re he suffers him to reach the king."

"Sapt!"

"Ay?"

"Be kind to her."

"Bless the man, yes!"

"Good-by."

"And good luck."

At a swift canter Rudolf darted round the drive that led from the
stables, by the moat, to the old forest road behind; five minutes
brought him within the shelter of the trees, and he rode on confidently,
meeting nobody, save here and there a yokel, who, seeing a man ride hard
with his head averted, took no more notice of him than to wish that he
himself could ride abroad instead of being bound to work. Thus Rudolf
Rassendyll set out again for the walls of Strelsau, through the forest
of Zenda. And ahead of him, with an hour's start, galloped the Count of
Luzau-Rischenheim, again a man, and a man with resolution, resentment,
and revenge in his heart.

The game was afoot now; who could tell the issue of it?

CHAPTER VII. THE MESSAGE OF SIMON THE HUNTSMAN

I RECEIVED the telegram sent to me by the Constable of Zenda at my own
house in Strelsau about one o'clock. It is needless to say that I
made immediate preparations to obey his summons. My wife indeed
protested--and I must admit with some show of reason--that I was unfit
to endure further fatigues, and that my bed was the only proper place
for me. I could not listen; and James, Mr. Rassendyll's servant, being
informed of the summons, was at my elbow with a card of the trains from
Strelsau to Zenda, without waiting for any order from me. I had talked
to this man in the course of our journey, and discovered that he had
been in the service of Lord Topham, formerly British Ambassador to the
Court of Ruritania. How far he was acquainted with the secrets of his
present master, I did not know, but his familiarity with the city
and the country made him of great use to me. We discovered, to our
annoyance, that no train left till four o'clock, and then only a slow
one; the result was that we could not arrive at the castle till past
six o'clock. This hour was not absolutely too late, but I was of course
eager to be on the scene of action as early as possible.

"You'd better see if you can get a special, my lord," James suggested;
"I'll run on to the station and arrange about it."

I agreed. Since I was known to be often employed in the king's service,
I could take a special train without exciting remark. James set out, and
about a quarter of an hour later I got into my carriage to drive to the
station. Just as the horses were about to s