"You think the Servian retreat is serious, then, sir?"
"I think it's the beginning of the end, my boy—and if I wasn't afraid that it wouldn't sound neutral, I'd say I was sorry for it, too! They've made a game fight, and they deserved better luck. But look at the map for yourself! The Austrians have the whole grain growing section. The Servian army will starve to death if the Austrians don't force it to fight and wipe it out."
"I see. It does look bad when you look at it that way, sir," said Dick rather slowly.
"And there's no other way of looking at it. Pushkin has shot his bolt. He won a fine victory at Schabatz, but he's up against the Austrians in overwhelming numbers now. He's been running away mighty well, too, but he can't keep that up forever. He'll have to fight when they get him cornered, just as the French did in 1870 at Sedan. And that will be the end of organized Servian resistance."
"I hope not, but it does look like it, sir. I'd like to see him turn the tables, though."
Stepan listened with a good deal of interest to Dick's report of his conversation with the consul.
"That's the outside view—yes," said Stepan. "It's the Austrian view, too! What did he say about you, Dick?"
"Oh, he said I'd better stay here for a time. Mr. Denniston had spoken to him about me, he said, and they agreed that I had better wait here in Belgrade until things were more settled. Mr. Denniston told him that there was still a formal charge against me in Semlin, but that he was trying to get it withdrawn. After that he will arrange for me to get home, he says. He is very kind."
"Yes. But you don't want to go home until you have settled matters with Hallo, do you?"
"No, I don't. But I suppose there's very little chance of my being able to do that now. And I guess I ought to get back and start in doing whatever I can, instead of spending any more time trying to run after a will-o'-the-wisp like the money Hallo stole from us."