"You do!" cried all the officers round the table.
"I must!" said the merchant, gravely, and proceeded briefly to state the reasons for his resolve.
The captain shook his head. "It is true," said he, "that the exact terms in which my orders are couched leave it optional whether I bar the frontier against all alike, but yet the chief aim of our occupying this position is the closing up of the disturbed district."
"Then I must make known my wishes to the commander-in-chief; but this will delay me more than a day, and this delay will very probably defeat the whole object of my journey. As you have kindly informed me, there still exists a certain degree of order among the insurgents, but it is impossible to say how long this may last. Now it is upon the existence of this very order that I must depend for the recovery of my property, for I can only get the loaded wagons out of the town with the consent of the revolutionary party."
"And do you hope to obtain it?"
"I must endeavor to do so," was the reply; "at all events, I shall oppose might and main the plundering and destroying of my goods."
The captain mused a while. "Your plans," said he, "place me in a strait; if any harm should befall you, which is, I fear, only too likely, I shall be reproached for having allowed you to cross the frontier. Can nothing persuade you to give up this undertaking?"
"Nothing," said the merchant—"nothing but the law of the land."
"Are the wagons, then, of such consequence to you, that you are willing to risk your life for them?" asked the captain, rather morosely.
"Yes, captain, of as much consequence as the doing your duty is to you. To me their safety involves far more than mere mercantile profit. I must cross the frontier unless prevented by a positive prohibition. That I should not actually resist, but I should do all in my power to have an exception made in my favor."