"Yes, in a way. I thought that Hallo had something to do with your disappearance, and I never dreamed of your being able to fool him as you did! But I should have come in any case. Milikoff and I had decided that before we knew that you had vanished. And if you hadn't been here, Dick, they would have killed me, I think, when this wretched traitor told Hallo that I had been deceiving him."
"He told him more than that, though Hallo did not know it was you of whom they talked, Steve. This spy told him that you were the most dangerous of all—and Hallo said he didn't believe there was any such person as Stepan Dushan!"
They both laughed, and Steve laughed still more when he heard of Hallo's mystification and fury about the revelation of the hiding places of the stores on the Drina.
"That was what made us sure that Austria had decided for war," he said. "We knew that she would not prepare for an invasion there so secretly otherwise. That was why we knew that it would be useless to agree to her terms, even if that had been possible."
"Hallo said no one but himself knew about those stores."
"He was nearly right—but a miss is as good as a mile," said Stepan, with a laugh. "He knew—and the staff knew—and I knew! I found out all about those things by reading his private letters, Dick. That was the part I hated most about the work. I had to read all his letters after we became sure of what he was doing. It made me feel wretched at first, as if I were doing something very dishonorable."
"But you weren't doing it for a dishonorable reason, Steve. Still I can see how you felt."
"But I didn't feel that way very long, Dick, because I soon found out what a miserable cheat and swindler he was! You were surprised, you know, when you found out that I knew all about you."
"I certainly was! I never was so much surprised in all my life!" said Dick very quickly.
"Well, I may have some more surprises for you still, Dick. I'm not sure, but I do know some things I haven't told you yet."