The Mad King Read online

  IV

  BARNEY FINDS A FRIEND

  After the party had left the room Maenck stood looking at theprincess for several seconds. A cunning expression supplanted theanger that had shown so plainly upon his face but a moment before.The girl had moved to one side of the apartment and was pretendingan interest in a large tapestry that covered the wall at that point.Maenck watched her with greedy eyes. Presently he spoke.

  "Let us be friends," he said. "You shall be my guest at Blentz fora long time. I doubt if Peter will care to release you soon, for hehas no love for your father--and it will be easier for both if weestablish pleasant relations from the beginning. What do you say?"

  "I shall not be at Blentz long," she replied, not even looking inMaenck's direction, "though while I am it shall be as a prisoner andnot as a guest. It is incredible that one could believe me willingto pose as the guest of a traitor, even were he less impossible thanthe notorious and infamous Captain Maenck."

  Maenck smiled. He was one of those who rather pride themselves uponthe possession of racy reputations. He walked across the room to abell cord which he pulled. Then he turned toward the girl again.

  "I have given you an opportunity," he said, "to lighten the burdensof your captivity. I hoped that you would be sensible and accept myadvances of friendship voluntarily," and he emphasized the word"voluntarily," "but--"

  He shrugged his shoulders.

  A servant had entered the apartment in response to Maenck's summons.

  "Show the Princess von der Tann to her apartments," he commandedwith a sinister tone.

  The man, who was in the livery of Peter of Blentz, bowed, and with adeferential sign to the girl led the way from the room. Emma von derTann followed her guide up a winding stairway which spiraled withina tower at the end of a long passage. On the second floor of thecastle the servant led her to a large and beautifully furnishedsuite of three rooms--a bedroom, dressing-room and boudoir. Aftershowing her the rooms that were to be hers the servant left heralone.

  As soon as he had gone the Princess von der Tann took another turnthrough the suite, looking to the doors and windows to ascertain howsecurely she might barricade herself against unwelcome visitors.

  She found that the three rooms lay in an angle of the old,moss-covered castle wall.

  The bedroom and dressing-room were connected by a doorway, and eachin turn had another door opening into the boudoir. The onlyconnection with the corridor without was through a single doorwayfrom the boudoir. This door was equipped with a massive bolt, which,when she had shot it, gave her a feeling of immense relief andsecurity. The windows were all too high above the court on one sideand the moat upon the other to cause her the slightest apprehensionof danger from the outside.

  The girl found the boudoir not only beautiful, but extremelycomfortable and cozy. A huge log-fire blazed upon the hearth, and,though it was summer, its warmth was most welcome, for the night waschill. Across the room from the fireplace a full length oil of aformer Blentz princess looked down in arrogance upon the unwillingoccupant of the room. It seemed to the girl that there was anexpression of annoyance upon the painted countenance that another,and an enemy of her house, should be making free with herbelongings. She wondered a little, too, that this huge oil shouldhave been hung in a lady's boudoir. It seemed singularly out ofplace.

  "If she would but smile," thought Emma von der Tann, "she woulddetract less from the otherwise pleasant surroundings, but I supposeshe serves her purpose in some way, whatever it may be."

  There were papers, magazines and books upon the center table andmore books upon a low tier of shelves on either side of thefireplace. The girl tried to amuse herself by reading, but she foundher thoughts continually reverting to the unhappy situation of theking, and her eyes momentarily wandered to the cold and repellentface of the Blentz princess.

  Finally she wheeled a great armchair near the fireplace, and withher back toward the portrait made a final attempt to submerge herunhappy thoughts in a current periodical.

  When Barney and his escort reached the apartments that had beenoccupied by the king of Lutha before his escape, Butzow and thesoldiers left him in company with Dr. Stein and an old servant,whom the doctor introduced as his new personal attendant.

  "Your majesty will find him a very attentive and faithful servant,"said Stein. "He will remain with you and administer your medicine atproper intervals."

  "Medicine?" ejaculated Barney. "What in the world do I need ofmedicine? There is nothing the matter with me."

