u."

The King looked sorrowfully away.

"Nicholas was my one friend here," he said. "I have only my soldiers
now. God grant that their lives may not be frittered away--that we may
not lose by treason what we gain in battle."

They talked for a while of the campaign. Brand, from his brief visit
to Althea and Morania, was already conversant with the plan of
operations. An old war correspondent, the muttering of the guns was
like music to him.

"You should be able to hold your positions for a fortnight," he
declared, "and by that time Theos will be ready for a siege. I see
that you are making preparations for a retreat there."

"The women and children are being sent away every hour," the King
answered. "I know that my men here are staunch, and so far as they are
concerned the Turks will find nothing but a heap of smoking ruins when
they enter Theos. It is not the actual fighting which troubles me,
Brand."

Brand looked into the King's anxious face, and found there some clue
to his doubtful words. He pointed with his riding whip to the distant
city.

"It is treachery which you fear?" he remarked softly.

Ughtred nodded.

"I will tell you," he said, "there is something going on there which I
cannot understand. It is Domiloff's work. I am sure of that. At the
meeting of the Council last night I seemed to be somehow conscious of
a general atmosphere of intrigue. There is something going on behind
my back. Doxis plainly hinted that it would be better to make terms
than waste the whole country by an impossible resistance, and when I
asked him 'terms with whom?' he was silent. We know that the Turks
have no terms to offer save unconditional surrender. What did he mean,
then?"

"I fear," Brand said, "that Domiloff's schemes are more deeply laid
than we at first believed. What a pity that he was ever allowed to
remain in Theos."

"I sent him to the frontier once," Ughtred said. "He came back
secretly."

"But your police?"

"Theos has no police now," Ughtred answered. "They are fighting at
Althea. We could not afford to leave a hundred able-bodied men in the
city."

Brand reined in his horse. The two men were on a hill from which the
outposts of the Turkish army were distinctly visible. Brand took out
his glasses and swept the country steadily for several minutes.

"I have a proposition to make," he said, after he had finished his
survey. "I do not think that there will be any fighting to-day. If you
like I wi