that a very formidable and determined attempt will be made to secure
possession of your person to-night, during the progress of our journey
toward the city. There is no time to enter into even the most brief of
explanations, but the point is this: My Lord Dick and I have devised a
plan to frustrate this atrocious plot, and all that we need is your
Majesty's immediate and unqualified assent to enable us to put the plan
into effect. It involves your trusting yourself alone with me while I
take you back to the city and the palace by a shorter but very lonely
route. Will you do it? It is the joint plan of my Lord Dick and
myself, and it is our earnest desire and entreaty that you will be
graciously pleased to assent to it."
"Of course," agreed the queen, with the utmost readiness. "I will trust
myself with my Lord Dick and you anywhere."
"I greatly appreciate the confidence which your Majesty is pleased to
put in me," remarked Earle. "But I fear that I have not succeeded in
making myself quite understood. The success of our plan demands that
you come with me _alone_. My Lord Dick cannot come with us. It is
necessary that he shall remain with the bodyguard."
"Necessary that he should remain?" objected the queen. "Nay, surely
not. Let him turn over the command for the moment, to Acor, and come
with us. It is not that I am afraid to trust myself alone with you, my
lord," she added, in response to a sigh and a gesture of disappointment
from Earle, "but--but--"
"Oh yes, your Majesty, of course I know," responded Earle wearily, "but
what you suggest simply cannot be done. You see--Oh! hang it all," he
continued, breaking into English, "tell the child that she simply _must_
do as we ask; that you wish it; or she'll stand here arguing until
further orders."
The unmistakable tone of annoyance and impatience with which Earle ended
his speech caused the queen to glance at him with big, startled eyes;
but when Dick bent over her and whispered an entreaty that she would
fall in with the plan, so that he might thus be relieved of a very heavy
load of anxiety, she acquiesced without further ado, while Earle
triumphantly chortled, in English:
"I told you so!"
They were by this time close to the royal chariot, near which stood a
dismounted trooper, holding his horse by the bridle with one hand, while
over his other arm he held unfolded the long, black military cloak in
which officers and men alike were wont to envelop themselves at night
time to protect their armour and accoutrements from the drenching night
dews.
Without saying a word, Dick at once took the cloak from the man and
wrapped it round the queen, enveloping her from head to foot; next he
drew the hood over her head and so arranged it that while the girl could
see clearly, her features were hidden in the deep shadow cast by the
overhanging hood. And, this done, he seized her beneath the arms and
tossed her light as a feather, into the saddle, carefully set her feet
in the stirrups, and afterwards arranged the voluminous folds of the
cloak in such a fashion that the rich dress which she wore was
completely concealed. Then, one on each side of the horse's head, Dick
and Earle led the animal to the head of the troop, while at a sign from
Dick, the dismounted trooper entered the royal chariot and drew the
curtains close.
It was by this time quite dark, save for the illumination afforded by
the stars, which brilliantly studded the heavens and just shed a bare
sufficiency of soft, sheeny light to reveal the white road, and the
nearer trees and clumps of bush standing out against the opaque black
background of the surrounding hills. So far as could be seen, there was
nothing on the road ahead of the royal chariot and its escorting
squadrons of horsemen, for to precede them was contrary to etiquette;
therefore as soon as Dick and Earle reached the head of the returning
procession they mounted their horses and gave the word to march at a
trot, the two white men leading, with the queen riding between them,
while the nobles, accompanied by their retinues, came closely behind,
for all now seemed anxious to reach the city with as little delay as
possible. In this fashion about a mile and a half of the return journey
was accomplished, and a bend of the road was reached where a sort of
bridle path bore sharply off to the right, forming a short cut to the
city, but practicable only for horsemen or pedestrians, because of its
narrowness, the road through the scrub being only wide enough to permit
the passage of a single horseman. Here Earle left the escort and,
closely followed by the queen, plunged into the by-path, where their
forms instantly became merged in the deep shadow of the surrounding
bush, while the soft, sandy character of the soil so muffled the
hoof-beats of their horses as to render them inaudible above the sounds
caused by the passage of the horses and chariots along the high road.
