“Excuse!” said he.
He regarded Bat for still another moment; then he came a step nearer.
“You have known Herr Campe for a long time?”
“Quite a while.”
“Before you come he spoke much of you,” said the German. “He asked me what I thought of sending for you. I said,” candidly, the hand lifting to another salute, “not to do it.”
“Why?”
“I was not sure. It was a time when a man could not be sure. All strangers were dangerous.”
“But I was a stranger to you only. Didn’t you give Mr. Campe any credit for judgment, or knowledge of people?”
“Herr Campe,” said Kretz, “as I have said, is like a man who is sick. He does not know who his friends are. That, sir, was plain to me when——” But he stopped shortly at this, his jaws snapping as though to shut in any words which might complete the sentence. Then, after a moment, he said: “You will be careful of the strangers?”
Bat nodded.