"Again, just for the sake of argument, how could I be certain that you would keep your word after promising to save my life if I acted according to your instruction?"
"All you have is my word for it and your own common sense. If you give us some valuable information that could not have been obtained otherwise, it stands to reason--doesn't it?--that we'd forget that you'd been a spy, particularly so if the value of your information was greater than your menace as a spy."
"All right, I'll admit I'm a spy," said Tourtelle, a little doggedly; "but I'm not going to tell you anything until I have more authoritative assurance that I'll not be courtmartialed."
"I don't mean to assure you that you won't be courtmartialed," Lieut. Osborne answered, hastily. "I mean that I will intercede for you. Moreover, there is no evidence that can be produced against you except through Private Ellis and me. We have the information, and will either produce it or keep it under cover as we see fit."
"But suppose I really have no information of great value; suppose I'm merely a bearer of a cipher message, which I can't read and don't even know the person to whom it is addressed--what then?"
"I don't ask anything impossible," the inquisitor replied. "All I want is a straight-forward story from you, with all details. If you keep anything back or lie to me, I'm very likely to find it out, and then you'll fare worse than if you refused point blank to enter into an agreement with me."
"All right," said Tourtelle, "I suppose I may as well give in, for you seem to have some real information, although I can't understand where or how you got it. Anyway, here's my story:
CHAPTER XIV
TOURTELLE'S STORY
"I must first tell you who I am," Lieut. Tourtelle began, after some moments' deliberation. Ordinarily his countenance was almost expressionless, for he belonged to a certain type of pulseless-souled humanity that talks little with the face, except through that orifice where the tongue wig-wags the signals of the mind. But on this occasion, he looked not only serious, but seriously concerned over his predicament. Before he got farther with his introduction, however, Lieut. Osborne interrupted him with this warning: