CHAPTER XXV

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*AGRANDO THROWS OFF THE MASK.*

King Agrando sat in his own particular sanctum, watching, with absorbed attention, the proceedings of the Diamond King, who was engaged in fitting together, by way of trial, the several parts of a new crown.

Upon the table before him were spread out several heaps of lustrous, sparkling loose stones, some of which must have been among the finest of their kind in existence.

Agrando had made up his mind that this new crown was to be the most magnificent that ever adorned the head of mortal potentate. Had he not here at hand to advise him the greatest living authority upon such subjects--Zuanstroom to wit--who claimed that he had seen, handled, examined, and photographed the most splendid crowns which graced the various royal heads upon our planet?

Zuanstroom picked up the gems one by one, and placed them tentatively in the golden framework, stepping back from time to time to observe the effect, as does an artist with his picture. Then, if the result did not commend itself to his sense of the fitness of things, he would take some of them out, and replace them with others of a different size or colour.

Agrando looked on, a curious variety of expressions flitting across his face. He could not but admire the beauty of the work of art which was slowly growing under his eyes. Yet he grudged the worker the delight of handling the bewitching jewels.

To these two there entered Kazzaro. It was easy to see that he was put out about something or other, and that he was in a very bad humour even for him, which is saying a good deal. It should rather be said, perhaps, that it would have been easy to perceive this if any one had looked at him; as a matter of exact fact, no one did. Agrando's gaze was fixed upon the table as though he feared that if he removed it for a single instant some one would snatch at an odd stone and hide it away. He knew his henchman's voice, and had no need to make use of his sight to inform him who it was who had intruded upon his privacy.

'All gone wrong--miscarried!' he heard Kazzaro grumble. 'That young upstart Alondra has escaped my snare after all!'

'So,' said Agrando, without taking his glance off the table, 'you 've managed to blunder again, then?'

'Blunder, indeed!' growled the Ogre. 'I thought he was safe. I as good as watched him drown! I saw him in the deadly coils which no one has ever escaped before, up to his very neck in water. Then I came away in haste, for fear some one might enter and find me there. Some one did enter--must have done, I imagine--and just in time to rescue him, after all!'

The king muttered something between his teeth.

Just then an officer came in and said something to Kazzaro in a low tone. The latter started, turned visibly pale, and then, without a word, left the apartment with him.

He was gone about a quarter of an hour, and when he returned he was almost choking with rage.

'It's all up!' he cried, throwing his hands into the air. 'There is treachery--treason--at work! Some strangers have made their way below and rescued Malandris from the cage. He is missing, and so is Malto; and there are signs that some of your visitors from the evening star have been there, for they have killed one of the krudias with their fire-weapons. Did I not warn you against ever allowing these people to come here prying about? This is what has come of it!'

Agrando at last was roused, and he turned his eyes from his beloved jewels. But when his gaze fell upon Kazzaro there was in it a menace which made even that hardened miscreant tremble.

'Miserable wretch!' thundered his master. 'You dare to say this to me as an excuse for your own clumsy blundering and lack of vigilance! By Krondris, I'----

What awful threat he was about to utter, however, cannot be told, for he was interrupted by the unceremonious entry of Zuanstroom's son Silas.

'Father, father!' he exclaimed, failing, in his excitement, to notice the black looks cast at him by Agrando. 'Gerald and Jack have been shooting some of King Agrando's soldiers, who have got them shut up in the pavilion tower! Alondra is with them, and two of King Agrando's officers. I know their names--they are Malto and Malandris! I saw them shoot down a man sent to bring them back when they were running away.' Out of breath, first with running and then with this speech, poured forth in a violent hurry, Silas subsided, panting, into a chair.

'They are in the pavilion--that tower by the side of the place where "the great beast," as you call it, lives?' asked Agrando with deadly calmness.

'Yes, sir. They are defying all your people there, hoping, I expect, to be taken off by Alondra's yacht.'

Agrando and Kazzaro looked at each other, the latter mutely asking for orders.

'We must have them out of that tower,' said Agrando, in a hard, resolute tone, 'before they can be taken off! Do you hear? We must have them at any cost. Send out war-vessels! Knock the tower down with the traitors in it! Crush them at any cost!'

'But how if Alondra's yacht reaches him first?' queried Kazzaro.

'Fight them! I 'm sick of this dissembling! Everything is prepared! We will throw off the mask, and show Ivanta that we have some teeth beneath it to bite with!'

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