an enforced guest on the yacht--where he awaits Your
Majesty's pleasure."

CHAPTER XIX

THE JACKAL TAKES THE TRAIL

"When the Duke avowed himself to be kidnaped, he committed an error so
grave that it can hardly be--overestimated." The speaker used the last
word as an afterthought. His first inclination was to say, forgiven.

Monsieur Jusseret sat upright in the brougham, scorning the supporting
cushions at his back. His small, shrewd eyes frowned his deep
disapproval over the roofs of Algiers outspread below him. He scowled on
the gaudy and tatterdemalion color of the native city. He scowled on the
smart brilliancy of the French quarter basking along the _Place du
Government_ and the _Boulevard de la Republique_.

The Countess Astaride leaned back and smiled from the depths of the
cushions.

"It is usually a mistake to be made a prisoner," she smiled.

"But such a foolish mistake," quarreled Jusseret. "To permit oneself to
be lured into so palpable a trap. It is most absurd."

"Now that it is done," inquired the woman, "is it not almost as absurd
to waste time deploring the spilled milk? We must find a way to set him
free."

"I have done all that could be done. I have stationed men whom I can
trust throughout Puntal and Galavia. They are men Karyl likewise thinks
he can trust. The distinction is that I know--where he merely thinks."

"And these men--what have they done?" The Countess laid one gloved hand
eagerly on the Frenchman's coat-sleeve.

"These men have gradually and quietly reorganized the army, the
bureaucracy, the very palace Guard. We have undermined the government's
power, until when the word is passed to strike the blow, a honey-combed
system will crumble under its own weight. When Karyl calls on his
troops, not one man will respond. Well--" Jusseret smiled
dryly--"perhaps I overstate the case. Possibly one man will. I think we
will hardly convert Von Ritz."

"Ah, that is good news, Monsieur." The Countess breathed the words with
a tremor of enthusiasm.

"It is, however, all useless, Madame--since His Grace is unavailable. In
captivity he is absolutely valueless."

"In captivity he has a stronger claim upon our loyalty than in power!"

The dark-room diplomat regarded her with a disappointed smile.

"For a clever woman, _Comptesse_, who has heretofore played the game so
brilliantly, you have grown singularly unobservant. I am not a crusader,
liberating captive Christian knights.