CHAPTER XIV

THE BATTLE OF CLISSOW

Geese sént in his name, and was shown in at once.

“JT am glad indeed to see you, Captain Carstairs,” the
minister said as he entered; “we had given you up for lost.
We heard first that you had been murdered in the streets of
Warsaw. A month later a man brought a letter to me from
your Scotch friend Ramsay, to say that you were accused of
the murder of a Jew trader, a man, it seems, of some
importance in Warsaw. Ramsay said that you were in the
company of a band of brigands, and that the man who went
with you as your servant had joined you, and had taken you
some money. He forwarded the letter you had sent him
explaining your position, and said he thought that upon the
whole it was the best thing you could have done, as a vigor-
ous search had been set on foot at the instance of the Jews,
and there would have been but little chance of your making
your way through the country alone. He added that he felt
confident that, if alive, you would manage. somehow to
rejoin us before the campaign opened in the spring. Iam
glad that you have been able to do so, but your appearance
at present is rather that of a wealthy Polish noble than of
a companion of brigands.”

“T was able to do some service to Count Staroski, as
when travelling with his wife and child, and his brother,

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