“Now, dear Gavin, we shall be so happy together; there will be no more separations for us.”
He was roused from this by a vigorous shaking, and St. Arnaud’s voice saying:
“Wake up! You don’t seem to mind the notion of being hanged; but for my part, I could give you ten good beatings for the misery and anxiety your folly has cost me.”
CHAPTER X
Gavin sat up, rubbed his eyes, remained silent for some minutes, while St. Arnaud berated him, winding up with:
“Two hours later, and you would have been hanged.”
“I thought so, too,” replied Gavin. “Dreisel, the captain, was bent on it. But how came you here?”
“By following you, of course. I left the concert early, and went to our quarters, to find you gone and your letter on the table. I gave the alarm immediately, not knowing what trouble you might get into. I suspected at once that you would try the river, as there was less chance of your being stopped, and we—Captain Bohlen and I—were after you in a boat within an hour after you took to the water. We found the boat and your papers in it—I have the papers with me—and had no difficulty in tracking you to the place where you were captured. There we had some delay. Several small bodies of men were moving about that night, and we lost some hours in finding which one had bagged you. As soon as we discovered that your friend, Captain Dreisel, was the man, we lost not a moment, for he has openly said he means to hang an Austrian officer. They were still debating when we arrived; the young sublieutenants showed more courage than Dreisel counted on, and threatened to refuse to obey orders if you were sentenced to be hanged. You should have seen them when Bohlen and I walked in on them. Dreisel was perfectly cool and collected; he saw that he was balked, and probably ruined for life, as Bohlen will lay the whole matter before the King. The three lieutenants nearly had hysterics from joy. Bohlen means to ask promotion for them, since they saved the Prussian army the disgrace of hanging an Austrian officer. When we asked for you, behold, you were asleep! What a fellow you are!”
Gavin sprang up, and seizing St. Arnaud around the neck, they kissed and embraced.
At that moment Gavin glanced up. Bohlen, Von Bulow, and the other two lieutenants were entering the room. They crowded around him and wrung his hand, and Von Bulow, fairly bursting into tears, embraced him. They all laughed at Von Bulow; but every man of them felt shaken by the crisis each had passed through. Turning to the soldiers, especially the sentry and the sergeant, Gavin emptied his pockets, and then with one accord all the officers went out of the house that still sheltered Dreisel.