It was dismal packing. I swore a good deal, softly. Gretchen was not in the dining-room when I came down to supper. It was just as well. I wanted to be cool and collected when I made my final adieu. After supper I lit my pipe (I shall be buried with it!) and went for a jaunt up the road. There was a train at six the next morning. I would leave on that. Why hadn't I taken Gretchen in my arms and kissed her? It would have been something to remember in the days to come. I was a man, and stronger; she would have been powerless. Perhaps it was the color of her eyes. I had not gone up the highway more than 100 yards when I saw the lonely figure of a man tramping indirectly toward me and directly toward the inn. Even in the dusk of twilight there was something familiar about that stride. Presently the man lifted up his voice in song. The "second lead," as they say back of the scenes, was about to appear before the audience. Evidently Hillars had found "Jericho" distasteful and had returned to protest. CHAPTER XI "Hello, there!" he hailed, seeing but not recognizing me; "have you seen any cavalry pass this way?" "No, I have not," I answered in English. "Eh? What's that?" not quite believing it was English he had heard. "I said that no cavalry has passed this way since this afternoon. Are they looking for you, you jail-bird in perspective?" He was near enough now. "Well, I be dam'!" he cried. "What the devil are you doing here, of all places?" "I was looking for you," said I, locking my arm in his. "Everybody has been making that their occupation since I left Austria," cursing lowly. "I never saw such people." "What have you been doing this time?" "Nothing; but I want to do something right away. They have been hounding me all over the kingdom. What have I done? Nothing, absolutely nothing. It makes me hot under the collar. These German blockheads! Do they think to find the Princess Hildegarde by following me around? I'd give as much as they to find her." "So you haven't seen anything of her?" "Not a sign. I came here first, but not a soul was at the castle. Nobody knows where she is. I came here this time to throw them off the track, but I failed. I had a close shave this noon. I'll light out to-morrow. It isn't safe in these parts. It would be of no use to tell them that I do not know where the princess is. They have connected me with her as they connect one link of a chain to another. You can kill a German, but you can't convince him. How long have you been here?" I did not reply at once. "About ten days." "Ten days!" he echoed. "What on earth has kept you in this ruin that long?" "Rest," said I, glibly. "But I am going away to-morrow. We'll go together. They will not know what to do with two of us." "Yes, they will. You will be taken for my accomplice. . . . Hark! What's that?" holding his hand to his ear. "Horses. Come, I'm not going to take any risk."