'You can trust him?' Neumann muttered, wiping his brow.
'I am trusting him,' the general answered dryly. 'And I am not often deceived. This man and the puling girl upstairs tricked me once; but they will not do so again. Now, sirrah!' and he turned to me afresh, a cruel gleam in his eyes. 'That bird will not fly. To business. Will you tell me how many guns are in the orchard bastion?'
'No!' I cried. I was desperate now.
'You will not?'
'No!'
'You talk bravely,' he answered. 'But I have known men talk as bravely, and whimper and tremble like flogged children five minutes later. Ludwig--ah, there is no fire. Get a bit of thin whip-cord, and twist it round his head with your knife-handle. But first,' he continued, devouring me with his hard, smiling eyes, 'call in Taddeo. You will need another man to handle him neatly.'
At the word my blood ran cold with horror, and then burning hot. My gorge rose; I set my teeth and felt all my limbs swell. There was a mist of blood before my eyes, as if the cord were already tight and my brain bursting. I heaved in my bonds and heard them crack and crack. But, alas! they held.
'Try again!' he said, sneering at me.
'You fiend!' I burst out in a fury. 'But I defy you. Do your worst, I will balk you yet!'
He looked at me hard. Then he smiled. 'Ah!' he said. 'So you think you will beat me. Well, you are an obstinate knave, I know; and I have not much time to spare. Yet I shall beat you. Ludwig,' he continued, raising his voice, though his smiling eyes did not leave me. 'Is Taddeo there?'