"Told!" flashed Vard. "Do you not see that, unless my great plan succeeds, that action will have been an infamous one? To kill three hundred men in order to assure peace to the world—that may be justified—that may even be heroic; but to kill them wantonly, to kill them and then to fail—that would drive me mad!" He looked at Pachmann, his eyes suddenly inflamed. "And let me tell you this," he added, in a voice of concentrated passion, "if I find that you have deceived me, if I find that you have betrayed me, Germany shall suffer a reprisal that will make you shudder! I swear it!"
Pachmann's eyes were also suffused. In that moment, he literally saw red.
"You threaten!" he cried hoarsely. "You dare to threaten!"
"I warn!" said Vard. "And you will do well to heed the warning! You are playing with fire—take care that it does not consume you!"
Pachmann conquered his emotion by a supreme effort.
"It is foolish to talk in that way," he said. "It is foolish to speak of deception and betrayal. There is no question of either. But we must move cautiously. We must evade these spies. Even you can see that!"
"Here is my last word," said Vard, more calmly. "We shall reach New York on Tuesday. I will await your answer for twenty-four hours after we have landed. If I have not then received it, I shall consider myself free to act as I think best."
A gleam of triumph flashed in Pachmann's eyes.
"I accept your condition," he said, and with a little ironical bow, rose and left the cabin.