IN FEAR OF A THRONE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14144, 20 August 1909, Page 3

IN FEAR OF A THRONE.

PUBLISHED* BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

• BY R. ANDOM AND R. HODDER, Authors of " "We Three and Troddles,"

"Martha and I." "The Identity Exchange," etc.

[COPYRIGHT.]

CHAPTER V.—(Continued.)

To rush along the hall and into the room where wo had placed our prisoner was tho work of a few seconds, and glad enough we were that we had come, when we found the luckless wretch still fastened hand and foot and absolutely powerless to aid himself. An opposing current of air had kept back the smoke so far, and only the pungent reek of it served to show what was going on down below. Untying was too slow work altogether, so wo cut the fellow adrift from his bonds by .summary process.

We didn't waste time unduly, you may be sure; but, expeditious as Ave were, the fire was too smart for us. The smother grow suddenly dense and scorching, and the roar of the flames made it apparent that the downstair quarters were far. too warm to accommodate, us.

The liberated prisoner stood in bewildered stupor looking alternately at us and the door through which the smoke rolled in in clouds. Troddles and myself—must, have been looking very much the same- way, until Murray, energetic as ever, sized up the situation and stirred us to action.

" Now, you statues of beauty worshipping despair," said he coarsely, " buck up a bit, unless you are minded to become dripping." And this to a prince, too! We gathered from Murray's incongruous and not over lucid remarks that the first thing to do was to get outside; the next was to stay there. A look showed us that it was hopeless to think of running tho gauntlet of flame and smoke that lay between us and the doors below. The very room in which we stood was rapidly becoming untenable owing to the smoke, .and to mend this Murray picked up a leg of the broken chair and jabbed holes in the panes through the stout iron bars that guarded the window.

A strong, fresh breeze blew in on us at once, and Murray's prescription promptlyproved iteelf efficacious in making our position tolerable for the time being at least. " Cuss, those bars!" ho grumbled. That's our way out, without a doubt, and there's a tree we could reach, too, and get to the ground as easy as going down a flight of marble steps. Can't you bust it, old man?" Troddles said he couldn't. It was inchsquare iron, and we believed him, strong as he is. I tried to do a little prospecting inside ; but I could only discover a couple of doors anywhere within reach, and I got three parts suffocated in stopping to make absolutely certain that they could not be opened. • The position, which had been' mildly amusing, suddenly began to look grim, and with the need for action Murray rose. He said he wasn't going to be grilled like a chicken if he knew it, and he made Troddles take up the remaining chair and see what impression he could make on the bars. The impression Troddles did make on the bars was absolutely nil. A curious crackling sound at the doorway caused us to look round, and we saw an angry tongue of fire licking its way across the flooring. Up with the table I yelled, laying violent hands on the heavy oak article. All together, and chuck it bodily through !" Again and again we tried, but without making any marked impression on that terrible grating. "What about the bureau?" gasped Troddles at length, breathless from the violence of his exertions. " Get the German to helphe'll help us burn if he doesn't."

"Good for you, Troddles," howled Murray. It would fetch the ' side of the house down if we could handle it. Ask him nicely, Bob, but make him understand he's got to help. He ought to, since we are here on his account."

Fear and emergency have a language to themselves. I grabbed our companion in misery by the arm, pointed to the fire licking towards the open doorway, to the iron-bound window, to the bureau —and the next minute a ton and a fraction ot solid iron-bound oak was rushed across that room as if shot out of a cannon. Nothing could withstand it. The grating crumpled up like carrots, while the window frame, with the ends of the bars attached, fell bodily out, and clattered to rest on the ground below us. It didn't look to be a nice job now that we came to examine it closer. There were between thirty and forty feet of space between us and a solid footing, and to lean across that dizzy hole, seize a branch of the tree, which could only be reached by leaning out to a dangerous degree, and then cast loose, so to speak, and trust to luck and your muscles, was an undertaking that I for one/ did not regard as enjoyment. But, as Murray said, it was no use boggling at it. He gave us all, including our late captive, the chance of taking the lead ; but we were modest and retiring, and wouldn't hear of it on any account ; so he shook hands, and asked us to remember him to his mother in case of accidents.

