's followed. A shot rang
out; then another, and another, but no bullets came near them.

"He's signalling. Now will you believe I was right?" asked Stepan
bitterly.

The thunder of hoofs sounded on the road behind them. They sped on, but
suddenly Dick's horse lurched and almost threw him over its head, Dick
pulled him up; the poor brute was limping.

"He can't go on!" said Dick. "Stepan--"

"Then you'll have to shift for yourself!" shouted Stepan, brutally.
"I've done all I can for you!"

And, leaving Dick dumbfounded, he spurred on and was soon visible only
as a cloud of dust! Dick could scarcely believe his eyes and ears. That
Stepan, his trusted friend, who had shared every imaginable peril with
him, could desert him so now! But he had not long to think. The pursuers
whose horses they had heard were on him in a minute more. Without a
struggle, since the odds were overwhelming--ten or twelve men assailed
him--he let himself be dragged from his horse and bound.

One man came to him and searched him. When he found the belt he gave a
cry of triumph. The next moment he was examining the drafts.

"Another one was with you?" he said, in excellent English and with a
marked American accent. Dick started. This looked like Hallo's work,
certainly. "Where is he?"

"He's gone--to save himself," said Dick, bitterly.

"Ah, well--you are the one we want," said his captor, who was plainly
the leader of the band. "Now, my young friend, endorse these drafts, in
blank, at once!"

"I will not!" said Dick, hotly. "And you can tell Hallo so, too!"

"You will not?" said the other, smoothly. "Then I will tell you what
will happen. I give you an hour--because I have lived in New York, and
done well there. I like you Americans. If you have not signed then, I
shall sign for you."

"That will be forgery--and I shall stop payment!"

"So? Suppose, when I leave you here, I leave you under the earth? There
are many graves in the Balkans in these days--new graves! One more or
less will matter little. Do you think it will ever give up its
secret--the one that shall hold you?"

Something in the man's cool tone made Dick shiver. It carried
conviction--it made him believe that this was no idle threat. And yet he
felt that he could not yield. Oh, if only Stepan had not left him! He
was glad, now that his anger had cooled, that his chum was not involved
in this new trouble. And yet--he would have felt better had Stepan been
beside him, to