, and the other passed to the little dressing-room adjoining.

A few minutes later he reentered the apartment fully clothed and
wearing the accouterments of Leopold of Lutha. In his hand was a
drawn sword. Silently and swiftly he crossed to the side of the
sleeping man. The eye at the crack beside the gilded frame pressed
closer to the aperture. The sword was raised above the body of the
slumberer--its point hovered above his heart. The face of the man
who wielded it was hard with firm resolve.

His muscles tensed to drive home the blade, but something held his
hand. His face paled. His shoulders contracted with a little
shudder, and he turned toward the door of the apartment, almost
running across the floor in his anxiety to escape. The eye in the
dark maintained its unblinking vigilance.

With his hand upon the knob a sudden thought stayed the fugitive's
flight. He glanced quickly back at the sleeper--he had not moved.
Then the man who wore the uniform of the king of Lutha recrossed the
apartment to the bed, reached beneath one of the pillows and
withdrew two neatly folded official-looking documents. These he
placed in the breastpocket of his uniform. A moment later he was
walking down the spiral stairway to the main floor of the castle.

In the guardroom the troopers of the Royal Horse who were not on
guard were stretched in slumber. Only a corporal remained awake. As
the man entered the guardroom the corporal glanced up, and as his
eyes fell upon the newcomer, he sprang to his feet, saluting.

"Turn out the guard!" he cried. "Turn out the guard for his
majesty, the king!"

The sleeping soldiers, but half awake, scrambled to their feet,
their muscles reacting to the command that their brains but half
perceived. They snatched their guns from the racks and formed a line
behind the corporal. The king raised his fingers to the vizor of his
helmet in acknowledgment of their salute.

"Saddle up quietly, corporal," he said. "We shall ride to Lustadt
tonight."

The non-commissioned officer saluted. "And an extra horse for Herr
Custer?" he said.

The king shook his head. "The man died of his wound about an hour
ago," he said. "While you are saddling up I shall arrange with some
of the Blentz servants for his burial--now hurry!"

The corporal marched his troopers from the guardroom toward the
stables. The man in the king's clothes touched a bell which was
obviously a servant call. He waited impatiently a reply