Front matter (continued 2)

"My dear Borsen, nobody knows better than you the absolute unreliability of merely circumstantial evidence. Herr Dormund came yesterday to see my sister, and would instantly have recognized her as the lady he saw at the station, but just as she was coming down to him, he had to leave the house."

"Very well, then we'll assume she is not there. But report says that you take a deep personal interest in her. Do you know who she is?" and he went on to tell me what Althea herself had already told me about the Baron von Ringheim, her father, his ill reputation as an irreconcilable, the desire to arrest him, and further that Althea herself was believed to have been helping him in his designs.

"All of which means?" I asked when he ended.

"That I am sure your knowledge of political matters and police methods here in Berlin will render you extremely unwilling to run counter to them in any way."

"I am much obliged to you for the warning, Borsen; and now suppose we get on to the real purport of this interview."

"As blunt as ever, eh?" he laughed.

"Well, my dear fellow, of course if she was in my house and your people knew it, you'd send straight away and arrest her; and then probably do something unpleasant to me for having helped her. Why don't you?"

"That may come, and be followed by the arrest of Fräulein Chalice Mennerheim as well. But we don't wish to involve you in any bother, you know. And if you were found to have helped her to escape, it might be very awkward for you. It might really."

"Oh, I think I have friends influential enough to see me through a little thing like that. Shall we get on? You spoke of frankness, remember."

"Well, in the first place I am bound to warn you; but we also wish to deal very confidentially with you. The fact is that a marriage has been arranged between her and Count von Felsen's son, young Hugo von Felsen, you know."

"I wish for his father's sake that I knew less about him, or rather that there was less to know. I know also that the Count is very anxious to see him settling down a bit; but what I am not so sure about is why a girl like Fräulein Korper should be sacrificed in the interest of a thorough-paced young scoundrel like Hugo von Felsen."

"You put it rather strongly; but he is not a very brilliant type, perhaps. Still, we can't talk of sacrifice. As a matter of fact such a marriage would be of the greatest advantage to the lady herself. His Majesty would pardon her father, and all the family estates and property, confiscated on his banishment, would be restored. You can see for yourself the advantages to her and her people."

"Another Imperial marriage, eh?" I said drily. "And the Prince von Graven?"

"That is another reason why she must really consent. If the Emperor were to get wind of that matter, well----" The consequences were too terrible to be told in words.

"It's a pretty mix up, anyhow," said I. It was clear that that secret about Chalice had been kept, at any rate. "And not particularly chivalrous to attack the girl in the case. But now suppose I had sufficient influence to induce her to abandon that Prince business?"

"Could you really do that?" he asked eagerly.

"Persuasion might succeed where force would certainly fail. Now, suppose she did give him up, would the Imperial clemency follow--for her father, I mean."

"That is the Emperor's matter. His Majesty does not make terms, he looks for submission to his wishes."

"The Prince would be a better match than von Felsen, even at the worst. Drive matters, and you may find some morning you have driven those two to the altar," I said meaningly as I got up. "Let me have a day or two to see what can be done."

He smiled, but not without some chagrin. "I sent for you to warn you, and here you are making terms, as if you were a delegate. My instructions are to tell you frankly that if you interfere in this matter, we shall ask you to return to England."

"That's better than gaol, anyway. But, seriously, don't you think it would be useful to have a delegate? Your own term. All said and done it isn't a pretty story--for the newspapers, say."

"Going to threaten us now, hanged if you're not. You ought to have gone in for diplomacy. Assurance like that would carry you far," he jested. "Well, come and see me again in a day or two and tell me that the Prince affair is at an end for a start."

I had gained two important things by the interview: delay, which was invaluable to me; and a confirmation of von Felsen's statement to Althea. I knew Borsen well enough to feel sure that, although he had referred in a tone of jest to his instructions to send me packing from Berlin, they were genuine; and I should have been under orders to leave, had he not managed to convince himself that more was to be gained by letting me remain "as a delegate."

As I had said, it was not a pretty story; and the affair was one which all concerned would be much more willing to settle secretly and peacefully than by force. He remembered no doubt that in a former matter I had won my way by means of suggestive paragraphs in the English papers. Publicity is a fairly sure card to play with the officials of his Imperial Majesty the Kaiser.

What I had to do was to make the best use of my time of grace, and I went straight from Borsen to old Ziegler.

"This is indeed an act of friendship to come so promptly, Herr Bastable," he declared with his customary effusiveness, as he placed a chair for me and put a box of cigars at my elbow.

"You said it was urgent, Ziegler. What's the matter?"

"There is nothing the matter; at least nothing that I should allow you to be disturbed about. But I want to have a little very confidential chat with you. You will smoke?"

I lighted a cigar. "Well?"

"I have been thinking over our talk of yesterday, and your expressions of sympathy with us; and a curious thing has happened. I have not breathed a word to a soul about that talk; but last night one of our friends mentioned your name with a hint that some one had been talking to you of our plans."

"A curious coincidence," I replied drily.

"By my mother's memory, it is nothing more, Herr Bastable. I declare that most solemnly." He was very earnest and appeared to be telling the truth. "You were seen to leave here yesterday, and the question was asked whether you were ferreting out things, or whether you were likely to be in sympathy with our plans and objects."

"And what did you say?" I asked with a smile.

"I spoke of your expressions of sympathy."

"Yes?" I queried.

He smiled and rubbed his hands. "You see you have never before given me a hint."

"Intentionally."

"Yet I should like to know the extent of your sympathy."

"Why?"

"You are chary of your words, Herr Bastable."

"All the more time for you to talk, Ziegler. Out with it."

He rolled his eyes round his head and then let them rest on me. "You make it difficult; but at any rate you will not speak of what I may say?"

"You know that without my repeating it."

"Well, you English are like us Poles in one respect--you all love your country, Herr Bastable. What if I could get you news which closely concerns your country? You would not refuse to hear it, or to make use of it, eh? Merely because that course would prejudice the German Government?"

"I say nothing until I know more."

He lowered his voice and bent toward me. "England would like to know exactly the German policy in naval matters? This Government does not wish it known, because it would prejudice the Kaiser. If I had such information, Heir Bastable, could you get it published broadcast in England in such way as to prevent the source being known?"

"Easily and readily. But I must be convinced."

"If there were a naval scheme already in the pigeon-holes of the Government here formulated against England, and based upon knowledge of the strength of the English navy, its publication would make a blaze, eh?" His eyes were positively scintillating with cunning as he fixed them now upon me.

"You may gamble on that," I said. "But you'd have to be sure of your facts."

"If you were to have the secret papers themselves, eh?"

His eyes were off me so that he missed my start of intense satisfaction at this. To make a pause I took my cigar from my lips and pretended to relight it. "Von Felsen?" I asked then in a casual tone.

He was quick enough to detect that my calm tone was assumed and he shot a very keen glance at me. "Why do you ask that?"

"Because I don't trust him, and because he would not have anything to do with it if he thought I was in it."

"He will not know, and he will do what I tell him," was the terse reply.

"And why are you keen on it?"

"Do you think it would do this Government any good to be caught in double dealing with a power like England?" and he launched into a tirade against the Kaiser and his Government, all the venom and bitterness of his hatred apparent in every word.

This gave me time to think the thing round. It was just a lovely stroke of good fortune; and all I had to do was so to arrange matters that the proofs of von Felsen's treachery should come directly into my hands.

As soon as Ziegler's fury had exhausted itself, we set to work to discuss the details of the plan. He himself was not going to appear in it. That was his invariable practice, I knew. There was to be no jot or tittle of evidence in existence which would incriminate him, except only von Felsen's word; and as he would be the actual thief, his testimony would be entirely discredited. As soon as I perceived this, I offered to take the risk of receiving the papers direct from von Felsen the instant they were ready to be handed over. But I made it an absolute condition that he was not to know I was in the thing until the very last moment, when he had the papers actually in his possession and was ready to hand them over.

The hour and place were then to be communicated to me secretly, and I was to do the rest. That would fit in with my plans well enough, and I agreed readily.

"Then there remains only one little point," said Ziegler, after a pause. "There will be some money to be paid, of course. And this can only be in return for the papers themselves."

"Who is to find it?"

"My friends, naturally; but----" He paused with a gesture of doubt. "It is only equally natural that they would wish to have the papers first, and as you are to get them---- What do you think, eh?"

"How much?"

"Only twenty thousand marks," he replied lightly, as if a thousand pounds were a mere bagatelle.

