uietly asked him if he felt better.

The man did not or could not reply at once, but she saw that his gaze
slowly passed beyond her to the bare walls of the room and to the open
window, beyond which were clouds, sunshine, and the distant drowsy
murmur of the city.

"You are feeling more comfortable?" she asked again, in German.

"Yes," he _muttered_.

"You have been sick," she whispered softly, smoothing his pillow.

"Ah, yes, sick," the man muttered, and closing his eyes, slept again.

It was not long before the news of the awakening of Number 28 had
reached the nurses and attending physicians. Colonel Bohratt, greatly
pleased at the correctness of his prophecy and the end of the period of
coma, at once a tribute to his wisdom as well as to his professional
skill, came himself and viewed the patient, gave directions for
treatment and predicted speedy recovery.

That night, the man of mystery awoke again, exchanged a few words with
Fraeulein Roth as before, and again slept. And on the morrow, a sure sign
that all was going well with him, he had gained so much strength that he
moved freely in his bed, and took more than the casual interest of the
desperately sick in his situation and surroundings. Fraeulein Roth had
been given instructions to keep him quiet, but she smiled at him when
quite rationally he questioned her.

"Is this a hospital?" he asked.

"Yes--the Landes Hospital."

"Where?"

"Sarajevo."

"Ah,--Sarajevo."

He remained silent for a long moment.

"I have been here long?" he asked again.

"A month."

"A month! And the date?"

"The twenty-eighth of July----"

"Yes. I understand."

Fraeulein Roth wished him to be quiet, but after a long moment of
contemplation of the ceiling, in which his brows puckered in a puzzled
way, he spoke again.

And when Fraeulein Roth anxiously desired him to be quiet, she discovered
that Number 28 had a will of his own and only smiled at her earnestness.

"I am feeling quite strong," he said weakly. "It will do me no harm to
talk, for some things puzzle me. I was brought here. Won't you tell me
how?"

She debated with herself for a moment, but after an inspection of her
patient she decided to tell him the facts.

"A peasant had discovered two men lying in a strip of woods near the road
to Gradina. At first he had thought that both were dead, but upon closer
examination he found that one of the men, although desperately wounded,
still breathed, and not