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EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
THE MAD KING
PART I
I
A RUNAWAY HORSE
All Lustadt was in an uproar. The mad king had escaped. Littleknots of excited men stood upon the street corners listening to eachlatest rumor concerning this most absorbing occurrence. Before thepalace a great crowd surged to and fro, awaiting they knew not what.
For ten years no man of them had set eyes upon the face of theboy-king who had been hastened to the grim castle of Blentz upon thedeath of the old king, his father.
There had been murmurings then when the lad's uncle, Peter ofBlentz, had announced to the people of Lutha the sudden mentalaffliction which had fallen upon his nephew, and more murmurings fora time after the announcement that Peter of Blentz had beenappointed Regent during the lifetime of the young King Leopold, "oruntil God, in His infinite mercy, shall see fit to restore to us infull mental vigor our beloved monarch."
But ten years is a long time. The boy-king had become but a vaguememory to the subjects who could recall him at all.
There were many, of course, in the capital city, Lustadt, who stillretained a mental picture of the handsome boy who had ridden outnearly every morning from the palace gates beside the tall, martialfigure of the old king, his father, for a canter across the broadplain which lies at the foot of the mountain town of Lustadt; buteven these had long since given up hope that their young king wouldever ascend his throne, or even that they should see him aliveagain.
Peter of Blentz had not proved a good or kind ruler. Taxes haddoubled during his regency. Executives and judiciary, following theexample of their chief, had become tyrannical and corrupt. For tenyears there had been small joy in Lutha.
There had been whispered rumors off and on that the young king wasdead these many years, but not even in whispers did the men of Luthadare voice the name of him whom they believed had caused his death.For lesser things they had seen their friends and neighbors throwninto the hitherto long-unused dungeons of the royal castle.
And now came the rumor that Leopold of Lutha had escaped the Castleof Blentz and was roaming somewhere in the wild mountains or ravinesupon the opposite side of the plain of Lustadt.
Peter of Blentz was filled with rage and, possibly, fear as well.
"I tell you, Coblich," he cried, addressing his dark-visagedminister of war, "there's more than coincidence in this matter.Someone has betrayed us. That he should have escaped upon the veryeve of the arrival at Blentz of the new physician is mostsuspicious. None but you, Coblich, had knowledge of the part thatDr. Stein was destined to play in this matter," concluded PrincePeter pointedly.
Coblich looked the Regent full in the eye.
"Your highness wrongs not only my loyalty, but my intelligence," hesaid quietly, "by even so much as intimating that I have any guiltyknowledge of Leopold's escape. With Leopold upon the throne ofLutha, where, think you, my prince, would old Coblich be?"
Peter smiled.
"You are right, Coblich," he said. "I know that you would not besuch a fool; but whom, then, have we to thank?"
"The walls have ears, prince," replied Coblich, "and we have notalways been as careful as we should in discussing the matter.Something may have come to the ears of old Von der Tann. I don't fora moment doubt but that he has his spies among the palace servants,or even the guard. You know the old fox has always made it a pointto curry favor with the common soldiers. When he was minister of warhe treated them better than he did his officers."
"It seems strange, Coblich, that so shrewd a man as you should havebeen unable to discover some irregularity in the political life ofPrince Ludwig von der Tann before now," said the prince querulously."He is the greatest menace to our peace and sovereignty. With Vonder Tann out of the way there would be none powerful enough toquestion our right to the throne of Lutha--after poor Leopold passesaway."
"You forget that Leopold has escaped," suggested Coblich, "and thatthere is no immediate prospect of his passing away."
"He must be retaken at once, Coblich!" cried Prince Peter of Blentz."He is a dangerous maniac, and we must make this fact plain to thepeople--this and a thorough description of him. A handsome rewardfor his safe return to Blentz might not be out of the way, Coblich."
"It shall be done, your highness," replied Coblich. "And about Vonder Tann? You have never spoken to me quite so--ah--er--pointedlybefore. He hunts a great deal in the Old Forest. It might bepossible--in fact, it has happened, before--there are many accidentsin hunting, are there not, your highness?"
"There are, Coblich," replied the prince, "and if Leopold is able hewill make straight for the Tann, so that there may be two huntingtogether in a day or so, Coblich."
"I understand, your highness," replied the minister. "With yourpermission, I shall go at once and dispatch troops to search theforest for Leopold. Captain Maenck will command them."
"Good, Coblich! Maenck is a most intelligent and loyal officer. Wemust reward him well. A baronetcy, at least, if he handles thismatter well," said Peter. "It might not be a bad plan to hint at asmuch to him, Coblich."
And so it happened that shortly thereafter Captain Ernst Maenck, incommand of a troop of the Royal Horse Guards of Lutha, set outtoward the Old Forest, which lies beyond the mountains that arevisible upon the other side of the plain stretching out beforeLustadt. At the same time other troopers rode in many directionsalong the highways and byways of Lutha, tacking placards upon treesand fence posts and beside the doors of every little rural postoffice.
