The Mad King Read online

  PART II

  I

  BARNEY RETURNS TO LUTHA

  "What's the matter, Vic?" asked Barney Custer of his sister. "Youlook peeved."

  "I am peeved," replied the girl, smiling. "I am terribly peeved. Idon't want to play bridge this afternoon. I want to go motoring withLieutenant Butzow. This is his last day with us."

  "Yes. I know it is, and I hate to think of it," replied Barney;"but why in the world do you have to play bridge if you don't wantto?"

  "I promised Margaret that I'd go. They're short one, and she'scoming after me in her car."

  "Where are you going to play--at the champion lady bridge player'son Fourth Street?" asked Barney, grinning.

  His sister answered with a nod and a smile. "Where you brought downthe wrath of the lady champion upon your head the other night whenyou were letting your mind wander across to Lutha and the OldForest, instead of paying attention to the game," she added.

  "Well, cheer up, Vic," cried her brother. "Bert'll probably setfire to the car, the way he did to their first one, and then youwon't have to go."

  "Oh, yes, I would; Margaret would send him after me in thatawful-looking, unwashed Ford runabout of his," answered the girl.

  "And then you WOULD go," said Barney.

  "You bet I would," laughed Victoria. "I'd go in a wheelbarrow withBert."

  But she didn't have to; and after she had driven off with her chum,Barney and Butzow strolled down through the little city of Beatriceto the corn mill in which the former was interested.

  "I'm mighty sorry that you have to leave us, Butzow," said Barney'spartner. "It's bad enough to lose you, but I'm afraid it will meanthe loss of Barney, too. He's been hunting for some excuse to getback to Lutha, and with you there and a war in sight I'm afraidnothing can hold him."

  "I don't know but that it may be just as well for my friends herethat I leave," said Butzow seriously. "I did not tell you, Barney,all there is in this letter"--he tapped his breastpocket, where theforeign-looking envelope reposed with its contents.

  Custer looked at him inquiringly.

  "Besides saying that war between Austria and Serbia seemsunavoidable and that Lutha doubtless will be drawn into it, myinformant warns me that Leopold had sent emissaries to America tosearch for you, Barney, and myself. What his purpose may be myfriend does not know, but he warns us to be upon our guard. Von derTann wants me to return to Lutha. He has promised to protect me, andwith the country in danger there is nothing else for me to do. Imust go."

  "I wish I could go with you," said Barney. "If it wasn't for thisdinged old mill I would; but Bert wants to go away this summer, andas I have been away most of the time for the past two years, it's upto me to stay."

  As the three men talked the afternoon wore on. Heavy cloudsgathered in the sky; a storm was brewing. Outside, a man, skulkingbehind a box car on the siding, watched the entrance through whichthe three had gone. He watched the workmen, and as quitting timecame and he saw them leaving for their homes he moved morerestlessly, transferring the package which he held from one hand toanother many times, yet always gingerly.

  At last all had left. The man started from behind the box car, onlyto jump back as the watchman appeared around the end of one of thebuildings. He watched the guardian of the property make his rounds;he saw him enter his office, and then he crept forward toward thebuilding, holding his queer package in his right hand.

  In the office the watchman came upon the three friends. At sight ofhim they looked at one another in surprise.

  "Why, what time is it?" exclaimed Custer, and as he looked at hiswatch he rose with a laugh. "Late to dinner again," he cried. "Comeon, we'll go out this other way." And with a cheery good night tothe watchman Barney and his friends hastened from the building.

  Upon the opposite side the stranger approached the doorway to themill. The rain was falling in blinding sheets. Ominously the thunderroared. Vivid flashes of lightning shot the heavens. The watchman,coming suddenly from the doorway, his hat brim pulled low over hiseyes, passed within a couple of paces of the stranger without seeinghim.

  Five minutes later there was a blinding glare accompanied by adeafening roar. It was as though nature had marshaled all her forcesin one mighty, devastating effort. At the same instant the walls ofthe great mill burst asunder, a nebulous mass of burning gas shotheavenward, and then the flames settled down to complete thedestruction of the ruin.

  It was the following morning that Victoria and Barney Custer, withLieutenant Butzow and Custer's partner, stood contemplating thesmoldering wreckage.

  "And to think," said Barney, "that yesterday this muss was thelargest corn mill west of anywhere. I guess we can both takevacations now, Bert."

  "Who would have thought that a single bolt of lightning could haveresulted in such havoc?" mused Victoria.

