el."

"And still I should like to make sure, I think. I shall have to go into
Semlin."

"To look for him? It will be risky."

"Perhaps, but it can't be helped. I doubt if it will be so risky,
though. I'm not sure that even Hallo suspects yet that I was more than I
seemed."

"Wouldn't your sudden disappearance just at this critical time give it
away to him?"

"I don't think so, because I was very careful to arrange a good excuse.
I have talked for two or three weeks of the illness of my uncle in
Buda-Pesth, and have said that if he became worse perhaps I might have
to go home very suddenly. And I left a note in the office when I came
out yesterday, because I was sure I would not be back, saying I had been
called away. I didn't say I was going to Buda-Pesth--just that I was
called away."

"Well, if no one else had any reason to suspect you, you will be safe
enough, for you won't see Hallo."

"I am going, anyhow. But first, Milikoff--you are to stay here, I
suppose?"

"Yes, until daybreak, at least."

"Good! I left a friend at the boathouse--an American, but one who is
with us, heart and soul, and has proved it at the risk of his life
already. I want him to come here and wait for me."

"You are sure he is all right? We have to be careful, Stepan."

"If you can trust me, you can trust Dick Warner," said Stepan.

"That is enough. Let him come!"

"Right! I will send Vanya."

He stepped to the door and called to the Serb in the Austrian uniform,
who was waiting outside.

"Vanya," he said, "will you go back to the boathouse and return with
the friend I left there? Tell him that I want him to come, and show him
the way."

"At once," said the soldier, and was off.

Stepan returned and found Milikoff studying some papers.

"You had better keep a guard at the boathouse when you have a man to
send there," suggested Stepan. "Vanya will be on duty before long, I
suppose?"

"Yes. We shall not be able to use him again. Not at once, at least. I am
surprised that we have had the chance to use him at all. But, as a
matter of fact, two Serbo-Croatian regiments are here, or near here."

"The Austrians are in a tight place," said Stepan, with a laugh. "They
know that they may have to fight Italy, and so they are sending the
Italian troops from the Trentino and Trieste to the Galician frontier,
to fight the Russians. And they have to use every regiment. They might
as well keep their Serbs and Croats here--they will