After Murray had got hold of the branch he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten to say, and he yelled to us to pull him back again. This was sheer foolishness, and we tried to persuade him to drop through the window and play up pluckily. Ho wouldn't at first, so we tickled his legs, and in endeavouring to launch out and lame one of us for life he lost his balance, and the next minute was safely up in the tree, crowing away 'Tor all the world as though he had accomplished something. "There you arc! What did I tell you?" he exclaimed triumphantly. "It is as easy as anything." "What about the foreigner? Hadn't he better go next?" said I. Troddles said he thought so by all the rules of international courtesy. That man had a cooler head or more practice than ourselves. He nodded and smiled encouragingly at us, clambered boldly out until he was stooping on the sill, and, leaning forward, clutched the bough and swung himself into the tree in one action.

" Bet you don't do that in one, Bob," said Troddles, trying to appear easy and unconcerned.

" After you." said I, firmly. "You have a difficult part to play, and never shall it be said that I spoilt a prince by letting him get singed while I basely and selfishly rescued myself by a bit of beastly gymnastics." * "You're funking," said Troddles, crudely. Before I could retort he gave a yfll, and I followed suit, for while we bickered a tongue of flame had sneaked across the room and tried to set light to our legs. We met on the sill after all. and as I swung across the chasm after Troddles my cycle stocking was flickering, and was only extinguished by my personal attention when I came to roost in the tree-top like Baby Bunting.

CHAPTER VI.

WE FIND A FRIEND UNEXPECTEDLY, AND

GET SOME USEEI7L INFORMATION.

Descending from our lofty perch by leisurely degrees, we discussed the situation. Rather to our surprise, our late prisoner and companion in tribulation made no effort to get away, but stood regarding us with a, casual, inquiring smile, as though he could tell us much of interest, and would know on his own account a few matters concerning ourselves, could we but contrive to understand each other. This aspect of the matter must have struck Murray, for he clutched the stranger by the arm, and in his own expressive ' way ejaculated: " Sprechen Sherman, non, parle Francaise, oui?" ■ It was a lucky hit, for the other did speak French —considerably better than we did, though that is not very high testimony to his linguistic ability. But we could at least understand each other,

which was the main thing, and we -were speedily made acquainted with some important facts having an immediate relation to our singular situation. * In the first place, wo discovered that our companion was, despite our rough reception of him, far from being our enemy. He had been sent with the express purpose of contriving our rescue, and in this matter was acting for the Princessthe lady whom wo had encountered the day before. Ho belonged to a faction rather apart from either of those with whom we had been in contact, though he was devoted to the cause of Prince Karl. It seemed that there were certain points at which tho policy of the Prime Minister dissevered itself from that of the Princess and her supporters. Heir von Winkelstein belonged to the Princess' retinue, and we gathered that, while it was part of the Premier's plan to many Kail to his cousin, the lady had no such sentiment towards her mad kinsman, and a very decided leaning towards another. To this simple fact we owed the attention our new friend had paid us with such exciting, and nearly fatal, results to himself. Wo apologised in execrable French for our hasty assumption and the drastic reception. It was of no consequence, he said : it was nothing, and we were, besides, the heroes brave who had saved him at our own risk. But it would not do to stand there longerthe agents of Wolfram might be expected to return at any minute, unless, as he remarked, with a grim smile, they took it for granted that the understudy for the throne had been melted down in the blaze, and thus restored the situation to its first simple proportions. Half a mile away, in the depths of the forest, we found a more secure place, and there, on the velvety turf, with our pipes, wo returned to the discussion, and added rapidly and materially to our stock of information. " Well, what I want to know is why should they attempt to burn me'.'" demanded Troddles indignantly. "To save the trouble and expense of keeping you. perhaps," Murray suggested flippantly. "I always said that appetite of yours would get you into difficulties." For ourselves, our companion informed us. the affair might nerve us in good stead, since. Wolfram's party would naturally conclude that we had' perished in the fire, whether it was caused accidentally or by their design, and wo should thus be enabled to profit by the absence of further attention from them. '•Who is this Wolfram?" I asked. "He doesn't seem to be a. very hot favourite. "He isn't," agreed the other gravely. " He is cousin to Karl, and the son of the youngest brother of the King. There were three brothers, you know; Karl is the son of the second/ Wolfram is practically penniless, a bom gambler, heavily in debt, and has a reputation that,; makes his presence unwelcome at any Court in Europe. In fact, it is believed* that his financial embarrassment is the chief reason of the support he is receiving at home. His creditors have, on his succession, their last and only hope of getting repaid. That, naturally, makes them keen, and a more dangerous element is supplied by the shady, adventurous faction which has not so much to gain by Wolfram's success as to lose by His Excellency's remaining in control and calling them to account when the time is ripe." "It seems a delightful tangle," I commented. " I can't say I'm eager to get too closely mixed tip in it." "Nor I," added Murray. (To be continued daily). PUBLISHED'BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.