It was with a sense of intense relief that I sank back into the cushions and felt that at last I was free.  My satisfaction was abruptly destroyed.  Long before I reached Hospenthal, a mile or so from Andermatt, I was disturbed by strange cries to the accompaniment of harness bells.

“Yo-icks, Yo-icks, G-o-ne away!” was borne after me with all the force of stentorian lungs, and looking round I saw to my horror a second carriage coming on at top speed, and beyond all question aiming to overtake us.  Soon they drew nearer, near enough for speech, and the accursed Colonel hailed me.

“Why, you cunning fox, so you broke cover and got away all in a moment!  Lucky you were seen leaving the train, or we might have overrun the scent and gone on.”

I did not answer.

“Nice morning for a drive, Mr. Falfani, and a long drive,” he went on, laughing boisterously.  “Going all the way to Brieg by road, I believe?  So are we.  Pity we did not join forces.  One carriage would have done for all three of us.”

Still I did not speak.

“A bit ugly, eh?  Don’t fuss, man.  It’s all in the day’s work.”

With that I desired my driver to pull up, and waved my hand to the others, motioning to them that the road was theirs.

But when I stopped they stopped, and the Colonel jeered.  When I drove on they came along too, laughing.  We did this several times; and when at the two roads just through Hospenthal, one by the St. Gothard, the other leading to the Furka, I took the first for a short distance, then turned back, just to try my pursuers.  They still stuck to me.  My heart sank within me.  I was in this accursed soldier’s claws.  He had collared me, he was on my back, and I felt that I must throw up the sponge.

“I gave you fair notice that you would not get rid of me, and by heaven you shall not,” he cried fiercely, putting off all at once the lighter mockery of his tone.  “I know what is taking you to Brieg.  You think to find your confederate there, and you hope that, combined, the two of you will get the better of that lady.  You sha’n’t, not if I can prevent you by any means in my power; understand that, and look out for squalls if you try.”

I confess he cowed me; he was so strong, so masterful, and, as I began to fear, so unscrupulous, that I felt I could not make head against him.  Certainly not alone.  I must have Tiler’s help, his counsel, countenance, active support.  I must get in touch with him at the earliest possible moment and my nearest way to him, situated as I was now, must be at or through Brieg.

So I resigned myself to my fate, and suffered myself to be driven on with my pertinacious escort hanging on to me mile after mile of my wearing and interminable journey.  We pulled up for luncheon and a short rest at the Furka; again in the afternoon at the Rhone Glacier.  Then we pursued our way all along the valley, with the great snow peak of the Matterhorn in front of us, through village and hamlet, in the fast fading light, and so on under the dark but luminous sky into Munster, Fiesch, and Morel, till at length we rolled into Brieg about 11 P.M.