"Burroughs, Edgar Rice - The Mad King" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

"I want you, your majesty," he said.

"Godfrey!" exclaimed Barney. "Did the whole bunch es-
cape?"

"Quick!" growled the man. "Hold up your hands. The
notice made it plain that you would be worth as much dead
as alive, and I have no mind to lose you, so do not tempt
me to kill you."

Barney's hands went up, but not in the way that the
brigand had expected. Instead, one of them seized his
weapon and shoved it aside, while with the other Custer
planted a blow between his eyes and sent him reeling back-
ward. The two men closed, fighting for possession of the gun.
In the scrimmage it was exploded, but a moment later the
American succeeded in wresting it from his adversary and
hurled it into the ravine.

Striking at one another, the two surged backward and
forward at the very edge of the hill, each searching for the
other's throat. The girl stood by, watching the battle with
wide, frightened eyes. If she could only do something to
aid the king!

She saw a loose stone lying at a little distance from the
fighters and hastened to procure it. If she could strike the
brigand a single good blow on the side of the head, Leopold
might easily overpower him. When she had gathered up the
rock and turned back toward the two she saw that the man
she thought to be the king was not much in the way of need-
ing outside assistance. She could not but marvel at the
strength and dexterity of this poor fellow who had spent
almost half his life penned within the four walls of a prison.
It must be, she thought, the superhuman strength with
which maniacs are always credited.

Nevertheless, she hurried toward them with her weapon;
but just before she reached them the brigand made a last
mad effort to free himself from the fingers that had found
his throat. He lunged backward, dragging the other with
him. His foot struck upon the root of a tree, and together
the two toppled over into the ravine.

As the girl hastened toward the spot where the two had
disappeared, she was startled to see three troopers of the pal-
ace cavalry headed by an officer break through the trees at a
short distance from where the battle had waged. The four
men ran rapidly toward her.