Cautiously I peeped out; his back was turned, so, carefully keeping him covered with my revolver, I wriggled from beneath the bed, and stood up. I had not made enough noise to disturb him, and when I asked him quietly to raise his hands above his head he spun round like a flash.
"My God!" he cried.
"No, only your King. Quick, up with them!"
I have never seen a man more surprised; but he recovered very quickly and held his hands up. In one of them was a package of papers. His face had gone white, and his eyes glistened.
"Baron Goltz, you are a very dirty traitor, and as such I am going to shoot you. Have you anything to say?"
I had made up my mind, as he raised his hands, that it was in the interests of Rudarlia that he should die. The knowledge he had gained was of too great importance; and I alone could not hope to keep him prisoner.
"It will be murder, and useless," he said.
"Hardly, but I will risk it, you are too big a scoundrel to go free from here."
"It will be useless," he repeated, "as I have sent to a friend the information you are afraid of my repeating."
This staggered me, I confess, but I thought of the paper in my pocket.