There I lay on my face; a man knelt on me, others held either
hand; my face was pressed into the mud of the road, and I was
like to have been stifled; my hand-bag had whizzed away from me.
Then a voice said:

"Turn him over."

I knew the voice; it was a confirmation of the fears which I had
lately been at such pains to banish. It justified. the forecast
of Anton von Strofzin, and explained the wager of the Count of
Luzau-Rischenheim--for it was Rischenheim's voice.

They caught hold of me and began to turn me on my back. Here I
saw a chance, and with a great heave of my body I flung them from
me. For a short instant I was free; my impetuous attack seemed to
have startled the enemy; I gathered myself up on my knees. But my
advantage was not to last long. Another man, whom I had not seen,
sprang suddenly on me like a bullet from a catapult. His fierce
onset overthrew me; I was stretched on the ground again, on my
back now, and my throat was clutched viciously in strong fingers.
At the same moment my arms were again seized and pinned. The face
of the man on my chest bent down towards mine, and through the
darkness I discerned the features of Rupert of Hentzau. He was
panting with the sudden exertion and the intense force with which
he held me, but he was smiling also; and when he saw by my eyes
that I knew him, he laughed softly in triumph. Then came
Rischenheim's voice again.

"Where's the bag he carried? It may be in the bag."