ffti 
 
 
DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Glenn Negley Collection 
 of Utopian Literature 
 
THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/doubleemperorstoOOclow 
 
THE 
 
 DOUBLE EMPEROB. 
 
 A STORY OF A VAGABOND CUNARDER. 
 
 BY 
 
 W. LAIRD CLOWES, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 'THE CAPTAIN OF THE MARY ROSE," "THE GREAT PERIL," ETC. 
 
 " Attali 
 Ignotus haeres regiam oceupavi." 
 
 Hor. Carxt. IL IS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 1894. 
 
Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.A. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 
 II. AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 
 
 III. bolter's GUN 
 
 IV. THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP - 
 V. KIDNAPPED 
 
 VI. MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 
 
 VII. INCONSISTENCY 
 
 VIII. THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 
 
 IX. COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 
 
 X. ADRIFT • • 
 
 XI. HOME • • • 
 
 PAOB 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 39 
 
 59 
 
 80 
 
 101 
 
 123 
 
 141 
 
 1GG 
 
 188 
 
 211 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 * HE FIRED EVERY ONE OF HIS PORT GUNS AT THE 
 
 pirate ' - - - - Frontispiece 
 
 THE EMPEROR MEETS VON DALHOFF - To faCC p. 22 
 
 THE BOLTER GUN EXPERIMENT 
 KIDNAPPED ! - 
 
 OUT OF THE MIST CAME H.M.S. ' TOURMALINE ' 
 FINDING THE DOLLARS 
 THE LAST OF THE ' PHILISTIA ' 
 
 1 THE WHOLE AFFAIR OCCUPIED LESS THAN 
 FIVE SECONDS' - 
 
 56 
 
 84 
 146 
 164 
 210 
 
 216 
 
THE DOUBLE EMPEEOE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS. 
 
 ' Say what you will,' declared the Emperor, as he 
 sracked an egg, ' it is a dog's life, or little better.' 
 
 1 Only that in this case,' suggested the Field-Marshal, 
 ' the dog, if I may borrow your Majesty's expression, is 
 able to experience the satisfaction that arises from duty 
 done ; and that is surely the greatest reward of existence.' 
 
 ' I grant you that,' said the Emperor. ' The ordinary 
 dog does not perhaps enjoy that satisfaction. Yet my 
 work, even apart from my responsibilities, is terribly, 
 painfully wearing. To properly fill my position I ought 
 to have two bodies and four hands at least ; to be able to 
 thrive on a couple of hours' sleep a night ; to be able to 
 dispense with all regularity of meals and exercise ; to 
 possess the digestion of an ostrich, the strength of an 
 elephant, the courage of a lion, and the cunning of a 
 serpent — to have all or any of these under perfect and 
 continuous control; to be indifferent to sport, pleasure 
 
 1 
 
2 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 and the delights of friendly intercourse, and to con- 
 tentedly sacrifice every intellectual enjoyment. I have 
 no time to study even those things which would conduce 
 to my greater usefulness. To indulge any natural affec- 
 tion for the arts and sciences is almost impossible. 
 Each day seems to end ere it has fairly dawned, and to 
 leave me with more than half my day's work undone. 
 I tell you again, Count, it is a dog's life.' 
 
 It was Carl, King of Euhland and Lusatian Emperor, 
 who, breakfasting with his old friend and military tutor 
 Count Stark, made these dissatisfied remarks. 
 
 No one who knew him only as a public character 
 would have readily believed that the young monarch 
 could find his magnificent position a seriously irksome 
 one ; for did not the Emperor possess nearly everything 
 that the mind of man could desire ? and did it not look 
 as if almost all things which he did not actually possess 
 were within his grasp ? Twenty-four years of age, the 
 inheritor of a kingdom the history of which was a record 
 of bravery, devotion and patriotism, and the wearer of 
 an imperial crown which symbolized the unity of one of 
 the most capable races in the world, he was strikingly 
 handsome, strong, healthy, and beloved by his people. 
 Eifl ministers were as able as they were loyal, the com- 
 merce and finances of his country were flourishing ; 
 there was no cloud on the horizon of foreign affairs, and 
 socialism and anarchy, though introduced here and 
 there among the Lusatians, found little whereon to 
 batten, and caused no anxieties as to the present and 
 small fears as to tho future. 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 3 
 
 Nor were the Emperor's domestic surroundings in any 
 sense unenviable. He was still, it is true, a bachelor, 
 but he was suitably betrothed to the lovely Princess 
 Griselda of Stormarn, who, in her turn, was devoted to 
 him ; and in the meantime he enjoyed the society of his 
 only sister, the Princess Nannette, a clever and beautiful 
 girl of nineteen, who was scarcely less the idol of the 
 empire than she was the idol of her brother, and who 
 in song and story was known as the Pearl of Pvuhland. 
 Nor did he lack faithful friends and admirable servants. 
 He had been wisely brought up among the most dis- 
 tinguished men of the nation. Not only the Lusatian 
 statesmen, generals and admirals, but also the poets, the 
 scientists, the artists, the philosophers, the novelists and 
 even the journalists of the country, had from his early 
 youth been admitted to his familiarity ; and, though 
 court etiquette in Euhland was as strict as it was any- 
 where, it may be truly said that the monarch was in 
 complete touch with all the most worthy and the most 
 representative of his subjects, and, in addition, with 
 no small number of distinguished foreigners. 
 
 Typical, as regards ability and devotion, of hundreds 
 of the Emperor's trusted counsellors and servants, was 
 the old war-wolf, Leonhard, Count Stark, who sat with 
 him at breakfast that morning. The Count had fought 
 and bled for his majesty's father and grandfather, and, 
 though upwards of seventy, would have been delighted 
 to fight and bleed for the Emperor Carl also. A little, 
 well-preserved, ruddy-cheeked, keen -eyed man, he 
 looked, save for his uniform, more like a tenant-farmer 
 
4 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 than a great soldier ; and even in his conversation, 
 which was free, desultory, and humorous, there was 
 little to recall the Lusatian officer. Indeed, there was 
 about him something which, once or twice in his 
 history, short-sighted people had mistaken for want of 
 dignity. Not until they had ventured, in consequence, 
 to presume had they discovered their error, and learnt 
 too late that the good-humoured little man's kindness 
 was reserved only for those who did not abuse it, and 
 that behind it lay a frowning and absolutely impreg- 
 nable fortress, barring every advance on the part of 
 impudence and impertinence. 
 
 The only other breakfaster in the Emperor's private 
 apartments in the royal palace in Sandburg was the 
 Princess Nannette; and if mature wisdom was well 
 represented by the Field-Marshal, and manly strength 
 by the Emperor, the fresh charms of girlhood were as 
 favourably personified in the Pearl of Euhland. Blue- 
 eyed and fair-haired like the traditional damsels of 
 Lusatia, she was very far, nevertheless, from possessing 
 the lack of colour and expression that has often been 
 attributed as a characteristic to the daughters of her 
 race. Her wealth of hair had in it all the shades of 
 gold ; her eyebrows were dark and well-marked ; her e} 7 e- 
 lashes also were dark, and long as well ; dimples played 
 over her rounded cheeks, and her complexion, like that 
 of her brother, suggested health and high vitality, 
 though it was at the same time exquisitely soft and 
 delicate as the sunny side of a peach. In her simple 
 dress of white, the Princess conveyed much . the same 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 5 
 
 kind of impression as is conveyed to most people by the 
 newly-opened hedgerow flower from which the dew of 
 morning has not yet been shaken. There was that 
 about her which was essentially natural, wholesome and 
 pure. It did one good and seemed to make one nobler 
 to look upon her. 
 
 'It is all because the Emperor is so terribly energetic,' 
 said the Princess ; ' he insists upon working by night 
 as well as by day, and I'm sure that cannot be really 
 necessary.' 
 
 1 Life is very short, your Royal Highness,' replied tha 
 Count, ' and one must get into it as much as one may. 
 I have over seventy years to look back upon. The clays 
 I have wasted rise up like ghosts behind me. I wish I 
 had fewer such ghosts ; unhappily, I have very many. 
 May his Majesty, when he, too, is old, be less tormented 
 than I am by the memories of the past.' 
 
 ' Thanks, Count,' said the Emperor. 'I bhall have to 
 work hard, indeed, if your prayer is to be fulfilled. I 
 assure you it is not the hard work that I mind ; it is the 
 useless work, the formal work, the unproductive work, 
 the merely mechanical work, which could be done as 
 efficiently by a well-constructed automaton, that I regard 
 as a burden. "Why, the ceremonial work alone takes 
 half my time.' 
 
 ' Surely you busy yourself too much with details,' sug- 
 gested the Princess. 
 
 ' Not I ! Every man ought to attempt to master 
 details if he would properly understand generalities. It 
 is the formality of having to listen to the reading of 
 
6 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 some address which I have already perused and sanc- 
 tioned ; it is the farce of having to sign certain docu- 
 ments when any secretary's signature, or a mere seal or 
 stamp, would suffice ; it is especially the indignity of 
 having to pose so often as a doll in uniform, that I 
 object to. For certain functions of State, a mechanical 
 Emperor, to be wound up every morning, or to be driven 
 by steam, or to be set in action by the placing of a coin 
 in a convenient slot, would do capitally. In the mean- 
 time the living Emperor might be either doing useful 
 work for others or improving himself. "What a blessing 
 a double would be to me !' 
 
 'He might be a curse also,' laughed the Princess 
 Nannette. ' Recollect the history of Smerdis, of Lam- 
 bert Simnel and of Demetrius.' 
 
 ' Oh, of course I should be careful to have him 
 marked,' said the Emperor, ' so that there would be no 
 danger of confusion. But until this wonderful double 
 turns up, I must, I take it, continue to do as best I can, 
 and to waste myself, with as good grace as possible, for 
 the supposed welfare of Lusatia.' 
 
 He glanced at a paper which lay beside him and made 
 a wry face. 
 
 ' Is to-day a very bad one, then ?' asked the Princess. 
 
 ' About as unsatisfactory as usual. But you tan 
 judge for yourself.' And the Emperor picked up the 
 paper, and read from it the following record of the day's 
 engagements : ' 8.30, meeting of the military cabinet ; 
 9.30, inspection of the guard; 10.15, audience of the 
 Spanish Ambassador; 11, audience of the Chinese 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 7 
 
 Envoy ; 11.30, audience of the burgomaster of Sandburg; 
 12, laying of the foundation-stone of the Aeronautical 
 Institution ; 1.15, interview with the Chancellor ; 2, 
 interview with the President of the Council of Ministers ; 
 3, inspection of the new barracks at Horn ; 4, dinner 
 with the officers at Horn ; 5.15, witness trials of a new 
 military balloon at Horn ; 6, sign various papers, com- 
 missions, orders, etc. ; 6.20, receive deputation from the 
 Society for the Extension of Lusatian Industries ; 7, 
 review procession of students from the balcony of the 
 palace ; 8, family dinner — if I can find time for it ; 9, 
 sign more papers, etc. ; 9.45, go by special train to — 
 well, never mind whither — to alarm the garrison. And 
 I imagine,' continued the Emperor, ' that I shall not get 
 back until breakfast-time to-morrow, and that, if I get 
 any sleep at all, it will be in the railway-carriage going 
 and coming.' 
 
 ' Thank Heaven that I am not an Emperor !' ejacu- 
 lated the Princess. 
 
 ' You well may, my dear sister. In my daily pro- 
 gramme there is, I notice, no provision for regular 
 meals, or for going to bed. I am theoretically supposed, 
 it seems, to be always up, and to be able to change my 
 uniform with the rapidity of lightning. A woman can 
 sit up all night, but she cannot change her costume in 
 an instant, so that our law has rightly laid down that 
 no woman can succeed to the throne of Ruhland and the 
 Lusatian Empire. You understand now how wise is 
 this provision of the Constitution.' 
 
 ' I am glad that at least you have time to be frivolous,' 
 
6 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 said the Princess, who rose, went round to the back of 
 her brother's chair, and kissed him on the forehead. 
 ' When a man can be frivolous things are well with him. 
 Is it not so, Count ?' 
 
 ' Your Royal Highness is right,' replied the Field- 
 Marshal. ' And bright spirits can pull a man out of 
 many a difficulty. Yet there is no doubt that his Majesty 
 is overworked. Your Royal Highness must persuade 
 him to spare himself.' 
 
 ' I need no persuasion,' declared the Emperor. ' I only 
 want to be convinced that if I spare myself nothing else 
 will suffer. Now, the Chinese Envoy comes here to-day. 
 It is true that we cannot converse without the assistance 
 of an interpreter, and that, for all practical purposes, he 
 might settle his business with the Chancellor, or even 
 with some subordinate Foreign Office official. But if I 
 don't receive him he will consider himself slighted. 
 Again, I have to lay the foundation-stone of the Aeronau- 
 tical Institute. Any bricklayer can lay it better than I. 
 Yet if I do not officiate the matter will not be fully 
 noticed in to-morrow's papers, and the desired publicity 
 — which is to attract subscriptions— will not be secured. 
 I ought later to drive in the park, but, as I shall not 
 have time, the people will be disappointed. Then, as to 
 the alarming of the garrison. An army corps com- 
 mander, or you, Count, might do it ; but you knew that 
 the Emperor is supposed to see things that ordinary 
 critics do not notice, no matter whether he be sleepy or 
 not ; and that m}' sudden apparition will produce a much 
 greater degree of promptness, smartness, and general 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 9 
 
 tension than even yours would, and this in spite of all 
 your experience and reputation, and of the merited 
 enthusiasm with which my whole army regards you.' 
 
 The veteran bowed deprecatingly. 
 
 ' Sire,' said he, ' I am only an honoured servant of 
 your Majesty.' 
 
 ' Say, rather, my dear friend and counsellor. But, 
 Nannette, look how selfish I am. Young and strong, I 
 nevertheless consider how I can spare myself, while I 
 take no thought for the Field-Marshal, whom, on these 
 nocturnal garrison-alarming expeditions, I always need 
 at my side. I must spare you, Count, in the future, and 
 endeavour to get assistance from an officer to whom these 
 exertions will be less trying.' 
 
 ' Sire,' exclaimed the Count, ' a soldier who cannot 
 mount his horse at all hours, who cannot sleep in a 
 cattle-truck or do without sleep now and then, and who 
 cannot follow his chief, should be granted his demission. 
 Thank God, I am not, I believe, an invalid ; but if there 
 be any doubt in your Majesty's mind as to my continued 
 usefulness, I pray your Majesty to graciously permit me 
 to spend my last days where my weaknesses and ailments 
 can be suitably nursed.' 
 
 ' I beg your pardon,' said the Emperor, frankly extend- 
 ing his hand and pressing that of the Field-Marshal. 
 1 But because a regiment is the best in the army we do 
 not march it off its legs ; and because an officer is the 
 best in the world we do not kill him with work. Do not 
 be angry with me. You shall accompany me so long as 
 you will. And now we must attend the meeting of my 
 
io THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 military cabinet, for it is half-past eight. Adieu, Xan- 
 nette, until Providence and duty let me see you again.' 
 
 The Princess sprang to her brother's side as he rose 
 from the table, took both his hands in hers, stood 
 affectionately before him, and then smiled happily as he 
 pinched her cheek and turned away. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow the Emperor through all the 
 duties of that well-filled -day. His work was a continued 
 struggle against time on the one hand, and superficiality 
 on the other. His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador 
 had been allotted three-quarters of an hour for his 
 audience. He had important affairs to talk about, but 
 he was so courtly in his speech and so deliberate in his 
 methods that he allowed half an hour to elapse ere he 
 fairly attacked his subject. In order to avoid having to 
 bow out the grandee before he had finished his business, 
 the Emperor, instead of merely listening, suddenly inter- 
 rupted his visitor, and, putting a few curt and searching 
 questions, speedily made himself master of the various 
 points, and even then had time to return a suitable 
 reply. With the Chinese Envoy he was driven to pursue 
 much the same course. In fact, he habitually pursued it 
 with diplomatists ; but, though he thus economized time, 
 he gained a notoriety for brusqueness and sharpness that 
 caused many, who did not know him intimately, to re- 
 gard him as lacking in the more trifling of conventional 
 decencies. His ministers, who had greater experience of 
 him, upon the whole rather liked the Emperor's habits 
 in this respect. The interview with the Chancellor was 
 that day, as usual, little more than an examination of the 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS II 
 
 subject by the sovereign. The Emperor, as he entered 
 the room, nodded his greeting, and at the same moment 
 put a question ; and, as he received replies, he continued 
 to put questions until his curiosity was satisfied. His 
 last question was generally, 'And is there anything else?' 
 And, as a rule, his previous questions had been so per- 
 tinent and so anticipatory of all that the minister had 
 desired to relate, that there was ' nothing else.' There- 
 upon it was the Emperor's practice to quickly and con- 
 cisely issue his orders and to end the interview. « If,' as 
 he once said to Count Stark, ' it be a business of getting 
 lemon-juice, the right method, depend upon it, is to 
 squeeze your lemon. There may, of course, be other 
 ways, but there is no way more obvious or more effectual ; 
 and when your lemon is anxious to yield its juice, it is 
 surely unkind not to expedite the yield by squeezing 
 
 promptly.' 
 
 By dint of adhering strictly to his time-table, the 
 Emperor was able to enjoy his family dinner-party at 
 the palace at eight o'clock. 
 
 It was called the « family dinner,' because it had always 
 been called so. His Majesty's father and grandfather 
 had utilized the meal as an occasion for meeting all their 
 near relatives. The Emperor Carl, having very few near 
 relatives except the Princess Nannette, had changed the 
 character of his 'family dinner,' and had chosen to make 
 it an occasion for meeting not so much the members of 
 his family as his more intimate friends in all walks of 
 life. It was his chief, and, indeed, almost his only 
 regular recreation, and, although it was generally some- 
 
12 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 what hurried, it was invariably a bright and pleasant 
 function ; for, for at least an hour after eight o'clock 
 every evening, the Emperor, when he dined at home, 
 threw aside the cares of State and became the private 
 gentleman at the head of his table. 
 
 The party always consisted of ten all told, and was 
 usually made up chiefly of men. On this particular 
 evening it was a characteristic one, and may, therefore, 
 be briefly described. On the Emperor's right sat an 
 English Princess ; next to her was the Eussian Ambas- 
 sador ; next to him was M. Alphonse Puget, the dis- 
 tinguished French engineer ; and between him and the 
 Princess Nannette was Count Stark, a frequent guest at 
 these dinners. On the Princess's right sat Baron Stoll, 
 the great African traveller ; next him came Madame 
 Watzka, the Hungarian novelist and poetess ; on her 
 right was Mr. Esek Hoodlum, of New York; and on the 
 Emperor's left was Vice-Admiral Spott, of the imperial 
 Lusatian navy. Precedence and ceremony were little 
 observed ; everyone was at his ease ; and, although 
 some of the gentlemen wore uniform, they only did so 
 because they seldom wore anything else. The Ambas- 
 sador, Puget, Stoll, and Hoodlum, were in plain evening 
 dress. Indeed, it was the rule of these dinners that 
 every guest was to appear as he would appear if he were 
 dining in his own house. The Court newsman never 
 mentioned the names of those present ; and neither in 
 the room and appointments, nor in the service, was there 
 anything to remind the observer that the host was not 
 some private Lusatian gentleman enjoying the society of 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREA TNESS 13 
 
 friends of his own rank. Once only in the course of the 
 evening did the routine of proceedings differ from that 
 of an ordinary dinner-party. It was when, at a recog- 
 nised moment, the host rose, bowed to the Princess 
 Nannette, and, glass in hand, said : ' My dear sister, let 
 us drink to our Fatherland.' And it was the custom for 
 the guests thereupon to rise and drink the toast in 
 silence, turning meanwhile first to the Emperor and then 
 to the Princess. 
 
 Of those present on this particular evening the only 
 one requiring more description than he has already 
 received is Mr. Esek Hoodlum, of New York. 
 
 Mr. Hoodlum was a young man of the Emperor's age, 
 and his intimacy with the Emperor dated from the time 
 when both had been students at the University of 
 Eostock. A restless traveller, he made Sandburg his 
 headquarters whenever he was on the continent of 
 Europe, and, while there, always saw a good deal of the 
 Emperor, who valued the American bluntness and out- 
 spoken honesty of his friend, and found in Hoodlum's 
 unconventional ways a pleasant relaxation from the 
 stiffness and formality of ordinary Court and military 
 life. 
 
 There are Americans and Americans, and, although 
 the assertion may not be in accordance with the received 
 opinion in Europe, it is nevertheless a fact that, amoncr 
 Americans of the better sort, there is a large class the 
 characteristics of which are not over-reaching ' smart- 
 ness,' vulgar impertinence, and unscrupulous acuteness. 
 Its characteristics are honesty, straightforwardness, and 
 
14 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 extreme simplicity. Hoodlum belonged to this class, or 
 he would scarcely have been honoured with the Em- 
 peror's friendship ; and he was a man who, unlike many 
 of the Emperor's friends, was absolutely independent and 
 disinterested. But, though he possessed some ability 
 and much native common-sense, his very openness and 
 simplicity rendered him perhaps a rather dangerous 
 associate for a monarch who had in his hand the keeping 
 of the world's peace and the secrets of a dozen cabinets. 
 A great personal admirer of the Emperor, Hoodlum 
 seldom let pass an occasion for sounding the praises of 
 his hero. All his friends knew that he was much in the 
 Emperor's confidence ; and the American probably saw 
 no more reason for disguising the fact than for dis- 
 guising his intimacy with any other man of character 
 and reputation. Had all men been as honest as he, no 
 harm would have resulted. But, unfortunately, although 
 for four-and-twenty years Esek Hoodlum had lived in 
 the midst of the great world, and had even managed to 
 see much of it, he failed to realize that it is a scheming 
 and, indeed, a very wicked world, against which the 
 really prudent man should ever be on his guard. 
 
 ' By the way, when do you sail, Hoodlum ?' asked the 
 Emperor, as dinner was nearing its conclusion. 
 
 '1 go to England the day after to-morrow, sir, and 
 shall leave Liverpool for New York on Monday,' replied 
 the American. 
 
 ' Well, recollect that we shall be glad to see you back 
 again. You must be here in the autumn, if you can, 
 for the Grand Manoeuvres. They are to be held this 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 15 
 
 year somewhere on the coast, so that, in addition to two 
 army corps, the fleet may take part. Is not that what 
 we want to arrange, my dear Admiral ?' 
 
 ' That is what I venture to hope, sire,' said Admiral 
 Spott. ' It will teach both branches of your Majesty's 
 service some useful lessons concerning co-operation.' 
 
 ' You hear, Hoodlum ?' laughed the Emperor. ' That 
 is Spott's way of saying that if you come and bring your 
 camera you will find plenty to do. Take care, though, 
 that we don't arrest you as a spy. Be here by the third 
 week in September, and you will be in time. Imme- 
 diately after the manoeuvres there will be something 
 else for you to see, for October the 20th is to be my 
 wedding-day. I invite you to be present.' 
 
 ' I shall come with pleasure, sir,' said Hoodlum simply. 
 ' In the meantime I heartily wish you every happiness 
 in life.' 
 
 ' I am sure you do, my dear fellow,' returned the 
 Emperor. ' And now, do you feel inclined to come to- 
 night and see me wake up the garrison of Bomberg? 
 The Field-Marshal and I start almost immediately. 
 You only need a warm coat, plenty of cigars, and a flask 
 of brandy; and if you haven't them in the palace, I 
 dare say we can lend you them.' 
 
 ' I should immensely like to come,' replied Hoodlum 
 eagerly. 
 
 The Emperor rose and bowed to each of his guests. 
 
 ' Ladies and gentlemen,' he said, ' I regret that some 
 of us must leave you. We have business to attend to. 
 But I beg you not yet to depart. My sister the Princess 
 
16 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 will be charmed to be favoured a little longer with your 
 society. You, gentlemen, will later, I do not doubt, find 
 your way to the billiard-room. The Admiral here plays 
 a strong game. I bid you good-night, and thank you 
 heartily for your company.' And with a bow to all in 
 general he turned towards the door, which, however, 
 he did not reach before the Princess Nannette caught 
 him up and bade him good-night. 
 
 The Emperor's nocturnal garrison - alarming expedi- 
 tions were romantic affairs, and, as is often the case with 
 romantic affairs, decidedly uncomfortable. It was rain- 
 ing hard ; but it was the Emperor's practice, when 
 starting on these journeys, always to w 7 alk to the station, 
 for he feared lest the passage of his well-known carriage 
 through the streets of the capital might arouse people 
 to a consciousness of what he was about to do, and so 
 lead to the despatch in the threatened directions of 
 warning telegrams, which might neutralize the value of 
 the projected surprise. 
 
 Through the pelting rain, therefore, the party trudged. 
 The Emperor and the Field-Marshal, muffled up in 
 their uniform greatcoats, betrayed no signs of rank that 
 were likely to attract the attention of casual observers, 
 and Hoodlum, bearing an umbrella and walking with 
 them, was not in any way remarkable. They had a 
 mile to walk, and when at length they reached the 
 Eastern Station, they were all decidedly damp. The 
 Emperor led the way at once to the stationmaster's 
 office, and entering, confronted that alarmed dignitary 
 with the pithy announcement : 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 17 
 
 ' The usual train must be ready in ten minutes. 
 Secrecy must be observed. The destination is Bomberg, 
 and all traffic must, if necessary, be stopped.' Then, 
 throwing open his coat, his Majesty took up a position 
 with his back to the stove, opened his cigar-case, offered 
 it to the Field-Marshal and to Hoodlum, and lighted a 
 cigar for himself. 
 
 ' We don't indulge ourselves much on these occasions,' 
 he said to the American. ' If I ordered out my saloon 
 carriage everyone in the station would know of my being 
 here, so we take sometimes a third-class carriage, some- 
 times a horse-box, and sometimes — only sometimes, 
 remember — an ordinary first-class. It is always interest- 
 ing to speculate upon what our excellent and judicious 
 friend the stationmaster will deem most suitable. We 
 leave it to his judgment, and I must say that he usually 
 makes us sufficiently uncomfortable. But even when he 
 sends us in a horse-box, he invariably provides plenty of 
 clean straw; and the Field-Marshal will tell you that 
 clean straw is the healthiest of all materials for sleeping 
 upon.' 
 
 ' Oh, we generally fare very well,' laughed Count 
 Stark. ' In real campaigning, you know, the straw, as 
 often as not, is not clean. Frequently, too, there is no 
 straw at all, and there is generally no horse-box. Yet I 
 have slept very soundly on the bare ground under the 
 stars, and I remember, also, to have seen his Majesty's 
 royal father very soundly asleep in the manger of a 
 ruined cowshed. It is chiefly the idle who cannot sleep 
 anywhere.' 
 
 2 
 
18 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 The stationmaster, who had gone out to make the 
 requisite arrangements, returned, watch in hand. 
 
 ' The train,' he said, ' will, if your Majesty pleases, 
 start in four minutes.' 
 
 1 And what is it to-night ?' ashed the Emperor, 
 laughing. 
 
 ' Your Majesty will, if it pleases your Majesty, travel 
 in a horse-box. It is a new one, may it please your 
 Majesty, and it has not yet been used.' 
 
 'I told you how it would be, Hoodlum,' said the 
 Emperor, as he buttoned his coat again and knocked off 
 the ash of his cigar against the stove. ' But we are un- 
 usually favoured in having a new horse-box. Lead on, 
 stationmaster.' 
 
 The official, taking up a lantern from the floor, led 
 the way through the great station to an uncovered and 
 ill-lighted siding, into which an express engine was at 
 that moment backing the selected horse-box, to which 
 was also attached a break-van. 
 
 Two or three guards and porters only were on the 
 little platform, which was soaked with splashing rain. 
 They saluted, not because two of the travellers were an 
 Emperor and a Field-Marshal, but because they were 
 officers ; and as the vehicle came to a standstill, they 
 threw open the door. 
 
 Hoodlum saw with relief that the interior was not 
 quite so uncomfortable as the Emperor's conversation 
 had led him to expect. It was well lighted ; it contained 
 chairs and a table, and in one corner stood a camp 
 bedstead covered with rugs. 
 
THE BURDEN OF GREATNESS 19 
 
 ' You are taking care of us, indeed, my good station- 
 master,' said the Emperor. ' This is luxury itself. Get 
 in, gentlemen ; we will start.' 
 
 A minute later the special train was on its way to 
 Bomberg, and the Field-Marshal was engaged in a 
 determined conflict of courtesy as to the occupancy of 
 the solitary bed. He declared that he could not think 
 of accepting it. The Emperor declared that for his part 
 he would not while the Count lay on straw ; and the 
 result was, that while the Emperor and the Field- 
 Marshal curled themselves up in adjoining stalls on 
 opened trusses of straw, Hoodlum gravitated naturally 
 to what appeared to him to be the more comfortable 
 place of repose. But he was wrong. Long ere the train 
 reached Bomberg, the American was pitched fairly on to 
 the floor ; for the springs of the horse-box were some- 
 what stiff, and, being on the floor, he remained there on 
 a pile of rugs, and found himself tolerably at ease. 
 
 The spire of Bomberg Cathedral glistened in the bright 
 moonlight, and its lively chimes were striking for half- 
 past one as the train, which had travelled down without 
 a stoppage, rolled into a station illuminated only by the 
 hand-lamps of half a dozen sleepy men. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN IMPERIAL TATTOO. 
 
 Bombrrg was the headquarters of the second division of 
 the 21st Lusatian Army Corps, and the actual garrison 
 of the town consisted of two infantry regiments, a regi- 
 ment of Uhlans, two mounted batteries of artillery, a 
 company of engineers, a pontoon train, and ammunition 
 and provision columns, the whole under Lieutenant- 
 General Beck. 
 
 'Conduct us at once to the Lieutenant -General's 
 house !' cried the Emperor to a porter against whom he 
 stumbled as he leapt to the platform before the train 
 had quite come to a standstill. 
 
 The man saluted, and obeyed without a word. He 
 may not have known who the speaker was, but he did 
 know that he was an officer of high rank, and that was 
 for him sufficient. He went off at once, lamp in hand, 
 leading the way, first into a deserted and unlighted lane, 
 and thence through broader but equally dark and 
 empty streets to the centre of the town. Not a soul 
 was encountered on the route. A few stray cats slunk 
 aside out of the bright moonlight into the shadows of the 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 21 
 
 toppling houses, but there were no other signs of life in 
 the place, for, on ordinary occasions, Bomberg goes 
 early to bed. 
 
 Outside the Lieutenant-General's quarters stood a 
 couple of striped sentry-boxes, and before these, with 
 mechanical regularity and rifle on shoulder, paced two 
 sturdy infantrymen, who, as they heard the clanking of 
 swords, stopped short to listen, and who, as soon as they 
 saw the approaching party, probably divined what was 
 about to happen. 
 
 Hoodlum was never able to recall the exact sequence 
 of the events of the next few minutes. There was a 
 rattle of arms ; there were two or three short sharp 
 words of command ; an upper window of the Lieutenant- 
 General's house was violently flung open ; some undis- 
 tinguishable orders were hurriedly shouted in the room 
 above ; a bugle brayed ; other bugles at all kinds of 
 distances took up its raucous notes ; bells were rung ; 
 whistles were blown ; rockets were fired into the calm 
 sky ; and in almost less time than it takes to relate, the 
 door of the house let out first one and then several 
 officers, and the great square in front began to fill with 
 troops who streamed into it, with a rush, from all 
 directions. 
 
 The Emperor, watch in hand, stood on the steps look- 
 ing on. Presently there was led up to him a charger, 
 which he mounted, but at once took out his watch again. 
 Aides-de-camp and mounted orderlies galloped hither 
 and thither. Strains of music and roll of drum began 
 to float upon the breeze. One infantry regiment, that 
 
22 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 of Kaiser Franz (No. 240), marched bodily in at the 
 double in nine minutes from the giving of the alarm, 
 and the Emperor raised his eyes and beamed his satis- 
 faction at the grizzled colonel whose command had done 
 so well. In fourteen minutes the whole garrison, horse, 
 foot, artillery, and tram, was assembled, and the Lieu- 
 tenant-General proudly reported the fact. In the mean- 
 time mounts had been brought for the Field-Marshal 
 and for Hoodlum. 
 
 It was a marvellous transformation, from stillness and 
 sleep to the clash of arms and the most intense alertness 
 of several thousands of men and horses. The Emperor 
 had come provided with written orders. These he 
 handed to the Lieutenant-General, who, promptly giving 
 the necessary commands, emptied the square almost as 
 rapidly as the alarm had filled it. The troops were 
 marched out of the town by various routes, and for the 
 next hour a lively sham fight was in progress in the 
 suburbs. Then followed the march past, and the 
 delivery of the Emperor's criticism on the night's work. 
 
 It was during the criticism that something happened 
 which had an important bearing, not only upon the 
 Emperor's subsequent career, but also upon the whole 
 subsequent welfare of the imperial dynasty, and, indeed, 
 of the empire. 
 
 Sitting on horseback, in the midst of a brilliant circle 
 of officers whose faces were lighted up by the flames of a 
 score of torches, the Emperor had occasion, in the course 
 of his remarks, to consult some pencilled notes which he 
 had made from time to time since his arrival at Bom- 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 23 
 
 berg. Looking up again, previous to resuming his 
 comments, he saw, gazing straight at him, a face which, 
 for an instant, he took to be some mysterious reflection 
 of his own. The effect was so startling that at first he 
 could not continue, but simply returned the gaze. 
 
 Yet, as he noticed that though the face seemed to be 
 his, the helmet and uniform belonging to it were cer- 
 tainly not, he realized that it was not a case of reflection, 
 but a case of curious resemblance. Turning to Count 
 Stark, who was at his side, he whispered hurriedly : 
 ' Find out for me the name of that young captain of the 
 Kaiser Franz Eegiment, my dear Count,' and then went 
 on, as before, with his praises, his strictures, his recom- 
 mendations and his comparisons. 
 
 Half an hour later he was once more at the station. 
 
 Concealment being no longer necessary, the party did 
 not return to Sandburg in the horse-box, but in an 
 ordinary first-class carriage, and the departure of the 
 train was respectfully witnessed by the Lieutenant- 
 General and all his staff, who stood stiffly at the salute 
 as the engine steamed away, and were, no doubt, much 
 more relieved than they appeared to be at the gratifying 
 manner in which they had passed through a very trying 
 ordeal. 
 
 ' Excellent ! excellent, my dear Count !' cried the 
 Emperor, as he sank down on the cushions and rubbed 
 his hands. ' Everything ready in fourteen minutes by 
 my watch. That fellow Beck has hair on his teeth ! 
 And the Kaiser Franz Eegiment ! It was a piece of 
 enchantment, for their barracks are nearly a quarter of 
 
24 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 a mile from the square. I shall write specially to 
 Colonel von Groll to express my satisfaction. The first 
 battalion especially was magnificent in every way. 
 What is the name of the adjutant? I must commend 
 him in my letter.' 
 
 ' The adjutant, sire,' said the Field-Marshal, ' is, 
 strange to say, the same young captain whose name 
 your Majesty inquired about during the criticism.' 
 
 ' All the better,' said the Emperor. 'He is a smart 
 fellow, I see.' 
 
 ' I have asked a few questions, and I find that he is 
 certainly a most admirable officer— one of the youngest 
 captains, in fact, in your Majesty's army. He has dis- 
 tinguished himself in all possible directions ; he bears 
 the highest character ; and both Colonel von Groll 
 and the lieutenant - colonel of the battalion seem to 
 regard him as a perfect military, intellectual, and social 
 prodigy.' 
 
 1 Better and better,' commented the Emperor. ' Did 
 you speak to him ?' 
 
 ' I did, sire, and I was much impressed, not only by 
 his manner, but also, if your Majesty will forgive me, by 
 his striking resemblance to yourself.' 
 
 ' I thought that would impress you,' said the Emperor. 
 ' It impressed me, almost to the extent of rendering me 
 speechless for an instant. That is why I asked you to 
 make inquiries. But what is his name ?' 
 
 ' His name,' replied the Field-Marshal, ' is Wilhelm, 
 Baron von Dalhoff. His late father was a brave comrade 
 of mine forty years ago, and was well and favourably 
 
AN IMPERIAL TA TTOO 25 
 
 known to your imperial grandfather, who, if I recollect 
 rightly, decorated him with his own cross on the bloody 
 field of Virecourt.' 
 
 ' Patre claro films clarior, eh ? I am very glad to hear 
 it. I think I see a future for Captain von Dalhoff. But 
 I must first speak to him. "Will you oblige me, my dear 
 Count, by having him ordered to Sandburg and directed 
 to report himself to me at the palace ? And what did 
 you think of the smartness with which the garrison 
 turned out, Hoodlum ?' 
 
 ' It was marvellous !' returned the American. ' Troops 
 so alert in peace time will not easily be caught napping 
 in war.' 
 
 ' Well, don't hide your light under a bushel, my dear 
 fellow. Say the same to all the world. It will not do 
 any harm to Lusatia or to the peace of Europe. There's 
 a fine subject for your next article in Scrarpner's 
 Magazine, "How we Alarmed Bomberg." And now, 
 gentlemen, I purpose to sleep until we get to Sandburg.' 
 
 The Emperor made himself comfortable in his corner ; 
 the others followed his example, and in less than a 
 quarter of an hour all three were in the land of dreams. 
 
 Here it may be explained that Hoodlum, though a 
 man of sufficient private fortune, was always willing, as 
 opportunities arose in the course of his travels, to con- 
 tribute to journals and magazines in his own country 
 and in England, and that the Emperor had more than 
 once found it convenient to take advantage of this fact, 
 and of his well-known intimacy with Hoodlum, to make 
 public in an unofficial or tentative manner views or 
 
26 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 schemes which he did not deem it desirable to air in a 
 more formal way. The benefits were, of course, recipro- 
 cal. Hoodlum was raised to a position which enabled 
 him to command good pay for his literary work, and the 
 Emperor not only secured a trustworthy ' organ,' but 
 at the same time avoided incurring direct responsibilities 
 which might be irksome, if not absolutely impolitic. 
 
 At a quarter to eight the imperial train steamed safely 
 into the Eastern Station in Sandburg, where the 
 Emperor's carriage was awaiting him. Hoodlum said 
 his adieux, and took a fiacre to his hotel, there to pre- 
 pare for his journey to America by way of England ; 
 and the Emperor and the Field-Marshal were driven at 
 a rapid pace to the palace, at a window of which the 
 Princess Nannette was watching for their return. 
 
 It need scarcely be said that the Field-Marshal lost 
 no time in communicating with the Lieutenant- General 
 at Bomberg, and in obtaining the attendance in Sand- 
 burg of Baron von Dalhoff. 
 
 The Baron was, in truth, one of the most able and 
 ambitious of the younger officers in the Lusatian army, 
 and had always cherished warm hopes of usefulness and 
 distinction. But even in the wildest dreams of his 
 youth he probably never imagined the peculiar kind of 
 sphere in which, as will be seen, he was destined to 
 attain honours and celebrity. His aspirations were in 
 all likelihood limited to the command of an army-corps, 
 or, at least, to the rank of field-marshal, though he may 
 have even thought of the chancellorship, for in Lusatia 
 there is no ministerial post too influential to be beyond 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 27 
 
 the grasp of the capable soldier. Assuredly he can 
 have never expected any still loftier career. Yet there 
 was one awaiting him. 
 
 The Emperor was accustomed to do much upon his 
 own initiative and without consultation, either with his 
 ministers or with his private friends. It is by no means 
 certain, nay, it is exceedingly unlikely, that all these 
 would have approved of the step which his Majesty 
 purposed to take with regard to Von Dalhoff ; but none 
 of them was asked for his opinion upon the subject, nor 
 were any of them, Count Stark only excepted, informed 
 of what had been done, even when the step had been 
 actually taken. Princess Nannette herself was not fore- 
 warned of the project, although her brother had very 
 few confidences which he did not share with her. 
 Indeed, as will appear, she was only told when it became 
 necessary that she must be. 
 
 When, therefore, the Baron arrived at the palace, the 
 Emperor alone received him. 
 
 Subsequent events have led to the making public of 
 all the details of that interview, which many rank 
 beyond doubt as the most curious interview that ever 
 took place between a sovereign and a subject. 
 
 The Baron was shown into an unoccupied room. 
 Upon a table near the window lay two or three pieces of 
 lint, a cork stuck full of needles, and a small bottle 
 containing some black liquid. 
 
 The Emperor entered immediately afterwards, and, 
 mechanically returning Yon Dalhoffs salute, locked both 
 doors of the room, and then, taking up a position with 
 
28 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 his back to the fireplace, ordered his visitor to be 
 seated. 
 
 'You are Baron von Dalhoff, Captain in the Kaiser 
 Franz Infantry Eegiment ?' he demanded. 
 
 'I have the honour, your Majesty.' 
 
 ' Your age is ?' 
 
 ' Twenty-four, sire.' 
 
 ' Your height is ?' 
 
 ' Six feet, sire.' 
 
 'Are you aware that in age and height, as well as 
 in general appearance, you bear an extraordinary 
 resemblance to myself ?' 
 
 ' I am, your Majesty.' 
 
 ' People have often remarked it, eh ?' 
 
 'Frequently, sire.' 
 
 'Your voice even is, I notice, like mine. Has that 
 further similarity been brought to your attention ?' 
 
 ' It has, sire.' 
 
 ' The whole resemblance is, in fact, notorious ?' 
 
 ' If your Majesty will forgive me,' said the Baron, 
 ' my nickname, given, I submit, with all respect, is 
 " the Kaiser." ' 
 
 ' I felt sure of something of the sort. And I perceive 
 that you further cultivate the resemblance by wearing 
 your hair and moustache as I wear mine.' 
 
 The Captain reddened a little, but said nothing. 
 
 ' I desire no permanent change to be made,' continued 
 the Emperor quickly. ' I am not displeased ; far from 
 it. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of 
 flattery. Do you speak English, French, Italian ?' 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 29 
 
 'English and French with ease, Italian less so, sire,' 
 replied Yon Dalhoff. 
 
 ' And Kussian ?' 
 
 ' Eussian I also speak,' answered the Captain. 
 
 ' Very good, Baron. Now have the goodness to take 
 off your uniform, and to put on this one ;' and the 
 Emperor, opening a cupboard in the wall, took out a 
 uniform exactly similar to the one which he was himself 
 wearing. 
 
 Baron von Dalhoff was at a loss to know what to 
 make of the Emperor's order, but at once proceeded to 
 obey it. In three minutes he was properly arrayed in 
 the uniform of the Imperial Guard. The Emperor 
 watched him with interest, and when he was dressed 
 examined him carefully, and placed him in front of a 
 long mirror, in which the figures of the two men side by 
 side could be seen simultaneously. 
 
 ' Excellent !' was the Emperor's comment, after 
 elaborate inspection. ' Twist your moustache a little 
 more upwards, and you will do admirably, unless, indeed, 
 you can suggest some other improvement.' 
 
 ' I appear to have the honour to resemble your 
 Majesty in all outward respects,' said Yon Dalhoff. 
 
 ' But there must be a further test,' remarked the 
 Emperor. ' In the next room my sister, the Princess 
 Nannette, is writing. I call her familiarly " Nan " or 
 " Pearl." I have left on the table at which she is 
 sitting a pocket-book of red morocco, bearing my cipher. 
 It is concealed beneath some papers. I desire you, 
 assuming my character, to go in and to ask her for the 
 
30 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 pocket-book. You will leave the door open, so that I 
 may hear what passes. On no account are you to 
 betray yourself. Should she ask any question you must 
 consult your common-sense for a reply. Then return to 
 me here.' 
 
 Poor Von Dalhoff felt extremely nervous and un- 
 comfortable. 
 
 ' Excuse me, sire,' he said awkwardly, ' but to carry 
 out your orders successfully I must know one thing. 
 May I venture to ask upon what terms your Majesty is 
 with her royal highness ?' 
 
 1 On what terms ?' laughed the Emperor. ' Why, 
 what would you have ? We are brother and sister. 
 Have you a sister ?' 
 
 'Yes, sire.' 
 
 ' And are you on good terms with her ?' 
 
 ' The best in the world, your Majesty.' 
 
 ' Good ! Those will do. The Princess and I are still 
 as we were when we were children together, and God 
 grant that we may never be otherwise. Now, I will 
 unlock this door. Immediately beyond it is a second 
 door, but it is not locked. Open it, and go in boldly/ 
 
 Von Dalhoff steadied himself. He would have vastly 
 preferred to storm a battery, but, having his orders, he 
 obeyed them. It relieved him to find as he opened the 
 second door that the Princess sat with her back towards 
 it, and did not look up as he entered. 
 
 ' Nan,' he said boldly, ' where is that red pocket-book 
 of mine ? It is somewhere on your table.' 
 