  "Who would?" agreed Lieutenant Butzow, and then, with a suddennarrowing of his eyes and a quick glance at Barney, "if it WASlightning."

  The American looked at the Luthanian. "You think--" he started.

  "I don't dare think," replied Butzow, "because of the fear of whatthis may mean to you and Miss Victoria if it was not lightning thatdestroyed the mill. I shouldn't have spoken of it but that it mayurge you to greater caution, which I cannot but think is mostnecessary since the warning I received from Lutha."

  "Why should Leopold seek to harm me now?" asked Barney. "It hasbeen almost two years since you and I placed him upon his throne,only to be rewarded with threats and hatred. In that time neither ofus has returned to Lutha nor in any way conspired against the king.I cannot fathom his motives."

  "There is the Princess Emma von der Tann," Butzow reminded him."She still repulses him. He may think that, with you removeddefinitely and permanently, all will then be plain sailing for himin that direction. Evidently he does not know the princess."

  An hour later they were all bidding Butzow good-bye at the station.Victoria Custer was genuinely grieved to see him go, for she likedthis soldierly young officer of the Royal Horse Guards immensely.

  "You must come back to America soon," she urged.

  He looked down at her from the steps of the moving train. There wassomething in his expression that she had never seen there before.

  "I want to come back soon," he answered, "to--to Beatrice," and heflushed and smiled at his own stumbling tongue.

  For about a week Barney Custer moped disconsolately, principallyabout the ruins of the corn mill. He was in everyone's way andaccomplished nothing.

  "I was never intended for a captain of industry," he confided to hispartner for the hundredth time. "I wish some excuse would pop up towhich I might hang a reason for beating it to Europe. There'ssomething doing there. Nearly everybody has declared war uponeverybody else, and here I am stagnating in peace. I'd even welcomea tornado."

  His excuse was to come sooner than he imagined. That night, afterthe other members of his family had retired, Barney sat smokingwithin a screened porch off the living-room. His thoughts were upona trim little figure in riding togs, as he had first seen it nearlytwo years before, clinging desperately to a runaway horse upon thenarrow mountain road above Tafelberg.

  He lived that thrilling experience through again as he had manytimes before. He even smiled as he recalled the series of eventsthat had resulted from his resemblance to the mad king of Lutha.

  They had come to a culmination at the time when the king, whomBarney had placed upon a throne at the risk of his own life,discovered that his savior loved the girl to whom the king had beenbetrothed since childhood and that the girl returned the American'slove even after she knew that he had but played the part of a king.

  Barney's cigar, forgotten, had long since died out. Not even itsformer fitful glow proclaimed his presence upon the porch, whoseblack shadows completely enveloped him. Before him stretched a wideacreage of lawn, tree dotted at the side of the house. Bushes hidthe stone wall that marked the boundary of the Custer grounds andextended here and there out upon t
he sward among the trees. Thenight was moonless but clear. A faint light pervaded the scene.

  Barney sat staring straight ahead, but his gaze did not stop uponthe familiar objects of the foreground. Instead it spanned twocontinents and an ocean to rest upon the little spot of woodland andrugged mountain and lowland that is Lutha. It was with an effortthat the man suddenly focused his attention upon that which laydirectly before him. A shadow among the trees had moved!

  Barney Custer sat perfectly still, but now he was suddenly alert andwatchful. Again the shadow moved where no shadow should be moving.It crossed from the shade of one tree to another. Barney camecautiously to his feet. Silently he entered the house, runningquickly to a side door that opened upon the grounds. As he drew itback its hinges gave forth no sound. Barney looked toward the spotwhere he had seen the shadow. Again he saw it scuttle hurriedlybeneath another tree nearer the house. This time there was no doubt.It was a man!

  Directly before the door where Barney stood was a pergola,ivy-covered. Behind this he slid, and, running its length, came outamong the trees behind the night prowler. Now he saw him distinctly.The fellow was bearded, and in his right hand he carried a package.Instantly Barney recalled Butzow's comment upon the destruction ofthe mill--"if it WAS lightning!"

  Cold sweat broke from every pore of his body. His mother and fatherwere there in the house, and Vic--all sleeping peacefully. He ranquickly toward the menacing figure, and as he did so he saw theother halt behind a great tree and strike a match. In the glow ofthe flame he saw it touch close to the package that the fellow held,and then he was upon him.

