was before us; we saw it looming dimly a quarter of
a mile off. Sapt reined in his horse, and we followed his example. All
dismounted, we tied our horses to trees and went forward at a quick,
silent walk. Our idea was that Sapt should enter on pretext of having
been sent by the queen to attend to her husband's comfort and arrange
for his return without further fatigue next day. If Rupert had come and
gone, the king's demeanor would probably betray the fact; if he had not
yet come, I and James, patrolling outside, would bar his passage. There
was a third possibility; he might be even now with the king. Our course
in such a case we left unsettled; so far as I had any plan, it was to
kill Rupert and to convince the king that the letter was a forgery--a
desperate hope, so desperate that we turned our eyes away from the
possibility which would make it our only resource.

We were now very near the hunting-lodge, being about forty yards from
the front of it. All at once Sapt threw himself on his stomach on the
ground.

"Give me a match," he whispered.

James struck a light, and, the night being still, the flame burnt
brightly: it showed us the mark of a horse's hoof, apparently quite
fresh, and leading away from the lodge. We rose and went on, following
the tracks by the aid of more matches till we reached a tree twenty
yards from the door. Here the hoof marks ceased; but beyond there was
a double track of human feet in the soft black earth; a man had gone
thence to the house and returned from the house thither. On the right of
the tree were more hoof-marks, leading up to it and then ceasing. A man
had ridden up from the right, dismounted, gone on foot to the house,
returned to the tree, remounted, and ridden away along the track by
which we had approached.

"It may be somebody else," said I; but I do not think that we any of
us doubted in our hearts that the tracks were made by the coming of
Hentzau. Then the king had the letter; the mischief was done. We were
too late.

Yet we did not hesitate. Since disaster had come, it must be faced. Mr.
Rassendyll's servant and I followed the constable of Zenda up to
the door, or within a few feet of it. Here Sapt, who was in uniform,
loosened his sword in its sheath; James and I looked to our revolvers.
There were no lights visible in the lodge; the door was shut; everything
was still. Sapt knocked softly with his knuckles, but there was no
answer from within. He laid hold of the