either the trooper or the princess were aware of his presence he
+had leaped to the man’s side and dealt him a blow that stretched him at
+full length upon the ground—stunned.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+AN ADVENTUROUS DAY
+
+
+For an instant the two stood looking at one another. The girl’s eyes
+were wide with incredulity, with hope, with fear. She was the first to
+break the silence.
+
+“Who are you?” she breathed in a half whisper.
+
+“I don’t wonder that you ask,” returned the man. “I must look like a
+scarecrow. I’m Barney Custer. Don’t you remember me now? Who did you
+think I was?”
+
+The girl took a step toward him. Her eyes lighted with relief.
+
+“Captain Maenck told me that you were dead,” she said, “that you had
+been shot as a spy in Austria, and then there is that uncanny
+resemblance to the king—since he has shaved his beard it is infinitely
+more remarkable. I thought you might be he. He has been at Blentz and I
+knew that it was quite possible that he had discovered treachery upon
+the part of Prince Peter. In which case he might have escaped in
+disguise. I really wasn’t sure that you were not he until you spoke.”
+
+Barney stooped and removed the bandoleer of cartridges from the fallen
+trooper, as well as his revolver and carbine. Then he took the girl’s
+hand and together they turned into the wood. Behind them came the sound
+of pursuit. They heard the loud words of Maenck as he ordered his three
+remaining men into the wood on foot. As he advanced, Barney looked to
+the magazine of his carbine and the cylinder of his revolver.
+
+“Why were they pursuing you?” he asked.
+
+“They were taking me to Blentz to force me to wed Leopold,” she
+replied. “They told me that my father’s life depended upon my
+consenting; but I should not have done so. The honor of my house is
+more precious than the life of any of its members. I escaped them a few
+miles back, and they were following to overtake me.”
+
+A noise behind them caused Barney to turn. One of the troopers had come
+into view. He carried his carbine in his hands and at sight of the man
+with the fugitive girl he raised it to his shoulder; but as the
+American turned toward him his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.
+
+Instantly Barney knew that the fellow had noted his resemblance to the
+king. Barney’s body was concealed from the view of the other by a bush
+which grew between them, so the man saw only the face of the American.
+The fellow turned and shouted to Maenck: “The king is with her.”
+
+“Nonsense,” came the reply from farther back in the wood. “If there is
+a man with her and he will not surrender, shoot him.” At the words
+Barney and the girl turned once more to their flight. From behind came
+the command to halt—“Halt! or I fire.” Just ahead Barney saw the river.
+
+They were sure to be taken there if he was unable to gain the time
+necessary to make good a crossing. Upon the opposite side was a
+continuation of the wood. Behind them the leading trooper was crashing
+through the underbrush in renewed pursuit. He came in sight of them
+again, just as they reached the river bank. Once more his carbine was
+leveled. Barney pushed the girl to her knees behind a bush. Then he
+wheeled and fired, so quickly that the man with the already leveled gun
+had no time to anticipate his act.
+
+With a cry the fellow threw his hands above his head, staggered forward
+and plunged full length upon his face. Barney gathered the princess in
+his arms and plunged into the shallow stream. The girl held his carbine
+as he stumbled over the rocky bottom. The water deepened rapidly—the
+opposite shore seemed a long way off and behind there were three more
+enemies in hot pursuit.
+
+Under ordinary circumstances Barney could have found it in his heart to
+wish the little Luthanian river as broad as the Mississippi, for only
+under such circumstances as these could he ever hope to hold the
+Princess Emma in his arms. Two years before she had told him that she
+loved him; but at the same time she had given him to understand that
+their love was hopeless. She might refuse to wed the king; but that she
+should ever wed another while the king lived was impossible, unless
+Leopold saw fit to release her from her betrothal to him and sanction
+her marriage to another. That he ever would do this was to those who
+knew him not even remotely possible.
+
+He loved Emma von der Tann and he hated Barney Custer—hated him with a
+jealous hatred that was almost fanatic in its intensity. And even that
+the Princess Emma von der Tann would wed him were she free to wed was a
+question that was not at all clear in the mind of Barney Custer. He
+knew something of the traditions of this noble family—of the pride of
+caste, of the fetish of blood that inexorably dictated the ordering of
+their lives.
+
+The girl had just said that the honor of her house was more precious
+than the life of any of its members. How much more precious would it be
+to her than her own material happiness! Barney Custer sighed and
+struggled through the swirling waters that were now above his hips. If
+he pressed the lithe form closer to him than necessity demanded, who
+may blame him?
+
+The girl, whose face was toward the bank they had just quitted, gave no
+evidence of displeasure if she noted the fierce pressure of his
+muscles. Her eyes were riveted upon the wood behind. Presently a man
+emerged. He called to them in a loud and threatening tone.
+
+Barney redoubled his Herculean efforts to gain the opposite bank. He
+was in midstream now and the water had risen to his waist. The girl saw
+Maenck and the other trooper emerge from the underbrush beside the
+first. Maenck was crazed with anger. He shook his fist and screamed
+aloud his threatening commands to halt, and then, of a sudden, gave an
+order to one of the men at his side. Immediately the fellow raised his
+carbine and fired at the escaping couple.
+
+The bullet struck the water behind them. At the sound of the report the
+girl raised the gun she held and leveled it at the group behind her.
+She pulled the trigger. There was a sharp report, and one of the
+troopers fell. Then she fired again, quickly, and again and again. She
+did not score another hit, but she had the satisfaction of seeing
+Maenck and the last of his troopers dodge back to the safety of
+protecting trees.
+
+“The cowards!” muttered Barney as the enemy’s shot announced his
+sinister intention; “they might have hit your highness.”
+
+The girl did not reply until she had ceased firing.
+
+“Captain Maenck is notoriously a coward,” she said. “He is hiding
+behind a tree now with one of his men—I hit the other.”
+
+“You hit one of them!” exclaimed Barney enthusiastically.
+
+“Yes,” said the girl. “I have shot a man. I often wondered what the
+sensation must be to have done such a thing. I should feel terribly,
+but I don’t. They were firing at you, trying to shoot you in the back
+while you were defenseless. I am not sorry—I cannot be; but I only wish
+that it had been Captain Maenck.”
+
+In a short time Barney reached the bank and, helping the girl up,
+climbed to her side. A couple of shots followed them as they left the
+river, but did not fall dangerously near. Barney took the carbine and
+replied, then both of them disappeared into the wood.
+
+For the balance of the day they tramped on in the direction of Lustadt,
+making but little progress owing to the fear of apprehension. They did
+not dare utilize the high road, for they were still too close to
+Blentz. Their only hope lay in reaching the protection of Prince von
+der Tann before they should be recaptured by the king’s emissaries. At
+dusk they came to the outskirts of a town. Here they hid until darkness
+settled, for Barney had determined to enter the place after dark and
+hire horses.
+
+The American marveled at the bravery and endurance of the girl. He had
+always supposed that a princess was so carefully guarded from fatigue
+and privation all her life that the least exertion would prove her
+undoing; but no hardy peasant girl could have endured more bravely the
+hardships and dangers through which the Princess Emma had passed since
+the sun rose that morning.
+
+At last darkness came, and with it they approached and entered the
+village. They kept to unlighted side streets until they met a villager,
+of whom they inquired their way to some private house where they might
+obtain refreshments. The fellow scrutinized them with evident
+suspicion.
+
+“There is an inn yonder,” he said, pointing toward the main street.
+“You can obtain food there. Why should respectable folk want to go
+elsewhere than to the public inn? And if you are afraid to go there you
+must have very good reasons for not wanting to be seen, and—” he
+stopped short as though assailed by an idea. “Wait,” he cried,
+excitedly, “I will go and see if I can find a place for you. Wait right
+here,” and off he ran toward the inn.
+
+“I don’t like the looks of that,” said Barney, after the man had left
+them. “He’s gone to report us to someone. Come, we’d better get out of
+here before he comes back.”
+
+The two turned up a side street away from the inn. They had gone but a
+short distance when they heard the sound of voices and the thud of
+horses’ feet behind them. The horses were coming at a walk and with
+them were several men on foot. Barney took the princess’ hand and drew
+her up a hedge bordered driveway that led into private grounds. In the
+shadows of the hedge they waited for the party behind them to pass. It
+might be no one searching for them, but it was just as well to be on
+the safe side—they were still near Blentz. Before the men reached their
+hiding place a motor car followed and caught up with them, and as the
+party came opposite the driveway Barney and the princess overheard a
+portion of their conversation.
+
+“Some of you go back and search the street behind the inn—they may not
+have come this way.” The speaker was in the motor car. “We will follow
+along this road for a bit and then turn into the Lustadt highway. If
+you don’t find them go back along the road toward Tann.”
+
+In her excitement the Princess Emma had not noticed that Barney Custer
+still held her hand in his. Now he pressed it. “It is Maenck’s voice,”
+he whispered. “Every road will be guarded.”
+
+For a moment he was silent, thinking. The searching party had passed
+on. They could still hear the purring of the motor as Maenck’s car
+moved slowly up the street.
+
+“This is a driveway,” murmured Barney. “People who build driveways into
+their grounds usually have something to drive. Whatever it is it should
+be at the other end of the driveway. Let’s see if it will carry two.”
+
+Still in the shadow of the hedge they moved cautiously toward the upper
+end of the private road until presently they saw a building looming in
+their path.
+
+“A garage?” whispered Barney.
+
+“Or a barn,” suggested the princess.
+
+“In either event it should contain something that can go,” returned the
+American. “Let us hope that it can go like—like—ah—the wind.”
+
+“And carry two,” supplemented the princess.
+
+“Wait here,” said Barney. “If I get caught, run. Whatever happens you
+mustn’t be caught.”
+
+Princess Emma dropped back close to the hedge and Barney approached the
+building, which proved to be a private garage. The doors were locked,
+as also were the three windows. Barney passed entirely around the
+structure halting at last upon the darkest side. Here was a window.
+Barney tried to loosen the catch with the blade of his pocket knife,
+but it wouldn’t unfasten. His endeavors resulted only in snapping short
+the blade of his knife. For a moment he stood contemplating the
+baffling window. He dared not break the glass for fear of arousing the
+inmates of the house which, though he could not see it, might be close
+at hand.
+
+Presently he recalled a scene he had witnessed on State Street in
+Chicago several years before—a crowd standing before the window of a
+jeweler’s shop inspecting a neat little hole that a thief had cut in
+the glass with a diamond and through which he had inserted his hand and
+brought forth several hundred dollars worth of loot. But Barney Custer
+wore no diamond—he would as soon have worn a celluloid collar. But
+women wore diamonds. Doubtless the Princess Emma had one. He ran
+quickly to her side.
+
+“Have you a diamond ring?” he whispered.
+
+“Gracious!” she exclaimed, “you are progressing rapidly,” and slipped a
+solitaire from her finger to his hand.
+
+“Thanks,” said Barney. “I need the practice; but wait and you’ll see
+that a diamond may be infinitely more valuable than even the broker
+claims,” and he was gone again into the shadows of the garage. Here
+upon the window pane he scratched a rough deep circle, close to the
+catch. A quick blow sent the glass clattering to the floor within. For
+a minute Barney stood listening for any sign that the noise had
+attracted attention, but hearing nothing he ran his hand through the
+hole that he had made and unlatched the frame. A moment later he had
+crawled within.
+
+Before him, in the darkness, stood a roadster. He ran his hand over the
+pedals and levers, breathing a sigh of relief as his touch revealed the
+familiar control of a standard make. Then he went to the double doors.
+They opened easily and silently.
+
+Once outside he hastened to the side of the waiting girl.
+
+“It’s a machine,” he whispered. “We must both be in it when it leaves
+the garage—it’s the through express for Lustadt and makes no stops for
+passengers or freight.”
+
+He led her back to the garage and helped her into the seat beside him.
+As silently as possible he ran the machine into the driveway. A hundred
+yards to the left, half hidden by intervening trees and shrubbery, rose
+the dark bulk of a house. A subdued light shone through the drawn
+blinds of several windows—the only sign of life about the premises
+until the car had cleared the garage and was moving slowly down the
+driveway. Then a door opened in the house letting out a flood of light
+in which the figure of a man was silhouetted. A voice broke the
+silence.
+
+“Who are you? What are you doing there? Come back!”
+
+The man in the doorway called excitedly, “Friedrich! Come! Come
+quickly! Someone is stealing the automobile,” and the speaker came
+running toward the driveway at top speed. Behind him came Friedrich.
+Both were shouting, waving their arms and threatening. Their combined
+din might have aroused the dead.
+
+Barney sought speed—silence now was useless. He turned to the left into
+the street away from the center of the town. In this direction had gone
+the automobile with Maenck, but by taking the first righthand turn
+Barney hoped to elude the captain. In a moment Friedrich and the other
+were hopelessly distanced. It was with a sigh of relief that the
+American turned the car into the dark shadows beneath the overarching
+trees of the first cross street.
+
+He was running without lights along an unknown way; and beside him was
+the most precious burden that Barney Custer might ever expect to carry.
+Under these circumstances his speed was greatly reduced from what he
+would have wished, but at that he was forced to accept grave risks. The
+road might end abruptly at the brink of a ravine—it might swerve
+perilously close to a stone quarry—or plunge headlong into a pond or
+river. Barney shuddered at the possibilities; but nothing of the sort
+happened. The street ran straight out of the town into a country road,
+rather heavy with sand. In the open the possibilities of speed were
+increased, for the night, though moonless, was clear, and the road
+visible for some distance ahead.
+
+The fugitives were congratulating themselves upon the excellent chance
+they now had to reach Lustadt. There was only Maenck and his companion
+ahead of them in the other car, and as there were several roads by
+which one might reach the main highway the chances were fair that
+Prince Peter’s aide would miss them completely.
+
+Already escape seemed assured when the pounding of horses’ hoofs upon
+the roadway behind them arose to blast their new found hope. Barney
+increased the speed of the car. It leaped ahead in response to his
+foot; but the road was heavy, and the sides of the ruts gripping the
+tires retarded the speed. For a mile they held the lead of the
+galloping horsemen. The shouts of their pursuers fell clearly upon
+their ears, and the Princess Emma, turning in her seat, could easily
+see the four who followed. At last the car began to draw away—the
+distance between it and the riders grew gradually greater.
+
+“I believe we are going to make it,” whispered the girl, her voice
+tense with excitement. “If you could only go a little faster, Mr.
+Custer, I’m sure that we will.”
+
+“She’s reached her limit in this sand,” replied the man, “and there’s a
+grade just ahead—we may find better going beyond, but they’re bound to
+gain on us before we reach the top.”
+
+The girl strained her eyes into the night before them. On the right of
+the road stood an ancient ruin—grim and forbidding. As her eyes rested
+upon it she gave a little exclamation of relief.
+
+“I know where we are now,” she cried. “The hill ahead is sandy, and
+there is a quarter of a mile of sand beyond, but then we strike the
+Lustadt highway, and if we can reach it ahead of them their horses will
+have to go ninety miles an hour to catch us—provided this car possesses
+any such speed possibilities.”
+
+“If it can go forty we are safe enough,” replied Barney; “but we’ll
+give it a chance to go as fast as it can—the farther we are from the
+vicinity of Blentz the safer I shall feel for the welfare of your
+highness.”
+
+A shot rang behind them, and a bullet whistled high above their heads.
+The princess seized the carbine that rested on the seat between them.
+
+“Shall I?” she asked, turning its muzzle back over the lowered top.
+
+“Better not,” answered the man. “They are only trying to frighten us
+into surrendering—that shot was much too high to have been aimed at
+us—they are shooting over our heads purposely. If they deliberately
+attempt to pot us later, then go for them, but to do it now would only
+draw their fire upon us. I doubt if they wish to harm your highness,
+but they certainly would fire to hit in self-defense.”
+
+The girl lowered the firearm. “I am becoming perfectly bloodthirsty,”
+she said, “but it makes me furious to be hunted like a wild animal in
+my native land, and by the command of my king, at that. And to think
+that you who placed him upon his throne, you who have risked your life
+many times for him, will find no protection at his hands should you be
+captured is maddening. Ach, Gott, if I were a man!”
+
+“I thank God that you are not, your highness,” returned Barney
+fervently.
+
+Gently she laid her hand upon his where it gripped the steering wheel.
+
+“No,” she said, “I was wrong—I do not need to be a man while there
+still be such men as you, my friend; but I would that I were not the
+unhappy woman whom Fate had bound to an ingrate king—to a miserable
+coward!”
+
+They had reached the grade at last, and the motor was straining to the
+Herculean task imposed upon it.
+
+Grinding and grating in second speed the car toiled upward through the
+clinging sand. The pace was snail-like. Behind, the horsemen were
+gaining rapidly. The labored breathing of their mounts was audible even
+above the noise of the motor, so close were they. The top of the ascent
+lay but a few yards ahead, and the pursuers were but a few yards
+behind.
+
+“Halt!” came from behind, and then a shot. The ping of the bullet and
+the scream of the ricochet warned the man and the girl that those
+behind them were becoming desperate—the bullet had struck one of the
+rear fenders. Without again asking assent the princess turned and,
+kneeling upon the cushion of the seat, fired at the nearest horseman.
+The horse stumbled and plunged to his knees. Another, just behind, ran
+upon him, and the two rolled over together with their riders. Two more
+shots were fired by the remaining horsemen and answered by the girl in
+the automobile, and then the car topped the hill, shot into high, and
+with renewed speed forged into the last quarter-mile of heavy going
+toward the good road ahead; but now the grade was slightly downward and
+all the advantage was upon the side of the fugitives.
