"Ze parole of a German officer----" "It’s no good talking, captain," Burton interposed, bluntly. "The word of a German has no value just now. If you do not submit quietly I shall have to use force. No doubt you will be released when you are safe in the British lines. Come now!" Amid a copious flow of guttural protestation the captain allowed his hands to be tied behind him. "I felt rather sorry for the chap," said Burton to Enderby afterwards. "He looked a decent fellow as Germans go, and perhaps I did him an injustice. But, being a German, we can’t trust him; and we can’t afford to take risks." While he was engaged in securing his prisoner, the two Serbs had been conversing rapidly. Old Marco came up to him, and took him apart. "We have gained time at least, monsieur," he said. "My friend Milosh Nikovich tells me that the others are remaining in the tower for the night; the main body is not expected until the morning." "That will give us a chance to slip past in the darkness--if only your wheels didn’t groan so. Stay! I have some vaseline in my wallet, I think; we can grease them with that. It’s nearly four o’clock, I see; the mist is rising; that will help us. I suppose, by the way, the Bulgars in the tower will not expect this German to return?" The old man spoke to his compatriot. "He does not know," he said. "Then we shall have to look out. Luckily the sun is going down; they can’t heliograph any more; and it will be impossible for the people above to see the track through the mist, so they won’t know that the horsemen have been checked. If the air had been clear they would certainly have become suspicious on failing to catch sight of the party on open stretches behind us. With luck we shall get through. What were they doing with your friend?" The old Serb repeated what Milosh had told him during their colloquy. His village had been raided; most of the inhabitants had been massacred by the Bulgars; he himself had been impressed as guide, and forced to lead the patrol to the tower, which they knew by hearsay, though ignorant of the hill-track that led directly to it. "I reproached him for his weakness," added the old man apologetically. "He ought to have refused to act as guide. Better that a Serb should have allowed himself to be shot. But a man does not always see clearly; he has a family--who are safe, praise to the Highest!" "But why did they wish to reach the tower?" "It commands the country for many miles. They could see from it the forces of your brave countrymen. Without doubt they signalled what they had discovered, and I suspect that to-morrow a force of light cavalry will come this way to fall on their flank at the cross-roads below." "That is one reason the more for getting through. We must do it to-night. You know the country, my friend; we must act on your advice."