lashed into her face, and she
had clapped her hand upon my mouth to prevent me from speaking. It was
well that she did, for, looking through the branches, I saw coming
towards us, and not a dozen paces distant, a stalwart cavalryman,
mounted upon a bay horse. He was covered by a heavy cloak and had a
bundle of hay tied behind his saddle. As he rode toward the tree in
which we lay hidden, he hummed a song, the words of which we could
plainly distinguish. That he noticed nothing unusual about the ground,
and that he was not troubling himself very much on our account, was as
plain as his appearance there. At any rate, he passed us without
becoming aware how close we were to him. A moment later we heard him
call to his companion to know if he had discovered anything.

"I've got the ague, I believe," the other answered. "That's all I've
found. I wish his Majesty had discovered it instead of me."

"He's worse off than you are, I'll be bound," returned the first speaker
with a considerable amount of truth. "For my part, I wouldn't change
places with him."

Then the voice of the officer in command interrupted them. Five minutes
later they had left the wood and were on their way along the road upon
the other side. We were saved! But it was some time before we recovered
from our fright.

An hour later we crossed the Border, and in less than two hours we had
placed ourselves under the protection of King George of Gota. Our
leave-taking of the brave innkeeper and his equally brave friends the
smugglers was of an affecting description. For once my father dropped
his cynicism and spoke his mind direct. My mother added her thanks to
his, and distributed her rings among the men in token of the gratitude
she felt for the service they had rendered us. If we had no other
friends in Pannonia we had at least four upon whom we knew we might
depend.

CHAPTER IV.

At the end of the previous chapter I described our arrival in the
kingdom of Gota, and the farewell we took of the men who had risked so
much to bring about our safe arrival there. As it transpired, we arrived
only just in time, for two days later my mother was taken seriously ill,
and for upwards of a month lay at death's door. During that time the
news we received from Pannonia was far from being satisfactory. The
Prime Minister, the Count von Marquart, who still remained staunch to my
father, had done his best to reduce the country's affairs to something
like order