Page:The Prisoner of Zenda.djvu/133

Rh "So do I, but I mean to know for certain. I shall go, Sapt."

"No, I shall go," said he.

"You may go as far as the gate."

"I shall go to the summerhouse."

"I'm hanged if you shall!"

I rose and leaned my back against the mantelpiece.

"Sapt, I believe in that woman, and I shall go."

"I don't believe in any woman," said Sapt, "and you shan't go."

"I either go to the summerhouse or back to England," said I.

Sapt began to know exactly how far he could lead or drive, and when he must follow.

"We're playing against time," I added. "Every day we leave the king where he is there is fresh risk. Every day I masquerade like this there is a fresh risk. Sept, we must play high; we must force the game."

"So be it," he said with a sigh.

To cut the story short, at half-past eleven that night Sapt and I mounted our horses. Fritz was