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They had been 'Grune mantel'. Grune mantel, whatever it might be, was the name which Stumm had not meant me to hear, which was some talisman for the task I had proposed, and which was connected in some way with the mysterious von Einem. This discovery put me in high fettle. I told myself that, considering the difficulties, I had managed to find out a wonderful amount in a very few days.
'I know, I said; 'he is called Greenmantle. Sandy scrambled to his feet, letting his pipe drop in the fireplace. 'Now how on earth did you find out that? he cried. Then I told them of Stumm and Gaudian and the whispered words I had not been meant to hear.
I seemed to have about as much chance of joining Blenkiron and Sandy as of flying to the moon. After breakfast I was told to get ready. When I asked where I was going Stumm advised me to mind my own business, but I remembered that last night he had talked of taking me home with him and giving me my orders. I wondered where his home was.
For he had spoken the words which Stumm had uttered behind his hand to Gaudian. I had heard something like 'Uhnmantl, and could make nothing of it. Now I was as certain of those words as of my own existence.
I reckon Ambassador Gerard didn't cotton to our conversation that night. And the new-comer plumped himself down in the corner opposite me. I had been pretty certain I would run across Blenkiron somewhere in Germany, but I didn't think it would be so soon. There he sat staring at me with his full, unseeing eyes, rolling out platitudes to Stumm, who was nearly bursting in his effort to keep civil.
No one seemed to stop them, and then I saw the reason. Those Guards had come for us. This must be Stumm at last. The authorities had tracked us down, and it was all up with Peter and me. A sudden revulsion leaves a man with a low vitality. I didn't seem to care greatly. We were done, and there was an end of it. It was Kismet, the act of God, and there was nothing for it but to submit.
He had his crowd of Turkish riff-raff and was bound to get us sooner or later. Then there was the maniac in the skin hat. He didn't like Rasta, and I made a guess that he and his weird friends were of some party hostile to the Young Turks. But, on the other hand, he didn't like us, and there would be bad trouble the next time we met him. Finally, there was Stumm and the German Government.
He let me go and I dropped limply back in the chair. 'Now, go! Futsack! And remember that I am your master. I, Ulric von Stumm, who owns you as a Kaffir owns his mongrel. Germany may have some use for you, my friend, when you fear me as you never feared your God. As I walked dizzily away the big man was smiling in his horrible way, and that little official was blinking and smiling too.
I think he thought I was bullied by Stumm and wanted to tell me that he was my friend, and he had no other language than a pat on the back. The soldier was in his old position with his elbows on the mantelpiece and his formidable great jaw stuck out. 'Listen to me, he said. 'Herr Gaudian and I are inclined to make use of you.
They seemed to have got it laid on our fort; but they were waiting. As I looked I saw behind them a massive figure I seemed to recognize. Stumm had come to see the destruction of his enemies. To the east I saw another gun in the fields just below the main road. They had got us on both sides, and there was no way of escape.
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