+
+However, their margin would be but scant when they reached the highway,
+for behind them the remaining troopers were spurring their jaded horses
+to a final spurt of speed. At last the white ribbon of the main road
+became visible. To the right they saw the headlights of a machine. It
+was Maenck probably, doubtless attracted their way by the shooting.
+
+But the machine was a mile away and could not possibly reach the
+intersection of the two roads before they had turned to the left toward
+Lustadt. Then the incident would resolve itself into a simple test of
+speed between the two cars—and the ability and nerve of the drivers.
+Barney hadn’t the slightest doubt now as to the outcome. His borrowed
+car was a good one, in good condition. And in the matter of driving he
+rather prided himself that he needn’t take his hat off to anyone when
+it came to ability and nerve.
+
+They were only about fifty feet from the highway. The girl touched his
+hand again. “We’re safe,” she cried, her voice vibrant with excitement,
+“we’re safe at last.” From beneath the bonnet, as though in answer to
+her statement, came a sickly, sucking sputter. The momentum of the car
+diminished. The throbbing of the engine ceased. They sat in silence as
+the machine coasted toward the highway and came to a dead stop, with
+its front wheels upon the road to safety. The girl turned toward Barney
+with an exclamation of surprise and interrogation.
+
+“The jig’s up,” he groaned; “we’re out of gasoline!”
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+THE CAPTURE
+
+
+The capture of Princess Emma von der Tann and Barney Custer was a
+relatively simple matter. Open fields spread in all directions about
+the crossroads at which their car had come to its humiliating stop.
+There was no cover. To have sought escape by flight, thus in the open,
+would have been to expose the princess to the fire of the troopers.
+Barney could not do this. He preferred to surrender and trust to chance
+to open the way to escape later.
+
+When Captain Ernst Maenck drove up he found the prisoners disarmed,
+standing beside the now-useless car. He alighted from his own machine
+and with a low bow saluted the princess, an ironical smile upon his
+thin lips. Then he turned his attention toward her companion.
+
+“Who are you?” he demanded gruffly. In the darkness he failed to
+recognize the American whom he thought dead in Austria.
+
+“A servant of the house of Von der Tann,” replied Barney.
+
+“You deserve shooting,” growled the officer, “but we’ll leave that to
+Prince Peter and the king. When I tell them the trouble you have caused
+us—well, God help you.”
+
+The journey to Blentz was a short one. They had been much nearer that
+grim fortress than either had guessed. At the outskirts of the town
+they were challenged by Austrian sentries, through which Maenck passed
+with ease after the sentinel had summoned an officer. From this man
+Maenck received the password that would carry them through the line of
+outposts between the town and the castle—“Slankamen.” Barney, who
+overheard the word, made a mental note of it.
+
+At last they reached the dreary castle of Peter of Blentz. In the
+courtyard Austrian soldiers mingled with the men of the bodyguard of
+the king of Lutha. Within, the king’s officers fraternized with the
+officers of the emperor. Maenck led his prisoners to the great hall
+which was filled with officers and officials of both Austria and Lutha.
+
+The king was not there. Maenck learned that he had retired to his
+apartments a few minutes earlier in company with Prince Peter of Blentz
+and Von Coblich. He sent a servant to announce his return with the
+Princess von der Tann and a man who had attempted to prevent her being
+brought to Blentz.
+
+Barney had, as far as possible, kept his face averted from Maenck since
+they had entered the lighted castle. He hoped to escape recognition,
+for he knew that if his identity were guessed it might go hard with the
+princess. As for himself, it might go even harder, but of that he gave
+scarcely a thought—the safety of the princess was paramount.
+
+After a few minutes of waiting the servant returned with the king’s
+command to fetch the prisoners to his apartments. The face of the
+Princess Emma was haggard. For the first time Barney saw signs of fear
+upon her countenance. With leaden steps they accompanied their guard up
+the winding stairway to the tower rooms that had been furnished for the
+king. They were the same in which Emma von der Tann had been imprisoned
+two years before.
+
+On either side of the doorway stood a soldier of the king’s bodyguard.
+As Captain Maenck approached they saluted. A servant opened the door
+and they passed into the room. Before them were Peter of Blentz and Von
+Coblich standing beside a table at which Leopold of Lutha was sitting.
+The eyes of the three men were upon the doorway as the little party
+entered. The king’s face was flushed with wine. He rose as his eyes
+rested upon the face of the princess.
+
+“Greetings, your highness,” he cried with an attempt at cordiality.
+
+The girl looked straight into his eyes, coldly, and then bent her knee
+in formal curtsy. The king was about to speak again when his eyes
+wandered to the face of the American. Instantly his own went white and
+then scarlet. The eyes of Peter of Blentz followed those of the king,
+widening in astonishment as they rested upon the features of Barney
+Custer.
+
+“You told me he was dead,” shouted the king. “What is the meaning of
+this, Captain Maenck?”
+
+Maenck looked at his male prisoner and staggered back as though struck
+between the eyes.
+
+“Mein Gott,” he exclaimed, “the impostor!”
+
+“You told me he was dead,” repeated the king accusingly.
+
+“As God is my judge, your majesty,” cried Peter of Blentz, “this man
+was shot by an Austrian firing squad in Burgova over a week ago.”
+
+“Sire,” exclaimed Maenck, “this is the first sight I have had of the
+prisoners except in the darkness of the night; until this instant I had
+not the remotest suspicion of his identity. He told me that he was a
+servant of the house of Von der Tann.”
+
+“I told you the truth, then,” interjected Barney.
+
+“Silence, you ingrate!” cried the king.
+
+“Ingrate?” repeated Barney. “You have the effrontery to call me an
+ingrate? You miserable puppy.”
+
+A silence, menacing in its intensity, fell upon the little assemblage.
+The king trembled. His rage choked him. The others looked as though
+they scarce could believe the testimony of their own ears. All there,
+with the possible exception of the king, knew that he deserved even
+more degrading appellations; but they were Europeans, and to Europeans
+a king is a king—that they can never forget. It had been the inherent
+suggestion of kingship that had bent the knee of the Princess Emma
+before the man she despised.
+
+But to the American a king was only what he made himself. In this
+instance he was not even a man in the estimation of Barney Custer.
+Maenck took a step toward the prisoner—a menacing step, for his hand
+had gone to his sword. Barney met him with a level look from between
+narrowed lids. Maenck hesitated, for he was a great coward. Peter of
+Blentz spoke:
+
+“Sire,” he said, “the fellow knows that he is already as good as dead,
+and so in his bravado he dares affront you. He has been convicted of
+spying by the Austrians. He is still a spy. It is unnecessary to repeat
+the formality of a trial.”
+
+Leopold at last found his voice, though it trembled and broke as he
+spoke.
+
+“Carry out the sentence of the Austrian court in the morning,” he said.
+“A volley now might arouse the garrison in the town and be
+misconstrued.”
+
+Maenck ordered Barney escorted from the apartment, then he turned
+toward the king.
+
+“And the other prisoner, sire?” he inquired.
+
+“There is no other prisoner,” he said. “Her highness, the Princess von
+der Tann, is a guest of Prince Peter. She will be escorted to her
+apartment at once.”
+
+“Her highness, the Princess von der Tann, is not a guest of Prince
+Peter.” The girl’s voice was low and cold. “If Mr. Custer is a
+prisoner, her highness, too, is a prisoner. If he is to be shot, she
+demands a like fate. To die by the side of a MAN would be infinitely
+preferable to living by the side of your majesty.”
+
+Once again Leopold of Lutha reddened. For a moment he paced the room
+angrily to hide his emotion. Then he turned once to Maenck.
+
+“Escort the prisoner to the north tower,” he commanded, “and this
+insolent girl to the chambers next to ours. Tomorrow we shall talk with
+her again.”
+
+Outside the room Barney turned for a last look at the princess as he
+was being led in one direction and she in another. A smile of
+encouragement was on his lips and cold hopelessness in his heart. She
+answered the smile and her lips formed a silent “good-bye.” They formed
+something else, too—three words which he was sure he could not have
+mistaken, and then they parted, he for the death chamber and she for
+what fate she could but guess.
+
+As his guard halted before a door at the far end of a long corridor
+Barney Custer sensed a sudden familiarity in his surroundings. He was
+conscious of that sensation which is common to all of us—of having
+lived through a scene at some former time, to each minutest detail.
+
+As the door opened and he was pushed into the room he realized that
+there was excellent foundation for the impression—he immediately
+recognized the apartment as the same in which he had once before been
+imprisoned. At that time he had been mistaken for the mad king who had
+escaped from the clutches of Peter of Blentz. The same king was now
+visiting as a guest the fortress in which he had spent ten bitter years
+as a prisoner.
+
+“Say your prayers, my friend,” admonished Maenck, as he was about to
+leave him alone, “for at dawn you die—and this time the firing squad
+will make a better job of it.”
+
+Barney did not answer him, and the captain departed, locking the door
+after him and leaving two men on guard in the corridor. Alone, Barney
+looked about the room. It was in no wise changed since his former visit
+to it. He recalled the incidents of the hour of his imprisonment here,
+thought of old Joseph who had aided his escape, looked at the paneled
+fireplace, whose secret, it was evident, not even the master of Blentz
+was familiar with—and grinned.
+
+“‘For at dawn you die!’” he repeated to himself, still smiling broadly.
+Then he crossed quickly to the fireplace, running his fingers along the
+edge of one of the large tiled panels that hid the entrance to the
+well-like shaft that rose from the cellars beneath to the towers above
+and which opened through similar concealed exits upon each floor. If
+the floor above should be untenanted he might be able to reach it as he
+and Joseph had done two years ago when they opened the secret panel in
+the fireplace and climbed a hidden ladder to the room overhead; and
+then by vacant corridors reached the far end of the castle above the
+suite in which the princess had been confined and near which Barney had
+every reason to believe she was now imprisoned.
+
+Carefully Barney’s fingers traversed the edges of the panel. No hidden
+latch rewarded his search. Again and again he examined the perfectly
+fitted joints until he was convinced either that there was no latch
+there or that it was hid beyond possibility of discovery. With each
+succeeding minute the American’s heart and hopes sank lower and lower.
+Two years had elapsed since he had seen the secret portal swing to the
+touch of Joseph’s fingers. One may forget much in two years; but that
+he was at work upon the right panel Barney was positive. However, it
+would do no harm to examine its mate which resembled it in minutest
+detail.
+
+Almost indifferently Barney turned his attention to the other panel. He
+ran his fingers over it, his eyes following them. What was that? A
+finger-print? Upon the left side half way up a tiny smudge was visible.
+Barney examined it more carefully. A round, white figure of the
+conventional design that was burned into the tile bore the telltale
+smudge.
+
+Otherwise it differed apparently in no way from the numerous other
+round, white figures that were repeated many times in the scheme of
+decoration. Barney placed his thumb exactly over the mark that another
+thumb had left there and pushed. The figure sank into the panel beneath
+the pressure. Barney pushed harder, breathless with suspense. The panel
+swung in at his effort. The American could have whooped with delight.
+
+A moment more and he stood upon the opposite side of the secret door in
+utter darkness, for he had quickly closed it after him. To strike a
+match was but the matter of a moment. The wavering light revealed the
+top of the ladder that led downward and the foot of another leading
+aloft. He struck still more matches in search of the rope. It was not
+there, but his quest revealed the fact that the well at this point was
+much larger than he had imagined—it broadened into a small chamber.
+
+The light of many matches finally led him to the discovery of a
+passageway directly behind the fireplace. It was narrow, and after
+spanning the chimney descended by a few rough steps to a slightly lower
+level. It led toward the opposite end of the castle. Could it be
+possible that it connected directly with the apartments in the farther
+tower—in the tower where the king was and the Princess Emma? Barney
+could scarce hope for any such good luck, but at least it was worth
+investigating—it must lead somewhere.
+
+He followed it warily, feeling his way with hands and feet and
+occasionally striking a match. It was evident that the corridor lay in
+the thick wall of the castle, midway between the bottoms of the windows
+of the second floor and the tops of those upon the first—this would
+account for the slightly lower level of the passage from the floor of
+the second story.
+
+Barney had traversed some distance in the darkness along the forgotten
+corridor when the sound of voices came to him from beyond the wall at
+his right. He stopped, motionless, pressing his ear against the side
+wall. As he did so he became aware of the fact that at this point the
+wall was of wood—a large panel of hardwood. Now he could hear even the
+words of the speaker upon the opposite side.
+
+“Fetch her here, captain, and I will talk with her alone.” The voice
+was the king’s. “And, captain, you might remove the guard from before
+the door temporarily. I shall not require them, nor do I wish them to
+overhear my conversation with the princess.”
+
+Barney could hear the officer acknowledge the commands of the king, and
+then he heard a door close. The man had gone to fetch the princess. The
+American struck a match and examined the panel before him. It reached
+to the top of the passageway and was some three feet in width.
+
+At one side were three hinges, and at the other an ancient spring lock.
+For an instant Barney stood in indecision. What should he do? His entry
+into the apartments of the king would result in alarming the entire
+fortress. Were he sure the king was alone it might be accomplished.
+Should he enter now or wait until the Princess Emma had been brought to
+the king?
+
+With the question came the answer—a bold and daring scheme. His fingers
+sought the lock. Very gently, he unlatched it and pushed outward upon
+the panel. Suddenly the great doorway gave beneath his touch. It opened
+a crack letting a flood of light into his dark cell that almost blinded
+him.
+
+For a moment he could see nothing, and then out of the glaring blur
+grew the figure of a man sitting at a table—with his back toward the
+panel.
+
+It was the king, and he was alone. Noiselessly Barney Custer entered
+the apartment, closing the panel after him. At his back now was the
+great oil painting of the Blentz princess that had hid the secret
+entrance to the room. He crossed the thick rugs until he stood behind
+the king. Then he clapped one hand over the mouth of the monarch of
+Lutha and threw the other arm about his neck.
+
+“Make the slightest outcry and I shall kill you,” he whispered in the
+ear of the terrified man.
+
+Across the room Barney saw a revolver lying upon a small table. He
+raised the king to his feet and, turning his back toward the weapon
+dragged him across the apartment until the table was within easy reach.
+Then he snatched up the revolver and swung the king around into a chair
+facing him, the muzzle of the gun pressed against his face.
+
+“Silence,” he whispered.
+
+The king, white and trembling, gasped as his eyes fell upon the face of
+the American.
+
+“You?” His voice was barely audible.
+
+“Take off your clothes—every stitch of them—and if any one asks for
+admittance, deny them. Quick, now,” as the king hesitated. “My life is
+forfeited unless I can escape. If I am apprehended I shall see that you
+pay for my recapture with your life—if any one enters this room without
+my sanction they will enter it to find a dead king upon the floor; do
+you understand?”
+
+The king made no reply other than to commence divesting himself of his
+clothing. Barney followed his example, but not before he had crossed to
+the door that opened into the main corridor and shot the bolt upon the
+inside. When both men had removed their clothing Barney pointed to the
+little pile of soiled peasant garb that he had worn.
+
+“Put those on,” he commanded.
+
+The king hesitated, drawing back in disgust. Barney paused, half-way
+into the royal union suit, and leveled the revolver at Leopold. The
+king picked up one of the garments gingerly between the tips of his
+thumb and finger.
+
+“Hurry!” admonished the American, drawing the silk half-hose of the
+ruler of Lutha over his foot. “If you don’t hurry,” he added, “someone
+may interrupt us, and you know what the result would be—to you.”
+
+Scowling, Leopold donned the rough garments. Barney, fully clothed in
+the uniform the king had been wearing, stepped across the apartment to
+where the king’s sword and helmet lay upon the side table that had also
+borne the revolver. He placed the helmet upon his head and buckled the
+sword-belt about his waist, then he faced the king, behind whom was a
+cheval glass. In it Barney saw his image. The king was looking at the
+American, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. Barney did not wonder at
+his consternation. He himself was dumbfounded by the likeness which he
+bore to the king. It was positively uncanny. He approached Leopold.
+
+“Remove your rings,” he said, holding out his hand. The king did as he
+was bid, and Barney slipped the two baubles upon his fingers. One of
+them was the royal ring of the kings of Lutha.
+
+The American now blindfolded the king and led him toward the panel
+which had given him ingress to the room. Through it the two men passed,
+Barney closing the panel after them. Then he conducted the king back
+along the dark passageway to the room which the American had but
+recently quitted. At the back of the panel which led into his former
+prison Barney halted and listened. No sound came from beyond the
+partition. Gently Barney opened the secret door a trifle—just enough to
+permit him a quick survey of the interior of the apartment. It was
+empty. A smile crossed his face as he thought of the difficulty Leopold
+might encounter the following morning in convincing his jailers that he
+was not the American.
+
+Then he recalled his reflection in the cheval glass and frowned. Could
+Leopold convince them? He doubted it—and what then? The American was
+sentenced to be shot at dawn. They would shoot the king instead. Then
+there would be none to whom to return the kingship. What would he do
+with it? The temptation was great. Again a throne lay within his
+grasp—a throne and the woman he loved. None might ever know unless he
+chose to tell—his resemblance to Leopold was too perfect. It defied
+detection.
+
+With an exclamation of impatience he wheeled about and dragged the
+frightened monarch back to the room from which he had stolen him. As he
+entered he heard a knock at the door.
+
+“Do not disturb me now,” he called. “Come again in half an hour.”
+
+“But it is Her Highness, Princess Emma, sire,” came a voice from beyond
+the door. “You summoned her.”
+
+“She may return to her apartments,” replied Barney.
+
+All the time he kept his revolver leveled at the king, from his eyes he
+had removed the blind after they had entered the apartment. He crossed
+to the table where the king had been sitting when he surprised him,
+motioning the ragged ruler to follow and be seated.