  There was a brief and terrific struggle. The stranger hurled thepackage toward the house. Barney caught him by the throat, beatinghim heavily in the face; and then, realizing what the package was,he hurled the fellow from him, and sprang toward the hissing andsputtering missile where it lay close to the foundation wall of thehouse, though in the instant of his close contact with the man hehad recognized through the disguising beard the features of CaptainErnst Maenck, the principal tool of Peter of Blentz.

  Quick though Barney was to reach the bomb and extinguish the fuse,Maenck had disappeared before he returned to search for him; and,though he roused the gardener and chauffeur and took turns with themin standing guard the balance of the night, the would-be assassindid not return.

  There was no question in Barney Custer's mind as to whom the bombwas intended for. That Maenck had hurled it toward the house afterBarney had seized him was merely the result of accident and theman's desire to get the death-dealing missile as far from himself aspossible before it exploded. That it would have wrecked the house inthe hope of reaching him, had he not fortunately interfered, was tooevident to the American to be questioned.

  And so he decided before the night was spent to put himself as farfrom his family as possible, lest some future attempt upon his lifemight endanger theirs. Then, too, righteous anger and a desire forrevenge prompted his decision. He would run Maenck to earth and havean accounting with him. It was evident that his life would not beworth a farthing so long as the fellow was at liberty.

  Before dawn he swore the gardener and chauffeur to silence, and atbreakfast announced his intention of leaving that day for New Yorkto seek a commission as correspondent with an old classmate, whoowned the New York Evening National. At the hotel Barney inquired ofthe proprietor relative to a bearded stranger, but the man had hadno one of that description registered. Chance, however, gave him aclue. His roadster was in a repair shop, and as he stopped in to getit he overheard a conversation that told him all he wanted to know.As he stood talking with the foreman a dust-covered automobilepulled into the garage.

  "Hello, Bill," called the foreman to the driver. "Where you been soearly?"

  "Took a guy to Lincoln," replied the other. "He was in an awfulhurry. I bet we broke all the records for that stretch of road thismorning--I never knew the old boat had it in her."

  "Who was it?" asked Barney.

  "I dunno," replied the driver. "Talked like a furriner, and lookedthe part. Bushy black beard. Said he was a German army officer, an'had to beat it back on account of the war. Seemed to me like he wasmighty anxious to get back there an' be killed."

  Barney waited to hear no more. He did not even go home to saygood-bye to his family. Instead he leaped into his gray roadster--alater model of the one he had lost in Lutha--and the last thatBeatrice, Nebraska, saw of him was a whirling cloud of dust as heraced north out of town toward Lincoln.

  He was five minutes too late into the capital city to catch theeastbound limited that Maenck must have taken; but he caught thenext through train for Chicago, and the second day thereafter foundhim in New York. There he had little difficulty in obtaining thedesired credentials from his newspaper friend, especially sinceBarney offered to pay all his own expenses and donate to the paperanything he found time to write.

  Passenger steamers were still sailing, though irregularly, and afterscanning the passenger-lists of three he found the name he sought."Captain Ernst Maenck, Lutha." So he had not been mistaken, afterall. It was Maenck he had apprehended on his father's grounds.Evidently the man had little fear of being followed, for he had madeno effort to hide his identity in booking passage for Europe.

  The steamer he had caught had sailed that very morning. Barney wasnot so sorry, after all, for he had had time during his trip fromBeatrice to do considerable thinking, and had found it ratherdifficult to determine just what to do should he have overtakenMaenck in the United States. He couldn't kill the man in cold blood,justly as he may have deserved the fate, and the thought of causinghis arrest and dragging his own name into the publicity of courtproceedings was little less distasteful to him.

  Furthermore, the pursuit of Maenck now gave Barney a legitimateexcuse for returning to Lutha, or at least to the close neighborhoodof the little kingdom, where he might await the outcome of eventsand be ready to give his services in the cause of the house of Vonder Tann should they be required.

  By going directly to Italy and entering Austria from that countryBarney managed to arrive within the boundaries of the dual monarchywith comparatively few delays. Nor did he encounter any considerablebodies of troops until he reached the little town of Burgova, whichlies not far from the Serbian frontier. Beyond this point hiscredentials would not carry him. The emperor's officers were polite,but firm. No newspaper correspondents could be permitted nearer thefront than Burgova.

