king a
slight defeat, making a peace on her own account, with Alsace and
Lorraine restored. She can pay. Germany wants the money.
Germany--Germany--"

The words died away in a little groan. The wounded man's head fell back.
Hunterleys passed his arm around the limp figure.

"Take the first turn to the right and second to the left, Richard," he
directed. "We'll drive straight to the hospital. I made friends with the
English doctor last night. He promised to be there till three. I paid
him a fee on purpose."

"First to the right," Richard muttered, swinging around. "Second to the
left, eh?"

Hunterleys was holding his brandy flask to Roche's lips as they swung
through the white gates and pulled up outside the hospital. The doctor
was faithful to his promise, and Roche, who was now unconscious, was
carried in. In the hall he was laid upon an ambulance and borne off by
two attendants. Hunterleys and Lane sat down to wait in the hall. After
what seemed to them an interminable half-hour, the doctor reappeared. He
came over to them at once.

"Your friend may live," he announced, "but in any case he will be
unconscious for the next twenty-four hours. There is no need for you to
stay, or for you to fetch the young lady you spoke of, at present. If he
dies, he will die unconscious. I can tell you nothing more until the
afternoon."

Hunterleys rose slowly to his feet.

"You'll do everything you can, doctor?" he begged. "Money doesn't
count."

"Money never counts here," the doctor replied gravely. "We shall save
him if it is possible. You've nothing to tell me, I suppose, as to how
he met with his wound?"

"Nothing."

They walked out together into the night. The bank of clouds had drifted
away now and the moon was shining. Below them, barely a quarter of a
mile away, they could see the flare of lights from the Casino. A woman
was laughing hysterically through the open windows of a house on the
other side of the way. Some one was playing a violin in a cafe at the
corner of the street.

"Richard," Hunterleys said, "will you see me through? I have to get to
Cannes as fast as I can to send a cable. I daren't send it from here,
even in code."

"I'll drive you to Cannes like a shot," Richard assented heartily. "Just
a brandy and soda on our way out, and I'll show you some pretty
driving."

They stopped at the Cafe de Paris and left the car under the trees. Both
men took a long drink and Richard filled his pocket with