The Albanian shrugged his shoulders.

"I have said," he replied, "that I keep my sympathies locked up here," and again he tapped his breast.

Hal was silent for a few moments, considering a plan that had come to him. At length he turned to Stubbs.

"Will you ask your newly made friend," he said, "if he will join us? He will be invaluable. He can lead us where we would go without question."

Stubbs grasped the situation instantly.

He put the question to the Albanian. For long minutes the man hesitated, and then he, in turn, asked a question.

"You say that you are working in the interests of Montenegro?" he asked.

"I can give you my word," replied Stubbs soberly.

The dwarf extended a hand to Stubbs and looked him in the eye.

"Such men as you, such fighters as you, do not lie," he said gravely.