The Prince Commands: Being Sundry Adventures of Michael Karl, Sometime Crown Prince & Pretender to the Thrown of Morvania (15 page)

“But the King or Johann could tell them something!”

“They can’t because of their positions. Johann is the hereditary prosecutor of the court and the King is the judge. Neither of them can go on the witness stand.”

“Baron Urich von Brunn,” summoned Johann.

Urich stepped down to take his place in the center aisle.

“You acted as His Highness’s aide-de-camp upon the taking of Rein?”

“I did.”

“You were with His Highness when he fought his way up the Cathedral steps?”

“No.”

There was a moment of startled silence, and then Johann spoke again.

“May the Court ask why?”

“The rebels had thrown up a barricade, and His Highness had no information as to whether they had machine guns. If they had had them it would have been sudden death for any of us to attempt the attack. His Highness realized that fact and rather than risk the lives of his men, charged by himself. The rebels had no machine guns, and His Highness’s horse leaped the barrier and carried him up the steps.”

“And his men?”

“As soon as they saw what His Highness was about, they followed him.”

“But His Highness was alone for a short period of time?”

“He was. He held off the entire enemy force until we managed to reach him.”

“Were there any officers among the men who attacked His Highness during the period in which he was defending himself?”

“I could not say.”

“Were there any officers upon the steps at all?”

“There were. Shortly before we reached His Highness a group of officers made their way into the Cathedral.”

“Did you see the Marquisa among them?”

“I was too far away to distinguish faces.”

“When you entered the Cathedral did you witness the actual shooting of His Grace, the Archbishop?”

“I did.”

“Who shot him?” There was breathless expectancy in the hall.

“One of the officers by the altar. He wore a green uniform tunic.”

“When you took the prisoners, which one of them wore a green tunic?”

“The Marquisa Cobentz.”

The Duke stepped back, and Michael Karl thought he caught a hint of satisfaction in his voice when he thanked Urich.

And then the lawyer for the defense began his questioning.

“Are there stained glass windows in the Cathedral of Rein?”

“There are.”

“There is one of these above the High Altar placed in such a way that the colored light from it falls upon the altar?”

“There is such a window.”

“Is green one of the colors in this window?”

“It is.”

“Did any among the prisoners wear white tunics?”

“Two of them did.”

“Might not that green light from the window have colored a white uniform tunic so that it appeared green?”

“I do not know.”

The lawyer thanked him and Urich came back to take his place by Michael Karl’s side.

“They’ve got a strong case, Your Highness. This morning I would have sworn that they hadn’t a chance but now—well, frankly, I don’t know. A drum-head court-martial would have settled things more neatly.”

“Then you think that there’s a chance he’ll go free?”

“There’s more than a chance, Your Highness. Even I would hesitate to convict him on this morning’s evidence. They’re going to adjourn now until this afternoon.”

Michael Karl saw his cousin rise and all the court with him. Johann called out something, and the crowd began filing out of the hall while the King came down to join Michael Kart.

Chapter XV

The Last Of Cobentz And Co. (Continued)

“They’ve got us, unless something happens. They’ve most decidedly got us,” observed Urlich Karl as he wiped his fingers on the heavily embroidered napkin.

“But why,” protested Michael Karl, “did you have to have a trial at all?”

“Because there would be a great many people who would shout ‘tyrant’ and other unpleasant names at my heels if I didn’t allow Cobentz a chance to lie himself out of the mess he’s got into. We aren’t out of the woods yet, boy. Public opinion is a very queer thing and it behooves us to go slow until we have a firmer backing than we have at present.

“We haven’t been officially recognized by either England or America yet, and our merchants are waiting. The country depends on trade and those are the nations with which we trade the most. Should some one raise the cry that we were putting men to death without trial, and America and England withdraw their ministers, our government wouldn’t last five days. So Cobentz must have his chance to wriggle and lie and take up our time.”

“That’s what you call diplomacy, isn’t it?” asked Michael Karl.

“It is. And now let’s talk about something pleasant. We’re going to the Summer Palace after the coronation. Do you care for tennis?”

“I’ve never played,” admitted Michael Karl.

His cousin shook his head. “That won’t do, it won’t do at all. Johann must take you on. He taught me all I know, which I admit isn’t much, is it, Johann?”

“Your Majesty would be a better player if you weren’t so reckless,” answered the Duke with his lazy smile.

“Always am I reproved for recklessness,” sighed the King. “And now I suppose we’ll have to drag ourselves back to work. I have to grit my teeth to keep from screaming every time that slimy lawyer says ‘Ha.’ There ought to be a law against it.”

The Hall of Judgment was crowded. Michael Karl wondered how the marshals did get them all into the galleries. Whoever had packed them into the left gallery must have had lessons at a sardine packing plant.

The Lords arose and then seated themselves like a rippling wave of red and blue velvet with ermine and jeweled collars to give it life. Michael Karl was thankful that he wasn’t called upon to sweat under one of the heavy robes.

