Dennis Wheatley - The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

" 'Tis all of a hundred and seventy miles, Sire," hazarded Roger. "And if the Danes captured Uddevalla three days ago their advance columns must already have penetrated as far as the outer defences of the city. I trust your Majesty has a reliable commander there, for if not he may be panicked into surrendering before the arrival of this help that you propose to send him."

Gustavus shot him a shrewd glance. "I fear that your apprehensions are well-grounded, Mr. Brook. Having no thought that the place was liable to attack, I left old General Duretz there with but a handful of troops; and he has never been accounted any hero."

"Then there is but one thing for it!" Hugh Elliot cried, his feverish eyes flashing. "Your Majesty must instantly to horse, ride south at breakneck speed and fling yourself into Gothenborg; that by your ex­ample you may hearten the garrison and save both the city and your throne."

"One moment!" Roger intervened, with justifiable apprehension that Elliot's sense of the dramatic had carried him too far. "The south end of the lake is already known to be in enemy hands. His Majesty would have to run the gauntlet of their vedettes, and should he be captured...."

But the impetuous Gustavus had already been fired by the soldier-diplomat's idea, and he retorted swiftly: "Better be captured in an attempt to save one's crown than sit still while 'tis torn from one's head. I pray your Excellency to proceed with all speed in your carriage down the western shore of the lake to Uddevalla, or wherever the Danish headquarters are to be found, and do your utmost to procure us a truce; while I get me by the eastern shore to Gothenborg and take measures for the city's stout defence."

He paused for a moment, a sudden look of cunning masking his handsome face, then he went on: "But my Dalesmen must get no hint that I have left them, or they would become disgruntled and fast melt away to their homes. We will go into the town and there I will have it given out that I am suffering from a slight indisposition. That will cover my disappearance until sufficient store of provisions can be amassed to feed them on their march south. They can then be told that I am but a day ahead of them and impatient for them to rejoin me. The fewer people who know of our intent the less likelihood of betrayal; so I shall confide our plan only to General Armfeldt. I have here, too, so few officers that none can be spared to accompany me; but that has its compensations, in that their sudden disappearance will not arouse comment and, perhaps, be connected with my own."

Roger's levelheadedness again caused him to intervene. "May it please your Majesty to reconsider your last decision. 'Twould be the most terrible calamity if you went alone and some accident befell you by night upon the road."

The King gave him a friendly pat upon the arm. "Since you are so concerned for my safety, Chevalier, I would welcome your attendance on me, should you care to give it. Nay, more, on further thought I do request it; for once I am in Gothenborg I may be beleaguered there, and in such a case you would be invaluable to me. It may be of the first importance that I should communicate with Mr. Elliot, and you, as a neutral, would be allowed free passage through the enemy lines."

"His Majesty is right, Mr. Brook," added Elliot. "The presence at his side of an English gentleman who can come and go freely between him and myself may prove the saving of us all."

But Roger had already bowed his acquiescence, and he said: "I will gladly accompany you, Sire. No man could witness a sovereign contemplating so valiant an endeavour without desiring to serve him. I am entirely at your Majesty's disposal."

"Come then!" cried the King. "Let us to the town. With so much that is fresh to think upon I had forgot my duties as a host. After your long night's journey you must both be in sore need of refreshment and rest. The former we can easily provide, but for the latter I fear you will have to go on short commons; as I intend to set out as soon as I have given Armfeldt his orders, and he has made arrangements for our departure."

The carriage which had brought Elliot and Roger from Stockholm was still outside, so the three of them got into it, drove into the little market-town and pulled up at the entrance to the Guildhouse, which had been taken over as Army headquarters.

There the King turned his guests over to Count Ugglas; one of his intimates, who owed his rise from a simple clerk in the Chancellery to the fact that on the day of Gustavus's coup d'etat, forgetting the dis­tance that separated them, his enthusiasm had led him to clasp the King in his arms and hail him as the saviour of Sweden. The Count himself put cold meat and wine before them, and, when they had eaten, took them to a room that he shared with another officer, where they lay down on the truckle beds. They had had a certain amount of sleep during the night, but they were none the less grateful for the rest and soon fell into a doze.

An hour passed, although it seemed to them that they had only just lain down, when Ugglas returned and roused them. He took them downstairs and out into a courtyard at the back of the building. Their carriage was waiting there with fresh horses and its blinds drawn down. As they got in they saw that Gustavus was already seated inside it, but he now wore no decorations and was dressed as a simple lieutenant of the Yemland Infantry. The moment they were seated the carriage moved off at a trot, and the King said:

"I regret, Mr. Elliot, that I should have to carry you some five miles out of your way, tut I have already despatched my Guards and the Yemland regiment on their march to Gothenborg, and this offered the most convenient means of passing through them undetected. I have arranged for horses to be awaiting Mr. Brook and myself just beyond the village of Skattkarr, and having seen us on our way you can then turn back."

As the carriage sped on they talked earnestly of the hazardous journey that the King was about to undertake, and the none too rosy prospects of the British Minister proving successful in his mission. Then the vehicle was brought to a halt, and they alighted on the outskirts of a pine wood, in the fringe of which two mounted men were holding six led horses.

" 'Tis my groom and body-servant," Gustavus explained to Roger. "They will accompany us part of the way, leading a pair apiece which we will take for remounts as required, and press on; leaving them to follow with the horses we have exhausted when they are somewhat rested."

The good-byes were brief but heartfelt on both sides and two minutes later the King's little cavalcade cantered away with Hugh Elliot waving them good luck from beside the carriage.

The first lap lay round the north-eastern corner of the lake to Christinehamn; a distance of some twenty-five miles from where the carriage had set them down. It was soon clear to Roger that Gustavus had no intention of sparing the horses, and after fifteen miles had been covered at a furious pace their first mounts were badly winded. Pulling up they changed to the two horses led by the groom, leaving him to rub down the whistling sweat-drenched creatures that they had ridden so hard.

They had left Carlstadt as the clocks were striking nine, and at a quarter past ten a bend in the road brought them in sight of Christine­hamn. It was at that moment that the horse which had been ridden by the King's body-servant for the whole twenty-five miles, staggered, neighed loudly, and foundered.

Its rider was still clinging to the reins of his two led horses. Dismounting at once, Gustavus seized one of them and hoisted himself on to it. Roger swiftly followed suit, and, abandoning the horses they had ridden for the past ten miles, they sped on again through the township.

Roger realised then that Gustavus had had the foresight to save his two best mounts till last. Both were splendid animals of over sixteen hands and with powerful quarters. In spite of the distance they had already covered unmounted they still responded gamely to whip and spur, but another ten miles saw them flagging badly, and although the rough track along the lake-side still remained flat, their riders were compelled to walk them for a mile between each mile that they could cover at a trot.