t here in a humble inn, and discovered
that Auersperg and his party were now two days ahead of him. The
automobiles were moving with speed, and John surmised that the prince
did not intend to remain long at his castle over the Austrian border.
Perhaps he would have to return to the war, leaving Julie and Suzanne
there. He hoped so.

Two days later John was in Munich, and he learned that Auersperg had not
increased his lead. It was easy enough to trace him. He had secured an
extensive suite of apartments at the large hotel, the Bayerischer Hof,
although Julie and the Picards had been secluded in another part of the
hotel. Auersperg had gone to the palace and had held a long conference
with the old King of Bavaria, but on the second day he had left, still
going eastward, escorted by hussars.

John departed again and on foot. The weather was balmier now, with
touches of spring in it. Faint shades of green appeared in the grass and
the foliage, and his pursuit was sanguine. Fortune had certainly favored
him in a remarkable manner, so far. He had been able to answer all
questions in a convincing way, and here in Bavaria the people were not
so suspicious, and perhaps not so stern as they were in Prussia. Nor did
he doubt for a moment that Julie knew he was following them. She had
recognized him and their eyes had spoken in the language of
understanding to each other. It was easy enough to re-create for
himself, almost as vivid as reality, her beautiful face with the golden
hair showing under the edges of the hood, and the startled look of the
dark blue eyes when they first met his own. Relief and joy had been in
that look too. He could read it.

John had learned in Munich the location of Auersperg's principal castle.
It was Zillenstein in a spur of the Eastern Alps just inside Austria,
where for centuries the Auerspergs had held great state, as princes of
the Holy Roman Empire. Now when they were princes of both the German and
the Austro-Hungarian empires with their greater fealty for the former,
they often went there nevertheless, and John's information in Munich
made him quite sure that the prince had gone directly toward the
ancient stronghold.

Auersperg could cover the distance quickly in his powerful automobiles,
but it would take John a long time on foot, helped by an occasional ride
in a peasant's cart. Nevertheless he hung on with patience and
pertinacity. He was but a single man on a quest in the heart of German