The driver of the chartered vehicle cracked his whip and carried his passengers up the street as fast as his heavy horses could gallop. With a speed ordinance he had no acquaintance. CHAPTER XXIV. AGAIN THEY WON OUT. DRAWING up with a flourish in front of a most pretentious example of old-time architecture, the fur shrouded jehu reached for his fare, which matter was adjusted by Salisky, who had orders from his colonel to see the boys through from start to finish. At the onyx-studded entrance of the palace the party was halted by a gorgeous flunky, who immediately unbent at a word from the useful Salisky. "The colonel must belong up in the pictures here," suggested Billy, duly impressed by the surroundings. "He is a great noble as well as a great soldier," reverently remarked Marovitch. "Well," chuckled Billy, "I'm going to keep on my shoes, even though I walk on velvet." Salisky gave the lad a side glance of disapproval of this levity, of which the young aviator took not the slightest notice. But Billy warmed to the gracious presence revealed by cordial greeting in the spacious drawing-room. The card from Colonel Malinkoff had preceded the visitors. With Marovitch and Salisky in the background, the boys were ushered forward to meet a real, live duke, but, withal, a kindly gentleman without a mark or an affectation of exalted rank. "Which, may I ask, is the Trouville, the grandson of my old friend?" Henri bowed acceptance of the honor. With fine and delicate courtesy Billy was made to feel that he was not counted a crowd by being the third participant in a cozy chat. The duke delighted in his memories of the close alliance he had maintained with the house of Trouville, and received with extreme regret the information that the old château had been razed by the engines of war. "I well remember the underground passages, the walled ways, the secret panels, and the like of the ancient place." Henri nudged his chum, and then briefly narrated how the fortune of the Trouvilles had been saved through the use of these same concealed avenues and by the plan of the same two boys now sitting in this drawing-room. The old noble listened intently to the story, told without embellishment or boast, and at the point where Henri referred to the delivery of the treasure to his mother the duke clapped his hands in applause. "Salisky," he called to the special messenger, "I desire to keep these young gentlemen as long as possible. Is there an emergency that commands their return?" "Your grace," stated Salisky, "it grieves me to say that it is most important that they serve as pilots in our journey back to the front. Even now dispatches are being prepared, and we must be on the wing at sunrise to-morrow."