Ten seconds after they had parted from the main body, Earle and his
companion had vanished as completely as though the earth had swallowed
them up, while none but the leading files of the escort had witnessed
their going. Five minutes later, Dick uttered a low word of command,
and a sergeant, accompanied by four files of troopers, separated
themselves from the main body and pushed forward along the main road at
a canter acting as scouts.
Scarcely had these men vanished in the distance when the sky on the left
assumed an appearance as though being overspread by a soft golden
radiance, throwing the outline of the encircling cliffs in that
direction into sharp relief, the stars thereabout paled into
insignificant pin points of light ere they vanished altogether, and
presently up sailed the full moon into view above the hill tops,
instantly flooding the valley with her soft, mysterious effulgence,
until in the course of a few minutes objects were almost as clearly
visible as in the light of day, while the multitudinous polished metal
domes and roofs, of the distant city shimmered under the clear rays like
the waters of another lake.
Some ten minutes later, a clear, shrill whistle sounded far ahead, which
was the preconcerted signal announcing that the scouts had come into
touch with an opposing body of some description, and Dick immediately
gave the order for the bodyguard to roll up their cloaks and hold
themselves ready for action. Scarcely had this been executed when the
sergeant in command of the scouts came thundering back, with the
intimation that a dense mass of footmen, armed with bow, spear and
sword, occupied the road about half-a-mile ahead, completely blocking
it, and that the officer in command--no less a personage than the
missing Lord Sachar--contemptuously refused to budge an inch, and
insolently demanded immediate speech with the Captain-General.
"He does, does he?" ejaculated Dick. "All right, he shall have it; and
much good may it do him!"
The incident of the sergeant's return had not for a moment interrupted
the progress of the bodyguard, that official having simply wheeled his
horse in the road and drawn in alongside Dick as the latter came up,
riding a few paces in advance. Then, keeping pace with the
Captain-General, the sergeant made his brief report, before falling back
into his proper place in the troop. Five minutes later, upon rounding a
bend in the road, Dick found himself within fifty yards of the opposing
force, which had been posted with some skill right across the road, at a
point where the growth of scrub on either hand was so dense as to render
it impossible for either infantry or cavalry to pass through it and so
execute an outflanking movement.
"Halt!" shouted Dick to the troopers in his rear; and as the horsemen
reined in and came to a standstill, he allowed his hand to drop to the
butt of one of the four automatic pistols which he had taken the
precaution to thrust into his belt before setting out from the palace in
the morning. Drawing forth the weapon and allowing the hand which held
it to drop to his side, he urged his horse forward until he was within a
few yards of the front rank of the opposing force, when he drew rein,
and demanded:
"Who are ye, and where is your leader? Let him stand forth and explain
the meaning of this outrage. Know ye that ye are opposing the passage
of the chariot of the Queen's most excellent Majesty?"
"Ay, right well do we know it, since that is our purpose," replied a
man, stepping forth in response to Dick's challenge. He was dressed in
a suit of complete gold armour; but since the Uluan helmet has no visor,
and the light of the moon, now almost as brilliant as that of day, fell
full upon his face, Dick at once recognised him as the recalcitrant
Sachar.
"So it is thou, my Lord Sachar," remarked Dick. "Hast heard that there
is a reward set upon thy head, and art come forth at this untimely hour
to surrender thyself?"
"Nay, not so," answered Sachar, "but to make two demands have I come,
bringing with me these my faithful followers and servitors, that I may
have the power to enforce my demands.