Fortunately I was now in a position to be able to spare such a sum without inconvenience, and would willingly have paid a much larger sum to gain the end I had in view. "Not much difficulty there. You could give me the money and they could repay you."

"My dear Herr Bastable!" he cried, lifting his hands in horror at the idea. "Do you think I am made of money? Your country is going to gain."

"Oh, you want me to find it in the first instance. Very well."

"Oh, what a treat it is to do business with an English gentleman like you!" His relief at my ready agreement was comic and I smiled. "And now that settles the whole matter, except that one last little point. You must let me take you to one or two of our friends and let them know that you are in sympathy with our cause."

"Stop a moment. I can't turn Irreconcilable in that offhand manner."

"Let me explain. There are some of my friends who think that you are against us. Some hints have been dropped that you have been making inquiries, and not in our interest."

"That I am a spy, eh? You know better than that, Ziegler, don't you?"

"I would trust you with my life," he exclaimed grandiloquently. "But it would smooth things if you were to do as I suggest. Secrecy is everything to us; and there are some among us who would go to any extreme if they thought there was treachery anywhere."

I paused to take breath and think.

"This matter could not be arranged otherwise," he put in, seeing me hesitate.

"Very well. You can assure them I am in full sympathy in this particular matter anyhow, and I'll meet any one of them when you please. But von Felsen must know nothing."

It was a risk of course; but I could not let anything come in the way of my plans; and I left the house well pleased.

If matters went as they promised, I should have von Felsen so fast in my power that I could even dictate my terms to his father. For such an end, and all it meant to me, I would have faced twenty times the risk.

CHAPTER VII

PRELIMINARY STEPS

Of all the parts I had ever thought to play, that of a Polish Irreconcilable was about the last. But for the stake I had at issue--to save Althea and win her--I would have turned Russian Nihilist had it been necessary.

The risk I did not take seriously. So far as I had gone at present I could put up a pretty good fight in my defence. If old Ziegler was right, and the German Government were really contemplating some move against England, my old journalistic work would serve as a cover for my action. I could readily justify myself in running almost any risk to unearth and disclose such a thing.

But it was a case where nothing short of success would serve. If the Jew was wrong, I might easily find myself in an ugly fix. I must be careful also not to be drawn in too far. My investment in seditious intrigue must be strictly limited to this one affair.

A few days at most ought to see the issue; and then, I could leave Berlin and, as I now began to hope, take Althea with me.

In regard to her, indeed, my morning's work had imposed an extremely distasteful task upon me. Borsen had confirmed the statement von Felsen had made to her as to her father's pardon in the event of the projected marriage. And I must tell her so.

I had seen for myself on the previous day that even on his unsupported statement she had been very close to giving her consent. Self-sacrifice had become a sort of second nature with her, and she was ready to go to almost any lengths to secure her father's safety and ensure Chalice's future.

Keep the facts from her I could not; but there was something I could do before I told her--tackle von Felsen himself and endeavour to force on his marriage with Hagar Ziegler.

He went in deadly fear of Hagar's father; and I resolved to retract the promise I had given von Felsen on the previous day to hold my tongue about his intention to marry Althea. A word to Ziegler would set him to work at once.

Von Felsen's action in inducing his father to attempt to intimidate me was an ample justification for my taking back my promise; but I would fight him fairly, and give him notice of what I meant to do.

When I reached home I found von Bernhoff closeted with my sister, and they appeared to have had a pretty warm conversation.

"Here is Paul," cried Bessie, as I entered. "Tell him, Herr Bernhoff." She was very excited, and not far removed from tears.

"What is it?" I asked turning to him.

"I have been asking your sister to do me the honour to betroth herself to me," he replied, with rather a disconcerted air.

"She has no doubt given you your answer."

"You had better tell the rest, Herr Bernhoff," cried Bessie indignantly.

"I have merely been saying that if she would consent I should become to that extent a member of your family, and so concerned to help you in keeping secret any matters which you do not desire to have disclosed."

"Plainer, please," I said very curtly,

"There are certain things----"

"Mention them," I broke in.

"You have a guest here, Mr. Bastable," he said, lifting his hands and smiling significantly.

"You have already given this--this gentleman an answer, Bessie?"

"Oh yes, and he said----"

"Never mind that for a moment. Just let me have a word or two with him alone." She got up at once, and he rose at the same time as if to go.

"I do not wish to discuss it with you, Mr. Bastable," he said uneasily.

"But I mean to discuss it with you," I retorted; and I opened the door for her and prevented his leaving. "Now we'll have it out together, von Bernhoff."

He made no reply and stared at me sullenly.

"I've got the hang of the matter, I think. You have asked my sister to be your wife; she has not consented; and in reply you have hinted that you will tell certain suspicions you entertain if she does not retract her refusal. Did you say that as evidence of your overwhelming affection for her or as a proof of your high sense of honour?"

He continued to glare at me in silence.

"You find that an inconvenient question, eh?"

Still the same dogged silence.

"You can't brazen this out by just staring at me, von Bernhoff. Don't be under any mistake in regard to that. Nor can you bully me, as you have tried to bully my sister. You are an officer, and belong to a regiment in which the other officers at any rate are gentlemen. As for your suspicions, you can go and shout them at the top of your voice on parade, for all I care. But both you and I know well enough what your fellow-officers will think of your conduct."

This touched him. He winced and began to protest. "I did not mean anything of the sort."

"I don't care a beggar's shirt what you say you meant. It's what you have done. I know your Colonel pretty well, and he shall be the judge in this."

"I protest----"

"To the devil with your protests," I cried angrily. "It is your action which matters. That's all. We'll go straight to him together."

All his doggedness had vanished now, and he was as limp as a chewed cigar end.

"I beg you will not do anything of the kind. If you like to make this a personal matter between us two----"

"Not I," I broke in with a short angry laugh. "I'll have no duel as a way out for you. You can convince your Colonel that you did not mean what your acts suggest. Come to him with me now--if you dare."

But he dared not. I knew that; for I knew what the result would be, and so did he. "I am very sorry," he stammered. "I apologize. I---- What more can I do?"

"You can get out of the house," and I threw open the door. "As for your suspicions, tell them to whom you please--but don't let me hear of it."

Without another word, without a glance even, he slunk out with his tail well between his legs, like the beaten cur he was.

I could afford to laugh at his threats, after my interview with Borsen and my recognition as a sort of unofficial "delegate" in Althea's affairs. There was a tacit agreement that I was to have some little time in which to arrange things, and any chatter from von Bernhoff was not likely to do any harm.

I told Bessie the result of my talk to von Bernhoff, and then went out to lunch at my club and make some inquiries about the inner working of this Polish Irreconcilable movement. As I was to be one of them, I had better know all I could.

I got plenty of rumours and reports and gossip and a few facts. As England always has her Irish question with its disaffected Nationalists subject to occasional spurts of violence, so Germany will always have a Polish question. But her policy of drastic measures and sharp repression drives the trouble beneath the surface, where it festers like a national canker.

Openly the Irreconcilables were keeping within the law, and seeking an alliance with the powerful Socialist party and other sections, in the hope that eventually the combination would become strong enough to dictate the policy of the Empire, when it was hoped they would use their power to aid the renationalization of Poland.

At the same time, however, they were intriguing incessantly to throw discredit on the Government by worming out all sorts of official secrets the disclosure of which would tell to the disadvantage of the Kaiser. Mole work which was hateful to those in power.

In addition to this some very sinister hints were dropped to me in confidence by a Polish journalist whom I knew to have excellent channels of information, about certain mysterious happenings, classed as "accidents," to Government property. More than one warship had been suddenly disabled; machinery in Government works had been damaged; defects in arms and ammunition had developed, and so on.

"You may take it that the official explanation is never the right one. If the truth is known it is not told," he declared; "but it probably is not known. You can draw your own inferences. But some day a bigger accident will happen, and then you may recall my words."

The news was anything but cheering. I had no mind to be mixed up with men who were planning a policy of violence, and I resolved to speed matters all I could and put an end to the connexion.

As a first step I would force on von Felsen's marriage with Ziegler's daughter. I determined to go to von Felsen at once and tell him point-blank that I should let Ziegler know the truth. On my way to him I called to see Chalice. She had just returned from Herr Grumpel and was in high spirits, because the date had been fixed for her first appearance.

"Think of it, Herr Bastable. In a week's time! Oh, I am nearly beside myself with delight," she cried, clasping her hands ecstatically.

