noon
Take Maenck , Stein and one other with you . I shall keep this man with me , for it may prove but a plot to lure me to Tafelberg . '' Peter scowled at the now frightened hospital attendant . `` Tomorrow I shall be riding through the lowlands , Coblich , and so you may not find means to communicate with me , but before noon of the fifth have word at your town house in Lustadt for me of the success of your venture . '' They had reached the point now where the road to Tafelberg branches from that to Blentz , and the four who were to fetch the king wheeled their horses into the left-hand fork and cantered off upon their mission . The direct road between Lustadt and Tafelberg is but little more than half the distance of that which Coblich and his companions had to traverse because of the wide detour they had made by riding almost to Blentz first , and so it was that when they cantered into the little mountain town near midnight Barney Custer and Lieutenant Butzow were but a mile or two behind them . Had the latter had even the faintest of suspicions that the identity of the hiding place of the king might come to the knowledge of Peter of Blentz they could have reached Tafelberg ahead of Coblich and his party , but all unsuspecting they rode slowly to conserve the energy of their mounts for the return trip .