"well, I'm here because I want to help you…"

"Yes," I answered. "But you won't be alive to see me die!" I laughed. "How's your prisoner?" I added.

Rupert laughed. "I knew it!" he cried. "Duke Michael doesn't understand men like us!… You must die, then," he added carelessly.

"Why pretend with me?"

I asked my friends to move away, and Rupert came and sat down near me.

The next morning I was sitting in the garden in the sun when suddenly I saw young Rupert of Hentzau on horseback coming through the trees towards me. He was not afraid of my men, but asked to speak with me alone. He said he had a message for me from the Duke of Strelsau.

"I refuse," I replied immediately.

"Because it isn't finished yet."

"Then give me the message. What does the Duke want?" I asked.

"He wants you to leave. He'll take you safely out of the country and give you a hundred thousand pounds."

"Don't you know how to speak to the King?" I asked.

"Alive," he replied. "How's the pretty Princess?"

"Rassendyll," he began, "the Duke…"

I took a step towards him. "Go now, before I kill you," I shouted angrily.

Rupert turned, but suddenly he came back. He put out his right hand. "Shake hands!" he called.

"He seems pleased to be here," Fritz said. "I think he's afraid of Duke Michael."

Of course, he knew what I would do. I put my hands behind my back. Quickly, his left hand moved towards me. In it he held a dagger and it was coming straight at my heart! I jumped to one side, and the dagger went deep into my shoulder. Before my friends could do anything, Rupert of Hentzau was on his horse and galloping through the trees. I heard my men going after him with their guns and then everything went black.

When I awoke it was dark, and Fritz was at my bedside. He told me that I was not badly hurt, and that the plan to catch Johann had been successful.

Later Sapt brought Johann up to see me. At first Johann was afraid to speak, but then he began to talk. We asked him many questions, and finally Johann gave us the information we wanted.

In the Castle of Zenda, near the drawbridge and below the ground, there were two small rooms, cut out of the rock itself. In the first of these rooms there were always three of the Six. At the back of this room there was a door which led into the second room. The King was in the second room.

"And if I bring an army to the castle?" I asked.

"Duke Michael will still murder the King," replied Johann. "He won't fight. He'll kill the King and push his body down the pipe. And he'll put one of the Six in the prison. He'll say the man had done something to make him angry. That will stop the stories about a prisoner in Zenda." Johann stopped for a minute, but then he added, "If they know I've told you this, they'll kill me. They're all bad, but Rupert of Hentzau is the worst. Don't let them kill me…"

"If someone tries to get into the first room, two of the three men will fight, but Rupert of Hentzau or Detchard will run into the second room and kill the King," Johann said. "There's a small window in the second room with a large pipe going down into the moat outside," he went on. "You can get a man inside it, and they'll tie a heavy stone to the King's body and push it down the pipe. The body will go down and disappear under the water, and the murderers will then go down the pipe themselves, and swim across the moat."

Johann left the room and I looked at Sapt.

"All right," I said. "But if anyone asks you who the prisoner of Zenda is, don't tell him. If you do, I'll kill you myself!"

"Perhaps one of the Duke's men will turn against him…" I began.

Sapt shook his grey head angrily. "You'll still be King of Ruritania in a year's time."

"Impossible," replied Sapt.

"It doesn't matter what plan we make," I said. "The King will be dead before we can get to him!"

"Then we need the help of God," I said.