"Well, comrade," he said, turning to Charlie, "this settles your
movements. I was but half in earnest before as to your joining us;
but it is clear now that there's nothing else for you to do, for
the present. This fellow will, directly he gets to Warsaw, denounce
you as the murderer of his master. That he is sure to do to avert
suspicion from himself, and, if you were to return there, it would
go hard with you. So, for a time, you must throw in your lot with
us."
When this was translated to Charlie, he saw at once the force of
the argument. He could not have denied that the Jew had fallen in a
hand-to-hand struggle with himself, and, were he to appear in
Warsaw, he might be killed by the co-religionists of Ben Soloman;
or, if he escaped this, might lie in a dungeon for months awaiting
his trial, and perhaps be finally executed. There was nothing for
him now but to rejoin the Swedes, and it would be some time, yet,
before he would be sufficiently recovered to undertake such a
journey.
"I should not mind, if I could send a letter to Allan Ramsay, to
tell him what has befallen me. He will be thinking I am dead, and
will, at any rate, be in great anxiety about me."
"I have taken a liking to you, young fellow," the leader said, "and
will send in one of my men to Warsaw with a letter; that is, if you
can write one.
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