The placard told of the escape of the mad king, offering a largereward for his safe return to Blentz.
It was the last paragraph especially which caused a young man, thefollowing day in the little hamlet of Tafelberg, to whistle as hecarefully read it over.
"I am glad that I am not the mad king of Lutha," he said as he paidthe storekeeper for the gasoline he had just purchased and steppedinto the gray roadster for whose greedy maw it was destined.
"Why, mein Herr?" asked the man.
"This notice practically gives immunity to whoever shoots down theking," replied the traveler. "Worse still, it gives such an accountof the maniacal ferocity of the fugitive as to warrant anyone inshooting him on sight."
As the young man spoke the storekeeper had examined his face closelyfor the first time. A shrewd look came into the man's ordinarilystolid countenance. He leaned forward quite close to the other'sear.
"We of Lutha," he whispered, "love our 'mad king'--no reward couldbe offered that would tempt us to betray him. Even inself-protection we would not kill him, we of the mountains whoremember him as a boy and loved his father and his grandfather,before him.
"But there are the scum of the low country in the army these days,who would do anything for money, and it is these that the king mustguard against. I could not help but note that mein Herr spoke tooperfect German for a foreigner. Were I in mein Herr's place, Ishould speak mostly the English, and, too, I should shave off the'full, reddish-brown beard.'"
Whereupon the storekeeper turned hastily back into his shop, leavingBarney Custer of Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S.A., to wonder if all theinhabitants of Lutha were afflicted with a mental disorder similarto that of the unfortunate ruler.
"I don't wonder," soliloquized the young man, "that he advised me toshave off this ridiculous crop of alfalfa. Hang election bets,anyway; if things had gone half right I shouldn't have had to wearthis badge of idiocy. And to think that it's got to be for a wholemonth longer! A year's a mighty
long while at best, but a year incompany with a full set of red whiskers is an eternity."
The road out of Tafelberg wound upward among tall trees toward thepass that would lead him across the next valley on his way to theOld Forest, where he hoped to find some excellent shooting.All his life Barney had promised himself that some day he shouldvisit his mother's native land, and now that he was here he found itas wild and beautiful as she had said it would be.
Neither his mother nor his father had ever returned to the littlecountry since the day, thirty years before, that the big Americanhad literally stolen his bride away, escaping across the border buta scant half-hour ahead of the pursuing troop of Luthanian cavalry.Barney had often wondered why it was that neither of them would everspeak of those days, or of the early life of his mother, VictoriaRubinroth, though of the beauties of her native land Mrs. Custernever tired of talking.
Barney Custer was thinking of these things as his machine wound upthe picturesque road. Just before him was a long, heavy grade, andas he took it with open muffler the chugging of his motor drownedthe sound of pounding hoof beats rapidly approaching behind him.
It was not until he topped the grade that he heard anything unusual,and at the same instant a girl on horseback tore past him. The speedof the animal would have been enough to have told him that it wasbeyond the control of its frail rider, even without the addedtestimony of the broken bit that dangled beneath the tenselyoutstretched chin.
Foam flecked the beast's neck and shoulders. It was evident thatthe horse had been running for some distance, yet its speed wasstill that of the thoroughly frightened runaway.
The road at the point where the animal had passed Custer was cutfrom the hillside. At the left an embankment rose steeply to aheight of ten or fifteen feet. On the right there was a drop of ahundred feet or more into a wooded ravine. Ahead, the roadapparently ran quite straight and smooth for a considerabledistance.
Barney Custer knew that so long as the road ran straight the girlmight be safe enough, for she was evidently an excellent horsewoman;but he also knew that if there should be a sharp turn to the leftahead, the horse in his blind fright would in all probability dashheadlong into the ravine below him.
There was but a single thing that the man might attempt if he wereto save the girl from the almost certain death which seemed in storefor her, since he knew that sooner or later the road would turn, asall mountain roads do. The chances that he must take, if he failed,could only hasten the girl's end. There was no alternative except tosit supinely by and see the fear-crazed horse carry its rider intoeternity, and Barney Custer was not the sort for that role.
Scarcely had the beast come abreast of him than his foot leaped tothe accelerator. Like a frightened deer the gray roadster sprangforward in pursuit. The road was narrow. Two machines could not havepassed upon it. Barney took the outside that he might hold the horseaway from the dangerous ravine.
At the sound of the whirring thing behind him the animal cast anaffrighted glance in its direction, and with a little squeal ofterror redoubled its frantic efforts to escape. The girl, too,looked back over her shoulder. Her face was very white, but her eyeswere steady and brave.
Barney Custer smiled up at her in encouragement, and the girl smiledback at him.
"She's sure a game one," thought Barney.
Now she was calling to him. At first he could not catch her wordsabove the pounding of the horse's hoofs and the noise of his motor.Presently he understood.
