"Come, my man, won't you give us some information?" said Belfort to Alloway.
Alloway's face settled into a defiant frown, but his eyes met mine once, and the swift look he gave me was full of curiosity. Nor did I read any threat there.
"We are all friends of yours; that is, all of us want to be your friends," said Belfort.
"Is that so? Then do your people have a habit of locking up in prison those of whom you think most?" returned Alloway, ironically.
"While we are all friends," resumed Belfort, "some of us are perhaps better friends than others, or better acquaintances. Are you sure there are not several of us whom you knew before to-day?"
"Why, what a strange examination, Lieutenant Belfort!" exclaimed Miss Desmond. Others, too, were looking at him in surprise. Belfort reddened, but it was not in him to be daunted.
"I asked for an excellent reason," he said politely to the commandant. "When these prisoners were passing through the street, this man seemed to recognize one of us and I wished to know which it was."
"What of that?" asked the commandant.
"It may lead to something else that I have in mind," replied Belfort, with tenacity.
"Proceed then," said the commandant, wonderingly.