In another instant it would have been heard, for it was forming on the
lips of the Zouave lieutenant.
Fate willed it otherwise. Before it could be given, the outer door
opened, admitting a man whose presence caused a sudden suspension of the
proceedings.
Hurrying across the courtyard, he threw himself between the soldiers and
their victim, at the same time drawing a flag from beneath his coat, and
spreading it over the condemned man.
Even the drunken Zouaves dared not fire through that flag. It was the
Royal Standard of England!
But there was a double protection for the prisoner. Almost at the same
instant another man stepped hastily across the courtyard and flouted a
second flag in the eyes of the disappointed executioners!
It claimed equal respect, for it was the banner of the Stars and
Stripes--the emblem of the only true Republic on earth.
Maynard had served under both flags, and for a moment he felt his
affections divided.
He knew not to whom he was indebted for the last; but when he reflected
who had sent the first--for it was Sir George Vernon who bore it--his
heart trembled with a joy far sweeter than could have been experienced
by the mere thought of delivery from death!