  Stein smiled indulgently.

  "Ah, your majesty," he said, "if you could but realize the sadaffliction that clouds your life! You may never sit upon your throneuntil the last trace of this sinister mental disorder is eradicated,so take your medicine voluntarily, or otherwise Joseph will becompelled to administer it by force. Remember, sire, that onlythrough this treatment will you be able to leave Blentz."

  After Stein had left the room Joseph bolted the door behind him.Then he came to where Barney stood in the center of the apartment,and dropping to his knees took the young man's hand in his andkissed it.

  "God has been good indeed, your majesty," he whispered. "It was Hewho made it possible for old Joseph to deceive them and find his wayto your side."

  "Who are you, my man?" asked Barney.

  "I am from Tann," whispered the old man, in a very low voice. "Hishighness, the prince, found the means to obtain service for me withthe new retinue that has replaced the old which permitted yourmajesty's escape. There was another from Tann among the formerservants here.

  "It was through his efforts that you escaped before, you willrecall. I have seen Fritz and learned from him the way, so that ifyour majesty does not recall it it will make no difference, for Iknow it well, having been over it three times already since I camehere, to be sure that when the time came that they should recaptureyou I might lead you out quickly before they could slay you."

  "You really think that they intend murdering me?"

  "There is no doubt about it, your majesty," replied the old man."This very bottle"--Joseph touched the phial which Stein had leftupon the table--"contains the means whereby, through my hands, youwere to be slowly poisoned."

  "Do you know what it is?"

  "Bichloride of mercury, your majesty. One dose would have beensufficient, and after a few days--perhaps a week--you would havedied in great agony."

  Barney shuddered.

  "But I am not the king, Joseph," said the young man, "so even hadthey succeeded in killing me it would have profited them nothing."

  Joseph shook his head sadly.

  "Your majesty will pardon the presumption of one who loves him," hesaid, "if he makes so bold as to suggest that your majesty must notagain deny that he is king. That only tends to corroborate thecontention of Prince Peter that your majesty is not--er, just sane,and so, incompetent to rule Lutha. But we of Tann know differently,and with the help of the good God we will place your majesty uponthe throne which Peter has kept from you all these years."

  Barney sighed. They were determined that he should be king whetherhe would or no. He had often thought he would like to be a king; butnow the realization of his boyish dreaming which seemed so imminentbade fair to be almost anything than pleasant.

  Barney suddenly realized that the old fellow was talking. He wasexplaining how they might escape. It seemed that a secret passageled from this very chamber to the vaults beneath the castle and fromthere through a narrow tunnel below the moat to a cave in thehillside far beyond the structure.

  "They will not return again tonight to see your majesty," saidJoseph, "and so we had best make haste to leave at once. I have arope and swords in readiness. We shall need the rope to make our waydown the hillside, but let us hope that we shall not need theswords."

  "I cannot leave Blentz," said Barney, "unless the Princess Emma goeswith us."

  "The Princess Emma!" cried the old man. "What Princess Emma?"

  "Princess von der Tann," replied
Barney. "Did you not know that shewas captured with me!"

  The old man was visibly affected by the knowledge that his youngmistress was a prisoner within the walls of Blentz. He seemed tornby conflicting emotions--his duty toward his king and his love forthe daughter of his old master. So it was that he seemed muchrelieved when he found that Barney insisted upon saving the girlbefore any thought of their own escape should be taken intoconsideration.

  "My first duty, your majesty," said Joseph, "is to bring you safelyout of the hands of your enemies, but if you command me to try tobring your betrothed with us I am sure that his highness, PrinceLudwig, would be the last to censure me for deviating thus from hisinstructions, for if he loves another more than he loves his king itis his daughter, the beautiful Princess Emma."

  "What do you mean, Joseph," asked Barney, "by referring to theprincess as my betrothed? I never saw her before today."

  "It has slipped your majesty's mind," said the old man sadly; "butyou and my young mistress were betrothed many years ago while youwere yet but children. It was the old king's wish that you wed thedaughter of his best friend and most loyal subject."

