The Mad King

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He dragged it all out upon the floor. There was an old shooting
jacket, several pairs of trousers and breeches, and a hunting coat.
In a drawer at the bottom of the wardrobe he found many old shoes,
puttees, and boots.

From this miscellany he selected riding breeches, a pair of boots,
and the red hunting coat as the only articles that fitted his rather
large frame. Hastily he dressed, and, taking the ax the old man had
brought to the room as the only weapon available, he walked boldly
into the corridor, down the spiral stairway and into the guardroom.

Barney Custer was prepared to fight. He was desperate. He could
have slunk from the Castle of Blentz as he had entered it--through
the secret passageway to the ravine; but to attempt to reach Lustadt
on foot was not at all compatible with the urgent haste that he felt
necessary. He must have a horse, and a horse he would have if he had
to fight his way through a Blentz army.

But there were no armed retainers left at Blentz. The guardroom was
vacant; but there were arms there and ammunition. Barney
commandeered a sword and a revolver, then he walked into the
courtyard and crossed to the stables. The way took him by the
garden. In it he saw a coffin-like box resting upon planks above a
grave-like excavation. Barney investigated. The box was empty. Once
again he grinned. "It is not always wise," he mused, "to count your
corpses before they're dead. What a lot of work the old man might
have spared himself if he'd only caught his cadaver first--or at
least tried to."

Passing on by his own grave, he came to the stables. A groom was
currying a strong, clean-limbed hunter haltered in the doorway. The
man looked up as Barney approached him. A puzzled expression entered
the fellow's eyes. He was a young man--a stupid-looking lout. It was
evident that he half recognized the face of the newcomer as one he
had seen before. Barney nodded to him.

"Never mind finishing," he said. "I am in a hurry. You may saddle
him at once." The voice was authoritative--it brooked no demur. The
groom touched his forehead, dropped the currycomb and brush, and
turned back into the stable to fetch saddle and bridle.

Five minutes later Barney was riding toward the gate. The portcullis
was raised--the drawbridge spanned the moat--no guard was there to
bar his way. The sunlight flooded the green valley, stretching
lazily below him in the soft warmth of a mellow autumn morning.
Behind him he had left the brooding shadows of the grim old
fortress--the cold, cruel, depressing stronghold of intrigue,
treason, and sudden death.

He threw back his shoulders and filled his lungs with the sweet,
pure air of freedom. He was a new man. The wound in his breast was
forgotten. Lightly he touched his spurs to the hunter's sides.
Tossing his head and curveting, the animal broke into a long, easy
trot. Where the road dipped into the ravine and down through the
village to the valley the rider drew his restless mount into a walk;
but, once in the valley, he let him out. Barney took the short road
to Lustadt. It would cut ten miles off the distance that the main
wagonroad covered, and it was a good road for a horseman. It should
bring him to Lustadt by one o'clock or a little after. The road
wound through the hills to the east of the main highway, and was
scarcely more than a trail where it crossed the Ru River upon a
narrow bridge that spanned the deep mountain gorge that walls the Ru
for ten miles through the hills.

When Barney reached the river his hopes sank. The bridge was
gone--dynamited by the Austrians in their retreat. The nearest
bridge was at the crossing of the main highway over ten miles to the
southwest. There, too, the river might be forded even if the
Austrians had destroyed that bridge also; but here or elsewhere in
the hills there could be no fording--the banks of the Ru were
perpendicular cliffs.

The misfortune would add nearly twenty miles to his journey--he
could not now hope to reach Lustadt before late in the afternoon.
Turning his horse back along the trail he had come, he retraced his
way until he reached a narrow bridle path that led toward the
southwest. The trail was rough and indistinct, yet he pushed
forward, even more rapidly than safety might have suggested. The
noble beast beneath him was all loyalty and ambition.

"Take it easy, old boy," whispered Barney into the slim, pointed
ears that moved ceaselessly backward and forward, "you'll get your
chance when we strike the highway, never fear."

And he did.


