"They might do anything, especially if the war seems to be going against
them. They're good enough people, as a rule, but in times like these
there's no telling what will happen."

"I hadn't thought of that. But--yes, you're right, of course. What do
you think we'd better do, Boris?"

"There's nothing to be done at once. We've got to wait a little while,
and let the situation develop. If we tried to get away now, it would be
very risky indeed, I think. You see, between us and the Russian border
there are a lot of German troops. And, even if you went back now toward
Koenigsberg and Berlin, I'm afraid you'd have a hard time. You see, you
haven't any passport. And you're partly Russian. Then you've been here,
and they'd know that. I'm afraid you'd stand a good chance of being
locked up. Tell me just what happened at Virballen."

Fred told him all that he could remember, and Boris frowned.

"Ernst will make a report, you see," he said. "I'm afraid they'll be
looking for you. It makes it look as if you were in a bad hole."

"How do you mean? There's nothing in what happened there to interest
Germany, is there?"

"If things had been normal that night, you'd have found out what there
was, I can tell you! You see the Russian and the German secret police
work together very well. It's all right when they're looking for
nihilists and violent revolutionaries--the sort of people who would
think it a great thing to assassinate either the Kaiser or the Czar.