“We may have reasons.”
“Ah! Reasons, yes; to think that he is here—here?”
“He may be here—or anywhere else,” Galabin replied guardedly. “If he is not dead——”
“Ah!” D’Alquen seemed to read the other’s thoughts although he could not see his face. “You know more than you will tell. I have suspected it, but it seemed impossible for two sportsmen——. Now you may tell me what you know. I am Prince Roel’s cousin, and have sworn to clear up the mystery of his disappearance, and if necessary to avenge him. I regret that I was compelled to take the Herr Lieutenant by the throat; I mistook him for a spy of that fellow Zarka’s.”
“And we were inclined to set you down as the same,” Von Tressen laughed.
“Do not let us stay here talking,” Galabin suggested. “We may be overheard, with unpleasant results. We had better be moving back towards our tent, unless you have a plan to carry through to-night.”
“At least let us first compare notes,” D’Alquen replied. “If we act together the solution of the terrible mystery may be easy.”
Rising from the ground, the three men stole across to the wood, whence they shaped their course to the valley.
“My idea is,” D’Alquen said presently, “that this fellow Zarka is responsible for my kinsman’s disappearance, for it is suspected at home that he is in league with the Russians. Whether poor Roel is alive or dead by now I cannot tell; if alive, it is because that villain dare not kill him, at least till he has made sure of the consequences.”
They told him of the masked man. He stopped and flung up his arms excitedly. “Roel! Roel!” he cried. “Thank Heaven, at last I can make an effort for your liberty, or at least give my life for it.”