were less than fifteen feet away.

"He should be here at twelve," said one of the new comers in a
low voice and in fairly good English. The other merely grunted.
There was a silence of some duration, broken by the first
speaker.

"If this job fails and you are caught it will mean years of
servitude."

"But in that case we are to have ten thousand gavvos apiece for
each year we lie in prison. It's fair pay--not only for our
failure, but for our silence," said the other, whose English was
more difficult to understand.

Anguish's fingers gripped Lorry's leg, but there was no sound
from either of the thoroughly aroused dreamers. "A plot, as I
live," thought each, with a thrill.

"We must be careful to speak only in English. There are not
twenty people in Edelweiss who understand it, but the night has
ears. It is the only safe tongue. Geddos speaks it well. He
should be here." It was the first speaker who uttered these
words, little knowing that he had listeners other than the man
to whom he spoke.

A dark figure shot across the roadway, and, almost before the
Americans were aware of it, the party numbered three.

"Ah, Geddos, you are punctual."