IN FEAR OF A THRONE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14143, 19 August 1909, Page 3

IN FEAR OF A THRONE.

PUBLISHED BY SrECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY R. ANDOM AND R. HODDER,

Authors of "Wo Three and Troddles, " Martha and I." " Tho Identity . Exchange," etc.

[COPYRIGHT.]

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.

CHAPTERS I. and ll.— story opens on the Continent, where four Englishmen are on ft cycling tour, starting at Saarbruck, and at the first hostelry they spend the night. During the evening one (Murray) rushes In, asking where ' Troddies is oil to."" " Bed," replies that worthy, and Murray exclaims in astonishment that aro'idies' ghost has gore by oil a bicycle. Next day. after several adventures, the other three, see Troddles, as they think, coming down a hill as a frightful pace" and smash up at the bottom. Two convey him,along the road, and are passeu by a carriage going at break-neck speed, i'm curriape door is kicked off, and two occupants roll out, lighting savagely. One proves to be Troddles himself and lie third of the partv rushes to his assistance, and finally Troddles ami his friend overcome the stranger and the unv' and find that the man who had been fighting with Troddles is clothed in a uniform blazing with orders. They pack him back in the carriage and set off' after (heir own friends, to find that the two looking after the rupposed injured Troddles had been astonished by their charge suddenly bolting. The four then continue their journey, and meet a beautiful gui on horseback, who addresses Troddles as Kan, and demands to know why he hadn't kept .lis promise. After much confusion, the mistake is explained, and the girl remarks that Troddieg has a dangerous likeness to one whom it ' s '}, well to rcsem'o.e, even remotely. She also adits. " Karl, Prince of Brltsenberg, is not so like himself as you are, and I would advise you not to enter tne capital, but, ride round it and jeav the country this night. The frontier is only ou miles away '' CHAPTER nr.—The girl indicates that the prince is in danger through the ambition of Wolfram von Deffulch, his nephew. The four set off for the frontier and arrived that- night at an inn, where they arc confronted by the uniformed officer whom Troddles had set adrift, in the carriage. The officer explains that a mistake arose through Troddles' resemblance to the prince, who is not. in full possession of his mental '"enties, and calmly requests Troddles to take til throne for a while. A suggestion of refusal is met by the threat of arrest on a charge of attempt "to murder the Chief Minister of State, ana the officer retires while the four cyclists consider the matter

CHATTER IV.—The four adventurers agree to the proposal, and the officer departs. Another stranger, however, turns lip, introduces himself as Herr tirotz, and wishes to conduct/ them to the castle of Wederend, lie leads the way 011 horseback, the others following on bicycles. Three of the cyclists fall into a ditch. « up. being ahead, following the guide. does not notice the accidentally the time the. three right themselves they have lost their way, and then they fall into the hands of a mob of armed men, who take them prisoners and march them away. The prisoners are lodged in a building for the night, and in the morning break down the door, only to find the place apparently deserted; but just, as they are about to get outside, a man, armed with" a revolver, appears, and by a surprise movement they capture him.

CHAPTER V.

WHICH CONCERN'S OUR CAPTIVITY AND SHOWS

HOW WK ESCAPED FROM IT. The fellotf 011 the floor possibly knew when lie was comfortably off. At any rate, he made no effort to mend his position, while we, on the contrary, were very desirous of mending ours, and that speedily. In the first place we were hungry, and in the second we considered that we were still far from safe, while the pressing desire we felt to get away was intensified by this development. It had all gone in our favour so far ; but we reasonably argued that this man was only one of a band, and it was an even chance that failing his return a comrade or two would, be along shortly to look him up. " Pity you smashed up the dungeon, Troddles," observed Murray .thoughtfully, " We might have stowed him up there." • " Let's take him with us," I suggested. "Too risky," said Murray. "In the first place, we don't know how the game stands. 1 say, though, it will be a bit awkward if this chap belongs to the opposition party, iuid has come round to liberate us. I don't recognise him at all." " That seems to be the trouble all the way through," grumbled Troddles. " 1 don't know why I should be at all these pains. The joy of the thing isn't overwhelming, and 1 am not going to intensify it by sneaking about dodging and hiding like a pickpocket, evading the police. Here's off to an eat-sliop, for me. As for this chap—look here, chappie, I don't understand your lingo, and possibly you don't know mine; but if you come messing round me I'll give you a hint with my boot that I don't want your company, and, if % l do it, I bet you'll understand it fast enough." Troddles' manner was positively regal — all except the first-shaking action, which was intended to impress the caution he wished to convey to the man 011 the floor —as he stuffed the revolver he had captured into his Norfolk jacket and walked out of the house. We didn't agree with the action at all. It seemed to be" neglecting some very vital details ; but we were not exactly asked for outopinion, and in any case it simplified matters wonderfully. So Murray and I made a shift to tie our captive hand and foot with our handkerchiefs, and deposit him in the room which had served us for a temporary prison. We picked up Troddles, and half an hour later saw us wading manfully through a set of greasy dishes, the names of which we were not able to pronounce, and the ingredients of which we did not wish to know, in an obscure little tavern which we discovered half a mile away along, the road. As we fed we discussed the situation in all its bearings, and chiefly did we speculate on | the two points which struck us as being of primary importance: What had become of ; Wilks? That was one item, and the other concerned the whereabouts of our bikes. Apparently, nobody spoke English at the inn, and it was impossible to get any information that might have tended to help us in our difficulty. Murray suggested going boldly into the town and . 'taking our chances. We should be more likely to rejoin Wilks that way, he argued, and if we intended lending our aid to solve the curiously, complicated political affairs of Britsenberg we could pick up the thread better that way than by any other. Troddles said: " Darn the thread. What I want is to pick up my bicycle, and then, if I see a chance to scuttle, I'm off. Let the beggars fight it out between themselves. I've been bailed up with revolvers and summary process by both sides already, and if I stop for another turn, maybe I'll find myself between them, with both sides pot-shotting at me."

