What followed thereafter happened far more swiftly than it can be told. Seeing the entire plot crumbling about him, and lacking the moral courage to fight it out, the Chancellor sprang to an open window and cast himself headlong down into space. They later found him lying with his neck broken in the gardens. Twisted Mouth threw up his hands and surrendered as Ned advanced upon him.
Meanwhile the sound of Ned’s shot had awakened the entire household downstairs. Weapons were quickly seized and haste was made to secure the safety of the Emperor. The faithless servants were among the loudest in proclaiming their horror of the attempted assassination.
Alan, Bob and Captain von Schleinitz had attacked the nine conspirators skulking down stairs the moment Ned’s shot rang out, and, although the trapped men fought with unparalleled ferocity, they were driven at bay against one wall of the building and forced to yield to their intrepid assailants who were by then reinforced by thirty or more domestics and imperial guardsmen.
Owing to the already disturbed conditions in Vienna it was the Emperor’s wish that all news of this dastardly attempt on his life be kept absolutely secret. He rode back along the Ring Strasse, the main boulevard encircling the city, in state the next morning and made it a point to rise up and bow frequently in acknowledgment of the cheering sidewalk crowds. This effectually counteracted any premature stories of his death which might have been circulated in preparation for the plotted revolution.
The Airship Boys were given a formal audience in his private reception chamber of the Hofburg on the following afternoon and Captain von Schleinitz also was ordered to be present. The grateful emperor conferred the Order of St. Stepan upon his faithful officer and promoted him to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Imperial Aviation Corps. To the smiling boys Franz Joseph said:
“It is a matter of difficulty for me to decide how best to acknowledge my life-long indebtedness to you young gentlemen. The fact that you are not of the nobility nor yet soldiers precludes my decorating you with any of the Orders of Merit in my power. So, gentlemen, I am going to leave it for you yourselves to say how I best may please you.”
Of course all of the boys blushed and were much embarrassed by such a gracious reception. None of them knew exactly what to say until Buck blurted out:
“Why, we wouldn’t think of taking any rewards ourselves for a thing that it was our plain duty to do, sir, but we have a favor that we’d like to ask for a friend who, by the way, happens to be a subject of yours.”
“Your request is already granted—even though the man be one of those implicated in the conspiracy,” said the Emperor kindly.
“While we were in Przemysl,” continued Buck, “we met an infantry officer, one Lieutenant Racoszky, who lay dying in the hospital for lack of proper attention to his wounds. He is one of your most devoted subjects.”