Faint and exhausted at last with the struggle, I was lying quiet, to regain strength for a further effort, when the key was turned in the lock once more. This time two men entered; the gag was taken from my mouth, and I was ordered roughly to sit up.
I took no notice of this. It was my cue to affect to be helpless. One of them dragged me to the wall and propped me up in a sitting posture, while the other held the lantern close to my face.
A movement of the light enabled me to see his face, and I recognized him. He was Dragen, the man who had carried me off before.
"Ah, you know me, I see," he said with a chuckle. "That will save trouble perhaps, as you'll know I'm not likely to let you fool me a second time."
The wild desire to take life which had so possessed me before now focussed into a set purpose that his should be the life; and I lowered my eyes quickly lest he should read something of the thought in my mind.
"You know what we want, Mr. Englishman, and what we mean to have. Those papers. Where are they?"
I made no reply, and he thrust his hands into all my pockets to search for them. A bitter oath showed his disappointment. I smiled in triumph; and this so exasperated him that he struck me in the face.
Then I understood why I was still alive. Until those papers were regained, von Felsen knew that he would be in danger of losing everything despite his present victory over me.
"You are a brave fellow, Dragen, to strike a helpless man."
He raised his hand to repeat the blow, but his companion stopped him. "What's the good of that?" he said gruffly. "You know what we were told."