pointed at once to Brunow. He advanced, and I read treason in
his face.

"My dear Fyffe," he cried, holding out his hand to me, "I had never
hoped to see you alive again."

This time it was I who refused to see Brunow's hand, as he, only a few
hours ago, had declined to see mine. If I had laid bare his villainy
there and then, I have no shadow of doubt that there would have been
murder done. If I had even hinted at suspicion, his life would have
been barely worth a minute's purchase. If my associates had a fault with
which both foes and friends alike would have credited them, it was that
they were dangerously prone to act first and to argue afterwards.
There had been treason in the camp already; when was ever a revolution
conducted without it? But I could not make it my business to denounce
a fellow-countryman, and a man who had once called himself my friend,
unless I could proceed on actual certainty. It took an hour of excited
talk to do it, and I had to describe my own share in the adventure twice
or thrice; but I got Brunow away at last, and as we went down the stairs
together I slipped my arm through his and held him with a grip which I
dare say he found significant.

"You will come to my rooms," I said. He made no answer, and I walked
along with him, Hinge following at a distance of a yard or two, and so
far, of course, suspecting nothing. Not a word was spoken by the way,
and Brunow walked like a man who was going to the scaffold. When we came
to iny own rooms I locked the door and faced him.

"What have you done with Ruffiano?" I asked him, sternly.

"God only knows what has become of him," cried Brunow, casting his hands
abroad with a gesture which was meant to convey at once irritation
and wonder. "I made my way straight back to tell the story of the
extraordinary incident of to-night, and I have told it. The men we have
just left can confirm me in the statement that I did not lose a minute."
He was defending himself already, though no accusation had been brought
against him.

"You escaped from the ship?" I asked him, curtly.

"Yes," he answered, with a gasp; "I escaped from the ship."

"How?" I asked.

"I followed your example," he returned, "and leaped overboard."

"To arrive here," I said, "in dry clothes, having made no change?"

He gave a sudden start at this, and cast a hurried glance at his own
figure. Then he looked at me with an expression I shall not readily
forget. It was that of a hunt