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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 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.net
+
+
+Title: The Mad King
+
+Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
+
+Release Date: June 14, 2004 [EBook #364]
+[Last updated: July 28, 2012]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAD KING ***
+
+
+
+
+This etext was created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska.
+The equipment: an IBM-compatible 486/50, a Hewlett-Packard
+ScanJet IIc flatbed scanner, and Calera Recognition Systems'
+M/600 Series Professional OCR software and RISC accelerator board
+donated by Calera Recognition Systems.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
+
+THE MAD KING
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+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 stationary 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+I have made the following changes to the text:
+PAGE  CHAPTER  PARAGRAPH  LINE  ORIGINAL          CHANGED TO
+  72     VIII          3     1  Ludstadt          Lustadt
+  81                   3     2  mier              miter
+  83                   7     3  Ludstadt          Lustadt
+  86                   3     2  him arm           his arm
+  90                   4     4  monarch, he       monarch he
+  94                   2     4  colums            columns
+  98                   2     2  imposter          impostor
+ 121                   1     1  approaced         approached
+ 126                   2     5  from              from the
+ 140                   6     5  whom, appeared    whom appeared
+ 142                   5     1  once side         one side
+ 143                   4     8  knew              drew
+ 158                   4     5  presumptious      presumptuous
+ 182                   5     3  jeweler's shot    jeweler's shop
+ 189                   8     2  ingrate?"         ingrate?
+ 193                   5     3  oil panting       oil painting
+ 200                   7     1  soldiers          soldier
+ 211                   2     1  men and woman     men and women
+ 212                   3     5  instruments       instrument
+ 217                   4     1  The cheered       They cheered
+ 217                   6     2  gril's face       girl's face
+ 218                         1  magnamity         magnanimity
+ 218                   7     2  him.  Barney's    him, Barney's
+ 225                   3     3  horseman          horsemen
+ 228                   5     1  ajaculated        ejaculated
+ 233                   8     6  king of Lustadt,  king of Lutha,
+ 234                   6     2  You               "You
+ 251                         9  Luthania army     Luthanian army
+ 252                   2     3  poor, weakling    poor weakling
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mad King, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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