 Even then the Princess did not look up, but continued 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 31 
 
 to write hurriedly, as if anxious to finish a sentence 
 before allowing herself to be disturbed. 
 
 He went forward, placed one hand on her shoulder 
 and one on the table, and bent over her. 
 
 ' We are busy to-day,' he said ; ' but give me my 
 pocket-book ; I want it, little one.' 
 
 In an instant she had dropped her pen, started up, 
 and thrown both arms around his neck. 
 
 ' Oh, how nice of you, Carl !' she cried. ' You never 
 called me " little one " before. It sounds so pleasant. 
 You are a dear, good boy ! But you must often call me 
 " little one," remember ;' and without a shade of 
 suspicion she kissed him warmly on both cheeks. 
 
 The Baron was very human ; and with the arms of 
 the prettiest girl in Lusatia about him, and the opportune 
 recollection that he had been expressly ordered not to 
 betray himself, he did not resist the temptation to kiss 
 the Princess in return. He had quite ceased to regard 
 the adventure as disagreeable. 
 
 ' But the pocket-book ?' he repeated, as the Princess 
 released him. 
 
 She found it at once. 
 
 'Here it is,' she said ; ' but you don't deserve to have 
 it, for, you know, you haven't yet told me what she 
 says.' 
 
 ' What who says ?' asked Yon Dalhoff. 
 
 The Princess burst out laughing. 
 
 ' Surely there is only one " she " for the man who is 
 in love, Carl. I shall tell her about this, and if 
 Griselda doesn't at once decline to have anything more 
 
32 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 to do with you, she will be a perfect angel of forgive- 
 ness.' 
 
 ' What she says will wait,' said Von Dalhoff, who was 
 glad to find that ' she ' was the Princess of Stormarn, 
 to whom the Emperor was engaged. 
 
 1 Wait ? Of course it won't wait,' declared the 
 Princess. ' I do believe that you actually haven't read 
 her letter yet, and that that is why you won't tell me.' 
 
 ' Tut, tut !' said the Baron, as he made a bold snatch 
 at the pocket-book, which the Princess still held ; but 
 he missed it. ' I am in a hurry, Nan,' he pleaded ; ' I 
 really am !' 
 
 ' Of course ; you always are ! That's why you haven't 
 read poor Griselda's letter yefc. I call it cruelty.' 
 
 The Baron made another dash for the prize, and that 
 time secured it ; but he was hotly chased by the Prin- 
 cess as he beat a retreat, and he only escaped from her 
 by laughingly shutting the door in her face. 
 
 In the other room he found the Emperor looking very 
 grave. 
 
 ' This has gone,' said his Majesty, as he again locked 
 the door, ' a good deal farther than I intended. I have 
 done the Princess an injustice. I did not foresee that 
 she would kiss you. That must be avoided in the 
 future. In the meantime I must ask you to give me 
 your word never to make gossip out of what has hap- 
 pened.' 
 
 ' Sire,' said Von Dalhoff proudly, ' I have the honour 
 to be an officer and a gentleman.' 
 
 'If I did not think so, you would not be here,' re- 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 33 
 
 turned the Emperor. ' I have nothing, indeed, to 
 reproach you with ; you carried out your orders admir- 
 ably, and you were not suspected. Now, Baron, tell me 
 honestly and frankly, what are your wishes in life ?' 
 
 ' To do my duty, sire, and to serve your Majesty with 
 all my ability.' 
 
 'Then,' said the Emperor, 'I will be frank with you. 
 For some time I have found my duties — and especially 
 my official duties of the more formal categories — terribly 
 irksome. I have not, to be brief, time in which to per- 
 form them. They need the energies of more than one 
 man. Half of them could quite well be carried out by you, 
 not as my formal representative, but merely as one who 
 is like me. You could efficiently appear at the window 
 when they change the guard ; you could relieve me of 
 the burden of having to drive in the park, when I wiuld 
 rather be at home in my library, and so forth ; and no 
 one would be any the worse, so long as everyone was 
 content to believe that you were I ; while I should 
 benefit by gaining proportionate leisure for study and 
 recreation. Do you now understand my motives and my 
 projects ? Are you disposed — for here I do not com- 
 mand — to be my loyal, devoted and self-sacrificing 
 assistant in the performance of some of the public duties 
 of my position ?' 
 
 Von Dalhoff was astonished. 
 
 ' If, sire,' he said, ' I can be of such use to your 
 Majesty, you may be assured that no effort and no 
 devotion on my part shall be lacking ; but I make bold 
 to submit to your Majesty that the project is one in 
 
 3 
 
34 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 which I cannot guarantee to be an always successful 
 actor. The role is a difficult one to play, and perhaps, 
 sire, the playing of it may not always be of advantage 
 to your Majesty's interests.' 
 
 'All that,' said the Emperor, 'must, if only you be 
 loyal, be my risk. I have carefully thought the matter 
 over. On the one hand, I must have more leisure ; on 
 the other, my people must not be deprived of whatever 
 pleasure results to them from looking upon an automaton 
 clothed in my uniform. If you agree, it is for me to 
 scheme and for you to carry out. When you are not 
 posing as my double, you will be yourself, and will be at 
 liberty to dispose of your time as you like. When you 
 are posing as my double, I shall be the Baron von 
 Dalhoff. To successfully carry out the scheme there 
 must be perfect frankness and confidence between us. 
 You will be placed in a position of responsibility, small 
 in comparison with mine, yet perhaps greater than ever 
 subject has been burdened with in Ruhland. At the 
 same time you will be more useful than subject has ever 
 been. Loyalty, secrecy, devotion, confidence, tact — 
 these are what you must display if you would serve me 
 well in the position which I offer you. I, for my part, 
 will see to it that you shall be well recompensed, and 
 that your future shall be thoroughly assured. It is for 
 you now to decide.' 
 
 Von Dalhoff paced backwards and forwards thought- 
 fully for several minutes before the Emperor, Mho re- 
 marked : 
 
 ' You hesitate, then T 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 35 
 
 * If I hesitate, sire,' said the Baron, ' it is for your 
 Majesty's sake, and not for mine. The questions that 
 present themselves to me are : first, is this scheme to 
 your Majesty's real advantage ? and next, can I, if I 
 accept your Majesty's flattering offer, give your Majesty 
 satisfaction ?' 
 
 ' The first question,' declared the Emperor, ' concerns 
 me only.' 
 
 'As regards the second,' said Yon Dalhoff, 'my feel- 
 ing is that in any other position it would never occur 
 to me to distrust myself ; but that, facing a career so 
 delicate in its nature, so novel in its outlines, and so 
 momentous in its possible bearings upon the welfare, not 
 only of your Majesty, but also of your Majesty's house, 
 of Piuhland, and of Lusatia in general, I tremble.' 
 
 'And I trust,' said the Emperor. 'Is it to be yes or 
 no?' 
 
 Von Dalhoff gazed for an instant at his boots. Then 
 he said simply : 
 
 ' I place myself in your Majesty's hands, to utilize my 
 devotion, my loyalty, and my small ability as your 
 Majesty wills.' 
 
 The Emperor advanced, and cordially extended his 
 hand. 
 
 ' Well decided !' he exclaimed. ' Now, my dear Von 
 Dalhoff, we enter upon new relations. AYe are still 
 monarch and subject, but you become one of my most 
 trusted friends. I shall not ask you to at once enter 
 upon your duties. You will remain for six weeks on 
 leave in Sandburg as my guest, living here at the palace, 
 
36 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 but occupying your time as you like, and showing your- 
 self in public places as much as possible. In the 
 interim, in order to encourage in the popular mind the 
 idea that the Emperor and Von Dalhoff are not really so 
 very much alike after all, you will permit your beard to 
 grow. When the beard is grown, and has become 
 familiar, you shall one morning shave it off, and substi- 
 tute for it a false beard. Thus you, by putting off the false 
 beard, will be enabled to appear as Emperor, while I, by 
 putting on a similar false beard, will be enabled to appear 
 as Baron von Dalhoff. Do you understand the scheme '?' 
 
 ' Yes, sire.' 
 
 1 And there is just one other matter. Circumstances 
 may arise to render it absolutely imperative that one of 
 us, while masquerading in the other character, shall be 
 in a position to at once establish his real individuality. 
 I purpose, therefore, that you and I shall tattoo one 
 another. You shall tattoo on my arm, " I am the 
 Emperor Carl " ; I will tattoo on yours, " I am Wilhelm, 
 Baron von Dalhoff." I have here lint, needles and 
 India-ink. You shall tattoo me at once. It is quite 
 simple. You merely prick out the lines of the letters 
 until the blood comes, and then you rub in the ink ; and 
 it does not take long.' 
 
 ' I have seen the process, sire, and understand it,' said 
 Von Dalhoff. 
 
 'Capital! You may begin at once.' And the Em- 
 peror, taking off his coat and rolling up his left sliirt- 
 Bleeve to the shoulder, sat down in a good light, and 
 delivered his arm to the Baron's artistic skill. 
 
AN IMPERIAL TATTOO 37 
 
 1 1 think,' the Emperor remarked a few minutes later, 
 ' that after what happened just now I must take the 
 Princess Nannette into my confidence as to the arrange- 
 ment that is to subsist between us. It is not fair to 
 allow her to deceive herself. Besides, sooner or later, 
 she would certainly suspect the truth, for she will neces- 
 sarily see you almost every day ; and, although you have 
 so successfully imposed upon her for a couple of minutes, 
 it would be a more difficult business to impose upon her 
 for weeks, months, and years.' 
 
 Yon Dalhoff heard this conclusion with mixed feel- 
 ings. He was glad that there was a prospect that he 
 would see a great deal of the Princess, for, in truth, his 
 adventure with her had already made a deep impression 
 upon him. On the other hand, he was half sorry that 
 she was to be taken into the Emperor's confidence, for 
 he could not but suspect that in that case there would be 
 no possibility of any repetition of the delightful experi- 
 ences of that day. 
 
 ' May I ask, sire,' demanded the Baron, ' whether you 
 intend to inform her Pioyal Highness that it was not your 
 Majesty who just now entered the next room? Surely it 
 is not necessary to expose her Pioyal Highness to that 
 confusion, and so to expose me to her just resentment.' 
 
 ' Prick deeper, my dear Von Dalhoff ; you are treating 
 me too tenderly,' said the Emperor. ' No ; I think that I 
 need not tell the Princess about that. Six weeks hence, 
 when you are ready to enter upon your duties, she will 
 have forgotten to-day's incident, and I shall be able to 
 explain to her our arrangement without awakening her 
 
38 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 suspicions. But confide in her I must, for you perceive 
 that here in the palace, where the Princess, of course, 
 moves about as she will, it might happen that she should 
 one day come upon two Emperors or two Von Dalhoffs in 
 the same room. That would arouse suspicion, even if it 
 did not arouse alarm. I apprehend no danger from 
 others ; but the Princess is so situated that whether or 
 not we deliberately confide the secret to her, she must 
 infallibly know it in the course of time.' 
 
 ' I am deeply grateful to you, sire, for accepting my 
 suggestion,' said the Baron. ' You will spare the 
 Princess pain, and me you will save from her Ptoyal 
 Highness's displeasure. I think, sire, the arm is now 
 well tattooed.' 
 
 The Emperor rose, and, by the aid of a mirror, 
 examined his arm. Then, having expressed his satis- 
 faction, he resumed his coat, and began operations on 
 Von Dalhoff, who had exchanged places with him. 
 The Emperor, a man who always concentrated himself 
 upon one thing at a time, worked without talking, and 
 the Baron had leisure to reflect upon the future that was 
 opening out before him. 
 
 Upon the whole he rather liked it. It promised to be 
 adventurous and exciting ; it could not fail to be interest- 
 ing ; it might be very useful. Above all, it was associated 
 with the Princess Nannette, and he still felt her kiss 
 upon his cheek, and almost blushed at the recollection. 
 Poor Von Dalhoff ! Before the day was over he began to 
 bu.spect that ho was in love. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 BOLTEH'S GUN. 
 
 While the Baron von Dalhoff was engaged in growing a 
 beard, and in regretting that it might at any moment 
 become his duty to show himself with a stubbly chin to 
 the Princess Nannette, Mr. Esek Hoodlum — rich, irre- 
 sponsible, and with plenty of desirable material for the 
 editor of Scrarpner' 8 Magazine — was crossing the Atlantic 
 in a White Star liner. 
 
 Hoodlum was well known on that great highway. He 
 was on good terms with all the captains ; there were on 
 board at least a dozen of his private friends, and half 
 the saloon passengers had sufficient acquaintance with 
 his books and his magazine articles to cause them 
 involuntarily to associate him in their minds with the 
 Lusatian Emperor. 
 
 There is on earth no race which takes quite so much 
 interest as the free and mdependent American race does 
 in the doings and sayings of the titled people of the eli'ete 
 Old World. 
 
 Whenever, therefore, in the smoking-room or music- 
 room of the Chromatic, Esek was prevailed upon to talk 
 
40 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 about the Emperor, he always secured a numerous and 
 attentive audience. Esek did not usually need a great 
 amount of persuasion ere he began, for the Emperor was a 
 subject which lay very near the surface of his thoughts, 
 and he was never tired of proclaiming the cleverness, 
 energy, and self-sacrifices of his friend and hero. 
 
 No one on board appeared to be more eager to listen 
 to these recitals than the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs. 
 
 Mr. Snaggs, who was himself a most witty and 
 resourceful story-teller, called himself, and was called, 
 'the Hon.' on the strength of the fact that at some 
 distant period of his career he had been a railroad or 
 insurance commissioner in a Western State. He also 
 called himself, and was called, 'Colonel.' The only 
 reason that has ever been suggested for this is that his 
 father, his grandfather, and all his brothers were, or had 
 been, also called ' Colonel,' and that he thus, by inherit- 
 ance and family influence, was afflicted with an uncon- 
 querable tendency to take the title. It is generally 
 admitted that he was never in the United States army, 
 and only his most impressive and injudicious friends 
 assert that he ever belonged to any State militia. By 
 profession he was a speculator and a diner-out. His 
 speculation found a field not, for the most part, on the 
 stock exchanges of Europe and America, but in less fre- 
 quented places. He was always mixed up with a consider- 
 able number of mysterious ' good things,' concerning which 
 the public journals appeared to know nothing, but which 
 seldom failed to be exceedingly remunerative, if not to all 
 engaged in them, at all events to Colonel Snaggs. He 
 
BOLTER'S GUN 41 
 
 secured concessions, he helped to make 'corners,' he 
 formed syndicates, and he planned trusts. Yet none of 
 his numerous money -making schemes occupied any 
 serious portion of his time, nearly the whole of which 
 was given up to travelling and social enjoyment. 
 
 In London, where society has scarcely learnt to dis- 
 criminate between Americans and Americans, and where, 
 in consequence, Colonel Snaggs found the entree easier 
 than he found it in Boston, in Philadelphia, in Balti- 
 more, or even in New York or Chicago, the Hon. Barn- 
 well, in spite of his crudeness of manner and roughness 
 of diction, was a notable lion. He was a most amusing 
 talker, provided only that the listener was not capable of 
 being shocked ; but as Colonel Snaggs found it impossible 
 to be amusing upon any other conditions, and as he had 
 sufficient knowledge of the world to be aware that he 
 must not tell his most boisterous stories, flavoured with 
 his most startling ejaculations, in the presence of English- 
 men's wives, daughters, and sisters, he was a social 
 failure whenever a lady was near him. At dinner-parties 
 he was dull and awkward until the men were left alone. 
 Then only he uncorked the excessively strong wine of his 
 rough wit, and with it kept the table in a roar until the 
 small hours. 
 
 An American of this type receives undoubtedly more 
 toleration at the hands of Englishmen than at the hands 
 of people of the better classes among his own country- 
 men. In England he is permitted to riot in a club 
 smoking-room or at table after dinner ; in America his 
 natural sphere is within easy distance of the bar of a big 
 
42 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 hotel. For this reason Snaggs, save by name, was 
 almost unknown to Hoodlum, who would have sought 
 his society as little in Europe as in the United States. 
 But on board ship space is limited, and there is little 
 privacy, and Hoodlum, unless he was prepared to con- 
 fine himself to his cabin and to the promenade-deck of 
 the Chromatic, had, like others, to make up his mind to 
 take his saloon and smoking-room acquaintances as he 
 found them. The alternative admitted of very little 
 hesitation ; and, rather than be disagreeable, Esek sub- 
 mitted to as much of the Colonel's intimacy as he could 
 not, without rudeness, escape from. 
 
 One evening Hoodlum had been giving some instances 
 of the Emperor's insatiable appetite for new inventions, 
 and of his rapid digestion of all their details. 
 
 ' I believe,' he had said, ' that no man living is more 
 quick to seize and comprehend any freshly-discovered 
 principle or any novel demonstration, and I am sure that 
 no one is more eager to become familiar with all useful 
 improvements.' 
 
 On the following morning the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs 
 was unusually silent and pensive. He did not enter the 
 smoking-room ; he omitted swallowing his ten o'clock 
 cocktail ; and, although there was a big cigar in his 
 mouth as he walked the deck, he merely chewed one 
 end of it and had forgotten to light the other. He 
 appeared to be studying some abstruse and important 
 problem. His eyes were seldom raised from the planks 
 at his feet ; and when, as occasionally happened, one of 
 his friends attempted to join him in his promenade, or 
 
BOLTERS GUN 43 
 
 to engage him in conversation, Snaggs turned aside, as 
 if all intercourse with his fellow-creatures was distasteful. 
 So absorbed, indeed, did the Colonel remain thai even 
 when the gong sounded for luncheon he paid no attention 
 to it, and still paced backwards and forwards, as if in 
 greater doubt and difficulty than ever. 
 
 ' Not going down, Colonel"?' cried an English traveller, 
 upon whose face delight at the welcome announcement 
 was plainly written. ' Feeling a bit squeamish, eh ?' 
 
 'Oh no,' murmured the Colonel savagely. 'I don't 
 need any of your blasted lunch !' 
 
 Yet soon afterwards the Hon. Barnwell's gloomy 
 manner brightened. He stopped on his monotonous 
 promenade ; he stood with his hands thrust beneath his 
 coat-tails and gazed downwards, as if at some particular 
 spot upon the deck ; he transferred his half-chewed 
 cigar from the right to the left side of his mouth, and 
 then, realizing that it was not lighted, flung it away ; 
 and he whistled a long, shrill note. Finally he ejacu- 
 lated : ' Gosh ! that will catch him every time !' and, ap- 
 pearing to suddenly awake to his position, his surround- 
 ings, and the fact that some hours had elapsed since 
 breakfast, he hurried down to the saloon, where, in five 
 minutes' time, he was telling one of his most impossible 
 and strongly-adjectived stories. 
 
 After luncheon he lay in wait for Hoodlum on deck. 
 
 1 Take one of my cigars, Mr. Hoodlum,' he said 
 affably, as he offered his case. 
 
 Hoodlum, who had been in the act of searching for 
 a cigar of his own, did not feel justified in refusing. 
 
44 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 ' They're just prime,' continued Snaggs. ' They cost 
 me sixty dollars a hundred, so you've no need to hesitate 
 about smokin' one.' 
 
 Hoodlum felt inclined to offer his benefactor half a 
 crown, as the exact equivalent of the favour, but re- 
 strained himself. 
 
 ' I have no doubt, Colonel,' he said, ' that they are 
 excellent.' 
 
 ' Fit for kings, sir — fit for emperors !' 
 
 Hoodlum laughed. ' The only Emperor whom I know,' 
 he said simply, ' smokes cigars that do not cost him 
 more than seven or eight dollars a hundred.' 
 
 ' Well, now, that's mighty cur'ous,' commented Snaggs. 
 ' He must be a remarkable man, that Emperor. "What 
 you were sayin' about him last night was mighty in- 
 terestin', and it set me wonderin'.' 
 
 ' Indeed ! What did it set you wondering about, 
 Colonel ?' 
 
 ' Well, it's this way,' said Snaggs : ' I guess you have 
 heard of Major Jack Bolter's gun ?' 
 
 'I'm afraid I haven't,' confessed Hoodlum. 'Who is 
 Major Bolter, and what is his gun?' 
 
 ' Do you mean to tell me, sir, that 3'ou have never 
 heard of Jack Bolter — Major Jack Bolter, of Arkansas ? 
 Why, sir, he's one of the most remarkable men of our 
 great country !' 
 
 ' It's very stupid of me, no doubt, but I really haven't,' 
 admitted Hoodlum. 
 
 ' Well,' said the Colonel, airily waving his hand to 
 seaward, ' that shows what a mean thing fame is. You 
 
BOLTERS GUN 45 
 
 have heard of Bowie, of Hotchkiss, of Maxim, of Norden- 
 feldt, and of Colt ?' 
 
 'Certainly,' assented Hoodlum. 
 
 ' Well, it's all the more surprisin' that you haven't 
 heard of Bolter, who is boss of the whole crowd. But 
 you must have heard of Bolter's gun !' 
 
 ' I positively never have ! What is Bolter's gun ?' 
 asked Hoodlum. 
 
 ' See here. Major Jack Bolter, of Arkansas, is a par- 
 ticular friend of mine, and he has invented a gun which 
 is the most remarkable gun of modern times. It don't 
 amount to much in the matter of weight ; you can carry 
 it in any boat, or put it on a railroad-car or on a waggon. 
 The point about it is the shot, and the stuff in the shot. 
 There's the subject of Major Bolter's patent. That 
 shot carries an explosive — for bustin', you understand 
 ■ — ten thousand times as strong as dynamite. If you 
 want to produce an effect equal to what would be pro- 
 duced by ten thousand pounds of dynamite, you just 
 sling in one ordinary pound of Bolter's stuff and fire 
 away. Where it strikes it busts. Never fails ; ain't 
 dangerous to handle; keeps in all climates, and don't 
 cost much. I was wonderin' if that Emperor wouldn't 
 just feel interested some in Jack Bolter's gun.' 
 
 ' I should think that it is very likely,' replied Hoodlum. 
 ' It must be, as you say, a very extraordinary invention, 
 and the enormous power of the explosive is really 
 startling. Has it been tried ?' 
 
 1 Only in private, so far,' said Snagga. ' But Jack 
 Bolter is arrangin' to have an exhibition trial of it 
 
46 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 somewhere on the Maryland coast in the matter of a 
 month's time ; and if you feel like runnin' down to have 
 a look, why, Jack Bolter will be only too proud/ 
 
 'I shall be at Washington next month,' returned 
 Hoodlum, ' and if your friend doesn't mind, I should 
 like to come over immensely.' 
 
 'Eight you are, sir,' said the Colonel. 'You just 
 leave me your Washington address, and I'll see that 
 Jack Bolter sends you an invite. Bring your friends 
 along, too, if you like ; Jack will be proud to meet them. 
 And if, when you have seen the gun, mind, you think, 
 same as me, that it's the most remarkable weapon of 
 the present day, why, tell the Emperor. If, on the 
 other hand, you don't think any great shakes of it, don't 
 say a word. But, don't you forget it : that gun would 
 be mighty useful and interestin' to the Emperor. It's 
 bound to revolutionize war.' 
 
 ' If I think so, I shall certainly let the Emperor know,' 
 declared Hoou.um ; ' though I don't profess to under- 
 stand very much about guns and explosives, and am, 
 I am afraid, scarcely competent to form an opinion.' 
 And being just then anxious to assist a lady who was 
 in difficulties with her deck-chair, he left the Colonel, 
 who walked away apparently in great good-humour. 
 
 Hoodlum was really even more interested than Colonel 
 Snaggs supposed by the account of the Bolter gun. He 
 was, it is true, an American, but he had been educated 
 and had lived much in Lusatia, and he was honoured 
 with the Emperor's intimacy. Not unnaturally, therefore, 
 he was only less anxious for the prosperity and welfare 
 
BOLTER'S GUN 47 
 
 of Lusatia than he was for the prosperity and welfare 
 of his own country ; and knowing, as he did, that 
 Lusatia had powerful enemies, he saw at once that if 
 all the claims advanced by Snaggs on behalf of Major 
 Bolter's invention could be substantiated, it might be 
 of extreme importance to Lusatia to secure exclusive 
 rights in the novelty. He determined, consequently — 
 at the cost, if necessary, of his personal convenience — to 
 witness the trials, and, should they be successful, to 
 report them privately and promptly to his imperial 
 friend. Only his natural antipathy to Snaggs had pre- 
 vented him from asking for full details. 
 
 Seeing that at that moment not only Bolter's gun, 
 but Bolter himself, existed solely in the fertile brain of 
 the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs, Hoodlum's abstention from 
 further questionings probably saved the Colonel from a 
 certain amount of embarrassment. There is no reason, 
 however, to fear that Snaggs would have failed to rise to 
 the occasion if Hoodlum had chosen to spend the rest 
 of the day in talking about the gun and its supposed 
 inventor, for the Colonel was a man of marvellous re- 
 source. Indeed, that very evening, in the smoking- 
 room, as if quite unconscious of Hoodlum's presence, 
 he let off two amusing personal recollections of the 
 gallant Bolter, both of which were designed to illustrate 
 the remarkable nature of that mythical individual's 
 mental accomplishments. 
 
 So discreetly and so consistently did Snaggs play his 
 cards, that, ere the voyage was over, Hoodlum had 
 begun to look forward quite anxiously to the promised 
 
48 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 trials and to the meeting with Bolter ; and that he went 
 so far, in writing to the Emperor, as to make mention of 
 what he had in view, and to express a hope that the gun 
 might turn out to be of practical utility in Lusatia. 
 
 At New York Hoodlum, who did not forget to leave 
 his address, both there and at Washington, with the 
 Colonel, drove to his house in Madison Avenue, and 
 Snaggs, for whom some friends of his own peculiar class 
 were waiting on the wharf, departed with them to an 
 ' up-town ' hotel, where, in accordance with his invariable 
 practice on returning from one of his European ex- 
 peditions, he gave a big dinner. 
 
 His friends were all men who were more or less 
 connected with his various monetary schemes, and the 
 dinner was the occasion chosen by Snaggs for the 
 delivery to them of an informal report of his Trans- 
 atlantic operations. He was able this time to inform 
 them that he had secured from a pauper princeling a 
 concession to erect and carry on, for a period of seven 
 years, upon his Translucency's exiguous territory a 
 gambling establishment ; that he had organized, upon 
 principles which could scarcely fail to assure the success 
 of the plan, a ' corner ' in genuine Eau de Cologne ; and 
 that, with some English allies, he was maturing a 
 project for creating a ' trust,' which would have the 
 effect of raising the retail price of particular varieties of 
 agricultural machinery throughout Europe by, at least, 
 fifteen per cent. 
 
 These and other announcements, combined with 
 plenty of excellent wine and the influence of the 
 
BOLTER'S GUN 49 
 
 Colonel's unrestrained humour, raised the spirits of 
 the company to a great height, and prepared them 
 for listening to a proposition, the unfolding of which 
 Snaggs reserved until a comparatively late period of the 
 evening. Indeed, conversation had drifted far away 
 from business matters when the Hon. Barnwell, after 
 having hammered upon the table to obtain silence, rose 
 and said : 
 
 ' Gentlemen and fellow-citizens : before we part this 
 evenin' I guess I've gotten an important matter to lay 
 before you, and three important toasts for you to drink 
 to. For the present I will leave the important matter. 
 When I come to explain the toasts, maybe you'll under- 
 stand it, but if you don't — well, I s'pose everyone here 
 knows how to use his tongue, and can ask the necessary 
 questions. Gentlemen, the toasts are : " The Gull," 
 " The Bolter Gun," and " The Lusatian Emperor ;" and 
 the reason why I shall ask you to drink to them with 
 full glasses is that, although our various little specula- 
 tions look tolerable rosy and promisin', there's a con- 
 siderable sight more to be gotten out of "The Gull," 
 " The Bolter Gun," and " The Lusatian Emperor" than 
 there is out of the whole of the rest of the caboodle. 
 Maybe I've given the toasts in the wrong order ; maybe 
 I ought to put his Majesty first. No harm was meant. 
 Gentlemen, if you read the papers — you know his 
 Majesty some, I reckon. He's a young monarch, new 
 to the business ; chokefull of energy, burnin' for 
 novelty, and dyin' to get acquainted with all kinds of 
 fresh notions. Gentlemen, I give you " The Lusatian 
 
 4 
 
50 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Emperor." Next I give you " The Bolter Gun." The 
 Bolter gun is the all-firedest, out-and-outest, most 
 astonishin' weapon of this century. It is invented solely 
 to meet the Emperor's cravin' for novelty, and conse- 
 quently it is bound to be a tolerable tall kind of gun. No 
 ordinary gun will fill the bill. I had a notion at one time 
 that the Bolter gun would be satisfactory if it discharged 
 a matter of, say, a hundred thousand balls a minute, 
 to a distance of, say, ten miles ; but I saw difficulties in 
 the way, and I wasn't sure that that kind of weapon in 
 these days would be tall enough to catch on with the 
 Emperor. So I fixed up in my mind a gun of a more 
 staggerin' character. The real Bolter gun is a little 
 thing, weighin' no more, I'll s'pose, nor an ord'nary 
 field-piece. Into this you put a cartridge and a shot. 
 The only cur'ous thing about the Bolter gun is that it 
 will carry an extr'ord'nary kind of distance, and never 
 miss ; and there ain't nothing out of the common about 
 the cartridge. But the shot is a real little marvel. It 
 holds just one pound of Bolter's explosive — mind you, 
 only one pound. That one pound is exactly equal to 
 ten thousand pounds of the very best No. 1 dynamite. 
 The explosive is safe to handle. A child can play with 
 it, for it's just ord'nary coal-dust. But where the shot 
 strikes it busts ; and where it busts, why, geewillikins ! 
 everything's bound to go. This Bolter gun, gentlemen, 
 is the invention of my very particular friend, Major Jack 
 Bolter, of Arkansas. Maybe you don't know him. It 
 would be cur'ous if you did ; he ain't born yet. No 
 more's the Bolter gun ; but the gun can be born any day. 
 
BOLTER'S GUN 51 
 
 You take an ord'nary gun — any old field-piece that's 
 been sold off a Government scrap-heap — and you fix up a 
 grand experimental demonstration soruewheres out of the 
 way. Meantime you carefully prepare your hand. Out 
 at sea, for instance, you have a boat anchored — a little 
 thing that looks like a speck in the distance. On the 
 beach, three miles away, you have a target marked out 
 on a lump of rock ; and so on. In the boat }'ou have 
 ten thousand pounds of No. 1 dynamite. Under the 
 rock you have the same. And from the boat and from 
 the rock you have wires laid down to some place where 
 my particular friend, Major Jack Bolter, or one of his 
 particular friends, stands watchin' the interestin' pro- 
 ceedin's. Well, gentlemen, you fire the Bolter gun at 
 the boat or rock. It never misses, mind you ; for just 
 at the proper moment Major Jack Bolter takes care to 
 press a button, and up goes ten thousand pounds of 
 dynamite. I've told you about the Emperor and about 
 the gun. I'm now goin' to speak to you about the 
 " Gull," who in private life is Mr. Esek Hoodlum, of 
 this city. Mr. Hoodlum is the particular friend of the 
 Emperor, just as I am the particular friend of Major 
 Bolter ; only in one case the friendship is a solemn fact, 
 and in the other it ain't so, not much. I don't want to 
 tell you, gentlemen, that if Mr. Hoodlum happens to see 
 the extr'ord'nary effect of that Bolter gun, he's bound to 
 sit down at once and write word to the Emperor, and 
 that when the Emperor gets the letter he's bound to 
 want powerful bad to see the gun at work.' 
 
 Here the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs refreshed himself 
 
52 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 with champagne, and smiled modestly at the applause 
 which arose from all parts of the table. 
 
 ' What I've been say in', gentlemen,' he continued, ' is 
 in the way of preface to what's got to come. If we 
 haven't invented the Bolter gun, it stands to reason 
 that, though we may exhibit it to Mr. Hoodlum, we 
 can't sell it to the Emperor. If I know anythin' of that 
 young man, the very first thing that he'd be dyin' to do 
 would be to fire the gun with his own hands at his own 
 mark ; and it's a million dollars to a red cent that his 
 own mark wouldn't happen to have ten thousand pounds 
 of dynamite under it and a wire leadin' to Major Bolter. 
 We can't, therefore, sell the gun. But we may do 
 a considerable bigger deal than that. Has it ever 
 occurred to any of you to figure up the market value of 
 a young and popular Emperor ?' 
 
 He paused, and gazed around him with such an air as 
 may have been assumed by Columbus, when he was at 
 length able to demonstrate to his followers that he had 
 not been pursuing a mere phantom. 
 
 1 Has it ever,' repeated Snaggs, ' occurred to any of 
 you gentlemen to figure up the market value of the 
 Lusatian Emperor? The question is, "What would 
 the Lusatians be prepared to plank down for him if 
 to-morrow we had him and they hadn't?" Well, I've 
 figured things up, and I calculate that from their point 
 of view he'd be dirt cheap at twenty-five million dollars. 
 The people over there think a powerful deal of him : the 
 family's rich, and all over Europe he has rich relations, 
 who'd be glad enough to pool some of their savin's in 
 
BOLTERS GUN 53 
 
 order to ransom him. Now, see here ! I don't propose 
 violent measures. What I propose is this. We exhibit 
 the Bolter gun to Mr. Hoodlum. In due course the 
 Emperor will be dyin' to see it, too. We will be dyin' 
 to please him. We will buy or rent a fast ship — such a 
 steamer as the Chromatic — and we will fix her up with 
 half a dozen Bolter guns, and take a pleasure trip in 
 her to Europe. Lyin' somewheres off one of the ports 
 of Lusatia, we will send word that if the Emperor will 
 be so obligin' as to have some targets set out for us to 
 blaze at, we will be particularly delighted to smash them 
 up, and to have his Majesty on board to see the fun, 
 and to fire the guns, s'posin' he feels that way. Well, 
 he'll come, I guess. And then the steamer will just 
 skip ; and the Emperor will enjoy the breezes with us, 
 as our guest, until his relations and subjects make it 
 convenient to plank down twenty-five millions. I've 
 fixed up all the plans. The ship will be full of coal, and 
 she will go south, where she can't be followed. When 
 we have had a good time and have gotten the dollars, 
 all we will have to do is to go ashore somewheres quietly, 
 change our names, and settle down like ord'nary citizens. 
 Maybe we'll persuade the Emperor not to be ugly after- 
 wards. But, whether or no, there are plenty of places 
 about the world where a man can live safely and com- 
 fortably for a year or two until his little jokes have been 
 forgotten. The plan's sound enough, and easy enough. 
 Didn't they kidnap the Prince of Bulgaria a few years 
 ago? Why, it's like shuckin' peas. The only thing 
 that I'm afraid of is that somebody else will think of 
 
54 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 kidnappin' him before we can get hold of him. Gentle- 
 men, I give you " The Lusatian Emperor, the Bolter 
 Gun, and the Gull." ' 
 
 Everyone rose, and there was a storm of applause. 
 But it was not until the toasts had been laughingly 
 honoured, and general conversation had been resumed, 
 that any of those present began to discover, from the 
 Colonel's manner, that he had been speaking seriously. 
 When it fully appeared that this was the case, the 
 project met with almost general ridicule. 
 
 'Why, Colonel,' objected one critic, 'you would have 
 the whole Lusatian navy after you.' 
 
 ' No warship yet built,' replied Snaggs, ' could catch a 
 steamer like the Chromatic, which, moreover, could be 
 made to carry coal sufficient to take her twice round the 
 world. No, sir ; I have thought of that point.' 
 
 ' You would have an international combination against 
 you, and all ports closed to you,' said a second man. 
 
 ' Let them combine and let them close : I don't care. 
 Tell you what it is, gentlemen. I've fixed up all the 
 plans for this deal, and I'm going through with it. I 
 guess you can stand in, or you can stand out. It don't 
 matter to me. But you ought to know that when 
 Barnwell Snaggs takes hold of a big thing, he's apt to 
 stick to it until he has gotten all he wants out of it.' 
 
 In truth, Snaggs's determination and persistency 
 were not less proverbial among his allies than his extra- 
 ordinary good luck ; and before the party separated, the 
 Colonel, although he had made but one or two actual 
 converts, was able to see that, in the course of a few 
 
BOLTERS GUN 55 
 
 days, all the rest of his guests would join him. He 
 would not, it is scarcely necessary to say, have exposed 
 his projects to them had he not from the first been 
 pretty sure of his men ; and in this, as in many other 
 bold strokes upon which he had previously risked much, 
 his remarkable knowledge of human nature, and espe- 
 cially of its weaknesses, served him well. A week sufficed 
 him for talking over the last of those who had first 
 jeered and then hesitated. A second week sufficed him 
 for capturing a few additional recruits. And by the end 
 of the third week a little knot of about fifty New 7 Yorkers 
 were formally associated with him in the prosecution of 
 the plan which he had sketched out at the dinner. 
 Some were active partners in the venture, and purposed 
 to accompany Snaggs to Europe and to assist in the 
 kidnapping of the Emperor, and in the subsequent 
 cruise. Others were sleeping partners, and contented 
 themselves with subscribing more or less secretly to 
 the funds upon condition of receiving a proportionate 
 share of the proceeds. But nearly all were men belong- 
 ing to a single class — a class which, in New York, is 
 proportionately larger than in any other big city in the 
 world, and which may be described as the class of the 
 dishonest well-to-do. Poverty is not the direct instigator 
 of their crimes. They wear diamond studs in the glare 
 of noon ; they drink champagne all day ; they drive 
 fine horses ; they live in gaudy houses. But poverty 
 indirectly inspires them, for they are most of them ' self- 
 made ' men, who have sprung from the poorest and 
 lowest ranks, and who, in their childhood, have existed 
 
56 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 in an atmosphere where the worst vices are regarded 
 with toleration, and where the blackness of a crime is 
 gauged simply by the unskilfulness or ill-success of its 
 perpetrator. The number of men of this character who 
 are to be found among the ward politicians, the saloon 
 and smaller hotel-keepers, the sporting and gambling 
 fraternity, and the petty speculators of the empire city 
 is larger than anyone only superficially acquainted with 
 the by-ways of New York life could possibly suspect. 
 Snaggs, though he was with them, was not of them. 
 He used these people for his own purposes, and they 
 willingly recognised in him an able leader ; but he pro- 
 bably despised them fully as much as Hoodlum despised 
 him. 
 
 As for Hoodlum, his paths in New York did not run 
 parallel with those of Colonel Snaggs and his associates. 
 He heard nothing more of the Bolter gun until he moved 
 on to Washington, where one day, rather to his surprise, 
 he received a nicely-printed invitation from ' The Bolter 
 Gun and Explosives Company ' to be present on a 
 specified morning at a little coast village near Cape 
 Charles, Maryland, and to witness the promised demon- 
 stration. 
 
 He went, he saw, and he was conquered. 
 
 What he saw was a boat moored so far out at sea that 
 only with the aid of a glass could he distinguish that it 
 was a boat, and a nine-pounder field gun, which, by means 
 of the addition to it and to its carriage of a few cog- 
 wheels and a good deal of bright brass-work, had been 
 made to look like a very elaborately designed piece of 
 
BOLTER'S GUN 57 
 
 machinery. He was shown a cylindrical projectile, into 
 which a carefully- weighed pound of coal-dust was poured 
 by an imposing personage, who had been introduced to 
 him as Major Jack Bolter. He was bidden to notice 
 that ordinary powder was used as a charge for the gun, 
 which was duly loaded before his face. The weapon 
 was laid and sighted while he looked on. He heard it 
 fired, for, to be exact, he shut his eyes when he knew 
 that Major Bolter was about to pull the lanyard ; and 
 finally, looking seaward, he saw the distant boat dis- 
 appear in a burst of smoke and flame and a huge 
 upheaval of water. Then to his ears came the thud of 
 the far-off explosion. Afterwards a similar projectile 
 was fired against a built-up cairn of large stones, placed 
 on the beach, at least two miles from the muzzle of the 
 gun ; and the cairn also vanished. He walked down to 
 where the cairn had stood, and found a gaping crater. 
 As a concluding experiment, one ounce by weight of 
 coal-dust was placed upon an iron anvil, which had been 
 partially imbedded in the sand. A fuse was attached 
 and lighted, and the party hastily retreated. After the 
 explosion the anvil was discovered to be shattered into 
 several fragments, all of which had been hurled to a 
 distance of many yards from then- original position. 
 
 Hoodlum felt that he need ask to see no more. He 
 congratulated Snaggs; he complimented the ingenious 
 Bolter ; and he joined in the wonderment expressed by 
 a number of individuals whose names he did not know, 
 but who, he was quietly given to understand, were 
 special representatives of various European Govern- 
 
58 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 ments, each one of which was more than half inclined to 
 purchase a share of the company's property, if only the 
 company would consent, as it would not, to concede a 
 right to manufacture. 
 
 ' No,, sir,' said Snaggs ; ' either we continue to be sole 
 manufacturers, or we dispose of our entire and exclusive 
 rights all round. Those are our terms for the Bolter 
 gun.' 
 
 Hoodlum went back to Washington full of what he 
 had seen ; and that very night he wrote enthusiastically 
 upon the subject to the Emperor, who, in course of post, 
 replied, much less enthusiastically, that he should be 
 very glad of an opportunity of judging for himself of 
 the capabilities of the gun, and that he had no objection 
 if Hoodlum chose to say as much to the company. 
 
 Hoodlum did say as much ; and, in return, he was 
 informed that the company, anxious to display the 
 powers of the weapon under the best possible conditions, 
 intended to charter a steamship, to mount on her deck 
 several different patterns of the Bolter gun, and to take 
 her to Europe, prepared to exhibit her enormously- 
 destructive capacities, especially against floating targets 
 of all kinds, in the presence of crowned heads, naval 
 and military officials, and other competent judges. 
 
 Hoodlum was delighted. He felt that he was at 
 length in a fair way to benefit his Lusatian friends. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
 
 The growing of Von Dalhoff's beard caused much 
 temporary excitement throughout Lusatia. 
 
 The cause of the excitement was as follows. It has 
 been shown that the Emperor had invited the Baron to 
 live in the palace during the growing of the beard. His 
 Majesty, as a matter of course, had also put a court 
 carriage at the Baron's disposal. One evening, at 
 sunset, Von Dalhoff, who wanted to get up an appetite 
 for dinner, took a drive in the park hi the western 
 suburbs of Sandburg. At that time the evolution of 
 the beard had progressed as far as the ragged tooth- 
 brush stage, and although the growth was long enough 
 to render the young captain's appearance very unkempt 
 and untidy, it was not long enough to conceal his strik- 
 ing resemblance to the Emperor. The latter had an 
 old- standing habit of once or .twice a week, when he 
 could spare the time, driving in the park at sunset, 
 usually in the company of the Princess Nannette, but 
 sometimes alone. Von Dalhoff wore the usual military 
 overcoat and cap, and, as he was in one of the imperial 
 
6o THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 carriages, it is not astonishing that, in the failing light, 
 he was by very many pedestrians mistaken for the 
 Emperor. Next morning nearly all the Sandburg news- 
 papers announced in large type that his Majesty was 
 growing a beard. The reason, according to some, was 
 that the doctors had recommended the sovereign to 
 protect his throat. According to others, the innovation 
 signified that his Majesty wished to pay a compliment 
 to his navy, the officers of which wore beards much more 
 generally than the officers of the army. The matter 
 was next noticed and commented on by the entire press 
 of Lusatia ; it became the subject of leading articles in 
 the foreign newspapers, many of which, with marvellous 
 sagacity, connected the supposed growth with the con- 
 dition of European politics; and, finally, half the illus- 
 trated journals throughout the world published at the 
 week's end more or less fanciful portraits of the newly- 
 barbed Emperor. Some gave him a flowing beard, 
 reaching to his chest ; others allowed him only a thin 
 ■ goatee ' of the American pattern ; others decorated him 
 with a French -looking 'imperial;' and yet others 
 granted him nothing better than a hideous ' frill,' which, 
 straggling up from beneath his collar, framed a cleanly- 
 shaven face, and made the picture look like that of some 
 noted burglar. The excitement lasted for nearly a 
 week; it induced romantic Lusatian young ladies to 
 forward anonymous protests to the palace ; and it was 
 with difficulty quelled by the publication in the official 
 Reichszeitung of an unqualified contradiction, and by 
 the appearance at a grand review of the Emperor, beard- 
 
THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP 6 I 
 
 less and wearing his familiar moustache. Even then 
 many people believed that the growth of the beard had 
 been allowed to begin, and had only been stopped in 
 deference to popular clamour; and this, no doubt, is 
 still the conviction of some. 
 
 It was this affair which hastened Von Dalhoff's formal 
 introduction to the Princess Nannette. At breakfast one 
 morning the Princess saw the statements in the papers, 
 and naturally called her brother's attention to them. 
 
