The fragment he handed me was written in pencil and half illegible. It was the draft of a letter. I had an electric shock the minute I began to read. The prisoner watched me with a sly look. I stepped up to him, beside myself. "I know your name, _now_, sir!" I said. "That is very remarkable," he replied insolently, "for the paper you have in your possession is not signed, and you are not a wizard." "You wretch!" I burst out. "Your name is Ulrich von Boose, and you are the murderer of the Grand Duke Rudolph of Lautenburg-Detmold." His face turned deadly pale. His hands contracted convulsively. But he had enough presence of mind to say to my chief in a quivering voice: "I protest against this treatment, sir! Please be good enough to stop your lieutenant from insulting an enemy prisoner. It's infamous!" "Oh, don't you bother me!" shouted my chief. "But really, lieutenant, what's all this about? What's in that paper?" I had the greatest difficulty in controlling my feelings. "Excuse me sir," I murmured. "I don't feel able to explain myself.... But would you be kind enough to send for Lieutenant Vignerte at once! He knows all about this man, and can tell you everything." "All right," grumbled my chief. "What a business!" He gave the order. At the sound of Vignerte's name the German had turned even paler. There was rage and hatred in the look he gave me. If the two soldiers had not held him tight he would certainly have flung himself upon me and tried to snatch away the paper I was about to re-read with rather more composure. Once more, for the last time, I tell you this: I have seen too much of your methods with others not to know what your intentions are as regards myself. I agreed to go to the war. But the war is dragging on. Every day I run the risk of never returning at all. No doubt that is exactly what you want: after the Grand Duke, after the Grand Duchess, my turn, I suppose! And then there'll be nothing to trouble your sleep.... I am not such a fool as that. If, within fifteen days, I am not withdrawn from the front and appointed to a staff post, with the rank to which I think my services have entitled me, I can promise you _this_--a _detailed_ description of the whole affair will be _published_ by friends of mine, in a large number of neutral or enemy papers, addressed to all those whose enlightenment you have most reason to fear. And I can assure you that it will be all the more credible because the documents will contain a specimen of a handwriting which you know well. The last sentence was in a totally different handwriting from that of the rest of the letter. The latter was fine and spidery, the other big and bold. I had been able to examine them both earlier in the night. One was the handwriting of the letters written from the Cameroons by the Grand Duke Rudolph, the other that of the sketch-map I had found in the "Mittheilungen."