Meanwhile the other young man had risen to his feet. Holding the mysterious weapon in his hand, he put the following question to his comrade:—
“Brother, the lot has chosen you to fire this pistol. Are you ready to take it, and carry out the instructions you will receive?”
“I am,” came in husky tones from the youth.
He put out a shaking hand, and received the pistol from Johann.
Then the elder man pulled out a drawer in the table, took out a piece of paper, wrote on it a single word of seven letters, and handed it to the man with the red beard.
He glanced at it amid a dead silence, nodded his head, and passed it on to Johann, who by this time had sat down again. He read the word with a grim smile, and returned the paper to the leader of the party.
The old man solemnly folded up the paper, sealed it with the cipher already used for the bullet, and placed it in the hands of the giant.
It was now his turn to rise and address the agitated Karl.
“Here are your instructions. Do you undertake to return here, if you are alive and free, at the end of three months, and give an account of your mission?”
“I do.”