 'They have mistaken my new aide-de-camp and 
 confidential secretary for me,' said the Emperor. 
 
 'What!' exclaimed the Princess, who had been 
 accustomed only to imperial aides-de-camp of mature 
 age. ' Who is the favoured general ?' 
 
 'The favoured general,' laughed the Emperor, 'is a 
 captain— the Baron von Dalhoff. I have selected him 
 on account of this very resemblance to me, in hopes 
 that on unimportant occasions he may be able to 
 represent me, and so to save me a little unnecessary 
 fatigue and waste of time.' 
 
 ' Oh, Carl ! Surely you are not going to enter upon 
 such a dangerous course. What will the people think 
 if they ever discover that you have been imposing upon 
 them? Why didn't you consult me before coming to 
 this extraordinary decision ?' 
 
 'The simple fact is,' said the Emperor, 'that unless 
 I can relieve myself of some of my most formal and 
 mechanical duties, I shall soon be unable to perform 
 those which are of the first importance; for the work 
 of my position is too much for one man. I admit thai 
 
62 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 there are disadvantages, and possibly even perils, con- 
 nected with my scheme ; but the work of the country 
 must be done. If I had brothers or uncles, or near 
 male relatives, to assist me, I might utilize their services 
 without risk of offending my people ; but, you see, I 
 have no one of the kind, and so I have chosen to avail 
 myself of the Baron von Dalhoff, who is a young officer 
 of the very highest character and merit, and of whose 
 complete devotion I am well assured.' 
 
 ' But why have you not thought of utilizing me ?' 
 demanded the Princess. ' Surely I could do a great 
 deal.' 
 
 ' I do not think,' replied the Emperor, ' that a woman 
 ought to be called upon for public work of this kind. A 
 Princess of Rutland has duties which are connected with 
 society, with charity, with the arts, with female educa- 
 tion, and so on ; and these are sufficient for her strength. 
 Is it not a fact, Nan, that you, too, have already quite 
 enough to do ?' 
 
 'Oh, I am not idle!' laughed the Princess. 'But 
 really, Carl, I am in grave doubt as to whether you are 
 acting wisely. I wish most heartily that you had not 
 taken this step. Of course, you have informed Count 
 Stark ?' 
 
 ' Yes, I told him two days ago ; and it would be folly 
 to conceal that he is almost as much opposed to the plan 
 as you seem to be. Yet it is my conviction that it is 
 the only plan which will permit me to be hi the highest 
 degree useful to my country. I need scarcely say that 
 it is not my intention that the secret shall be confided 
 
THE NE W A IDE-DE- CA MP 63 
 
 to another living soul. You, Stark, the Baron, and 
 myself are, and must remain, the sole depositaries.' 
 
 ' That, of course, is for the present necessary, if you 
 are determined to persist, though Griselda must also be 
 told when you are married.' 
 
 ' Certainly ; that was understood.' 
 
 The Princess Nannette was silent for a minute, and 
 when she walked round the table and kissed her brother 
 she only said : 
 
 ' I think, Carl, that you are the most headstrong boy 
 in the whole world. Heaven grant that this step may 
 not cause all of us trouble !' 
 
 'Never fear,' said the Emperor cheerily. 'It is all 
 for the best, little one.' 
 
 The Princess looked at him strangely. 
 
 ' When did you call me that before ?' she asked. 
 ' Only once, I know, because I remember how tender 
 your voice seemed, and how much I liked the words.' 
 
 ' Was it when you wouldn't surrender that red pocket- 
 book of mine?' suggested the Emperor, who did not 
 altogether forgive himself for what had occurred on that 
 occasion. 
 
 ' Oh yes ! of course. And now, Carl, you must intro- 
 duce this Von Dalhoff to me, since I am in the secret. 
 It won't do for me also to be mistaking him for you.' 
 
 'We'll have him in, then,' assented the Emperor, as 
 he rang a bell ; and in a few minutes the Baron, having 
 been sent for, entered. 
 
 ' My dear Von Dalhoff, I want to introduce you to my 
 sister, the Princess Nannette,' said his Majesty. ' My 
 
64 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 sister is in the secret of our future arrangements ; and 
 as these will necessarily bring you sometimes into 
 contact with her, it is well that you should make her 
 acquaintance.' 
 
 The Baron bowed and turned scarlet ; but happily the 
 Princess did not notice his confusion. 
 
 * The Emperor and I,' she said, ' were talking about 
 these absurd newspaper reports. It appears that you 
 were mistaken last night for his Majesty.' 
 
 ' I seem to have had the honour,' ventured the poor 
 captain ; ' but, seeing my present untidy condition — in 
 which, nevertheless, his Majesty orders me to enter 
 3'our Eoyal Highness's presence — it is, I think, some- 
 what astonishing.' 
 
 ' There is a resemblance, certainly,' said the Princess, 
 frankly regarding the unhappy Baron, ' and a very 
 striking one. Yet, though it may deceive persons who 
 only occasionally catch sight of the Emperor, I think 
 that it would never for an instant deceive me.' 
 
 The Emperor laughed aloud. 
 
 ' Don't be too sure, Nan,' he exclaimed. 
 
 ' Oh, I can see all kinds of little differences !' she 
 declared. 
 
 ' But recollect how differently dressed we are,' said 
 the Emperor, ' and how much change the Baron's un- 
 shaven chin must make in his appearance. Will you 
 recognise me, I wonder, when I appear as the Baron von 
 Dalhoff; for that, too, is part of our plan. You see, as 
 the Herr Baron I shall be able to get leisure and relaxa- 
 tion which, as myself, I should never be able to hope 
 
THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP 65 
 
 for ; so, when Herr von Dalhoff has once grown his beard, 
 he will shave it off, and he and I will, so to speak, divide 
 it thenceforth between us. When he is himself, he will 
 wear a beard similar to his natural one, but false ; when 
 I am he, I shall wear a false beard similar to his natural 
 one ; and then I really think, Nan, that we shall be 
 practically indistinguishable by ordinary people, if not 
 by you. But,' he added laughingly, ' in case of serious 
 doubt, a court of final appeal is provided. We have our 
 proper names tattooed on our left shoulders ; so there is 
 no danger of our being really mixed up.' 
 
 The more the Princess heard of the scheme, the more 
 she distrusted it ; but, as she would not allow this to 
 appear too plainly to Von Dalhoff, she contented herself 
 with saying : 
 
 ' Well, I sincerely hope, Herr Baron, that the project 
 will turn out well. You have a difficult and responsible 
 task before you.' 
 
 When he had withdrawn, she asked her brother : 
 
 'Don't you think, Carl, that his slightly nervous 
 manner may betray him ?' 
 
 ' I don't think so,' returned the Emperor ; ' for I never 
 saw him in the least degree nervous before. That must 
 be owing to the beard, or to you, or to both combined. 
 He will do well enough, I believe. At least, I am con- 
 vinced that I could not, for this purpose, have stumbled 
 upon a more trustworthy and capable helper ; and I feel 
 confident, my dear Nan, that he will not falsify my high 
 opinion of him.' 
 
 From that day the Princess cultivated Von Dalhoffs 
 
 5 
 
66 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 acquaintance. Her anxiety as to the wisdom of her 
 brother's plans, and her great affection for him, prompted 
 her to endeavour, if only as a protective measure, to 
 secure the friendship and personal devotion of a man 
 who, she felt, was about to have entrusted to him 
 immense possibilities of good and evil. It did not occur 
 to her that Yon Dalhoff would ever think of abusing his 
 position, for she was familiar with the traditional loyalty 
 of Lusatian officers ; but it did occur to her that circum- 
 stances might arise that would require all Yon Dalhoff s 
 loyalty, as well as all his ability, to successfully cope 
 with them, and she justly realized that it could not but 
 strengthen him, and tighten his attachment to the 
 Imperial family and its interests, if she granted him 
 as much as possible of her confidence. It therefore 
 delighted her to find that Yon Dalhoff liked her society. 
 
 And, indeed, what man would not have liked it, even 
 if he had not been, as the Baron was, incurably in love 
 with the Pearl of Paihland? She sought Yon Dalhoff 
 only for her brother's sake ; Von Dalhoff sought her 
 only for her own. He, who would have been happy 
 enough to be permitted to stand on guard by night and 
 by day outside her apartments ; he, who would have been 
 glad to let her walk upon his prostrate body ; he, who 
 would have deemed himself honoured by an occasional 
 sight of her, or by an occasional recognition bj' her of 
 his existence, was admitted daily to almost an equal's 
 intimacy with the woman whom he worshipped. It 
 mattered little to him that it was his duty to treat her, 
 and that he always did treat her, not as a girl, but as 
 
THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP 67 
 
 a Pioyal Princess ; in his heart she was none the less his 
 ' little one.' And thus she had no difficulty whatever in 
 securing over him an even greater influence than she 
 had hoped for. Yet never for an instant did she suspect 
 the reason. She imagined that his devotion to her 
 depended chiefly, if not solely, upon the fact that she 
 was the Emperor's sister. He knew that every day his 
 devotion to the Emperor was becoming deepened by 
 the consideration that the Emperor was the Princess's 
 brother. 
 
 The six weeks passed for him, therefore, too quickly. 
 At the expiration of the period the commencement of 
 his new duties led to his being frequently absent from 
 the Palace, and to his seeing less than before of the 
 Princess. 
 
 His principal work was the making of sudden appear- 
 ances, and the doing of other unexpected things which 
 involved little or no speaking on his part, and no formal 
 assertion of his supposed individuality ; but even in these 
 modest functions he encountered from time to time a few 
 mishaps. Both the Emperor and the Princess schooled 
 him to the best of their abilities, but they could not 
 remember and foresee everything; and occasionally it 
 happened that Von Dalhoff failed to know the name of, 
 or even to recognise, some high official who, in his own 
 mind, had long cherished the conviction that the Emperor 
 regarded him with peculiar favour. Such occurrences 
 as these were very awkward and confusing, and they 
 led, no doubt, to many petty jealousies and heart- 
 burnings; but Von Dalhoff was diplomatic enough to 
 
68 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 always seize an early opportunity of setting things as 
 right as possible again with a gracious glance or a tactful 
 word, and very little permanent harm was eventually 
 done. In a short time, moreover, he began to be familiar 
 with the faces, names, and titles of most of those whom 
 it fell to his province to meet ; and thus, although, at 
 first, rumours got abroad to the effect that the Emperor's 
 memory was failing, these soon passed off, and gave way 
 to wonderful stories of the Emperor's insatiable activity, 
 his almost inexplicable ubiquity, and his unparalleled 
 devotion to even the smallest interests of the great 
 country over which he reigned. 
 
 There were other mishaps, of course, but nearly all 
 really important ones were obviated owing to the simple 
 and admirable arrangements which were made by the 
 Emperor. His private apartments, consisting of bed 
 and dressing-rooms, study and smoking-room, occupied 
 one side of a long corridor, upon the other side of which 
 were two rooms belonging to Yon Dalhoff. At the end of 
 the corridor was a passage-room through which the two 
 suites communicated, and of which the door leading into 
 the corridor had been built up. It was the Emperor's 
 rule that in all cases the assumption of a new identity 
 should take place in that passage-room when both parties 
 were present. This rule rendered it impossible for there 
 ever to be two Emperors or two Yon Dalhoffs abroad at 
 the same time. Coming in in his proper character, and 
 desiring to change his identity, the Emperor would enter 
 his own apartments, and, by means of an electric bell, 
 summon the Baron. The two would then go into the 
 
THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP 69 
 
 passage-room, where the Emperor would change his 
 coat and assume a beard, while Von Dalhoff would 
 change his coat and lay his beard aside. If, as Von 
 Dalhoff, the Emperor came in, he would enter Von 
 Dalhoff' s apartments, and go thence to the passage-room, 
 which, it is almost needless to add, was kept locked, and 
 of which keys were in the possession only of the Emperor 
 and of the Baron. In this room was an automatic 
 printing telegraph -instrument, through which, from any 
 part of the country, either the Emperor or the Baron 
 could wire to the palace in case of his being unavoidably 
 detained by accident or otherwise. There was kept there 
 also a large slate upon which each, before going out, 
 made a point of writing down his probable whereabouts 
 during the interval between his departure and his 
 intended return. And there was another slate upon 
 which, when Von Dalhoff was not at hand, the Emperor 
 set down any orders which he might desire the other to 
 carry out. The passage-room, or telegraph-room, as it 
 was called, of course required occasional cleaning and 
 turning upside down ; but when this was necessary, any- 
 thing that might cause suspicion was removed from it 
 by Von Dalhoff to his own rooms ; the door on that side 
 was locked, and the servants entered through the 
 Emperor's apartments, and, by the management of the 
 Princess, began their work at a convenient moment, and 
 speedily finished it. 
 
 So wonderfully perfect were all the arrangements 
 that it would have been quite possible for t^e Emperor, 
 sitting in hi3 smokmg-room (which was next to the 
 
70 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 telegraph-room), say with some private friend, to go 
 for an instant into the telegraph-room and to send out 
 Von Dalhoff to take his place and continue the conversa- 
 tion without exciting hi the mind of the friend the 
 slightest suspicion of the change. That, of course, 
 could not have been safely done at first, and would at all 
 times have been dependent upon Von Dalhoff s being 
 ready within hearing ; but, presupposing so much, it 
 could have been easily done after the system had settled 
 down into working order. So far, indeed, as ordinary 
 eyes and ears could have detected, there was absolutely 
 no difference between the true Emperor and his sub- 
 stitute. The Princess Nannette alone could distinguish 
 them at a glance, but this was only because she had 
 discovered for herself that on his right cheek the Baron 
 had an almost imperceptible mole, while the Emperor 
 had nothing of the kind. 
 
 By Midsummer Day the new scheme, in smooth 
 working order, was answering admirably. It gave the 
 Emperor time for study and reasonable amusement ; it 
 delighted Von Dalhoff, if only because it allowed him to 
 be near the Princess ; and it pleased the people, for, 
 although Von Dalhoff never appeared when the Em- 
 peror's presence had been specifically promised, and 
 although he never, at any of his public appearances, said 
 a word which only the Emperor could have rightfully 
 uttered, everyone mistook him for the Emperor. He 
 stood at the well-known window of the palace when the 
 guard was changed and received the cheers of the multi- 
 tude, while the Emperor was in his library ; and he 
 
THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP 71 
 
 drove or rode in the park and returned the salutes of 
 the crowd, while the Emperor was playing billiards 
 with Admiral Spott ; so that everyone concerned was 
 satisfied. 
 
 Thus the summer passed, September came, and, as 
 the time of the combined manoeuvres drew near, 
 Hoodlum was again back in Europe, and was often at 
 the Palace, always full of the Bolter gun, and of the 
 wonderfully-armed ship that was presently to be sent 
 over by the Bolter Gun Company to astonish the world 
 in general and the Emperor in particular. Hoodlum 
 brought with him a programme which had been drawn 
 up by Snaggs for submission to the Emperor's approval. 
 This specified that the vessel would arrive off the 
 Lusatian port of Friedenhaven at the time when, on 
 account of the manoeuvres, his Majesty would be in the 
 immediate neighbourhood ; and that if by October 8 the 
 Emperor would order targets to be laid out at sea in the 
 vicinity of the port, and would then, or on the following 
 day, be so gracious as to proceed on board the steamship 
 Philistia, which had been specially engaged for the pur- 
 pose by the company, he would have full opportunity of 
 witnessing a complete demonstration of the extra- 
 ordinary powers of the new invention, concerning which 
 Mr. Hoodlum was already in a position to give general 
 information. 
 
 The Emperor agreed to the proposals, and named 
 October 9 as the day on which it would be convenient to 
 him to watch the experiments. Hoodlum, therefore, 
 cabled to this effect to the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs, who, 
 
72 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 in his turn, made his plans and preparations accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 The Company was fortunate in being able to secure 
 the Philistia for its project, for very few other vessels 
 afloat would have served equally well. Built in England 
 for the Cunard Company, she was one of the fastest and 
 most powerful twin-screw steamers in the world ; but, 
 owing to some miscalculation in the making of her 
 designs, she was found, when built, to draw much more 
 water than had been intended ; and, as there is a bar at 
 Liverpool and another at New York across which vessels 
 of excessive draught can only pass at the time of very 
 high tides, this fault was held by her owners to dis- 
 qualify her for the general Atlantic passenger traffic. As 
 soon as they had discovered the error they had caused 
 another ship to be laid down, and had decided to sell the 
 Philistia upon terms as advantageous as possible ; but 
 bidders had not been numerous, and, consequently, when 
 the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs and his friends came forward 
 and offered £250,000 for her as she lay in her berth at 
 New York, the Cunard Company, though losing by the 
 transaction, determined to part with the great white 
 elephant. 
 
 She was of magnificent proportions and most luxuri- 
 ously fitted ; but, more important than anything else 
 connected with her — her speed of twenty-two knots only 
 excepted — was the fact that, when not obliged to stow 
 cargo, she would carry no less than 4,500 tons of coal. 
 This, it was computed, was enough to take her nearly 
 twice round the world at the economical speed of eleven 
 
THE NEW A IDE-DE- CA MP 7 3 
 
 knots, or thereabouts ; and as, in addition, she was 
 rigged, though lightly, as a four-masted schooner, she 
 was not entirely dependent even upon her unexampled 
 steaming capacity. 
 
 She was in the magnificent order that is characteristic 
 of Cunarders, and she needed only coal, stores, officers 
 and a crew. All these were, without much difficult}', 
 provided, and, with a good margin of time at her dis- 
 posal, the Philistia, a week after Hoodlum's cablegram 
 had been received, took advantage of a spring tide to 
 leave New York. 
 
 Snaggs and about twenty of his associates were on 
 board, and, for the sake of appearances, they took with 
 them four old guns, cheaply fitted and disguised after the 
 fashion of the gun which had been used for Hoodlum's 
 deception at Cape Charles. But they did not venture to 
 mount these while the Philistia was still at New York, 
 and it was generally imagined on shore that they had 
 purchased the ship mainly as a speculation, and that they 
 intended to dispose of her at a profit either to one of the 
 European mail steamship companies, or to some Govern- 
 ment which would adapt her for service as a cruiser or a 
 transport. Not, indeed, until the vessel had left 
 America did the New York papers, which even then had 
 only rumours of the vaguest kind to build upon, 
 announce that, though the Philistia had gone to Europe 
 to be ultimately sold, she had also gone thither to 
 exhibit before the Lusatian Emperor some mysterious 
 weapon of war, of which great things were expected ; for 
 Snaggs had felt that, in view of the rather bold act 
 
74 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 which he was about to attempt, he did not require uru 
 necessary publicity ; and Hoodlum, in his anxiety to see 
 Lusatia the sole owner of the marvellous Bolter gun, 
 had said nothing whatever about it and the Pldlistia's 
 mission, except to the Emperor. 
 
 The combined manoeuvres, in which the 19th and 
 20th Army Corps and a squadron of the Lusatian navy 
 were to take part near the mouth of the Gulf of Frieden- 
 haven, were to be carried on from the 1st to the 9th of 
 October inclusive. On the last day of September the 
 Emperor was to leave Sandburg, and on October 10th 
 he was to return thither, and there remain until the 
 19th, when he was to proceed to Stormarn for his wedding 
 on the 20th. Seeing that during the manoeuvres the 
 various functions at which the presence of the imperial 
 uniform would be expected would be of* an interesting 
 as well as of an important character, the Emperor in- 
 formed Von Dalhofi* that from September 30th until 
 October 10th his services could be dispensed with, and 
 that he would be at liberty, should he desire it, to leave 
 Sandburg ; but that, punctually at noon on the 10th, he 
 must await his master in the telegraph-room, and that, 
 from that time until the 19th, his duties would, in all 
 probability, be somewhat more onerous than usual, 
 owing to the Emperor's desire to attend to and settle 
 a number of private affairs previous to departing for 
 Stormarn. 
 
 As the Princess Nannette was going to remain in 
 Sandburg, Yon Dalhoff determined not to avail himself 
 of his leave of absence, but to remain there, too. Had 
 
THE NEW A IDE-DE- CA MP 7 5 
 
 the Princess not remained, lie would probably have 
 gone, as a private spectator, to the manoeuvres ; and, if 
 he had done this, it is tolerably certain that the recent 
 history of Lusatia, and perhaps of Europe, would have 
 been very different from what it has been. 
 
 Von Dalhoff ventured to cherish no definite plans 
 whatever in connection with the Princess. He knew 
 that, according to all the conventions of the Lusatian 
 Court, she was too far above him for him to dare to hope. 
 He found, when it once occurred to him to look up the 
 question, one example, and one only, of a princess allied 
 to the sovereign having married a private individual, and 
 in that case the princess was the great-aunt by marriage, 
 and not the sister, of an emperor, so that the instance 
 did not appear to him to be very encouraging. Yet for 
 the present he cfid not want to make definite plans. He 
 was young ; the Princess was free, and he daily had the 
 delight of her society. He had, moreover, known her 
 only a few months ; and, upon the whole, he was content 
 to enjoy the meed of good fortune that had already 
 fallen to him and to wait. Without any risk he could, 
 for the time, be near her, hear her voice, watch the play 
 of her face, feast his eyes on her as she sat unconscious 
 of his gaze, feel sometimes the touch of her hand, and 
 anticipate her wishes. If he admitted further ambitions, 
 he might cause his castle to collapse around him. Even 
 she might well resent his presumption if he dared to 
 hint of an aspiration to a position higher than the one 
 he occupied in the Princess's favour. As for the Em- 
 peror, he would naturally be furious. 
 
76 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Such, briefly, was the state of Von Dalhoff's feelings 
 when the Emperor departed for Friedenhaven, in the 
 ugly but comfortable castle of which his Majesty took up 
 his headquarters. 
 
 In Lusatia manoeuvres mean very hard work for all 
 concerned, from the Emperor downwards, but especially 
 for the Emperor, who on these occasions generally 
 mounts his horse every morning at an hour beyond which 
 an English menial servant would expect to be allowed to 
 remain in bed. The actual work in the field is often 
 ended by a little after noon; but later there are State 
 visits, receptions, gala dinners, concerts, torch - light 
 serenades, tattoos, processions of veterans, fireworks, 
 and much more, and the official day is regarded as a 
 blessedly short one if it extend over no more than seven- 
 teen hours out of the twenty-four. How Field-Marshal 
 Count Stark, who accompanied the Emperor and went 
 everywhere and saw everything, managed to withstand 
 the effects of the perpetual motion and the long hours is 
 inexplicable, or explicable only upon the assumption that 
 a life's struggle against them had resulted in relieving 
 him from all human weaknesses ; for the tension and 
 rush sorely tried many a younger man, and majors and 
 colonels, who had not half as much as he to do, 
 thanked Heaven when the hurry was over, whereas 
 the Count, ruddy and cheerful as ever, was undisguisedly 
 sorry. 
 
 But the long days, though tiring, passed quickly. On 
 October 8 the operations culminated in a grand attack 
 by one army corps, supported by the fleet, upon the 
 
THE NEW AIDE-DE-CAMP 77 
 
 other army corps, occupying intrenched positions on a 
 rocky peninsula near the mouth of the Gulf. Towards 
 noon the defenders executed a well-conceived counter- 
 attack upon the left of the rapidly closing-in enemy on 
 the land side, and so cut their way out, and by three 
 o'clock the ' cease fire ' sounded, and the manoeuvres 
 proper were over. 
 
 In the meantime a number of targets for the Bolter 
 gun experiments had been laid out in the offing in 
 accordance with the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs's wishes, and 
 that afternoon the Emperor was informed that the 
 Philistia had arrived at the mouth of the Gulf, and was 
 awaiting his Majesty's visit on the morrow. 
 
 Hoodlum, who had been the guest of the Emperor 
 during the whole of the manoeuvres, about which he had 
 not omitted to write a long article for Scrarpner's Maga- 
 zine, was further invited to see the Philistia experiments. 
 Herein he was much favoured, for not many others 
 received invitations. Count Stark, Admiral Spott, and 
 not more than half a dozen officers besides them, con- 
 stituted, in fact, with the Emperor and Hoodlum, the 
 selected party which on the morning of the 9th went 
 on board the imperial yacht Adler, off Friedenhaven, 
 and was taken down the Gulf, the Lusatian fleet follow- 
 ing in imposing order. 
 
 The Philistia was soon sighted, but she lay a long way 
 out. When within a mile of her the Emperor signalled 
 for the fleet to anchor, and, anchoring his yacht also, he 
 and those with him descended into the Adler's magnificent 
 steam-launch, in which, with the imperial ensign waving 
 
78 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 gaily above his head, he was conveyed alongside the ex- 
 Cunarder. 
 
 Miles away to seaward the great wooden targets, formed 
 of huge baulks of timber, which had been provided for 
 destruction by the Bolter gun, stood up on the horizon. 
 
 ' I hope that your favourite weapon will come well out 
 of the ordeal,' said the Emperor to Hoodlum, who sat 
 next to him in the stern-sheets of the launch ; ' but those 
 are big targets to be annihilated by a single pound of any 
 explosive whatever.' 
 
 1 1 feel confident that you will not be disappointed, sir,' 
 replied Hoodlum. 
 
 ' Well, we shall see. But here we are. "What a big 
 ship she is, to be sure ! She looks very fast, too.' And 
 the Emperor, seizing the lines that were held out to him 
 by the men at the bottom of the Philistia's gangway 
 ladder, jumped out of the launch, and, followed by his 
 suite, mounted the steps, at the top of which stood the 
 Hon. Barnwell Snaggs and a score of his New York friends. 
 
 At the gangway the Emperor remained saluting until 
 the Americans, feeling that they ought in some way to 
 respond, took off their hats, and crowded forward in a mob 
 to shake hands with their imperial visitor. 
 
 ' Proud to meet you, Emperor,' said Snaggs, whom 
 Hoodlum, having squeezed past, hastily and rather 
 shamefacedly introduced to his Majesty. ' "What do 
 you propose to do with that boat of yours ?' 
 
 ' Do with the boat ?' repeated the Emperor good 
 naturedly. 'Why, the boat will wait to take us back 
 again, of course.' 
 
THE NE W A IDE-DE- CA MP 79 
 
 ' But we can't fire from here, Emperor ; not much. I 
 want to show you how we can knock sparks out of these 
 targets of yours while we are under steam.' 
 
 'Very well,' said the Emperor; 'let the launch have 
 a line passed to her, and let her be told to hang on 
 astern.' 
 
 1 You'd best come along to the saloon and take a 
 smile, Emperor,' said Snaggs, 'while we are getting 
 under way.' 
 
 ' I'm much obliged,' said the Emperor, who felt that 
 he must put his foot down ; ' but if "smile" be American, 
 as I believe it is, for drink, I would rather not. I am 
 pressed for time, and shall be glad to see the experiments 
 at once.' 
 
 'Why, certainly, Emperor,' assented Snaggs, as he 
 moved away, and left the imperial party standing alone. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 KIDNAPPED. 
 
 The Philistia's anchor was quickly weighed, and long 
 before it was catted the great steamship was slowly 
 moving away from the Adler and the Lusatian fleet, and 
 heading to seawards. 
 
 Snaggs's party was all on the bridge ; the Emperor's 
 was on the promenade-deck below it. The Americans 
 whispered together mysteriously ; the Lusatians mar- 
 velled in silence at the cavalier manner in which the 
 Emperor was being treated, and at the good-humour 
 with which he had borne with Snaggs's familiarities. 
 The Emperor, with the Field-Marshal, strolled apart. 
 
 ' Surely,' said the former, as he patted the breech of 
 one of the ancient weapons with which the vessel had 
 been fitted, ' this cannot be the famous Bolter gun ?' 
 
 ' That looks, sire,' replied the Field-Marshal, ' like an 
 old American nine-pounder field-piece on a naval carriage 
 of still older date ; but I do not understand the meaning 
 or object of all this brass-work, these cog-wheels, and 
 these winches and rackets.' 
 
KIDNAPPED 8 1 
 
 ' Where's Hoodlum ?' asked the Emperor. ' He has 
 seen the Bolter gun, and he can tell us.' 
 
 Count Stark beckoned to Hoodlum, who, as he ap- 
 proached, said ingenuously : 
 
 ' That's the wonderful gun, sir.' 
 
 The Emperor looked with a curious expression at the 
 Field-Marshal, and the Field-Marshal looked with an 
 equally curious expression at the Emperor, who, turning 
 to Hoodlum, demanded : 
 
 ' But are you not mistaken ? This is merely an old 
 field-gun, and not even a rifled one. Did you not tell me 
 that the Bolter gun struck and sank a boat at a distance 
 of four miles and a half, or thereabouts ?' 
 
 ' I saw it do so ; and I believe that the gun which I 
 saw fired is the very one which you are now looking at,' 
 returned Hoodlum, who was a little hurt at the idea that 
 his word was doubted. 
 
 'Well,' said the Emperor, 'we shall see; but if this 
 gun can throw a projectile one-third of the distance it 
 will astonish me very much. Now, where are we going, 
 I wonder ?' 
 
 The ship was nearing the line of targets, as if to pass 
 through it, and was rapidly increasing speed. 
 
 ' I confess, sire, I do not understand the business at 
 all,' answered Count Stark. ' They can't be intend- 
 ing to fire from seaward. If they do they will have to 
 fire more or less in the direction of your Majesty's 
 ships.' 
 
 ' Oblige me, my dear Hoodlum,' said the Emperor, ' by 
 asking your friend Mr. Snaggs to let me know his 
 
 r, 
 
82 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 programme, and not, on any account, to fire towards the 
 fleet.' 
 
 Hoodlum winced at being thus associated with the 
 Colonel, but he walked to the foot of the ladder leading to 
 the bridge, and waited there until he caught Snaggs's eye. 
 
 ' The Emperor would like to know what you are going 
 to do,' he said. ' He particularly desires that you will 
 not think of firing in the direction of the fleet.' 
 
 Snaggs whispered to one of his friends, who imme- 
 diately ran down the ladder. 
 
 * If you'll come right along to my cabin,' said the man, 
 * I'll give you the hull programme.' 
 
 Hoodlum followed his fellow-countryman along the 
 deck, down some steps to the upper-deck, and thence 
 down more steps to the main-deck, where he was, as he 
 thought, rather unceremoniously pushed into an empty 
 cabin, and, with the utterance, ' I shan't be more nor a 
 minute,' was left to himself. As, at the expiration of 
 about five minutes, the man had not returned, Hoodlum 
 tried the door, and found, to his consternation, that he 
 could not open it. 
 
 In the meantime the Emperor became impatient. 
 The line of targets had been passed, and, as Hoodlum 
 did not reappear, Admiral Spott was ordered to ask 
 Snaggs for information. The Admiral was treated 
 exactly as Hoodlum had been treated, except that he 
 was not shut up in the same cabin ; and, ere he realized 
 that he was a prisoner, affairs on deck reached a crisis ; 
 for the Emperor, finding himself beneath the bridge, 
 and happening to catch Snaggs's eye, asked : 
 
KIDNAPPED 83 
 
 * When are we going to begin, Mr. Snaggs ?' 
 
 Instead of answering at once, the Colonel turned to 
 whisper hastily to some of his friends, and then said 
 bluntly : 
 
 ' We don't propose to begin at all, Emperor. We 
 propose to take you on a little trip with us. The Bolter 
 gun is a fraud ; and we propose to hold you and your 
 party until you are ransomed. That's about the size 
 of it.' 
 
 The Emperor's eyes blazed, and he put his right hand 
 to the pommel of his sword, but withdrew it again, and 
 rejoined the Field-Marshal. 
 
 ' Count,' he said, ' we have been deceived. We are 
 prisoners.' 
 
 The old soldier opened his eyes very widely and 
 almost gasped. 
 
 ' Your Majesty is pleased to joke !' he exclaimed. 
 
 ' I do not joke, Count. On the contrary, I am very 
 serious. I have just been informed by this person who 
 is called Snaggs that he and his friends intend to keep 
 us until we are ransomed.' 
 
 The Field-Marshal made a forward movement, and 
 not only seized his sword, but half drew it. The clatter 
 of the blade as, at a sign from the Emperor, he dropped 
 it back into the sheath, attracted the attention of the 
 rest of the Lusatians, all of whom approached. 
 
 ' Violence is of no use,' said the Emperor calmly. 
 ' Gentlemen, we are overpowered. See — each one of 
 those men upon the bridge has a revolver in his hand. 
 Other armed men are stationed aft, to prevent us from 
 
84 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 communicating with the launch which is towing astern, 
 If resistance were of the slightest use, I should lead you. 
 As it is, I will not permit bloodshed. Gentlemen, we 
 are prisoners. By whom we have been betrayed I know 
 not. I hope it is not significant that Mr. Hoodlum's 
 absence is to be remarked.' 
 
 The Lusatian officers looked at one another as if 
 thunderstruck. The daring of the deed was at first 
 above their comprehension. The kidnapping by a band 
 of rough Americans of an Emperor — of the Emperor — 
 was incredible. What could it all mean ? 
 
 Snaggs, who had been anxiously watching the group 
 below him, deemed that it was time for him to speak. 
 
 ' Well,' he shouted from the bridge, addressing the 
 Lusatians in general and none of them in particular, 
 ' I guess you have concluded to surrender. If you have, 
 you're mighty wise, for resistance ain't no use, you bet. 
 Every man of us is armed, and knows how to shoot, and 
 emperors and field-marshals are just as easy to hit as 
 any other kind of human bein's. But we don't want to 
 make trouble. Here you are, and here we propose that 
 you shall remain until you are ransomed. The figure is 
 a big one, naturally. We intend to have twenty-five 
 million dollars, or, if you like, five million pounds, or a 
 hundred million marks, or a hundred and twenty-five 
 million francs — in gold, mind you, — for what we have 
 caught — no more and no less. The price covers the 
 hull party. In the meantime, there won't be no cause 
 for complaint. You'll all be well treated, and if you don't 
 enjoy a pleasant trip in the Philistia, why, it won't be 
 
KIDNAPPED 85 
 
 the fault of me and my friends. You can talk it over a 
 bit, and see what you think of it. "When you've made 
 up your minds to be reasonable, I'll be pleased to tell 
 you where and how the ransom is to be paid. This 
 afternoon I propose to send that steam launch ashore 
 with someone to negotiate ; and, as we don't wish to 
 cause unnecessary inconveniences, why, any of you 
 gentlemen may send what letters you please to your 
 friends.' 
 
 Having listened, with repressed indignation, to this 
 harangue, the Emperor, without deigning to reply, 
 drew Count Stark aside. 
 
 ' Count, this is serious,' he said. ' They mean what 
 they say, and 4hey have the power to perform it. Even 
 if we could signal to the ships, they could not catch us, 
 for this steamer is three or four knots faster than any 
 of them. "We must submit. Go to them, I beg you, 
 and tell them that, while I completely reserve to myself 
 my freedom of action and decline absolutely to give any 
 undertaking whatever, I realize that we are all for the 
 present in their power. Say that I desire to know the 
 conditions of ransom, and that I wish to send letters 
 ashore as soon as possible. And, my dear Count, for- 
 give me for having unwittingly led you into this 
 unfortunate business. I regret it, I assure you, as 
 much for your sake as for mine.' 
 
 'Your Majesty need not say that,' returned the Field- 
 Marshal, in whose eyes tears trembled. ' I know your 
 Majesty's great kindness of heart. But the misfortune 
 is all yours ; and it is my good fortune to be where I 
 
86 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 most desire to be, at your Majesty's side. I trust that 
 I may be able to retain my temper when I speak to the 
 authors of this unheard-of outrage.' 
 
 1 If you doubt yourself, my dear Count,' said the 
 Emperor, ' I will myself speak to them.' 
 
 ' Your Majesty's dignity has been already sufficiently 
 insulted,' said the old man, as he turned and went to 
 the foot of the bridge-ladder. 
 
 Snaggs, carrying a revolver in his left hand, descended 
 to meet him. 
 
 ' Well,' he asked, ' they have concluded to surrender, 
 General, I guess ?' 
 
 ' I have the honour to be Field-Marshal Leonhard, 
 Count Stark, in the service of his Imperial Majesty,' 
 said the gallant old soldier, ' and I am commanded to 
 see the leader of these — these pirates.' 
 
 ' Call us what } 7 ou please, Field-Marshal,' said Snaggs 
 airily. ' I am the boss, or, if you like it better, the 
 leader; and my name is Snaggs, Colonel Barnwell 
 Snaggs.' 
 
 The Field-Marshal bowed, ignorant, of course, that 
 Snaggs's colonelcy was a fable. 
 
 ' His Majesty,' he said, ' reserves his complete free- 
 dom of action, and declines to give any undertaking, 
 but, realizing that he and his suite are, for the present, 
 in your power, wishes to be informed as to the terms of 
 the ransom, and desires to send letters on shore as soon 
 as possible.' 
 
 Snaggs pulled out a cigar, and bit off the end of it. 
 
 ' Well,' he said, ' as for freedom of action, the 
 
KIDNAPPED 87 
 
 Emperor and you gentlemen will have the run of the 
 ship. You can't want more. There are nice cabins 
 ready for you, and there are a French cook and a London 
 tailor on board.' 
 
 'But the Emperor will not promise not to escape,' 
 said the Count. 
 
 ' I guess we'll promise that for him.' 
 
 1 Nor does his Majesty undertake to surrender his full 
 right, by force or otherwise, to seize the ship, and to 
 hand over you and your accomplices to justice, 5 added 
 the old soldier. 
 
 1 Don't he ? Well, he'd best give up any idea of that 
 sort at once. We don't want to be hard on him, or you ; 
 but unless all you gentlemen give your word that you 
 won't cause trouble, I shall have to ask you to give up 
 your swords,' declared the Hon. Barnwell. 
 
 I Sir !' ejaculated the Field-Marshal icily. 
 
 'I don't care which way it is,' said Snaggs; 'but I 
 must have your promises or your swords.' 
 
 I I will report to his Majesty what you say. You will, 
 perhaps, tell me where the ransom of one hundred 
 millions of marks, if ever it be paid, is to be placed in 
 your hands ?' 
 
 Snaggs drew a folded paper from his pocket and 
 handed it to the Field-Marshal. 
 
 ' This tells you all about that ; and I guess, for the 
 sake of all parties, it's best to have it quite clear and 
 straightforward, so I've had it printed. There are full 
 directions, with a chart of the place ; and you can have 
 as many copies as you like to send ashore to your 
 
88 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Government. The boat will leave the ship at three 
 o'clock this afternoon. It will take for you what letters 
 you please. I don't want to interfere with private 
 affairs. Write to your wives and sweethearts just as you 
 feel like writin'. I shan't ask to see. Only you had 
 best remember that you may not have another chance 
 for months.' 
 
 ' One thing more,' demanded the Field-Marshal. 
 1 Where are Admiral Spott and Mr. Hoodlum ?' 
 
 ' I guess they're locked up,' replied Snaggs ; ' but 
 they're none the worse, and if we come to a reasonable 
 arrangement 'bout the swords, I'll have the gentlemen 
 let out right away.' 
 
 The Count turned on his heel and rejoined the 
 Emperor. 
 
 ' They want our swords, your Majesty, or a promise 
 that we will not endeavour to seize the ship.' 
 
 'We will give neither,' said the Emperor. ' To give 
 the swords would be in some sort to recognise in these 
 scoundrels our legitimate and honourable vanquishers ; 
 to give our promise would be to hamper our freedom 
 of action. That we must preserve to the full. Let the 
 officers give me their swords. In that they will ex- 
 perience no humiliation. I will, if necessary, throw 
 them overboard. And as to the ransom ?' 
 
 ' The particulars are here, sire,' replied the Count, as 
 he gave the paper to the Emperor. 
 
 < And letters ?' 
 
 ' The boat is to go with them at three o'clock, and 
 they are not to be examined.' 
 
KIDNAPPED 89 
 
 ' Thank heaven for that !' ejaculated the Emperor. 
 
 ' And I should add, sire,' said the Count, ' that upon 
 the settlement of the question of the swords, Admiral 
 Spott and Mr. Hoodlum, who are confined below, will 
 be liberated.' 
 
 ' Ah ! then the sooner the swords go overboard, the 
 better. As for Mr. Hoodlum, have you heard anything ? 
 Is he, too, the victim of our captors, or is he their 
 confederate ?' 
 
 'I have heard nothing, sire,' replied the Field- 
 Marshal. 
 
 The Emperor mused for a moment. 
 
 'Well,' he said at last, 'there is much to be done 
 between this and three o'clock ; I will therefore receive 
 the swords of my officers at once, and then go below to 
 write.' 
 
 ' Gentlemen,' cried the Count to the Lusatians, ' his 
 Majesty asks for your swords. In order of your seniority 
 you will deliver them to him ;' and, setting the example, 
 he took off his own sword, and with a profound bow 
 presented it. 
 
 The Emperor accepted it without a word, and, having 
 laid it on a seat beside him, similarly received the 
 swords of the rest of the suite. Then, unbuckling the 
 sword which he himself wore, he placed it on the top of 
 the heap, and, tying the weapons together by means of 
 their knots and cords, flung the whole into the sea. 
 
 ' That's a pity, now, Emperor,' sang out Snaggs from 
 the bridge. ' But take it your own way. It don't 
 matter a cent to us whether you give them up or throw 
 
90 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 them overboard. I'll have your friends sent on deck 
 sharp.' 
 
 The Emperor indignantly turned his back. 
 
 ' Let us go below, Count,' he said ; ' time presses. 
 Gentlemen, write what letters you will. I am informed 
 that the boat will take them ashore at three o'clock. And 
 let the release of Admiral Spott and Mr. Hoodlum be 
 reported to me.' 
 
 Seeing the Emperor and the Count about to leave the 
 deck, Snaggs sent after them a man who, in a perfectly 
 inoffensive way, offered to conduct them to the cabins 
 which had been prepared for them. These proved to be 
 very spacious and well-furnished. To the Emperor was 
 assigned the music-room, which had been partitioned off 
 so as to form two cabins, and which, being on the upper 
 deck, was airy and unconfined. For the Field-Marshal 
 was set apart a cabin, very much smaller, of course, yet 
 of good size, which had been built as a family cabin, 
 and which adjoined the music-room. On a table in the 
 Emperor's outer cabin were two or three boxes of good 
 cigars, a spirit-stand, a stand containing a number of 
 bottles of mineral water and glasses, a large pile of new 
 books, and all the latest American magazines. Another 
 table, fitted as a writing-table, stood below a large 
 scuttle, which admitted plenty of light. On the walls 
 were hung good pictures and several maps. In a 
 capacious book-case were all the usual current works of 
 reference, and everywhere it was apparent that neither 
 pains nor expense had been spared to render the place 
 comfortable. The forethought of the captors was still 
 
KIDNAPPED 91 
 
 more noticeable in the inner or sleeping cabin, where 
 the Emperor discovered an American-Lusatian servant 
 hard at work packing away in various drawers an 
 immense quantity of new linen, gloves, ties, and other 
 things, which had been specially brought for the 
 Emperor's use. The poor servant, who before his 
 migration to New York had served his time in the 
 Lusatian army, and who, when engaged for the voyage, 
 had been kept in ignorance concerning the person upon 
 whom he was to attend, had heard only half an hour 
 previously that he was to be the Emperor's valet, and, 
 at the same time, that the Emperor was a prisoner on 
 board, and when the Emperor suddenly came upon him 
 was in the most painful state of perturbation. He 
 remembered, however, to draw himself up and to salute, 
 and the military precision of his action striking the 
 Emperor, caused the latter to ask : 
 
 ' You were in the army ?' 
 
 The words were too much for the terrified fellow, who, 
 falling on one knee, burst into tears. 
 
 ' Majesty, I am not one of them ! Majesty, I have no 
 hand in this wickedness ! Majesty, I am only a poor 
 servant !' he exclaimed. 
 
 The Emperor, of course, recognised at once that the 
 man was a Lusatian. 
 
 ' If you have done nothing shameful or dishonourable,' 
 he said, ' rise. Your present masters are not the men 
 whom a good Lusatian would choose to serve ; but that 
 you are in no way to blame for their crimes is only what 
 I suspect. If you are to be my servant, so much the 
 
92 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 better ; have no fear. But do not cry like a girl ; I wish 
 to write.' 
 
 The man hurried into the outer cabin, prepared pens, 
 ink, and paper, and, when the Field-Marshal entered, 
 saluted him as smartly as he had saluted the Emperor, 
 who, in the meantime, had opened the printed paper 
 which had been given to him, and had read it. What 
 his Majesty read was as follows : 
 
 ' Terms for the Ransom of His Imperial and Royal 
 Majesty the Lusatian Emperor.'' 
 
 * The Emperor and suite, being on board the steam- 
 ship Philistia, are detained there pending compliance by 
 the Lusatian Government or by others with the conditions 
 hereinafter laid down. 
 
