or had anybody else, the general suggestion being that Shadrach had
attempted it out of revenge, and met with the due reward of his crime.

Only that day poor Pharaoh was poisoned. Well, he had done his work, and
his memory is blessed.

CHAPTER XV

SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT

From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded
night and day by picked men who it was believed could not be corrupted.
As a consequence, the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life more irksome
than ours became at Mur. Of privacy there was none left to us, since
sentries and detectives lurked at every corner, while tasters were
obliged to eat of each dish and drink from each cup before it touched
our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh, whose loss we mourned
as much as though the poor dog had been some beloved human being.

Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose
opportunities of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this
rigid espionage. Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two
soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out
of their sight? Particularly is this so if the adored happens to be the
ruler of those soldiers to whom the person guarded has no right to
be making himself agreeable. For when off duty even the most faithful
guardians are apt to talk. Of course, the result was that the pair took
risks which did not escape observation. Indeed, their intimate relations
became a matter of gossip throughout the land.

Still, annoying as they might be, these precautions succeeded, for none
of us were poisoned or got our throats cut, although we were constantly
the victims of mysterious accidents. Thus, a heavy rock rolled down upon
us when we sat together one evening upon the hill-side, and a flight
of arrows passed between us while we were riding along the edge of
a thicket, by one of which Higgs's horse was killed. Only when the
mountain and the thicket were searched no one could be found. Moreover,
a great plot against us was discovered in which some of the lords
and priests were implicated, but such was the state of feeling in the
country that, beyond warning them privately that their machinations were
known, Maqueda did not dare to take proceedings against these men.

A little later on things mended so far as we were concerned, for the
following reason: One day two shepherds arrived at the palace with some
of their companions