The leader of the cavalry
hailed him and John's heart gave a sudden alarming throb as he
recognized von Boehlen. But his courage came back when he saw that he
would not have known the Prussian had he remained twenty feet away. Von
Boehlen was deeply tanned and much thinner. There were lines in his face
and he had all the appearance of a man who had been through almost
unbearable hardships.
John had no doubt that a long life in the trenches and intense anxiety
had made an equal change in himself. The glass had told him that he
looked more mature, more like a man of thought and experience. Moreover,
he was in the dress of a peasant. After the first painful heartbeat he
awaited von Boehlen with confidence.
"Whence do you come?" asked the colonel of Uhlans--colonel he now was.
John pointed back over his shoulder and then produced his passport,
which Colonel von Boehlen, after reading, handed carefully back to him.
"Did you see anything of the French?" he asked glancing again at John,
but without a sign of recognition.
"No, sir," replied John in his new German with a French accent, "but I
saw a most unpleasant messenger of theirs."
"A messenger? What kind of a messenger?"
"Long, round and made of steel. It came over a mountain and then with a
loud noise divided itself into many parts near the place where I stood.
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