+
+“Take that pen,” he said, “and write a full pardon for Mr. Bernard
+Custer, and an order requiring that he be furnished with money and set
+at liberty at dawn.”
+
+The king did as he was bid. For a moment the American stood looking at
+him before he spoke again.
+
+“You do not deserve what I am going to do for you,” he said. “And Lutha
+deserves a better king than the one my act will give her; but I am
+neither a thief nor a murderer, and so I must forbear leaving you to
+your just deserts and return your throne to you. I shall do so after I
+have insured my own safety and done what I can for Lutha—what you are
+too little a man and king to do yourself.
+
+“So soon as they liberate you in the morning, make the best of your way
+to Brosnov, on the Serbian frontier. Await me there. When I can, I
+shall come. Again we may exchange clothing and you can return to
+Lustadt. I shall cross over into Siberia out of your reach, for I know
+you too well to believe that any sense of honor or gratitude would
+prevent you signing my death-warrant at the first opportunity. Now,
+come!”
+
+Once again Barney led the blindfolded king through the dark corridor to
+the room in the opposite tower—to the prison of the American. At the
+open panel he shoved him into the apartment. Then he drew the door
+quietly to, leaving the king upon the inside, and retraced his steps to
+the royal apartments. Crossing to the center table, he touched an
+electric button. A moment later an officer knocked at the door, which,
+in the meantime, Barney had unbolted.
+
+“Enter!” said the American. He stood with his back toward the door
+until he heard it close behind the officer. When he turned he was
+apparently examining his revolver. If the officer suspected his
+identity, it was just as well to be prepared. Slowly he raised his eyes
+to the newcomer, who stood stiffly at salute. The officer looked him
+full in the face.
+
+“I answered your majesty’s summons,” said the man.
+
+“Oh, yes!” returned the American. “You may fetch the Princess Emma.”
+
+The officer saluted once more and backed out of the apartment. Barney
+walked to the table and sat down. A tin box of cigarettes lay beside
+the lamp. Barney lighted one of them. The king had good taste in the
+selection of tobacco, he thought. Well, a man must need have some
+redeeming characteristics.
+
+Outside, in the corridor, he heard voices, and again the knock at the
+door. He bade them enter. As the door opened Emma von der Tann, her
+head thrown back and a flush of anger on her face, entered the room.
+Behind her was the officer who had been despatched to bring her. Barney
+nodded to the latter.
+
+“You may go,” he said. He drew a chair from the table and asked the
+princess to be seated. She ignored his request.
+
+“What do you wish of me?” she asked. She was looking straight into his
+eyes. The officer had withdrawn and closed the door after him. They
+were alone, with nothing to fear; yet she did not recognize him.
+
+“You are the king,” she continued in cold, level tones, “but if you are
+also a gentleman, you will at once order me returned to my father at
+Lustadt, and with me the man to whom you owe so much. I do not expect
+it of you, but I wish to give you the chance.
+
+“I shall not go without him. I am betrothed to you; but until tonight I
+should rather have died than wed you. Now I am ready to compromise. If
+you will set Mr. Custer at liberty in Serbia and return me unharmed to
+my father, I will fulfill my part of our betrothal.”
+
+Barney Custer looked straight into the girl’s face for a long moment. A
+half smile played upon his lips at the thought of her surprise when she
+learned the truth, when suddenly it dawned upon him that she and he
+were both much safer if no one, not even her loyal self, guessed that
+he was other than the king. It is not difficult to live a part, but
+often it is difficult to act one. Some little word or look, were she to
+know that he was Barney Custer, might betray them; no, it was better to
+leave her in ignorance, though his conscience pricked him for the
+disloyalty that his act implied.
+
+It seemed a poor return for her courage and loyalty to him that her
+statement to the man she thought king had revealed. He marveled that a
+Von der Tann could have spoken those words—a Von der Tann who but the
+day before had refused to save her father’s life at the loss of the
+family honor. It seemed incredible to the American that he had won such
+love from such a woman. Again came the mighty temptation to keep the
+crown and the girl both; but with a straightening of his broad
+shoulders he threw it from him.
+
+She was promised to the king, and while he masqueraded in the king’s
+clothes, he at least would act the part that a king should. He drew a
+folded paper from his inside pocket and handed it to the girl.
+
+“Here is the American’s pardon,” he said, “drawn up and signed by the
+king’s own hand.”
+
+She opened it and, glancing through it hurriedly, looked up at the man
+before her with a questioning expression in her eyes.
+
+“You came, then,” she said, “to a realization of the enormity of your
+ingratitude?”
+
+The man shrugged.
+
+“He will never die at my command,” he said.
+
+“I thank your majesty,” she said simply. “As a Von der Tann, I have
+tried to believe that a Rubinroth could not be guilty of such baseness.
+And now, tell me what your answer is to my proposition.”
+
+“We shall return to Lustadt tonight,” he replied. “I fear the purpose
+of Prince Peter. In fact, it may be difficult—even impossible—for us to
+leave Blentz; but we can at least make the attempt.”
+
+“Can we not take Mr. Custer with us?” she asked. “Prince Peter may
+disregard your majesty’s commands and, after you are gone, have him
+shot. Do not forget that he kept the crown from Peter of Blentz—it is
+certain that Prince Peter will never forget it.”
+
+“I give you my word, your highness, that I know positively that if I
+leave Blentz tonight Prince Peter will not have Mr. Custer shot in the
+morning, and it will so greatly jeopardize his own plans if we attempt
+to release the prisoner that in all probability we ourselves will be
+unable to escape.”
+
+She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.
+
+“You give me your word that he will be safe?” she asked.
+
+“My royal word,” he replied.
+
+“Very well, let us leave at once.”
+
+Barney touched the bell once more, and presently an officer of the
+Blentz faction answered the summons. As the man closed the door and
+approached, saluting, Barney stepped close to him.
+
+“We are leaving for Tann tonight,” he said, “at once. You will conduct
+us from the castle and procure horses for us. All the time I shall walk
+at your elbow, and in my hand I shall carry this,” and he displayed the
+king’s revolver. “At the first indication of defection upon your part I
+shall kill you. Do you perfectly understand me?”
+
+“But, your majesty,” exclaimed the officer, “why is it necessary that
+you leave thus surreptitiously? May not the king go and come in his own
+kingdom as he desires? Let me announce your wishes to Prince Peter that
+he may furnish you with a proper escort. Doubtless he will wish to
+accompany you himself, sire.”
+
+“You will do precisely what I say without further comment,” snapped
+Barney. “Now get a—” He had been about to say: “Now get a move on you,”
+when it occurred to him that this was not precisely the sort of
+language that kings were supposed to use to their inferiors. So he
+changed it. “Now get a couple of horses for her highness and myself, as
+well as your own, for you will accompany us to Tann.”
+
+The officer looked at the weapon in the king’s hand. He measured the
+distance between himself and the king. He well knew the reputed
+cowardice of Leopold. Could he make the leap and strike up the king’s
+hand before the timorous monarch found even the courage of the cornered
+rat to fire at him? Then his eyes sought the face of the king,
+searching for the signs of nervous terror that would make his conquest
+an easy one; but what he saw in the eyes that bored straight into his
+brought his own to the floor at the king’s feet.
+
+What new force animated Leopold of Lutha? Those were not the eyes of a
+coward. No fear was reflected in their steely glitter. The officer
+mumbled an apology, saluted, and turned toward the door. At his elbow
+walked the impostor; a cavalry cape that had belonged to the king now
+covered his shoulders and hid the weapon that pressed its hard warning
+now and again into the short-ribs of the Blentz officer. Just behind
+the American came the Princess Emma von der Tann.
+
+The three passed through the deserted corridors of the sleeping castle,
+taking a route at Barney’s suggestion that led them to the stable
+courtyard without necessitating traversing the main corridors or the
+great hall or the guardroom, in all of which there still were Austrian
+and Blentz soldiers, whose duties or pleasures had kept them from their
+blankets.
+
+At the stables a sleepy groom answered the summons of the officer, whom
+Barney had warned not to divulge the identity of himself or the
+princess. He left the princess in the shadows outside the building.
+After what seemed an eternity to the American, three horses were led
+into the courtyard, saddled, and bridled. The party mounted and
+approached the gates. Here, Barney knew, might be encountered the most
+serious obstacle in their path. He rode close to the side of their
+unwilling conductor. Leaning forward in his saddle, he whispered in the
+man’s ear.
+
+“Failure to pass us through the gates,” he said, “will be the signal
+for your death.”
+
+The man reined in his mount and turned toward the American.
+
+“I doubt if they will pass even me without a written order from Prince
+Peter,” he said. “If they refuse, you must reveal your identity. The
+guard is composed of Luthanians—I doubt if they will dare refuse your
+majesty.”
+
+Then they rode on up to the gates. A soldier stepped from the sentry
+box and challenged them.
+
+“Lower the drawbridge,” ordered the officer. “It is Captain Krantzwort
+on a mission for the king.”
+
+The soldier approached, raising a lantern, which he had brought from
+the sentry box, and inspected the captain’s face. He seemed ill at
+ease. In the light of the lantern, the American saw that he was scarce
+more than a boy—doubtless a recruit. He saw the expression of fear and
+awe with which he regarded the officer, and it occurred to him that the
+effect of the king’s presence upon him would be absolutely
+overpowering. Still the soldier hesitated.
+
+“My orders are very strict, sir,” he said. “I am to let no one leave
+without a written order from Prince Peter. If the sergeant or the
+lieutenant were here they would know what to do; but they are both at
+the castle—only two other soldiers are at the gates with me. Wait, and
+I will send one of them for the lieutenant.”
+
+“No,” interposed the American. “You will send for no one, my man. Come
+closer—look at my face.”
+
+The soldier approached, holding his lantern above his head. As its
+feeble rays fell upon the face and uniform of the man on horseback, the
+sentry gave a little gasp of astonishment.
+
+“Now, lower the drawbridge,” said Barney Custer, “it is your king’s
+command.”
+
+Quickly the fellow hastened to obey the order. The chains creaked and
+the windlass groaned as the heavy planking sank to place across the
+moat.
+
+As Barney passed the soldier he handed him the pardon Leopold had
+written for the American.
+
+“Give this to your lieutenant,” he said, “and tell him to hand it to
+Prince Peter before dawn tomorrow. Do not fail.”
+
+A moment later the three were riding down the winding road toward
+Blentz. Barney had no further need of the officer who rode with them.
+He would be glad to be rid of him, for he anticipated that the fellow
+might find ample opportunity to betray them as they passed through the
+Austrian lines, which they must do to reach Lustadt.
+
+He had told the captain that they were going to Tann in order that,
+should the man find opportunity to institute pursuit, he might be
+thrown off the track. The Austrian sentries were no great distance
+ahead when Barney ordered a halt.
+
+“Dismount,” he directed the captain, leaping to the ground himself at
+the same time. “Put your hands behind your back.”
+
+The officer did as he was bid, and Barney bound his wrists securely
+with a strap and buckle that he had removed from the cantle of his
+saddle as he rode. Then he led him off the road among some weeds and
+compelled him to lie down, after which he bound his ankles together and
+stuffed a gag in his mouth, securing it in place with a bit of stick
+and the chinstrap from the man’s helmet. The threat of the revolver
+kept Captain Krantzwort silent and obedient throughout the hasty
+operations.
+
+“Good-bye, captain,” whispered Barney, “and let me suggest that you
+devote the time until your discovery and release in pondering the value
+of winning your king’s confidence in the future. Had you chosen your
+associates more carefully in the past, this need not have occurred.”
+
+Barney unsaddled the captain’s horse and turned him loose, then he
+remounted and, with the princess at his side, rode down toward Blentz.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+A NEW KING IN LUTHA
+
+
+As the two riders approached the edge of the village of Blentz a sentry
+barred their way. To his challenge the American replied that they were
+“friends from the castle.”
+
+“Advance,” directed the sentry, “and give the countersign.”
+
+Barney rode to the fellow’s side, and leaning from the saddle whispered
+in his ear the word “Slankamen.”
+
+Would it pass them out as it had passed Maenck in? Barney scarcely
+breathed as he awaited the result of his experiment. The soldier
+brought his rifle to present and directed them to pass. With a sigh of
+relief that was almost audible the two rode into the village and the
+Austrian lines.
+
+Once within they met with no further obstacle until they reached the
+last line of sentries upon the far side of the town. It was with more
+confidence that Barney gave the countersign here, nor was he surprised
+that the soldier passed them readily; and now they were upon the
+highroad to Lustadt, with nothing more to bar their way.
+
+For hours they rode on in silence. Barney wanted to talk with his
+companion, but as king he found nothing to say to her. The girl’s mind
+was filled with morbid reflections of the past few hours and dumb
+terror for the future. She would keep her promise to the king; but
+after—life would not be worth the living; why should she live? She
+glanced at the man beside her in the light of the coming dawn. Ah, why
+was he so like her American in outward appearances only? Their own
+mothers could scarce have distinguished them, and yet in character no
+two men could have differed more widely. The man turned to her.
+
+“We are almost there,” he said. “You must be very tired.”
+
+The words reflected a consideration that had never been a
+characteristic of Leopold. The girl began to wonder if there might not
+possibly be a vein of nobility in the man, after all, that she had
+never discovered. Since she had entered his apartments at Blentz he had
+been in every way a different man from the Leopold she had known of
+old. The boldness of his escape from Blentz supposed a courage that the
+king had never given the slightest indication of in the past. Could it
+be that he was making a genuine effort to become a man—to win her
+respect?
+
+They were approaching Lustadt as the sun rose. A troop of horse was
+just emerging from the north gate. As it neared them they saw that the
+cavalrymen wore the uniforms of the Royal Horse Guard. At their head
+rode a lieutenant. As his eyes fell upon the face of the princess and
+her companion, he brought his troopers to a halt, and, with incredulity
+plain upon his countenance, advanced to meet them, his hand raised in
+salute to the king. It was Butzow.
+
+Now Barney was sure that he would be recognized. For two years he and
+the Luthanian officer had been inseparable. Surely Butzow would
+penetrate his disguise. He returned his friend’s salute, looked him
+full in the eyes, and asked where he was riding.
+
+“To Blentz, your majesty,” replied Butzow, “to demand an audience. I
+bear important word from Prince von der Tann. He has learned the
+Austrians are moving an entire army corps into Lutha, together with
+siege howitzers. Serbia has demanded that all Austrian troops be
+withdrawn from Luthanian territory at once, and has offered to assist
+your majesty in maintaining your neutrality by force, if necessary.”
+
+As Butzow spoke his eyes were often upon the Princess Emma, and it was
+quite evident that he was much puzzled to account for her presence with
+the king. She was supposed to be at Tann, and Butzow knew well enough
+her estimate of Leopold to know that she would not be in his company of
+her own volition. His expression as he addressed the man he supposed to
+be his king was far from deferential. Barney could scarce repress a
+smile.
+
+“We will ride at once to the palace,” he said. “At the gate you may
+instruct one of your sergeants to telephone to Prince von der Tann that
+the king is returning and will grant him audience immediately. You and
+your detachment will act as our escort.”
+
+Butzow saluted and turned to his troopers, giving the necessary
+commands that brought them about in the wake of the pseudo-king. Once
+again Barney Custer, of Beatrice, rode into Lustadt as king of Lutha.
+The few people upon the streets turned to look at him as he passed, but
+there was little demonstration of love or enthusiasm.
+
+Leopold had awakened no emotions of this sort in the hearts of his
+subjects. Some there were who still remembered the gallant actions of
+their ruler on the field of battle when his forces had defeated those
+of the regent, upon that other occasion when this same American had sat
+upon the throne of Lutha for two days and had led the little army to
+victory; but since then the true king had been with them daily in his
+true colors. Arrogance, haughtiness, and petty tyranny had marked his
+reign. Taxes had gone even higher than under the corrupt influence of
+the Blentz regime. The king’s days were spent in bed; his nights in
+dissipation. Old Ludwig von der Tann seemed Lutha’s only friend at
+court. Him the people loved and trusted.
+
+It was the old chancellor who met them as they entered the palace—the
+Princess Emma, Lieutenant Butzow, and the false king. As the old man’s
+eyes fell upon his daughter, he gave an exclamation of surprise and of
+incredulity. He looked from her to the American.
+
+“What is the meaning of this, your majesty?” he cried in a voice hoarse
+with emotion. “What does her highness in your company?”
+
+There was neither fear nor respect in Prince Ludwig’s tone—only anger.
+He was demanding an accounting from Leopold, the man; not from Leopold,
+the king. Barney raised his hand.
+
+“Wait,” he said, “before you judge. The princess was brought to Blentz
+by Prince Peter. She will tell you that I have aided her to escape and
+that I have accorded her only such treatment as a woman has a right to
+expect from a king.”
+
+The girl inclined her head.
+
+“His majesty has been most kind,” she said. “He has treated me with
+every consideration and respect, and I am convinced that he was not a
+willing party to my arrest and forcible detention at Blentz; or,” she
+added, “if he was, he regretted his action later and has made full
+reparation by bringing me to Lustadt.”
+
+Prince von der Tann found difficulty in hiding his surprise at this
+evidence of chivalry in the cowardly king. But for his daughter’s
+testimony he could not have believed it possible that it lay within the
+nature of Leopold of Lutha to have done what he had done within the
+past few hours.
+
+He bowed low before the man who wore the king’s uniform. The American
+extended his hand, and Von der Tann, taking it in his own, raised it to
+his lips.