Cobentz appeared under guard, but this time there was a smug, self-satisfied look about him. He knew that things were going his way. Bestowing a wide smile upon either gallery, he took his place. Michael Karl felt a little sick. He saw again those dreadful Cathedral steps and that pitiful red cloaked body by the door. Diplomacy or no diplomacy, Cobentz should have been shot on sight.

The burden of the prosecution rested upon the Duke. Michael Karl turned to look at him. Johann was as languid as ever, regarding the Lords before him through lazy half-closed eyes, but there was something—Johann knew something which might save them after all. Michael Karl wondered if his cousin had noted that air of watchful waiting about Johann. When the Duke looked like that, he was to be trusted absolutely. Michael Karl leaned back with a little sigh of relief. Johann would pull them through.

“Colonel Grimvich,” summoned Johann.

The Colonel, spick and span as usual, appeared in the center aisle. Michael Karl hadn’t seen him since that meeting in the Square five days before. He appeared as lazy and unconcerned as the Duke.

“Colonel Grimvich, what is your present command?”

“The Fortress of Rein.”

“Are these officers among the prisoners now in your charge?” Johann began to read a list of names from the slip of paper the lawyer at his side handed him:

“Karl von Litz, Johann Cappleman, Detrick von Kantmann, Yalitz Talmann, and Wheilham Strappmatz.”

“They are. They were brought to me on the afternoon of the fifteenth of this month by a squad of His Majesty’s Wolf Guard.”

“Since that time have they been allowed to com- municate with any one outside the Fortress?”

“They have not.”

“Did any one of them insist upon making a statement?”

“Captain von Litz did so.”

“What did you do?”

“I summoned witnesses and permitted him to make his statement.”

“Is this that statement?” Johann handed the stolid Colonel a typewritten sheet. The Colonel glanced through it.

“It is.”

Johann turned to Urlich Karl. “If Your Majesty pleases I will read this statement sworn to by Captain von Litz.”

“His Grace will read it,” answered Urlich Karl.

“I swear upon the honour of my House that the following statement is a true account of the happenings on the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth days of this month.

“Upon the afternoon of the thirteenth I was summoned to the home of His Excellency, Count Kafner, and there I met the Marquisa and other noblemen. I know the Marquisa well and recognized him at once.

“His Excellency inquired into my financial condition and informed me that a serious accusation had been made against me, but for my family’s sake he had called an informal board of inquiry instead of a court-martial. I pleaded ignorance as indeed I had no idea of the plot against me.

“He then informed me that the accounts of my regiment, which in part I am responsible for, were irregular. I was very much alarmed, for I and no other had control of them and there was no way of proving my innocence.

“The proof was very strong against me, and I had no witnesses. However, His Excellency seemed to believe in me and conceded that there might be some mistake. The Marquisa Cobentz argued in my favor, and His Excellency decided to permit me the benefit of the doubt. He gave me instructions to report to his headquarters the following morning.

“I returned to my quarters, but I was puzzled for my Colonel had not been present at the meeting, and I knew that such a matter, a loss of regimental funds, would be his affair more than His Excellency’s. Because this seemed very strange to me, I went to my Colonel with the whole story. He was very much surprised and told me that there was nothing at all wrong with my accounts, having the books brought to prove it.

“My Colonel couldn’t understand His Excellency’s motive and ordered me to return the following morning after I had seen His Excellency. In the morning I again found the Marquisa Cobentz with His Excellency. There was another man there whom they addressed as Kellermann and who seemed very ill at ease.

“It was then that the Marquisa told me that Michael Karl, the late Crown Prince, had been murdered by the bandit known as Black Stefan, the Werewolf, just as His Royal High- ness, Urlich Karl, was killed last year. At the same time, he informed me that Black Stefan had gathered an army of mercenaries and was planning to aid the Communists of the south in a revolt.

“Kellerman, it appeared, was a former worker for Black Stefan and had betrayed his plans. The Marquisa said that as heir apparent to the throne it was his duty to lead an army against Black Stefan and the Communists. He hinted that the irregularities in my funds would be overlooked if I would talk my Colonel into supporting him.

“I agreed and returned to tell my Colonel. He ordered me to fall in with the Marquisa’s plans. The Marquisa made me his aide-decamp.

“On the night of the fifteenth His Grace, the Duke Johann, attacked and took us by surprise. Our men were beaten back from the bridge and the New Town. At dawn His Majesty’s forces took the Fortress. The Marquisa and a small company of officers, of which I was one, took possession of the Cathedral Square. The Marquisa believed that if we kept the reinforcements from reaching His Majesty in the Fortress we could yet win back all we had lost.

“When His Highness attacked us, the Marquisa and his officers slipped inside the Cathedral. His Grace, the Archbishop, was already there. He begged us to leave as our presence might induce the attackers to turn guns upon the Cathedral.

“The Marquisa seemed very much disturbed, and as we gathered at the altar, demanded of each of us what he should do. Two of us counseled him to surrender, but the very thought of doing so drove him into a rage inspired by fear. His Grace had remained by the door. All at once he threw down the bar and pulled it open.

