of September, after a sleepless night, caused by overfeeding 

 and insufficient exercise, the Emperor Rudolph left his private 

 rooms, accompanied by a valet, to take a stroll through the 

 pleasure garden and to visit the well-stocked stables ; he re- 

 membered with a half melancholy smile that he had ordered 

 the name of the snow-white Arabian stallion changed from 

 "Kelley" to "Sendivogius," but events had proved that the 

 latter was no more desirable than the former. As he ap- 

 proached the royal mews he saw a group of officers and men 

 gesticulating and talking in agitated tones as if of some 

 calamity, and on inquiry of the imperial Master of the sta- 

 bles, Colonel von Podebrad, he learned the cause of the dis- 

 turbance. During the night several of the horses had been 

 taken ill, two of them in fact, "Eva" and "Clelia," Rudolph's 

 pets, were already dead, "Gilles Sadeler" and "Magdalena" 

 \vere in a critical condition, and "Johann von Aachen" was 

 convalescent; the obvious cause was poisoned oats intro- 

 duced into the mangers by some unknown person ; two clues 

 to the criminal had been found, viz: a peasant's basket in 

 the shrubbery below the stables, and a silver spur marked 

 "S" in one of the stalls. 



The usually impassive Emperor became enraged almost 

 beyond the limits of dignity, and summoning the Vice Chan- 

 cellor, who came in all haste, he placed in Curtius' hands the 

 investigation, urging him to spare no pains to discover the 

 guilty miscreant. The men on watch the preceding night 

 were arrested at once, and the Colonel was warned of simi- 

 lar danger. 



News of the traged} r in the royal mews spread rapidly, 

 and when the citizens of Old Prague and the residents of the 

 Hradschin heard that Lieutenant Maximilian Swoboda had 

 been arrested on good grounds and confined in Daliborka 

 Tower, they were moved with indignation, amazement and 



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