 ' The sum fixed by way of ransom for the party is 
 $25,000,000 in United States gold currency ; but as 
 regards the whole or any part of this, foreign gold 
 coinage at the rate of £1 English, 20 marks Lusatian, 
 25 francs French or Belgian, 25 lire Italian, 24 guilders 
 Dutch, or 21 h florins Austrian, will be deemed equivalent 
 to $5, and will be received accordingly. 
 
 'As the entire weight of gold demanded by way of 
 ransom aggregates nearly forty tons, it is required that 
 the gold coins of whatever denomination be packed in 
 strong boxes, each containing $125,000, or their equi" 
 valents, as per the scale above quoted. There will thus be 
 two hundred such boxes, each weighing, exclusive of the 
 package, rather more than four hundredweight. The 
 
KIDNAPPED 93 
 
 boxes must be iron-bound and substantial, and furnished 
 with iron handles. 
 
 ' The treasure thus packed must be conveyed at the 
 charge of the Lusatian Government, and at as early 
 a date as possible, to the Island of Sala-y-Gomez 
 (lat. 26° 27' 46" S., long. 105° 50' 1" W.) 5 in the South 
 Pacific, and there deposited in a hollow, which will be 
 found at a distance of about fifty yards to the north-west 
 of the highest point, and which cannot be mistaken. 
 
 ' The treasure must then be left unwatched and un- 
 guarded, until such time as those entitled to receive it 
 may visit the island. 
 
 ' It is pointed out that to avoid the possibility of the 
 treasure being removed from the island by unauthorized 
 persons, great secrecy should be observed as to the place 
 of its deposit. As Sala-y-Gomez is out of the usual 
 track of ships, and as it is uninhabited and barren, there 
 is little danger, if these precautions be taken, of the 
 treasure passing into the hands of others than those for 
 whom it is designed. 
 
 ' It is also pointed out that the presence in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Sala-y-Gomez of any vessels may have the 
 effect of delaying the embarkation of the treasure on 
 board the Philistia, or on board any other ship which 
 may be despatched for the purpose, and that, therefore, 
 no attempt should be made to entrap those who will go 
 ashore to convey away the boxes. Any attempt of this 
 kind might be followed by retaliatory measures against 
 the persons of the hostages. As it is sincerely desired to 
 avoid unnecessary unpleasantness, and to encourage the 
 
94 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Lusatian Government to act in good faith, it is added 
 that the great speed of the Pliilistia, combined with 
 the amount of coal which she carries, precludes the 
 possibility of her capture by any vessel afloat, and 
 renders pursuit of her worse than useless. 
 
 ' Upon the treasure having been taken from the island, 
 examined, weighed, and found to be correct, his Imperial 
 and Eoyal Majesty and suite will be immediately con- 
 veyed to the neighbourhood of one of the great commercial 
 ports and there landed. They will be provided with 
 money and all necessaries, and will thus be placed in a 
 position to reach Lusatia with all speed and with suitable 
 comfort. 
 
 'During their unavoidable detention until ransomed 
 they will be treated with the utmost consideration and 
 respect, and all possible arrangements will be made for 
 their convenience. Only the adoption by the Lusatian 
 Government or its emissaries of a course of bad faith, 
 or the neglect by the said Government to place upon the 
 Island of Sala-y-Gomez the stipulated ransom within a 
 period of seven calendar months from the date of the 
 Emperor's enforced departure from Friedenhaven, will 
 bring about any alteration in the mode of treatment of 
 the hostages. In the case either of bad faith or of 
 neglect, the captors reserve to themselves full right to 
 act as circumstances may seem to indicate. They wish 
 in the meanwhile that it may be clearly understood that 
 upon the full and honourable compliance of the Lusatian 
 Government with the conditions herein laid down, the 
 Emperor's safe return to Lusatia must entirely depend. 
 
KIDNAPPED 95 
 
 Any breach of conditions may immediately bring about 
 the most lamentable and irremediable of all results ; and 
 for their own protection the captors will never hesitate, 
 
 should need arise, to proceed to extremities.' 
 
 ***** 
 
 The Emperor handed the paper to Count Stark. 
 
 ' There,' he said, ' is the modest demand of these 
 people for one hundred millions of marks. So far as I 
 can influence matters, not one pfennig will be paid to 
 the scoundrels ;' and he sat down to write. His first 
 letter was to Von Dalhoff. 
 
 * My deak Von Dalhoff (he wrote), 
 
 ' A circumstance which will probably strike you 
 as almost incredible causes me to congratulate myself 
 to-day upon the existence of an arrangement which may 
 enable you to save my country from grievous trials. 
 The Count and half a dozen officers, whose names will 
 be sent you as an enclosure, left Friedenhaven with me 
 this morning in the Adler, to go on board the Philistia 
 to witness the promised experiments with the Bolter 
 gun. Scarcely were we on board the Philistia ere she 
 got under way, and we were curtly informed that we 
 were prisoners, and that we should not be liberated 
 except upon payment of a hundred million marks. The 
 particulars of this outrageous demand you will find in 
 the accompanying printed paper. As I have said, the 
 story must appear incredible to you. It is, nevertheless, 
 an uncomfortable and dangerous fact — uncomfortable 
 for me and mine, and dangerous for the empire and for 
 
96 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 the peace of Europe. Abroad I have enemies who, if 
 they knew that I am in my present position, would not 
 scruple to take advantage of the fact in order to deal a 
 blow at Lusatia, which, they would conclude, could not 
 be otherwise than partially demoralized by the sudden 
 abduction of its sovereign and leader in war. It is 
 therefore of the first importance that my disappearance 
 shall be concealed. You have my full authority to take 
 whatever steps may be necessary to this end. Nay, I 
 distinctly enjoin you to do so, for I am persuaded that 
 by no other methods can the immediate outbreak of 
 European war be averted. I send you my rings and a 
 few other personal belongings, which will greatly assist 
 you in the performance of the duties which I now thrust 
 upon your shoulders. My dear sister, the Princess, will 
 also, I well know, loyally and truly help you and me. 
 To her I am writing my wishes. Consult her in all 
 things, but in all things recollect that I confide in you. 
 You are my sole representative, and have power, by my 
 will, to give orders, to personate me, and to simulate and 
 use my signature in such manner as will best further my 
 aims and the welfare of my country. When I return it 
 will not be difficult to justify ourselves, and to obtain for 
 you an indemnity ; and it shall be my care that you, at 
 least, do not suffer. But if I do not return within a 
 year, or if, in the meanwhile, you obtain reasonable 
 evidence that I am dead, your duty will be to call a 
 council of ministers, to show them this letter, and to 
 take their advice. Until then, or until I return, I charge 
 you upon no consideration to permit it to be supposed 
 
KIDNAPPED 97 
 
 that you are not I, or that the Emperor is not at his 
 post. The trust is great. I know, rny dear Von Dalhoff, 
 that you are not unworthy of it. 
 
 ' To only one person who does not already know it 
 must the secret of our arrangement be entrusted. Her 
 Highness the Princess Griselda, my promised wife, is 
 entitled to be told, and must be told, the truth. I am 
 asking my sister, the Princess Nannette, to tell it her, of 
 course with all precautions, and I am enclosing to my 
 sister a letter to the Princess Griselda herself, to be 
 delivered when the communication shall have been 
 made, as may be decided. 
 
 ' Do not for one moment entertain the idea of paying 
 a ransom of any kind whatever to our cajjtors. Only 
 the Count, the Admiral, and the officers whose names 
 accompany this, must be supposed to have been carried 
 off. It may be suggested, if you like, that the scoundrels 
 aimed at you, but missed you. That is for you to deter- 
 mine. If we are rescued it must be in the only dignified 
 way — by the power of Lusatia, and not by its gold. 
 Send, therefore, a strong force of ships to the neighbour- 
 hood of Sala-y-Gomez, and harass the Philistia until she 
 be taken or destroyed. I scarcely doubt that foreign 
 governments will gladly co-operate in the work. Even 
 if we all have to be sacrificed do not consent to pay one 
 pfennig by way of ransom. I am not an article of mer- 
 chandise. Eemember this. 
 
 'And now, my good Yon Dalhoff, as there is much 
 that I must write to others, and as I confide implicitly 
 in your loyalty, ability and courage, I hamper you with 
 
 7 
 
98 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 no further orders. I only add, since it may assist you 
 in pursuit of us, that Mr. Hoodlum is on board. His 
 connection with our captors I cannot discover, for I 
 have not yet had any interview with him since we were 
 detained. But I am bound to tell you that I can 
 scarcely resist the conclusion that he' is an accomplice. 
 I advise you, therefore, should he be caught, to regard 
 him with suspicion, unless he can give the fullest and 
 most convincing explanations. At the same time, I pray 
 that I may be doing him an injustice, for, as you know, 
 he and I are old friends. Keep a good heart, my dear 
 Von Dalhoff. Do for me and for mine, in face of this 
 outrage, what you can ; and, when we meet again, 
 believe me, there shall be nothing which, asking, you 
 may not obtain from your attached friend and sovereign, 
 
 1 Cakl, I. K.' 
 
 Just as the Emperor had finished writing and was in 
 the act of ringing the bell at his side, one of his officers 
 entered to say that Admiral Spott and Mr. Hoodlum had 
 been liberated, and that the Admiral requested per- 
 mission to deliver up his sword. The Admiral was in 
 waiting outside the cabin door, and, being commanded 
 to come in, gave up his weapon, which the Emperor 
 at once carried to the ship's side and threw over- 
 board. 
 
 ' Resurget, my dear Admiral,' he said. ' In the mean- 
 time it is better there than in the hands of the unworthy. 
 Be so good as to cause to be made out for me a list of 
 the officers who are with us, that I may send it ashore 
 
KIDNAPPED 99 
 
 with my despatches, and, please, desire the Field- 
 Marshal to come to my cabin.' 
 
 It has already been mentioned that, except the Prin- 
 cess Nannette, the Field-Marshal alone enjoyed the 
 Emperor's confidence on the subject of the arrange- 
 ments with Von Dalhoff. When, therefore, the old 
 soldier appeared, the Emperor handed to him the letter 
 to Von Dalhoff, and, while the Count was reading it, 
 began a letter to the Prmcess Nannette. 
 
 ' Well, do you approve, my dear Stark ?' the Emperor 
 asked, after a few minutes had elapsed. 
 
 ' Sire, certain things that are permissible and indeed 
 desirable and necessary in war must not be gauged by 
 peace standards. I pray that your Majesty's plan may 
 find in Von Dalhoff a genius capable of carrying it out. 
 As for your Majesty's refusal to entertain the idea of 
 ransom, I am delighted. Your Majesty cannot treat 
 with criminals and thieves. But I venture to fear, sire, 
 that you will be put to grave inconvenience.' 
 
 The Emperor smiled for the first time since he had 
 learnt of his detention. 
 
 ' What I regret most, Count, is that I cannot order 
 you to go home at once. Who takes our letters ashore ?' 
 
 ' From conversation which I have overheard, sire, I 
 gather that Mr. Hoodlum is to go.' 
 
 The Emperor whistled slightly, and, stooping at his 
 desk, added to his letter to Von Dalhoff : ' If this be 
 brought you by Mr. Hoodlum, you may create a most 
 beneficial effect by seizing an early opportunity of show- 
 ing yourself to him in a new character. But I recoin- 
 
ioo THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 mend you to get rid of him from the country. He may 
 be, and I hope is, my friend, yet, for the present, it is 
 the safest course.' And, having finished the brief post- 
 script, his Majesty made some of his rings and trinkets 
 into a neat little parcel, which, with the letter and the 
 list of the officers' names, he wrapped up in several thick- 
 nesses of paper, sealed, and addressed to Von Dalhoff. 
 He then completed his letter to the Princess Nannette, 
 wrote one, to be enclosed with it, to the Princess 
 Griselda, and, with the despatches in his hand, went out 
 on deck in order to discover, if he could, the whereabouts 
 of the Philistia. So well did he know the coast that he 
 had little difficulty in satisfying himself that the ship 
 was off the little island of Moen, near the southern 
 entrance to the Sound of Elsinore. She was heading 
 o the northward and steaming at full speed. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HE. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED. 
 
 Mr. Esek Hoodlum was in a very unenviable frame of 
 mind. He realized that but for him the Emperor would 
 not have been kidnapped, and, though he had the satis- 
 faction of knowing that throughout he had acted in 
 perfect good faith and with the best intentions, he could 
 not but be aware that the turn of events must cause him 
 to be regarded by his Lusatian friends in general, and by 
 the Emperor in particular, with serious suspicion. Furious, 
 therefore, at having been made the instrument whereby 
 Snaggs's traitorous schemes had been fashioned and 
 made practicable, he no sooner learnt, after his libera- 
 tion from duress, particulars of the project of the con- 
 spirators than he went to settle matters with the Hon. 
 Barnwell. 
 
 Snaggs had temporarily left the bridge and was in his 
 cabin. There Hoodlum found him, discussing the situa- 
 tion with two of his friends and partners. 
 
 'Guess we don't want you in here, Mr. Hoodlum,' 
 said the Colonel, rising as the American entered. 
 
102 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 ' You'd best look spry and get ready for going ashore, 
 for the boat will leave at three.' 
 
 ' You don't want me!' repeated Hoodlum; 'I dare 
 say not !' And, without another word, he launched him- 
 self bodily through the air at the Colonel, and, striking 
 him in the face with both fists simultaneously, felled him 
 to the deck. 
 
 Snaggs's friends at once seized the wrathful Esek, 
 who, having vented his indignation, offered very little 
 resistance. 
 
 1 1 am happier now,' he exclaimed, ' for I hope I have 
 marked that scoundrel for many a day to come.' 
 
 Snaggs, who had fallen heavily, knocking his head 
 against the corner of a table, did not move, but lay 
 breathing stertorously with his face covered with blood. 
 
 One of the men called for assistance, and, in a very 
 few minutes, Hoodlum, this time in irons, was again 
 locked in the empty cabin, and the ship's doctor, having 
 examined Snaggs, pronounced him to be stunned and to 
 have acquired a broken nose and a badly-contused eye, 
 but to be otherwise not seriously hurt. 
 
 The American who at Cape Charles had figured as 
 Major Bolter, and whose real name was Agamemnon 
 Rawlins, was Snaggs's principal lieutenant, and, during 
 the temporary disablement of his chief, assumed the 
 conduct of affairs. Conscious that Snaggs, upon his re- 
 covery, would be anxious to take summary vengeance 
 upon his assailant, and desirous to avoid, if possible, the 
 perpetration of violent acts, Mr. Rawlins, when he had 
 heard the doctor's report, went on deck in order to 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 103 
 
 hasten the departure of the boat. As he did so he 
 almost stumbled against the Emperor. 
 
 'Beg pardon, your Majesty/ he said easily and in- 
 offensively, ' but if your despatches are ready I should 
 like the boat to leave the ship as soon as possible in 
 order to prevent trouble. One of your friends, you see. 
 has assaulted Colonel Snaggs. It was natural enough, I 
 dare say, but Snaggs will be mad when he comes round, 
 and, if your friend is in the ship, the Colonel '11 be 
 wanting to shoot him.' 
 
 1 Who has assaulted Colonel Snaggs ?' demanded the 
 Emperor. 
 
 ' Your Majesty's American friend, Mir. Hoodlum,' 
 replied Eawlins. 
 
 The Emperor was greatly relieved. 
 
 ' Mr. Hoodlum and Colonel Snaggs are not on good 
 terms, then '?' he asked. 
 
 ' "Well, your Majesty, I put it to you whether it is 
 quite likely. Snaggs is carrying you off. Mr. Hoodlum 
 was led into indoocing you to come on board. Naturally 
 he feels kinder hurt, and so he let his feelings git the 
 better of his judgment, and went for Snaggs. 1 
 
 ' By all means let the boat go ashore, then,' assented 
 the Emperor. ' But where is Mr. Hoodlum ?' 
 
 ' Well, we've had to put him in irons, your Ma;' 
 but I've no objection to letting him out it he'll be 
 quiet.' 
 
 ' If you will tell him that I wish to speak to him here, 
 and will send him up, I will undertake that he shall be 
 quiet.' 
 
104 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 1 "Why, cert'nly, your Majesty,' returned Rawlins ; 
 1 I'll tell him so, and I'll get the boat away at once.' 
 
 Hoodlum soon came on deck, looking extremely un- 
 happy ; but he was somewhat reassured when the Emperor 
 approached him and offered his hand. 
 
 ' You mustn't champion my cause in this violent way, 
 my dear Hoodlum. Remember, you are to act as our 
 postman to the shore, and for that office we need some- 
 one whom we can trust,' the Emperor said kindly. 
 
 ' I was exasperated, sir, at the position in which I 
 have quite unwillingly placed you and placed myself,' 
 returned Hoodlum. ' I felt that you could scarcely help 
 regarding me with grave suspicion. I assure you, upon 
 my honour, that I have been as much deceived as you, 
 and that if I be to blame, it is solely for having been 
 too zealous in attending to what I believed to be your 
 interests.' 
 
 ' Don't let that trouble you,' said the Emperor. ' After 
 what I have heard, I cannot attribute to you &ny fault 
 worse than the fault of having been imposed upon, and 
 in that I am myself a sharer. You are now going 
 ashore ' 
 
 ' I would much rather remain.' 
 
 'It is best that you should go. I have here some 
 letters which I should not like to be obliged to entrust 
 to strange hands. One is to my secretary and aide-de- 
 camp, the Baron von DalhofT. I want you to see him 
 and deliver it in person. The other is to the Princess 
 Nannette. When you find yourself ashore, I teg you 
 to spare neither pains nor expense in getting as quickly 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 105 
 
 as possible to Sandburg. It is of importance that my 
 abduction should not be publicly known any sooner than 
 may be inevitable. Tell the facts to Yon Dalhoff and to 
 the Princess, but to the people in the boat and to all 
 others suggest, if you can, that, having altered my 
 plans, I purpose to land at Gottenborg, Christiania, or 
 where you will. You may be sure,' he added, with a 
 smile, ' that I shall if I can. Or be reticent, and say 
 nothing at all to chance questioners. It is all important 
 to gain time ; even a few hours may be valuable. So 
 I confide in you to do your best for me.' 
 
 ' I am sure, sir, that after the stupid exhibition I have 
 made of myself, and after the trouble and anxiety which 
 I am unwittingly causing, it is very generous of you to 
 confide in me at all ; but I will do my best.' 
 
 ' I wish to confess to you, Hoodlum,' continued the 
 Emperor, ' that in my mind I at first almost did you 
 the injustice of believing that you were in league with 
 these people ; but the suspicion is entirely removed.' 
 
 1 1 thank you, sir, with all my heart. Be sure that 
 I shall make what amends I can for my credulity and 
 folly.' 
 
 ' And one thing more,' added the Emperor. 'Do not 
 take it unkindly. I think that, when you have delivered 
 our letters, you will consult my interests, as well as 
 your own, by leaving Lusatia. I don't want you to be 
 identified in the popular mind with to-day's work ; and 
 there are other reasons. Some day, if things go welL 
 I shall ask you to come and see me again. In the 
 meantime, we shall not forget our old friendship. Now, 
 
io6 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 I hear them ordering the engines to be stopped. I have 
 just another note to write; please do not go without it. 
 I shall be in my cabin.' 
 
 The Emperor's final note took the shape merely of 
 a line to Von Dalhoff exonerating Hoodlum, but adding 
 that, as Hoodlum's presence in Sandburg might com- 
 plicate the inevitable difficulties of the course which 
 Von Dalhoff had been directed to pursue, Hoodlum, at 
 the Emperor's wish, would take an early opportunity of 
 leaving Lusatia. 
 
 The Emperor was about to take this note on deck, 
 when he was met at his cabin-door by Eawlins. 
 
 'Beg pardon, your Majesty,' said the man, 'but I 
 must respectfully ask you not to go on deck until the 
 boat has pushed off. The officer and men in her might 
 be suspicious if they saw your Majesty and suite under 
 any kind of constraint ; so I have taken the liberty of 
 putting two sentinels outside to enforce orders.' 
 
 The Emperor fumed. 
 
 ' Then ask Mr. Hoodlum to come to me,' he said 
 shortly. 
 
 Hoodlum entered almost immediately, and found the 
 Emperor rapidly pacing the cabin. 
 
 'They have shut me up until you shall have gone, 
 Hoodlum,' the latter explained ; ' so I must ask you to 
 pacify the officer and men in the launch. If they knew 
 what has occurred, they would, I am persuaded, try to 
 take the steamer; and the result would be inevitably 
 fatal to every one of them, and might, moreover, prevent 
 us for the present from communicating with the shore 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 107 
 
 even by other means. Therefore tell the officer in the 
 boat that I desire him to land you at the nearest point, 
 and then, obtaining coal and water, if necessary, to 
 return to Friedenhaven. Stay, I will write him an 
 order;' and the Emperor hastily scribbled a dozen 
 words on a sheet of paper. ' Now,' he added, as he 
 gave the paper to Hoodlum, ' good-bye, and may you get 
 quickly to Sandburg !' 
 
 The Emperor held out his hand, which his friend 
 grasped with some emotion ere he turned quickly away 
 and left the cabin. 
 
 It was a parting which hurt the Emperor deeply, for 
 with Hoodlum Lusatia seemed to withdraw into the 
 unattainable distance. Thenceforward, for weeks, for 
 months, perhaps for ever, there would be no communi- 
 cation between the sovereign and the land which he 
 loved. He would not know how it fared, or whether 
 his plans, hastily devised in hope of saving it from the 
 worst evils, were prospering, or were all in vain. If 
 evils happened, he would not be in his proper place, 
 aiding and inspiring his countrymen to triumph over 
 them. And with Lusatia there went from him his sister 
 and his promised wife. More than once during the five 
 minutes after Hoodlum had left him the Emperor barely 
 restrained an impulse to rush out at all hazards, and 
 to leap from the deck into the sea, trusting that the 
 launch might pick him up and get away with him ere 
 it could be caught or sunk ; but, happily, he did restrain 
 it, for the attempt, if made, could only have ended in 
 disaster. 
 
108 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 In less than ten minutes the sentries were removed, 
 and the Emperor went on deck, where, with his suite 
 around him, he watched the launch, which, no longer 
 bearing the gay imperial ensign, steamed fast into Faxe 
 Bay, bound for the little town of Stubberup, where there 
 is a railway-station. 
 
 "While the Philistia ploughed her way through the 
 Sound and Kattegat, and rounded the Scaw into the 
 Skager Bak and the North Sea, Hoodlum, anxious only 
 to deliver his despatches at the earliest possible moment, 
 did a remarkable piece of travelling to Sandburg ; and, 
 since affairs at the Lusatian capital demand attention 
 ere the fortunes of the steamship need be further fol- 
 lowed, he may, for convenience, be accompanied on his 
 journey. 
 
 It was twenty minutes after three in the afternoon 
 when he landed at Stubberup. By a quarter to four 
 he had started on a special engine for Kioge, which he 
 reached at a quarter past five. At Kioge, whither he 
 had telegraphed in advance, he obtained a special train 
 which deposited him at Boskilde at twenty minutes to 
 six. There he dined, and, taking the ordinary train, 
 reached Korscer at thirty-five minutes past nine, and 
 the ordinary steamers and train landed him at Fredericia 
 at seven minutes to two in the morning. There a special 
 train, ordered by wire, awaited him, and, making Altona 
 at a quarter past seven, he got into Sandburg as the 
 clocks were striking eleven. 
 
 At Altona he succeeded in procuring a morning paper, 
 and as soon as he had it he turned with feverish haste 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 109 
 
 to the column in which the Sandburg court intelligence 
 was printed. What he read there greatly relieved him. 
 
 'Yesterday morning early,' it ran, 'his Imperial and 
 Boyal Majesty the Emperor, accompanied by his Excel- 
 lency the Field-Marshal Count Stark, Admiral Spott, 
 and a small suite, embarked on board the yacht Adler 
 off Friedenhaven, and, proceeding down the Bay, 
 escorted by the fleet which has been taking part in the 
 manoeuvres, visited the American steamer Philistia in 
 order to witness some experiments with the new guns 
 which have been mounted in her. It was understood 
 that the experiments would take place near the mouth 
 of the Bay, but, contrary to general expectation, the 
 Philistia, having weighed anchor, took the Imperial 
 launch in tow, and, steaming to seaward, was in an 
 hour lost to sight. It is anticipated that his Majesty 
 desired to witness experiments upon a somewhat more 
 extensive scale than could be easily conducted in the 
 comparatively narrow waters in which the fleet is lying, 
 and that he may even wish to see firing by night. Up 
 to a late hour the Philistia had not returned to port. 
 The weather is beautiful. It is feared that his Majesty, 
 in consequence of this alteration in his arrangements, 
 may not return to Sandburg to-day at the hour originally 
 fixed.' 
 
 ' I should think that there is every probability that he 
 will not,' thought Hoodlum gloomily. 
 
 Lower down he read three telegrams. One, dated 
 from Stubberup, announced that ' The steam launch of 
 his Lusatian Majesty's Imperial yacht Adler put in here 
 
no THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 this afternoon to land a courier with despatches, and to 
 obtain coal and water. An hour later she steamed away 
 from Friedenhaven.' A second, from Friedenhaven, 
 said : ' The steam launsh in which his Majesty and 
 suite went on board the Philistia this morning returned 
 after dark to the Adler. She reports that she took 
 ashore at Stubberup Mr. Hoodlum, the American who 
 has been his Majesty's guest during the manoeuvres, 
 and who was entrusted with despatches, and that his 
 Majesty purposed to prolong his voyage to Gottenborg, 
 or perhaps to Christiania, before returning. To his 
 Majesty's well-known love of the sea, and to his natural 
 desire for rest and change after the fatigues of the past 
 fortnight, this alteration in the Imperial plans must be 
 attributed.' The third telegram, dated from the Scaw 
 at midnight, was very brief, and announced that 'a 
 large steamer, supposed to be the Philistia, passed here 
 at half-past eleven, bound west.' 
 
 The last telegram was the only one which was at 
 all likely to excite suspicion and alarm ; for, had the 
 Philistia been bound for Gottenborg, she would not have 
 been sighted from the Scaw at all, and, had she been 
 bound for Christiania, she would have been steaming 
 north instead of west. ' But, perhaps,' thought Hood- 
 lum, ' people will not notice that fact.' 
 
 They did notice it, however; for when Hoodlum, 
 before jumping into a cab at Sandburg, in order to be 
 driven to the Palace, consulted the second edition of 
 one of the metropolitan morning papers, he found a 
 large-type paragraph which was ominously headed, 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED in 
 
 'Apprehensions concerning the Emperor's Safety,' and 
 which was worded as follows : 
 
 ' We have already announced that yesterday morning 
 the Emperor proceeded on board the American steamer 
 PhilisUa; that the steamer, contrary to expectation, at 
 once put to sea ; that she sent a boat ashore yesterday 
 afternoon at Stubberup ; that the boat subsequently 
 returned to Friedenhaven and reported the Emperor's 
 supposed decision to go as far as Gottenborg or Chris- 
 tiania ; and that late last night the PhilisUa passed the 
 Scaw going to the westward. This last piece of in- 
 telligence induced us early this morning to make 
 inquiries by telegraph both at Gottenborg and at Chris- 
 tiania, whence we are now informed that the Philistia 
 has not called there, and that nothing whatever is known 
 of her. While we are exceedingly unwilling to entertain 
 any feelings of uneasiness as to the safety of our beloved 
 sovereign, we cannot avoid the conclusion that absence 
 of definite news of his Majesty's movements must, 
 should it be prolonged for many hours, excite alarm 
 of the most terrible kind. It is, of course, possible that 
 his Majesty may have landed at one of the smaller 
 ports on the Danish or Swedish coasts, and may be even 
 now returning to his capital ; but we need scarcely point 
 out that it is in the highest degree improbable that 
 the Emperor can have landed anywhere without bein^ 
 recognised, and that, if he had been recognised, a report 
 of his landing ought ere this to have been received. We 
 may add that his Majesty has promised to be present 
 this evening at the first performance of the new opera 
 
112 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 " Ariovistus " at the Royal Opera House. Should the 
 Emperor happily return in the course of the day, his 
 loyal subjects in Sandburg will not, therefore, lack an 
 early opportunity of publicly welcoming him. "We trust, 
 in the meantime, that as soon as any news of his Majesty 
 is received the authorities will calm all possible mis- 
 apprehensions by communicating the facts to the press.' 
 
 Hoodlum was in some perturbation when he reached 
 the Palace. He was anxious to be the first bearer of 
 intelligence as to what had happened ; for he realized 
 that it might be of great importance that the Govern- 
 ment should know the facts before the newspapers could 
 get hold of them, and he feared that, after all, he had 
 arrived too late. 
 
 Von Dalhoff and the Princess were also uneasy. 
 They had, of course, seen the reports in the morning 
 journals. The Princess steadfastly refused to believe 
 that any harm could have happened to her brother, and 
 was sanguine enough to express her confidence that he 
 would still be back by noon ; yet her restlessness, and 
 her scarcely-repressed agitation at any unwonted noise 
 outside or movement inside the Palace, betrayed the fact 
 that, although she maintained a hopeful exterior, she 
 was vaguely apprehensive. As for Von Dalhoff, although, 
 for the sake of the Princess, he endeavoured to conceal 
 his forebodings, he knew enough of the methodical and 
 business-like habits of his sovereign to feel quite certain 
 that the Emperor would not have willingly altered his 
 arrangements merely in order to enjoy the pleasure and 
 relaxation of a sea-trip in the Philistia; and he was 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 113 
 
 uncomfortably confident that the arrival of the de- 
 spatches which were said to have been sent ashore at 
 Stubberup would reveal that something wholly unex- 
 pected had occurred. He had not, however, the remotest 
 inkling as to what that mysterious something might be. 
 
 The Princess and Von Dalhoff were together in the 
 Emperor's private study, searching the papers and dis- 
 cussing all the possibilities of the situation, when Hood- 
 lum's cab drove at a rapid pace into the courtyard. 
 
 The Princess ran at once to the window, as she had 
 run at least a dozen times that morning. 
 
 'Oh, it is Mr. Hoodlum, Baron!' she cried excitedly. 
 ' He must have been the courier who was sent ashore. 
 Now we shall know.' 
 
 ' I am going to take a friend's privilege,' said Von 
 Dalhoff gently : ' I am going to hear the news first. If 
 it be good news, I shall have the pleasure of imparting 
 it to you. If it be not good, I may spare you a shock ; 
 for Mr. Hoodlum is blunt and straightforward. But 
 the news, of course, is good. I only wish to be on the 
 safe side.' 
 
 The Princess looked at Von Dalhoff. 
 
 ' You are afraid that something bad has happened, 
 she said. 
 
 ' I am afraid of nothing,' he returned, forcing a smile, 
 ' but Mr. Hoodlum's possible want of tact. He will 
 come up flurried and hot from his journey, and before 
 he has had time to explain, your Pioyal Highness will be 
 for five minutes on tenter-hooks. I beg you to let me 
 see him.' 
 
 8 
 
114 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 ' But you will conceal nothing ? Promise me that.' 
 ' I will conceal nothing. There will be nothing to 
 conceal. I will meet Mr. Hoodlum in his Majesty's 
 smoking-room. If you will remain here, I will re- 
 turn to your Eoyal Highness the instant I know the 
 facts.' 
 
 At that moment a servant entered to say that Hood- 
 lum desired to see Yon Dalhoff at once on important 
 business. 
 
 ' Show him into the smoking-room,' said the Baron. 
 'Now,' he continued to the Princess, 'if your Eoyal 
 Highness will be patient for only three minutes I will 
 come back.' 
 
 His fingers were on the handle of the door of com- 
 munication, when the Princess ran to him and seized 
 his other hand. 
 
 ' You will tell me all,' she pleaded — ' mind, all — won't 
 you?' 
 
 He looked down into her sweet eyes, in which tears 
 were already welling. 
 
 'Yes,' he said tenderly; 'never fear, I will tell you 
 all.' And opening the door, he confronted Hoodlum, 
 weary and travel-stained. 
 
 ' Oh, Von Dalhoff,' began the American at once, ' I 
 have brought bad news ! The Emperor is well, thank 
 God ; but he has been seized — kidnapped — on board the 
 Philistia, and carried off!' 
 
 For an instant the Baron was staggered. 
 'Kidnapped!' he repeated incredulously. 'Impos- 
 sible! Emperors are not kidnapped nowadays. What 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 115 
 
 do you mean, Mr. Hoodlum? The Emperor was with 
 friends of yours.' 
 
 1 They are no friends of mine. They are people who 
 deceived me in order to deceive the Emperor.' 
 
 1 They are at least your acquaintances and your 
 countrymen. But does his Majesty send no despatches?' 
 
 ' I had forgotten,' said Hoodlum. ' Yes ; there are 
 letters — two for you and one for the Princess Nannette.' 
 And he took them from his pocket and handed them to 
 the Baron, who, after merely glancing at them, said : 
 
 'Well, if you will kindly remain here, I will inform 
 the Princess. She may wish to see you.' 
 
 It was with very painful feelings that Von Dalhoff 
 returned to the next room. He saw at once how far- 
 reaching might be the political importance of the 
 startling event of which he had just heard, and he 
 could not be unmindful of its possible effects upon his 
 fatherland. But, for the time, his chief sympathies 
 were with the Princess, of whose devotion to her brother 
 he was so fully aware ; and if, on quitting her, he had 
 felt deeply moved by the rising tears in her eyes, he 
 now naturally felt a thousand times more sympathetic, 
 and desirous, if possible, of softening the force of the 
 blow which he knew must be inflicted. 
 
 She stood waiting for him. 
 
 ' It is bad news !' she exclaimed, as he appeared. 
 
 He threw the letters upon a table, and, approaching 
 her, took her hand. 
 
 1 It is good news, and bad news too,' he said. ' The 
 Emperor is well, and sends you a letter; but the 
 
n6 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Emperor, too noble-minded to suspect treachery, has 
 been deceived, and has been carried off to sea against 
 his will.' 
 
 The Princess withdrew her hand from Von Dalhoff s, 
 and supported herself against a chair. 
 
 ' Who has dared ?' she asked, her colour rising. 
 
 ' They are Americans — the people whom Mr. Hoodlum 
 introduced to his Majesty.' 
 
 'It is Mr. Hoodlum's conspiracy — I am sure it is!' 
 the Princess declared impulsively. 
 
 'We may learn from his Majesty's letters,' said Von 
 Dalhoff; 'but I cannot believe that Mr. Hoodlum is 
 seriously to blame. With your Pioyal Highness's per- 
 mission I will read my despatches.' 
 
 And, seating himself at the table, he opened the larger 
 packet, while the Princess, now as pale as marble, stood 
 over him with a hand on his shoulder, and followed the 
 letter as he read it aloud. More than once ere he had 
 finished did hot tears drop from the Princess's eyes upon 
 the paper. At first they were tears only of sorrow, but 
 then came tears of indignation and anger, and, before 
 the postscript was ended, they had altogether ceased. 
 
 'Mr. Hoodlum is a villain,' burst out the Princess, 
 ' and the Emperor is a hero ! Oh, Baron, I am proud 
 of my dear brother !' 
 
 'Mr. Hoodlum is not a villain,' said Von Dalhoff, 
 who had opened the second letter and perused its brief 
 contents. ' This exculpates him from any worse charge 
 than one of having been imposed upon.' 
 
 'But I will never forgive him !' declared the Princess. 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 117 
 
 ' The whole misfortune is due to his carelessness. Oh, 
 
 if only I were a man, I would ' And instead of 
 
 finishing the sentence, she stamped a foot. 
 
 ' I must not waste time,' said Von Dalhoff, after a, 
 moment's pause. ' Is your Royal Highness content for 
 me to follow the Emperor's instructions ?' 
 
 ' Content ! — am I content ?' she exclaimed. ' Why, 
 you must follow them ! There is nothing else to be done.' 
 
 ' It will be necessary for your Royal Highness to 
 condescend to treat me in all respects as a brother,' 
 explained Von Dalhoff. 
 
 ' If you can do what he wishes, and save Lusatia from 
 trouble, and bring him back, it will not be difficult for 
 me to treat you like a brother,' said the Princess. 
 'Each day you will earn more and more of my grati- 
 tude.' 
 
 'You must let me call you Nan, or "Pearl," you 
 know,' said Von Dalhoff, who felt the difficulty of this 
 premier pas. 
 
 ' Yes, and I must call you Carl,' rejoined the Princess; 
 ' and sometimes you must call me " little one," for when 
 the Emperor is very pleased with me he calls me "little 
 one." It is only a new habit of his, yet perhaps some 
 people about the court have already noticed it. And 
 •now, please, go and show Mr. Hoodlum that the Emperor 
 is not so far away as is believed. If you do it will 
 produce the very best effect, and will stop the printing 
 of any more alarmist paragraphs. While you are gone 
 I will read my letter, and think. Oh, there will be 
 worlds to think about !' 
 
n8 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 'Just once more,' said Yon Dalhoff, 'I shall call you 
 "Your Royal Highness." It is that I may tell you — 
 as representing his Majesty the Emperor, my master 
 — that, come what may, I will strive to do his will 
 during his absence ; and that I am loyally determined 
 to keep my trust undimmed, and to work and labour 
 effectively for him, for the royal house, for you, and 
 for the nation, until his happy return, which Heaven 
 grant may not be long delayed.' 
 
 The Princess stretched out her hand. 
 
 'I am sure you will, my dear Baron,' she said, with 
 warm confidence. 
 
 'But thanks will be mainly due to your help and 
 encouragement,' he added, as, having stooped and kissed 
 her fingers, he left the room. 
 
 In the meantime, Hoodlum, in the smoking-room, 
 was anxiously examining the newspapers, which, as they 
 appeared, were brought in, according to custom, and 
 placed in order upon the table. Then contents were 
 rapidly becoming more and more alarmist. One journal 
 gave prominence to the following telegram, dated from 
 Friedenhaven : 
 
 'A seaman, who formed part of the crew of the 
 Adlcr's steam launch, which returned last night to this 
 port from Stubberup, tells a strange story, which, if it 
 be true, cannot but excite apprehension. He says that 
 the launch was towed astern of the Philistia, and that, 
 consequently, it was impossible for the men in her to 
 know what was going forward on the steamer's deck. 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED ng 
 
 But he solemnly declares that, when the vessel was off 
 Falster,' he distinctly saw a bundle of six or seven 
 swords thrown overboard from the Philistia on the 
 starboard side. As the only persons on board the 
 steamer who are likely to have worn swords are his 
 Majesty the Emperor and his suite, this circumstance 
 must give rise to suspicion. The man asserts that he at 
 the time called the attention of others in the launch to 
 the fact, but that he alone saw the swords fall into the 
 water. In consequence of what he said to the lieutenant 
 in charge of the boat, that officer, when it was first indi- 
 cated to him by some of the Philistia'' s people that he was 
 to take despatches on shore, decided not to obey without 
 having obtained a distinct order from the Emperor or from 
 Admiral Spott, and that he would have insisted upon 
 boarding the ship to obtain this had not a written order 
 from the Emperor been handed to him as soon as the 
 launch reached the gangway. In face of that order 
 he did not think himself justified in further hesitating. 
 The uneasiness here is growing.' 
 
 Another telegram, dated from Farsund, a town near 
 the southern point of Norway, announced that the 
 Philistia had, in the early morning, passed that place, 
 going west ; and, in a leading article, headed ' If He 
 Be Gone,' the paper which contained the telegram dis- 
 cussed, in a very suggestive manner, the dangerous 
 situation in which Lusatia would find herself if her 
 Emperor were suddenly snatched from her. 
 
 Hoodlum read and waited. The smoking-room in 
 
120 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 which he sat was the room from a window of which the 
 Emperor had been accustomed to watch the relief of the 
 Palace Guard at noon ; and the clatter of weapons in 
 the courtyard, followed almost immediately by the com- 
 mencement of the chiming of the great clock of the 
 neighbouring Church of St. Hubertus, reminded the 
 American that, though the Emperor might be absent, 
 guard-mounting went on as usual. 
 
 ' I wonder,' he thought to himself, as he gazed up at 
 the great battle-piece over the carved fireplace, ' whether 
 the people are yet becoming alarmed. If they are, 
 there will be a crowd to witness the relief of the guard 
 and to see whether or not the Emperor has come home.' 
 
 He turned to look out of the window, but his knees 
 trembled as he faced it. 
 
 With his back towards him, there stood the Emperor, 
 watching the scene in the courtyard, and returning in 
 his usual kindly way the salute of the populace. 
 
 Hoodlum dropped powerless upon the chair, and 
 gazed, as if spellbound, at the tall figure in front of him. 
 The Emperor held one hand to his cap, behind his back 
 he held the other, and upon the latter Hoodlum saw the 
 well-known imperial ring. 
 
 The American was not habitually superstitious ; but, 
 knowing what he did, he could not at first resist the 
 conclusion that the figure was either a spectre or the 
 creature of his own excited brain. ' Perhaps,' he 
 thought, ' this is a warning apparition. Perhaps worse 
 evil than I know has befallen him.' Then another train 
 of ideas entered his mind. ' The Emperor,' he reflected, 
 
MR. HOODLUM IS SURPRISED 121 
 
 ' may have escaped or have been landed soon after I left 
 the ship. I hurried hither quickly ; but it is true that I 
 waited last night to dine at Eoskilde, and so wasted an 
 hour or two. He may — it is barely possible — have 
 passed me on the way.' 
 
 Still the Emperor stood saluting, and Hoodlum, who 
 could not speak, and who would not have ventured to do 
 so had he been able, sat motionless in his chair, while a 
 cold perspiration stood upon his brow. 
 
 Suddenly the Emperor turned, and, affecting to 
 notice Hoodlum for the first time, said quite calmly : 
 
 ' Well, here you are ! You seem surprised to see me.' 
 
 The American staggered to his feet. 
 
 'Heaven be thanked that you have escaped!' he 
 ejaculated fervently. ' How did you manage it, sir ?' 
 
 The Emperor placed his forefinger significantly to 
 his lips. 
 
 ' There are some questions which cannot be con- 
 veniently answered, Hoodlum, and which had better not 
 be, for the present, asked. You will know the story 
 some day. The despatches ?' 
 
 ' They have been faithfully delivered, sir,' answered 
 the astonished Hoodlum. 
 
 ' I am deeply obliged to you — more obliged than I can 
 say. And your own plans ?' 
 
 ' I shall follow your counsel, and leave Sandburg for 
 a time. I was only waiting here to learn whether the 
 Princess desired to see me.' 
 
 ' I think she does not. I will not conceal from you 
 that she blames you. But I will ask her.' And, 
 
122 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 stepping to the door which led into the next room, the 
 Emperor opened it and cried : ' I suppose that you don't 
 want to see Mr. Hoodlum, Nan ?' 
 
 Whereto the Princess significantly, and not too 
 graciously, replied : 
 
 ' Certainly not, Carl !' 
 
 An hour later Sandburg was happy again, and Hood- 
 lum — puzzled, but thankful — was packing his trunks for 
 London. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 INCONSISTENCY. 
 
 There is no reason for believing that anyone in Sand- 
 burg, save only the Princess Nannette, suspected that 
 the Emperor had not returned from the manoeuvres, or 
 that the man who that day appeared as the Emperor at 
 the well-known corner window of the royal Palace was 
 not the Emperor. If there had been doubts in the 
 minds of any, these must have been dispelled when, in 
 the afternoon, Von Dalhoff, with the Princess at his side, 
 drove in the park, and when, in the evening, both 
 occupied the royal box at the performance of ' Ariovistus ' 
 at the Eoyal Opera House, and acknowledged the warm 
 greeting which the audience gave them. 
 
 Next morning all the papers contained a paragraph to 
 the effect that it was unhappily true, as had been 
 rumoured in certain quarters on the previous day, that 
 a dastardly attempt had been made to carry off his 
 Imperial and Eoyal Majesty from Friedenhaven on 
 board the steamship Philistia. Every effort would be 
 made to capture and punish the criminals, who, in the 
 meantime, had actually succeeded in carrying off Field- 
 
124 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Marshal Count Stark, Admiral Spott, and six officers 
 whose names were mentioned. As it was not known for 
 certain by whom the outrage had been instigated, and 
 as undue publicity of the circumstance of the attempt 
 might defeat the ends of justice and be prejudicial to the 
 interests of the empire, it was deemed advisable to 
 suppress details ; but the people might be confident that 
 the Imperial Government would take such measures as 
 the occasion called for, and would be prompt in its 
 pursuit of the offenders and in the rescue of the 
 captives. It was intended to invite the co-operation of 
 foreign Powers to this end, it being obviously to the 
 advantage of civilization to spare no pains to put down 
 acts of this abominable kind. At the same time, it 
 must not be anticipated that the criminals would be 
 immediately taken, since they were on board a fast and 
 powerful vessel, which might keep the sea for a consider- 
 able period, and might not be caught, unless by 
 stratagem, until she should be forced to call somewhere 
 for coal or stores. During the enforced absence of the 
 captives special grants would be made to their families 
 and representatives, who, from what had been observed, 
 might be easy in their minds as to the way in which the 
 prisoners were being treated on board the PJtilistia. 
 An imperial order, printed in the same papers, granted 
 the Baron von Dalhoff six weeks' leave of absence 
 beyond the frontiers of Lusatia. 
 
