Part 16 (1/2)
”What the devil do you want?” asked Sapt
”I came to attend on the Count von Tarlenheiive you any orders, James”
”No, sir But Mr Rassendyll told me not to leave you, unless you sent me away So I made haste to follow you”
Then Sapt cried: ”Deuce take it, what horse is that?”
”The best in the stables, so far as I could see, sir I was afraid of not overtaking you”
Sapt tugged his ed for your compliment,” said he ”The horse is mine”
”Indeed, sir?” said James with respectful interest
For a ain
”Forward!” said he, and the three of us dashed into the forest
CHAPTER VIII THE TEMPER OF BORIS THE HOUND
Looking back now, in the light of the inforathered, I am able to trace very clearly, and almost hour by hour, the events of this day, and to understand how chance, laying hold of our cunning plan andour wiliness, twisted and turned our device to a predeteruiltless in thought or intent Had the king not gone to the hunting-lodge, our design would have found the fulfil Rupert of Hentzau, we should have stood where ere Fate or fortune would have it otherwise The king, being weary, went to the lodge, and Rischenhei his cousin It was a narrow failure, for Rupert, as his laugh told strasse when I set out from Strelsau, and Rischenheim arrived there at half past four He had taken the train at a roadside station, and thus easily outstripped Mr Rassendyll, who, not daring to show his face, was forced to ride all the way and enter the city under cover of night But Rischenhei, for he knew that ere in possession of the address and did not knohat steps we ed to carry the news hione Indeed Rupert must have left the house almost immediately after I was safe away froood time for his appointment; his only enemies were not in Strelsau; there was no warrant on which he could be apprehended; and, although his connection with Black Michael was a ossip, he felt himself safe froly he walked out of the house, went to the station, took his ticket to Hofbau, and, traveling by the four o'clock train, reached his destination about half-past five He must have passed the train in which Rischenheim traveled; the first news the latter had of his departure was fronized the Count of Hentzau, ventured to congratulate Rischenheim on his cousin's return Rischenheiitation to the house in the Konigstrasse, where the old woh a period of great irresolution Loyalty to Rupert urged that he should follow hi But caution whispered that he was not irrevocably co overt yet connected him with Rupert's schemes, and that ho knew the truth should be well content to purchase his silence as to the trick we had played by granting him immunity His fears won the day, and, like the irresolute man he was, he determined to wait in Strelsau till he heard the issue of the e If Rupert were disposed of there, he had so to offer us in return for peace; if his cousin escaped, he would be in the Konigstrasse, prepared to second the further plans of the desperate adventurer In any event his skin was safe, and I presuhed a little with hiiven hione then, he would have been a h the forest, knew nothing We uess, conjecture, hope, or fear; but our certain knowledge stopped with Rischenheim's start for the capital and Rupert's presence there at three o'clock The pair h they hadBut ere late The consciousness of that pressed upon us, although we evaded further mention of it; it made us spur and drive our horses as quickly, ay, and a little more quickly, than safety allowed Once James's horse stumbled in the darkness and its rider was thrown;over the path nearly swept me, dead or stunned, from my seat Sapt paid no attention to these mishaps or threatenedwell down in his saddle, rode ahead, turning neither to right nor left, never slackening his pace, sparing neither himself nor his beast James and I were side by side behind hi to say to one another My mind was full of a picture--the picture of Rupert with his easy s the queen's letter For the hour of the rendezvous was past
If that ie had been translated into reality, what e, but of what other avail would it be when the king had read the letter? I a at Mr Rassendyll for happening on a plan which the course of events had turned into a trap for ourselves and not for Rupert of Hentzau
Suddenly Sapt, turning his head for the first tie was before us;it loo dimly a quarter of a mile off Sapt reined in his horse, and we followed his example All dismounted, we tied our horses to trees and went forward at a quick, silent walk Our idea was that Sapt should enter on pretext of having been sent by the queen to attend to her husband's coue next day If Rupert had co's demeanor would probably betray the fact; if he had not yet coe There was a third possibility; heOur course in such a case we left unsettled; so far as I had any plan, it was to kill Rupert and to convince the king that the letter was a forgery--a desperate hope, so desperate that we turned our eyes away from the possibility which would make it our only resource
We were now very near the hunting-lodge, being about forty yards from the front of it All at once Sapt threw hiround
”Give ht, and, the night being still, the flahtly: it showed us theaway fro the tracks by the aid of more matches till we reached a tree twenty yards from the door Here the hoof marks ceased; but beyond there was a double track of huone thence to the house and returned froht of the tree wereA one on foot to the house, returned to the tree, re the track by which we had approached
”It may be somebody else,” said I; but I do not think that we any of us doubted in our hearts that the tracks werehad the letter; the mischief was done We were too late
Yet we did not hesitate Since disaster had come, it must be faced Mr
Rassendyll's servant and I followed the constable of Zenda up to the door, or within a few feet of it Here Sapt, as in uniform, loosened his sword in its sheath; Jahts visible in the lodge; the door was shut; everything was still Sapt knocked softly with his knuckles, but there was no answer from within He laid hold of the handle and turned it; the door opened, and the passage lay dark and apparently eed,” whispered the colonel ”Give o in”
James handed him the box of matches, and he crossed the threshold For a yard or t hirew di exceptBut in a moment there was another sound--a ; a sword, too, clattered on the stones of the passage We looked at one another; the noise did not produce any answering stir in the house; then came the sharp little explosion of ahi the stones; his footsteps came towards us, and in a second he appeared at the door
”What was it?” I whispered
”I fell,” said Sapt
”Over what?”