CHAPTER 7
His Majesty Sleeps in Strelsau
I put my arm round Sapt's waist and supported him out of the cellar,drawing the battered door close after me. For ten minutes or more we satsilent in the dining-room. Then old Sapt rubbed his knuckles into hiseyes, gave one great gasp, and was himself again. As the clock on themantelpiece struck one he stamped his foot on the floor, saying:
"They've got the King!"
"Yes," said I, "'all's well!' as Black Michael's despatch said. Whata moment it must have been for him when the royal salutes fired atStrelsau this morning! I wonder when he got the message?"
"It must have been sent in the morning," said Sapt. "They must have sentit before news of your arrival at Strelsau reached Zenda--I suppose itcame from Zenda."
"And he's carried it about all day!" I exclaimed. "Upon my honour, I'mnot the only man who's had a trying day! What did he think, Sapt?"
"What does that matter? What does he think, lad, now?"
I rose to my feet.
"We must get back," I said, "and rouse every soldier in Strelsau. Weought to be in pursuit of Michael before midday."
Old Sapt pulled out his pipe and carefully lit it from the candle whichguttered on the table.
"The King may be murdered while we sit here!" I urged.
Sapt smoked on for a moment in silence.
"That cursed old woman!" he broke out. "She must have attracted theirattention somehow. I see the game. They came up to kidnap the King,and--as I say--somehow they found him. If you hadn't gone to Strelsau,you and I and Fritz had been in heaven by now!"
"And the King?"
"Who knows where the King is now?" he asked.
"Come, let's be off!" said I; but he sat still. And suddenly he burstinto one of his grating chuckles:
"By Jove, we've shaken up Black Michael!"
"Come, come!" I repeated impatiently.
"And we'll shake him up a bit more," he added, a cunning smilebroadening on his wrinkled, weather-beaten face, and his teeth workingon an end of his grizzled moustache. "Ay, lad, we'll go back toStrelsau. The King shall be in his capital again tomorrow."
"The King?"
"The crowned King!"
"You're mad!" I cried.
"If we go back and tell the trick we played, what would you give for ourlives?"
"Just what they're worth," said I.
"And for the King's throne? Do you think that the nobles and the peoplewill enjoy being fooled as you've fooled them? Do you think they'll lovea King who was too drunk to be crowned, and sent a servant to personatehim?"
"He was drugged--and I'm no servant."
"Mine will be Black Michael's version."
He rose, came to me, and laid his hand on my shoulder.
"Lad," he said, "if you play the man, you may save the King yet. Go backand keep his throne warm for him."
"But the duke knows--the villains he has employed know--"
"Ay, but they can't speak!" roared Sapt in grim triumph.
"We've got 'em! How can they denounce you without denouncing themselves?This is not the King, because we kidnapped the King and murdered hisservant. Can they say that?"
The position flashed on me. Whether Michael knew me or not, he could notspeak. Unless he produced the King, what could he do? And if he producedthe King, where was he? For a moment I was carried away headlong; but inan instant the difficulties came strong upon me.
"I must be found out," I urged.
"Perhaps; but every hour's something. Above all, we must have a King inStrelsau, or the city will be Michael's in four-and-twenty hours, andwhat would the King's life be worth then--or his throne? Lad, you mustdo it!"
"Suppose they kill the King?"
"They'll kill him, if you don't."
"Sapt, suppose they have killed the King?"
"Then, by heaven, you're as good an Elphberg as Black Michael, and youshall reign in Ruritania! But I don't believe they have; nor will theykill him if you're on the throne. Will they kill him, to put you in?"
It was a wild plan--wilder even and more hopeless than the trick wehad already carried through; but as I listened to Sapt I saw the strongpoints in our game. And then I was a young man and I loved action, and Iwas offered such a hand in such a game as perhaps never man played yet.
"I shall be found out," I said.
"Perhaps," said Sapt. "Come! to Strelsau! We shall be caught like ratsin a trap if we stay here."
"Sapt," I cried, "I'll try it!"
"Well played!" said he. "I hope they've left us the horses. I'll go andsee."
"We must bury that poor fellow," said I.
"No time," said Sapt.
"I'll do it."
"Hang you!" he grinned. "I make you a King, and--Well, do it. Go andfetch him, while I look to the horses. He can't lie very deep, but Idoubt if he'll care about that. Poor little Josef! He was an honest bitof a man."
He went out, and I went to the cellar. I raised poor Josef in my armsand bore him into the passage and thence towards the door of the house.Just inside I laid him down, remembering that I must find spades for ourtask. At this instant Sapt came up.
"The horses are all right; there's the own brother to the one thatbrought you here. But you may save yourself that job."
"I'll not go before he's buried."
"Yes, you will."
"Not I, Colonel Sapt; not for all Ruritania."
"You fool!" said he. "Come here."
He drew me to the door. The moon was sinking, but about three hundredyards away, coming along the road from Zenda, I made out a party of men.There were seven or eight of them; four were on horseback and the restwere walking, and I saw that they carried long implements, which Iguessed 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 DukeMichael's men, come to remove the traces of their evil work. I hesitatedno longer, but an irresistible desire seized me.
Pointing to the corpse of poor little Josef, I said to Sapt:
"Colonel, we ought to strike a blow for him!"