"I demand, first, the surrender of the Queen's person into my care and
keeping; and second, I demand the surrender of yourself and the other
stranger, your companion, in order that ye may be brought to trial for
the crimes of exercising undue and pernicious influence upon the mind of
the Queen, and the abolition of certain ancient rites and customs
connected with the worship and honour of the great god Kuhlacan. And I
warn ye beforehand, oh insolent white stranger, that it will be useless
for ye to resist my demands; for though ye have some five hundred
soldiers at your back, I have here as many thousands to support me,
while in your rear there are thousands more who are pledged to help me.
Therefore, seeing that ye are hemmed in, front and rear, and cannot
possibly escape, I call upon the soldiers of the Queen's bodyguard to
surrender at discretion, and thus avert the shedding of much innocent
blood."
"Have ye finished?" demanded Dick. "Then--" as Sachar made no
reply--"now hearken all of you unto me. Ye know that this man Sachar,
once a Uluan noble, is now outlawed and a price set upon his head for
threatening her most gracious Majesty, Queen Myrra--whom may God grant a
long and prosperous reign--" Here the soldiers of the bodyguard broke in
with loud and enthusiastic cheers. "And," continued Dick, when silence
was once more restored, "ye have also now heard his audacious and
treasonable demand that the Queen shall be surrendered, a prisoner, into
his keeping, that he may work his wicked will upon her. Know,
therefore, that, rather than concede this outlaw's treasonable demands,
I will die here in the road fighting in defence of the Queen's person
and liberty, and so will every man who wears her Majesty's uniform--"
Here fresh cheers from the bodyguard again interrupted him. "Ye hear
those cheers?" resumed Dick, as the shouts died into silence. "And know
ye what they mean, oh misguided adherents of the outlawed Sachar? They
mean death to you! For your own sakes, therefore, I counsel you to
return to your allegiance to the Queen, surrendering Sachar to me, a
prisoner, to be tried and dealt with for his offence as the law of Ulua
directs. Those of you who are willing to save your lives, face about
and retire with all speed, lest evil befall you."
"So!" roared Sachar, advancing upon Dick with uplifted sword, "ye would
pervert my followers and terrify them into deserting me!" And he aimed
a mighty blow at Dick as the pair rushed at each other. But Dick,
anticipating something of the sort, had already dropped the bridle upon
his charger's neck, thrust his automatic back into his belt, and whipped
out the good steel sword that he had that morning deemed it advisable to
substitute for the handsome but comparatively useless weapon that went
with his uniform, and the next instant the two blades clashed together.
The result was precisely what Dick had anticipated, the steel shattered
the hardened and toughened copper blade as though the latter had been
glass, and before Sachar in the least realised what had happened Dick
had driven his sword hilt into his antagonist's face, causing the Uluan
noble to stagger so that he would have fallen, had not Dick leaned
forward in his saddle and gripped the man by the arm.
"Sergeant Mato," he called, "take this man back to the centre of the
troop, bind him hand and foot, and see to it that he does not escape
you. Now, followers of Sachar," he continued, "your leader is a
prisoner. Will ye--"
But at that moment he was interrupted by a confused din of angry
shouting, the trampling of horses, and the clinking of blade upon blade
coming from the rear, showing that the armed retainers of some at least
of the nobles who had attended the interment had fallen upon the
bodyguard. The sounds also reached the ears of Sachar's followers and,
encouraged thereby, they in their turn raised a great shout and rushed
forward, with the result that in a moment a fierce battle was raging in
the road, with the bodyguard attacked front and rear, while it soon
became evident that the aim of the assailants was to reach the queen's
chariot, doubtless in the hope of being able to secure possession of it
and drive it off through the melee.
