showing that the blow went home. He had not expected this.
"I don't believe you," he said bluntly.
"So much the worse for you; but if you were a younger man, General Kolfort, you would not dare to say that to my face," I added, sternly.
"You will find it no easy task to get your news out of Bulgaria."
"If I had not known it was already safe across the frontier, do you think I should have been fool enough to come here;" and I laughed and shrugged my shoulders, enjoying his embarrassment. Then I pushed my advantage. "But now, I am ready for your men. Where are you sending me? Tirnova?" And I got up as though the prison were immaterial to me.
He didn't relish the piece of bluff, and sat silent and uneasy.
"You can sit down again," he said after a pause.
I threw myself carelessly into my chair again, crossed my legs, glanced at my watch and said, lightly:
"Tirnova's over a hundred and twenty miles as the crow flies, and if you have any regard for my health—which, by the way, may be an important matter to you by and by—we'd better make a start. I'm wounded, and a long journey might have a very bad effect upon me."
He threw me a glance of baffled rage; I saw his lips move, and guessed that a pretty little oath had slipped out into his moustache unchristened.
"If you mean to brave me out, your journey may be a much farther and a much quicker one," he said after a pause. "Mistakes have been made before now, and explained afterwards."
"Mistake and murder are both spelt with an M," I
