“I enlisted for the campaign—yes?—I shall wait until I am discharged.” And the little man buttoned his coat.
“Thank you, Oscar. In a few days more we shall probably be through with this business. There’s another man coming to get into the game—he reached Washington yesterday, and we shall doubtless hear of him shortly. Very likely they are both in the hills to-night. And, Oscar, listen carefully to what I say.”
The soldier drew nearer to Armitage, who sat swinging his legs on the table in the bungalow.
“If I should die unshriven during the next week, here’s a key that opens a safety-vault box at the Bronx Loan and Trust Company, in New York. In case I am disabled, go at once with the key to Baron von Marhof, Ambassador of Austria-Hungary, and tell him—tell him—”
He had paused for a moment as though pondering his words with care; then he laughed and went on.
“—tell him, Oscar, that there’s a message in that safety box from a gentleman who might have been King.”
Oscar stared at Armitage blankly.
“That is the truth, Sergeant. The message once in the good Baron’s hands will undoubtedly give him a severe shock. You will do well to go to bed. I shall take a walk before I turn in.”
“You should not go out alone—”
“Don’t trouble about me; I shan’t go far. I think we are safe until two gentlemen have met in Washington, discussed their affairs, and come down into the mountains again. The large brute we caught the other night is undoubtedly on watch near by; but he is harmless. Only a few days more and we shall perform a real service in the world, Sergeant,—I feel it in my bones.”