“Escaped!” Jack repeated incredulously. “What! you allowed them to escape?”
Count Blowinski grew somewhat angry.
“We didn’t let them escape purposely, you may be sure of that,” he declared.
“Possibly not,” admitted Jack, “but how many of you were there in the room?”
“Well, enough to have taken them,” returned the count, his face somewhat red, “if that’s what you are driving at. There were possibly fifty of us.”
“Fifty of you and you let two men escape?” ejaculated Jack. “Count, I fear for the success of your plans.”
“But this was unavoidable,” protested the count, apparently thinking much of Jack’s good opinion. “They acted so suddenly and they had us at a disadvantage.”
Jack decided that he had wounded the count enough. So he said:
“I can see, count, that you were at some disadvantage. But now that these men have escaped, are you not afraid that your plans may be betrayed?”
“Not at all,” was the reply. “I have taken all precautions. I have ordered that no messages be accepted by telegraph companies; I have thrown a cordon around the town through which no man could pass; I have notified the railroads that no man without a passport signed by me be allowed to leave the city.”