ng," Brand declared. "Do
you see what a rabble that is inside the _cafe_?"

The King nodded.

"Russian Jews, every one of them," he said. "Anyhow, there are too
many of them for us to enter the place single-handed.

"Brand, take one of the horses, and ride to the barracks. Bring down a
guard of twenty-five men. I will wait here."

Brand nodded, and hurried away to the corner of the street, where they
had left the horses. The King lit a cigar, shielding the light as much
as possible with his hand, and leaned against the trunk of the tree.

Five minutes passed, ten, a quarter of an hour. The King, whose
thoughts were none of the pleasantest, grew impatient. Suddenly, the
cigar dropped from his fingers. He sprang forward with beating heart,
bewildered, incredulous. For he had seen a strange thing.

Up at that dark, unlit window had flashed for a moment the pale,
terror-stricken face of a woman, drawn back almost at once by an
unseen hand. The echoes of her passionate cry for help rang still in
his ears. And, strangest thing of all, the face was the face of Marie
of Reist.

Ughtred forgot then that he was a King, and that his life was a pledge
to his country. He remembered only that he was a man of more than
ordinary strength, and that from that dreary little room a woman was
calling to him for help. In the passage the few loiterers who disputed
his way were brushed on one side like flies. He sprang up the little
staircase, which creaked under his weight, in half-a-dozen bounds. The
girl's cries were plainly to be heard now. He thundered upon the door.

There came for a moment no answer. The girl's cry was stifled, as
though by a rough hand.

"Let me in," Ughtred cried. "At once."

There came no answer save a man's muttered curse and the sound of
footsteps. Ughtred was wearing his military riding boots, and the door
was crazy and old. A single charge, and it went crashing into the
room. Ughtred stumbled, and saved his life, for a bullet whistled just
over his head as Domiloff sprang to the window.

Marie, breathless and dishevelled, recognized Ughtred with a cry of
wonder.

"The King!" she exclaimed, and Domiloff, who might have escaped,
looked round and hesitated. Ughtred, who was as quick as lightning
upon his feet, snatched him back from the window-sill and threw him
heavily upon the floor.

There was no time for explanations. Through the debris of the door
there sprang into the room half-a-dozen of the