knees,
raising his hands in supplication toward the other. "Have pity on
me, your majesty, have pity!" he cried.

"Who am I, man?" insisted the king.

"You are Leopold Rubinroth, sire, by the grace of God, king of
Lutha," cried the frightened man. "Have mercy on an old man, your
majesty."

"Wait! Am I mad? Was I ever mad?"

"As God is my judge, sire, no!" replied Peter of Blentz.

Leopold turned to Butzow.

"Remove the traitor from our presence," he commanded, and at a word
from the lieutenant a dozen guardsmen seized the trembling man and
hustled him from the cathedral amid hisses and execrations.

Following the coronation the king was closeted in his private
audience chamber in the palace with Prince Ludwig.

"I cannot understand what has happened, even now, your majesty," the
old man was saying. "That you are the true Leopold is all that I am
positive of, for the discomfiture of Prince Peter evidenced that
fact all too plainly. But who the impostor was who ruled Lutha in
your name for two days, disappearing as miraculously as he came, I
cannot guess.

"But for another miracle which preserved you for us in the nick of
time he might now be wearing the crown of Lutha in your stead.
Having Peter of Blentz safely in custody our next immediate task
should be to hunt down the impostor and bring him to justice also;
though"--and the old prince sighed--"he was indeed a brave man, and
a noble figure of a king as he led your troops to battle."

The king had been smiling as Von der Tann first spoke of the
"impostor," but at the old man's praise of the other's bravery a
slight flush tinged his cheek, and the shadow of a scowl crossed his
brow.

"Wait," he said, "we shall not have to look far for your
'impostor,'" and summoning an aide he dispatched him for "Lieutenant
Butzow and Mr. Custer."

A moment later the two entered the audience chamber. Barney found
that Leopold the king, surrounded by comforts and safety, was a very
different person from Leopold the fugitive. The weak face now wore
an expression of arrogance, though the king spoke most graciously to
the American.

"Here, Von der Tann," said Leopold, "is your 'impostor.' But for him
I should doubtless be dead by now, or once again a prisoner at
Blentz."

Barney and Butzow found it necessary to repeat their stories several
times before the old man could fully grasp all that had transpired
beneath his very nose without his being aware of scarce a si