The Mad King Read online

  II

  OVER THE PRECIPICE

  The effect of his words upon the girl were quite different from whathe had expected. An American girl would have laughed, knowing thathe but joked. This girl did not laugh. Instead her face went white,and she clutched her bosom with her two hands. Her brown eyes peeredsearchingly into the face of the man.

  "Leopold!" she cried in a suppressed voice. "Oh, your majesty,thank God that you are free--and sane!"

  Before he could prevent it the girl had seized his hand and pressedit to her lips.

  Here was a pretty muddle! Barney Custer swore at himself inwardlyfor a boorish fool. What in the world had ever prompted him to speakthose ridiculous words! And now how was he to unsay them withoutmortifying this beautiful girl who had just kissed his hand?

  She would never forgive that--he was sure of it.

  There was but one thing to do, however, and that was to make a cleanbreast of it. Somehow, he managed to stumble through his explanationof what had prompted him, and when he had finished he saw that thegirl was smiling indulgently at him.

  "It shall be Mr. Bernard Custer if you wish it so," she said; "butyour majesty need fear nothing from Emma von der Tann. Your secretis as safe with me as with yourself, as the name of Von der Tannmust assure you."

  She looked to see the expression of relief and pleasure that herfather's name should have brought to the face of Leopold of Lutha,but when he gave no indication that he had ever before heard thename she sighed and looked puzzled.

  "Perhaps," she thought, "he doubts me. Or can it be possible that,after all, his poor mind is gone?"

  "I wish," said Barney in a tone of entreaty, "that you would forgiveand forget my foolish words, and then let me accompany you to theend of your journey."

  "Whither were you bound when I became the means of wrecking yourmotor car?" asked the girl.

  "To the Old Forest," replied Barney.

  Now she was positive that she was indeed with the mad king of Lutha,but she had no fear of him, for since childhood she had heard herfather scout the idea that Leopold was mad. For what other purposewould he hasten toward the Old Forest than to take refuge in herfather's castle upon the banks of the Tann at the forest's verge?

  "Thither was I bound also," she said, "and if you would come therequickly and in safety I can show you a short path across themountains that my father taught me years ago. It touches the mainroad but once or twice, and much of the way passes through densewoods and undergrowth where an army might hide."

  "Hadn't we better find the nearest town," suggested Barney, "where Ican obtain some sort of conveyance to take you home?"

  "It would not be safe," said the girl. "Peter of Blentz will havetroops out scouring all Lutha about Blentz and the Old Forest untilthe king is captured."

  Barney Custer shook his head despairingly.

  "Won't you please believe that I am but a plain American?" hebegged.

  Upon the bole of a large wayside tree a fresh, new placard staredthem in the face. Emma von der Tann pointed at one of theparagraphs.

  "Gray eyes, brown hair, and a full reddish-brown beard," she read."No matter who you may be," she said, "you are safer off thehighways of Lutha than on them until you can find and use a razor."

  "But I cannot shave until the fifth of November," said Barney.

  Again the girl looked quickly into his eyes and again in her mindrose the question that had hovered there once before. Was he indeed,after all, quite sane?

  "Then please come with me the safest way to my father's," she urged."He will know what is best to do."

  "He cannot make me shave," insisted Barney.

  "Why do you wish not to shave?" asked the girl.

  "It is a matter of my honor," he replied. "I had my choice ofwearing a green wastebasket bonnet trimmed with red roses for sixmonths, or a beard for twelve. If I shave off the beard before thefifth of November I shall be without honor in the sight of all menor else I shall have to wear the green bonnet. The beard is badenough, but the bonnet--ugh!"

  Emma von der Tann was now quite assured that the poor fellow wasindeed quite demented, but she had seen no indications of violenceas yet, though when that too might develop there was no telling.However, he was to her Leopold of Lutha, and her father's house hadbeen loyal to him or his ancestors for three hundred years.

  If she must sacrifice her life in the attempt, nevertheless stillmust she do all within her power to save her king from recapture andto lead him in safety to the castle upon the Tann.