  Here was a pretty pass, indeed, thought Barney. It was sufficientlyembarrassing to be mistaken for the king, but to be thrown into thisfalse position in company with a beautiful young woman to whom theking was engaged to be married, and who, with the others, thoughthim to be the king, was quite the last word in impossible positions.

  Following this knowledge there came to Barney the first pangs ofregret that he was not really the king, and then the realization, sosudden that it almost took his breath away, that the girl was verybeautiful and very much to be desired. He had not thought about thematter until her utter impossibility was forced upon him.

  It was decided that Joseph should leave the king's apartment at onceand discover in what part of the castle Emma von der Tann wasimprisoned. Their further plans were to depend upon the informationgained by the old man during his tour of investigation of thecastle.

  In the interval of his absence Barney paced the length of his prisontime and time again. He thought the fellow would never return.Perhaps he had been detected in the act of spying, and was himself aprisoner in some other part of the castle! The thought came toBarney like a blow in the face, for he realized that then he wouldbe entirely at the mercy of his captors, and that there would benone to champion the cause of the Princess von der Tann.

  When his nervous tension had about reached the breaking point therecame a sound of stealthy movement just outside the door of his room.Barney halted close to the massive panels. He heard a key fittedquietly and then the lock grated as it turned.

  Barney thought that they had surely detected Joseph's duplicity andhad come to make short work of the king before other traitors arosein their midst entirely to frustrate their plans. The young Americanstepped to the wall behind the door that he might be out of sight ofwhoever entered. Should it prove other than Joseph, might the Lordhelp them! The clenched fists, square-set chin, and gleaming grayeyes of the prisoner presaged no good for any incoming enemy.

  Slowly the door swung open and a man entered the room. Barneybreathed a deep sigh of relief--it was Joseph.

  "Well?" cried the young man from behind him, and Joseph started asthough Peter of Blentz himself had laid an accusing finger upon hisshoulder. "What news?"

  "Your majesty," gasped Joseph, "how you did startle me! I found theapartments of the princess, sire. There is a bare chance that we maysucceed in rescuing her, but a very bare one, indeed.

  "We must traverse a main corridor of the castle to reach her suite,and then return by the same way. It will be a miracle if we are notdiscovered; but the worst of it is that next to her apartments, andbetween them and your majesty's, are the apartments of CaptainMaenck.

  "He is sure to be there and officers and servants may be coming andgoing throughout the entire night, for the man is a convivialfellow, sitting at cards and drink until sunrise nearly every day."

  "And when we have brought the princess in safety to my quarters,"asked Barney, "what then? How shall we conduct her from the castle?You have not told me that as yet."

  The old man explained then the plan of escape. It seemed that oneof the two huge tile panels that flanked the fireplace on eitherside was in reality a door hiding the entrance to a shaft that rosefrom the vaults beneath the castle to the roof. At each floor therewas a similar secret door concealing the mouth of the passage. Fromthe vaults a corridor led through another secret panel to the tunnelthat wound downward to the cave in the hillside.

  "Beyond that we shall find horses, your majesty," concluded the oldman. "They have been hidden in the woods since I came to Blentz.Each day I go there to water and feed them."

  During the servant's explanation Barney had been casting about inhis mind for some means of rescuing the princess without so greatrisk of detection, and as the plan of the secret passageway becameclear to him he thought that he saw a way to accomplish the thingwith comparative safety in so far as detection was concerned.

  "Who occupies the floor above us, Joseph?" he asked.

  "It is vacant," replied the old man.

  "Good! Come, show me the entrance to the shaft," directed Barney.

  "You will go without attempting to succor the Princess Emma?"exclaimed the old fellow in ill-concealed chagrin.

  "Far from it," replied Barney. "Bring your rope and the swords. Ithink we are going to find the rescuing of the Princess Emma theeasiest part of our adventure."

  The old man shook his head, but went to another room of the suite,from which he presently emerged with a stout rope about fifty feetin length and two swords. As he buckled one of the weapons to Barneyhis eyes fell upon the American's seal ring that encircled the thirdfinger of his left hand.

