no
interference and listened to no remonstrances; and if ever a King
of Ruritania ruled like a
despot, I was, in those days, the man.
Look where I would, I saw nothing that made life sweet to me,
and I took my life in my hand and carried it
carelessly as a man dangles
an old glove. At first they
strove to guard me, to keep me safe,
to
persuade me not to
expose myself; but when they saw how I was set,
there grew up among them--whether they knew the truth or not--
a feeling that Fate ruled the issue, and that I must be left
to play my game with Michael my own way.
Late next night I rose from table, where Flavia had sat by me,
and conducted her to the door of her apartments. There I kissed
her hand, and bade her sleep sound and wake to happy days.
Then I changed my clothes and went out. Sapt and Fritz were
waiting for me with six men and the horses. Over his saddle
Sapt carried a long coil of rope, and both were heavily armed.
I had with me a short stout
cudgel and a long knife. Making
a
circuit, we avoided the town, and in an hour found ourselves
slowly mounting the hill that led to the Castle of Zenda.
The night was dark and very stormy; gusts of wind and spits
of rain caught us as we breasted the
incline, and the great trees
moaned and sighed. When we came to a thick clump, about a
quarter of a mile from the Castle, we bade our six friends hide
there with the horses. Sapt had a
whistle, and they could
rejoin us in a few moments if danger came: but, up to now,
we had met no one. I hoped that Michael was still off his guard,
believing me to be safe in bed. However that might be,
we gained the top of the hill without accident, and found ourselves
on the edge of the moat where it sweeps under the road, separating
the Old Castle from it. A tree stood on the edge of the bank,
and Sapt,silently and
diligently, set to make fast the rope.
I stripped off my boots, took a pull at a flask of brandy,
loosened the knife in its
sheath, and took the
cudgel between my teeth.
Then I shook hands with my friends, not heeding a last look of entreaty
from Fritz, and laid hold of the rope. I was going to have a look at
"Jacob's Ladder."
Gently I lowered myself into the water. Though the night was wild,
the day had been warm and bright, and the water was not cold.
I struck out, and began to swim round the great walls which
frowned above me. I could see only three yards ahead;
I had then good hopes of not being seen, as I crept along
close under the damp, moss-grown
masonry. There were lights
from the new part of the Castle on the other side, and now
and again I heard
laughter and merry shouts. I fancied
I recognized young Rupert Hentzau's ringing tones,
and pictured him flushed with wine. Recalling my thoughts
to the business in hand, I rested a moment. If Johann's
description were right, I must be near the window now.
Very slowly I moved; and out of the darkness ahead loomed a shape.
It was the pipe, curving from the window to the water:
about four feet of its surface were displayed;
it was as big round as two men. I was about to approach it,
when I saw something else, and my heart stood still. The nose
of a boat protruded beyond the pipe on the other side;
and listening
intently, I heard a slight shuffle--as of a man
shifting his position. Who was the man who guarded Michael's invention?
Was he awake or was he asleep? I felt if my knife were ready,
and trod water; as I did so, I found bottom under my feet.
The foundations of the Castle
extended some fifteen inches,
making a ledge; and I stood on it, out of water from my armpits upwards.
Then I crouched and peered through the darkness under the pipe, where,
curving, it left a space.
There was a man in the boat. A rifle lay by him--I saw the gleam
of the
barrel. Here was the sentinel! He sat very still.
I listened; he
breathed heavily,
regularly, monotonously.
By heaven, he slept! Kneeling on the shelf, I drew forward
under the pipe till my face was within two feet of his.
He was a big man, I saw. It was Max Holf, the brother of Johann.
My hand stole to my belt, and I drew out my knife. Of all the deeds
of my life, I love the least to think of this, and whether it were
the act of a man or a
traitor I will not ask. I said to myself:
"It is war--and the King's life is the stake." And I raised myself
from beneath the pipe and stood up by the boat, which lay moored
by the ledge. Holding my
breath, I marked the spot and raised
my arm. The great fellow stirred. He opened his eyes--wide,
wider. He grasped in
terror at my face and clutched at his rifle.
I struck home. And I heard the
chorus of a love-song from the
opposite bank.
Leaving him where he lay, a huddled mass, I turned to "Jacob's Ladder."
My time was short. This fellow's turn of watching might be over directly,
and
relief would come. Leaning over the pipe, I examined it,
from the end near the water to the topmost
extremity where it passed,
or seemed to pass, through the
masonry of the wall.
There was no break in it, no chink. Dropping on my knees,
I tested the under side. And my
breath went quick and fast,
for on this lower side, where the pipe should have clung close
to the
masonry, there was a gleam of light! That light must come
from the cell of the King! I set my shoulder against the pipe
and exerted my strength. The chink widened a very, very little,
and
hastily I desisted; I had done enough to show that the pipe
was not fixed in the
masonry at the lower side.
Then I heard a voice--a harsh,
grating voice:
"Well, sire, if you have had enough of my society, I will leave
you to
repose; but I must
fasten the little ornaments first."
It was Detchard! I caught the English
accent in a moment.
"Have you anything to ask, sire, before we part?"
The King's voice followed. It was his, though it was faint
and hollow--different from the merry tones I had heard
in the glades of the forest.
