"Greetings, your highness," he cried with an attempt at cordiality.
The girl looked straight into his eyes, coldly, and then bent her
knee in formal curtsy. The king was about to speak again when his
eyes wandered to the face of the American. Instantly his own went
white and then scarlet. The eyes of Peter of Blentz followed those
of the king, widening in astonishment as they rested upon the
features of Barney Custer.
"You told me he was dead," shouted the king. "What is the meaning
of this, Captain Maenck?"
Maenck looked at his male prisoner and staggered back as though
struck between the eyes.
"Mein Gott," he exclaimed, "the impostor!"
"You told me he was dead," repeated the king accusingly.
"As God is my judge, your majesty," cried Peter of Blentz, "this man
was shot by an Austrian firing squad in Burgova over a week ago."
"Sire," exclaimed Maenck, "this is the first sight I have had of the
prisoners except in the darkness of the night; until this instant I
had not the remotest suspicion of his identity. He told me that he
was a servant of the house of Von der Tann."
"I told you the truth, then," interjected Barney.
"Silence, you ingrate!" cried the king.
"Ingrate?" repeated Barney. "You have the effrontery to call me an
ingrate? You miserable puppy."
A silence, menacing in its intensity, fell upon the little
assemblage.
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