A prince of lovers

EARLY next morning Ludovic and Ompertz set out to inspect the wrecked carriage. They were accompanied by an officer of the Count’s household, having under him two men carrying tools for the repair, if possible, of the broken wheel. He was a man of forbidding aspect, towards whom both the travellers felt an instinctive distrust, nor was the appearance of the two other men any more prepossessing. But there was no time for Ludovic to concern himself with men’s characters as indexed by their faces. With a kingdom and his love hanging on the balance of an hour, the speedy resumption of the journey was all that could be thought of. The storm had passed away; the morning was fresh and fine; scarcely a sign remained of the tempest but its tail of abating wind and scurrying clouds, and, on the ground, the still trickling rain-courses. Seen in the daylight, the castle and its situation seemed yet more extraordinary than by night. Its surroundings were rugged and stern to a degree almost of repulsion; the bluish-black wood, stretching away behind it, formed a suitably mysterious background; while over all was the intense note of lonely, frowning power.

As they went along the valley, with the striking silence only accentuated by the plashing water, the whispered hush of the wind-swept trees, and the occasional cry of a bird, Ludovic tried to get from the Count’s man some idea of his master’s mode of life. But the fellow, without being exactly surly, was not to be drawn, at least on that subject. His replies were significantly curt, and he would persistently change the conversation by a remark on the scene through which they were passing.

It was not long before they neared the place of the previous night’s accident. Ompertz, with a campaigner’s faculty for locality, pointed it out to the head man.

“Our carriage lies just over there in the gorge which meets this at an angle yonder. Our shortest way will be to climb over the bank here, and cut across the high ground.”

He had already sprung some way up the ascent, when the man called him back. “Better keep along the track here,” he said. “The saving in distance is hardly worth the trouble of the climb.”

“But it is nothing,” Ompertz shouted back. “And it takes us directly to the spot. Time counts for much, and——”

“I tell you you will save nothing in time, Captain,” the other insisted, somewhat to Ludovic’s surprise, for Ompertz’s way was easy enough and obviously shorter. “And then there is a steep descent on the other side. Come! Let us not waste time, but keep on by the easier path.”

Almost peremptorily he motioned Ludovic forward. “Come you,” he ordered the two workmen. “I think we know the way best, eh, Lukas?”

“Yes, indeed,” one of the fellows replied, with a rough laugh. “No time for climbing, if his honour is in a hurry.”

Surprised almost into suspicion as he was, Ludovic was too impatient to dispute the matter. “Come, Captain,” he called to Ompertz, “we had better keep down here. We must do as we are bidden, it seems.”

Ompertz sprang down in no very amiable mood, but had tact enough to keep his muttered comments to himself.

The head man, whom his subordinates addressed as Gronhartz, now, as they walked on and he had gained his point, became by contrast surprisingly affable. He began to talk almost volubly of the life in the mountains, of sport, of the Count’s prowess as a hunter, and recounted several remarkable feats of strength his master had performed. The fellow talked fast, with an evident eagerness to allow no pause in the one-sided conversation. He had certainly said more in the last few minutes than in all the earlier and longer portion of their walk, when, having doubled the rocky angle and turned up the second and steeper gorge, they came in sight of the carriage, standing as they had left it, lopsided, with one axle on the ground.

Now a startling thing happened.

As they came to within about fifty paces of the carriage, Gronhartz suddenly broke off his talk and stopped, turning back to speak to his two men, who were following a few steps behind. With a mere turn of his head, as the man dropped behind, Ludovic hurried on with Ompertz, in natural anxiety to ascertain the extent of the damage. Intent on the broken wheel, Ludovic noticed nothing else till, when within a few yards of the carriage, an exclamation from Ompertz made him look up quickly. Then came the startling whisper—

“There is someone inside!”

A swift glance in response showed Ludovic a movement inside the carriage, but of what he could not make out. Then he turned instinctively to the three men behind him. A slight jutting out of the rocky wall half hid them from where he stood. He made a quick step aside to get them in full view. In the same instant a shot rang out from the carriage, and a bullet touched his shoulder. But for that chance spring to one side it must have gone through him. Then there came a great cry of rage and surprise from Ompertz, simultaneously with a second shot, and, before Ludovic had quite realized what was happening, his companion had rushed to the carriage, fired his pistol through the window, and then, whipping out his sword, commenced a furious onslaught upon the half visible occupants.

“Treachery! Damnable treachery!” he shouted. “Look to yourself, sire. Shoot those other dogs down. I can manage these fellows.”

