Part 33 (1/2)
”Not where the bodies are now Each must be in the proper place”
”Wetoo”
Sapt alh
”So be it,” he said ”You take command Yes, we'll be ready The fate drives”
Then and there they set about what they had to do It see Sapt; he went about the work like a man who is hardly awake They placed the bodies each where the living uest-room, the huntsman in the sort of cupboard where the honest fellow had been wont to lie They dug up the buried dog, Sapt chuckling convulsively, Jas he seeri's roo the store of oil over the cracked the bottles, ain fresh fuel To Sapt it seea, now as if they obeyed soreat purpose hidden froed and ordered all as deftly as he folded his master's clothes or stropped his master's razor Old Sapt stopped him once as he went by
”Don't think me a mad fool, because I talk of the fate,” he said, almost anxiously
”Not I, sir,” answered Ja of that But I like to be ready”
”It would be a thing!” muttered Sapt
The un their work, had vanished now If they were not serious, they played at seriousness If they entertained no intention such as their acts seeer deny that they had cherished a hope They shrank, or at least Sapt shrank, froed for the fate that would give it a kick, and they made smooth the incline dohich it, when thus impelled, was to run When they had finished their task and sat down again opposite to one another in the little front room, the whole scheme was ready, the preparations were made, all was in train; they waited only for that impulse from chance or fate which was to turn the servant's story into reality and action
And when the thing was done, Sapt's coolness, so rarely upset, yet so completely beaten by the force of that wild idea, caain and lay back in his chair, puffing freely, with a meditative look on his face
”It's two o'clock, sir,” said Ja should have happened before now in Strelsau”
”Ah, but what?” asked the constable
Suddenly breaking on their ears cahts, they had not noticed two old of the king's huntsmen; the one who had knocked was Simon, the chief huntsman, and brother of Herbert, who lay dead in the little rooerous!” muttered the Constable of Zenda as he hurried to the door, Ja him
Si pardon, Constable, but I want to see Herbert Can I go in?” And he ju the reins to his co in?” asked Sapt ”Herbert's not here”
”Not here? Then where is he?”
”Why, he ith the king this , sir? Then he's in Strelsau, I suppose?”
”If you know that, Si is in Strelsau, sir”
”The deuce he is! He said nothing of going to Strelsau He rose early and rode off with Herbert, ht”