Fate willed it otherwise. Before it could be given, the outer door opened, admitting a man whose presence caused a sudden suspension of the proceedings.
Hurrying across the courtyard, he threw himself between the soldiers and their victim, at the same time drawing a flag from beneath his coat, and spreading it over the condemned man.
Even the drunken Zouaves dared not fire through that flag. It was the Royal Standard of England!
But there was a double protection for the prisoner. Almost at the same instant another man stepped hastily across the courtyard and flouted a second flag in the eyes of the disappointed executioners!
It claimed equal respect, for it was the banner of the Stars and Stripes—the emblem of the only true Republic on earth.
Maynard had served under both flags, and for a moment he felt his affections divided.
He knew not to whom he was indebted for the last; but when he reflected who had sent the first—for it was Sir George Vernon who bore it—his heart trembled with a joy far sweeter than could have been experienced by the mere thought of delivery from death!