"That would be too good to be true," was Chester's reply.
It was just at the end of this conversation that the lads had joined the crowd before the palace, and Chester had made the remark that opens this story.
CHAPTER III.
THE MOB.
Hal sat up and passed his right hand gently over his head.
"Quite a bump," he muttered to himself. "What a fool I was not to have been prepared for that ruse. Well, I'll know better next time."
The lad pulled himself to his feet and gazed in the direction in which the other had disappeared. He made as if to move after him, and then changed his mind.
"Not much chance of finding him now, I guess," he muttered.
He turned on his heel, and then, for the first time, his eyes fell upon
Chester's prostrate form.
"So he got you, too, eh?" he said to himself.