cloaked in dwarf junipers. And
there before me lay the plain, and a mile off a broad brimming river.

I sat down and looked dismally at the prospect. The exhilaration of my
discovery the day before had gone. I had stumbled on a worthless piece
of knowledge, for I could not use it. Hilda von Einem, if such a
person existed and possessed the great secret, was probably living in
some big house in Berlin, and I was about as likely to get anything out
of her as to be asked to dine with the Kaiser. Blenkiron might do
something, but where on earth was Blenkiron? I dared say Sir Walter
would value the information, but I could not get to Sir Walter. I was
to go on to Constantinople, running away from the people who really
pulled the ropes. But if I stayed I could do nothing, and I could not
stay. I must go on and I didn't see how I could go on. Every course
seemed shut to me, and I was in as pretty a tangle as any man ever
stumbled into.

For I was morally certain that Stumm would not let the thing drop. I
knew too much, and besides I had outraged his pride. He would beat the
countryside till he got me, and he undoubtedly would get me if I waited
much longer. But how was I to get over the border? My passport would
be no good, for the number of that pass would long ere this have been
wired to every police-station in Germany, and to produce it would be to
ask for trouble. Without it I could not cross the borders by any
railway. My studies of the Tourists' Guide had suggested that once I
was in Austria I might find things slacker and move about easier. I
thought of having a try at the Tyrol and I also thought of Bohemia.
But these places were a long way off, and there were several thousand
chances each day that I would be caught on the road.

This was Thursday, the 30th of December, the second last day of the
year. I was due in Constantinople on the 17th of January.
Constantinople! I had thought myself a long way from it in Berlin, but
now it seemed as distant as the moon.

But that big sullen river in front of me led to it. And as I looked my
attention was caught by a curious sight. On the far eastern horizon,
where the water slipped round a corner of hill, there was a long trail
of smoke. The streamers thinned out, and seemed to come from some boat
well round the corner, but I could see at least two boats in view.
Therefore there must be a long train of barges, with a tug in tow.

I looked to the west a