  "Come," she said; "we waste time here. Let us make haste, for theway is long. At best we cannot reach Tann by dark."

  "I will do anything you wish," replied Barney, "but I shall neverforgive myself for having caused you the long and tedious journeythat lies before us. It would be perfectly safe to go to the nearesttown and secure a rig."

  Emma von der Tann had heard that it was always well to humor maniacsand she thought of it now. She would put the scheme to the test.

  "The reason that I fear to have you go to the village," she said,"is that I am quite sure they would catch you and shave off yourbeard."

  Barney started to laugh, but when he saw the deep seriousness of thegirl's eyes he changed his mind. Then he recalled her ratherpeculiar insistence that he was a king, and it suddenly occurred tohim that he had been foolish not to have guessed the truth before.

  "That is so," he agreed; "I guess we had better do as you say," forhe had determined that the best way to handle her would be to humorher--he had always heard that that was the proper method forhandling the mentally defective. "Where is the--er--ah--sanatorium?"he blurted out at last.

  "The what?" she asked. "There is no sanatorium near here, yourmajesty, unless you refer to the Castle of Blentz."

  "Is there no asylum for the insane near by?"

  "None that I know of, your majesty."

  For a while they moved on in silence, each wondering what the othermight do next.

  Barney had evolved a plan. He would try and ascertain the locationof the institution from which the girl had escaped and then asgently as possible lead her back to it. It was not safe for asbeautiful a woman as she to be roaming through the forest in anysuch manner as this. He wondered what in the world the authoritiesat the asylum had been thinking of to permit her to ride out alonein the first place.

  "From where did you ride today?" he blurted out suddenly.

  "From Tann."

  "That is where we are going now?"

  "Yes, your majesty."

  Barney drew a breath of relief. The way had become suddenlydifficult and he took the girl's arm to help her down a rather steepplace. At the bottom of the ravine there was a little brook.

  "There used to be a fallen log across it here," said the girl. "Howin the world am I ever to get across, your majesty?"

  "If you call me that again, I shall begin to believe that I am aking," he humored her, "and then, being a king, I presume that itwouldn't be proper for me to carry you across, or would it? Neverreally having been a king, I do not know."

  "I think," replied the girl, "that it would be eminently proper."

  She had difficulty in keeping in mind the fact that this handsome,smiling young man was a dangerous maniac, though it was easy tobelieve that he was the king. In fact, he looked much as she hadalways pictured Leopold as looking. She had known him as a boy, andthere were many paintings and photographs of his ancestors in herfather's castle. She saw much resemblance between these and theyoung man.

  The brook was very narrow, and the girl thought that it took theyoung man an unreasonably long time to carry her across, though shewas forced to admit that she was far from uncomfortable in thestrong arms that bore her so easily.

  "Why, what are you doing?" she cried presently. "You are notcrossing the stream at all. You are walking right up the middle ofit!"

  She saw his face flush, and then he turned laughing eyes upon her.

  "I am looking for a safe landing," he said.


  Emma von der Tann did not know whether to be frightened or amused.As her eyes met the clear, gray ones of the man she could notbelieve that insanity lurked behind that laughing, level gaze of hercarrier. She found herself continually forgetting that the man wasmad. He had turned toward the bank now, and a couple of stepscarried them to the low sward that fringed the little brooklet. Herehe lowered her to the ground.

  "Your majesty is very strong," she said. "I should not haveexpected it after the years of confinement you have suffered."

  "Yes," he said, realizing that he must humor her--it was difficultto remember that this lovely girl was insane. "Let me see, now justwhat was I in prison for? I do not seem to be able to recall it. InNebraska, they used to hang men for horse stealing; so I am sure itmust have been something else not quite so bad. Do you happen toknow?"

