He had been standing in the corner to which I had thrust him on the arrival of the others, and had not spoken a word. I had almost forgotten him, indeed; but I was to pay for that forgetfulness now.
As I stood facing the others he was on my left hand, and he hurled something at me with great force. It struck my revolver hand and the weapon dropped. When I recovered my surprise I was looking down the barrels of three pistols pointed straight at my head.
"No shooting here, Marx," cried the elder man earnestly. "It isn't safe."
"Why didn't you say that when he was covering us?" was the angrily spoken reply. "He shall pay for Gassen's death."
But terror of the consequences made the man earnest, and for a second he stood right in the way of the pointed weapons. They pushed him hurriedly aside; but I had been able to use the moment. I clapped my hand to my pocket feeling for the weapon I had annexed, but instead I felt the bomb I had taken from the old Baron, and raised it high so that all should see it just as the man was thrust to one side.
"I'll send him to hell for that," declared the more daring man.
"Then we'll all go there together," I cried in a ringing voice. "I can do it with this."
One of them fired at once, and that I was not killed was due only to the "general's" terror. He threw up the fellow's arm as he fired.
"For God's sake," he exclaimed. "Are you all mad?"
"You fool," was the reply. "The thing's only a sham."