ow to think of that!' said Blenkiron in a sad, gentle voice. 'I
thought I was safe with Clarence. Why, he brought me a letter from old
Joe Hooper and he knew all the boys down Emporia way.'

Ivery laughed. 'You have never done me justice, I fear; but I think you
will do it now. Your gang is helpless in my hands. General Hannay ...'
And I wish I could give you a notion of the scorn with which he
pronounced the word 'General'.

'Yes--Dick?' said Blenkiron intently.

'He has been my prisoner for twenty-four hours. And the pretty Miss
Mary, too. You are all going with me in a little to my own country. You
will not guess how. We call it the Underground Railway, and you will
have the privilege of studying its working.... I had not troubled much
about you, for I had no special dislike of you. You are only a
blundering fool, what you call in your country easy fruit.'

'I thank you, Graf,' Blenkiron said solemnly.

'But since you are here you will join the others ... One last word. To
beat inepts such as you is nothing. There is a far greater thing. My
country has conquered. You and your friends will be dragged at the
chariot wheels of a triumph such as Rome never saw. Does that penetrate
your thick skull? Germany has won, and in two days the whole round
earth will be stricken dumb by her greatness.'

As I watched Blenkiron a grey shadow of hopelessness seemed to settle
on his face. His big body drooped in his chair, his eyes fell, and his
left hand shuffled limply among his Patience cards. I could not get my
mind to work, but I puzzled miserably over his amazing blunders. He had
walked blindly into the pit his enemies had dug for him. Peter must
have failed to get my message to him, and he knew nothing of last
night's work or my mad journey to Italy. We had all bungled, the whole
wretched bunch of us, Peter and Blenkiron and myself ... I had a
feeling at the back of my head that there was something in it all that
I couldn't understand, that the catastrophe could not be quite as
simple as it seemed. But I had no power to think, with the insolent
figure of Ivery dominating the room ... Thank God I had a bullet
waiting for him. That was the one fixed point in the chaos of my mind.
For the first time in my life I was resolute on killing one particular
man, and the purpose gave me a horrid comfort.

Suddenly Ivery's voice rang out sharp. 'Take your hand out of your
pocket. You fool, you are covered from three points in the wa