 At the various Lusatian dockyards fast cruisers were 
 as rapidly as possible fitted out and commissioned to 
 go in search of the kidnappers ; and, within a few weeks, 
 
INCONSISTENCY 125 
 
 ships of other Great Powers were ordered away for the 
 same purpose ; so that at the end of a couple of months 
 there was quite a large international squadron in the 
 Pacific. But of all that anon. 
 
 The news of the outrage naturally caused immense 
 excitement throughout Lusatia. Much of this died 
 down, however, after the proverbial nine days ; and, as 
 the Government did not think it necessary to make 
 public particulars of all the measures that were being 
 adopted, the newspapers gradually ceased to pay much 
 attention to the subject, and decided to reserve their 
 ' full and complete accounts,' and their further comments 
 upon the heinousness of the affair, until such time as 
 they should have facts and not merely rumours and 
 imaginings to which to devote their space. 
 
 But not for one instant did the cruel fate of the 
 Emperor cease to occupy the minds of Von Dalhoff and 
 the Princess Nannette, to whose personal anxieties were 
 added a thousand daily troubles and worries which grew 
 spontaneously out of the extraordinary situation that 
 had been created. 
 
 The most puzzling and the most pressing of all these 
 questions was the question of the Princess Griselda of 
 Stormarn. Her marriage with the Emperor had been 
 fixed for October 20, and, as has been seen, it was already 
 October 10 when Hoodlum arrived at Sandburg with the 
 despatches which showed that the wedding could not 
 possibly take place on the appointed day, and must, upon 
 some specious pretext, be postponed indefinitely. 
 
 An anxious telegram from the Princess Griselda to 
 
126 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 the Princess Nannette arrived at Sandburg almost as 
 soon as Hoodlum did. ' Am uneasy,' it ran, ' about the 
 strange reports concerning the Emperor. Please send 
 full particulars.' The Princess Nannette showed this to 
 Von Dalhoff as soon as she had an opportunity. 
 
 ' Poor girl !' she said. ' How shall I break the news ? 
 It will come to her as a terrible shock.' 
 
 ' Either the Princess ought to be asked to come here, 
 or you ought to go to Stormarn, I think,' replied Von 
 Dalhoff. ' It is quite certain that I cannot do much. 
 On the other hand, if you go away just now, my position 
 will be more precarious than ever. First of all, however, 
 we must telegraph that the Emperor is quite well, and 
 that you are writing to the Princess.' 
 
 ' Yes, we must reassure her for the present, and, as 
 you say, I ought not to risk leaving Sandburg yet. I 
 will telegraph and write ; but oh ! what shall I write ? 
 The Princess Griselda is very sweet and sensible, and 
 she is so devoted to my brother that, if only I had her 
 here and could explain all, I am sure she would do any- 
 thing and everything for us. But who can foretell what 
 might be the effect upon her of a brusque revelation by 
 letter ? She might not be able to control her agitation ; 
 her father, the Duke, might insist upon explanations, 
 and then my brother's secret might ooze out, and it 
 must not do so. At all hazards we must keep it.' 
 
 Von Dalhoff was very puzzled. ' Cannot you invent 
 some pretext,' he suggested, ' for asking the Princess to 
 visit you here for a day or two ? You would like to have 
 her further advice about the furnishing of her apart- 
 
INCONSISTENCY 127 
 
 ments, or you think that it would amuse her to come 
 over incognito, and to. see the preparations that are being 
 made for her reception.' 
 
 'I must discover some excuse,' returned the Princess, 
 1 though I hate to be obliged to deceive her, even for 
 a moment. And when she comes, what can be done? 
 We shall surmount one difficulty only to find a loftier 
 one in front of us.' 
 
 ' Let us first get the Princess here,' said Von Dalhoff. 
 
 ' I know what must happen,' cried the Princess 
 Nannette suddenly. ' She must exercise her woman's 
 privilege of altering her mind. Here in Lusatia, thank 
 Heaven ! not even princes and princesses are expected 
 to give their hands when they cannot give their hearts. 
 My dear brother's engagement has been so popular 
 because it has been an affair of love and not a mere 
 matter of policy. The Princess Griselda must now alter 
 her mind.' 
 
 ' I am afraid,' ventured Von Dalhoff, ' that if she were 
 to do so, it would be injurious both to the Princess and 
 to the Emperor. We Lusatians all attach a sacred 
 importance to the formal betrothal. People are not 
 supposed to betroth themselves until they have deliber- 
 ately made their minds up. If, therefore, the engage- 
 ment were now to be broken off, the characters of both 
 parties would suffer. The Princess would be suspected 
 of frivolity — a reproach which we must not for an 
 instant permit to be cast upon the future Empress ; the 
 Emperor might justly be considered to have received a 
 deadly insult, which he must have done something to 
 
128 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 provoke. Moreover, any such rupture as we imagine 
 is antecedently improbable. The whole country knows 
 how deep and sincere are the feelings which bind 
 together the Emperor and the Princess of Stormarn.' 
 
 The Princess looked disappointed. 
 
 ' All that is quite true,' she admitted ; ' but what is to 
 be done? You can't marry the Princess Griselda, so 
 much is certain ; yet, on the twentieth, either there must 
 be a wedding or all the world must have before it good 
 reasons why the wedding is not to be celebrated. We 
 might persuade the Princess to feign illness ; but she 
 cannot feign illness for an indefinite period. Besides, 
 it would subject her to too much restraint and dis- 
 comfort.' 
 
 ' Perhaps the Princess Griselda herself can suggest a 
 good excuse,' said Von Dalhoff. ' She will assuredly 
 help us if she can.' 
 
 ' Well,' replied the Princess, ' we can but get her here 
 and see. I will telegraph and write at once, and tell 
 her that come she must. In the meantime, perhaps we 
 shall think of something.' 
 
 There was in the Princess Nannette's letter a vague 
 undertone of reticence and mystery which, though it 
 did not actually alarm the Princess Griselda, excited her 
 curiosity and determined her, if she could, to go to 
 Sandburg with the least possible delay. ' 
 
 When young ladies — be they princesses or commoners 
 —who are only daughters of fond and devoted fathers, 
 and who are on the eve of leaving home to get married, 
 choose to adopt sudden whims, those whims, being in 
 
INCONSISTENCY 12 g 
 
 themselves harmless, are very likely to be gratified ; and 
 when the Princess informed her father of her desire to 
 pay a two days' incognito visit to the Princess Nannette 
 in order to talk over and settle urgent private affairs, 
 she had little difficulty in persuading him to be her 
 escort to Sandburg. 
 
 Nor was the Duke, for his own part, indisposed to see 
 his future son-in-law once more before the wedding. 
 Indeed, he was glad of a decent excuse ; for, ever since 
 the announcement of the betrothal, he had privately 
 cherished a hope that the brilliant marriage of his 
 daughter might, in an innocent way, be turned to his 
 own advantage. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the Duke of Stormarn 
 was, in any sense of the words, a mercenary father. 
 On the contrary, he was desirous, above all things, to 
 see his daughter happy ; and to render her happy he 
 would have gladly made many personal sacrifices. But 
 he also had at heart the welfare and glory of his house. 
 Stormarn, it must be explained, was one of several 
 principalities and duchies which, though once inde- 
 pendent, had, under the Emperor's father and grand- 
 father, been absorbed by Euhland. Some had been 
 absorbed by arrangement, others as the result of war ; 
 for the great and powerful Lusatian Empire had not 
 been built up without struggle and bloodshed at home 
 as well as abroad. Stormarn was one of those which 
 had been absorbed as the result of war. The gallant 
 Stormarners, not excepting their Duke, had long since 
 learnt to congratulate themselves upon the fact that 
 
 9 
 
130 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 instead of being, as they once were, a weak people, 
 having only their own limited resources to trust to, they 
 had behind them the whole giant strength of Lusatia, 
 and were no longer at the mercy of third-rate Powers. 
 They had forgiven Piuhland for having forcibly made 
 them Lusatians ; but they had not forgiven Euhland 
 for having at the same time destroyed their autonomy 
 and mediatized their Duke. They looked around them, 
 and among the States forming the Lusatian Empire 
 they saw several which, though smaller, poorer, and less 
 populous than Stormarn, still preserved their autonomy. 
 There was, for example, the little Duchy of Zwieback — a 
 State which an able-bodied man could walk round in 
 a day, and which had a total population of less than fifty 
 thousand souls* Yet the Duke of Zwieback kept his 
 court and his prime minister, and had foreign repre- 
 sentatives accredited to him ; and the inhabitants of 
 Zwieback supported a Diet, with ministerial and opposi- 
 tion parties all complete. Moreover, although Zwieback 
 did not maintain a separate army, it did maintain the 
 9th battalion of the Lusatian Jiigers, and the officers 
 and men who formed this gallant corps wore the 
 Zwieback cockade of purple, gold and green, and the 
 distinctive Zwieback sword knots of green and gold. 
 Nay, they had their own buttons, bearing the arms of 
 the Duke. The men supplied by Stormarn were seven 
 or eight times as numerous, but they wore the cockades 
 and colours of the empire, and were dispersed through- 
 out the Lusatian army, or at least throughout several 
 army corps. 
 
INCONSISTENCY 131 
 
 The Duke of Stormarn and his former subjects were 
 of opinion that, since Stormarn had loyally accepted 
 the inevitable, and since the good disposition of the 
 Stormarners was above suspicion, the nationality of 
 Stormarn ought to be revived, and the State ought to 
 be raised at least to a dignity equal with that enjoyed 
 by Zwieback ; and they considered that the approaching 
 marriage of the Emperor to the Duke's only daughter 
 afforded a favourable opportunity for the putting forward 
 of their aspirations. 
 
 This idea had not occurred to them at first ; and not 
 until after the engagement had been formally announced 
 did they decide that it was their duty to endeavour to 
 make political capital out of it. The father-in-law of 
 the Emperor ought not, they contended, to be a Duke 
 only in name, seeing that but a few years before he had 
 been a Duke regnant, and that there were no weighty 
 reasons against the restoration to him of his Duchy. 
 The Stormarners, therefore, presented to the Duke a 
 memorial on the subject, and begged him to lay it 
 before the Emperor ; and the Duke himself, though a 
 little nervous and hesitating, agreed with the honest 
 Stormarners that to reign once more was the very thing 
 which would suit him. His nervousness and hesitation 
 had, nevertheless, caused him to delay bringing the 
 memorial to the Emperor's attention ; and he had 
 already begun to feel a little ashamed of his lack of 
 decision, when his daughter's desire to go to Sandburg 
 provided him with an excuse for seeing his destined 
 son-in-law at a moment when, in all probability, the 
 
132 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 latter would be particularly inclined to be gracious to 
 him. 
 
 On the afternoon of the eleventh, therefore, the Duke 
 and his daughter, travelling incognito, took train for 
 Sandburg. 
 
 The Duke had not previously spoken to the Princess 
 Griselda upon the subject, and, with a view to winning 
 her over as his ally, he confided his secret to her on the 
 journey. 
 
 ' I am anxious, my dear,' he said, ' to seize this oppor- 
 tunity in order to crave a little favour from your future 
 husband. It will cost him nothing. On the other hand, 
 it will delight our good Stormarners ; it will give dignity 
 to you (not that you lack dignity, my dear) ; and — well, 
 I will not conceal from you that it will be highly gratify- 
 ing to me.' And with this preamble he produced the 
 memorial, and explained exactly what it aimed at. 
 'You must help me, my dear,' he added. 'I know that 
 young lovers are very susceptible to wheedling. It is a 
 harmless request, and a judicious word or two from you 
 will act like a charm.' 
 
 'I am afraid, father,' she replied, 'that I do not 
 sufficiently understand all the bearings of such affairs 
 as this. Doubtless, if the Emperor should think it 
 right, he will do as he is desired to do ; and, doubtless, 
 if I asked a favour which was really a harmless one, he 
 would not refuse it. But I am not sure that I ought to 
 interfere in a matter of this sort. You know how glad 
 I should be to feel that you and our dear Stormarners 
 were satisfied ; but if I, who do not understand politics, 
 
INCONSISTENCY 133 
 
 were to prefer the request, I might, on the one hand, 
 pain the Emperor by obliging him to refuse me, or, on 
 the other, prejudice the Empire by securing some- 
 thing which should have been denied me. I think, 
 father, that you, and you alone, ought to speak to the 
 Emperor.' 
 
 1 Very well, my dear,' said the Duke, who, though a 
 little hurt, gave way, as he alwaj's did, to the Princess. 
 ' I dare say you know best. But if occasion should 
 offer, and if you find that you can do us any good, 
 always remember your fatherland.' 
 
 And he changed the subject, confident that nothing 
 which he might say would cause his daughter to 
 swerve from the path in which she believed her duty 
 to lie. 
 
 Von Dalhoff could not make up his mind that it was 
 his duty to meet the Princess Griselda at the station. 
 He had only once seen her ; he had never heard her 
 speak ; and he had no precedent to guide him as to the 
 manner in which, as Emperor, he ought to receive his 
 betrothed on a railway platform. He did not know 
 whether, if he met the Princess, she would expect him 
 merely to shake hands with her or to kiss her ; and he 
 had no desire, in view of the explanations that were to 
 be subsequently given, to put the Princess to confusion. 
 He contrived, therefore, to be a few miles out of Sand- 
 burg at the moment when the train arrived, and the 
 Princess Nannette met it, and made the necessary 
 apologies for his absence. 
 
 ' And how is the Emperor ?' asked the Duke, as the 
 
134 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 party was being driven to the Palace, '"ft hat an extra- 
 ordinary escape he appears to have had ! It is really 
 most romantic !' 
 
 ' I hope that when you see him you will find him none 
 the worse,' replied the Princess Nannette guardedly. 
 ' He, no doubt, will tell you the story. It has caused 
 me great anxiety, I assure you. I don't like romances 
 of this sort.' 
 
 The Duke, who was one of the most nervous and 
 susceptible people in existence, imagined that his refer- 
 ence to so serious an episode as a romantic adventure 
 had given offence, and he was thenceforward silent until 
 the carriage stopped. At the Palace he was promptly 
 shown to his apartments, and the two Princesses went 
 off together to the Princess Nannette's rooms. 
 
 The first impulse of the two girls when they were 
 alone was to warmly embrace one another. But they 
 were influenced by very different feelings. The Princess 
 Griselda was happy and light-hearted ; the Princess 
 Nannette was wretched, and, as she kissed her future 
 sister-in-law, she burst into tears, and then clung to 
 her and sobbed more bitterly than she had ever sobbed 
 before. 
 
 ' Why, Nan, what is the matter ?' asked the Princess 
 Griselda in astonishment. 
 
 ' Oh, Grisel, I have had to pretend, and I have had to 
 be brave for his sake ! But it is not true that he has 
 escaped.' 
 
 ' What !' exclaimed the Princess of Stormarn, sobered 
 in an instant. ' What are you saying, Nan ?' 
 
INCONSISTENCY 135 
 
 1 It is terrible ! They have carried him off, and he is 
 now far away at sea ! We had to deceive you until we 
 could get you here. We dare not let the truth be 
 known, for the consequences might be frightful ! 
 Besides, it is his wish. Oh, Grisel, I am so sorry 
 for you !' 
 
 ' What are you saying, Nan ?' repeated the Princess 
 Griselda, whose face was flushed, and into whose eyes 
 the tears were starting. ' Tell me, tell me all ! It is 
 incredible !' 
 
 The Princess Nannette told the whole story as fully 
 and as consecutively as her emotion would permit; 
 and then delivered her brother's letter, which the 
 Princess of Stormarn kissed and wept over and kissed 
 again. 
 
 'And now, my poor Grisel, you understand every- 
 thing,' said the Princess of Euhland. 'You know what 
 it must have cost me to bear up, and to help the Baron, 
 and what it must have cost me to deceive you, even for 
 a day. It is such a relief to see you here, and to be 
 able to have a good cry. But crying will not benefit us ; 
 and we are all placed in a position of such fearful re- 
 sponsibility that I am absolutely ashamed when I think 
 for a moment of personal matters. We must trust in 
 God, dear ; and in the meantime we must do our best. 
 You, too, will help, my poor Grisel ; I know you will, 
 for his sake, and for the sake of Lusatia, which he 
 loves so much.' 
 
 1 But what can I do ?' asked the Princess of Stormarn 
 bitterly. ' I am in the way ; I see that.' 
 
136 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 'Hush!' said the Princess Nannette. 'How can his 
 betrothed wife be in the way ? What is our trouble is 
 your trouble, and what is yours is ours. Our interests 
 are all in common. We must act together.' 
 
 ' Yes, dear,' returned the Princess Griselda affection- 
 ately. ' I did not mean to say an unkind word, or to 
 suggest that my trouble is half as important as his, or 
 as yours. But I meant that the wedding is in the way. 
 Must it go forth that he, who loves me and of whom I 
 am so proud, has cast me off ? Oh, Nan ! must people 
 be told that ? I know that the secret must be kept ! I 
 know that some excuse must be found for breaking 
 off ' 
 
 ' No, no, dear !' interrupted the Princess Nannette. 
 ' A thousand times no ! Not for breaking off ! If that 
 were the alternative, I would not for an instant enter- 
 tain it, but would at once myself proclaim the truth and 
 risk all consequences. I could not have my brother so 
 dishonoured. But some excuse must be found for post- 
 poning the wedding.' 
 
 ' If I were to go out of my mind,' said the Princess 
 Griselda, ' it would be easy. And, indeed, the news is 
 almost bad enough to drive me out of my mind. But 
 forgive me, dear ! I am selfish. Yes, we must both 
 think of him first, and of Lusatia.' 
 
 ' And you can invent some excuse for the postpone- 
 ment of the wedding, dear ; I am sure you can,' urged 
 the Princess of Ruhland ; ' some excuse which may, 
 nevertheless, permit you to be married as soon as he 
 comes back.' 
 
INCONSISTENCY 137 
 
 The Princess Griselda dried her eyes and walked to 
 the window. 
 
 ' My father,' she said, after a pause, ' came primed 
 to-day with a memorial which he has been asked by the 
 Stormarners to lay before the Emperor. They want 
 him to reign again.' 
 
 '"Why, Grisel,' broke in the Princess of Euhland, ' do 
 you know that that is the very thing which the Emperor 
 had determined upon ? The Duchy was to be restored on 
 your wedding-day. But I imagined that it was a secret.' 
 
 ' I thought that an .excuse might be created out of 
 the Emperor's refusal to entertain the idea,' said the 
 Princess of Stormarn ; ' but, of course, if the matter 
 has been already decided ' 
 
 I Wait !' cried the Princess Nannette. ' Surely that 
 offers us a key to the difficulty. The Emperor's inten- 
 tion has not been made public ; but, as it is known to 
 us, we can, perhaps, utilize it. Your father will speak 
 on the subject to the Baron von Dalhoff — or, as he 
 believes, to the Emperor?' 
 
 I I suppose so.' 
 
 ' Well, of course Von Dalhoff will not commit himself 
 to an immediate reply. He will want to consult with 
 the ministers, and perhaps with me. I will make him 
 return a qualified refusal. Then, knowing what you do, 
 you can assure your father that you are convinced of 
 obtaining for him a satisfactory answer ; and you can 
 say that, unless and until you get that satisfactory 
 answer, you will postpone the marriage.' 
 
 1 But,' objected the Princess Griselda, * I have already 
 
138 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 told my father that I cannot undertake to attempt to 
 influence the Emperor concerning a political matter 
 like this.' 
 
 ' No matter, Grisel. A woman may change her mind. 
 You are going to become a very patriotic Stormarner. 
 You are going to champion the restoration of the Duchy. 
 I shall aid and abet you. I shall think it a cruel thing 
 to withhold the restoration. We must not make a public 
 grievance of the matter, for it will not do to foment 
 popular dissatisfaction ; but it can be announced that the 
 celebration of the wedding is delayed pending the settle- 
 ment of certain arrangements concerning the future 
 status of your father. We must take advantage of the 
 opportunity, for I see no other excuse ; and this one will 
 enable us, without explaining things to him, to satisfy 
 your father as to the postponement.' 
 
 1 1 am but a poor actress, Nan,' said the Princess of 
 Stormarn, ' and I hate deception and subterfuge of all 
 kinds ; but, if it be necessary, I will do what I can.' 
 
 ' I think it is necessary, Grisel. I, too, hate the daily 
 deception to which I am now reduced. So also, I am 
 sure, does the Baron, who is really the most devoted and 
 self-sacrificing servant whom any sovereign could desire. 
 But what else can we do ? If it were known that the 
 Emperor is where he is, who can say what would 
 happen? The Emperor holds Europe steady ! I know 
 it ; I every hour have proofs of it. Tell the world that 
 my brother has no longer the power to enforce his 
 policy — confess that he has vanished, and that the 
 Emperor's uniform hides only the Baron von Dalhoff— 
 
INCONSISTENCY 139 
 
 and, even though Von Dalhoff should possess the ability 
 of a Napoleon or of a Frederick, he would not be able 
 to avert a catastrophe. The Emperor knows it, I know 
 it, Yon Dalhoff knows it. It was an Englishman who 
 defined an ambassador as " one sent to lie abroad for 
 the benefit of his country." It is our mission to lie at 
 home for the benefit of Europe ! And now, Grisel dear, 
 you must see our Baron. It will be, I am afraid, another 
 shock to you, for he is so like the Emperor that you will 
 scarcely detect the difference. Kecollect, moreover, that 
 you must treat him as the Emperor, especially in your 
 father's presence. You will find him very kind, sympa- 
 thetic and considerate.' 
 
 ' I hope I shan't be so foolish as to cry again,' said the 
 Princess of Stormarn, as, having hastily looked at her 
 pretty face in the glass, she followed the Princess 
 Nannette out into the corridor and along it to the 
 Emperor's library, whither Yon Dalhoff, who had been 
 absent from Sandburg only just long enough to excuse 
 his non-appearance at the station, had by this time 
 returned. 
 
 He was fortunately alone, for the Duke had not yet 
 joined him ; but the introduction had barely been 
 effected, and the Princess Griselda had not accustomed 
 herself to the strangeness of the situation, when her 
 father entered the room, and, with the fatherly manner 
 which he already affected, advanced to greet and 
 embrace the man whom he supposed to be his future 
 son-in-law. 
 
 1 Well, my dear Carl, how goes it ?' he said. • You 
 
i4o THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 see that I have been taking good care of our Grisel for 
 you. She is looking very well, is she not ? — perhaps a 
 little pale, for the moment, after the fatigue of the 
 journey, or because of the pleasant excitement of the 
 meeting. Who can say ?' 
 
 ' The Princess, your Highness, is always beautiful,' 
 replied Yon Dalhoff gallantly ; but, feeling that the 
 Princess was rather a troublesome subject, he promptly 
 turned the conversation into other channels. 
 
 The Duke, whose memorial was in his pocket, where it 
 burnt him sadly, did not care what he talked about, so 
 long as there was a chance that one of the subjects 
 would insensibly lead up to the matter of the restora- 
 tion of the Duchy ; but as the weather, the recent 
 manoeuvres, the Pliilistia affair (concerning which Von 
 Dalhoff was very reticent), the new Lusatian rifle and 
 foreign policy, did not conduct the talk in the desired 
 direction, the Duke at last plucked up all the courage he 
 possessed, and, taking his host by the buttonhole, drew 
 him to a window. 
 
 'I want,' he said with hesitation, 'to talk to you 
 about an affair — a very small affair, as some may think 
 it — which has of late, and especially since Griaelda's 
 happy engagement, attracted the attention of my good 
 neighbours in Stormarn. I need scarcely recall to you 
 the circumstances, sad in themselves, yet most fortunate 
 in their results, of the absorption of the ancient Duchy. 
 We in Stormarn forget those days in the present 
 happiness of feeling that we are Lusatians. At the 
 same time, some among us are beginning — with all 
 
INCONSISTENCY 141 
 
 loyalty, as I need hardly assure you, to the Empire — to 
 hope that in the future, perhaps in the near future, 
 Stormarn, while not ceasing to be less Lusatian than it 
 now is in interests and aspirations, may resume a 
 portion of its old dignity, and may, in fact, become again 
 a Duchy of the Empire — as, for example, Zwieback is — 
 with my unworthy self in the position of its head.' 
 
 ' I'm afraid, your Highness,' said Von Dalhoff, ' that 
 this is too large a question to be immediately decided.' 
 
 ' Of course, my dear Carl, of course,' assented the 
 pliant Duke. ' You couldn't think of saying Yes or No 
 upon the spur of the moment to such a proposition. I 
 don't bring it forward for my own sake or upon my own 
 initiative, you must understand. The good people in 
 my part of the world have been pressing me to mention 
 it, and have, in point of fact, humbly put forward their 
 hopes in this memorial ' (he drew it from his pocket) 
 ' which, I have no doubt, you will find leisure to peruse. 
 Really, I am ashamed of my remissness, for you will 
 perceive that the memorial was drawn up nearly two 
 months ago. But the truth is that 1 was very unwilling 
 to trouble you. For myself, I should have been content 
 to let things remain as they are, quite content. My 
 good neighbours, however, are of another opinion. So, 
 to please them, you understand, entirely to please them, 
 I consented to lay the affair before you.' 
 
 ' For the present, your Highness,' said Von Dalhoff, 
 ' I can only promise that due consideration shall be 
 given to the matter.' 
 
 1 1 am sure it will, my dear Carl ; I am sure it will,' 
 
142 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 echoed the Duke, who felt very happy that he had thus 
 relieved himself of a disagreeable business. 
 
 A few hours later the Duke and his daughter found 
 themselves alone together. 
 
 ' "Well, father,' asked the Princess, 'what is the answer 
 to the memorial ?' 
 
 ' There is no answer as yet,' replied the Duke ; ' and 
 I'm not at all sure, from the Emperor's manner, that 
 he thinks favourably of the idea. If he should fail to 
 consent, however, we in Stormarn shall be no worse off 
 than we are ; and, in truth, we have very little to com- 
 plain of.' 
 
 ' "Why, father,' said the Princess, who proved a much 
 better actress than she had suspected, ' only this morn- 
 ing you were quite hot on the subject ! I have since 
 been thinking about it. I do not regard it as lightly as 
 you now seem to. There appears to be nothing against 
 the project. Only press for it, and I feel sure that you 
 will get what you wish. Everyone admits that the 
 Duchy can, without the slightest prejudice, be restored. 
 Nannette herself says so.' 
 
 ' Does she, indeed ?' exclaimed the Duke. ' But is it 
 worth while to press the matter seriously ?' 
 
 ' Worth while, father ? I should think it is. Am I 
 more of a Stormarner than you? Have I as much 
 interest in pressing the matter as you have ? Yet even 
 I intend to press it — ay, and to win the concession. I 
 promise you that there will be no wedding on the 
 twentieth unless the business be first satisfactorily 
 settled.' 
 
INCONSISTENCY 143 
 
 'Good heavens, my dear!' cried the astonished Duke. 
 ' What are you ahout to risk ? Your promised position ? 
 Your magnificent future? My dear girl, this is the 
 height of rashness. I beg of you not to dream of taking 
 such a decided step.' 
 
 ' I certainly shall take it. Indeed, I have taken it ; 
 for I have myself mentioned the subject, and my 
 ultimatum is known.' 
 
 'You are mad, Griselda! I shall tell the Emperor 
 that the matter is quite unimportant, and that I beg him 
 not to give it any further thought.' 
 
 'It will make no difference to me, my dear father. 
 The Duchy must be restored before I marry the 
 Emperor.' 
 
 The Duke wrung his hands, and hurried away to take 
 counsel with the Princess Nannette, who, to his horror, 
 supported the Princess Griselda. He had not courage 
 to reopen the discussion with Von Dalhoff; and next 
 day, in a very miserable frame of mind, he returned 
 with his daughter to Stormarn. 
 
 On the following morning, at the head of the ' Court 
 Intelligence ' in all the papers of the empire, there 
 appeared in large type the astonishing news that, in 
 consequence of the non-completion of certain family and 
 political arrangements between his Imperial and Ptoyal 
 Majesty, the Emperor, and his Highness the Duke of 
 Stormarn, the projected marriage of the Emperor with 
 her Highness the Princess Griselda of Stormarn would 
 not take place until a date later than the one which had 
 been originally fixed upon. And all Lusatia wondered. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE TKIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGG9. 
 
 In the meantime the Philistia, steaming at easy speed, 
 was leaving Lusatia behind her at the rate of fifteen 
 knots an hour. Her course lay across the North Sea, 
 between the Shetlands and the Orkneys, and then south- 
 wards past the Canaries and Cape Verds, neither of 
 which clusters was, however, sighted. Getting into the 
 trades, she put out her fires, and made more leisurely 
 progress under sail. On November 16th, about six weeks 
 after she had left Friedenhaven, she was in the latitude 
 of Rio de Janeiro, and received her first practical re- 
 minder that she had become an Ishmaelite of the ocean, 
 and that every man's hand was against her. 
 
 The news of the kidnapping of Count Stark, Admiral 
 Spott and the rest of the Emperor's suite had, as has 
 been already mentioned, been communicated to the 
 governments of the principal Powers, several of which 
 undertook to co-operate with a view to the capture of 
 the pirate. Of these powers Great Britain was naturally 
 one. The British Admiralty had been confidentially 
 informed that sooner or later the Philistia would pro- 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 145 
 
 ceed to Sala-y-Gomez, and although it could not, of 
 course, be foreseen whether she would go thither by way 
 of the Cape of Good Hope or by way of Cape Horn, the 
 precaution was taken of ordering both routes to be care- 
 fully watched. 
 
 Colonel Snaggs, who had long since recovered from 
 the effects of Hoodlum's assault, had anticipated that 
 some such orders would probably be given, and having 
 provided himself beforehand with lists of all the men- 
 of-war on the various stations, he had arrived at the 
 conclusion that by choosing the Horn route he would 
 expose himself less than by choosing the other. The 
 Philistia was, therefore, on her way to Cape Horn, and 
 on November lGth, with fires once more lighted, but 
 with steam only in two boilers, was bowling comfortably 
 along at a speed not exceeding nine knots, when out of 
 a bank of mist that lay on her starboard beam at a 
 distance of perhaps three miles, came her Britannic 
 Majesty's ship Tourmaline. 
 
 The Towrmaline had received telegraphic instructions 
 a fortnight earlier, while lying at Bahia, and had since 
 been cruising in the track of ships, and looking out 
 unceasingly for the ex-Cunarder. There must, there- 
 fore, have been some pleasurable excitement in the man- 
 of-war when, after all hope of success had apparently 
 departed, the quarry was thus suddenly sighted. But 
 sighting the quarry was one thing, and catching it was, 
 for the unfortunate Tourmaline, another and a very 
 different one. It is true that, when sighted, the 
 Philistia had steam for only nine knots, but it is true 
 
 10 
 
146 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 also that the Tourmaline, an old cruiser which had 
 survived its usefulness, was at the time quite incapable, 
 in any circumstances, of doing more than ten and a 
 half. Had the British on that day been represented by 
 a modern ship, the piratical career of the Philistia 
 would have thereupon ended. Even as things were the 
 ex-Cunarder had a narrow escape, for, although she was 
 at once headed away from the cruiser, and additional 
 furnaces were lighted up, the Tourmaline steadily gamed 
 on her, and before an hour had elapsed was well 
 within a couple of miles of the chase, and might, with 
 her five-inch and six-inch guns, had she chosen, have 
 damaged if not sunk the latter. But the English 
 captain, hopeful of getting alongside the Philistia ere 
 she could raise more steam, and fearful of hitting the 
 Lusatian officers whom he was endeavouring to rescue, 
 abstained, until it was too late, from firing ; and only 
 fired at last when the Philistia, having by great exertions 
 increased her speed, was already quickty drawing away 
 from him. A couple of projectiles flew harmlessly over 
 the steamer, three or four more splashed the water 
 astern of her, and then, realizing that he had let slip 
 his chance, the captain of the Tourmaline regretfully 
 headed his ship for liio, whence, two days later, he 
 despatched by telegraph an account of his proceedings. 
 
 Since his abduction the Emperor, up to the moment 
 of the Tourmaline'* appearance, had been very moody 
 and depressed. He had forbidden his suite to hold 
 intercourse with their captors, had studiously repulsed 
 the almost daily advances of Snaggs, had been barely 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 147 
 
 civil to the less intrusive and more respectful Rawlins, 
 and had lived apart, occupying himself chiefly in 
 reading, and in writing letters which he vainly hoped 
 he might find opportunities for sending home. 
 
 The grateful sight of the white ensign at the Tour- 
 maline's peak aroused both him and his companions in 
 misfortune. They stood together abaft the Philistia's 
 wheelhouse during the whole of the short chase : they 
 noted with joy how at first the cruiser gained upon 
 them ; they saw with sinking hearts how at length she 
 dropped astern again ; and not even when her shells 
 were shrieking over their heads did they move. Only 
 when she was once more hull down on the horizon did 
 they go back to their cabins, disappointed and dejected. 
 
 But the Tourmaline's attempt was not without a good 
 effect upon the spirits of the prisoners. It caused them 
 to ask themselves whether, if they were again chased, 
 they might not do something to assist their would-be 
 deliverers ; and the discussion of this question not only 
 brightened un their rusting energies, but also gave new 
 hopes to their hearts. The captives began to make 
 plots, and the Emperor's outer cabin became a meeting- 
 place for honest conspirators. One officer put forward a 
 plan by means of which one or both of the ship's screws 
 might be opportunely fouled when next a friendly ship 
 came in sight. He proposed to use a heavy hawser as 
 an entanglement. Another produced a project for 
 rendering the engines useless by placing an iron bolt, or 
 something of the sort, between two moving parts of the 
 machinery, and so smashing or bending them. Another 
 
148 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 wished to cut away the funnel-stays, and so to enable 
 the funnels to be easily rolled out of the ship in the first 
 spell of heavy weather. And some scheme of self-help 
 would, no doubt, have been sooner or later adopted had 
 not Snaggs grown suspicious, and set men to act as 
 eavesdroppers. 
 
 When these men had sufficiently familiarized him 
 with the swelling plots, the Colonel, with a revolver in 
 each hand, and followed by half a dozen of his friends 
 similarly furnished, burst one day into the outer cabin 
 while conversation was in progress, and plainly declared 
 that anyone who should for the future, either by word 
 or act, seek to damage the ship, impair her speed, or 
 frustrate the intentions of those in charge of her, would 
 be promptly and without hesitation shot. 
 
 ' It is all the same to me,' he added, ' what you are or 
 who you are. I shall shoot, and I guess you'll have 
 yourselves to thank for the consequences ; so I reckon 
 you had best study Christian resignation, and squarely 
 make up your minds that you're not goin' to get out of 
 this until your ransom's paid, every cent of it. I don't 
 want unpleasantness, gentlemen ; but, you bet, where 
 there's any of this sort of conspiring, unpleasantness is 
 bound to follow. I just won't have it, and that's exactly 
 the size of it ; so now you know.' 
 
 Colonel Snaggs's authority was for the moment so 
 palpably in the ascendant, and any further attempts at 
 that time to run counter to it were so obviously destined to 
 end in nothing but disaster, that the Emperor prohibited 
 his suite from making more plots, and merely gave 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS ug 
 
 general directions that his officers should remain on the 
 alert to take advantage of such opportunities as might 
 present themselves for seizing or disabling the vessel ; 
 but the Americans, warned by what they had overheard, 
 gave their captives no chances, and ere many weeks had 
 elapsed the Lusatians reconciled themselves to the 
 conclusion that they could do little or nothing to help 
 themselves, and that their salvation must come from 
 without. 
 
 Snaggs, sanguine though he was, had no expectation 
 that the ransom would be immediately deposited on 
 Sala-y-Goinez. A sum of gold equal to five millions 
 sterling could not, he knew, be collected in a moment, 
 even by the wealthiest Power. Moreover, the packing 
 and shipping of it to its destination would, in the most 
 favourable circumstances, occupy a considerable time ; 
 he therefore determined not to proceed directly to the 
 rendezvous, but to loiter for a while among some of the 
 less known islands of the South Pacific, and to utilize 
 his opportunities for taking on board fresh meat and 
 vegetables, and for economizing his coal. 
 
 In pursuance of this policy, he steered, after rounding 
 Cape Horn, for the island of Eapa, or Oparo, a little- 
 visited spot, which in 1867 would have been made a 
 coaling depot for the Panama and New Zealand steamers, 
 had not Captain Quentin, of the French man-of-war 
 Latouche-Treville, taken time by the forelock, and 
 purchased the sovereignty from the king for a gallon of 
 rum and a few old clothes. Ever since, the island has 
 been nominally a French protectorate, and has had a 
 
150 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 French resident billeted on it, though it is still 
 practically independent. Once thickly inhabited, it is 
 now very sparsely peopled by a fine and manly race, of 
 the New Zealand type, and it possesses bold coasts, and 
 on the eastern side an excellent harbour, called Ahurei, 
 which is most romantically situated. Into this the 
 Philistia steamed, and, anchoring, sent two men ashore 
 with instructions to ascend the highest of the many 
 needle-shaped peaks with which the island abounds, and 
 to promptly signal the approach of any suspicious sail. 
 
 There are few harbours in the world more snug or 
 more beautiful. On three sides the land rises like the 
 wall of an amphitheatre, and on the fourth side there 
 are several reefs and a small islet, which protect the bay 
 from the almost ceaseless swell. The ' capital,' a small 
 village, lies on the shore close at hand ; native canoes 
 ply freely across the harbour, save when, as happens at 
 certain seasons, squalls rush down from the ragged hills 
 of the interior. The climate is equable and delightful ; 
 and though the natives are poor, they appear to have 
 sufficient for their modest wants, and to be, upon the 
 whole, as happy as people who live in a terrestrial 
 paradise ought to be. 
 
 Here the Philistia lay for nearly a fortnight, obtaining 
 plenty of goats, one or two sheep, and as much taro-root 
 and vegetables as was desired. The appearance of the 
 ship caused much excitement in the mind of the French 
 resident, who put off in his boat to make inquiries, but 
 was not allowed on board ; whereupon he demanded a 
 bill of health and port dues, and became not only very 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 1 51 
 
 angry, but also very terrified, when no notice was taken 
 of his demands. A small vessel which had come from 
 Tahiti to fetch a cargo of goats was chartered by him, 
 and hastily sent back empty with intelligence that a 
 suspicious American ship of enormous size had descended 
 upon the place, had transgressed all the rules and regula- 
 tions, and, no doubt, intended to annex the island, in 
 spite of France's protectorate over it ; and the resident, 
 while awaiting the arrival of a gunboat, had sleepless 
 nights, and trembled for the safety of Kapa. But the 
 Philistia did not stay for the French gunboat, for one 
 afternoon the signalmen on the hill reported that a 
 strange vessel, probably a man-of-war, was approaching 
 from the south-west; and an hour later the Philistia, 
 with her men on board again, was at sea, chased by the 
 Lusatian cruiser Chricmhild, a vessel which was a much 
 more formidable pursuer than the Tourmaline had been, 
 for she could at a pinch command a speed of nearly 
 eighteen knots. 
 
 Snaggs, who succeeded in getting only about three 
 miles' start, led the cruiser to the east-south-east in the 
 direction of the group of four rocks that are known as 
 the Bass Isles, and that he about forty-five miles from 
 Eapa. The Chricmhild fired as soon as she was fairly 
 within range of the pirate, and continued to do so so 
 long as she had the Philistia i . sight ; but by placing 
 the Bass Isles between himself and the man-of-war, and 
 by keeping them there until nightfall, the Hon. Barnwell 
 managed not only to avoid being hit, but also during the 
 darkness to make his escape to the north-west, and, on 
 
152 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 the next day but one, took his ship within the encircling 
 reef of the Gainbier, or Manga Eeva Islands, and 
 anchored under Mount Duff. Entrance to this lagoon 
 has to be effected with care ; but Snaggs's captain, who 
 knew the Pacific well, went in with a boat sounding 
 ahead of him, and, when inside, had the satisfaction of 
 knowing that he could not easily be caught there, as 
 there was more than one channel through which he 
 could get out again. 
 
 At Manga Eeva there are fewer supplies than at Eapa, 
 and the natives are of an entirely different race, being 
 of a decidedly Asiatic type of countenance, and very 
 fair and handsome ; but the people, Eoman Catholics 
 of some degree of civilization, are all hospitable. The 
 scenery is fine, the anchorage is good, and the climate 
 is pleasant. At Manga Eeva the Philistia lay very com- 
 fortably for ten days, at the expiration of which time 
 Colonel Snaggs decided to steam for Sala-y-Gomez, and 
 to satisfy himself as to whether or not the treasure had 
 been landed there. 
 
 The course lay nearly due east, and Pitcairn, Elizabeth, 
 Ducie, and Easter Islands were all sighted on the way. 
 Sala-y-Gomez is about five degrees due east of the last- 
 named, and it is little more than a heap of rugged brown 
 stones cast up by the Pacific three hundred and fifty 
 miles, or thereabouts, from any other spot of land. It 
 has no inhabitants save a few sea-gulls ; it offers neither 
 food nor water to the ocean wanderer, and the only 
 vegetation which it produces is a species of moss. 
 Captain Sala-y-Gomez discovered it in 1793; an 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 153 
 
 American skipper named Gwyn sighted it in 1802 ; 
 the Spaniards visited it a second time in 1805 ; and 
 Kotzebue, Beechey, and Mr. Scott, master of the British 
 barque Druid, have since examined it ; but it is now 
 seldom sighted, and for this reason it was well selected 
 by Snaggs as the place of deposit for the Emperor's 
 ransom. 
 
 The Lusatians had been more than three months on 
 board the Philistia when, on January 23rd, a full-rigged 
 two-funnelled man-of-war, which was afterwards ascer- 
 tained to be the Lusatian cruiser Wrangel, was dis- 
 covered, apparently lying-to, right ahead. Twenty 
 minutes later it was seen that all her boats were out, 
 and that they were busily engaged in landing a number 
 of chests on the south-west side of Sala-y-Gomez, off 
 which the vessel lay. 
 
 On board the Philistia, which was also brought-to, 
 there was much excitement, both among the captors and 
 among the captives. Snaggs did not attempt to conceal 
 his triumph. His plot was assured of a successful 
 issue ; for was not the ransom of twenty-five millions 
 of dollars being sent ashore under his very eyes ? The 
 Emperor, on the other hand, was disappointed. He 
 had expressly desired that no effort should be made to 
 ransom him; but that either he should be recaptured 
 by force, or that measures should be taken for reducing 
 the Philistia by continual harrying of her, and by 
 rendering it impossible for her to obtain supplies. Yet, 
 so far as he could judge, his wishes were not bemg 
 attended to, and the ransom had not only been collected, 
 
154 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 but was actually being tamely made ready for delivery 
 to the scoundrels, the very idea of coming to terms with 
 whom revolted him. 
 
 The Cunarder lay just out of gunshot of the Wrangel, 
 and everyone in her, including the Emperor and his 
 suite, glasses in hand, was watching the boats as they 
 pulled to the island, when a man who was on the look- 
 out in the crow's-nest on the foremast sighted a steamer 
 coming up rapidly from the southward. An instant 
 later he reported another, over the island to the north- 
 ward; and, almost ere the PMZistia could be got under 
 way, he announced that a third was approaching from 
 the south-west. 
 
 ' This is a trap for us,' said Rawlins, who was on the 
 bridge, to Snaggs. ' I could hardly believe that they 
 were going to throw up their hands without a word, and 
 leave us to carry off the boodle at our ease.' 
 
 4 Never you mind,' rejoined Snaggs. ' There's the 
 boodle right enough, and if we can't take it now, we 
 can take it to-morrow or some other day ; and on that 
 you may bet your sweet life. It ain't in reason that 
 they want to give up the twenty-five million dollars 
 without a struggle — who would? But they'll soon see 
 the all-fired uselessness of tryin' to catch such a daisy 
 of a flyer as the Philistia; and they'll give up the game, 
 and be glad to take their precious Emperor on our 
 terms.' 
 
