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

of the man whose head rested in her lap.

"Leopold!" she whispered. "Leopold, come back! Mad
king you may have been, but still you were king of Lutha--
my father's king--my king."

The girl nearly cried out in shocked astonishment as she
saw the eyes of the dead king open. But Emma von der
Tann was quick-witted. She knew for what purpose the
soldiers from the palace were scouring the country.

Had she not thought the king dead she would have cut
out her tongue rather than reveal his identity to these sol-
diers of his great enemy. Now she saw that Leopold lived,
and she must undo the harm she had innocently wrought.
She bent lower over Barney's face, trying to hide it from
the soldiers.

"Go away, please!" she called to them. "Leave me with
my dead king. You are Peter's men. You do not care for
Leopold, living or dead. Go back to your new king and tell
him that this poor young man can never more stand between
him and the throne."

The officer hesitated.

"We shall have to take the king's body with us, your
highness," he said.

The officer evidently becoming suspicious, came closer,
and as he did so Barney Custer sat up.

"Go away!" cried the girl, for she saw that the king was
attempting to speak. "My father's people will carry Leopold
of Lutha in state to the capital of his kingdom."

"What's all this row about?" he asked. "Can't you let a
dead king alone if the young lady asks you to? What kind
of a short sport are you, anyway? Run along, now, and tie
yourself outside."

The officer smiled, a trifle maliciously perhaps.

"Ah," he said, "I am very glad indeed that you are not
dead, your majesty."

Barney Custer turned his incredulous eyes upon the lieu-
tenant.

"Et tu, Brute?" he cried in anguished accents, letting