"A good many things can happen in a week," I said drily.

"Now you are going to be horrid and make me uncomfortable," she pouted. She had a hundred moods to be assumed at will.

"I don't wish to be horrid, as you call it, but I do wish to speak seriously to you about----"

"But I don't want to be serious to-day," she broke in. "I want to talk about the great concert. Just think of my immense stroke of luck. The Herr had arranged a State concert with the Ventura as his Prima. She can't come to it, or she won't or something, and he is actually going to put me in her place. In the place of the great Ventura! Oh, I am like a wild thing when I think of it. And if you were a little bit of a friend, you'd be just as excited as I am."

"I'm afraid I am not," I replied somewhat ungraciously. She had not a thought for Althea; had not even mentioned her name.

"If you have come only to say disagreeable things, I wish you'd choose another day for them. You'll make me ready to shed tears in a minute."

"What are you going to do about Prince von Graven?"

"Oh, bother the Prince. I have no time to think of him to-day, nor for the whole week. Think of all it means to me! To appear instead of the great Ventura!"

"I'm sorry to be a wet blanket, but I must tell you----"

"No, no, no. I won't listen," she cried vehemently, putting her fingers in her ears and shaking her head vigorously. "Herr Grumpel said I must not have anything to excite me between now and the concert."

"There will be no concert at all for you if you do not listen to me, Fräulein," I declared, as soon as I had a chance of getting a word in.

"Oh, I hate you, I hate you! Go away!" she cried like a child.

I sat on stolidly until she understood that I was really in earnest and that she could not get rid of me in that way, and then her manner changed suddenly. She became earnest and looked at me almost piteously.

"Of course I didn't mean that. If there is anything I ought to know which really does concern the concert, of course I will listen."

"You have not asked about Fräulein Althea," I reminded her.

"Of course I know she is all right or I should have heard. Has she sent you now to frighten me?"

"I have not come to frighten you at all, and she does not know that I have come. I wish only to warn you."

"It is very much the same thing," she said pettishly again.

"Not at all the same thing, I assure you. No one would be more pleased if you were to make a great hit than I should be. But the fact is that before a week passes you are much more likely to be in the same plight as Fräulein Althea than singing at a concert, unless you have cleared up this matter of the Prince."

"Do you mean they would try to arrest me? ME?"

"A great many things have happened since I saw you, and this morning I had it from a high authority that that step is under consideration. The one arrest has been decided on because Fräulein Althea is the daughter of Baron von Ringheim, you are his granddaughter and can judge whether in such a case you would be likely to be acceptable to the Kaiser as the chief performer at a State concert."

The colour left her face as she listened, and when I ended she burst into a storm of tears. "You are cruel! It is infamous! Why persecute me in this way?" she cried over and over again. She was almost hysterical.

I said no more for the moment. If I tell the truth, I thought it only fair that she should be touched personally by some of the trouble which she had viewed with such philosophic indifference when it affected only Althea. With all her caprice and selfishness, however, she had plenty of shrewdness, and understood the gravity of what I had said.

Presently she choked down her emotion and seized my hand in both her own. "Forgive me for having spoken as I did. You are right, of course, and only acting as my friend in telling me this. But what shall I do?"

"Tell the truth, give up Prince von Graven, and let the Kaiser have his way in regard to this precious Imperial marriage."

"He would never forgive me," she wailed. "What does Althea advise?'"

Althea at last. I checked a smile. She could think of Althea when there was a difficulty to be solved. "I have not told her."

Suddenly she started as a fresh thought struck her. "You have quarrelled with the Prince, Herr Bastable."

"That is not the reason for my coming to you. I had some words with him because he would not be man enough to tell the truth and face the music."

"It was at my wish."

"I know that, but it does not make any difference to the fact that Fräulein Althea was being sacrificed for the sake of the secret. But if the truth is not told, you may depend on it you will never have the chance of appearing at that concert."

"I don't know what to do."

I got up. "The others will not let me decide for you, and you must do as you will; but you can now see all that hangs on the decision."

"Oh, don't leave me, Herr Bastable. Help me," she cried, catching and holding my hand and backing her words with appealing glances.

"Give up the Prince--you do not really care for him; write a renunciation grounding it on the fact that you do not wish to go counter to the Kaiser's wish and will do anything rather than injure the Prince's future; and let me have the document to get it to the Emperor."

"Help me to write it. You write so cleverly."

"No. Don't have it machine made. Let yourself go in writing it. You have just heard of His Majesty's opposition, your heart is breaking, and so on."

"It is," she said, with a very piteous look.

"It will--if you don't get your chance at the concert. Think of all that means to you, and then persuade yourself that your emotion is for the loss of the Prince and not the sacrifice of your future."

It was rather brutal, but she only laughed. "I will try," she agreed; and saying that I would see her again on the following day, I left her to hurry to von Felsen.

I was convinced that she cared no more for the Prince than I did, and that she had merely kept him tied to her apron-strings as a possible means of advancing her interests. To me she stood for a type of calculating, callous selfishness; and yet to the Prince she appeared as a veritable queen among women. But then I was not in love with her, and he was; and he would certainly curse me heartily for the advice I had given her.

When I reached von Felsen's house a somewhat curious thing occurred. I was asked to wait a while; and as I stood thinking about the coming interview and staring out of the window into the now gloomy street, the electric lights of the room were switched on suddenly. I turned on the instant to find von Felsen in the act of closing the door which the servant must have left open.

He was not quite quick enough; for I caught sight of a man crossing the hall rapidly, and recognized him as a fellow named Dragen, one of the worst characters in Berlin, the bully and worse of a low gambling hell. I had come across him in my old newspaper work in connexion with a very unsavoury case.

"Who was that?" I asked sharply.

"Only my servant. What do you mean? And why do you come to me?" and von Felsen shut the door and stood before it.

Why the lie? Why had he been at such pains to let the man have a good sight of me? And how long had they been in the room before I knew of their presence?

CHAPTER VIII

TRAPPED

An instant's reflection convinced me that it would be prudent to accept von Felsen's statement and not to drop a hint that I had recognized the man who had stolen away so stealthily. If any trick were intended, I had better not let him think that I suspected it.

"I have come to talk to you seriously," I said in reply to his question.

"You do not suppose you are very welcome here?"

"It isn't intended to be exactly a friendly call."

"You had better come into my other room." He said this very curtly as he opened the door again and led me to a room across the hall. "Now what is it?"

I copied his blunt manner. "You broke the word you gave me yesterday, and I take back the pledge I gave you."

"What do you mean?"

"I was sent for to your father's office to-day."

"I know nothing of that."

"I don't believe you," I rapped out sharply.

"I'm not going to have you here to insult me," he blustered.

"Having failed in that trick of bringing Dormund to my house yesterday, you set your father's people on to me to see what they could do. You did this in the face of your promise to give up your attempt to find Fräulein Korper on condition that I said nothing to Herr Ziegler."

"They knew all about everything without me."

"What they are going to know next will be all about you and Hagar Ziegler. And Ziegler is going to know all about the other matter. It would have paid you better to run straight with me."

He appeared to be taken utterly by surprise by this, having been fool enough to believe that I should not see his hand behind that summons to his father's office. His bluster dropped away like an ill-fitting cloak. "I don't know why you want to hound me down in this way. What is Hagar Ziegler to you?"

"It's only my friendship for you--I wish to see you happily married," I replied with a grin.

He flung me a curse for my jibe and turned away to light a cigarette.

"Shall we send for old Ziegler, or will you come with me to him?" I asked in the same tone. It was a delight to rack him.

"It has nothing to do with you," he said sullenly.

"It has more to do with you, I admit; but I might be the best man and then----"

"Stop it," he growled. I laughed; and after a pause he glanced round at me. "Can't we come to terms?"

"We did, and you broke them."

"I tell you I have not said a word," he declared with an oath for emphasis.

I gave him a steady meaning look and replied significantly: "I saw Herr Borsen at the Count's office, and he happens to be an old friend of mine. He had no object in telling me anything but the truth."

He drew the inference I intended from this--that Borsen had given him away--and he made no further attempt at denial.

I turned to the door. "What are you going to do? Will you come with me to Ziegler's or shall I go alone?"

"Give me two or three days to settle things."

"Not an hour. I am going straight to Ziegler, and to-morrow Herr Borsen will know the other side." He made no reply and I left the house.