+
+“And now,” said Barney briskly, “let us go to my apartments and get to
+work. Your highness”—and he turned toward the Princess Emma—“must be
+greatly fatigued. Lieutenant Butzow, you will see that a suite is
+prepared for her highness. Afterward you may call upon Count
+Zellerndorf, whom I understand returned to Lustadt yesterday, and
+notify him that I will receive him in an hour. Inform the Serbian
+minister that I desire his presence at the palace immediately. Lose no
+time, lieutenant, and be sure to impress upon the Serbian minister that
+immediately means immediately.”
+
+Butzow saluted and the Princess Emma curtsied, as the king turned and,
+slipping his arm through that of Prince Ludwig, walked away in the
+direction of the royal apartments. Once at the king’s desk Barney
+turned toward the chancellor. In his mind was the determination to save
+Lutha if Lutha could be saved. He had been forced to place the king in
+a position where he would be helpless, though that he would have been
+equally as helpless upon his throne the American did not doubt for an
+instant. However, the course of events had placed within his hands the
+power to serve not only Lutha but the house of Von der Tann as well. He
+would do in the king’s place what the king should have done if the king
+had been a man.
+
+“Now, Prince Ludwig,” he said, “tell me just what conditions we must
+face. Remember that I have been at Blentz and that there the King of
+Lutha is not apt to learn all that transpires in Lustadt.”
+
+“Sire,” replied the chancellor, “we face a grave crisis. Not only is
+there within Lutha the small force of Austrian troops that surround
+Blentz, but now an entire army corps has crossed the border.
+Unquestionably they are marching on Lustadt. The emperor is going to
+take no chances. He sent the first force into Lutha to compel Serbian
+intervention and draw Serbian troops from the Austro-Serbian battle
+line. Serbia has withheld her forces at my request, but she will not
+withhold them for long. We must make a declaration at once. If we
+declare against Austria we are faced by the menace of the Austrian
+troops already within our boundaries, but we shall have Serbia to help
+us.
+
+“A Serbian army corps is on the frontier at this moment awaiting word
+from Lutha. If it is adverse to Austria that army corps will cross the
+border and march to our assistance. If it is favorable to Austria it
+will none the less cross into Lutha, but as enemies instead of allies.
+Serbia has acted honorably toward Lutha. She has not violated our
+neutrality. She has no desire to increase her possessions in this
+direction.
+
+“On the other hand, Austria has violated her treaty with us. She has
+marched troops into our country and occupied the town of Blentz.
+Constantly in the past she has incited internal discord. She is openly
+championing the Blentz cause, which at last I trust your majesty has
+discovered is inimical to your interests.
+
+“If Austria is victorious in her war with Serbia, she will find some
+pretext to hold Lutha whether Lutha takes her stand either for or
+against her. And most certainly is this true if it occurs that Austrian
+troops are still within the boundaries of Lutha when peace is
+negotiated. Not only our honor but our very existence demands that
+there be no Austrian troops in Lutha at the close of this war. If we
+cannot force them across the border we can at least make such an effort
+as will win us the respect of the world and a voice in the peace
+negotiations.
+
+“If we must bow to the surrender of our national integrity, let us do
+so only after we have exhausted every resource of the country in our
+country’s defense. In the past your majesty has not appeared to realize
+the menace of your most powerful neighbor. I beg of you, sire, to trust
+me. Believe that I have only the interests of Lutha at heart, and let
+us work together for the salvation of our country and your majesty’s
+throne.”
+
+Barney laid his hand upon the old man’s shoulder. It seemed a shame to
+carry the deception further, but the American well knew that only so
+could he accomplish aught for Lutha or the Von der Tanns. Once the old
+chancellor suspected the truth as to his identity he would be the first
+to denounce him.
+
+“I think that you and I can work together, Prince Ludwig,” he said. “I
+have sent for the Serbian and Austrian ministers. The former should be
+here immediately.”
+
+Nor did they have long to wait before the tall Slav was announced.
+Barney lost no time in getting down to business. He asked no questions.
+What Von der Tann had told him, what he had seen with his own eyes
+since he had entered Lutha, and what he had overheard in the inn at
+Burgova was sufficient evidence that the fate of Lutha hung upon the
+prompt and energetic decisions of the man who sat upon Lutha’s throne
+for the next few days.
+
+Had Leopold been the present incumbent Lutha would have been lost, for
+that he would play directly into the hands of Austria was not to be
+questioned. Were Von der Tann to seize the reins of government a state
+of revolution would exist that would divide the state into two bitter
+factions, weaken its defense, and give Austria what she most desired—a
+plausible pretext for intervention.
+
+Lutha’s only hope lay in united defense of her liberties under the
+leadership of the one man whom all acknowledged king—Leopold. Very
+well, Barney Custer, of Beatrice, would be Leopold for a few days,
+since the real Leopold had proven himself incompetent to meet the
+emergency.
+
+General Petko, the Serbian minister to Lutha, brought to the audience
+the memory of a series of unpleasant encounters with the king. Leopold
+had never exerted himself to hide his pro-Austrian sentiments. Austria
+was a powerful country—Serbia, a relatively weak neighbor. Leopold,
+being a royal snob, had courted the favor of the emperor and turned up
+his nose at Serbia. The general was prepared for a repetition of the
+veiled affronts that Leopold delighted in according him; but this time
+he brought with him a reply that for two years he had been living in
+the hope of some day being able to deliver to the young monarch he so
+cordially despised.
+
+It was an ultimatum from his government—an ultimatum couched in terms
+from which all diplomatic suavity had been stripped. If Barney Custer,
+of Beatrice, could have read it he would have smiled, for in plain
+American it might have been described as announcing to Leopold
+precisely “where he got off.” But Barney did not have the opportunity
+to read it, since that ultimatum was never delivered.
+
+Barney took the wind all out of it by his first words. “Your excellency
+may wonder why it is that we have summoned you at such an early hour,”
+he said.
+
+General Petko inclined his head in deferential acknowledgment of the
+truth of the inference.
+
+“It is because we have learned from our chancellor,” continued the
+American, “that Serbia has mobilized an entire army corps upon the
+Luthanian frontier. Am I correctly informed?”
+
+General Petko squared his shoulders and bowed in assent. At the same
+time he reached into his breast-pocket for the ultimatum.
+
+“Good!” exclaimed Barney, and then he leaned close to the ear of the
+Serbian. “How long will it take to move that army corps to Lustadt?”
+
+General Petko gasped and returned the ultimatum to his pocket.
+
+“Sire!” he cried, his face lighting with incredulity. “You mean—”
+
+“I mean,” said the American, “that if Serbia will loan Lutha an army
+corps until the Austrians have evacuated Luthanian territory, Lutha
+will loan Serbia an army corps until such time as peace is declared
+between Serbia and Austria. Other than this neither government will
+incur any obligations to the other.
+
+“We may not need your help, but it will do us no harm to have them well
+on the way toward Lustadt as quickly as possible. Count Zellerndorf
+will be here in a few minutes. We shall, through him, give Austria
+twenty-four hours to withdraw all her troops beyond our frontiers. The
+army of Lutha is mobilized before Lustadt. It is not a large army, but
+with the help of Serbia it should be able to drive the Austrians from
+the country, provided they do not leave of their own accord.”
+
+General Petko smiled. So did the American and the chancellor. Each knew
+that Austria would not withdraw her army from Lutha.
+
+“With your majesty’s permission I will withdraw,” said the Serbian,
+“and transmit Lutha’s proposition to my government; but I may say that
+your majesty need have no apprehension but that a Serbian army corps
+will be crossing into Lutha before noon today.”
+
+“And now, Prince Ludwig,” said the American after the Serbian had bowed
+himself out of the apartment, “I suggest that you take immediate steps
+to entrench a strong force north of Lustadt along the road to Blentz.”
+
+Von der Tann smiled as he replied. “It is already done, sire,” he said.
+
+“But I passed in along the road this morning,” said Barney, “and saw
+nothing of such preparations.”
+
+“The trenches and the soldiers were there, nevertheless, sire,” replied
+the old man, “only a little gap was left on either side of the highway
+that those who came and went might not suspect our plans and carry word
+of them to the Austrians. A few hours will complete the link across the
+road.”
+
+“Good! Let it be completed at once. Here is Count Zellerndorf now,” as
+the minister was announced.
+
+Von der Tann bowed himself out as the Austrian entered the king’s
+presence. For the first time in two years the chancellor felt that the
+destiny of Lutha was safe in the hands of her king. What had caused the
+metamorphosis in Leopold he could not guess. He did not seem to be the
+same man that had whined and growled at their last audience a week
+before.
+
+The Austrian minister entered the king’s presence with an expression of
+ill-concealed surprise upon his face. Two days before he had left
+Leopold safely ensconced at Blentz, where he was to have remained
+indefinitely. He glanced hurriedly about the room in search of Prince
+Peter or another of the conspirators who should have been with the
+king. He saw no one. The king was speaking. The Austrian’s eyes went
+wider, not only at the words, but at the tone of voice.
+
+“Count Zellerndorf,” said the American, “you were doubtless aware of
+the embarrassment under which the king of Lutha was compelled at Blentz
+to witness the entry of a foreign army within his domain. But we are
+not now at Blentz. We have summoned you that you may receive from us,
+and transmit to your emperor, the expression of our surprise and dismay
+at the unwarranted violation of Luthanian neutrality.”
+
+“But, your majesty—” interrupted the Austrian.
+
+“But nothing, your excellency,” snapped the American. “The moment for
+diplomacy is passed; the time for action has come. You will oblige us
+by transmitting to your government at once a request that every
+Austrian soldier now in Lutha be withdrawn by noon tomorrow.”
+
+Zellerndorf looked his astonishment.
+
+“Are you mad, sire?” he cried. “It will mean war!”
+
+“It is what Austria has been looking for,” snapped the American, “and
+what people look for they usually get, especially if they chance to be
+looking for trouble. When can you expect a reply from Vienna?”
+
+“By noon, your majesty,” replied the Austrian, “but are you
+irretrievably bound to your present policy? Remember the power of
+Austria, sire. Think of your throne. Think—”
+
+“We have thought of everything,” interrupted Barney. “A throne means
+less to us than you may imagine, count; but the honor of Lutha means a
+great deal.”
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+THE BATTLE
+
+
+At five o’clock that afternoon the sidewalks bordering Margaretha
+Street were crowded with promenaders. The little tables before the
+cafes were filled. Nearly everyone spoke of the great war and of the
+peril which menaced Lutha. Upon many a lip was open disgust at the
+supine attitude of Leopold of Lutha in the face of an Austrian invasion
+of his country. Discontent was open. It was ripening to something worse
+for Leopold than an Austrian invasion.
+
+Presently a sergeant of the Royal Horse Guards cantered down the street
+from the palace. He stopped here and there, and, dismounting, tacked
+placards in conspicuous places. At the notice, and in each instance
+cheers and shouting followed the sergeant as he rode on to the next
+stop.
+
+Now, at each point men and women were gathered, eagerly awaiting an
+explanation of the jubilation farther up the street. Those whom the
+sergeant passed called to him for an explanation, and not receiving it,
+followed in a quickly growing mob that filled Margaretha Street from
+wall to wall. When he dismounted he had almost to fight his way to the
+post or door upon which he was to tack the next placard. The crowd
+surged about him in its anxiety to read what the placard bore, and
+then, between the cheering and yelling, those in the front passed back
+to the crowd the tidings that filled them with so great rejoicing.
+
+“Leopold has declared war on Austria!” “The king calls for volunteers!”
+“Long live the king!”
+
+The battle of Lustadt has passed into history. Outside of the little
+kingdom of Lutha it received but passing notice by the world at large,
+whose attention was riveted upon the great conflicts along the banks of
+the Meuse, the Marne, and the Aisne. But in Lutha! Ah, it will be told
+and retold, handed down from mouth to mouth and from generation to
+generation to the end of time.
+
+How the cavalry that the king sent north toward Blentz met the
+advancing Austrian army. How, fighting, they fell back upon the
+infantry which lay, a thin line that stretched east and west across the
+north of Lustadt, in its first line of trenches. A pitifully weak line
+it was, numerically, in comparison with the forces of the invaders; but
+it stood its ground heroically, and from the heights to the north of
+the city the fire from the forts helped to hold the enemy in check for
+many hours.
+
+And then the enemy succeeded in bringing up their heavy artillery to
+the ridge that lies three miles north of the forts. Shells were
+bursting in the trenches, the forts, and the city. To the south a
+stream of terror-stricken refugees was pouring out of Lustadt along the
+King’s Road. Rich and poor, animated by a common impulse, filled the
+narrow street that led to the city’s southern gate. Carts drawn by
+dogs, laden donkeys, French limousines, victorias, wheelbarrows—every
+conceivable wheeled vehicle and beast of burden—were jammed in a
+seemingly inextricable tangle in the mad rush for safety.
+
+Rumor passed back and forth through the fleeing thousands. Now came
+word that Fort No. 2 had been silenced by the Austrian guns.
+Immediately followed news that the Luthanian line was falling back upon
+the city. Fear turned to panic. Men fought to outdistance their
+neighbors.
+
+A shell burst upon a roof-top in an adjoining square.
+
+Women fainted and were trampled. Hoarse shouts of anger mingled with
+screams of terror, and then into the midst of it from Margaretha Street
+rode a man on horseback. Behind him were a score of officers. A
+trumpeter raised his instrument to his lips, and above the din of the
+fleeing multitude rose the sharp, triple call that announces the coming
+of the king. The mob halted and turned.
+
+Looking down upon them from his saddle was Leopold of Lutha. His palm
+was raised for silence and there was a smile upon his lips. Quite
+suddenly, and as by a miracle, fear left them. They made a line for him
+and his staff to ride through. One of the officers turned in his saddle
+to address a civilian friend in an automobile.
+
+“His majesty is riding to the firing line,” he said and he raised his
+voice that many might hear. Quickly the word passed from mouth to
+mouth, and as Barney Custer, of Beatrice, passed along Margaretha
+Street he was followed by a mad din of cheering that drowned the
+booming of the distant cannon and the bursting of the shells above the
+city.
+
+The balance of the day the pseudo-king rode back and forth along his
+lines. Three of his staff were killed and two horses were shot from
+beneath him, but from the moment that he appeared the Luthanian line
+ceased to waver or fall back. The advanced trenches that they had
+abandoned to the Austrians they took again at the point of the bayonet.
+Charge after charge they repulsed, and all the time there hovered above
+the enemy Lutha’s sole aeroplane, watching, watching, ever watching for
+the coming of the allies. Somewhere to the northeast the Serbians were
+advancing toward Lustadt. Would they come in time?
+
+It was five o’clock in the morning of the second day, and though the
+Luthanian line still held, Barney Custer knew that it could not hold
+for long. The Austrian artillery fire, which had been rather wild the
+preceding day, had now become of deadly accuracy. Each bursting shell
+filled some part of the trenches with dead and wounded, and though
+their places were taken by fresh men from the reserve, there would soon
+be no reserve left to call upon.
+
+At his left, in the rear, the American had massed the bulk of his
+reserves, and at the foot of the heights north of the city and just
+below the forts the major portion of the cavalry was drawn up in the
+shelter of a little ravine. Barney’s eyes were fixed upon the soaring
+aeroplane.
+
+In his hand was his watch. He would wait another fifteen minutes, and
+if by then the signal had not come that the Serbians were approaching,
+he would strike the blow that he had decided upon. From time to time he
+glanced at his watch.
+
+The fifteen minutes had almost elapsed when there fluttered from the
+tiny monoplane a paper parachute. It dropped for several hundred feet
+before it spread to the air pressure and floated more gently toward the
+earth and a moment later there burst from its basket a puff of white
+smoke. Two more parachutes followed the first and two more puffs of
+smoke. Then the machine darted rapidly off toward the northeast.
+
+Barney turned to Prince von der Tann with a smile. “They are none too
+soon,” he said.
+
+The old prince bowed in acquiescence. He had been very happy for two
+days. Lutha might be defeated now, but she could never be subdued. She
+had a king at last—a real king. Gott! How he had changed. It reminded
+Prince von der Tann of the day he had ridden beside the impostor two
+years before in the battle with the forces of Peter of Blentz. Many
+times he had caught himself scrutinizing the face of the monarch,
+searching for some proof that after all he was not Leopold.
+
+“Direct the commanders of forts three and four to concentrate their
+fire on the enemy’s guns directly north of Fort No. 3,” Barney directed
+an aide. “Simultaneously let the cavalry and Colonel Kazov’s infantry
+make a determined assault on the Austrian trenches.”
+
+Then he turned his horse toward the left of his line, where, a little
+to the rear, lay the fresh troops that he had been holding in readiness
+against this very moment. As he galloped across the plain, his staff at
+his heels, shrapnel burst about them. Von der Tann spurred to his side.
+
+“Sire,” he cried, “it is unnecessary that you take such grave risks.
+Your staff is ready and willing to perform such service that you may be
+preserved to your people and your throne.”
+
+“I believe the men fight better when they think their king is watching
+them,” said the American simply.
+
+“I know it, sire,” replied Von der Tann, “but even so, Lutha could ill
+afford to lose you now. I thank God, your majesty, that I have lived to
+see this day—to see the last of the Rubinroths upholding the glorious
+traditions of the Rubinroth blood.”
+
+Barney led the reserves slowly through the wood to the rear of the
+extreme left of his line. The attack upon the Austrian right center
+appeared to be meeting with much greater success than the American
+dared to hope for. Already, through his glasses, he could see
+indications that the enemy was concentrating a larger force at this
+point to repulse the vicious assaults of the Luthanians. To do this
+they must be drawing from their reserves back of other portions of
+their line.
