With a quick spring he avoided the soldiers who would have seized him and leaped upon the French officer, whom he sent to the floor with a single blow of his fist. The officer rose slowly to his feet, drawing his revolver as he did so.
"You dog!" he cried, and raised his weapon.
But he did not fire, for at that moment there came from directly behind him the command in a ringing voice:
"Put down that weapon! What"s the meaning of this?"
General Gallieni stood in the doorway. The officer turned and saluted.
"These dogs," he said, indicating Chester and Jean, who were now held by the soldiers, "insulted me. I refused to allow them to see you, and one of them struck me. I believe they came to a.s.sa.s.sinate you."
The general took a step back, for he had not recognized Chester.
"To a.s.sa.s.sinate me?" he exclaimed.
"You are wrong, General," said Chester quietly, "I have returned with information that will prevent the a.s.sa.s.sination of the President."
"Lieutenant Crawford!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the general. "The President is to be a.s.sa.s.sinated, you say?"
"Yes, sir."
"When?"
"At noon to-morrow, when he speaks on the Palace steps."
"And perhaps you know who has been selected to kill him?"
"Yes, sir; I do," replied Chester quietly. "I have, sir!"
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE PLOT FOILED.
General Gallieni started back in great surprise.
"You to be the a.s.sa.s.sin?" he exclaimed.
"Yes, sir," replied the lad, "I was fortunate enough to draw the red ball in the den of the Apaches, sir."
The general advanced and took him by the arm.
"Come with me," he said, and led the way toward his private office.
Chester motioned for Jean to follow, and the little man did so, though plainly not without some trepidation.
"Who is that?" asked General Gallieni, pointing to Jean.
"He is the man who is to shoot me in case I fail to shoot the President,"
said Chester cheerfully.
"Hadn"t we better have him thrown into a cell?"
"No, sir. We have agreed that it is not right to shoot the President, and I am sure that we can count on his help should we need it. It is likely to be valuable."
"Well," said the general, sinking into a chair and motioning the others to seats, "tell me all about it; and where, by the way, is your friend?"
"He is trailing Duval, sir."
"Good! Now, let"s have the story."
Chester put the facts before the military governor as clearly and concisely as possible, and when he had concluded General Gallieni jumped to his feet.
"We must act at once!" he exclaimed, and pulled the telephone toward him.
"But not with too great haste, General," protested Chester, also rising.
"We must first decide upon a plan."
"What do you mean?" asked the general.
"Why," said Chester, "if we hope to capture Duval--who will be on hand to-morrow, and who is likely to shoot the President himself--we must figure out the best means of doing so."
"I shall have the President cancel his engagement."
"That," said Chester, "might only delay the a.s.sa.s.sination."
"What would you suggest?"
Chester was silent for some minutes before he replied:
"If the President doesn"t make his address to-morrow, his life probably will be attempted the next day or the next. If he does speak, Duval is sure to be on hand. Jean and I must be in the crowd, so that Duval may see us; for, if we are not there, Duval may suspect treachery and shoot the President himself.
"Seeing us there, however, Duval will take no action himself. As the President"s speech progresses, Duval will be waiting for me to fire. He will be continually thinking that I will do so in another moment.
"Now, I should say that this is the best way: Let the President cut his speech short, say to three minutes. The moment he ceases speaking, rush a heavy guard between him and the crowd and have him stoop immediately behind them. Realizing that the plot has failed, Duval may not fire; but, in the event that he does, we shall probably be able to spot him and get him before he can escape."
General Gallieni spent some minutes considering the feasibility of this plan. Finally he said:
"If we only knew Duval by sight, we could avoid all this by seizing him there before the Palace."
"The trouble is we don"t," replied Chester dryly.
General Gallieni turned to Jean.
"Do you know Duval by sight?" he asked.