When I reached the Jew's I was amused to find how, in his petty short-sighted cunning, von Felsen had endeavoured to cut the ground from under me.

Ziegler and his daughter were together and were both in high spirits. He introduced me to her, and had evidently done all he could to impress her with the fact that I was one of his best friends.

"I have told her, Herr Bastable, that there is no man in Berlin whom I would trust as absolutely as I would you," he declared. "I wish her to think of you just as I do."

"Nothing would please me better; but I am afraid that some one who has great influence with her does not share your opinion, Herr Ziegler."

"You mean Herr von Felsen," she replied, with a frankness which I liked. "I should like you to be better friends, I confess, and would do anything in my power to secure that. My father's friends must always be mine."

"We were speaking of him as you entered," said the father. "He has just telephoned me asking that the date for Hagar's marriage may be fixed for a week to-day."

I could not restrain a smile at this, and Hagar, who was watching me closely while he spoke, saw the smile. "You are surprised at this, Herr Bastable?"

"I am pleased to be able to be the first to offer my congratulations."

"Your smile did not read quite like that," she returned with a shade of pique in her manner.

"I am surprised, I admit. The fact is I have just left Herr von Felsen, and, although he knew I was coming here, he did not drop a hint of the fact."

"Had you been as close a friend of his as you are of my father's, he would probably have told you." It was very neatly put.

But old Ziegler had read more in my words than Hagar. I saw that by the sharp look he shot at me. He began to talk quickly about the forthcoming marriage and the necessary preparations until an excuse offered to send his daughter out of the room.

"Now what is it, Herr Bastable. About Hugo, I mean, of course."

I told him at once precisely what had taken place in regard to Althea and von Felsen, and what I had heard from Herr Borsen.

I have never seen a greater frenzy of passion than that which took complete possession of him at the news. For some moments he was like a madman in his fury. His face went livid, his eyes gleamed, his lips worked spasmodically, he trembled violently, and with hands clenched tight he raved against von Felsen, and abused and cursed him with a voluble energy of rage that almost made me regret the tornado I had raised.

I stared at him, silent from sheer amazement until the first vehemence of his wrath had spent itself.

"He shall marry her to-morrow or at latest the day following," he cried; and with a hand that was shaking like that of one in a palsy, he went to the telephone to bid von Felsen come at once to the house. When the reply was that he was not at home, the old man's fury broke out again. "It is a lie!" he stormed. "He knows you are here and will not come. I will go to him. The scoundrel, to dare to lie to me in this way. But he shall pay the price"; and he was still in a furious rage when I left him.

Considering his opinion of von Felsen, I could not help marvelling that he was so set upon forcing him to marry Hagar. But analysis of other men's motives is not much in my way. Possibly he was eager that she should have a titled husband, and I recalled how he had appeared to gloat over that prospect in one of my interviews with him. I left it at that and returned to the consideration of my own affairs.

Now that I had drawn von Felsen's teeth, I did not shirk the task of telling Althea what I had heard from Herr Borsen in the morning. She could no longer be forced to make that hateful marriage. Ziegler would see to that.

But not for a second did I anticipate the effect of the news upon her. I had utterly failed to see the thing from her standpoint, and was blind enough to think she would be as glad as I myself was. I told her, therefore, in a somewhat jubilant tone.

The smile which my first words brought to her face gradually died away, and gave place to an expression first of perplexity and then of distress and dismay, as she heard me out in silence.

Then she looked up and sighed. "Oh, Mr. Bastable, don't you see?" she asked wistfully.

"I see that we take very different views of it," I replied gloomily.

She noticed my keen disappointment. "Please bear with me, and forgive me if I cannot see it as you do. But if Herr von Felsen marries this Jewess, it will make it impossible----" She paused and glanced at me nervously.

"Impossible for you to marry him, of course," I finished, smiling fatuously.

"Impossible for me to save my father, I mean. How else can I save him?"

I understood then and winced at the consciousness of my blundering. "But did you ever seriously contemplate such a sacrifice as that would have involved?"

"I thought I had made that quite plain to you. And now----." She broke off with a gesture of despair. "I would do anything to save him and Chalice."

"Fräulein Chalice is willing to give up the Prince von Graven," I replied, and went on to tell her of my interview with Chalice.

But she shook her head. "Please believe that I am convinced you have done everything with no thought but to help me. But nothing Chalice can do will save my father."

"I appear to have blundered all along the line," I exclaimed irritably.

She made no reply, and thus appeared to acquiesce in my verdict of self-condemnation. This was not soothing, to say the least. But after a moment's pause she laid her hand on my arm with a rueful smile. "You don't think I am blaming you because I am silent, Mr. Bastable, do you? I am only trying to think what to do. It is so difficult. It has all been my fault. I ought to have made it clearer to you that I was resolved to save my father at any cost."

"I think that will still be done."

"How?"

"I have a plan, and am pretty confident about it."

Her brows puckered in doubt, as if she were not disposed to trust my indiscretion any longer. "Had you not better tell me?" she asked nervously.

"For one thing I hope to go to Herr Borsen to-morrow with the news about Chalice's decision, and I shall tell him then about the Ziegler affair."

"No, no," she cried hastily. "You must not do that. That marriage may yet be prevented in some way."

"Not if the Jew has his way," I answered with a grim smile at the recollection of his frenzy of rage.

"You must not breathe a word to Herr Borsen. That would shut out all hope."

"Hope?" I echoed sharply, for the word jarred. "I did not know that hope was the feeling you entertained in regard to von Felsen."

She bit her lip and for an instant dropped her eyes, and I saw her fingers strain; then she looked up with a wistful smile. "Don't let me anger you, Mr. Bastable. I chose that word very unfortunately. It sounds as if I have done you so much less than justice after all the service you have rendered me. Forgive me, and do not punish me by thinking me ungrateful."

"I am a churlish brute," I answered, smiling in my turn. "My head was swollen with the thought of my own cleverness, and my temper suffered because my vanity was hurt. I admit I have blundered badly; now let us try and talk out some remedy together."

The bright look she gave me signalled absolution. "Let us start with this absolute condition--that my father's pardon must be obtained and Chalice's future made secure."

"I accept the conditions and still believe I can win." Her eyes flashed a question. "No, you need not doubt my discretion this time," I said in reply to the look. "I have learnt my lesson. But I cannot tell you all about it."

"I should like to know. I am very much of a woman in my curiosity. Besides, I should like to have firm ground for the hopes you raise."

"I shall know in a day or so."

"Suspense is not measured by hours, Mr. Bastable."

"I would lessen it if I could; but at any rate I can assure you my own suspense will not be less than yours," I said earnestly.

She let her eyes fall. Whether she guessed something of the feeling that lay behind my words I could not tell. But after a pause which was embarrassing to us both, she lifted her head and looked frankly into my eyes.

"I know I have your sympathy--as a friend, Mr. Bastable," she said simply, with a stress on the word.

"It is as a friend I speak. And because of that friendship I ask you not to take any step in regard to this monstrous proposal of your marriage with von Felsen until I have had time to see the result of this effort of mine."

"I will never take any step at all about it unless there is no other alternative, and not even then without telling you. I give you that promise freely."

"It is a bargain, and I can ask no more than that."

"Tell me again about Chalice," she said. I repeated all that had passed and we discussed the position fully. "I have never quite understood Chalice," she said slowly. "You think she does not care for the Prince?"

"If so, would she be willing to give him up to secure even such a first appearance as is offered to her?"

"That is incomprehensible to me."

"I think there are many reasons why she should do it. The Kaiser is only a man after all, and a very impulsive one at that. He is quite likely to be so charmed by the apparently spontaneous compliance with his wishes as well as delighted by the removal of the obstacle to this Imperial marriage project, as to promote her at once to the position of a Court favourite. And in that event you need have no fears about your father."

"There is the Count von Felsen to reckon with."

I smiled. "Unwittingly he has already done a great deal to help such an end. He must have explained to the Kaiser that your father is no longer capable of doing any real harm, or otherwise he could not have secured the promise of a pardon for him. Depend upon it, if Fräulein Chalice succeeds, there will be scarcely any favour she could ask which would not be granted readily."

"You almost make me hope," she said brightly. "You are so confident."

"If I can only succeed with my other plan at the same time there will no longer be the remotest reason even to doubt. Besides, Count von Felsen's plan will have been knocked on the head as well by his son's marriage."

But she frowned at this. "I wish that could have been postponed. It would have left us the other alternative as a last resource."