+
+It was what Barney had desired. The three bombs from the aeroplane had
+told him that the Serbians had been sighted three miles away. Already
+they were engaging the Austrians. He could hear the rattle of rifles
+and quick-firers and the roar of cannon far to the northeast. And now
+he gave the word to the commander of the reserve.
+
+At a rapid trot the men moved forward behind the extreme left end of
+the Luthanian left wing. They were almost upon the Austrians before
+they emerged from the shelter of the wood, and then with hoarse shouts
+and leveled bayonets they charged the enemy’s position. The fight there
+was the bloodiest of the two long days. Back and forth the tide of
+battle surged. In the thick of it rode the false king encouraging his
+men to greater effort. Slowly at last they bore the Austrians from
+their trenches. Back and back they bore them until retreat became a
+rout. The Austrian right was crumpled back upon its center!
+
+Here the enemy made a determined stand; but just before dark a great
+shouting arose from the heights to their left, where the bulk of their
+artillery was stationed. Both the Luthanian and Austrian troops engaged
+in the plain saw Austrian infantry and artillery running down the
+slopes in disorderly rout. Upon their heads came a cheering line of
+soldiers firing as they ran, and above them waved the battleflag of
+Serbia.
+
+A mighty shout rose from the Luthanian ranks—an answering groan from
+the throats of the Austrians. Hemmed in between the two lines of
+allies, the Austrians were helpless. Their artillery was captured,
+retreat cut off. There was but a single alternative to massacre—the
+white flag.
+
+A few regiments between Lustadt and Blentz, but nearer the latter town,
+escaped back into Austria, the balance Barney arranged with the Serbian
+minister to have taken back to Serbia as prisoners of war. The
+Luthanian army corps that the American had promised the Serbs was to be
+utilized along the Austrian frontier to prevent the passage of Austrian
+troops into Serbia through Lutha.
+
+The return to Lustadt after the battle was made through cheering troops
+and along streets choked with joy-mad citizenry. The name of the
+soldier-king was upon every tongue. Men went wild with enthusiasm as
+the tall figure rode slowly through the crowd toward the palace.
+
+Von der Tann, grim and martial, found his lids damp with the moisture
+of a great happiness. Even now with all the proofs of reality about
+him, it seemed impossible that this scene could be aught but the
+ephemeral vapors of a dream—that Leopold of Lutha, the coward, the
+craven, could have become in a single day the heroic figure that had
+loomed so large upon the battlefield of Lustadt—the simple, modest
+gentleman who received the plaudits of his subjects with bowed head and
+humble mien.
+
+As Barney Custer rode up Margaretha Street toward the royal palace of
+the kings of Lutha, a dust-covered horseman in the uniform of an
+officer of the Horse Guards entered Lustadt from the south. It was the
+young aide of Prince von der Tann’s staff, who had been sent to Blentz
+nearly a week earlier with a message for the king, and who had been
+captured and held by the Austrians.
+
+During the battle before Lustadt all the Austrian troops had been
+withdrawn from Blentz and hurried to the front. It was then that the
+aide had been transferred to the castle, from which he had escaped
+early that morning. To reach Lustadt he had been compelled to circle
+the Austrian position, coming to Lustadt from the south.
+
+Once within the city he rode straight to the palace, flung himself from
+his jaded mount, and entered the left wing of the building—the wing in
+which the private apartments of the chancellor were located.
+
+Here he inquired for the Princess Emma, learning with evident relief
+that she was there. A moment later, white with dust, his face streamed
+with sweat, he was ushered into her presence.
+
+“Your highness,” he blurted, “the king’s commands have been
+disregarded—the American is to be shot tomorrow. I have just escaped
+from Blentz. Peter is furious. He realizes that whether the Austrians
+win or lose, his standing with the king is gone forever.
+
+“In a fit of rage he has ordered that Mr. Custer be sacrificed to his
+desire for revenge, in the hope that it will insure for him the favor
+of the Austrians. Something must be done at once if he is to be saved.”
+
+For a moment the girl swayed as though about to fall. The young officer
+stepped quickly to support her, but before he reached her side she had
+regained complete mastery of herself. From the street without there
+rose the blare of trumpets and the cheering of the populace.
+
+Through senses numb with the cold of anguish the meaning of the tumult
+slowly filtered to her brain—the king had come. He was returning from
+the battlefield, covered with honors and flushed with glory—the man who
+was to be her husband; but there was no rejoicing in the heart of the
+Princess Emma.
+
+Instead, there was a dull ache and impotent rebellion at the injustice
+of the thing—that Leopold should be reaping these great rewards, while
+he who had made it possible for him to be a king at all was to die on
+the morrow because of what he had done to place the Rubinroth upon his
+throne.
+
+“Perhaps Lieutenant Butzow might find a way,” suggested the officer.
+“He or your father; they are both fond of Mr. Custer.”
+
+“Yes,” said the girl dully, “see Lieutenant Butzow—he would do the
+most.”
+
+The officer bowed and hastened from the apartment in search of Butzow.
+The girl approached the window and stood there for a long time, looking
+out at the surging multitude that pressed around the palace gates,
+filling Margaretha Street with a solid mass of happy faces.
+
+They cheered the king, the chancellor, the army; but most often they
+cheered the king. From a despised monarch Leopold had risen in a single
+bound to the position of a national idol.
+
+Repeatedly he was called to the balcony over the grand entrance that
+the people might feast their eyes on him. The princess wondered how
+long it was before she herself would be forced to offer her
+congratulations and, perchance, suffer his caresses. She shivered and
+cringed at the thought, and then there came a knock upon the door, and
+in answer to her permission it opened, and the king stood upon the
+threshold alone.
+
+At a glance the man took in the pain and sorrow mirrored upon the
+girl’s face. He stepped quickly across the room toward her.
+
+“What is it?” he asked. “What is the matter?”
+
+For a moment he had forgotten the part that he had been playing—forgot
+that the Princess Emma was ignorant of his identity. He had come to her
+to share with her the happiness of the hour—the glory of the victorious
+arms of Lutha. For a time he had almost forgotten that he was not the
+king, and now he was forgetting that he was not Barney Custer to the
+girl who stood before him with misery and hopelessness writ so large
+upon her countenance.
+
+For a brief instant the girl did not reply. She was weighing the
+problematical value of an attempt to enlist the king in the cause of
+the American. Leopold had shown a spark of magnanimity when he had
+written a pardon for Mr. Custer; might he not rise again above his
+petty jealousy and save the American’s life? It was a forlorn hope to
+the woman who knew the true Leopold so well; but it was a hope.
+
+“What is the matter?” the king repeated.
+
+“I have just received word that Prince Peter has ignored your commands,
+sire,” replied the girl, “and that Mr. Custer is to be shot tomorrow.”
+
+Barney’s eyes went wide with incredulity. Here was a pretty pass,
+indeed! The princess came close to him and seized his arm.
+
+“You promised, sire,” she said, “that he would not be harmed—you gave
+your royal word. You can save him. You have an army at your command. Do
+not forget that he once saved you.”
+
+The note of appeal in her voice and the sorrow in her eyes gave Barney
+Custer a twinge of compunction. The necessity for longer concealing his
+identity in so far as the salvation of Lutha was concerned seemed past;
+but the American had intended to carry the deception to the end.
+
+He had given the matter much thought, but he could find no grounds for
+belief that Emma von der Tann would be any happier in the knowledge
+that her future husband had had nothing to do with the victory of his
+army. If she was doomed to a life at his side, why not permit her the
+grain of comfort that she might derive from the memory of her husband’s
+achievements upon the battlefield of Lustadt? Why rob her of that
+little?
+
+But now, face to face with her, and with the evidence of her suffering
+so plain before him, Barney’s intentions wavered. Like most fighting
+men, he was tender in his dealings with women. And now the last straw
+came in the form of a single tiny tear that trickled down the girl’s
+cheek. He seized the hand that lay upon his arm.
+
+“Your highness,” he said, “do not grieve for the American. He is not
+worth it. He has deceived you. He is not at Blentz.”
+
+The girl drew her hand from his and straightened to her full height.
+
+“What do you mean, sire?” she exclaimed. “Mr. Custer would not deceive
+me even if he had an opportunity—which he has not had. But if he is not
+at Blentz, where is he?”
+
+Barney bowed his head and looked at the floor.
+
+“He is here, your highness, asking your forgiveness,” he said.
+
+There was a puzzled expression upon the girl’s face as she looked at
+the man before her. She did not understand. Why should she? Barney drew
+a diamond ring from his little finger and held it out to her.
+
+“You gave it to me to cut a hole in the window of the garage where I
+stole the automobile,” he said. “I forgot to return it. Now do you know
+who I am?”
+
+Emma von der Tann’s eyes showed her incredulity; then, act by act, she
+recalled all that this man had said and done since they had escaped
+from Blentz that had been so unlike the king she knew.
+
+“When did you assume the king’s identity?” she asked.
+
+Barney told her all that had transpired in the king’s apartments at
+Blentz before she had been conducted to the king’s presence.
+
+“And Leopold is there now?” she asked.
+
+“He is there,” replied Barney, “and he is to be shot in the morning.”
+
+“Gott!” exclaimed the girl. “What are we to do?”
+
+“There is but one thing to do,” replied the American, “and that is for
+Butzow and me to ride to Blentz as fast as horses will carry us and
+rescue the king.”
+
+“And then?” asked the girl, a shadow crossing her face.
+
+“And then Barney Custer will have to beat it for the boundary,” he
+replied with a sorry smile.
+
+She came quite close to him, laying her hands upon his shoulders.
+
+“I cannot give you up now,” she said simply. “I have tried to be loyal
+to Leopold and the promise that my father made his king when I was only
+a little girl; but since I thought that you were to be shot, I have
+wished a thousand times that I had gone with you to America two years
+ago. Take me with you now, Barney. We can send Lieutenant Butzow to
+rescue the king, and before he has returned we can be safe across the
+Serbian frontier.”
+
+The American shook his head.
+
+“I got the king into this mess and I must get him out,” he said. “He
+may deserve to be shot, but it is up to me to prevent it, if I can. And
+there is your father to consider. If Butzow rides to Blentz and rescues
+the king, it may be difficult to get him back to Lustadt without the
+truth of his identity and mine becoming known. With me there, the
+change can be effected easily, and not even Butzow need know what has
+happened.
+
+“If the people should guess that it was not Leopold who won the battle
+of Lustadt there might be the devil to pay, and your father would go
+down along with the throne. No, I must stay until Leopold is safe in
+Lustadt. But there is a hope for us. I may be able to wrest from
+Leopold his sanction of our marriage. I shall not hesitate to use
+threats to get it, and I rather imagine that he will be in such a
+terror-stricken condition that he will assent to any terms for his
+release from Blentz. If he gives me such a paper, Emma, will you marry
+me?”
+
+Perhaps there never had been a stranger proposal than this; but to
+neither did it seem strange. For two years each had known the love of
+the other. The girl’s betrothal to the king had prevented an avowal of
+their love while Barney posed in his own identity. Now they merely
+accepted the conditions that had existed for two years as though a
+matter of fact which had been often discussed between them.
+
+“Of course I’ll marry you,” said the princess. “Why in the world would
+I want you to take me to America otherwise?”
+
+As Barney Custer took her in his arms he was happier than he had ever
+before been in all his life, and so, too, was the Princess Emma von der
+Tann.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+LEOPOLD WAITS FOR DAWN
+
+
+After the American had shoved him through the secret doorway into the
+tower room of the castle of Blentz, Leopold had stood for several
+minutes waiting for the next command from his captor. Presently,
+hearing no sound other than that of his own breathing, the king
+ventured to speak. He asked the American what he purposed doing with
+him next.
+
+There was no reply. For another minute the king listened intently; then
+he raised his hands and removed the bandage from his eyes. He looked
+about him. The room was vacant except for himself. He recognized it as
+the one in which he had spent ten years of his life as a prisoner. He
+shuddered. What had become of the American? He approached the door and
+listened. Beyond the panels he could hear the two soldiers on guard
+there conversing. He called to them.
+
+“What do you want?” shouted one of the men through the closed door.
+
+“I want Prince Peter!” yelled the king. “Send him at once!”
+
+The soldiers laughed.
+
+“He wants Prince Peter,” they mocked. “Wouldn’t you rather have us send
+the king to you?” they asked.
+
+“I am the king!” yelled Leopold. “I am the king! Open the door, pigs,
+or it will go hard with you! I shall have you both shot in the morning
+if you do not open the door and fetch Prince Peter.”
+
+“Ah!” exclaimed one of the soldiers. “Then there will be three of us
+shot together.”
+
+Leopold went white. He had not connected the sentence of the American
+with himself; but now, quite vividly, he realized what it might mean to
+him if he failed before dawn to convince someone that he was not the
+American. Peter would not be awake at so early an hour, and if he had
+no better success with others than he was having with these soldiers,
+it was possible that he might be led out and shot before his identity
+was discovered. The thing was preposterous. The king’s knees became
+suddenly quite weak. They shook, and his legs gave beneath his weight
+so that he had to lean against the back of a chair to keep from
+falling.
+
+Once more he turned to the soldiers. This time he pleaded with them,
+begging them to carry word to Prince Peter that a terrible mistake had
+been made, and that it was the king and not the American who was
+confined in the death chamber. But the soldiers only laughed at him,
+and finally threatened to come in and beat him if he again interrupted
+their conversation.
+
+It was a white and shaken prisoner that the officer of the guard found
+when he entered the room at dawn. The man before him, his face streaked
+with tears of terror and self-pity, fell upon his knees before him,
+beseeching him to carry word to Peter of Blentz, that he was the king.
+The officer drew away with a gesture of disgust.
+
+“I might well believe from your actions that you are Leopold,” he said;
+“for, by Heaven, you do not act as I have always imagined the American
+would act in the face of danger. He has a reputation for bravery that
+would suffer could his admirers see him now.”
+
+“But I am not the American,” pleaded the king. “I tell you that the
+American came to my apartments last night, overpowered me, forced me to
+change clothing with him, and then led me back here.”
+
+A sudden inspiration came to the king with the memory of all that had
+transpired during that humiliating encounter with the American.
+
+“I signed a pardon for him!” he cried. “He forced me to do so. If you
+think I am the American, you cannot kill me now, for there is a pardon
+signed by the king, and an order for the American’s immediate release.
+Where is it? Do not tell me that Prince Peter did not receive it.”
+
+“He received it,” replied the officer, “and I am here to acquaint you
+with the fact, but Prince Peter said nothing about your release. All he
+told me was that you were not to be shot this morning,” and the man
+emphasized the last two words.
+
+Leopold of Lutha spent two awful days a prisoner at Blentz, not knowing
+at what moment Prince Peter might see fit to carry out the verdict of
+the Austrian court martial. He could convince no one that he was the
+king. Peter would not even grant him an audience. Upon the evening of
+the third day, word came that the Austrians had been defeated before
+Lustadt, and those that were not prisoners were retreating through
+Blentz toward the Austrian frontier.
+
+The news filtered to Leopold’s prison room through the servant who
+brought him his scant and rough fare. The king was utterly disheartened
+before this word reached him. For the moment he seemed to see a ray of
+hope, for, since the impostor had been victorious, he would be in a
+position to force Peter of Blentz to give up the true king.
+
+There was the chance that the American, flushed with success and power,
+might elect to hold the crown he had seized. Who would guess the
+transfer that had been effected, or, guessing, would dare voice his
+suspicions in the face of the power and popularity that Leopold knew
+such a victory as the impostor had won must have given him in the
+hearts and minds of the people of Lutha? Still, there was a bare
+possibility that the American would be as good as his word, and return
+the crown as he had promised. Though he hated to admit it, the king had
+every reason to believe that the impostor was a man of honor, whose
+bare word was as good as another’s bond.
+
+He was commencing, under this line of reasoning, to achieve a certain
+hopeful content when the door to his prison opened and Peter of Blentz,
+black and scowling, entered. At his elbow was Captain Ernst Maenck.
+
+“Leopold has defeated the Austrians,” announced the former. “Until you
+returned to Lutha he considered the Austrians his best friends. I do
+not know how you could have reached or influenced him. It is to learn
+how you accomplished it that I am here. The fact that he signed your
+pardon indicates that his attitude toward you changed suddenly—almost
+within an hour. There is something at the bottom of it all, and that
+something I must know.”
+
+“I am Leopold!” cried the king. “Don’t you recognize me, Prince Peter?
+Look at me! Maenck must know me. It was I who wrote and signed the
+American’s pardon—at the point of the American’s revolver. He forced me
+to exchange clothing with him, and then he brought me here to this room
+and left me.”
+
+The two men looked at the speaker and smiled.
+
+“You bank too strongly, my friend,” said Peter of Blentz, “upon your
+resemblance to the king of Lutha. I will admit that it is strong, but
+not so strong as to convince me of the truth of so improbable a story.
+How in the world could the American have brought you through the
+castle, from one end to the other, unseen? There was a guard before the
+king’s door and another before this. No, Herr Custer, you will have to
+concoct a more plausible tale.
+
+“No,” and Peter of Blentz scowled savagely, as though to impress upon
+his listener the importance of his next utterance, “there were more
+than you and the king involved in his sudden departure from Blentz and
+in his hasty change of policy toward Austria. To be quite candid, it
+seems to me that it may be necessary to my future welfare—vitally
+necessary, I may say—to know precisely how all this occurred, and just
+what influence you have over Leopold of Lutha. Who was it that acted as
+the go-between in the king’s negotiations with you, or rather, yours
+with the king? And what argument did you bring to bear to force Leopold
+to the action he took?”
