."

"And so would I, sir," he answered. "And the Lord knows it. It needn't
all go in tobacco, I suppose, sir?" He had taken up the coin and was
holding it in his thumb and finger by this time. "Any kind o' little
comfort 'l do as well, sir?"

"Any kind of little comfort, as you say," I answered.

"Thank you, sir," he said, pocketing the coin. "You're an Englishman and
you're a gentleman, sir, and I'm very much obliged to you."

I made no answer, for I wanted to see if my man would talk. I thought he
looked as if he would like to ease his mind.

"You haven't been over the fortress, have you, sir?" I shook my head.
"Miserable kind of an 'ole it is, sir, for a man to live in. I think I
should go stark, starin', ravin' mad if I was to live there long, sir."

"So bad as that?" I asked.

"You may well say that, sir," he rejoined. "I've got a nice, easy,
comfortable place along with the general, and I don't want to lose it.
So long as we're in Vienna or anywhere else but here, I'm satisfied. But
here! Why, good Lord, sir, it's simply sickening."

I supposed it was pretty dull.

"Oh, it's dull enough, sir, but it ain't that. It's what you may call
such a miserable hole, sir. There's nothing like it in old England,
thank God, sir!"

"Have they many prisoners here?" I asked.

"Prisoners, sir? There's a regular rookery of 'em. The place swarms with
'em. I should think there's a matter o' five hundred, as near as I can
guess."

I ejaculated "Nonsense!"

"Don't you believe it's nonsense, sir," he answered. "They're as thick
on the ground as rats in an old rick, sir. P'litical prisoners most of
'em is, sir; Eyetalians, mainly. Of course one doesn't value that kind
o' rubbish much. They're foreigners, sir, every man Jack of 'em. But
then, sir, these damned Austrians ain't no better, and they treat their
prisoners like they was so much dirt beneath 'em."

"You look like an honest fellow," I said, "but you're not very discreet.
Suppose I repeated what you have told me to the general?"

"Why, sir," he answered, with a twinkle in his eye, "I don't suppose
you'll do that, sir; but if you did, sir, the general's got a good
groom, sir, and he knows it. He's a judge of a horse, sir, and he knows
when a horse is in condition. And, besides that, he knows my opinion
about these here Austrians, sir."

No, I thought to myself. Robert Hinge sounds very plausible, looks very
honest, and is undeniably an Englishman. But supposing