Then he smiled again and stroked his young mustache.
"It may be true, as you say," he replied, "but meanwhile I'll have to take you to my chief, Captain von Boehlen." John's heart sank a little when he heard the name von Boehlen.

Fortune, he thought, had played him a hard trick by bringing him face to face with the man who had least cause to like him.

But he would not show it.
"Very well," he said; "which way ?" "Straight before you," said the officer.

"I'd give you a mount, but it isn't far.

Remember as you walk that we're just behind you, and don't try to run away.