"But to talk of Marka," he add.
"His mission is, of course, official, and he has abundant resources." "So much I gathered," said Wratislaw.

"But his designs?
"He knows the tribes in the North better than any living man, but without a base at hand he is comparatively harmless.

The devil in the thing is that we do not know how close that base may be.

Fifty thousand men may be massed within fifty miles, and we are in ignorance." "It is the lack of a secret service," said the other.

"Had we that, there are a hundred young men who would have risked their necks there and kept us abreast of our enemies.