“It may go to the devil for aught I care. But we must be off without losing another moment.”
I felt the necessity now. We had burnt our boats with a vengeance in this treatment of the Austrian captain; and if we were caught on Austrian territory there might be a big bill to pay before we could settle matters. It was not now Mademoiselle’s safety only that depended upon our reaching Samac, but our own also, and we pushed on as fast as possible.
“Karasch told me how cleverly you got that man separated from his horse, Mademoiselle,” I said when we were walking the horses up a steep hill.
“He did not hear what I said to him?” she asked, quickly.
“He said nothing to me if he did.”
“He deserves what he has got; but it is a dangerous thing in Bosnia to interfere with an Austrian official.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I made the only offer I could. I told him I was the cause of all the trouble, was alone responsible, and offered to explain everything.”
“Ah, I see. You mean you offered to go back with him, if he would let you go alone. It was like you.”
She started and glanced quickly at me. “I did not say that.”