So unexpected had been Maenck's entrance into the room in the east
transept, so sudden his attack, that it was all over before a hand
could be raised to stay him. At the report of his revolver the king
sank to the floor. At almost the same instant Lieutenant Butzow
whipped a revolver from beneath his tunic and fired at the assassin.
Maenck staggered forward and stumbled across the body of the king.
Butzow was upon him instantly, wresting the revolver from his
fingers. Prince Ludwig ran to the king's side and, kneeling there,
raised Leopold's head in his arms. The bishop and the doctor bent
over the limp form. The Princess Emma stood a little apart. She had
leaped from the couch where she had been lying. Her eyes were wide
in horror. Her palms pressed to her cheeks.

It was upon this scene that a hatless, dust-covered man in a red
hunting coat burst through the door that had admitted Maenck. The
man had seen and recognized the conspirator as he climbed to the top
of the limousine and dropped within the cathedral grounds, and he
had followed close upon his heels.

No one seemed to note his entrance. All ears were turned toward the
doctor, who was speaking.

"The king is dead," he said.

Maenck raised himself upon an elbow. He spoke feebly.

"You fools," he cried. "That man was not the king. I saw him steal
the king's clothes at Blentz and I followed him here. He is the
American--the impostor." Then his eyes, circling the faces about him
to note the results of his announcements, fell upon the face of the
man in the red hunting coat. Amazement and wonder were in his face.
Slowly he raised his finger and pointed.

"There is the king," he said.

Every eye turned in the direction he indicated. Exclamations of
surprise and incredulity burst from every lip. The old chancellor
looked from the man in the red hunting coat to the still form of the
man upon the floor in the blood-spattered marriage garments of a
king of Lutha. He let the king's head gently down upon the carpet,
and then he rose to his feet and faced the man in the red hunting
coat.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Before Barney could speak Lieutenant Butzow spoke.

"He is the king, your highness," he said. "I rode with him to
Blentz to free Mr. Custer. Both were wounded in the courtyard in the
fight that took place there. I helped to dress their wounds. The
king was wounded in the breast--Mr. Custer in the left leg."

Prince von der Tann looked puzzled. Again he turned his eyes
questioningly toward the newcomer.

"Is this the truth?" he asked.

Barney looked toward the Princess Emma. In her eyes he could read
the relief that the sight of him alive had brought her. Since she
had recognized the king she had believed that Barney was dead. The
temptation was great--he dreaded losing her, and he feared he would
lose her when her father learned the truth of the deception that had
been practiced upon him. He might lose even more--men had lost their
heads for tampering with the affairs of kings.

"Well?" persisted the chancellor.

"Lieutenant Butzow is partially correct--he honestly believes that
he is entirely so," replied the American. "He did ride with me from
Lustadt to Blentz to save the man who lies dead here at your feet.
The lieutenant thought that he was riding with his king, just as
your highness thought that he was riding with his king during the
battle of Lustadt. You were both wrong--you were riding with Mr.
Bernard Custer, of Beatrice. I am he. I have no apologies to make.
What I did I would do again. I did it for Lutha and for the woman I
love. She knows and the king knew that I intended restoring his
identity to him with no one the wiser for the interchange that had
taken place. The king upset my plans by stealing back his identity
while I slept, with the result that you see before you upon the
floor. He has died as he had lived--futilely."

As he spoke the Princess Emma had crossed the room toward him. Now
she stood at his side, her hand in his. Tense silence reigned in the
apartment. The old chancellor stood with bowed head, buried in
thought. All eyes were upon him except those of the doctor, who had
turned his attention from the dead king to the wounded assassin.
Butzow stood looking at Barney Custer in open relief and admiration.
He had been trying to vindicate his friend in his own mind ever
since he had discovered, as he believed, that Barney had tricked
Leopold after the latter had saved his life at Blentz and ridden to
Lustadt in the king's guise. Now that he knew the whole truth he
realized how stupid he had been not to guess that the man who had
led the victorious Luthanian army before Lustadt could not have been
the cowardly Leopold.

