CHAPTER XIV
Once in the street the old man slipped his arm through that of his companion, and hobbled along beside him. "My dear young friend," he said, when they had been walking for some few minutes, "we are out of the house now, and able to talk sensibly together without fear of making fools of ourselves or of being overheard. First and foremost, tell me this: have you any notion of what you are doing?"
"'Have you any notion of what you are doing?'"
"Of course I am not very well up in it," Browne replied modestly; "but I think I know pretty well."
"Then, let me tell you this, as one who is probably more conversant with the subject than any man living: you know absolutely nothing at all!"
After this facer Browne did not know quite what to say. Herr Sauber stopped and looked at him.
"Has it struck you yet," he said, "that you, a young Englishman, without the least experience in such things, are pitting yourself against all the organization and cunning of the Great Russian Bear?"