"You? A sergeant-major? Of the Royal Picts, too! You ought to know better. Let the man go!"
"I beg your pardon, Sir Colin," began McKay; "but—"
"Don't argue with me, sir; do as I tell you. I have a great mind to put you in arrest."
McKay still stood in an attitude of mute but firm protest.
"What does the fellow mean? Ask him, Shadwell. I suppose he must have some reason, or he would not defy a general officer like this."
Captain Shadwell, one of Sir Colin's staff, took McKay aside, and, questioning him, learnt all the particulars of the capture. McKay told him, too, what had occurred at the Alma.
"The fellow must be a spy," said Sir Colin, abruptly, when the whole of the facts were repeated to him. "We must cross-question him. I wonder what language he speaks."
The general himself tried him with French; but the prisoner shook his head stupidly. Shadwell followed with German, but with like result.
"I'll go bail he knows both, and English too, probably. He ought to be tried in Russian now: that's the language of the country. He is undoubtedly an impostor if he can't speak that. I wish we could try him in Russian. If he failed, the provost-marshal should hang him on the nearest post."
This conversation passed in the full hearing of McKay, and when Sir Colin stopped the sergeant-major stepped forward, again saluted, and said modestly—