"Pray my brother," said the King, "to kill me. I am dying
by inches here."
"The duke does not desire your death, sire--yet,"
sneered Detchard; "when he does behold your path to heaven!"
The King answered:
"So be it! And now, if your orders allow it, pray leave me."
"May you dream of paradise!" said the ruffian.
The light disappeared. I heard the bolts of the door run home.
And then I heard the sobs of the King. He was alone, as he thought.
Who dares mock at him?
I did not
venture to speak to him. The risk of some exclamation
escaping him in surprise was too great. I dared do nothing
that night; and my task now was to get myself away in safety,
and to carry off the
carcass of the dead man. To leave him there
would tell too much. Casting loose the boat, I got in. The wind
was blowing a gale now, and there was little danger of oars being heard.
I rowed
swiftly round to where my friends waited. I had just reached
the spot, when a loud
whistle sounded over the moat behind me.
"Hullo, Max!" I heard shouted.
I hailed Sapt in a low tone. The rope came down. I tied it
round the
corpse, and then went up it myself.
"Whistle you too," I whispered, "for our men, and haul in the line.
No talk now."
They hauled up the body. Just as it reached the road,
three men on
horseback swept round from the front of the Castle.
We saw them; but, being on foot ourselves, we escaped their notice.
But we heard our men coming up with a shout.
"The devil, but it's dark!" cried a ringing voice.
It was young Rupert. A moment later, shots rang out. Our people
had met them. I started forward at a run, Sapt and Fritz following me.
"Thrust, thrust!" cried Rupert again, and a loud groan following
told that he himself was not behind-hand.
"I'm done, Rupert!" cried a voice. "They're three to one.
Save yourself!"
I ran on,
holding my
cudgel in my hand. Suddenly a horse
came towards me. A man was on it, leaning over his shoulder.
"Are you cooked too, Krafstein?" he cried.
There was no answer.
I
sprang to the horse's head. It was Rupert Hentzau.
"At last!" I cried.
For we seemed to have him. He had only his sword in his hand.
My men were hot upon him; Sapt and Fritz were
running up.
I had outstripped them; but if they got close enough to fire,
he must die or surrender.
"At last!" I cried.
"It's the play-actor!" cried he, slashing at my
cudgel. He cut
it clean in two; and, judging
discretion better than death,
I ducked my head and (I blush to tell it) scampered for my life.
The devil was in Rupert Hentzau; for he put spurs to his horse,
and I, turning to look, saw him ride, full
gallop, to the edge
of the moat and leap in, while the shots of our party fell thick
round him like hail. With one gleam of
moonlight we should
have riddled him with balls; but, in the darkness, he won
to the corner of the Castle, and vanished from our sight.
"The deuce take him!" grinned Sapt.
"It's a pity," said I, "that he's a
villain. Whom have we got?"
We had Lauengram and Krafstein: they lay dead; and, concealment
being no longer possible, we flung them, with Max, into the moat;
and,
drawing together in a
compact body, rode off down the hill.
And, in our midst, went the bodies of three
gallant gentlemen.
Thus we travelled home, heavy at heart for the death of our friends,
sore
uneasyconcerning the King, and cut to the quick that young Rupert
had played yet another
winning hand with us.
For my own part, I was vexed and angry that I had killed no
man in open fight, but only stabbed a knave in his sleep.
And I did not love to hear Rupert call me a play-actor.
CHAPTER 15
I Talk with a Tempter
Ruritania is not England, or the quarrel between Duke Michael
and myself could not have gone on, with the
extraordinary incidents
which marked it, without more public notice being directed to it.
Duels were
frequent among all the upper classes, and private quarrels
between great men kept the old habit of spreading to their friends
and dependents. Nevertheless, after the affray which I have just related,
such reports began to
circulate that I felt it necessary to be on my guard.
The death of the gentlemen involved could not be
hidden from their relatives.
I issued a stern order, declaring that duelling had attained unprecedented
licence (the Chancellor drew up the
document for me, and very well he did it),
and forbidding it save in the gravest cases. I sent a public and stately
apology to Michael, and he returned a deferential and
courteous reply to me;
for our one point of union was--and it underlay all our differences
and induced an
unwillingharmony between our actions--that we could
neither of us afford to throw our cards on the table. He, as well as
I, was a "play-actor', and, hating one another, we combined to dupe
public opinion. Unfortunately, however, the necessity for concealment
involved the necessity of delay: the King might die in his prison,
or even be spirited off somewhere else; it could not be helped.
For a little while I was compelled to observe a truce,
and my only
consolation was that Flavia most warmly approved
of my edict against duelling, and, when I expressed delight
at having won her favour, prayed me, if her favour were any
motive to me, to
prohibit the practice altogether.
"Wait till we are married," said I, smiling.
Not the least
peculiar result of the truce and of the secrecy
which dictated it was that the town of Zenda became in the day-time
--I would not have trusted far to its
protection by night--
a sort of
neutral zone, where both parties could
safely go;
and I, riding down one day with Flavia and Sapt, had an encounter
with an
acquaintance, which presented a ludicrous side, but was
at the same time embarrassing. As I rode along, I met a dignified
looking person driving in a two-horsed
carriage. He stopped his horses,
got out, and approached me, bowing low. I recognized the Head of the
Strelsau Police.