"God forbid that it should ever come to that," I cried fervently; and then fearing that if I remained longer with her I might betray myself, I went away.

I was not a little humiliated at the result of the interview. Althea had succeeded in making me appreciate not only her own point of view, but also my own motive. My motive in forcing von Felsen to marry Hagar had had much more concern with my own selfish desire to win Althea for myself than with any regard for her interests or wishes.

I had just fooled and flattered myself that I was acting for her, and so had blundered into this humiliating muddle. I had put it very lightly in saying that my vanity was hurt. I had made a big fool of myself; and what I had to do was to see whether I could repair the mischief.

I started off at once for Ziegler's house. In some way I must get him to agree to the postponement of the marriage. I owed that at least to Althea; and even if I had to break with him altogether, I must gain that end.

He was not at home, however, and after waiting a long time I went away leaving word that I must see him the first thing in the morning on very urgent business.

I had walked a very little distance from the house when a man overtook me.

"Herr Bastable, I think?" he said.

"Yes. What do you want with me?"

"I have to request you to come with me. I am a police officer."

"Do you mean I am arrested? On what charge?"

"It is possible you will not be detained. It is in regard to Fräulein Korper. It is desired to put some questions to you. I can say no more."

It was of course useless to resist, so I turned and walked with him. We passed through several streets, and presently he stopped at the door of a house in a side street.

"This is not a police station," I objected.

"You are to be confronted with another prisoner under arrest here--Ephraim Ziegler--who is being detained here."

"No. Take me to the station," I demanded.

He laid a powerful hand on my arm. "You will do as I tell you."

He was both taller and much stronger than I; but I knew that any such proceeding was quite against police rules, so I tried to wrest myself free.

The attempt was futile; and as the door was opened he seized me and thrust me inside into the arms of a couple of men, who gripped and held me, despite the struggle I made.

The man who had brought me shut the door quickly and, rushing forward, pressed a chloroformed cloth over my mouth and nose.

And then--unconsciousness.

CHAPTER IX

A PERILOUS CRISIS

My first sensation of returning consciousness was that of cold air being blown violently in my face as I was penned in between heavy bodies which crushed so closely against me that movement was impossible, while the throbbing noise of rapidly moving machinery sounded in my ears.

All was indistinct. My head was aching as if it had been split, my brain was dizzy, my senses dazed and chaotic. The ground under me appeared to have come to life and to be racing away from me at lightning speed.

Strange uncouth lights were flashing hither and thither, producing a medley of glare which was utterly bewildering and almost terrifying.

I was in total darkness, save for the eccentric flashes of light; and my first rational thought was the discovery that when I closed my eyes the flashes were still with me. I recognized then that they were caused by some sort of brain pressure.

Next I discovered that I was not bound in any way. I could not move, because I was hopelessly wedged between the heavy bodies. Moreover, I appeared to have no power of my own to stir either hand or foot.

Then my wits cleared very slowly, and I began to remember what had occurred. I had been drugged, and could do nothing until the effects of the drug had worn off.

And at last I realized that I was in the narrow tonneau of a small motor-car travelling at a rapid pace through the night. The heavy bodies which had so perplexed me were two men between whom I was half sitting, half lying in the narrow space.

The fearsome sense of terror abated with my understanding of the position. I lay back, indescribably weary and helpless, with a hazy feeling that rest would restore my faculties, and a half-awakened instinct that my safety might depend upon my appearing to be still under the influence of the drug.

I think I fell asleep, for my next conscious sensation was the pleasant discovery that the racking pain in the head had abated and the lights of my delirium ceased to flash in my brain.

The two men between whom I was jammed were bending over me, and I heard one say to the other: "It's all right. He's still dead off." It was probably their movement which had awakened me.

I lay as still as a drugged man would, and tried to collect my scattered wits. We were travelling at a good rate, some thirty miles an hour, I thought, and the car, a rather crazy vehicle, swayed and bumped and jolted to an extent that threatened a mishap. It was obviously not built for high speed.

Gradually I recalled all that had occurred in its proper sequence. My visit to Herr Ziegler's house; my stay there; my leaving; the encounter with the pretended police official; the scene at the house to which he had taken me; my futile struggle; and lastly the drugging.

When it had all occurred I could not of course tell. For aught I knew it might have been no more than an hour or two before I came to myself in the car, or it might have been as many days or weeks.

From my position between the men I could not see anything, but presently one of them put a question to his companion: "What place was that?"

"Glowen, I think," was the reply.

"How far from Wittenberge?"

"About twenty miles. Ask Dragen."

The man addressed leant forward and put a question to the chauffeur, who turned his head and flung back a reply over his shoulder. I could not catch what he said, however.

What I had heard told me a great deal. Wittenberge was a small place on the Elbe between Berlin and Hamburg, about a hundred miles from the capital. The man had spoken of it as if it were the end of the car's journey, and I wondered what could be the possible reason for my being taken there.

But the most important information was the mention of the man's name--Dragen. It sent my thoughts back at once to the time of my visit to von Felsen. Dragen was the man whom I had recognized there, and it was now clear that he had been brought into the room to be able to identify me.

Von Felsen was clearly behind my abduction, and it was with bitter self-reproach I saw how easily I had let myself be fooled. He had evidently had this plan to get rid of me in mind for some time, and my action in threatening to tell Ziegler the truth about Althea had brought matters to a crisis.

Dragen I believed to be a man capable of any villainy: murder at need, if it could be done safely; and I did not doubt that he had chosen as accomplices in the scheme scoundrels who were as reckless as himself. I should be lucky if I got out of the scrape with my life. I was being well punished for the blunder I had committed in trying to force on von Felsen's marriage with the Jew's daughter; and it was the irony of the affair I had been caught in the toils at the very moment when I was about to try and undo that mistake.

But why were we running to Wittenberge? I asked myself the question over and over again, only to give it up in bewilderment. At the rate we were travelling I should soon know, of course; but my impatience and anxiety were only heated by that fact.

Presently the men bent down over me again.

"You must have given him a pretty strong dose," said one.

His companion laughed. "Do you suppose I measured it?"

"He's as fast off as ever. Look here." At this he shook me till the teeth all but rattled in my jaws, and then pinched me until I should think his fingers all but met in my flesh. He had a hand of iron.

"All the better. Saves trouble," growled the brute.

"Had we better give him another dose to get him on the boat? We don't want any noise there. It won't matter when he's once on board."

"If you want me to finish him, I will. Not else."

"Well, it's your look out that part of it, not mine."

"All right then, leave it to me. But I may as well make sure."

There was a pause, and I could tell that the man was feeling in his pockets. I wondered what was coming, and nerved myself for the ordeal.

"This'll touch him up if there's any return of sensibility," he said with another laugh. I remember wondering at the use of such a term and jumping to the conclusion that the fellow must have had some sort of training as a medical man, and had fallen to his present low position as the result of dissipation.

I had not more than a few seconds for this speculation, for he seized my hand roughly and plunged a needle into the back. I bore it without flinching.

"I told you so," he said. "But we'll have another experiment."

He took my thumb in his strong fingers then, and holding it up tried to thrust the needle down into the quick. Fortunately for me the lurching of the car interfered with his intention, and the needle entered the flesh some slight distance from the nail.

Again I succeeded in repressing even the slightest quiver at the pain it caused, although it made me almost sick. He loosened his grip of the thumb with the needle still in it, and I had the presence of mind enough to let the hand fall limp and flaccid.

He was satisfied with the test. He gripped my hand again and drew out the needle roughly. "He's good for hours yet, Marlen," he announced with an oath.

"You'd better tell Dragen," said the other; and he leant forward and spoke to Dragen, who was apparently the leader in the affair.

I was free once more to think. The mention of the boat had sufficed to give me a slight indication of their plans. I was being taken by car to Wittenberge in order to be transferred to a boat of some sort in which the journey was to be continued. Probably to Hamburg, I guessed.

That seaport had a very unenviable reputation for deeds of violence. If the intention was to take my life, no better place could have been chosen for the work than Hamburg. It would be a comparatively easy matter to knock me on the head, dress me in some disguise without a mark of any sort which would lead to my identification, and then either drop me into the river or carry me ashore to one of the low quarters of the town, where violent deaths were matters of no uncommon occurrence.

I am free to admit that I was intensely alarmed at the prospect. I was helplessly in their power. I was unarmed, and I knew enough of Dragen's reputation for cunning to be quite sure that he would so arrange matters that even if I succeeded in raising an alarm when they were taking me from the car to the boat, he would select a spot where no assistance would be available.