"Stop!" she cried. "Stop or you will be killed. The road turns tothe left just ahead. You'll go into the ravine at that speed."
The front wheel of the roadster was at the horse's right flank.Barney stepped upon the accelerator a little harder. There wasbarely room between the horse and the edge of the road for the fourwheels of the roadster, and Barney must be very careful not to touchthe horse. The thought of that and what it would mean to the girlsent a cold shudder through Barney Custer's athletic frame.
The man cast a glance to his right. His machine drove from the leftside, and he could not see the road at all over the right hand door.The sight of tree tops waving beneath him was all that was visible.Just ahead the road's edge rushed swiftly beneath the right-handfender; the wheels on that side must have been on the very verge ofthe embankment.
Now he was abreast the girl. Just ahead he could see where the roaddisappeared around a corner of the bluff at the dangerous curve thegirl had warned him against.
Custer leaned far out over the side of his car. The lunging of thehorse in his stride, and the swaying of the leaping car carried himfirst close to the girl and then away again. With his right hand heheld the car between the frantic horse and the edge of theembankment. His left hand, outstretched, was almost at the girl'swaist. The turn was just before them.
"Jump!" cried Barney.
The girl fell backward from her mount, turning to grasp Custer's armas it closed about her. At the same instant Barney closed thethrottle, and threw all the weight of his body upon the foot brake.
The gray roadster swerved toward the embankment as the hind wheelsskidded on the loose surface gravel. They were at the turn. Thehorse was just abreast the bumper. There was one chance in athousand of making the turn were the running beast out of the way.There was still a chance if he turned ahead of them. If he did notturn--Barney hated to think of what must follow.
But it was all over in a second. The horse bolted straight ahead.Barney swerved the roadster to the turn. It caught the animal fullin the side. There was a sickening lurch as the hind wheels slidover the embankment, and then the man shoved the girl from therunning board to the road, and horse, man and roadster went overinto the ravine.
A moment before a tall young man with a reddish-brown beard hadstood at the turn of the road listening intently to the sound of thehurrying hoof beats and the purring of the racing motor carapproaching from the distance. In his eyes lurked the look of thehunted. For a moment he stood in evident indecision, but just beforethe runaway horse and the pursuing machine came into view he slippedover the edge of the road to slink into the underbrush far downtoward the bottom of the ravine.
When Barney pushed the girl from the running board she fell heavilyto the road, rolling over several times, but in an instant shescrambled to her feet, hardly the worse for the tumble other than afew scratches.
Quickly she ran to the edge of the embankment, a look of immenserelief coming to her soft, brown eyes as she saw her rescuerscrambling up the precipitous side of the ravine toward her.
"You are not killed?" she cried in German. "It is a miracle!"
"Not even bruised," reassured Barney. "But you? You must have hada nasty fall."
"I am not hurt at all," she replied. "But for you I should be lyingdead, or terribly maimed down there at the bottom of that awfulravine at this very moment. It's awful." She drew her shouldersupward in a little shudder of horror. "But how did you escape? Evennow I can scarce believe it possible."
"I'm quite sure I don't know how I did escape," said Barney,clambering over the rim of the road to her side. "That I had nothingto do with it I am positive. It was just luck. I simply dropped outonto that bush down there."
They were standing side by side, now peering down into the ravinewhere the car was visible, bottom side up against a tree, near thebase of the declivity. The horse's head could be seen protrudingfrom beneath the wreckage.
"I'd better go down and put him out of his misery," said Barney, "ifhe is not already dead."
"I think he is quite dead," said the girl. "I have not seen himmove."
Just then a little puff of smoke arose from the machine, followed bya tongue of yellow flame. Barney had already started toward thehorse.
"Please don't go," begged the girl. "I am sure that he is quitedead, and it wouldn't be safe for you down there now. The gasolinetank may explode any minute."
Barney stopped.
"Yes, he is dead all right," he said, "but all my belongings aredown there. My g
uns, six-shooters and all my ammunition. And," headded ruefully, "I've heard so much about the brigands that infestthese mountains."
The girl laughed.
"Those stories are really exaggerated," she said. "I was born inLutha, and except for a few months each year have always lived here,and though I ride much I have never seen a brigand. You need not beafraid."
Barney Custer looked up at her quickly, and then he grinned. Hisonly fear had been that he would not meet brigands, for Mr. BernardCuster, Jr., was young and the spirit of Romance and Adventurebreathed strong within him.
"Why do you smile?" asked the girl.
"At our dilemma," evaded Barney. "Have you paused to consider oursituation?"
The girl smiled, too.
"It is most unconventional," she said. "On foot and alone in themountains, far from home, and we do not even know each other'sname."
"Pardon me," cried Barney, bowing low. "Permit me to introducemyself. I am," and then to the spirits of Romance and Adventure wasadded a third, the spirit of Deviltry, "I am the mad king of Lutha."