“Beauvais! Ah, ah!” The Captain smiled grimly. He had always hated Beauvais, who had, for no obvious reason, passed him and grasped the coveted colonelcy, and because, curiously enough, the native troops had made an idol of him. “Beauvais? I am not surprised. An adventurer, with neither kith nor country.”
“He is Prince Walmoden,” said Maurice, “and for some reason not known, the emperor has promised to recall him.”
This information caused the Captain to step back, and he muttered the name several times. “Austria....” A gloom settled on his face. “No matter. Prince or no prince, or had he one thousand emperors behind him, no matter. Four of you seek him and arrest him. If he offers resistance, knock him on the head, but arrest him. A traitor is without name, country or respect. His purpose... Never mind.
“Four of you seek for Kopf. Look into Stuler's, in at the opera, and follow Kopf's woman home. I'll take it upon myself to telegraph the frontier to allow no one to cross on the pain of being shot. Pass the word to the officers in the stables. Hurry away before the archbishop hears of the matter. Away with you, and quietly. And one of you seek that blockhead of a coachman, who did not know enough to come back here and inform us. Beauvais, make him a prisoner, you are not to know why. As for Kopf, dead or alive—alive will be less convenient for all concerned. Off with you!”
The guardroom was at once emptied, and the cuirassiers turned off toward the stables, where the main body of the troops was stationed.
Riemer, who was both surgeon and soldier, probed the wound in von Miner's leg and extracted the bullet, which had lodged in the fleshy part of the calf. He applied cold water, lints and bandages. All the while von Mitter sat in the chair, his eyes shut and his lips closed tightly.
“There!” said the surgeon, standing up, “that's better. The loss of blood is the worst part of it.” Next he took a few stitches in the cut on the cheek and threw his cloak over the wounded man's knee. “He'll be all right in a day or so, though he'll limp. Carl?”
“O, I'm sound enough,” answered von Mitter, opening his eyes. “A little weak in the knees, that's all. I shouldn't have given in, only Kopf got away when we had him fair and fast. We found his horse wandering about the Frohngarten, but no sign of Johann. He's got it, though, square in the back.”
“I'm sure of it,” said Maurice, who leaned over the back of the speaker's chair.
The Captain eyed him inquiringly.