“His Highness stepped inside followed by his men. The sight appeared to drive the Marquisa almost insane with fear. He raised his revolver before any one could prevent and shot towards the door. Whether the shot was meant for His Highness or His Grace I do not know.

“When His Highness called upon us to surrender the second time, we overpowered the Marquisa and advanced to receive His Highness’s terms.

“This I swear to be a true account of what happened in the Cathedral. I am making this statement in spite of the warnings of Colonel Grimvich and in the presence of witnesses.

“(signed) K
ARL VON
L
ITZ
.”

“This is the statement made before you, Colonel Grimvich?” asked Johann again as he finished reading.

“It is.”

“Thank you, Colonel. Does the Defense desire to question the witness?”

“We do.”

“Colonel Grimvich, before you accepted com- mand of His Majesty’s Foreign Legion, what position did you hold?”

“I had the commission of Brigadier General in the Republic of San Pedro.”

“Are you what is known as a soldier of fortune?”

“Since the defeat of the White Army of Russia I have been a professional soldier.”

“As a professional soldier, your services are sold to the highest bidder?”

“I am loyal to the man who pays me, of course.”

“Did you, before you accepted service under His Majesty, approach the Marquisa Cobentz for a commission?”

“The Marquisa made me an offer before I came to Morvania.”

“Did you accept it?”

“I did not. I did not care for the proposition he made me.”

“So you accepted His Majesty’s commission?”

“I did.”

“Did you, while fighting in South America, learn various methods of teaching unruly prisoners to answer your questions?”

“I have never used torture or any other methods of coercion with prisoners.”

“But you know of such methods,” persisted the lawyer.

“Any man in my profession does.”

“This statement was made in the presence of five witnesses?”

“It was.”

“Why is it that all five witnesses are officers either in the Foreign Legion or in other regiments of His Majesty’s army?”

“When the prisoner desired to make a statement, I summoned the five nearest officers as witnesses.”

“That is all, Colonel Grimvich.”

The Lords were stirring restlessly in their seats, and Cobentz’s smile grew wider with every question. The Defense was devilishly clever, thought Michael Karl. If they, the Royalists, should lose, their prestige would be gone forever, with Cobentz and his lawyer making them out a bunch of torturers and liars. Michael Karl understood what Urlich Karl had said at lunch for the first time.

They must win their case and win it not on the battlefield. The time for that was past. But win it in the Court so that the power which Cobentz represented would be broken and discredited forever. A legal victory would have more weight in the outer world than a hundred charges in the Cathedral Square.

The five witnesses of the prisoner’s statement were summoned and gave brief testimony, and then the prisoner himself was brought in. He was a slim little chap with a smudge of black mustache on his upper lip and the carriage of a horseman. He repeated his statement and denied emphatically that Grimvich had used any force in obtaining the statement or that he had been bribed. His Colonel appeared to corroborate the story of the missing funds.

It was growing dark and the footmen had turned on the concealed lights in the ceiling of the hall. Michael Karl shifted in his seat trying to ease his stiffness and wondered how the King could sit there so alert and still. Urich had warned him that it might last until midnight for there could be no more recesses. Urich, himself, was sitting on the steps behind Michael Karl. No aide-de-camp could stand at attention through all those hours.

Johann was taking frequent sips of water from a glass on the table, and his lazy voice was growing husky. Every once in a while a chair in the galleries would creak as some one shifted his weight.

“I summon the Marquisa Cobentz,” said Johann hoarsely at last. There was a sudden tension in the air. Cobentz would have a lot, a great lot to explain.

Cobentz remained seated. His lawyer arose and for the first time he was uncertain in manner.

“The Defense refuses to testify,” he answered slowly. Urich reached up and clutched Michael Karl’s arm.

“We’ve got them,” he said with a little crow of pure delight. “We’ve got them.”

The King leaned forward. “Your refusal to testify, although allowed by law, may harm your case,” he warned.

“He’s giving him every chance,” Urich whispered.

Cobentz looked uneasy, but his lips still smiled stonily. He shook his head at the black gowned lawyer.

“We still refuse, Your Majesty,” the lawyer answered, “but we thank Your Majesty for your graciousness in warning us,” he added and there was reluctant admiration in his voice.

“Are there any more witnesses to be called, Your Grace?” asked the King.

“Two, Your Majesty.”

Michael Karl sat up. There was a note in Johann’s tired voice— Was he going to spring the surprise that his bearing had hinted at all day? The others in the hall seemed to feel it too, and Cobentz straightened in his chair while his lawyer’s wigged head went up like a hound’s on the scent.

“Heinrich Gottham,” Johann called. A youngster in a wolfhead tunic stepped confidently forward. Michael Karl recognized him as the wolfman who had brought him the Royal Standard just before the taking of the Cathedral.

“In what capacity were you present at the taking of the Cathedral?”