  "When the king, your father, died you were thirteen years old," thegirl explained, hoping to reawaken the sleeping mind, "and then youruncle, Prince Peter of Blentz, announced that the shock of yourfather's death had unbalanced your mind. He shut you up in Blentzthen, where you have been for ten years, and he has ruled as regent.Now, my father says, he has recently discovered a plot to take yourlife so that Peter may become king. But I suppose you learned ofthat, and because of it you escaped!"

  "This Peter person is all-powerful in Lutha?" he asked.

  "He controls the army," the girl replied.

  "And you really believe that I am the mad king Leopold?"

  "You are the king," she said in a convincing manner.

  "You are a very brave young lady," he said earnestly. "If all themad king's subjects were as loyal as you, and as brave, he would nothave languished for ten years behind the walls of Blentz."

  "I am a Von der Tann," she said proudly, as though that wasexplanation sufficient to account for any bravery or loyalty.

  "Even a Von der Tann might, without dishonor, hesitate to accompanya mad man through the woods," he replied, "especially if shehappened to be a very--a very--" He halted, flushing.

  "A very what, your majesty?" asked the girl.

  "A very young woman," he ended lamely.

  Emma von der Tann knew that he had not intended saying that at all.Being a woman, she knew precisely what he had meant to say, and shediscovered that she would very much have liked to hear him say it.

  "Suppose," said Barney, "that Peter's soldiers run across us--whatthen?"

  "They will take you back to Blentz, your majesty."

  "And you?"

  "I do not think that they will dare lay hands on me, though it ispossible that Peter might do so. He hates my father even more nowthan he did when the old king lived."

  "I wish," said Mr. Custer, "that I had gone down after my guns. Whydidn't you tell me, in the first place, that I was a king, and thatI might get you in trouble if you were found with me? Why, they mayeven take me for an emperor or a mikado--who knows? And then look atall the trouble we'd be in."

  Which was Barney's way of humoring a maniac.

  "And they might even shave off your beautiful beard."

  Which was the girl's way.

  "Do you think that you would like me better in the green wastebaskethat with the red roses?" asked Barney.

  A very sad look came into the girl's eyes. It was pitiful to thinkthat this big, handsome young man, for whose return to the throneall Lutha had prayed for ten long years, was only a silly half-wit.What might he not have accomplished for his people had this terriblemisfortune not overtaken him! In every other way he seemed fitted tobe the savior of his country. If she could but make him remember!

  "Your majesty," she said, "do you not recall the time that yourfather came upon a state visit to my father's castle? You were alittle boy then. He brought you with him. I was a little girl, andwe played together. You would not let me call you 'highness,' butinsisted that I should always call you Leopold. When I forgot youwould accuse me of lese-majeste, and sentence me to--to punishment."

  "What was the punishment?" asked Barney, noticing her hesitation andwishing to encourage her in the pretty turn her dementia had taken.

  Again the girl hesitated; she hated to say it, but if it would helpto recall the past to that poor, dimmed mind, it was her duty.

  "Every time I called you 'highness' you made me give you a--a kiss,"she almost whispered.

  "I hope," said Barney, "that you will be guilty of lese-majesteoften."

  "We were little children then, your majesty," the girl reminded him.

  Had he thought her of sound mind Mr. Custer might have takenadvantage of his royal prerogatives on the spot, for the girl's lipswere most tempting; but when he remembered the poor, weak mind,tears almost came to his eyes, and there sprang to his heart a greatdesire to protect and guard this unfortunate child.

  "And when I was Crown Prince what were you, way back there in thebeautiful days of our childhood?" asked Barney.

  "Why, I was what I still am, your majesty," replied the girl."Princess Emma von der Tann."

  So the poor child, besides thinking him a king, thought herself aprincess! She certainly was mad. Well, he would humor her.

  "Then I should call you 'your highness,' shouldn't I?" he asked.

  "You always called me Emma when we were children."

  "Very well, then, you shall be Emma and I Leopold. Is it abargain?"

  "The king's will is law," she said.

  They had come to a very steep hillside, up which thehalf-obliterated trail zigzagged toward the crest of a flat-toppedhill. Barney went ahead, taking the girl's hand in his to help her,and thus they came to the top, to stand hand in hand, breathingheavily after the stiff climb.