Already, at his warning, the three men who had accompanied them were rushing forward, the leader with a drawn sword, the others with short cutlasses. For an instant Ludovic was in doubt whether their rush was to be against him, or to oppose what might be some mountain desperadoes who had attacked them from the carriage. But in a moment he was undeceived. As the three men came upon him, there was no mistaking their intention. He gave one glance back to where Ompertz was slashing and thrusting through the carriage window, springing backwards and forwards with what, but for the action’s deadly seriousness, would have been antics comical in their intensity. He just had time to see a hand come through the window on the further side, then the door opened, and a ruffianly looking fellow stumbled out with drawn sword. The situation was critical. The reason of the treacherous attack might be a mystery, at all events it was real enough. The three were now closing upon Ludovic; the fourth, who had come out of the carriage, was dodging Ompertz and making to join them. Ludovic saw that another moment’s hesitation might mean death. At least one man’s life was in his hand, for he had a pistol. He levelled it at the chief, the man called Gronhartz, and shot him through the heart. Seeing him fall, the two with him slackened their pace and wavered. But, encouraged by the shout of the man from the carriage, who was now rushing with uplifted sword upon Ludovic, they came on again, and for a moment he was in extreme peril. But Ompertz, whose alertness had been checked by a fall on the slippery, uneven ground, was now at hand, coming up just as Ludovic found himself beset by two assailants in front and one behind. Could Ompertz get to him in time, before the three weapons should make their simultaneous thrusts? If not, it seemed that Ludovic must fall. The blades were now within a few feet of him, as he stood desperately swinging his own round, and Ompertz was yet some yards away. With a furious cry like a wild animal’s, the soldier rushed madly to the rescue. His great shout gained him a second or two as the man, the most dangerous of the three, who was threatening Ludovic from behind, half turned, and so had to check his rush. Then, seeing Ompertz was not quite so near as he had imagined, he went on again, and coming to close quarters, let drive at Ludovic. By almost miraculous good fortune, the King’s sword was sweeping round that way; it just caught and beat aside the deadly thrust. There was no time for a second in the same direction; the ruffian’s sword was now needed to meet that of Ompertz. When it came to a fair fight, man to man, he was no match for the soldier either in courage or skill. Ompertz knew that, with the odds still against them, no time was to be wasted in pretty fighting. Rapidly, with a furious onslaught, he drove his man back upon the shelving wall of the ravine, with the result that the fellow stumbled backwards, and, before he could recover himself, the unerring sword passed through him, and he went down with a groan, as Ompertz sprang to the King’s assistance.

Barely in time. For the slope, which had just been fatal to one of their enemies, was likewise placing Ludovic in great peril. With two men attacking him, he was forced to keep his back to the rocky wall, and, in consequence, could not spring backwards to avoid the furious double thrusts which were made at him. His two assailants were fighting desperately, more for their own skins now than for murder. When they saw their intended victim joined by Ompertz, his face like that of an enraged lion, his sword red with the blood of the man who lay a few paces away, where in his death agony he had rolled, such assassins’ courage as they had completely failed them; the certainty of their design’s failure seemed to paralyze their arms, and, before Ludovic had time to command his forbearance, Ompertz had run them both through, and they were writhing on the ground.

“Speak, you dog!” the soldier cried, holding his point to the throat of the one who seemed to have the more life in him. “Who set you on this devil’s work, the Count?”

“The Count, curse him!” the fellow ejaculated with a hideous grimace, and then lay still with the look stamped on his face.

Ompertz turned away with all a soldier’s indifference mingled with disgust.

“A narrow escape, sire,” he laughed, grimly respectful. “I thank Heaven I was here to help your Highness out of the trap.”

“I shall not forget your service if ever fate gives me the power to reward it,” Ludovic replied, grasping the soldier’s hand. “I wish, though, you had not been so quick with those last two fellows. When we got the advantage, their deaths were not necessary.”

“Pardon me, sire,” Ompertz insisted deferentially, “it never pays to let a snake go when you have him under your heel. Mercy is thrown away upon such reptiles as those. Worse, it breeds danger, and we have, I fancy, enough to face as it is.”

“That is true,” Ludovic agreed, with a troubled look. “I seem to have fallen now into a very vortex of difficulty and danger. Still, I may be thankful that luck has so far been on my side, and that Heaven has sent you, my friend, to help me.”

They went to the carriage. Inside, lying back in the seat which Ruperta had occupied on their long drive, with a ghastly grin on his ashen face, was a dead man.

“I gave that fellow no chance to take a second aim at your Highness,” Ompertz observed grimly. “It was a pretty trap, and I hope we may be well out of it.”

The carriage was now to be no more thought of, so, taking from it such of their belongings as might be useful, as well as a spare pistol of the dead man’s, they made their way from the place of bloodshed.

“What I cannot understand,” Ludovic remarked, as they went cautiously down the gorge, “is the Count’s motive in this attempt.”

“A precious scoundrel!” Ompertz ejaculated. “I only hope I may have a chance of getting even with him; and we have left the Princess there in his devilish hands.”

