“Never mind about any more swearing. You know by this time that I mean what I say. And I mean this. I know the risk I have run to-day, and rather than let your men make me a prisoner I will blow my brains out. Unlike you, I am not afraid of death. Mark this well, then. I shall not die alone.” I paused, and added with all the tense fierceness I could put into my tone and manner. “If you give me the slightest cause to suspect treachery, even to suspect it, mark you, that instant will be your last in life. From the moment we leave this house together to that when I leave yours with the papers in my possession, I shall be at your side, this barrel against your ribs, and my finger on the trigger. Try to trick me, and by the God that made us both, I swear I’ll shoot you like a dog.”
He gave a deep sigh, the sweat of fear clustered thick on his grey-white forehead, and he sank back in his chair.
He was so drunk with fear that he was past speech. He looked up once or twice as if to speak, and his blanched lips moved; but the moment his eyes met mine he faltered and trembled and looked down, his tongue refusing to frame the words.
Presently Ladislas came in.
“I wish to speak to Colonel Bremenhof,” he said.
“Not now, Ladislas,” I said. I would not have the effect of my threat lessened by any distracting thoughts.
“I wish to make him understand we have done all we can to prevent violence in the city.”
“Go away, please. I have given him all I want him to understand for the present. Let me know when we are to start.”
Greatly wondering, my friend yielded and left us alone again.
With intentional ostentation I looked to the loading of my revolver. Bremenhof watched me furtively; and each time I looked up from the task, he shrank and drooped his head.