That accursed _Sylvesterabend_ had played havoc with the whole outfit, and the captain and I were weary men before we got things straight.
In one way it turned out well.

That afternoon we passed the frontier and I never knew it till I saw a man in a strange uniform come aboard, who copied some figures on a schedule, and brought us a mail.

With my dirty face and general air of absorption in duty, I must have been an unsuspicious figure.

He took down the names of the men in the barges, and Peter's name was given as it appeared on the ship's roll--Anton Blum.
'You must feel it strange, Herr Brandt,' said the captain, 'to be scrutinized by a policeman, you who give orders, I doubt not, to many policemen.' I shrugged my shoulders.

'It is my profession.