For a few minutes the bodyguard were fighting at a serious disadvantage,
being all jammed up tightly together round the queen's chariot, so that
only a dozen or so in front and rear were able to strike a blow. But
Dick and Earle, while discussing the probabilities of attack, had
foreseen just such a state of affairs as now obtained, and had issued
their orders accordingly. These orders were now being faithfully
executed by the several officers, with the result that the troopers were
gradually forcing their powerful horses through the foremost ranks of
the attacking bodies, both front and rear, while other troopers closely
followed them up, sabreing right and left with a full determination to
make the traitors pay dearly for their treachery. As for Dick, what
with his sword of steel, which sheared through copper weapons and golden
armour as though they had been paper, his snapping automatics which slew
people at a distance, and his fiercely plunging horse, goaded forward by
an unsparing use of the spur, he seemed to the simple Uluans like the
incarnation of the god of death and destruction, and after beholding
some eight or ten luckless wights go down beneath his sword, they simply
turned and fled from him, shrieking with terror. This, added to the
confusion occasioned by the fierce onslaught of the troopers who
followed closely in his rear, presently proved too much for Sachar's own
particular body of retainers, and after some ten minutes of fierce
fighting they broke and fled, hotly pursued by the two leading squadrons
of the bodyguard.
Nor were those who attacked the bodyguard from the rear in much better
case; for although they outnumbered the soldiers by something like ten
to one, the cramped width of the road in which they fought nullified
this advantage, while their untrained methods of fighting allowed the
trained soldiers to ride and mow them down like grass, with the result
that after a few minutes of strenuous fighting their courage evaporated
and they, too, were seized with such overpowering panic that, to escape
the vengeful sabres of the bodyguard, they sought to fly, and finding no
way of escape, turned their weapons upon their own comrades and leaders,
speedily inducing a state of abject panic in them also. The result was
that very soon the rear attack, like that in front, ceased and became
converted into a headlong flight, leaving the bodyguard victorious.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS.
Dick's first act on the following morning, was to dispatch to the scene
of the fight a strong body of men, whose duty it would be to collect the
slain and bury them in a common grave by the roadside, after the officer
in command of the party had ascertained, by means of the dead men's
uniforms, the names of their chiefs. Then he proceeded in person to the
large building which had been hastily converted into a temporary
hospital, to which the wounded had been conveyed, and took the necessary
steps to discover the names of their chiefs also. The final result of
this investigation was the discovery that at least five of the Council
of Nobles, in addition to Sachar, had been implicated in the previous
night's attack upon the Queen's Bodyguard, in the attempt to secure
possession of the queen's person. Dick's next act was to dispatch to
the houses of the implicated five a sergeant's guard, with instructions
to the officer in command to arrest the owner--if he could be found, and
to seize his property. To do the last was simple enough, but Dick was
not greatly surprised to learn that, in each case, the "wanted" noble
had failed to return home on the previous night, and that nobody was
able to give the slightest hint as to his probable whereabouts. This,
however, did not very greatly trouble the young captain-general; Sachar,
the instigator and leader of the whole treasonable conspiracy, was
safely lodged in durance vile, under conditions which rendered his
escape a practical impossibility, the victory of the queen's troops over
the rebels had been signal and complete, the queen herself was safe and
sound, and Dick was disposed to think that, under the circumstances, he
would have no great difficulty in stamping out the smouldering remains
of the rebellion.
Nor was he mistaken, as circumstances soon proved. He proclaimed the
missing nobles outlaws, announced the confiscation of their property,
and offered a substantial reward for their persons, dead or alive,
which, with the terrible threats against all who should dare to harbour
or help them directly or indirectly, produced such a wholesome effect
that, within four days, every one of the missing men had been
ignominiously brought in and surrendered. And now, each man anxious
only to save his own skin, not only did the five--of whom Nimri,
Sachar's brother-in-law was one--proceed to lay the blame of the whole
affair upon Sachar, accusing him of influencing them by alternate bribes
and threats, but they also testified against certain other nobles who,
but for this, might have gone scot free and unsuspected; so that
ultimately no less than eleven of Ulua's most powerful and ambitious
nobles found themselves in danger of losing their heads in consequence
of their ambition having o'erleaped itself.
