it was effected--saving, of course, the Six themselves--will
not be at a premium."

This idea argued a shrewdness in our captive which led me
to build hopes on his assistance. I ordered him to be brought

in at once. Sapt conducted him, and set him in a chair
by my bedside. He was sullen, and afraid; but, to say truth,

after young Rupert's exploit, we also had our fears, and,
if he got as far as possible from Sapt's formidable six-shooter,

Sapt kept him as far as he could from me. Moreover, when he came
in his hands were bound, but that I would not suffer.

I need not stay to recount the safeguards and rewards we promised
the fellow--all of which were honourably observed and paid,

so that he lives now in prosperity (though where I may not mention);
and we were the more free inasmuch as we soon learnt that he was rather

a weak man than a wicked, and had acted throughout this matter more
from fear of the duke and of his own brother Max than for any love

of what was done. But he had persuaded all of his loyalty;
and though not in their secret counsels, was yet, by his knowledge

of their dispositions within the Castle, able to lay bare before us
the very heart of their devices. And here, in brief, is his story:

Below the level of the ground in the Castle, approached by a
flight of stone steps which abutted on the end of the drawbridge,

were situated two small rooms, cut out of the rock itself.
The outer of the two had no windows, but was always lighted

with candles; the inner had one square window, which gave upon
the moat. In the outer room there lay always, day and night,

three of the Six; and the instructions of Duke Michael were,
that on any attack being made on the outer room, the three were

to defend the door of it so long as they could without risk to themselves.
But, so soon as the door should be in danger of being forced,

then Rupert Hentzau or Detchard (for one of these two was always there)
should leave the others to hold it as long as they could,

and himself pass into the inner room, and, without more ado,
kill the King who lay there, well-treated indeed,

but without weapons, and with his arms confined in fine steel chains,
which did not allow him to move his elbow more than three inches

from his side. Thus, before the outer door were stormed,
the King would be dead. And his body? For his body would be

evidence as damning as himself.
"Nay, sir," said Johann, "his Highness has thought of that.

While the two hold the outer room, the one who has killed the King
unlocks the bars in the square window (they turn on a hinge).

The window now gives no light, for its mouth is choked by a great
pipe of earthenware; and this pipe, which is large enough to let

pass through it the body of a man, passes into the moat,
coming to an end immediately above the surface of the water,

so that there is no perceptibleinterval between water and pipe.
The King being dead, his murdererswiftly ties a weight to the body,

and, dragging it to the window, raises it by a pulley (for,
lest the weight should prove too great, Detchard has provided one)

till it is level with the mouth of the pipe. He inserts the feet
in the pipe, and pushes the body down. Silently, without splash or sound,

it falls into the water and thence to the bottom of the moat,
which is twenty feet deep thereabouts. This done, the murderer

cries loudly, "All's well!" and himself slides down the pipe;
and the others, if they can and the attack is not too hot,

run to the inner room and, seeking a moment's delay, bar the door,
and in their turn slide down. And though the King rises not

from the bottom, they rise and swim round to the other side,
where the orders are for men to wait them with ropes,

to haul them out, and horses. And here, if things go ill,
the duke will join them and seek safety by riding;

but if all goes well, they will return to the Castle,
and have their enemies in a trap. That, sir,

is the plan of his Highness for the disposal
of the King in case of need. But it is not

to be used till the last; for, as we all know,
he is not minded to kill the King unless he can,

before or soon after, kill you also, sir. Now, sir,
I have spoken the truth, as God is my witness,

and I pray you to shield me from the vengeance of Duke Michael;
for if, after he knows what I have done, I fall into his hands,

I shall pray for one thing out of all the world--a speedy death,
and that I shall not obtain from him!"

The fellow's story was rudely told, but our questions supplemented
his narrative. What he had told us applied to an armed attack;

but if suspicions were aroused, and there came overwhelming force--such,
for instance, as I, the King, could bring--the idea of resistance would

be abandoned; the King would be quietly murdered and slid down the pipe.
And--here comes an ingenious touch--one of the Six would take his place

in the cell, and, on the entrance of the searchers, loudly demand release
and redress; and Michael, being summoned, would confess to hasty action,

but he would say the man had angered him by seeking the favour of a lady
in the Castle (this was Antoinette de Mauban) and he had confined him there,

as he conceived he, as Lord of Zenda, had right to do. But he was now,
on receiving his apology, content to let him go, and so end the gossip which,

to his Highness's annoyance, had arisenconcerning a prisoner in Zenda,
and had given his visitors the trouble of this enquiry. The visitors,

baffled, would retire, and Michael could, at his leisure,
dispose of the body of the King.

Sapt, Fritz, and I in my bed, looked round on one another
in horror and bewilderment at the cruelty and cunning of the plan.

Whether I went in peace or in war, openly at the head of a corps,
or secretly by a stealthy assault, the King would be dead before

I could come near him. If Michael were stronger and overcame my party,
there would be an end. But if I were stronger, I should have no way

to punish him, no means of proving any guilt in him without proving
my own guilt also. On the other hand, I should be left as King

(ah! for a moment my pulse quickened) and it would be for the future
to witness the final struggle between him and me. He seemed to

have made triumph possible and ruin impossible. At the worst,
he would stand as well as he had stood before I crossed his path--

with but one man between him and the throne, and that man an impostor;
at best, there would be none left to stand against him. I had begun

to think that Black Michael was over fond of leaving the fighting
to his friends; but now I acknowledged that the brains,

if not the arms, of the conspiracy were his.
"Does the King know this?" I asked.

"I and my brother," answered Johann, "put up the pipe, under
the orders of my Lord of Hentzau. He was on guard that day,

and the King asked my lord what it meant. "Faith," he answered,
with his airy laugh, "it's a new improvement on the ladder of Jacob,

whereby, as you have read, sire, men pass from the earth to heaven.
We thought it not meet that your Majesty should go, in case, sire,

you must go, by the common route. So we have made you a pretty
private passage where the vulgar cannot stare at you or incommode

your passage. That, sire, is the meaning of that pipe."
And he laughed and bowed, and prayed the King's leave

to replenish the King's glass--for the King was at supper.
And the King, though he is a brave man, as are all of his House,

grew red and then white as he looked on the pipe and at the merry
devil who mocked him. Ah, sir" (and the fellow shuddered),

"it is not easy to sleep quiet in the Castle of Zenda,
for all of them would as soon cut a man's throat as play

a game at cards; and my Lord Rupert would choose it sooner
for a pastime than any other--ay, sooner than he would ruin a woman,

though that he loves also."
The man ceased, and I bade Fritz take him away and have

him carefully guarded; and, turning to him, I added:
"If anyone asks you if there is a prisoner in Zenda, you may

answer "Yes." But if any asks who the prisoner is, do not answer.
For all my promises will not save you if any man here learns

from you the truth as to the prisoner of Zenda. I'll kill you
like a dog if the thing be so much as breathed within the house!"

Then, when he was gone, I looked at Sapt.
"It's a hard nut!" said I.