er.'

Ken paused again.

'Don't do it, Ken,' broke in Roy. 'I don't know your father, but I'm
mighty sure he wouldn't stick for this kind of blackmail.'

Henkel swung round on him in a fury.

'Potztausend! Keep silence, fool! Your own life as well as two others
depends upon Carrington's answer.'

'I wouldn't give sixpence for my life if I had to keep it on terms like
those,' retorted Roy.

'Nor would I,' said Ken sharply. 'And I know my father would say the same.
Whatever happens, he would never consent to letting you blackmail him,
Colonel Henkel.'

'Blackmail, schelm! What are you talking about? Don't I tell you that by
his sentence your father has forfeited all right to any landed property
under the Turkish Government?'

'Yes, but that country won't be Turkish any more after the war. And then
my younger brother, who is at school at home, will inherit. No, we are not
going to cut him out and leave him penniless. Do your worst, Henkel.'

Henkel's great coarse face went livid. He burst into a storm of savage
profanity.

'Enough!' he cried at last. 'You have brought your fate upon yourselves.
You have sealed your own death warrant. You shall be shot within an hour,
and as for your father, he shall be taken to Gallipoli within the week,
and if he survives the fire of your own warships, I shall find other
means of dealing with him.'

He rushed out, slamming the door behind him.

'Got his monkey up pretty thoroughly,' said Roy with a laugh. Then seeing
how grave Ken's face was.

'Don't worry, dear chap. You couldn't possibly have done anything else.
And as for a bullet in the heart, what is it? It don't take long and it
don't hurt, and we can always feel we've played the game.'

As he spoke he came closer and laid his shackled hands on Ken's shoulder.

'Thank you, Roy,' said Ken in a very low voice. 'You--you've helped me a
lot. It--it's father I'm thinking of.'

'I know. But after all he isn't dead yet. And like as not this swab Henkel
may get wiped out before he has the chance of doing him down.'

Silence fell between them. They sat with their backs against the wall,
their hearts too full to talk. Ken's thoughts were with his father and his
younger brother Anthony; Roy's were back in New Zealand, picturing the
sunny plains and wild ranges around his home, the brawling rivers and the
white sheep grazing on the great grass lands.

The last rays of the sun shone through the one small window of the hut,