+
+“I have told you all that I know about the matter,” whined the king.
+“The American appeared suddenly in my apartment. When he brought me
+here he first blindfolded me. I have no idea by what route we traveled
+through the castle, and unless your guards outside this door were
+bribed they can tell you more about how we got in here than I
+can—provided we entered through that doorway,” and the king pointed to
+the door which had just opened to admit his two visitors.
+
+“Oh, pshaw!” exclaimed Maenck. “There is but one door to this room—if
+the king came in here at all, he came through that door.”
+
+“Enough!” cried Peter of Blentz. “I shall not be trifled with longer. I
+shall give you until tomorrow morning to make a full explanation of the
+truth and to form some plan whereby you may utilize once more whatever
+influence you had over Leopold to the end that he grant to myself and
+my associates his royal assurance that our lives and property will be
+safe in Lutha.”
+
+“But I tell you it is impossible,” wailed the king.
+
+“I think not,” sneered Prince Peter, “especially when I tell you that
+if you do not accede to my wishes the order of the Austrian military
+court that sentenced you to death at Burgova will be carried out in the
+morning.”
+
+With his final words the two men turned and left the room. Behind them,
+upon the floor, inarticulate with terror, knelt Leopold of Lutha, his
+hands outstretched in supplication.
+
+The long night wore its weary way to dawn at last. The sleepless man,
+alternately tossing upon his bed and pacing the floor, looked fearfully
+from time to time at the window through which the lightening of the sky
+would proclaim the coming day and his last hour on earth. His windows
+faced the west. At the foot of the hill beneath the castle nestled the
+village of Blentz, once more enveloped in peaceful silence since the
+Austrians were gone.
+
+An unmistakable lessening of the darkness in the east had just
+announced the proximity of day, when the king heard a clatter of
+horses’ hoofs upon the road before the castle. The sound ceased at the
+gates and a loud voice broke out upon the stillness of the dying night
+demanding entrance “in the name of the king.”
+
+New hope burst aflame in the breast of the condemned man. The impostor
+had not forsaken him. Leopold ran to the window, leaning far out. He
+heard the voices of the sentries in the barbican as they conversed with
+the newcomers. Then silence came, broken only by the rapid footsteps of
+a soldier hastening from the gate to the castle. His hobnail shoes
+pounding upon the cobbles of the courtyard echoed among the angles of
+the lofty walls. When he had entered the castle the silence became
+oppressive. For five minutes there was no sound other than the pawing
+of the horses outside the barbican and the subdued conversation of
+their riders.
+
+Presently the soldier emerged from the castle. With him was an officer.
+The two went to the barbican. Again there was a parley between the
+horsemen and the guard. Leopold could hear the officer demanding terms.
+He would lower the drawbridge and admit them upon conditions.
+
+One of these the king overheard—it concerned an assurance of full
+pardon for Peter of Blentz and the garrison; and again Leopold heard
+the officer addressing someone as “your majesty.”
+
+Ah, the impostor was there in person. Ach, Gott! How Leopold of Lutha
+hated him, and yet, in the hands of this American lay not only his
+throne but his very life as well.
+
+Evidently the negotiations proved unsuccessful for after a time the
+party wheeled their horses from the gate and rode back toward Blentz.
+As the sound of the iron-shod hoofs diminished in the distance, with
+them diminished the hopes of the king.
+
+When they ceased entirely his hopes were at an end, to be supplanted by
+renewed terror at the turning of the knob of his prison door as it
+swung open to admit Maenck and a squad of soldiers.
+
+“Come!” ordered the captain. “The king has refused to intercede in your
+behalf. When he returns with his army he will find your body at the
+foot of the west wall in the courtyard.”
+
+With an ear-piercing shriek that rang through the grim old castle,
+Leopold of Lutha flung his arms above his head and lunged forward upon
+his face. Roughly the soldiers seized the unconscious man and dragged
+him from the room.
+
+Along the corridor they hauled him and down the winding stairs within
+the north tower to the narrow slit of a door that opened upon the
+courtyard. To the foot of the west wall they brought him, tossing him
+brutally to the stone flagging. Here one of the soldiers brought a
+flagon of water and dashed it in the face of the king. The cold douche
+returned Leopold to a consciousness of the nearness of his impending
+fate.
+
+He saw the little squad of soldiers before him. He saw the cold, gray
+wall behind, and, above, the cold, gray sky of early dawn. The dismal
+men leaning upon their shadowy guns seemed unearthly specters in the
+weird light of the hour that is neither God’s day nor devil’s night.
+With difficulty two of them dragged Leopold to his feet.
+
+Then the dismal men formed in line before him at the opposite side of
+the courtyard. Maenck stood to the left of them. He was giving
+commands. They fell upon the doomed man’s ears with all the cruelty of
+physical blows. Tears coursed down his white cheeks. With incoherent
+mumblings he begged for his life. Leopold, King of Lutha, trembling in
+the face of death!
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+THE TWO KINGS
+
+
+Twenty troopers had ridden with Lieutenant Butzow and the false king
+from Lustadt to Blentz. During the long, hard ride there had been
+little or no conversation between the American and his friend, for
+Butzow was still unsuspicious of the true identity of the man who posed
+as the ruler of Lutha. The lieutenant was all anxiety to reach Blentz
+and rescue the American he thought imprisoned there and in danger of
+being shot.
+
+At the gate they were refused admittance unless the king would accept
+conditions. Barney refused—there was another way to gain entrance to
+Blentz that not even the master of Blentz knew. Butzow urged him to
+accede to anything to save the life of the American. He recalled all
+that the latter had done in the service of Lutha and Leopold. Barney
+leaned close to the other’s ear.
+
+“If they have not already shot him,” he whispered, “we shall save the
+prisoner yet. Let them think that we give up and are returning to
+Lustadt. Then follow me.”
+
+Slowly the little cavalcade rode down from the castle of Blentz toward
+the village. Just out of sight of the grim pile where the road wound
+down into a ravine Barney turned his horse’s head up the narrow defile.
+In single file Butzow and the troopers followed until the rank
+undergrowth precluded farther advance. Here the American directed that
+they dismount, and, leaving the horses in charge of three troopers, set
+out once more with the balance of the company on foot.
+
+It was with difficulty that the men forced their way through the
+bushes, but they had not gone far when their leader stopped before a
+sheer wall of earth and stone, covered with densely growing shrubbery.
+Here he groped in the dim light, feeling his way with his hands before
+him, while at his heels came his followers. At last he separated a wall
+of bushes and disappeared within the aperture his hands had made. One
+by one his men followed, finding themselves in inky darkness, but upon
+a smooth stone floor and with stone walls close upon either hand. Those
+who lifted their hands above their heads discovered an arched stone
+ceiling close above them.
+
+Along this buried corridor the “king” led them, for though he had never
+traversed it himself the Princess Emma had, and from her he had
+received minute directions. Occasionally he struck a match, and
+presently in the fitful glare of one of these he and those directly
+behind him saw the foot of a ladder that disappeared in the Stygian
+darkness above.
+
+“Follow me up this, very quietly,” he said to those behind him. “Up to
+the third landing.”
+
+They did as he bid them. At the third landing Barney felt for the latch
+he knew was there—he was on familiar ground now. Finding it he pushed
+open the door it held in place, and through a tiny crack surveyed the
+room beyond. It was vacant. The American threw the door wide and
+stepped within. Directly behind him was Butzow, his eyes wide in
+wonderment. After him filed the troopers until seventeen of them stood
+behind their lieutenant and the “king.”
+
+Through the window overlooking the courtyard came a piteous wailing.
+Barney ran to the casement and looked out. Butzow was at his side.
+
+“_Himmel!_” ejaculated the Luthanian. “They are about to shoot him.
+Quick, your majesty,” and without waiting to see if he were followed
+the lieutenant raced for the door of the apartment. Close behind him
+came the American and the seventeen.
+
+It took but a moment to reach the stairway down which the rescuers
+tumbled pell-mell.
+
+Maenck was giving his commands to the firing squad with fiendish
+deliberation and delay. He seemed to enjoy dragging out the agony that
+the condemned man suffered. But it was this very cruelty that caused
+Maenck’s undoing and saved the life of Leopold of Lutha. Just before he
+gave the word to fire Maenck paused and laughed aloud at the pitiable
+figure trembling and whining against the stone wall before him, and
+during that pause a commotion arose at the tower doorway behind the
+firing squad.
+
+Maenck turned to discover the cause of the interruption, and as he
+turned he saw the figure of the king leaping toward him with leveled
+revolver. At the king’s back a company of troopers of the Royal Horse
+Guard was pouring into the courtyard.
+
+Maenck snatched his own revolver from his hip and fired point-blank at
+the “king.” The firing squad had turned at the sound of assault from
+the rear. Some of them discharged their pieces at the advancing
+troopers. Butzow gave a command and seventeen carbines poured their
+deadly hail into the ranks of the Blentz retainers. At Maenck’s shot
+the “king” staggered and fell to the pavement.
+
+Maenck leaped across his prostrate form, yelling to his men “Shoot the
+American.” Then he was lost to Barney’s sight in the hand-to-hand
+scrimmage that was taking place. The American tried to regain his feet,
+but the shock of the wound in his breast had apparently paralyzed him
+for the moment. A Blentz soldier was running toward the prisoner
+standing open-mouthed against the wall. The fellow’s rifle was raised
+to his hip—his intention was only too obvious.
+
+Barney drew himself painfully and slowly to one elbow. The man was
+rapidly nearing the true Leopold. In another moment he would shoot. The
+American raised his revolver and, taking careful aim, fired. The
+soldier shrieked, covered his face with his hands, spun around once,
+and dropped at the king’s feet.
+
+The troopers under Butzow were forcing the men of Blentz toward the far
+end of the courtyard. Two of the Blentz faction were standing a little
+apart, backing slowly away and at the same time deliberately firing at
+the king. Barney seemed the only one who noticed them. Once again he
+raised his revolver and fired. One of the men sat down suddenly, looked
+vacantly about him, and then rolled over upon his side. The other fired
+once more at the king and the same instant Barney fired at the soldier.
+Soldier and king—would-be assassin and his victim—fell simultaneously.
+Barney grimaced. The wound in his breast was painful. He had done his
+best to save the king. It was no fault of his that he had failed. It
+was a long way to Beatrice. He wondered if Emma von der Tann would be
+on the station platform, awaiting him—then he swooned.
+
+Butzow and his seventeen had it all their own way in the courtyard and
+castle of Blentz. After the first resistance the soldiery of Peter fled
+to the guardroom. Butzow followed them, and there they laid down their
+arms. Then the lieutenant returned to the courtyard to look for the
+king and Barney Custer. He found them both, and both were wounded. He
+had them carried to the royal apartments in the north tower. When
+Barney regained consciousness he found the scowling portrait of the
+Blentz princess frowning down upon him. He lay upon a great bed where
+the soldiers, thinking him king, had placed him. Opposite him, against
+the farther wall, the real king lay upon a cot. Butzow was working over
+him.
+
+“Not so bad, after all, Barney,” the lieutenant was saying. “Only a
+flesh wound in the calf of the leg.”
+
+The king made no reply. He was afraid to declare his identity. First he
+must learn the intentions of the impostor. He only closed his eyes
+wearily. Presently he asked a question.
+
+“Is he badly wounded?” and he indicated the figure upon the great bed.
+
+Butzow turned and crossed to where the American lay. He saw that the
+latter’s eyes were open and that he was conscious.
+
+“How does your majesty feel?” he asked. There was more respect in his
+tone than ever before. One of the Blentz soldiers had told him how the
+“king,” after being wounded by Maenck, had raised himself upon his
+elbow and saved the prisoner’s life by shooting three of his
+assailants.
+
+“I thought I was done for,” answered Barney Custer, “but I rather guess
+the bullet struck only a glancing blow. It couldn’t have entered my
+lungs, for I neither cough nor spit blood. To tell you the truth, I
+feel surprisingly fit. How’s the prisoner?”
+
+“Only a flesh wound in the calf of his left leg, sire,” replied Butzow.
+
+“I am glad,” was Barney’s only comment. He didn’t want to be king of
+Lutha; but he had foreseen that with the death of the king his
+imposture might be forced upon him for life.
+
+After Butzow and one of the troopers had washed and dressed the wounds
+of both men Barney asked them to leave the room.
+
+“I wish to sleep,” he said. “If I require you I will ring.”
+
+Saluting, the two backed from the apartment. Just as they were passing
+through the doorway the American called out to Butzow.
+
+“You have Peter of Blentz and Maenck in custody?” he asked.
+
+“I regret having to report to your majesty,” replied the officer, “that
+both must have escaped. A thorough search of the entire castle has
+failed to reveal them.”
+
+Barney scowled. He had hoped to place these two conspirators once and
+for all where they would never again threaten the peace of the throne
+of Lutha—in hell. For a moment he lay in thought. Then he addressed the
+officer again.
+
+“Leave your force here,” he said, “to guard us. Ride, yourself, to
+Lustadt and inform Prince von der Tann that it is the king’s desire
+that every effort be made to capture these two men. Have them brought
+to Lustadt immediately they are apprehended. Bring them dead or alive.”
+
+Again Butzow saluted and prepared to leave the room.
+
+“Wait,” said Barney. “Convey our greetings to the Princess von der
+Tann, and inform her that my wound is of small importance, as is also
+that of the—Mr. Custer. You may go, lieutenant.”
+
+When they were alone Barney turned toward the king. The other lay upon
+his side glaring at the American. When he caught the latter’s eyes upon
+him he spoke.
+
+“What do you intend doing with me?” he said. “Are you going to keep
+your word and return my identity?”
+
+“I have promised,” replied Barney, “and what I promise I always
+perform.”
+
+“Then exchange clothing with me at once,” cried the king, half rising
+from his cot.
+
+“Not so fast, my friend,” rejoined the American. “There are a few
+trifling details to be arranged before we resume our proper
+personalities.”
+
+“Do you realize that you should be hanged for what you have done?”
+snarled the king. “You assaulted me, stole my clothing, left me here to
+be shot by Peter, and sat upon my throne in Lustadt while I lay a
+prisoner condemned to death.”
+
+“And do you realize,” replied Barney, “that by so doing I saved your
+foolish little throne for you; that I drove the invaders from your
+dominions; that I have unmasked your enemies, and that I have once
+again proven to you that the Prince von der Tann is your best friend
+and most loyal supporter?”
+
+“You laid your plebeian hands upon me,” cried the king, raising his
+voice. “You humiliated me, and you shall suffer for it.”
+
+Barney Custer eyed the king for a long moment before he spoke again. It
+was difficult to believe that the man was so devoid of gratitude, and
+so blind as not to see that even the rough treatment that he had
+received at the American’s hands was as nothing by comparison with the
+service that the American had done him. Apparently Leopold had already
+forgotten that three times Barney Custer had saved his life in the
+courtyard below. From the man’s demeanor, now that his life was no
+longer at stake, Barney caught an inkling of what his attitude might be
+when once again he was returned to the despotic power of his kingship.
+
+“It is futile to reason with you,” he said. “There is only one way to
+handle such as you. At present I hold the power to coerce you, and I
+shall continue to hold that power until I am safely out of your
+two-by-four kingdom. If you do as I say you shall have your throne back
+again. If you refuse, why by Heaven you shall never have it. I’ll stay
+king of Lutha myself.”
+
+“What are your terms?” asked the king.
+
+“That Prince Peter of Blentz, Captain Ernst Maenck, and old Von Coblich
+be tried, convicted, and hanged for high treason,” replied the
+American.
+
+“That is easy,” said the king. “I should do so anyway immediately I
+resumed my throne. Now get up and give me my clothes. Take this cot and
+I will take the bed. None will know of the exchange.”
+
+“Again you are too fast,” answered Barney. “There is another
+condition.”
+
+“Well?”
+
+“You must promise upon your royal honor that Ludwig, Prince von der
+Tann, remain chancellor of Lutha during your life or his.”
+
+“Very well,” assented the king. “I promise,” and again he half rose
+from his cot.
+
+“Hold on a minute,” admonished the American; “there is yet one more
+condition of which I have not made mention.”
+
+“What, another?” exclaimed Leopold testily. “How much do you want for
+returning to me what you have stolen?”
+
+“So far I have asked for nothing for myself,” replied Barney. “Now I am
+coming to that part of the agreement. The Princess Emma von der Tann is
+betrothed to you. She does not love you. She has honored me with her
+affection, but she will not wed until she has been formally released
+from her promise to wed Leopold of Lutha. The king must sign such a
+release and also a sanction of her marriage to Barney Custer, of
+Beatrice. Do you understand what I want?”
+
+The king went livid. He came to his feet beside the cot. For the
+moment, his wound was forgotten. He tottered toward the impostor.
+
+“You scoundrel!” he screamed. “You scoundrel! You have stolen my
+identity and my throne and now you wish to steal the woman who loves
+me.”
+
+“Don’t get excited, Leo,” warned the American, “and don’t talk so loud.
+The Princess doesn’t love you, and you know it as well as I. She will
+never marry you. If you want your dinky throne back you’ll have to do
+as I desire; that is, sign the release and the sanction.
+
+“Now let’s don’t have any heroics about it. You have the proposition.
+Now I am going to sleep. In the meantime you may think it over. If the
+papers are not ready when it comes time for us to leave, and from the
+way I feel now I rather think I shall be ready to mount a horse by
+morning, I shall ride back to Lustadt as king of Lutha, and I shall
+marry her highness into the bargain, and you may go hang!
