t was why he was able to leave the consulate with a light heart and a
song on his lips. He had found a friend, and it seemed to him that a
friend was a pretty good thing to have found here on the banks of the
Danube, four thousand miles and more from the apartment on Washington
Heights where his mother and his little sister, for whose sakes he had
made his adventurous journey, were waiting for him. About Consul
Denniston, busy as he was, and rather stern though his aspect had been
in the beginning, there was something that made Dick feel that he would
go through a good deal for the sake of anyone he had decided to
befriend. So in the street Dick snapped his fingers at Semlin and the
whole Austrian empire.

"That for Mike Hallo!" he said. "Well, I think I'll go and try to see
the old boy! Wonder if he'll see me? They can't hang me for trying!"

He knew where Hallo was to be found. His office was in the warehouse
that he owned. His trade was largely one with Russia and Roumania.
Barges laden with products of all sorts from the interior came consigned
to him, and were transshipped here at Semlin to the river steamers and
other vessels that went down the Danube toward the sea. And so his
warehouse was down by the river, whence an excellent view of the old,
mysterious looking city of Belgrade could be had. Dick knew something of
history, and he remembered that for centuries the high tide of the
Turkish invasion had come as far as this and stopped. Christian and Turk
in turn had held Belgrade and Semlin, and great battles had been fought
many and many a time on the ground that he now trod.

But he forgot about ancient history when finally he stood outside of
Hallo's warehouse. He went in boldly, not asking anyone for directions,
until he came to a boy of about his own age on guard outside his own
door. This boy took one look at him, and then, to his surprise, spoke to
him in English.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, very politely.

"I'd like to see Mr. Hallo," said Dick.

"Right in here," said the other boy. "He's not busy just now."

"He will be, when he sees me," said Dick, and walked in.

Hallo was sitting at a table, looking over some papers. At the sound of
Dick's entrance he looked up, and for just a moment Dick saw the same
look of mingled fear and hatred in his eyes that he had caught when he
had seen him driving. But then that look vanished, and Hallo, with an
obvious effort, greeted Dick with the bluff he