SWINGING the princess to the window sill Barney fastened the rope about her and signaled to Joseph on the floor above. She was speedily raised to safety. But before Barney could escape by the same means, the door behind him burst open. Soldiers poured into the room. Shouting to Joseph and the princess to flee, Barney leaped outward. His body was heard to splash in the waters of the moat. So runs one of the thrilling adventures of Barney Custer in the kingdom of Lutha, where the American, owing to a strange likeness, was mistaken for the Mad King. Imprisoned in a castle, captured by bandits, stood up before a firing squad, Barney faced death in a dozen different forms. Within a short time he was forced to assume the dictatorship of all Lutha for forty-eight hours. Then came plots and counterplots, battles, intrigues, treachery, and a hundred other elements to make Barney's position precarious and THE MAD KING a story of high interest.
The original pulp magazine texts and illustrations are used in this version of the two stories in this book.