“A Laforce never turns his back on danger,” he declared.
“But such terrible peril! It were different if you could face your foes.”
“Yes, it is hard to be beset by unseen peril.”
“Still you do not fear?”
The duke hesitated a little, and then spoke slowly.
“I believe that the bravest may feel fear at times,” he confessed. “In battle it is different, but when one knows a peril he cannot see may be creeping upon him slowly and surely he must be made of more than flesh and blood not to feel a thrill of fear.”
“It is a terrible thing!” exclaimed the young American earnestly. “It is like being chained in a pit where the water is rising inch by inch.”
“It is worse. The prisoner in the pit can see the water rise, but a man to whom the sign of the Black Brothers has been given knows the danger is creeping upon him, but he cannot see it.”
Now Frank felt a strong thrill of admiration for this old Frenchman who could remain thus cool in the face of an unseen and deadly peril.
“If you meet the fate of the others—what then?”