“That is what troubles me more than anything else,” Ludovic replied seriously. “I cannot understand it. Even as it is, I almost incline to doubt whether the Count was the real instigator of this outrage. It is too preposterous.”

“I had no liking for the man last night,” Ompertz observed.

“Nor had I. Still, what possible harm can we have done him that he should have conceived this vile attempt against us? To murder in cold blood.”

Their return through the valley was without further incident. As they drew near the castle, they saw the lounging figure of the Count on one of the lower terraces. He was alone, save for the company of a great wolf-hound, with which he was carelessly playing.

“Let him not see us too soon,” Ludovic said, and, keeping on the inner edge of the path, they approached the flight of terraces from the side. By this means they came upon their host somewhat suddenly, at a distance of not more than twenty paces. The dog looked round sharply with a low growl of suspicion, and his master followed the look, expectantly, it seemed, although, when he saw his two guests, he showed no sign of surprise or discomfiture. On the contrary, there was a pleasant smile on his face as he went forward to greet them.

“So, my friends! You have found your carriage, I hope, not past repair. And my men are doing for you all that may be necessary, yes?”

The man’s coolness was almost staggering. For a moment Ludovic stared at him astounded, scarcely believing such hypocrisy possible. Then he replied—

“Your men, Count Irromar, have certainly tried to do all that was necessary to prevent our ever journeying again in that carriage or any other.”

The Count looked mystified. “I do not understand you, Lieutenant.”

“I think you do,” returned Ludovic. “The men whom you were kind enough to send with us have just, in conjunction with two other ruffians who lay in wait in our carriage, made a dastardly attempt on our lives.”

The Count had preserved his look of mystified inquiry, till the last words changed it to one of serious, then smiling incredulity. “Lieutenant, surely you have prepared a little jest for our breakfast table.”

“I fancy,” Ompertz, towards whom the Count had glanced in half-amused inquiry, put in with bluff impatience, “those five sportsmen who are now lying in the gorge yonder will miss both the jest and the breakfast.”

As though failing still to obtain a satisfactory explanation, the Count looked back to Ludovic.

“I am still in the dark. If this is not a jest, will you, sir, kindly tell me what has happened?”

“I have already told you,” Ludovic returned sternly. “It is for me to ask you, Count Irromar, whether this abominable attempt was made at your instigation?”

The Count gave a shrug of impatient contempt. “My instigation?” he echoed, with a show of restrained indignation. “If I understand aright, you come to me with an extraordinary tale of having been attacked by five men, three of them my servants; and you return to the house which has received you, you must allow, with every token of hospitality, and accuse me, your host, of being the author of this unheard-of outrage. Really, my Lieutenant, I hope my ideas of hospitality differ vastly from yours.”

“They do,” Ludovic retorted dryly. “For I can scarcely believe that these men acted of their own accord.”

“Such things have happened,” Irromar rejoined suavely, “whether they have taken place to-day or not. I do my best to keep order in my household, but can hardly be held morally responsible for the acts of my servants.”

He was so confident, so incredulous, and withal so politely unruffled, that Ludovic found himself doubting whether the attempt, after all, should be laid to his charge. Then the woman’s face, which he had seen the night before, rose in his mind, and his mistrust returned in fuller force.

“That the outrage could have been planned without your knowledge, Count,” he said resolutely, “is inconceivable.”

Irromar smiled indulgently. “I cannot be answerable, either, for the workings of your imagination,” he replied, with irritating demur. “Do I understand you, or your friend, to say that the five men you speak of have been killed?”

Ludovic nodded assent “Luckily. It was our lives or theirs.”

The Count looked grave. “I hope you may be able to justify such an extreme measure,” he said. “Even in these wilds, we do not hold life so cheap as you military gentlemen seem to suppose. But I should like to think that this is all a pleasant little fiction on your part.”

His indifference was growing more and more exasperating. “I am quite ready to justify what I and my friend have been forced to do in this business,” Ludovic returned sternly. “The atrocious attack upon us can never be explained away, and I am at a loss even to guess its motive. But as it seems quite useless to expect sympathy from you in the matter, we will ask you to let us resume our journey without further delay, and to send word to the ladies that we are ready and await them here.”

There was a deepening of the curious look in the Count’s eyes.

“The ladies?” he repeated, in a tone of bland surprise. “Surely they have been with you. They left the castle, I understand, about half an hour since, and followed you down the valley.”

Ludovic’s face darkened as the scheme of treachery grew more apparent.

“It is impossible,” he objected. “In that case we must have met them. You have been misinformed. May I ask you to let the ladies know that we are waiting to start.”

The Count seemed to lose patience. “The ladies are no longer under my roof, I tell you,” he insisted. “If you think they have missed their way, I will send out a party to seek them. I can do no more.”

