Upon reaching their own suite of apartments, the two friends were surprised to find Lyga, the Keeper of Statutes, awaiting them. There was a look of concern, not altogether unmingled with amusement, in his expression as he rose and advanced to meet them.
“My lords,” he said, “it has just come to my ears—and I thought that ye, and you in especial, my Lord Dick, in your capacity of Captain-General of the Queen’s Bodyguard, ought to know—that Sachar, together with the officer and the file of soldiers into whose custody ye delivered him, has disappeared.”
“Disappeared!” echoed Dick. “How mean ye, my Lord Lyga?”
“Exactly as I have said,” replied Lyga. “Sachar has not been lodged in prison, as ye ordered, and the officer and file of soldiers are not in their quarters, as they should be. I rather anticipated some such occurrence, and because my sympathies are wholly with the Queen, and I am on her side, I made it my business to leave the Council Chamber immediately upon her Majesty’s departure, and follow the route that Sachar should have taken. I ascertained that he left the palace, accompanied by the officer and soldiers; but he had not reached the prison when I arrived there, and it is certain that now he will not do so. My own conviction is that, being a man of known power and almost unlimited wealth, he found no difficulty in bribing the officer and soldiers to allow him to escape, and has very possibly carried them away with him to protect them from the consequences of their treachery.”
Dick and Earle regarded each other intently for a moment, and then nodded with understanding.
“My Lord Lyga,” said Dick, “I thank you for your promptitude in bringing me this information, and also for the assurance of your sympathy with the cause of the Queen. Doubtless ye have already recognised that we, too, are wholly and unreservedly on her side, to such an extent, indeed, that we are resolved not to depart from Ulua until her Majesty and her authority are firmly established. Not only so, but we intend to do everything in our power to bring that consummation to pass. I speak for my Lord Earle as well as myself. You corroborate me, don’t you?” he added, turning to Earle.
Earle nodded emphatic assent, and Dick resumed:
“Is your sympathy with her Majesty strong enough to induce you to co-operate with us in her cause, my lord?”
“Assuredly,” assented Lyga, “else had I left ye to learn of Sachar’s escape at your leisure.”
“Good!” approved Dick. “Being strangers among you, we are naturally to a very great extent ignorant of the characters of Sachar and those who are likely to take part with him against the Queen; therefore we shall be glad to hear your opinion as to the probable outcome of Sachar’s act of defiance. How, think ye, will it end?”