ce tried to forget his. For him the romance
had come to an end, its logical end; and it was now only a question of
getting back to the world to which he belonged and remaining there. He
recalled a line he had read somewhere: a deep love, gashes into the
soul as a scar is hewn upon the body and remains there during the whole
life...

"Look!" cried the prince. He pointed toward the west.

Maurice came out of his dream and looked. Some distance west of the
pass, perhaps half a mile from where they stood, Maurice saw the twinkle
of a hundred campfires. It was Madame's army in bivouac.

"What does this mean?" asked the prince.

"It means that the duchess is on the eve of striking a blow for her
crown," answered Maurice. "And how are we to make the pass, which is
probably filled with soldiers? If only we could find a boat! Ah! what
would your Highness call this?" He pointed to a thread-like line of bare
earth which wended riverward.

"A sheep or cattle path," said the prince, after a close inspection.

"Then the river is perhaps fordable here!" exclaimed Maurice jubilantly.
"At any rate, we'll try it; if it gets too deep, we'll come back."

He walked to the water's edge, studied the black whirling mass,
shrugged and stepped in. The prince came after him, unhesitatingly. Both
shivered. The water was intensely cold. But the bed was shallow, and
the river never mounted above the waist. However, in midstream it rushed
strongly and wildly along, and all but carried them off their feet. They
arrived in safety at the opposite shore, weak and cold in body, but warm
in spirit. They lay on the grass for several moments, breathing heavily.
They might now gain the pass by clambering up the mountain and picking
their way down from the other side. It was not possible that Madame's
troopers had entered into the kingdom.

"I am giving out," the prince confessed reluctantly. "Let us make as
much headway as we can while I last."

They stood up. Now the moon fell upon them both; and they viewed each
other with no little curiosity. What the prince saw pleased him, for he
possessed a good eye. What Maurice saw was a frank, manly countenance,
youthful, almost boyish. The prince did not look to be more than three
and twenty, if that; but there was a man's determination in his jaw.
This jaw pleased Maurice, for it confided to him that Madame had now
something that would cause her worry.

"I put myself in your care," said the prince, offer