t
daybreak, we are to lower our boats and land our men on that long beach
to the south of the break-water. The troops of the Republic are to lie
hidden in the rocks until our men have formed. Then they are to fire
over their heads, and we are to retreat in great confusion, return to
the yacht, and sail away. Two weeks later they are to pay the money
into my hands, or," she added, with a smile, as she held up her fourth
finger, "to whoever brings this ring. And I need not say that the ring
will not leave my finger."

There was a moment's pause, as though the men were waiting to learn if
she had more to tell, and then the King threw back his head and laughed
softly. He saw Erhaupt's face above his shoulder, filled with the
amazement and indignation of a man who as a duellist and as a soldier
had shown a certain brute courage, and the King laughed again.

"What do you think of that, Colonel?" he cried, gayly. "They are a
noble race, my late subjects."

"Bah!" exclaimed the German. "I didn't know we were dealing with a
home for old women."

The Baron laughed comfortably. "It is like taking money from a blind
beggar's hat," he said.

"Why, with two hundred men that I could pick up in London," Erhaupt
declared, contemptuously, "I would guarantee to put you on the throne
in a fortnight."

"Heaven forbid!" exclaimed his Majesty. "So they surrendered as
quickly as that, did they?" he asked, nodding toward Madame Zara to
continue.

The Countess glanced again over her shoulder and bit her lips in some
chagrin. Her eyes showed her disappointment. "It may seem an easy
victory to you," she said, consciously, "but I doubt, knowing all the
circumstances, if any of your Majesty's gentlemen could have served you
as well. It needed a woman and----"

"It needed a beautiful woman," interrupted the King, quickly, in a tone
that he would have used to a spoiled child. "It needed a woman of
tact, a woman of courage, a woman among women--the Countess Zara. Do
not imagine, Marie, that we undervalue your part. It is their lack of
courage that distresses Colonel Erhaupt."

"One of them, it is true, did wish to fight," the Countess continued,
with a smile; "a Frenchman named Renauld, whom they have put in charge
of the army. He scoffed at the whole expedition, but they told him
that a foreigner could not understand as they did the danger of the
popularity of the Prince Kolonay, who, by a speech or two among the
shepherds