The Mad King Part 36

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 l.u.s.tadt 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 G.o.d 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 hors.e.m.e.n 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 a.s.sent the princess turned and, kneeling upon the cus.h.i.+on 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 hors.e.m.e.n 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 l.u.s.tadt. 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, G.o.d 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 pa.s.sed with ease after the sentinel had summoned an officer. From this man Maenck received the pa.s.sword 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 ident.i.ty 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 pa.s.sed 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 G.o.d 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 ident.i.ty. 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 a.s.semblage. 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 kings.h.i.+p 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: