A sheep had been procured during the day—by nefarious means, of course—and Milosch brought a portion of its flesh for the captives; but he carried also Zoe’s safety inkstand, a leaf torn out of one of her note-books, and a pen of unknown origin.
“You write now, before ze sun falls,” he said to Maurice, “a letter signified by all of you. Ze ransom we demand is fifteen sousand Ingliss pounds, to be placed in gold zis day month on a spot zat will be indicated to your messager. If ze ransom comes not forth, or if deception is adventured, we shall kill you, beginning wiz”—he looked round with a calculating eye upon the three, who all afterwards confessed to feeling cold shivers down their backs, and then laughed—“No, I say not who we begin wiz. Perhaps we let you draw ze lot again. From zis time you hold no communion wiz your messager but in my presence; zerefore seek not to cook up fraud among yourselves.”
Maurice looked at Zoe in despair. How could they let Wylie proceed on his quest in absolute ignorance of their real name? and yet, how could they reveal it in the hearing of Milosch, who possessed the disconcerting faculty of being able to understand English much better than he spoke it? Zoe came to her brother’s help.
“Captain Wylie had better go to Professor Panagiotis,” she said.
“Professor Panagiotis!” said Eirene sharply. “What do you know about him?”
“He is the friend we were going to stay with,” answered Zoe, in surprise. “Do you know him?”
“He was an acquaintance of my father,” said Eirene, with some hesitation. “I don’t remember that I have ever seen him.”
“Well, if he wouldn’t remember you we needn’t mention you separately,” said Zoe quickly, wondering if Wylie was trying once more, as she herself would have done, to reconcile the relationships of this remarkable family. “If you will just say that we are all here together?” she added to Wylie.
“Yes, I think the letter had better go to the Professor,” agreed Maurice, “and then he can post you up, Wylie. There are some things that can’t very well be explained here, but that have a tremendous bearing on the case.”
The letter was written, duly signed by Maurice Smith, Zoe Smith, and Eirene Smith, and addressed to the Professor at his villa at Kallimeri. Milosch was highly entertained by the idea that the head of the Greek party in Emathia should find himself compelled to finance his Slavic opponents to so large an extent, and shouted the news to the rest of the brigands as a huge joke. They chuckled over it without him, for he did not quit the prisoners again. It was evidently his business to see that no one exchanged a word with Wylie that might cover any suggestion designed to cheat the band of their destined spoil, or lead to their being hunted down, and even when Maurice and Wylie rolled themselves up in their rugs to sleep, he sat between them, revolver in hand.