"You  fight  like  the  very  devil,  my  friend,"  he
said;  "but  we  were  too  many  by  six.  Mind,  I
114


THE     PUPPET     CROWN         115

think  none  the  less  of  you  for  your  .attempt;  free-
dom is  always  worth  fighting  for.  As  I  said  be-
fore, no  harm  is  meant  to  you,  physically;  as  to
the  moral  side,  that  doesn't  concern  me.  You  have
disabled  four  of  my  men,  and  have  scarcely  a  dozen
scratches  to  show  for  it.  I  wanted  to  take  only
four  men  with  me;  I  was  ordered  to  take  eight.
The  hand  of  providence  is  in  it."

''You  wouldn't  be  so  polite,  Colonel,"  spoke  up
the  trooper  whose  arm  was  in  the  sling,  "if  you
had  got  this  crack."

"Baron,  who  told  you  to  call  me  Colonel?"  the
leader  demanded.
"Why,  we  are  out  of  the  city;  there's  no  harm
now  that  I  can  see."

"Is  it  possible,"  said  Maurice  ironically,  "that  I
have  had  the  honor  of  hitting  a  baron  on  the
head  and  breaking  his  arm?"

The  baron  muttered  a  curse  and  fell  back.
"And  you,"  went  on  Maurice,  addressing  the
leader,  "are  a  Colonel?"

"Yes."

"For  the  duchess?"

"For  the  duchess."

"A  black  business  for  you,  Colonel;  take  my
word  for  it."

"A  black  business  it  is;  but  orders  are  orders
Have  you  ever  been  a  soldier?"

"I  have."

"Well,  there's  nothing  more  to  be  said."

"America —  '  Maurice  began.
"Is  several  thousand  miles  away."

"Not  if  you  reckon  from  Vienna."


116         THE    PUPPET     CROWN

"I'd  rather  not  reckon,  if  it's  all  the  same  to
you.  Your  friend — I  might  say,  your  very  valu-
able friend — takes  the  matter  too  much  to  heart"

"He's  not  a  talkative  man."

Fitzgerald  looked  straight  ahead,  stern  and  im-
passive.
