. But when they went in to lead Brunnoi forth to
execution, he was gone, and another man was there in his stead. He had
exchanged places with Brunnoi."

"Have you perfect confidence in Count de Reslau, Your Excellency?" asked
Hal.

"Absolute confidence," replied the Grand Duke. "Why?"

"No particular reason," replied the lad.

At this moment Count de Reslau himself entered the tent.

"I hear Brunnoi has escaped," was his first remark to the Grand Duke.

"Unfortunately, that is true," replied the Russian commander.

"Strange," said the count. "When I talked to him a couple of hours ago
he seemed resigned to his fate."

"But," said the Grand Duke, "he paid these lads a visit soon after his
escape. Following a struggle, he again got away."

The count glanced at the lads incredulously.

"Has it ever occurred to Your Excellency," he said quietly, "that these
two lads may know more about Brunnoi than they care to admit?"

"What!" exclaimed the Grand Duke.

Hal took a quick step forward.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked calmly.

"You know what I mean," replied the count with a sneer.

He turned again to the Grand Duke. "Has it never occurred to you, Your
Excellency, that these boys may be associated with the bandit--that they
may have been leading you on."

"But, but," stammered the Grand Duke, "their mission to the Carpathians.
Their struggle to get away and their flight. What of those?"

"Mere fiction, I should say," said the count with a shrug of his
shoulders.

Hal stepped directly in front of the count.

"That is a lie," he said quietly.

The count raised a hand as if to strike him, then thought better of it
and turned away without a word. Plainly the count's words had made an
impression upon the Grand Duke. He looked at the two lads closely.

"What have you to say to that charge?" he demanded.

"Nothing," replied Chester, "except that it is too absurd to be given
credence."

"Absurd," sneered the count. "You brought the bandit here in the first
place, realizing that it would give you standing with the Grand Duke,
and knowing all the time that the way had been paved for his escape. If
you had no hand in his escape, how did you know he had gotten away
before coming here?"

"He came after us," said Hal, "and would have led us away had it not
been for Alexis."

"Absurd," said the count again and turned to the Grand Duke. "You see,"
he said, "how foolish that is. You should have concocted