Tzerclas made but one stride to him. 'Dolt!' he cried, 'what is it?'
'She is gone!' the man stuttered.
'Gone?'
'Yes, your excellency.'
For an instant Tzerclas stood glaring at him. Then like lightning his hand went lip and his pistol-butt crashed down on the man's temple. The wretch threw up his arms and fell as if a thunderbolt had struck him--senseless, or lifeless; no one asked which, for his assailant, like a beast half-sated, stood glaring round for a second victim. But Ludwig, who had come down with Taddeo, knew his master, and kept his distance by the door. The other two men shrank behind me.
'Well?' Tzerclas cried, as soon as passion allowed him to speak. 'Are you dumb? Have you lost your tongue? What is it that liar meant?'
'The girl is away,' Ludwig muttered. 'She got out through a window.'
'Through what window?'
'The window of my room, under the roof,' the man answered sullenly. 'The one--through which that fool came in,' he continued, nodding towards me.
'Ah!' the general cried, his voice hissing with rage. 'Well, we have still got him. How did she go?'