ard.

Nor were those who attacked the bodyguard from the rear in much better
case; for although they outnumbered the soldiers by something like ten
to one, the cramped width of the road in which they fought nullified
this advantage, while their untrained methods of fighting allowed the
trained soldiers to ride and mow them down like grass, with the result
that after a few minutes of strenuous fighting their courage evaporated
and they, too, were seized with such overpowering panic that, to escape
the vengeful sabres of the bodyguard, they sought to fly, and finding no
way of escape, turned their weapons upon their own comrades and leaders,
speedily inducing a state of abject panic in them also. The result was
that very soon the rear attack, like that in front, ceased and became
converted into a headlong flight, leaving the bodyguard victorious.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS.

Dick's first act on the following morning, was to dispatch to the scene
of the fight a strong body of men, whose duty it would be to collect the
slain and bury them in a common grave by the roadside, after the officer
in command of the party had ascertained, by means of the dead men's
uniforms, the names of their chiefs. Then he proceeded in person to the
large building which had been hastily converted into a temporary
hospital, to which the wounded had been conveyed, and took the necessary
steps to discover the names of their chiefs also. The final result of
this investigation was the discovery that at least five of the Council
of Nobles, in addition to Sachar, had been implicated in the previous
night's attack upon the Queen's Bodyguard, in the attempt to secure
possession of the queen's person. Dick's next act was to dispatch to
the houses of the implicated five a sergeant's guard, with instructions
to the officer in command to arrest the owner--if he could be found, and
to seize his property. To do the last was simple enough, but Dick was
not greatly surprised to learn that, in each case, the "wanted" noble
had failed to return home on the previous night, and that nobody was
able to give the slightest hint as to his probable whereabouts. This,
however, did not very greatly trouble the young captain-general; Sachar,
the instigator and leader of the whole treasonable conspiracy, was
safely lodged in durance vile, under conditions which rendered his
escape a practical impossibility, the victory of the queen's troops over