The guards were few and the formalities of approaching Gustavus of the simplest. Two minutes after their arrival they were shown into his tent. At the sight of them he sprang to his feet and, extending both his hands to Hugh Elliot, cried:
"This is a surprise, indeed! But never was I more glad to .see any man. Your Excellency's presence in our camp is worth an Army corps." Then he turned to Roger and added: "And you, Mr. Brook, bringer of good tidings. Are you come with Mr. Elliot to tell us that a British fleet is at last upon its way to our assistance?"
Gravely, and as gently as they could, they disabused him of his hopes and told him the bitter truth. For a moment he was silent, then he said: "I might have guessed it, when I learned last night that two days since the Danes had taken Uddevalla. The cowardly surrender of Quistrum by Colonel Tranfelt on the 29th left the whole southeast open to them; yet I supposed that they had sent a column to Uddevalla only to secure their flank. 'Tis clear now that the town fell to their main army in its advance on Gothenborg. The city is Sweden's treasure-chest, and with it I'll lose my crown. So you find me, gentlemen, in much the same condition as your James the Second; and, like him, it seems that I'll be left no option but to spend my declining years as a pensioner of France."
Ill and exhausted as he was, Hugh Elliot rose magnificently to the occasion, and cried with superb self-confidence: "Give me your crown, Sire, and I will return it to you with new lustre." -
"What mean you?" muttered the despondent King.
Drawing himself up, the soldier-diplomat answered: "I pray, Sire, that you will never find yourself compelled to leave your Kingdom against your inclination; but that should you be forced to it you would give the preference to Britain. In fact, I am come to propose that your Majesty should cease to rely further at any time on King Louis' empty protestations of friendship, and lean henceforth when you have need upon the support of Britain, Prussia and the United Provinces."
The King gave him a cynical glance. "I promised to do so months ago, but what have any of them done for me so far?"
" 'Tis not what they have done, Sire, but what they are both capable of and pledged to do, that merits your Majesty's consideration. France is so enervated from internal unrest that she no longer has the power to help you, whereas the Triple Alliance grows stronger every day, and is actively concerned to aid your Majesty in your difficulties. Before I left Copenhagen I saw the Prussian Minister, Count Von Rhoda, and we were entirely of one mind. The Count declared to me his intention of proceeding to Berlin to urge his government to exert pressure on the Danish court to cease from its attack upon you. My own government is too far removed for me to take a similar step; but, pending the receipt of fresh despatches, I am willing to take it on myself to use the prestige of the British Crown in your Majesty's interest, should you so desire."
"What! You are prepared to exert pressure on the Danes to cease hostilities?" cried the King, joyfully.
"I can at least proceed to open negotiations with the Danish headquarters, should your Majesty give me your authority to do so."
"Go to it then, and may God prosper your endeavours; for 'tis clear now that an armistice alone will enable me to repair my shattered fortunes. You will be acting, too, in a just cause, since their attack upon me was made in most treacherous fashion. In all these years it was never once hinted that they had pledged themselves to aid Catherine should a war break out between Sweden and Russia. Still worse, His Danish Majesty's brother-in-law, Charles of Hesse-Cassel, who now commands their army, came into Sweden and made a tour of my Southern provinces as an honoured guest, while their forces were already being prepared in Norway for this invasion. For a Prince and a General to have thus come ahead and, while pretending friendship, acted the part of spy is infamous; and I pray you tell him so."
Hugh Elliot shook his head. "I fear, Sire, that such matters, however reprehensible, will carry little weight when it comes to their deciding whether or no to carry the conflict to a final issue. The critical factor lies in the degree of loyalty that the garrison of Gothenborg may display to your Majesty; or rather the degree of resistance which the Danes expect to encounter from the city. If they believe that it can be had by a mere summons to surrender I doubt if aught that I can say will dissuade them from taking it, and your prestige among your own subjects will then be lost for good. But if the Danes think they will be put to a long and arduous siege they may be persuaded to give you an honourable accommodation rather than risk incurring the ill-will of Britain and Prussia."
"Your Excellency is right in that!" Gustavus's eyes suddenly showed their old fire. "While you proceed with these negotiations Gothenborg must be held at all costs. I have taken up my quarters here in order that the constant sight of their King may hearten my loyal Dalesmen, but I have two good regiments billeted in the town, and I will despatch them instantly to reinforce Gothenborg."
" '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."