The National tribune., 1906-09-20

side laid him down, remembering that
must find spadesefor our task. At this
instant Sapt camenup.
"The horses arei all right: there's the
own brother to- the one that brought
YOU here. Rutryou may save yourself
that job
I'll not go before he's buried"
Yes, you Will
Not /, Col. Sapt; not for all Ruri-
tania'
You fool" aidf he Come here"
He drew me TO the door. The moon
was sinking, but about 800 yards away.
coming along theiroad from Zenda. /
made out party of men. There were
seven or eight of them; four were on
horseback and the rest We're walking,
and saw that they carried long impie-
| ments, which l guessed to be spades
and mattocks. on their shoulders.
They'll save you the trouble said
Sapt. Come along"
He was right. The approaching party
must, beyond doubt. be Duke Michaers
men, come to remove the traces of their
evil work. 1 hesitated no longer. but
an irresistible desire seized me. Point
ing to the corpse of poor little Josef,
said to Sapt:
Colonel, we ought to strike blow
for him.
You'd like to give him some COM
pdHN, Ell But 100 RISKY WOTk, your
Majesty"
II must have a slap at en- said 1.
Sapt wavered.
'Well."' said he. "it's not business.
you know. but you've been n good
boy-and if we come to grief, why.
hang me. it IL save us lot of think
ing, I'll show you how to touch them"
He cautiously closed the open chink
of the door. Then we retreated through
hn oyn1 do IN 70
back entrance. Here our horses were
standing. A carriage drive swept all
around the lodge.
Revolver ready?" asked Sapt.
mo: steel for me-" said I.
Cad, you're thirsty tonight,
chuckled Sapt. $50 be it."
| We mounted. drawing our swords,
and waited silently for a minute or two.
Then we heard the tramp of men on
the drive the other side of the house.
They came to stand and one cried:
Now. then, fetch him outv'
"Now." whispered Sapt.
Driving the spurs into our horses. we
rushed at a gallop round the house. and
in a moment we were among the ruff
fans. Sapt told me afterward that he
killed q man, and / believe him; but I
saw no more of him. With cut split
the head of fellow on a brown horse.
and he fell to the ground. Then /
found myself opposite a big man, and
/ was half conscious of another to my
right. 1t was too warm to stay, and
with a simultaneous action l drove my
spurs into my horse again and my
sword full into the big mans breast.
His bullet whiZzed past my earl could
almost swear it touched it. / wrenched
at the sword, but 1t would not come,
and / dropped it and gallOped after
Sapt, whom 1 now saw about 20 yards
ahead. ] waved my hand in farewell
and dropped it second later with n
yell. for a bullet had grazed my finger
and I felt the blood. Old Sapt turned
again, but they had no rifles, and we
were out of range. Sapt fell to laugh
ing.
That's one to me and two to you.
with decent luck. said he. Little Josef
Will have company"
aye, they'll be a parti carree," said
]. My blood wa3 up, and / rejoiced to
have killed them.n
We'll, pleasant nights work to the
rest" said he. II wonder if they no.
ticed you?"
THE big fellow did; as struck him
1 heard him cry, The Eing!'"
Good! good. Oh, We'll give Black
Michael some work before we've done.'
Pausing an instant we made band
age IOT my WOunCpu rHHSfT, Wnlcn was
bleeding freely and ached severely, the
bone being much bruised. Then we
rode on, asking of our good horses all
that was in them. The excitement of
the fight and of our great resolve died
away. and we rode in gloomy silence.
Day broke clear and cold. We found n
farmer just up, and made him give us
sustenance for ourselves and our horses
I, feigning toothache, muffied my face
oil n fralc
lay before us. 1t was o'clock or near
ing 3, and the gates were all open. as
they always were save when the Dukes
caprice or intrigues shut them. We
rode in by the same way as we had
come out the evening before. all four of
us--the men and the horses-wearied
and jaded. The streets were even quiet
er than when we had gone; everyone
was sleeping off last nights revelry, and
we met hardly a soul till we reached
the little gate of the palace. There
Sapt's old groom was waiting for us.
"Is all well, sir?" he asked
"All's WELL" said Sapt. and the man,
coming to see, took my hand to kiss.
1.-The Kings hurt" he cried
Its nothing" said l, as / dismount-
ed. II caught my finger in the door"
emember-slence," said Sapt.
"Ah, but. my good Freyler, 1 do not
need to Tell you that"
The old fellow shrugged his shoul-
ders.
"All .-oung men like to ride abroad
now and again; why not the King?"
said he; and Sapts laugh left his opin-
ion of my motives undisturbed.
You should always trust a man."
observed Sapt, fitting the key in the
lock-'just as far as you must
We went in and reached the dressing
room. Flinging open the door, we saw
Fritz Won Tarlenheim stretched, fully
dressed, on the sofa. He seemed to
have been sleeping. but our entry woke
him. He leaped to his feet, gave one
glance at me, and with a joyful cry
Thank God, sirei thank God, you're
safe.' he cried, stretching his hand up
to catch hold of mine.
I confess that I was moved. This
King, whatever his faults, made people
love, him. For moment I could not
bear to speak or break the poor fell
lows illusion. But tough old Sapt had
no such feeling. He slapped his hand
on his thigh delightedly.
Bravo, lad" cried he. 1--WE shall
do,"
Fritz looked up in bewilderment. II
held out my hand.
You're wounded, sire" he exclaim-
ed.
IT'S only scratch" said I, but"
I paused.
He rose to his feet with a bewildered
air. Holding my hand, he looked me
up and down, and down and up. Then
suddenly he dropped my hand and
reeled back.
Where's the King? Where's the
ytt,,r 4, -t..1