 And he turned to consult with the captain, who, 
 having got the ship round with her head to seaward, 
 and having plenty of steam ready, put her on a north- 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 155 
 
 westerly course. • He would have preferred to run to the 
 eastward, but in order to do so, and to avoid the vessel 
 that was coming up from the southward, he would have 
 had to pass dangerously close to the Wrangel. No 
 sooner did his intentions become clear than the ship 
 to the northward and the ship to the south-west altered 
 course, and the Philistia's captain presently saw that, 
 do what he would, he ran extreme risk of being taken ; 
 for, an hour later, he made out that the northerly ship 
 was his old friend the ChriemMld, and the south-westerly 
 one the still more formidable and fast British cruiser 
 Theseus. They were, fortunately for the Americans, not 
 within signalling distance of one another when they were 
 first sighted, and so for a period they were unable to 
 act in concert ; but the Wrangel soon communicated her 
 views to both of them, and upon receiving them they 
 began a systematic endeavour to cut off the Philistia, 
 the ChriemMld trying to head her, and so, by forcing 
 her to alter her helm, to drive her towards the Theseus. 
 
 The sky was clear and the ocean was calm, and as 
 the Lusatian officers, barely repressing their excitement, 
 were again gathered on the poop, they saw a pretty 
 sight. On their starboard beam, swerving always to 
 starboard, was their own ChriemMld, distant as yet, but 
 throwing up around her sharp bows a great white wash 
 of water, and pouring forth from her numerous fires a 
 huge cloud of dark smoke. On their port quarter, with 
 even more bow- wash, but with comparatively little 
 smoke, the Theseus, shining white in the sun, was 
 cleaving her way towards them, and at the same time 
 
156 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 covering herself with signal-bunting for the instruction 
 or interrogation of her consorts. 
 
 So intent were the officers upon watching their would-be 
 rescuers, that they did not remark the absence from the 
 deck of one of their number — Lieutenant Dicker, of the 
 Lusatian navy. He had managed to lay hands on and 
 secrete a marling-spike, and, with this concealed in his 
 sleeve, he was making a devoted attempt to find his way 
 to the engine-room, determined, if possible, to do some 
 damage which should have the effect of delaying the 
 ship, and enabling the pursuers to come up with her. 
 
 But the Americans were watchful. Dicker could not 
 get into the engine-room without passing a man who 
 was on guard at the top of the ladder leading to it ; and 
 the mere presence of the Lusatian in that part of the 
 ship caused him to be seized. He made a gallant but 
 useless resistance ; he was quickly pinioned and 
 searched ; the marling-spike was found upon him ; and, 
 his object being thus made evident, he was put in irons, 
 dragged on deck with much roughness and no little 
 ignominy, and taken to the foot of the bridge-ladder. 
 His struggles below, the exclamations of his captors, 
 and his unwilling appearance in custody attracted the 
 attention not only of Snaggs and Rawlins, who, at such 
 a moment were naturally on the look-out for anything 
 that might imperil the success of their plans, but also 
 of the Emperor and his suite, who, turning their backs 
 for a moment upon the war-ships, crowded round the 
 ladder, indignant at the manner in which the lieutenant 
 was being treated. 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 157 
 
 1 What has he been up to ?' asked Colonel Snaggs 
 from the bridge. 
 
 ' He wanted to jam this spike into the machinery,' 
 replied one of Dicker's guardians, as he held aloft the 
 corpus delicti. 
 
 ' Overboard with him ! ' cried Snaggs laconically. ' I 
 said I didn't want to have any unpleasantness ; but if 
 there's got to be unpleasantness, why, I guess I can 
 play the game as good as anyone.' 
 
 The Field-Marshal and the Admiral looked anxiously 
 at the Emperor, who for an instant forgot his self- 
 restraint and the hopelessness of his position, and, 
 rather by gesture than by words, ordered his followers to 
 close about the lieutenant ; but the Lusatians were at 
 once steadily thrust back by an overpowering body of 
 Americans, and, the people on the bridge having with 
 great promptitude pulled out their revolvers, the 
 Emperor, motioning away his officers, advanced alone, 
 and, addressing Snaggs, said with obvious emotion : 
 
 ' We cannot resist. If you will liberate Lieutenant 
 Dicker, I will guarantee his future behaviour.' 
 
 ' Indeed !' returned Snaggs with mock politeness. 
 1 The offer comes rather too late. The trouble is not of 
 my matin', but of his. I don't want to be unreasonable, 
 though. After what I said the other day he deserves to 
 be shot or drowned. But I'll tell you what I'll do. 
 These ships are goin' to put us in a precious tight place. 
 I was thinkin' of droppin' him overboard as he is. I'll 
 give him a life-buoy, and I'll stick a flag on it. Then 
 the chances are that he'll be picked up ; and, maybe, 
 
158 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 while your friends are piekin' him up, they will give us 
 time to get awa}% That's what I'll do.' 
 
 We know that in Russia people pursued by a pack of 
 wolves have flung even their own children one by one 
 to the howling brutes to stay them on their course ; and, 
 if the instinct of self-preservation can be so strong as to 
 cause a woman to sacrifice the infant from her breast, it 
 is not difficult to find an excuse for Snaggs's determina- 
 tion to fling an active and declared enemy as a sop to 
 the chasing ships. There would, of course, be much 
 risk. Dicker, although provided with a life-buoy, might 
 be sucked under by the PJiilistia's screws, or he might 
 be injured in falling, or he might be run down, or he 
 might not be seen by the rescuers ; but upon the whole, 
 and looking to the adverse circumstances of the case, 
 the general feeling was that the lieutenant's sentence 
 was more favourable than might have been expected. 
 At any rate, there being no appeal, it had to be accepted, 
 and on both sides preparations were made accordingly. 
 
 The Emperor at once thought of the numerous letters 
 and despatches which he had written since he had been 
 at sea, and sent an officer to demand that they might be 
 entrusted to Dicker ; but Snaggs returned a curt and 
 uncompromising refusal. Nor was any conversation to 
 be permitted between the prisoner and any of the 
 Lusatian officers. This prohibition, which the Emperor 
 had not anticipated, for a moment confounded him. 
 He knew that if the lieutenant should be rescued, while 
 still completely ignorant of the plot of the comedy which 
 was being acted at Sandburg, grave evils might result. 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 159 
 
 Von Dalhoff might play his part so long as he was not 
 suspected of playing one which was not his own ; but 
 if it were so much as once authoritatively suggested 
 that Von Dalhoff was not really what he appeared to 
 be, inquiry would be inevitable, and discovery almost 
 certain. 
 
 Happily, neither the Emperor nor his companions were 
 required to quit the deck. Snaggs hoped that if they 
 were seen there his pursuers would be chary of tiring at 
 him. He intended, also, that they should witness the 
 throwing overboard of Dicker; and as, although the 
 Lusatians were prevented from holding converse with 
 the lieutenant, they were not prevented from standing 
 within a few yards of him, the Emperor presently, by 
 the simple expedient of pretending to talk to Admiral 
 Spott in Eussian — a language which the Admiral did not 
 understand a word of, but with which Dicker was 
 familiar — contrived to convey to the astonished prisoner 
 a general outline of the situation, and some details of the 
 arrangement under which Von Dalhoff and the Princess 
 Nannette were acting. An almost imperceptible move- 
 ment of Dicker's eyebrows was sufficient to indicate that 
 he had understood, and the Emperor, with his mind 
 relieved from a most oppressive weight, was soon again 
 watching the warships, and wondering whether, after all, 
 he might not be able to carry home his own messages. 
 
 For, in truth, the position of affairs was beginning to 
 look very disadvantageous for the Americans. The 
 Chriemhild was by this time on the Philistia's starboard 
 bow, at a distance of less than two miles ; the Theseus 
 
160 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 was a little abaft of the PhiUstia's port beam, at about 
 the same distance, and each was steaming fast, though 
 not quite so fast as the Cunarder. Snaggs's captain, 
 therefore, altered course so as to bring the Chriemhild 
 nearly on his starboard beam, and so as to take a direc- 
 tion that would lead him across the bows of the TJieseus, 
 and Snaggs himself, having hastily taken off Dicker's 
 irons, seen that he was tied into a life-buoy, and caused a 
 boat-flag on a short staff to be lashed to the buoy, led 
 the lieutenant to the port gangway and bid him jump. 
 
 Dicker, who had long since come to the conclusion 
 that, unless he could disable the ex-Cunarder, he was 
 perfectly useless on board, had learnt without much 
 regret that he was to be jettisoned in order to be picked 
 up by one of the men-of-war. The first sentence, that 
 he should be flung then and there into the sea, had 
 been loyally accepted by him as the natural penalty for 
 his failure ; and if he resented it it was chiefly because 
 it cost him the reflection that never again would he see 
 a certain blue-eyed Gretchen, who was the daughter of 
 an innkeeper at Friedenhaven, and whom, though he 
 was very fond of, he had, if the fact must be told, treated 
 rather badly. The second sentence rejoiced him, for not 
 only would it end his captivity, but, if he had ordinary 
 luck, it would positively hasten the coming of the day on 
 which he should once more meet that same Gretchen, and 
 resume the stuffing of her foolish little head with promises, 
 the performance of which he probably never contem- 
 plated even in his most ardent moments. Yet, when he 
 looked down from the Pliilisiia's port gangway, and saw 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 161 
 
 the white surge twenty feet below flying from the ship's 
 side at a speed of about twenty miles an hour, he felt 
 for a moment that he could very well wait, if necessary, 
 for another year to see the innkeeper's daughter, and 
 that, after all, life in the ex-Cunarder was not unbear- 
 able. 
 
 He thought much and many things ; nevertheless, 
 he jumped without apparent hesitation, for although 
 Gretchen's eyes were not upon him, the Emperor's were, 
 and that was still more important to the Lusatian 
 officer. 
 
 He fell on the skirts of the wave that was made by the 
 ship in her course. This turned him over and buffeted 
 him for an instant, and then threw him aside into 
 smooth water and left him to right himself. He did so 
 without great difficulty, blew the salt water out of his 
 mouth and rubbed it out of his eyes ; and when he next 
 saw the ship, which he had so unceremoniously left, he 
 was a good cable's length astern of her, and was eddying 
 in the midst of the great bursting bubbles that had been 
 churned up from the depths by her propellers. 
 
 His friends saw that he had escaped the chief dangers 
 of his sentence. He had not been struck, and he had 
 not been caught by the screws ; and as his bright little 
 flag, though wet and heavy, made a good show on the 
 water, there was every probability that he would be seen 
 and picked up by the Theseus. But for some time the 
 British cruiser seemed to have no eyes for anything save 
 for the Cunarder. She held on a course which, if per- 
 sisted in for another mile and a half, threatened to bring 
 
 11 
 
162 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 her into actual collision with the Philistia. At last, 
 however, she saw the flag and the buoy on her starboard 
 beam. Possibly the British captain came to the conclu- 
 sion that it was at least the Field-Marshal who had been 
 jettisoned, for he ported his helm immediately, and as he 
 swung round to starboard and showed his long white 
 broadside to the Americans, he fired every one of his port 
 guns at the pirate. 
 
 It was a fearful salvo, for almost every projectile 
 worked some sort of damage. That no one was killed is 
 astonishing, for nearly everyone on deck, the Lusatians 
 and the Emperor himself not excluded, had at least one 
 narrow escape. That only two persons were actually 
 wounded is even more to be wondered at, and is only to 
 be explained by the fact that, owing to the small resist- 
 ance which they encountered, none of the shells burst. 
 They merely passed through whatever happened to stand 
 in their way ; and thus, although there were ugly holes 
 and heaps of splinters, and although the look of the 
 ship's upper works was somewhat spoilt, no serious harm 
 was done, either to the vessel or to those in her. 
 
 In the meantime the Theseus slowed and lowered a 
 boat, and then resumed the chase ; but Snaggs's ex- 
 pedient had gained him the precious five minutes which 
 were all he wanted. He had now the Chriemhild on his 
 starboard beam and the Theseus right astern of him, and 
 he knew well that in that position, unless an unlucky shot 
 should hit him in a vital place, he was able, not only to 
 hold his own, but to forge ahead. 
 
 The Chriemhild fired several single shots, but although 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 163 
 
 two of them struck, very little further damage was done, 
 and after a three hours' exciting chase the pursuers, 
 still doing their best and still firing occasionally, were 
 fairly distanced, and the Philistia was safe. 
 
 But she dared not even then alter course. She kept 
 on at full speed to the north-west until the others were 
 hull down and the long lights of sunset streamed across 
 the ocean. Only after dark did she venture to turn to 
 the north-east, in order to get back little by little to the 
 longitude of Sala-y-Gomez, the candle around which, 
 moth-like, she was fascinated to circle. For was not the 
 treasure of twenty-five millions of dollars on that lonely 
 island, and must it not be taken off ere Colonel Snaggs, 
 Mr. Eawlins and their friends could have the satisfac- 
 tion of feeling that they had schemed and ventured to 
 good purpose ? 
 
 During the three following days the Philistia made a 
 long and uneventful detour. She had quitted the island 
 region of the Pacific, and was also out of the usual track, 
 of ships, so that neither land nor sail was sighted. On 
 the early morning of the fourth day Snaggs approached 
 Sala-y-Gomez very cautiously from the north-east. He 
 did not want to be again entrapped. Any suspicious 
 ship in the neighbourhood of the island should, he 
 determined, be a signal to him to alter course sixteen 
 points and to steam away at full speed. But he drew 
 nearer and nearer, until every part of the island was 
 distinctly visible. There was nothing to give rise to the 
 slightest misgiving. Not a sail, not even a boat, was to 
 be seen, and nowhere on the wide horizon was there the 
 
1 64 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 faintest trace of smoke. Nevertheless, to make assur- 
 ance doubly sure, be steamed round tbe ocean rock, and 
 examined its shores carefully with his most powerful 
 glass. Nothing living except the gulls was, he was con- 
 vinced, upon the desolate spot ; and at last, keeping the 
 ship under way, and with plenty of steam ready and a 
 good look-out set, he ordered out the boats. 
 
 The procedure to be observed on landing had been 
 settled long beforehand. Snaggs himself went ashore 
 in general command. Each boat was under the orders 
 of a shareholding member of the conspiracy, who, alone 
 of the boat's crew, was armed. Slings, by means of 
 which the heavy chests could be carried on the shoulders 
 of six men, had been especially prepared ; and sling- 
 drill, with dummy chests, having been regularly prac- 
 tised on board, there was every probability that, though 
 two hundred chests were to be dealt with, all could be 
 got alongside and on board during daylight. In fact, 
 Snaggs had calculated that, if he were left undisturbed 
 during four or five hours of fine weather, he could easily 
 complete his task in that time. Crowbars, jacks, and 
 tackle of various kinds had also been ordered to be 
 taken ashore ; and, without undue delay, the little pro- 
 cession of boats, in more or less regular formation, 
 pulled briskly to the rocky beach on the south-west side. 
 
 Snaggs, revolver in hand, landed at first alone, and 
 ordered his friends to wait while he went forward to 
 examine the ground. He scrambled over the boulders 
 and disappeared ; but presently he appeared again near 
 the highest point, and, waving his arms, shouted : 
 
THE TRIUMPH OF COLONEL SNAGGS 165 
 
 ' All right, boys ; it's all here safe enough. Come 
 along and fetch it !' And, in the excitement of the 
 moment, he emptied his revolver into the air, after the 
 joyous fashion of the western cow-boy, when, on the 
 occasion of one of his rare outbursts, he prepares to 
 ' paint the town red.' 
 
 But he did not forget to load his revolver again, and 
 to keep it in his hand, when, having beckoned up his 
 rough followers, he showed them, neatly stowed in the 
 prescribed hollow, the stipulated two hundred iron-bound 
 chests, upon each of which was branded a number, and, 
 in Gothic characters, the suggestive inscription : 
 
 ♦gl : gsusite : $*fl.— gL 500,000. (Solb/ 
 
 'There it is!' he exclaimed triumphantly. 'I knew 
 that we should pull off this thing. I knew that a live 
 Emperor and suite would be considered dirt cheap at our 
 price. Get the stuff on board, boys ! Be smart ! Me 
 and my friends won't be mean over this job, I reckon. 
 Get it on board !' 
 
 And, taking up a position from which, while super- 
 intending the operations on shore, he could also keep an 
 eye on the ship, he tucked his revolver under his arm 
 and lighted a cigar. That was the proudest moment 
 which Colonel the Hon. Barnwell Snaggs had so far 
 experienced. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT. 
 
 The taking off of the chests was not quite so speedy an 
 operation as had been anticipated, for, though they were 
 stacked within a hundred and fifty yards of the boats, 
 they had to be carried over some very broken ground, 
 and their weight rendered them difficult to handle. But 
 after six hours' work in a very hot sun, Snaggs had them 
 all afloat and alongside the Philistia. 
 
 Rawlins, who had been left in general charge, was on 
 the bridge. The Lusatian officers, on deck aft, had not 
 ceased to watch the proceedings on shore. 
 
 The Emperor, as soon as he had learnt of the dis- 
 covery of the chests, had been unable to conceal from 
 Count Stark his disappointment over what he considered 
 to be Von Dalhoff's pusillanimity in submitting to the 
 terms of the conspirators ; and he was still more disap- 
 pointed when he perceived that the chests were being 
 removed without any interference on the part of the 
 men-of-war, which he felt sure must be in the im- 
 mediate neighbourhood of the island. 
 
 'I shall be almost ashamed to go back,' he declared to 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 167 
 
 the Field-Marshal, ' feeling that I have cost my country 
 all this gold, and that the money, instead of having 
 benefited the empire, has gone to enrich a score of un- 
 scrupulous American adventurers.' 
 
 'It may benefit the empire also,' returned the loyal 
 old soldier. ' Your Majesty values the usefulness of an 
 energetic monarch at too low a price. I cannot deem it 
 dear at even a hundred millions of marks, and I venture 
 to believe that if Lusatia were asked to pay twice as 
 much for its Emperor's safety it would cheerfully do so ; 
 for our fatherland has been so happy as never to have 
 had an Emperor whose welfare was not very precious to 
 his people.' 
 
 'A man is worth what he can do,' said the Emperor, 
 ' and when he is deprived of his ability to do, he becomes 
 valueless. I am not sure now that 1 ought to have allowed 
 myself to be taken alive ; for this captivity has taken 
 from me not only my ability to do, but also my self- 
 respect. There is no place for useless hands in the 
 world.' 
 
 • But you will be useful again, sire ; and this enforced 
 inaction is far from having been of your Majesty's 
 seeking.' 
 
 1 Of my seeking — no. It is not of a man's seeking 
 when he grows old, and, for that reason, useless. Yet it 
 may be very logical conduct on the part of certain savage 
 tribes to put such old and useless men out of the way.' 
 
 ' I am an old enough man, sire, to tell you that you 
 are too despondent. You are on the eve now, let us 
 hope, of your liberation. A month or two may see you 
 
168 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 back in Sandburg. You will resume your old interests 
 and habits, and this experience will then soon appear to 
 you like a bad dream, or a past illness.' 
 
 Snaggs, who was still superintending the work in the 
 boats, and who caught sight of the Emperor on deck, 
 hailed him with vulgar good humour. 
 
 ' Your people have stumped up like gentlemen, 
 Emperor,' he cried. ' There's nothing left to be done 
 but to fix up for you a comfortable passage home, and 
 to send you along with our blessing.' 
 
 The Emperor walked across the deck to the other 
 side. 
 
 ' That man seems to treat the matter as a joke,' he 
 said bitterly. ' I hope I shall never forget Mr. Hood- 
 lum's kindness in having knocked him down. I shall 
 certainly always envy Mr. Hoodlum.' 
 
 One by one the heavy square cases were hoisted on 
 deck and carefully lowered down thence to the treasure- 
 room, with which, like all Atlantic steamers, the Pliilivtia 
 was provided. Eawlins checked and took the number 
 of each of them as it passed him, and another man at 
 the door of the treasure-room did the same. More than 
 a hundred had been got in-board, when the look-out aloft 
 reported that a sail was in sight to the southward ; and, 
 as on the occasion of the ex-Cunarder's previous visit, 
 this announcement was quickly followed by further 
 reports of a similar nature. 
 
 Within half an hour, indeed, five ships, all of which 
 were evidently men-of-war, were visible in various 
 quarters, and it became clear that the withdrawal of the 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS' S DLS APPOINTMENT 169 
 
 cruisers had by no means signified their final abandon- 
 ment of their object. 
 
 Such boats as had already been unloaded were hastily 
 hoisted in : every possible effort was made to unload 
 and hoist up the rest ; and Snaggs himself, in a fever of 
 uneasiness, made shift to go aloft in order to see how 
 his pursuers were approaching him. That they were 
 acting in deliberate concert could scarcely be doubted, 
 otherwise they would hardly have all remained out of 
 sight long enough to allow of the chests being got off, 
 nor would they have all reappeared so nearly simul- 
 taneously ; and these signs of concerted action were not 
 the only considerations that inspired Snaggs with mis- 
 apprehension. 
 
 ' If,' he asked himself, ' the Lusatians have made up 
 their minds to ransom their Emperor, and for that 
 object have put the money on the island, why do they 
 renew their pursuit of me even before I have had an 
 opportunity of performing my part of the contract by 
 releasing my hostages ? Why do they not, at least, give 
 me time to land my prisoners? Are they not afraid 
 that by their present conduct they may induce me to 
 take a desperate course ; perhaps even to serve their 
 Emperor as I served Lieutenant Dicker, though under 
 less advantageous circumstances ; and, having got their 
 money, to keep it ?' 
 
 To these questions he could suggest no answer that 
 seemed to be at all satisfactory ; and, with them still 
 puzzling him, he passingly regretted, almost as soon as 
 he had uttered it, having given the order to go ahead 
 
170 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 slowly to the westward, that being the quarter from which 
 he seemed to be least threatened. He regretted it because 
 it occurred to him for an instant that it would not be a 
 bad plan to leave the Emperor and suite on Sala-y- 
 Gomez. But presently, when he looked again at the 
 ships which were gathering about him, he came to the 
 conclusion that the proper time for parting with his 
 hostages had not yet arrived. He, in his own opinion, 
 was not being fairly treated, and it might be advisable for 
 him to retaliate by breaking his part of the contract. 
 It would, at all events, be wise to keep in his own hands 
 for as long as possible the power to break it, for he had 
 no mind to let his enemies laugh last. 
 
 Several boats laden with chests were still alongside, 
 moving slowly through the water with the ship ; but 
 one after another, and with great risk, they were hoisted 
 up to the davits, some after and others before they had 
 been emptied ; and although several of them were much 
 knocked about hi the process, all were at length unloaded 
 and stowed, and, ere the work had been completed, ' full 
 speed ahead ' had been signalled from the bridge to the 
 engine-room, and the Philistia was once more travelling 
 at the only pace which seemed natural to her. 
 
 There was but another hour of daylight. Two of the 
 pursuers were many miles astern, still almost hull 
 down, two more were to the southward on the port 
 beam, distant about four and six miles respectively, and 
 the fifth was on the starboard quarter, distant about four 
 miles. All were far enough away to be easily shaken 
 off during the night ; but if the nearest ones of them 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 171 
 
 had been allowed to approach a very little nearer they 
 might have made themselves dangerous, and, with the 
 chests under his feet, danger of any unnecessary kind 
 was the last thing that Snaggs was just then anxious to 
 challenge. Indeed, he was possessed of a single-hearted 
 longing to get rid of his prisoners as soon as possible, to 
 land his treasure at some favourable spot, and, having 
 chartered some unsuspecting and unsuspicious trader to 
 carry the ransom quietly to his own land, there to divide 
 it, and to peacefully subside into the enjoyment of his 
 own share of the proceeds of his industry. 
 
 But disappointments and perils were yet in store for 
 the Colonel. 
 
 The Philistia was drawing away in the most satis- 
 factory manner from her pursuers, when, as the sun was 
 setting in a blaze of glory, a cruiser seemed to steam 
 right out of it. She was within a couple of miles of the 
 ex-Cunarder ere she was clearly made out, for the light 
 behind her was almost blinding, and it appeared to wrap 
 her up and shroud her, until she chose to rudely 
 announce herself by firing a shot, which whistled along 
 not fifty feet from the Philistia's starboard-side. The 
 pirate was promptly put round to starboard, and then, 
 during the short twilight, there was hot work on both 
 sides. The new-comer was the Theseus, with Lieutenant 
 Dicker on board, to give his counsel as to the Philistia's 
 most vulnerable points, and with her own officers in no 
 very gentle mood after their previous experience. Yet 
 once more the fates were unpropitious to the British 
 cruiser. One of her steam-pipes burst soon after she 
 
172 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 had taken up the chase, and thenceforward, although 
 she was for a time near enough to do considerable 
 damage with her guns, and actually set the ex-Cunarder 
 on fire, she rapidly dropped behind. 
 
 The fire was no very great matter, and was easily 
 extinguished, but four men were killed by the bursting 
 shell that caused it, and several people, including one of 
 the Lusatian officers, who was slightly hit in the 
 shoulder, were wounded. No doubt the fact that the 
 Tlieseus's shells this time exploded, even against the 
 small resistance afforded by the Pliilistia, was attributable 
 to modifications made in the fuses at the suggestion of 
 Dicker; and after the experience afforded by the 
 explosion on board of only one of these missiles, Snaggs 
 felt very thankful indeed when the break-down of the 
 cruiser released him from her attentions. The other 
 vessels were fairly out-steamed, and were no more to 
 be feared. A course north-west by west was therefore 
 set, damages were patched up, and the American con- 
 spirators, whose dinner had been postponed in deference 
 to the excitement, at length sat down to it in the 
 saloon. 
 
 The Americans lived on board, not like lords, but like 
 aldermen. Their table, although they had been nearly 
 three months at sea, was, thanks to refrigerating rooms, 
 French cooks, and unlimited expenditure before leaving 
 port, still sumptuous, and they drank wine such as it 
 would not have been easy to find in the best clubs of 
 New York, and in very few of the best of those in 
 London. That evening they perhaps drank it rather 
 
COL ON EL SNA GGS'S DISA PPOINTMENT 173 
 
 more freely than usual, for the occasion was a special 
 one ; and there was throughout the company a feeling 
 that the day marked an important and culminating 
 point in the history of the expedition. Dinner was 
 barely ended ere someone called upon the Colonel for a 
 speech, and as the Colonel only waited for an oppor- 
 tunity, he obligingly rose amid great and encouraging 
 clicking of glasses. 
 
 'Gentlemen,' he said, seizing a dessert-knife with 
 which to emphasize his utterances, and resting his other 
 hand upon the table, ' I kind of believe that this evenin' 
 may be regarded as a turnin'-point in the lives of all of 
 us. We have played for a big game— pretty nearly as 
 big a game as gentlemen like me and you could play for 
 without actually declarin' a war on the old-fashioned 
 and expensive lines— and we have captured a real live 
 Emperor and suite. And right here, before I go any 
 farther, I should like to say straight that that young 
 Emperor, ever since he has been with us, has conducted 
 himself in every way like a real gentleman' (applause). 
 ' I won't go so far as to tell you that he and his friends 
 haven't given us any trouble, but I do allow that, 
 considerin' all things, they have given us mighty little ; 
 and you will bear me out when I remind you that in 
 three months and more we have only twice had to draw 
 our guns on the boys, and even then didn't have to 
 shoot. I call that creditable. I call it an honour to 
 that young man's horse sense' (applause). 'Well, not 
 only did we capture that Emperor, but we stuck to him ; 
 and not only did we stick to him, but we put a figure on 
 
174 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 him. And that figure — it's a respectable one — so far 
 met the views and ran kind of parallel with the feelings 
 of this Emperor's friends to home, that to-day we have 
 taken on board the very ransom we thought it reasonable 
 and just to go for' (applause). ' Gentlemen, I believe 
 we can all sit back and look pleasant over that little 
 deal. But that is not all. This Empe'ror's friends don't 
 appear to have gotten his correct and gentlemanly 
 ideas about doin' business. Thay have planked down 
 their money, it is true ; but they have done it kind of 
 ugly. They gave us scarce enough time to pick it up 
 before they started to go for us all they knew. They 
 didn't pay no attention to undertaking, and contracts, 
 and bargains — not they ! The understandin' was that, 
 having gotten the money, we would peaceably put this 
 Emperor somewheres on shore in a handy place for 
 gettin' home again. We didn't want to go back on our 
 contract — not much ! But they don't seem to wish to 
 give us a show. You have sean to-day how they have 
 chased us, instead of lettin' us quietly go away to carry 
 out our bargain. I don't care what they call it ; I call 
 it real mean. Gentlemen, you know and I know 
 whether we propose to act straight or not. I say we 
 did propose, and we do propose, to act as straight as a 
 die. But what do they care? Here we are, steamin' 
 with no thought on earth but to take their Emperor to 
 some such handy place as I've been speakin' of ; yet 
 not only do they chase us, but they fire into us, and I 
 need not tell you what the unfortunate result of the 
 firm' has been. But, gentlemen, we have gotten clear. 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 175 
 
 There's nothing on the Pacific to touch the Philistia. 
 She can show her heels to any ship on this side ; and 
 to-night, as we sit here, we may, I say, congratulate 
 ourselves that, in spite of all difficulties and a good deal 
 of unfriendly feelin', we have pulled off a tarnation big 
 thing ; and don't you forget it.' 
 
 The Colonel subsided to his seat amid storms of 
 applause ; but, immediately rising again, took from his 
 pocket a key, and, having brandished it for an instant, 
 resumed : 
 
 ' There's no great cause for me to apologise to you, 
 gentlemen, if in the natural enthusiasm of the occasion 
 I have forgotten for a moment to mention a little busi- 
 ness topic which I had in my mind when I first 
 began. I have reminded you that to-day we have taken 
 on board a pretty considerable amount of gold. It ought 
 to be, and I guess it is, twenty-five million dollars. I 
 have reminded you, too, that we are goin' right now to 
 perform our part of the contract, and to put this 
 Emperor ashore in some handy place. But business is 
 business, gentlemen, and before we actually do perform 
 our part of the contract, it is only reasonable that we 
 should make sure that the other parties have performed 
 theirs' (applause). 'Now this key is one of the keys 
 of the treasure-room. My friend Mr. Eawlins has the 
 other key. In that treasure-room there are two hundred 
 chests, and each one of those chests ought to hold 
 exactly a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in 
 gold coin. Now we are bound, as business men, to 
 know whether we have gotten properly paid or not ; and 
 
176 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 until we do know, it would be blamed foolish of us to let 
 this Emperor quit. I don't doubt that we have gotten 
 the money, but I guess we'll see. I guess we'll choose one 
 of those chests at hazard — for every one is numbered — 
 and will have that one in, and have it opened right here 
 as a sample for our satisfaction. If it's full weight and 
 full number, we shall have no call to feel uneasy about 
 the rest. Will some gentleman name a number ?' 
 
 'Eight,' shouted a man promptly from the other end 
 of the table. 
 
 ' Another,' said Snaggs. 
 
 * Three,' cried a second man. 
 
 'Eight and three,' continued the Colonel. 'Now, 
 shall we have in number eighty-three or number thirty- 
 eight ? It don't signify. You'd best decide it for your- 
 selves, and then, I guess, you'll all be satisfied. Hands 
 up for eighty-three, gentlemen.' 
 
 Two or three hands only were held up. 
 
 Snaggs looked round and counted. 
 
 ' "Well, who says thirty-eight ?' he asked. 
 
 The hands of most of the company voted for thirty- 
 eight ; and chest number thirty-eight, being thus selected 
 for examination, was ordered to be brought from the 
 treasure-room, whither Snaggs and Rawlins, accompanied 
 by most of their friends, went hi order to open the iron- 
 plated door. 
 
 In ten minutes the heavy box was found, carried to 
 the saloon, and hoisted on to a vacant table ; and the 
 ship's carpenter and a pair of scales having been sent 
 for, Snaggs utilized the interval by making certain cal- 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 177 
 
 dilations on a piece of paper, and then announcing to 
 the crowd of conspirators : 
 
 ' Gentlemen, a ten-dollar gold piece, United States 
 currency, weighs 258 grains. I guess the contents of 
 this box, representing 125,000 dollars, have got to weigh 
 12,500 times 258 grains ; that is 3,225,000 grains, or 
 559 lb. 10 oz. 15 dwt. Troy, which in Avoirdupois 
 equals 460f lb. It won't weigh much less, you bet.' 
 
 Few people realize that a cubic inch of pure gold 
 weighs upwards of eleven ounces, and that a cubic foot 
 of pure gold weighs a good deal more than half a ton ; 
 and most of those present were somewhat astonished 
 to learn that each of the little boxes, not measuring 
 exteriorly much more than a foot each way, was capable 
 of containing not only a small fortune in gold coin, with 
 all its inevitable waste of space, but also the necessary 
 packing. 
 
 ' Is it dollars, marks, sovereigns or francs ?' asked 
 someone while the carpenter was plying his screwdriver. 
 ' Say, wait there, till we get up a little pool on the 
 subject.' 
 
 And as the suggestion pleased the gambling inclina- 
 tions of the conspirators, the carpenter was bidden to 
 suspend his work while a sweepstakes at a hundred dollars 
 a share was hastily organized. Pieces of paper bearing 
 respectively the words dollars, marks, sovereigns, francs, 
 florins, pesetas, guilders, etc., were folded up, thrown 
 into a hat, and drawn forth one by one by the carpenter 
 as each contributor's name was called ; and even then 
 the man was not allowed to proceed until each paper 
 
 12 
 
178 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 had been put np to auction and sold for 'what it -would 
 fetch, half the profits of the sale going to the original 
 proprietor and the other half to the prize fund. These 
 ' selling pools ' are a favourite form of gambling among 
 all Americans who travel ; and the very atmosphere and 
 associations of an Atlantic liner, in spite of the fact that 
 she was in the Pacific and not in the Atlantic, were in 
 themselves almost sufficient to engender such a charac- 
 teristic episode as preceded the opening of the first 
 chest. 
 
 At last, the auction ended, the carpenter was at 
 liberty to complete his work. He took out the already 
 loosened screws, lifted off a substantial lid, and disclosed, 
 not an array of bright gold pieces, but a mass of news- 
 papers. 
 
 ' Take them off !' shouted someone. ' Let us have a 
 look at the dollars.' 
 
 And two or three hands snatched at the papers, which, 
 being removed, laid bare nothing more valuable than a 
 dull block of solid metal, which, on examination, proved 
 to be lead. 
 
 From all sides there were loud cries of indignation. 
 
 ' They've seen you and gone better, Snaggs,' exclaimed 
 one. 
 
 'I never thought they'd have been such all-fired 
 idiots as to plank down,' declared another. 
 
 ' Sold !' ejaculated a third ; ' sold, by gosh !' 
 
 But Snaggs was still a little hopeful. 
 
 ' I guess the gold is packed in lead,' he suggested. 
 ' Fetch an axe !' 
 
COL ON EL SNA GGS'S DISA PP OINTMENT 1 79 
 
 An axe was brought, and Snaggs, who had caused the 
 block to be turned out of the box, at the bottom and 
 sides of which there were more newspapers, smote down 
 into the lead with all his force, and, having wrenched 
 the axe free again, smote down a second time, and 
 smashed the table by the vigour of the blow. 
 
 Once more the axe was wrenched free, and the two 
 cleavages were carefully examined by the light of lamps 
 which were held for the purpose ; but the only possible 
 conclusion was that the block was of solid lead, and this 
 conclusion was fully borne out when the block was 
 carefully measured and weighed. The block, by 
 measurement, contained about 1,120 cubic inches, and 
 weighed, as such a block of nearly pure lead ought to 
 weigh, about 460 pounds. 
 
 The Hon. Barnwell Snaggs was in a cold perspiration. 
 
 ' I tell you what it is, boys,' he stammered out at last. 
 ' They calculated that we should open box number one, 
 and, findin' gold there, or at least in the first two or 
 three, should rest satisfied and not worry about the 
 rest until after we had set free the prisoners. They've 
 not been playin' fair. That's where the trouble is. 
 And we've been mighty lucky in comin' down upon their 
 little game in plenty of time to bust it up. What I say 
 is the fact, you bet. We shall strike gold in number 
 one.' 
 
 ' If we strike it hi the first five there won't be enough, 
 to pay the cost of this little trip,' objected a conspirator 
 who was now less sanguine than the Colonel, and who 
 had invested his all in the venture. 
 
180 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 1 It don't matter a cent either way,' said Snaggs. 
 1 We've still got the Emperor, and he's as good for the 
 money as ever he was, or even for more. My idea is 
 that after this bit of bluff we ought to double the price. 
 But let us have along number one.' 
 
 He led the way again to the treasure-room, and 
 number one, having been found, was carried into the 
 saloon, and opened, without, however, the previous 
 formality of getting up a ' selling pool ' on its contents. 
 But number one was in all respects as number thirty- 
 eight had been ; and so were numbers two, three, and 
 four, as well as numbers one hundred and two hundred, 
 both of which were subsequently broached. Each 
 contained merely newspapers and a block of lead. 
 
 ' Well, I am busted !' was a very general exclama- 
 tion throughout the saloon, as the successive boxes were 
 opened ; and when the evening's researches were at 
 length relinquished, a feeling of almost hopeless de- 
 pression settled down upon nearly every man present. 
 
 ' But we'll have the dollars yet,' declared the Colonel 
 savagely, ' or my name ain't Barnwell Snaggs. We'll 
 have them if we have to torture that young Emperor 
 first. I ain't a hard nor a cruel man by nature. I hate 
 unpleasantness, and I like to act squarely and to be 
 squarely acted by. But, great Scott ! I'm not goin' to be 
 buncoed in this way. Not much ! I'm goin' to go through 
 with this, and there's got to be no more nonsense.' 
 
 ' We haven't coal to last for many weeks more,' ob- 
 jected Rawlins. 
 
 ' Nor stores,' added another. 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 181 
 
 'No matter,' returned Snaggs; 'we must turn pirates, 
 if need be. We'll see who can hold out the longest. 
 There's plenty of coal afloat in the Pacific, and plenty 
 of stores. We can catch any mail steamer in this part 
 of the ocean ; and although the only guns we have on 
 board are those remarkable guns of Major Bolter, we 
 can fire them if we want to ; and we've all got our six- 
 shooters, I believe, and know how to use them.' 
 
 A very qualified adherence was given to these radical 
 proposals. The Americans were terribly dejected, and 
 most of them were, besides, weary of the long stay at 
 sea, and more than doubtful whether any good could 
 now be got out of the cruise. 
 
 ' I believe we had best sleep over the matter before 
 we conclude anything,' said Eawlins, as, having lighted 
 a cigar, he stretched himself at full length on a sofa, 
 and lazily picked up one of the scattered newspapers 
 from the floor. ' Wonder what the world's been doing 
 without us. Wonder how stocks are in N'York. 
 Wonder how Sandburg is feeling without its Emperor. 
 Wonder how the fall elections went at home.' 
 
 And he began to glance through the paper, which 
 happened to be a copy of the Times of the end of 
 November. Many others followed his example ; for the 
 saloon was littered with papers of nearly all dates 
 between the second week in October and the end of the 
 first week in December, and among them, in addition 
 to the Times, were the New York World and Herald, 
 the French Temps, Debuts, and Figaro, the Independence 
 Beige, the Kolnische Zeitung, the Neue Freie Presse f the 
 
182 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Correspondencia of Madrid, the Trihuna of Eome, several 
 Sandburg periodicals, and one or two illustrated papers 
 from various capitals. The American who has been 
 kept from a newspaper of any kind for upwards of 
 three months can at a pinch find something to interest 
 him in journals two months old, even though they be 
 printed in a language of which he knows nothing. 
 
 * Thunder!' exclaimed Eawlins, suddenly springing to 
 an erect position, and glaring at the Times as if he 
 were spell-bound by what he saw there. * This whips 
 creation !' 
 
 'What's that?' demanded Snaggs, who, instead of 
 reading, had been gazing moodily at one of the blocks 
 of lead. 
 
 ' Why, listen here,' said Rawlins. ' This is the London 
 Times, dated November 27th last. I'm going to read a 
 cablegram dated Sandburg, November 26th. What do 
 you say to it?' And he read: '"This afternoon the 
 Emperor, who was accompanied by the Princess Nan- 
 nette, drove, escorted by a squadron of hussars, to the 
 village of Dumpling, about five miles from Sandburg, 
 and there formally opened the new works which are to 
 supply the capital with water. His Majesty, who looked 
 extremely well, conversed for some minutes before the 
 ceremony with Herr von Stumm, the engineer under 
 whose superintendence the waterworks have been con- 
 structed, and afterwards conferred upon him the Order 
 of the Purple Eagle of the first class. From Dumpling 
 the Princess drove back to the royal palace ; but the 
 Emperor, taking the train, proceeded with his suite to 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS' S DISAPPOINTMENT 183 
 
 Hasenstein, where he was the guest of the officers of 
 the garrison, who also entertained General Baron 
 Schenck, commander of the 13th Army Corps, the 
 Imperial Chancellor, the Chief of the General Staff, his 
 Highness the Grand Duke of Taxis, and other distin- 
 guished personages. After dinner the Emperor, who 
 proposed the toast of the 13th Army Corps, of which 
 the Hasenstein garrison forms part, made one of his 
 characteristic speeches. At midnight his Majesty re- 
 turned by special train to Sandburg." ' 
 
 Snaggs walked over to Eawlins, snappishly took the 
 paper from him, and carefully examined it. 
 
 'There's something wrong here,' he said. 'We know 
 there's something wrong; because we know that their 
 Emperor wasn't at Sandburg, nor within many thousand 
 miles of it, on November 26th.' 
 
 Everyone else looked at the paper, and agreed that 
 there must be something wrong. 
 
 'These British newspapers,' Snaggs explained, 'ain't 
 usually built that way ; yet I guess there ain't many 
 things in this world that money won't buy. They must 
 have planked down a mighty big sum, though, to quiet 
 the London Times. It's curious.' 
 
 ' It is curious,' said a man who had been glancing at 
 the Debats ; ' for the Paris papers have stories of the 
 same kmd. Here is a despatch — I'll translate it as well 
 as I can as I go along — to the Paris Journal des Ddbats, 
 dated from Sandburg on October 18th — that is, ten days 
 after we left Friedenhaven. " The Emperor's marriage," 
 it says, " is now understood to be indefinitely postponed, 
 
i84 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 not because of any lack of personal sympathy between 
 the high contracting parties, but on political grounds. 
 It is said that the Duke of Stormarn has put forward 
 certain demands relative to the abrogation of his 
 mediatization, and that the Imperial Government objects 
 to grant them. In the meanwhile, the charming young 
 Princess Griselda has taken a high patriotic attitude, 
 and, it is rumoured, absolutely refuses to be married 
 except as the daughter of a reigning prince. At the 
 same time, it is but just to add that, apart from this 
 serious disagreement, the relations between the Emperor 
 and his betrothed remain perfectly cordial, and there 
 is every prospect that the difficulty will ultimately be 
 arranged." ' 
 
 ' And here's something else !' cried another man, who 
 had the New York World, and who read from its column 
 of European Court gossip : ' "It appears that the recent 
 rumour to the effect that the Lusatian Emperor had 
 been kidnapped had a certain amount of basis. A 
 scheme to kidnap him had been gotten up by some 
 people who are said to be American citizens, and who 
 had chartered the Cunarder Philistia for the purpose ; 
 but the Emperor was warned of his danger by an 
 American friend, Mr. Esek Hoodlum, who, at great 
 personal risk, brought his Majesty ashore in a small 
 sailing canoe in the nick of time. Our spirited but 
 piratical fellow-citizens did, however, get clear away 
 with several officers and high officials, including Field- 
 Marshal Count Stark and Admiral Spott, and they have 
 signified their intention of holding these gentlemen to 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 185 
 
 ransom. A sum of a hundred millions of dollars is said 
 to be demanded for them, and it is threatened that, in 
 case of non-payment, the hostages will be shot. Details 
 of the affair are shrouded in the usual Lusatian veil of 
 official secrecy, but enough speedily became known to 
 cause very widespread excitement; the consequence 
 being that when, on the evening of his return to Sand- 
 burg, the Emperor, with his sister, the Princess Nan- 
 nette, appeared at the opera, he received a striking 
 ovation, the entire audience rising and cheering him for 
 several minutes. It is understood that measures of an 
 international character are being taken to pursue and 
 capture the kidnappers. It is not likely that the affair will 
 lead to complications, for the most friendly assurances 
 of co-operation in any measures that might be adopted 
 for the punishment of the offenders were at once offered 
 by the United States Minister in Sandburg, and he was 
 specifically ordered by cable from Washington to convey 
 from the President to the Emperor the former's official 
 and personal congratulations upon the latter' s provi- 
 dential escape. It is not yet known in what direction 
 the Philistia has gone, but she is supposed to be cruising 
 somewhere in the Atlantic. Her capture is, of course, 
 only an affair of time. The Emperor, it is satisfactory 
 to be able to add, is none the worse for his adventure, 
 and has ever since been as active and as energetic as 
 usual. This, week he has already enjoyed two days' 
 shooting with the Prince of Hohenstoff, has alarmed 
 the garrisons of Kurm and Delling, has presided at the 
 dinner of the Estates of the Province of South Euhland, 
 
i86 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 has presented new colours to the Uhlans of the Guard, 
 has appeared at the Russian Amhassador's ball, and has 
 paid a flying visit to Diel, where he has launched a new 
 ironclad." ' 
 
 Snaggs listened aghast, yet still half incredulous, to 
 all this and to many other extracts which were found 
 and read. Everything seemed to be slipping away from 
 him. He was, as it were, in a dream. 
 
