m your costume. What
do you say to putting on a new one, a pale-blue uniform, and seeing us
through the lines?"

He looked, while uttering this wild pleasantry, about as humorous as
King Attila. Could he possibly be in earnest? After all, perhaps he was!
War rules were cast-iron things; if his pass called for four men,
four he must have or rouse suspicion; and it was certain that Herr
Schwartzmann would do no gadding to-night or for many nights to come.
That shot of mine from the gallery had upset Blenheim's plans very
neatly. I stared at him, fascinated.

"Well?" said he. "Do you understand?"

"I understand," I exclaimed indignantly, "that this is too much! It is,
really. I was getting hardened; I could stand a mere impossibility or
two and not blink; but this! It is beyond the bounds. I shall begin to
see green snakes presently or writhing sea-serpents--"

"No," Blenheim cut me short savagely, "you are underestimating. Unless
you oblige us what you will see is the hereafter, Mr. Bayne!"

Yes, he meant it. His very fierceness, eloquent of frazzled nerves,
was proof conclusive. With another thrill, triumphant this time, I
recognized my chance. His campaign, instead of going according to
specifications, had been interfered with; his position was dangerous;
he had no time to lose; for all he knew, at any point along the road
his masquerade might have been suspected, the authorities notified,
vengeance put on his track. In desperation he meant to risk my
denouncing him, use me till he reached the Front trenches and his
friends there, and then, no doubt, get rid of me. What he couldn't
guess was that I would have turned the earth upside down to make this
opportunity that he was offering me on a silver tray.

"Oh, I'll oblige you," I assured him with what must have seemed insane
cheerfulness. "I'll oblige you, Her von Blenheim, with all the pleasure
in the world. If you really want me, that is. If my presence won't make
you nervous. Aren't you afraid, for instance, that I might be tempted
to share my knowledge of your name and your profession with the first
French soldiers we meet?"

"As to that, we will take our chances." Blenheim's face was adamant,
though my suggestion had produced a not entirely enlivening effect on
his two friends. "You see, Mr. Bayne, in this business the risks will
be mostly yours. There will be no flights of stairs to dart up and no
tables to over turn and no candles to extinguish; you will s