I had only one thing in my favour--their belief in my continued unconsciousness. How could I turn that to the best account?

For the rest of the time I remained in the car I thought over that point as strenuously as only a man can think who feels that his life will be the result of the thinking.

If I raised an alarm at Wittenberge and no help came, I was a doomed man. That was as certain as that the sun would rise on the following morning whether I saw it or not.

I could not fool them twice about being insensible. The perspiration stood thick on my forehead as I tried to come to some decision, and I was still undecided when the car began to slow down and turned away from the main road.

I guessed we were going down to the river, and perceived to my consternation that the place was absolutely deserted. Then the car came to a standstill, and I heard the sluggish wash of the water.

Dragen got out and walked away in the darkness.

"Is he going with us on the river trip?" asked the man who had drugged me.

"How the devil do I know?" was the response. "I know I'm going because I'll have to manage the launch, and you'll have to go, of course. We can't get on without the doctor. And somebody 'll have to take this rickety old puffer back."

"How are you going to get him on to the Stettin?"

"Why, go after her and pretend that we're passengers who have missed her at the landing-stage. He is going on the trip for his health, and we are his valet and medical man looking after him on the voyage. She calls at Southampton for cargo; and you'll dope him a bit, and we shall slip off and leave him."

"It would be a deal easier to drop him in the river."

"Dragen has orders to do nothing of the sort. He's only wanted to be out of the way for a week or two."

"And then turn up and blow the gaff on the lot of us. I know which I'd rather risk," said the doctor.

"And lose half the plunder. The thing's as simple as it can be. Everything has been arranged."

The other man grunted his disapproval, and then they were silent.

I had heard the recital of the programme with infinite relief. Von Felsen had obviously been afraid to proceed to extreme measures, and for that at any rate I thanked him. If he could get me out of the way for a week or two, he would have ample time to complete the plans with which my presence had interfered, and this time he would gain by securing my presence on a liner which after it left Southampton would not touch land again until it reached the other side of the Atlantic.

I decided then not to make any attempt to escape or attract help for the present. And it was fortunate that I did so.

When Dragen returned to the car he told the two men that all was in readiness, and that they were to carry me down to the boat.

On the way I lolled in their arms as limp as a corpse. They handled me pretty roughly, and in getting on to the boat the doctor tripped and flung me on to the little deck in order to save himself from falling.

"Don't be a clumsy fool, doctor," called Dragen sharply, with an oath.

"He can't feel anything," was the growling response. "And you don't need to curse me, Dragen."

"I'll do worse than curse you if you drive me to it," came the sharp, angry retort, the threatening tone of which indicated Dragen's power over the other.

"This won't help us to get the boat under weigh, will it?" put in Marlen. "Come on, doc, let's put the passenger to bed."

But the other laughed sulkily. "You can finish the job by yourselves," and he turned back toward the car.

"Come back," called Dragen furiously, "or it'll be the worse for you."

The "doctor" turned on him with a fierce oath. "I've owed you something long enough, and this would be a mighty good place to pay the debt in. I'm a better man than you, and if you use that tone to me again I'll prove it."

"What's the good of spitting at one another like two infernal tomcats?" put in Marlen.

"To hell with your tomcats," was the fierce retort. "Let him do the thing without me if he can. A dirty, low, sponging bully speak to me like that!" and, giving, a full rein to his temper, he let loose such flood of invective upon Dragen that I expected every instant to see the two come to blows.

I began to hope that I should find in the quarrel a chance of getting away, and I glanced round me stealthily in search of something with which I could arm myself for a struggle with the third man, Marlen.

But Dragen, perceiving that a quarrel at that juncture meant the failure of the whole adventure, kept his head and his temper. He let the "doctor" storm and rage without attempting a reply until the man's fury had spent itself in words.

Then he turned to Marlen and asked quietly: "And what are you going to do? Going through with me or back with the doc? You can have the car to run away in if you like."

"I'm going to see it through," was the reply.

"Then we must chance it and leave the car here. Good-night, doc. That's about the toughest speech you ever gave me, but I shan't take any notice of it. Maybe in the morning you'll see things differently."

He crossed the little landing-stage and came on to the launch.

"Can we do without him?" asked Marlen, rather nervously I thought.

"Of course we can. Oh, by the way, doc, you'd better let me have the drops," he said casually and went back to him. "I'm sorry I put your back up so, old man."

"Well, you should keep a better guard on that tongue of yours." The tone showed that his temper had passed.

"All right, we won't say any more about it. Give me the stuff."

The man laughed. "I'll go on with it if you like," he said half shamefacedly.

"Of course I'd like"; and thus to my infinite disappointment the quarrel ended there and the "doctor" came on to the launch.

"Let's get our passenger to bed," said Marlen. "We've lost time enough already, and more than we can spare."

With that they picked me up, carried me forward, and thrust me into a sort of forecastle, and closed and bolted the hatch upon me.

I heard the murmur of talk between the three men for a while, but could not distinguish what was said; and after a few minutes the launch started on her run down the river.

It was a roomy boat, and the place in which I had been thrust was almost large enough for me to stand upright in. There was a good deal of lumber stored in it, and my first effort was to hunt all round in the hope of finding some sort of weapon.

I had formed a rough idea of a plan. The hatch by which the place was entered was not large enough to allow of two persons entering at the same time, and my crude plan was to wait until one of them entered and then disable him.

I crawled all over the forecastle, feeling my way and fingering everything carefully as I crawled. For a long time I was unsuccessful, but when I had all but given up hope my fingers closed on a heavy broken cog-wheel. I could have shouted for joy at the lucky find. It was just the thing for the purpose.

I carried it back and lay down close to the hatch, choosing such a position as would enable me to attack any one who entered.

I knew enough of the plan in regard to me to feel confident that I should not be molested for some time. The "doctor" was under the impression that I should remain insensible for some hours yet, and I knew that every hour, almost every minute, of additional rest would be invaluable. I was still heavy and stupid from the effects of the drug, and would gladly have slept. But I was afraid to sleep lest he should come in to see me, and I should be thus unable to put up a fight for my freedom.

It was a fortunate fear, as it turned out.

I had not been long waiting before the bolt of the hatch was drawn back and the "doctor" thrust in his hand and raised one of mine to make sure that I was still unconscious.

"He's all right," he announced. "We'd better do it now. I'll bring him out."

"Wait a bit. Here's a boat of some sort ahead."

The "doctor" drew back quickly, but left the hatch open.

"I'm afraid of it, doc, and that's the truth," said Marlen.

"Don't be a fool, man. It's fifty times as safe as trusting our skins on the liner. The ship's doctor will want to know a heap of things. Dragen doesn't know that, but I do. There isn't a single mark of violence on him, and it'll look exactly a case of his having dropped into the river."

"Well, wait till we get past this boat."

A long silence followed.

So they were going to adopt the "doctor's" former suggestion and murder me rather than run the risk of taking me to the liner.

Instead of frightening me this roused all the fight there was in me. I had to fight for my life, and I waited as tensely as they until the launch should have passed the boat, and settled myself in the best position I could choose for the attack when the moment came.

Minutes passed; they seemed like hours to me.

"It's all right now." It was the "doctor's" voice, and the next moment I heard him approach the forecastle. "I'll bring him out," he said; and his shadow came between me and the dim light glooming through the hatch opening.

CHAPTER X

IN THE HANDS OF THE POLICE

I had been afraid to shift my position lest the change should rouse any suspicions on the part of the "doctor," and his first attempt was to drag me out while he remained outside.

He seized my left arm and tried to pull me forward, but I had hitched my feet under a board of the flooring, and the attempt failed.

"Come here, Marlen. I'll hand him out to you," he said, turning his head for a moment. "He's got caught up in something or other."

"I can't leave the wheel."

"Stop the launch a minute then."

"It's your own job; do it yourself," was the surly reply.

Muttering an oath at his companion's cowardice, the "doctor" stooped down and, first pushing me roughly to one side out of his way, began to crawl head first into the forecastle.

"Curse the darkness," he murmured.

But my eyes had grown accustomed to it; and it helped me although it hindered him. I could watch him easily. The litter in the place hampered him also, and he stumbled and fell on his knees, and swore again volubly.

Taking advantage of the noise he made, I slipped back a yard or two and gripped my weapon in readiness.

"Where the devil is he?" he muttered, and began to feel about for me.