Ompertz stood at Ludovic’s shoulder. “He is lying,” he whispered.

“I think, Count,” Ludovic said, “that you are mistaken. The ladies are still within the castle.”

Suddenly the Count’s face changed, as, somehow, although the actuality was in a greater degree, Ludovic had had an intuition that it would change. Its expression of urbane, if cynical, strength became one of furious rage, which seemed to blaze forth from every feature. Yet, curiously, for the moment, the outburst was confined to his looks; his speech did not rise above a concentrated but restrained indignation.

“You think? You give me the lie, Herr Lieutenant? I am wondering what will be your next insult to the man who has sheltered and fed you. I tell you the ladies of your party have left my roof. If you choose to doubt me, you may search the castle, but at your peril.”

“At our peril, then,” Ludovic replied resolutely, “if it must be. I fear we must seek them within doors since——”

“Since you do not choose to believe my word,” the Count roared, letting loose his rage now with a vengeance. “You give me the lie!” he continued furiously. “You come here, wretched whipster, begging my hospitality, which I give you in full measure, and you repay it by insult, by worse, according to your own words, by killing my men; bringing me a story such as no one would credit. You must be mad. By heaven, if I find that what you have told me be true, I will have vengeance. The blood of my servants shall not be shed for nothing by wandering madmen. I will kill you as a dangerous pest, so look to yourself, yes, both of you, my Lieutenant and Captain!”

Nothing could exceed the acrimonious fury of this tirade. The polished man-of-the-world, the self-indulgent sportsman, with his suave cynical philosophy, was transformed into a raging animal, snarling upon his spring. The dark face seemed now black with temper, the eyes were blood-shot, the great white teeth significantly shown, all made the face a picture of vicious rage not to be forgotten.

For a moment Ludovic stood nonplussed, hardly knowing how to take the situation. That the Count had some evil scheme in his mind was certain, how it was to be met by two men, with nothing but their courage to back them, was not quite so plain. One awkward feature of the situation was the plausibility behind which the Count had taken his stand. The position he had assumed had in it certainly less of improbability than the story Ludovic had to tell. Anyhow, in that wild region might was right. The Count’s intention to pick a quarrel and so get rid of them was manifest: to argue further or try to convince him would be sheer waste of time. And yet the crisis was so desperate that something had to be done.

As Ludovic paused, hesitating as to the course he should take, Ompertz took a step sturdily forward, and confronted the raging Count with no sign of flinching or perplexity.

“As to madmen,” he said bluffly, “you will soon find, Count, on which side the madness lies. At least we are not fools, and I know not what object you may have in trying to make us such. We are not afraid of you or your threats, and that we can fight against odds your ravine yonder bears witness more eloquent than a whole day’s boasting.”

The Count, who during this speech had eyed Ompertz with a deadly hatred, remarkable for its very unreasonableness, now laughed scornfully.

“You are a fine fellow,” he cried, “to afford asylum to. A precious pair of adventurers, I doubt not. I am tired of you; you sicken me with your mad tales and your brag. You can fight, you say? Good; then fight!”

With the word he put a silver whistle to his lips and blew a shrill call. Before the summons ceased to sound men began to make their appearance from all parts of the castle and its approaches. Men of determined, if ruffianly, aspect, most of them in the dress of foresters, all bearing on the left arm the badge of the house they served, and all armed with hunting cutlasses. They came hurrying down the terraces in a business-like manner, and as, at a sign from the Count, they formed up in double line on the platform next above that where he stood, Ludovic told himself that a more truculent array of ruffians he had never set eyes on or even imagined could exist. It took not many seconds for them to assemble, and during the operation the Count watched them with a set, grim smile. Then he turned to his late guests. The rage had gone from his face now—perhaps it had never been more than skin deep—it had given place to a vicious suavity which was, if anything, more repulsive than the coarser token to his disposition.

“These,” he waved his hand towards them, “are but a small part of the force with which I protect myself and my property in these wilds. These are but the number who were within call. No man has ever yet defied me with impunity, and there seems no reason”—here he smiled with evil sarcasm—“why you should succeed where others have failed. But, as you have eaten my bread, I will be somewhat punctilious in observing the laws of hospitality, without enquiring too curiously how far you have disregarded them. Walter!” he called to a man who, standing a little in advance, seemed in command of the posse of retainers. When this fellow, no exception to the general repulsiveness, had come down the Count proceeded. “I give you, Lieutenant von Bertheim and Captain von Ompertz, one hour from now to get clear of my territory. If, after that hour, you are found on it you shall die the death of dogs. You hear? Those are my orders. I have no more to say. I listen to no word. Go!”

He turned abruptly, and walked quickly up the ascent. His two guests were left standing there, with the officer grimly watching them.