“I know it.  Our regiment marched through it two weeks ago before the enemy had taken it,” cried Hartmut.

“All the better!  You must of course lay aside your uniform.”

“I only need exchange my cloak and helmet.  If I had stayed here I’d have been dead in a few hours; now if I ride fast enough I have one chance.  If I only had a good horse.”

“That is ready for you, I brought my own Arabian, Sadi, with me.  You know him well, have ridden him often.  He’ll fly like a bird on a night like this, he’ll need no whip to spur him on.”

The conversation was whispered in stormy haste, and the prince handed him the papers.

“Here is the general’s order which you present when you reach our sentinels, and here are the dispatches.  Take a half hour to get some warmth and strength into your body, then you can start.”

“Do you think I want rest or warmth?” cried Hartmut, the old Hartmut again.  “When I break down now it will be from the enemy’s bullet.  I thank you Egon for this hour, in which you have at last, at last, exonerated me from a fearful suspicion!”

“And in which I send you to your death,” said the prince gently.  “We must not hide the truth from ourselves—­only a miracle can save you.”

“A miracle?” Hartmut’s glance sought the altar which the flickering moonlight revealed.  He had ceased to pray long years ago, and yet in this moment a hot, speechless prayer went up to Heaven for strength to accomplish this miracle.  “If I can only save my father then I am content!”

In the next second he turned, and Egon, who had put new life into him and given him back his courage, said gently: 

“And now let us say good-bye!  God bless you, Hartmut!”

The two friends clung to one another in a last embrace.  All that had come between them was lost sight of forever, and the old, warm love was mightier than ever in this last hour, for they both felt that it was a farewell for all time.

Scarcely fifteen minutes later a rider dashed out of the camp.  The slender Arab’s hoofs hardly touched the ground over which it sped; in a wild gallop it went on over the snow-covered ground, through the ice-clad forest, over frozen streams, on, on, into the mountain pass!

CHAPTER XVI.

The following day brought clear, frosty weather.  The intense cold had abated and the sun shone out warm and bright.  Eugen Stahlberg and Lieutenant Walldorf, free from duty for the time being, were in Prince Adelsberg’s quarters.  Walldorf had been thrown from his horse the previous evening, and his hand had been injured, and this prevented him from going out with his company, as Egon had done.  The gentlemen were waiting for the return of their princely comrade, who must be back soon now, and as they waited, they teased and guyed old Peter Stadinger, who was on duty early at his master’s quarters.