Presently the chancellor broke the silence.

"You say that Leopold of Lutha lived futilely. You are right; but
when you say that he has died futilely, you are, I believe, wrong.
Living, he gave us a poor weakling. Dying, he leaves the throne to a
brave man, in whose veins flows the blood of the Rubinroths,
hereditary rulers of Lutha.

"You are the only rightful successor to the throne of Lutha," he
argued, "other than Peter of Blentz. Your mother's marriage to a
foreigner did not bar the succession of her offspring. Aside from
the fact that Peter of Blentz is out of the question, is the more
important fact that your line is closer to the throne than his. He
knew it, and this knowledge was the real basis of his hatred of
you."

As the old chancellor ceased speaking he drew his sword and raised
it on high above his head.

"The king is dead," he said. "Long live the king!"




XVI

KING OF LUTHA

Barney Custer, of Beatrice, had no desire to be king of Lutha. He
lost no time in saying so. All that he wanted of Lutha was the girl
he had found there, as his father before him had found the girl of
his choice. Von der Tann pleaded with him.

"Twice have I fought under you, sire," he urged. "Twice, and only
twice since the old king died, have I felt that the future of Lutha
was safe in the hands of her ruler, and both these times it was you
who sat upon the throne. Do not desert us now. Let me live to see
Lutha once more happy, with a true Rubinroth upon the throne and my
daughter at his side."

Butzow added his pleas to those of the old chancellor. The American
hesitated.

"Let us leave it to the representatives of the people and to the
house of nobles," he suggested.

The chancellor of Lutha explained the situation to both houses.
Their reply was unanimous. He carried it to the American, who
awaited the decision of Lutha in the royal apartments of the palace.
With him was the Princess Emma von der Tann.

"The people of Lutha will have no other king, sire," said the old
man.

Barney turned toward the girl.

"There is no other way, my lord king," she said with grave dignity.
"With her blood your mother bequeathed you a duty which you may not
shirk. It is not for you or for me to choose. God chose for you when
you were born."

Barney Custer took her hand in his and raised it to his lips.

"Let the King of Lutha," he said, "be the first to salute Lutha's
queen."

And so Barney Custer, of Beatrice, was crowned King of Lutha, and
Emma became his queen. Maenck died of his wound on the floor of the
little room in the east transept of the cathedral of Lustadt beside
the body of the king he had slain. Prince Peter of Blentz was tried
by the highest court of Lutha on the charge of treason; he was found
guilty and hanged. Von Coblich committed suicide on the eve of his
arrest. Lieutenant Otto Butzow was ennobled and given the
confiscated estates of the Blentz prince. He became a general in the
army of Lutha, and was sent to the front in command of the army
corps that guarded the northern frontier of the little kingdom.








I have made the following changes to the text:
PAGE CHAPTER PARAGRAPH LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
72 VIII 3 1 Ludstadt Lustadt
81 3 2 mier miter
83 7 3 Ludstadt Lustadt
86 3 2 him arm his arm
90 4 4 monarch, he monarch he
94 2 4 colums columns
98 2 2 imposter impostor
121 1 1 approaced approached
126 2 5 from from the
140 6 5 whom, appeared whom appeared
142 5 1 once side one side
143 4 8 knew drew
158 4 5 presumptious presumptuous
182 5 3 jeweler's shot jeweler's shop
189 8 2 ingrate?" ingrate?
193 5 3 oil panting oil painting
200 7 1 soldiers soldier
211 2 1 men and woman men and women
212 3 5 instruments instrument
217 4 1 The cheered They cheered
217 6 2 gril's face girl's face
218 1 magnamity magnanimity
218 7 2 him. Barney's him, Barney's
225 3 3 horseman horsemen
228 5 1 ajaculated ejaculated
233 8 6 king of Lustadt, king of Lutha,
234 6 2 You "You
251 9 Luthania army Luthanian army
252 2 3 poor, weakling poor weakling