Joseph leaped with a thrill. This, then, was the prize that they had brought from the Ukraine—a crystal, the “Great Tarnov Crystal,” whose loss the father had not ceased to mourn. But, after all, was a crystal something that men valued so highly? If it were a diamond or a precious stone there might be some reason for so much covetousness, but a mere crystal—why, he himself knew caves in the Ukraine where one might knock rock crystals from the walls. But perhaps this had a certain significance. “You know as well as I,” returned Pan Andrew, “that it disappeared on that same night that you attacked my lodgings. If you have it not, I know not where it is to be found.” “It disappeared!” Peter was at first shocked, then incredulous. “You lie!” he shrieked, “you lie! You have it still. I will find a way. . . . Come here!” he called to Michael the Snake, “take this boy to the house where he lives and keep always your knife at his throat. I will stay with the old one here and if you do not return in a quarter of an hour we will put this Pole out of all trouble in this world. . . . No,” he continued, as if changing his mind, “I will go with the brat myself. While we look the house over you keep your sword close to the old fox’s throat. If the boy leads me the wrong way I’ll slit his throat, likewise if he tries to betray me. But if we do not return with the crystal in a reasonable time do as I have told you.” That Pan Andrew would gladly give up the crystal to save not only his own life but that of the boy, the Cossack had believed firmly. Therefore his denial of the possession of the crystal was unlooked for and baffling. However, he dismissed the matter from his mind promptly. Undoubtedly Pan Andrew had lied to him, and unless something unforeseen happened it would be but a matter of a few minutes’ time before the crystal was in his own hands. It was true that Joseph might not know the exact hiding place of the crystal; what he did know was that the men in the tower would kill his father if he did not return at once with the prize, and he and the mother would make a quick search of the house in order to find it and redeem the father. It did occur to Peter that perhaps Pan Andrew had deposited it elsewhere, but if the house did not give up its prize, then they would return and try to torture the information out of the father. “Stay,” he said suddenly, just as Joseph’s captor delivered the boy into his hands, “the hourglass there on the table shows that the sand has fallen to the second hour. It is time that the trumpet was sounded from this place, otherwise some one may suspect that something is wrong and come up here to see. . . . You, boy—you trumpet sometimes, I know. Surprises you, does it? Peter has eyes and ears everywhere. So, before we set out to get this precious stone, take down that trumpet from the wall. . . . No, leave it there a moment, and come here.” He led him to the bell rope outside and stood over him.