"Probably a troop train. It's all right, we're off again."
But it was not a troop train that had stopped us. It was a very different cause, as we soon knew, for the brute of a major burst into our compartment flourishing a telegram and cursing me volubly.
"So we've got the truth about you, Mr. Englishman, at last. You infernal scoundrel," he cried viciously. "You wanted a telegram from your friend and patron, von Gratzen, did you? Well, read that!" with another string of oaths.
He held the message up and I did read it, with feelings which may perhaps be imagined although I can't describe them. It was to the guard.
"Detain passengers Johann Lassen and companion. Suspected of murder. Acquaint police at next station and have them arrested.—Von Gratzen."
CHAPTER XXIII
WITHIN A HAIRSBREADTH
Major Borsch stood gloating over me as I read the telegram. "Well, what do you think of your friend the Baron, now?" he sneered.
He expected me to be completely crushed, so I shook off my first feeling of dismay and looked up with a bland smile. "I'm much obliged to you for showing it to me," I replied, as if it were the merest trifle. I must have done it pretty well, for even Nessa, who had been overwhelmed by the news, was surprised and pulled herself together.