+
+“How the devil you will earn a living with that king job taken away
+from you I don’t know. You’re a long way from New York, and in the
+present state of carnage in Europe I rather doubt that there are many
+headwaiters jobs open this side of the American metropolis, and I can’t
+for the moment think of anything else at which you would shine—with all
+due respect to some excellent headwaiters I have known.”
+
+For some time the king remained silent. He was thinking. He realized
+that it lay in the power of the American to do precisely what he had
+threatened to do. No one would doubt his identity. Even Peter of Blentz
+had not recognized the real king despite Leopold’s repeated and
+hysterical claims.
+
+Lieutenant Butzow, the American’s best friend, had no more suspected
+the exchange of identities. Von der Tann, too, must have been deceived.
+Everyone had been deceived. There was no hope that the people, who
+really saw so little of their king, would guess the deception that was
+being played upon them. Leopold groaned. Barney opened his eyes and
+turned toward him.
+
+“What’s the matter?” he asked.
+
+“I will sign the release and the sanction of her highness’ marriage to
+you,” said the king.
+
+“Good!” exclaimed the American. “You will then go at once to Brosnov as
+originally planned. I will return to Lustadt and get her highness, and
+we will immediately leave Lutha via Brosnov. There you and I will
+effect a change of raiment, and you will ride back to Lustadt with the
+small guard that accompanies her highness and me to the frontier.”
+
+“Why do you not remain in Lustadt?” asked the king. “You could as well
+be married there as elsewhere.”
+
+“Because I don’t trust your majesty,” replied the American. “It must be
+done precisely as I say or not at all. Are you agreeable?”
+
+The king assented with a grumpy nod.
+
+“Then get up and write as I dictate,” said Barney. Leopold of Lutha did
+as he was bid. The result was two short, crisply worded documents. At
+the bottom of each was the signature of Leopold of Lutha. Barney took
+the two papers and carefully tucked them beneath his pillow.
+
+“Now let’s sleep,” he said. “It is getting late and we both need the
+rest. In the morning we have long rides ahead of us. Good night.”
+
+The king did not respond. In a short time Barney was fast asleep. The
+light still burned.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+“THE KING’S WILL IS LAW”
+
+
+The Blentz princess frowned down upon the king and impostor impartially
+from her great gilt frame. It must have been close to midnight that the
+painting moved—just a fraction of an inch. Then it remained motionless
+for a time. Again it moved. This time it revealed a narrow crack at its
+edge. In the crack an eye shone.
+
+One of the sleepers moved. He opened his eyes. Stealthily he raised
+himself on his elbow and gazed at the other across the apartment. He
+listened intently. The regular breathing of the sleeper proclaimed the
+soundness of his slumber. Gingerly the man placed one foot upon the
+floor. The eye glued to the crack at the edge of the great, gilt frame
+of the Blentz princess remained fastened upon him. He let his other
+foot slip to the floor beside the first. Carefully he raised himself
+until he stood erect upon the floor. Then, on tiptoe he started across
+the room.
+
+The eye in the dark followed him. The man reached the side of the
+sleeper. Bending over he listened intently to the other’s breathing.
+Satisfied that slumber was profound he stepped quickly to a wardrobe in
+which a soldier had hung the clothing of both the king and the
+American. He took down the uniform of the former, casting from time to
+time apprehensive glances toward the sleeper. The latter did not stir,
+and the other passed to the little dressing-room adjoining.
+
+A few minutes later he reentered the apartment fully clothed and
+wearing the accouterments of Leopold of Lutha. In his hand was a drawn
+sword. Silently and swiftly he crossed to the side of the sleeping man.
+The eye at the crack beside the gilded frame pressed closer to the
+aperture. The sword was raised above the body of the slumberer—its
+point hovered above his heart. The face of the man who wielded it was
+hard with firm resolve.
+
+His muscles tensed to drive home the blade, but something held his
+hand. His face paled. His shoulders contracted with a little shudder,
+and he turned toward the door of the apartment, almost running across
+the floor in his anxiety to escape. The eye in the dark maintained its
+unblinking vigilance.
+
+With his hand upon the knob a sudden thought stayed the fugitive’s
+flight. He glanced quickly back at the sleeper—he had not moved. Then
+the man who wore the uniform of the king of Lutha recrossed the
+apartment to the bed, reached beneath one of the pillows and withdrew
+two neatly folded official-looking documents. These he placed in the
+breastpocket of his uniform. A moment later he was walking down the
+spiral stairway to the main floor of the castle.
+
+In the guardroom the troopers of the Royal Horse who were not on guard
+were stretched in slumber. Only a corporal remained awake. As the man
+entered the guardroom the corporal glanced up, and as his eyes fell
+upon the newcomer, he sprang to his feet, saluting.
+
+“Turn out the guard!” he cried. “Turn out the guard for his majesty,
+the king!”
+
+The sleeping soldiers, but half awake, scrambled to their feet, their
+muscles reacting to the command that their brains but half perceived.
+They snatched their guns from the racks and formed a line behind the
+corporal. The king raised his fingers to the vizor of his helmet in
+acknowledgment of their salute.
+
+“Saddle up quietly, corporal,” he said. “We shall ride to Lustadt
+tonight.”
+
+The non-commissioned officer saluted. “And an extra horse for Herr
+Custer?” he said.
+
+The king shook his head. “The man died of his wound about an hour ago,”
+he said. “While you are saddling up I shall arrange with some of the
+Blentz servants for his burial—now hurry!”
+
+The corporal marched his troopers from the guardroom toward the
+stables. The man in the king’s clothes touched a bell which was
+obviously a servant call. He waited impatiently a reply to his summons,
+tapping his finger-tips against the sword-scabbard that was belted to
+his side. At last a sleepy-eyed man responded—a man who had grown gray
+in the service of Peter of Blentz. At sight of the king he opened his
+eyes in astonishment, pulled his foretop, and bowed uneasily.
+
+“Come closer,” whispered the king. The man did so, and the king spoke
+in his ear earnestly, but in scarce audible tones. The eyes of the
+listener narrowed to mere slits—of avarice and cunning, cruelly cold
+and calculating. The speaker searched through the pockets of the king’s
+clothes that covered him. At last he withdrew a roll of bills. The
+amount must have been a large one, but he did not stop to count it. He
+held the money under the eyes of the servant. The fellow’s claw-like
+fingers reached for the tempting wealth. He nodded his head
+affirmatively.
+
+“You may trust me, sire,” he whispered.
+
+The king slipped the money into the other’s palm. “And as much more,”
+he said, “when I receive proof that my wishes have been fulfilled.”
+
+“Thank you, sire,” said the servant.
+
+The king looked steadily into the other’s face before he spoke again.
+
+“And if you fail me,” he said, “may God have mercy on your soul.” Then
+he wheeled and left the guardroom, walking out into the courtyard where
+the soldiers were busy saddling their mounts.
+
+A few minutes later the party clattered over the drawbridge and down
+the road toward Blentz and Lustadt. From a window of the apartments of
+Peter of Blentz a man watched them depart. When they passed across a
+strip of moonlit road, and he had counted them, he smiled with relief.
+
+A moment later he entered a panel beside the huge fireplace in the west
+wall and disappeared. There he struck a match, found a candle and
+lighted it. Walking a few steps he came to a figure sleeping upon a
+pile of clothing. He stooped and shook the sleeper by the shoulder.
+
+“Wake up!” he cried in a subdued voice. “Wake up, Prince Peter; I have
+good news for you.”
+
+The other opened his eyes, stretched, and at last sat up.
+
+“What is it, Maenck?” he asked querulously.
+
+“Great news, my prince,” replied the other.
+
+“While you have been sleeping many things have transpired within the
+walls of your castle. The king’s troopers have departed; but that is a
+small matter compared with the other. Here, behind the portrait of your
+great-grandmother, I have listened and watched all night. I opened the
+secret door a fraction of an inch—just enough to permit me to look into
+the apartment where the king and the American lay wounded. They had
+been talking as I opened the door, but after that they ceased—the king
+falling asleep at once—the American feigning slumber. For a long time I
+watched, but nothing happened until near midnight. Then the American
+arose and donned the king’s clothes.
+
+“He approached Leopold with drawn sword, but when he would have thrust
+it through the heart of the sleeping man his nerve failed him. Then he
+stole some papers from the room and left. Just now he has ridden out
+toward Lustadt with the men of the Royal Horse who captured the castle
+yesterday.”
+
+Before Maenck was half-way through his narrative, Peter of Blentz was
+wide awake and all attention. His eyes glowed with suddenly aroused
+interest.
+
+“Somewhere in this, prince,” concluded Maenck, “there must lie the seed
+of fortune for you and me.”
+
+Peter nodded. “Yes,” he mused, “there must.”
+
+For a time both men were buried in thought. Suddenly Maenck snapped his
+fingers. “I have it!” he cried. He bent toward Prince Peter’s ear and
+whispered his plan. When he was done the Blentz prince grasped his
+hand.
+
+“Just the thing, Maenck!” he cried. “Just the thing. Leopold will never
+again listen to idle gossip directed against our loyalty. If I know
+him—and who should know him better—he will heap honors upon you, my
+Maenck; and as for me, he will at least forgive me and take me back
+into his confidence. Lose no time now, my friend. We are free now to go
+and come, since the king’s soldiers have been withdrawn.”
+
+In the garden back of the castle an old man was busy digging a hole. It
+was a long, narrow hole, and, when it was completed, nearly four feet
+deep. It looked like a grave. When he had finished the old man hobbled
+to a shed that leaned against the south wall. Here were boards, tools,
+and a bench. It was the castle workshop. The old man selected a number
+of rough pine boards. These he measured and sawed, fitted and nailed,
+working all the balance of the night. By dawn, he had a long, narrow
+box, just a trifle smaller than the hole he had dug in the garden. The
+box resembled a crude coffin. When it was quite finished, including a
+cover, he dragged it out into the garden and set it upon two boards
+that spanned the hole, so that it rested precisely over the excavation.
+
+All these precautions methodically made, he returned to the castle. In
+a little storeroom he searched for and found an ax. With his thumb he
+felt of the edge—for an ax it was marvelously sharp. The old fellow
+grinned and shook his head, as one who appreciates in anticipation the
+consummation of a good joke. Then he crept noiselessly through the
+castle’s corridors and up the spiral stairway in the north tower. In
+one hand was the sharp ax.
+
+The moment Lieutenant Butzow had reached Lustadt he had gone directly
+to Prince von der Tann; but the moment his message had been delivered
+to the chancellor he sought out the chancellor’s daughter, to tell her
+all that had occurred at Blentz.
+
+“I saw but little of Mr. Custer,” he said. “He was very quiet. I think
+all that he has been through has unnerved him. He was slightly wounded
+in the left leg. The king was wounded in the breast. His majesty
+conducted himself in a most valiant and generous manner. Wounded, he
+lay upon his stomach in the courtyard of the castle and defended Mr.
+Custer, who was, of course, unarmed. The king shot three of Prince
+Peter’s soldiers who were attempting to assassinate Mr. Custer.”
+
+Emma von der Tann smiled. It was evident that Lieutenant Butzow had not
+discovered the deception that had been practiced upon him in common
+with all Lutha—she being the only exception. It seemed incredible that
+this good friend of the American had not seen in the heroism of the man
+who wore the king’s clothes the attributes and ear-marks of Barney
+Custer. She glowed with pride at the narration of his heroism, though
+she suffered with him because of his wound.
+
+It was not yet noon when the detachment of the Royal Horse arrived in
+Lustadt from Blentz. At their head rode one whom all upon the streets
+of the capital greeted enthusiastically as king. The party rode
+directly to the royal palace, and the king retired immediately to his
+apartments. A half hour later an officer of the king’s household
+knocked upon the door of the Princess Emma von der Tann’s boudoir. In
+accord with her summons he entered, saluted respectfully, and handed
+her a note.
+
+It was written upon the personal stationery of Leopold of Lutha. The
+girl read and reread it. For some time she could not seem to grasp the
+enormity of the thing that had overwhelmed her—the daring of the action
+that the message explained. The note was short and to the point, and
+was signed only with initials.
+
+DEAREST EMMA:
+
+
+The king died of his wounds just before midnight. I shall keep the
+throne. There is no other way. None knows and none must ever know the
+truth. Your father alone may suspect; but if we are married at once our
+alliance will cement him and his faction to us. Send word by the bearer
+that you agree with the wisdom of my plan, and that we may be wed at
+once—this afternoon, in fact.
+    The people may wonder for a few days at the strange haste, but my
+    answer shall be that I am going to the front with my troops. The
+    son and many of the high officials of the Kaiser have already
+    established the precedent, marrying hurriedly upon the eve of their
+    departure for the front.
+    With every assurance of my undying love, believe me,
+
+
+Yours,
+B. C.
+
+
+The girl walked slowly across the room to her writing table. The
+officer stood in respectful silence awaiting the answer that the king
+had told him to bring. The princess sat down before the carved bit of
+furniture. Mechanically she drew a piece of note paper from a drawer.
+Many times she dipped her pen in the ink before she could determine
+what reply to send. Ages of ingrained royalistic principles were
+shocked and shattered by the enormity of the thing the man she loved
+had asked of her, and yet cold reason told her that it was the only
+way.
+
+Lutha would be lost should the truth be known—that the king was dead,
+for there was no heir of closer blood connection with the royal house
+than Prince Peter of Blentz, whose great-grandmother had been a
+Rubinroth princess. Slowly, at last, she wrote as follows:
+
+SIRE:
+
+
+The king’s will is law.
+
+
+EMMA.
+
+
+That was all. Placing the note in an envelope she sealed it and handed
+it to the officer, who bowed and left the room.
+
+A half hour later officers of the Royal Horse were riding through the
+streets of Lustadt. Some announced to the people upon the streets the
+coming marriage of the king and princess. Others rode to the houses of
+the nobility with the king’s command that they be present at the
+ceremony in the old cathedral at four o’clock that afternoon.
+
+Never had there been such bustling about the royal palace or in the
+palaces of the nobles of Lutha. The buzz and hum of excited
+conversation filled the whole town. That the choice of the king met the
+approval of his subjects was more than evident. Upon every lip was
+praise and love of the Princess Emma von der Tann. The future of Lutha
+seemed assured with a king who could fight joined in marriage to a
+daughter of the warrior line of Von der Tann.
+
+The princess was busy up to the last minute. She had not seen her
+future husband since his return from Blentz, for he, too, had been
+busy. Twice he had sent word to her, but on both occasions had
+regretted that he could not come personally because of the pressure of
+state matters and the preparations for the ceremony that was to take
+place in the cathedral in so short a time.
+
+At last the hour arrived. The cathedral was filled to overflowing.
+After the custom of Lutha, the bride had walked alone up the broad
+center aisle to the foot of the chancel. Guardsmen lining the way on
+either hand stood rigidly at salute until she stopped at the end of the
+soft, rose-strewn carpet and turned to await the coming of the king.
+
+Presently the doors at the opposite end of the cathedral opened. There
+was a fanfare of trumpets, and up the center aisle toward the waiting
+girl walked the royal groom. It seemed ages to the princess since she
+had seen her lover. Her eyes devoured him as he approached her. She
+noticed that he limped, and wondered; but for a moment the fact carried
+no special suggestion to her brain.
+
+The people had risen as the king entered. Again, the pieces of the
+guardsmen had snapped to present; but silence, intense and utter,
+reigned over the vast assembly. The only movement was the measured
+stride of the king as he advanced to claim his bride.
+
+At the head of each line of guardsmen, nearest the chancel and upon
+either side of the bridal party, the ranks were formed of commissioned
+officers. Butzow was among them. He, too, out of the corner of his eye
+watched the advancing figure. Suddenly he noted the limp, and gave a
+little involuntary gasp. He looked at the Princess Emma, and saw her
+eyes suddenly widen with consternation.
+
+Slowly at first, and then in a sudden tidal wave of memory, Butzow’s
+story of the fight in the courtyard at Blentz came back to her.
+
+“I saw but little of Mr. Custer,” he had said. “He was slightly wounded
+in the left leg. The king was wounded in the breast.” But Lieutenant
+Butzow had not known the true identity of either.
+
+The real Leopold it was who had been wounded in the left leg, and the
+man who was approaching her up the broad cathedral aisle was limping
+noticeably—and favoring his left leg. The man to whom she was to be
+married was not Barney Custer—he was Leopold of Lutha!
+
+A hundred mad schemes rioted through her brain. The wedding must not go
+on! But how was she to avert it? The king was within a few paces of her
+now. There was a smile upon his lips, and in that smile she saw the
+final confirmation of her fears. When Leopold of Lutha smiled his upper
+lip curved just a trifle into a shadow of a sneer. It was a trivial
+characteristic that Barney Custer did not share in common with the
+king.
+
+Half mad with terror, the girl seized upon the only subterfuge which
+seemed at all likely to succeed. It would, at least, give her a slight
+reprieve—a little time in which to think, and possibly find an avenue
+from her predicament.
+
+She staggered forward a step, clapped her two hands above her heart,
+and reeled as though to fall. Butzow, who had been watching her
+narrowly, sprang forward and caught her in his arms, where she lay limp
+with closed eyes as though in a dead faint. The king ran forward. The
+people craned their necks. A sudden burst of exclamations rose
+throughout the cathedral, and then Lieutenant Butzow, shouldering his
+way past the chancel, carried the Princess Emma to a little anteroom
+off the east transept. Behind him walked the king, the bishop, and
+Prince Ludwig.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+MAENCK BLUNDERS
+
+
+After a hurried breakfast Peter of Blentz and Captain Ernst Maenck left
+the castle of Blentz. Prince Peter rode north toward the frontier,
+Austria, and safety, Captain Maenck rode south toward Lustadt. Neither
+knew that general orders had been issued to soldiery and gendarmerie of
+Lutha to capture them dead or alive. So Prince Peter rode carelessly;
+but Captain Maenck, because of the nature of his business and the
+proximity of enemies about Lustadt, proceeded with circumspection.
