"You're right, there, general," declared Stubbs. "My friend, the archduke, would fix this thing up in a minute. The only trouble on that score is the matter of time. Time is precious, you know, general, and time presses."
"Fortunately for you," said the officer, "the archduke happens to be in the next room at this moment. If you will be seated, I shall call him."
Stubbs sat down abruptly. A slight whistle escaped him, though it did not carry to the general's ears.
"Good night!" muttered the little man to himself. "I've sure enough gone and done it this time."
But Stubbs didn't betray himself. To the general he said:
"The archduke here? By Jove! This is what I call luck. Have him come out and talk to me."
With a bow, the Austrian commander turned and passed from the room. The moment he crossed the threshold, Stubbs sprang to his feet and dashed to the door through which he had entered a few moments before.
"This," he said, as he came again into the open, "is no place for
Anthony Stubbs."
He disappeared from within view of the general's quarters with amazing rapidity.
"Wasn't much use of me patting the archduke on the back," he told himself. "Never having seen me before, I guess he wouldn't have remembered me. I don't want to be shot."