  The girl's hair had come loose about her temples and a lock wasblowing over her face. Her cheeks were very red and her eyes bright.Barney thought he had never looked upon a lovelier picture. Hesmiled down into her eyes and she smiled back at him.

  "I wished, back there a way," he said, "that that little brook hadbeen as wide as the ocean--now I wish that this little hill had beenas high as Mont Blanc."

  "You like to climb?" she asked.

  "I should like to climb forever--with you," he said seriously.

  She looked up at him quickly. A reply was on her lips, but shenever uttered it, for at that moment a ruffian in picturesque ragsleaped out from behind a near-by bush, confronting them with leveledrevolver. He was so close that the muzzle of the weapon almosttouched Barney's face. In that the fellow made his mistake.

  "You see," said Barney unexcitedly, "that I was right about thebrigands after all. What do you want, my man?"

  The man's eyes had suddenly gone wide. He stared with open mouth atthe young fellow before him. Then a cunning look came into his eyes.

  "I want you, your majesty," he said.

  "Godfrey!" exclaimed Barney. "Did the whole bunch escape?"

  "Quick!" growled the man. "Hold up your hands. The notice made itplain that you would be worth as much dead as alive, and I have nomind to lose you, so do not tempt me to kill you."

  Barney's hands went up, but not in the way that the brigand hadexpected. Instead, one of them seized his weapon and shoved itaside, while with the other Custer planted a blow between his eyesand sent him reeling backward. The two men closed, fighting forpossession of the gun. In the scrimmage it was exploded, but amoment later the American succeeded in wresting it from hisadversary and hurled it into the ravine.

  Striking at one another, the two surged backward and forward at thevery edge of the hill, each searching for the other's throat. Thegirl stood by, watching the battle with wide, frightened eyes. Ifshe could only do something to aid the king!

  She saw a loose stone lying at a little distance from the fightersand hastened to procure it. If she could strike the brigand a singlegood blow on the side of the head, Leopold might easily overpowerhim. When she had gathered up the rock and turned back toward thetwo she saw that the man she thought to be the king was not much inthe way of needing outside assistance. She could n
ot but marvel atthe strength and dexterity of this poor fellow who had spent almosthalf his life penned within the four walls of a prison. It must be,she thought, the superhuman strength with which maniacs are alwayscredited.

  Nevertheless, she hurried toward them with her weapon; but justbefore she reached them the brigand made a last mad effort to freehimself from the fingers that had found his throat. He lungedbackward, dragging the other with him. His foot struck upon the rootof a tree, and together the two toppled over into the ravine.

  As the girl hastened toward the spot where the two had disappeared,she was startled to see three troopers of the palace cavalry headedby an officer break through the trees at a short distance from wherethe battle had waged. The four men ran rapidly toward her.

  "What has happened here?" shouted the officer to Emma von der Tann;and then, as he came closer: "Gott! Can it be possible that it isyour highness?"

  The girl paid no attention to the officer. Instead, she hurrieddown the steep embankment toward the underbrush into which the twomen had fallen. There was no sound from below, and no movement inthe bushes to indicate that a moment before two desperately battlinghuman beings had dropped among them.

  The soldiers were close upon the girl's heels, but it was she whofirst reached the two quiet figures that lay side by side upon thestony ground halfway down the hillside.

  When the officer stopped beside her she was sitting on the groundholding the head of one of the combatants in her lap.

  A little stream of blood trickled from a wound in the forehead. Theofficer stooped closer.

  "He is dead?" he asked.

  "The king is dead," replied the Princess Emma von der Tann, a littlesob in her voice.

  "The king!" exclaimed the officer; and then, as he bent lower overthe white face: "Leopold!"

  The girl nodded.

  "We were searching for him," said the officer, "when we heard theshot." Then, arising, he removed his cap, saying in a very lowvoice: "The king is dead. Long live the king!"