  There was nothing to be done, therefore, but wait until somepropitious event gave him the opportunity to approach more closelythe Serbian boundary and Lutha. In the meantime he would communicatewith Butzow, who might be able to obtain passes for him to somevillage nearer the Luthanian frontier, when it should be an easymatter to cross through to Serbia. He was sure the Serbianauthorities would object less strenuously to his presence.

  The inn at which he applied for accommodations was already overrunby officers, but the proprietor, with scant apologies for acivilian, offered him a little box of a room in the attic. The placewas scarce more than a closet, and for that Barney was in a waythankful since the limited space could accommodate but a single cot,thus insuring him the privacy that a larger chamber would haveprecluded.

  He was very tired after his long and comfortless land journey, soafter an early dinner he went immediately to his room and to bed.How long he slept he did not know, but some time during the night hewas awakened by the sound of voices apparently close to his ear.

  For a moment he thought the speakers must be in his own room, sodistinctly did he overhear each word of their conversation; butpresently he discovered that they were upon the opposite side of athin partition in an adjoining room. But half awake, and with thesole idea of getting back to sleep again as quickly as possible,Barney paid only the slightest attention to the meaning of the wordsthat fell upon his ears, until, like a bomb, a sentence brokethrough his sleepy faculties, banishing Morpheus upon the instant.

  "It will take but little now to turn Leopold ag
ainst Von der Tann."The speaker evidently was an Austrian. "Already I have halfconvinced him that the old man aspires to the throne. Leopold fearsthe loyalty of his army, which is for Von der Tann body and soul. Heknows that Von der Tann is strongly anti-Austrian, and I have madeit plain to him that if he allows his kingdom to take sides withSerbia he will have no kingdom when the war is over--it will be apart of Austria.

  "It was with greater difficulty, however, my dear Peter, that Iconvinced him that you, Von Coblich, and Captain Maenck were hismost loyal friends. He fears you yet, but, nevertheless, he haspardoned you all. Do not forget when you return to your dear Luthathat you owe your repatriation to Count Zellerndorf of Austria."

  "You may be assured that we shall never forget," replied anothervoice that Barney recognized at once as belonging to Prince Peter ofBlentz, the one time regent of Lutha.

  "It is not for myself," continued Count Zellerndorf, "that I craveyour gratitude, but for my emperor. You may do much to win hisundying gratitude, while for yourselves you may win to almost anyheight with the friendship of Austria behind you. I am sure thatshould any accident, which God forfend, deprive Lutha of her king,none would make a more welcome successor in the eyes of Austria thanour good friend Peter."

  Barney could almost see the smile of satisfaction upon the thin lipsof Peter of Blentz as this broad hint fell from the lips of theAustrian diplomat--a hint that seemed to the American little shortof the death sentence of Leopold, King of Lutha.

  "We owed you much before, count," said Peter. "But for you weshould have been hanged a year ago--without your aid we should neverhave been able to escape from the fortress of Lustadt or cross theborder into Austria-Hungary. I am sorry that Maenck failed in hismission, for had he not we would have had concrete evidence topresent to the king that we are indeed his loyal supporters. Itwould have dispelled at once such fears and doubts as he may stillentertain of our fealty."

  "Yes, I, too, am sorry," agreed Zellerndorf. "I can assure you thatthe news we hoped Captain Maenck would bring from America would havegone a long way toward restoring you to the confidence and goodgraces of the king."

  "I did my best," came another voice that caused Barney's eyes to gowide in astonishment, for it was none other than the voice of Maenckhimself. "Twice I risked hanging to get him and only came away afterI had been recognized."

  "It is too bad," sighed Zellerndorf; "though it may not be withoutits advantages after all, for now we still have this second bugbearto frighten Leopold with. So long, of course, as the American livesthere is always the chance that he may return and seek to gain thethrone. The fact that his mother was a Rubinroth princess might makeit easy for Von der Tann to place him upon the throne without muchopposition, and if he married the old man's daughter it is easy toconceive that the prince might favor such a move. At any rate, itshould not be difficult to persuade Leopold of the possibility ofsuch a thing.

  "Under the circumstances Leopold is almost convinced that his onlyhope of salvation lies in cementing friendly relations with the mostpowerful of Von der Tann's enemies, of which you three gentlemenstand preeminently in the foreground, and of assuring to himself thesupport of Austria. And now, gentlemen," he went on after a pause,"good night. I have handed Prince Peter the necessary militarypasses to carry you safely through our lines, and tomorrow you maybe in Blentz if you wish."