hrone myself, the next best thing is to be the wife of
the man who does. Go forth, then, and find your antagonist, and when
you have conquered him, I will marry you."

"And if he conquers me, you will marry him?" said Alberdin.

"Yes, sir," answered the Princess, with a smile, and dismissed him.

It was plain enough that there was nothing for Alberdin to do but to
go and look for the heavy infantry man. Phedo was very anxious to
accompany him, and the two, mounted as before, set out from the city
on their quest.

When old Salim, the tutor of Phedo, awoke in the morning and found
the boy gone, he immediately imagined that the youngster had ran away
to his old home; so he set forth with all possible speed, hoping to
overtake him. But when he reached the distant town where Phedo had
lived, he found that the boy had not been there; and after taking
some needful rest, he retraced his steps, crossed the mountains, and
made his way toward the capital city, hoping to find news of him
there. It was necessary for him to be very careful in his inquiries,
for he wished no one to find out that the little boy he was looking
for was the third cousin of the late Autocrat on the mother's side.
He therefore disguised himself as a migratory medical man, and
determined to use all possible caution. When he reached the camp of
the young horseman, Alberdin, and found that personage gone, his
suspicions became excited.

"If these two have run off together," he said to himself, "my task is
indeed difficult. If the man discovers it is the boy he has to fight,
my poor Phedo will be cut to pieces in a twinkling. I do not believe
there has been any trouble yet, for the boy does not know that he is
to be one of the combatants, and the man would not be likely to
suspect it. Come what may, the fight must not take place for thirteen
years. And in order that I may still better preserve my health and
strength to avert the calamity during that period, I will increase my
number of chews to forty-two to each mouthful of meat."

When old Salim reached the city, he soon found that Alberdin and the
boy had been there, and that they had gone away together.

"Nothing has happened so far," said the old man, with a sigh of
relief; "and things may turn out all right yet. I'll follow them, but
I must first find out what that cavalryman had to say to the
Princess." For he had been told of the interview at the palace.

It was not long before the migratory med