 'It's a great conspiracy,' he stammered. 
 
 ' I guess they can't get up conspiracies of that kind. 
 The Emperor's there,' said a man who up to that time 
 had not spoken, ' or he's here. We believe that he's 
 here. It appears to me that all the rest of the world — 
 including his subjects, the Lusatian princes, the Lusatian 
 army, the Lusatian navy, and even his own sister and 
 sweetheart — believes that he's right there in Sandburg. 
 I'm no scholar, but I take it that the mathematical 
 chances are about five hundred millions of dollars to a 
 red cent that the rest of the world is correct, and that 
 every soul in this confounded floating purgatory is no 
 better than a fool. If I may be so bold as to suggest a 
 single likely exception to the general rule, I'll name that 
 young man whom the Colonel takes to be the Emperor. 
 That young man ain't no fool, maybe ; but there ain't 
 the most distant shadow of the ghost of a doubt but 
 what he's a first-class knave. We're no great shakes at 
 recognising kings and emperors when we see them. It 
 appears to me that an emperor must look pretty much 
 like any other man, so long as he forgets to walk about 
 with his crown on. But these Lusatian gentlemen on 
 
COLONEL SNAGGS'S DISAPPOINTMENT 187 
 
 board are not like us pure and simple Republicans. 
 They pretend, I reckon, to know an emperor by the cut 
 of his face, or the tone of his voice, or the colour of his 
 hair, or something kind of indescribable about his sacred 
 person; and these Lusatian gentlemen, including the 
 old Field-Marshal, who have all had experience in de- 
 tecting emperors, allow that this young man is the 
 Emperor. And that's why I wish to point out that the 
 young man's a mighty lot cleverer than the rest of us.' 
 
 These sentiments so fairly stated the probabilities that 
 Snaggs's incredulity began to vanish. 
 
 ' I don't see how the swindle can have been worked, 
 though,' he ventured. 
 
 ' 1 don't suppose that any of us see,' continued the 
 man. ' That's where our foolishness comes in. Maybe 
 some of us '11 see by to-morrow morning. We've been 
 celebrating our success to-night. The success is a 
 matter of question: the celebration is a trying fact. 
 There's been too much wine flying around. I guess 
 we'd best think kind of carefully over our position.' 
 
 'It appears to me you're about right,' said Snaggs, 
 whose mind was reduced to chaos by the prospect of the 
 collapse of all his schemes. ' I believe that we're 
 dreamin'. We've dreamt the lead, we've dreamt the news- 
 papers, we've dreamt that the Emperor's safe in Lusatia. 
 One more glass, boys, to a happy wakin' to-morrow !' 
 
 And with a hand that was rendered unsteady as much 
 by excitement as by wine, he filled a tumbler with cham- 
 pagne, tossed it off, and staggered to his cabin, where he 
 flung himself, as he was, into his berth. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 ADRIFT. 
 
 The morning of January 28th was fine and calm, and the 
 Emperor, in accordance with his invariable custom, was 
 early on deck. He always spent there an hour or two 
 with his suite before going to breakfast, and after break- 
 fast his practice was to work in his cabin until luncheon- 
 time. During the long period of his captivity those 
 solitary forenoons were well occupied. The Emperor 
 elaborated a great number of schemes of social, financial, 
 naval and military reform, for the consideration of which, 
 had he been at home in Sandburg, he would have found 
 it almost impossible to snatch leisure. In the afternoon 
 he again walked on deck for a couple of hours, resuming 
 work in his cabin at about half-past three o'clock, and 
 remaining there until dinner was served. He dined in 
 his fore-cabin, usually with two specially-invited officers; 
 and after dinner the cabin assumed the appearance of 
 the anteroom of a military mess, for, for the rest of the 
 evening, it was free to the whole suite. The Emperor 
 talked, played whist or chess, or — for he was an ex- 
 cellent musician, and there was a good piano — took part 
 
ADRIFT Igg 
 
 in an impromptu smoking concert, at which those who 
 were able to do so played or sang, and the others recited, 
 or told stories. The songs were chiefly the simple old 
 folk songs of Lusatia, which all Lusatians love, and 
 which recalled to those unwilling wanderers on the ocean 
 dear memories of home ; and at half-past ten the rising 
 of the Emperor to enter his inner cabin was the signal 
 for the Lusatian national hymn to be sung in harmony 
 by all standing. After which everyone turned in. 
 
 But on the morning of January 28th, when the 
 Emperor went on deck to join his suite, the conversation 
 was not of the usual character. 
 
 The Emperor's American - Lusatian servant, Otto 
 Hengler, had long since become devotedly attached to 
 his imperial master. He had been in and out of the 
 saloon late on the previous evening, and, having there 
 picked up some Sandburg papers, had taken them to his 
 master's cabin. There the Emperor found them when 
 he rose m the morning, and, while he was dressing, he 
 learnt from Otto the whole story of the disappointment 
 oi the conspirators in the matter of the chests. 
 
 It is not difficult to enter into the eagerness with 
 which the Emperor devoured the news from his capital 
 or to imagine the satisfaction with which he saw how 
 prudently and successfully Von Dalhoff and the Princess 
 Nannette had been working for him during his absence 
 He realized, however, that the extraordinary nature of 
 the intelligence from Europe must have greatly alarmed 
 the Americans, and, while it could not but cause them 
 to make inquiries, might probably bring about a radical 
 
iqo THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 change in their attitude towards him. As soon, there- 
 fore, as he went on deck, he showed the papers to Count 
 Stark, who alone was up to that moment completely in 
 his confidence, and having taken the Field-Marshal's 
 opinion, sanctioned the communication to the rest of the 
 suite of the true explanation of the state of affairs in 
 Lusatia. He recommended them when questioned, as 
 they surely would be, to say, as in truth they might, that 
 they believed him to be the Emperor, but that certainly 
 the reports from Sandburg and elsewhere might be 
 sufficient to create doubts in the minds of some people ; 
 and they were urged not to be unnecessarily positive in 
 their identification of him. 
 
 ' I am not without hope,' the Emperor added to 
 Count Stark, ' that these reports may convince the pirates 
 that they have made an inexplicable error — or, at least, 
 that they may force the Americans to the conclusion 
 that, even if I be the Emperor, the false Emperor is 
 now so firmly seated and so fully recognised that there 
 is no probability either of my being ransomed or of my 
 being restored.' 
 
 The Field-Marshal conveyed these instructions to the 
 suite, and had barely made the situation clear to all of 
 them when Colonel Snaggs came on deck. 
 
 Snaggs had refreshed his memory by glancing again 
 at some of the papers in the saloon, and had refreshed 
 himself by drinking an early glass of champagne. He 
 walked straight up to the Emperor, and, barring his 
 Majesty's way, said abruptly : 
 
 ' So I guess you're only a fraud after all.' 
 
ADRIFT 191 
 
 'If you have anything to say,' returned the Emperor, 
 as he quietly turned, ' say it, if you please, to Field- 
 Marshal Count Stark, my aide-de-camp.' 
 
 The American, pale with passion, stretched forth his 
 hand to detain the Emperor and make him listen, but, 
 as the Lusatian officers had all been narrowly watching 
 him, he was not allowed to do as he intended. A great 
 yellow-bearded cavalry officer, Lieutenant-Colonel von 
 Puppenheim, darted at him like an avalanche, seized 
 him by the shoulder, spun him round, struck him fairly 
 in the face a blow that might have felled an ox, and sent 
 him reeling and half-stunned against the railings. 
 
 ' No one touches the Emperor !' muttered Von 
 Puppenheim grimly. 
 
 Snaggs, who held one hand to his face, felt with the 
 other for his revolver ; but again the Lieutenant-Colonel 
 was too quick for him. He seized the American's hand 
 with a grasp that made the joints crack, and in an 
 instant the revolver was taken away by others and was 
 flung overboard. 
 
 ' Thanks, my dear Von Puppenheim,' said the 
 Emperor ; ' I shall not forget this. But you have done 
 enough. Tell the man that if he will speak civilly to 
 Count Stark he shall be listened to.' 
 
 Snaggs, who was promptly released, did not wait to 
 say or hear another word, but stumbled down the 
 companion, still holding one hand to his face. Von 
 Puppenheim had broken his jaw ; and when the 
 American learnt the nature of his injury from the ship's 
 surgeon, his rage and violence were so extreme, that only 
 
i 9 2 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 by force was he prevented from providing himself with a 
 fresh pistol, and returning to the deck with the intention, 
 as he almost incoherently expressed it, of ' blowing the 
 whole gang to perdition.' 
 
 In the case of Mr. Hoodlum, Agamemnon Pawlins had 
 already figured as a diplomatist. He figured in the same 
 capacity in the still more serious case of Von Puppen- 
 heim. As soon as he knew what had occurred, he 
 hurried on deck to Count Stark. 
 
 'Beg pardon, your Excellency,' he said, 'but there's 
 going to be trouble over this little business. The 
 Colonel's just mad. That big officer of yours has broken 
 his jaw, and nothing '11 satisfy the Colonel but shooting 
 the man who struck him. I don't say whose fault it 
 was ; it don't matter. Nor it isn't only against the man 
 who struck him that the Colonel's mad ; he's mad against 
 the hull crowd of you, not forgetting the Emperor, or 
 the gentleman that you call the Emperor. The papers 
 that came on board yesterday prove that the Emperor's 
 really to home the hull time. You've been took in, may- 
 be, as well as us. I don't want to have no more trouble. 
 I'm sick of the show. We've made big enough fools of 
 ourselves already ; we shall only make bigger fools of 
 ourselves if we let Snaggs git out and commence shoot- 
 ing. What I say is, " Git !" We'll let you git as smart 
 as you please ; then, maybe, we'll have a chance of 
 saving ourselves and gitting clear off.' 
 
 ' You suggest that we should go,' replied the Field- 
 Marshal ; ' but that lies in your hands. We cannot go 
 without your assistance, no matter how much we may 
 
ADRIFT 193 
 
 desire to do so ; and, as you are responsible for our 
 presence here, it is but just that you should be responsible 
 for putting us suitably ashore.' 
 
 ' That's so,' assented Rawlins ; ' but we can't put you 
 ashore anywheres about here, because there ain't no 
 shore to put you on.' 
 
 ' Then let us wait until we get to land, of course,' said 
 the Field-Marshal. 
 
 ' See here, Excellency,' explained Rawlins, ' it ain't 
 only Snaggs I'm afraid of ; some of the others are just as 
 mad as he is — disappointed at gitting lead instead of 
 gold, and at finding that the real Emperor ain't on board 
 after all. It's as bad a business for me as it is for them. 
 I stand to lose as much as any. But we shall all stand 
 to lose a mighty sight more if the boys git to shooting, 
 and that I won't have if I can prevent it. I'm talking 
 straight to you ; I mean what I say. I shan't be able to 
 hold the boys ; they're getting uglier and uglier every 
 minute. Say now, Excellency, if we was to give you a 
 boat, the best we have, and stores, and directions, and a 
 chest of tools, and arms if you like, would you feel like 
 gitting? There's a crowd of islands to the westward, 
 and they tell me that the current hereabouts sets that 
 way ; so that even if you didn't have the luck to be 
 picked up by one of the men-of-war, you'd be bound 
 to git ashore somewheres. Say, would you feel like 
 gitting '?' He asked it almost pleadingly. 
 
 ' Well, I don't know ; but I'll put the matter before 
 his Majesty, if you like.' 
 
 ' I wish you would, Excellency, right here and right 
 
 13 
 
194 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 now, for I can't promise to hold the boys ; and if they 
 once commence using their guns, they won't stop till 
 they've done what'll make them considerable sorry when 
 they're cool again.' 
 
 Count Stark walked over to the Emperor, and repeated 
 to him all that Eawlins had said. To the old soldier's 
 astonishment — for he was no lover of or truster in the 
 sea — the Emperor was delighted at the idea, and even 
 became immediately enthusiastic about it. 
 
 ' Anything to regain some portion of our lost liberty,' 
 he said. ' Our brave Dicker would have been a great 
 assistance ; but, after all, there is the Admiral, and I 
 myself understand something about boat-sailing. With 
 a roomy and sea-worthy boat, plenty of stores, a few 
 instruments and tools, and some arms, we should have 
 little to fear in this beautiful ocean; and the open-air 
 life in so mild a climate would not harm a child. Why, 
 even you, my dear Count, old as you are, will revel 
 in it.' 
 
 Admiral Spott was called into council, and appeared 
 to be almost as pleased as the Emperor. He jotted 
 down a rough list of things that must be supplied, made 
 a suggestion as to the boat to be selected, and the sails 
 and gear to be furnished for it, hinted that the Emperor's 
 servant Hengler might be asked to volunteer to accompany 
 the party, and, upon the whole, took so rosy and yet so 
 practical a view of the project, that the Count, ere he 
 returned to Eawlins, was almost persuaded that existence 
 in an open boat in mid-ocean must really be a very 
 pleasant experience. 
 
ADRIFT 195 
 
 ' That's good, Excellency,' said Rawlins, when he 
 heard of the Emperor's decision. ' You shall have all 
 you want, you bet, and more too. It's a quarter past 
 eight now. Do you feel like starting at ten ?' 
 
 Count Stark put the question to the Emperor, whose 
 reply was : 
 
 ' Certainly, Count ; the sooner the better ;' and 
 Eawlins, who was very uneasy as to whether he could, 
 even for an hour and three-quarters, be sure of restrain- 
 ing all his friends, went at once to the Philistia's 
 captain to consult with him about the making of the 
 necessary preparations. In the meantime the Emperor 
 and his suite went to breakfast. 
 
 ' I am going to leave the ship at ten o'clock,' said the 
 Emperor to Hengler, who, as usual, attended upon him. 
 
 The man opened his eyes wide, and threw half 
 involuntary glances out of the cabin scuttles, as if he 
 expected to see land alongside. 
 
 ' I'm going in a boat,' continued the Emperor, who 
 noticed Hengler's wonderment. ' Have you ever been in 
 a boat at sea — far out at sea, I mean ?' 
 
 ' No, your Majesty ; but I understand how to manage 
 a boat. My father is a fisherman at Suderney.' 
 
 ' At Suderney ? That is one of our Lusatian islands. 
 Why did you leave your fatherland ?' 
 
 'May it please your Majesty, I was told that in 
 America there were no poor ; that everyone could do as 
 he liked ; and that ' 
 
 * Well, go on, Hengler ; what else were you told ?' 
 
 1 May your Majesty forgive me ! I was told also that 
 
196 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 in America I should not have to help to support any 
 king or emperor.' 
 
 ' Ah !' said the Emperor with a smile ; ' that is, of 
 course, a great advantage. You naturally found that 
 you were much better off.' 
 
 ' No, your Majesty.' 
 
 ' But you were not poor ?' 
 
 ' I was as poor as in Lusatia, neither more nor less, 
 your Majesty, for, though I earned higher wages, it cost 
 me more to live.' 
 
 ' You were more comfortable, nevertheless ; for you 
 could do as you liked.' 
 
 'Your Majesty, I venture to believe that there is no 
 place in which a poor man is more at the absolute 
 mercy of the rich than in America.' 
 
 ' At least you had not to support any emperors, kings, 
 or grand dukes.' 
 
 ' Your Majesty, I had to assist to support millionaires, 
 financiers and monopolists, men who seemed to have no 
 interest in the well-being of the poor who slaved for 
 them, men who thought only of squeezing ever more 
 and more out of the people.' 
 
 ' So ? Then I suppose that you will return to Lusatia, 
 Hengler ?' 
 
 ' How can I, your Majesty ?' asked Hengler. 
 
 ' With me.' 
 
 Hengler fell upon his knees, took the Emperor's 
 hands, kissed them, and burst into tears. 
 
 ' I did not dare to beg your Majesty,' he said, ' to give 
 me permission to go back. I have been here among 
 
ADRIFT 197 
 
 your Majesty's enemies, in the pay of these pirates. 
 Your Majesty has told me that it was no place for a 
 loyal Lusatian. But, your Majesty, I am a loyal 
 Lusatian yet. I would lay down my life for your 
 Majesty, now or at any time. My greatest misfortune 
 would be to have to quit your Majesty's service. If 
 your Majesty will graciously deign to take me, I will go 
 anywhere or do anything. For these three months 
 I have been every day ashamed. When I am out of this 
 ship I shall be a man again.' 
 
 The Emperor raised his servant kindly. 
 
 ' Then you will be a man at ten o'clock to-day,' he 
 said ; ' and, as for quitting my service, so long as you 
 behave like a man, a true Lusatian man, you shall be 
 my Jager. There ! never mind saying what you want 
 to say. Get my papers together, and a few clothes. 
 I did not bring them, but I shall take them with me. 
 And be quick !' 
 
 In the meantime a thirty-two foot pinnace, fitted to 
 carry two sliding gunters, and supplied with all needful 
 gear, provisions, water in barricoes, instruments, and 
 arms, was got ready on the davits, under the super- 
 vision of Admiral Spott, the captain of the Philistia, 
 and Agamemnon Eawlins. There was some grumbling 
 among the Americans who stood looking on. 
 
 ' We ought to keep the Lusatians as hostages for our 
 safety, if not for the return of our money,' declared 
 one. 
 
 'Better shoot the lot of them,' said another. 
 
 But Bawlins made so strong a point of the inutility of 
 
198 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 keeping and feeding men who were palpably not worth 
 ransoming ; of the obvious fact that sooner or later the 
 captives must be got rid of in some way, and of the evil 
 consequences that must inevitably result from any 
 violence offered to the prisoners, that his friends 
 contented themselves with grumbling, and did not raise 
 any more serious objection when, at a few minutes 
 before ten, the engines were stopped, and, the ship 
 having lost her way, the pinnace was lowered into the 
 water and brought to the lee gangway. 
 
 The captain of the Philistia marked out the vessel's 
 position on a chart, which he gave to the Admiral. He 
 also gave him a few books, including a ' South Pacific 
 Directory.' One after another the officers were handed 
 down into the boat ; Hengler, with the Emperor's very 
 modest luggage, followed, and finally the Emperor and 
 the Field-Marshal descended. The pinnace was shoved 
 off, and the Pliilistia, slowly gathering way again, 
 pursued her course, leaving the boat alone upon the 
 ocean. 
 
 It was a sudden departure. Only two hours earlier 
 there had seemed to be no prospect of it. Yet, although 
 the Philistia had been the home of the Emperor and his 
 suite for upwards of three months, they experienced no 
 regret at leaving her, in spite of the fact that they were 
 exchanging comfortable quarters for very uncomfortable 
 ones, good beds for hard boards, and well-furnished 
 cabins for the vault of heaven. Each, as he dropped 
 into the boat, felt that he had at last made a step in the 
 direction of home. 
 
ADRIFT 199 
 
 In the Philistia there may have been regrets — indeed, 
 there must have been ; for the disappearance of the 
 prisoners cannot have been for long concealed from 
 Snaggs, who must have been furious when he heard of 
 it. A few hours later, however, even Snaggs may well 
 have been reconciled ; for, in such a gale as that which 
 blew on the next night, the most revengeful passions of 
 the Colonel must have been satiated by the reflection 
 that, while he was dry and warm in a giant steamship, 
 which, with all her power, could barely hold her own, 
 those whom he most hated were struggling, only a 
 few miles away, in an open pinnace, with Death, who 
 stretched forth a hundred hands from the darkness 
 around them, and who shrieked terror into the ear of 
 each. 
 
 That part of the South Pacific in which the castaways 
 found themselves lies outside the usual region of hurri- 
 canes, and is within the limits of the south-east trades 
 at that time of the year. A steady easterly breeze was, 
 in fact, blowing ; the weather was fine, and although 
 Easter Island, somewhat to the south-west, was actually 
 the nearest land, the Admiral deemed it safest, upon the 
 whole, to make for the Low Archipelago to the westward ; 
 for Easter Island, owing to its solitary position, is 
 little visited, and has very irregular communication with 
 the outside world, while the Low Archipelago, though it 
 also is somewhat remote from the greater highways of 
 commerce, forms the eastern extremity of the vast net* 
 work of islands and islets that extends thence westward 
 to Australia and the Malay Peninsula. At Easter 
 
200 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Island, in the opinion of the Admiral, the party might be 
 stranded for months ; but it could scarcely happen that 
 news of its presence in the Low Archipelago would not 
 speedily reach Tahiti, or some other centre of trade ; for 
 the inter-insular traffic is sufficient to disseminate im- 
 portant intelligence pretty rapidly. Moreover, it seemed 
 probable that Lusatian and other cruisers might be more 
 reasonably looked for in that quarter than in the more 
 immediate neighbourhood of Sala-y-Gomez, which could 
 no longer be supposed to offer any attractions to the 
 Philistia. As soon, therefore, as sail had been made, 
 the boat was put nearly before the wind, and, at the 
 Emperor's suggestion, those on board were at once 
 formed into two watches, of one of which the Emperor, 
 and of the other the Admiral, took charge. 
 
 When order had been established, the Emperor 
 addressed his suite. 
 
 ' You must have been astonished, gentlemen,' he said, 
 ' when, through my old and dear friend Field-Marshal 
 Count Stark, I intimated to you this morning that, 
 thanks to arrangements which I was happily able to 
 make, our people at home have been kept in ignorance 
 of the fact that I am not still among them. Those 
 arrangements, originally made in order that I might 
 secure for study and necessary relaxation moments which 
 must have been otherwise given to the performance of 
 purely mechanical functions that really benefit no one, 
 will, I trust, have the effect of preserving peace and 
 prosperity in our dear Lusatian fatherland until I am 
 permitted to return thither. The Baron von Dalhoff, 
 
ADRIFT 20 1 
 
 enjoying the advantage of the counsel and clear good 
 sense of my royal sister, the Princess Nannette, will, I am 
 persuaded, serve me and my country well ; and although 
 it is not without a feeling of repulsion that I reflect that 
 I have made myself a party to a course which strict 
 ethics may be able to impugn, I do not reproach 
 myself, and I would not, in the circumstances, have it 
 otherwise. If it were known that I am here in the mid- 
 Pacific, instead of at the helm of the State, misfortunes 
 many and great would, I know too well, threaten Lusatia 
 from more than one quarter. So long as I am believed 
 to be at my post, alert and watchful, the Empire will, I 
 hope and pray, have peace. And I am seriously of 
 opinion that — putting strict ethics aside — a deception, 
 which is in itself harmless, may, when it secures the 
 blessings of continued peace to scores of millions of 
 people, be not only justifiable, but a matter of duty. 
 That harmless deception, gentlemen, must be persisted 
 in until I am once more in Sandburg. It will not suffice 
 to persist in it only until it can be announced in Lusatia 
 that I am rescued, and am on my way home. There 
 must be no interval between the moment when the Baron 
 von Dalhoff becomes again himself and the moment 
 when I become again myself. To-day, to-morrow, we 
 may be picked up. It will not do for the true history 
 of our adventures to get home before us. Therefore 
 my will and pleasure is, gentlemen, that from this 
 moment I cease to be the Emperor until I am once 
 more in Sandburg. The Baron von Dalhoff has taken 
 my place, and left a vacant personality. I intend to 
 
202 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 take that personality, and to be to all of you the Baron 
 von Dalhoff, and none other, so long as I remain away 
 from my post.' 
 
 This new arrangement was a convenient and almost 
 a necessary one. In an open boat in mid-ocean dis- 
 cipline and order can be maintained even amid the most 
 terrible hardships, but anything in the nature of state 
 or exclusiveness cannot. The Emperor, equally with 
 Hengler, had to live, eat, and sleep in public. He had 
 no safer resting-place than Hengler ; he had no better 
 food ; he had no more shelter. And to the Emperor 
 himself the change was as welcome as it was to his 
 suite. To his mind ceremony would, in the circum- 
 stances, have been ridiculous, and he was relieved to 
 be able to lay it down, and to feel it not beneath his 
 position to lend a hand, as the others did, in the working 
 of the boat, in the preparation of meals, and in the 
 taking of observations. Indeed, that part of the ex- 
 perience was to him delightful. He was accustomed 
 to be mentally active ; but actual manual activity, in- 
 volving the expenditure of exertion, the raising of blisters, 
 and the occasional pinching of fingers, was sufficiently 
 novel to be altogether pleasurable. The Emperor threw 
 himself into his assumed part with the enthusiasm of 
 the English youngster who goes for the first time on 
 a camping-out expedition up the Thames. What were 
 annoyances to some of the others were subjects of joke 
 to him. As Emperor reserved, often taciturn, and 
 always dignified, he was, as Von Dalhoff, the joyous soul 
 of the little party in the pinnace ; and so completely did 
 
ADRIFT 203 
 
 he adopt his new character, that in a few hours he 
 seemed to have entirely laid aside his old self, and, as 
 he himself said, to have ' put the boat on an even keel, 
 she having been previously a good deal too much down 
 by the stern.' 
 
 The day passed uneventfully, the breeze continuing, 
 and good progress being made ; but towards sunset the 
 wind freshened considerably, the horizon became over- 
 cast, and the rapidly-falling barometer indicated that 
 a disagreeable change was impending. Hurricanes are 
 not at all common at any season in the Western Pacific ; 
 indeed, true hurricanes are seldom encountered anywhere 
 in the Pacific except in the neighbourhood of land. But 
 the Admiral, who knew the signs, saw quite enough to 
 make him very apprehensive. A heavy gale — whether 
 a true hurricane or not — was certainly brewing; and 
 with a view to preparing for it, the Admiral caused a 
 number of spare spars and oars, together with a spare 
 sail, to be lashed together and weighted, so that the 
 pinnace, attached to this drag by a span, might have 
 something which she could ride to leeward of, which 
 would help to break the sea, and which would, if the 
 blow came from a wrong quarter, retard her drift. 
 
 This was, as it turned out, a very wise precaution ; 
 for at about ten o'clock that night a most terrible storm 
 burst upon the boat. The gale began from the east- 
 ward, and swung round gradually, through south and 
 west, to north-west, then as gradually going back to 
 east. But the cyclone — for it was a regular cyclone, in 
 spite of the distance from land — occupied no less than 
 
204 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 nineteen hours in passing through all these changes, 
 and during the whole of that trying time the pinnace 
 and her occupants were in the most extreme peril. The 
 seas were gigantic ; a dozen times the boat narrowly 
 escaped being swamped, and more than once she was 
 on the brink of turning over head foremost, so sharp 
 and steep were the waves down which she slid. Rest 
 of any kind was, of course, out of the question for all. 
 Indeed, occasionally the movements of the boat were 
 so violent, that only by holding on to thwarts and gun- 
 wale was it possible to avoid being flung out of her. 
 And, owing to the lanterns not being properly con- 
 structed, the unhappy castaways were for many suc- 
 cessive hours in absolute darkness, drenched by seas 
 which almost took their breath away, not knowing 
 whither they were going, cold, bruised, hungry, and 
 at times having to bale for dear life, lest their craft 
 should go down under them. 
 
 The experience was a cruel one for all concerned, but 
 especially for the old Field-Marshal, who, an indifferent 
 sailor at the best, suffered terribly, and, moreover, had 
 not the reserve of strength possessed by his younger 
 companions. After two hours of struggle against his 
 increasing weakness he collapsed altogether, and ceased 
 to be capable of making any effort for his own preserva- 
 tion. The Emperor showed great solicitude for him, 
 wrapped him in his own coat, and from time to time 
 forced him to take mouthfuls of brandy ; but, as morning 
 came on, the veteran, propped against a thwart, lost 
 consciousness, and when such dull and cheerless day- 
 
ADRIFT 205 
 
 light as the lowering clouds permitted broke, his condition 
 was such as to justify the most serious apprehensions. 
 The Emperor chafed him with brandy, but the old 
 soldier gave scarcely any signs of life ; and during the 
 whole of the fearful day that followed he lay limp and 
 passive, his white head rolling from side to side with 
 the jumping of the boat, his eyes remaining closed, and 
 not a sound escaping from his bloodless lips. 
 
 The others, bruised, weary, and cold though they 
 were, suffered less; but even they had grown almost 
 indifferent to the result when, towards evening, the 
 weather moderated, and the sea began to go down. It 
 was then possible to attend more systematically to Count 
 Stark, who, by the Emperor's directions, was half 
 stripped, rubbed very thoroughly with brandy, and 
 wrapped in clothes freely saturated with the same spirit. 
 Under this treatment he at length, to the general joy, 
 slowly returned to consciousness, and, it being at length 
 found practicable to light a lamp-stove and boil a kettle, 
 he was presently supplied with some hot soup, which 
 greatly assisted in reviving him. 
 
 But, though the gale had before midnight completely 
 blown itself out, though food and rest were again avail- 
 able, and though the situation had ceased to be one of 
 any imminent danger, the physical discomforts of the 
 unfortunates were very little ameliorated, for everything 
 in the boat was saturated with water, and there was no 
 means of drying anything. Nor was it possible, owing 
 to the still overclouded sky, to form even the vaguest 
 idea as to the boat's whereabouts. All that was certain 
 
206 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 was that, after having headed in turn to nearly every 
 point of the compass, she again had a steady easterly 
 breeze behind her. What had been her track during 
 the hurricane no one even ventured to guess. 
 
 Next day, however, brought bright fine weather and 
 warm sunshine, which speedily dried the clothes of all, 
 and once more rendered everyone comparatively comfort- 
 able. The Field-Marshal seemed little the worse for the 
 hardships which he had undergone ; the Emperor was 
 cheery and hopeful ; and the Admiral at noon succeeded 
 in getting an observation, which satisfied him that, in 
 spite of the varied eccentricities of the hurricane, the 
 boat had made very good progress on her course, and 
 which enabled him to place his position in Lat. 25° 35' S., 
 and Long. 115° 55' W. at mid-day on January 30th. 
 
 From that time forward the weather remained 
 delightful, and the only inconveniences encountered 
 were those small ones which are necessarily inseparable 
 from boat-cruising, even in the most favourable circum- 
 stances. Provisions and water for six weeks had been 
 put on board, and the Admiral saw no necessity for 
 restricting allowances, and, in fact, decided not to restrict 
 them until the party should have been at least three 
 weeks at sea. But any such prolongation of the voyage 
 appeared, after the subsidence of the storm, to be alto- 
 gether improbable. The trades blew fresh and brisk 
 astern; a thousand islands lay right ahead, and a 
 friendly cruiser, or, at least, some friendly sail — and all 
 sails save one would be friendly — might heave in sight 
 at any moment. 
 
ADRIFT 207 
 
 Days and nights therefore passed pleasantly, if not 
 quickly. Even the Field-Marshal's dislike to the sea 
 grew modified, and he declared that, if only he could 
 occasionally stretch his legs, he should be fairly happy. 
 The monotony of the voyage was varied by spells of work 
 at the oars, by unsuccessful attempts at fishing, and by 
 games of chess, played on a thwart, that had been 
 pencilled into squares, with silver and bronze coins of 
 various kinds instead of with pieces. Each morning, 
 moreover, the sails was lowered for half an hour, while 
 those who felt disposed for it enjoyed a swim, due look- 
 out being kept for sharks. 
 
 On the night of February 3rd the Admiral, who knew 
 that land could not be far off, ordered a specially careful 
 look-out to be kept; and at dawn on the following 
 morning Hengler, who was in the bow, was able to report 
 something, which he took to be an island, broad on the 
 starboard-quarter. The Emperor, whose watch it was, 
 ordered the boat to be brought to, and, rousing the 
 Admiral, learnt from him that they were in sight of 
 Ducie Island, which they had nearly missed in the 
 darkness. 
 
 Ducie Island, in Lat. 24° 40' S., and Long. 124° 48' W., 
 is an oval and uninhabited atoll, measuring about a mile 
 and three-quarters long and a mile wide. Part of the 
 reef rises to a height of twelve feet, and is covered with a 
 dense growth of trees ; but other parts of the bai ri :r are 
 in some places almost awash, and the atoll in one spot 
 broken by a channel which, though not profound enough 
 to be navigable, leads to the deep interior lagoon. 
 
208 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 The island was not two miles distant, but, knowing it 
 to be uninhabited, the Admiral would have altered 
 course a point or so to the southward in order to make 
 Pitcairn Island, had not the Emperor half-laughingly 
 suggested that he had never been on a desert island, and 
 that the place would enable the Field-Marshal to stretch 
 his legs. The Admiral therefore made for the island, 
 and at the south-west point of it found a little entrance 
 in which the boat could lie comfortably, though she 
 could not get right through into the lagoon. 
 
 The Lusatians, one and all, felt like children as they 
 leapt ashore for the first time for nearly four months. 
 They jumped, and sang, and shouted, they rolled upon 
 the loose coral, they buried their faces in the sparse 
 herbage that grew here and there, and the great yellow- 
 bearded Von Puppenheim even played leap-frog with a 
 brother-officer of equal rank. 
 
 The spot where the party landed formed a little low 
 natural quay. Behind it, and distant not more than 
 thirty yards from the water's edge, rose a scarcely 
 penetrable thicket of trees of all kinds, so that the island 
 could not be viewed as a whole. The thicket was alive 
 with birds, but seemed to have no other denizens. 
 
 ' Let us see what is beyond,' said the Emperor ; and, 
 going to the boat, he took out a couple of axes, one of 
 which he handed to Von Puppenheim. ' The Admiral 
 says that there is a lagoon in the centre. There are 
 plenty of sharks outside, so why should we not get our 
 morning's swim inside ?' 
 
 He strode up to the edge of the wood, and eager, after 
 
ADRIFT 209 
 
 the constraint of the boat, for free exercise, he began, 
 aided by the Lieutenant-Colonel, to cut his way in. 
 
 They were almost on the fringe of the tropics, and 
 vegetation in those latitudes, even on small and exposed 
 islands, grows luxuriantly ; but so vigorously did the 
 Emperor and his companion lay about them, that in 
 twenty minutes they began to see the glitter of the 
 interior lagoon, and in less than half an hour they had 
 cut their way completely through the belt of trees and 
 tangled undergrowth into the open air beyond. 
 
 There a strange and marvellous sight met then- gaze. 
 They stood with their backs to a tolerably regular amphi- 
 theatre of flourishing vegetation, but the whole eastward 
 side of the atoll was in a state of absolute wreck. The 
 trees from the barrier had been beaten down in huge 
 inextricable masses and swept into the lagoon, where, 
 still green, they floated. Great breaches, which were 
 evidently fresh, had been made in the reef on that side, 
 as if by a prolonged bombardment; and it was plain 
 that some recent storm — possibly, even, the hurricane in 
 which the pinnace had suffered — had burst in from the 
 east with a power which nothing had been able to with- 
 stand. 
 
 But a stranger sight than the devastated island was 
 before them, for in the midst of the lagoon, like a 
 huge battered turtle, lay the capsized hull of a large 
 ship. Fifteen feet of it or more stood out of the water, 
 and it rested somewhat upon one side, one bilge-keel 
 being exposed and the other covered. The steel bottom, 
 which ^as foul with sea-growth, was wrinkled and pierced 
 
 14 
 
210 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 in many places. Here and there there were considerable 
 rents and whole plates torn off, so that the blackness of 
 the interior was visible. The ship had clearly been 
 flung across the low reef by the tempest, and had 
 capsized as, smashed and torn, she had fallen inside. 
 
 The Emperor stood aghast at the awful demonstration 
 of the power of the forces of nature. 
 
 ' She must have been a fine vessel,' he said. 
 
 Von Puppenheim kicked over a battered life-buoy that 
 lay at his feet. Painted in blue letters on the canvas 
 were the words ' Philistia, Liverpool.' 
 
 The Emperor shuddered. 
 
 1 Merciful God !' he ejaculated ; ' and we were spared ! 
 Let us go back, Von Puppenheim !' 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
 HOME. 
 
 The Emperor and Von Puppenheim returned rapidly 
 through the wood to their companions near the boat. 
 They had seen something which chilled them to the 
 marrow, and as, one behind the other, they struggled 
 amid the undergrowth, neither spoke. 
 
 ' Come !' shouted the Emperor when he was again 
 within sight of his friends. 'Bring boat-hooks, bring 
 oars, bring knives, bring brandy. We may yet be able 
 to save someone. The Philistia is ashore here.' And 
 he went back as rapidly as he had come. 
 
 On the steep coral shore of the lagoon, cast up far 
 above the water, a great quantity of cUbris was lying. 
 Fragments of smashed boats, splintered spars, and broken 
 gratings, and cart-loads of mere unrecognisable match- 
 wood, were scattered all over the inner beach. Here, 
 too, was a torn article of clothing, and there, amid the 
 very roots of the vegetation, a battered corpse, naked, 
 swollen, hideous, with dull, staring eyes, and with the 
 very flesh torn away by the sharp rocks. 
 
 They soon found other bodies, and among them that 
 
212 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 of the captain of the ship ; but they discovered no trace 
 of any of the American conspirators, who, it was 
 suggested by the Admiral, might have all been below at 
 the moment of the catastrophe ; for, said he, ' in a black 
 night and a howling gale, a ship, especially if she were 
 not sure of her position, might run upon Ducie Island 
 even before the alarm of danger could be passed to the 
 bridge from the look-out forward, and all may have been 
 over in three minutes.' 
 
 The whole interior shore of the lagoon was most 
 carefully searched ; the party shouted in concert, and 
 fired revolvers, and blew a fog-horn ; and every spot to 
 which an injured man could by any possibility have 
 crawled was thoroughly examined ; but all in vain. So 
 far as could be ascertained, the disaster had been com- 
 plete ; and, if there were any survivors, they had, it was 
 soon quite certain, quitted the island. But it was very 
 unlikely that any soul could have escaped. The position 
 of the ship showed how fearfully sudden must have been 
 the accident, and rendered it practically out of the 
 question that any boat could have been lowered in the 
 lagoon. 
 
 By means of the floating vegetation and wreckage 
 several of the Lusatians, including the Emperor, climbed 
 on to the slippery bottom of the ship, which lay not 
 more than forty or fifty feet from the nearest rocks, and 
 looked through the gaping rents of her hull into her 
 hold. Into some of these, moreover, they lowered a 
 lantern ; but they found nothing save darkness, water, 
 and inextricable confusion. The boilers and machinery 
 
HOME 213 
 
 had evidently dropped out of the ship, perhaps scalding 
 to death some who could not have escaped the scarcely 
 less fearful fate of suffocation or drowning a few minutes 
 later. 
 
 The whole day and the following night were spent 
 upon Ducie Island ; and early on the morning of 
 February 5th the castaways, perfectly satisfied that 
 there was no prospect of finding on the isolated spot a 
 single survivor, put to sea again in lovely weather, and, 
 still with the staunch breeze from the eastward, headed 
 for Pitcairn Island, about four hundred miles to the 
 south-west-by-west. But they never reached the famous 
 hiding-place of the Bounty mutineers of . 1789. On the 
 next day a ship was sighted, coming up quickly under 
 steam from the south-east; and by noon on February 
 6th the little party, not much the worse for its long 
 voyage and for its exposure, was taken on board H.M.S. 
 Theseus, the officers of which, with Lieutenant Dicker in 
 a suit of plain clothes that did not fit him, received them 
 very respectfully and cordially at the gangway. 
 
 There was little danger of the Emperor being recog- 
 nised, for he wore a nine days' beard ; all signs of his 
 rank had been removed from his uniform, and his 
 clothes were as torn and beggarly as those of Hengler 
 himself ; for the hard work in the hurricane and in the 
 thickets of Ducie Island had left its mark upon them. 
 
 The Emperor, even before he was introduced by the 
 Field-Marshal as Baron von Dalhoff, managed to slip 
 aside and say a word or two of necessary explanation 
 to Dicker. In his new capacity he was, instead of the 
 
214 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 head of the party, its lowest member ; yet, thanks to 
 the hospitality of the British officers, every one of whom 
 was most anxious to surrender his cabin, his Majesty 
 obtained very comfortable accommodation, and at least 
 some measure of privacy. As for the Field-Marshal 
 and the Admiral, the captain insisted upon their taking 
 his sleeping and his spare cabin, and declared that he 
 should fare exceedingly well if he were allowed, so long 
 as they favoured him with their company, to curl himself 
 up on the sofa in the fore-cabin. 
 
 The Theseus had been specially commissioned and 
 despatched to look for the Philistia ; and, having heard 
 the story of the castaways, her gallant captain declared 
 that nothing else detained him, and that he would at 
 once return to Europe, calling on his way, however, at 
 Valparaiso, to leave despatches for the Eear-Admiral on 
 the Pacific station, and to fill up with coal. He would 
 have conveyed the party all the way home, and was, 
 indeed, anxious to do so, but at Valparaiso the Lusatian 
 cruiser Chriemhild, another old friend of the kidnapped 
 ones, was fallen in with, and the transfer to her less 
 capacious, but not less hospitable, quarters was made as 
 a matter of course. At Valparaiso there were European 
 newspapers of as late as New Year's Day, and the 
 Emperor had the immense satisfaction of learning that 
 up to that time nothing of vital importance had hap- 
 pened to imperil the success of his plans, and that the 
 empire was still enjoying peace and prosperity. 
 
 Nothing of vital importance had happened. Von 
 Dalhoff, that is, was still unsuspectedly holding the 
 
HOME 215 
 
 reins of government and guiding the destinies of the 
 State. 
 