"You'd like to give him some company, eh! But it's too risky work, yourMajesty."
"I must have a slap at 'em," said I.
Sapt wavered.
"Well," said he, "it's not business, you know; but you've been goodboy--and if we come to grief, why, hang me, it'll save us lot ofthinking! I'll show you how to touch them."
He cautiously closed the open chink of the door.
Then we retreated through the house and made our way to the backentrance. Here our horses were standing. A carriage-drive swept allround the lodge.
"Revolver ready?" asked Sapt.
"No; steel for me," said I.
"Gad, you're thirsty tonight," chuckled Sapt. "So 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 a stand, and one cried:
"Now then, fetch him out!"
"Now!" whispered Sapt.
Driving the spurs into our horses, we rushed at a gallop round thehouse, and in a moment we were among the ruffians. Sapt told meafterwards that he killed a man, and I believe him; but I saw no more ofhim. With a cut, I split the head of a fellow on a brown horse, and hefell to the ground. Then I found myself opposite a big man, and I washalf conscious of another to my right. It was too warm to stay, and witha simultaneous action I drove my spurs into my horse again and my swordfull into the big man's breast. His bullet whizzed past my ear--I couldalmost swear it touched it. I wrenched at the sword, but it would notcome, and I dropped it and galloped after Sapt, whom I now saw abouttwenty yards ahead. I waved my hand in farewell, and dropped it a secondlater with a yell, for a bullet had grazed my finger and I felt theblood. Old Sapt turned round in the saddle. Someone fired again, butthey had no rifles, and we were out of range. Sapt fell to laughing.
"T
hat's one to me and two to you, with decent luck," said he. "LittleJosef will have company."
"Ay, they'll be a _partie carree_," said I. My blood was up, and Irejoiced to have killed them.
"Well, a pleasant night's work to the rest!" said he. "I wonder if theynoticed you?"
"The big fellow did; as I stuck him I heard him cry, 'The King!'"
"Good! good! Oh, we'll give Black Michael some work before we've done!"
Pausing an instant, we made a bandage for my wounded finger, which wasbleeding freely and ached severely, the bone being much bruised. Then werode on, asking of our good horses all that was in them. The excitementof the fight and of our great resolve died away, and we rode in gloomysilence. Day broke clear and cold. We found a farmer just up, and madehim give us sustenance for ourselves and our horses. I, feigning atoothache, muffled my face closely. Then ahead again, till Strelsau laybefore us. It was eight o'clock or nearing nine, and the gates were allopen, as they always were save when the duke's caprice or intrigues shutthem. 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 streetswere even quieter than when we had gone: everyone was sleeping off lastnight's revelry, and we met hardly a soul till we reached the littlegate 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 me, took my hand tokiss.
"The King's hurt!" he cried.
"It's nothing," said I, as I dismounted; "I caught my finger in thedoor."
"Remember--silence!" said Sapt. "Ah! but, my good Freyler, I do not needto tell you that!"
The old fellow shrugged his shoulders.
"All young men like to ride abroad now and again, why not the King?"said he; and Sapt's laugh left his opinion of my motives undisturbed.
"You should always trust a man," observed Sapt, fitting the key in thelock, "just as far as you must."
We went in and reached the dressing-room. Flinging open the door, we sawFritz von Tarlenheim stretched, fully dressed, on the sofa. He seemed tohave been sleeping, but our entry woke him. He leapt to his feet, gaveone glance at me, and with a joyful cry, threw himself on his kneesbefore me.
"Thank God, sire! thank God, you're safe!" he cried, stretching his handup to catch hold of mine.
I confess that I was moved. This King, whatever his faults, made peoplelove him. For a moment I could not bear to speak or break the poorfellow's illusion. But tough old Sapt had no such feeling. He slappedhis hand on his thigh delightedly.
"Bravo, lad!" cried he. "We shall do!"
Fritz looked up in bewilderment. I held out my hand.
"You're wounded, sire!" he exclaimed.
"It's only a scratch," said I, "but--" I paused.
He rose to his feet with a bewildered air. Holding my hand, he lookedme up and down, and down and up. Then suddenly he dropped my hand andreeled back.
"Where's the King? Where's the King?" he cried.
"Hush, you fool!" hissed Sapt. "Not so loud! Here's the King!"
A knock sounded on the door. Sapt seized me by the hand.
"Here, quick, to the bedroom! Off with your cap and boots. Get into bed.Cover everything up."
I did as I was bid. A moment later Sapt looked in, nodded, grinned, andintroduced an extremely smart and deferential young gentleman, who cameup to my bedside, bowing again and again, and informed me that he wasof the household of the Princess Flavia, and that her Royal Highnesshad sent him especially to enquire how the King's health was after thefatigues which his Majesty had undergone yesterday.
"My best thanks, sir, to my cousin," said I; "and tell her RoyalHighness that I was never better in my life."
"The King," added old Sapt (who, I began to find, loved a good lie forits own sake), "has slept without a break all night."
The young gentleman (he reminded me of "Osric" in Hamlet) bowed himselfout again. The farce was over, and Fritz von Tarlenheim's pale facerecalled us to reality--though, in faith, the farce had to be realityfor us now.
"Is the King dead?" he whispered.
"Please God, no," said I. "But he's in the hands of Black Michael!"