+
+Prince Peter was arrested at Tafelberg, and, though he stormed and
+raged and threatened, he was immediately packed off under heavy guard
+back toward Lustadt.
+
+Captain Ernst Maenck was more fortunate. He reached the capital of
+Lutha in safety, though he had to hide on several occasions from
+detachments of troops moving toward the north. Once within the city he
+rode rapidly to the house of a friend. Here he learned that which set
+him into a fine state of excitement and profanity. The king and the
+Princess Emma von der Tann were to be wed that very afternoon! It
+lacked but half an hour to four o’clock.
+
+Maenck grabbed his cap and dashed from the house before his astonished
+friend could ask a single question. He hurried straight toward the
+cathedral. The king had just arrived, and entered when Maenck came up,
+breathless. The guard at the doorway did not recognize him. If they had
+they would have arrested him. Instead they contented themselves with
+refusing him admission, and when he insisted they threatened him with
+arrest.
+
+To be arrested now would be to ruin his fine plan, so he turned and
+walked away. At the first cross street he turned up the side of the
+cathedral. The grounds were walled up on this side, and he sought in
+vain for entrance. At the rear he discovered a limousine standing in
+the alley where its chauffeur had left it after depositing his
+passengers at the front door of the cathedral. The top of the limousine
+was but a foot or two below the top of the wall.
+
+Maenck clambered to the hood of the machine, and from there to the top.
+A moment later he dropped to the earth inside the cathedral grounds.
+Before him were many windows. Most of them were too high for him to
+reach, and the others that he tried at first were securely fastened.
+Passing around the end of the building, he at last discovered one that
+was open—it led into the east transept.
+
+Maenck crawled through. He was within the building that held the man he
+sought. He found himself in a small room—evidently a dressing-room.
+There were two doors leading from it. He approached one and listened.
+He heard the tones of subdued conversation beyond.
+
+Very cautiously he opened the door a crack. He could not believe the
+good fortune that was revealed before him. On a couch lay the Princess
+Emma von der Tann. Beside her her father. At the door was Lieutenant
+Butzow. The bishop and a doctor were talking at the head of the couch.
+Pacing up and down the room, resplendent in the marriage robes of a
+king of Lutha, was the man he sought.
+
+Maenck drew his revolver. He broke the barrel, and saw that there was a
+good cartridge in each chamber of the cylinder. He closed it quietly.
+Then he threw open the door, stepped into the room, took deliberate
+aim, and fired.
+
+The old man with the ax moved cautiously along the corridor upon the
+second floor of the Castle of Blentz until he came to a certain door.
+Gently he turned the knob and pushed the door inward. Holding the ax
+behind his back, he entered. In his pocket was a great roll of money,
+and there was to be an equal amount waiting him at Lustadt when his
+mission had been fulfilled.
+
+Once within the room, he looked quickly about him. Upon a great bed lay
+the figure of a man asleep. His face was turned toward the opposite
+wall away from the side of the bed nearer the menacing figure of the
+old servant. On tiptoe the man with the ax approached. The neck of his
+victim lay uncovered before him. He swung the ax behind him. A single
+blow, as mighty as his ancient muscles could deliver, would suffice.
+
+Barney Custer opened his eyes. Directly opposite him upon the wall was
+a dark-toned photogravure of a hunting scene. It tilted slightly
+forward upon its wire support. As Barney’s eyes opened it chanced that
+they were directed straight upon the shiny glass of the picture. The
+light from the window struck the glass in such a way as to transform it
+into a mirror. The American’s eyes were glued with horror upon the
+reflection that he saw there—an old man swinging a huge ax down upon
+his head.
+
+It is an open question as to which of the two was the most surprised at
+the cat-like swiftness of the movement that carried Barney Custer out
+of that bed and landed him in temporary safety upon the opposite side.
+
+With a snarl the old man ran around the foot of the bed to corner his
+prey between the bed and the wall. He was swinging the ax as though to
+hurl it. So close was he that Barney guessed it would be difficult for
+him to miss his mark. The least he could expect would be a frightful
+wound. To have attempted to escape would have necessitated turning his
+back to his adversary, inviting instant death. To grapple with a man
+thus armed appeared an equally hopeless alternative.
+
+Shoulder-high beside him hung the photogravure that had already saved
+his life once. Why not again? He snatched it from its hangings, lifted
+it above his head in both hands, and hurled it at the head of the old
+man. The glass shattered full upon the ancient’s crown, the man’s head
+went through the picture, and the frame settled over his shoulders. At
+the same instant Barney Custer leaped across the bed, seized a light
+chair, and turned to face his foe upon more even terms.
+
+The old man did not pause to remove the frame from about his neck.
+Blood trickled down his forehead and cheeks from deep gashes that the
+broken glass had made. Now he was in a berserker rage.
+
+As he charged again he uttered a peculiar whistling noise from between
+his set teeth. To the American it sounded like the hissing of a snake,
+and as he would have met a snake he met the venomous attack of the old
+man.
+
+When the short battle was over the Blentz servitor lay unconscious upon
+the floor, while above him leaned the American, uninjured, ripping long
+strips from a sheet torn from the bed, twisting them into rope-like
+strands and, with them, binding the wrists and ankles of his defeated
+foe. Finally he stuffed a gag between the toothless gums.
+
+Running to the wardrobe, he discovered that the king’s uniform was
+gone. That, with the witness of the empty bed, told him the whole
+story. The American smiled. “More nerve than I gave him credit for,” he
+mused, as he walked back to his bed and reached under the pillow for
+the two papers he had forced the king to sign. They, too, were gone.
+Slowly Barney Custer realized his plight, as there filtered through his
+mind a suggestion of the possibilities of the trick that had been
+played upon him.
+
+Why should Leopold wish these papers? Of course, he might merely have
+taken them that he might destroy them; but something told Barney Custer
+that such was not the case. And something, too, told him whither the
+king had ridden and what he would do there when he arrived.
+
+He ran back to the wardrobe. In it hung the peasant attire that he had
+stolen from the line of the careless house frau, and later wished upon
+his majesty the king. Barney grinned as he recalled the royal disgust
+with which Leopold had fingered the soiled garments. He scarce blamed
+him. Looking further toward the back of the wardrobe, the American
+discovered other clothing.
+
+He dragged it all out upon the floor. There was an old shooting jacket,
+several pairs of trousers and breeches, and a hunting coat. In a drawer
+at the bottom of the wardrobe he found many old shoes, puttees, and
+boots.
+
+From this miscellany he selected riding breeches, a pair of boots, and
+the red hunting coat as the only articles that fitted his rather large
+frame. Hastily he dressed, and, taking the ax the old man had brought
+to the room as the only weapon available, he walked boldly into the
+corridor, down the spiral stairway and into the guardroom.
+
+Barney Custer was prepared to fight. He was desperate. He could have
+slunk from the Castle of Blentz as he had entered it—through the secret
+passageway to the ravine; but to attempt to reach Lustadt on foot was
+not at all compatible with the urgent haste that he felt necessary. He
+must have a horse, and a horse he would have if he had to fight his way
+through a Blentz army.
+
+But there were no armed retainers left at Blentz. The guardroom was
+vacant; but there were arms there and ammunition. Barney commandeered a
+sword and a revolver, then he walked into the courtyard and crossed to
+the stables. The way took him by the garden. In it he saw a coffin-like
+box resting upon planks above a grave-like excavation. Barney
+investigated. The box was empty. Once again he grinned. “It is not
+always wise,” he mused, “to count your corpses before they’re dead.
+What a lot of work the old man might have spared himself if he’d only
+caught his cadaver first—or at least tried to.”
+
+Passing on by his own grave, he came to the stables. A groom was
+currying a strong, clean-limbed hunter haltered in the doorway. The man
+looked up as Barney approached him. A puzzled expression entered the
+fellow’s eyes. He was a young man—a stupid-looking lout. It was evident
+that he half recognized the face of the newcomer as one he had seen
+before. Barney nodded to him.
+
+“Never mind finishing,” he said. “I am in a hurry. You may saddle him
+at once.” The voice was authoritative—it brooked no demur. The groom
+touched his forehead, dropped the currycomb and brush, and turned back
+into the stable to fetch saddle and bridle.
+
+Five minutes later Barney was riding toward the gate. The portcullis
+was raised—the drawbridge spanned the moat—no guard was there to bar
+his way. The sunlight flooded the green valley, stretching lazily below
+him in the soft warmth of a mellow autumn morning. Behind him he had
+left the brooding shadows of the grim old fortress—the cold, cruel,
+depressing stronghold of intrigue, treason, and sudden death.
+
+He threw back his shoulders and filled his lungs with the sweet, pure
+air of freedom. He was a new man. The wound in his breast was
+forgotten. Lightly he touched his spurs to the hunter’s sides. Tossing
+his head and curveting, the animal broke into a long, easy trot. Where
+the road dipped into the ravine and down through the village to the
+valley the rider drew his restless mount into a walk; but, once in the
+valley, he let him out. Barney took the short road to Lustadt. It would
+cut ten miles off the distance that the main wagonroad covered, and it
+was a good road for a horseman. It should bring him to Lustadt by one
+o’clock or a little after. The road wound through the hills to the east
+of the main highway, and was scarcely more than a trail where it
+crossed the Ru River upon a narrow bridge that spanned the deep
+mountain gorge that walls the Ru for ten miles through the hills.
+
+When Barney reached the river his hopes sank. The bridge was
+gone—dynamited by the Austrians in their retreat. The nearest bridge
+was at the crossing of the main highway over ten miles to the
+southwest. There, too, the river might be forded even if the Austrians
+had destroyed that bridge also; but here or elsewhere in the hills
+there could be no fording—the banks of the Ru were perpendicular
+cliffs.
+
+The misfortune would add nearly twenty miles to his journey—he could
+not now hope to reach Lustadt before late in the afternoon. Turning his
+horse back along the trail he had come, he retraced his way until he
+reached a narrow bridle path that led toward the southwest. The trail
+was rough and indistinct, yet he pushed forward, even more rapidly than
+safety might have suggested. The noble beast beneath him was all
+loyalty and ambition.
+
+“Take it easy, old boy,” whispered Barney into the slim, pointed ears
+that moved ceaselessly backward and forward, “you’ll get your chance
+when we strike the highway, never fear.”
+
+And he did.
+
+So unexpected had been Maenck’s entrance into the room in the east
+transept, so sudden his attack, that it was all over before a hand
+could be raised to stay him. At the report of his revolver the king
+sank to the floor. At almost the same instant Lieutenant Butzow whipped
+a revolver from beneath his tunic and fired at the assassin. Maenck
+staggered forward and stumbled across the body of the king. Butzow was
+upon him instantly, wresting the revolver from his fingers. Prince
+Ludwig ran to the king’s side and, kneeling there, raised Leopold’s
+head in his arms. The bishop and the doctor bent over the limp form.
+The Princess Emma stood a little apart. She had leaped from the couch
+where she had been lying. Her eyes were wide in horror. Her palms
+pressed to her cheeks.
+
+It was upon this scene that a hatless, dust-covered man in a red
+hunting coat burst through the door that had admitted Maenck. The man
+had seen and recognized the conspirator as he climbed to the top of the
+limousine and dropped within the cathedral grounds, and he had followed
+close upon his heels.
+
+No one seemed to note his entrance. All ears were turned toward the
+doctor, who was speaking.
+
+“The king is dead,” he said.
+
+Maenck raised himself upon an elbow. He spoke feebly.
+
+“You fools,” he cried. “That man was not the king. I saw him steal the
+king’s clothes at Blentz and I followed him here. He is the
+American—the impostor.” Then his eyes, circling the faces about him to
+note the results of his announcements, fell upon the face of the man in
+the red hunting coat. Amazement and wonder were in his face. Slowly he
+raised his finger and pointed.
+
+“There is the king,” he said.
+
+Every eye turned in the direction he indicated. Exclamations of
+surprise and incredulity burst from every lip. The old chancellor
+looked from the man in the red hunting coat to the still form of the
+man upon the floor in the blood-spattered marriage garments of a king
+of Lutha. He let the king’s head gently down upon the carpet, and then
+he rose to his feet and faced the man in the red hunting coat.
+
+“Who are you?” he demanded.
+
+Before Barney could speak Lieutenant Butzow spoke.
+
+“He is the king, your highness,” he said. “I rode with him to Blentz to
+free Mr. Custer. Both were wounded in the courtyard in the fight that
+took place there. I helped to dress their wounds. The king was wounded
+in the breast—Mr. Custer in the left leg.”
+
+Prince von der Tann looked puzzled. Again he turned his eyes
+questioningly toward the newcomer.
+
+“Is this the truth?” he asked.
+
+Barney looked toward the Princess Emma. In her eyes he could read the
+relief that the sight of him alive had brought her. Since she had
+recognized the king she had believed that Barney was dead. The
+temptation was great—he dreaded losing her, and he feared he would lose
+her when her father learned the truth of the deception that had been
+practiced upon him. He might lose even more—men had lost their heads
+for tampering with the affairs of kings.
+
+“Well?” persisted the chancellor.
+
+“Lieutenant Butzow is partially correct—he honestly believes that he is
+entirely so,” replied the American. “He did ride with me from Lustadt
+to Blentz to save the man who lies dead here at your feet. The
+lieutenant thought that he was riding with his king, just as your
+highness thought that he was riding with his king during the battle of
+Lustadt. You were both wrong—you were riding with Mr. Bernard Custer,
+of Beatrice. I am he. I have no apologies to make. What I did I would
+do again. I did it for Lutha and for the woman I love. She knows and
+the king knew that I intended restoring his identity to him with no one
+the wiser for the interchange that had taken place. The king upset my
+plans by stealing back his identity while I slept, with the result that
+you see before you upon the floor. He has died as he had
+lived—futilely.”
+
+As he spoke the Princess Emma had crossed the room toward him. Now she
+stood at his side, her hand in his. Tense silence reigned in the
+apartment. The old chancellor stood with bowed head, buried in thought.
+All eyes were upon him except those of the doctor, who had turned his
+attention from the dead king to the wounded assassin. Butzow stood
+looking at Barney Custer in open relief and admiration. He had been
+trying to vindicate his friend in his own mind ever since he had
+discovered, as he believed, that Barney had tricked Leopold after the
+latter had saved his life at Blentz and ridden to Lustadt in the king’s
+guise. Now that he knew the whole truth he realized how stupid he had
+been not to guess that the man who had led the victorious Luthanian
+army before Lustadt could not have been the cowardly Leopold.
+
+Presently the chancellor broke the silence.
+
+“You say that Leopold of Lutha lived futilely. You are right; but when
+you say that he has died futilely, you are, I believe, wrong. Living,
+he gave us a poor weakling. Dying, he leaves the throne to a brave man,
+in whose veins flows the blood of the Rubinroths, hereditary rulers of
+Lutha.
+
+“You are the only rightful successor to the throne of Lutha,” he
+argued, “other than Peter of Blentz. Your mother’s marriage to a
+foreigner did not bar the succession of her offspring. Aside from the
+fact that Peter of Blentz is out of the question, is the more important
+fact that your line is closer to the throne than his. He knew it, and
+this knowledge was the real basis of his hatred of you.”
+
+As the old chancellor ceased speaking he drew his sword and raised it
+on high above his head.
+
+“The king is dead,” he said. “Long live the king!”
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+KING OF LUTHA
+
+
+Barney Custer, of Beatrice, had no desire to be king of Lutha. He lost
+no time in saying so. All that he wanted of Lutha was the girl he had
+found there, as his father before him had found the girl of his choice.
+Von der Tann pleaded with him.
+
+“Twice have I fought under you, sire,” he urged. “Twice, and only twice
+since the old king died, have I felt that the future of Lutha was safe
+in the hands of her ruler, and both these times it was you who sat upon
+the throne. Do not desert us now. Let me live to see Lutha once more
+happy, with a true Rubinroth upon the throne and my daughter at his
+side.”
+
+Butzow added his pleas to those of the old chancellor. The American
+hesitated.
+
+“Let us leave it to the representatives of the people and to the house
+of nobles,” he suggested.
+
+The chancellor of Lutha explained the situation to both houses. Their
+reply was unanimous. He carried it to the American, who awaited the
+decision of Lutha in the royal apartments of the palace. With him was
+the Princess Emma von der Tann.
+
+“The people of Lutha will have no other king, sire,” said the old man.
+
+Barney turned toward the girl.
+
+“There is no other way, my lord king,” she said with grave dignity.
+“With her blood your mother bequeathed you a duty which you may not
+shirk. It is not for you or for me to choose. God chose for you when
+you were born.”
+
+Barney Custer took her hand in his and raised it to his lips.
+
+“Let the King of Lutha,” he said, “be the first to salute Lutha’s
+queen.”
+
+And so Barney Custer, of Beatrice, was crowned King of Lutha, and Emma
+became his queen. Maenck died of his wound on the floor of the little
+room in the east transept of the cathedral of Lustadt beside the body
+of the king he had slain. Prince Peter of Blentz was tried by the
+highest court of Lutha on the charge of treason; he was found guilty
+and hanged. Von Coblich committed suicide on the eve of his arrest.
+Lieutenant Otto Butzow was ennobled and given the confiscated estates
+of the Blentz prince. He became a general in the army of Lutha, and was
+sent to the front in command of the army corps that guarded the
+northern frontier of the little kingdom.
+
+
+
+
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