"Well, let's have a look at the beggar first and see if we can't drag it out of him," said one, whose voice I recognized as that of the man who had been standing by the door.

They moved in a body toward the room.

My heart sank and I gave myself up for lost. My only chance, and that the faintest and feeblest, was that I might seize the moment of respite to get the door of the house open.

CHAPTER XXIX

JUST IN TIME

But just when matters appeared to be at their worst, the luck turned.

The man who had prevented Dragen before intervened now.

"You can get him some brandy and he'll be all right."

"Where is it?" came the reply; and there was a pause.

"I shan't wait," said the former speaker again. "I shall take the risk of going. Fritz is just below with the horses. If there's any violence before we get back, you'll have to answer for it."

"Answer to h.e.l.l," growled Dragen fiercely.

"I shall split on the whole thing if there is, mind that," retorted the other in quite as angry a tone; and he pa.s.sed my hiding-place, opened the door, and went out.

He tried to close it sharply behind him; but I took a risk at that moment and thrust my foot in the way. Fortunately he was in too bad a temper to care whether he left it open or shut, and ran down the steps.

Some one laughed.

"Pigheaded fool," growled Dragen.

"Would he split?" asked another nervously.

"Perhaps the beggar's well enough to talk now. Let's see."

"Bring the lantern," said another, and the shuffling of feet followed.

I dared not wait any longer; and moreover I had another plan now than merely to escape. I guessed that the man I was following meant to go to von Felsen; and I meant him to take me with him.

I opened the door stealthily and slipped out. The carriage was some twenty yards away, and I darted toward it. My lack of boots rendered my footfalls absolutely silent, and I reached it, unseen and unheard, just as the man had got in and was turning to shut the door.

In the darkness he mistook me for one of his companions, "Coming, after all, are you?" he asked. I jumped in and he himself closed the door with a slam, and the carriage started.

Before he had time to see his mistake my hand was on his throat and my knife threatened him. "If you care for your life, keep silent," I cried between my clenched teeth.

For a few moments, precious as gold to me, surprise kept him quiet. I knew that my escape must already have been discovered, and I expected to hear the cries and shouts of the rest calling to us to stop.

Then he began to struggle.

"Keep still," I said fiercely. "I mean you no harm; but if you try to resist, I'll plunge this into your heart as surely as there is a living G.o.d."

At that moment came the cries behind us which I had feared; and the driver began to check the horses.

"Tell him to drive on, or you'll not live another second," I hissed, releasing my grip on his throat so that he could speak.

He hesitated and I raised the knife higher as if to strike.

"It's all right, Fritz. Get on as fast as you can," he called.

I drew a breath of intense relief. I had him now, and he was in deadly fear for his life. I ran my hand quickly over him and found his revolver and took it.

"Have you a knife?" His hand went to it. "Throw it on the front seat there."

He obeyed me and I tossed it out of the window. Then I sat down opposite to him and let him get back his scared wits.

He stared at me helplessly cowed by the suddenness of the attack and overawed by the weapon with which I kept him covered. I, in my turn, watched him quite as closely while I considered what line to take.

That he was going to von Felsen I had convinced myself; and I meant to go with him if I had to compel him to lead the way with my pistol at his head. But I had no wish to use force if any other means could be found.

I was not without hope of this. His fear about the money reward being lost if I came to harm, his squeamishness on the score of violence, his threat to tell what he knew, and his ready submission now, all tended to suggest that he was of a very different type of scoundrel from Dragen and the rest.

I gave him five minutes in which to pull himself together and then opened fire.

"You've made a pretty bad mess of all this," I said sharply.

He gave an uneasy start at the sound of my voice, but did not reply.

"You were in the thing to take my life, you know, and you can probably see your finish by now."

"I didn't threaten your life. Dragen would have done for you just now when you were insensible if I hadn't stopped him," he answered after a pause.

"I wasn't insensible. I know what pa.s.sed."

"Then you know what I say is true," he said with a note of eagerness.

"Yes, I know it." I paused to see if he would volunteer anything more.

He did not however. "If you like to answer my questions I may make things easier for you. Where are we going?"

He paused a long time before replying. "What are you going to do with me?"

"Shoot you if you try any pranks; hand you over to the police if you force me; give you your liberty and pay you well if you come over to my side in the affair and make a clean breast of the whole thing."

He chewed this in silence for a while and then asked: "How do I know that?"

"The first two you can judge for yourself; the last you'll have to take on trust. You can please yourself. How much were you to make by this job?"

"Five hundred marks; but it wasn't only the money. Dragen has the whiphand of me."