"Do you know what it means? There have been disputes concerning the origin of the term boche. The French say it means a stupid fellow—a clown; the Belgians think that it is a vulgar term for 'blockhead.' But I shall tell you what it really does mean: it means, in South African Dutch, an unclean and degraded species of wart-hog; and it has been in use for fifty years!"
He lifted one pistol and sat idly twirling it around his fore-finger.
"I know why you came here to Schwindlewald," he said, "to put that back on the throne of Greece!"—he nodded toward Tino.
"In Berne you live luxuriously and wastefully in the midst of famine. You eat as usual; your bread is white; there are no restrictions for you in the matter of food amid a hungry people. You maintain a court there with flunkies, stables, motor-cars—every necessity and luxury which is now forbidden by Swiss law and by the law of decency you violate daily!"
He looked at the queen:
"Your effrontery, madame, is of course, in keeping with Hohenzollern tradition. But things are happening now—now, madame,—at this very moment! And I'm wondering just how long the Swiss are likely to endure your behavior in Berne."
He sat silent after that for a little while, twirling his pistols and whistling softly to himself:
"Crack-brain-cripple-arm——"
Suddenly Eddin made a quick motion and Raoul shot the leg off his chair letting him down with a crash.
The startling crash of the pistol-shot brought them to their feet.