I was crouching in a corner waiting for a favourable chance to strike, and he could not see me.

The chance came an instant later, as he was stooping down in his hunt for me. Raising my hand I struck him two blows on the head with all my strength and at the same instant slammed the hatch to.

"What's the matter?" shouted Marlen, hearing the noise of the blows and coming forward quickly.

The "doctor" lay as still as a log. I had stunned him or killed him, and at the moment I did not much care which. I kept my hands on him, and if there had been the slightest movement I should have struck him again. I was fighting for my life.

When I was satisfied that he would give me no more trouble, I ran my hands quickly over him in the hope that he would have a revolver; but I could feel nothing of the sort; and as Marlen was fingering the hatch to get it open, I drew back into my corner again.

If he came in to see what had happened, I would serve him as I had served the "doctor." I hoped he would with all my heart.

He got the hatch open after some fumbling and peered in.

"Doctor!" he called, and paused. "Doctor!" A little louder this time. "What have you done? You haven't killed him, have you? Doctor!"

He put his head in a little way, but not far enough for me to make sure of disabling him, and then withdrew it again.

"What the devil does it mean?" He was evidently very frightened.

After a few seconds' pause he ran to the after-part of the launch and stopped her. He waited until the way was off her, and then came forward once more and called to his companion.

"The place is as dark as hell," he muttered and went off, as I guessed to get a light.

I used the time to make another search for a revolver in the stunned man's pockets, and failing to find one, I threw some of the litter over the head and shoulders, and went back to my corner and lay down as if still unconscious, but in such a position that I could spring on Marlen the instant he entered.

This time he brought not only a lantern but a revolver. He had little of the courage of the other fellow I soon saw, and he brought the weapon more because he feared the "doctor" than from any suspicion that I was the cause of the mysterious trouble.

"What fool's game are you playing, doc?" he said. "Don't try any pranks with me. What have you done to the man?"

He thrust in the lantern and peered all about him. I saw him take a long look at me, and the scrutiny apparently satisfied him that I was still of no account; and then he turned from me to the prostrate form of his companion.

He looked long and anxiously at him, and shook his head. "He must have had some sort of fit, if he hasn't got some devil's game on. Doctor!"

He appeared to be afraid to trust himself inside the place, and for some minutes remained in stolid thought.

Next he levelled the revolver at the other. "I'm covering you, doc. Get up or I shall fire." He shook his head again in dire perplexity when he received no reply, and at length made up his mind to risk entering.

He set the lantern down, fortunately on the side farther from me, and stooped to enter, holding the weapon all the time in readiness, and glueing his eyes on the still form of the unconscious man.

At that moment I changed my plan. I would have that revolver if it were in any way possible.

I let him enter, therefore, and crawl to the side of the "doctor." He moved very slowly and with intense caution, feeling the body as he approached the head. Then he pulled off the covering of the face and started violently.

For the instant he was entirely off his guard in his consternation, and I took advantage of that moment. I sprang forward, wrested the revolver from his grasp, thrust him violently down, seized the lantern and started out on to the deck, sliding to the hatch and shooting home the bolt.

I was now master of the situation, and with a profound sigh of relief and thankfulness I sank down on the deck.

I was still very shaky, and the reaction from the strain and suspense of my time in the forecastle tried me severely. My nerves were all to pieces, and when Marlen began hammering with his fists at the hatch, I started as if it were some fresh peril to be faced.

I let him hammer. So far as I was concerned he might have hammered all the skin off his knuckles before I would take any notice; and after my first start of alarmed surprise, I just lay still and rested until I had recovered strength and composure.

He grew tired of knocking presently, and began to whine to me to let him out. But I made no response. He was in a very ugly mess indeed, and a taste of the suspense I had had to undergo would do him good. He could spend the interval in thinking out some plausible explanation of his exceedingly compromising situation.

Meanwhile I had to think what I was to do. I did not understand the working of the launch, which was drifting at the will of the stream; and there appeared to be nothing for it but to let her drift until we met a boat, and I could get assistance.

But it then occurred to me that I myself might be hard put to it to give an account of myself. My clothes were in a filthy state as the result of my crawling hunt in the dirty forecastle, and when I examined them by the light of the lantern I found some ugly blood-stains on my sleeves.

These would go far to set up the presumption that I was responsible for the wound to the "doctor"; and as I was now outside and armed with a revolver and the two men were my prisoners, the German police would require a lot of persuasion that I was the innocent and they the guilty parties.

Any investigation would most certainly occupy a long time, moreover; and as my chief desire was to get back to Berlin with the least possible delay, I resolved not to run the risk of waiting for the police or any one else to come to my assistance.

There was only one way to accomplish this: I must swim ashore. I found much to my relief that my pockets had not been rifled, and that I had sufficient money for a ticket to Berlin. But I could not travel in a blood-stained coat; so I hunted through the boat and came across a rough reefer's jacket in the after-cabin, which I annexed. I then undressed, tore out the blood-stained portions of my own coat, made a bundle of my clothes, and managed to fasten it on my head.

Then I waited until the launch had drifted pretty close to the bank on the side where the railway ran, when I let myself carefully over the side and struck out.

Just as I was pushing off I heard Marlen start shouting and hammering again at the hatch, and the muffled sounds reached me across the water until I reached the shore.

They ceased as I finished dressing myself and started out to ascertain where I was and which was the nearest station to make for.

The swim in the cold water chilled me; but I set off at a brisk pace and soon had my blood circulating again.

I had not an idea where I was, except that I knew my way lay up stream; so I struck across country until I came to a road leading in the direction I had to go, and I set off to walk until I could ascertain where to find a station.

I knew I should have to be very cautious about asking any questions. German police methods were very different from English, and a man garbed as I was, without any papers of identification and carrying a loaded revolver, was pretty sure to be an object of suspicion. It would be exceedingly difficult for me to give any acceptable account of myself without telling all that had occurred; and that would certainly mean that I should be detained, and probably left to cool my heels in a police-cell while the cumbersome wheels of the law were put in motion to investigate my story.

I plodded along for an hour or two, keeping my ears at full strain for any footsteps ahead of me, and taking the greatest care to make as little noise in walking as possible.

In my weakened state, I found this extremely fatiguing, and more than once I had to sit down and rest. Eager as I was to reach the capital, I grudged every second of these intervals of inaction.

I was on fire with impatience to ascertain what had happened to Althea in my absence. How long I had been away from home I could not tell; and I tortured myself with a hundred fears on her account.

Von Felsen was not the man to lose a minute in getting to work, as soon as he knew I was out of his way; and of course his creature, Dragen, would have told him at once of the success of the attempt to kidnap me.

Until I had left the launch, the consideration for my own safety and the weighing of the chances of escape had kept me from fretting about matters in Berlin; but now that I was free and on the way back, every minute seemed to be of vital consequence, and the thought that I might be stopped by the police harassed and worried me into a positive fever of dread.

Fortune did me a good turn, however. I heard the rumble of a train as I was sitting by the roadside, and presently I saw it rush rapidly past a few hundred yards above the road where I was.

This did more to revive my strength than anything else could have done, and a moment later I was striding across the intervening fields to reach the line. I knew I should not meet any one there, and I pushed ahead with more confidence than I had yet felt.

Soon afterwards the gloom began to lift, and the sky grew grey in the east. Dawn was near; and as the light grew stronger, I saw a station not far ahead.

If all went well, an hour or two would see me out of my fix and speeding toward Berlin. But everything depended upon the "if." I was already committing an offence in walking on the line; and I knew that my greatest difficulties might easily come at the station itself.

I left the line, therefore, while still at a considerable distance from the station, and made my way back to the road again. In doing this I stumbled into a rather broad ditch and made myself in a pretty mess.

Under ordinary circumstances I should have laughed at this; but as so much might turn on my appearance, already dishevelled enough, it irritated me and promised to prove an additional handicap, when the time came for questions to be asked.

I looked very much like a tramp, and the German law is not kindly disposed toward tramps at any time, and certainly not when they are found wandering about armed in the early dawn. Still, I had to make the best of things, so I plodded along until I reached the station.

But the door was locked and, although some one must have been attending to the signals, I could not see any one. The name on the end of the building was Wilden; but that did not help me much, as I had never heard of the place.

I was debating what to do when a very sleepy-looking official came lounging up to the door, unlocked it and entered, eyeing me with glances full of suspicion the while.

"When is the next train to Berlin?" I asked him.