 But an alarming accident had, nevertheless, occurred. 
 A Sandburg telegram, dated Christmas Day, and de- 
 spatched to the New York Tribune, gave the following 
 particulars of it : 
 
 ' It is with regret that I inform you that to-day a 
 dastardly attempt, which, but for the heroic devotion 
 of his sister, the Princess Nannette, would probably 
 have been fatal, was made upon the life of the Emperor. 
 It was known that his Majesty would attend service this 
 morning in the church of Sanct Moritz, a new and mag- 
 nificent structure, which owes its completion as much 
 to the example as to the liberality of the Princess ; and 
 long before the appointed hour crowds of people had 
 assembled in the streets leading from the royal palace 
 to the building. At twenty minutes past eleven the 
 imperial carriage, an open victoria, in which sat the 
 Emperor, in the full uniform of the Kegiment of Guards, 
 with the Princess on his left, drove at a moderately rapid 
 pace along the Aepfel Allee, and turned sharp to the left 
 into the somewhat narrower Eosine Strasse, in which the 
 church stands. Exactly at the corner, and clinging to 
 the lamp-post there, to save himself from being pushed 
 into the street by the people behind him, was a man, 
 respectably dressed, who carried his right hand thrust 
 between the buttons of his overcoat. As the carriage 
 swerved this man darted forward, and, drawing a 
 revolver from his breast, presented it, across the face 
 of the Princess, at the Emperor. The Princess, with 
 
216 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 remarkable presence of mind, knocked the weapon up 
 as the man fired ; but, drawing back a foot or two, 
 he fired a second time, and the bullet, traversing the 
 muscles of the Princess's right arm a few inches above 
 the elbow, struck his Majesty on the left shoulder. The 
 Emperor, who at the moment had been engaged in 
 returning the salutations of the people on his right, had 
 not seen the progress of the attack, and the shock of 
 his wound must have been almost his first intimation 
 that anything of the kind had been attempted, for the 
 whole affair occupied less than five seconds. That the 
 Princess had been hit was at once evident; that the 
 Emperor, who had been more seriously injured, had 
 also been struck was not publicly known until two hours 
 later. His Majesty, who displayed complete coolness, 
 and who scarcely appeared to be even surprised, took 
 the Princess, who had fainted, at once into his arms, 
 and, ordering the carriage to be turned round, bid the 
 coachman drive slowly back to the royal palace. In 
 the meantime Dr. von Mittag, chief of the Medical 
 Department of the army, who was in attendance on 
 horseback, dismounted, and, entering the carriage, was 
 presently able to give the Emperor a reassuring account 
 of the Princess's condition, which is in nowise serious. 
 The wound is confined to the muscular tissues, and 
 although the dress and even the skin beneath it were 
 scorched and blackened by the powder, there is every 
 reason to believe that there will be no worse permanent 
 results than two insignificant cicatrices and a little 
 discoloration. On the way back to the palace the 
 
HOME 217 
 
 Emperor's solicitude for the Princess was touching and 
 almost painful to witness. It could be seen by all that 
 when, more than once, his Majesty kissed his sister's 
 brow, or pressed her hand, his eyes filled with tears. 
 His own sufferings, which must have been considerable 
 — for the Princess was actually resting against his 
 wound for some time — were studiously concealed ; for 
 his Majesty, as he leapt with his usual activity from 
 the carriage, flung a rug from the seat behind him over 
 his left shoulder, and then assisted in the removal of 
 the Princess to the palace. I waited in the neighbour- 
 hood to catch Dr. von Mittag on his departure ; and 
 when, at a little after one o'clock, he came out, he 
 greatly astonished me by saying, in reply to my inquiries 
 about the Princess : " Oh, her Eoyal Highness is all 
 right. It is the Emperor who has been badly hurt. 
 Here is the announcement which I am empowered to 
 communicate to the press." He showed me a paper, 
 in the Emperor's own handwriting, which, after re- 
 counting the substance of what I have already cabled 
 to you, added, as if by way of afterthought : " His 
 Majesty mentions with sorrow that the magnificent and 
 heroic devotion of his dear sister, the Princess Nannette, 
 though doubtless, under the blessing of heaven, it saved 
 his life, was not entirely successful in saving him from all 
 the consequences of the misguided assailant's temerity. 
 He has received a wound which, though it will not, he 
 trusts, incapacitate him, even for a day, for the conduct 
 of public business, must, he fears, confine him to his 
 apartments for about a week. Her Eoyal Highness the 
 
2i8 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 Princess, he is thankful to say, has suffered more 
 severely from the shock than from the wound itself. 
 The Emperor bears the most enthusiastic testimony to 
 the Princess's courage, which he is proud to reflect was 
 shown by a member of the royal house, and by one who 
 is almost as dear to all Lusatians as to himself." I 
 asked the doctor for further particulars of the Emperor's 
 injury, but he laughed, and said : "I may only tell you 
 that his Majesty makes very little of it. I dare say that 
 he will be on horseback in a week. He is very deter- 
 mined, and he has a splendid constitution." He would 
 say nothing more; but I am given to understand by 
 others who may know that the surgeons experienced 
 difficulty in extracting the ball and in stopping the 
 bleeding, and that, at least for a short time, the 
 Emperor's life was in imminent danger. All sorts of 
 rumours are, however, prevalent, and the exact facts 
 are by no means certain. The wound only is indis- 
 putable. His Majesty, nevertheless, insisted on writing 
 the announcement from which I have quoted. Later 
 news reports that he is doing well, and is free from 
 fever. The Princess, I am informed, regained conscious- 
 ness soon after having been carried into the palace, and 
 at once asked for her imperial brother ; nor, in spite of 
 the pain of her own wound, would she consent to leave 
 his side this afternoon until he had fallen asleep. The 
 would-be assassin has been recognised as a Russian 
 anarchist agitator, who, as a reason for his action, ex- 
 pressed as an opinion that if the Emperor were removed, 
 war with Russia would follow, and his fellow-countrymen 
 
HOME 219 
 
 would then, in the confusion, have an opportunity of 
 bringing about a revolution. The man narrowly escaped 
 being torn to pieces by the crowd, and the police and 
 soldiers had to struggle with the mob in order to rescue 
 him. It is characteristic of the Emperor that, as soon 
 as he had seen the Princess safely deposited in the 
 palace, he inquired for the assassin, and expressed a 
 hope that he had not been hurt. The affair has caused 
 an extraordinary amount of indignation, both the 
 Emperor and the Princess being as popular as it is 
 possible for them to be, even in this loyal and enthu- 
 siastic fatherland ; and if the prison in which the man 
 is confined were not strongly guarded, I believe, in spite 
 of the legal and orderly instincts of the Lusatians, that 
 he would be lynched.' 
 
 The anxiety with which the Emperor searched all 
 papers of a later date may be better imagined than 
 described. There were, of course, daily reports of the 
 health both of Von Dalhoff and of the Princess Nannette ; 
 but, while those concerning the latter were in the 
 highest degree satisfactory, those concerning the former 
 left much to be desired, and the latest of them neither 
 announced that he had left his apartments, nor suggested 
 that he was likely to do so in the immediate future. 
 ' His Imperial Majesty,' said one paper, ■ has not ceased 
 since the day of his wound to transact official business ; 
 but he is confined to a couch, and in that position 
 he receives the ministers and gives audience. The 
 Princess, whose arm is healing rapidly, is continually 
 with the Emperor. Daily inquiries as to his Majesty's 
 
220 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 progress are made by all the crowned heads of Europe, 
 and by nearly all the princes and princesses of the 
 Empire, including the Princess Griselda of Stormarn, 
 who, upon the news of the attempted assassination 
 becoming known, telegraphed her wish to be permitted 
 to assist in the nursing of the illustrious patient. To 
 this womanly request, however, the Princess Nannette, 
 fearing no doubt that an interview might be over-trying 
 to the Emperor, felt it her duty to reply that, as there 
 appeared to be no danger, it would be well if the Princess 
 of Stormarn would postpone her visit for a few days. 
 Her Highness, therefore, yesterday went by train to 
 Sandburg, drove to the Palace, and saw his Majesty. 
 The meeting is reported to have been very affecting ; 
 and this, looking to the peculiar circumstances of the 
 case, it may well have been. Her Highness returned in 
 the afternoon to Stormarn.' 
 
 With this news the Emperor had to content himself 
 until his arrival at Rio de Janeiro, where the cruiser was 
 to coal for her passage across the Atlantic. At Eio 
 there were European papers of February 10th. The 
 local journals, which, of course, had telegraphic intel- 
 ligence of a date about twenty days later, contained no 
 details, but merely said that ' the Emperor made very 
 little progress, and was still confined to his apartments.' 
 The European ones, however, had in them passages 
 which, though carefully wrapped up, conveyed very 
 alarming suggestions. The wound, it seemed, could not 
 be induced to heal ; the patient was in consequence 
 greatly weakened, and the surgeons were looking grave. 
 
HOME 
 
 221 
 
 There was loose talk even of the advisability of a 
 
 regency; but this, it was officially announced, would 
 never be contemplated by his Majesty ' so long as he 
 was capable of fulfilling the most necessary duties of his 
 great trust.' 
 
 The Emperor was depressed and anxious. He would 
 have been much more so had he known what Dr. von 
 Mittag, or Von Dalhoff himself, might have told him. 
 But he was young and sanguine, and soon hope was 
 once more strong in him. 'In twenty days,' he thought 
 to himself, ' I shall be home once more. In twenty days 
 Yon Dalhoff will no doubt be quite well again. Of 
 course he will recover; he must recover; young and 
 strong fellows like us do not die so easily at five-and- 
 twenty. Besides, had he been going to die, he would 
 not have survived for all these weeks.' 
 
 And as he thought of Von Dalhoff his heart grew 
 warm. 
 
 ' How shall I ever repay his courage and his devotion ?' 
 he asked himself. ' What good enough office can I make 
 for him ? What honours can I shower upon him ?' 
 
 Then to the Emperor's mind came the scene of months 
 before, when Von Dalhoff had kissed the Princess 
 Nannette and called her ' little one ' ; and the picture of 
 the sorely wounded officer holding the Princess to his 
 heart, and, forgetful of his own injury, unmanned by 
 her trifling hurt. The Emperor drew a deep long breath. 
 
 ' I understand,' he murmured to himself — 'I am sure I 
 understand. Why did I not think of that before ? Do 
 I not love, too? Have I yet learnt nothing ?' 
 
222 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 This new conclusion rendered him again uneasy. He 
 was not prepared to find the slightest fault with Von 
 Dalhoff, should he have fallen in love with the Princess. 
 It was a proper and natural tribute to her beauty and 
 accomplishments, and the Emperor felt certain that the 
 innate loyalty of Von Dalhoff would cause him to sternly 
 repress any declaration to the Princess of his passion for 
 her. But the prospect that the Princess on her side 
 might have fallen in love with Von Dalhoff was much 
 more perturbing to the Emperor. He had planned a 
 brilliant future for her. He hoped to see her, too, 
 wearing an imperial crown. If she had given her heart 
 to Von Dalhoff — a noble fellow truly, but a mere captain 
 of infantry — what a collapse ! The Emperor, who was 
 almost as jealous of his sister as he might have been of 
 his betrothed wife, bit his lips. 
 
 ' But, after all, it was my fault,' he at last honestly 
 admitted to himself. * They did not seek the danger, I 
 put them into it ; and I ought to have foreseen the 
 natural consequences. I, and I alone, am to blame ; and 
 it is for me to make the best of it, if what I suspect have 
 happened.' 
 
 Those last twenty days of his absence from home 
 proved to be the most trying of all. The ChriemhiLl did 
 not steam fast enough for his impatience. She would 
 not have done so had she steamed fifty knots an hour. 
 He wanted to see Dalhoff, to grasp his hand, to find him 
 well, to reward him, if he could, in some fitting way ; he 
 wanted to see his sister, and to thank her for her 
 devotion and bravery ; and he wanted to make an end of 
 
HOME 223 
 
 the comedy with the Princess of Stormarn, and to carry 
 her to his home. But he wanted also to be at work 
 again in his own sphere, to resume his power, to feel 
 that the levers of the mighty machinery of empire were 
 once more under his hands. Of old the duties of his 
 position had seemed to be almost too much for him ; he 
 now longed for the most trivial of them. Each had 
 become too precious to be ever again shirked ; and in his 
 sincere Lusatian conviction that, as Emperor, he was 
 ordained of God, he ceased during that homeward voyage 
 to believe that the trust which Von Dalhoff, from motives 
 of loyalty to a man, had freely sacrificed himself to fulfil, 
 could be, in even its smallest details, unworthy of the 
 attention of one who had been specially chosen by 
 heaven for the post. 
 
 The Chriemhild, having plenty of coal, did not, like 
 the majority of home-coming Lusatian warships, call in 
 at one of the ports on the English south coast, but 
 steamed direct to Friedenhaven ; and early in the 
 morning of April 5th dropped anchor in the gulf whence 
 the Emperor had been kidnapped nearly six months 
 earlier. 
 
 It was a raw gray dawn. A brisk north-easter was 
 blowing, and bringing with it now and then occasional 
 squalls of sleet, which kept the decks wet, and made the 
 men look forlorn and miserable as they splashed about 
 barefooted in their glistening oilskins. On a rainy day 
 even the smartest man-of-war assumes a wretched and 
 bedraggled appearance. 
 
 Yet the Emperor Carl, when, he came up from his 
 
224 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 cabin and gazed about him into the mist, through which 
 
 familiar landmarks loomed, was not conscious of any 
 
 feeling of depression, but rather of one of extreme 
 
 exhilaration. The air, cold and damp though it was, 
 
 seemed to him to be far preferable to any air that he had 
 
 breathed amid the seagirt islands of the South Seas ; and 
 
 the bitter spray, that splashed in his face and hung in 
 
 big drops upon his beard, tasted to him sweeter than 
 
 nectar, for at last he was again breathing his own air, 
 
 and being buffeted by the sleet of his own dear Lusatia. 
 
 The captain of the cruiser, who was at his post on the 
 
 f. 
 bridge, had already ordered a boat to be called away, in 
 
 order that he might go ashore and report himself to the 
 
 Port-Admiral. Admiral Spott decided to accompany 
 
 him ; the Field-Marshal also asked permission to be of 
 
 the party, and requested to be allowed to take the Baron 
 
 von Dalhoff along with him. The request was preferred 
 
 as a matter of form, and granted as a matter of course ; 
 
 and at a quarter past six the steam-pinnace left the ship, 
 
 and went off, puffing and tumbling, through the broken 
 
 water to the landing-stage a mile away. 
 
 Friedenhaven was awake, but it had scarcely rubbed 
 
 the sleepiness out of its eyes. A few wet fishermen were 
 
 busy with their boats and nets : a few wet workmen were 
 
 on their way to factory or workshop ; a few wet loafers, 
 
 hands in pockets, smoked and shivered under the lee of 
 
 the watch-house on the quay : and a wet policeman stood 
 
 mechanically saluting on the stage as the pinnace drew 
 
 alongside, and was slowly hauled to the slippery steps 
 
 by means of a couple of boat-hooks. Often had the 
 
HOME 225 
 
 Emperor landed there in the gay sunshine to the sound 
 of music and amid the glitter of bright arms and 
 brilliant uniforms ; but never before had he landed there 
 with the same sense of thankful elation as on that 
 dismal and cheerless April morning. The old Field- 
 Marshal watched him, and noted the difficulty with which 
 his Majesty repressed his feelings. 
 
 ' Come, Von Dalhoff,' he said, as soon as all the party 
 were on shore, ' we will go and ask the General to give 
 us some breakfast. If we all go to the Admiral's we 
 shall overwhelm him ;' and he saluted the naval officers, 
 and, with the Emperor, left them. 
 
 ' A hundred thanks !' exclaimed his Majesty, when the 
 two found themselves alone. ' I could not keep up the 
 comedy for long here. If I had gone to the Admiral's 
 I am sure I should have betrayed myself. Besides, I 
 mustn't waste time. I want to hear the news, and to 
 know how our poor Von Dalhoff is. That is the first 
 thing. The next is to get to Sandburg as soon as possible. 
 It is like a dream, my dear Stark.' 
 
 ' Your Majesty must also get some clothes in which to 
 travel,' said the Field-Marshal, with a smile. ' They 
 will scarcely admit you to your own Palace as you are ; 
 but with your gracious permission I can arrange all 
 that. My son is here in garrison, and he is much of 
 your Majesty's figure.' 
 
 ' As you will, my dear Field-Marshal ; but let us not 
 lose time. I am as impatient as a child to go home for 
 his holidays.' 
 
 They were soon at the General's quarters. The 
 
 15 
 
226 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 sentries, recognising the Count but not the Emperor, 
 saluted ; the guard was called out ; the General, who 
 had already begun his day's work, came forward in 
 delighted astonishment to welcome and put himself at 
 the disposal of his beloved chief ; the Emperor for the 
 last time was introduced as Von Dalhoff; and in less 
 than an hour the party, reinforced by Major Stark, the 
 Field-Marshal's son, and by the General's hospitable 
 wife, was breakfasting in the homely Lusatian fashion, 
 and listening, open-mouthed, to the old soldier's story — 
 deprived, however, of its most astounding feature — of the 
 voyage and end of the Plrilistia. 
 
 But in the interval the Emperor had managed to learn 
 news about those in whose welfare he was chiefly 
 interested. The Princess Nannette, they told him, had 
 completely recovered, and was in no way the worse for 
 her wound ; but the Emperor — and when they spoke of 
 the Emperor they looked gloomy and shook their 
 heads — the Emperor did not seem to improve. The 
 doctors did not know what to make of his condition. 
 They could not get his wound to heal. His Majesty 
 was growing weaker. It was a sad business for 
 Lusatia. 
 
 Major Stark had an extensive wardrobe, and he 
 gladly put the whole of it at the disposal of his father's 
 companion in misfortune. The result was that the 
 Emperor, in black frock coat and silk hat, looking in all 
 respects like a private gentleman, was able to take the 
 8.55 train from Friedenhaven for Sandburg. Ostensibly 
 he carried despatches from the Field-Marshal to the 
 
HOME 227 
 
 War Minister. It -was an irregular thing, of course, to 
 send despatches by an officer in plain clothes ; but 
 officers are not kidnapped every day and held in bondage 
 until their uniforms are worn out ; and naturally Von 
 Dalhoff would find uniform of his own in Sandburg, and 
 would deliver the despatches in due order. 
 
 It is a long way from Friedenhaven to Sandburg, and 
 the anxious traveller did not reach the Lusatian capital 
 until nearly five o'clock in the afternoon. He had no 
 baggage ; the weather was fine, and the humour seized 
 him, in spite of his anxiety, to walk to the Palace 
 instead of driving thither ; for there is a certain pleasure 
 to be derived from the brief postponement of any great 
 happiness, so long as that happiness is assured and can 
 be enjoyed at will. 
 
 As he walked rapidly, a newsboy offered him an 
 evening paper, and, as he held it, murmured in his 
 Sandburg patois, ' Critical condition of the Emperor, 
 gracious gentleman !' 
 
 The Emperor stopped and unfolded the sheet. On 
 the 'first page were the words : 'His Imperial Majesty, 
 who passed a bad night, is this morning much weaker. 
 The physicians are unable to conceal that they regard 
 his Majesty's condition with uneasiness. Professor 
 Doctor von Billingshausen, the distinguished military 
 specialist, has been summoned by telegraph from 
 Friedenhaven, and is expected to arrive at five o'clock. 
 The neighbourhood of the Imperial Palace is surrounded 
 by a loyal and anxious crowd, the stillness and sad 
 demeanour of which afford remarkable testimony of the 
 
228 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 depth of the popular feeling. The Princess Nannette 
 does not quit the Emperor's side.' 
 
 The Emperor gave up his intention of walking and 
 sprang into a cab, directing the driver to take him to a 
 sicle-door of the Palace of which he preserved the key. 
 To reach this side-door the front of the great building 
 had first to be passed. The broad square before it was a 
 silent sea of heads. Above, on the main flagstaff, the 
 Imperial Lusatian standard blew out against the sky. So 
 long as that still flew, there was life and there was hope. 
 
 About the side-door the crowd was thin and easily 
 traversed. No one cared to remain for long in a place 
 whence he could not see the standard. The sentries 
 took the Emperor to be the Baron von Dalhoff. The 
 people probably took him to be a surgeon, until he pulled 
 out his key and hastily admitted himself. Then they 
 wondered. 
 
 Inside the palace, the Emperor hurried at once to the 
 apartments where he knew that he should find those 
 whom he most wanted to see. He passed an old servant 
 who, saluting, whispered with tears in his voice : ' Gently, 
 Herr Baron, for the love of Heaven ! We move on tip- 
 toe ! His Majesty is dying !' But the Emperor, though 
 he slackened his pace somewhat, did not move on tip-toe. 
 He went on, opened a door, and strode in among a little 
 crowd of doctors, who, in the room next to that in which 
 the sufferer was lying, were quietly discussing the case. 
 Professor von Billingshausen, who had driven all the 
 way from the station, had just arrived, and was taking 
 off his coat. 
 
HOME 229 
 
 ' The worst of it is,' a little bullet-headed surgeon of 
 European reputation was saying as the door opened, ' we 
 cannot induce his Majesty to let us make a proper 
 examination of the wound. Nor will her Eoyal High- 
 ness, the Princess, be persuaded to consent to our 
 putting the patient under an anaesthetic and then 
 making a proper examination in spite of his Majesty's 
 incomprehensible and most regrettable determination.' 
 
 'Hush!' said another doctor, as he eyed the new- 
 comer with some suspicion. 
 
 ' It is the Baron von Dalhoff,' said a third, ' his 
 Majesty's secretary. So you have come back safely, 
 Herr Baron, from your kidnappers.' 
 
 ' Never mind me,' said the Emperor, much agitated. 
 'I must see the Princess immediately, on the most 
 vitally important business. Will one of you gentlemen 
 have the goodness to bring her Boyal Highness from 
 the sick-room? I will not detain her for long. The 
 business is confidential ; I will therefore await her Eoyal 
 Highness in the study. Merely be so kind as to say 
 that I am there ; it will be sufficient.' 
 
 And he went alone to the empty study, and stood 
 watching the door by which his sister must enter. 
 
 She came in almost immediately, lovelier, if possible, 
 than ever, but pale and in tears, and, running forward, 
 flung herself with absolute abandonment upon her 
 brother's neck. 
 
 ' Oh, Carl ! my Carl !' she sobbed ; ' pray God that 
 you are not too late ! He has been so loyal and noble. 
 He chose to die rather than betray you. He would not 
 
230 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 let them see the wound, because — because — you know 
 what is marked upon his shoulder, and the wound is 
 close to the words. Tell him he must let them see it. 
 Come, Carl ! If he should die ! Think of what he has 
 suffered !' 
 
 Tears came into the Emperor's eyes also. He gazed 
 down at his sister's sad face, and kissed it again and 
 again. 
 
 'Pray God that I am not too late, Nan !' he ejaculated 
 fervently. ' Dare I see him ?' 
 
 ' He longs for nothing else,' she replied. ' We heard 
 this morning of your return. It seems as if he had 
 been holding up only until the news should arrive ; ever 
 since he has been much worse. Come to him.' 
 
 The Emperor and his sister passed through the room 
 in which the doctors were still assembled, and gently 
 entered the one beyond. The chamber was partially 
 darkened. White almost as the linen amid which he 
 lay was Von Dalhoff. His eyes glittered feverishly in the 
 semi-gloom. The Emperor approached him, and, bend- 
 ing over him, kissed his brow affectionately. 
 
 'Your trust is fulfilled, my dear friend,' he said. 
 ' You must now let the surgeons have their way, for our 
 sakes.' 
 
 The sick man attempted to raise himself. 
 
 ' Heaven be thanked, sire ' he began ; but he fell 
 
 back slowly, and it was evident that he had fainted. 
 
 ' Quick, Nan ! — the surgeons !' said the Emperor. 
 ' Tell them that he consents.' 
 
 The Princess stepped to the door and threw it open. 
 
HOME 231 
 
 ' He has fainted,' she said, in a tremulous voice ; ' but 
 he has consented, and I consent. I pray you, gentlemen, 
 to lose no time in examining the wound.' 
 
 Professor von Billingshausen and the bullet-headed 
 gentleman entered, bowing, and, while the Emperor and 
 his sister withdrew to the window, brought the patient 
 to himself again, and then began their operations, 
 having first drawn up the blinds and admitted the full 
 light of the afternoon sun. They were too much engaged 
 to notice that, while they worked about the bed, the 
 Princess held the hand of the supposed secretary, and 
 that, whenever the sufferer emitted the slightest sound, 
 the supposed secretary drew the Princess closer to him 
 and kissed her forehead, and whispered some consoling 
 or hopeful word. But they cannot fail to have remarked 
 the curious fact that close to the wound upon their 
 patient's shoulder were tattooed the apparently incon- 
 gruous words, 'I am Wilhelm, Baron von Dalhoff.' 
 They did not, however, comment upon it. The bullet- 
 headed man merely grunted. His only words, muttered 
 five minutes later, were : ' The bullet at last ; and, no 
 wonder, there's a precious fine abscess too !' 
 
 The Princess watched the work at the bed as if it 
 dazed her. She saw an attendant carrying water and 
 lint ; she saw the bright instruments ; she saw the 
 bullet-headed man with his cuffs turned back ; but 
 nothing save Von Dalhoff's suppressed groans made her 
 shrink or shudder. 
 
 The ordeal was over in a quarter of an hour. The 
 retention within the wound of the bullet, which had 
 
232 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 struck and partially flattened itself against the bone of 
 the upper arm and had slightly splintered it, had set up 
 an immense amount of inflammatory action, had caused 
 a perpetual drain upon the patient's strength, and had 
 made of an injury which at first had been severe but not 
 dangerous, an imminent peril to life. 
 
 Weaker than ever after the excitement and pain, Yon 
 Dalhoff subsided into a state not far removed from insen- 
 sibility ; and the Princess, who for days had scarcely left 
 the patient's side, was persuaded by her brother to take 
 a little much-needed rest, while he, seated at his desk and 
 still confused by the strangeness and tragedy of events, 
 strove to draw up the state-paper which should proclaim 
 the true history of the past half-year, and justify and 
 
 do honour to the devotion of his sister and of her 
 
 yes, of her lover ; for it was already quite evident 
 that if Von Dalhoff were not indeed Nannette's lover, 
 Nannette's future was not destined to be a happy 
 one. She had said nothing definite, and Von Dalhoff 
 himself had said nothing at all ; but the Emperor knew 
 enough about his sister to be fully aware that, save for 
 the sufferings of a lover, Nannette could not have 
 trembled and shuddered exactly as she had trembled 
 and shuddered in Von Dalhoff' s room. She would have 
 shown, perhaps, equal sympathy ; but she would have 
 shown less apprehension. 
 
 The Emperor began half a dozen drafts, and, dis- 
 satisfied, tore them up ; but at length he hit upon an 
 idea that pleased him, and, having once grasped it, wrote 
 rapidly, and with the facility of a practised man of 
 
HOME 233 
 
 letters. When he had finished it, he re-read it, making 
 a few insignificant corrections and alterations as he did 
 so ; and then, lying back in his chair for a moment, 
 and still looking at the paper, he fell into a brief 
 reverie. 
 
 ' How will the people take it ?' he wondered. ' How 
 will Europe take it? What a valuable thing it would be 
 to Hoodlum if he were here and I let him take a copy 
 of it ! Does it say enough about Von DalhofFs great 
 services ?' 
 
 He made yet another alteration or two, and, having 
 folded the paper and placed it in his pocket, went, still 
 as Von Dalhoff, to Von DalhofFs apartments and shaved 
 off his beard, replacing it with one of the beards which 
 Von Dalhoff had worn in the days prior to the kid- 
 napping. 
 
 It was by this time dusk, and the Palace lamps were 
 being lighted. He crossed the corridor to the sick man's 
 room and, entering quietly, dismissed the nurse for a 
 season and sat down by the bed. 
 
 Von Dalhoff still lay semi-conscious and with his eyes 
 closed, and the Eniperor, as he watched him, was able 
 to realize how terribly he had suffered. The face, the 
 < whole form, was shrunken ; the pallid skin was almost 
 transparent ; the hand of the uninjured right arm was 
 thin and fragile-looking, and the wrist, once so firm and 
 strong, was mere bone and skin. The Emperor took the 
 Baron's hand. 
 
 ' Is that you, little one ?' murmured Von Dalhoff. 
 
 ' It is I — the Emperor,' answered the other. 
 
234 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 The Baron's eyes opened, and a slight blush seemed 
 to pass across his face. 
 
 'Pardon, sire,' he said. 'That is all over. I have 
 done my duty. Oh, sire, I thank you ! It has been 
 six months of heaven. She is so good — she is so 
 good !' 
 
 ' Why is it all over ?' asked the Emperor gently. 
 
 He saw that the patient was not quite master of his 
 senses, yet he wished to know more. 
 
 ' I have done my duty,' continued the Baron, as if 
 he barely heard. ■ Now I shall go far, and forget. You 
 shall not know, sire, that I have dared to love her. She 
 shall not know — she shall not be unhappy.' 
 
 ' But she will be very unhappy, I suspect, if she does 
 not know,' said the Emperor. 'Why do you not tell 
 her?' 
 
 ' I shall not betray my trust,' returned Von Dalhoff, 
 still as if he were talking to himself. 'I have once 
 kissed her. It was more than I deserved. But that 
 was no betrayal, sire ; his Majesty stood by and saw. 
 What would his Majesty say, sire, if I, a simple captain, 
 should dare — should dare — to talk of love to her Boyal 
 Highness? Yet for six months I have called her " little 
 one," and have seen her every day; and when she was 
 hurt she lay on my breast, and when I was hurt she 
 nursed me; and I have seen her weep when she did 
 not know that I was awake.' 
 
 ' You should tell her the truth,' said the Emperor. 
 
 ' You do not know how completely he has trusted me, 
 sire; I could not do his Majesty such an injury.' 
 
HOME 235 
 
 The Emperor relinquished the Baron's hand, and, 
 rising, left the room, and went noiselessly to the room 
 in which, still dressed, the Princess was sleeping. Half 
 regretfully he awoke her. 
 
 ' Oh, Carl, is he worse ?' she asked. 
 
 ' No, Nan — no worse ; and I hope that he will soon 
 be better. But I want you to come with me to him ; 
 you may be able to do him some good. He is anxious, 
 I think, and uneasy. He seems to like you to be with 
 him.' 
 
 The Princess was on her feet in an instant. 
 
 'Of course I will go,' she said. 'And, indeed, I am 
 quite refreshed now ; I must have slept for ages.' 
 
 'You have been lying down for about two hours,' 
 returned the Emperor, with a smile, ' and possibly you 
 have "slept for half that time.' 
 
 ' But indeed, Carl, I am quite refreshed,' she in- 
 sisted. 
 
 ' Then come,' he said, as he led the way to Von 
 Dalhoffs room. 
 
 When they had reached it, he motioned his sister 
 to a chair in a corner, and, resuming his place at the 
 bedside, again took the Baron's hand. Presently the 
 sick man spoke. 
 
 'I hope that his Majesty will be satisfied when he 
 returns,' he said, still wandering a little. 'They say 
 that he reached Friedenhaven this morning. No one 
 would think now that I resemble his Majesty. Besides, 
 his Majesty has grown a beard. I am done with alto- 
 gether ; I have had my day.' 
 
236 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 'Why have you had your day?' asked the Emperor, 
 who hoped that the conversation might take the same 
 course as before. 
 
 ' I shall see her no more,' said Von Dalhoff. 
 
 ' See whom no more ?' 
 
 ' Ah ! you do not know about the Princess. No one 
 knows ; not even the Princess herself. But you will not 
 tell her that I love her.' 
 
 The Princess Nannette came across from her distant 
 chair, and kneeling at the bedside, took Yon Dalhoff s 
 hand from the Emperor and kissed it and wept over it, 
 while his Majesty, who had also risen, went to the 
 window. Presently she stole up behind him and threw 
 her arms about his neck. 
 
 ' Forgive me, Carl,' she whispered, and her whole body 
 trembled with her emotion. ' Do not be angry. But if he 
 should get well, with the blessing of God, and should say 
 all that again, I could never marry any other man, even 
 to please you, Carl, my brother, my Emperor.' 
 
 The Emperor did not reply, but took her hand and led 
 her again to the bedside. 
 
 'Von Dalhoff,' he exclaimed in a louder voice than he 
 had previously used in the sick-room : and at the same 
 time he pulled off his beard and flung it away. 
 
 The sick man opened his eyes. 
 
 ' Sire,' he began. It was clear that he knew now 
 where he was and who was addressing him. 
 
 1 Hush,' said the Emperor ; ' do not fatigue yourself, 
 my dear fellow. All is well. I am safely back. Nan- 
 nette is here, and will not leave you. We will both take 
 
HOME 237 
 
 care of you and make you sound and strong again. And 
 I have told her what you told me just now, and she is no 
 more angry than I am.' 
 
 ' What did I tell your Majesty ?' asked Von Dalhoff. 
 ' I have been wandering, I dare say.' 
 
 The Emperor took the Princess's hand, raised it to his 
 own lips, and placed it to the Baron's. 
 
 ' You told me,' he said, ' that you loved this ; and I 
 can see that, whether you were wandering or not, you 
 meant it. Now, make haste and get well. For six months 
 you have lived nobly and loyally for her brother. It will 
 be less tedious to live as nobly and as loyally for herself.' 
 
 On the following morning the Emperor's proclamation 
 appeared in the official Gazette, and was flashed word for 
 word all over the world. For a month it was the talk of 
 Europe. There have been many other royal romances 
 since the present century began; there has even been 
 another kidnapping of a ruling prince. But the history 
 of the Emperor's case, and of Von Dalhoff' s devotion and 
 reward, was far more romantic than anything that had 
 ever before been made known, and put all other royal 
 romances into the shade. 
 
 The only people who did not appreciate the story were 
 the Emperor's enemies. If they had but known the 
 truth, they would, they felt, have had a splendid oppor- 
 tunity of making mincemeat of Lusatia. Yet the chance 
 had slipped from them. 
 
 Hoodlum was delighted for two reasons. He was glad 
 that his imperial friend had escaped in safety, and he 
 
238 THE DOUBLE EMPEROR 
 
 was equally glad that his own connection with the 
 episode enabled him to contribute to Scrarjmer's Maga- 
 zine three long articles concerning it. So good an oppor- 
 tunity does not come to every American writer. 
 
 The Princess Griselda of Stormarn was likewise 
 delighted for two reasons. Not only was the comedy 
 which had been played to excuse the postponement of 
 her marriage at an end, but also she had the satisfaction 
 of knowing that, without any interference on her part, 
 her father's great wish was to be gratified. 
 
 The bright summer day which witnessed the marriage 
 of the Emperor Carl saw the Empress Griselda's father 
 restored to his ancient position as reigning Duke of 
 Stormarn. It saw also another marriage, that of the 
 Princess Nannette, ' the Pearl of Ruhland.' The bride- 
 groom was not Wilhelm, Baron von Dalhoff, but 
 Wilhelm, Prince von Dalhoff; and as his Majesty the 
 Emperor was at the moment otherwise engaged, the old 
 Field-Marshal Leonhard, Count Stark, gave away the 
 Princess Nannette, and was the first to kiss her after the 
 ceremony. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 w 
 
 •?# 
 
 H 
 
 A UTHORS AND THEIR 
 
 Works of 
 
 Fiction. 
 
 ss^^^ss 
 
 Selected from the Catalogue of 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company. 
 
 COMPLETE CATALOGUE SENT 
 UPON APPLICATION. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 MARIE CORELLI. 
 
 Barabbas. 
 
 A Dream of the World's Tragedy. 
 i2ino. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " A book which aroused in some quarters more violent hostility 
 than any book of recent years. By most secular critics the au- 
 thoress was accused of bad taste, bad art, and gross blasphemy ; 
 but, in curious contrast, most of the religious papers acknowledged 
 the reverence of treatment and the dignity of conception which 
 characterized the work." — London Athenceum. 
 
 " It is a remarkable story in many ways, bold yet reverent in its 
 handling of the great and solemn facts of the trial, crucifixion, and 
 resurrection of Jesus, striking in its fresh and sympathetic repre- 
 sentations of Judas, Barabbas, and others, uplifting in its tender 
 and beautiful conception of Christ, and brilliant in its descrip- 
 tions. ' ' — Boston Congregationalist. 
 
 Vendetta ; 
 
 Or, The Story of One Forgotten. 
 i2mo. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 "It is a thrilling and irresistibly charming book." — Baltimore 
 American. 
 
 "The story is Italian, the time 1884, and the precise stage of the 
 acts, Naples, during the last visitation of the cholera. A romance, 
 but a romance of reality. No mind of man can imagine incidents 
 so wonderfid, so amazing as those of actual occurrence. While the 
 story is exciting, and must be read through when once begun, it 
 furnishes a vivid and impressive picture of Italian life and morals." 
 — Washington National Republican. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 Captain Charles King, u.s.a. 
 
 Under Fire. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 The Colonel's Daughter. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Marian's Faith. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Captain Blake. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Foes in Ambush. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Kitty's Conquest. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 Starlight Ranch, and Other Stories. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 Laramie; or, The Queen of Bedlam. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 The Deserter, and From the Ranks. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 Two Soldiers, and Dunraven Ranch. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 A Soldier's Secret, and An Army Portia. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 Waring's Peril. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 EDITOR OP 
 
 The Colonel's Christmas Dinner, and Other Stories. 
 
 Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 An Initial Experience, and Other Stories. Cloth, $r.oo. 
 
 "From the lowest soldier to the highest officer, from the servant 
 to the master, there is not a character in any of Captain King's 
 novels that is not wholly in keeping with expressed sentiments. 
 There is not a movement made on the field, not a break from the 
 ranks, not an offence against the military code of discipline, and 
 hardly a heart-beat that escapes his watchfulness. " — Boston Herald. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 JULIEN GORDON. 
 
 "Now and then, to prove to men— perhaps also to prove to 
 themselves — what they can do if they dare and will, one of these 
 gifted women detaches herself from her sisters, enters the arena 
 with men, to fight for the highest prizes, and as the brave Cotz 
 says of Brother Martin, 'shames many a knight.' To this race 
 of conquerors belongs to-day one of the first living writers of 
 novels and romances, Julien Gordon.'" 
 
 FRIED RICH SPIELHAGEN. 
 
 Poppaea. 
 
 A Diplomat's Diary. 
 A Successful Man. 
 Vampires, and Mademoiselle Reseda. 
 
 Two stories in one book. 
 1 2 mo. Cloth, $1.00 per vol. 
 
 "The cleverness and lightness of touch which characterized 
 'A Diplomat's Diary' are not wanting in the later work of the 
 American lady who writes under the pseudonyme of Julien Gordon. 
 In her former story the dialogue is pointed and alert, the characters 
 are clear-cut and distinct, and the descriptions picturesque. As 
 for the main idea of 'A Successful Man,' the intersection of two 
 wholly different strata of American life, — one fast and fashionable, 
 the other domestic and decorous, — it is worked out with much skill 
 and alertness of treatment to its inevitably tragic issue." — N. V. 
 World. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 MY PARIS NOTE=BOOK. 
 
 i2mo. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 "Victor Emanuel, the members of the Come"die Francaise, Er- 
 nest Renan, Paul de Kock, MaeMahon, Thiers, Grevy and his wife, 
 Ferry, Freycinet, Boulanger and Mme. de Bonnemain, Skobeleff, 
 Clemenceau, Gambetta, Brisson, Goblet, Floquet, Cassagnac, surely 
 these are names to conjure with, and it is of these notables that 
 Mr. Vandam tells us at length in his spicy, gossipy style. Verily 
 his note-book is a mine of wealth, and all will hope that he will 
 open it once more and many times." — Cincinnati Tribune. 
 
 "The author of that much-talked-of book, 'An Englishman in 
 Paris, ' has written another, which will create as great an interest 
 as the first. The book is a fund of enjoyment from beginning to 
 end, and any one who takes it up will find himself interested." — 
 Boston Times. 
 
 "This new volume by the author of 'An Englishman in Paris,' 
 is one of the most readable of the books of the year. It abounds 
 in the brightest of sketches, in the most interesting of gossip, in 
 the most vivid of descriptions of the altogether unique Paris under 
 the third republic." — Boston Daily Advertiser. 
 
 "The book, which comes to us from the Lippincotts, is fully as 
 entertaining as its predecessor, and is quite as rich in illustrative 
 anecdotes of eminent men and important events. We are again 
 brought into intimate relations with Louis Napoleon ; we are taken 
 behind the scenes of the Comedie Francaise ; we make the ac- 
 quaintance of Renan, Paul de Kock, Thiers, Jules Grevy, — in a 
 word, the most interesting phases of recent and contemporary 
 French life are exposed to us by one who has known the boulevards 
 for almost forty years, and who has had, besides, the use of certain 
 valuable reminiscences recorded by two maternal granduncles, who 
 lived on terms of intimacy with Napoleon III." — Philadelphia 
 Press. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 HANDLEY CROSS 
 
 SPORTING NOVELS. 
 
 "Jorrocks" Edition. 
 
 Handley Cross ; or, Mr. Jorrock's Hunt. 
 Ask Mamma; or, The Richest Commoner in England. 
 Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds. 
 Sponge's Sporting Tour. 
 Plain or Ringlets? 
 
 Hawbuck Grange; or, The Sporting Adventures of 
 Thomas Scott, Esq. 
 
 In six 8vo volumes, with numerous illustrations, 
 $2.25 per vol. 
 
 "This inimitable series of volumes is absolutely unique, there 
 being nothing approaching to them in all the wide range of mod- 
 ern or ancient literature. Written by Mr. Surtees, a well-known 
 country gentleman, who was passionately devoted to the healthy 
 sport of fox-hunting, and gifted with a keen spirit of manly humor 
 of a Rabelaisian tinge, they abound with incidents redolent of 
 mirth and jollity. The artist, Mr. Leech, was himself also an 
 enthusiast in the sport, and has reflected in his illustrations, with 
 instinctive appreciation, the rollicking abandon of the author's 
 stories. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 JOHN STRANGE WINTER 
 
 (MRS. ARTHUR STANNARD.) 
 
 Every Inch a Soldier. 
 
 i2tno. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. 
 
 "Of the incidents of the work before us, the plot is highly 
 entertaining, and incidentally we meet the Bishop of Blankhamp- 
 ton, whose matrimonial affairs were ably discussed in a book pre- 
 viously written. It is a very pleasant and readable book, and we 
 are glad to see it." — Norristown Herald. 
 
 Aunt Johnnie. 
 
 i2mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00. 
 
 "Mrs. Stannard preserves her freshness and vivacity in a won- 
 derful way. ' Aunt Johnnie' is as bright and amusing a story as 
 any that she has written, and it rattles on from the first chapter to 
 the last with unabated gayety and vigor. The hero and heroine are 
 both charming, and the frisky matron who gives the story its name 
 is a capitally managed character. The novel is exactly suited to 
 the season, and is sure to be very popular." — Charleston News a?id 
 Courier. 
 
 The Other Man's Wife. 
 
 i2mo. Paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $1.00. 
 
 "The hero and heroine have a charm which is really unusual in 
 these hackneyed personages, for they are most attractive and whole- 
 some types. Indeed, wholesomeness may be said to be the most 
 notable characteristic of this author's work. " — N. Y. Telegram. 
 
 Only Human. 
 
 i2mo. Paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $1.00. 
 
 "A bright and interesting story. ... Its pathos and humor are 
 of the same admirable quality that is found in all the other novels 
 by this author." — Boston Gazette. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 MRS. A. L. WISTER. 
 
 Translations from the German, 
 
 $1.00 per volume. 
 
 Countess Erika's Apprenticeship. By Ossip Schubin. 
 "O Thou, My Austria!" By Ossip Schubin. 
 Erlach Court. By Ossip Schubin. 
 The Alpine Fay. By E. Werner. 
 
 The Owl's Nest. By E. Marlitt. 
 ^ Picked Up in the Streets. By H. Schobert. 
 ^ Saint Michael. By E- Werner. 
 
 Violetta. By Ursula Zoge von Manteufel. 
 The Lady with the Rubies. By E- Marlitt. 
 Vain Forebodings. By E. Oswald. 
 A Penniless Girl. By W. Heiniburg. 
 Quicksands. By Adolph Streckfuss. 
 
 Countess Qisela. By E. Marlitt. 
 
 At the Councillor's. By E. Marlitt. 
 
 The Second Wife. By E. Marlitt. 
 
 The Old Mam'selle's Secret. By E. Marlitt 
 Gold Elsie. By E. Marlitt. 
 The Little Moorland Princess. By E. Marlitt. 
 Banned and Blessed. By E. Werner. 
 A Noble Name. By Claire von Glu'mer. 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 MRS. WISTER'S TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Continued. 
 
 From Hand to Hand. By Golo Rairnund. 
 
 Severa. By E. Hartner. 
 
 A New Race. By Golo Raimund. 
 
 The Eichhofs. By Moritz von Reichenbach. 
 
 Castle Hohenwald. By Adolph Streckfuss. 
 
 Margarethe. By E. Juncker. 
 
 Too Rich. By Adolph Streckfuss. 
 
 A Family Feud. By Ludwig Harder. 
 
 The Green Gate. By Ernst Wichert. 
 Only a Girl. By Wilhelmine von Hillern. 
 Why Did He Not Die. By Ad. von Volckhauser. 
 Hulda. By Fanny Lewald. 
 The Bailiff's Maid. By E. Marlitt. 
 In the Schillingscourt. By E. Marlitt. 
 
 "Mrs. A. L. Wister, through her many translations of novels 
 from the German, has established a reputation of the highest order 
 for literary judgment, and for a long time her name upon the title- 
 page of such a translation has been a sufficient guarantee to the 
 lovers of fiction of a pure and elevating character, that the novel 
 would be a cherished home favorite. This faith in Mrs. Wister is 
 fully justified by the fact that among her more than thirty transla- 
 tions that have been published by L,ippincott's there has not been 
 a single disappointment. And to the exquisite judgment of selec- 
 tion is to be added the rare excellence of her translations, which 
 has commanded the admiration of literary and linguistic scholars." 
 — Boston Home Journal. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia 
 
Authors and Their Works. 
 
 AMELIE RIVES 
 
 The Quick or the Dead? 
 
 i2mo. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " To me her novels are of the greatest interest and value : they 
 have suggested new trains of thought ; given me new ideas ; opened 
 up new vistas — in fact, their reading has been not only pleasurable, 
 but profitable." — New York Herald. 
 
 The Witness of the Sun. 
 
 i2mo. Paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $1.00. 
 
 "The wide discussion created by Miss Rives's 'Quick or the 
 Dead?' has caused a great demand for her new work, which, in 
 several respects, is superior to her first novel. The dramatic situ- 
 ations are stronger, the characters are more carefully drawn, and 
 there is less luxuriousness of expression." — Norristown Herald. 
 
 Barbara Dering. 
 
 A Sequel to "The Quick or the Dead?" nmo. Paper, 
 50 cents; cloth, $1.25. 
 
 "Many of the people who objected to the character of her work 
 before will object again ; but, on the other hand, many men and 
 women will be deeply impressed by the new story, will own to 
 themselves, if not to others, that she has spoken the truth, that 
 her characters are true to life ; will agree with her conclusions, and 
 some will thank her for having done a good deed. The book is 
 brilliantly written from the stand-point of a young woman of ob- 
 servation, experience, feeling, and strong convictions, and will 
 'strike home' in the hearts of many readers." — St. Paul Dispatch. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 
 
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