With a whispered oath he turned back toward the
girl.
"Thank Heaven that I was in time, Emma," he cried.
"Oh, Leopold, my king, but at what a price," replied the girl. "He
will return now with others and kill you. He is furious--so furious
that he scarce knows what he does."
"He seemed to know what he was doing when he ran for that hole in
the wall," replied Barney with a grin. "But come, it won't pay to
let them find us should they return."
Together they hastened to the window beyond which the girl could see
a rope dangling from above. The sight of it partially solved the
riddle of the king's almost uncanny presence upon her window sill in
the very nick of time.
Below, the lights in the watch tower at the outer gate were plainly
visible, and the twinkling of them reminded Barney of the danger of
detection from that quarter. Quickly he recrossed the apartment to
the wall-switch that operated the recently installed electric
lights, and an instant later the chamber was in total darkness.
Once more at the girl's side Barney drew in one end of the rope and
made it fast about her body below her arms, leaving a sufficient
length terminating in a small loop to permit her to support herself
more comfortably with one foot within the noose. Then he stepped to
the outer sill, and reaching down assisted her to his side.
Far below them the moonlight played upon the sluggish waters of the
moat.
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