:

"'Your master ought to have been here before this, Karl. I quite
reckoned on his arriving by the end of March.'

"I said perhaps you had not been able to get out, but he would not
hear of it. He said once:

"'If you were to head up the major in a barrel, he could find a way
out of it somehow. He will be back soon.'

"He seemed so positive about it that I was not a bit surprised when
the messenger came, and said that you were at the count's here, and
that I was to ride with him post haste, so as to catch you before
you started to join the king at Breslau.

"Captain Lindsay was as pleased as I was. He was just mounting when
the messenger came in, but wrote a line on the leaf of his pocket
book. Here it is, sir."

The slip of paper merely contained the words:

"A thousand welcomes, my dear Drummond! I have been expecting you
for some time. I wish you had turned up here, instead of at
Dresden. Hope to see you again soon."

By this time Fergus had dressed.

"My dear count," he exclaimed, as he entered the room where the
count and his wife and daughter were already assembled, "how can I
thank you for your great kindness, in taking such pains to fetch
Karl and my horse down for me."

"I had no great pains about the matter," the count replied, with a
smile. "I simply wrote to my steward that a messenger must be sent
to Erfurt, at once; to order Major Drummond's soldier servant to
come here, at all speed, with his master's horse and belongings.

"'Make what arrangements you like,' I said, 'for relays of horses;
but anyhow, he must get to Erfurt in three days, and I will give
him four for coming back again with the man. He is to be found at
the quarters of Captain Lindsay, who is on the staff of Prince
Henry. If Captain Lindsay himself is away, you must find out his
servant.'

"That was all the trouble that I had in the matter. You have really
to thank Thirza, for it was her idea. Directly you had left the
room, after your telling us that Lindsay was with Prince Henry and
most likely at Erfurt, she said:

"'I should think, father, that there would be time to fetch Major
Drummond's servant and horse. It is not so very far, and surely it
might be done in a week.'

"'Well thought of!' I said. 'It is a hundred and seventy miles. A
courier with relays of horses could do it in three days, without
difficulty; and might be back here again, with Drummond's servant,
in another four days. I will give orders at once. W