'Don't do it, Ken,' broke in Roy. 'I don't know your father, but I'm mighty sure he wouldn't stick for this kind of blackmail.'
Henkel swung round on him in a fury.
'Potztausend! Keep silence, fool! Your own life as well as two others depends upon Carrington's answer.'
'I wouldn't give sixpence for my life if I had to keep it on terms like those,' retorted Roy.
'Nor would I,' said Ken sharply. 'And I know my father would say the same. Whatever happens, he would never consent to letting you blackmail him, Colonel Henkel.'
'Blackmail, schelm! What are you talking about? Don't I tell you that by his sentence your father has forfeited all right to any landed property under the Turkish Government?'
'Yes, but that country won't be Turkish any more after the war. And then my younger brother, who is at school at home, will inherit. No, we are not going to cut him out and leave him penniless. Do your worst, Henkel.'
Henkel's great coarse face went livid. He burst into a storm of savage profanity.
'Enough!' he cried at last. 'You have brought your fate upon yourselves. You have sealed your own death warrant. You shall be shot within an hour, and as for your father, he shall be taken to Gallipoli within the week, and if he survives, the fire of your own warships, I shall find other means of dealing with him.'
He rushed out, slamming the door behind him.