"You know thiss, and I do not, hein? What will you take that you shall tell me? It iss nothing to you, it iss everything to me!"
"Tell you?" And the scorn in her voice lashed him like a whip. "Thief and liar that you are! Tell you? I would sooner tell that man Jenson there than you!"
"Ah, yess! Jenson!" Still he gazed at her, fighting himself hard. "I have made a mistake, then? Thiss iss not the fort, but I knew that much already, fräulein! And this Mr. Hammer iss your friend—Ach, mein Gott! It wass you who told about the papers, Jenson!"
The big Saxon whirled in his chair, his hand shot out, and Jenson, clutched by the shoulder, was dragged bodily over the table into the group. The fellow was too frightened even to whimper, and the blaze in the eyes of Krausz seemed to paralyse him.
"So, it wass you who told, while you were away! You told, swine! Listen, fräulein! Tell me what you know, and we shall be partners, yess! Tell me, and this Mr. Hammer he shall take Adolf with him! Perhaps it wass Adolf who killed Captain Harcourt, after——"
Quick as Jenson was, the scientist was quicker, his foot shooting out with the swiftness of light. Hammer fancied that Jenson's wrist was broken by the kick, for he screamed once, horribly, even before the knife fell to the ground. Krausz flung him to the seamen with an order in German, and a moment later Hammer was seized and his hands bound before he could resist.
The incident aroused all the brute in Krausz and he stood glaring around for a moment, Sara Helmuth instinctively shrinking before him.
"You, fräulein, you know me! Yess, the papers were stolen, but I did not come to the right place? Then you shall tell me where that place it iss.
"I will not," came her firm answer.
Krausz turned and snapped out an order in German, pointing to Hammer. The American saw one of the sailors snatch the rhinoceros-hide whip from the askari, but the girl's face had gone white.