  "The Royal Ring of Lutha!" exclaimed Joseph. "Where is it, yourmajesty? What has become of the Royal Ring of the Kings of Lutha?"

  "I'm sure I don't know, Joseph," replied the young man. "Should I bewearing a royal ring?"

  "The profaning miscreants!" cried Joseph. "They have dared to filchfrom you the great ring that has been handed down from king to kingfor three hundred years. When did they take it from you?"

  "I have never seen it, Joseph," replied the young man, "and possiblythis fact may assure you where all else has failed that I am no trueking of Lutha, after all."

  "Ah, no, your majesty," replied the old servitor; "it but makesassurance doubly sure as to your true identity, for the fact thatyou have not the ring is positive proof that you are king and thatthey have sought to hide the fact by removing the insignia of yourdivine right to rule in Lutha."

  Barney could not but smile at the old fellow's remarkable logic. Hesaw that nothing short of a miracle would ever convince Joseph thathe was not the real monarch, and so, as matters of greaterimportance were to the fore, he would have allowed the subject todrop had not the man attempted to recall to the impoverished memoryof his king a recollection of the historic and venerated relic ofthe dead monarchs of Lutha.

  "Do you not remember, sir," he asked, "the great ruby that glared,blood-red from its center, and the four sets of golden wings thatformed the setting? From the blood of Charlemagne was the ruby made,so history tells us, and the setting represented the protectingwings of the power of the kings of Lutha spread to the four pointsof the compass. Now your majesty must recall the royal ring, I amsure."

  Barney only shook his head, much to Joseph's evident sorrow.

  "Never mind the ring, Joseph," said the young man. "Bring your ropeand lead me to the floor above."

  "The floor above? But, your majesty, we cannot reach the vaults andtunnel by going upward!"

  "You forget, Joseph, that we are going to fetch the Princess Emmafirst."

  "But she is not on the floor above us, sire; she is upon the samefloor as we are," insisted the old man, hesitating.

  "Joseph, who do you think I am?" asked Barney.

  "You are the king, my lord," replied the
old man.

  "Then do as your king commands," said the American sharply.

  Joseph turned with dubious mutterings and approached the tiled panelat the left of the fireplace. Here he fumbled about for a momentuntil his fingers found the hidden catch that held the cunninglydevised door in place. An instant later the panel swung inwardbefore his touch, and standing to one side, the old fellow bowed lowas he ushered Barney into the Stygian darkness of the space beyondtheir vision.

  Joseph halted the young man just within the doorway, cautioning himagainst the danger of falling into the shaft, then he closed thepanel, and a moment later had found the lantern he had hidden thereand lighted it. The rays disclosed to the American the rough masonryof the interior of a narrow, well-built shaft. A rude ladderstanding upon a narrow ledge beside him extended upward to loseitself in the shadows above. At its foot the top of another ladderwas visible protruding through the opening from the floor beneath.

  No sooner had Joseph's lantern shown him the way than Barney wasascending the ladder toward the floor above. At the next landing hewaited for the old man.

  Joseph put out the light and placed the lantern where they couldeasily find it upon their return. Then he cautiously slipped thecatch that held the panel in place and slowly opened the door untila narrow line of lesser darkness showed from without.

  For a moment they stood in silence listening for any sound from thechamber beyond, but as nothing occurred to indicate that theapartment was occupied the old man opened the portal a triflefurther, and finally far enough to permit his body to pass through.Barney followed him. They found themselves in a large, emptychamber, identical in size and shape with that which they had justquitted upon the floor below.

  From this the two passed into the corridor beyond, and thence to theapartments at the far end of the wing, directly over those occupiedby Emma von der Tann.

  Barney hastened to a window overlooking the moat. By leaning farout he could see the light from the princess's chamber shining uponthe sill. He wished that the light was not there, for the window wasin plain view of the guard on the lookout upon the barbican.

  Suddenly he caught the sound of voices from the chamber beneath.For an instant he listened, and then, catching a few words of thedialogue, he turned hurriedly toward his companion.

  "The rope, Joseph! And for God's sake be quick about it."