have said, Baron," he
replied dryly. "You have twice attempted to escape from the fortress. An
innocent man awaits his trial with confidence, knowing that it cannot be
other than favorable. The culprit alone flees."

Trenck, though quivering with blind rage, continued to maintain his former
attitude, his features composed, his eyes fixed upon the major's sword.

"Sir," he said, "in three weeks, on the twenty-fifth of September, I shall
have been a prisoner for one year. You in your position may not have found
the time long, but to me it has dragged interminably. And it has been
still harder for me to bear because I have not been able to count the days
or hours which still separate me from justice and liberty. If I knew the
limit set to my captivity--no matter what it may be--I could surely find
resignation and patience to await it."

"It is most unfortunate, then," said the major, "that no one could give
you that information."

"Say rather, would not," replied Trenck. "Surely, something of the matter
must be known here. You, for instance, major, might tell me frankly what
you think to be the case."

"Ah!" said Doo, assuming the self-satisfied manner of a jailer; "it would
not be proper for me to answer that."

"You would save me from despair and revolt," replied Trenck warmly. "For I
give you my word of honor that from the moment I know when my captivity is
to terminate--no matter when that may be, or what my subsequent fate--I
will make no further attempts to evade it by flight."

"And you want me to tell you----"

"Yes," interrupted Trenck, with a shudder; "yes, once again I ask you."

Doo smiled maliciously as he answered:

"The end of your captivity? Why, a traitor can scarcely hope for release!"

The heat of the day, the wine he had drunk, overwhelming anger and his
fiery blood, all mounted to Trenck's head. Incapable of further
self-restraint, he flung himself upon the major, tore the coveted sword
from his side, dashed out of the chamber, flung the two sentinels at the
door down the stairs, took their entire length himself at a single bound
and sprang into the midst of the assembled guards.

Trenck fell upon them with his sword, showering blows right and left. The
blade flashed snakelike in his powerful grasp, the soldiers falling back
before the fierce onslaught. Having disabled four of the men, the prisoner
succeeded in forcing his way past the remainder and raced for the first
rampart.

There h