It might have been wiser,--as he had advocated at Wallen,--to have abandoned the scheme of conquest, to have sought the joys of life in quiet retirement from the scene of clashing ambitions and frenzied upheavals; but the expedition had gone on to its fate and he had gone, consenting, with it. And things being as they were, Bernhardt's logic was relentlessly true. To go back with their purpose unfulfilled was to test the brittle fabric of the sullen Weidenbruckers' allegiance with too shrewd a strain. And if they could not go forward they must go back. In grim perplexity he called to Gloria. "Is it worth while trying to force the road to Weidenbruck?" he asked her. "If you had been tending wounded men, you would not ask such a question," she replied quietly. "I thought the Schattenbergs rose to great heights in great difficulties," sneered Bernhardt. "If we are shirk our butcher's bill----" "We have made our mistakes," she interrupted. "Our only chance is for them to make theirs. If we stay here they may attack us." "Meyer doesn't make mistakes," said the ex-priest, "and if he did it would not be a mistake of that kind. If we stay here the only foes that will attack us will be General Frost and Brigadier Hunger; against such we have no defence." "It seems to me," said Trafford, "that to go forward is madness, to go back madness, to stay here is madness; and as we must do one of these three things, madness is our portion. Now the most effective kind of lunacy seems to me to stay here till night-fall." "And then hazard a night attack?" questioned Gloria hopefully. "Not an attack," rejoined Trafford. "Meyer has very sound theories of defence, and his searchlights are sure to be in excellent working order. No; we must drop the soldier and become burglars. Where a thousand, or even a hundred, would fail, half a dozen may succeed; and the object of our burglary must be Karl. If we can secure his person and return with it to the capital, we shall have done all,--or nearly all,--we attempted. Weissheim is loyal to an individual not a dynasty, and Karl in the Strafeburg would be a much less attractive person than Karl in the Brunvarad." Bernhardt laughed softly. "I begin to have hopes of you again," he said. Gloria clapped her hands excitedly. "I knew you would find some way out of the difficulty!" she cried. "There is no such thing as despair with you in our counsels." "I am fighting for a high stake," Trafford replied. "If I can win success out of the tangled disorder of our fortunes you----" "If you can capture Karl," she interrupted, "I am sure there will be no political objection to your being--being my consort." "Only personal objections?" he hazarded. "There will be none," she said, "I swear it. You are a most gallant and resourceful gentleman, and I might search my kingdom over for your equal." Trafford noted the genuine enthusiasm of her tones, and nodded grimly.