"Everybody has been making that their occupation since I left Austria," cursing lowly. "I never saw such people."
"What have you been doing this time?"
"Nothing; but I want to do something right away. They have been hounding me all over the kingdom. What have I done? Nothing, absolutely nothing. It makes me hot under the collar. These German blockheads! Do they think to find the Princess Hildegarde by following me around? I'd give as much as they to find her."
"So you haven't seen anything of her?"
"Not a sign. I came here first, but not a soul was at the castle. Nobody knows where she is. I came here this time to throw them off the track, but I failed. I had a close shave this noon. I'll light out to-morrow. It isn't safe in these parts. It would be of no use to tell them that I do not know where the princess is. They have connected me with her as they connect one link of a chain to another. You can kill a German, but you can't convince him. How long have you been here?"
I did not reply at once. "About ten days."
"Ten days!" he echoed. "What on earth has kept you in this ruin that long?"
"Rest," said I, glibly. "But I am going away to-morrow. We'll go together. They will not know what to do with two of us."
"Yes, they will. You will be taken for my accomplice. . . . Hark! What's that?" holding his hand to his ear. "Horses. Come, I'm not going to take any risk."
So we made a run for the inn. In the twilight haze we could see two horsemen coming along the highway at a brisk gallop.