He looked me up and down carefully and then grinned. "Do you want a first-class ticket?"

I took his impertinence lightly. "You needn't judge by my appearance," I said with a laugh. "I have money to pay for any ticket I want," and I repeated the question.

"Where did you get it from? And what are you doing hanging about here at this time in the morning?"

"I'm going to wait for the next train to Berlin."

"Well, you won't wait in here;" and with that he slammed the door in my face.

It is very little use to argue with a man who is on the right side of a locked door, so I turned away and walked a little distance along the road by which I had come, and sat down under a tree to wait.

I was cold, intensely weary, and famished with hunger; and although I fought against sleep, nature would not be denied, and I was soon off. The thunder of a train woke me, and jumping up I saw a train running into the station.

I hurried back to the station and the man I had seen before met me at the entrance. "Hullo, you again, is it?" he cried.

"I want a ticket for Berlin."

"That train doesn't go to Berlin. You'll have time to go and wash yourself first"; and he deliberately blocked my way.

As all railway officials were Government servants, I had to be cautious in dealing with him. "Where does that train go, then?" I asked very civilly.

He sneered. "Ah, I thought as much. Anywhere, eh, to get away from this place? But you're not going by it, my friend."

It was getting difficult to keep my temper, but I replied quietly:

"You are evidently making a great mistake about me."

"Oh no, I'm not," he laughed, with a knowing shake of the head. "Where did you sleep last night? And who are you?"

"I am going to Berlin," I said. But as the train started at that moment there was nothing to be gained by continuing to wrangle with the man, so I turned away.

Then he said in a less surly tone: "There's no train for two hours. You can wait in the station."

I was glad enough to have the chance, and sitting down on one of the benches in the waiting-room, was soon fast asleep again.

When I woke I saw the reason for his apparent concession. A police officer was with him and had roused me. I blinked at him confusedly.

"Come along with me," he ordered curtly.

"I want to go to Berlin. I must get there without delay."

"Come with me, I tell you," he repeated very sharply. "We must know something about you first."

With a shrug I rose, and he walked me off to the police station, the railway official accompanying us. I concealed my bitter irritation as best I could, and tried to think of the best story to tell. The railwayman said what he knew, and the officer in charge of the station questioned me. "Who are you?"

"There has been a great mistake made by this gentleman. I am an Englishman, Paul Bastable, 78, Miedenstrasse, Berlin, a newspaper correspondent. I have been away in search of information about some events I cannot tell you, and must return to Berlin at once."

"Where have you come from?"

"I am not at liberty to tell you; but you can send some one with me to Berlin if you wish, and I can satisfy him of the truth about me."

"Have you searched him?" he asked the man who had taken me there.

He did it at once without any ceremony, and together they examined the contents of my pockets. When they looked next at me, it was with obvious suspicion, and the constable turned back the collar of the reefer jacket at the back and then nodded to his superior.

"Paul Bastable, English, are you? Then how come you to have the papers of Johann Spackmann, engineer, with you, and to be wearing his coat?"

What a stroke of ill luck! I had seen the man take a paper from the inside pocket of the jacket I had annexed from the launch. I hesitated and then forced a laugh. "I suppose you know that newspaper men have to be somebody else at times. I have told you the truth. Send some one with me to Berlin."

"I knew there was something wrong about him," put in the railwayman. "But I must be off, the Berlin train is due."

"For Heaven's sake don't let me miss that train," I cried earnestly.

A stolid stare and a shake of the head was the only reply.

"But I tell you I must get on at once."

"You will remain here while we make inquiries about you."

My heart sank. "Well, let me telegraph to my people and they will send some one out to identify me. Or wire the message yourself"; and I gave Bassett's name and the address of my former office.

"Well, good-morning," said the railwayman; and as he left the station I was led away and placed in a cell.

CHAPTER XI

MY RETURN

There is no need to dwell on the bitter mortification I endured in the first hour or so of my imprisonment, or to repeat my futile railings against the wooden methods and stupidity of the police.

I grew calmer after a time, and recognized that if I was to get out of the police grip before irreparable mischief was done in Berlin, it would not be by abusing the men who had detained me. My only chance would be to persuade them of the fact of my identity.

The thing that bothered me was the possession of the coat I had taken and papers they had found. What a fool I had been not to feel in the pockets. When it was too late I saw the blunder I had committed in the account I had given on the spur of the moment.

I considered long and earnestly whether I should out with the whole truth about the abduction. But I could not bring myself to believe that they would credit the story now. And if they did not, it would only serve to confirm and increase the suspicions already entertained.

Whether anything was being done to test the truth of what I had said, I could not ascertain. A man brought me some breakfast, but he would not answer the questions I put to him; and when I asked to see the chief, I was curtly told that I should see him when he wished to see me, and not before.

Some hours passed in this galling suspense. I was eating my heart out in the desire to know what was being done, when two men entered the cell and ordered me to strip. They examined the marks on my linen carefully, and fortunately it had my name in full.

"How is it you are wearing these things?" asked one, looking at me with a very singular expression.

"Because they are my own, of course."

He grunted and exchanged looks with his companion. They whispered together and then took the shirt away, telling me to put on the rest of the clothes.

I did not understand the reason for this proceeding, but hoped that the marks would be regarded as confirmation of my identity.

Presently one of them returned and led me to the office, where the chief was examining my shirt and looking very grave and important.

"Will you now give an account of yourself during last night?" he demanded in a pistol-at-your-head tone.

"I can say what I wish to say when I get to Berlin."

"You had better be careful, and had better explain everything fully. There is a very serious charge against you. We have heard from Berlin."

I jumped to the conclusion, not unnaturally, that the charge referred to my actions in regard to Althea, and I recognized its seriousness as fully as did the man questioning me. "I would rather not say anything until I get to Berlin."

"I'll give you one more chance. We have heard that an Englishman, Paul Bastable, is mysteriously missing from Berlin, and you Johann Spackmann, are found here under these suspicious circumstances wearing his clothes. Account for that if you can."

Instead of accounting for anything I burst out laughing. "You mean that the charge against me is that of having murdered myself?"

"You will find it no laughing matter," he said sternly.

"My good man, I am Paul Bastable. How the devil could I murder myself?"

"The papers upon you prove you to be Johann Spackmann."

An entirely convincing proof to the German official mind, this. "Then you'd better behead me as Spackmann for the murder of Bastable," I said with a shrug of indifference. "Only for Heaven's sake whatever you are going to do, do quickly."

The affair had turned to a farce although the police did not yet see it. They put their heads together and whispered in solemn conference.

"Look here," I broke in. "If it will cause you to send me at once to Berlin, I will confess to the murder of Paul Bastable. And when I do get there, you will receive such praise for your zeal and cleverness that you will remember it all your life."

"Hold your tongue," cried the chief very angrily.

"I'll do nothing of the sort," I rapped out in reply. "This farce has gone too far already and lasted too long. Among the men who know me well in Berlin is the head of the police"; and I spun off a list of imposing names. "I demand to be allowed to go there, or to be taken there, at once; or to send word to my friends to come out and identify me. You refuse me if you dare."

The only immediate result of my protest was an order to take me back to my cell, but it bore good fruit. A very short time afterwards my shirt was returned to me; I was ordered to dress; and told that I was to go to Berlin in accordance with instructions which had been telegraphed from there.

They took me as a prisoner, but I did not care a rap for that. All I wished was to get there. I knew that five minutes' conversation with the police there would see me at liberty.

And so it turned out. I was ushered into the office of Herr Feldermann, who was very high up in the police administration; and the instant his eyes fell on me, he knew me of course, for we had had many a time together.

"This is Mr. Bastable, the Englishman," he said to my conductor. "You can return to Wilden and give my congratulations to your superior there for the zealous discharge of his duty. You may tell him at the same time," he added with a dry manner, "that although the criminal code is comprehensive, it does not yet demand the arrest of a man for the murder of himself."

The man flushed to the roots of his hair, laid down on the table the things which had been taken from my pockets, saluted, and withdrew without a word.

"And now tell me what it all means, Herr Bastable."

"Which ears have you on, official or private?"

"Do you want it kept secret? You've given us a lot of trouble, you know. We have wired your description all over the country. Let us talk it over privately first." He was one of the few men in the police administration who refused to be ruled by red tape, and I knew I could rely absolutely on his word.

"For your private ear only," I replied; and then gave him a fairly full account of all that had passed, withholding only von Felsen's name in connexion with the affair.