And now, Dick and Earle found themselves confronted with a difficulty,
for there were no such things as civil or criminal courts of justice in
Ulua, criminals being in the usual course haled before the _shiref_ of
the particular district in which the crime was committed, and summarily
sentenced by him to such punishment as he, in his wisdom, might deem
meet and adequate; while, if the crime was of a specially serious
character--as in the present case--it was the monarch who pronounced
judgment and determined the nature of the punishment.
But the two white men felt that it would never do to permit the young
queen to be saddled with the responsibility of judging eleven rebels
against her sovereign authority, and with the onus of personally
determining what amount of punishment they should receive; they
therefore put their heads together and, without very much difficulty,
drafted a scheme for the establishment of courts of justice, somewhat
similar in character to those in England, wherein criminals could be
tried and sentenced by duly qualified judges; though they decided that
the Uluans were not yet ripe for the introduction of the jury system.
This scheme they first submitted to Lyga, who, after suggesting certain
modifications calculated to adapt it more closely to the requirements
and peculiarities of the Uluan character, fully approved of it and
agreed to recommend it to the queen for acceptance and embodiment upon
the Statute Book. This was done, and, the idea having been fully
explained to the queen by Lyga, was approved by her and in due course
became one of the laws of the land. Then, a court having been
established, and men of suitable attainments found to serve as judges,
the prisoners were in due course tried, found guilty, and sentenced. No
attempt was made to clear any of the prisoners by means of clever
advocacy or specious argument, the questions before the court were the
straightforward ones whether or not the accused were guilty of
conspiracy, and, if guilty, to what extent; and in every case the
verdict was the same, every prisoner was found guilty, but not all to
the same extent, some of them being able to show that, owing to the
power and influence wielded by Sachar, they were practically compelled
to throw in their lot with him, whether or not they approved of his
designs. The result of the trial was, under the circumstances,
eminently satisfactory, considering that it was the first of the kind
ever held in Ulua; for the judges, instructed by Earle and Dick, devoted
themselves wholeheartedly to the task of administering strict justice,
without regard to the position or personality of the accused; and the
trial terminated with the condemnation of Sachar, Nimri, and two others
to death, with the confiscation of all their property, while the
remaining seven were punished in varying degrees, some by heavy fines,
and others by more or less lengthy periods of penal labour.
It was with considerable anxiety that Dick and Earle awaited and watched
for the effect upon the populace of this innovation in the judicial
methods of Ulua; but they had not long to wait before it became apparent
that the formality and solemnity of public trial were far more effective
as a deterrent than the former rough and ready methods, under which a
culprit was haled before a _shiref_ and summarily punished, with nobody
but himself and his immediate connections being a penny the wiser;
publicity and its attendant disgrace soon became more wholesomely
dreaded than even fine or imprisonment, and when a period of three
months had elapsed without the smallest sign of any recurrent
restiveness on the part of the Council of Nobles, the two white men felt
that Queen Myrra was firmly enough established upon her throne to be in
no further need of their services; they therefore announced their
intention to make an early departure, and proceeded to make their
preparations for the return journey.
It is not putting the matter any too strongly to say that the
announcement of the impending departure of the two white men from Ulua
was productive of the utmost consternation and dismay. So thoroughly
had the two identified themselves with every movement having for its
object the improvement of previous conditions, and so far-reaching and
wholesome had been their influence generally, that the inhabitants of
the city had insensibly grown to regard them as heaven-sent reformers,
permanently settled among them for their benefit and advantage by the
especial favour of Kuhlacan, and the news that the pair were about to
leave them fell upon the Uluans with something of the effect of a bolt
from the blue.
And upon no one did the intelligence seem to produce so stunning and
grievous an effect as upon the young queen. When, upon a certain
morning, Dick and Earle, having craved audience of her Majesty, made the
momentous announcement and asked her permission to depart, they were
shocked and astounded at the manner in which she received the
intimation. She went as white as death, sank back in the throne-like
chair upon which she was seated, closed her eyes, and for a moment it
looked as though she had fainted.