Trod dies sporting instinct was decidedly in abeyance ; but we were tolerant and easy with him, knowing full well that it didn't really much matter how we decided, since luck and two remarkably strong factions would force us to play the parts we were destined to undertake. With regard to the bikes, we were at one with him, and whatever we did voluntarily wouldn't include the abandonment of those cherished articles, at least without suitable and satisfactory compensation. So, our meal over, and pipes well alight, back we sauntered to the scene of our imprisonment. It was a perfect day for the time of the year. The deep rich green of the woods was turning here and there to russets and browns, which served to lend additional lustre to the hardier foliage, which had so far withstood the influence of sun and wind. The morning was still young, and the early birds were piping gaily and whistling away in the trees as they Hit ted about in ceaseless activity. Rabbits and stoats crossed our path, and once a sly old fox dodged ahead of us in search of cover, while afar off, glistening in the sun's rays, a river of respectable size wound round the hills in a band of molten silver. It was all very beautiful, and I began to resent the intrusion of odd chunks of Continental history into our holiday, which was not intended to be spent that way. The house was, to all intents and purposes, quite deserted when we arrived on the scene. As far as appearances went, 110 one had disturbed it since we left, and, for all we knew, our captive was still resting in sullen discontent among the ruins of the furniture, where we had left him. We intended to make sure, however, because, in case of accidents, we didn't quite like the idea of leaving the poor wretch to die of slow starvation. If we were successful in regaining our bikes, particularly, we could afford" to be magnanimous, and set him adrift to do the best, or worst, he could contrive. Our first plan was to keep Troddles out of the way. It was Troddles who was really wanted. * Is either one side nor the other

would care a solitary job about us in his absence, we knew, and it seemed to us better manoeuvring for' him to ' stop well away from the building, on the watch, ready to give us warning in case of surprise from the outside, and to be in security from any attempt to recapture him that might be made from within. That was our idea ; but Troddles didn t see it at all in the same light. He objected to being left alone, a.nd he objected to being out of the fray if we were in it, or in it if we were out of it. Moreover, he argued, he couldn't see that it would be necessary to enter the house at all. Assuming that orr bikes were there, our captors would hardly have been at the pains to take them up to the bedrooms or hang them round the deserted drawing-room for ornamentation. If there were any stabling or sheds about the place, we should find our machines there or not at all. We found a range of stables running off at right angles from the building, and, in addition, there was a lean-to shed of solid limber, which might contain the objects of our solicitude. Wo tried the stables first, chiefly because the shed was devoid of window, and the door, being guarded by a stout padlock, required more hard work to force it than we Mere inclined to undertake, until we were reasonably sure of getting some return for our labour. The stable was better supplied, and, mounting by my aid, Murray got a perch on Troddles' solid shoulders, and was able to make an exhaustive search of the interior. It drew a blank! There were one or . two corners that lie couldn t be quite sure of: but he felt reasonably certain that our bikes were not_ there, and we resolved to try the shed without wasting any more time. We felt a trifle helpless at first, as we groped round the door of it, and suggested all manner of impracticable schemes tor getting inside. Murray solved the difficulty at length by opportunely remembering that burglars and others have a simple and very efficacious plan of filling obstreperous locks with gunpowder, and setting it off. Why couldn't we blow the thing oil' with the revolver, lie would like .to know! It didn't seem to be exactly a. safe or enjoyable occupation; but; Murray undertook to do it, and our eagerness helped us to overcome any passing qualms we might have felt. Fortunately the padlock was a remarkably heavy braes affair, and, _by pushing the muzzle of the revolver well into the keyhole and standing clear of the flying fragments, we effected our purpose with no more damage to the operator than a slight singeing of hie hand caused by the back flash. But the denouement was not in the shed itself. It came from the house. A quick rush of feet followed the report, and a couple of forms emerged from a side door and went charging blindly past us on to the road, and were quickly lost, to sight in the forest, beyond. At the same moment, a thin trail of smoke curled out from a window on the lower floor and rose in a steady column. , "This is a new development," I muttered.- " It's fire," said Murray solemnly. " I believe they have been setting light to the place in the hope of getting a fricasseed prince. Your subjects are warmly devoted to you, Troddles, old man." "'Don't be an ass," retorted Troddles, looking uncomfortable. " But it does seem odd." . "What about that chap upstairs. I queried, a fresh idea, crossing my mind. The grin faded from Murray's face straight away. "By jove! I had forgotten all about him." he said. "Do you suppose he is still there?" ; "We'll have to seo,' ; said I dismally. "Wo can't let the poor beggar take his chances on the possibility of his having got away." "All right; come along," said Murray cheerfully. "I don't suppose the blaze is very deadly yet awhile. We may be able to stamp it out." s ■ - " Don't see why we should trouble, ' said Troddles. "If they like to make a burntoffering of their private residences, it is no concern of ours, and it may help us a bit if they fondly imagine we have got melted down in the ruins. Let's get that chap out, anyhow." .' - .. f The house was full of smoke, and* the greasy, sickly smell was very fair evidence that our surmise as to the occupation of the fellows we had driven out was correct." No signs of flame were to be seen, nor of 'much else for that matter, and, more by good luck than good judgment, we stumbled through the heavy pall on to the staircase, and groped our way upwards till we came to the passage I remembered as having led to the prisoner's apartment. Dense smoke filled the upper part of the house as well, and a dull, ominous roaring from below intimated that the affair was no joke, but a solid, serious business which would, if we were not spry, put us in a desperate position.

(To be continued daily).