Something in Rowland's tone, more than the words themselves, arrested Von Stromberg's attention.
"Trouble!" he repeated. "What trouble?"
"Merely that I might feel compelled to call a revolution," said Rowland pleasantly.
Von Stromberg glared at him a moment, his closely cropped bullet-like head, deep between his shoulders. Then suddenly he straightened and a smile twisted at the end of his lips.
"You have a strange sense of humor, Herr Rowland. A revolution! In Germany?" he laughed. "Surely the time is not yet when a polite adventurer from the United States, our most deadly enemy,----"
"Your most deadly enemy, Baron von Stromberg," Rowland broke in. And then with a wave of his hand, "Not theirs!"
"Ah, Herr Rowland, I must pay you the tribute of admiration," said the General with a bow of mock humility. "You are a brave man--so brave that it seems a pity to arrest you--to shoot you tonight--as a spy. It would pain me deeply----"
"Not so much as it would me, Herr General," said Rowland, "or those whose cause I represent," he continued, his voice ringing clearly, "for that shot would echo from one end of Germany to the other."
A roar of approval rang through the Hall. "That is true!" roared a voice, and another, "He does not dare!"
General von Stromberg stood erect, quiet, searching out with his keen eyes those members of the Committee who had spoken, waiting for the outbreak to cease. Then when quiet was restored, he shrugged a shoulder and with a quick gesture of his fingers toward Rowland,